(SG) Old Thread Re: Infantry Walkers rules -

>I've sent a mail to Adrian to get permission to post our rules for
>Infantry Walkers and Exposed Weapons (a la Heavy Gears) or to have him
>do the same. As soon as I know it is okay, I will. He's got a new PC so
>I'm not sure if he's picking up the list at the moment. I'll find out
>quick though. :)
>
>:)
>
>Tom

Hi folks!

Owen, Beth, Ndege, Cleats and others (maybe) expressed interest in the
discussions Tom Barclay and I had months ago on developing Infantry
Walker
rules a bit further for Stargrunt.  This came about on the list recently
when Cleats was asking if people used Heavy Gear miniatures in SG. 
Sorry I
didn't jump into the thread a week ago when it was fresh, but as Tom
pointed out, I've been getting my new computer up and working, and got a
new internet service at the same time.	As a result, some of the
messages
came into one machine on my old account, and some onto the new machine
(where I have nearly 900 email messages waiting for me... 'cause people
on
this list talk lots...). I thought I'd be not-paying-attention for a day
or
two only, but it all piled up on me and I didn't read ANY of these
comments
until today.

So, for those who are interested, check this out:

http://www.naxera.com/ted/gzg.html

this is Ted Arlauskas' TOE page.  At the bottom is the "123 Battalion,
Royal New Anglian Light Infantry" TOE I wrote a while back which Ted
kindly
put up on his page.  It is also up on the "Unofficial Stargrunt II
Webpage" at

http://stargrunt.virtualave.net/rules/nactoe.html

At the end of the TOE is a series of sample vehicle stats for size 1
combat
walkers for Stargrunt.	These were designed specifically with the Heavy
Gear miniatures in mind, and taking a minor liberty here and there with
the
SG vehicle design guidelines.  It is a bit difficult building vehicles
to
match what the Heavy Gear miniatures look like with those rules. 
Clearly
they are size 1 vehicles, with space limitations that would allow
perhaps
one decent size weapon in a "turret" mount - but the Heavy Gear
miniatures
don't have turrets, and use their arms as the weapon mount.  Tom and I
discussed how to address this - how to balance the fact that Heavy Gear
miniatures can carry more stuff than a size 1 vehicle would normally be
allowed to carry.

Tom has started putting up the rules we developed on his website at:

http://fox.nstn.ca/~kaladorn/Gaming/ground.htm

I'll quote him here (taken direct from his site):

"Exposed Weapons and Sensor Systems on Walkers

"Combat walkers have several benefits in their design, particularly that
they can carry firepower greater than other vehicles of equivalent size,
because the aiming mechanisms (their arms) are part of the basic vehicle
structure and because the weapons are carried outside the main hull. The
main drawback to this design methodology is that the exposed weapon
systems
are more likely to suffer damage in combat than equivalent systems on
more
conventional armoured vehicles.

"To simulate this in game terms, when a combat walker suffers a
non-penetrating hit, as per standard non-penetrating hit a d6 is rolled.
Suspension hits are ignored, but on a roll of 1, the exposed weapons
take
some damage, and on a roll of 5 or 6, the vehicle suffers a Systems hit
(results as per the SG rule book)."

[looking back at this, I think it should be on a roll of 1 or 2 you get
a
hit on an exposed weapon]

"For an exposed weapon hit, randomly determine which of the walkers
weapons
has been damaged, and that weapon is rendered inoperable for the rest of
the battle. In most cases, the weapon is easily repairable or
replaceable,
but certain weapon systems, due to the explosive nature of their
ammunition, are prone to secondary explosions. Two examples of this are
the
Automatic Grenade Launcher and the Vehicle Mounted Flame Thrower.
Vehicle
flame throwers on walkers have exposed fuel tanks, which can
spectacularly
explode if damaged. If the flame thrower is damaged (as per the random
weapon determination discussed above), roll a further d6. On a 1 through
3
(50% chance) the fuel explodes. The vehicle is covered with burning
fuel,
and will suffer a secondary hit with d10 impact. Also, the area around
the
vehicle may be set on fire (as per the SG rule book). If there are
infantry
in close proximity (within 2") to the exploding weapon, they will also
take
a hit, as if hit by a heavy flamer. This will cause d10 impact hits to
each
infantier affected by the explosion, and will have morale effects as
normal
for flamer hits. Hits on Automatic Grenade Launchers are discussed
elsewhere (in our AGL rules)."

Now, the vehicle mounted flame thrower and vehicle mounted AGL are ideas
we
had which were further developed, but Tom hasn't put up the rules yet
and I
can't find my original copies (they haven't made it out of the file
transfer process to my new computer yet).

Anyway, hope you find this interesting.

I have a bunch of the old scale Heavy Gear models which I use
exclusively
for Stargrunt, and find using them as size 1 and size 2 walkers to be
very
satisfying - both aesthetically, and from a game play perspective.  They
add fast mobile firepower, but are easy enough to kill with regular
infantry weapons that they don't overbalance a game.

And on a final note, RAFM produced as part of the Heavy Gear line two
pieces of field artillery, which are PERFECT in scale for Stargrunt (in
25mm).	I use them as mission objectives (since you will rarely if ever
actually see them used as artillery during game play), or as direct fire
guns a-la the German WWII 88mm anti-tank gun on a trailer, which they
resemble.  These are out of production models, but if you can find a
store
or distributor still carrying old-scale Heavy Gear models, take a look
for
them.  They fit in very will with Stargrunt figures.

Adrian