From: Donogh McCarthy <donoghmc@h...>
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 10:02:57 +0000
Subject: Mercenary Mission Motivation
Here it is: comments etc. are welcome
Employers are usually responsible for payment, supply, intelligence, strategic
redeployment and other sundry issues. How well an employer carries out these
duties can affect the Mercenary's
performance and motivation.
Payment: To ensure that the Mercenary group's pay is kept up to date, roll the
Employers Payment Rating. Poor D6 Average D8 Good D10
Results: 1 Payment is not going to be made this month Commander must make
Rally Roll to get squads to muster Low Motivation
2-3 Pay is overdue and lower than agreed
Low Motivation
4-5 Pay is overdue or is lower than agreed
Medium Motivation
6+ All pay is in order
High Motivation
Supply: To ensure that the Mercenary group's supply needs are met, roll the
Employers Supply Rating. Poor D6 Average D8 Good D10
Results: 1 No Supply Run is made
All weapons are at -1FP due to ammo restraints
Troops Exhausted
-1 Level of Motivation
2-3 Supply Run is low on foodstuffs
Troops Tired
4-5 Supply Run is lacking in spare parts
All systems run at 1 level lower
6+ Supply Run is in order
Reliability: To ensure that the Mercenary group's intelligence needs are met,
and that they are not left out to dry by the employers, roll the Employers
Reliability Rating. Poor D6 Average D8 Good D10
Results: 1 Agreed Mission Support does not show up
-1 Level of Motivation (when this becomes apparent)
2-3 Intelligence underestimates level of hostile forces for
mission
4-5 Intelligence overestimates level of hostile forces for mission
6+ Intelligence reports in order
[While overestimating the level of forces may not seem like a bum deal,
it does mean that the player will assign more of his forces than he would have
otherwise - and thus these forces count as being in action and will need
to be rested sometime in the future.]
[If you feel that the results are too punishing I'd recommend narrowing
the
result bands from "2-3" to "2" and "4-5" to "3" - You kind GMs you!]
Many of you mentioned the quality of leadership and the esprit d'corps being
pivotal factors in the motivation of mercenary troops. I agree. However I
think that this is already covered in the rules for motivation by have
Leadership and Quality Values.
On deciding who qualifies as a mercenary - obviously this is a
contentious issue. I think that units such as the Gurkhas and French Foreign
Legion (while sharing the attributes of mercenary units) are better simulated
using the standard rules for military units. They have a definate place in the
chain of command, and are included in standard armed forces supply,
intelligence and pay.
On units who are fanatical about their cause - be it Japanese Corporate
Mercenaries or International Brigades (as in Spanish Civil War) - I'd be
inclined to assign them a High Motivation.
As for motivational issues connected with support, there's nice contract
negotiation rules in various Battletech Mercenary books, whereby the quality
of the unit (basically) grants the units a greater influence on the
negotiations: I'm not going to go into that in detail now, and will run
"agreed support" on a quasi role-playing basis.
Experience:
Squads
Units can gain in Experience.
Experience Level Green Regular Veteran Experience Points 0 3 8
Units gain 1 Experience Points after each battle Units gain 1 Experience
Points after each successful mission
Officers
Leaders gain experience points from leading Units better than them. They gain
experience by the same rules as Units Level 3 Leaders can gain experience from
Regular and Veteran Units. Level 2 Leaders can gain experience from Veteran
Units.
Experience Level 3 2 1 Experience Points 0 3 8
Recruitment
Casualty Replacement Roll Commanders Quality Die vs. Target Number of
replacements he wishes to recruit.
Results: 1 Fails to recruit any replacements Less than TN Recruits Untrained
replacements Equal or Greater than TN Recruits Green replacements Twice TN
Recruits Regular replacements
Experience dilution is as per SGII
Additional Reaction Tests:
Leaving Casualties Behind Is always taken at Low Mission Motivation Level
[I'd recommend using this if the mercenaries think that they are apt to
be maltreated by regular armed forces who capture their personnel]
When Units have taken 50% casualties in total Low Medium High
+4 +3 +2
[This reaction test may be effected in play by the Player choosing to
withdraw as casualties mount - ie choosing to save his company rather
than continue with the mission]
[Just to give you all some idea of what level of game I'm intending to
run
here's my guideline for force creation - this may seem like a points
system and it is, but it's just a guideline really]
Mercenary Platoon
Forces Available: 6 Points
No. Description Cost
1 Commander (that's you!) (0)
0-1 Command Squad (1)
1 NCO, 1 Electronic Warfare, 1 Medic, 3 Security
0-4 Rifle Squad (.5)
1 NCO, 1 SAW, 5 Rifle, 1 Other Support Weapon
0-2 Assault Squad (.5)
1 NCO, 5 SMG, 2 Other Weapons (Flamthrowers, Demolitions etc.)
0-2 Power Armour Squad (1)
1 NCO, 1 SAW, 3 Rifle, 1 Other Support Weapon
0-2 MICV (1)
1 Armoured Personnel Carrier
0-1 AFV (2)
1 Armoured Fighting Vehicle
0-1 VTOL (2)
1 VTOL, for Fire Support or Personnel
0-2 Special Weapons Team (.5)
Any of the following: Local Air Defence, Mortar, Anti Personnel Support
Weapon, Sniper
0-2 Special Forces Team (1)
1 NCO, 1 SAW, 2 Rifle
[In my campaign rules I intend to give Special Forces teams the ability
to train militia and will probably allow them to undertake cheesy missions]
Technology Upgrades: 2 Points
Partial Armour (1) Full Armour (2) Advanced Assault Rifles (1) Gauss Rifles
(2) Enhanced Systems (1) Superior Systems (2) Fast Power Armour (2) Heavy
Power Armour (2)
Experience: 2 Points Can be spent to upgrade Quality or Leadership type of a
squad by 1 level
[I'd recommend drawing random quality chits for troops]
Miscellaneous: 2 Points Can be spent on Forces, Technology Upgrades or
Experience