Diamonds in the Rough: Escape from Kalisz (4e Rules, v1 Timeline) [Archive]

Raellus

06-15-2022, 02:38 PM

July 19, 2000

Dawn breaks cool and clear. The soldiers rise, groggy, and achy from bunking down on the floor. Still tired, empty bellies grumbling in protest, they move about the complex, poking around some more and setting up the still. Grease gives Pole Position some TLC.

It’s midmorning when the party’s PRC-77 radio crackles to life. Bird’s laconic drawl fills the airwaves,

“Got a Russian patrol just come out of the trees on the north side of the clearing. Don’t think they’ve seen us. Looks like they’re checkin’ out the other homestead. Over.”

The nearest neighbor is nearly 400m away.

Sarge orders everyone out of sight. It’s a long shot, but the hope is that the Soviet patrol assumes that this particular farmhouse is likewise abandoned and moves along without investigating. The fireplace has been cold for a couple of hours, so there’s been no smoke since before dawn. After about ten minutes or so, Bird issues another report,

“They’re comin’ this way. Nine of ‘em. One RPK, one grenade launcher, one radio.”

“Hold your fire. Maybe they’ll turn around.” Cap replies into the radio handset.

Sarge and Cap peek through cracks in the curtains. The Soviet patrol is still coming.

“They’re not gonna stop,” Cap opines. Sarge nods in agreement.

The senior noncom quickly briefs the group, “Alright people. They get to within 100m, we’re gonna to hit ‘em. Bird will zap their officer. When he does, the rest of us’ll move into firing positions. Honeybear, set up outside, northeast corner. I’ll be with you. Vasquez, you set up at the northwest corner. Randall, you and the Captain will stay here. Grease, get Pole Position warmed up and ready to roll. Deacon, stay in cover- you’re on call if anyone gets hit. Everyone good?”

Sarge transmits the Cliff's Notes version of the plan to Bird who's lying prone just overhead in the attic.

At about 80m, Bird kicks things off. A muffled crack splits the tension. Betrayed by his binoculars and map case, the Soviet officer takes one lurching half-step backwards before collapsing in a heap on the road. The other Soviet soldiers scatter, dropping prone in the drainage ditches alongside the road or rushing 20m or so towards a shallow irrigation ditch running perpendicular to it. Bird curses himself for waiting for them to get close enough to make it cover in a single sprint.

The other Americans scramble into position. The enemy patrol starts blasting away at the farmhouse with automatic fire. It’s likely they don’t know exactly where the shots came from, but they put enough lead into the building to suppress the American sniper. Bird is showered with dust and splinters as the attic is pelted with fire. Nearly horizontal, 5.45mm-around shafts of light appear suddenly all around, as incoming rounds punch holes in the roofing. It’s almost like the bad guys are shooting at him with lasers.

Lying prone near the northeast corner of the farmhouse, Honeybear cuts loose with several controlled bursts of MG fire. One of the enemy troops on the right pitches forward into the ditch.

At the opposite corner, Vasquez sends a 40mm grenade in a shallow arc towards a clump of Russians on the left (the enemy’s right flank). It bursts in a puff of dust and white smoke close to the aim point, and two Russians go silent (although it’s unclear if they were actually killed or wounded by the small blast).

Enemy fire has so far been heavy, but ineffective. A Soviet 40mm grenade explodes well wide of the farmhouse. The sturdy brick structure stops most of the incoming Soviet bullets.

The Americans continue to pour rounds into the Soviet patrol. Honeybear gets another one with a head shot. Sarge adds to the tally with one of his own. The amount of incoming fire has decreased to the point where Bird can reengage. The narksman picks off the RPK gunner with a single, well-placed round.

Honeybear’s head snaps backwards, then slumps forward. Sarge grabs the big machinegunner’s boots, drags him back around the corner of the farmhouse.

“Medic!” Sarge bellows. Deacon comes running. As they roll him over on to his back, Honeybear comes to. “What happened?” he asks with a casualness so absurd under the circumstance that it’s amusing. The torn camouflage cover and furrow running along the crown of his Kelvar K-Pot helmet provides the answer.

Meanwhile, Cap and Randall each take another enemy out of the fight. Another Soviet grenade explodes, this one short, but close enough to chase the two Americans away from the windows for a few seconds.

One of the remaining Soviets tosses a cylinder out of the ditch. It spews forth a rapidly expanding cloud of pinkish red smoke.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Sarge roars over the din. Outgoing fire peters out; incoming fire has stopped completely.

"Bird, whattaya see?" Cap calls up to the attic.

"Uh, looks like they're runnin'," the sniper reports calmly on the platoon net.

"You get a shot, take it."

"Somethin's wrong with my scope," Bird replies, disappointedly.

All the team sniper can do is watch as three enemy soldiers emerge about 40m beyond the smoke, sprinting towards the far side of the clearing (they've got about 200m to go before reaching the tree line). None are carrying a visible weapon.

"Time to go," Cap says flatly, unable to hide the disappointment in her tone.

"Let me take Randall and Deacon, grab any intel," Sarge asks.

