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mj12games.com/forum → Posts by themattcurtis
Why does everyone hate the Austrians!?!?!? :shock:
I DIG the Austrians. Hodge-podge, second rate empire run by a bunch of warhawks who manage to spark the First World War.
They're fantastic 8)
I've become interested enough in Austro-Hungarian history that I downloaded the PC wargame "1848."
using the version I have on my desktop
Petrograd is fine
Huo Shi is fine
Southam comes to 40
Saidan comes up fine
This is using ISSB 2 with all the kit included (black smoke, heat rays, projectors, etc...)
Oh, I'm not worried about how many space stations there are... Just trying to come up with a workable answer to the question.
Some folks may want to use *gasp* a different setting ...and guidelines may be helpful
I'm not worried. My point was I'd like to hear how people feel the existing stations play. Feedback is a good thing. It's how ya get better.
Recent Battle saw the Austro-Hungarian Sternmarine get dinged up by the Red Russians. But they got they got some licks in and point wise, it weren't that bad.....
Soviet Fleet
Sviatovit class Blockade Vessel and its Volk FACs
Svarog class heavy cruiser
Simargl
Pereplut
Volos class DD X3
Verus
Albrecht VII class BB
Janos Hunyadi CH
Matthius Corvinus CH
Reka CL with 3 Gefrassig FACs
Turul CL with 3 Harpune FACs
Vadasz class DD X3
The battle saw the Austrian battleship push toward the Sviatovit, backed by a flight of Gefrassig FACs and three friendly destroyers. The Albrecht VII had the only guns capable of hurting the Soviet flag ship, and it had to close to manage that. For a couple of turns, the Russian blockade vessel was able to shoot without fear of being hit back. It held back, presenting its broadside, and its massive heat ray primaries effectively reduced its opponent's armor to "2." Meaning it stood a chance of hitting at anything less than 20". The Albrecht lost four hull points before it could even bring the big freak in range.
What helped was the versatility of the Austrian fleet. Two Huszar class CLs were able to offload their FACs at a quicker pace than the lone Russian platform, and the Gefrassig class -- with its belly full of congreve rockets, whittled down the Volks in short order. We killed six of the little s--ts without them really contributing anything in return. This opened the way for a torpedo run by the Vadasz destroyers, which lanced a pair of warheads into the big mutha. NICE.
But one the Vadasz DDs was doomed. The Soviet ships don't pack a ton of guns, but the ones they have are well suited for their intended purpose. D4 black gas guns (X2) damage, are lethal against thinly armored destroyers. And one of the little guys saw its crew choking to death within minutes of launching its weapons.
The Albrecht VII was able to land some hits with its massive primaries as it dictated the range. But it was losing that fight badly when the time limit ran out.
On the other side of the board, the two Hunyadi class CHs managed to hold their own against the Svarog and its two supporting cruisers. The Russian heavy hitter battered the Corvinus with its heat rays (4D8 (X3) primaries really hurt when they halve your armor), but some poor maneuvering saw the Simargl and Pereplut, who were concentrating on Dugovich, draw too close and the Austrian CHs combined their fire and got some nice rolls -- three primary gun hits on Pereplut, who then found itself being harassed by all three Harpune FACs. Enough torpedoes slammed into the cruiser to kill it. No need for the Russian player to let that happen, as his cruisers were fast enough to have avoided that.
Killing Pereplut allowed the two bruised heavy cruisers to concentrate on Svarog, but by the time the scenario ended both Austrian ships were half dead.
The tragedy, as far as the Austrians were concerned, was the death of its two CLs. The Volos class DDs, armed with black gas guns and D6(X3) heat rays just eviscerated Reka and Turul. And with them goin, I lost VPs for the FACs as well.
SO, suckage. When it was over....
I got 42 points for six dead Volk FACs
54 points for Pereplut
9 points for 3 hull hits on Svarog
24 points for 8 hull hits on Sviatovit
--129--
He got 30 points for my two dead CLs
42 points for all those dead FACs that were shot down or had no where to land when it was over
7 points for the Vadasz
30 for hits on the Corvinus
21 for hits on the Dugovich[/[i]i]
27 for hits on the Albrecht VII
--157--
Observations -- The Austrians still lead the way in the FAC race. I just loves 'em. And their torpedoes are lethal. But while the Russians may seem undergunned, their armor, speed and the advantages posed by their tech can HURT YOU.
[/i]
Space stations are unique beasts. And there shouldn't be a ton of them at this stage in the timeline. Just take one and rename it if you don't want to use the Diamond Rock or Celestial Queen.
