Siege of Terra

[Horatius]

I have begun work on a massive scale wargame centering on the Siege (and Eventual Fall) of Terra.

THe game will be using the mechanics and divisional level combat system from Avalon Hill's Rise and Decline of the Third Reich. (IF you're a wargamer, and you don't have a copy of this, go get one.)

But now, I"m looking for some suggestions to keep the game interesting. I'll list some of my current ideas and if anyone wants to suggest changes or upgrades, great. If you want to give me new ideas, even better. Occasionally in my ideas, I refer to concepts and mechanics in the Third Reich game. If theres a question, ask.

1. To keep things interesting, both sides (Imp and Sol) should be played by more than one person. THis would present the 'fueding generals' concept. If Possible, the Sol forces should be played by a single person to show unity amongst the Terran forces.
2. THe Terran system can be reinforced with missile bases and outposts, forcing the Imp player to either run a gauntlet to get his forces to Terra or systematically expend forces to take out the bases the Sol player has constructed. (The Battle for Mars and Luna could get bloody, the Battle for Titan and Europa, doubly so.)
3. The Sol player can recieve extra units from other Sol colonies via the two primary starbases on terra. Should both of these fall, Terra can no longer recieve these extra units.
4. The Imp player(s) are restricted to using high-end, hi tech units while the Sol player can field larger numbers of lower tech units at a much lower cost.
5. Both sides must allocate supply points for their units (representing food, fuel and ammo). Failure to do so converts these units to static defense units with a much lower combat value.
THis also sets these units up for attrition.
6. Terra is devided up into 8 theaters. North AMerica, South America, Africa, Europe, North Asia, South Asia, East ASia and PAcifica. Players can shift units between theaters but doing so takes a turn. I was thinking about including 2 more theaters: Orbital and Luna, simply due to their proximity.
7. The Sol player can raise partisans (rebel factions, geurillas, The Phoenix Guard, whatever) in cities that have been captured by Imp units.
8. Jump Infantry I"m still having trouble with. I was planning on just modifying the paratrooper/ Airborne attack rule from Third REich. Suggestions?
9. Grav units get to ignore terrain modifiers including ocean hexes. THey're very expensive, but can be worth it.
10. Artillery get to add combat factors to attacks from a distance of 1 or two hexes away.
11. Orbital bombardment attacks a given hex, and all the units (friendly or enemy) in a tow hex radius.

OK, thats all for now (I have to get back to work). I have more ideas, but I"d really like some feedback on this.

 

[Border Reiver]

Out of interest have you seen or played GDW's Invasion Earth?

 

[Horatius]

Heard of it, never seen an actual copy. I've heard tales of it for years. From what I understand, it was a more strategic-level game than what I"m shooting for.

In all actuality, this whole concept began as a wargame that would be itended to connect to an RPG campaign that occurred during the siege. THe wargame took on a life of its own and has mutated from there.

 

[Piper]

Sounds like an interesting idea. I'm working on a similar project, but it's about 1/100000 the scale.

If you're planning on a lot of in-system space combat, you might find an orrery useful to determine actual positions of the planets for a given date.
Also keep in mind that ships can come in "above" or "below" the plane of the ecliptic.

If you need a solar system map, Steve Jackson Games has Triplanetary available here.

Star Viking has a more abstract movement system, but it's easier to keep track of and is quite clever. It can be easily adapted to the Sol system.

Re jump troops: I'm not familiar with Third Reich so I don't know what their airborne rules are. In general, jump troops in Traveller wargames have a better chance of surviving a landing then other types of unit. Some games limit their combat power to simulate lack of heavy weapons.

The two hex radius for orbital bombardment seems a bit high. What scale are you using for hexes and bombardment squadrons? Does Third Reich have strategic bombing rules?

Invasion: Earth is a bit larger in scale than Third Reich seems to be, but it does have some elegant rules mechanisms and it covers several of the topics you mentioned.

 

[Horatius]

The Triplanetary maps for the solar system look like they'll be useful. They stick to the hex maps that I"m using, so they won't be too much of a shocl to the players. The orrery was way cool. I was afraid I was going to have to go digging for other software.

Thanks for helping me out with this.

Clarification question: Are Jump troops the same as Drop Troops? As in "Are Jump troops dropped from orbit or are they ultra mobile infantry equipped with grav belts?" Or would the term for them be something like 'Lift Infantry' or 'Grav Infantry'?

 

[Piper]

Originally posted by Horatius:
Clarification question: Are Jump troops the same as Drop Troops? As in "Are Jump troops dropped from orbit or are they ultra mobile infantry equipped with grav belts?" Or would the term for them be something like 'Lift Infantry' or 'Grav Infantry'?

Yes, jump troops and drop troops are the same. They may be equipped with grav belts, but don't have to be.

Lift infantry covers troops that are grav mobile, usually in carriers. The term could also apply to troops with grav belts.

 

[rogermccarthy]

The RW analogy is of course that between paratroops and 'air cavalry' or air mobile infantry (I'm not sure what the term is these days in the US army)with grav APCs replacing helicopters.

Personally I've never seen how using drop capsules on a large scale would be that more militarily practical in the 56th century than parachutists are now.

Whether using a parachute or a grav belt for the final part of the descent the drop troops are still going to be slow-moving sitting ducks for anyone with decent surface to air missiles or AAA (think what a computerised laser battery could do with such targets) and even with satnav and decent comms are stilll going to arrive way more dispersed than they would if they used assault landers.

Against even a medium tech opponent you'd get an awful lot of Cretes or Arnhems.

 

[Horatius]

Crete is a pretty good analogy.
I don't see the Drop Pods being of any real tactical use. With the advent of rapid-interface vehicles, they become pretty useless. Except maybe in a shock-and-awe role. Even a halfway decent SAM system would reduce most drop pods to slag.

Unless, someone has coe up with something to counter the effectiveness of SAM fire against the pods. And that sounds like a topic for a different thread.

THe other problem I see with the Drop pods is retreat. If something goes wrong, there's really no way to call them back. Just like with modern Rangers and other Airborne units, once they step off the plane, they're pretty well committed to the attack. Kind of another Dunkirk waiting to happen.