"The question of morale in 'Old School' wargames" Topic

Having been driven to despair trying to find a rule set that I actually like, I am planning to spend a day this weekend going back to basics and playing a game using rules more akin to those of my youth. In other words a set of rules written on the back of an envelope including the excessive use of buckets of dice.
For inspiration I re-read part of the great Mr Featherstones 'Battle with Model Soldiers' but noticed that there is very little provision made for morale. Does anyone have their own morale system they could pass on?

Cheers,
Steve
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How fancy/detailed do you want ??

Hi Ed, Nothing too detailed or fancy but something that will not see units fighting to the last man or a relatively unscathed unit fleeing the field due to an unlucky die roll!

Hi Ed, Nothing too detailed or fancy but something that will not see units fighting to the last man or a relatively unscathed unit fleeing the field due to an unlucky die roll!

When a unit reaches 50% strength it routs.

Perhaps a little more detailed than that Margard.

A unit is 12 figures, and when a figure is lost, roll 2d6. If the roll is greater than the number of figures left, the unit routs.

That means that most units will rout at 6 figures, but some will rout earlier, and some later.

If you think that a unit shouldn't rout with the first loss, either make the starting unit bigger, or a different combination of dice. (3d4 instead of 2d6 will push the peak of the bell curve higher at 6-7.)

Roll a D6, add 1 for elite, subtract 1 for green.
2 or less – routs
3-4 retires one move
5-6 continues as normal.

Elite check at 50% & 75% losses
Everyone else checks at 25%, 50%, and 75% losses.

Once at 75% check every turn, except green who have to check every turn after 50% losses..

For a unit at 50% or greater, check morale. All units are either good, bar or normal. Good=4 normal =3 bad =2. Roll equal or under to pass. If you do not pass, and the die roll was odd remove one figure/take one hit. If even remove two/take 2 hits. This way units melt away instead of simply disappearing in a blink.

Perhaps a little more detailed than that Margard.

Well you did ask for something "Old School"

The other suggestions above are perhaps more what you are looking for…

Command Decision probably has the best morale system. Units can route simply by being shot at (perhaps even just being near the enemy for really bad troops)

Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagle is not old school, but it's made by a guy who's disappointed by ASL. It's also hex & counter, so may require some conversion.

Basically, a unit has 3 morale ratings. Say, 10, 6, 2. 10 is when the unit is okay. 6 is when the unit is suppressed, 2 is the unit is fully suppressed. Suppression goes with time. It's almost impossible to wipe out a unit via shooting.

Units also have proficiency rating. For example 2. If a non-suppressed unit is trying to move and shoot he rolls a d10, and have to score his morale – proficiency to be able to do so. So it's 10-2 = 8, so it has to roll 8 or lower. Charging into assault and opportunity fire also require this test.

Then there's Rout. Rout test is taken when: they are adjacent to enemy unit that is not in melee, they are in the same hex as enemy unit, or they are in open ground and within 5 hexes and line of sight of an enemy unit not in melee. They have to roll equal to or less than their morale rating. If fail, it will seek cover. If, when seeking for cover it comes to a hex adjacent to an enemy, it's destroyed, lost, etc. So if a unit is routing because it's in the same hex as an enemy, it's automatically lost.

You can see the rules here.
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I think personally that buckets o' dice beats buckets o' charts n tables and calculatin' any day.

I'm with you on that one Piper909

OK, oldest school in our repertoirse (mid-1960's) with
Napoleonics -

Take fire, no problem.

Take casualties, unit still > 50 % D6 1-4, no effect
5,6 withdraw one line move, face to enemy, good order.

Take casualties, unit at or < 50 % D6 1, OK, 2-5 retire
one line move, BACKS to the enemy, disordered 6 ROUT, 2
column moves, one turn in place recover morale D6 1-2, fail
3-6. Increase recover by 2 each turn until successful
unless fired-upon, new check.

Lose melee, unit still > 50 % withdraw from contact,
face to enemy, good order.

Lose melee, unit at or <50 %, ROUT 2 column moves,
disorganized. Recover as above.

You can embellish that with + or – for elites/greens, for
command quality, for loss of a unit's color, for previous
success in the same battle/game, etc.

Disordered units fire/melee at a penalty; disorganized
units do not fire and if melee'd, surrender.

Have you looked at Charles Grant's 'The War Game'?

In addition to the bulk of the regiment a key consideration is casulaties to officers and the like, numbers of which are restricted. Morale is (if I recall properly as I'm not at home)a combination of heavy casualties amoung the troops and hits on the very limited officer pool 5 figures out of a total strength of 53. All done on D6.

Regards