Counting the corpses perhaps can tell you where you stand (4,9)

'perhaps can tell you where you stand' is the definition.
(navigation technique)

'counting the corpses' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'counting' could be 'reckoning' ('reckoning' can be a synonym of 'counting') and 'reckoning' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'dead' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).