We have a ton of ship classes in the three books. I wanna hear folks' input on how they play.
MJ12 has five of RPGnow's top 10 miniature items. At least for today. Southern Front has been #1 for two weeks, nice, and the original IS has climbed back to #10. Jeesh, TMW is right behind it.
VBAM for Starmada, too. Just bought that myself. Got a lot of reading to do.
Short range, high damage torpedoes are great for FACs.
You move first, shoot first. Capital ships can only respond after the fact. So if you lurk outside of effective gun range until you're ready to race in there, you can essentially walk your torpedoes into an enemy hull at point blank range.
IE -- the Italian FAC published in Southern Front has two D6 (X4) torpedoes.
As torpedoes cut armor in half (rounded up), that means even an armor 5 vessel has the potential of being hurt. An armor 4 ship, if targeted by torpedoes at less than 2", is going to be hit on a 5+. Rolling two dice, that means you have about a 66% chance of drawing blood.
Torpedoes also roll D12 on the damage track, which usually means all four points of damage are going straight into the hull. You hit a ship that gives you three VPs per hull hit, and even if the FAC dies after its attack run, you've won more victory points than you've lost.
So that's the route I go with the attack craft.
With destroyers, I try and pick the longest reach torpedo I can. I use destroyers to supplement the firepower of bigger ships. And the longer they can reach, the more flexibility I have in deciding where to put them. It's not really like destroyers can do a lot of good with their guns.
With capital ships, like the Hunyadi, I choose a torpedo that compliments its armor and guns. With an armor rating of 4, the heavy cruiser is going to force most enemy ships to come within 5" to hurt it. Around there, its torpedoes -- which are slightly longer reaching -- stand a chance of drawing blood.
IS's fold up counters meant it was the only mini game I was able to buy and play in about the same day. And it goes to the local hobby shop at least two weekends out of the month 
I would let him stow his guns how he wants, as the fact that these are ether ships means they aren't necessarily going to follow traditional wet navy guidelines.
Secondaries have limits. You can't bring as many to bear on a target as you can with primaries. If he wants to go that route, why not? He's just dispersing his own firepower.
As for keel bombards and special kit, I bet you can use common sense to smell out a cheesy ship design. If he's creating something JUST to be a pain in your a--, then don't let him do it.
The counters themselves should be to scale to the hull sizes they're meant to represent. Not the actual image. IE large scale counters are so long, medium scale counters are so long, and etc.
no no no, yer fine
Never thought you were slamming the ship. I love the old design, but I think it's charms might be lost on some folks. Just offering input as to FAC defenses.
Any Austrian hulls you wanna put up, DO SO (and forward ideas to me via PM). The Sternmarine remains my favorite faction and it did really well today in a pickup game against the Soviet fleet 8)
Matt
Are notes a fluff description/background for each ship class? "Constructed in yada yada, strengths and weaknesses." If that's it, it's just more flavor for the setting, but doesn't really add anything. The Spiridoff's damage track just represents a high level of endurance -- it keeps chugging along even as the shells pile on.
What WWI era Italian ships (or pre-dreadnought) did that? Not the Dante or Cavour class BBs. Not the Pisa armored cruiser. Drawing a blank.
The new Italian ships for Southern Front have triple turrets -- and they're fast and thinly armored -- to try and reflect the designs of their wet navy ships circa 1911+
Hey, they won using the scenario rules.
I actually got a chance to play this weekend, and LOST as the RNES. Scenario 14 in Southern Front has the ABC Powers attempting to block an orbital bombing run by the Brits, who are relying on two flights of FACs to pummel the city.
The first flight of Beetles were launched from Nelson and managed to drop their payloads with impunity. The template starts closer to the RNES side of the table, and by sprinting straight ahead, the two British capital ships were able to start closing the gap early on. To reach the template, the first group of four FACs had to have a momentum of 5, so the target number was 6+, but even so, four 1,000 lbs warheads were on target and smashed into the South American city's harbor facilities.
The second flight needed a momentum of 6, however, and so it wasn't going to be practical to try and accomplish anything that turn.
The extra time was all the ABC ships needed. The Brazilian BC Riachuelo comes equipped with a single mine factor -- not a whole lot of ordnance, but enough to create a small template where my opponent KNEW the barrage marker was going to end up in the following turn.
The second flight of FACs could NOT race ahead and through that mine template -- not when a single hit could wipe any of them out -- so they veered away -- only to find themselves pummeled by Blanco Encalada's congreve rockets.
