Vehicles in the game

The boys are pretty keen on using bigger, nastier and more exciting units: tanks, flyers and mechs.  Yep, I can understand the appeal BUT there are downsides.

Take a mech for example: relative to a solider, it's better armoured, likely moves faster and has a wider array of larger calibre weapons - basically a super solider.  The game then degrades into a normals vs supers.

TGTMG's vehicle rules (pg41) include various buffs and debuffs including not being able to use ranged weapons at Close Combat range; allowing non-vehicles to use ranged weapons against them whilst in Close Combat range; being immune to Hasta la Vista, Baby and 8+ Armour rated vehicles being immune to small-arms fire.

Small-arms vs Heavily armoured targets.

It's the small-arms fire rule that keeps the game realistic (Question: who wants a pistol taking down a tank?) but at a cost of fun (Answer: me, sometimes.  Depends if it's my Tank).  If I was a vehicle weapons designer, I'd certainly be laying on the armour platting such that rifle fire isn't going to knock-out my $20m beast.

So what to do that strikes a balance between realism and fun...

Big Guns vs Infantry

I was reading some other skirmish rules/forums recently and one thing mentioned was limiting the ability of (in  this particular instance) tanks aiming their cannons at non-entrenched soldiers.  That sounds like a step in the right direction:

• Entrenched soldiers, say taking cover within a ruined building, can be targeted by a tank's main cannon - the cannon's gunner is actually tracking the ruins.
• When fitting out a tank, thought need be given to their anti-infantry capabilities.  A tank might forgo machine guns for some reason (maybe fitting a bigger cannon?) but a mobile group of soldiers could pose something of a threat that couldn't be negated by a battle cannon. That's why 'support' is popular...

I think we'll use that particular idea in our home brewed games.