For the historical gamer who likes his miniature regiments to have the correct regimental identification for the scenario he is playing, re-labeling all the stands for different scenarios could become quite tedious. Likewise, at different times, regiments would have vastly different strength. For instance, the 24th Michigan of the famed “Iron Brigade” started the Battle of Gettysburg on July 1 with over 480 men (8 figures), but by the end of the day had less than 240 men (4 figures), which would be its starting strength for any July 2 scenarios. So for the gamer that likes to have his regiments with the correct unit identification and approximate strength for the specific battle he is simulating and is willing to have most of his soldiers painted as generic Union or Confederate soldiers, the following unit organizations tricks could prove useful.
For each regiment, paint up one small square stand with only one figure, a flag and a space for a unit ID. Then add generic stands to fill out the regiment for that particular battle. The one figure does not count for fire or melee but is there just for looks, so obviously an officer or drummer would be a good choice since they seldom fired anyway. The two Mississippi regiments shown in the diagram demonstrate this system in action, with the 11th Mississippi (Example 1) having 8 figures (480 men) and the 42nd Mississippi (Example 2) having 6 figures (360 men).
Using this system makes it easy to see the individual regiments within a brigade line of many regiments (Example 3).
An advantage of this regimental marking system is that, it makes it easy to show a “merged” regiment that has been formed from two “depleted” one-stand regiments. Example 4 in the diagram shows a merged regiment formed from the depleted one-stand remnants of the 2nd Mississippi and the 11th Mississippi.
With only two stands per regiment, it can be difficult to distinguish between a road column and an attack column, particularly in terms of unit direction with the smaller figures. However, the use of a single flag stand also helps with that distinction. In Example 5, the 42nd Mississippi is in road column, while in Example 6 it is in attack column.
Finally, for those gamers who hate casualty markers of any kind on their units, using generic stands offers the option of tracking casualties by simply swapping out stands. If a unit with 8 figures (two 4-figure stands) loses a figure, simply replace one of the 4-figure stands with a 3-figure one, and if another figure is lost, replace that stand with a 2-figure stand.
The use of generic stands with different numbers of figures, when coupled with the fact that Across a Deadly Field works equally well with either 2- or 3-figure stands, offers the gamer the option of more precisely modeling the historical strength of both the very large and the very small units. For instance, the 16th Vermont at the start of Gettysburg would have a muster strength of almost 720 men, which could be modeled either with two stands of six figures each or three stands of four figures each. Likewise Lang’s Brigade (a total of 740 men) of three small Florida regiments might best modeled as a single “unit” of two stands with six figures per stand, a 3-stand unit with four figures per stand, or even a 4-stand unit of three figures per stand, for a total of 12 figures. The only minor issue is that Basic Morale Point (BMP) degradation per stand is slightly different between a 2-stand unit, a 3-stand unit and a 4-stand unit, as so:
| Unit Type | BMP 2-stand Units | BMP 3-stand Units | BMP 4-stand Units | ||||||
| 2 stands | 1 stand | 3 stands | 2 stands | 1 stand | 4 stands | 3 stands | 2 stands | 1 stand | |
| Green | 6 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| Trained | 5 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Veteran | 4 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| Elite | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
There is no reason why some regiments could not be portrayed as 2-stand regiments and others as 3-stand regiments – or even the rare enormous regiment of four stands – in the same battle, as long as it is noted which is which. That can easily be done by making a 3-inch by 5-inch brigade card with the characteristics of each regiment (its regiment identification, the number of stands, the number of figures, its weapons, its quality and its morale, and any special rules that apply to that particular regiment).