What's worth playing

[Random Goblin]

I have recently acquired Dark Nebula, Asteroid, and Azhanti High Lightning.

What's fun to play?

I've played Asteroid, and it's decent. Not a Traveller wargame per se I guess, but wacky fun anyway.

But what about AHL and DN?

 

[mike wightman]

The AHL combat system is one of the better versions of personal combat in Traveller IMHO.
It formed the basis of the combat system for Striker.
Once you've learned the rules by playing the scenarios in the book, which are fun, you can then run just about any Traveller combat with them.
The deck plans can be used to model a range of Imperial ships and stations.

Dark Nebula is the one Traveller board game I've not played. But it looks similar enough to Imperium that it is probably just as much fun.

 

[shield]

Yes AHL is very good, I still use its /striker combat system.

Dark Nebula is very enjoyable, it is a basic version of Imperium and is a useful build up to 5th Frontier War and Invasion Earth

Cheers
Richard

 

[kaladorn]

Never seen Dark Nebula. Some folks like AHL, Snapshot, Striker, or Mayday for Traveller combat.

If you get a chance, get yourself a copy of Belter. It's quite a fun GDW game. Not quite Traveller, but anyone who has ever though of a Belter character will enjoy it.

Invasion Earth is also very interesting.

 

[Random Goblin]

So how does AHL work for Traveller rpg combat?

I've thought of using it, but it doesn't seem like enough of it is based on the PC's UPP. Like how the amount of damage you can take before going down has nothing at all to do with your attributes. With most characters, that wouldn't make that much difference (since all three physical stats still play some other role in combat), but what about when fighting K'kree? I mean, they often have strength and endurance up into the twenties, which should make them way harder to knock out or kill, but with AHL, they'd be exactly the same...

 

[kaladorn]

Oh, Goblin of Chaos...

You've obviously never seen a group of poachers in Africa mow down an elephant herd using FN FALs....
Oddly, the same 7.62mm jacketed round which will generally stop a human in a single shot will also drop an elephant in a single shot. I'm no talking about aimed fire here either... semi-automatic or burst fire and down they go like a house of cards. Quite horrid to watch, but educational, in terms of the vulernability of larger creatures.

The truth is, some humans pumped up on adrenalin, have been capable of taking many wounds before succumbing. The truth also is un-pumped humans have died form a single .22 rimfire. I guess the same applies to larger creatures, and herbivores and such are more likely to succumb to damage easily. Most of the 'incredible animal endurance' stories I've heard involve wild boars (7 .357 magnum shots and 3 from the M-14 to drop one), grizzly bears (if you don't kill him, you'll just make him angry), polar bears, or big cats.

At any rate, that's digressing. Your comment about AHL is correct.

AHL, Snapshot, Striker - they all allow you to play on a bigger canvas, thus the details get lost (of necessity). But try to resolve a platoon on platoon action in standard rules... oh.. my ... lord....

RPG rules aren't really meant to 'usefully' handle bigger fights. For those of us that like miniatures, AHL, snapshot, striker, At Close Quarters - all of these offer ways to fight these larger fights manageably. If you want to give characters some bonuses, you'll have to work them in yourself.

 

[aramis]

Dark Nebula is a re-set variant of the original Imperium.

I've not played DN, but have played the others, and Imperium. I can and will recommend DN on the basis of Imperium.

AHL is GREAT for adding to and/or replacing personal combat ala bk 2, aimed at gridded play. The maps are nice, but of limited utility themselves. For itself, I can't really recommend for nor against it; it's fun but a tad bit fiddly, and I found myself constantly having to check backs for stats; the backs have the stats but don't show the side... but for RP combats, with off-counter tracking, it works GREAT. (Can also be used with maps from Snapshot...)

 

[JeffreyAllanBeeler]

Dark Nebula is fun to play.

I would reccomend boosting starting cash a bit and using the house rule that the home system you pull is the side you play otherwise the Aslan can have problems expanding.

Unlike other games "cowing the neutrals is important especially to the Aslan who lack cheap ground troops in quantity.

 

[aramis]

Kaladorn: Some RPG's CAN AND DO handle large scale combats in useful ways; several systems which provided for it and how:

Megatraveller: The Large Scale COmbat System in the Referee's Companion use the same combat mechanics; most of the rules there cover combining into a single "unit" a group of from 2 to 10000 characters.... and courtesy of separate damage and penetration, you can drop a couple PC's in, and have their effect against a company be meaningful...

Star Wars D6, 2nd Ed (but not 2R) (WEG): The rules provide for larger units having combined fire, damage, and damage resistance, which basically say that the more guys you got, the more extra dice you get. Fairly easily scales to platoon vs platoon.

Pendragon: large scale combat is handled by a narrative battle system, which has several points where characters in the lead have effects, plus turns each battle round into one skirmish for the PC's to fight using personal combat against a small group of opposing knights.

CORPS: A totally abstracted battle system, which allows resolution of large battles as an abstract adjunct to a narrativist approach. Player events can affect the outcome.

So, some RPG's are in fact capable of handling large scale battles within the base rules.

 

[kaladorn]

Afraid I don't consider MT's Ref's Comp mass battle system very suitable for a satisfying or meaningful mass combat resolution (disclosure mode: I don't like HG either due to its lack of a proper map). Simply put, your basic RPG combat rules (the ones characters use in small gunfights) rarely scale well to larger numbers of troops or sides (such as platoon on platoon or larger) and most wargames have weak character interfaces. Then again, I wouldn't expect an RPG to handle clashes of combined arms combat teams nor would I expect Risk to handle man-to-man combat. It is just a case of choosing the level of granularity and flavour that you want, the amount of administration, and the playing time. Many wargame skirmish games could involve PCs and their skills, but they hit scaling points where the game really bogs down. Larger scale games (with manouver units of squads and sections and platoons) play faster for a larger fight, but the tradeoff is the necessary reduction of detail and the necessary limitation of the impact of a single figure (if you aren't playing something fantastic or epic in nature where single heroes have huge impact).

 

[Berg]

Hello,

I've found this program for resolve mass battles

Mass combat system

Tell me what ya think

Tom