Hello everybody
A question to those with more 'grunt experience than me.
Two wargaming friends of mine, Chris and Robert are interested in Stargrunt
and we wanted to do a first game this weekend. Both are experienced gamers in
other periods.
Chris has been busy painting up a platoon of Hobby Products SF fighters, which
he describes as follows:
> By looking at the figures:
> I thought about dividing them into three squads (2 light and 1 heavy
This seems a reasonable organisation to me. Or would you suggest a different,
better organisation, GIVEN THE FIGURES?
I wanted to suggest the following data values: Regular quality, veteran for
the power armour guys. Assault rifle: FP2 IMP D10 Laser: FP D12 IMP D8 Heavy
Laser: FP D12 IMP D8*
The figure with the camera could be a scout with an advanced sensor, the data
pad guy EW troopers. Does having 2 EW troopers make sense against the
opposition (see below)?
Robert would use my Mercenary platoon:
Standard weapon is combat rifle FP2 IMP D10.
Platoon HQ squad: 5 soldiers: Platoon leader, medic, sniper with laser rifle,
two soldiers, Aided sensors (D6), Light combat armour D6. 1st "Regular" squad:
8 soldiers, Hand-held grenade launcher, SAW; Light combat armour D6.
2nd Regular squad:
9 soldiers, IAVR rocket, rotary SAW, No armour - D4
Merc squad:
10 Soldiers, incl.medic, SAW, two Marksmen. No armour - D4
I plan for a simple encounter fight in fairly close terrain - brush and
hills. No higher-level assets, artillery etc.
Would these forces be reasonably balanced?
Or should the mercenaries be given extra advantages - defensive
position, more snipers (I can re-define 2 of them to snipers) ?.
Chris is also working an a small support vehicle, a glider with a small
cannon. If he gets this finished, any suggestions for balancing it?
Greetings
G'day,
> I wanted to suggest the following data values:
We'd have a chance of green figs too, but that's personal taste really.
> Assault rifle: FP2 IMP D10
The FP of the laser seems pretty high, but then I know squat about military
lasers;)
> The figure with the camera could be a scout with an advanced sensor,
I'd actually steer clear of EW in a learning scenario.
> Platoon HQ squad:
I'd probably skip snipers first up too.
> Would these forces be reasonably balanced ?
A defensive position couldn't hurt given their lack of armour, but I wouldn't
give them snipers (at least in a first try of the game).
> Chris is also working an a small support vehicle, a glider with a
I'd probably also leave vehicles out of a starting scenario too.
You may want to stick with morale as is being a new game, but morale like that
of Allan Goodalls can be good too (sorry don't have the url handy).
Cheers
> On Thu, 6 Jun 2002 10:09:37 +1000 , Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:
> You may want to stick with morale as is being a new game, but morale
The morale rules can be found at http://sg2.hyperbear.com
As for Beth's other suggestions, I completely agree.
For simplicity sake, give each unit in one force the same quality, but give
each _side_ different quality, so the players can see that quality
matters. (This may be a little hard to balance, though, as two forces the same
size with different quality will mean the higher quality guys have a distinct
advantage.) If you have multiple players per side, give each player's forces
the same quality.
Steer clear of the EW rules. Not only is it more than is necessary for a
starting game, they are poorly written and incomplete. You'll just end up with
arguments. See my web site, under Errata, for a possible fix to the EW
problem.
Stay away from snipers. They slow down the game (and it's already kind of
pokey as it is) and add complications. Giving the players just the right
number of snipers is a tricky thing to balance, too. Stay clear for the first
game.
I will agree with Beth's vehicles with one caveat. APCs are pretty common.
Adding APCs without any real anti-vehicle weapons can be useful for
teaching the loading, unloading, and vehicle movement rules. I've had no
problems teaching SG2 at conventions to new players, and each of my scenarios
has used vehicles to some degree. Giving one side APCs while digging in the
other side in dense terrain works well, as the vehicles will just end up as
"battle taxis" and will soon be left behind. Otherwise, I agree with Beth that
keeping vehicles out of it is a good idea.
I'll also add that you should stay away from most of the advanced rules, and
that prior to the game you need to read up on the Close Combat rules. New
players get into an unusually high number of close combats, and even now I
find myself always having to refer back to these rules to make sure I've got
them straight.
Oh, and remember that: cover shifts the armour die; In Position shifts the
range die for direct fire (and the armour die for indirect fire, but you
shouldn't be using artillery in the first game); and that when a squad leader
is a casualty the squad gets an automatic _additional_ suppression
marker! (This last one is buried in the rules.)
The index I did for SG2 should help. It's found at
http://sg2.hyperbear.com .