Where is the M88A1 in the game?

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

ARV's could be a prime target for enemy action. Taking one out will have a massive impact on the ability of the rest of the unit it supports to maintain itself in action. By 2000 they're therefore likely to be in very short supply with most heavy haulage and recovery being carried out by ex-civilian vehicles.

While that would be perfectly true for the bulk of the war, but as they became rarer and rarer, I would imagine it would shift to less wreck, and more catch when they are seen on the battlefield. Especially in the last year or less.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Originally Posted by Panther Al

While that would be perfectly true for the bulk of the war, but as they became rarer and rarer, I would imagine it would shift to less wreck, and more catch when they are seen on the battlefield. Especially in the last year or less.

Agreed; by 2000 (and beyond) a "Tank" = "anything with some armor we can put guns on".

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Panther Al

While that would be perfectly true for the bulk of the war, but as they became rarer and rarer, I would imagine it would shift to less wreck, and more catch when they are seen on the battlefield. Especially in the last year or less.

I was thinking they'd be a prime target of opportunity for helicopters and ground attack aircraft rather than many being lost to direct action by AFVs and infantry. It's just another method of screwing with the enemies supply lines and support services, thereby bringing the fighting units to a grinding halt.

[Olefin]

Considering how many M88's there were in the US Army and USMC and how critical they were to operations I dont imagine they are all gone. And like I said people like King Julian and the "gentlemen" running Krakow would have loved to have gotten one. And just imagine how nice a mini-scenario you can do about finding one that can be "obtained" from a village or marauder group - as in "boy wouldnt it be great if we could get a vehicle that could drag that M1 tank out of the bog it got stuck in".

And considering its a rolling machine shop and crane in one package its a very nice vehicle to have on your side.

[Targan]

I don't believe it says in any of the books that there are no M88A1s left in the world. Ok, so they weren't mentioned in any of the vehicle guides or base rule books. Neither were lots of other vehicles that existed at the time. Put 'em in. As I said in an earlier post, if you have the RL stats it's not very hard to stat them up.

[Legbreaker]

I agree that there's bound to be a few engineering vehicles floating about, but given they were in a relatively low proportion compared to the number of tanks, and most tank Divisions are lucky to have a dozen tanks by 2000...

[Tegyrius]

Yes, ARVs and AEVs will be rare, but rare != extinct. The FV-180 is in the NATO CVH, which admits only 141 of them were built. This suggests that at least one is still in existence and can be owned or encountered by PCs.

As a GM, I would be delighted if my players told me they wanted an engineering or recovery vehicle over a tank or IFV. That's a clear message that they're planning to think outside the proverbial armored box rather than going for straight combat power, and players who do that are more likely to entertain me.

IMO, one of this forum's great weaknesses is that we too often get fixated on verisimilitude (and combat stats) at the expense of storytelling.

- C.