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Old 01-13-2019, 09:16 PM   #1
Cat
 
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Default Cat's M2 Map Rules

There has been a running thread with good discussion on the general theory of map rules for M2 over here: http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=161423

Starting up this new thread with the specific rules I'll be using at upcoming conventions to keep related comments and feedback easier to follow. Also included are some new unit rules since these will all be on the info sheet for players; and one of the new units, the Heavy Construction Vehicle, pertains directly to use with these map rules. I'll be designing scenarios around these rules, and playtesting them at the conventions and other games at the FLGS.

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M2 SPECIAL RULES

TERRAIN
Mountain
Grey Mountain hexes are treated the same as Town hexes for movement. The peaks and mineral content of the mountains limit sensing equipment; units may fire into and/or out of a mountain hex, but may not fire across any intervening mountain hexes. If the line of fire passes exactly along a hexside which has mountain on one side and not-mountain on the other, the line of fire is not obstructed.

Pass
Ochre Pass hexes are treated as Clear hexes with a Road connecting to all adjoining pass hexes. Pass hexes are at a higher elevation than the green hexes below the cliff edges, and at a lower elevation than the mountain hexes above the scarp edges.

Scarp
Wide ochre hex edges along a mountain hex are Scarps, treated the same as Ridges for movement.

Cliff
Narrow ochre hex edges alongside Clear, Forest, or Swamp hexes are treated as Cliffs rising up to the mountain; impassable to all except for infantry that can cross at a cost of +1 movement point.

Precipice
Hex edges showing Scarp on one side and Cliff on the other are impassable to all units.

MOVEMENT
Bridging Unit
A Super Heavy Tank may act as a bridging unit; friendly tracked vehicles may move through a hex on the downside of a scarp containing a SHVY and up that adjoining scarp edge into an adjacent hex at no additional cost. Likewise friendly tracked vehicles may move across a scarp edge into a hex on the downside of that scarp containing a SHVY at no additional cost.

UNITS

Superheavy Tank (SHVY). Houserule that each SHVY is worth 15 victory points (2.5 armor units).

Heavy Construction Vehicle (HCV). A standard armor unit worth 6 victory points (1 armor unit). An unarmed armoured tracked vehicle equipped with a manipulator arm or other attachment for engineering work. Attack Strength 0, Defense 3, Movement 3.

It is equivalent to a Vulcan Heavy Drone for most engineering type tasks and counts as two engineering squads for completing tasks. As a crewed vehicle, unlike a Drone, an HCV does not require an accompanying engineer squad to perform tasks. They are not capable of engaging in any reloading or repair work of Ogres.

One infantry squad may ride on top (5.11).

Infantry Missile Team (IMT). Specialist battlesuit squads. An infantry squad armed with reloadable light missile launchers. Each squad has Attack 1, Range 3, Defense 1, Movement 2. When choosing units, two regular INF squads can be traded for one IMT. Each IMT squad is worth 4 victory points.

ENGINEERING
Excerpt from 15.03 Engineering tasks:

To attempt to perform an engineering task, one or more Combat Engineer squads and/or Vulcans must start their turn in the hex they wish to perform the task, and stay in that hex for the duration of that turn. Tasks are assigned a number that must be rolled on one die for success. This assumes a single squad of Combat Engineers. Extra squads, or Vulcans and their Drones, can help. Each squad of engineers allows one extra die to be rolled. A Heavy Drone gives two dice; a Vulcan with two arms gives four.

Rock Blasting:
By planting charges in the right spot, the rock face of any special hex edge of the hex occupied by Engineers may be altered. Others may aid as usual; the attempt succeeds on a roll of 5 or greater.

A rock blasting success on a scarp hexside changes it to a cliff hexside, and cuts the road in an adjoining pass hex.

A rock blasting success on a cliff hexside changes it to a scarp hexside, and cuts the road in an adjoining pass hex.

Precipice hexsides are too tall to be altered by blasting.

Use overlay strips to mark the changes; the sticky edge of post-it notes can work for this.

Once altered by blasting, further blasting just re-arranges the rubble a bit; that edge may not be altered again during a game.

