should have 3 to 4 generals for a standard game

The author stated in another post that the army " should have 3 to 4 generals for a standard game" of 500-600 points. Did you mean to say MUST? Should is a nebulous ruling.

this is the standard. Of course players can agree in a different way (maybe playing a specific scenario) but the games has been designed to have 3-4 Commands

Ok, to play devil's advocate, there is no requirement for how many units, if any, a general commands. So the 2nd & 3rd generals command an artillery piece each, or command no units and just get dropped on the table as two 0 point incompetent commanders.

That would fall under the "don't be a dick" rule.

I think you'll find that in baroque having the commanders in place keeping things moving is far more important than in Impetus, command ranges are a fraction of the distance and without additional commanders stuff just grinds to a halt.

Command ranges in Baroque are a fraction? in 25mm a standard table is 180cm wide. With an average command structure the commander has a 6 BU radius x 9cm totalling 108cm, more than half the table frontage. Seems mighty generous to me.

My main complaint is that in a 5-600 point game you only have about 12-14 units making the commands very fragile if divided among 3 generals.

My understanding is that if the general is attached to a unit you only get half that range measured from the nearest point of the unit.

Geoff

That's a 10 unit wide table - blinking small!

And yes most of the time you want them attached and then your command range plummets.

Maybe this is the first instance of table size to figure scale differences in the game.

I really don't see how the recommended table sizes were derived - they don't seem to be related to unit base size (which would be the sensible method). And that seems to be your problem, you're fighting Marston Moor on a handkerchief!

For what it is worth IF you are playing with a number of poor quality units (C) and/or a poor CS you will probably wish you had more generals. Granted this likely happens only by Scenerio but in that situation once the quality C units become disorganized it is difficult to get them rallied. The generals help with that but basically one unit at a time (and if the other units are out of command range it gets even worse.)  Smaller commands seem to work better at least in this situation.

stecal wrote:Ok, to play devil's advocate, there is no requirement for how many units, if any,  a general commands.  So the 2nd & 3rd generals command an artillery piece each, or command no units and just get dropped on the table as two 0 point incompetent commanders.

2:6;1 It specifically says in the commanders section "Commanders can be attached t any units in their command with the exception of the artillery. The C in C can be attached to any non-artillery unit in the army."

But frankly having generals with no units would be a waste of time. Baroque is not Impetus. Generals are far busier, joining units, helping them get rid of disorder, ensuring they can make swifter advances. Remember there are no groups, and no zones of control so you are far more dependent on who can react to what. Put a general with a unit and its counter-charge could break the enemy attack.
With regard to commands breaking, remember that you lose a unit's VD when it's exhausted. You lose twice its VD if it is destroyed. So having a general who can reorganise exhausted units and send them back out of the way could save a command.