Re: [SG2} House Rules for Fire Team Units

The GZG Digest wrote on 4/12/2005 1:00 AM:
> Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 10:03:46 -0400
> From: "laserlight@quixnet.net" <laserlight@quixnet.net>

>>In SGII with the rules as written (plus the tweaks you gave) the
fireteam
> 
> doesn't really have enough firepower.  Quality dice, d6 or d8, and a
> SAW die.
> 
> That's my main worry about fireteam level and the reason it needs to
be
> tested instead of just theorized about.  I don't actually feel a need
for
> fire combat to cause a lot of casualties; what I want is for it to
cause
> morale failures.

I agree with you. The diffusion of firepower is a worry, and the reason 
this needs to be tested.

Perhaps a combined fire rule is needed, whereby both fire teams can 
combine their fire into a single attack, as long as the Squad Leader is 
within integrity range of both fire teams. This would only work, though,

if you activated whole squads at once.

> OTOH an IF squad can put out a lot of dice: QD, d12FP rifles, SAW,
AGL, and
> up to five IAVR--or, more realistically, other support weapons if
they've
> had a chance to scrounge a spare SAW or two.	I think that's too much,
> though--if you get a good hit, then you tend to mow down the entire
enemy
> squad.

It will be interesting to see what happens in playtesting. My Japanese 
squads tend to have 8 figures, with two rotary SAWs, a missile launcher 
(who can use his rifle instead), 4 troopers with flechette guns and 
grenades, and a squad leader. That's QD, 2D10, D12 for the rifles. Often

one of the rifle guys puts down his gun and fires an IAVR, keeping the 
D12 for the squad but adding a D10. So that's D8 + D12 + 3D10. Ouch!

Now, in a fire team environment the squad would be split into two fire 
teams, one with the SL, a SAW, and two troopers, the other with a SAW, 
missile launcher, and two troopers. That's typically QD + D10 (SAW) + 
D10 (rifles).

I suspect there will be fewer casualties and more Confidence Test 
failures. Only playtesting will shake out whether it's worth going this 
route.

The Phalons are going to be interesting. I originally thought of 3 fire 
teams of 3, but I worry that this will badly dilute their firepower. The

set up would be Team 1: 2 Phalons with pulsers, 1 Phalon with a support 
pulser; Team 2: 2 Phalons with pulsers, 1 Phalon with a plasma 
projector; Team 3: SL, 1 Phalon with pulser, 1 Phalon with pulser + 
missile launcher. Team 1 could roll QD + (D4 to D10 pulsers) + (D8 to 
D12 support pulser), Team 2 could roll QD + (D4 to D10 pulsers) + (D6 
plasma projector). Team 3 could roll as high as QD + D10.

I think for fire teams the Phalons are either going to have to 
reorganize their squad structure (increase the size of a squad or change

some of the support weapons), or they will have to split into 2 fire 
teams instead of 3 (with the missile launcher and the plasma projector 
in one fire team). I didn't build the Phalons with fire teams in mind. 
I'm leaning toward the latter, assuming that fire teams are even worth 
meddling with.

If they aren't, I'm not sure where to go from here. As I've mentioned 
before, it's too slow a game for a full company on the board and a 
single platoon just isn't all that interesting a game.

Allan

-- 

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