Observations on Command/Control and Mass Battle

[rustic313]

I just noticed something interesting in U&WA that links to Monsters and Treasures.

From the Naval Rules:

BOARDING:

 Once boarders are on the enemy ship combat takes place on a man-to man
basis (CHAINMAIL).

Command Control will also play a
part.

Figures move towards an objective, other than obvious loot, only when
their leader or one of his lieutenants is able to exercise command control.
  Men will, of course, retreat.

I presume the last sentence means that without command/control, the default reaction is to withdraw.  So C2 is a big deal!

COMMAND CONTROL:

While barbaric warriors such as Vikings do not suffer from lack of command control,
more civilized troops do. It is necessary that a leader or one of his lieutenants
be nearby to issue orders to men involved in shipboard melees. The range of command
control is the Charisma rating as a radius in inches. A leader may have two
lieutenants to aid him in command, but a lieutenant has a range equal to his
leader's minus one inch. These additional guidelines are suggested:

1. Leaders involved in melee have their command control range halved.

2. Personnel beyond the range of the leader's or lieutenants' command control
will not respond.

3. Lieutenants must be within command control range of the leader to pass
on orders, or themselves respond.

4. Monsters and unintelligent creatures do not have command control problems,
and they will act according to what is going on around them.

5. Leaders in plain view above their men/subordinates will add 1" to their
command control range radius for every 10' they are above them. Thus a
leader on a stern castle would be about 20' higher than the deck, and he
would add 2" to his range of command control.

6. Personnel engaged in melee will only respond to commands when a roll of
1-4 is made (on a six-sided die). This will be checked each turn. Therefore,
orders for withdrawal, for example, can be given for three turns later which
allows three turns for the personnel to respond.

Let's assume a battlefield situation with an average charisma leader (10.5) who is mounted with a tall flag that makes his command radius 12".  That is 120 feet, or 40 yards.

If we estimate the frontage of a figure of 10 men to be 5 yards of frontage (5 men, two ranks) then eight such figures can fit in the radius across; 16 figures across the diameter in a line formation.

The leader can also have two lieutenants, which effectively allows the line to be extended.  If positioned on the edge of the leader's "bubble" then they extend the line another 5" or so to either flank.  This allows another three figures to be controlled on either flank.  Of course, if the primary leader engages in melee, then these numbers all are halved.

Finally, additional units could be in deeper ranks (i.e. reserves, missile troops, etc).

Furthermore, let's assume that there are three or four figures to a stand (2" width) -- call it an average of 3.5 figures per stand.

That allows a rough estimate of fielded force size based on C2:
ARMY FRONTAGE BASED ON LEADER NOT ENGAGED IN MELEE:
- CENTER:  4 stands (14 figures) + ARMY COMMANDER
- LEFT WING:  2 STANDS (7 figures) + LT
- RIGHT WING:  2 STANDS (7 figures) + LT
- RESERVES:  As many in the rest of the army
- TOTAL FRONTAGE: 8 STANDS (28 FIGURES = 280 MEN)


If the leaders are engaged in melee, then their command radius (and thus the frontage) is halved.

ARMY FRONTAGE BASED ON LEADER ENGAGED IN MELEE:
- CENTER: 2 stands (7 figures) + ARMY COMMANDER

- LEFT WING: 1 STAND (3.5 figures) + LT

- RIGHT WING: 1 STAND (3.5 figures) + LT

- RESERVES: As many in the rest of the army
- TOTAL FRONTAGE:  4 STANDS (14 FIGURES = 140 MEN)

HOW DOES THIS STACK UP TO THE NPC POPULATION?

If we go to M&T we see some ratios for commanders to troops in the field.

BANDITS: Although Bandits are normal men, they will have leaders who are
supernormal fighters, magical types or clerical types. For every 30 bandits there
will be one 4th level Fighting-Man; for every 50 bandits there will be in addition

one 5th or 6th level fighter (die 1-3 = 5th level, die 4-6 = 6th level); for every 100
bandits there will be in addition one 8th or 9th level fighter (die 1-3 = 8th, die
4-6 = 9th).

For every 10 figures of bandits there is a leader type, plus a few 4-6 level fighters to be the Lieutenants.  The ratios match very closely for the assumption that Bandit leaders will be in melee: about a hundred men per Army Commander.

And of course, U&WA has castle residents:

Guards: In addition to those men or monsters accompanying castle residents,
there will be a number of men aiding in defense. From 30 to 180 men will man
the walls....

Again a standard army of about 110 men.

Just thought this was an interesting observation, and it also serves to scope down the scale of mass combat skirmishes. 

[delta]

Nice numerical work, thanks for sharing that!

I think it might be reasonable to interpret the last line as meaning something like, "Men will, of course, retreat -- based on indicated morale results regardless of command control considerations". That is: if outside command-control they generally stand in place without taking moves on their own.

[rustic313]

May 5, 2019 12:24:30 GMT -6 delta said:

Nice numerical work, thanks for sharing that!

I think it might be reasonable to interpret the last line as meaning something like, "Men will, of course, retreat -- based on indicated morale results regardless of command control considerations". That is: if outside command-control they generally stand in place without taking moves on their own.

Thanks!  I am working on a block wargame adaptation of the skirmish rules (similar to Columbia Game's Quebec 1759) and have thus been deconstructing things a bit.

I do find the point about C2 being required to be interesting.  There is also this tidbit from U&WA:

It is necessary that a leader or one of his lieutenants
be nearby to issue orders to men involved in shipboard melees .

Emphasis added.  I don't see such an emphasis on C2 in the Chainmail rules, and it does seem somewhat silly that in the absence of orders men just randomly flee.  I think you could reasonably say that no morale check results greater than "uncertain" are valid without a leader for units out of C2 -- i.e. they stand fast but will not attack aggressively.  Or you could just have them act randomly per the morale dice.

[retrorob]

I've just read Army Commander section in CHAINMAIL. 

If the figure representing the army commander is with a body of troops, that unit will add 1 to the score of each die it must roll (two dice adds 2).

Any unit within 12" of the army commander will also receive a bonus of 1 to the score of any die or dice roll it must make.

If the army commander is killed or captured, all units on that side must check morale as if they had taken excess casualties and at a minus 2 from the dice.

This is quite similar. One can replace 12" with Charisma-based range. In my OD&D games I sometimes boosted the morale of retainers when the PC commander was nearby (Fighting Capability of a Hero: +1, Superhero: +2 on Morale dice).