--
EPIC OGRE: BATTLESUIT
Notes on Changes from Epic Ogre original infantry rules.
I reread my original coversion rules for Epic Ogre and while I feel they
are a very faithful conversion from the original rules they are somewhat
flawed in relation to the actual depiction of infantry in the Final War
period. After all the Epic and Ogre scales are radically different and
infantry are very generic and 'abstract' under the original OGRE/GEV and
later, Miniatures rules. With Battlesuit I can un-abstract many of the suits
and apply slightly more realistic (from the Ogre universe persective) set of
rules. Obviously this distorts their capabilities compared to the boardgame
but I had to take major liberties in the conversion to maintain playability
(in a universe where everyone is lobbing nukes and entire city areas can be
wiped out in a single tank attack, something has to be done). Thus the
*immensly* reduced blast radius's of nukes. Everything tends to balance out
in the end as units do not have dispersions measured in kilometers....And
battlesuits vs Ogre will still result in a lot of dead battlesuits...
I kept some of the attack factors for standard infantry suits and used
that as a baseline for the other suit types. I tried to keep the original
Battlesuit factors in mind at all times as I made the conversions. So thanks
to the comments from the NetEpic list I present a revised Epic Ogre:
Battlesuit
expansion for your perusal.
UPDATED EPIC OGRE: BATTLESUIT
--Battlesuits--
Standard Suit
This is the standard model infantry battlesuit.
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
10cm 4+ (6+ max) +3 Missile Cannon 50cm 1
4+ -2 Battlesuit, Elite
Assault Suit
This is an improved model of suit, more effective but more costly.
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
15cm 3+ (6+ max) +6 Missile Cannon 50cm 1
3+ -2 Battlesuit, Elite
Command Suit
This suit is identical to the assault suit except for its superior
communication capabilities. Infantry officers at and above platoon level
used these suits.
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
15cm 3+ (6+ max) +6 Missile Cannon 50cm 1
3+ -2 Battlesuit, Elite
Ranger Suit
Another costly improvement on the standard suit, the ranger has improved
myoelectric 'muscles' and better jets, as well as extra 'stealth'
electronics. It is designed for raiding and reconnaissance.
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
20cm 5+ (6+ max) +3 Missile Cannon 50cm 1
4+ -2 Battlesuit, Elite, Sniper,
Stealthy
Special Rules: The Ranger is a Forward Observer under the basic system, but
if using the optional Advanced Artillery rules then they also function as
Spotters
Heavy Missile Cannon
Range Attack Dice Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod.
75cm 1 3+ -3
Reduces suit movement by 5cm but adds +1 to all saves (additional ECM).
--DRONES--
Recon Drone
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
20cm 3+ +0
- - -
- Drone, Stealthy, Forward Observer
Special Rules: If using the alternate artillery rules then it has two Active
Designators (75cm, 4+ hit).
Attack Drone
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
20cm 3+ +1 Missile Cannon 50cm 1
5+ -1 Drone
Bomb Drone
Move Saving Throw CAF Weapons Range Attack Dice
Roll to Hit Target's Save Mod. Notes
20cm 3+ +0 Tacnuke -
1 3+ -3 Drone
--BATTLESUIT SPECIAL RULES--
Orders
Battlesuit squads are composed of between three and six suits. Although
the members of a squad must maintain coherency (see below) they are
adaptable enough to be an exception to the normal rules regarding orders.
Each suit in a squad may be given different orders from its squadmates as
long as coherency is maintained.
Movement
Battlesuits are equipped with high efficiency jump jets that allow them
extraordinary mobility. They also allow the suits a limited capacity to fly,
although this is rare given the ease that flying units may be shot down in
the Final War period. When on advance orders the suits may move as Jump Pack
equipped units. If on Charge orders the battlesuits player may announce they
are skimming and may move the units as per the skimmer rules. Skimming
battlesuits may enter close combat with any unit that skimmers may engage
and for LOS purposes are assumed to be located above whatever terrain they
are over. The units land at the end of their turn and thus may not land in
impassable terrain.
[In the original Epic Ogre battlesuited infantry always moved as skimmers.]
Coherency
The Final War battlefield is an incredibly lethal enviroment and infantry
have adapted to it. Thus battlesuited infantry may be up to 15cm apart and
still maintain coherency.
[In the original Epic Ogre battlesuit infantry do not have to follow
coherency]
Size Class
Battlesuits are Size 1 units.
Riding On Vehicles [Epic Ogre Miniatures pg7]
Troops may ride on top of vehicles. The amount of squads that may ride on
a vehicle are noted in the units description. Troops mount and dismount a
vehicle in the same manner as an APC.
Troops riding on top of a vehicle are separate for orders purposes and may
attack normally depending on their orders.
If the vehicle carrying the infantry is attacked in any way the infantry
riding on it may also be attacked at the same time. Roll a D6 when the unit
comes under attack. On a roll of 1-3 the infantry take a hit as if they were
struck with the exact same weapon. Essentially this is a 'free' attack by
the opposing player.
