From: Barclay, Tom <tomb@b...>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 10:57:30 -0400
Subject: Articulation [SG2] and RCMP2185
Allan and Brian have made interesting points. Seems to me Allan has championed my cause - small units take fire reasonably morale wise (let's not argue house rules... Allan's improve on the basic game but I find still have a weakness or two (or did last time I reviewed them) the only fair ones to discuss are the normal textbook ones), give out fire effectively (no waste of FP), and they take fire well because suppressions suppress less of the total available force. They can also be overkilled - which is a plus for the defender! Waste opponent FP. If I have a squad with GMS and I detach the GMS, my commander uses 1 action to transfer command (giving the GMS guy two actions I think) and 1 action is thus left to the rest of the squad. This is wasteful. If the GMS is a two man team, or a 4 man detachment with two GMS, it tends to be more tactically effective - it doesn't impinge on the rifle squads, it can engage LoS, and its principal role is AT whereas a rifle squad should be worried about other infantry. It is (IMO) tactically better. As for the redundancy point - point taken. One or two extra guys isn't bad. Mind you, having their FP effective is good too. Having too few so that you don't get big dice (D10 at least) is sort of a problem I must agree. Most figs I use (NSL or mercs for example) have FP3 kit. So 4 guys is a great size. Maybe with FP2 the key number is six. As for the comment about limited activation (being able to activate a smaller % of total force) - not a huge issue - I have more tactical flexibility (more squads can manouvre and fire independently or in mutual support) and I can still reactivate the same raw # of units - so I'll get the same # of extra firing actions if I want. Movement might be the only place any slowdown shows. Firing is not impacted. Stargrunt is a squad game - I like to see forces behave as they do in reality - elements mutually supporting. This happens even within "sections" or "squads" of 6-10 guys - pairings, groups of 3 or 4 (depends if you are a 2-1 or 2-2 doctrine force) guys - and this is one place I find large-squad SG2 lacks something (for me myself!). I find the articulation adds to the complexity of the movements that are possible, and playing FMASkirmish with a platoon per side is just too big for casual entertainment... so this is my substitute. RCMP2185: Like the idea of the Royal Colonial Mounted Police. Now I need some figs from someone like Jon or Nic. "Mounty in Red Serge, Riding Pants with wide-brim hat and AAR". They actually do a lot of work with the UN around the world and are a very hard working force that is cost effective for policing at high standards of quality. They aren't foolproof, but they provide good bang for the buck. And they have a cool tradition. And, let me say, they do a lot more than we ever hear about to keep our communities safe. :) e-mail volume issue: Also, a note to anyone having problems with listmail volumes: DIGEST! Get one mail a day, sort through it in Notepad or mail tool quickly - ignore threads with ease. It solved my grief. 1 50K email a day now. Not 50 messages. Easy to store, easy to search. No one has any reason to complain about mail volume needlessly.