> You wrote:
I know that's not the subject the message I'm answering to was, but
this is a re-send due to problems reconnecting to list, and I don't
recall the subject heading. This seemed to fit--at least better than
an error message.
> Landing could be a problem, provided, of course, you found an
A starship twice the size of the largest dreadnought... What's an Iowa weigh?
Take a cruise ship twice it's size, and use it as a landing craft.
Not in my universe. I generally drop Power-Armored infantry from orbit
(RAH!), in conjunction with SOF forces infiltrarted in a variety of ways
(including booking passage like any other business traveller). I bought a
couple of small, very nice walkers, but I havn't decided whether I want to
make that a standard part of my assault forces. As
soon as I've got a spacehead, expand it with rough-field capable
assault landers. I don't start landing the heavy freighters full of supplies
until a spaceport is secure. Wars are expensive. Desert
Storm required 6,000 aircraft sorties and 500 ship-loads to move the
troops and supplies in.
> And, of course, if I were the defenders, I would be lobbing in
Heck w/ that. I'd be using even bigger warheads. That's a bloomin'
expensive target.
Up until this very week, I was not an advocate of the use of Bloody Huge
Dropships. What changed this, you ask? Simple. Just this week, I purchased,
for a mere $12.00, an old Thunderbirds model. The one of the
big ship, which appears to have been used as a dropship on the show itself.
(Sorry, I've never actually seen an episode of Thunderbirds...)
The model is a little under a foot long, about three inches high, and roughly
four inches wide. I intend, Real Soon Now, to add some turrets from my bits
box to the hull, paint it up in a black and white dazzle pattern, and use it
as a DSII dropship.
The way I see it, the fleet's job in a planetary assault is to achieve total
orbital superiortiy, ASAP. Only after the sky has been swept
clean of enemy satelites, and you have your own anti-missile defenses in
place, do you attempt to land the BHD. And before you do THAT, you bombard the
chosen landing area from orbit, in an attempt to wipe out any possible
resistance.
Ultimately, of course, I am only bothering to justify this because I think
that the Dropship will look really cool on the table. And isn't that the most
important thing?
By the way, K.R.: Did you not carry, at some point in the distant past,
a ceramic drop ship intended for use with Battletech figures? As I recall from
the pictures in your catalog,it was a Bloody Huge Dropship
indeed....
> You wrote:
> Ultimately, of course, I am only bothering to justify this because I
Nah, that's the second most important thing. The most important is "Is this
going to be fun?" If that floats your boat, you write your fluff text. I
personally come from a background that idealizes airborne more than marine, so
hundreds of powerarmored infantrymen with "grav chutes" rings my 'cool bell'.
And it at least makes for interesting scenarios: OK, I've got a company of
power armor spread all over the board. You've got a company of militia, three
police cars, and a random reinforcement chart which varies from a Heavy Grav
Tank platoon to a militia dragoon company.:)
> Ultimately, of course, I am only bothering to justify this because I
> OK, I've got a company of power armor spread all over the board.
Well, there is the "fun" factor as well. For me, a good bit of the
fun is putting the Cool Things on the table, 'tho. For example, I have
a goodly number of the old 25mm Ral Partha Kurita battletroops --nice
figs, true 25s, with reasonable looking weapons. I was never able to figure
out a good APC for them, though.... Until I rediscovered an old
1/72 scale kit that I had stuffed in a box. It was an American kit,
with a four legged Robotech walker, and it looks really, really nice.
Inefficent as all hell, of course, but the coolness factor is just waaaay too
high in this instance. All I need to do (again, Real Soon Now) is replace the
hatches with something a little bigger, and build the kit. I doubt that the
walker will last very long on the Tabletop (it's hard to miss something that
size), but the expression on the players faces will be well worth it!
> John Atkinson wrote:
> > And, of course, if I were the defenders, I would be lobbing in
Lobbing nukes (or heavier stuff) at a target located on your OWN real estate?
That's one government that won't survive the next election (if
they make it through the war at all ;-)
> > Landing could be a problem, provided, of course, you found an
> John M. "I'm Back, what did I miss?" Atkinson
One thing I'd consider is a heavy atmospheric inserter, not a lander.
The Assault Transport has enough point defense to deal with missiles
and fighters, so it might actually take _less_ damage than an
interface craft wave, especially as the Assault Transport will have shields,
and the interface craft would normally make multiple runs.
Once the AT slows to below Mach 1, it launches a _massive_
parachute/glider/anti-grav assault. Then it zips back up into
space.
That works for dropping troops, resupply probably will require at least basic
port facilities.
Once you have a space port, you simply offload your troops and supplies there
and they take cheaper, atmospheric heavylift craft to their area of
operations.
> You wrote:
> Lobbing nukes (or heavier stuff) at a target located on your OWN real
Unless, of course, the garrison forces are responsible to a higher
authority than local planetary government. NAC/NSL/FSE/ESU/etc
regulars probably care less about the opinion of local planetary governors
than, for instance, the US Army cared about any given French
mayor's opinion of the effects of a P-47 strike on Tigers located in
his town.
> Ludo Toen wrote:
Ludo? Ludo is that you? It's been a long time since we've seen you on the
list!