Random ECW Armies For Dominion Of Pike & Shot

Snappy post title, eh? 

Anyway, since Dominion Of Pike & Shot is well-suited for campaigns I wondered how to spice one up. Now adding a few events beforehand or even during the fight might be interesting, but the first step would be to mix the armies up a little from the lists in the book. So I created a quick random army generator.

Firstly, the assumptions. They just cover basic Royalist and Parliamentarian forces. I haven't factored in Scots (of either stripe), Irish or the New Model Army, although the latter might simply evolve out of the rolls. Secondly it takes into account the Mixed status I noted in my previous post. In practice you can ignore it if you want, since it only affects one step at the end.

On to the system. It's not as cumbersome as it looks and I'm turning out armies in about half the time it takes to play a game.

Generate an army by rolling a D6 six times in succession (it's important that you do it in succession).

The rolls are as follows:

1-2 - Unit of Mounted (always melee)
3-4 - Unit of Foot (see below)
5 - Special Unit (see below)
6 - Two Upgrades (see below)

Mounted - You get a unit of Melee Mounted. Nice and simple.

Foot - Roll a D6 for what type:
3 or less - Melee
4 or more - Missile
Parliamentarian, and later Royalist armies get +2. All Foot is Mixed (but see below)

Special - Roll a D6 for what type:
1-2 - Artillery
3-6 - Dragoons (Missile Mounted)

Only the FIRST and THIRD Special roll generates troops. Other rolls are processed as follows:
The unit is either Foot or Horse. Choose the type that is currently least represented.
If Foot and Horse are equal then roll a D6:
1-3 - Commanded Shot (Missile Foot, not Mixed)
4-6 - Pike (Melee Foot, not Mixed)

Upgrade
You gain two upgrades (Elite or Armoured or a mix of the two) to add to units after the army is generated.
Only the FIRST and THIRD Special rolls provide Upgrades. Other rolls are processed as follows:
The unit is either Foot or Horse. Choose the type that is currently least represented.
If Foot and Horse are equal then roll for a Special unit regardless of how many have already been assigned. 

Armoured can represent troops with better defences (Haselrig's Lobsters, for example), but could also represent the unit having a terrain advantage - Dragons in hedgerows or foot on a hill, for example).

Elite will generally be better quality troops, but could represent units that appear unexpectedly or who, again, have a defensive advantage; musketeers whose opponents have to advance across muddy ground, for example.

Finally, if the army has army has any Mixed foot, roll a D6. On a 1 a random unit loses its Mixed status becoming either straight Pike or Shot.

An example? Go on then.

We'll start with the Royalists. We'll assume it's early.

First Roll: 3 - Foot (we'll determine the type afterwards)
Second Roll: 2 - Horse
Third Roll: 5 - Special
Fourth Roll: 6 - Upgrade
Fifth Roll: 5 - Special. Since it's the second Special roll I check to see if Foot or Horse are in a minority, and then apply that type. But I have one of each so far, so instead I roll again: a 6 means I have Pike-armed foot.
Sixth Roll: 6 - Upgrade. This is the second roll of 6 so instead I get the least represented type. I now have two Foot but only one Horse, so I get another Horse.

I now roll for the Special. A 4 gives me a Dragoon (Mounted Missile)
I roll for my Foot unit. A 6 means it's Missile Foot.

I roll a D6 for the Mixed foot. A roll of 3 means that they all maintain their Mixed status.

Finally I apply the Upgrades. I put the Dragoons in a solid defensive position, making them Armoured. And make the Pike unit Elite.

So the army is:

2 x Horse (Melee Mounted), 1 x Pike & Shot (Mixed Missile Foot), 1 x Cornish Pike (Elite Melee Foot), 1 x Dragoons in Hedgerows (Armoured Missile Mounted).

What does Parliament get?

First Roll: 5 - Special
Second Roll: 3 - Foot
Third Roll: 4 - Foot
Fourth Roll: 1 - Horse
Fifth Roll: 2 - Horse
Sixth Roll: 3 - Foot

So a pretty vanilla army there. I roll for the Special and get a 2 - Artillery.

(So far it's actually the army list from the book!)

I roll for the Foot. There's three of them and I get 2, 4 and 5, so they are all Missile Foot. Since they're Mixed I roll another D6. A roll of 1 means that one now just becomes Shot.

So the army is:

2 x Horse (Melee Mounted), 2 x Pike & Shot (Mixed Missile Foot), 1 x Commanded Shot (Missile Foot), 1 x Artillery.

Now we roll for Attacker/Defender and it's on with the battle!

I've tried a few games using this system and got some great matchups. These include a Royalist attack on a strong Parliamentarian position with foraging cavalry turning up on the flanks in a surprise attack, and an action that was almost entirely horse (shades of Powick Bridge). I ran some of the all-pike units as poorly armed militia and used small hills, hedges or areas of rough ground to represent armoured or elite units.

For a campaign you could pre-generate ten or twelve armies for each side in advance and then pull a card or roll a dice to see which one you used. 

As ever, I'm happy to answer any questions. One reservation I do have with it is that it possibly over-represents Horse, but I'll see how I go with it for now rather than add in another complexity.