We really like the resolve mechanism in Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Bundling all morale factors into one number and using that to simulate combat, reaction to the result of combat, and a commander’s ability to rally. We think it one of the things that makes Tilly’s Very Bad Day unique. So I wondered how to take it further. One possibility is to weaken resolve when moving in disrupting terrain.
Pike+shot and horse in woods
Horse and pike+shot don’t fight well in difficult terrain but it does happen. For example in Small Kircholm – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report 2, the Swedes garrisoned the village with three horse units and a Cossack light horse unit in Polish service took them on.
On the other flank of the same battle, the Swedes had horse holding the forest against approaching Winged Hussars.
In S01 Attack on Prepared Position – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1 the Spanish took the direct route to the Swedes and just marched through the woods.
In Small Herbsthausen – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report, I was massively outnumbered and hid my pike+shot in woods to hold the right flank.
Current rules: Combat modifiers
The current special rules for pike+shot and horse fighting in difficult terrain are …
12.2.12. Horse shooting in difficult terrain
- Horse units shoot with 1 less shooting dice when in difficult terrain.
14.5.2. Melee dice
- -1d6 when Horse in difficult terrain
14.5.3. Melee to hit
- Horse hit on 6 when in difficult terrain
- Pike+Shot hit on 6 when in difficult terrain
Possible rule: Weaken Resolve when moving in disrupting terrain
I think I can eliminate those special rules, or most of them. The rules simulate the disruption these types of units experienced in difficult terrain. Effectively it makes them worse in combat. But so does a reduction in resolve. So I could replace the special rules with additions to the resolve rules. That means horse and pike+shot retain their normal to hit values but throw less dice.
Option 1: Weaken Resolve with each move in disrupting terrain
The first option is extreme. Each move in difficult terrain would cause a resolve loss for pike+shot and for horse. Spend enough time in difficult terrain and these units would rout.
Pike+shot and horse lose one resolve each game turn they move in difficult terrain. They can move more than once in the game turn, e.g. move, charge, rally back, and still only lose one resolve.
I suspect that is too tough.
Option 2: Never full resolve
The second option is that moving in difficult terrain causes a minor resolve loss.
Pike+shot and horse with full resolve lose one resolve when they move in difficult terrain. If the unit has already lost resolve, then it is not weakened further.
Pike+shot would hit on 5-6 in melee rather than the current 6. On average 3d6 hitting on 5-6 will score 1 hit. 4d6 hitting on 6 scores 0.67 hits on average. So the new rule would make pike+shot 50% more effective in difficult terrain. That means, for example, that pike+shot will be have a good chance of driving shot out of rough ground, something that would be chancy under the current rules. I think that is okay. Pike+shot would also be more effective at attacking fortifications. Again I think that is okay.
Pike+shot would be worse off shooting. Currently they would get their 4d6 and hit on a 6. In the new rule they would still hit on a 6 but with only 3d6.
Horse would be 5-6 to hit in melee instead of the current 6. In both the existing rule and the new rule they would roll 2d6. So they get twice as effective, from 0.33 average hits to 0.67 average hits. That would make them even odds against shot in rough ground. Not sure about that.
When shooting, horse would hit on a 6 in both current and new rule, but with 3d6 dropping to 26d. They drop from 0.50 average hits to 0.33.
Option 3: Never full resolve and penalise horse in melee
The third option is again that moving in difficult terrain causes a minor resolve loss, but in addition drop horse to hitting on a 6 in difficult.
Pike+shot and horse with full resolve lose one resolve when they move in difficult terrain. If the unit has already lost resolve, then it is not weakened further.
Horse hit on 6 when in difficult terrain
Pumps up pike+shot in difficult, like option 2. But penalising horse for melee (hit on 6) means they remain very weak when in difficult terrain. They are not going to drive shot out by charging them.
Conclusion
I like the elegance of the proposed resolve loss rule. It drops the -1d6 arbitrary combat modifier. Instead it leverages the unique morale system of Tilly’s Very Bad Day.
