Overnight Unit recovery in 'Black Powder' rules

[Last Hussar]

Sunjester and mine ACW battle has reached the end of day one.

We've been doing the ongoing effects.

If a unit routs, it is lost for the rest of the day.
Units that finish a battle 'Shaken' (ie 3 hits) are classed as 'Worn', and start with one hit for the rest of the day (assuming at least an hour or more - units thrown into a march or battle keep the shaken status).

Now its evening we need to work out what has happened to the regiments.

Worn is easy - that comes off over-night, and they start day 2 fresh.

The problem is routed units.

We are thinking they will - probably - come back, subject to a morale roll of somekind.

I toyed with using the BP morale - 7+ fine, 5/6 back lose one size, 4 gone for good, but I think this makes the extremes too wide and the lose a size too narrow. It would be nice to have a 'Worn' status as well.

What do people suggest.

(PS Sunjester says you are all loonies who can't be trusted to answer seriously, or in a way understandable to normal people.  This is your chance to prove him wrong...  I've just jinxed this thread haven't I?)

[Rob]

Hi LH,

Until WW1 no battle lasted for more than 3 days. You may know something I don't, but I don't know of any units that routed in any battle that came back in the same battle and were of any use. Broken troops may be different if you differentiate between totally out of control routs and troops with broken ranks where officers have only temporarily lost control. A good example is cavalry that may be broken by an enemy charge because their horses (who are intelligent animals not robots) flinch and shy away. They will generally recover and be useful later in the battle. 

I would say any morale effects caused by losses and routs remain until the battle is completed. Broken troops if you have this level of differentiation would recover completely and any fatigue will be removed overnight providing the weather allows some rest and rations are available.

I hope that is of use.

Rob

[Last Hussar]

The thing is BP doesn't have 'losses' as such - units gain hits, and when they have more hits than stamina they make a morale test, modified by the number of excess.  After the test the excess hits are removed (assuming unit still on table).  So what the game terms a is termed a 'Rout' doesn't have to be an actually flee - it could just be a unit too beat up to continue at the moment, mostly intact, just exhausted.

This is a battle where eventually there could be 5 corps engaged (3 vs 2), something like 100 regiments a side, which we are fighting a divisional engagement at a time - which made y job as overall controller interesting when a beat up Union Division sheltering behind a fresh one was engaged from the flank, - so one brigade from each, while the rest of the fresh division was simultaneously engaged from the front by a second CS division! (imagine two 6x4 tables at right angles touching at on corner, fighting each flank on a separate night!)

[Rob]

Page 96 gives help on what to do with broken brigades etc. I would re-interpret the army morale rule into a corps or division rule as is most appropriate to you.

Re: your beat up division, if it has collapsed once in a battle it will collapse immediately if engaged from the flank.

Sounds like a massive task to fight 5 corps a division at a time using BP. Are you sure you have the best rules for that?

Anyway I wish you luck and I hope you take it through to a finish.

Rob

[Last Hussar]

BP are nice and quick.  SJ and I often play they couldn't hit an elephant, you do have to concentrate on that one!

For about 4 years now we've been doing campaigns of one sort or another, often just connected battles with the campaign as a battle generator, and a reason to act like real generals (ie the "10:30 charge"!).  This one we've looked at the table on a number of occasions and said  "If you break off, I won't follow up".  We've fought about 5 battles so far in the last 3 months (we started right at the end of August). Usually we knock off 10-12 turns, Wednesday we had an epic 20 turn battle (about 2 hours game time) where after watching 2/3rds of the division collapse, the final brigade went berserk.

I suggested this game because I want to do something that isn't a bathtub, but is low enough level for the flavour.  I have toyed with getting BBB when we've finished just to redo it at army level!

[sunjester]

(PS Sunjester says you are all loonies who can't be trusted to answer seriously, or in a way understandable to normal people.  This is your chance to prove him wrong...  I've just jinxed this thread haven't I?)

I think you are confusing my remark about PMT with any comments about the lovely people who frequent this forum!
I think I said that the Pendraken Forum members were a wonderful bunch of chaps only too eager to assist with helpful advice....even though they are as mad as a box of frogs!

[Techno]

Cheek !
(Ribbit !) 
Cheers - Phil

[Last Hussar]

So your comments about threads being derailed was...?

[Ithoriel]

LH, threads here are never derailed, they merely take the scenic route to their destination

[Last Hussar]

While we realise that truly routed units take time to recover, we are assuming these are actually units that have fallen back too battered to continue - the chance of routing in BP is usually over 1/6th (rout requires 4 or less on 2d6 - 1/6th, but to rout by fire you have to be over your Stamina, a minimum of -1 on the dice)

We decided on
1- Permanently Routed for rest of battle.
2-3 - Lose one size
4-5- Worn.  Permanently starts on 1 hit for next of day.
6 - Reforms without issue.