Are you tired to making labels for your Fire & Fury Brigade Command Stands for every new battle? Are you tired of picking up each Command Stand to check for exceptional leaders and Brigade Effectiveness every time you maneuver or melee? Do you wonder if sometimes your opponent "misreads" the label on his Command Stand because it always seems you are meleeing nothing but Fresh units with Exceptional Leaders? Well if so, read on because I suggest these problems can be solved with the addition of a few more types of markers.

Fire & Fury already uses markers to indicate Out of Ammunition, Breakthrough, Silenced Battery, Disordered Brigade and Damaged Battery. Why not add some to indicate Exceptional Brigade Commander and Brigade Effectiveness, and remove the need to label Brigade Command Stands?

BRIGADE EFFECTIVENESS:

Instead of labeling the bottom of Command Stands, we print up an order of battle much like those seen in the Scenarios section of the rule book. We make it in large print and hang it on the wall for all to see. Every time a stand is lost, a quick check of the OB indicates whether that Brigade has just become Worn or Spent. We use 1/2 inch washers painted yellow for Worn and red for Spent to mark such Brigades. We use white glue to fill the middle of each washer with a little lichen to make it blend in with the battle field a bit better. This has led to troops who are no longer Fresh being referred to as "bushed".

EXCEPTIONAL BRIGADE COMMANDER:

We use an extra cavalry figure mounted on a small base to ride along with any Brigade with an Exceptional Brigade Commander. Should he be disabled or captured, we just pull the figure off the table. Not only does this make it easy to recognize such Brigades, but the Brigadier looks good on the table riding along with his men.

One objection to all of this is "I don't want the enemy to know which of my Brigades is Spent and which has an Exceptional Leader". Well, you probably don't want your opponent to know which of your Brigades is Disordered and which is Out of Ammunition either - but they do. I think that these additional markers make the game move along a little faster and smoother because all Brigade info. is visible to all players all the time.

LINE OF COMMAND:

The other function of the labels on the bottom of Brigade, Division and Corps command Stands is to establish the line of command for each Brigade in a Division and each Division in a Corps. We solve this by putting a label on the top of each Division Command Stand listing the Brigades under his command. Brigade Command Stands each have a unique letter in one corner which can be referred to on the Division Command Stand labels. Such as:

Hood "E"
L-R-T-W

which would indicate Hood's Division, with Hood an Exceptional Division Leader and Brigades L,R,T,and W under his command. If an OB contains several Corps, similar labels can be put on the Corps Command Stands to show the names of the General and Divisional Commanders.

Putting labels on top of Division Command Stands and marking a corner of the Brigade Command Stands adds a little "ugly" to the battlefield, but makes it much easier to track who belongs to who. Division and Corps info. fits easily on a 3/4" x 1/2" label.

The work required to adopt these suggestions is simply to paint a couple of dozen 1/2 inch washers yellow and red and (if you like) glue some lichen on them. You have to print up your OB, but you save the time spent in making labels for the bottom of each Brigade Command Stand. Then, if you have a few extra cavalry figures you do not need for the game, you are ready to go. Just put Corps and Division labels on the top instead of the bottom of these Command Stands and you will never have to consult the bottom of a Brigade Command Stand during a battle again.