Force Morale

An idea for force morale:

The force morale is the average of the morale of the units summed 
divided by the number of units. Round in an appropriate direction. If 
you want to, give a bonus for having a known, established leader with 
a history of excellence. (This does tend to affect the morale of the 
army after a while - as does winning consistently).

Force morale tests should be made when 
- the first unit is routed or destroyed
- 25% of the formation is shaken, routed, or destroyed 
- 50% of the formation is shaken, routed, or destroyed
- 75% of the formation is shaken, routed, or destroyed
- Force command unit is routed, surrounded, cutoff or destroyed
- First contact with an alien force or units that cause terror

Modifiers
- Overall commander quality
- Force history (a tight knit unit that works together and/or
has a string of victories will probably have higher force morale
than a force that is newly assembled or has taken a series
of defeats)
- Odds (3:1 in favour of the attacker spells bad force morale for the 
defender, although fortifications offset this)
- Enemy has destroyed or routed more friendly units than it has 
sustained as casualties
- Enemy has destroyed or routed two times more friendly units than it 
has sustained as casualties
- Reinforcements available, Support
- Importance of the Objective (Islamic forces defending their 
homeland from the infidels might well get good bonuses)

If a Force Morale check is failed, and Force command exists, force 
must begin to withdraw. If a Morale check is badly failed, and force 
command exists, force must retreat rapidly or surrender units which 
cannot retreat. If a Morale check is failed and Force command DNE, 
then each unit must roll vs quality or withdraw or surrender 
(depending on situation). Ones that succeed may (at the controlling 
players option) withdraw or continue to follow their last known 
orders.

Just an idea. It is a little complex. Maybe someone has some simpler 
suggestions. In SG2, my favorite game, this would only realy show up 
as scenario based restrictions or events (at some point, if the force 
collapses around the SG2 combatants, one side may realize it and have 
to start to withdraw). This is more of a DS2 problem it seems, so I 
haven't got very rules specific in my suggestion since I'm not up on 
DS2 rules. 

Tom. 
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Thomas Barclay
Software Specialist
Police Communications Systems
Software Kinetics Ltd.
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