Troop Quality

In DBM, troops are graded as Superior (S), Ordinary (O) or Inferior (I). DBA eliminates troop quality or moral grading in achieve simplicity, although the option of differentiating troop quality/morale may be attractive in certain historical scenarios, Big Battle DBA games, or even the occasional one-on-one game.

HDAN offered the following suggested variant to the DBA Mail List, which adapts the DBM troop quality grades to DBA with a simple die roll mechanism inspired by the "Heavy Gear" rules:

Here is an idea of a non-DBM-ish way to do (S) and (I) in DBA. The idea originally came from DP9 games like "Heavy Gear", but there's no reason it won't work for DBA.

For (S) troops in combat, roll TWO dice and take the HIGHER result.

For (I) troops in combat, roll TWO dice and take the LOWER.

All others "(O)" just roll one dice as usual.

This would skew the probabilites while still allowing an (S) troop to roll a 1, and an (I) troop to roll a 6. I don't know that I'd go as far as to use HG's "double 1's = 0, double 6's = 7" in DBA, but I might in HOTT.

For a rating guideline, I would use common sense, or the troop ratings in the DBM army lists, or maybe roll for each unit before battle: 1d6, where 1=(I), 2-5=(O), 6=(S).

I personally wouldn't allow Camp followers to be rated, only the base 12 elements. Although I might be able to make a case for rating the general's element, simulating a really talented general (or really poor one!). Maybe something like, "if you grade your general (S), it counts for two (S) elements". When combined with the "only half your army can be graded" rule, it would limit your (S) troops to only 2 elements. So the total proposed grading rule is (in my best Barkerese):

"Up to 1/2 of an army may be graded as Superior(S) or Inferior(I), where each (S) element must have a corresponding (I) element. Graded generals count as two elements. A graded element rolls two dice in combat, with (S) taking the best dice and (I) taking the worst. Camp followers may not be graded."

Maybe victory conditions could be made such that (I) troops don't count towards victory, and (S) troops count double?

Fanatici Feedback

David Kuijt: Your (S) units will average a combat roll of 4.44, as compared to simply giving them a +1 factor, which would give them an average combat roll of 4.50. (Normal average on 1d6 is 3.50) DBM's system is something like (S) units get +1 if beaten (which helps them to avoid getting killed, but does NOT help them kill the enemy).

Simply put, I think this system is much too powerful. Even if you force one (I) element in the army for each (S) element, I think it is unbalancing....A Kn(S) using your system would roll a 5 or 6 on the combat dice 56% of the time (20/36) -- with that element I wouldn't worry much about charging bow in the open! And the El(S) is even worse -- with its high combat factors it becomes almost unkillable, given that your chance of rolling a 1 or 2 on the combat die is only 11% (4/36) and your chance of rolling a 5 or 6 is 56%.

I hate to throw cold water on a creative idea, but I think as currently envisioned the (S)/(I) factor bonus would be very unbalancing, even for a scenario game.

Mike Demana: I think it would be excellent for stuff like Mayas and Aztecs. The Eagle knights and should elites SHOULD be that much better than the ordinary, less enthusiastic tribesmen. And the differences between Warband-Auxilia-Horde don't make sense really, for the fighting style and terrain.

Another area with promise would be Saxon warfare. I think the troop types are "broke" there. Why are the thanes...the better armed and armored nobility (1x4Wb) more vulnerable to cavalry than the Fyrd (1x4Sp)? I don't buy that they would have fought in significantly looser formation. This way, you could pick a troop type that bests represents Saxons in your scenario -- spear OR warband -- and give the thanes that 2d6 ability.

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Last Updated: 24 Feb. 2004

Questions, comments, suggestions welcome.
Send them to Chris Brantley, brant@erols.com.