Re: [OT] It's D-Day (well, the 58th anniversary)!

My local games stores solution to the scatter -- for FMA skirmish games
rather than SG:

1) Place 1 counter for each figure in a row on a ruler.
2) Have impartial observer raise ruler to 3 feet above board
3) Tilt ruler

According to the game store owner this was how they used to simulate
"stick"
drops of parachutists in WW2 games.

As for DS2, I have used "the landers came down safely in the desert (or
deserted island or arctic waste or . . .) and your forces have
recombined
and set out for the objective.

Having vulnerable landers would be tough, I think.  After all, depending
on
the statistics you use, there is always going to be a small but non-zero
chance that ALL of the landers are shot down, which makes for a quick
but
not very interesting game.  I suppose you could do somehting like having
the
attacker put his forces into, say, 6 groups and then announce "OK,
groups 3
and 6 were shot down.  Deploy the rest of your forces."    Hmmm, I might
just have talked myself into a DS2 game.  That sounds like fun.

Rick Rutherford -- do not read this email!  ;-)

Nicholas Caldwell
clcaldwell@kreative.net

----- Original Message -----
From: Tomb <tomb@dreammechanics.com>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 12:44 PM
Subject: [OT] It's D-Day (well, the 58th anniversary)!

> Sorry for the OT, but I just noticed the date!
>
> It isn't exactly rememberance day, or veterans day, or anything like
> that. But it is the anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Europe. I'm
> going to intentionally NOT say anything more to spark any sort of
> controversy on the importance or not of this event, but I just wanted
to
> note it since I didn't see a darn thing about it today's paper! <grrr>
>
> Anyway, to focus on the GZG points:
>
> DS:
>
> How do people usually run orbital landings? Do you usually use
> invulnerable landers that just deploy the troops to the table *presto*
> or do you usually let weapons engage them? Do your landers usually
hang
> around and fight?
>
> SG:
>
> Has anyone noticed the wide scatter for SG OA landings? It would seem
to
> me by this time period, you should be able to land on a dime (with
grav
> chutes, thrust packs, blah blah PSB blah). I find any kind of airborne
> or orbital insertaion leaves you scattered to hell and gone.... (kind
of
> D-day ish!).
>
> BOTH:
>
> And how to you do heliborne insertion from a hover in either case
> (DS/SG)? Both the standard hover and the free-rappel variety? Would
> these (esp the latter) let you insert troops where a normal LZ could
not
> exist according to the rules? And how to represent assault gliders in
> either, or insertion via hang glider or ultralight? Or zepellin?
>
> Just some grist for the mill. I may have to watch the beginning of SPR
> again tonight as I pack for CampCon II.
>
> T.
>
>
>