Rules Tweak: Morale Redesign

I had always wanted to streamline my morale rules.

In an online conversation with 'Za Rodinu' on the WW2Talk Forum, he mentioned some morale related percentage figures for the Spearhead rules that he uses.

Usually when one tests a unit one has to work out the unit strength & its losses then adjust for a multiplicity of criteria, some of which will always apply (eg: 'orders require an advance' or 'elite unit') and then consult a chart to determine the units actions. Its always nice to use the same dice rolling method for every aspect of a game anyway, so a bit of a rewrite was called for.

I wanted each unit to have a variable morale level which would fluctuate throughout a game. The confidence of the unit would be decreased (or increased, I suppose) initially by its troop quality and later by its casualties, combat history and enforced withdrawals but may equally be fortifed, in real engagements, by its perseverance in the face of adversity (in game terms, by getting lucky dice rolls in its morale tests). For solo games, the Morale Level of the unit could be displayed nearby on a numbered token making record-keeping unneccesary (or noted down elsewhere in multiplayer games). The small amount of record-keeping would greatly offset the time normally spent bean counting.

However, try as I might, mulling over formulae and sketch graphs once more, I could not arrive at a mathematical model which suited my requirements. Therfore using the Paint program I drew up a graphical representation of all of the morale results so that by reading along the Morale Level axis and up the Morale Dice Roll axis, the intersection gives you the troop reaction.

Playtesting has proved that this is a workable tool...