Fleshing out your Troops

Sorry for the long absense since my last post.   I have been delayed by Murphy ( 1: Left my Camra Charger & Battery at my Sisters house & haven't had time to go see her 2: Moved into a new place. 3: Been busy with hobby projects 4: then the rest of real life. )
This post is an attempt to put a touch of realism into Wargame Forces.   Combat Troops are Trained in most Military or Para-Military Organizations.  Very few games represent this & many players ignore this fact in games which allow them to create there own forces.

General Games We Played while My Father Visitted

My Father was up visiting from Panama.  Some Pics from a few of the Gruntz games we played.  1 in 15mm & 1 in true 25mm.

Simplified Hive Mind Rules Version 1 Test Game

 This is the Battle report for the the Swarm Scenario Using my Simplified Hive Mind (Intellect) Rules.  The engagement is between The Federal Army & Hive Mind (Intellect) represented by my Zerge.  Is the third post in my series Simplified Hive Mind (Intellect) Rules.
The other 2 posts in this series are. #1 The post on a Simplified Version of Rules for a Hive Mind (Intellect) Army for Gruntz V1.1. That Explains the Rules I used & other Possible modification.
#2 The pregame post which presented The Unit Cards & Army compositions ((TO&Es) for the forces Involve in the Game.
Sorry it took so long to post but Was visiting with my father & Learning a Battle report program for the Maps at the end of the report.


Test game for my simplified Hive Mind Using  a Swarm scenario.

PreGame Hive Mind

 This Pregame post is for The test game for my Simplified Version of Rules for a Hive Mind (Intellect). It will Include The Unit Cards & Army compositions ((TO&Es) for the forces Involve in the battle.  This Post Follows My post on a Simplified Version of Rules for a Hive Mind (Intellect) Army for Gruntz V1.1.  My Father is visiting From Panama & I wanted Simpler Rules for the Hive Mind (Intellect) as this was his second Game Using Gruntz.  These Basic Rules I Devised in about 20 to 30 minutes while setting up the Unit Cards & Figures for the game. The special rules and objectives for a Swarm Scenario are very simple.   The Federal Army Is Holding a Listening Post, With Patrols out ( three on table Squads on Perimeter patrol as well is 2 Patrol forces consisting of 2 Fire teams 1 PML team & 2 Griffon APCs Off table as reserves.  Starting In turned 2 role 1D6 (+1 per to the role for each additional Turn) for each Patrol force on the role of 4+  they arrive coming in on the road that turn.  Your opponent does not know where the patrol will come in when it arrives.  Below the Unit card for each force starting with the Federal Assault Troops followed by the forces of the Hive Mind (Intellect).    Pics of Each force follow the cards.  I will also list the number of squads (Horde) and the composition of each Squad (Horde) and  breakdown Of each of the forces involved plus the total number of troops they contain.  This post will be followed by the Battle Report for the the Swarm Scenario Using my Simplified Hive Mind (Intellect) Rules.  

Simplified Hive Mind (Intellect) Rules for Gruntz Version 1.1 Test Rules 1

I will be Presenting a Simplified Version of Rules for a Hive Mind (Intellect) Army for Gruntz V1.1.  My Father is visiting From Panama & I wanted Simpler Rules for the Hive Mind (Intellect) as this was his second Game Using Gruntz.  These are the Basic Rules I Devised. This Post will be followed by two further posts regarding I simplify Simplified Hive Mind (Intellect) Rules.  The first of these other posts will be pregame post which will present Special rules and objectives for a Swarm Scenario in Addition to the Unit Cards & Army compositions ((TO&Es) for the forces Involved.  The second Related post will be the Battle Report for the game using the Swarm Scenario.

 

Zerg Core Force (Hive Mind)

This is the Core force for my Hive Mind.  The force is composed of 194 Models.  These Models Include 72 Zerglings from Star Craft the Board Game, 36 Zerglings from the Risk Game, 24 Hydrolisks & 12 Ultralisks ground troops +52 Fliers.  It took a while for me to get to them as I am working on many different projects.  Specific Picture of the different units will come in a future post.  Here are overall group pictures of the force.

