Glover, spake thusly upon matters weighty:
Good feedback Owen. I've added a couple of comments of my own.
> The problem I see with only four squads is that you can only engage
With Plasma Guns (what Brian was thinking of) and PA for each of the
ambushers, I don't think this is a problem. He would just split the 4 man
squads into two man fire elements, and engage each APC with 2 Plasma Guns. Not
good for the APCs. That would let him hit 8 vehicles at once. Some would be
further away than others, but ideally (from a gaming perspective) the defender
would like to have one or two vehicles survive (else if everything is dead, no
fun to be had). Maybe this is a hasty ambush so they only had the forces
available
and no time to mine? Maybe it is a blocking/screening force?
> I would suggest that you have squad for squad or at least enough
See above comment. You already out armour, out firepower, and out tech (which
should show up in system quality) the defender plus you have surprise. I think
the defender will be in a world of hurt. What you are suggesting is good
tactics to wipe out your enemy. Not much fun for a game... (sigh). Sometimes
the best RL battle would make crappy wargaming (ie who would have wanted to be
an Iraqi during the Coalition assault.... talk about a one sided walkover).
> If you wish to be accurate you should be allocating some squads to
True, or assume your sensors on the BD (and they have quite a sensor suite)
can give you warning in time to react.
> If you are ambushing vehicles then you damn well better have vehicles
BD typically has integral grav belts. At the least, it is fast PA. At the
best, it can fly at up to about 160 kph.
> In the end I wouldn't get too concerned about the tech level
The worry was, I believe, the other way.... with 16 PGMPs firing on the
APCs... there might not be any survivors to conduct a battle....
> Er, may I ask what size table you are playing on as 7 vehicles spread
Well, that assumes your spacing is 50m. That may be your standard, but I've
seen a few convoys in hostile areas (or potentially so)
closer than that - say 15 to 20m. Not a good plan.... but it has been
done.
Tom.
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[quoted original message omitted]
On Sun, 22 Nov 1998 11:04:04 +1000, "Glover, Owen"
<oglover@mov.vic.gov.au> wrote:
> The aims of ambushing are as follows:
<<snip>>
> b.To Disrupt Enemy Movement. Ambushes may be used in front of and
This is what I was thinking about.
> The problem I see with only four squads is that you can only engage
Except that it's 4 squads with a command squad. The command squad activates
two squads in the fist time itself with the transfer command, giving 6 squad
activations in turn 1.
> If you wish to be accurate you should be allocating some squads to
Hmmm, good point...
> If you are ambushing vehicles then you damn well better have vehicles
It takes place in thick woods. The ambushers will have to get off the board on
a particular board edge, representing them withdrawing to their evacuation
vehicles (grav rafts or some such).
> Er, may I ask what size table you are playing on as 7 vehicles spread
The table can go to 8 feet long. I've been thinking that 5 to 6 vehicles would
be the max (though I COULD field 7). The figures are 15mm, so the battlefield
won't seem too clogged...
> Looking forward to seeing the pickies anyway.
On Sat, 21 Nov 1998 19:34:47 -0500, Thomas Barclay
<Thomas.Barclay@sofkin.ca> wrote:
> Maybe this is a hasty ambush so they only had the forces available
I was thinking that, to keep things a little bit cleaner.
> The worry was, I believe, the other way.... with 16 PGMPs firing on
Yeah, that was the worry. I'm beginning to think that I'll have to go with
lower tech weapons...
> Well, that assumes your spacing is 50m. That may be your standard,
I was going to leave vehicle spacing up to the player...
[quoted original message omitted]
> Thomas Barclay wrote:
> With Plasma Guns (what Brian was thinking of) and PA for each of
What about security? If everyone is shooting who's watching the flanks and
rear? We normally find about one thirs or so of the ambushing force (maybe
less depending on how daring you want to be), will not being even looking at
the kill zone.
One other thing about the my ambush security comment. If you are GMing a game
with this scenario. If the ambusher doesn't put out security and totally
disregards it, then you can introduce a "reaction force" to punish him for his
oversight. That'll be a great lesson.
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> From: Glover, Owen <oglover@mov.vic.gov.au>
I was
> SNIP
If
> the ambush is well planned and initiated correctly the PGMPs should
I was wondering if you had considered any Traveller/Dirtside
conversiions as well, I've been playing around with a few ideas and was
curious to see what others had done (Zhodani teleport commandos anyone)?