Casualty Markers

I've been using the Napoleon's Battles rules ever since they came out and they are my preferred set for Napoleonics.  Someone once said to me, and the original developer being Avalon Hill lends credence to this, that the tabletop gets too cluttered with counters (card chits).  As a result, and because I would want to improve the aesthetics anyway, in recent times I have been working on ways to reduce the use of counters.

Labels are essential and over time I have gone for larger to aid visibility.

The amount of info on the label could be reduced,

but would require players to be familiar with the troops,

something that can be challenging, particularly with 15mm.

Here we have a 16 figure brigade of French Light Infantry,

part of the 6th Division of the II Corps.

Their dispersal number is 8 - they are removed when they drop to this strength,

(effectively after two bases are removed due to casualties).

The same unit after taking a casualty and also being marked with disorder

(it actually takes 2 casualties to disorder this type of unit).

Note wear and tear on the markers🙂

Casualty marker adjusted to show two losses,

but disorder marker replaced with riderless horse with blue saddle cloth.

Casualty marker shows 3 casualties, 1 more and a base will be removed.

Accumulating three casualties in one phase might well cause rout,

and the flip side of the disorder markers shows this change in status.

Very handy as once rallied the unit reverts to disordered before attaining its formed state.

Now I have a new rout marker - riderless horse with red saddle cloth (even has red flowers on the base).

Also, there is an upgrade to the casualty marker.

As will be appreciated, there is a problem with the casualty markers.

Apart from a tendency to get left behind, they are also hard to read.

So, I came up with this idea.

a specific casualty base (for cavalry in this example)

using a chit for marking casualties.

I started to implement this using spare figures as well as dedicated casualty figures.

I then thought using a cube to show casualties rather than a chit would reduce fiddling around.

However...

I then started to think, wouldn't it be better if this casualty stand was actually part of the unit?

It would save handling and further reduce clutter,

clutter now being mainly the disorder and rout riderless horse bases,

and they looked good on the tabletop anyway.

So, I came up with this for cavalry.

It is hard to see but there is a peg/stick thing at the rear edge (near the label).

The black part is metal.

All my bases have magnetic bases.

Here it is in use.

The cube (which were a bugger to cut) are now bracelets beads that I found in a $2 dollar shop.

(Adjust for inflation - the bag of 50 cost $A5.50)

Same unit with two casualties and disordered.

The new casualty base is part of the unit and therefore stays with the unit.  The way it is separate from the figures means I just need to cut a few cavalry bases in pairs, something that I started doing anyway.  Alternatively, I can make up some pairs based on excess figures I have, particularly command.  Should work well for cavalry, infantry with the smaller base perhaps not.

One improvement I have since found is that using flat head nails - cleats - and just cutting them to size makes for an excellent pin on which to place the casualty bead.

A future improvement is to use the top of the bead to aid in identifying parent formation.  Currently just using a green tuft to cover the hole and match in with the base.