d20 Military Vehicles Preview

[whisper_jeff]

So , d20 Military Vehicles is on the verge of going to press and I figured I'd back the hype I've thrown around regarding this book with a preview of it.

Here is a sample PDF page of the RAH-66 Comanche, the Army's stealth scout-attack helicopter. Since the Army has elected to discontinue this helicopter, we pulled it from the book (to ensure the book is as up-to-date as possible) thus making it the perfect vehicle for the preview of the book.

Check it out.

Enjoy it.

And, as always, let your local retailer know you want the book - they can't get it for you unless they know you want it.

 

[Cergorach]

Looks pretty kewl!

 

[JoeGKushner]

Good layout. Good move in seperating 'real' info from game info.

I am a little concerned with the dmaage from the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire 2. At 10d12, at average damage (6.4 per die), that at 65 points, it would be too easy to destroy this type of Comance. At 6 missiles, one pilot could take down a potential of 6 other Comance vehicles. The Gatling Gun isn't as bad and the Stinger might take two hits on average but...

With 36 hit points and in one shot, has a defense of 8 for a total of 44. It was one of the things I noted for the d20 Mecha Compendium that the creatures often did so much damage that fights would be short and brutal. That seems to be the case here as well. Could be a good thing.

Anyway, I still ike the 'GURPS' effect if you will, where the end result is what the compendium strives for.

I note on the catalog that the revised BESM d20 is going to have the d20 Mecha rules in them. Any big changes in there? Will that be a b&w or color book?

 

[Guardians Of Order]

I note on the catalog that the revised BESM d20 is going to have the d20 Mecha rules in them. Any big changes in there? Will that be a b&w or color book?

BESM d20 revised edition has several new things in it:

1. An update from 3.0 to 3.5 for the core system.

2. Mecha construction rules from d20 Mecha (with only minor changes), including a few new rules from d20 Military Vehicles.

3. A dozen or so pages of optional rules.

It will be B&W, hardcover, at about 176 pages or so.

 

[whisper_jeff]

Good layout. Good move in seperating 'real' info from game info.

I am a little concerned with the dmaage from the AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire 2. At 10d12, at average damage (6.4 per die), that at 65 points, it would be too easy to destroy this type of Comance. At 6 missiles, one pilot could take down a potential of 6 other Comance vehicles. The Gatling Gun isn't as bad and the Stinger might take two hits on average but...

First, thanks for the compliments - I'm really happy with the book.

Second, as for the Longbow being able to take out a Comanche with one missle, on average - this is something I asked David and Rich to get as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, the real world military stage isn't as "fun" as the game stage - one shot can often completely mess a vehicle up... The days of the long dogfights where "the whole nine yards" are emptied into opponent aircraft are over and gone. Also, keep in mind, being reduced to zero Hit Points does not mean a vehicle is destroyed - it just means it has been disabled.

One great story Rich related to me is a tale of an M1 Abrams that was disabled (I believe the tank tread was blown off, but don't quote me on that) and the tank battalion couldn't waste time effecting repairs to get the vehicle back up to operational status - they had other, more important things to do... Well, rather than leave a functional tank sitting on the battlefied, the entire battalion of tanks opened fire on the Abrams so that it couldn't be used by the enemy. Well, despite numerous hits from a battalion of main battle tank guns, the core of the Abrams was still intact. The outside of the tank was messed up, but the inner core was still intact - the vehicle was not destroyed - it was just really disabled.

Anyhow, yes, a Comanche could be disabled with one Longbow. The Comanche, however, was designed to slip into position, without being seen so that it can fire first and thus not worry about return fire...

 

[elrics]

Second, as for the Longbow being able to take out a Comanche with one missle, ...yes, a Comanche could be disabled with one Longbow. The Comanche, however, was designed to slip into position, without being seen so that it can fire first and thus not worry about return fire...

Aircraft, even heavily-armored, military ground-attack aircraft, are fragile. Remember those two Apaches shot down in Iraq? The Apache is the most heavily-armored airframe in the Army inventory (the Comanche, being a Scout as opposed to Attack helo, is an eggshell by comparison), and a bunch of irregular infantry brought down two of them with small arms fire (7.62mm, most likely).

The Comanche's primary armor is supposed to be the hill it's hovering behind. 9/10s cover, in the old 3.0 days.


Rich Spainhour, M.Sc.
MAJ, USA
Operations Research Analyst
PAE Directorate
HQ, USMEPCOM
crspain@earthlink.net

"I will always place the mission first."
"I will never accept defeat."
"I will never quit."
"I will never leave a fallen comrade."
--the US Army Warrior Ethos,
adopted 0311