Re: how do untreated casualties work?

On Sun, 27 Feb 2000 16:56:43 +1000, "Glover, Owen"
<oglover@museum.vic.gov.au>
wrote:

>Although a game (any rule set that is) can sometimes get bogged down in
>Morale checks, the more sever results of a check can benefit the game.
The
>maximum Two CL drops in any one Confidence check in SGII is a good
measure
>that a unit won't go from an Elite pumped gang of pscho killers to a
>quivering spineless gaggle of cowards on one role of the dice

I like that too. Unfortunately, I've seen too much of the other end of
the
scale. A squad loses 6 out of 8 people but is still confident? Okay,
elites I
can sort of see that, but regulars? 

My two changes were just to the tests themselves. First, I changed the
rule
that gave a 4/3/1 test for low/med/high motivation troops if they took
more
casualties in one turn than they had figures left. It's a simple change;
I
reworded it to state that the test is done if the squad took the same or
more
casualties as it had figures left in the squad. 

Second, I made use of the squad status card's "full strength" listing.
Once a
squad loses half or more of it's full strength complement, I make it
take a
4/3/1 test. This is in addition to the usual morale rolls, but it's only
done
once in the game (I do have some additional clarifications in situations
where
two squads are combined together to form one new squad).

So, one rewording of the morale rules, and one additional test. The
result is
that a squad that takes a lot of casualties rarely remains at confident
(unless elite). Basically, I stiffened the penalty for taking lots of
hits to
a squad, which in turn rewards a player who pulls badly hurt squads out
of the
line and replaces them with reserves. 

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@interlog.com
Goodall's Grotto: http://www.interlog.com/~agoodall/

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"