Re: Stargrunt/Dirtside

On Wed, 20 Jan 1999 DracSpy@aol.com wrote:

> I'm consitering getting STII and/or DSII, I'm wondering if anyone
would be
> kind enuff to give an exsample of each combat system and give a little
bit
> about what the system will handle.

Oh, what the hell - I'll give it a shot. Anyone who thinks I'm utterly
wrong or wants to add something should of course feel free...

This is, of course, all based on my experiences with the two games, and
the style of play my gaming group & I use. YMMV.

Dirtside II is microarmour SciFi, using 1:300/1:285/6mm figures. One
tank/etc miniature is one tank/etc in the game; vehicles are grouped and
used in platoons of 2-5 vehicles, depending on type. Morale and
motivation
recieve a fair amount of attention. As a 'generic' system, DS2 can
handle
supertanks, Ogres, 'mechs, and many other monstrosities; it does best
with
more normal types of vehicles and infantry. Game size can get up to very
large forces; a 'usual' game (for my gaming group) is between 5-12
platoons per side (that's roughly 15-50 vehicles per side, give or
take).
Big games tend to get a bit slow...no surprise. A very cool game.

Stargrunt II is SciFi infantry action, using 15 or 25mm figures. One
miniature is again one person/vehicle/etc; infantry is grouped in squads
of 4-10 depending on type; vehicles operate singly. A number of
mechanisms
are common with DS2; with suppression, command&control, and morale
recieving even more attention. A usual game for us is 4-6 squads per
side 
(lack of figures right now more than anything) and it moves fairly fast.
I
know people run Company-level games a great deal; that's 10-15+ squads
per
side. An even cooler game than Dirtside II, in some ways...different
scales & aims. 

I should give warning that our group has a fairly relaxed style of play
-
we're more than likely to talk a great deal while playing; if you got
really focused you could play a great deal faster than we do, I'm sure.
So our ideas of small/usual/large games might not be other peoples who
focus more on the actual game. But we enjoy it, and it's supposed to be
a
social thing, right? If I just wanted to play a game I'd stay home with
the damned computer.

Bottom line: buy them both if you can. They're both very excellent
games,
well worth some time and cash.

Comments always welcome.

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)
-- http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Nebula/games.html --DS2/SG2/misc--