Review of Star Grunt

At 03:58 PM 12/12/97 EST, John wrote:
>Could somebody give me a review of Stargrunt?	I would especially 
>like to know a brief summary of how the game mechanics work.

	Stargrunts is a 25mm squad level combat game.	 Each squad when
activated
has two actions. They can fire, move, observe, dig in (going into
"position") etc with each action.  Activation of a squad goes back and
forth between players with initiative to the player with the fewest
units
to activate.
	However, each squad is part of a platoon and the command element
of that
platoon has a leader with his own activation.  He can use an action via
a
command roll to activate a squad in his chain of command.  This means
that
a squad can be activated more than once and therefore fire more than
once etc.
	Squads fire as a group by combining the effect of their line
weapons plus
any benefits from heavy weapons, etc.  An opposed die roll based on the
effect of those weapons and the quality of the squad versus the range to
the target and defensive bonuses from terrain, etc.  Results can be
suppression of the squad (requiring a successful activation to remove),
potential casualties, or just stiring of the dust...
	The level of detail rises from the squad level to artillery,
vehicles,
etc.  However, the real focus is really on the squad level of play and
can
break down if too many vehicles are used.  It is a fast moving system,
once
you get the hang of it, and very fun.  It does a nice job of providing a
detailed fighting system as a bridge from DSII or boarding actions for
Full
Thrust, and you can get the conversion stuff from the archives.
	My only complaint is the granularity of weapons types.	There is
no way to
real show the difference between accurate weapons and high fire power
weapons for general squads.  The only real effect on range is based on
the
quality of the troops.	This is in contrast with DirtSide where squads
are
rated on the quality of their equipment and another on their morale. 
You
can tweek things a little but it does not completely solve the issue. 
On
the other hand this very limitation ads to the smooth combat system.
	It is a smooth and quick game that provides a good menu to
select from to
support just about any universe you wish to play out.
	I would say that it competes well with Star Wars Miniatures
Battles (due
to number of players playing SG vs SWMB, I'm playing SG).  I would also
have to say that it is FAR better than 40K or anything else I've seen.
	I like it.  If you have access to players, I'd say it is well
worth your
time to try.
	I'm designing FT/DS/SG campeign conversion system for it.
		Phil P.

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