Captain Walker hesitates for a few seconds, answers, "We're leaving in five."

Sarge cautiously leads the small clearing team towards the kill zone, with Bird maintaining over-watch from the attic aerie. The trio recovers a pair of binoculars, leather map case, R-392A radio, an RPK, and two AK-74s.

Pole Position rolls out of the barn and turns on to the road.

"Let's go!" Cap calls from the air guard hatch.

Ref Notes:
This was the Shoot On Sight random encounter from the deck. I used the simplified Crit rules for NPCs (critical hits automatically incapacitate/kill hostile NPCs), but rolled CUF for each individual enemy soldier. I ruled that, once the patrol commander was eliminated, the radioman didn't have the skill to call in artillery fire (he was able, however, to call in the contact). I got really lucky rolling hits for the good guys and even luckier with hit location rolls (multiple head shots). Only Honeybear got hit, in the head no less, but his K-Pot saved his life (he only took one damage). The party burned up a lot of ammo during the engagement, as I rolled 3-6 ammo dice on almost every roll (except for Bird's M21, which, with Dam 3, Crit 3, turned out to be a critical hit machine). It was worth it, though, as I rolled numerous sixes, adding damage to hits, and suppression to misses. I pushed a couple of rolls, to good effect, but Bird's M21 lost 1 reliability point on the lone failed push. I learned that 40mm HE grenades don't do much damage on hits to targeted hexes. Next time, I think I'll take the -2 penalty to target an individual so that, on a hit, the target takes at least the weapon's listed direct damage.

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kcdusk

06-15-2022, 04:07 PM

I'm about to get to grenades and their effects in my own solo game.

Good read so far, looking forward to more.

I've found using ammo dice has simulated "spray and pray" well so far in limited use. It burns through lots of ammo, but can provide the occasional extra hit/suppression. Its not efficient, but can be effective.

Raellus

06-15-2022, 07:30 PM

Thanks, KC. Your recent posts in this sub-forum inspired me to write up my sessions in pseudo-narrative form and share them.

I agree completely with your assessment of ammo dice. There's definitely a trade off- ammo for effects- and the PCs are going to start running low soon if they keep opting for high volume fire.

P.S. Stay tuned for my first experience with 4e hand grenades.

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kcdusk

06-15-2022, 09:42 PM

P.S. Stay tuned for my first experience with 4e hand grenades.

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My solo game is 80% drawn from the random encounters, 20% me steering the game towards certain sections of the game deliberately to trial specific rules.

I started with HTH, then a pistol, then SMGs .... slowly ramping it up. Spoiler alert, weather, travel, camping and heavy weapons & vehicles are in the pipeline!

Raellus

06-16-2022, 01:46 PM

“Think they’re full?” Randall whispers.

“Why would Ivan be sending empty tanker trucks to the front lines?” Vasquez answers.

“Good point.”

The Soviet fuel convoy (a ZIL-131 gun truck with improvised armor on point, three Zil tanker trucks, and a UAZ with a pintle-mounted PKM bringing up the rear) rumbles past, apparently unaware of the Americans lurking just inside the woods bordering the road.

After leaving the scene of carnage, both old and new, at the farmhouse, the party attempted to traverse a veritable maze of unpaved back roads and farm tracks, intending to exit the area whilst staying off the beaten path. Their two maps of the area, however, lack detail- like back roads and farm tracks- so accurately orientating themselves proved nearly impossible. Essentially, they’d more or less been traveling in circles while morning matured into early afternoon. Tired and frustrated, they’d given up and taken the first paved road they ran into, hoping to finally orient themselves and move away from the area. Said blacktop was passing through a patch of woods when Bird, once again acting as team lookout, spotted the Soviet convoy approaching on a closing course. His warning prompted Grease to execute a hard right turn. The Polish-made APC left the tarmac and rolled into a copse of saplings, stopping roughly 10 meters into the thicket. Everyone but the vehicle crew (Grease at the wheel and Honeybear behind the DShK HMG in the gunner’s cupola) dismounted and dispersed in the nearby woods.

With an amalgam of relief and regret, he party watches the convoy roll away.

“We could’ve really hurt ‘em,” Sarge says, practically scowling, “Put the brakes on their pursuit, helped some of our people escape.”

“Yes, we could have,” Cap concedes. “And we could probably outrun the survivors, but we won’t outrun their radios,” she sagely points out.

“I know, I just…” Sarge trails off.

“I know, Sergeant,” Walker says, sympathetically.

...

