"Morale Sticks???" Topic

I want to find a way to keep track of morale in a simple fashion but need 8 morale grades for what I'm doing.

I was thinking about some dowel that I could put a metal clip on and move it up and down. Maybe colored areas showing grades.

Or something like a flag I can move up and down.

Any suggestions?

Army or unit morale? I could put up with a single piece of dowel for the entire army, but I'm not so sure about a dozen or so marking each unit, especially if they stick up into the air.
I play PigWars, where individual figures have0-3 stripes for quality /morale. I bought round magnets the same size as the bases and painted the stripes on them. Of course, with 8 morale grades, your magnets would be much busier than mine. I think you'd also have to stop and count stripes beyond 3 or 4. The ideal would be something that didn't stick straight up or drag behind your unit like you were attempting rope navigation on the plains.

Grelber

Some kind of dial?

Unit morale

Steel base then a magnet cover with a window to show current level.

Small D8?

A dial might work

I can probably make it with 6 levels if I have to

If it's going to go on a base, instead of a dowel, use pipe cleaners, or sewing pins (cut the pins down to a few mm).

For 8 levels, use binary (only need 3 digits):
0 = 000
1 = 001
2 = 010
3 = 011
4 = 100
5 = 101
6 = 110
7 = 111

Use 3 pins per base. A pin in a position means a 1, no pin means 0. So…pin, empty, pin = morale 5.

Binary?

I think my head would explode…

John T

Ditto to John, but my head already exploded from eight levels of morale. Can a person really comprehend it levels of morale. I've always been comfortable with three : I will keep fighting, I am going to stand around for a while as I think about fighting, I am not going to fight anymore. There might be a fourth – I'm going to fight extra hard, and attack everybody in sight.

If it some sort of measure of unit state/cohesion, then stick a small (say 10mm x 10mm) square of magnabase on the base, and make up some markers numbered 1 to 8 out of steel paper.

All my bases have magnetic strips on for precisely that sort of thing.

Dowels, counters, rings etc generally only work to track two or three unit states.

CatenWolde uses nice figures of feeling/dead figures to mark morale effect in his ACW games. Otherwise my club tends to use dice/beads but the figure markers look WAY more nice!

Try these Jim.

link

Or something like these.

link

I think morale is more of a sliding scale with "break points." I could probably make a case for 20-30 "levels" but these are not likely to impact a game much. 8 levels is a workable range IF the gamer can easily use that info. For example, in melee higher morale get s a bonus equal to the difference.

But if I have to constantly cross check the current morale level with a chart to get a modifier, that could really slow things to a crawl.

Oh come on, binary isn't that hard. Of course, I've been working with it for 20 years or so. And I can get those 30 levels in just 5 digits, so it doesn't take up too much space on the mini's base.

Another dreadfully simple-but-effective idea: little rocks. They blend into the terrain, they fit on the unit bases, and they're free.

I went one step further and mounted rocks on pennies, then flocked them. To make them work for "hit counting" systems each penny has one rock, two rocks, or three rocks. I had to do zero shopping to complete the project – I just collected the pennies over time from my pockets, gathered pebbles from the great outdoors, and used the spray primer and white glue and flocking I already had on hand. I finished the project in one day of crafting, much of which was a long break between spraypainting in the morning and gluing in the evening. Two things I also recommend in hindsight:

• Paint the pennies light or medium brown and flock them with a mix of browns and greens. Mine are very green so they don't blend into desert terrain very well.
  
• On 3-rock pennies, use one BIG rock + two little rocks so it's easier to count rocks at a glance.

- Ix

I use small colour coded bases. Green for Steady, Yellow for Nervous, Orange for Wavering and Red for Broken. The system I use measures casualties and morale state as a single composite measure I term combat effectiveness (CE). There are actually mere grades then there are colour codes as each one covers two or three levels of CE. This allows players to have some idea of the state of the enemy units willingness to continue in combat without knowing exactly what the CE score is. Think of it as reflecting the visual clues that were available. Things like seeing the pikes in disarray or sergeants pushing men back into line at Sword point.

My markers are about 2cm by 1cm card with a length of triangular plastic rod along the length of the marker. In front of the rod is the description. On the rear slope of the rod is the score. 2mm sided rods work well. To be sure I also write the score under the marker.

Oops I thought this thread was about cigarettes (I don't smoke).

Per Ardua

" it's going to go on a base, instead of a dowel, use pipe cleaners, or sewing pins (cut the pins down to a few mm).

For 8 levels, use binary (only need 3 digits):
0 = 000
1 = 001
2 = 010
3 = 011
4 = 100
5 = 101
6 = 110
7 = 111

Use 3 pins per base. A pin in a position means a 1, no pin means 0. So…pin, empty, pin = morale 5."

However, a quick glance might mistake a 1 for a 4 or a 2 or vice versa.

I would recommend the dice option. I need reading glasses so other options can't be seen very easily

You have 8 levels, change the die colour to give the last two.
So if 1 is "terrible" and 8 is "kill the enemy", use a white die 1 -> 7 and 2 -> 8. Change to red die for 1-6

The die can be on command stand or separate base. Try both and check how fiddly it is to change the die

The other benefit is that if you change your mind and want a different mechanism then it will be very easy. I agree with others that 8 levels is too complicated. 8 strength points for a unit might be reasonable though.

I did think about the binary idea at one point, but using a base with 1-3 figures on it. Some people will read binary easily, some will not get it at all ….

Thanks

John