Musing on Commander Special Attributes in Bolivar’s Very Bad Day

I like the way John Fletcher (2005, 2006, 2011, 2018abc) assigns special abilities to the generals of the South American Wars of Liberation. In Liberators QPR generals are classified on a five rating scale from abysmal, through poor, average, good to excellent. That is nice but then he goes further and gives some generals extra abilities e.g. improved initiative. It is these special attributes that I really like. So how would that work in Bolivar’s Very Bad Day, my Liberators variant of Tilly’s Very Bad Day? This post is about the rules mechanism, the framework, and I’ll post separately about the actual generals of the South American Wars of Liberation.

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Pros and cons of commander attributes?

Last time I mused on commander abilities in Tilly’s Very Bad Day, I discovered some players don’t like giving their commanders special characteristics. These players see themselves as the commander so their own personal characteristics should be at play, rather than a simulation of the relevant historical figure. There is also an intermediary position where it is okay for sub-commanders to have attributes but the C-in-C is the player.

Our experience in the Populous, Rich and Rebellious Campaign suggests that we get more interest, more flavour, from special events. Campaign cards provide these special events in these English Civil War Campaign Rules for Tilly’s Very Bad Day. But if you have a look, many of these campaign cards are attributes of commanders.

I see commander attributes for Liberators exactly like that. They will add period flavour and a bit of fun. Colonel Jose Ordonñez was inspiring. General Manuel Belgrano was predictable. General Bernardo O’Higgins was a poor general, but brave and impetuous. These attributes had an impact on the battles they fought. I’d like to include them.

I am, however, conscious that players don’t want a revolution in the core mechanisms of the Tilly’s Very Bad Day rules. This is why my recent musing on resolve were rejected. For example, I don’t think I’ll give commanders a troop quality rating (superior, ordinary, inferior, raw). That just adds lots of complexity and I think other attributes add more fun and flavour.

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The special attributes

Classifying the generals of the South American Wars of Liberation is a big job. So I cheated and used John Fletcher’s work as my starting point. I’ve gone through the generals that fought in the War in the South (Fletcher, 2005, 2006, 2018ab) and War in the North (Fletcher, 2011, 2018c) and noted their special attributes. Then I tweaked the attributes a bit to fit my view of history and to fit with Tilly’s Very Bad Day. I also added a few from Populous, Rich and Rebellious Campaign – personality attributes that I found particularly flavourful e.g. “Spectacularly bad judgement” and “Weary of his Times”. Finally I filled in a few gaps e.g. Miranda, Piar, Páez, and others, that John doesn’t mention.

After all of that I came up with some possible special attributes for generals. This is not a comprehensive list but it will get me going. Each attribute is either positive [+] or negative [-]. Some attributes can be combined, for example, an “Old Man” who is a “Strong strategist”. But others can’t e.g. “Coward” and “Brave”. I have duplicated effects under different names e.g. “Cavalryman” and “Centaur” have the same effect (hit on 3-6 in melee) but “Centaur” is more flavourful when applied to Páez, the “Centaur of the Plains”. A have generally avoided giving a particular general two attributes with the same game effect; this isn’t an absolute rule, for example, I have given San Martin the Spy Master and Strategist attributes, both of which improve scouting.

Scouting (only relevant for C-in-C)

In Tilly’s Very Bad Day, scouting can affect the tactical attacker, terrain, force organisation, and deployment. An advantage here will be significant.

• Spy Master[+]: +1d6 scouting dice
• Strategist[+]: +1d6 scouting dice
• Tactician[+]: +1d6 scouting dice
• Veteran Commander[+]: +1d6 scouting dice
• Inexperienced[-]: Enemy gets +1d6 scouting dice
• Predictable[-]: Enemy gets +1d6 scouting dice
• Reckless[-]: Enemy gets +1d6 scouting dice

There are quite a few attributes that influence the scouting dice. It would be nice to vary these a bit to give more flavour.

So far only San Martin gets “Spy Master”. Building an effective spy network was part of his grand strategy and preceded his invasion of Chile. San Martin and Bolivar share Strategist, for their inclination to cross the Andes to get to the underbelly of Royalist power.

I would like to find a better term than “Reckless”. This attribute is recklessness in the pre-battle stage, when scouting matters. There is also a case for an in combat style of recklessness, which at the moment is represented by “Impetuous”. Perhaps I’ll get creative and find a better substitute for “Reckless” in the scouting context; perhaps “Sloppy”.

