1st Annual Amaris Invitational Warcrime Challenge

[Nebfer]

Well 40,000 BV is over a battalion of SRM carriers, I think over 21.6 tons of munitions being fired every 10 seconds is going to be not pleasant to a city, particularly if mixed with infernos...

[Falchion]

Well, as I've said, the issue I see is that you can't really quantify war crimes in terms of BV. It's sort of like that old adage regarding reproductive organs: It's how you use it that makes a point. Sure, you can go all Ork and have the Rimmies parading their regiments of 'Mechs around with babies on spikes as applique armor, but that quickly loses it's shock value. It's where you put them. Hide a lance of 'Mechs under a clearly marked hospital. Not really a big drain on BV, but it's that much more interesting when your players realize that the Rimmies don't care about what effect they have on the environment as the 'Mechs emerge from the occupied hospital. Be sure to describe the screams of the patients within as the 'Mechs crush them when they climb out of their hiding spot.

[Diablo48]

Well, as I've said, the issue I see is that you can't really quantify war crimes in terms of BV. It's sort of like that old adage regarding reproductive organs: It's how you use it that makes a point. Sure, you can go all Ork and have the Rimmies parading their regiments of 'Mechs around with babies on spikes as applique armor, but that quickly loses it's shock value. It's where you put them. Hide a lance of 'Mechs under a clearly marked hospital. Not really a big drain on BV, but it's that much more interesting when your players realize that the Rimmies don't care about what effect they have on the environment as the 'Mechs emerge from the occupied hospital. Be sure to describe the screams of the patients within as the 'Mechs crush them when they climb out of their hiding spot.

I would take this even further with infantry garrisoning these kinds of buildings (schools, hospitals, ect) to force the players to shoot at the building which are conveniently located at strategic junctions unless they want to be severely limited or take lots of fire from the infantry.

[Falchion]

I would take this even further with infantry garrisoning these kinds of buildings (schools, hospitals, ect) to force the players to shoot at the building which are conveniently located at strategic junctions unless they want to be severely limited or take lots of fire from the infantry.

Done that a few times. Every time, the players surprise me again and again with their humanity, or more commonly a lack thereof. Some days the hypocrisy is galling. When is shooting into an occupied school justified while executing POWs isn't? >:(

[Diablo48]

Done that a few times. Every time, the players surprise me again and again with their humanity, or more commonly a lack thereof. Some days the hypocrisy is galling. When is shooting into an occupied school justified while executing POWs isn't? >:(

That seems like a good question to ask them when they decide to fire on the school. >:D

[Jackmc]

2 battalions of Firestarter 9-H's comes in at 36 K

1 battalion (10 plats) of motorized flamer infantry for those hard to reach places comes in at 310

11 mobile long toms = 3663

1 foot platoon of mg infantry deployed as squads into 4 ferret cargo variants = 32

net points: 40,005


-Jackmc

[Falchion]

That seems like a good question to ask them when they decide to fire on the school. >:D

Well, there's a reason why I do so like Infernos. Nothing better for when you've got those hard-to-reach spots where the infantry just don't give up. Fire 'em up, and let the buggers asphyxiate and cook in the building as it burns down.

[mitchberthelson]

Well, there's a reason why I do so like Infernos. Nothing better for when you've got those hard-to-reach spots where the infantry just don't give up. Fire 'em up, and let the buggers asphyxiate and cook in the building as it burns down.

VGL's with Incendiary loads work wonders for this. Just walk up to the building and pull the trigger. You can even get multiple building hexes.

One part that I just noticed last night: Frag VGL's do no damage to units other than infantry or support vehicles with BAR 5 or less....so this allows you to do two things:

1. Detonate multiple frags on your own closely packed, mutually supporting Mechs/Vehicles to carve huge chunks out of enemy infantry (or in this case civillians) close-in.

2. Walk up to a building (as above), and fire frags targeting hex/level containing infantry in the building. Since a VGL is area effect, it hits both the units inside and the building itself independently. However, since a building is not an infantry unit or a Support Vehicle with BAR 5 or less, it LOOKS like we should get the "chunky salsa" effect on PBI's without doing any damage to the building that squeegees, a shop vac, and some new exterior glass won't fix. :) "Kill the people, leave the buildings" indeed. Is that correct?

[mitchberthelson]

2 battalions of Firestarter 9-H's comes in at 36 K

1 battalion (10 plats) of motorized flamer infantry for those hard to reach places comes in at 310

11 mobile long toms = 3663

1 foot platoon of mg infantry deployed as squads into 4 ferret cargo variants = 32

net points: 40,005


-Jackmc

Nice. Thanks. :)

[Hersh67]

Well, there's a reason why I do so like Infernos. Nothing better for when you've got those hard-to-reach spots where the infantry just don't give up. Fire 'em up, and let the buggers asphyxiate and cook in the building as it burns down.

