Edison Wire-another version

I'll take a picture with a tripod. The wire is 3 1/4 inches above the table, which makes them low enough to catch slavers, etc. I've though about a version that has a second wire a couple of inches higher so it would catch regular tripods even if the lower wire were taken down.

The poles are 1/4 inch dowel. The insulators are craft beads, an idea I think I got from you. I drilled a hole through the pole and put in a short length of brass wire. Then glued 3 beads to the wire sticking out on both sides.

Good question on the armor. I am thinking it should be fairly high based on the argument that it is pretty easy to hit but doing fatal damage is hard.

I agree shooting a heat ray at the wire should make the shooter take the effect of the wire if they hit it. Might consider raising the defense a point or two to make it possible to miss the wire and therefore not take a hit on the tripod. Shock canister should be able to damage it, but not with a high probability. Think trying to cut barbed wire in WWI using artillery. Most likely damage from shock canister I think would be to bring down a pole. I need to run some simulations but I am thinking defense 3 and armor at 8 or 9. But that might be too high.

On the structure of the installation, yes the poles are fed by underground cables and each span of wire is separately electrified and isolated from the other spans. That way if one span of wire is grounded (through a tripod or broken and lying on the ground) the rest of the fence is not affected.

I'll look into the copper hobby wire. This example is using florist wire. I have finer florist wire but it was too hard to work with. It bends so easily that just handling it to hook it on the poles got it out of shape.

The wire will be used in the next Story Arc Campaign game, which I am hoping to have in August. Although I still have a fair amount of painting and building to do to be ready. I'll take your suggestion and use defense 2 and armor 9 and let you know how it works.

Yes, I shiver with anticipation!

yep that is it! zap time.

Ran a game Saturday using this wire and the rules I wrote. Pretty happy with the results. The tripods were slowed and channeled as expected. And of the 5 that attacked the wire, 3 were inconvenienced to some degree. None actually blew up as a result of hitting the wire, but the worse hit caused the tripod to be down for two turns during which time it was hammered to death. Easier to hit as counts as immobile and a prime target for every gun in range. One tripod tried shooting the wire but missed, but it felt like the rule should work pretty well if it had hit the wire. This was the attack on the citadel for the story arc campaign. I'll post the AAR sometime this week.

For your convenience here are the rules:
Westinghouse Wire attacks any Martian that comes into direct contact with the wire or the poles, or shoots a heat ray at it. Martians may attack the wire in 3 ways. They may:
• Attempt to walk through the wire. Roll on the Westinghouse Wire Damage table.
• Attempt to cut the wire or rip down poles with assault tentacles or reaper tentacles or claws. Roll on the Westinghouse Wire damage table. If the tripod is still functioning attack the wire with defense 3, armor 9.
• Attempt to damage the wire by using a heat ray. Roll on the Westinghouse Wire damage table. If the tripod is still functioning attack the wire with defense 3, armor 9.

Westinghouse Wire Damage
Die Roll Effect Description
1-3 Break through The tripod is undamaged and may continue its move if it has movement left. It may fight normally in the next combat phase. The Westinghouse wire in this section is destroyed.
4,5 Breakers tripped The tripod halts at the wire. It may not move or fight for the remainder of this turn. It may move and fight normally on the next turn. The Westinghouse wire in this section is destroyed.
6,7 Minor damage The tripod halts at the wire. It may not move or fight for the remainder of this turn. It may move and fight normally on the next turn. The Westinghouse wire in this section is undamaged.
8,9 Significant damage The tripod halts at the wire. It may not move or fight for the remainder of this turn or for the next turn. The Westinghouse wire in this section is undamaged.
10 Major damage The tripod halts at the wire. It may not move or fight for the remainder of the game. The tripod counts as destroyed for army break point. The Westinghouse wire in this section is undamaged.