Question Re Battalia Morale Rules

[Ken Portner]

On page 78, under Units from Broken Battalias, 6th bullet point, it says that Unshaken units in a broken battalia can be given orders normally, but will have their morale reduced to 6+ for the remainder of the game.

Does "morale" refer to the unit's morale save?

If that's the case, then it means shaken units would have better morale saves than unshaken units. Seems odd.

[Big Al]

Sorry, but how is a 6+ morale save better than a 5+ one? If you have to roll 5 or 6 to save rather than 6 or more on a 6 sided dice if shaken then a 6+ is definitely worse. If your unit normally has a 4+ morale save and then it changes to a 6+ because the Battalia is broken, then it is a worse save than when it was in an unbroken Battalia, surely? I think you have misunderstood the way the morale save works.

[Ken Portner]

Sorry, but how is a 6+ morale save better than a 5+ one? If you have to roll 5 or 6 to save rather than 6 or more on a 6 sided dice if shaken then a 6+ is definitely worse. If your unit normally has a 4+ morale save and then it changes to a 6+ because the Battalia is broken, then it is a worse save than when it was in an unbroken Battalia, surely? I think you have misunderstood the way the morale save works.

I didn't say a 6+ save was better than a 5+ save.

I said that UNSHAKEN units in a Broken Battalia have a 6+ save which is worse than SHAKEN units in a Broken Battalia which presumably have their normal save. SHAKEN units in a Broken Battalia presumably have their normal save, which would be 5+ (needing a 5 or 6 to save) or a 4+ if Pike (needing a 4, 5 or 6 to save).

What are you talking about?

[Big Al]

Sorry, misread it for some reason.

Ok, under the original Black Powder rules, units of a Broken Brigade (Battalia) can only make a single retire move, whether on initiative or if given an order. They cannot charge an enemy unit, although they can receive a charge. The broken brigade must withdraw from the battlefield if it is to move at all.
In P&S this has been changed. The Unshaken units can move as normal, as you have quoted. The trade off is that their morale save is reduced to reflect their fragility. It will also give the player something to think about when ordering his units to continue fighting when they don't really feel like it. The morale save isn't really an armour save, which is how most players tend to think of it. It is more a reflection of their attitude to taking casualties and coping with them. This is why they count shaken after taking casualties equal to the stamina level.

I had to edit this to complete the post because the cat interfered with the keyboard and the submit button was caught before I had finished. He's ouside now!

[Alan Charlesworth]

Ok, under the original Black Powder rules, units of a Broken Brigade (Battalia) can only make a single retire move, whether on initiative or if given an order. They cannot charge an enemy unit, although they can receive a charge. The broken brigade must withdraw from the battlefield if it is to move at all.

It doesn't say that anywhere in my copy of BP?

[Big Al]

Ok, under the original Black Powder rules, units of a Broken Brigade (Battalia) can only make a single retire move, whether on initiative or if given an order. They cannot charge an enemy unit, although they can receive a charge. The broken brigade must withdraw from the battlefield if it is to move at all.

It doesn't say that anywhere in my copy of BP?

It was that bit that says Must retire when within 12 inches of an enemy unless occupying buildings or a defensive position that I meant. If they are beyond that then a unit of a broken unit can be given an order to charge. I think I'll just go away and shut up now.

It's not often I get it so badly wrong

[Big Al]

I must apologise for the way I got things wrong last night. Unknown to me at the time, but I had spent the evening watching football and breathing in the fumes from an open tin of Nitromors. I have a killer headache this morning. Obviously, it affected my concentration and I posted some incorrect information. I only found out what had happened this morning when my daughter came home from her night shift and noticed the "funny smell". That was when we found the open tin.