So far I’ve used the quick march rate as a fleeing distance for infantry, but I want something a little more scientific rather than just plucking a figure out of the air.
Therefore I have been researching across various websites to try and find an average running speed for humans. So where better to go to that RunnersWorld.com.
On the article I’ve linked you can see that based on 300 million uploads to the Strata App the average running pace for a man running the mile was 9 minutes 15 seconds. So that seems to be a good place to start. Let’s convert this into our scale:
1 Mile Time | 1 Mile in Metres | 1 Mile at Scale (1:5300) |
9:15 (555 Secs) | 1,609 | 30.36 cm |
Now we need to establish how far they would run in 10 minutes (1 turn):
Distance | Divided by Seconds (555) | Times by 600 Seconds (10 mins) |
30.36 cm | 0.05 cm | 32.82 cm |
Next I’d like to break this down into individual 2 minute actions:
Distance in 10 minutes | Divided by 5 Actions |
32.82 cm | 6.564 cm |
Not exactly a nice round figure, however if we make this 6 cm per action we have a running distance of 30 cm in 10 minutes. Which considering the extra kit that men would be carrying seems reasonable.
THE RULES
So when a unit breaks, following a loss in combat or failing a morale test they would run 6 cm per action. This would form its reaction. For example:
Red Forces Brigade closes to within 2 cm of Blue Forces Brigade on its 3rd Action and unleashes a deadly volley at close range. Once the damage has been calculated Blue takes its morale test as normal for its reaction and fails by more than 2, it therefore flees 6 cm for its reaction directly away from the Red Brigade ending its reaction facing away from the enemy. The Red Forces in its 4th Action pass a morale and advance on Blue Brigade. Blue Brigade once more fails a morale test ad flees 6 cm. On the fifth action Red Forces are now 12 cm away from Blue and choose to hold. When it comes to Blue forces turn, they can attempt to rally at the start of the turn, otherwise they would flee 30 cm (5 actions).
I’ve removed a test every action once a broken unit is outside of 10 cm of the enemy and replaced this with a single test. However i’m willing to consider having a unit test 5 times after each action if people feel that’s a more realistic option.
Let me know your thoughts.
Peter