Grading:
Scarps may be graded similar to Ridges (15.03.7) by a Vulcan, Vulcan Drone, or Heavy Construction Vehicle. Vehicle(s) succeed on a roll of 5-6. Combat Engineers may attempt this task alone or may assist vehicle(s), they add an extra die per squad as usual for helping. Combat Engineers succeed on a roll of 6 on their dice. After successful grading, a clear hexside marker should be placed over the ridge on the map.

If a scarp that has been graded is later blasted and altered into a cliff, the grading is lost; remove the clear hexside marker.

*****************
edit: removed for simplicity, local players have been preferring the Infantry Missile Team, and one heavy type will do:

Infantry Gun Team (IGT). Specialist battlesuit squads. An infantry squad armed with portable light vehicle guns. Each squad has Attack 2, Range 2, Defense 1, Movement 2. Attack strength does not double in overruns. The gun may not fire while mounted (5.11.1) or on the turn the IGT dismounts from a vehicle (this is an exception to 5.11.3); however, an IGT may fire at the regular Infantry Strength 1 Range 1 while mounted or on the turn it dismounts. When choosing units, two regular INF squads can be traded for one IGT. Each IGT squad is worth 4 victory points.
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Last edited by Cat; 01-25-2019 at 08:44 AM.
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Old 01-14-2019, 03:08 PM   #2
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

Hmm... Treating mountains as town hexes solves one problem, but creates others. After all, big tanks shouldn't be able to scale mountain peaks :) One thing I've considered is the idea of "high mountains" vs. "low mountains" - the former would only allow INF to enter, whereas other units could enter the latter as well. Low mountains would be defined as any mountain hex that has at least one adjacent non-mountain hex, while high mountains are 100% surrounded by other mountain hexes (or board edge).

There are also 2 things that have been pointed out to me about mountains and attacks into/LOS through them that I haven't been able to reconcile, even though I kind of agree with your "can't fire through" idea and the town defense bonus:

1) Ogre assumes the sensor net gives all sides full visibility, meaning that LOS is irrelevant (other than for lasers, for obvious reasons). This is also one of the core principles of Ogre - it's simple because LOS doesn't matter. That said, I get why you'd want mountain hexes to interfere with shooting. I just don't know if it's worth the complexity.

2) Units up on a mountainside, no matter what immediate cover they have, are pretty exposed. So while I get giving them a D bonus, there's also solid arguments for not doing so. Again, I don't know what the 'right' or 'best' answer is.

Still, good ideas, and definitely worth playtesting. to see how it goes.
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Old 01-14-2019, 04:02 PM   #3
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

My concept thoughts are:

Big tanks are what can already cross Ridge hexsides, that’s established game mechanics. Scarps are just one-sided ridges. Smaller tracked can’t handle what the giant tracks can navigate.

Treating Mountains like cities for movement keeps things simple, but there needs to be a difference or else the mountain is just a giant metropolis with no expressways. The firing limitations are not as restrictive as the Iron Mountain scenario, but still open up a very different tactical challenge for the map.
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Old 01-14-2019, 04:33 PM   #4
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

Quote:
Originally Posted by offsides View Post
[snip]

There are also 2 things that have been pointed out to me about mountains and attacks into/LOS through them that I haven't been able to reconcile, even though I kind of agree with your "can't fire through" idea and the town defense bonus:
[snip]
The LOS thing I took as expanding on what's in Iron Mountain...the peaks are so high you can't get a shell over them without guaranteeing they get intercepted by point defenses, or the target has enough time to get out of the way, etc. Not "You cannot get a shell over this", but "The shell is going to take so long to arrive it's completely ineffective in a world where everything has point defenses and ECM".

And if you have a minute, the bright idea in the other thread was mine, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
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Old 01-14-2019, 04:38 PM   #5
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

I have a bit of experience with big tanks, having trained to operate the M1A2 Abrams. It's very tricky operating them in very broken terrain. They've got the power and traction, and are surprisingly maneuverable, but they're still gigantic vehicles with many moving parts. I've seen tanks trap themselves between trees, throw tracks at the slightest provocation, and get hung up on obstacles. If you want heavy tracked units to move through Mountain hexes, I'd strongly suggest using the Swamp rules instead of Towns.

