Hello All,
Another Question. I have started to base my Dirtside Troops. I am using Jon's
troop stands my troops. I was going to use the four men stand for "Rifle
Elements", three men stands for my PA elements,
and the two man stands for "special" elements like GMS/L or Artillery
Observers etc. As I was working out my scheme I realized I was unsure of one
thing, can the Squad/Platoon Leader be any element within that unit?
Example Platoon:
2 GMS/L Teams (2 Elements)
6 Rifle Teams (6 Elements) 4 APCs (4 Vehicles)
Could the Platoon Leader be one of the APCs? Or could it be
one of the GMS/L teams? Does it have to be one of the Rifle Teams?
I ask because as I paint up the stands I was thinking of painting a mark on
the bottom to ID them. Let me know what you all think.
What I did, was get some of the light hover jeeps (DSM113) and assigned one to
each of my infantry platoons as the command figure. It works pretty well, as
it keeps me from trying to track a specific element as the leader, and looks
pretty nice when the APCs are moving along with the jeep mixed in with them.
But, my understanding is that any of the elements can be the platoon leader.
Painting a colored marker on the bottom is a good idea. I should
still do that to indicate the who would take over if the jeep was toasted.
> Casquilho, Daniel wrote:
> Hello All,
Thinking logically about it, the platoon leader is going to be a grunt rather
than one of the vehicle crew, so therefore he should be one of
the infantry elements. I suppose it could be one of the GMS/Ls but this
is unlikely - the GMS/L team is only two men, and your platoon commander
is unlikely to want to be distracted by having to load or fire a missile.
So, IMO it should be one of the rifle teams, although AFAIK there's nothing in
the rules to stop you nominating one of the other elements.
> "Casquilho, Daniel" wrote:
***
Thinking logically about it, the platoon leader is going to be a grunt rather
than one of the vehicle crew,
...
***
Unless his name is Gorman... ;->=
The_Beast
Tony,
I was thinking in game rules and play reasons. In real life the Platoon Leader
does remain with the IFV and is part of the crew, well at least in the US
army. Based on the US Army Field Manual "MECHANIZED
INFANTRY PLATOON AND SQUAD (BRADLEY), FM7-7J" The Platoon Lt is in the
A Sections first Bradley. I have the web address if you are interested. The
document is quite an interesting read. It outlines tactics etc.
Just to add a sci-fi view to the mix, the "The Aliens: Colonial
Marines Technical Manual" has a Platoon TO&E in the book. In looking
at the TO&E a Squad is made up of two 4-men elements and an APC with
the Squad Sgt. and APC Driver inside. So the Unit Leader is in the APC with
the Driver while the eight grunts are on the ground.
If we assume (yes I know... :-) that the squad is a single unit
in Dirtside terms then the APC could be marked as the Unit leader and the
troop elements could be just that, grunts on the ground.
Even the Movie followed the same set up roughly. The grunts dismounted but the
brave Lt Gorman stayed in the APC.
So I was thinking, in my Platoon, I could say the Platoon Leader remains in
one of the APCs for example, dismounting the Unit's
Rifle Teams and GMS/L Teams etc. but I did not want to make a mistake
because I am new to the game. As we all know game rules and real life are not
the same thing in any way.
Just a Thought...
Daniel
> -----Original Message-----
Noel,
Great idea. By using a different vehicle I make ID easy for me. I'll have to
think about that.
Daniel
> -----Original Message-----
No, no. "WHEN the jeep is toasted..."
One nice thing in DS2, APCs and Jeeps seem to draw heavy weapons fire.
Infantry are SO much easier to kill when they are all bunched up in a tin can.
The only trouble is it also makes ID easier for your opponent...
> Casquilho, Daniel wrote:
> Noel,
> the jeep mixed in with them.
Actually, I haven't lost a jeep... yet. I have carefully managed to keep
the jeep with the APCs, a good 8-10 inches back of the infantry when it
is dismounted. My opponents to date have generally targeted my dismounted
troops and ignored the "lesser" threat from the vehicles.
But you are right, I have been lucky more than anything so far, having seen
the magnetic attraction between APCs and hostile arty rounds and tanks.
> Bell, Brian K (Contractor) wrote:
> No, no. "WHEN the jeep is toasted..."
On Fri, 09 Mar 2001 16:31:37 +0000 Tony Francis <tony.francis@kuju.com>
writes:
> Thinking logically about it, the platoon leader is going to be a grunt
<snip>
> --
Just to be myself, why not a solo figure? Of course then someone will want one
for the Platoon NCO, runners, etc.
On Fri, 9 Mar 2001 09:56:48 -0800 "Casquilho, Daniel"
> <Daniel.Casquilho@disney.com> writes:
And easy for your opponents?
"Skip the AFV's and APC's - get that Jeep!"
Yes, it's a game mechanic an opponent might use but if in reality I can id
their command vehicles then they die...
8-10" ??? I thought unit integrety distance was 3 or 4". Dosen't this
put you out of unit integrity?
---
Brian Bell bkb@beol.net ICQ: 12848051 AIM: Rlyehable The Full Thrust Ship
Registry:
http://www.ftsr.org
---
[quoted original message omitted]
No. Page 23 of the rule book, second to last paragraph in the Unit Integrity
section:
"...if the infantry dismount, the transport may if desired move up to 10" away
from the troops and still be counted as within integrity."
If the transport moves over 10" then they become a separate unit - own
command and confidence, etc.
Our group sort of house ruled that the jeeps count as transport under these
conditions.
> Brian Bell wrote:
> 8-10" ??? I thought unit integrety distance was 3 or 4". Dosen't this
> Brian Bell wrote:
APCs and other infantry transports need to be within 10" of the infantry in
order to be considered still one unit for activation. If they are farther than
10" apart they should be designated as two units.
BTW, this question came up during the Battle of Krayvalen at the ECC.
Sorry, I knew 10" dismount rule. My point was that they would then be seperate
units. The leader of the dismounted infantry, could not be in the jeep
(without a house rule) without breaking integrety.
---
Brian Bell bkb@beol.net ICQ: 12848051 AIM: Rlyehable The Full Thrust Ship
Registry:
http://www.ftsr.org
---
[quoted original message omitted]
You also make your units easy morale pickings since destruction of the PL is
a +3 confidence test. You want to hide the location of your leaders as
much as possible in DS. I use sticky dots on the bottoms of my stands and
designate one of the 4 figure per stand infantry elements as the PL for
infantry. Even if they are in APC's or MICV's they at least have a chance of
getting out of a disabled vehicle (unlike their armor brethren...)
Always keep them guessing:)
Chuck
[quoted original message omitted]
> Brian Bell wrote:
> Sorry, I knew 10" dismount rule.
without
> breaking integrety.
We thought the same, but just accepted it as "the vehicles" could move apart
per the 10" dismount rule. We thought of it terms of the commander
sitting in the cab a la "Aliens", as someone else already mentioned.
> ---
G'day guys,
> I use sticky dots on the bottoms of my stands...
Being inherently lazy we go one step further and keep ourselves guessing.
Basically when units take casualties then we roll a dice and see whether it
was the leader or not....
Cheers
Beth
> At 11:06 11/03/01 -0500, Chuck wrote:
When we started playing we didn't immediately mark out the unit commanders, so
to get around this when a vehicle or infantry stand was knocked out we rolled
a die to determine if the commander was the one who got it. It tends to keep
things interesting.