A few minutes after the convoy moves out of sight, Pole Position rolls back out of the brush, leaving a few mangled saplings in its wake. Concluding that this particular stretch of blacktop is currently serving as a Soviet MSR, the group exits on to the next unpaved road they find. At a small hamlet they’d passed through earlier that day (from a different direction), they take a new road- an overgrown track, really- that disappears into a thickly wooded area to the west. The party follows this track for some ways, until it becomes clear that it’s entered a proper forest. A few klicks in, it’s decided to stop and make camp. Pole Position has burned a significant quantity of meth over the past 48 hours or so, and the party’s food is starting to run low. Camp is set up about 30m off the path; a decent amount of time and effort is spent trying to conceal it. Grease assembles the still, while Bird departs on a solo hunting expedition (after persuading Cap and Sarge to let him go alone). The Wyomingite spots a rabbit, sneaks to within 20 meters of the hapless rodent, and kills it with a blast of birdshot (from the shotgun scrounged at the murder-suicide farm). He returns to camp with the prize and Honeybear cheerfully prepares it for roasting. The party is sitting down to eat when they hear Vasquez, posted on watch near the track, shouting. Sarge, Cap, Honeybear and Randall grab their weapons rush to the grenadier’s aid, to find her confronted by nearly two dozen filthy, ragged, and increasingly surly refugees who’ve somehow managed to find the hidden camp. With Randle translating, Cap tries to persuade the highly agitated group to leave…

P.R.’s dispassionate delivery contrasts with the increasingly shrill tone of the refugee group’s apparent leader, a rail-thin man with a peeling bald pate and several days worth of scraggly growth on his face.

“This isn’t your country. You come here uninvited, kill our people, destroy our homes. We’re starving to death and it’s your fault. You must give us food.”

“Tell him we’re sorry, but we don’t have enough food to share,” Walker says evenly.

“You lie! I can smell it!” Randall translates.

“I’m sorry, but…” Captain Walker stammers.

“Chodźmy!” the man shouts.

Like a human wave, the refugees rush the Americans, most flowing through or around the weak cordon and breaking hard towards the camp. Walker grabs the leader by the arm as he shoulders past her, but the scrawny civilian shakes loose. When she grabs him again, this time by the back of his shirt, he spins around and sticks a butcher knife into her belly. Vasquez butt-strokes the leader’s arm, and he drops the knife. Honeybear shoves another refugee into a tree, knocking him down. Sarge absorbs a painful blow from a metal pipe with his left arm, punches his assailant square in the face. Walker gingerly pats her belly, feeling for a wound. She’d relieved to find that the Kevlar of her PAGST vest stopped the knife point from penetrating.

Back at camp, Bird, Grease, and Deacon are surprised by the sudden surge of grasping refugees. Bird grabs the shotgun, fires a blast of birdshot over the swarming fugees' heads, to no apparent effect. The assailants go after food and supplies. A woman takes hold of the spited rabbit; Grease grabs the other end of the spit and a sloppy tug-of-war ensues. A man tries to brain the team driver with a hatchet. Grease narrowly sidesteps the killing blow. Bird takes aim at the hatchet wielder’s legs and lets fly with the last of the 12-gauge shells. The close-range blast of birdshot nearby blows the man’s foot off at the ankle. His agonized screams seem to shock the other refugees into quiescence. With the rest of the Americans' guns drawn and trained, the refugees flee, carrying whatever small items they’d managed to grab (mostly empty ration packaging) but leaving their screaming companion behind. Aside from a few bumps and bruises, everyone in the party is OK.

The campsite is secured an a quick inventory is taken. Only Sarge's pack is missing, but it contained the party’s only night optical device. The sun has just gone down and it's growing increasingly dark beneath the trees. Two debates arise (punctuated by the wounded man's anguished cries): first, whether to move on and try to find another campsite in the dark (without NGVs), or to stay put. Second, what to do with the wounded 'fugee? After some pretty intense back-and-forth, it's decided to stay put and double the watch; Deacon begins treatment on the wounded man's mangled foot. The medic successfully stops the bleeding and eases his patient's agony a bit with a dose of painkillers. The refugee literally smells like shit. Deacon determines he's ill- probably dysentery or cholera, given the stained, crusty condition of his trousers. With Randall translating, Cap tries to get some useful information out of the "prisoner" but the interrogation only yields inane rambling sprinkled with passionate curses, stressing Walker close to the breaking point.

The watch is doubled and the party spends a largely restless night in the woods. Although there are no more interruptions, no one sleeps long or particularly well, getting only enough to stave off exhaustion for another day of flight. The party leaves the wounded, shit-covered refugee by the side of the forest track with a full canteen and drives west. Although no one was badly hurt, the encounter was costly in terms of supplies.

Ref's Notes:
Encounter 4 was generated using the appropriate tables in the ref's manual. #5 is Hungry & Angry from the random encounter deck. Bird made use of the called shot rules to incapacitate hatchet guy. Captain Walker took a point of stress from a failed persuasion roll during the attempted interrogation of the wounded 'fugee. She even had help! This particular encounter really highlighted the survival aspect of 4e rules. Despite Bird's successful hunting foray, the party is now down to just a couple of rations and full canteens each, so finding food and water has just become a top priority.

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kcdusk

06-16-2022, 06:16 PM

I would have stayed put over night too.

I would let the refugee go in the morning, no doubt the group will move off anyway, and he can try and find his "tribe".

I haven't got to stress points yet.

How did you determine that only Sarges backpack was missing, with the NVG. Some sort of random roll?

