The Viereckstal Campaign: First Interlude

 Hello!

As well as reporting the narrative of this little solo campaign as it plays out, I thought it might be useful to also pop in some posts about the mechanisms developed along the way and my thoughts on things. This also gives something to post about between games which are only likely to happen at weekends, particularly in the current weather (January in the UK is not a great time to be playing evening games in your garage).

So, today let's take a look at character attributes. These can add a great deal to a campaign, even more so when playing solo. At key points, the roll of a die compared to one or more attributes are useful in determining how events will transpire. After playing about with a few ideas before the first game I have spent a little time refining these to give a thumbnail portrait of each key character in the campaign and to translate these into tabletop factors compatible with my home-brew rules (Bloodybacks! available on this blog...look...up there).

After some cogitation I settled on the following attributes to describe each individual:

• Leadership
• Education
• Independence
• Aggression
• Courage
• Constitution
• Honour (I'm British, humour me)
• Patronage
• Wealth

As my tabletop rules are based on d12s I thought it would help to have attribute values compatible with this, so I don't need to swap dice mid-game if a character's actions need to be rolled for. Adding the rolls of a d6 and a d5 (average die) gives a range of values between 3 and 11 on a bell-curve which feels about right.

Taking this further, to give an idea of a character's age I am playing with the following formula:

d6 * d5 to give a start point, then add 25 before subtracting the combined patronage and wealth scores. This gives a minimum starting age for a captain. Add five for a major and 15 for a colonel, adjusting based on any narrative you want to add. Lastly you can add a further "time in rank"; I'm using 4*(d6-1), but not feeling constrained too much by this.

To get the tabletop command quality value for each leader I take the total of the first four attributes, divide by 10 and add one. After rounding fractions this will tend to produce a value of "4" with occasional "3s" very rare "5s" and even the odd "2" for the true duffers.

Leaders also require an initiative value on the tabletop. To get this I start by dividing their Independence by 3 and rounding off. If their Aggression is >7 I add one and if <7 is subtract one. The same is then done based on the Courage attribute.

That sounds like a lot of arithmetic, but it soon begins to flow quite quickly.

How then does this look for the characters leading the troops into the next stage of Von Trapp's diversionary attack?

Both sides have two commanders on the table. Von Trapp and Von Weinachtsbruchen for Tattemberg are opposed by Major Mantelwenden of the Sechshugel regiment and Captain Lacrosse of the Chasseurs du Poulet. After some dice rolling I came up with the following:

Colonel Von Trapp:

• Leadership 7
• Education 8
• Independence 6
• Aggression 3
• Courage 9
• Constitution 6
• Honour 9
• Patronage 8
• Wealth 6
• AGE 46
• Command Rating 3
• Initiative Points 2

The colonel is personally brave but less willing to commit his men to the attack. He is well educated and notably honourable. He has benefitted from above average but not exceptional patronage in his career which has perhaps balanced his relatively low personal wealth. It is difficult to see him as much other than a "plodder" on the battlefield, better suited to defensive actions than the aggressive mission with which he has been tasked.

Baron Von Weihnachtsdrucken:

• Leadership 7
• Education 4
• Independence 9
• Aggression 8
• Courage 8
• Constitution 5
• Honour 8
• Patronage 6
• Wealth 10
• AGE 52
• Command Rating 4
• Initiative Points 5

The Baron seems quite typical of an aristocratic hussar officer, wary of his more academic colleagues. A capable veteran of previous wars he is personally wealthy and independently minded with above average aggression and personal courage. Likely to be comfortable on the attack, leading from the front, his weakness is likely to be his constitution. 

Major Mantelwenden

• Leadership 7
• Education 6
• Independence 6
• Aggression 9
• Courage 8
• Constitution 7
• Honour 8
• Patronage 11
• Wealth 4
• AGE 37
• Command Rating 4
• Initiative Points 4

The brave Major has achieved his rank thanks largely to the patronage of others. His slightly above average honour has helped his relative penury from drawing him to the gaming tables but this must be a recurrent risk. On the battlefield his command ability seems rather average but this belies a firmly nature that will see him leading the charge, sword in hand. Even on the defensive one senses a counterattack could come at any time.

Captain Lacrosse

• Leadership 6
• Education 11
• Independence 6
• Aggression 8
• Courage 7
• Constitution 5
• Honour 7
• Patronage 9
• Wealth 9
• AGE 27
• Command Rating 4
• Initiative Points 3

Lacrosse is the scion of a wealthy and influential family, however at the age of 27 has still to achieve a rank higher than captain, due to pretty average (as best) leadership skills. Gascon heritage may explain his aggressive tendencies and we have recently seen him displaying considerable backbone, holding his position against overwhelming odds; that courage attribute may be due an upgrade if he continues in the vein, maybe even a battlefield promotion if a vacancy presents itself - but whether he is suited to higher command is less certain.

Hopefully this will enrich the narrative when combat resumes....