I wanted to start a general thread to deal with how it works presently and how it should work for 3e.
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Leadership points are the foundation and we also have command points and hero points which are limited forms (although command has some things beyond leadership).
As I posted and discussed the "Survivors" story I began to think about 'inspiration points' which would be leadership that can only be assigned. Chaplains, standard bearers and others would have no inherent bad-assery but having them on the board would aid other figs (note Capt. Andrews might have full blown leadership points. At a minimum, he has two hero points since he fired first).
So the first question is what people think about the idea of inspiration points?
Secondly, does anyone have any other suggestions for 'points' that could reflect additional sci fi battle phenomena?
I like the concept. If you are wanting some thing different yet beneficial then why not have these inspiration points effect something else, like morale or medical (it's only a wound).
The morale benefit is for rallying, encouragement (under suppressive fire Planetstorm), and fear factors (Arch Fiend appears in front of the troops and the Chaplin boldly says, "Remember men its only a machine. Now shoot the bastard."
For medical only, it allows the shock/morale roll to be modified in the positive for the troops, since they know that the wounded will receive immediate help and the dead will be marked for pickup before the Machines get their hands on the bodies. Not a powerful as say the Chaplin or Action Movie star but still effective.
That way, these inpiration points do potentially effect the game but not as powerful as Leadership or Command. Both Leadership and Command can also be used to the same effect but has to be spent, where just having the above figures in your group, it is automatic.
But if you lose such figure, the normal positive bonus is applied as a negative right that moment and if required an immediate roll. And you lose the benefit for the rest of the game.
Then there are the mechanical questions. I will start with three.
The rules as published say that you can assign a number of leadership points equal to the receiving figure's leadership plus one. Over the years my opinion has become that you can assign one figure one leadership and a figure can receive one leadership, period. So that would prevent the sergeant from assigning his two leadership to the corporal to make him a supersoldier. Similarly, the corporal and sergeant could not assign one leadership each to a heavy weapon trooper who is out of line of sight so he could fire again.
Sounds fine. I think the only ones who might even have a slight heartburn over this are us older players who liked the initial rules. Me, as long as the board/playing field is standardized across the board with little to no, exceptions, I like it.
Next is the issue of priorities. Leadership actions trump everything except suppression, but what do we do where both players have leadership available? My fix is to make it LIFO (last in first out) which Magic apparently uses. That is, if you have two or more players who can use leadership, the last to declare is the first to be resolved. I like this for its mechanical simplicity and the fact that it can generate a Mexican Standoff like if a Succubot and a UNE sergeant found themselves face to face: neither would blow their two leadership to fire because the other could then declare but go first. And that seems to reflect the filmography of mano-a-mano final battles.
OK, so if a figure has multi-leadership points or has a Leadership point figure of higher rank with in
LOS of the said leadership figure then this possibility exists:
UNE Corporal with 1 natural Leadership, one assigned leadership and a Sergeant in LOS to the corporal with 2 remaining active Leadership comes across a Fantasian with 2 Hero points. The Corporal declares he is using the assigned Leadership and his natural leadership to fire on the Fantasian, the Fantasian declares that he is firing on the Corporal, but the Sgt, declares that he is spending both his leadership points to cause the corporal to fire.
Action takes place as follows, Corporal fires first, then if the Fantasian survives, he fires, then if the corporal survives he fires again?
Of course if the Fantasian is eliminated from the Sgt’s leadership order to fire, the corporal should either still lose the 2 leadership points (as in used this turn) or the corporal still has to fire but it is considered a limited suppression fire, straight line. Ie The first anything in the direct line draw from the corporal to the Fantasian and beyond is checked to see if it is hit.
The last one I will throw out to you now is whether directed or assigned leadership (one, either or both) can go up the chain of command. The basic question is whether the corporal can yell at the sergeant "Enemy left!" and the give sarge a leadership point to do something about it?
Nice idea but I would want it limited and very specific as to why it can happen.
My thoughts on this are;
If a lower level ranked NCO (officer) has both Hero and Leadership points, they can use said leadership only to move/order a superior officer (NCO) but can only expend a number of Leadership points equal to or less than the number of Hero points that the figure has.
So, a corporal with 1 or more Hero points could only use their one Leadership during a turn to a higher officer (NCO).
A Sgt with 2 Leadership and one Hero point could only use in the active turn 1 Leadership to a higher NCO (officer) at a time, but he could use both leadership points on 2 separate occasions (even if it is the same figure but just can not give the figure a command that takes 2 actions).
If said Sgt had 2 or more Hero points, then he could use both on the same figure.
Dave Chase