 

 

Gruntz Specific Rules Hive Mind Updated

All units in a Hive Army must take 1 of the Hive Mind Perks this is Mandatory not optional. The Hive Intellect is unconcerned with losses so the entire army is Immune to Mental Checks & Suppression & Units can Never go prone. Any unit that is out of control of the Hive Mind becomes subject to Instinctive Behavior as most of the units are no more intelligent than any other predator. Loss of control by the Hive Intellect can happen in a Number of ways (when this happens the unit becomes subject to Mental Checks & are Bloodthirsty but are still immune to Suppression). First the Units of Drone Warrior are not themselves Directly linked to the Hive Mind but are linked to it by a specialist unit with Hive Mind Node that is attached to a Squad, if this unit dies the Drone Warriors no longer are controlled by the Hive Mind until another Hive Node takes control of the unit. Secondly if the Hive Mind Grand Lord (Army General) is Killed all units must test to see if the link to the hive Mind has been interrupted Mental test (Vehicles Test as a Mental Stat of 11 As Either Hive Clusters Or Hive Nodes) at a -1 for Hive Mind Lords -2 for Hive Mind Clusters & -3 for Hive Mind Nodes if failed they are Bloodthirsty (subject to Frenzy) & Instinctive behavior + In Addition All Drone Units are at a -2 to their Instinctive behavior rolls for the rest of the game with 2 being the lowest result.
I will be adding the Hive Mind Perks & Modz over the next few days. The initial Perk for all Most Squads is bellow with the first Instinctive Behavior chart which corresponds to it.

Hive Intellect Horde Planitary assault Tactics

One Point that I want to make is we all need to all break ourselves of the knee Jerk reaction When we hear about a Type of Army or race. For example my Hive Mind Horde are not a generic form of GW Tyranids.    Other than Having a Singular Driving Intellect My Concept of how to do a Hive Intellect has nothing else in common with the Tyranids from GW.  They are actually a Patient slow moving force that will spend decades absorbing the lifeforms from each system.  
   
Hopefully I will be Posting The Basic Hive Intellect Swarm in the Next day or 2.  

Hive Mind (Intellect) Horde Army Over View Part 1

General Overview of Hive Armies Part 1 

All units in a Hive Army must! Have 1 of the Hive Mind Attributes this is Mandatory not optional. The Hive Intellect is unconcerned with losses so the entire army is Immune to Psychology & Can Never be effected by Suppression Fire & As they have no concern for their Personal Safety they can Never go prone. Any unit that is out of control of the Hive Mind becomes subject to Instinctive Behavior as most of the units are no more intelligent than any other predator Animal on without the driving force of the Hive Mind. Loss of control by the Hive Intellect can happen in a Number of ways. when the Connection to the Hive Mind is Severed the unit becomes subject to Psychology & are Bloodthirsty. Due to the Blood lust the Unit Must Assault any Enemy That is in range they must Charge into Close Combat & while Charging they are immune to Suppression Fire. First the Units of Drone Warrior are not themselves Directly linked to the Hive Mind but are linked to it by a specialized Commander which has evolved the ability to be a Node for the Hive Mind. Hive Mind Node Must be attached to a Unit & no Drone unit can deploy without an attached Hive Mind Node. The Biggest disadvantage to the Hive Nodes & Drone Arrangement is if a unit of drones is without a Node beginning immediately when the Node dies the Drone Warriors no longer are controlled by the Hive Mind until another Hive Node takes control of the unit. Secondly if the Hive Mind Grand Lord (Army General) is Killed all units must test to see if the link to the hive Mind has been interrupted All units have a chance of loosing connection to the Hive Intellect based on their level of connection to the Hive Mind. A Hive Mind Lord & Units in his Direct area of Influence are Least Likely (Only 15 to 20% Chance of Loosing Direct Connection to the Hive Mind) to loose the connection to the Hives Controlling Intellect. Hive Mind Clusters Can Usually (Maintain Connection 60 to 65% of the Time) Maintain Their Link to the Intellect in control of the Hive Mind, but can become disconnected to the Hive Mind & Become Subject to Extreme Instinctive Behavior. For The Hive Mind Nodes the Disconnection Can Actually be Fatal (75% chance of Psychic Over Load) If the Hive Mind Nodes loose Connection (45 to 50% Chance of Loosing Connection) if failed they are Bloodthirsty (subject to Frenzy) & Instinctive behavior + In Addition All Drone Units are Now Subject to Extreme Instinctive behavior.

Can't see the forest for the trees 2

Most of my trees are mounted 2 or 3 to a base & placed to represent wooded terrain.  This works for most situations but I decided that I needed some clumps of trees to improve the appearance of my wooded terrain originally I was working on some modular add on pieces for my tree bases & I found that this did not work.  So my solution was to make some large clumps of trees.  Wooded areas are difficult terrain most of the time but I decided to make the clumps represent thickly wooded patches in the forest.  They are impassable terrain & block line of sight.  This makes a big impact as my Wooded areas usually limit line of sight based on the scenario between 6 & 12 inches depending on the type of wooded terrain they are representing. 









