Articulation [SG2] and RCMP2185

Allan and Brian have made interesting points. 

Seems to me Allan has championed my cause - small units take fire
reasonably
morale wise (let's not argue house rules... Allan's improve on the basic
game but I find still have a weakness or two (or did last time I
reviewed
them) the only fair ones to discuss are the normal textbook ones), give
out
fire effectively (no waste of FP), and they take fire well because
suppressions suppress less of the total available force. They can also
be
overkilled - which is a plus for the defender! Waste opponent FP. 

If I have a squad with GMS and I detach the GMS, my commander uses 1
action
to transfer command (giving the GMS guy two actions I think) and 1
action is
thus left to the rest of the squad. This is wasteful. If the GMS is a
two
man team, or a 4 man detachment with two GMS, it tends to be more
tactically
effective - it doesn't impinge on the rifle squads, it can engage LoS,
and
its principal role is AT whereas a rifle squad should be worried about
other
infantry. It is (IMO) tactically better. 

As for the redundancy point - point taken. One or two extra guys isn't
bad.
Mind you, having their FP effective is good too. Having too few so that
you
don't get big dice (D10 at least) is sort of a problem I must agree.
Most
figs I use (NSL or mercs for example) have FP3 kit. So 4 guys is a great
size. Maybe with FP2 the key number is six. 

As for the comment about limited activation (being able to activate a
smaller % of total force) - not a huge issue - I have more tactical
flexibility (more squads can manouvre and fire independently or in
mutual
support) and I can still reactivate the same raw # of units - so I'll
get
the same # of extra firing actions if I want. Movement might be the only
place any slowdown shows. Firing is not impacted. 

Stargrunt is a squad game - I like to see forces behave as they do in
reality - elements mutually supporting. This happens even within
"sections"
or "squads" of 6-10 guys - pairings, groups of 3 or 4 (depends if you
are a
2-1 or 2-2 doctrine force) guys - and this is one place I find
large-squad
SG2 lacks something (for me myself!). I find the articulation adds to
the
complexity of the movements that are possible, and playing FMASkirmish
with
a platoon per side is just too big for casual entertainment... so this
is my
substitute. 

RCMP2185:
Like the idea of the Royal Colonial Mounted Police. Now I need some figs
from someone like Jon or Nic. "Mounty in Red Serge, Riding Pants with
wide-brim hat and AAR". They actually do a lot of work with the UN
around
the world and are a very hard working force that is cost effective for
policing at high standards of quality. They aren't foolproof, but they
provide good bang for the buck. And they have a cool tradition. And, let
me
say, they do a lot more than we ever hear about to keep our communities
safe. :)

e-mail volume issue:

Also, a note to anyone having problems with listmail volumes: DIGEST!
Get
one mail a day, sort through it in Notepad or mail tool quickly - ignore
threads with ease. It solved my grief. 1 50K email a day now. Not 50
messages. Easy to store, easy to search. No one has any reason to
complain
about mail volume needlessly. 

------------------------------------------
Thomas R. S. Barclay
Voice: (613) 722-3232 ext 349
e-mail: tomb@bitheads.com

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