Unit ratings are the toughest part of designing a new game. I built a database that will give me a numerical rating (zero to approximately 150 for the entire war) but then you have to bend that rating to the time frame you are working with. Comparing Shiloh with Gettysburg or Overland is like comparing Apple(r)s to Oranges. A unit which is rated "F" at Shiloh would be rated about "Z" at Gettysburg if it were to time travel those 15 months and show up in Pennsylvania. This concept is understandable in real life terms. A unit which knew the basic movements and formations, had brave leaders, and stalwart men, would be maybe rated "B" at Shiloh, but a unit with that level of ability would have been lost at Gettysburg, with an "E" rating at best. Unit ratings are relative to the era you are working with.
The Shiloh designer could have made the 53rd an "E" rated unit but then had Col Appler as a "F" leader in that brigade. That might have made his presence known in a subtler way. When it comes to basket-case leaders I automatically think of Col Christian, a brigade commander in Hooker's Corps at Antietam, who also showed the white feather early and often, but his brigade was able to carry on without him. There you have the quandary of whether to obey an unlawful order. The 53rd was green with no experience with what was the "norm" in combat, so when ol' Jesse said "run" most of the boys figured he knew what he was doing. At Antietam Christian's men laughed at him.
Quality can degrade over time, also. If you read the Overland article in Blake's "Between the Sheets" publication, you will see that by Cold Harbor Union units no longer displayed the elan that had been their hallmark for so long.
I'm sorry, what? Lines, not sheets? Oh, I'm sorry Mr. B.
Seriously it was a good article that puts our new game in context. Well done.
Other examples of questionable quality on one side or the other, and sometimes both sides, are the Confederate Army at Nashville, and/or parts of both armies at Cedar Creek, showing the best and worst behavior all in a single day.
John Ferry
Maj 2/20th Corps