Tuesday 4 August 2015

Morale in the War Game

Over the last few weeks I have been making some decisions on how I want to play my games using the War Game.

You will no doubt have realised that these are my preferred set of rules for 18th Century games. I do however have a few house rules.

Firstly I use these rules for both my Classic Prince August figures as well as my 28mm/30mm collection.  One point is that my unit size varies depending on which collection I am using.

Well I have decided that from now on all units will be based on the number 6.   Cavalry units will typically be  6 figure squadran where a 6 light Infantry will be a company.  Infantry Battalions will be 30 figures representing 5 companies. A 4 company Grenadier unit will be 24 figures.  Other units such as Militia may be 18 or 24 figures.

If you notice I am not having seperate Officer figures.  

Morale is going to be based as follows. For each one sixth of a unit lost a unit is -1 on its morale.  A typical unit still starts at base 6 however a unit must now beat the score of 6 to pass its morale test.

So here is a couple of examples. A 6 figure cavalry unit has lost 2 figures in a Melee. Therefore to pass it must beat 2 on a D6. 

A 30 man Infantry unit has lost 15 figures and there has lost 3/6. It needs to beat a 3.

Now you remember I am not having seperate Officer figures however I still want the loss of officers to impact a units morale.  So when a unit loses a one sixth of its strengh it checks to see if it has lost an officer.  A D6 is rolled and if a 6 is rolled an officer is lost. A saving throw is still allowed.    

So in our example above the cavalry units has lost 2 figures in Melee. Two D6 are rolled and a 6 and 4 are rolled.  The unlucky officer fails it's saving throw.  The unit is marked with a small dice showing the loss.  The unit morale is now -2 for loses and -1 for the officer.  It will now have to roll more than a 3. 

I have not yet tested these rules however I will try them out in a small Mollwitz game which is set up on my table and ready to go.


2 comments:

Archduke Piccolo said...

Like you, I have come to the conclusion that separate HQ elements aren't really necessary, though I have retained them for my 18th Century Imagi-Nations, and (for the moment at any rate) for my ACW units as well.

My combat system is very similar to Charles Grant's - I'd almost say was modelled on the 'War Game' system but that I had forgotten all about them when I designed my own! Something must have stuck in my subconscious memory. I use volley groups with a 'Die Range' system that does away with subtractions for range (though it means 'sixes' aren't good rolls for musketry), and group the 'hits' into eights plus a remainder, with no specific target figures or groups of figures within the target units. Roll for each 'group' and set duplicates aside. The number of dice remaining is the number of casualties.

However, a double-six within a group counts as an officer casualty. A triple-six or more a General officer if present within 5cm of the target, unit becomes a casualty instead.

At present I have a casualty modifier as well, but at 10% intervals. However, though a morale roll is taken for 10% loss in one bound, the modifiers don't kick in until 20% have been lost, then the penalty goes up by 1 for every 10% cumulative loss thereafter. I also use the CG 50% rule.

My morale system has been based upon the terrible Swift Sword board game system, and I reckon it worked very well for ACW, reflecting the fairly volatile morale of the soldiery in that war. It meant a '1' was an excellent morale roll, and a '6' generally disastrous. I'm thinking of modifying the numbers, though to reverse this. so a veteran unit with a Morale Factor of 5, requiring 5 or less to pass, 1st Class (veteran or 'crack') unit needing to exceed its 'class' number to pass.

The 'failed' morale results I have placed upon a grid, the results being determined by what the unit was doing at the point of 'failure', and how much it failed by. A fresh 27-figure veteran unit whilst advancing, comes under a not very telling fire 2 figures, say. They would not need to take a roll. But it would if it lost 3. Three out of 27 is just over 11%, so there is no modifier. It rolls a '1', failing morale. As it was advancing and failed by 1, it halts. If it hasn't exceeded its movement allowance, it might even get to shoot back!
Cheers,
Ion

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