Warring States: Generals

During a Local Campaign of Rally Round the King, one's army is divided into "groups" represented by face-down cards. To simulate the passage of time, the cards are "dropped" down the Local Campaign Ladder after fleeing or fighting a battle. They may also be shifted into an adjacent column to be deployed to a different battlefield.

Ladder decisions are the "big picture" maneuvers determined by a player's style and willingness to take risks. Ladder decisions are also an opportunity to create unique opposing generals for solo play!

Here's how I'm going to do it: There are four questions that need to be answered each turn during a Local Campaign. The questions and their possibles answers can be used to create an opposing general's War Profile, a simple chart that can function as the solo player's adversary.

How are the groups initially deployed in the first row?
As sides alternate placing groups before the first turn, they may opt to try to match group strength or risk an imbalance in the hope of taking an early attack lead. I've already built my army and divided the bodies up into groups, and I've also decided that I will always deploy my four groups and two decoys evenly among the three boxes of the Ladder's first row. What will my opponent do? His War Profile will tell me. He could evenly distribute his six or nine groups among the three boxes, OR he could do something more "imbalanced;" that is, the opposing groups may be more unpredictably placed which I can simulate by rolling 1d6 for each group, placing them in these corresponding boxes: 1-2=box one; 3-4=box two; 5-6=box three.

Fight or flight?
One's aggressiveness and group numbers will determine whether a battle is engaged when opposing cards are within the same box of the Ladder. This can be simulated with another 1d6 roll that is increased or decreased by the difference between the opposing group numbers. For example, if I have two cards in a box and my opponent has three, I would add one to the 1d6 roll which will increase the chances of the opposing general wanting to fight, as noted on his War Profile. (You'll see what I mean in the pictures below.)

What is the priority* when dropping groups after a flight?
Go after +1's? Consolidate groups? Intercept other enemy groups?

What is the priority* when dropping groups after a fight?
Go after +1's? Consolidate groups? Recover losses?

*"Priority" implies the most important objective, not the only objective. For example, if consolidation is the top priority and there's a +1 easily available as well, the opposing general will try to consolidate troops on the +1 box.

The answers to all of the above are distributed into the War Profile to create a unique opposing AI General. Here are two tentative War Profiles that should give you a good idea of what the above all means:

Comments and suggestions are most welcomed!

(By the way, I did not cover those mythical war advisers yet...still working out some details on them...)