Last night was game 3 in our Not Gettysburg.

For the second game in a row Brigadier Cruz failed to advance and attack the Yankees as ordered.  In the write up of the previous battle I assigned this to personality clash with General Trump, the brigade he was supposed to be supporting, and he had chosen to interpret his orders in a certain way, which while accurate, left Trump out to dry.

Yesterday he became lost in a wood.  I say lost, Stationary would be a better description, again getting a third of the way to the enemy before stopping.

Anyway Sunjester and I are increasingly taking the pi...Micky with each failed command roll – obviously Daddy bought his rank in Richmond, funded by the plantation, but it turns out that while the uniform impresses the ladies, actual battles are dangerous, with Yankees trying to shoot you!  At one point I became so angry with YET another fail, I covered his (10mm figure) ears so he wouldn't hear the expletive filled rant.

Then I wondered: What if you started a campaign etc with just vanilla units/generals, and assigned traits/bonuses/penalties over the course of the games/campaign.

Examples from Black Powder, but you can adjust for any rules.

All generals start as Command 8.  However, Cruz has made just 4, maybe 5, rolls out of 20.  Its obvious that he is a poor general, so his Command would drop to 7.

A unit that constantly wins melees would be given the rule that makes them better in hand to hand.

Basically making units live up to their reputation gained at random: They are OBVIOUSLY meant to be x, so let us ensure it.

Obviously only for those who repeatedly defy the odds etc.

Nice idea! But with my dice rolls, i'll just end up with  4 or 5 hq's with command 2 or 3 in the middle of the campaign 

That high!
We often use 'wavering' as a rule for bad generals too!

LH,

Yeah man, I do that in my campaigns.  I keep the COs/units 'vanilla' until they distinguish themselves one way or the other.  It's been a lot of fun for me, and it's not unfair as they've 'earned' the marks via their actions.

The funny part is, if you keep doing it you're going to run into that time when, despite the + or - 2 modifier, they somehow act 180 degrees out of character.  Now what do you do?  If I've got a guy that's been a coward, but then passes all the rolls and does something amazing, where does that put him in the overall scheme of things?  Is he now average, or is he now a hero, or is he still a coward that just had a good day?  Lots of fun.

V/R,
Jack

I'm wondering if its because my command figures are (I think) Chariot from the early 90's.  Can Leon guarantee Pendraken officers perform better?

Quote from: Last Hussar on 01 October 2015, 09:58:41 PM
Can Leon guarantee Pendraken officers perform better?

Depends how well you pay paint them... 

 

QuoteThen I wondered: What if you started a campaign etc with just vanilla units/generals, and assigned traits/bonuses/penalties over the course of the games/campaign.

I think Longstreet does just that!

Fine idea Used similar in our AVBCW campaign for the various factions.

Quote from: Leon on 02 October 2015, 12:43:50 AM
Depends how well you pay paint them... 

I'm stuffed

I ran a Warmaster campaign where winning a game allowed the winner to select a Battle Honour trait for one unit. If the unit was wiped out in a subsequent game the trait as lost. It lead to some units that were very effective but which players were unwilling to commit to combat in case they got wiped!

Quote from: petercooman on 01 October 2015, 08:39:18 PM
Nice idea! But with my dice rolls, i'll just end up with  4 or 5 hq's with command 2 or 3 in the middle of the campaign 

Give me back my dice !

Quote from: Ithoriel on 02 October 2015, 05:16:36 PM
I ran a Warmaster campaign where winning a game allowed the winner to select a Battle Honour trait for one unit. If the unit was wiped out in a subsequent game the trait as lost. It lead to some units that were very effective but which players were unwilling to commit to combat in case they got wiped!

Boney and the Old Guard?

Quote from: Westmarcher on 02 October 2015, 06:49:00 PM
Boney and the Old Guard?

The analogy was made a few times to be honest.

Quote from: Ithoriel on 02 October 2015, 06:50:19 PM
The analogy was made a few times to be honest.

A false analogy at that in that 'real' wargamers know that the Old Guard didn't fail, they weren't committed.

It was the Middle Guard that did all the failing.

In our F&F ACW games the zuoaves always seem to perform well, even though they've the same stats.  Weird.

Many years ago when i used to play tournament DBM (such a shame the inferior Field of Glory took over), i had a Mongol army.  I always took the 'Hordes (Inferior)' units (battle slaves).  They always seemed to fight well above their pay grade...