Bicyclists

[campsawyer]

I have been playing a long scenario with bicycle units in it and I mused about how the bikes can out distance most motorized and mechanized units on open ground as well as woods, fields and uphill. I found this a little hard to believe give that these are 1940's era, non-cross country, single speed bikes as well as years before performance enhancing drugs giving today's speedsters quite fast and enduring speeds.

I am seriously considering Motorized units for movement cost rather than foot. This would still give them fast speed on the roads but slow them down cross country where having these might be a hindrance.

It would be nice to have some sort of updated rule for mounted and unmounted units for bikes, motorcycles and horses. I know that some SSR's have rules for dismounted cavalry, but replacing units does not seem right either as most cavalry were mounted infantry that rode in, jump off to fight and the remounted again. Which seems reasonable for the scale and length of a lot of scenarios.

[Matt W]

The Infantry Attacks system has two counters for each cavalry unit, mounted and dismounted. I haven't read through the rules yet but I would assume that such a rule system would work for PG as well given the coordination of the two systems.

[campsawyer]

Matt, I did see these rules and they work if you have separate counters. I am thinking something that can be retrofitted without to must fuss.

[Michael Murphy]

IIRC, most riders (Bikes, MC, Cav) have comparable foot troop equivalents available in the countermix. With this in mind, I've instituted a house rule for all scenarios in which any riders appear. Bikes and MC can dismount at the cost of 1 MP; and Cavalry can dismount at the cost of 2 MP. This is a one and done deal. Once dismounted, no units may remount. They're stuck with being in foot mode for the rest of the scenario. The only catch is that the riding unit must be replaced by an equivalent foot unit with identical FP factors. No substitutions (up or down in strength) are allowed.

This is based on my personal amalgamation of the various dismounting rules from the different modules. I feel that this HR gives me the best feel for dismounting units in a tactical combat setting. Of course, YMMV and that's fine with me.

[campsawyer]

Mike, This is something like I was thinking, but the issue is that some do not have equivalents. If you look at the Spanish for instance, bicyclists are 4-3 while regular INF's are 5-3. I am also thinking that they should be able to remount within a game. If artillery units can do it, I believe that it would be easier for these troops.

[Michael Murphy]

My thinking with keeping identical FP ratings is that the act of dismounting should not affect a unit's FP. The only difference between mounted and dismounted units should be the MP rating in the upper right corner. As for the question of remounting, I vote no. As precedent, the one constant to any dismounting special rule (CAV and MC in FR) is that you can only dismount once per scenario. That works for me for bikes and MC as well.

As I said above, you may play it differently from me. That is not a problem since I play solo. I'm only sharing my House Rule to see how other players handle dismounting.

[campsawyer]

Mike, Thanks, I appreciate the input on this. I am thinking of a bit more than the existing SSR's. Remounting for quick movement and incentives to dismount in combat are two items that I am looking for.