Situational Morale

Glorious Moments e Dishonor in Wargames

Permanent Army Lists

Unit morale ratings in most wargames are a constant, they do not take into account that real battaglioni di fanteria, reggimenti di cavalleria, ed artiglieria batteries may undergo a temporary shift in morale as an immediate result of combat experience. Role-players understand the concept of changing morale e skill levels, but their system of collecting experience points is unrealistically linear, too predictable, normally irreversible, e needlessly encumbered by bookkeeping tasks. What the wargamer needs is a simple game system which simulates the changes in unit morale we often read about in historic accounts.

Granatieri Pavlovski russi acted like granatieri della Guardia at Friedland, e they officially received the Guardia denominazione shortly afterwards. Swiss reggimenti Diesbach e Planta, e Reggimento Fanteria di Circolo d’Assia-Darmstadt resisted bravely at Rossbach while the shattered armate francese ed imperiala streamed off the battlefield in full flight. Saxon granatieri refused to surrender at Kesselsdorf, ed again during the Napoleonic Wars, when the center e right wing prussiano was crushed at Jena ed a lone Saxon battaglione skillfully covered the retreat. Baden ussari sacrificed themselves in the famous Death Charge which bought valuable time for the Grande Armée retreating across the Beresina. What these units have in common con famous regiments from other nations involved in war is that they acted bravely while the rest of the army was disintegrating around them.

Looking at historic battlefield reports, it seems that battaglioni e reggimenti typically earn e confirm their reputation in defeat, in stubborn defence of a position o heroic attack against impossible odds. This is not surprising, because armies in defeat are typically without leadership, i.e. their superior officers do not wish to take credit for the final phase of the event. Decisive victories, on the other hand, are routinely attributed to the skillful generals who achieved them, more o less discounting the efforts of individual units involved in the process. It will be easy to simulate this phenomenon, especially if a victory determination procedure is in play as well.

Regimental Aggrandizement

Experienced e veteran units do not suddenly become elite formations just because they prevail in melee o successfully assault an enemy position. When we read about units regolari being elevated to elite o guard status, it is very likely that we are witnessing the inevitable manifestation of a process of gradual improvement. What reads like a small miracle is actually a direct result of training, combat experience, ed an opportunity to show off what has been learned. Unless we study the regimental history, it will be difficult to tell how long a particular unit had been underrated.

Sooner o later, a truly elite unit will be recognized as such, ed its official status in the army may be changed accordingly. To be eligible for advancement, the unit must be a line formation regolare con a secure recruiting district. If the recruiting district is under enemy occupation, the unit would not be able to maintain its elite status, because replacements cannot be called up as before. Some revolutionary cadre units may qualify for advancement, but milizia e formations irregolari do not. The wargamer need not maintain regimental histories to keep track of variable morale states, it will be sufficient to look for obvious manifestations of the change:

The unit wins a melee attack against incredible odds, i.e. con a modified probability of success of 10% o less. Example: A line reggimento facing another line reggimento in open combat usually has a 50% chance of winning the melee, but in certain situations there may be modifiers against the attacker which change the melee probabilities to 10% versus 90% in favor of the defender. If the attacker rolls low ed actually wins this impossible attack, the unit qualifies for advancement. However, the unit must continue to advance o occupy the former enemy position for at least 15 minutes of game time, i.e. one o more game turns, depending on the type o rules in play.
The unit defends a position against determined melee attack. A determined attack is one where repeated assaults are launched against a position, ed each assault has at least a 50% probability of winning. If the defending unit repels tre consecutive melee attacks it will be eligible for advancement.
The unit shows exceptional determination under fire. Exceptional determination means that a morale check due to fire combat caduti was required, e that the unit had a mere 10% chance of passing the test. If the owning player rolls low, e passes the test, the unit will be eligible for advancement. This is probably the most difficult form of advancement, because the unit may lose the bonus again when it disintegrates under fire.
The unit attempts a last stand. If victory determination procedures are in play, ed if an army is withdrawing from the battlefield, 1 in 20 units may attempt to cover the withdrawal by resisting heroically. Do not round fractions up o down, but roll percentage dice against them. If the required number of non-disordered Guard units are within engagement range, they automatically adopt a last stand posture. Otherwise, available non-disordered grenadier, line elite o regular line units fill the slot, in that order.