Also, I don't fully grok how a SHVY can act as a bridging unit in this case.
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Old 01-15-2019, 07:35 AM   #6
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColBosch View Post
Also, I don't fully grok how a SHVY can act as a bridging unit in this case.
That makes two of us.

As an aside, it's great to see another Heinlein fan, Col. Bosch. Every once in a while I'll use grok and I usually get a lot of confused looks. :-)
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Old 01-15-2019, 09:19 AM   #7
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

Quote:
Originally Posted by ColBosch View Post
I have a bit of experience with big tanks, having trained to operate the M1A2 Abrams. It's very tricky operating them in very broken terrain. They've got the power and traction, and are surprisingly maneuverable, but they're still gigantic vehicles with many moving parts. I've seen tanks trap themselves between trees, throw tracks at the slightest provocation, and get hung up on obstacles. If you want heavy tracked units to move through Mountain hexes, I'd strongly suggest using the Swamp rules instead of Towns.

Also, I don't fully grok how a SHVY can act as a bridging unit in this case.
Thanks for the insight - that makes a lot of sense. And using swamp rules instead of towns reduces the defense bonus enough to be a compromise regarding cover vs. ease of direct fire...
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Old 01-15-2019, 10:26 AM   #8
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

I had considered treating Mountain like Swamp, but the Stuck Permanently makes the central half of the map too restrictive. Might go back to that idea if it seems like the best tactical challenge of this map is too make the giant mountain a primarily infantry battle.

Combat Engineers providing navigational assistance mitigates this somewhat, but at the expense of slowing down the movement phase of the game fiddling with so many dice rolls just to move through each hex. I may come back to this idea later if treating as Town winds up feeling too permissive. To start with, I want to err on the side of being able to make tactical use of the whole map and not just the doughnut-rim around the mountain.

Current day tanks I view as a medium-ish sort somewhat closer to an LT than a HVY. In this game, HVYs and larger can just plow through forests without ever getting stuck.

In this game, SVHY and larger can just crawl up and over ridges. Like in forests, their mass allows them to crunch through smaller blockages. Much longer and much wider tracks allow them to traverse wider gulfs and steeper banks than smaller vehicles can.

This is what the game of Ogre is like, if I wanted more crunchy realism in a sci-fi game, I'ld be playing Hammers Slammers or something else without ridiculously giant cybertanks! One benefit of Ogre is being able to concentrate on play balance first.
:3

For SHVY acting as a bridging unit, I'll add a bit of explanation to the hand-outs I'm prepping: with extendable ramps added for use in mountain terrain, a SHVY can physically bridge the wider gulfs and steeper banks of scarps allowing smaller tracked units to pass over it.

Without the bridging rule, the mountains are limited to only SHVY and larger. I might come back to that idea, but again starting out erring on the side of being able to play a game on the whole map.
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Old 01-15-2019, 10:42 AM   #9
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cat View Post
I had considered treating Mountain like Swamp, but the Stuck Permanently makes the central half of the map too restrictive. Might go back to that idea if it seems like the best tactical challenge of this map is too make the giant mountain a primarily infantry battle.
My regular opponent and I finally got time yesterday to play two Iron Mountain scenarios on M2. Interesting game, but still lacks "something". Afterwards, we were brainstorming.

Use the large swath of mountain on the north side as an infantry only attack area, going uphill towards the N edge of the map, with a Monte Cassino style redoubt at the pinnacle. INF are 2 MP to enter each hex, but said INF can then work as forward observers for artillery. Same idea would allow placing an "Alpine Unit" at the highest ridgeline in Iron Mountain, to allow those two HOW to do something earlier in the game.

For the record, my opponent took the convoy side for both games, and I took the Ogre. Game one, the Ogre mopped up nicely -- game two, he managed to get seven trucks off the map.
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Old 01-15-2019, 11:19 AM   #10
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Default Re: Cat's M2 Map Rules

Starting at MP 2, I'm not sure that Inf need to be slowed, but certainly allowing some units to move in the mountains is better than none.

After I've done some actual playing on the map, I will meditate on allowing CPs and Ogres to call in fire on targets they have LOS/LOF to.
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