Raellus

06-16-2022, 06:34 PM

How did you determine that only Sarges backpack was missing, with the NVG. Some sort of random roll?

Yes. I assigned each party member and then rolled a d8 to determine whose pack was stolen. The NVGs were part of Sarge's starting equipment (included in the Operator archetype starting kit list). All of his rations and 1 of his canteens were in the lost pack as well.

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Raellus

06-17-2022, 03:08 PM

July 20, 2000

Pole Position rolls to the western edge of the woods. There's a small village about a klick to the southwest, across farm fields. The approaches slowly, cautiously, observe the settlement from a safe distance. They determine that it is inhabited, but not occupied by enemy forces. Walker and Sarge decide to take a risk and speak with the locals in an effort to get a fix on the unit's position and attempt to trade for some food and fresh water. Contact is made. The party learns that they are in REDACTED, approximately 30km south-southwest of Kalisz. The villagers are a bit standoffish at first, but seem to warm up to the Americans fairly quickly. They let the unit refill its canteens from a hand-pumped well, free of charge, and agree to trade two chickens or one piglet for two AK-74s (the party opts for the chickens). In speaking with the locals, the party learns that there are PolCom troops in the area, reportedly concentrated around Kepno, to the south.

Unbeknownst to the Lost Diamonds, the village elders are in disagreement regarding what to do about their American visitors. Some want to conclude the deal and send the foreign soldiers on their way; others are afraid that if the PolCom or Soviet troops in the area find out that the villagers aided and abetted the enemy, there will be dire consequences for the village (or at least its erstwhile leaders). After some vigorous debate, it's decided to inform nearby Polish troops of the US soldiers' presence; a boy is sent on a bicycle to the nearest patrol base, (a town about 7km to the west) with a message.

Meanwhile, a few of the Red Diamonds have made friends with some of the village children. Randall breaks the ice with some card tricks (using the deck scrounged from the murder-suicide farmhouse). He rewards a young volunteer helper with the broken wristwatch scrounged from the murder-suicide farmstead. The shamefaced recipient sheepishly confesses that his older brother is on his way to tell Polish soldiers that American are in town. Randall immediately shares this intel with Sarge and Cap. Feeling hurt by the villager's duplicity, the unit mounts up and rolls out of town, heading east-southeast (although they intend to make for some woods to the south).

The rest of the morning is spent the same way as the previous one was- driving around on unpaved country roads, trying to keep a generally southeasterly bearing.

Ref's Notes:
This encounter was generated using tables in the Ref's Manual. Pulled card for settlement. Then pulled card for its problem: "divided". Decided that meant the inhabitants didn't know what to do with a party of Americans. Some wanted friendly relations, others wanted to turn them in to gov't forces. Pulled another card (Oracle) and it was black. The elders decide to inform the Polish army.
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Raellus

06-17-2022, 03:18 PM

A tremendous explosion rocks Pole Position. Vasquez is slammed face-first into the open port-side air guard hatch and falls, dazed, into the troop compartment. Instead of following SOP and continuing to drive through what is likely a kill zone, Grease brakes hard, freezing up from the shock of the blast; Honeybear (in the gunners cupola) also seem stunned. Dust and smoke fill the air.

Ref's Notes:
This Death from Below, from the random encounter deck. The shaped-charge IED fails to penetrate the SKOT's armor. What?!? Yeah, the IED is damage 4 and the SKOT's side armor is 4. No penetration. I roll the hit location die and consult the non-penetration damage table. The result is ricochet. So, basically, everyone riding exposed must roll CUF (2/4 succeed). I roll blast damage B and only one PC is injured (2 points damage). The SKOT isn't damaged at all. Thanks rules? I start the clock on the marauder force, They'll be arriving in 5 minutes.

“Dismount!” Sarge yells. Those that can, do. Deacon stays behind to attend to Vasquez.

Lying the shallow drainage ditch at the side of the road, the Diamonds face outwards, squinting as they try to pierce through the haze, searching for their attackers. Seconds pass. Aside from the ringing in their ears, it’s quiet. No incoming fire, no movement. The dust settles.

“Landmine?” Cap asks.

Sarge glances back at the APC. There’s a large scorch mark on the right rear quarter, but none of the wheels appear damaged, not even a flat tire. There’s no crater in the road either, just a smoldering bare patch just off the right shoulder, grass and other ground cover blasted away.

“Directional mine, maybe. Or IED,” Sarge answers.

A couple of minutes pass. No attack materializes. Having regained his composure, Grease inspects Pole Position for damage. He can't quite believe it, but the Polish-made PC appears to have escaped relatively unscathed. As for its human passengers, miraculously, aside from a few bumps and bruises, everyone is okay. Vasquez got the worst of it- a bloody nose and bruised ribs, but she can still fight, if need be.

“Somethin’s comin’!” Bird says, urgency clear in his tone.

Sure enough, looking up the road, the Diamonds see a slab-nosed truck, a heavy machine gun on a tall AA pintle mount poking up from behind the crew cab. It’s maybe 100m away and closing fast. Gear heads would recognize the vehicle as a GAZ-66 4x, or the Polish knock off.

