Hey are there any rules (published or house) for units breaking in combat. I'm thinking in terms of most strategy games where after a certain amount of a unit or mob dies they begin having to make morale tests to see if the remaining combatants break and run.

I know SR4 incorporated a "Professional Rating" to cover this aspect. It's probably in SR5 as well, but I don't know if it's explicit about how hard people are willing to fight.

-DrZ

One can also follow comon sense. If a roll is called for, just roll composure for the Leader of the unit (or each member if you really want to).

Professional Rating actually came about before SR4. Not sure if it went back as far as SR1, though.

Apart from all-out fleeing, not committing all guards to combat at once is a good way of making them last, and keeping the players on their toes. Rescue of the wounded and revenge for the fallen will make the opponents feel alive.

We don´t use any hard rules for morale. Besides the impressive Fear power.

Fear is an awesome motivator...

That's... Actually a pretty good way to play it. In most units, if the leader loses his shit, the rest of the guys aren't going to try and rally unless there's another charismatic authority figure who can and will step up - for instance, if a dipshit lieutenant loses his shit in the heat of the moment, and a grizzled Sergeant steps up to take control.

I would suggest that if things swing badly for a unit ("Badly" being determined by an estimation of how professional and fanatical they are; a mob of ordinary people, such as Humanis members, might break if anyone so much as demonstrates superior firepower and a willingness to use it,) street toughs might break and run just by being separated from their leader, rent-a-cops might risk breaking if they start taking casualties, etcetera,) the Leader would have to make a Composure test. If he loses it, most units will break, but if there's a secondary authority figure, that person can make a Leadership test (same threshold as the leader's failed composure test,) to assume command and keep the unit in fighting shape (minus the shit-lost leader.)

Some units, such as hardcore elites, would never break in this manner, and others would be almost as impossible, but not quite. For instance, a unit of Tir Ghosts - technically they can break like this, but if the leader somehow flubs his Composure test, every other member of the unit is qualified to make Leadership tests to pull things together. Renraku Red Samurai (folks for whom death is preferable to dishonor,) fanatic cultists, batshit insane gangers who don't care if they live or die (or may not even realize they're in a life-or-death situation in the first place,) simply don't break, absent unnatural mental influence. Even if completely separated, each and every one of them will continue to prosecute their objectives as an individual until success is achieved or they are physically unable to continue the fight. For lunatic gangers, this may be as simple as hurling a frag grenade into the mob, but you're going to have the kind of fight in which legends are forged on your hands if you're tangling with Red Samurai.

Didn't War have rules for this?

I generally fake morale just to end fights when they get to the cleanup stage -- whenever it's entirely obvious that the threat is gone and it's just a matter of pulling triggers for a couple turns.

More common is the tactical withdrawal, where a group might try to retreat to allies or a better position, but that's a tactical decision and not really a die roll.

Check the Professional Rating section of SR5 (p379-380), there is a lot of good info there.