One of the consequences is that moving in difficult terrain has a lasting effect. Units will have to rally away the resolve loss. In the absence of a the ability for a unit to self-rally, this has to be done by a commander. This would have drastically changed Chris’s tactics in S01 Attack on Prepared Position – A Tilly’s Very Bad Day Battle Report 1; under the current rule Chris’s Spanish just marched through the woods and then launched themselves up hill into the entrenched Swedes. They would have second thoughts carrying resolve losses, perhaps either avoiding the woods or having to spend time rallying.
Similarly in Small Herbsthausen – A Tillys Very Bad Day Battle Report, my tactic of defending the woods with pike+shot would be more problematic. Okay, the Bavarians still won’t send their horse into the wood. But the French will have less fire power when shooting out of the woods.
Of the three variations, I think option 1 is too harsh. Option 2 is too lenient for horse. I think option 3 is the winner. It actually makes pike+shot more effective in difficult terrain and fortifications. I like that. Horse retain the 6 to hit penalty in option 3, and hence remain relatively powerless in difficult. I like that too.
These changes would be significant in 2024 as experiment with edges cases of Tilly’s Very Bad Day. The Northern Wars will likely feature more difficult terrain because the Cossacks have masses of shot, but are facing Polish-Lithuanian with horse supported by pike+shot. I also want to try out some Thirty Years War games with fortifications, which under the rules count as difficult terrain for the attacker.
What do you think?
Some questions:
What does “resolve” represent? Will to fight combined with morale?
My only observation would be that places like woods and villages seem to give troops a sense of security, that is a morale increase; so much so it was difficult to get them to move out!
BUA and woods effect fighting ability due to disruption / disorder. But this could be cancelled by some form of reordering of the ranks – perhaps separate this from the resolve as a separate category of resolve / fighting ability – disorder.
Disorder could be carried until a successful rally / resolve roll (separate from other resolve rolls) and carry a minus figure to both fighting and OTHER resolve rolls? Say -2; this would give an incentive to stop and reorder as in say your examples – move from woods and attack would mean doing so at minus 2 for both resolve and the fight.
I’d be wary of making woods and villages effectively no-go areas as this will lead to battles where the terrain “funnels” the action into a narrow area leading to slugfests and traffic jams; not saying it never happened, but doesn’t generally make for a good game – if every game ends up like that due to minor terrain, somethings wrong.
Neil
Neil, thanks for the suggestion.
Since these musings are partly an attempt to simplify the rules by leveraging existing mechanisms, I’m loath to add in a new rule for “disorder”.
As it happens I think the resolve mechanism incorporates the disorder your suggestion. I view a weakening of resolve as being accompanied by increasing disorder, ultimately leading to rout.
The suggestion in this post also reduces the impact of difficult terrain on pike+shot, so actually reduced any tendency to terrain funnels.
Pretty sure pikes especially, working in phalanx like close order would be near to useless in closed terrain .Imagine holding a 4m pike in woods? reduced to fighting with loosy swords.Maybe even losing their pikes. Your rules should discourage anything but skirmishing like units and musket (shot detachments) from fighting, if not moving in woods.
The rules already discourage pike+shot fighting in difficult terrain such as woods. The proposal also discourages this, but in a different way.
Hi Steven. Dang, I’m way behind on this series of posts* so here’s my first catch up. I think that the idea is good but I concur with Neil. This is using a temporary loss of resolve as a proxy for the penalty of being disordered. For that reason I’d be loth to make it a persistent loss until rallied off.
I’d suggest that it applies if the unit has actually moved, this move, in disordering terrain. That way, for example, Shot can perform like proper forlorn hope, moving into woods and shooting out from the edge at full effect once they’ve “settled in”.
This approach also has the benefit of avoiding the need for any additional marker other than the usual “moved” marker.
Units exiting difficult terrain will be vulnerable on the move they exit but will be deemed to have recovered order their order by the following turn. So, in the case you used above, of the Spanish troops advancing through the woods, the opposing general must consider whether an immediate counter-attack is in order, which is a nice tactical choice to be presented with.
With this approach, I’d still leave it that Horse and Light Horse suffer a further reduction of their combat dice pool to reflect their particularly poor capability in this kind of terrain and so further discourage them from entering it.
Regards, Chris
* but, on the other hand, I’m at least in the process of writing up the feedback from the last couple of games we’ve played.