Re: Stargrunt for beginners ?

On Thu, 6 Jun 2002 10:09:37 +1000 , Beth.Fulton@csiro.au wrote:

>You may want to stick with morale as is being a new game, but morale
like
>that of Allan Goodalls can be good too (sorry don't have the url
handy).

The morale rules can be found at http://sg2.hyperbear.com

As for Beth's other suggestions, I completely agree.

For simplicity sake, give each unit in one force the same quality, but
give
each _side_ different quality, so the players can see that quality
matters.
(This may be a little hard to balance, though, as two forces the same
size
with different quality will mean the higher quality guys have a distinct
advantage.) If you have multiple players per side, give each player's
forces
the same quality.

Steer clear of the EW rules. Not only is it more than is necessary for a
starting game, they are poorly written and incomplete. You'll just end
up with
arguments. See my web site, under Errata, for a possible fix to the EW
problem.

Stay away from snipers. They slow down the game (and it's already kind
of
pokey as it is) and add complications. Giving the players just the right
number of snipers is a tricky thing to balance, too. Stay clear for the
first
game.

I will agree with Beth's vehicles with one caveat. APCs are pretty
common.
Adding APCs without any real anti-vehicle weapons can be useful for
teaching
the loading, unloading, and vehicle movement rules. I've had no problems
teaching SG2 at conventions to new players, and each of my scenarios has
used
vehicles to some degree. Giving one side APCs while digging in the other
side
in dense terrain works well, as the vehicles will just end up as "battle
taxis" and will soon be left behind. Otherwise, I agree with Beth that
keeping
vehicles out of it is a good idea.

I'll also add that you should stay away from most of the advanced rules,
and
that prior to the game you need to read up on the Close Combat rules.
New
players get into an unusually high number of close combats, and even now
I
find myself always having to refer back to these rules to make sure I've
got
them straight.

Oh, and remember that: cover shifts the armour die; In Position shifts
the
range die for direct fire (and the armour die for indirect fire, but you
shouldn't be using artillery in the first game); and that when a squad
leader
is a casualty the squad gets an automatic _additional_ suppression
marker!
(This last one is buried in the rules.)

The index I did for SG2 should help. It's found at
http://sg2.hyperbear.com .

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!" 
 - from the Random H.P. Lovecraft Story Generator: