Re: TABLETOP DEBRIS

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 10:19:21 -0400, "laserlight@quixnet.net"
<laserlight@quixnet.net> wrote:

> Make up squad cards and keep them off table. 

I do this for convention games, as it makes things easier for new
players. I
have been known to laminate them, too.

DAWG has made things difficult (that is, interesting!) by wanting to get
rid
of the chits _and_ the record sheets. I have to agree with him, though.
I
usually hate games with record sheets (not sure why, though I put up
with it
for naval/spaceship games). The chits do look ugly.

_Fire and Fury_ handles unit markers by making them actual mounted and
painted
figures. An artillery battery out of ammo, for instance, is marked with
an
ammunition chest. This sort of option might be possible for SG2. Let's
look at
the common markers.

QUALITY CHIT
This is the most vital, as it has the leadership rating and the quality
rating. I have placed coloured circles on the bottom of figures with the
leadership number printed on them. These circles are not very expensive
(found
in office stores). A box will last quite a few games. This gives you the
colour coding and the number (cross out the number and write a new one
when
the squad gets a new leader).

Another option is painting the leader's base (or part of it) the colour
of the
squad's quality.

If you mount figures on a base, you can do some neat things with
folliage. You
can get lichen in yellow, green, blue (yes, blue!), and red. Brown
lichen
doubles as orange (and I think I have some orangey lichen). Gluing a
small
"bush" to the leader's base gives the quality of the unit. Denoting the
leadership value is a little tougher. Putting the bush in a specific
place
could indicate a 1, 2, or 3 (right up front is a 1, back left is a 2,
back
right is a 3, for instance). There you have the quality and leadership
value
of the unit masked in such a way that it doesn't require you to pick up
the
figure _and_ it doesn't hurt aesthetics.

This means having to have a whole lot of leader figures, though, which
might
be time and cost ineffective. The coloured dot on the bottom of the
leader
should suffice.

CONFIDENCE CHIT
A lot of players don't bother putting down a chit if a unit is
confident. That
helps. What do you do for Steady, Shaken, Broken, or Routed? Again, this
assumes you don't want to use a roster card.

Most figure manufacturers have different poses on the figures. Using a
figure's pose to mean something can help in this regard. Standing
shooting is
steady, crouched shooting is shaken, prone is broken, running is routed,
or
something like that. You can designate a figure (other than the support
weapons and the leader) to indicate this. The problem then comes when
that
figure is wounded or killed you can't easily mark the status of the
squad.

If you want, you can use the leader figure to indicate this (along with
the
idea above), but this means you'd have to have a large number of leader
figures(!) just to indicate everything properly.

Another option is the coloured circle idea. If you are already noting
stuff on
the bottom of the figure, put a big enough circle, or a second circle (I
suggest white) to indicate the morale of the troops. You'd have to write
on
this circle as you play, but that's no big deal. All your book keeping
is done
on the base of the leader figure.

Yet another option is the _Fire and Fury_ idea: use markers that are
figures.
Say you are using GZG figures, like I do. I have NSL and Japanese. Pick
a
third nationality and use these to make up markers. Paint them a drab
colour
or a really bright colour, but paint the whole figure the one colour
(you may
want to paint skin tones). Use the above ideas for posing to indicate
the
status of the troops. Put one of these figures down with your squad to
indicate their status. Since both sides have such a figure, and the
figure is
painted in a colour different from both your forces, it shouldn't cause
confusion as a member of the squad. 

You might also want to consider your marker figure being a different
scale,
such as 15mm if you play with 25mm. I don't know, though, if the
aesthetics of
this are worthwhile.

SUPPRESSION
The easiest way to handle suppression is some cotton. Of course, I use
white
cotton for smoke so this causes some issues. Using a different coloured
cotton
(one painted black, or brown) would do.

Another way is to use a marker figure. Not sure what you'd use for
suppression. A prone figure I'd use for IP. A better marker would be a
figure
lying down with his hands over his head. 

You can buy small shell craters. You can even make your own. If you get
a
washer and mount one shell crater on it, you have a suppression marker!
You
can also put two or three craters to represent two and three suppression
markers. A bunch of these beside the figure would look better than a
suppression marker.

IN POSITION
The simplest way is to get some twigs and lay them in front of the
figures,
indicating a little bit of ground cover. It looks like they found logs
and are
ducking behind them. Someone mentioned a prone figure used as a marker,
that
would also work.

CASUALTIES
Dead figures are easy: Jon already makes a set of body bag figures.
You'd need
a lot of them, though. Wounded figures aren't as easy. Tipping them over
works, but some folks have an aversion to tipping over their figures.
You
could always paint up some figures with some suitable red paint splashed
about
to indicate blood.

DUMMY MARKERS
The easiest way to do these is similar to something else I've mentioned.
Buy a
third nationality of figures (I use NSL and Japanese, so I'd get
something
like NAC). Pick a figure crouching. Mount it on a washer or something,
paint
it up in a neutral-ish colour (such as all green, except for skin tones)
and
glue a lichen bush in front of it. Stick one of those circular stickers
on the
bottom. Write either "dummy" or a letter on the circle (or, for that
matter,
just put a circle with a letter on the non-dummy markers, and leave the
dummy
markers without a circle). 

You can place these around the battlefield as normal. It will look like
guys
hiding, ready to fire. It's not until you flip them over (ala the actual
dummy
markers) that you will be able to tell if the figure is real or a dummy.

Mix and match any of the above as you see fit. I like the idea of the
coloured
circles under the squad leader. That gets rid of most of the markers. I
can
live with suppression markers and casualty markers. I really like the
idea of
the dummy markers (I just came up with it on the fly). I might do
that...!

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

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