Should We Give Each Other The Bird?

Return, Jim Madsen

I'm not exactly a heavy user of social media, but I've 'discovered' Twitter recently (more like finally paid it some attention). It strikes me as a potentially useful way to share M42 news and solicit opinions from our followers on stuff that wouldn't be lengthy enough for a full post on the blog. Without all the production overhead and greed-factor of Facebook. Or the need for folks to get Disqus accounts.

Close Combat Sequence Outline

Sons of the Motherland, A. Marin

Sandwyrm here. I've written up a detailed outline of the Close Combat sequence which mostly follows the rough sequence in Eriochrome's last post. I've also incorporated a few tweaks from testing it in a game last night with AnonymousFoodie at the North Store. Where a unit of Laansguard with shotguns and flamers actually managed to beat off an assault by a GW Hellbrute by suppressing it until it ran. :)

How Should Flamethrowers Work?

Untitled 22, Brian Smith

Sandy here. HighlanderBurial asked how Flamethrowers would work in Close-Combat, and by extension, the rest of the game. Let's get that discussion started!

Concepts In Pictures: Assault Flow

Trench Raid by U.S. Marines, Capt. John W. Thompson, Jr.

Eriochrome here.  I took some pictures to show how I thought assaults should be run.

Videos: Some Close-Combat Inspiration

I thought that I'd put together a selection of great film fights that could inspire us to figure out how to allow their recreation in our rules without exception-this, and exception-that.

Possible Close Combat Sequence?

Kung Foo Panda (an example of "Push")

Sandy here. Eriochrome sent me a detailed description of a possible sequence for close-combat. So I thought that I'd post it up and respond to his ideas inline.

Does This Look Appealing For Close Combat?

Still From "The Hunt For Gollum", a LoTR Fan Film

A few weeks ago when CaulynDarr and I were testing the game, he suggested that we do something to make Close Combat more interesting and dynamic. He remembered watching a demo game of GW's first 'Lord of The Rings' game and being impressed with how models knocked others back. He didn't know the actual rules, but that visual and the sense of excitement it gave him, stuck.

So I found a copy of the LoTR rules and had a look...

Another Great Day Of Testing!

General Grant Takes Command, Unknown

Got two more test games in today. One with CaulynDarr at my house, and another down at the GP North tonight where I took notes as Farmpunk and TheNeverThere battled it out.

Thoughts: Pistols, Shotguns, & Close-Combat

I've been giving some thought to how Pistols and Shotguns could be more useful. Especially in Close-Combat, which I want to give more character.

Quick Thoughts On Sub-Factions

Here's some quick thoughts that I've had on our game's factions and their possible sub-factions, as I construct the master spreadsheet. Some of this could be expanded upon if anyone is interested in writing something up.

Had An Awesome Test Game Today!

We Get A Star!

It's been a difficult week wrestling with Excel and my sick Wife/Kids. CaulynDarr even had to postpone our test game until Monday because of work. But I got a chance to get out to the FLGS for a couple of hours this afternoon, and thought "What the hell?". In addition to my normal Flames stuff, I brought along the M42 test armies and notes that I had prepped for our aborted test this week. Oh man am I glad I did!

The Technical Side Of Balancing/Testing

Gods And Generals, Mort Kunstler

I don't have anything more to talk about on the game itself this morning. Since I was pulling my hair out all-day yesterday figuring out how to use the advanced features of Microsoft Excel properly. But I might as well talk about what I'm doing, which is the technical setup of a model/unit database and a semi-automated testing system.

Poll: Should 6+6 Always Succeed?

David And Goliath, Themiko

I'm going to be doing some more stat work today, incorporating some of the feedback from my last post. So while get that done, it seems like a good time to ask a question of our readers. Should we have an auto-pass mechanic for To-Hit and To-Pen rolls? Or should some things just be impossible to do?

Weapons Balancing Vs. Knights

Iron Man Concept Painting, Disney/Marvel

With the new shooting/pen/damage system in mind, I've been working on balancing our weapon stats and troop profiles. Here's the numbers that I've got for Knight survivability.

Stats On The New Wounding System

Still From The Movie 'The Hurt Locker', Summit Entertainment

Oh happy day! I figured out how to write my own custom functions in Excel with Visual Basic! This simplifies things VASTLY for tests with logical conditions. :)

Following on from my last post, here's some tables and charts of the probabilities that you'll kill a target with a particular toughness with a single penetration using the damage system I'm proposing.

Shooting, Cover Saves, and Damage

The Trenches, Andrew Howat

SandWyrm here. I apologize for the lack of updates, but it's been a pretty busy week. The wife and kids are sick, I had some minor surgery this morning that had to be prepared for, and Spag pulled me into a meeting Wednesday about next year's IndyOpen Grand Tournament. CaulynDarr has also been under the weather, so we didn't get to do any testing either.

I've been thinking though, on how to revise the shooting sequence in light of last week's testing and the failure of the 'toughness' modifiers for damage to be workable in-game. Here's the basic ideas that I've come up with...

Results Of Last Week's Testing

War Machine, Alexander Washington

Caulyndarr and I did our second round of on-table testing last Friday. Here's what we discovered.

Laansarmie Datafiles: The Gruin

Half Orc by kolokas

O_N here (and SandWyrm), writing up what we've got on the Gruin. I've decided to get a little experimental and present it as a Datafile. :)

Finalizing The Strength Vs. Toughness System

Starship Troopers, Maronski

Ok, so we want to have the idea of needing multiple hits from low-strength weapons to kill high-toughness targets. But we really don't want our players having to do a bunch of division and conditional tests in their head. Else we might as well have a die roll. So how about this?

Shooting and Wound Rates

D-Day, Mariusz Kozik

Eriochrome here to talk about how fast you should be blowing your enemy to tiny bits.  About a year ago, I posted about targets for how many enemy models your small arms should take out per turn.  I suggested about 25% is a good target rate for this to make small arms matter but to limit the first mover advantage.  The idea is that for balanced units the full fire from my unit will kill 25% of the target unit.  So if we set the balance level of 10 Human Troopers to 3 Knights then the troopers should get 3/4 of a knight per turn.

Some Very Good Close-Combat Questions

Eriochrome brought up some great questions about how close combat should work. Let's go through each one and discuss them.

Close Combat Thoughts

Boxing 01, Miki De Goodaboom

Time to get the discussion rolling about close combat.