Hero Reserve List

The second edition of the Battle Companies rules attempted to mitigate hero mortality by adding two minor heroes and making the main one stronger. However, heroes still have only one wound, and the chances that any one will make it to his fourth advancement (20 exp.) are less than 50% (assuming the hero is wounded every other game).

Since what draws players to this system is the chance to develop heroes they can become attached to, the new rules simply postpone the disappointment of not being able to develop or play a hero sufficiently. The system basically needs to ensure that the heroes never die, but if they simply stay in the Company, they would swamp the system.

To solve these problems, I propose an Injured Hero Reserve List. It would work something like this.

• Should a hero fail to survive a roll on the Hero Wounds Table, the player can elect to remove him to the List (may just mark it on the sheet). Whatever new injury proved fatal is not added to the hero’s record.
• Should the last hero of a Company roll up “dead,” he may replaced by a hero on the List. Roll a D6 for each injury the replacement hero may have. On a 4,5,6, the injury is removed (the hero has recuperated while “on leave”). His name is removed from the List.
• If there are no other heroes available on the List to provide a replacement, the Company must fight on without a hero. So it’s wise to design BCs with at least two heroes to play—if they don’t “die” in the same game, the one that “died” first can replace the second when he “dies.”

Other uses of the List:

• A player may use a hero from the List instead of generating a hero for a new Company of the same type. The warrior “replaced” in the new company must have equipment the hero has. The hero is removed from the List.
• Speaking of multiple Companies, a Company that has lost all its heroes may merge with a Company of the same type if by doing so the joined Companies will not exceed the maximum number of troops. Standard military practice.