Replies to some recent postings! - Longish though

Brian Burger wrote:

> 4. If you want to paint camo, but want something good looking and
> maybe even with a flavor for the troop type you are painting, pick a
> historical scheme.

The late-WW2 German army produced some very interesting camo schemes -
especially the SS units, for some reason. Splotch & tigerstripe
schemes,
'ambush' schemes, load of others. Find a good color book of late-WW2
German vehicles (Osprey or similar) and it'll provide you with loads
and
loads of camoflauging inspiration & information. Most of my troops in
DS2
& SG2 are done in camo schemes inspired by late-WW2 German
paintjobs.

-> Got any pics? My walkers and tanks are done in a German scheme, and
my NSL infantry shall soon (relatively) be done in that WW2 SS Splotch
pattern you are talking about. I use that cam scheme at paintball, and
I love it.
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From: Gareth Perkins <G.T.Perkins@exeter.ac.uk>
Subject: [SG2]Questions

  Just a couple of quick questions about Stargrunt II.

  First off, how do you people deal with buildings and
such? To scale they should be about the size of 1/300th
scale buildings (1" = 10m) but that seems silly when the
models are 25mm high...

-> Brian Burger has some good bunker rules which give some idea how to
handle these. You eventually have to decide to play in figure scale,
even with 60m long APCs and 200m big buildings...

  One of the 'sample platoons' the ESU one if I recall
includes a 20mm cannon (RFAC) for use with power armour -
is this treated as a crew served weapon?

-> Well, except that you wouldn't have movement restrictions. The PA
is designed to carry it. Treat it (I think) as a vehicle mounted
RFAC/1.

  Speaking of the RFAC, why is it such a poor
anti-personnel weapon? - all of the vehicle weapons use D8
for their 'damage' even the RFAC (which one would expect to
be at least more effective) and the DFFG (which was good as
I recall in DS2)

-> Why is a SAW mounted with even enhanced FC so much crappier than a
normal saw (D10 FP replaced with D6 or D8 fire control die....)? Try
this: Because you're aiming through electronics. And Impact? I assume
your RFAC is firing APHE or something and so isn't good against
infantry except through shrapnel. (Ask yourself why an infantry unit
hit by a DFFG/3 rolls D8.... because it does.... even though a direct
hit would vaporize an infantry man).
An alternate solution would be this: If you have one hit, and your die
total is double the defenders die total, then call it a contact hit.
Then roll your vehicle impact (D10 or D12*weapon size class
typically). Otherwise,
it's a shrapnel hit. If you have multiple hits, and you roll more than
double the defender, then you get one
contact hit and a bunch of shrapnel hits. Else they all are shrapnel
hits. You see, it actually seems that using even a DFFG against PA
isn't all that effective in the normal rules. Whereas it can bake an
infantry walker (size 1 vehicle). For the FP vs. Firecon issue, you
might let the weapon fire with the higher die, or if you want to get
complex, the higher die shifted down one if the other die (Firecon or
Firepower) is lower in size. This would apply with SAW and HMG. To
cover RFAC, I might give it an effective FP of 2D8.

  What happened to the SLAM from DS2 - is it now treated as
'off-table support'?

-> I have written, and run, some rules for SLAMs. I use a template,
and then treat it much like an arty attack. If you'd like my rules to
look at, or anyone else would, just email me. I'll get them out to you
early next week when I'm back. I use the rockets on my aliens VTOL as
a SLAM/3. The other set are GMS/H.
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From: "Robert A. Crawford" <crawford@iac.net>
Subject: Re: Painting Camouflage on figs/tanks

-> Nice figs Robert! Are the Rivesco figs true 25mm like the GZG figs?
I see some awfully good looking vehicles on their site. Could you drop
me a mail off list and let me know what you think of their figs,
quality control, service, etc.?
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From: "Robertson, Brendan" <Brendan.Robertson@dva.gov.au>
Subject: RE: [SG2] Questions

One reason the RFAC & other vehicle weapons are so poor against
infantry, is
the fact it's an antivehicle weapon.  Hitting a vehicle with a direct
hit is
a lot easier than infantry, where you're more likely to try and hit
them
with the shell fragments by firing at their feet (sort of like a very
big
grenade).
It may be a rapid fire autocannon, but the meaning is still relative.
2000
rounds of .50 cal is more likely to hit a grunt than 200 rounds of
2.00 cal
anti-tank rounds.

-> You've obviously never watched the Canadian Forces film "Small Arms
in the Anti Aircraft Role" where they show a PIVAD engage a line of
trucks and infantry. The 20mm Rapid Fire Buzzsaw chops them in half.
FAR more effective than a .50 HMG and far faster firing. RFAC/2 might
be big and clunky, as might a 25mm or 30mm bushmaster style cannon.
But any air defence gun or rapid fire cannon (or even a small MDC/GAC)
would be devastating to infantry. I tell you, as a former part-time
grunt, I'd surely not like anyone to point a Vulcan my way. Even
without snazzy Firecon it'll chop the living crap out of anything it
fires at. And if you happen to get hit with a 20mm shell, the shock
from a hand hit could kill you (just like from a .50 BMG slug).

-> My version of slams uses a template (nor a radius) since that seems
appropriate. Sizes range from 3 to 5
for SLAM so the template ranges from 3"x6" to 5"x10". I have rules for
them attacking using similar (but not
identical) rules to Arty, and for using either AP, AT, or DP rounds.
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You know what Commodore Dunsel says: Transport of grateful
displaced colonists is the most intense R&R available.

The_Beast

-> ROFL. I'll bet most folk don't catch the reference here.... :)
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That's it. I'm outta here for a few days! Far thee well, List
Brethren. (And I'd say Sistern, but
isn't that a place where water is held?) (*wink*)