Stargrunt II question
From: Thomas Barclay <Thomas.Barclay@s...>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 18:01:07 -0500
Subject: Stargrunt II question
I know this is the FT newsgroup.... but I'm hoping someone can
address this. Is it just me or is there something missing in SGII.
Scenario:
2 clumps of cover 70 m apart (7").
Infantry squad A (Red team) in clump 1.
Infantry squad B (Blue team) in clump 2.
A has been setup in a defensive position, but could not (for whatever
reason) engage squad B before it got to clump 2. Squad B is advancing
in Advance-To-Contact mode (bounding up and down... standard combat
move) assuming enemy nearby (maybe other units of force engaged
nearby). Maybe it knows A is in the clump ahead. A's officer has
issued the order: Shoot the enemy when they leave the woods to move
advance on our As position. Several turns pass while B does nothing,
A waits for them to move to 'swat them like a bug'. B then (during
its activation) does a combat move (rolls a 3 lets say) stops 10m in
front of As woodsedge position and opens up with a fire action,
tearing A apart. Now, A was just sitting there waiting to swat B when
B moved, but since B didn't perform 2 move actions, they had to let B
run 60 m IN PLAIN SIGHT and then conduct a round of fire combat AT
THEIR POSITION WITHOUT RETURNING FIRE. Hmmm.... methinks I see a
problem.
My question: Have I missed something in the current rules? I suspect
not. I think what the game is missing is a Gaurd/Overwatch action of
some sort that will allow a unit to basically watch a line of
approach and say "fire when you see the whites of their eyes boys" or
"shoot anything that moves over there!". In real life, my experience
with even small squads setup in such situations is that the moving
unit (moving towards a stationary unit aware of their approach and
waiting for them locked and loaded) is that the moving unit would get
totally annihilated (a platoon fire is something to see, but even a
squad with C7s and Minimis could put out enough fire to destroy
another squad moving across the open like that) and definitely the
moving unit definitely couldn't move up and then conduct a close
range fire action before being chewed to bits.....its usually a bad
idea to move within the unobstructed line of sight of an enemy unit
which can fire upon you and which is inclined to!
I have several ideas for such an overwatch implementation which I'm
willing to share if anyone is interested, or if I haven't overlooked
some way to handle things within the context of existing rules.
BTW, all complaints to the contrary (and there are few), Stargrunt II
is an excellent system which seems to not only offer flexibility and
ease of play, but covers most oddball situations you might expect to
need. Kudos to the GZG crew!
Thomas.
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Thomas Barclay
Software Specialist
Police Communications Systems
Software Kinetics Ltd.
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