Tue, 2 June 2009  I'm sorry... I'm vacationing where the wifi is uploading things at 12 mbps! It was going to take some 4 hours to upload 90 mb's at that speed. I didn't realize that libsyn would post a "ghost" episode 14 if I stopped the upload... So, here's episode 14 for real. Hopefully... Comments[4] |
Hi Bert and Ryan,
One thing that was not mentioned about the defense roll is that you only get one (1) roll per unit per turn. So to use your example,
Lets say I have 2 squads of 3 and you have a squad of 12. I fire with my fist squad and get 2 hits. You make your defense roll and apply saves accordingly. Then I fire with my second squad of 3 at the 12 man squad. You DON'T get another defense roll until next turn. So any hit I get is a kill.
Now I agree with your assessment that a large squad should not necessarily have a better defense in combat. A more obvious solution would be to roll 1 defense roll for each hit. Also, with this, disregard the limit on defense rolls per turn. 1 defense roll per hit taken...period. With this, you preserve the simplicity of the game and the wonky large squad/uber defense thing goes away.
I personally would not worry about which figure actually gets hit. I would assume that each hit is probably several hits on a figure. The only exception is when the captain, leader or hero gets hit. Maybe some sort of proportional roll for a chance that one of those hits is on the captain.
Sorry if that got a little long winded.
Really enjoying the podcast!
John
One thing that was not mentioned about the defense roll is that you only get one (1) roll per unit per turn. So to use your example,
Lets say I have 2 squads of 3 and you have a squad of 12. I fire with my fist squad and get 2 hits. You make your defense roll and apply saves accordingly. Then I fire with my second squad of 3 at the 12 man squad. You DON'T get another defense roll until next turn. So any hit I get is a kill.
Now I agree with your assessment that a large squad should not necessarily have a better defense in combat. A more obvious solution would be to roll 1 defense roll for each hit. Also, with this, disregard the limit on defense rolls per turn. 1 defense roll per hit taken...period. With this, you preserve the simplicity of the game and the wonky large squad/uber defense thing goes away.
I personally would not worry about which figure actually gets hit. I would assume that each hit is probably several hits on a figure. The only exception is when the captain, leader or hero gets hit. Maybe some sort of proportional roll for a chance that one of those hits is on the captain.
Sorry if that got a little long winded.
Really enjoying the podcast!
John
posted by: John on Thu, 6/4 01:01 PM EDT
John...
I think you're right about that... I guess I was just a little off the wall on the system. It just didn't seem right that even three guys firing on twelve would not produce any kills, however... I see where you're coming from, it just seems that it would give the 12 man squad an advantage when it comes to taking hits. I still like the game, regardless, and have played it with the old rules and my own house rules and have had an enjoyable experience either way. I'll talk about this again on Episode 16, if I can remember... :)
I think you're right about that... I guess I was just a little off the wall on the system. It just didn't seem right that even three guys firing on twelve would not produce any kills, however... I see where you're coming from, it just seems that it would give the 12 man squad an advantage when it comes to taking hits. I still like the game, regardless, and have played it with the old rules and my own house rules and have had an enjoyable experience either way. I'll talk about this again on Episode 16, if I can remember... :)
I am the creator of Toymallet 40 Cents; I would like to address the issue of a small squad versus a large one.
The use of 1's, which are essentially critical hits, is not merely to be applied to Tankmecha, but instead to any unit in the game. Results for any attack or defense to an attack are applied simultaneously, thus even a squad already obliterated still gets its shots in before it perishes.
Should a small squad of five face a larger squad of twelve, should the small squad roll all attacks, or better still all 1's (critical attacks), the twelve would need to counter these hits. The only defense against critical 1's in Toymallet are 6's, and half of all die rolls are attacks in any case, it is very likely that a small squad will always do some damage to a larger squad in any encounter.
If the larger squad cannot muster a means to defend, say through use of tactical 4's gained through various means, it will suffer greatly.
It is possible for a smaller squad to virtually guarantee severe damage to a larger squad in Toymallet through use of terrain and tactical 4's.
A smaller squad ensconced in good cover, on a hill or other elevation, with a commander, can generate at minimum four bonus tactical 4's to add to whatever is rolled on the dice, and with even a moderately fortuitous roll, can pin an approaching larger squad, and riddle it with multiple critical wounds even before it assaults. In the assault, using refreshed tactical 4's derived from its stated circumstances can potentially finish off the larger squad again with only moderate fortune. It can definitely leave the larger squad hurting.
It may be that I was not clear enough in my silly parody rulebook about how the base mechanism for Toymallet works, I must admit that I was more concerned at the time with the parody aspect than perhaps rules clarity.
I am thinking of doing Toymallet more seriously, and to that end perhaps this is showing me I need to be far more meticulous about not only explaining the rules, but also how to apply them in various situations, and... I think I will really reexamine the whole thing top to bottom.
I am very encouraged than anyone even has taken notice of my little silly effort.
Maybe it is worth a little more effort on my part to make it better?
In any case, I was very, very honored to have my little parody mentioned on your show.
-Jennifer
The use of 1's, which are essentially critical hits, is not merely to be applied to Tankmecha, but instead to any unit in the game. Results for any attack or defense to an attack are applied simultaneously, thus even a squad already obliterated still gets its shots in before it perishes.
Should a small squad of five face a larger squad of twelve, should the small squad roll all attacks, or better still all 1's (critical attacks), the twelve would need to counter these hits. The only defense against critical 1's in Toymallet are 6's, and half of all die rolls are attacks in any case, it is very likely that a small squad will always do some damage to a larger squad in any encounter.
If the larger squad cannot muster a means to defend, say through use of tactical 4's gained through various means, it will suffer greatly.
It is possible for a smaller squad to virtually guarantee severe damage to a larger squad in Toymallet through use of terrain and tactical 4's.
A smaller squad ensconced in good cover, on a hill or other elevation, with a commander, can generate at minimum four bonus tactical 4's to add to whatever is rolled on the dice, and with even a moderately fortuitous roll, can pin an approaching larger squad, and riddle it with multiple critical wounds even before it assaults. In the assault, using refreshed tactical 4's derived from its stated circumstances can potentially finish off the larger squad again with only moderate fortune. It can definitely leave the larger squad hurting.
It may be that I was not clear enough in my silly parody rulebook about how the base mechanism for Toymallet works, I must admit that I was more concerned at the time with the parody aspect than perhaps rules clarity.
I am thinking of doing Toymallet more seriously, and to that end perhaps this is showing me I need to be far more meticulous about not only explaining the rules, but also how to apply them in various situations, and... I think I will really reexamine the whole thing top to bottom.
I am very encouraged than anyone even has taken notice of my little silly effort.
Maybe it is worth a little more effort on my part to make it better?
In any case, I was very, very honored to have my little parody mentioned on your show.
-Jennifer
posted by: Jennifer Reitz on Mon, 8/17 02:56 AM EDT
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