Unit identification in PG

[larry marak]

PICS or Alphabet

Back when play be mail was by the post office and die rolls were resolved by looking up results on the New York stock exchange (Yes that was the system in the 60's and early 70's !!) Dunnigan and Simonson came up with the PICS system for identifying individual counters. A four digit
(five digit for Arab Israei Wars {the 5th digit was for nationality}) spelled out unit class, individual model, and then 2 digits for unit number.

AVP started off their PG system with a continuation of the 4 digit PICS system, and then after a few years and a few dozen small counter sheets for books switched over to an alphabetical numbering system by individual unit type. The PICS system took up a lot of room on the counter but was very easy to read. The alphabetical sytem takes up far less space, but the font is becoming increasingly small and fairly hard to make out to older eyes. I assume the 27th grenadier platoon would be unit aa. Then there is system 3, no unit identification on counters (Cassino, Black SS, Panzer Lehr). In the newest releases we have letters in Wote and no i.d. in Lehr.

Now we have scads of examples of all three types in play, esp. in the scenario books, i.e., PICS U.S. Army counters from Bulge taking on alphabetically named S.S. or Wehrmacht counters from more recent supplements.

The mess is already made, but if it were up to you, which system of identifying counters would you use?

[tanzerleader]

i do prefer the 4 digit system. for some reason it works better for me.
That way you get 0001 to 0003 is A Company, 0004 to 0006 is B Company etc. The system was used in Afrika Korps and I found it simplified things

[J6A]

PICS or Alphabet

Back when play be mail was by the post office and die rolls were resolved by looking up results on the New York stock exchange (Yes that was the system in the 60's and early 70's !!)

Heck, I didn't start gaming until the mid-70s, and that was the system we used for AH PBM games. I hadn't thought about that in ages!

[broadsword]

Since I play only on Cyberboard, which allows a player to attach little notes to units, I make a real OOB and label the counters accordingly. But since not every platoon has a leader counter, I have to arbitrarily assign that LT to one platoon and then treat the other platoon as having their commanders abstracted.

[larry marak]

Check out that most puzzling example unit i.d.'s in the P.G. game system. Kursk South Flank. Only Soviet (regular and guard) afv's have unit i.d.'s (alphabetical) and those only if there is more than one counter of that type on the counter sheet. Wehrmacht and SS afv's do not sport any unit identification. Go Figure. Or better than that, ask Jay if he spoke to Avalanche about that when he was helping to proof the counters.

[joe_oppenheimer]

Check out that most puzzling example unit i.d.'s in the P.G. game system. Kursk South Flank. Only Soviet (regular and guard) afv's have unit i.d.'s (alphabetical) and those only if there is more than one counter of that type on the counter sheet. Wehrmacht and SS afv's do not sport any unit identification. Go Figure. Or better than that, ask Jay if he spoke to Avalanche about that when he was helping to proof the counters.

The Soviet non-Guard AFVs need an ID letter so you can designate who the tank leader is.

[larry marak]

Thanks, your post and jay's email to me explained why the Soviet regulars at least have letter i.d. Really tiny i.d. at that.

By the way, the Guard BM-13's are gorgeous.