Re: Thoughts on Veldtgrunt-- SG2 Zulu Wars

At 06:42 PM 11/16/00 -0600, you wrote:
>
>I'm looking at this from a Zulu Wars perspective, but it could also
>relate to any high tech vs. low tech SG2 game.
>
>The timescale in SG2 is 1-5 minutes per turn.	The British should be
>able to shoot horrible numbers of Zulus charging across the open in
>that time-- yet vanilla SG2 rules dictate on average:
>
>quality  firepower  armor  casualities
>  d8	+    d12   /  d4  =    5 max
>
>This number seems too low for 1-5 minutes of twelve men firing up to 6
>rounds a minute.  How should I reconcile it?

How 'bout volley fire?	If the officer can properly motivate his men,
let
them use *both* of the unit's actions to fire their rifles.  The unit
leader would have to roll higher than his LV, using his unit's quality
die,
to make this happen.

>1) Special rules for mass charges in the open: Extra Firepower
>
>What I'm currently leaning toward-- you'll only get these horrendous
>casualties when the Zulu charge the British across open ground.  What
>I'm thinking is something like when firing into a massed opponent in
>open ground, multiply your impact die by four.  This would give you up
>to, on avg, 8 + 40 = 48 / 4 = 12 possible casualties.

When firing into a massed target (or, alternatively, across open ground)
reduce the effective range by one band.  So if the Brits are Regulars,
they
have an effective close range of 16" when firing at those charging
Zulus.

Maybe that's not nasty enough.	How about this: When firing into a
massed
target, *double* the total of the attacker's die rolls.  Combine this
with
my first suggestion, and there should be a lot of carange.

>2) Special rules for mass charges in the open: All combat move is a 
>Charge.

I'd also be tempted to make that first Zulu charge have a terror effect
--
they'll need all the help they can get.  I don't know how accurate that
is,
though.  It's been a while since my Colonial gaming days, more's the
pity.

>Alternately, force the Zulu to start their actual CC charge as soon as
>they hit the open.  At the end of any double move, target unit may
>fire at the incoming Zulu. 
>
>3) Lower armor.
>
>What if you said Zulu had d2 armor?  For the Zulu, all wounded will
>count as kills for gameplay, so this might work.

I think that d4 would be nasty enough, personally.  What kind of impact
value are you giving the British guns?	d8 or d10?

>4) Zulu figure scale.
>
>The easiest way would probably be to say each Zulu figure *actually*
>represents several Zulu-- say 4.  Also requires you to have fewer
>figures.  However, I prefer 1-1 scale.

At 25mm scale, I hate having one figure represent more than one soldier.
But that's just a personal preference.

John X Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com
  "...is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
They control information.  Don't ever piss one off."
  --Spider Robinson, The Callahan Touch.