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mj12games.com/forum → Posts by themattcurtis
Even if anyone doesn't want them 
US guys. It'll be fun to try em out anyway.
Even if anyone doesn't want them
US guys. It'll be fun to try em out anyway.
Vietnam era minis! Eric here in town can't use them anymore, and had been asking me to try and draw up a Vietnam era army list or two before I even knew he was chucking 'em. This is what I drew up overnight. Lemme know if it looks sucky, ok, whatever. Tweaked a few of the rules to fit the setting. Now I'm going to go home after work and toss my pre-painted US Army grunts and NVA regulars around 
Just got to buy some VC.
Matt
Notes: Allowed CO stats even though the tech level is too low because I thought a Vietnam based game needs stealth rules. Also allowed field save stats (reword them as “field craft” if you want) to allow troops saves against successful weapons hits. Assault rifles are tandem combo weapons that allow single or auto fire. Ranges decrease for automatic fire. On average, I took the maximum effective range of a weapon, divided it by 4, then converted the resulting number into tabletop inches using the DVG scale of 1” = 2m. The maximum effective range was typically given a 9+ target to hit value (or as close as I could find in the tables). I was surprised to see that my attempts tended to match what's already posted for a few real life weapons in the DVG rulebook.
The M-14 was apparently a lousy automatic weapon, so its effective has been tweaked somewhat. Sniper rifles have the “K” modifier to simulate a sniper's ability to suppress troops even with a near miss. NVA and VC officers are meant to reflect junior officers, political officers or grizzled “old hands,” respectively. Shame is there for a “comrade” to be shamed back on his feet. If he fails, assume the political officer popped him one with his pistol. Know No Fear is just there in an attempt to show political indoctrination. Local VC have a somewhat slower movement than the norm to reduce their offensive capabilities AND show how they really aren't all that well trained in small unit tactics, although they are perfectly capable of conducting ambushes.
Let me know what you like, don't like.
Vehicles to come (including two pieces of Vietnamese armor, some US tanks and the old M113 APC).
Didn't know if folks think the 53rd looks worthwhile or not.
Feel free to tweak the standard units. I put where I saw officers fitting into the TO&E, but you don't have to adhere to it.
Been working on the fluff and other stuff. And tonight a friend and I are actually going to playtest the notes I have for the Sheetok against the 53rd. The idea is to have a standard tactical squad:
(8 light infantry, two of them with the underslung GLs tacked on to their rifles, an officer with the Ruhr-Mekanik option, and a heavy weapons specialist with the chaingun)
A heavy infantry ambush team:
(hvy infantry officer with targeting upgrade and assault rifle, 3 addt'l heavy infantry with ATRs and a heavy weapons specialist with a MPMW mortar).
And a team of 6 scouts (no officer, but a hero included).
Defending against Sheetok infantry and an attached tank.
I took out the art because I think I would NEED to talk to the artist/company behind them before posting them here. But attached are the infantry rules and weapons.
I will have fluff files to go with this setting, if anyone wants to see 'em. And I'll get the 53rd vehicles in short order. This, at least, seems like a solid basis for infantry skirmishes. The other list will be here next week.
Not angry Kevin.
Just itching to actuall play something along the lines of a skirmish game. And I gotta tell ya, single dad, 2 kids. I'd lose my a-- right now trying to invest in a legitimate army. Tires, medication for the dog, family vacation and my need to show the girlfriend she's appreciated are KILLING my "me" money.
Following up, I see very little risk in it, as well.
You spend some time putting some artwork to a PDF, then establish it on line.
Folks who need it before their minis come in, BUY it.
Jeesh. There's definitely a market for it. How many of those lines do you see at RPGnow.com?
It doesn't have to be for everyone, but it would help a number of folks.
Each his own. And I think there are a fair number of people who feel like I do. Otherwise you wouldn't see the things popping up.
I love painting minis. I got my Russians and Japanese ships painted up for GF. But there are folks out there, like me, who don't have a ton of skirmish minis on hand, and would actually like to PLAY before sinking their $$ (and a few weeks of their lives at some workbench) into a ton of metal.
Seriously, would you folks consider it?
I'll buy the minis when there are enough to develop a whole army. But you have a nice universe drawn up, with fully established armies, and really, the only way to try and play them is to use proxies that don't even look close.
