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I haven't seen this elsewhere, and google searches didn't yield results. So I wanted to ask the Dakka Dakka community their opinion.

I have been thinking of running a campaign at the local gaming store once we get some momentum in the infinity group. I have noticed in various equipment descriptions the mention of items being banned by the Concilium Convention. I would like this to translate to a rule used in the campaign. Here are my initial thoughts on how to employ this. It may seem heavy handed, but punishment for war crimes should be. =)

+0.5 to SWC for models equipped with weapons and equipment forbidden by the Concilium Convention. In addition, when a deployed army uses items forbidden by the Concilium Convention, if the opposing force has any surviving members after an encounter (after a regular game), the opposing forces immediately submit a validated report of the use of these items to the 0-12. The consequences are that the army using these items immediately loose the right to hire journalists (if they are using one), as the journalist is required to report any activity forbidden by the Concilium Convention. In game terms, after that match is finished, and you are about to take your promotion roll, you loose the modifier provided by your journalist if you have one, for the rest of the campaign. In narrative terms, you have been paying off, intimidating, or by some other means been keeping your journalist quiet about your use of illegal equipment. When reported, your journalist then looses their license and credibility. Your superiors are less inclined to promote you due to the issues caused by the report to the 0-12 (it would look bad to the 0-12 and the public for troops caught breaking the Concilium Convention to be suddenly promoted).

Summery
- +0.5 SWC to models using weapons and equipment forbidden by the Concilium Convention.
- Loose Journalist modifier to promotions roles if, after a game, your opponent has surviving models.

For this campaign rule, I think that "surviving" includes those that are successfully Medevac, but excludes those that are successfully Cubevac. Meaning you need your opponent to be a cold dead body to get away with it. It would be allowed for an army that has won, to use any remaining orders for "clean up", the elimination of survivors.

That's a very harsh penalty, and it would apply more or less every time. There is no time to mop up all OPFOR in most Paradiso missions, the mission comes first and the timeframe is usually very limited.

THat said, I think it's a step in the good direction. I also was thinking about applying something to reflect the Conventions in-game. Problem is, pretty much everything above the average rifle is banned by the Conventions. All the special equipment my Bahram uses is banned (VIral, Shock, etc)

Perhaps give players the option to remove the "offending" item from their models inventory. Exchange it for a Combi Rifle or Knife (something similar). If the player chooses to do this, they wont incur the +0.5 SWC cost.

There could also be a list of "approved" items. Have them removed from the banned list. As they could be seen as acceptable considering the nature of the conflict. A revised banned list would be nice, considering that several entries don't make much sense. Flamethrowers are banned, but flame ammo type is not. Panzerfaust is not banned, but its explosive ammo is. ~shrug~

This I could see supporting, but I doubt anyone would remove VIral ammo from their models, for example. Btw, what about factions such as Tohaa or the C.Army - surely they'd have a serious boost over armies that ditched their banned weaponry?

In theory I really like this idea but it might be a little difficult to impliment fairly.

I think simply 'removing' the weapon is a little unfair. For example, every version of the veteran Kazak comes with a flamer and if you remove it there should also be a reduction of points as they would lose some of their effectiveness.

If a member of the enemy group survives an attack from one of these weapons there should be some sort of system for proof beyond word of mouth. I doubt any organisation would take their word that their enemy is using these weapons, maybe an enemy journalist has to whitness the attack? or maybe in the next game O-12 could send a representative to investigate?

Posted this on the Infinity forum as well. after reading the comments, it seems that removing the SWC penalty would be best. I do like the idea of an enemy journalist witnessing the usage of the forbidden weapon, then the offending player doesn’t get his journalist bonus. So no bonus for having a journalist if your witnessed using forbidden weapons. Then perhaps the war crime of killing a journalist and civilians is only a -1 modifier to promotion (per kill), So if you need to you can kill journalist without to much backlash. They do get caught in the cross fire...

Before Campaign Paradiso showed up, I always thought those weapons would result in some sort of campaign penalty for their usage, but it was something they never fleshed out officially unfortunately =/

We considered it as a scenario - have a neutral news crew team wandering the board; if anyone does anything illegal in their LOF, the opponent gains VPs. You can try to hack the cameraman to delete the offending footage - or simply wait till he's not looking before roasting your enemy with a flamer.

Which reminds me; how many illegal weapons do ALEPH use?

If you want to add illegal weapons rules you could impose an XP penalty for a player that uses te weaponry in LoF of a Warcor. We play a tournament mission here that has a newsbot on each player's side. If you use illegals in LoF you lose a Tournament point. Players here use smoke to block LoF etc

^^This.

Let your characters take the kit (it may be hidden in a pack or just presented as something else) but if they use it within LOS of a Warcor (theirs or their opponents) then whatever positive modifier they would have received from the Warcor is changed into a negative modifier.

The penalty doesn't apply against Tohaa or CA enemies (stinkin' aliens don't get covered by the Concilium!).

R.

We just play it as the factions who use them are subject to the same sanctions as their real-life equivalents ...

... Which is to say, not at all.

Journalists are not bulletproof and none have survived the campaign I'm running at this point (two games in, 6 players - from 8 - have taken warcors. All have been fragged from mines, chainrifles or caught in the blast from missiles.). On the other hand, we've played a number of "training" games with civilians and they have ALL survived - flamethrowers, chainrifles, mines. Pulling off either critical dodges, or natural 20 armour saves. It's safer being a civvie in our games than being an embedded alcoholic journalist.

Realism, I love it.

I love these ideas. I will have to take them to the local group and see if we can get something agreed upon and implemented.