Folowing a recent game of Stargrunt II, I have encountered problems with ther
resolution of close combats, which have produced, to me and my gaming group,
unsatisfactory results. Hopefully some one might let me know if they ahve also
encountered this or it may be that I am misinterpreting the rules.
In our game, a unit of 8 pan oceanic regulars initiated a close assualt of 3
remaning squad members of a Neu Swabian green unit. The Neu's where in
position but supressed. The Pans pass the confidence test to attack, the Neu's
fail but as they are supressed they had to stay and fight.
Figures are matched 3-1, 3-1 and 2-1. Taking each squad in turn, the
Pans roll a d8 for each attacker, the defender then rolls a single d8 (d6
shifted up for In Position). The Neu score high, causing considerable
casulties within the Pans, who (seemingly) gain no advantage for outnumbering,
As defender gets to defend himself from multiple attacks albeit with the
single dice, being outnumbered is in the intrest of the defender afterall, he
then can't suffer more (overall) casulties than the attacker.
Howdy!
> On Fri, 10 Apr 1998, paul.baldwin@virgin.net wrote:
> Folowing a recent game of Stargrunt II, I have encountered problems
(snip)
It may not be a perfect mechanism to represent close-combat, but
it is a good one. When you charge an ememy who is dug or in cover, you
want to attack with a minimum of 2-1 odds. And sometimes, you suffer
just plain 'ole bad luck...:)
I've had assaults go awry with what seemed to me to be great odds. I've also
seen *stupid* assaults work. In the end, I think the
close-assault system works. And all me army buddies love it! <shudder>
Laterish!
Ken
> From: paul.baldwin@virgin.net[SMTP:paul.baldwin@virgin.net]
Hmm, maybe we are playing it incorrectly but if the defending unit fails the
test we have him fall back regardless of Suppressions as the fall back is not
a VOLUNTARY move. The Neu's would fall back and drop a CL still maintaining
any suppressions.
> Figures are matched 3-1, 3-1 and 2-1. Taking each squad in
Well Paul, this is what the dice is all about. The Pan's DO get an advantage
for outnumbering. They get to roll a d8 8 times. The Neu's get to roll a d8
(first round of combat only) 3 times.
Bad dice is bad dice in ANY circumstances! I wonder what sort of dice the
Light Brigade were using at Sebastapol???????
> In our game, a unit of 8 pan oceanic regulars initiated a close
I don't think suppression would keep the Defenders from running away. As far
as I can tell the rules aren't specific on this point. But wouldn't the threat
of being killed in close combat be greater than the general threat of getting
shot that suppression represents?
> Figures are matched 3-1, 3-1 and 2-1. Taking each squad in turn, the
The Attacker got to roll more dice. The Attacker had a good chance of scaring
the Defender off without combat.
Those are the two advantages of numerical superiority. If the Defender rolls
good dice then a smaller force can wipe out a larger one. So what? Things like
that can happen.
> As defender gets to defend himself from
Both sides can loose every single troop.
Apart from the rules being vague on whether suppressed troops should run away
if they fail their reaction role (I think they should, after all it's not
taking an action as such). I think you did everything right. The NSL just got
lucky.
Cheers,
paul.baldwin@virgin.net spake thusly upon matters weighty:
> Figures are matched 3-1, 3-1 and 2-1. Taking each squad in turn, the
I don't think so! I can't be bothered (ie I'm afraid I'd mess it up), but I
think it can be demonstrated that (for cases of equal die size or better for
the attacker) that outnumbering is an advantage (that is to say, defender gets
one roll and the attackers get n rolls (n being the number of attackers) to
beat the defender. Defender has precisely one chance to NOT blow a roll.
Attacker has n chances. (Yes, if the attacker really sucks, then he gets mowed
down by a
single defender - guess you're guys ate a hand grenade eh?). Now, I'm
not sure the stats back this up once you go to a larger die on behalf of the
defender (that is to say that he has a higher mean value for
his roll, and can potentially roll numbers you cannot beat - at which
point one attacker at a time is the way to take such figures down -
limiting attacker losses).
Tom.
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