Star Grunt 2 : When it finally comes together.

> On Mon, 26 May 1997, Alex Williams wrote:

> And why not? That's what we do for RPGing, running Troupe-style;

This may come as news to you, but lack of GMs is a real problem in RPG
circles. Most people just want to play.

> "You know what Charlie plays with,

"How? I've never met the guy."

Truth to tell, I'm not 100% sure how many and what kinds of figure *I* own.
Comes from having a few thousand of 'em, I guess. Even if I don't count epic
infantry separately...

> You act as if this is a situation some of us in the gaming community

Note: SOME of you. Not ALL. There are circumstances when it works. But there
are also circumstances when it doesn't.

Pick a board wargame off your shelf. Any one of them. Does it require a
referee to play? I guess not. Are there ready, play-tested scenarios
(with the counters required to play) included? My guess it's actually written
around a scenario, and you get to buy a new game if you want to play something
else.

> Er, no, its a relative judgement of force composition and how likely

It's a fuzzy point system. You're counting "likely firepower". You're counting
men. You're counting companies. Or whatever. The fact is, you're counting.
"Bring anything you want, the scenario won't change" is the
only real non-point system.

> Given your second sentence, you shoot your own requirement for a

You baffle me. You obviously failed to read past the comma.

> I'm going to disagree strongly with your last point, however. I find

Well, I must disagree. Within just a few games they *might* be able to
estimate forces and scenarios similar to the ones they've played. If you've
only played pure infantry engagements, how can you tell how an AFV will impact
the play? Wildly varying troop types and esoteric abilities are very hard to
judge.

Unless your "few" is 100-1000 games.

Ok, I give up. I've made my point before and I've no energy to repeat it

over and over again. I just must say I really can't understand all the
anti-point sentiments, given that:

a) You're not required to use the system even if it is there. b) Even if you
use it, you're not required to use equal point scores.
This minor detail is somehow instantly lost to anti-point fanatics
the minute any discussion on the subject starts. c) Points system does not
replace common sense. Or if it does, you never

had any to begin with.