Review of Star Grunt

> At 03:58 PM 12/12/97 EST, John wrote:

Stargrunts is a 25mm squad level combat game. Each squad when activated has
two actions. They can fire, move, observe, dig in (going into "position") etc
with each action. Activation of a squad goes back and forth between players
with initiative to the player with the fewest units to activate. However, each
squad is part of a platoon and the command element of that platoon has a
leader with his own activation. He can use an action via a command roll to
activate a squad in his chain of command. This means that a squad can be
activated more than once and therefore fire more than once etc. Squads fire as
a group by combining the effect of their line weapons plus any benefits from
heavy weapons, etc. An opposed die roll based on the effect of those weapons
and the quality of the squad versus the range to the target and defensive
bonuses from terrain, etc. Results can be suppression of the squad (requiring
a successful activation to remove), potential casualties, or just stiring of
the dust... The level of detail rises from the squad level to artillery,
vehicles, etc. However, the real focus is really on the squad level of play
and can break down if too many vehicles are used. It is a fast moving system,
once you get the hang of it, and very fun. It does a nice job of providing a
detailed fighting system as a bridge from DSII or boarding actions for Full
Thrust, and you can get the conversion stuff from the archives. My only
complaint is the granularity of weapons types. There is no way to real show
the difference between accurate weapons and high fire power weapons for
general squads. The only real effect on range is based on the quality of the
troops. This is in contrast with DirtSide where squads are rated on the
quality of their equipment and another on their morale. You can tweek things a
little but it does not completely solve the issue. On the other hand this very
limitation ads to the smooth combat system. It is a smooth and quick game that
provides a good menu to select from to support just about any universe you
wish to play out. I would say that it competes well with Star Wars Miniatures
Battles (due to number of players playing SG vs SWMB, I'm playing SG). I would
also have to say that it is FAR better than 40K or anything else I've seen. I
like it. If you have access to players, I'd say it is well worth your time to
try.
        I'm designing FT/DS/SG campeign conversion system for it.
Phil P.

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