OOC
A new thread before the other gets completely out of control and starts sending me annoying messages.
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A recap of the Melee.
So that is how Melee and Battles work. As noted, pre-melee strategy does not really impact the outcome of the melee, it just determines where you are on the field and generally what each side is doing. If you had decided to line up on the Salisbury left instead of the right, you would have faced 2:1 odds from the start. Commander battle rolls at the start (both successful) determine if you get any modifiers. In a real battle, pre-battle plans could affect terrain, surprise, type and number of engaged troops, etc.
Each turn I roll battle results for each side to determine how well the NPCs are doing, which impacts position on field and losses. Losses usually start slowly as everyone is at full health and accelerate as the battle progresses and wounded fight wounded. I roll for all PCs and their opponents, and then based on their actions and all of the rolls, troops move (for instance bringing up reinforcements).
Sir Sejanus's gambit worked far differently than he was expecting for a variety of reasons about which he was unaware. If he had tried the same thing a turn or so earlier, it would have worked/failed entirely differently. That said, luck favors the bold.