"Formula" for creating DIY counters?

[canology]

Sorry, I just joined up here and I feel I am asking a lot of newbie questions.  

I was wondering if there was a formula (for lack of a better word) for assigning values to units.
One of my "pet" wars is the Chaco conflict (Paraguay vs Bolivia '32-'35, about 100,000+ casualties), and I thought it would be interesting to try my hand at making some counters for it.

[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.

[canology]

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.

I recently downloaded Inkscape, but haven't had too much time to dig into it yet. I used to have a copy of Adobe, but felt like I was maybe using 15% of what it was capable of...
I would be interested in any assistance you could offer.

[plloyd1010]

Get the stuff in this folder.
See what you can make of it. Ask questions.

[Shad]

Sorry, I just joined up here and I feel I am asking a lot of newbie questions.

That's why we're all here! Never hesitate to ask!

[JayTownsend]

Peter is very good with this stuff. If I ever owned a game company I would hire him!

[plloyd1010]

Thanks for the plug Jay!

(I'll get the check in the mail this afternoon. )

[plloyd1010]

Get the stuff in this folder.
See what you can make of it. Ask questions.

Has anything come of this?

[canology]

Get the stuff in this folder.
See what you can make of it. Ask questions.

Has anything come of this?

Still poking around, looking at stuff and formulatin' what I want to do. Sadly, real-life has been interfering with gaming plans...

I'm also trying to practice with Inkscape, so I have a feel for how to do stuff.

OMG! I just realized that "this folder" was a link... it didn't show as different from the rest of the text. I thought you simply meant the DIY folder. I'll be checking all the goodies out that you linked to!
Thanks!

[rerathbun]

For Shad:

Is there a way to have the links automatically come up in different color from the surrounding text?  I try to make it blue when I add a link, but it would be nice if they came up blue (or some other color) without requiring the poster to change it manually.