Officers and Commanders

PK House Rules

by Eric Burgess

Officers Impact on Melee

Another house rule we've used, and like, is using the officer's leadership modification in melee if the officer is in contact with the unit(s) involved in the melee (i.e. an Abysmal officer gives an extra down 2 mod; a Superior officer gives an extra up 2 mod). For us, this reflects the morale (dis)advantages of having an officer at the point of contact.

Contact with Officers

This is a rules addendum to cover what happens when a formed unit moves into contact with an officer. Fortunately, the Cartouche supplement does address the issue. What it says is:

"Killing or Capturing Officers: If any officer is contacted by an enemy unit he is killed or captured, depending upon a standard difficulty check. If attacker is higher, the officer is killed, otherwise he is captured. Natives do not take prisoners, nor will Colonial/European forces take these prisoners with the exception of the native commander."

That seems to go slightly against some of the philosophy behind Piquet; i.e., it is too sure a thing. Simply move into contact with an officer and he is eliminated. Wouldn't it be preferable to have that be a little more uncertain, like:

"Killing or Capturing Officers: If any officer is contacted by an enemy unit, he may be killed, captured, or able to evade depending upon a standard difficulty check. If attacker beats defender by 2 or more, the officer is killed. If the check is a tie or either side wins by only "1", the officer is captured. If defender wins by 2 or more, the officer evades and moves back the distance of one skirmish move. Natives...native commander."

Superior and Abysmal Commanders

Here is my house rule. Hope you enjoy. We use this all the time now as it really adds some flavor to those sub-commanders.

Superior Sub-Commander

When you have a superior sub-commander in PK add one Brigade Brilliant Leader card to the deck. (you will have to make the card or substitute one) This card functions just like a brilliant leader card, but only the sub-commander and his command group can use the card. This allows the superior sub-commander to show why he is "brilliant".

Abysmal Sub-Commander

When you have an abysmal sub-commander in PK add one Brigade Command Indecision card to the deck. The card functions just like a Command Indecision card, but only applies to the abysmal commander's command group. They cannot play on any of the impetus left in the current initiative. (This includes firing).

Depending on the PK supplement and scenario you may need to add more than one card for each commander. (i.e. - TAD deck for Archon). Also if you have more than one superior or abysmal commander then each commander receives their own card to act on.

More PK House Rules

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