Vehicle(s) of the Week: Demolisher And Friends

[William J. Pennington]

drive it like a DropShip and pretend it's a honey badger.

That's an inspiration for a Demolisher heavy merc tank unit logo/ bumpersticker.

[ANS Kamas P81]

So the Clan unit are the misadventurers, the city is a dungeon, and the roaming LAAF units are the monsters?

"You are likely to be torn in half a by a Demolisher lance"

"You were eaten by a GR-U3 Grue."

[Crunch]

Just gonna find every short range alley mugging unit the LAAF have in their inventory, fill a city with it and have the Clan players start in the center of the city and have to find their way out, without stopping to ask for directions?

Sounds like a great scenario to run at a convention.

Actually...

I'm remembering from somewhere a story, possibly apocryphal, about a group of Crusaders (Templars IIRC) who breached the wall, charged willy nilly into an occupied city only to find themselves having to fight their way out along the same line they entered through. That could be a good scenario as well.

[SCC]

"But they weren't half as bad as the fight with the Gazebo."  O:-)

Something tells me that that's an actual unit but I can't find it in the MUL or Sarna

[Moonsword]

Wrong wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_and_the_Gazebo

[Jim1701]

Classic!   ;D

[Orin J.]

"You were eaten by a GR-U3 Grue."

'scuse me, i'll be taking that idea for a 'mech thanks.

[StCptMara]

Wrong wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_and_the_Gazebo

You know....dealing with a death-trap Gazebo is actually part of all my Shadowrun campaigns. As is a "Sandwich run,"
where the players are literally delivering a sandwich to the Johnson. (And the Johnson has sent some assetts against
them to test the group.)

[wellspring]

You know....dealing with a death-trap Gazebo is actually part of all my Shadowrun campaigns. As is a "Sandwich run,"
where the players are literally delivering a sandwich to the Johnson. (And the Johnson has sent some assetts against
them to test the group.)

If you want to test whether they're Real Men(tm), then just have them deliver a glass of water to the Johnson.

Then they can pick which reward they get: the Good Package or the Big Gun.

[DragonKhan55]

One good thing about growing up in a family with multiple ex-Army and Air Force people-you learn to appreciate treads, infantry, and air power as much as the giant stompy robots.

Case in point? June 2011. 2x2 Map Sheet with enough forest to fill up the Amazon. Opponent picks a Clan Heavy Trinary with the points he has. I pick a armor Battalion, full of Demolishers and Behemoths and some assorted battle armor.

Net result? Eleven down Clan Omnimechs, three vaporized, and one Thor limping off the edge with half a torso missing.

[Weirdo]

Geez, that a HUGE fight for only 4 mapsheets. :o

[Welshman]

Geez, that a HUGE fight for only 4 mapsheets. :o

Can't swing a dead OmniMech without hitting a Demolisher

[chanman]

Large battles on small maps really illustrates the point that traffic congestion kills

[Sabelkatten]

Large battles on small maps really illustrates the point that traffic congestion kills

A battalion of tanks does sum up the term "Road Rage" pretty well... ;D

But I have to agree that 2x2 maps with that kind of terrain and... 50,000 BV? Is rather insane. What if the clan player had done the smart thing and brought ~200 BA points?

But in general for the Demolisher: nice in a city, or if it's a GR/artillery variant on a hill outside. I prefer lighter units for city fights, thought.

[William J. Pennington]

Add a good rule of thumb: keep forces within 10 % of each others total number of units. It makes life easier and you dont have to argue over using Force size mods....

But I have to admit, I'd just liek to have seen the setup as a double blind game.

[Weirdo]

Add a good rule of thumb: keep forces within 10 % of each others total number of units. It makes life easier and you dont have to argue over using Force size mods....

I will never follow this, and unless a fight is predetermined long in advance to be precisely a lance, star, etc, I would walk away from any game that tried to hold me to this.

[Orin J.]

Can't swing a dead OmniMech without hitting a Demolisher

And that is how he turned the tide, because by the end of the battle he had nothing but dead omnimechs to swing at the tanks! Advantage jade falcon!


Wait, that can't be right.

[William J. Pennington]

I will never follow this, and unless a fight is predetermined long in advance to be precisely a lance, star, etc, I would walk away from any game that tried to hold me to this.

