Re: do GMS/P troopers carry ARs?

adrian.johnson@sympatico.ca wrote:

> >I was wondering if people play as though their troopers who carry
GMS/Ps also
> >carry ARs.  my friend was arguing that it would weigh too much
together,
> and that
>
> We play that the GMS/P gunners carry the same ranged weapon as the
squad
> they are with, irrespective of what the model has on it.  Keeps things
> simple, and I think, perfectly "realistic".
>
> While the GMS models appear to be rather large in some cases relative
to
> the figure, who knows what they weigh?  I believe that in the Canadian
army
> today, guys who carry the equiv size weapon (our Carl Gustav unguided
> rocket launcher) also are expected to carry their rifles, and the Carl
G is
> *heavy*.  The weapon is assigned to a section, not necessarily to a
> specific guy, and if the troopers in the field are only carrying 3
missiles
> (as is standard with several of the GMS/P systems in the SG rulebook)
I
> don't think they'd want to be stuck for the rest of the battle with a
> pistol!!  Especially if TODAY we can provide them with weapons like
the FN
> P90 which provides near-rifle effectiveness within 100 m or so.  And
is tiny.
>

Thinking back to pictures I saw of the Falklands, I can distinctly
remember a
Marine carrying a Blowpipe missile in its bag strapped to his back. Now
Blowpipes
aren't small, this one basically ran from the nape of his neck down to
the top of
his boots. As well as this he had full pack and his SLR.

>
> Now a question related to this that we should also look at (if it
hasn't
> been before some time), is what happens to the GMS/P when the trooper
> carrying it is shot.	Right now, we take the fig off the table and the
> weapon is gone.  That makes sense if the trooper carrying it was
> obliterated by some kind of powerful weapon, but if he was just shot,
why
> would his buddies leave their tank killer on the ground?  I know the
game
> is an abstraction and for playability purposes we keep it simple, but
has
> anyone addressed this with a house rule?
>
> It would be easy to suggest that if a special weapon gunner
(particularly
> the GMS/P) is a casualty, as long as the weapon wasn't destroyed it
may be
> picked up by another member of the squad.  Perhaps this requires a
reorg
> action, and a check of some kind if the gunner was hit by anything
other
> than smallarms.

When playing 20mm WW2 (not SG2) we play that if a special weapons
trooper (MMG,
mortar, PzFaust etc) is killed then his equipment is lost on a d6 roll
of 1-3.
Otherwise someone else in his section can pick it up. Except for
flamethrowers,
that is - they're always lost.

Tony