Mars!

[Keltheos]

Been very interested in getting into Gruntz for a while and although I've had the rules I haven't really sat down and read through them...until recently. 

I'm trying to decide on a force and background for it and noticed that the models I seem to like most (until finding the Khursan Colonial Marines) and have bought some of are the Titan models from Rebel Minis...which apparently are the suggested figs for the Mars force in the background.

I'm also overwhelmed by the amount of options the Gruntz builder allows a player to mess with and am honestly paralyzed at all the options (including where to bulk out the faction from as I like one or more models from just about every manufacturer out there).

I currently have Titan infantry (and special weapons options), a Merka 5 tank (to see size/quality), a VPR walker, and two Wild CATS powered armor suits all from Rebel...not sure where to go from here.

Any thoughts/suggestions on how to proceed on building a force?

[comstar]

Well I would have a look at some of the cards made on the forum first to see some of the forces produced.

But things to do are get a feeling of a type of force you want and stick to a theme. Ie you looked at the Coloniel Marines so have a small force based on the film. Small fire teams with pulse rifles and smart gun. An APC and possibly a Dropship. I know very cliche but you get the idea.

Another way is I have a lizard force which has grown over time. I had lots of light troops to start with needed some stopping power so created a Dragon (monpoc figure) using the Mecha with fly. I then needed a bigger leader so picked up another Monster Apocolypse figure which worked well. Then from the same range added some small flyers. So as you can see it's this one is bit by bit.

Just keep going and hopefully some inspiration will come your way. Good luck

[comstar]

This is just a quick idea for what you have so far!

Your Titan infantry are mid tech ish so say shoot 5 and assault 4 with normal rifles with your choice of squad attachment weapons. A Merka 5 tank I see as a heavy tank with a skill of 5 with a heavy cannon plus some secondary weapon system. The VPR walker a medium Mecha with appropriate weaponry again skill 5. The two Wild CATS powered armor suits, one could be your commander and the other a specialist sub commander!

There are lots of options you come turn the VPR walker and give it a command module. The two wildcats into specialist small walkers. The Merka 5 turn into an Assault Tank with some Mods to supe it up! Your infantry could be excellent troopers with shoot 6 but crap at assault so say 3 opportunity is endless but as said before keep to a theme and all should click together

[zephyr40k]

I'm pretty new to Gruntz so I can't talk too specifically about Gruntz stats themselves but I've been wargaming for about 30 years so I can tell you some things in general terms.

I've found the best way to design an army is to first, answer a few questions:

(1) what does it need to accomplish?
(2) What does it need to prevent?

So, (1) would be things like taking objectives, defeating enemy troops, and defeating enemy armor. (2) would be to prevent the enemy from out-maneuvering you, keep the enemy from taking objectives, and keeping them suppressed. So once you have a list of things, you design your units to accomplish those things. So typically Gruntz to take and hold objectives, tanks to defeat enemy armor, and artillery to suppress enemy infantry. But you could also use monsters or mecha to do one or more of these things.

The other way to approach an army building is to basically does what looks cool and feels right. Gruntz is so flexible, you can start with a loose idea and fine-tune your units in between games as you go. But start with one core concept or principle. Some ideas:

-Mechanized infantry, with tanks, APCs, and troops to ride in them
-Drop troops, with lots of air transport and air attack vehicles
-ground-pounder alien force that chews its way through the enemy slowly but surely

Basically just experiment with various builds and concepts until something clicks for you.

[RuneCaster_Aris]

DO this:

- Sit down with a piece of paper and a lucky pen/pencil.
- Write down what kind of army you would have the most fun playing with. Not what would be strongest, or most flashy, keep it simple like "long range fighting" or "Close combat" or "all mechs!" something like that.
- Once you have that, think about what models you're going to have most on the field, generally that'll be gruntz infantry.
- Now look at the rules for that model type and build that model with what you said you would have most fun with in mind.
- After that, add in special units, big stuff, but always be sure they compliment what you wrote down originally.