I knew there was a reason that I invited Falchion into this thread...  He never disapoints.   >:D

[Fallen_Raven]

Have your infantry hole up in a chemical plant, along with copious numbers of hostages. If the Star League tries to free the prisoners, the infantry kills them. If they callously fire upon the infantry, they risk releasing toxic chemicals. If they do nothing, the infantry can release all kinds of horrors upon the region. All in all a nice little no win situation!

[stoicfaux]

I forget, are the rules for firestorms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestorm, aka Dresden) in TacOps or StratOps? 

This wind shear is capable of producing small tornado- or dust devil-like circulations called fire whirls which can also dart around erratically, damage or destroy houses and buildings, and quickly spread the fire to areas outside the central area of the fire. A firestorm may also develop into a mesocyclone and induce true tornadoes.

The greater draft of a firestorm draws in greater quantities of oxygen, which significantly increases combustion, thereby also substantially increasing the production of heat. The intense heat of a firestorm manifests largely as radiated heat (infrared radiation) which ignites flammable material at a distance ahead of the fire itself. This also serves to expand the area and the intensity of the firestorm. Violent, erratic wind drafts suck movables into the fire, while people and animals caught close or under the fire die for lack of available oxygen. Radiated heat from the fire can melt asphalt, metal, and glass, and turn street tarmac into flammable hot liquid. The very high temperatures replicate the conditions of a smelting furnace, where anything that might possibly burn does so readily, until the firestorm runs out of fuel.

[Greyhind]

To mimic panicking civilian mobs you can use unarmed foot platoons who move in random directions. If they die by inferno just remove them from the game. If they die by frag a level 0 puddle of 'water' can be used.

Kill some yourself and mix in some actual infantry foot platoons to encourage player attacks.

[Weirdo]

Reunification War has rules for much larger mobs that are exactly what I had in mind when posting here. Imagine an infantry unit that covers up to ten hexes, can have up to a hundred 'troopers' per hex, and has rules describing when they go clinically insane. }:)

[mitchberthelson]

Reunification War has rules for much larger mobs that are exactly what I had in mind when posting here. Imagine an infantry unit that covers up to ten hexes, can have up to a hundred 'troopers' per hex, and has rules describing when they go clinically insane. }:)

Bought it when it came out. :) Will be using the hell out of it for that reason and many others.

[Hellraiser]

If there were game rules for artillery-delivered tarantulas or evil clown-suited infantry, I'd throw those phobias in there too.

R.O.F.L.M.F.A.O.  !!!!!!!   

Sir I do believe that to be sigworthy   O0

[Hellraiser]

Okay, after reading through the entire thread,  I feel totally, completely, fully justified in my "Toss Vengeances at it till it cracks" approach to system defense.  I'm never letting any of you land on my planet, EVER.

[StCptMara]

Okay, after reading through the entire thread,  I feel totally, completely, fully justified in my "Toss Vengeances at it till it cracks" approach to system defense.  I'm never letting any of you land on my planet, EVER.

We are not THAT bad! I mean..it is not like any of our chosen factions orbitally bombarded a planet to destroy the eco system and then blockade it to make the people die a slow, lingering death...

(Though, the Falcons do have their propensity now for breaking apart a nuke, and putting it into the aquifers of a planet.)

[Falchion]

Okay, after reading through the entire thread,  I feel totally, completely, fully justified in my "Toss Vengeances at it till it cracks" approach to system defense.  I'm never letting any of you land on my planet, EVER.

In my defense, I don't really use these tactics as a first resort. Well, not often, at least. My "Ha ha, Falchion's being crazy again" schtick can be calibrated for comedic violence (Having the 'Mechs fight off steam-powered bomb trucks in the middle of a local cultural festival, fighting off hordes of carnivorous voice-mimicking Falchions in the confines of a crashed JumpShip, etc) for a good laugh, as well as "serious" violence (Executing POWs en masse to save on food and fuel costs, firing on schools and hospitals, using children to deliver suicide bombs, etc) that most find rather reprehensible.

[StCptMara]

In my defense, I don't really use these tactics as a first resort. Well, not often, at least. My "Ha ha, Falchion's being crazy again" schtick can be calibrated for comedic violence (Having the 'Mechs fight off steam-powered bomb trucks in the middle of a local cultural festival, fighting off hordes of carnivorous voice-mimicking Falchions in the confines of a crashed JumpShip, etc) for a good laugh, as well as "serious" violence (Executing POWs en masse to save on food and fuel costs, firing on schools and hospitals, using children to deliver suicide bombs, etc) that most find rather reprehensible.

Falchion...I consider it a mark of a good game, sometimes, when a player comes to me afterwards and says that they were
creeped out/disturbed by what their character found necessary to do.  We recently did an interrogation where the players
managed to capture a Light of Mankind Operative...we had to do the interrogation AWAY from the family friendly store we
normally play at....in the Do Nots thread, my player referenced the Maskirovka Dropship pilot and accupunturist that was
in on the interrogation....the player had to take several breaks because, frankly, even though it was not graphicly described,
the interrogation was detailed enough that his mind could fill in the blanks.....