Other titles (including a MJ12games game) uses cardstock foldups in lieu of minis, and as the minis come into being, the fold ups will likely be phased out by a lot of folks.
I'm just saying, I know at least one guy who would buy them.
The 53rd is done and with Demian for review (wanted to make sure I didn't break any construction rules).
Got to work on the Sheetok.
OK, I found out what I had wrong, and where I wasn't applying the construction rules properly, so now I'm good to go. Everyone for the 53rd is done, and all the small arms are wrapped up except the kit fielded by the scouts.
IE --
Light Infantry can field the vanilla assault rifle/underslung GL tandem combo weapon; or a Ruhr-Mekanik semi-auto shotgun. The sidearm is the Rossman MK VII pistol or a persistent smoke grenade. Upgrades include satchel charges or banner bearer.
Heavy Infantry have the same SDP-9 assault rifle. Or they can pack a LeGranche Industries anti-tank rifle. And as they're meant to be deployed in defensive positions, partnered with heavy weapons, the upgrade is "targeting computer" used to feed firing coordinates to any attached weapons team packing the MPMW Mortar. I like that one, even if it is overkill. Ton of IR as the idea is that the round splits into mini-munitions, which follow the firer's digital feeds straight into the target. No suturing here as most successful hits will result in the target, even one with a good bit of DC, being turned into hamburger.
I have the spec ops troopers who are flight capable, and the battalion intelligence officer, who has a cone-template terror weapon he can fire at nearby Sheetok. His upgrade is Data Net. And the scout, once I have his kit finalized, will have refractive cloak.
Other weapons include a Heavy Plasma Gun and the "Seraphim" Autocannon -- dubbed with that particular name because its targets are soon singing with the angels. Topped it off with the panzershrek anti-tank weapon.
I'll post the file once I get all the notes typed in, and the fluff/descriptions wrapped up.
Here's what I have for the light infantryman..
The typical "Blood and Mud" frontline infantryman, this soldier comes equipped with the standard assault rifle with underslung grenade launcher or the infamous Ruhr-Mekanik shotgun when assigned to special assault/urban pacification missions. Hard-bitten and cynical, the average grunt doesn't necessarily buy into the Party line, but is aware that his own actions against the Sheetok have rendered any regrets or crises of conscience irrelevant. He's also enough of a realist to know that his lieutenant, while full of grand ideas drawn from the Academy, is painfully green and destined for promotion to a staff position the moment his potential is realized. Direction and guidance, therefore, is almost always sought from the platoon's "top" - a grizzled and paternal NCO who's seen it, lived it and done his best to forget.
I made some early mistakes in drafting my first infantryman (getting to understand the system).
I'm done establishing the infantry guidelines for the 53rd, and once I have the weapons done I was gonna PM Demian to make sure my math is right and I'm following the rules. Should have the bad guys done by early next week.
Oh yeah. This is gonna take a while, but the Vanilla "Light Infantry Trooper" is shaping up like this:
Type :SI -- base cost with Covert added in is 18 pts
Size: 2
Quality: Regular
Move: 4 Sprint
Armor Rating: +1
Damage Capacity: 1
Field Save: n/a
HTH Rating: 1@8+
Reflex : +1
Agility: 8
Officer: 3L +1 C (+155) or 2C + 1L (+130)
Hero Cost: +13
Covert Ops : 2I (+8 pts)
The rationale is as follows -- Armor +1 because the light trooper is enclosed in armor with a cammo pattern, but he isn't powered. 4 Sprint seems like a decent vanilla infantry move rate, while the HTH rating is based off the idea that while blades aren't shown in any light trooper images, there are bayonets that can be slotted on to the end of their rifles, and while they aren't crackerjack hand to hand combatants, they can hold their own. The Officer costs are for two variants, the hardbitten, senior NCO (the one with 3L and 1 C) and the well-schooled, but green, junior officer (2C and only 1 L as he isn't the same kind of motivator, but he is very sound tactically). The covert rating is because of the cammo pattern and the fact that they have enclosed, visored helmets. I see ALL of these guys as being solid at infiltration, although the scouts and spec ops troopers will obviously be better.