Ref’s Notes:
The encounter card says PCx2 in a pickup truck technical. The pickup truck only seats a total of 6, though [did the designers assume PC parties of 3?], so I upgraded their ride to a GAZ-66 (13 passengers; leaving 3 marauders behind at their base). The marauders fail their recon role, so they assume they are approaching a soft-killed AFV and proceed with incaution.

There’s no time to discuss the next course of action. Sarge shouts, “Honeybear, hit it!”

Pole Position’s A gunner brings the vehicle’s DShK to bear and opens fire. The big gun hammers out rounds; tracers streak away and disappear into the truck’s crew cab and engine compartment. The GAZ drifts to its right (the party’s left) and crashes to a halt in the shallow drainage ditch. The rest of the Diamonds open fire, pumping rounds downrange. The unarmored truck stops very few of these and casualties quickly mount.

Ref’s Notes:
I learned that I don't want the PCs to ride in an unarmored vehicle. The GAZ is rated at armor 1 (all sides). The DShK does 4 damage. I rolled all six ammo dice. Long story short, with 22 rounds, HB kills the commander and driver and damages the engine. I roll deviation dice and determine that the out of control GAZ swerves (not sharply) right and stops abruptly in the ditch. I rule that all passengers take falling damage (the minimum possible, so 1) as inertia throws them violently forward in the truck bed. The PCs emerge from the lee of the SKOT and pour rapid fire (3-6 ammo dice) into the crashed GAZ. In short order, two passengers in the bed, including the HMG gunner, are killed (one of them slowly, after his arm is blown off). Vasquez misses 10m long with a 40mm HE round. In v2.2, this would still do some damage. In 4e, it does not- the latter is probably the more realistic outcome. As the OPFOR continue to fail CUF rolls (caused by close calls or stress from seeing their buddies killed in front of them), or spend slow actions to un-ass the crippled GAZ, the PCs continue to blast away. The engine block is pulverized by another long burst of HMG fire. Small arms rounds blow out tires and puncture the fuel tank (but the leaking meth doesn't ignite, per the rules). Another passenger cowering in the bed is killed.

Bird and Vasquez set up over-watch on the front and rear of the truck, respectively. The Diamonds pause to reload and come up with a tactical plan to finish the enemy. Sarge swaps weapons with Cap (his M16A2 for her M4 carbine), collars Randle, and pulls Honeybear off the SKOT's HMG (replacing him with Grease), thus forming a 3-man assault team. The plan is simple, but not without risk: cross the road, advance to within hand grenade range, and assault the covered side of the truck. With the others providing covering fire, the assault team sprints across the road into the drainage ditch. Lying in wait, Bird and Vasquez both shoot and kill marauder riflemen that appear at either end of the GAZ. The assault team starts to advance along the ditch towards the GAZ. The high volume and accuracy of covering fire, and the geometry of truck, ditch, and opposing forces, conspire to keep the assault team largely out of the enemy’s line of sight for most of the advance.

Ref’s Notes:
At this point in the firefight, I'm kind of struggling with what the six surviving marauders would do. I'm not even sure what I would do if I was in their shoes, tactically speaking. They’re pinned down and taking casualties every round. Almost all of the survivors have failed at least one CUF roll. I remember to use the Oracle. I draw a red 6 (mild boon). What does that mean? I decide that it means that some of the marauders try to retreat. I roll a d6: two is the result. Two marauders pull a runner. After playing with Google maps, any retreating OPFOR would have maybe a 10m lane where the PCs wouldn't have LOS, but then I thought about the HMG on the SKOT. It's elevated about 2m off the ground and the flatbed GAZ is in a ditch, so I decided it's likely the SKOT gunner would be able to see over the truck once any runners were 20-30m removed. I ruled that the runners’ upper bodies would be visible starting at 100m (SKOT and GAZ are 80m apart).

From his elevated perch in Pole Position’s gunner’s cupola, Grease spots two figures running away from the fight. They’re trying to use the truck to screen their flight, but at about 120m, their upper bodies are unmasked. The team driver/mechanic takes aim and squeezes the trigger. Tracers reach out towards the runners. Both targets are knocked down and out of sight by the long burst. Grease is about 90% sure he hit them.

Ref's Notes:
Grease engaged at about 120m (short range for the DShK is 150m) and rolled multiple hits. Hit location was arms for both and, since they only had 3HP each and the DShK does 4 dam (Crits!), they were both killed.

The three-man assault team closes to within 30m of the crippled GAZ. PR and Sarge prep hand grenades, while Honeybear covers them with his MAG. The Diamonds' throws are dead-on. Both frags explode close-in on the sheltered side of the truck. Honeybear swings out wide left and drops prone behind his gun while Sarge and PR rush forward to follow up the grenade attack. There's no one left to finish (in sight). Four bodies lie in various contorted positions along the starboard side of the ravaged Gaz.

Only the interior of the truck bed and the space behind the tailgate are not visible.

“Tell them to surrender,” Sarge pants.