Large pictures follow

Specialist and and Scout Mechs

I have acquired a decent selections of Mechs in a number of different scales most of these are from Japan and are primarily from the Robotech & Dougram television series. I needed a break from the projects that I have been working on so I decided to do some old-fashioned modeling beginning with my Fang of the Sun Dougram Mini Figures I do not know the scale of these figures but I used to use some of these when I played Battletech years ago and they seemed the same scale. These figures came pre-assemble so all I had to do is mount them on the poker chips that I use for all my specialist teams and huge infantry. For now I plan to use them as is until I can budget in time to repaint them for the factions they will be assigned to,there are two reasons for this first I am not sure of which armies to assignment to & am going to" playtest them with the armies prior to making this decision. The second reason is I do not have the time to paint additional figures that already tabletop usable so I will be using as is. I may be doing a couple more posts on Mecha as I plan to put together the other models and mini figures that have been sitting in a storage box for last couple of months. I've been slow with putting together any Mechs as I have always had a problem with giant Mechs fighting alongside infantry, but I have recently read a few after action reports where the used Mechs alongside infantry and it was not a game breaker.  After seeing some other peoples armies where they use Mechs alongside infantry my views have changed and I think of them just as another support aspect just like tanks or other vehicles.

Below are pictures of my Fang of the Sun Dougram Mini Figures which will be used as either specialists units or as scout Mechs using the Gruntz 1.1 system. I may be adding more variety of scales to the blog, but primarily it will stay 15 mm with the possible exception of some Battletech or Mech Warrior posts due to the fact that many of the models can be used alongside to 15 mm figures, in addition to the fact I always liked Mech battles, but I'm not rushing out to purchase a bunch of stuff in any other scale.  I apologize to anyone who takes offense to this but I do not have the time or energy to multiple blogs for each scale I play.  The blog will remain exclusively  science-fiction.

After the  Fang of the Sun Dougram Mini Figures I have some Comparison Pics with them mixed in with some of the other models I use as Specialist & Scout Mech that are made by various 15mm Manufactures as well as a few Star Wars Miniature from Wizards of the Coast.  Hopefully this gives a good idea of scale compared to the other units that are used for the same purpose.

Gruntz Cards for Federal Army Armored core Force

Here are the cards for my Federal Army.  I play with modified Squad sizes between 4 & 10 Troops including Squad Attachments.  In addition all the Gruntz Specialist Weapons Teams must be attached to Gruntz Squads or form squads of there own of 2 to 4 weapons teams.The stats are very High as they are Elite troops augmented by  Technology.  The core force is 1350 point.

House Rules for Large Engagements Using Gruntz 1.1

I myself got into 15mm so I could play Games on a Larger Tactical Level & be able to use Combined Arm Forces without it being Silly as it is in most 28mm Games. I Have Been Playing Tactical Engagement using a Minimum of a Full Platoon + associated Support Units & have started playing Games with Multiple Platoons & even in some cases going above the Company Level with some Forces. I always attempt to keep Forces Involved in the Game Balanced but  the Points are Secondary.  I prefer to play Narrative Story Driven Scenarios. I find it more challenging & fun to use Full TO&E's for the Forces Involved. Gruntz & Gruntz 1.1 have been a Really Good Rules System for this Size Tactical Engagements & only Required a few Small Tweaks to Make the Rules Work for Tactical Engagements of Platoon & Company Level in the Game. I Play with the following Modifications to the Core Rules to allow Larger Games of Gruntz.& Gruntz 1.1 .

Federal Army Armored Planetary Assault Force (core)

 I have finished up most of the core units for My Federal Army Armored Planetary Assault Force.  It contains 2 Heavy Tanks, 2 Heavy Missile Tanks Painted but still have to build the Missile Turrets, 5 Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicles to transport  2 x 5 Man Recon Teams 4 Riflemen & 1 SAW gunner, 3 x 4 man Assault Teams 2 Riflemen & 2 SAW gunner, 3 Fire Support Teams 4 Riflemen & a 2 Man Heavy Machine Gun, 3 Tank Hunter Teams  3 Riflemen, 1 SAW gunner, & a 2 Man Portable Missile Launcher Team & will Contain 4 Command Figures only 1 Shown.  I Still Have 1 Heavy Tank, 1 Heavy Missile Tank, 1 Heavy Infantry Fighting Vehicle for the core force to be finished & 6 Scout Walked & 4 Super Heavy Power Armor models to complete the entire force.

Objective Markers

I put together a couple of Objective Markers for my Games.  They are Just Supply Drops or caches.  I did them Generic so they can be used by most forces. I used Rocco crates & jerrycans, a couple of pieces from a set of WW2 supplies I purchased a while ago & some home made Barrels & Tarps to partially conceal the supplies.

Hobby Update for 2013

I Currently have (10) Force that are In Progress at one stage or another, The Factions represented by them are listed bellow.  I will be reworking some of the Color Schemes or adding Additional Optional Schemes to some forces.  In addition I plan to Update Some of the TO&E's & Backgrounds once I get to each Faction.  My Goal is to rework all My Factions into 1 Cohesive Background, Forming a Consistent Core for a Complete Science Fiction Setting while leaving enough freedom to allow additional Data to be added Easily.