Re: [GZG] Tech Levels

_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu
http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lAct
ually a better example would be the Fall of Berlin in 1945 - due to
strange political maneuvering and poor judgment, the Germans were
fielding a
mishmash of equipment, from high-tech jet fighters to molotov cocktails.
 The big limitations were fuel, ammunition and food.
A high-tech weapon requires a high tech supply train - you aren't likely
to
be able to charge fusion cells off a couple of solar panels, and if you
are
firing hundreds of times to fend off the primitive hordes, you will be
chewing rapidly through ammo.

Power armor will also require maintenance and spare parts - super
admantium
plates are unlikely to be easily repaired or replaced in the field with
a
pair of pliers, which necessitates a workshop or rear area for
maintenance.

Even if a primitive society does not "kill" a soldier, by simply
damaging or
impairing his ability to fight may be a victory in itself - if a
soldier's
weapon is damaged or depleted of ammo so that it can not fire, how
effective
is he?

Scenarios such as long range patrols where a platoon or company is
cut-off
from supply and an attack comes in before they can be relieved have many
historical precedents, and I suspect that there will be many more.

Natives can also use local terrain to negate a technology advantage -
quicksand, swampy areas, pits, trenches, ravines, rocky terrain, caves,
settlements, etc. Unless PA also includes an inertia damper, falling
from 50
or 60 feet down a canyon wall is going to mess someone up. minefields,
IED's
or other boobytraps can be used to slow down or prevent the advance of a
unit, even a high-tech one.  Sheer mass, such as avalanches, landslides
or
floods can wipe out whole units.

A smart commander fights on terrain of his choosing, most don't have the
opportunity to do so. I think that gaming a high tech vs. low tech game
will
have to center around a balance of terrain vs. weapons, otherwise why
game a
massacre?

One caveat - I do like British Colonial gaming - hordes of sword and
spear
wielding natives against breech loading rifles and early MG's is
appealing
to me, especially as a native player. Casualties are horrendous, but the
natives win about 1/3 of the time, usually due to a critical error on
the
British commanders part or ridiculous orders from their higher command.
A
key aspect to these games is the psychological component - often factors
from previous games can influence players in the current game (i.e. He
always leads with the Fuzzy Wuzzys, that is where the main attack is
coming
from) that can be used to deceive them or at least draw their attention
away
from key areas - if they focus on the Fuzzy Wuzzys on top of the nearby
hill, they may miss the mass enfilading them through a nearby ravine
which
then seems to "pop out of nowhere".

High tech vs. low tech is workable, but the rules and scenario need
to accommodate the limitations - for instance, perhaps the high-tech
weapons
are low on ammo or need maintenance and thus are not operating at peak
rated efficiency. Perhaps locals have utilized an extensive cave system
to
provide a transportation network that allows them to move unsighted
around
the board, popping out at close ranges with explosive devices. Orders
from
above may require that the unit take and hold a particular junction or
building and retreat is not an option (i.e. their APC or transport has
been
disabled). or a unit is on a rescue and recovery mission where there is
a
limited amount of time available to traverse the board before the downed
unit is overwhelmed.

--Binhan

On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 3:41 AM, Chip Dunning <chip.dunning@gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> Can there be no primitive societies in a universe that also has
> power-armored marines? A human wave vs a small squadron simply trying
> to get back to a safe zone. Germans armed with bolt-action rifles at
> the start of WWII also have 20mm armed tanks and the powerful 88mm.
>
>
>
> Chip
> -
http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l
>