“Poddać się! To twoja ostatnia szansa! Wyjdź z podniesionymi rękami!”

After a pregnant pause, two men emerge from behind the tailgate, hands raised, eyes filled with terror. The firefight is over.

Ref’s Notes:
I learned that hand grenades are more deadly than 40mm grenades. PR rollis a D12 and a D6, Sarge just a D6. Both hit! Roll the 2 d8s for Blast C. Half the dice hit. That's 4 damage, enough to kill both the marauders near the nose of the GAZ.

The results of the combat were great. None of the PCs were injured (after the IED). The victory did cost a lot of ammo (56 rounds of 12.7mm, alone) but the party will be able to recover 200 rounds from the unfired enemy DShK, 1/4 tank of meth, and a bunch of AKMs (with one reload each). Next up, interrogating the two prisoners...

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kcdusk

06-17-2022, 06:29 PM

Encounter 6: good job with interacting with a village. I know in my own games, combat happens and is easy enough to work out. But i've struggled gaming out social interactions. V4.0 seems to make it easier for me, and i've noted in my own game i intend to game out more social interactions. So good to read your own example.

kcdusk

06-17-2022, 09:22 PM

Ref’s Notes:
At this point in the firefight, I'm kind of struggling with what the six surviving marauders would do. I'm not even sure what I would do if I was in their shoes, tactically speaking. They’re pinned down and taking casualties every round. Almost all of the survivors have failed at least one CUF roll. ).

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At this point i think they'd surrender. I'll have to reread v4.0 to see if it mentions % of squad losses leading to panic or surrender (or maybe that was another set of rules i was reading). Or i'd make up a random table for their decision, from surrender, retreat/escape, fight on ....

Raellus

06-18-2022, 02:22 PM

At this point i think they'd surrender. I'll have to reread v4.0 to see if it mentions % of squad losses leading to panic or surrender.

I also remember seeing something about that in one of the rulebooks but I couldn't find it. A couple of the REC's specifically mention that the OPFOR retreats after taking 50% casualties, so maybe that's what we're remembering. Anyway, I would have had the marauders retreat once 7/13 had been killed, but there wasn't a safe egress route. I reckon the vast majority of people in a similar situation (pinned down behind cover 80m from the enemy with no other cover nearby) would stay behind cover rather than break and run essentially into the open whilst under heavy fire. It all worked out, in the end, though. But I definitely had to give the situation some thought.

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Raellus

06-18-2022, 02:35 PM

The two prisoners are secured, separated. Cap and PR handle interrogations, while Sarge supervises the collection of weapons and ammo from the dead. The GAZ is effectively destroyed, but its carcass yields ¼ of a tank of methanol, a DShKA heavy machinegun, and 200 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition.

The first prisoner, literally shaking in his boots, sings like a bird. He tells his captors everything. Thirteen Polish deserters took control of a nearby hamlet about a month ago, and have been waylaying unwary passersby ever since. The villagers do not willingly support their activities; they are, however, forced to feed the deserters. The frightened prisoner tells the Americans which houses in the hamlet his comrades currently occupy. There are no perimeter defenses of any kind. The party’s APC rolled over a pressure plate-activated shaped-charge IED- the marauders' attempt to work smarter, not harder. Luckily for the Diamonds, the charge was not particularly well made or employed. So much for "smarter".

The second prisoner is a little less forthcoming, but he confirms everything reported by his comrade.

The Diamonds decide to send the second marauder into the village with a message: leave town or face the consequences. And answer confirming imminent compliance is expected within 30 minutes. He’s hurried on his way by a burst of AK fire.

Meanwhile, in addition to the fuel and ammo from the wrecked truck, the party recovers two 5.45mm Tantal rifles, ten Polish-made AKMs, a PM-84 submachine gun, and an FB-64 pistol.

After about 30 minutes, a villager approaches at a jog. She tells the Diamonds that the marauders have agreed to leave the village, but intend to take a couple of hostages along with them to assure that they are not attacked during their evacuation. The hostages will be released once the marauders feel reasonably safe. The Diamonds don’t like the counter-offer, but agree that the concession- as long as it isn’t some sort of ruse- will result in fewer civilian and friendly casualties than storming the marauder’s compound. They send the villager back with the second prisoner and a message: “If the hostages aren’t back home within two hours, we’ll hunt you down and, this time, no quarter will be given.”

The Diamonds load their loot aboard Pole Position and mount up. After another 30 minutes pass, they drive towards the hamlet. When they arrive, they’re confronted by a distraught mother, whose daughter was taken hostage. The Diamonds assure the middle-aged woman that if her daughters not back in 1.5 hours, they’ll go after her, and won’t return until she’s back home. This only calms the mother down a little. Other villagers trickle out of their homes, curious to see the Americans that have rid them of their unwanted guests, and wondering if they’re any different than the Poles they just displaced.

A few minutes after the deadline passes, just before the Diamonds' SKOT is about to depart on the promised rescue mission, the two hostages return.

