Army Scale in Creating Scenarios

Lorenzo created a thread discussing a collective project where players could propose Impetus scenarios for inclusion in a book. I would like to contribute, but in creating historical scenarios, I need to ask for players' thoughts on army scale.

In designing orders of battle for a particular scenario, one has to establish the number of men represented by each unit. This is absolutely crucial in attempting to design a historical scenario, especially where the number of combatants is known or can be reasonably estimated. However, as you know, each unit can represent a varying number of men based upon whether one is dealing with infantry or mounted, and whether the soldiers are fighting in a close or loose formation.

One way of figuring out the number of soldiers in a unit is by using the number of figures on the base. However, that is of limited usefulness, as players often mount figures on bases based upon what looks good to them, or based upon economics or time available. For example, I have seen FP infantry based with 16 figures and FL infantry with 8 in the same army. This raises the question as to whether that unit of FP infantry, with twice the amount of men, is significantly better than the FL unit with half the men. Based upon Impetus point values, that is not the case.

This leaves me wondering what is the proper number of men per unit (for a particular scenario) based upon the unit’s capabilities and effectiveness under the Impetus rules. Discipline, weapons, impetus, and VBU can easily be adjusted for each unit, but the amount of soldiers in each unit should be somewhat of a constant in a particular battle, as armies usually used similar spacing depending upon type and activity of the unit.

I see that for purposes of point value alone, for example, a FP unit is 1 point more than a FL unit, everything else being equal. Does that mean a unit of FP should contain more than, or the same number of men, as a FL? Getting the scale right is critical in attempting to design a reasonably historically accurate scenario.

I would really appreciate any input you have regarding army scale.

As game designer I decided to keep Impetus with some flexibility as for numbers (in ancient and mediavel battles often a interpretation).
I think that every scenario designer should give his ratius, so give what each Units should be represent as for numbers. This gives the option to the players to modify such ratio according to taste, personal research or miniatures availability.

Thanks, that makes sense.