Wednesday 16 November 2011

Officer Casualties in the Wargame

I thought I would take a few minutes to describe how I resolve Officer
casualties when playing the Wargame using my 28mm New School Collection.

The units I use are 36 men for Infantry and 16 for Cavalry and light infantry.
These are all multiple based units with 4 infantry or 2 Cavalry/Lights per base
with officers etc mixed on the bases. So no single based Officers to target or
remove.

So this is what I do.

When an infantry unit takes loses from fire it rolls a d10 against the hits
suffered. If the d10 is equal or lower than the hits then an officer is lost
instead of a Other Ranker.

Now assuming the Colonel is still alive I use another dice roll to confirm if
the Colonel is hit.

If all 5 Officers are present the I roll a D10 and remove the CO on a 9 or 10. 
If the CO and 3 other officers are left I use a D8 removing the CO on a 7 or 8.
If the CO and 2 other officer use a D6 etc etc.

In melee I use a D8 against the hits suffered as I think Officers are more
likely to be hit in melee than musketry.

For Cavalry and Lights I use a D8 for fire and D6 for melee and again use a
further roll to work out which officer. So for instance if a cavalry unit takes
an officer hit I roll a D6 and if 5 or 6 comes up its the CO, 3 or 4 the 2nd in
command etc.

To mark Officer loses I use a single small D6 at the base of each unit. If the
?Infantry CO is lost I mark the loss of 2 Officer points by turning up the 2
face on the dice. A Cavalry CO would show a 3. As Officer loses mount the dice
is turned to show the total Officer point loss.

This method is simple and easier to use and adds another bit if fun to the rules
and we have seen on more than 1 occasion that first loss a unit suffers is the
CO.
An Austrian unit has 2 of its 6 morale points