I'm going to design small arms AFTER the basic profiles are done. I have a question. Is the maximum armor rating of my force (now set at -1) inclusive of the frontal arc modifier, or can I keep the default value at -1 and figure the frontal arc thing is an exception? If I need to change my maximum armor rating to -2 to cover the frontal arc rule, I need to tweak my force guidelines slightly.
Anyway. I should have finalized offering by Tuesday or so.
I actually drew up the general guidelines yesterday.
I'll work on the infantry and vehicles over the next couple of days, but as far as the 53rd goes, conceptually.....
Tech Level 3 as they're a spacefaring power.
Maximum Unit Size is 10 as this is a good, squad sized default.
Ad Hoc is 50% as the idea is that flexibility has been drilled into their heads. The necessity of forming scratch units/kampfgruppe against the Sheetok and all that.
Elite is 25% as while they're solid troops, they're not spec ops warriors.
Vehicle is 50% because they're mechanized infantry. The download pack comes with constructable APCs, Tanks, hover platforms and arty.
Their Individual and Unit morale traits are "War Cry" and "Martyr." As the emphasis is placed on junior officers and NCOs showing battlefield initiative, and as the pack comes with a standard bearer, I thought it made sense to have a way for this force to rally pinned troops and send them charging towards the enemy. It also just fits the picture of Junior Officers leading from the front, waving the flag and getting gunned down in the process.
Finally, their tactical advantage is Fluidity. Again, they're adaptable and act on the fly.
TR = 10
Their FR = 10
The personal weapons and Vehicle Weapons are OK, but not overpowered. Their minimum armor protection is -1 as just about the entire army features some kind of body armor, from scouts to heavy weapon troopers (-1 might seem a light minimum when you look at the heavy weapons and spec ops troopers, but I'm going to give the heavy weapons guys a frontal arc boost). So I need room to have light, medium and heavy models. Their powered infantry are capable of moving 5+, as the force includes jump capable soldiers.
I'll start working on the grunts and vehicles in a bit. And add fluff as I go. I DO like the idea of humanity being the bad guys here.
Clarifying on the Armor:
Scouts = +2
Light Infantry = +1 (enclosed, but not powered)
Light Assault = 0
Heavy Infantry and Spec Ops folks = -1
Heavy Weapons = -1 with frontal arc boost
Establishing the General guidelines and intro fluff for the 53rd, I was thinking about having humanity as the bad guys this time around. Figure in the far future you have an expansionist civilization that's started to colonize like mad. Problem is that years after some of those worlds are settled, the Sheetok start appearing. They look evil escapees from Red Lobster to me, so I pictured those weird crab things I see desperately digging back into the sand at the beach after the tide pulls back. The Sheetok, in my mind, were sleepin' -- and came to only to find humanity established on worlds they had already populated. They were quickly dominated by the Earth-based power, only now revolts have broken out on several planets. We hairless apes are in the process of trying to put them in their place. So for now I have as a unit intro:
Founded in 2204, the 53rd “Blood and Mud” Armored Division is notorious for the punitive expeditions mounted against Sheetok rebels throughout the fringe colonies. An all-volunteer unit drawn from regular army ranks, the division is nominally a “fast response” force tasked with quelling Crab uprisings. The fact that several of its deployments have been nothing more than staged, one-sided massacres instigated by human settlers hungry for land troubles few Party officials.
Equipped with standard small arms, the division's infantry formations stand apart in their reliance on powered body armor and proclivity for hand-to-hand weaponry – both stemming from painful lessons learned during the Paradus Campaign of 2209. Confronted by chittering hordes of armed Sheetok warriors, support personnel and artillery crews later commented that personal weapons were always close at hand as those aliens they faced in battle “just keep coming.” Indeed, current doctrine calls for a hedgehog approach to defensive actions as after action reports have shown it is all but impossible to maintain an unbroken line against a determined Crab assault.
Despite their reputation for brutality – and assertions by the underground press that the division is good for nothing more than razing unarmed Sheetok nests -- the men who make up the 53rd are capable soldiers. A heavy emphasis is placed on tactical flexibility, and both junior officers and their senior NCOs are pushed to display a high degree of personal initiative. Unfortunately, battlefield casualties amongst front line officers are disproportionately high, as “leading by example” has been interpreted by more than one captain as an obligation to shout his men back on their feet, his identity highlighted by the presence of the unit's accompanying standard bearer. This “Martyr Complex” has netted its fair share of posthumous decorations, but the turnover rate leaves something to be desired……….
