Alien habits and pet peeves

	OK here it is.	My first rough draft for my "Alien" race to be
used in an
upcoming FMA campaign.	I would love to play test these out and work out
the
bugs as it were.  The only problem is that finding out how the aliens
react
and think will be a big portion of the campaign.  Thats where all of you
alien minded folks come in.
	I am using the Hive Mind type of alien mentality for marole with
a few
figures being the controlling point for the army.  Once these figures
are
gone the army should quickly fall apart as the units become
uncoordinated.
	I am going to use the GW tyranid minatures as they are available
in 6mm and
28mm.  (painted like lady bugs... dont laugh, lady bugs are some nasty
bloodthirsty insects.)

	Thanks for the time and any comments that might come my way.

	Others on this list have had some really good ideas and I have
incorporated
some of their ideas into this and I would like to thank them.

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Quality is based on species of alien and Leadership Value (1-2) is based
on
the type of hive node creature present.  Only certain creatures are
classified as hive nodes.  A few creatures fall into the independent
category which will use a Leadership value of 2.

Aliens remove one suppression counter at the beginning of each of it’s
activations.  A +1 modifier is applied to all control checks for each
suppression marker on that unit.  (an additional +1 for the node
creature
made the checks a little to difficult in the simulations)  Suppression
only
effects confidence and control checks.	It does not limit what the unit
may
or may not do.

The basic alien psychology is based on 3 types of behavior in combat;
lurk,
hide and attack.  Each type of creature will have a defualt basic
behavior.
(may add one or two more.  want to keep it simple though)

- A lurking unit will take the best available cover.  If it has a ranged
attack it will fire at any targets that come within range.  If an enemy
unit
comes within 12” make a control check or the unit will attempt to
assault.
- A unit hiding will attempt to be unseen by any enemy unit.  Will
always
take cover and will attempt to “creep” away from any enemy units that
come
within 12”.  If it is fired upon and takes a suppression it will flee
away
to the next available piece of cover.
- An attacking unit will attempt to attack the nearest unit with any
means
possible.  It must always use at least one action to move straight
towards
the nearest enemy.

(Best available cover is kind of a vague statement.  Need to work on a
better description)
(“Creep” will be the ability to move hidden markers d6”.  As alien
minefields and boobytraps will have legs this will not be a problem)

	To make a unit do something other than it’s basic behavior
requires a
control check.	A control check is made by a hive node creature spending
one
action and rolling the target units quality die vs the node creature’s
leadership value.  This roll is modified by the below factors

	+1 for each suppression marker on target unit
	+1 to +3 based on current morale
	+1 for each full 12” between node creature and target unit

Once a control check has been made the unit will do as it was told
unless
their morale level changes.

Alien Morale “What makes a bug think twice?”

Confidence tests are made using the quality of the unit and the
Leadership
Value of the closest hive node creature.  If there are no hive node
creatures on the table use a LV of 3.  Independent creatures use a LV of
2.

Hive node creatures ignore all suppression and never take confidence
tests.

Aliens take confidence tests for the below reasons –

Unit takes casualties from fire 	+0		(even bugs
don’t like being dead)

Unit suffers casualties from a flame or 2		(I watched too
many movies)
plasma type weapon

Loss of a hive node creature		3		(Feeling your
mind die is hard on the
senses)

Loss of a hive node creature within 12”	4		(Seeing
your mind die is even
harder)

Each suppression marker 		+1		(All those
bullets are distracting)

For each full 12’ from nearest node		+1		(Even
bug communications are not
perfect)
creature

Results of reduced morale:

Confident -	“Send more meat!”

Steady -		All control checks are at +1 “This meat is
crunchy”

Shaken -	All control checks are at +2 “This meat needs to be
cooked more”

Broken -		All control checks are at +3 “This meat has
teeth”

Routed -	The hive mind can no longer maintain control.  Models in
unit will
revert to their basic behavior.   A hive node creature must move within
12”
to regain control of the unit. “Who’s eating who here?”

A hive node creature may raise the morale of one unit by making a
successful
control check.

Hive node creatures should be limited to 1 per 3-4 units.  The
importance
the hive mind puts on a certain objective determines the number of hide
node
creatures it allocates for the battle.	(Play testing will determine the
right numbers)