This weekend I spent time playing a few English Civil War games trying out some commander resolve rule mechanisms used to decide when one side of the other calls it a day and retires from the field of battle. The rules uses the straightforward number of lost units to reduce a commander's resolve with a couple of additions which also reduce resolve.
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| A game setup 8 units per side on a 4x4 tabletop |
Commander's Resolve Rule
Each army has a single Commander representing their position on the battlefield. Commanders cannot be shot at or charged. However, when an enemy unit approaches within 6 inches, they must move up to 12 inches to be out of the way and avoid the enemy.
What is the Commander’s resolve? The resolve of a Commander is decided before the battle begins, and is tracked throughout the game. Once the limit of a commander’s resolve is reduced to zero they will order a general withdrawal of their army.
How to calculate a commanders resolve? Simply multiply the number of units in the army by 3.
How is resolve tracked? During the game reduce a commander’s resolve by:
- Subtracting 1 every time enemy units roll a natural 3 when shooting or engaging in hand to hand combat. I use D3 and 3 represents a better than expected response from the enemy.
- Subtracting 3 when a unit is eliminated. Note impetuous cavalry pursuing an elimination unit off the table do not count as eliminated.
- Subtracting 3 when a commander has to move because enemy units approach to within 6 inches.
Once all a commander’s resolve is reduced to zero, they leave the field of battle and their army retires.
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| Royalist forces line up for battle |
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| To track a Commander's resolve I used an old cribbage board |
While I seem to have settled upon these Commander's Resolve rules. A couple of questions are yet to be answered. The first is calculating the resolve, where 3 looks to be the right multiplier, but a few more games are required to confirm that. The second questions is whether to allow the commander to move once placed at the start of the game, other than to avoid enemy units. I am tempted to allow a 6 inch move whenever the Foot units are activated.
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| A game about to finish. |
Next weekend I am planning to get back to my Western Desert campaign for a change.
I like the generals resolve mechanism Peter, food for thought.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Paul.
Thanks Paul. A few more games need to be played before I fully settle on this rule change.
DeleteA new use for an old Cribbage board! Your are a clever fellow, Peter.
ReplyDeleteIt was a very useful find in the games cupboard.
DeleteThis looks to be a very good idea. But perhaps add a personal factor to the 3 x number of units total to reflect the fact that some generals have more moral courage than others? What about that personal factor being modified by a die roll so a general may have an 'off day' and not behave as well as he does normally?
ReplyDeleteI can envisage using this for non-played corps or division commanders in large battle games. Thanks for posting!
Incorporating a generals quality would certainly add another dimension to the rules. Possibly an experienced general would add 3 to the resolve and an inexperienced one subtract 3. Or change the multiplier, experienced 3.5 and inexperienced 2.5.
DeleteThis is always the place to come for interesting ideas. Keep experimenting!
ReplyDeleteIt is fun experimenting, certainly with simple rules where the rule mechanisms are stand alone and don't interact with other areas of the rules.
DeleteEnjoying your new blog by the way.
DeleteGood ideas. When calculating initial resolve, would it be worth throwing a boost or penalty in that formula for any elite / poor units in the force.?
ReplyDeleteThe addition of unit quality would certainly mix it up. You might then be reluctant to commit your best units if they reduce the resolve at a greater rate.
DeleteI like the use of the cribbage board.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer it to a piece fo paper to keep tabs on the resolve.
DeleteA useful mechanism. I remember Bruce Quarrie's Napoleonic rules had ratings for different commanders. Would a similar rating system work for this, perhaps with a historically mediocre commander having the chance of a good day, and a good commander having the chance of an off-day?
ReplyDeleteThanks. A commander's quality rating could certainly be added. As a solo wargamer this approach is always appealing.
DeleteYour resolve rules sounds a bit like the army morale rule in Piquet: Field of Battle (or FOB as we like to call it). In that game, your starting army morale points (AMPs)is equal to the number of units in your army, plus or minus a couple based on a die roll. Every time a unit loses a hit (Called Unit Integrity [UI - Piquet likes acronyms)] - infantry have 4 UI, Cavalry 3, Artillery 2) you lose 1 AMP. In Piquet you flip through a deck of cards to see what your units can do next - one of the cards in the deck is an Army Morale card. If you still have AMPs, ignore the card. If you have no AMPs left, then you roll against your Commander's rating and if you fail you retreat off the battlefield and the game is over. Note also, that if you are at zero AMPs and you take more losses, you ADD the points you would have lost to the opponents AMP pool.
ReplyDeleteThe Piquet rule sets certainly sound interesting with the way army morale points in links in with the cards. I will have to see if I can get a second hand set of these rules.
DeleteI agree with Dave Gamer about similarity with Piquet which IMO has an elegant Morale system, especially the paying for others to take morale tests.
ReplyDeleteBut why tie the Commander's resolve to the number of units? This is where a determined commander fighting a larger army may be able to defeat him by holding his nerve for longer. It's similar to Paddy Griffith's Napoleonic Generalship Game where commander can only fight so many rounds of combat before withdrawing. He does relate this to formation size as it's how he allows a Corps to fight for a day by itself. So perhaps the multiplier (doesn't have to be an integer) for the number of units is the general's rating?
I do like the idea of fighting so many rounds or turns, I will have to reread Napoleonic Wargaming for Fun. My starting point with resolve was having armies retire after 75% of units are eliminated. Which is why the number of units comes into play when calculating resolve. Then adverse combat results was added to eliminated units as drivers which reduce resolve.
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