This is why missiles are great against FACs. No size penalties up to their 12" range cap, and you get a ton of them on the cheap. By designating five rockets each to 3 separate FACs, my opponent nuked a trio of my S.E.8s. The sole survivor, now in the thick of the ABC fleet, tried to rush it later in the game, but couldn't line up his angle properly and only rolled a single 6. Five hits, but I needed SIX to win. Sound strategy by the other guy, who also managed to ding up Cornwallis with gunfire and a luck torpedo hit from his destroyer flotilla.
We played the scenario for a few more turns, just because we were having fun. And while the ABC Powers won in theory, in the end of the day they lost a LOT of men, as the Riachuelo and Comodoro both went down (those lighting projectors are just ferocious). I saw three FACs live through the battle, and they managed to whittle away a Coelho with their combined machine gun fire.
Quick scenario, and bloody. And the variety of kit available to both sides allows for a few neat strategies 
There ya go. And glad to see someone else cheering for the Austrians.
Janos Hunyadi class heavy cruisers may appear undergunned at first, until you release that anything short of a battleship is going to have to get within PB range to hurt them (thanks to 4 Armor), at which point their D8 primaries and torpedoes are likely to hurt the other side right back. In pick up games I play two of them in line, where their stabilizers help.
The ship looks solid
One bit of kit to consider if you're thinking FAC defense is hale rockets. They ignore size, have a 12" range and ANY hit on a FAC kills it. They're the best chance to kill a fast attack craft before it actually hits you.
Yer right about that.
Wont get a chance to play again this weekend, but I want to add stats for the PT-76, T-54 and M113. Already drawn up the M-48 Patton.
Oh, yeah, the attachment...............
This was done using the ship variant hull rules posted here in the forum. Just an effort to show how the Turks might have rebuilt their Ether Fleet after Borghese blew the hell out of their flagship.
For fold ups, I would just use the Uyumayan for the new cruiser and the existing Turkish CLs for the new destroyers. That way the color scheme remains constant.
The text shows what I was thunkin when the Cellat and Haberver were drawn up.
Found one thing
Tochigi is a Japanese BC from the original IS rulebook. In Southern Front, her stats are included in the back for a scenario against the Soviet Fleet.
She's listed as 56 points or something. In the original IS rulebook, she's 118.
I think the scenario point total is off as well, looking at that.
Yeah, the Sternmarine rocks
I think the Americans are drawn up. My understanding was they were slated to be in Southern Front, but the book was getting thick -- thick enough that the USA was left out until the next installment.
As for when that will be, or what it might include, I have no ideer.
Saw this morning at The Southern Front is #1 at RPG.com (at least for today). And as TMW and IS looked to have done pretty well there, I'm thinking someone on this forum must have looked at the new book by now.
Granted, it's REAL soon, but anyone have first impressions to offer?
Well I played a small game using the Vietnam weapons and troop stats. I noticed the version I have up so far as a couple of typos. I'll address those when the thing gets finalized. Additions are going to include the M48 tank, M113 APC, and some Soviet kit. I also wanted to include CDWs to simulate Claymores (I'm thinking a one-time use shrapnel device) and suicidal anti-tank weapons for the opposition.
I should explain, too, that I have selective fire assault rifles as tandem combo weapons rather than using the split feed rate rule because I like that printed/established rule, but didn't see it reflecting the fact that accuracy goes down with automatic fire. Stoppage still applies, as you have to roll when applying suppression, but really, a M-16 firing at full auto is not going to be as accurate at long range as a M-16 firing single shots. It's basically following the same train of thought tha forces all the general purpose machine guns (like the RPD and M-60) to brace before firing. No "from the hip" here.
Anyway, I got to test what I have so far and had fun this weekend Basically a really small battle featuring a LRRP team against two squads of NVA regulars.
And troop quality counts for a LOT. Allowing Elite level troops to act independently makes them lethal. And the rules got high marks from the group watching us play for rules including suppression fire, the stoppage roll, and the various army morale rules. Allowing troops in this setting to use field saves/saving throws added a bit to their life expectancy, but didn't slow things down dramatically. And once we have the rules down PAT, we'll start looking at more of the advanced options, like the "super realistic" options included near the back. One thing we walked away considering:
Should RPGs and LAWS have AOE templates (1")? I don't think so. The fact that they're AV, and so automatically infantry protection, makes them viable against grunts and vehicles, but while these things can be used to bust spider holes and dug in infantry, they're not artillery.
View these as playtest only (being unofficial/informal on top of THAT). I wanna play with the augmentations and weapon load outs for the US troops.
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by themattcurtis
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