Re: [DSII] What Size Forces Do I Need?

On Tue, 19 Mar 2002 12:19:21 -0800 (PST), John Atkinson
<johnmatkinson@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Well, if you use high-tech stuff and good troops, you
>can do with a reinforced company (~20 vehicles). 
>Using crap troops, you need at least a full batallion.

Okay, that's cool. That's a good start, anyway.
 
>Batallion-sized.  I'd have to know more to be more
>specific.  Hell, give me an idea of what you've got
>and the background you're using and I can write a
>whole corps-level MTOE to pick and choose from.

I haven't picked a specific background as yet, though I have one of my
own
that I'm thinking of toying with.

I have four boxes of RL plastic vehicles, two from each side. I have
them in
the storage locker right now, so I'm not sure how many vehicles of each
type
are included. I think it's 18 tanks (split between medium and light grav
tanks) and 18 grav APCs per box. I also have some tracked tanks I was
planning
to use as mobile artillery, a couple of packs of VTOL gunships, and a
pack of
tracked vehicles for air defence.

As for my own background, back when I was writing fiction I came up with
what
I called "The Arbiter Wars". In essence, a huge ship arrives at Earth
and
offers humanity a deal: supply "mercenaries" and the ship's aliens would
offer
all manner of gifts to us Earthlings, like cures for nasty diseases, new
technology, etc., etc. While the world ponders this, some poor country
with a
reasonable sized army jumps at the chance.

There are several phases to the "wars". Phase one, humans are using
essentially their own technology, perhaps upgraded a bit to make things
at
least reasonable. Tanks would be tracked, look more or less like modern
vehicles, etc. Phase two was a much upgraded technology, but one
supplied by
the aliens, known as "Arbiters". Phase three was one with high tech
supplied
only by humans as the Arbies had taken off by this point. At first
humans had
no idea of why they were fighting. Strict rules of engagement applied,
and
commanders were severely punished by the Arbiters for breaking the
rules. To
begin with, humans fought a wide assortment of opponents. Eventually
they
started fighting an alien race, the T'Chell, almost exclusively. The
climax of
this phase of the "cycle" was the Arbiters leaving and why they left.

Anyway, for phase one I have modern microarmour, heavy on Warsaw Pact
stuff
(mainly because I had thought, a while ago, of doing a Russia versus
Ukraine
campaign). For phase two, I had the RL stuff, and the T'Chell were going
to be
heavy on some old Space Marine Eldar stuff I still have lying around.
Or, I
would use one RL faction for the humans and one RL faction for the
T'Chell. I
wasn't sure what to do with phase 3, probably just use the same stuff as
phase
two but the opponent's stuff would be... well, that would be telling.
*G*

That's a rough idea of what I have.

>As for the question re: infantry, I'd recommend at
>least a company's worth.  You don't have to use it all
>in any given fight, but it makes the enemy plan for it
>(just like real life).

Okay, that's good! Thanks for the help!

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!"