After you get all that build up, play a few games, and frankly expect to lose them. Win or lose, however, keep in mind what worked and what didn't. It could be your play style, it could be mistakes in model development. but after a few games, you'll know what needs changed and go from there!

[twogunsblazing]

Aug 15, 2013 8:39:00 GMT -5 RuneCaster_Aris said:

DO this:

- Sit down with a piece of paper and a lucky pen/pencil.
- Write down what kind of army you would have the most fun playing with. Not what would be strongest, or most flashy, keep it simple like "long range fighting" or "Close combat" or "all mechs!" something like that.
- Once you have that, think about what models you're going to have most on the field, generally that'll be gruntz infantry.
- Now look at the rules for that model type and build that model with what you said you would have most fun with in mind.
- After that, add in special units, big stuff, but always be sure they compliment what you wrote down originally.

After you get all that build up, play a few games, and frankly expect to lose them. Win or lose, however, keep in mind what worked and what didn't. It could be your play style, it could be mistakes in model development. but after a few games, you'll know what needs changed and go from there!

This is pretty much what I have done with my forces...and I am still working on them!

The only other thing I would suggest, as a very first step, is search vigorously to find and buy models that you really like the look of as this will help keep you motivated to paint and model them, and consequently enjoy seeing and playing with them on the table top...

[RuneCaster_Aris]

yeah don't buy models you don't like. ever. you don't want to making your game a chore to do.

[Keltheos]

Finally settled on a Heliopause group as my 'go to' faction. I'm going with the Siavyanskiy Souyuz. They oversee the Marstek manufacturing facilities and the brief writeup in the rulebook hits on what I want my faction theme to be (mostly lower tech, no grav for sure, but with some advanced weapons here and there - dependability is job one type stuff).

Now to build some background and theme lists. I'm already rethinking using the Rebel Minis guys I got as my core infantry, they may shift over to a role either as units of underskilled conscript-types or as one of a pre-fab merc team the SS hires out to smaller political groups/factions/terrorists. A contract for labor/materiel's a contract, they don't mind where it's routed to.

"Today's target is tomorrow's client."

Here's what I have so far:

[zephyr40k]

Very nice! What are those two battlesuits on the left?

[Keltheos]

The small guys are actually robots...
rebelminis.com/wildcatscats.html

Tankbusters is how they have them listed on the site. Thought I'd go that angle as well. They're autonomous, but work great in urban zones for ambushing and demolishing enemy armor. AP rockets as well as "Can Opener" claws.

They make one called a TOMCAT as well that doesn't have the rocket packs but two rifles and a shield instead.

[Keltheos]

Oh look, reinforcements from the deepest recesses of the garage!!

[Keltheos]

I noticed the little bit of fiction in the rulebook for SS portrayed them as being trapped in a Cold War Russia sort of mindset with the expensive, but scarce cigarettes and secrets within secrets. Like I was watching Firefox or a James Bond movie.

I'm going to try and avoid that with my SS, and keep any sort of semblances of scarcity or rationing or luxuries are frowned on more simply because of their location and access to luxury goods/services. The SS I see is highly dependable, down to earth, and efficient much like the current iteration of their long-standing AK series of assault weapons.

[Brummie]

Sounds good like the reinforcements as well Dan

[Keltheos]

Work has finally settled down from my usual 60 hours per week to a very manageable 30 per week (yay). The holidays didn't let me get much hobby work done other than cleaning up my paint area, but as I've been drifting around looking at paint schemes for my Siavyanskiy Souyuz army. Here's a few test shots I took with light that makes them look waaaay better than I think they do in hand. Its definitely showing me how rusty I am at painting. these are just all the base colors blocked out. I intend on hilighting a bit and giving the guns a thin black wash rather than going with a dark scheme gun. Any thoughts/suggestions/questions/input welcome. You can also see a CAT in the background I'm testing the olive portion of the scheme on as well. The jumpsuit layer is actually a khaki, it's much greener in these images than I'd anticipated, could be the lighting.

[Brummie]

They look good to me, They need like a spot colour something not sure where though but thinking the goggles?