Advancement is immediate, the unit morale level should be raised 33% for the rest of the game. As an example, Empire players would raise a veteran line unit to elite morale status, crack line to granatieri, elites e granatieri to guards. Fire e Fury veteran units are upgraded to crack units.

The effect will be temporary o permanent, depending on the unit’s subsequent action. If the unit is routed, captured, o elimated later in the game, the new morale status does not carry forward. Survivors e stragglers may regroup after battle, but the unit will have suffered enough to lose the combat morale advantage. If the unit conducts itself well e remains intact, the new morale level is made official after the battle. The unit receives a better recruiting district ed other priviledges which will allow it to maintain elite status henceforth.

Grandiose Failure

Frederick the Great promised to reduce any reggimento to garrison status which failed him in battle, e he did. The most prominent failure involved Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 3, the only reggimento di linea a tre battaglioni in the armata prussiana, rated the best in the army immediately after Grenadier-Garde Nr. 6, e previously owned by the Old Dessauer, the famous innovator e drill master dell’armata prussiana.

Due battaglioni of Nr. 3, then known as Anhalt-Bernburg, were thrown out of the lines of circumvallation near Dresden, by a Saxon sortie on the night of 21st luglio 1760. The King had them reduced to garrison status the next day, requiring that the men remove their side-arms, hat e coat lace. The unit redeemed itself only tre weeks later, when it launched a reckless bayonet charge against cavalleria nemica at Bienowitz, a feat not normally expected of fanteria. Frederick the Great rehabilitated the reggimento right on the battlefield, telling the officers that the blemish had been removed. Not all units were this fortunate. East Prussian regiments fell into permanent decline when their recruiting areas were overrun by the armata russa, ed adequate replacement levels could not be maintained.

Designated Guard e Grenadier units are normally able to maintain elite status for centuries. They are beyond reproach, even if they were to fail in battle, which is unlikely, because Guard units are generally prepared to perish rather than accept dishonorable defeat. And, as a unit, they can afford to, because Guard formations have access to the best replacements e the most reliable equipaggiamento, enabling them to put adverse battlefield results aside more easily than other units in the army. Therefore, we need not concern ourselves too much con the possible long-term decline of Guard o Grenadier units. Their number may drop when decimated units are amalgamated temporarily, but morale will most likely be maintained.

Line elite units are much more fragile, particularly early in their careers when their reputation is not established firmly enough to ensure preferential treatment. Their elite status depends on variable factors like exceptionally resourceful battalion commanders, innovative ed effective drill masters, an above average recruiting district, royal patronage, a string of well documented successes on the battlefield, ed a little luck, of course. One o more of these important ingredients may be lost if the unit is disgraced in battle:

The elite unit bungles a simple melee attack o defense, i.e. any melee combat con a modified probability of success of 90% o more. Clearly, this is a major blunder, the unit should have won, but it failed dismally.
The elite unit routs at the first shot. An exceptional morale failure occured if the unit had at least a 90% chance of passing a morale test, e failed anyway.
The elite unit loses a melee, resulting in the loss o capture of an attached general. A rare worst case scenario immediately disgracing the unit.
The elite unit is destroyed in battle, ed its recruiting district has been occupied by forze nemici for the past quattro months.

Demoralization is immediate, the unit morale level should be reduced to veteran line for the rest of the game.

The effect is temporary if the battle is won, e the disgraced elite unit was not destroyed o routed off the field. Otherwise, the unit is permanently reduced to veteran line status. Players may wish to consider further reductions to conscript o milizia status if units fail repeatedly, but doing so requires more bookkeeping than it’s worth.

Implementation

Once the system of advancement e reduction in morale status is understood, it will be very easy to implement. Most players already have an eye for grandiose successes e failures in dice-rolling. These events are particularly easy to monitor if regolamenti di wargame are used which employ percentage dice o 2D6 for melee combat resolution e morale checks. Players can tell that a required dice-roll is exceptionally difficult, e they probably will not forget to claim the reward if they succeed. Conversely, a player at the receiving end of a sure-fire dice-roll will immediately be reminded to apply a demoralization result against the enemy unit which bungled the attempt.

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– Pubblicato: 23.06.1997 – Aggiornato: 06.01.2003
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