By Carter Hall
In SNAFU, training levels are split into 3 levels: Green, Regular, and Veteran. Here I want to explain my philosophy I have used in the scenarios I have written for SNAFU, and also discuss the levers you might use in your own design.
How Training Impacts Scenarios
A Training Test in SNAFU is a 1D6 roll, modified by training level. Training Tests are taken in a couple ways throughout the game, making the quality of your men matter a lot! To rally a suppressed squad, you must pass a Training Test. Close combats are also resolved with a Training Test, but include a few extra modifiers that may be applicable. And regardless of modifiers, a Training Test always fails on a 1, and always succeeds on a 6.
A Veteran unit will have much more effectiveness in close combats, than their counterparts, and are ideal for the attack as they can be rallied reliably to continue an attack, whereas a green unit who takes fire in the open may be stuck for a considerable length of a game.
Design Goal: Capturing the Overall Quality of a Unit
One of the free scenarios for SNAFU is called Visiting Luciana. For that game, I needed to capture two unique forces, the men of the US 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and their opponent, the 16th SS Panzergrenadiers.
It would be simple enough to read the 16th Panzergrenadiers and think “those SS guys were crazy fanatics, so they should be rated Veteran”, and I would not begrudge you that thought. However, I rated them as Regulars, because at this point in the war they were mixing fanatical ideology with the weariness of a losing campaign and the watering down of their quality with casualties being replaced by greener and greener troops.
The overall quality of a unit, in my opinion, is not just the literal quality of their training, but a complex combination of training, experience, and circumstances.
And beyond the training levels, there are additional ways you can capture the overall quality of a unit. One of the optional rules featured a lot in the scenario books is “squad+”, which means any units rated as squad+ get to add 1 to their direct fire rolls. This represents how some units, such as German Fallschirmjagers, would have two light machine guns (LMGs) built into their standard squad structure, giving them an edge over their opponents in firing. Likewise, “squad-” could be used to capture the shooting ability of a poorly equipped squad or one with no standard LMG in their structure.
(It should be noted too, squad+ and squad- are optional rules. If you feel that a squad is a squad, and that an extra LMG doesn’t merit a +1 on 2D6, you do not have to use it in your scenarios!)
The last lever I would point out in capturing a unit’s quality is leadership. The balancing of IPs is an important aspect of scenario design (which I discussed in a previous blog entry:https://thinkingmangames.com/scenario-design-for-snafu-initiative-points-ips/). Perhaps you know a unit that had regular or green training, but the leadership was still very strong. By giving them better IP ratings, you can account for the better leadership of a unit while still giving them the appropriate training level.
Putting it Together: Using Overall Quality to Balance a Scenario
If you read a historical account where a small force holds off, or even defeats, a much larger force, I would encourage you to capture the historical “balance” by employing any or all of these levers.
A whole company of green forces with average leadership will have a tough time kicking out veteran squads who have better firepower and are holding a defensible position.
One platoon of veteran units, with squad+ modifiers and good leadership, could potentially pull off an assault on a town where they are outnumbered 2 or 3 to one.
