There is one benefit/disbenefit to publishing my thought processes on rules creation via this blog that I’ve come across. It is clear to see for everyone the errors that are creeping in when you develop more and more of the game. Strength is becoming one of them.

It is becoming more apparent that I need to revisit the strength indicators and make them both easier to manage and to follow.

STRENGTH

Our current strength settings are set at every 50 men in a battalion contributing 1 strength point to their Brigade. The Firing/Combat Dice are then a quarter of this figure:

Strength	Combat/Firing Dice
53-56	14
49-52	13
45-48	12
41-44	11
37-40	10
33-36	9
29-32	8
25-28	7
21-24	6
17-20	5
13-16	4
9-12	3
5-8	2
1-4	1

My proposal for changing this would be to base strength as 1 for every 100 men in a battalion, this figure can then be halved rather than quartered to calculate the firing/combat dice.

When casualties are suffered it would still be a on a 1 hit for 50 men basis, meaning that if (in the unlikely event) a unit was reduced to zero strength, it would only equate to half its original strength. My thinking being that any unit that has suffered half of its strength as casualties wouldn’t stick around too long!

CAVALRY

It’s also become apparent while compiling the Battle of Talavera lists that Cavalry units need to have their strength decreased. Cavalry units were being compiled with over 100 strength each time using the ratio of 1:10 men. Therefore, I’m going to change this to in 1:50 strength and continue testing on that basis. It may need further revision and may even come in line to Infantry in time, but currently i’ll continue with a 1:50 basis.

NEW STRENGTH CHART

Strength	Firing/Combat Dice
49-50	25
47-48	24
45-46	23
43-44	22
41-42	21
39-40	20
37-38	19
35-36	18
33-34	17
31-32	16
29-30	15
27-28	14
25-26	13
23-24	12
21-22	11
19-20	10
17-18	9
15-16	8
13-14	7
11-12	6
9-10	5
7-8	4
5-6	3
3-4	2
1-2	1

RESULTS FOR TRACKING

This may make it easier for tracking both strength and firing dice. With either a player choosing to represent the strength of each battalion on their own bases with 2D6, or on the commanders base with 4D6. However, it could just as easily be tracked on an Order of Battle Sheet. This strength would then be divided by two (rounding up) to calculate the number of firing/combat dice a unit would have.