Re: [SG2] [DS2] articulation - a final thought

On Sat, 14 Oct 2000 00:09:16 -0400, "Barclay, Tom" <tomb@bitheads.com>
wrote:

>I just got DS2 and FB2 - thanks KR! You're a pal, as usual, good
service -
>now if I could only convince the BorderLeaches(TM) to stop asking for
piles
>of cash every time I do this, it'd be much less painful. 

You know, I don't really mind paying the tax. Okay, maybe that's a bit
inaccurate, but I can at least understand it. It's the damned $5
handling
charge the customs folk hit you with that peeves me! I understand that
someone
is fighting this. I thought, personally, that it went against GATT and
NAFTA
because it's essentially a $5 tariff. 

(For those that don't know, if you are Canadian and mail order anything
and
the shipment is deemed to be taxable, you end up paying the federal
Goods and
Services Tax. If you're in Ontario, you also get to pay the Ontario
provincial
tax. In Quebec and Atlantic Canada, they have a "harmonized" tax that
equals
GST and the provincial tax. If you have to pay this, you're charged a
handling
fee of $5.

Note, you do not pay this if the package is not taxable. That is, if
it's a
gift or a sample you don't pay it.

(You don't pay it if you're package is sufficiently small in cost that
it gets
skipped by Customs. Note this isn't a duty, this is a handling fee of $5
plus
taxes. For some reason, shipments from Britain are less likely to get
hit.
Shipments that can fit in a mailbox, like the way Jon at GZG ships
individual
figures, are less likely to get stuck than a box of Geo-Hex's blister
packs.)

>Note the articulation I typically use in well trained regs or vets in
SG2 is
>
>Platoon Leader 
>Platoon Sgt
>GMS Team (2 men)
>GMS Team (ditto)
>Rifle Squad 1, Fireteam Alpha (4 men with rifles)
>Rifle Squad 1, Fireteam Beta (3 men with rifles, SAW)
>... up to Rifle Squad 3. 

I tend to run a more "traditional" (i.e. as written in SG2) articulation
of
Platoon command team of 4, and squads of 6 to 8. I've played with
independent
GMS teams, but usually in groups of two GMS launchers and two soldiers
for
support.

>.... Imagine my surprise when reading DS2, I note that infantry rifle
>elements are 4-5 guys, and GMS teams are 2-3 guys, etc. It almost
exactly
>matches my articulation model. Gee, does this not make using forces in
both
>games exceedingly simple from the same TO&E? Oh yes it does!

That's quite interesting, actually! Especially since it doesn't fit with
Jon's
articulation model in the SG2 rules. He lists squads of being between 6
and 8.

I wonder, then, how you deal with NSL troops? If the NAC TO&E lists
squads of
8 troops which can be broken into two fireteams of 4, how do you break
down
the canon NSL squads of 6 troops? Two of three seems a bit too small,
but one
of 6 is a bit big. NSL squads tend to have two support weapons: a SAW
and
either a plasma gun or a GMS. Split the squad into a fireteam of 4 with
a SAW
and a fireteam of 2 with the other support weapon?

>So, for those who play both, this looks even more sensible. 

It certainly does...

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Surprisingly, when you throw two naked women with sex
toys into a living room full of drunken men, things 
always go bad." - Kyle Baker, "You Are Here"