Veteran, trained, raw?

[ochoin]

I'm getting my ECW English Royalist army ready for the first "serious" (if you know what I mean) game, next weekend.
We've had 2 games last year with the 'Victory without quarter' rules but need to work out any kinks for our 2 day Show game in November.

The rules stipulate, not unusually, that units will fit into one of these 3 categories - veteran, trained & raw. The 4 armies that will be involved in the Show game (English & Scottish Royalist, Covenanter & Parliamentarian) are not specifically built on any specific army or campaign but are more generic.
This does allow my units of Rupert's Horse to be designated as Veteran as will McColla's Irish Foot in the Montrose army etc. but most units should just fit a pattern - I'm thinking 25% Veteran, 50% trained & 25% raw? I know that the Roundheads improved as the war progressed & the Cavaliers were increasingly degraded but we need some sort of playable parity at least in these next few games.

Comments?

donald

[Paul]

I always like a bit of randomness so you could roll a 2D6 for each unit with 2-4 being a Raw unit and 11-12 a veteran one. Or whatever seems reasonable.
My favourite way for running simple campaigns is to have a total army list for each side with unit quality etc... assigned and each scenario having a "unit presence score" depending on what sort of scenario it is.
So if you want to generate a big set piece battle you might have a D6 unit presence score of 2+, whereas an attacker defender scenario might have 3+ for the attackers and 4+ (or even 5+) for the defenders giving the attackers a likelihood of greater numbers.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

I think it depends at which point of the war your action is set - and in which theatre - as those are the factors that will determine how "experienced" your units are and consequently how well they will fight. I know you are familiar with the FoG:R (Field of Glory: Renaissance) rules and these tend to set limits for the four categories of troops: Elite, Superior, Average and Poor. You need to sit down and work out what would distinguish units at the start of the war, in the middle of the war, and towards the end of the war - what sort of officers and NCOs, training (both in terms of familiarity with the drillbook(s) and with the men - and other units - of their army, quality of equipment, and uniforms, battle experience (not just of the individual unit(s), but also the army as a whole).

I like Paul's views on randomness, but would perhaps take it in a different direction - instead of dicing before the battle to determine each unit's status, make it more of a lottery (as it must have been, for example, at Edgehill) and make all units "unpredictable". Dice for how they respond to any given situation, eg first casualties, enemies (or even friends in some circumstances) advancing towards them, neighbouring units running away/fighting stoutly, etc. If you wish, you can carry the results over into subsequent battles.

As the great Duke (Wellington, not Wayne) once said: "Even the best troops run away sometimes."

[Alex T]

ochoin, This maybe of some use or interest to you. This is my interpretation of the 3 types you talk of.
This is taken from my DBECW Rules. Where (s) = Superior, (i) = Inferior, the rest not mentioned are 'steady' or 'Regulars' if you like.

Early War
1642 - 44 Cavaliers - Drilled Cavalry - Infantry
(S) (I) (S) (I) (S) (I)
Royalist 60% 25% 0 50% 15% 50%
Parliament 0 80% 0 40% 25% 25%

Late War
1645 - 46 Cavaliers - Drilled Cavalry - Infantry
(S) (I) (S) (I) (S) (I)
Royalist 20% 30% 0 30% 15% 30%
Parliament 0 50% 50% 10% 50% 10%

[Alex T]

The above hasn't presented as it should, but I'm sure you can work it out.