Droning On

Rating Hostile AI Drones/Mechs In Wargames Rules

If you are playing any number of the Nordic Weasel Games rules, then there are plenty of suggestions for rating a Hostile AI force of drones/robots/mecha.

However, if playing something like Gruntz, it may need be quite as obvious.

Let’s start with GZG’s smaller spider mechs.

I will choose to group them into units of 3.

Each Gruntz squad has a number of ratings – Shoot, Assault, Guard, Soak, Mental, Skill.

The higher the number the better they are within each rating.

Therefore, for Shoot, with AI precision targeting this will be relatively good.

For Assault, this will be less good as they don’t carry grenades, knives, bayonets, power swords etc but they can tear thing up with their legs.

For Guard, they will have an average rating – this how hard they are to hit, they can move at speed, but they are not small. This is how hard they are to hit.

For Soak, they will have a higher rating but not a power armour rating. This is an armour rating.

For Mental, they will be above average as they are fearless and not prone to panic and fear. They are cold and calculating. This is a morale factor.

Their skill level will be average as they are not able to think outside their programming and the controlling AI lacks the ability to think laterally.

So, we end up with:

Shoot 6 Points cost: 7

Assault 3 Points cost: 1

Guard 12 Points cost: 5

Soak 13 Points cost: 5

Mental 11 Points cost: 9

Skill 3 Points cost: 1

So, for a unit of 3 spider mechs, the total points cost will be: 28 points each. Gruntz squads are specified as an average of 6 strong, but we have halved this number for the AI force.

You now divide the points by 2 and round up.

So, a total of 14 points for 1 spider mech force of 3 models in a squad.

I am then going to arm with dual laser rifles, so although you pay once for the squad weapon, each model will have two so I will pay twice and that’s it.

So, 28 points, plus 2 x3 points = 34 points, divided by 2 = 17 points total for the squad.

There are also Perkz available in Gruntz, these are special rules add-ons for a custom force.

The ones I would add are:

Automaton +3 points

Long Runners +2 points

Neural Net Boosters +1 point.

If you are using the Grimdark Future rules from One Page Rules, then go to their website and select the army list that most closely resembles your force – these army lists are a free download as are the basic rules.

The Robot Legions army list would be a good place to start.