The villagers are relieved; some express gratitude, others are understandably wary. The marauders were a hungry bunch and had been growing fat on the village’s produce. The residents are reluctant to let the Americans stay for more than a few hours, lest they become too comfortable and decide to stay for a month. The Diamonds want to spend at least one night in the village. They figure it’s a relatively safe place in which to do so, being as the Polish deserters/marauders weren’t bothered by PACT forces for the last month or so. After some negotiation, a deal is struck. The Americans will stay in the village for no more than 24 hours. In exchange for food and hospitality, the Diamonds agree to part with most of the small arms captured from the bandits, and train the villagers to use them. The villagers like the idea of being able to defend themselves, especially since the four surviving bandits might return when the Americans leave.

By dawn of the next day, everyone but Vasquez and Honeybear has fallen ill, with some combination of fever, cramping, vomiting, and diarrhea. At first, some suspect they've been poisoned by yet another band of duplicitous Polish villagers, but Deacon quickly concludes that's unlikely. The team medic suspects the sick have contracted whatever the desperate refugees who stormed the Diamonds’ forest camp two nights ago had- either dysentery or cholera, most likely. Employing some herbal folk remedies, a helpful villager (one of the hostages) nurses the infirm Americans. On day two, Grease and Deacon recover. Deacon teams up with the village “nurse” to care for the sick- on day 3 everyone but Bird recovers. He is sick for two more days, nearly dying.

During this time, Sarge teaches a few villagers how to handle the marauders' small arms- loading/unloading, field stripping, and dry-firing them. They want to actually fire the weapons, but he's reluctant to allow it, lest the noise attract attention. The group is going to have to stay put for at least a couple more days until the wrung-out team marksman is back on his feet. Also, during these last 5 days, some of the villagers dig a shallow mass grave for the dead marauders who were stinking up outskirts of the settlement. The Diamonds would have pitched in (after all, they made the mess), if they weren't recovering from illness.

Ref’s Notes:
For the interrogation, Cap, with PR helping, rolled three targets on a Persuasion/interrogation roll so the prisoner told her everything. She rolled one target for the second prisoner, so he simply confirmed what the first had told her, adding little.

This wasn't a true encounter per se, but more of a natural continuation of the previous one. Still, I pulled a card for the villagers' attitude and the result was "Curious" (as in, about the newcomers).

Disease rules came into play for the first time. Even rolling two d12, Deacon failed to heal Bird until day 5, after he'd reached 0 HP. What a way to go, that would have been.

Fortunately, I only pulled repeat or inapplicable RECs for the 5 days the Diamonds were stuck in town, so there were no encounters to deal with. I only rolled once per day, instead of once per shift, given the isolated nature of the ville. I figure the sick wouldn't be eating a lot, but on Day 3 HB preps the second (and last) chicken. They didn’t have to eat any of their own rations while staying in the ville (as per the agreement), and all canteens were refilled.

The unit expended a lot of ammo destroying the marauders, so Sarge swapped his M16A2 for an AKM (for which 17 mags were recovered) and distributed his remaining mags/5.56mm rounds among his teammates.

-

Raellus

06-19-2022, 05:21 PM

July 26, 2000

Dawn breaks soggy, heavy showers dousing the village and its surrounding fields throughout the morning. The rain stops shortly before noon, but heavy clouds remain overhead, threatening another downpour before the day is done. A Humvee cargo/troop carrier (M1038A1) arrives at the northern outskirts of the village. Contact is made. On board are eight survivors of 5ID, although the Diamonds don’t recognize any of the newcomers.

“Cpl. Matt Townes,” their spokesman identifies himself; he neglects to share his unit designation. “I’m guess I’m kinda the guy in charge of this little outfit.”

Unusual for a junior non-com, Townes carries an M4 carbine and wears a pistol on his ALICE belt.

“Captain Walker. This is Platoon Sergeant McNulty.”

While the respective unit commanders confer, some of the other Diamonds approach the Humvee, strike up conversations with the newcomers.

“We’ve been in the suck for- what day is it?- at least a week, I guess. Looks like you guys have seen some action recently?”

“Ran off some Polish army deserters off a few days ago. You probably passed their vehicle on the way here.”

“Yeah, saw that. Looks like you shot the shit out of ‘em.”

One of the strangers has a leg wound (a bullet wound in the calf); two others appear ill.

“Our medic will take a look at your guys,” Captain Walker informs Townes, less an offer than a declaration.

“Yeah, that would be good. Appreciate it.” Townes replies.

By now, a few villagers have arrived on the scene, including members of the nascent town militia (armed with weapons provided by the Diamonds). Their leader pulls PR aside, expresses dismay at the thought of feeding yet more American soldiers. The translator tries to reassure them, but he can’t make any assurances at this point. PR passes the villagers' concerns along to Sarge and Walker.

A quarter of an hour later, Deacon approaches Sarge, explains,

“The two sick ones- I think it’s typhus. They’ve got lice bites all over; symptoms line up too.”

“Hell,” Sarge almost sighs. He sidebars Walker. They come up with a hasty course of action

“I’m afraid you're going to have to go into quarantine for a bit,” Walker explains to the newcomer’s leader.

