To date we have referred to the fighting forces as “units”. Let’s go into more detail. At this stage I’m not going into periods or army lists etc. The units can fall into various types that we are all familiar with, infantry, cavalry, artillery and armour. This list could be very long, there are plenty of categories if we added engineers, dragoons etc etc However rather than examine troop type I am going to start here with the quality of the unit and how they are led.

There are two elements to a unit “Troops” and their “Leaders”. Both come under the following level of quality;

1. Inexperienced
2. Regular
3. Veteran

For your wargame you may like to create accurate representations of troop formations. That is absolutely fine. You are already somewhat constrained within the number of units available based on your objectives previously discussed. However, the size of a unit is up to you. It can be anything from a single man to battalions and beyond. My only stipulation is that units are of comparable impact on the tabletop. To explain a little further as we remove some units they need to be similar in their influence on the battlefield. I’m not tempted to look at a “points system” because it causes unnecessary debate on what the values should be. If you estimate that 3 German Panzer II tanks are equivalent to a platoon of 3 squads and a HQ that’s fine. They may be representing 3 units (1 per tank) or 1 unit (1 platoon equals 1 unit). In this way you can use the same rules from 6mm to 54mm. We talk about ranges later but it really depends on what works on your tabletop.

An imbalance in the influence of the units will make the AI aspect more challenging. Another suggestion is that you may want to keep all of your forces as “regular”. That might help in initial games.

To determine your forces roll two dice per “unit” one for the troops and one for their leader with the following results;

Troop type –

1 – Inexperienced – Morale 7

2 to 5 – Regular – Morale 8

6 – Veteran – Morale 9

Leader Level

1 – Inexperienced – Factor -1

2 to 5 – Regular – Factor 0

6 – Veteran – Factor +1

Record the detail on the sheet provided in the appendices. The starting range of the unit quality will fall between 6 and 10 with 8 being the most common. This bandwidth is important. I will go into more detail but in an unmodified engagement we roll 1D6 for either side and therefore even the weakest unit can still succeed against veteran forces with a roll of a 1 and a 6 respectively added to the original morale figure.

Forces of the AI

In order to keep the solo game one of uncertainty at the beginning of the game the AI forces remain off table. Instead three “markers” are placed on the table.

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are placed in logical positions in line with the objectives as the attacker, defender or recon forces. All units are placed on the table at this stage. Then up to 3 units (roll 1D3) are withdrawn, removing them at random through a sensible process, I’ll leave that with you.

Your deployment can now take place. You too may elect to leave a reserve off board, or to have a flank march. We will include this within the turn sequence. Just a note that both sides may have a nasty surprise when looking to deploy units later in the game.

The game then begins.

We draw a card at the beginning of each turn and when a picture card is drawn the forces will arrive at either flank (roll for which) from the table edge for Attacking or Recon units. Defending troops will appear at the defensive base line. Feel free to roll to determine how far along the flanks or along the defensive baseline. A word of warning however! If we draw a joker the troops have been intercepted and do not appear that turn and have also lost one unit (again roll for this).

Another aspect of uncertainty is the quality of the AI troops. We do not determine this until they are engaged either through shooting or hand to hand fighting. This might be a little tricky in some circumstances, after all if it looks like a helicopter and flies like a helicopter…however it might be fun where you think it’s a Panzer III only to be a Tiger!

Summary

To date we have the tabletop set the way you like it. We have two forces and the objectives understood, and we now have the units positioned ready for Turn 1. OK so what does Turn 1, and beyond, comprise of?