OK --
Budget is tight for now. And as I want to start playing Defiance in the near future, I have found a band aid solution towards building some relevant armies.
Bought and DLd cardstock fold up minis (grunts and vehicles) for the Fighting 53rd and Sheetok. Formally, they're part of Budget Battlefields, but they say right on the product you can use them for their rules or anything else you might want to play.
So I'm going to use them for Defiance. Each pack comes with about five different infantry types and four vehicles.
The fold ups look sharp enough.
And if folks would like to see it, I can try to have something drawn up later on.
It'll do until I can find room in the wallet (and time away from painting my Russo-Japanese War ship minis) to actually construct a 28mm skirmish army.
Matt
No, I think LGs would be viable. Light Guns, or quickfirers, were meant to tackle torpedo boats in real life wet navies, and I keep seeing that folks here view FACs more as torpedo boats than actual fighters.
I don't think torpedoes would be viable targets. Not thinking point defense here.
I think Haley Rockets and the existing weapons are enough to combat the first strike capabilities of FACs (if you have a big table and they can't bumrush you straight away). But a friend keeps pointing out that torpedo laden FACs can effectively walk their weapons into enemy hulls with their ability to always move after and always shoot BEFORE capital warships. If they're killed by return fire, so what? Handled properly, they will ALWAYS hit first, and likely kill the opposition.
I think the argument has merit.
So I was a'wonderin if folks might want to look at a defensive measure ships can take against FACs, in somewhat similar veins to the whole torpedo net thing.
"Saturation Fire" has the crewmen manning those light guns and machine guns just wailing away without aiming at any definite target -- throwing up a carpet of fire in hopes that they'll down or a least divert an enemy FAC before it can hit them.
A ship can be marked as dedicating light guns and MGs to saturation fire during its movement phase. The number of weapons it can assign determines what modifier, if any is applied to attacking FACs. The idea is that the heavier the flak/what have you, the more likely the FAC crews are to pull away from their attack runs, or be just to jittery/pre-occupied to be effective.
IE
For every 3 Light Guns or MGs firing out of a given arc, the defending ships imparts a -1 to hit penalty to any attacking FACs that Turn. But those weapons can't be used offensively. I picked 3 because most cap ships seem to pack at least 6 light guns, and as you can only use half your LGs out of any arc, that seems each ship will be able to impart at least a -1 penalty.
So if there are 6 LGs or MGs firing out of an arc, you get a -2 penalty, and so on.
Lookit at like this. You have two Harpune FACs with a total of four D8(X3) torpedoes bearing down on a British Tycho class CL. If they walk in their torpedoes at point blank range, those FACs have a 50% chance hit with each torpedo, meaning they're probably going to hit at least twice. And six points of damage rolled on a D12 has a good chance of killing that light cruiser before it has a chance to fight back.
Now, the Tycho has enough LGs to impart a -1 penalty if it dedicates some of those weapons to throwing up a curtain of ether-flak. So those FACs, instead of now just needing a 5+ to hit, need a 6+. Which helps at least a little.
The Tycho would be crazy not to do that if safely removed from enemy capital ships. But if surrounded by hostile cruisers, the player would have to think about whether or not he really wanted to take this step.
Just an idea.
The guy behind this site as fold-up cardstock counters for a lot of it: Stormtroopers with carbines and repeaters, Dewback riders, speeder bikes, clone troopers with a couple of different weapons, AT-RTs, battle droids, supers, destroyer droids, Staps and spider droids. Officers and special characters.
It ain't the same, but it could do for now I guess.
http://www.momirfarooq.com/index.htm
I bought the DL of Defiance. Trying now to decide on an army to build for the game -- and I was excited for all of 90 seconds when I saw a ton of the Star Wars "Unleashed" packs.
Four clone troopers with a few weapons and poses, already to go....except they're 2" tall. Which equates to what scale? Half again as large as anything the game was designed for. That, and the lack of vehicles was the only thing keeping me away, because with their commander figure in a seperate pack, I saw heavy rifles (repeaters), carbines and pistols. Add grenades and you have a solid range of weapons there (though nothing IF).