Spillover fire is treated differently and covered in its own section.
If the unit the infantry are riding on is destroyed roll a D6. On a roll
of 1-4 the unit is destroyed. Other wise it survives and may be placed next
to the destroyed unit. It is treated as having No Orders for that turn.
Infantry and Engineers Clearing Roads [Epic Ogre Miniatures pg5]
Battlesuited infantry are immensly strong compared with frail unaugmented
humans. Thus when attempting to clear vehicles and wreckage from a road each
battlesuit counts as an entire squad of normal infantry. Engineering
battlesuits count as three squads of normal infantry.
[For the purposes of these rules, three battlesuits comprise a 'squad']
Disabling [Epic Ogre Miniatures pg6]
Suits are never disabled, they are either destroyed or not. Compared to
the BPC armored vehicles of the Final War a battlesuited infantryman is
frail and weak.
Target Designators
If using the Advanced Artillery Rules all battlesuits are equipped with an
Active Designator with a 50cm range that hits on a 4+. The Ranger suit,
being specifically designed for stealthy operations and behind-the-lines
action has an Active Designator with a 75cm range, 4+ hit. Using a target
designator counts as the units attack. If it uses its designator it may not
fire its missile cannons.
Missile Cannons
Battlesuits fire small 'smart' munitions that closely resemble small
missiles. They are quite capable of firing indirectly using either their own
guidance sensors or data from other drones or suits. They are especially
effective against painted targets and function as Guided munitions (+1 to
strike Active designated targets) and may be fired indirectly. If not using
the Advanced Artillery rules then they function as standard indirect
weapons, but cause no damage if they scatter.
Rapid Fire
If a battlesuit does not move or designate then it may make two attacks
during the First Fire segment.
Drone Command Limits
A suit may only command a number of drones equal to the number of Channels
that it possesses. If a suit is forced to assume control of more drones then
it has Channels (usually due to casualties) then the player must choose a
number of drones that fall out of control and are either lost or explode
(bomb drones). Drone control may not be shifted to other squads.
Standard- 2
Assault- 3
Command- 4
Ranger- 3
--NOTES--
Future Suit Designs
Marine Battlesuits (aquatic)
Engineering Battlesuits
Scout Battlesuits (mentioned in the Miniatures book)
Weapons
All infantry are armed with rapid fire missile cannons that fire small
shaped charged bi-conical micronukes
(http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/Library/Brown/index.html for details). The
Heavy missile cannon is simply a larger version with additional elctronics
and ECM capability. Alternatively they could fire 'hiveloc' advanced shaped
charge rounds against 'soft' targets not armored in BPC. Or if you don't buy
the infantry firing nukes idea then they fire only hivelocs.
Drones
Drones are self-propelled electronic devices with an intelligence about
equal to that of a dog. As a general rule they are built on small VTOL
platforms using a generic chassis - the various types of drones are simply
add-on modules. The programmed intelligence of a drone allows it to perform
limited independent actions but they are most often 'tied' to a battlesuit
unit for command and control. The battlesuit operator recieves telemetry
information from the unit and transmits orders via a 'macro' style language.
If necessary the operator can assume full control over the drone but this is
rarely done. Drones are simply not worth the trouble - they are expendable.
Capabilities
There is a scenario in the main Battlesuit rulebook (available on my site)
where TWO battlesuits are attacked by 25 standard infantry (no battlesuits).
And thats a BALANCED scenario. So at a minimum you need twelve to one odds
to even stand a chance with conventional infantry. And it is important to
remember that these poor normal infantry are armed with weapons designed to
counter BPC armored foes - even if not nearly as powerful as the micronuke
firing missile cannons. The armies of the 40K universe are MUCH farther down
in capability then even those poor sods. Even Space Marine power armor is
but a poor knock off of a real battlesuit- probably based on surviving
Chinese designs after they got creamed by Nihon.
Obviously using these rules will result in a departure from standard Epic
Ogre as it currently stands (with its stands of battlesuits, not
individuals)
but thats not a big problem. The only thing that I may need to modify are
the Engineer battlesuit rules. Marine battlesuits are nothing but a special
note.
A read of my designers notes from Epic Ogre also provide
additional illumination in the form of background material and notes from
the original game as well as my own spin on things.
DESIGNERS NOTES
I have been interested in aquiring Battlesuit for YEARS (literally since I
was in like 6th grade) but it has NEVER been available (been out of print a
LONNGGGGGG time.) I have an abiding interest in the whole concept of powered
armor development and feverishly hunt down all research projects dealing
with it or variations. Supposedly the US Army had a Project Pittman
exploring the concept but I have found no reference to it (and I can search
more places then the average Joe). I have also seen references in open
source (unclassified) material to a Project: Better Warrior that explored
exoskeleton suits. Only thing I have found on the classified network are
some messages saying it would be a good idea to explore. If anyone has any
REAL information or sources I would be VERY appreciative.
Kenneth
NetEpic Idea Rat
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Received on Fri Apr 09 1999 - 06:03:09 UTC
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