Infantry Walkers for Stargrunt - from Heavy Gear figs...

>Why are walkers relegated to size 1 or 4-7? Why no size 2 or 3 walkers?
If 
>smaller walkers are possible, and so are bigger ones, why not the 
>middle-sized ones?  I'm all for allowing class 2 Infantry Walkers, and
class 
>3 Combat Walkers.

We play with size 2 and 3 walkers in Stargrunt, using Heavy Gear
miniatures
for size 1 and 2, and some big resin/metal kits from (Kyomek???) that
look
like starwars scout walkers for the size 3.  There are a couple of
really
big Heavy Gear figs (the Naga and the Mammoth) which could be size 3
also,
I think - but of course you have to find the old scale (now OOP) Gears,
as
DP9 is producing all their own figs now in the new, and much smaller,
scale.

>
>Has anyone done any conversions from Heavy Gear into SG or DS?  I've
never 
>played the game, but it looks cool. Just from the perusals I've done,
I'd 
>suggest you make the gears either class 1 or 2 Infantry Walkers.  As
for 
>those funky wheels on them, cost gears a little higher than regular
walkers, 
>and allow them to use roads as Easy terrain like any other vehicle.
>

We ignore the wheels as a special feature, and just figure that the
gears
move the same as other vehicles, but can make better way through certain
terrain (such as forrest - we allow size 1 walkers to go through forest
the
same as infantry).

One of the things that struck me when using Heavy Gear figs is the way
the
vehicle design rules in SG work.  You have space limitations on size 1
vehicles, particularly for turreted weapons, that would seem to preclude
Heavy Gear type vehicles, which use arms not turrets.  Tom Barclay and I
talked about this at some length, and proposed a set of rules for
exposed
weapons, which would not require the same internal space as regular
turreted weapons, thereby allowing a Gear to pack more punch (and make
"legal", though this is not really accurate in SG which is pretty
free-form
anyway, the Heavy Gear figs).  The exposed weapon rules provided for
damage
to the weapons on non-penetrating hits, and had potentials for explosive
results to the walker or surrounding models for certain weapons (like
heavy
flame throwers, grenade launchers, etc).

Tom Barclay has the basics of this posted on his website:

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

follow the two bottom links.

Also, if you're interested, I detailed (very simply) some SG infantry
walkers based on Heavy Gear figures in a TOE I wrote that was posted on
a
couple of sites.  Try Jeremy Sadler's Unofficial SG2 Web Site, and my
TOE at:

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

At the bottom of the TOE is some brief descriptions of the walkers.

Tom and I were also discussing the fact that the Heavy Gear miniatures
come
in a variety of sizes - mostly around what would be Size 1 in Stargrunt.
There are a couple that are OBVIOUSLY bigger (so we use Size 2), but a
few
which are sort of half-way in between.	We proposed for simplicity sake
a
size 1.5 vehicle...  Basically that would be a size 1 vehicle (for
armour
purposes) but could carry extra spaces (2 or 3) of equipment.  It would
have a larger signature, so would count as a size 2 for targeting
purposes.
 This wasn't worked out in great detail, but allowed you the benefits of
carring more shooty stuff, but balanced it with restrictions on armour
and
making it easier to hit.

I know this doesn't really follow any of the other parts of the system
(or
DSII), but for sake of ease we kept it really simple.  It works fine in
game play.

We have not done conversions of the actual Heavy Gear story-type
vehicles
into Stargrunt.... the vehicles would of course then be way underscale
(since the Heavy Gear stuff is much bigger in it's universe than the
figures are relative to the Stargrunt infantry).  We use them 'cause
they
are cool miniatures that are PERFECT size 1 and 2 walkers in 25mm, and
they
were easily available.

FYI, RAFM did some artillery pieces for the Heavy Gear line which also
look
great with Stargrunt figures - they look about the size of a light
howitzer, vehicle towed.  I don't know where you could get them, but the
"Southern Milicia" artillery is really cool.  I have a battery of 3 done
up, and use them for special scenarios as objectives (capture the
artillery
park, etc) OR occasionally give one side ONE as a direct-fire anti-tank
gun....  Good for lower-tech type colonial militia or mercs.

Adrian Johnson
adrian.johnson@sympatico.ca