1. If both brigade units are reduced, is it your intent that the division return at full-strength if/when the brigades reunite? Makes sense to me that the division would come back full-strength if only one brigade is reduced. Don't really have an opinion on what to do if both are reduced (and probably a rare situation), but thought I would ask for your thoughts. Ease of implementation suggests bringing back the division at full strength, but I can imagine the howls of indignant protest from across the game board! 2. I have NO idea about the costs and other logistical considerations involved in counter sheet production, so this may be a totally loony notion, but...............would it make any sense to produce optional-purchase counter sheets with a complete set of brigade counters? The key thing would be to avoid the confusion of using reduced ones. One could even mark them for specific divisions, I suppose, but that would not be necessary, nor even desirable to my mind, as the current system allows one to create small detachments as both sides (especially the Habsburgers) did repeatedly. One could add corps loss markers to the optional counter sheet. I understand and sympathize with the limitations of counter sheets for designers, but I have always disliked using the first unit destroyed for this purpose and have always made my own markers; this time, I lost control of common sense and created (a) Austrian markers using the Habsburg symbol from the backs of the Austrian counters with superimposed corps numbers, (f) a French regimental flag for 2e, 3e, and 4e corps d'armee, and (g) a Bavarian regtl flag and a Württemberg coat of arms (could not find a color flag) for the German chaps of 7e and 8e corps d'armee. Oh, yes, on the backs of the markers, I used a contemporary b/w image of two soldiers carrying a wounded comrade on a musket (doubtless a very comfortable seat). One could also add alternative counters (e.g., Jellacic, Hugel's light brigade, etc.) to fill out the set -- I have tried to manufacture some at home, but the results, while not hideous, have not been entirely satisfactory either. Price would have to be reasonable, but I can imagine parting with a few greenbacks for a professional counter sheet as opposed to my "limping and inadequate" efforts. Anyway, a few small thoughts on a quiet Saturday morning. [Ed sez: Amusing musings ... Regarding the first point, before I answer (and that probably will occur sometime somewhere) ... Let's take the case of a division that has NOT broken down into brigades. When it is reorganized, it comes back at reduced strength. Only the hardcore cadre return. The sunshine soldiers melt away. How does that work differently if a division is separated into two brigades? My notion is, attrition would be somewhat less, because there is less chance of troops getting lost in the crowd and less chance of disorganization. The more dispersed a division is, the easier it is to reconstitute...? Whether that is true or not, ... how would or should that impact on the rules? If we have two reorganized brigades, can they recorganize into a reduced-strength division? I'd say sure: two reorganized brigades whose strength totals one less than the reduced strength counter for that division can reassemble into the reduced stregnth counter. (That is an alternative way for a reduced strength counter to get into play. Normally it would only appear through reorganization of the division itself.) On the second point, we could ask the audience what sort of interest there is in extra brigade ccounters. Sometimes we can gang another counter sheet on the press sheet when we print new counters and it ends up costing $250 extra from the printer.] As to Seven Days needs: I calculated that the following would be required for complete "break-down coverage" -- AUSTRIA (full-strength brigade counters) 2 x 6-5 5 x 5-5 6 x 4-5 7 x 3-5 4 x 2-5 (this does not include REDUCED counterparts) ALLIED [FRENCH] (full-strength brigade counters) 4 x 6-5 3 x 5-5 11 x 4-5 9 x 3-5 3 x 2-5 (this does not include REDUCED counterparts) The ALLIED should include Wuerttemberg units to separate Huegel's Light Brigade from the larger infantry division. Back to OSG News Feb 2005 Table of Contents Back to OSG News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Operational Studies Group This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com