Re: Low Tech Scenarios

Los wrote:

> Any of you ever read teh first Honor Harrington book by David Derake?
(On
> Basilisk Station) 

 David Weber, not David Drake... Considering the amount of discussion
regarding an adaption for Full Trust to the Harrington universe on this
list not too long ago, the answer has to be "yes" :-/

> It covers a great Low tech scenario where the low tech gs
> were supplied with a sort of musket by a rival power to assist in a
revolt
> they were formenting on a planet. The aliens were pretty big so the
muskets
> were VERY powerful 

Lethal range (against light body armour; not much effect against power
armour) somewhere between 200 and 300 meters.

> and there were so damn many of them (one humen wave had like 10000).

"The* Medusan wave. The fighters in that wave were all the revolting
Medusans there were. ("Revolt" isn't exactly accurate, though, since the
Manties had never imosed any sort of political control over the planet.
Think "holy war to cleanse the planet from infidels", but the net result
is of course pretty similar :-)

The three ground battles in "On Basilisk Station" are pretty dull IMO -
one assault on a mined facility (the facility wasn't defended, but blew
up when the attackers got close killing half of them), one fight between
most of the native army and a single VTOL (the VTOL got careless and was
shot down; net result: 12 dead humans, 400+ dead natives), and one big
slaughter (10000+ warriors against roughly one infantry battallion,
partly in power armour, with IFVs, integral light artillery and heavy
air
support... no casualties on the high-tech side, it seems). Even though
the natives were drugged enough not to feel neither pain nor fear I
don't
think those battles would be very fun.

Later battles, though - non-drugged Stilties, say raiding nomads (*very*
good guerillas and camo experts, even against pretty good high-tech
equipment) with those muskets against small police forces with light
weapons, could be fun :-)

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@nacka.mail.telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry