Alternative Unit Activation.

Started by Last Hussar, 08 December 2020, 11:27:29 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Last Hussar

This is a different way to activate units in wargames, originally proposed for Lion Rampant. Although this will base on Lion Rampant, it could be adapted to any set.

In this Alternate I assume the player has 6 units or Commands (see 'Definition of Unit'). More or fewer units are discussed at the end.

Note on Lion Rampant activation.
In Lion Rampant a unit has two or three activation scores, one for move, one for attack ('charging') and if relevant, one for shooting. This number is the target on 2d6 the player needs to roll to take that action with the unit. So a unit might have Move 6+, Attack 7+. The player would declare what they wish to do, and attempt to roll the target score or more. If they fail the unit does not move. If they were, in the above example, declaring the unit will attack but rolled a '6' they could not convert that to a 'Move' instead.
This difference in Move/Attack target plays a bearing in this alternate.

Definition of 'Unit' in this alternate.
In Lion Rampant you roll for each unit. However in other games it is a subcommander that is activated, that allows you to move individual units; for instance in Black Powder the player rolls for the Brigade Commander. If the Command Roll for the Brigadier is passed, all units in that brigade can activate. In this Alternate it is the Command Brigadier you activate – he is the 'unit' for these purposes, NOT the individual battalions.

Setting up
Each unit should be identified, and the player should have a card with that identifier for each unit. Each unit is discreet, and may only play on its card- if you have 2 archer units you must know which card belongs to which.

Each player places the cards on an "Activation Board" – this can just be a spare surface – face up left to right. The left most position has an Activation Cost (AC) of 1, an AC of 2 for the next card along, and so on until the right most card (with 6 units) is AC-6. It you may want to just mark each position.

At the start of his turn a player receives 4 Action Points (AP). To activate a unit pay the AC for the position it is in. The unit can now take any actions allowed in the rules – you do not need to roll for it.
If in the rules it is harder to get the unit to charge/attack, you need to pay an extra AP. Most units in Lion Rampant will need to pay this to charge. Note that this is the only time you need to pay the extra AP- it doesn't matter if anything else would need a higher roll, it is just about motivating men into charging.

Once the unit has moved, take its card from the Board, slide everything to the right along to fill the gap, then place the unit just activated into the now vacant AC6 position.
The player may now activate another unit at the new AC.

Example
Units A-F are on the Activation Board, under AC 1-6
1  2  3  4  5  6
A  B  C  D E  F

The player pays 1 AP to activate unit A. A goes into the 6 slot, and he can now pay 1 to activate B which is now in the 1 slot
1  2  3  4  5  6
B  C  D  E  F A

A player may carry forward a maximum of 2 unused AP to the next turn, allowing a maximum of 6AP in a turn.

'Broken' units.
In Lion Rampant if a unit fails a morale test it becomes broken, and at the start of every turn it must roll to see if it recovers. When a player makes this roll in this alternate, he MUST declare BEFORE whether he wishes to pay the AC for the unit.

If he does not pay, the unit's card stays where it is, it is not moved to the AC6 slot.
If he does pay the card moves as normal into the AC6 slot, allowing the other cards to slide up.

It doesn't matter if the morale test was passed or failed – the card is moved or left in place no matter the result.

Losing units.
As units are lost the number of AP a player receives goes down. The player receives one less AP for every two units less than 6 he has. Also use this for different sized armies. For every 2 units above 6, they get an extra AP.
If the player has 3-4 units at the start of his turn – 3AP a turn (Also for small armies)
If they have 8 or 9 units – 5 AP
10 or 11 – 6 AP.

Analysis – "So why would I ever pay more than one, and not cycle through the units"
Two reasons.
One, sooner or later part way through your turn a Routing unit is going to end up in the AC 1 slot because you didn't pay when you tried to rally. For instance you have 4AP at the start of your turn. You must rally the unit in the 3 slot before doing anything else. If you move it you have just 1 AP left. If you don't move it you can activate the 2 units ahead of it, sliding the Routers into AC1. You then pay 2 for the unit in the 2nd slot.

Secondly. You have 2 AP left, and the best unit in the army is now in AC1, but you have no target for it or want to use it next turn. If you pay 1AP, then 1 for the unit that slides into the AC1 slot, this elite unit is now in AC5, meaning you have lost it for a turn. If you pay for the unit in AC2 to move, that elite unit is still a very obvious threat as it is in the AC1 slot – it WILL be able to charge next turn.
I have neither the time or the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

GNU PTerry