Army Composition (only relevant for C-in-C)

I’m toying with a couple of attributes with Simon Bolivar in mind:

• Grandiose Dreamer[-]: The friendly army must lose three resolve, either from a single unit or spread across two or three
• Brilliant improviser[+/-]: +2d6 scouting dice but the friendly army must lose three resolve, either from a single unit or spread across two or three

I’ve gone with both “Strategist” and “Grandiose Dreamer” for Simon Bolivar, reflecting his tendency to launch across the Andes without logistical support.

Terrain (only relevant for C-in-C)

• Eye for terrain: After Defender has finished modifying terrain, the general can swap any two terrain cards/pieces

I’ve only used this attribute, “Eye for terrain”, for Sucre, but I suspect some of the better generals have it.

Initiative (only relevant for C-in-C)

These attributes are only useful if you are rolling for initiative each game turn.

• High Initiative[+]: Before initiative roll, choose either -1 or +1 modifier; if both sides have High Initiative, they cancel out
• Hesitant[-]: Before initiative roll, enemy chooses either -1 or +1 modifier for the hesitant commander; if both sides are hesitant, they cancel out
• Tactical Flexibility[+]: If win initiative can give it to the enemy

Charge Declaration

Charge declarations are by player choice in Tilly’s Very Bad Day. These attributes limit the choice. Some generals like to charge. Some don’t.

• Impetuous[-]: If attached to a unit that can charge, then must declare a charge.
• Coward[-]: Cannot declare charges; if attached unit declares a charge, then commander immediately detaches and is left behind

Movement

• Genius of Manoeuvre[+]: Can move a single friendly unit at the end of the enemy movement step; requires a successful Command Check
• Spectacularly bad judgement[-]: Once during the battle the enemy can prevent all units units in his command from moving

“Genius of Manoeuvre” is my attempt to bring tactical genius onto the battlefield.

“Spectacularly bad judgement” is a carry over from Populous, Rich and Rebellious Campaign. We played it and although significant at the time, it is not a devastating blow. Definitely adds flavour. I haven’t found a good candidate for this attribute in South America, but I left it on the list while I keep looking.

Combat (both shooting and melee)

• Butcher: Commander casualty saving throw on a 6 rather than 5-6
• Saviour of the Republic: In one game turn of the battle, the attached unit can treat difficult terrain as open terrain; this applies to everything including movement and combat
• Weary of his Times: For the entire battle the commander is automatically killed if hit

“Butcher” is reserved for the more blood thirty generals, on both sides, involved in the “War to the Death” period of the Venezuelan War of Independence. These men gave no quarter to opposing soldiers and killed prisoners. Off the battlefield the worst of them slaughtered civilians – whether men, women or children – often is horrible ways. Rather than simulate the atrocities I have instead focussed on the enemy response and their desire to seek revenge, hence making the butcher more vulnerable in combat.

“Weary of his Times” is another carry over from Populous, Rich and Rebellious Campaign. I just have to find a depressed and suicidal candidate in South America.

“Saviour of the Republic” is for Colonel Juan José Rondón because of his achievements at Vargas Swamp.

Shooting

• Artillery man[+]: Double bombardment dice
• Bullet Proof[+]: Once during the battle one Commander ignores the result of shooting
• Cannon bullseye[-]: Automatically killed if hit by cannon fire

Melee

• Cavalryman[+]: Hit on 3-6 in melee, not 4-6, but only when attached to cavalry
• Centaur[+]: Hit on 3-6 in melee, not 4-6, but only when attached to cavalry
• Brave[+]: Hit on 3-6 in melee not 4-6
• Dashing Officer[+]: Hit on 3-6 in melee not 4-6
• Experienced Officer[+]: Hit on 3-6 in melee not 4-6
• Old Man[-]: Hit on 5-6 in melee not 4-6
• Cautious[-]: Hit on 5-6 in melee not 4-6
• Uncommitted[-]: Hit on 5-6 in melee not 4-6

Rallying

• Inspiring[+]: Commander rally recovers two resolve not one.
• Inspirational in a Crisis[+]: Once during the battle restore the resolve of one on table unit to its original total during the rally phase
• Despised[-]: Command rally is not automatic and depends on the result of a Command Check by the attached unit
• Jealous[-]: Player picks one commander in the friendly army, either the named general or another; then either (1) cancel the Jealous attribute using the “Loyal” attribute of the selected commander, or (2) cancel the Inspiring attribute of the selected commander (if present) or (3) make the target commander’s Command rally dependent on the result of a Command Check by the attached unit
• Loyal: Cancels the “Jealous” attribute if applied to this commander.