I'm not buying the random minis boxes either.
jeesh.....
there ya go
Did my math wrong. Hunyadi is only 3 VPs for hull. But still.
I got the ship stats....even if I had to proxy the Italian counters for now, and had a flipping blast last night simulating Italian v. Austrian "wargames" with a friend.
The fleets centered around a pair of BCs for the Italians (Guido Cavalcanti and Cino da Pistoia) and a pair of Janos Hunyadi heavy cruisers for the Austrians (including the class's namesake AND Matthius Corvinus).
The Austrians fielded a pair of Huszar CLs with their FACs, as well. And honestly, I was surprised to see that the Italians drew first blood. The FACs are just too fast in most battles for ships to kill them except in revenge. If they can rush a ship and launch torpedoes at PB range, they're GOING to get their licks in first.
But here the Huszars were so thinly armored (read none) that I was worried about getting them too close to the Italians and launched my attack craft right from the get go. The table was large enough that the FACs couldn't reach the Italians right away, and while they were able to linger outside of effective gun range until the right time (double range mods make them harder than hell to hit, even for light guns), my opponent nailed two Harpunes with Haley Rockets. The four that survived would eventually obliterate a Spada Lunga class destroyer and finish off da Pistoia -- see below -- but losing those that I did really didn't equate in a very good point trade off for me.
The battlelines played to their strengths. The Italians are FAST, and can saturate you with a lot of fire. But their 10" (read d8 ) guns just couldn't penetrate the Austrian armor outside of knife fighting range -- which is how the Hunyadi was designed. It forces you to draw up close. Combining their fire -- their gyroscopic stabilizers really help maintain their line -- the two heavy cruisers clobbered da Pistoia. In one turn they landed three hits with their main guns, a couple of light gun hits and a single torpedo hit. The result was some staggering hull damage in a short amount of time. The Italians drew blood in return. Nine primary guns on each ship resulted in a LOT of rolls. But they just weren't winning their exchanges. I tried to warn him that that class isn't meant to tackle opponents with BB quality armor. He didn't listen . His one bright spot came in the form of boarders deployed from the two ships. Between the two of them, the Italians landed several hits this way on Corvinus, knocking out of one its primary turrets and killing a bunch of crewmen.
The Italians were able to play to another of their strengths. The BCs used their superior speed and broke away, leaving the Hunyadi class CHs in their wake (as the game had a time limit).
Along the sidelines, the Spada Lungas had managed to kill one of the Huszar class CLs and a Vadasz DD (although we got one of 'em back) as those are some tough "modern" destroyers. When the Italian fleet turned tail, they threw up a screen to protect the BCs' retreat.
As I hinted earlier, two of the Harpunes still had ordnance, and managed to chase down and kill the crippled da Pistoia (nice accomplishment, killing a ship that big), but return fire did for yet another attack craft.
Final result was an Austrian victory of sorts. We lost a Huszar (15 points), all three of its FACs (18 pts) another FAC (6 pts) and a Vadasz (7 pts). The Corvinus and Hunyadi combined lost seven hull points (28 pts). For a total of 74.
The Italians lost a BC (88 points), a Spada Lunga (23 pts) and a handful of hull hits scattered amongst their remaining ships (12 points). For a total of 123.
We started to play again, this time with the Italians centered around a BB (de Monarchia) -- and saw right away that it was going to be tougher on the Sternmarine.
FUN FUN FUN stuff. GOD I wish I could play someone at Origins. But I don't think dats gonna happen.
What if novel that sees Germany waging war on the US after America gains its first colonial holdings as a result of its victory over Spain.
As WTJ has some neat pre-dreadnought minis, I drew up stats for the first ship I want in a scenario, the German protected cruiser Freya (Victoria Luise class).
Victoria Luise class Protected Cruiser
7 Hull
4 Speed
5/6 belt
5/6 ends
7 deck
two 8.2”/40 guns in the rule book (one abcd arc the other cdef)
eight 5.9”/40 guns at RoF +1, Range 2/4/6, Pen 2/1/1 (A, B, E, F, AC, BD, CE, DF)
13 light guns (ten 15 pndr pieces)
3 DEU 18”(45) Torpedoes with range 1, Dam 5
oh yeah, I originally tried to give D12 torps to my Austrians for TMW and you said "too powerful."
but if they be fair game.....................
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by themattcurtis
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