RE: [SG2] New Rules Playtest Results

At 2:39 PM -0700 7/5/01, agoodall@canada.com wrote:
>
>The more I think of it, the more it seems like a bit much for me, 
>too. It's tempered by movement being 4" not 6 or D6 x 2, and by the 
>communication roll being shifted down one. But it does still make a 
>commander awfully powerful.

Anyone remember the Lt Col (Lt Col Bill Kilgore) from Apocalypse Now 
wandering around transferring actions during that transplant of the 
South Vietnamese village? Then there was the Air Cav Battle over that 
VC village.

>I'm really, really leaning towards one Transfer Action per 
>activation, making it very similar to a Fire action.
>

How about giving higher ups the ability to transfer 2? ie the highest 
leader on the table has the option for transferring two.

>  > [Bri] This does need fixed. But I would rather remove the rule that
the
>>  detachment must be activated (activate the main squad and detachment
at the
>>  same time) than give the leader a free move.
>
>I can see why Jon put it in there, though. Here's a cheesy thing to 
>do: detach 3 figures out of a 6 figure squad. Next turn, run half 
>the squad from cover across an open space. Next turn, move the first 
>half into cover, and the second half into the open. At no time does 
>more than half the squad show itself. Even if you took fire for a 
>total of 4 figures casualties, you never hit that magic "took more 
>casualties at one time than you have figures remaining" morale 
>check. This is because morale works on the whole squad.
>
>You get the best of both worlds: the advantage of manoeuvring of a 
>small squad, but the advantage of morale in a bigger squad.

You know this does reflect how you move a squad over open ground. The 
squad doesn't move as an entire unit. They go across singly and in 
pairs. If one guy starts taking fire the rest aren't going to go 
dashing across the fire lane. Now, the process does take longer does 
it not in that you have to separate the squad into the smaller teams 
and move men across.

Naturally if they hoof it, then they get caught out in the open all
bunched up.

>My own morale house rules fix this to a certain extent, as a morale 
>test is made once the squad loses half or more of its original size. 
>That may be enough to offset this problem. Then, you do away with a 
>Detached Unit. Instead, you have a Detach Action that creates two 
>new squads out of one old one. Forget about transfer actions and 
>detached squads, and let them operate independently.
>
>I'll have to think about this to see if there are any negative
ramifications.

You saw my comment on giving the detached squad an single action 
auto-magically ever turn right? Basicly the Lt, Sgt, SqdLdr has sent 
corporal Jones over there with Pvt Johnson with a SAW. Cpl Jones 
knows to keep an eye out for the Eurie patrol, report when they get 
close and provide flank cover for the main body of the platoon.

I don't see that people should be encouraged to split a squad from 
its larger organizational element down to smaller units and have it 
all work just the same. Cpl Jones isn't going to be as good as the 
Squad leader is at leading all the guys. Thats why he's an assistant 
Squad Leader and really only has to worry about running a small fire 
team. Maybe 3 guys in addition to himself. But I don't expect him to 
be able to run the Team and call fire. One action over two makes 
sense.

Should they activate at the same time as the main body of the squad? 
Hmm I dunno. I sort of think that they should. The detached element 
just gives you the ability to run things a bit different. OPs, 
separate posts on the perimeter of a fire base and flank security 
teams on an ambush. Oh and the two point men leading a platoon.
-- 
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