 May 16, 2013 - 12:51pm | the owners of Old Crow models (which is not really producing miniatures right now) use to produce INAP miniatures in opaque and clear resin- I bought some- one in opaque and then 3 in clear resin of two different poses- one set of table top wargame rules called for using 3 markers within so many inches of each other to represent the position of the predator when in light shift camo field. At any rate I was thinking that the Frontier could use an INAP which stands for "Its Not A Predator". Think about it, hi-tech adversary with some low tech liabilities: cannot spot low tech primitive traps and trip wires and mud will mask you from their scanning systems they also have a code about killing which seems to prohibit killing the pregnant and unarmed. Most predator tech already exists in the Frontier and there are some hi tech items that make dealing with them easier. give them some creature stats with high STA and STR and plenty of gizmos to make them a problem for parties without lots of money. I even have a name to avoid any IP infringements- PAH "Predator And Hunter" If Old Crow gets up and running again, which seems possible from the statements on their website, or if you contact Jonathan and ask nice you might get some great miniatures to use for this. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 16, 2013 - 4:25pm | Do some reading on the Vietnam War American part. The Viet Cong and North Vietmanese Army used many low tech methods to defeat their adversary. You can probably find some interesting things to throw at players when they encounter low tech races. Wait until after we finish the Volturnus campaign before you do this. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
May 16, 2013 - 5:29pm | I was thinking to force the Environmentalist (AD) and survival skilled (under other systems) to use some of those subskills to survive. BTW anyone know a good resource to look up the predator universe like wookiepedia? Wikipedia wasn't that helpful. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 17, 2013 - 7:48am | Wait until after we finish the Volturnus campaign before you do this. Are you kidding me?!? I thought the game had not continued because I was checking the old thread from the crash! Oh man! @Jedion - check your email! |
May 17, 2013 - 8:20pm | playing around with illustrations : I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
May 17, 2013 - 8:22pm | my knowledge of the Predator universe is rather limited to what I picked up from the movies- I never really delved into the books and comics. Is there an internet site that explains the "expanded Predator universe? EDIT: finally found this in wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predator_%28alien%29 I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 May 19, 2013 - 5:15am | The vietnamese were able to get the upper hand because of the underground traps and hiding places under triple-layer forest canopies, as well as slow attrition tactics and additional camouflaged ambushing from trees and swamps. Much of the problem the U.S. forces had, tactically, was a matter of focus. The vietnamese were focused on digging in and undermining progress. The U.S. forces were strictly focused on trying to make progress, thus the stalemate, advantage: Vietnamese. All the Vietcong needed to do was hold the line. The Vietcong could live under ground for weeks in relative comfort without coming out, whereas the U.S. forces were constantly harrassed above ground. Sleep deprivation due to such harrassment was a major demoralizer for U.S. troops. But the biggest failure was the attempt at undermining Vietnamese culture by introducing American sub-culture to get the Vietnamese to turn against their government. This backfired, making our own troops complacent and bucking authority and reinforcing the Vietnamese view of U.S. culture as decadent and useless. The Vietnamese were able to use drugs and contaminated prostitutes to further erode the U.S.'s military culture. Another undermining factor was that the U.S. had built up a bloated navy and heavy armor divisions with its war budget, which were rendered useless by Vietnam's thick overgrowth, leaving aerial, swamp and footsoldiers with horribly outdated and used equipment left over from the Korean war. While they had some fantastic aerial fighters, such as the wild weasel, they were all but useless because they could not locate underground targets and even the bases in the foliage were hard to find. Their slow-moving out-dated helicopters were easy to shoot down and went down by the dozens. Against an opponent with little-to-no airforce, the U.S. airforce had little more to do than drop napalm and perform chemical deforestation, which was largely ineffective and made our own soldiers sick. Napalm killed nearly as many of our own soldiers as it did the enemy's. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
May 20, 2013 - 2:14pm | I was thinking more of the Viet Cong digging bell shaped underground chambers which vibrated when helicopters and B-52s came close or wiring discarded radio batteries together so they could eaves drop on commo. Oh the Vietmanese were bad at shooting down American helicopters but great at figuring out where the landing zones would be and ambushing them on the ground. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
May 21, 2013 - 10:17pm | Hmm. I wonder why the bell chambers don't figure into the literature. I've found only one mention of them through a direct search which mentions only a single cliff face by the water. Though, still, it does sound like a nifty concept, at least when the waters are calm. Choppy waters would be a real hindrance to early detection. Not only do they produce a lot of masking noise, but they dampen the sound of the helicopters. Perhaps the larger gunships and cargo choppers might be detectable, yet the gunships still proved to be the most effective weapons against the VC. It doesn't seem the bells were in wide use, which suggest they weren't especially effective, but may have been moderately so. It seems the treetop positions of heavy machineguns was the best weapon against U.S. helicopters in Vietnam. Ground traps appear to be little more than a footnote. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
June 5, 2013 - 4:16am | Danny Glover, a fan of the Lakers suggested they use some of the Lakers for the background Predators in the closing scenes of Predators 2. It turns out that predator blood is actually glow stick liquid and KY jelly- apparently their blood is on the thickside and needs a little lubrication to get through their blood vessels :) It also looses its glow fast and thus had to be remade between takes. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
