Re: Stargrunt II

Responding to a few questions from Chad Taylor
<ct454792@oak.cats.ohiou.edu>

>you can have your heavy weapons fire at targets different from the rest
of
>the squad right?  What if I have two PPG, can I have both of them fire
at
>the same "other" target, would they combine?

That one is debatable.	The letter of the rules would appear to say
"no",
since the action of firing a support weapon at a separate target is a
separate one.  However, since the action of firing inherent FP at a
target
can include a support weapon's die as an increase, one could argue you
could add the same increase to another support weapon.	Basically, for
two
actions, you can fire at two targets, but all non-support wpn FP must be
fired at only one of those two targets.

Personally, I'd lean towards the second argument and let you do it.

>We played our first game (after picking up the rules that day) a few
days
>ago.  At the end of the game Mike was getting smacked around pretty bad
>(we have no idea if it was a balanced battle of course).  He had one
squad
>leader left in power armor, just for the heck of it he
>charged him into H-H with a full squad in normal battle dress.  After
we
>decided he made the assault (he actually fell short) we went about
>matching him up with my troops (it was like 1:9), and six guys were
placed
>around him.  We then rolled, he got a six (doubled to 12) and killed
all
>six guys without chance of injury.  Is this for real?	Is there nothing

>for being outnumbered in H-H taken into account?  Could some dweeb with
a
>sword (or some other hand weapon so he has a d10 and I have a d8) roll
a 9
>and do the same thing?  I realize that there are all kinds of rolls
that
>must be made for one lone joker to get into CC with a force that
>outnumbers him, but still...

I'm pretty sure there is something about multiple attackers making a
difference, but I don't have my rules handy.   Maybe a die shift.   But,
one guy in power armor could rack up a bunch of unaugmented guys.

>How do you go about balancing one force against another?  Has anyone
>come up with a point system to use as a guide?  I realize I
>probably just stepped on some toes by asking that, but I really don't
feel
>like playing a dozen+ games just to learn how to play one balanced
game.
>

Easiest way to balance is just play it.  But as you say, you don't want
to
play the same game over and over.  I want to know why everyone is so
hung
up on playing balanced games??!?!?!    Infantry battles could RARELY be
called balanced.  You line up what you got, and do the best possible.  
Even a perfectly balanced scenario can be cocked up by a couple bad
rolls,
so why worry about it?

Of course, I'm no longer an "alpha gamer", so losing doesn't bother me. 
Sure I like to win, but playing is what's fun to me.  

A points system would be rather difficult, since you have multiple
ratings,
most of which are expressed on a scale of dice size.  A veteran trooper
firing an FP 1 weapon might be better at certain ranges than a green
trooper firing an FP 3 weapon, not to mention the fact the veteran will
stick around longer.

Just do it by feel, and if you are overly competitive - play any given
setup twice, one from each side.  The winner is the one who does better
overall, figuring in the results of both games.

>Can you combine two squads into one?  I plan on fielding 9 man squads
of
>light infantry (two PPG per squad) and wanted to include on the battle
>field separate 3 man heavy teams (one man carrying a SAW) acting as
>independent squads.  One of the things I would like to do is be able to
>combine a Heavy team/squad and one of my light squads during a battle
(so 
>there would actually be two squad leaders in this "reinforced" squad). 
Is
>that legal, or would I have to do that before the game started?

You can recombine two groups into one (there's a rule for that), but you
would lose the effect of the second group leader.  So, no, you can't.

>Can a Platoon Leader activate the same squad twice in the same turn
(using
>both of his actions)?

We've been talking about that.	I don't think we have a consensus so
far,
but I feel that yes, you can activate the same squad twice - if you
spend
the actions and make the commo rolls.  The main argument is whether they
can fire again, since the rule on weapon fire is phrased as once per
game
turn, not once per activation.

>Is there a modifier for activating a squad (higher command to lower
>command) if that squad is suppressed?

Don't know this one, I'd have to go look at the rule again.  

>How much interesting stuff has been posted to the list that I have
missed?
>Is there anyway for me to get a look at old files (archive)?

I keep forgetting to save the archive address when it gets posted.  I
think
Mark (or maybe Adam) runs it???

>Has anybody posted scenarios?	Would anybody be interested in any?
>

I'd be interested in any.  I posted the beginning of a campaign idea,
but
no expressed further interest so I didn't post any more.  I also posted
some alternate organizations from current SF novels.  Andrew posted
stats
on Kryomek models and I posted an example conversion of a Genestealer. 
Someone also posted their interpretation of 40K Space Marines.

If you have something cool, post it!  ;)

John

***********************************************************************
John Phelps  ****   mailto: pbguru@cris.com or jphelps@austin.apple.com
OIC, Gundi's Gang -- Anything expressed above is strictly my opinion --
Murphy's Law of Combat, #66:
	    The enemy is never watching until you make a mistake.