"Formula" for creating DIY counters?

[plloyd1010]

I think the Chaco War is a good test bed for gaming too. A quality versus quantity war, but unlike Peru-Ecuador war, quality is on the strategic defense.

I don't think there is a formula per se. DF values seem to mostly be a feel for the squad/section values. Fire discipline, automatic weapon numbers and such, and the the overall size of the platoon. Reduced values are ½ full strength, rounded up. The exceptions are platoons with high numbers of personal automatic weapons (Grenadiers & such) which get an additional -1 to the reduced value. Heavy weapons platoons used to be an exception in that they were ½ full strength, rounded down. (I thought it was good idea in that it created a distinction to go with the difference.) Generally I would suggest going through the unit library and finding the infantry from comparably equipped armies, and work from there.

For the counters them selves, I use Inkscape. I like the better quality and scalability of vector graphics, but an too cheap to pay for Adobe's drawing tools. I have also found GIMP to be very handy, though scaling can be more difficult. If you really want to get into this, I have almost all the soldier images used in the game. You would need to change uniform and helmet/hat colors. Guns are similar to soldiers in their standardization, but less diverse. Of course, all appropriate APP-6 symbols. Vehicles are mostly individualized images.

I start with a template that looks something like this:
   
If you really want to get into this, I have lots of stuff to get you started.