Re: [GZG] [SG] Rapid Fire antipersonnel plasma gun?

On 9/27/06, gzg-l-request@lists.csua.berkeley.edu
<gzg-l-request@lists.csua.berkeley.edu> wrote:

> Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:54:55 +0100
> From: Samuel Penn <sam@glendale.org.uk>
> p.43 under 'Terror Effects' is where the rule is btw. Speaking as
> someone who's never had someone shoot at them or try to set them
> on fire, Fire does seem slightly scarier because a crispy fried
> corpse looks worse than a corpse that is simply blood stained.

Certainly the burned corpse photos I've seen from the fighting in the
Pacific during the Second World War are some of the worst. Even in
black and white they are incredibly gruesome compared to the pictures
I've seen of other corpses, with the possible exception of those poor
souls who had their intestines ripped out. Fried corpses may even be
worse than decapitations.

That having been said, I think it's more a fear of being burned alive
that haunts people. Dying from a bullet to the chest or an artillery
piece that takes your head off is merciful compared to roasting to
death.

> Presumably big guns should have a similar effect - I'm remembering
> the scene in 'Saving Private Ryan', where a big vehicle mounted gun
> (20mm cannon?) was used to cut down infantry, blowing them to pieces
> everytime someone was hit. Sitting comfortably in my armchair, that
> looked scary.

As I mentioned earlier, AFVs cause panic in Greens and Untrained, so
except for Regulars they already cause "terror" effects.

You could ignore the terror effect and treat attacks by Heavy Weapons
the same as an attack by artillery. If the unit has to make a
Confidence Test due to Heavy Weapon fire, add 2, 1, or 0 to the Threat
Level for Low/Medium/High motivation troops.

> Maybe the terror effect should be +1/+2 instead of doubling the
> threat level. Experienced troops can ignore it, greens are more
> likely to loose their cool.

As I mentioned, veterans and elite are immune to panic tests of any
kind.

-- 
Allan Goodall		 http://www.hyperbear.com
agoodall@hyperbear.com
awgoodall@gmail.com
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