These two systems are quite different, mechanically, than those found in PW, yet a consolidated set of rules, with a mixture of each, should be workable. Strength Points (SP) in PW will equate to HC/BP Stamina. Instead of rolling one die per unit or one die per SP, the number of combat dice will be determined by their modified HC/BP stats.
Morale saves, which is an abstraction of several things, including armor, likely need no changes at all. The density of a Roman formation, plus its armor may well equate to the “thin red line” without armor, of British infantry in the Crimea, for example. Other changes for Morale will follow.
Stamina is primarily the ability of the unit to remain in combat, in spite of its losses. Thus, larger units, have more men and thus more staying power, compared to units with much fewer men. While not 100% accurate, this assessment is true “enough” for campaign purposes.
How then are the point costs to be resolved? The likely answer is provided thusly:
Hail Caesar
Black Powder
Under Hail Caesar the Feudal Heavy Infantry is 26 points per unit, inclusive of its stat line and special rules.
“The value is 7+7+3+0+(3)+6 = 26 points. The value of the Morale Save (3) is the number of successful roll combinations on a single dice, so a save of 6 = 1 (1 in 6 chance), a save of 5+ = 2 (2 in 6 chance), a save of 4+ = 3 (3 in 6 chance).” From Hail Caesar Army Lists: Late Antiquity to Early Medieval.
Under the Black Powder system, which does not have the Clash or Sustained characteristics, using Hand-to-Hand, and only one Shooting value, the point cost for Feudal Heavy Infantry would be calculated as follows: 7+1.5 (@.5 per pip being under 6” range) +12+24 = 44.5pts. This is far too high a point cost for a unit potentially fighting artillery and repeating rifle armed forces. The problem area is the stamina, as both games rate the costs of stamina differently.
Converting stamina to the HC system would cause the point cost for this unit to become, 7+1.5+12+6 = 26.5, which still seems to be a bit excessive relative to its tabletop utility.
The question then becomes whether the cost for each point of save is too high, given that, in this case, it is 12 points for a 4+ save. By reducing this cost, the units may become more in line with each other, balance-wise.
Looking at the separation between eras, by dominance (see previous post), a typical unit in Hail Caesar would be two periods away from many, if not most, units in Black Powder. Therefore, a rule of thumb may be taken as to reduce the save cost per pip by the degree of separation between periods of dominance.
Now, the cost of this same unit would become, 7+1.5+6+6 = 20.5. This new cost would provide two units of Feudal Heavy Infantry to face the unit of British infantry below, roughly equal terms, point-wise.
Direct comparisons between HC units and those in BP may appear to be faulty, but one may argue that the hand-to-hand strength for BP units could also be considered as very short-range shooting, plus melee. Also, the higher stamina for HC units, in general, would provide a bit of extra “umph” to these units, when facing range-dominant opponents. Such things as “armor penetration” are ignored as the the overall balance between the HC and BP units, with the above modifications is, at the very least, a starting point from which to make further adjustments.
Now, the points costs come down to where the units within the campaign will lay, as to their characteristics and abilities. Since this is an imagi-nations campaign, these can be worked out quite easily and with some confidence.
Beyond that, the economic outlay at the strategic level needs to be considered, given that the yearly economic output of most nations (at the current state of development process) will be unable to pay for units at these points values. Thus, once the calculations are made, the point cost for units will be divided by 10, allowing for many more units to be supported by their parent nation.
Finally, each of the units within the campaign would best be served if they were valued in multiples of ten, only, to get rid of fractional accounting. If this proves impossible, for whatever reason, then the points costs should be either in multiples of five or ten, allowing the fractional accounting to only consider halves or whole numbers.
The way to do that with the Feudal Heavy Infantry above is to remove their ranged characteristic and convert it to a special ability; Thrown Weapons, 1 point: During first contact with a unit in melee, add dice three to the initial combat roll, reflecting thrown axes, pila, darts, etc. In any subsequent turn, only the close combat dice are used.
This means that the cost for this type of unit would now be: 7+6+6+1 = 20/10 = 2.
Taking into account that a similar treatment of the British infantry would result in a 3.8-points cost, requiring an undesirable amount of fractional accounting, other steps to resolve the difference will need to be taken, or just simply ignored by rounding up. The latter is less ideal an answer, therefore a more cognitive approach is wanted. One easy method be to create a 2-point special ability, allowing BP units to change facing for free, instead of taking an activation to do so. However, this would only work when there is an exact .2 difference from a whole number, after dividing by 10. Further thought must be given to resolving this issue.
Furthermore, more thought needs to be given to unit costs within the same Era, with conversions of costs of several units in HC, to see how they might balance differently in BP.
Artillery must also be addressed. A cost of 6 points per shooting pip for smoothbore and 7 per pip for rifled artillery is the current valuation, with all else remaining the same within the BP rules.
What must now be considered are the effects of each of the special rules available to purchase as upgrades. They need to be “made-to-fit” within this heavily modified set of rules.
Note to readers: It will be a day or two before my next post as my work schedule resumes on the morrow, with some extra demanding tasks assigned to me on Monday and Tuesday.
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