Army Morale

A couple of attributes come into play during the army morale phase.

• Irresolute[-]: Once in the game, during the army morale phase, the enemy gets a free commander casualty roll against the general; hit on 5-6 if any units under this officer’s command routed this game turn, otherwise a 6.
• Spineless[-]: Once in the game, during the army morale phase, the enemy gets a free commander casualty roll against the general; hit on 4-6 if any units under this officer’s command routed this game turn, otherwise a 6.
• Unconfident[-]: The army breakpoint is one unit less than normal e.g. army of 16 has a 6 breakpoint, this goes down to 5.

Not sure yet

• Head strong: ?

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General’s overall rating

Each of the generals listed in one of the John Fletcher’s publications has a overall rating from abysmal to excellent. Some have special attributes, as above, and some are left with only the overall rating.

For some generals it is obvious why they are rated as they are e.g. Mariscal de Campo Marco del Pont is a “Poor” general because he is “Hesitant”, is “Inexperienced”, and is “Despised”. For these generals I’ve dropped the overall rating as I don’t need it.

There are other generals that I don’t know much about. For example, I don’t know why Brigadier General Tomas Cires is rated a “Good” commander. For these commanders, until I do some more research, I have retained the overall rating. For commanders with an positive overall rating, like Cires,, I will let the player choose a special attribute with “High Initiative” being a good place to start. Similarly General Rudecindo Alvarado is rated “Poor” and until I know better, I let the player choose a negative attribute, with “Hesitant” being first pick.

In the absence of better data use this rules:

Abysmal: The general is Hesitant and has one other negative [-] attribute.
Poor: The general is Hesitant or has one other negative [-] attribute (e.g. Coward).
Average: Has no special attributes.
Good: The general is High Initiative or has one other positive [+] attribute (e.g. Brave)
Excellent: The general is High Initiative and has one other positive [+] attributes

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Example: Brigadier General Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá

As I mentioned I’ll post separately on Royalist and Patriot generals. But I thought I should give one example and I’ve chosen Antonio de Sucre, a Venezuelan independence fighter of considerable ability and fame.

Sucre

Sucre: Brigadier General Antonio José de Sucre y Alcalá (Brave, Eye for terrain, Loyal, Strong Tactician); Venezuela
Battles/Scenarios: 2nd Huachi, Pichincha, Ayacucho

Sucre “had personal bravery … was indefatigable … conducted the espionage, reconnoitred, visited by day and night the outposts … was a man of talent and good sense” (O’Leary quoted in Harvey, 2000, p. 184). I think that warrants Brave, Eye for terrain, and Strong Tactician. Despite all that, “he was not much liked in the army” (p. 184) so he misses out on attributes like “Inspiring”. Bolivar had a lot of affection for Sucre, an “adopted son”, and used him on key ventures, which I interpret to mean he was “Loyal” to El Liberator.

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What do you think?

I’m interested in your ideas on the above. Do you play this period? Do you think special abilities will add fun and flavour? Do you have suggestions for different special abilities in general or as applied to a particular historical commander. Are there particular generals you think I should categorise? What do you think?

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Where to get Tilly’s Very Bad Day

Tilly’s Very Bad Day is available for Download (PDF).

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References

Fletcher, J, (n.d.) The Battle of Cerro de Pasco – December 6, 1820. Grenadier Productions.

Fletcher, J. (2005). Liberators! Volume 1: The War in the South. Grenadier Productions.

Fletcher, J. (2006). Liberators! Supplement 1: The War in the South. Grenadier Productions.

Fletcher, J. (2011). Adventures of the British & Irish Legions in South America 1817-1824: Gamer’s Guide & Sourcebook. Grenadier Productions.

Fletcher, J. (2013). The Wars of Spanish American Independence 1809-29 [Essential Histories 77]. Osprey.

Fletcher, J. (2018a). The Battle of Gavilan – May 5, 1817. Author.

Fletcher, J. (2018b). Combat of Samaipata, August 6, 1814

Fletcher, J. (2018c). The Battle of Urica, December 5, 1814 (Draft). Author.

Harvey, R. (2000). Liberators: South America’s Savage Wars of Freedom 1810-30. London: Robinson.

Wepman, D. (1988). Bolivar. London: Burke Publishing Company Limited.

Xavi Blue. (2023a). Batallas de Guaica, La Cabrera y La Victoria. Author.

Xavi Blue. (2023b). Batalla de Niquitao 2 de julio de 1813