We have had a lot of discussion of the best way to calculate the makeup of an Age of Reason force using the army lists. Despite the fact Mark and I both have ways of doing this, I am going to propose we use John Brewster's method (as passed on to us by Ed). This has the value of being both simple and easy to describe. So what I shall do here is define the procedure and then give an example.
As I have the writing skill of the average chimpanzee (I can hold a pen, but do not actually know what to do with it) I am going to expound the dense prose above with examples.
Jones has the rather poor luck to be playing the Spanish in an Sport of Kings campaign. This is compounded by the fact that he has been attacked by the scurrilous Austrians, and the Pope is in jeopardy of being removed from Spanish protection.
Jones has 9 Strength Points (SP) available. Grinding his teeth, he settles down to work out the composition of his force.
The battlefield is quite open. This would imply that Jones should take some of the rather dubious Spanish cavalry (his list percentage is 0-30, so he could take none if he wanted). The most he can take is 2 SP worth, because the maximum is 30 percent, and 3 SP would be 33.3.
That means Jones has 7 SP of infantry to allocate.
| Troop | Percentage | SP |
|---|---|---|
| Line infantry | 55% | 3.85 |
| Grenadiers/Foreign | 20% | 1.4 |
| Militia/Neapolitans | 15% | 1.05 |
| Fusileers | 10% | .7 |
This means that Jones has a base of 3 line, 1 Grenadier and 1 militia battalions, for a total of 5 SP. He now allocates the remaining 2 SP. The largest fractions are the Line infantry and the Fusileers; there are no ties in the fractions. This means the final Spanish infantry force is 4 Line, 1 Foreign (Jones decides on Irish) 1 Neapolitan and 1 Mountain Fusileer battalions.
Now Jones needs to work out his cavalry force. He has 2 SP to allocate.
| Troop | Percentage | SP |
|---|---|---|
| Dragoons/Horse | 80% | 1.6 |
| Hussars | 20% | .4 |
Jones chortles to himself evilly when he sees this. Because of the footnote on the Spanish army list about Cavalry unit sizes, his units will be 6 castings strong in the upcoming battle, both sides not being over 11 SP. This means that he will field three 6 casting dragoon units, and one 6 casting Hussar unit. Adding the 3 Guns he will receive to his list (1 light, 1 medium and 1 heavy) and still chortling and slapping his double breasted waistcoat, he heads off to announce to his opponent that he will deploy more Hussars than the Hungarian army.
Meanwhile Smith, chosen to play the Austrian Army because his mental ponderousness most accurately reflected that of the progenitor, mused upon his list. He had 11 SP in the coming battle and had to take 3 of his strength points as cavalry. (between 25 % and 35 %). The remaining 8 had to be infantry.
Smith's list read like this. He has 8 SP
| Troops | Percentage | SP |
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Smith looks at the numbers. Muttering under his breath he realised that because of his 18 casting infantry battalions his base units were 3 (18 casting) fusileers and a grenadier. The remainders he had left over then had to be applied to make full Croat and militia units (the Fusileers and Grenadiers being .8 away from a whole unit). The remaining .5 of an SP has to be taken as a 6 figure Fusileer unit. This gives Smith a total of 5 SP of fusileers (3 1/3 battalions) and 1 SP each of grenadiers, Croats, and militia.
For his mounted, Smith has 3 SP. This is his list
| Troops | Percentage | SP |
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This will give Smith 2 Kuirassier and
a Dragoon. Smith pounded the table in frustration. How many SPs
did he have to have to get a Hussar unit ?(7 SP of Cavalry. That
is a 20 SP army). Pulling out his little remaining hair in frustration,
and gathering the 3 Artillery pieces to which he was entitled,
Smith went to see Jones. Where he would be reduced into babbling
incoherence by being told that the Spanish would be deploying
as many Croats as he would be, and more Hussars.....