Wargaming in the Third Imperium: Vargr
In the Spinward Marches the Vargr are both the bogie man and valued citizens of the Imperium. When one thinks about Vargr one usually thinks of Vargr Corsairs, yet Vargr make up a significant minority within the Coreward sectors of the Imperium. So I'm going to try to represent Vargr in a couple of game systems I have. We'll start with what we know from the Traveller and Striker rules sets and see what wecan come up with for Stargrunt II, Tomorrow's War and Alien Squad Leader 3.0.
Alien Module 3 states that Vargr average about 1.6m tall and weigh about 60kgs. This means that the average Vargr figure should be about 16mm tall from toe to the top of the head. RAFM's War Hounds of Sirius fit the bill nicely. There is however, a great deal of diversity amongst the various Vargr sub-groups. So on can readily use Darkest Star Games' Garrhul who stand nearly a head taller than RAFM's War Hounds, and in turn are dwarfed by Khurasan's Raug Ceepays. The chapter on Vargr physiology in MegaTraveller Alien Volume 1, (page 63) clearly states that most humans "....are unaware of the vast numbers of "non-standard" Vargr minorities" that exist. Thus one could also use Critical Mass' Protolene, Ion Age's Beotan or any other wolf like alien miniatures to represent these non-standard Vargr minorities.
Alien Module 3 further states that "Vargr reactions are somewhat faster than those of the typical human" (page 3). Vargr have sharper eyesight, excellent hearing and keen noses.
The section on Vargr psychology details their pack mentality, somewhat flexible loyalty and so forth. For that matter pretty much all the material on Vargr indicates a heavy reliance on charismatic leaders and significant morale problems should that leader fail or be injured/killed.
In the Striker rules, Vargr are assigned the following morale bonuses:
Recruits 2 (instead of 4)
Regulars 6 (instead of 7)
Veterans 11 (instead of 10)
Elite 15 (instead of 13)
Vargr NCOs and officers have a morale modifier of 1 greater than normal.
In Stargrunt II Vargr troops have approximately the same breakdown of troop quality. However there are some differences when it comes to Confidence Tests. Untrained and Recruits apply an additional +2 to Threat Level when conducting Confidence Test. Regulars add +1 Threat Level, Veterans subtract 1 and Elites subtract 2. Officers and NCOs are more important to Vargr troops, their Command Level is considered 1 less than normal for Confidence Tests (yes that means a Vargr Leader with CL of 1 will have an effective CL 0 for Confidence Tests, remember that this applies only to confidence tests), the flip side of this is of course a greater effect should a Leader become a casualty:
Mission Motivation
Circumstance Low Medium High
Leader becomes a casualty 5 4 3
I am uncertain if this is sufficient to represent the effect of Vargr losing their leader, I'll have to play test it to fond out.
For Tomorrow's War Vargr would be rated for Troop Quality the same as any other units, but their Morale is a little different, it would look like this:
Troop Quality Quality Die Morale Die
Green/Untrained Units D6 D4
Experienced/Trained D8 D6
Veterans D10 D10+1
Elite D12 D12+3
Vargr NCOs and officers count as having a modifier of 1 greater (or lesser if a negative leader) than normal in regards to Stress Tests only. Reverse the effect if the leader becomes a casualty.
Since a success is 4 or higher and Green Vargr Troops only have a D4 for morale it is important to give them good officers if you don't want them to run when the shooting starts.
Common Traits:
I'm not finished with this yet, and would appreciate any suggestions, ideas, brain farts, whatever you have to offer to help me sort it out.
Alien Module 3 states that Vargr average about 1.6m tall and weigh about 60kgs. This means that the average Vargr figure should be about 16mm tall from toe to the top of the head. RAFM's War Hounds of Sirius fit the bill nicely. There is however, a great deal of diversity amongst the various Vargr sub-groups. So on can readily use Darkest Star Games' Garrhul who stand nearly a head taller than RAFM's War Hounds, and in turn are dwarfed by Khurasan's Raug Ceepays. The chapter on Vargr physiology in MegaTraveller Alien Volume 1, (page 63) clearly states that most humans "....are unaware of the vast numbers of "non-standard" Vargr minorities" that exist. Thus one could also use Critical Mass' Protolene, Ion Age's Beotan or any other wolf like alien miniatures to represent these non-standard Vargr minorities.
Alien Module 3 further states that "Vargr reactions are somewhat faster than those of the typical human" (page 3). Vargr have sharper eyesight, excellent hearing and keen noses.
The section on Vargr psychology details their pack mentality, somewhat flexible loyalty and so forth. For that matter pretty much all the material on Vargr indicates a heavy reliance on charismatic leaders and significant morale problems should that leader fail or be injured/killed.
In the Striker rules, Vargr are assigned the following morale bonuses:
Recruits 2 (instead of 4)
Regulars 6 (instead of 7)
Veterans 11 (instead of 10)
Elite 15 (instead of 13)
Vargr NCOs and officers have a morale modifier of 1 greater than normal.
In Stargrunt II Vargr troops have approximately the same breakdown of troop quality. However there are some differences when it comes to Confidence Tests. Untrained and Recruits apply an additional +2 to Threat Level when conducting Confidence Test. Regulars add +1 Threat Level, Veterans subtract 1 and Elites subtract 2. Officers and NCOs are more important to Vargr troops, their Command Level is considered 1 less than normal for Confidence Tests (yes that means a Vargr Leader with CL of 1 will have an effective CL 0 for Confidence Tests, remember that this applies only to confidence tests), the flip side of this is of course a greater effect should a Leader become a casualty:
Mission Motivation
Circumstance Low Medium High
Leader becomes a casualty 5 4 3
I am uncertain if this is sufficient to represent the effect of Vargr losing their leader, I'll have to play test it to fond out.
For Tomorrow's War Vargr would be rated for Troop Quality the same as any other units, but their Morale is a little different, it would look like this:
Troop Quality Quality Die Morale Die
Green/Untrained Units D6 D4
Experienced/Trained D8 D6
Veterans D10 D10+1
Elite D12 D12+3
Vargr NCOs and officers count as having a modifier of 1 greater (or lesser if a negative leader) than normal in regards to Stress Tests only. Reverse the effect if the leader becomes a casualty.
Since a success is 4 or higher and Green Vargr Troops only have a D4 for morale it is important to give them good officers if you don't want them to run when the shooting starts.
Common Traits:
Augmented Senses, Heightened Situational Awareness/Reflexes, Natural or Augmented Weapons, Poor Initiative and Shrinkage
In Alien Squad Leader, Vargr Corsairs such as the Kforuzeng seem to fit best as an Outlaw Gang army. Vargr States would be able to field Alien Imperial Armies.
I'm not finished with this yet, and would appreciate any suggestions, ideas, brain farts, whatever you have to offer to help me sort it out.
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