RE: [Epic] marine chapters (was: Orks with LandRaiders)

From: Miller, Chris <CMiller_at_...>
Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:59:48 -0500

>
>Yhis is NOT Epic Space Marine 2nd Editon or Warhammer 40K. Please check your
>view of rules at
>the door. You are not required to shoot at the closes detachment and
>detachments do not block
>line of fire. Your tatics are not predone for you. You really do have to
>decide who you are
>shooting at, not "The closes target". This is a good thing. Rules that make
>you do this (shoot
>the closest unit) are flawed. The are broken. The result in cheesy tactics.
>

-----> Nope, it's not, but I can make just as many cheese arguments
against having unrestricted
targeting as you can against controlling it. My biggest beef: Units
about to get hammered by an
approaching enemy open up with everything on some enemy unit "way over
there" which is busy
with someone else - this leads to cheese quite often on it's own, in all
of the above mentioned
games, especially where individual detatchments/squads have break points
based on casualties
where you get VP's for damaging them. Units which should be worried
about that horde 10 cm away
are instead blasting some other unit 35 cm away just to push it over a
break point to score
some VP's. I haven't seen it yet as a problem in E40K, but to call the
alternative cheesy, etc
is incorrect in my experience.
>
>And while I am spining up here, game rules that let you charge a unit in the
>open and let you get
>there with out being blasted are also flawed. Call it "Snap fire" or
>"Opportunity Fire" or
>"Bounding Overwatch" (in fact the moving unit in the last case dosn't fire,
>it's the covering
>unit that does so, but the effect is the same, something moves into the open
>and gets shot
>at). Charging across an open field against a buch of guys with guns aimed at
>you will get you
>killed. Ask the men of the 54th Mass. Regiment (see the movie "Glory"), all
>the major players in
>WWI, Iran in the 1st Gulf War, and last but not least that bunch of Space
>Marine biker dudes that
>tried that vs my ork Wartracks.
></rant>
-----> On the other hand, I am 100% in agreement with you here - back to
the old "Panzerbush"
movement system. Battletech does it too, and lord knows how much $$ I've
spent on it over the years
so maybe I shouldn't bitch so much, but any game with guns really should
have a way to demonstarte
just how vulnerable infantry in the open really are. When the turn
sequence gets in the way of it, maybe
something needs to be altered to correct it...

>
>I seem to be doing that <rant> thing alot. Maybe I should go back to
>designing TO&E for E40K
>again.

-----> Nah, it's cool to see what pushes other people's buttons about
this system. We can live with it...

Chris Miller
Received on Thu Sep 04 1997 - 21:59:48 UTC