Keeping Score

[GridGame]

Ancients – printed score sheet – just the number of hits & bound number. (The later used to track arrival of troops etc. which are part of OHW scenarios). Note I also retain the post-game sheets to review how the scenario played, etc.

Colonial (Empire vs. Mahdi) – scrap of paper (usually envelopes from 'circulars'!) – just the number of hits & bound number.

ECW – and here it got complex.
1] Which unit
2] Dice colour for that unit
3] Unit status / morale: Elite/steady/poor, (green, yellow, red counters respectively)
4] Out of shot or no shot this move, (red & blue counters respectively)

I have done a number of 'test games' using a set of rules I found on a Blog. (The results of which resulted in the purchase of ECW Pendraken miniatures!). These test games used a paper record to track the 4 items noted above. This was OK for most – with care – but 'no shot this move' was 'messy'.

My solution was to make a 'counting board' 13 units wide (the maximum number of units that either side could have) and 4 'pits' per unit (in which tokens, dice or counters could be placed) to record the 4 items noted above.

I can see many use 'on the table' identifiers dice, coloured hopplas over the head, match sticks, etc. I don't like anything on the table, other than the units, so this is why I have used paper score sheets.

And the question: if this is such a good idea how come I don't see such items for sale or in evidence when reading battle reports?

[Ithoriel]

Personally, I want markers on table and don't understand this obsession with "removing clutter".

If your table doesn't regularly include markers, coffee cups, crisp packets and beer cans, etc. you're doing it wrong, IMNSHO

If your off-table sheets work for you then more power to your elbow but I want to see the things I'm entitled to track displayed on table.  If you want to track "fired" with puffs of cotton wool, casualties with "dead" figures or "routed" with figures running away that's fine as long as it is instantly clear what they are.

I realise that for many others ... YMMV

[Westmarcher]

And the question: if this is such a good idea how come I don't see such items for sale or in evidence when reading battle reports?

Maybe it's because it's not a good idea? 

Seriously, I've played games with unit rosters but these rely on the administrative competence of your opponent. I've also played games with markers that somehow get left behind when a unit moves. My current solution for my 10mm SYW armies has one base in the unit a permanently attached die holder and small steel paper rectangle. When casualties or hits are sustained, a die is placed in the holder and when a change of status occurs, an appropriate magnetised marker (e.g., Shaken, Out of Command, Rout, etc) is placed on the steel paper rectangle. I've also prepared similar markers for my 15mm ACW armies but these are free standing markers comprising a dead or riderless, standing horse. Funnily enough, after having done all of that, I've not played any games that require my specially prepared printed markers the game for ages now (!) but, thankfully, the dice holders are still being used. Also, a game I've played most this year only requires only one marker ("Wavering") and old-fashioned figure removal(!).

I don't have a large dining room table to play on (nor am I a fan of spilling drinks over my painstakingly painted and based miniatures and terrain / for these being flattened by rule books or unit rosters / for cup rings appearing like crop circles on my terrain cloth) so prefer to keep the game area fairly clear of clutter and try to set aside a separate area (table end, another chair) for rule books, Quick Reference Sheets, dice throwing trays, etc. [I also like to wear deodorant.  ] 

Off hand I can think of a number of rules out there that sell markers for their games, e.g., For King & Parliament, Barry Hilton's League of Augsburg stable of rules, with many others providing rosters for use in the game.

[Raider4]

If your table doesn't regularly include . . . coffee cups, crisp packets and beer cans, etc. you're doing it wrong, IMNSHO

Urgh!. No, just no. Greasy food & spillable drinks should be no where near the gaming area.

[Steve J]

7mm D6 in a variety of colours works for me and I have no problem with them at all, visually or in use during the game.

[paulr]

IMNSHO

We use 5mm felt balls in various colours to represent status, ammunition, dash, ...
They stay with the units almost all the time and aren't too obtrusive
We also have labels that give the key stats for each unit, we play too many periods & rules to remember them all

Food & drink off the table please, the risk to models and terrain is too high
Off table space for rules etc definitely improves the look of the game

We do use damage sheets for GQ I/II naval because it would be too hard to record on table
Having your opponent roll for damage and only reveal the results in general terms gives a very different feel but does slow the game somewhat (reserved fro special occasions)

[FierceKitty]

If markers are really needed, let them be clumps of grass, lines of smoke, piles of casualties, or the like. I'm with those to whom rings on shakoes, little dice everywhere, or writing on bases seem a negation of what the hobby's about.

[steve_holmes_11]

I believe that indirect references lie at the heart of "gamer's migraine".
Some of this is the notorious "Charts leading to charts", or huge lists of modifiers.
Other types of cross referencing can also cause the problem - rosters with many rows being a good example.

I prefer to have the status marked on or beside the unit, as opposed to on a sheet of paper that inevitably becomes muddled in the heat of battle.
I'm not at all keen on cups, cans and crisp packets sharing the battlefield with my little warriors though.

[fsn]

For pre-1900 games I use additional command figures to indicate status. An additional officer in a yellow coat, or a standard bearer with a green flag are unobtrusive yet effective way of showing status. The flags can be easily changed as status changes.

Post 1900 (which tends to be on a 1:1 scale), I use small coloured smoke markers.

[GridGame]

Thanks for all the responses. What I've learnt so far:

1] Almost universal abhorrence of the gaming area being contaminated with tasty morsels.

2] 'Marmite' response to unit markers on the gaming area.

3] Reference to a series of games which use roster boards / markers.

4] A concern that I and others may be knee deep in paperwork?


A bit of context:
A] I play solo and about 90 mins is the maximum time I will get at one go & I like to finish a game.
B] I do sometimes lose the plot on exactly whose turn it is 
C] Figures are all 10 mm Pendraken.
D] Unit basing: infantry 40 x 20 mm, Cavalry 40 x 30 mm, open order troops e.g. skirmishers 40 x 40 mm. (Q: marker system larger than the units!!??)
E] Grid based game (10 x 10) at 410 x 410 mm. (Context: a playing card covers 6 grid spaces, a packet of crisps equates to 'a very large hill').

[howayman]

A lot of the earlier WRG rules (other rule sets were available) required record keeping, a bit of paper recording losses etc.
That's why their napoleonic rules caused a stir early on, a quicker whole figure removal. 
Personally the less table clutter, cards and record keeping the better.
Tried bases with one dead figure, two dead figures, etc. but the amount of extra painting was . . . . .
If you can work with it then go !

[FierceKitty]

I find the SYW casualty stands work very well for recording relative losses in the era (the one in which my rules require reference to the ratio to work out who gives up and goes home first). A group of corpses means a unit down (counting grenadiers and cuirassiers as two units etc.); if there's a standard among them, two units; two standards, three units. With a colour printer, this is easy to arrange, the casualties paint very fast, and the appearance of the table doesn't suffer at all.