From: Phillip E. Pournelle <pepourne@n...>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 08:07:36
Subject: Bugs, Mr. Rico, Zillions of them...
Hello We ran a SGII scenario with the Arachnids in play this last weekend and
here are some corrections to my previous postings on the subject. The
Leadership: Brain bugs have six action markers and are always level two
leaders. They are telepathic and cannot be jammed by EW. They use a d12
quality die. If directly attacked they are automatically destroyed and all
units under their command are immobilized until recontrolled by another Brain
Bug. Whatever any bug under the brain bugs command sees, the brain bug sees.
This is what makes Arachnid heavy weapons so deadly. The brain bug has armor
of 1D4 and moves 6 inches in SGII. Normal Brains are leader 2s and can be 1 or
3 as required. Lesser bugs cannot move on their own and must be activated
using an action marker by the Brain Bug. However, they are capable of
responding to local threats and will fight CC and fire within their range when
forces rush their positions. The Workers: Worker bugs are about half the size
of a Soldier bug and have a quality die of 1D4 for combat but a quality die of
1D12 for digging, work etc. They can tunnel 3 inches an action in SGII and
otherwise conduct all actions like combat engineers. If added they can operate
support systems like EW etc. They have 1D6 armor and move 12 inches in SGII. A
worker squad can carry the brain bug to move him 12 inches. Workers can also
carry blasting charge that can act like a mine or collapse a tunnel. The
Soldiers: Soldier Bugs are about the size of a large dog. They have 1D8 armor
and carry Close Combat weapons similar to an assault Shotgun and
have HTH weapons that shift +2. They have a quality die of 1D12 and
ignore morale and modivation factors. They can be suppressed. Soldier bugs can
tunnel 1.5 inches an action and always move combat movement of 1D8 inches in
SGII. Heavy Weapons: Because the Brain Bug sees whatever his minions see they
can be very deadly whith artillery and it is really the only heavy weapon they
use. Often they will have their workers build trap door systems to hide the
tubes in tunnels. The Brain Bug uses an action marker to spot
through an observing soldier/worker squad and then the next action the
shells start to land. The Brain bug could then have the supporting worker
squad move the artillery tubes in the tunnels to a new position or just relie
on the dug in position to enable the tube to survive counter fire. This is
very important because the bugs are at a disadvantage against the humans with
ranged weapons and can easily be pinned. I might use the movie bugs as super
soldiers to get something to offset the powered armor guys. They really tear
into the soldiers in hand to hand combat. On the other hand the normal soldier
bugs were very effective in HTH versus the normal troopers. Suicide warrior
bugs may just carry a large bomb into the midst of their enemies and self
detonate. Order of battle. A standard Bug Platoon consists of a Brain Bug, at
least one squad of 10 Worker bugs, and four squads of ten soldier bugs each.
Usually the
platoon will have an additional squad of 10 soldier bugs to operate/move
artillery and another squad of ten soldier bugs to defend them. At the Platoon
level the artillery will consist of one or two RA Mortar tubes.
Another platoon type is tunnel-diggers/engineers where the
ratios are reversed but they carry mines that can be used in the tunnels or
secretly placed for surface dwellers to find... Another platoon type is the
heavy artillery where the ratios are even and they have the big guns plus
possible counter battery radars etc. Arachnids have ships and drop boats but
will generally conduct orbital drops of their soldiers followed by brain bugs
in assault boats. If you are using my points system then a normal arachnid
soldier or worker costs 10 points each. The artillery costs are as from DSII.
Otherwise the point multiple is 2.5. This worked reasonably well for a bug
hunt game we played, but I got frustrated when my bugs kept getting pinned.
This meant I kept them underground a lot and used mines to annoy the humans.
Because it is easy to pin a bug hole I recomend that before you open a tunnel
you build an antechamber large enough to fit two soldier squads in it. The
first one can breach the surface and will inevitably be pinned, the second one
can then follow through and engage the enemy at hand to hand combat.