| Brood Brother |
 |
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:08 pm
Posts: 356
Location: Beavercreek, Ohio, USA
|
(BlackLegion @ May 19 2007,16:32)
QUOTE Shouldn't the Tank company, Super-heavy Tank Company and Artillery Company include one vehicle with the Commander special ability?
My Answer: Yes and no.
Yes, in theory every company, regardless of type, should have a commander. ?In real life you have that, and if your army is well trained enough then the commander for something like an artillery company might be well trained enough to recognize the tactical situation and coordinate nearby armor and infantry for an assault. ?They would probably even listen and follow his commands.
There is another reason why "Yes" would be my answer, but I want you to read the following first.
No, for two reasons:
1) Game Balance - If you were to allow every company to have a commander you would give the IG an unfair advantage. ?With the army list structured around buying companies and then adding on upgrades and supporting platoons you would be giving the IG more commanders than what other armies could normally generate.
3) Background - With the rigidly structured training and tactics that the IG would normally follow I seriously doubt that a Leman Russ platoon attached (support formation) to an infantry company would follow the dictates of the field artillery company commander. ?His own company commander, definitely. ?A Leman Russ Company commander, probably.
Which leads me to my other "Yes."
One of the things that has bothered me about the Steel Legion IG has been that almost everything is done at the company level. ?In effect what has been created is the situation where if the commander wants to make a combined assault then he has to have some support formations nearby (unlikely given how the army list is structured) or he is getting 1 or 2 other companies to assault with him (which means you are playing too many points on a small table or you have dangerously concentrated your forces.)
If you were to buy companies but have the individual platoons activate on their own, plus maybe some special rules on how IG commanders operate then I could see where every company would have its own commander.
1) When you buy companies you instead buy 2-4 detachments and a commander/command section. ?(A lot like how it was done in SM/TL) ?For example, if you buy a Leman Russ Armor Company you get a Command Vanquisher and 3 platoons of 3x Leman Russ tanks. ?When you buy an Artillery Company you get a Chimera (or some other appropriate units) with the Commander Special Ability and 3 batteries of 3x artillery units such as Basilisk, Bombards, or Manticores.
Implications:
A) The IG lose a lot of their resiliency because instead of trying to break a company you are only trying to break small platoons. ?This could be countered with a special rule that says that break point, blast markers, etc. are based upon the company as long as the platoons in question are all within 5cm unit coherency of at least one other company platoon. ?In a way this could become the Epic: Armageddon version of the SM/TL rules that the IG had to operate under, the IG Command rules. ?(You know, the pain in the ass ones about how formations had to stay within 25cm of the company commander. ?That is one thing I don?t miss about SM/TL!)
B) The commander, being his own formation, might become more prone to pinning or breaking if the special rule is not done.
C) Upgrades such as Ogryns, Snipers, Flak would become part of the command formation or other formations in the company while others such as Fire Support Platoons, Infantry Platoons, Tank Squadrons, etc. would become simply additional formations. ?These would be different than support formations in that they have greater availability.
D) It will be easier to add in new and different units such as the Leman Russ variants, the Forge World stuff, etc, because it will simply become just another line item in the army list.
E) Shooting oriented companies like the Tank Company and the Artillery Company would have their effectiveness reduced by not being able to bring a full company?s firepower on a target. ?The Tank company would be compensated by having a little more freedom of movement and could split fire on different targets. ?The Artillery Company would be more impacted since they typically don?t move and would not be able to combine BP at company strength. ?(See below for a potential solution.)
2) Every company would have its own commander, but it would only be able to use the Commander Special Ability on all of the platoons / squadrons / batteries in its own company without problems. ?Platoons / squadrons / batteries from other companies could be part of the combined assault but the normal 3x formation limit would come back and there would be a -1 penalty to the activation roll for each one included.
Implications:
A) The IG would not be able to mount huge assaults with three companies anymore, but it could mount large ones if a lot of support formations and upgrades are added to the company since the wording I used above means that the 3x unit maximum would not apply if only formations that are part of the company are combined in the assault.
B) The IG would need another special rule that would turn the normal Commander Special Ability into a more broad ability. ?The IG Commander rule would allow commanders to either have a company assault or fire.
3) The IG could see a huge jump in the number of activations. ?Either this would have to be accepted as normal for the IG (they are the human ?quantity is quality? army) or a special rule could be enacted that would require 2 (or three, or more) formations be activated per time.
<<< --- >>>
Proposed Special Rules as part of this discussion:
Imperial Guard Commanders ? Some Imperial Guard units and characters are noted as being Imperial Guard Commanders. ?Imperial Guard Commanders can order all of the formations that are a part of his company, added as a Support Formation to his company, or added as a Company Upgrade, to follow them when they make an assault, as long as all of the formations can trace 5cm unit coherency, even through other formations of the company, back to one unit within 5cm of a unit from the Imperial Guard Commander?s formation. ?
Alternatively an Imperial Guard Commander can order all of the formations that have Sustain or Advance Orders and that are a part of his company, added as a Support Formation to his company, or added as a Company Upgrade, to fire upon the same target formation or combine barrage points, as long as all of the formations can trace 5cm unit coherency, even through other formations of the company, back to one unit within 5cm of a unit from the Imperial Guard Commander?s formation.
Imperial Guard Command Rule ? All Imperial Guard formations activate, fire, and take damage as per the normal rules. ?Imperial Guard formations that can trace 5cm unit coherency, even through other formations of the company, back to one unit within 5cm of a unit from the Imperial Guard Commander?s formation are all considered to be part of the same formation with the allocation of casualties and blast markers. ?If a formation leaves unit coherency from the rest of the company (or the company command formation is destroyed) then the blast markers are proportionally distributed between that formation and the remaining units.
Commissars ? All Imperial Guard companies may include 1D3 Commissar characters. ?The Commissars do not cost any points. ?If the dice roll exceeds the number of Commissar units that a player has available then these may be represented with other appropriate markers (certain colored dice, special counters, etc.) as long they are consistent and the other player agrees.
Roll to see how many Commissars a player may add to each company at the start of the battle before each player sets up. ?If the company includes a Supreme Commander then the first Commissar must be attached to the Supreme Commander?s formation. ?Any further Commissars may be attached to any other formations that are part of the company. ?You may not include more than one Commissar per formation. ?If you have more Commissars than formations then any excess are lost.
Is this worth pursuing?
_________________
I shot a Deathstrike Missile and destroyed an enemy titan in my pajamas last night. ?How it got into my pajamas I still don't know...
|
|
