(SG) Old Thread Re: Infantry Walkers rules -

> I've sent a mail to Adrian to get permission to post our rules for

Hi folks!

Owen, Beth, Ndege, Cleats and others (maybe) expressed interest in the
discussions Tom Barclay and I had months ago on developing Infantry Walker
rules a bit further for Stargrunt. This came about on the list recently when
Cleats was asking if people used Heavy Gear miniatures in SG. Sorry I didn't
jump into the thread a week ago when it was fresh, but as Tom pointed out,
I've been getting my new computer up and working, and got a new internet
service at the same time. As a result, some of the messages came into one
machine on my old account, and some onto the new machine (where I have nearly
900 email messages waiting for me... 'cause people on
this list talk lots...). I thought I'd be not-paying-attention for a day
or two only, but it all piled up on me and I didn't read ANY of these comments
until today.

So, for those who are interested, check this out:

http://www.naxera.com/ted/gzg.html

this is Ted Arlauskas' TOE page. At the bottom is the "123 Battalion, Royal
New Anglian Light Infantry" TOE I wrote a while back which Ted kindly put up
on his page. It is also up on the "Unofficial Stargrunt II Webpage" at

http://stargrunt.virtualave.net/rules/nactoe.html

At the end of the TOE is a series of sample vehicle stats for size 1 combat
walkers for Stargrunt. These were designed specifically with the Heavy Gear
miniatures in mind, and taking a minor liberty here and there with the SG
vehicle design guidelines. It is a bit difficult building vehicles to match
what the Heavy Gear miniatures look like with those rules. Clearly they are
size 1 vehicles, with space limitations that would allow perhaps
one decent size weapon in a "turret" mount - but the Heavy Gear
miniatures don't have turrets, and use their arms as the weapon mount. Tom and
I
discussed how to address this - how to balance the fact that Heavy Gear
miniatures can carry more stuff than a size 1 vehicle would normally be
allowed to carry.

Tom has started putting up the rules we developed on his website at:

http://fox.nstn.ca/~kaladorn/Gaming/ground.htm

I'll quote him here (taken direct from his site):

"Exposed Weapons and Sensor Systems on Walkers

"Combat walkers have several benefits in their design, particularly that they
can carry firepower greater than other vehicles of equivalent size, because
the aiming mechanisms (their arms) are part of the basic vehicle structure and
because the weapons are carried outside the main hull. The main drawback to
this design methodology is that the exposed weapon systems are more likely to
suffer damage in combat than equivalent systems on more conventional armoured
vehicles.

"To simulate this in game terms, when a combat walker suffers a
non-penetrating hit, as per standard non-penetrating hit a d6 is rolled.
Suspension hits are ignored, but on a roll of 1, the exposed weapons take some
damage, and on a roll of 5 or 6, the vehicle suffers a Systems hit (results as
per the SG rule book)."

[looking back at this, I think it should be on a roll of 1 or 2 you get
a hit on an exposed weapon]

"For an exposed weapon hit, randomly determine which of the walkers weapons
has been damaged, and that weapon is rendered inoperable for the rest of the
battle. In most cases, the weapon is easily repairable or replaceable, but
certain weapon systems, due to the explosive nature of their ammunition, are
prone to secondary explosions. Two examples of this are the Automatic Grenade
Launcher and the Vehicle Mounted Flame Thrower. Vehicle flame throwers on
walkers have exposed fuel tanks, which can spectacularly explode if damaged.
If the flame thrower is damaged (as per the random weapon determination
discussed above), roll a further d6. On a 1 through 3 (50% chance) the fuel
explodes. The vehicle is covered with burning fuel, and will suffer a
secondary hit with d10 impact. Also, the area around the vehicle may be set on
fire (as per the SG rule book). If there are infantry in close proximity
(within 2") to the exploding weapon, they will also take a hit, as if hit by a
heavy flamer. This will cause d10 impact hits to each infantier affected by
the explosion, and will have morale effects as normal for flamer hits. Hits on
Automatic Grenade Launchers are discussed elsewhere (in our AGL rules)."

Now, the vehicle mounted flame thrower and vehicle mounted AGL are ideas we
had which were further developed, but Tom hasn't put up the rules yet and I
can't find my original copies (they haven't made it out of the file transfer
process to my new computer yet).

Anyway, hope you find this interesting.

I have a bunch of the old scale Heavy Gear models which I use exclusively for
Stargrunt, and find using them as size 1 and size 2 walkers to be very
satisfying - both aesthetically, and from a game play perspective.  They
add fast mobile firepower, but are easy enough to kill with regular infantry
weapons that they don't overbalance a game.

And on a final note, RAFM produced as part of the Heavy Gear line two pieces
of field artillery, which are PERFECT in scale for Stargrunt (in 25mm). I use
them as mission objectives (since you will rarely if ever actually see them
used as artillery during game play), or as direct fire
guns a-la the German WWII 88mm anti-tank gun on a trailer, which they
resemble. These are out of production models, but if you can find a store
or distributor still carrying old-scale Heavy Gear models, take a look
for them. They fit in very will with Stargrunt figures.