Promotions and Medals (2)

As I explained earlier, I maintain some continuity over our different ACW battles. In a sense it's somewhat old-school, but very effective in instilling a campaign feel over what otherwise would be a series of unlinked battles.

I use several mechanisms:

1. After each battle, the commanders who participated (they are drawn randomly from a stack of cards) roll for additional stats or something else that could have happened to them. I use a simple table for this:

Roll a die:
1-3: no pain nor gain
4-5: roll on the table below.
6: personal injury, roll on table below

1    Command Range increases by 1 (maximum 4). If already at 4, roll again.
2    Movement command bonus increases by 1
3    Fire command bonus increases by 1 (max +3)
4    Charge command bonus increases by 1(max +3)
5    Infantry command bonus increases by 1(max +3)
6    Cavalry command bonus increases by 1(max +3)
7    Artillery command bonus increases by 1(max +3)
8    Becomes older and less reactive ... Command range decreases by 1 (minimum 1). Roll again if CR already = 1.
9    Receives a nickname. Invent one.
10    Roll again.


1    Killed in action. Remove from campaign and replace by a new officer.
2    Loses an eye.
3    Loses an arm.
4    Loses a leg.
5    Scar in face.
6    Develops a drinking habit.
7    Horse shot and dead.
8    Deserts and switches sides.
9-10    Roll D10 + number of battles fight. If >=10 ==> retire. Remove from campaign and replace by a new officer.

2. Each player can name a unit that behaved exceptionally during the battle. Such units also roll on a table for some additional benefits:

    Inf  //  L Inf  //  Cav  //  Art
1    +1 fire act  //  +1 act roll   // +1 charge act //   + 1 fire act
2    +1 move act  //  +1 move act  //  +1 move act  //  +1 move act
3    Roll again. //   move roll “1” => 2 (subsequent 3 or 4)  //  move roll “1” => 2 //   Roll again.
4    +1 firing die  //  +1 firing die  //  +1 melee die  //  +1 firing die
5    Starts game +1 Str  //  Starts game +1 Str   // Starts game +1 Str  // Starts game +1 Str
6    Nickname //   Nickname  //  Nickname  //  Nickname

3. Units that were routed lose all accumulated bonuses, and start again but now with a regimental number one higher than before.

So, as an example after the Battle of Port Republic, we got the following for the Union:

• The Old Forester Fusiliers were routed, so in the next game they are named the 2nd Old Forester Fusiliers
• The Laphroaig Lancers were recommended by Phil for exceptional courage, the die roll said they will start the next game at +1 Unit Strength.
• The Basil Hayden's Big Guns were recommended by Eddy for bravery, and they deserve a nickname according to the rolled result. Since all unit names were generated by ChatGPT, as "imaginative names for American Civil War units inspired by whisky and bourbon brands", I did some googling, and it turned out Basil Hayden whisky originated as Old Granddad ... so the unit becomes "The Old Granddaddies".

 

I keep track of everything in an excel file, an equivalent to the old-school "wargaming journal".