From: Barclay, Tom <tomb@b...>
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 18:46:39 -0500
Subject: SG2 forces
Derk said: Just thinking about the number of minimi's, I recall the bravo-two-zero distribution. 8 men, 4 M16/203, 4 Minimi. It's a thought for how to run special forces type operations. ==> As our resident spec ops vet, Los took great pains to point out to me how overloaded these guys were with kit (now he didn't specifically refer to the weapons loadout, so I'm perhaps inferring something untrue). If you are on a sneak and peak or a sneak and blow-sh*t-up mission, it is important to be armed to protect yourself, but that might have been overkill. Perhaps more of them would have gotten away from their firefights if they hadn't been lugging everything under the sun (even after they lost their initial kit). The other issue is of course that they were badly prepared and allowed that to happen (their comms setup/etc). Then again, with special forces, you could make a case for running them as 8 individuals. ==> I've run FMAS "SF escort the dissident out of country" with a platoon pursuing 8 SF elites (elite/vet mix) and their scientist/dissident. It was bloody, but they succeeded in the mission, losing 5 of 8 SF soldiers, and only due to the fact the enemy aggressively attacked, close assaulting and destroying their reargaurd in the last couple of turns so they could take the "river/border" crossing under fire. The SF soldiers then bravely sacrificed themselves to suck up enemey overwatch fire until the enemy had mostly shot off, and then they ran the scientist across. I think 2 SF were captured, 2 or 3 escaped, the others were killed. The scientist got away. ==> I've also run SF in small 4 man squads vs. other troops in SG. So it will work there too. ==> SG lets you do a lot of things because it is a semi-realistic portrayal of the world. (semi!). You don't have points to restrict you because such systems can be flawed. (Frankly, without any bias ahead of time, I expect the FMAS point system to be flawed regardless of how well they work it... DS2 is good, but has problems... and FMAS has far more variables....). It makes the game harder to setup for new folks (hard to gauge equality), but once you get playing 4 or 5 games, you get a feel for things. And in the real world, you could have 8 SAWs.... you'd just need to have a truck following you with ammo.... ==> Note in FMAS, we've talked about limiting the SAW by imposing a movement penalty (even the newer ones aren't that light... and if you are loaded up with ammo too...) especially considering the gyroharnesses and stuff we can see on most GZG figs. Assume that the movement rate for troops in SG accounts for "waiting for the SAW or GMS" whereas in FMAS, that is more of a thinking action. ==> Plus, if you shoot half decently with a rifle, and you actually want to hit something, you'd prefer a rifle. The SAW is great for sustained area fire, but accuracy is the bane of MGs and SAWs. The Bren was probably only a mediocre LMG because of its low mag cap and its accuracy.... you want to suppress an area or engage waves of targets with a SAW. If you want to hit a small target, get a rifle... this is part of what limits squads in real life...