"Test for army morale" Topic

I am thinking at what point should an army test for morale – not the individual units but the army as a whole.

For my purposes this is WW2 specific – I am just starting a campaign (covering the Crimea operations) but the principle probably applies to all periods (?).

The mechanic I am likely to use iwill be a saving roll is required at a point when there are a number units become casualties (destroyed/suffering from adverse morale) that the army must check to see if it will stay on the table. It will be a saving roll with modifiers dependent on nationality, etc.

What percentage casualties of the overall army do you think I should set as the point to start the saving rolls? I guess also, should the army roll every subsequent turn or at incremental points (say when the army suffers a further 5% casualties in turn)?

Any thoughts, views or guidance is much appreciated.

Thanks

When it is not winning. An army that is winning is usually happy to continue. If you base your test in losses there may bea problem with the attrition rate of the rules which will often be higher than is realistic.

martin

I like the mechanism used by Battlegroup WW2. At start, each army is rated for a certain morale level---this is based on points of units. So a PZIV squadron costs 30 points and gives you 9 points of army morale.

As you lose units or suffer bad things (such as being attacked by air or flamethrower, or losing your senior commander), you draw a card---these have numbers from 1-5, but average around 2-3. There are also a number of event cards, but that's another story.

So as you lose units, you lose army morale. When the number drawn exceeds your army morale, game over, man!

Different period but simple mechanism: Twilight of the Sun King (War of the Spanish Succession) has brigades as the basic unit (and artillery battalions). When the number of units routed reaches 50%, the army must test morale, needing 4+ on 1D6 to pass. Every turn that another unit is lost, test again.

Something like that should do you. You can set the test point differently based on the motivation of the forces engaged, so poor troops start testing at 30 or 40$ losses, normal at 50%, highly motivated at 60%, etc.

When an army fails morale, it quits the field and the other side wins.

Another mechanism is that used by OP14, when a formation (usually a Corps) suffers 25% losses, it draws a playing card. Every time it suffers another loss, it keeps going if the card is equal to or less in value than the last card drawn, otherwise it become exhausted.

Exhausted units can't attack and are penalised on defence. Once 50% of an armies formations are exhausted, it stops fighting for the day.

It seems to me that a single die roll that takes the army from okay to quitting the field is not too realistic. Doesn't it seem like a whole army might first waiver -- perhaps unable to advance -- first and then subsequent failures continue to erode the army's status. After a couple of failures the army may quit the field with those units in the poorest tactical situation merely surrendering.

While testing for army morale in Horse and Musket makes a certain amount of sense, for a WWII Army I wonder how realistic it is – I mean, a lot of the troops on your own side can't even see each other

What army morale would be, I guess, would be the commander deciding to throw in the towel to save what they can; in this case Martin's idea makes a lot of sense and would be also pretty easy to keep track of

Thank you for the suggestions – great ideas and I will work them through.

I think all of the ideas are valid. I particularly like Martin's suggestion but the others are also different, clever ways to approach the same problem.

Thanks a lot all.

Kevin

Just got my copy of the board game W1815, about Waterloo. It has some very interesting ideas about army morale. The loss of corps modifies army morale roll, etc.

The OP14 method works very well,although you may wish to tweak the casualty thresholds to reflect your particular rules.

Thanks again Martin – I have dug out a copy of OP14 and will take a much closer look.

I am also going to pick up a copy of W1815 – looks very good.

Thanks everyone for your help.
Kevin