"Bug War 46" Topic

Inspired by the other thread, I whipped up the first draft of a FAD supplement for ww2 earth fighting starship troopers style bugs. Lots of stuff is still missing but eh.

PDF available at PDF link

You can also download the main game rules from the website
freewebs.com/weaselfierce

Ohhhh….nice.

Ya know…one of the things about the 'starship troopers' movie…was that their 'tactics' didn't seem THAT 'advanced' considering the technology at their disposal??? (ok, no 'offense' to fans of the movie(s) as I have both myself..*sigh*)

But the 'A-team' shoot-em-up style of combat…(throw enough lead at anything, long enough and it will drop or make a mandatory 'roll-over' as in each episode of A-team)…just doesn't cut it.

M-1's or BAR's or M-14's….with grenade launchers (recoiless cannon with Davy Crocket nuke?)…should be able to 'drop' a bug. M-14's with the right ammo are very DEADLY at range. (I got some of my best scores at rifle ranges/marksmanship testing in Army with those beasts!)

SKILL and tactics with decent equipment even latter WWII/Korean 'era'…could work. ESPECIALLY if you 'combined' US/USSR/German tech/mfg capability…The Nazi's had some 'very advanced' projects..(besides V2!) that could have been problematic to Allies…IF the war hadn't ended when it did. (Soviet t-34 'saucers' anyone?)

The USA, for example..could build 'Liberty ships' faster than the Germans could SINK them…and fly huge fleets of B17's (despite horrendous losses) in daylight bombing raids…(which got a little easier with addition of P-51 mustang with longer range/drop tanks!)..

So a post-WWII 'BUGWAR' with combined forces of Allies and 5 years tech-time…could be very 'interesting'. Considering the losses in Europe and Pacific, (Marines on Iwo Jima, etc)…sheer GUTS wasn't an issue. Giving troops more 'nuts and bolts' HARD TECH would make for a 'grittier, more realistic' battling. Sgt Rock vs the ARACHNIDS?

This is really getting 'interesting'…and sorta what I think BFE could/should? have been? maybe?

*slish…slish*

Tactics and Sci-Fi (in films at least) – don't think the two have ever been introduced!

The basic themes seem to be; do not, under any circumstances, take advantage of natural cover. If your enemy can't see you, you can't see him! In certain rare circumstances troopers MAY be allowed to take brief cover behind objects with the armour properties of cardboard.

Fire and movement will be practiced as all troopers will fire together (using the above cover procedure) OR all troopers will advance together. Trying to coordinate the two activities is just two difficult.

Troopers will normally advance single file, thus limiting casualties to just the one at the head of the column, then the next one, then the next one.

Body armour has the ability to stop either light or rain, but nothing else, such as disruptors, directed energy weapons, alien claws/teeth, or swords/axes. Come to think of it, it's not entirely waterproof either..But it does make the guys look both 'cool' and 'hard' until they die screaming. Of course if you're in Star Trek you don't even bother with the armour!

I love a good old space battle as much as the next guy, but I can't recall seeing anything that ever really looked like it was based on current tactics, just an excuse for lots of bangs and a high body/robot/bug count.

"Ya know…one of the things about the 'starship troopers' movie…was that their 'tactics' didn't seem THAT 'advanced' considering the technology at their disposal??? (ok, no 'offense' to fans of the movie(s) as I have both myself..*sigh*)"

When I first saw the original movie, I thought that the infantry was a stupid way to go. Drop a bunch of M1 tanks on the planet and just start driving them through the bugs. Don't even have to take the gun out of travel lock, just line em up and start rolling forward. Turn them into road-kill.

I must confess I never watched the movie. I loved the book (despite the racist/fascist ideologies underlying it--no, don't argue that point because they ARE there!), and when I saw the previews for the film, I knew they had butchered a fine book. Ugh!

However, Gary's point is dead on: Sci Fi films and real-life tactics just haven't mixed: think about the "tactics" of the Rebels' attack on the Death Star in a New Hope--ludicrous! However, the Empire is not much better, as there frontal assault at slow speed on the rebel base on Hoth attests. Sir Douglas Haig would have been proud!

The key problem seems to be that screenwriters (as well as directors, producers, and actors) seem to have no clue about what really works in war. There are exceptions in the historical realm, but I can't think of a Sci Fi film that has demonstrated even the most basic understanding of military tactics. Can anyone think of one??????

Tom

PS: Weasel, I love the bit, "An Austrian painter was silenced, permanently." You are a treaz, as they say….

T