I've just found it to be a useful way to keep gaes smoothly flowing, and preventing gimmicky force lists.   Unbalanced games in force sizes are just unwieldy and problematical, at least in my experience.  And I mentioned a flexible range as opposed to a strict limit, and no one has to bother with force size mods.  Set a base size and work out an upper and lower range.  Allows workable difference without force size imbalances.  Admittedly, this guideline was a lot more important during Bv1 days (pre FSM) rules than now. 

Though if you really want the swarm scenario, and plan ahead of time instead of just springing it, I'm ok with that.    Just adjust BV for the smaller side and have fun.

[Weirdo]

I'm glad that we can both enjoy the same game in our own ways, but something tells me that you and I should never play against each other, at least one of us would not be having fun. I find games with radically different force numbers to be incredubly fun. I refuse to work with an upper or lower range or with FSM. If one player wants to bring a couple assault 'mechs while the other enjoys fielding light tanks and infantry, I see no reason they can't both have fun. I also see no reason to impair someone just because they chose to put smaller or less powerful units in their force. They're already taking things that will die faster, there's no reason to hurt them on BV too.

But this has little to do with Demolishers, so we should probably wrap this threadjack up. :)

[William J. Pennington]

One thing that surprises me is the late entry date on the Arrow IV Demolisher.  I loved those things, especially when BV1 so dramatically undervalued them.  In direct fire mode with saturation rounds, a platoon of those things were the bane of light lances.

"Target modifer, what is this target modifer you speak of? I'm not shooting at you--that tree offended me horribly."

[Welshman]

One thing that surprises me is the late entry date on the Arrow IV Demolisher.  I loved those things, especially when BV1 so dramatically undervalued them.  In direct fire mode with saturation rounds, a platoon of those things were the bane of light lances.

"Target modifer, what is this target modifer you speak of? I'm not shooting at you--that tree offended me horribly."

I was the terror of the Fan Council Game for a while. Two Arrow IV Demolishers, four Sprint VTOLs and a screening unit of Mechs or tanks whose sole job was to keep the enemy from getting back to the Demos. Mind you, it was a lot more deadly before we changed the rules so that Arrow IVs always hit the facing of the target that is facing the launcher. Being able to drop four AIVs into the back of a Daishi was a little over powered.

I hated to see that rule change and I kicked the writer who made those changes in the shins. My shins still hurt...

[William J. Pennington]

I was the terror of the Fan Council Game for a while. Two Arrow IV Demolishers, four Sprint VTOLs and a screening unit of Mechs or tanks whose sole job was to keep the enemy from getting back to the Demos. Mind you, it was a lot more deadly before we changed the rules so that Arrow IVs always hit the facing of the target that is facing the launcher. Being able to drop four AIVs into the back of a Daishi was a little over powered.

Ah, the Arrow IV enema as I used to call it.  Good times, Good times...

Meanwhile, I've got 4 Demolishers at home waiting for the kitbash.  I've only proxied them for the Arrow IV launcher version; I want to actually model them as that now.

And to expand on the topic: besides other Demolishers, what is your favorite teammate for a Demolisher.

And you can vary the answer by:

Demolishers in city defense
Demolishers in non-urban terrain in a defensive mode
Demolishers on the offense in either mode.

[JadeHellbringer]

And that is how he turned the tide, because by the end of the battle he had nothing but dead omnimechs to swing at the tanks! Advantage jade falcon!


Wait, that can't be right.

Exceprt taken from "Clan Tactical Handbook" from Star Col. Zapp Brannigan

[Weirdo]

aka "How to make War at an Enemy."

[ANS Kamas P81]

Have I mentioned how much I love vehicle jump jets and buildings with CFs in the 100+ range?  Not that this post is relevant to anything in this thread at all.

[SCC]

Is it possible to go Hull Down on top of a building?

[Welshman]

Is it possible to go Hull Down on top of a building?

Not without removing the roof, which is generally considered bad for the roof.

[JadeHellbringer]

Not without removing the roof, which is generally considered bad for the roof.

So is having a Demolisher on top of the roof anyway.  ;D

[Welshman]

So is having a Demolisher on top of the roof anyway.  ;D

"Sergeant, how did you get your tank up there?"

"Sir, have you seen the catapult Higgins rigged up?"

[glitterboy2098]