Townes frowns, asks, “What the… What does that mean?”

“It means you and your men will be confined to quarters until your sick recover. You’ll be cared for- comfortable shelter, food, water, medicine. Our medic says it's typhus- highly contagious, potentially fatal. It's for everyone's safety.”

There’s an uncomfortable pause. Townes frowns, shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

Sarge breaks the silence, says sternly, “Consider that an order, Corporal."

It’s almost too quick to catch, but Townes flashes Sarge a venomous look.

“Yeah, OK. I mean, yes, sir.” Townes finally replies.

The newcomers are directed to move into the ersatz isolation ward, a little compound on the west side of the village’s main road that the Diamonds had been occupying since forcing its previous tenants- the marauders- to leave town. Townes demeanor improves sharply. The Diamonds move their gear (and Pole Position) across the road to another empty house (also used previously used by the bandits), split their dinner rations with their counterparts before turning in for the evening.

Ref's Notes:
I'm not going to reveal which Random Encounter card this is yet. So far, this episode has emphasized a lot of social interaction, involving a number of Persuasion rolls, some opposed. Fortunately, Capt. Walker is pretty persuasive (and the modifiers were always to her advantage).

-

Raellus

06-21-2022, 02:36 PM

Over dinner, the Diamonds discuss their experiences with the newcomers.

"Something's off. That Townes, he's pretty squirrelly," Walker opines.

“One of the sick guys- Branson, I think it was- dropped a bandana full of jewelry when I was looking him over,” Deacon starts, “Pretty sure I saw a West Point class ring in there. He noticed I saw it, said it belonged to a friend who died.”

“Guy I was talking to said his CO got fragged right after Kalisz,” Honeybear chimed in. “Said it was 'his time to go'.”

“Yeah, these guys are trouble,” Sarge says. “We need to keep a close eye on them. Two on watch tonight.”

The sun goes down, darkness falls…

Bird and Captain Walker are on second watch. Bird hears a scraping noise coming from the quarantine compound (aka the guest house), looks north spots a flash of movement in the road. He lifts his rifle, scopes the area, sees a second figure, crouched over, carrying a rifle, running across the road towards an overgrown lot to the north of the Diamond’s current residence. He pans left, sees dark shapes- human- against the white-painted exterior of a building. Then another figure starts creeping across the road, this one clearly armed.

“Don’t take any chances with these guys,” Sarge had said, “You see something off, shoot first, ask questions later. I'll take full responsibility.”

[Round 1]

Bird fixes the third figure in his crosshairs, squeezes the trigger. The M21 bucks, the target stumbles and falls in the road.

[The first two figures make it to the overgrown lot and drop prone behind some thick brush.]

A muzzle flash erupts from the south-facing window of the guesthouse. Bird is knocked backwards by what feels like a flying kick to the chest. He drops to the ground, gasping for breath.

The sleeping Diamonds are jolted awake by the spasm of gunfire. They scramble for weapons and body armor, start moving to their posts.

Shouting for everyone to stand to, Captain Walker moves down an alley between two buildings to get eyes on the north. She takes a knee at the corner, scans for threats.

Something explodes about 20m short of the open-sided garage structure on the north side of the Diamonds’ compound.

[Round 2]

Captain Walker hears movement in the underbrush 20m north of the compound. She takes aim at a clump of bushes and waits…

The enemy SAW gunner spots the Diamond CO, takes a shot at her, but the burst goes wide.

Sarge and PR join the fight. They each take aim at the muzzle flash and open fire, driving the enemy SAW gunner away from the window. Deacon rushes to Bird’s aid, drags the wounded sniper behind cover. Grease takes Bird’s place at the front (west, facing the road) of the compound; Honeybear joins Cap on the northeast side.

[Round 3]

Deacon open’s Bird’s PAGST vest, finds the wound. Fortunately, Bird’s Kevlar body armor kept the bullet from penetrating deeply. Part of the jacketed round protrudes from the sniper’s left pec. Deacon squeezes the slug out like a blackhead and slaps a field dressing on the flesh wound. [Successful Medical Aid Roll- all damage healed]. Bird can rejoin the fight.

Walker sees a rifle barrel protrude from the brush, just 30m away from her position. She squeezes the trigger of her M4A1 twice, but the second 3-round burst is cut short by a stoppage [Pushed roll results in jam!]. Sandy spots a figure rise up from the road and start running west towards the quarantine compound. After firing off 15 rounds, she too experiences a jam. The team grenadier did, however, force her target to dive prone in the road again, short of reaching cover. Unfortunately, the Diamond’s firepower is now reduced by a quarter.

The two hostiles in the brush open fire. The one on the left empties his mag at Sandy. Despite being only 20m way, the shooter doesn’t score a single hit! His counterpart is a better shot (or just luckier), hitting PR in the helmet with a shorter burst. The team radioman/translator drops into full cover behind a stack of old tractor tires.

The enemy SAW is silent, but two M16s start spitting rounds at the Diamonds from behind a wooden fence that encircles the quarantine compound’s back lot. Sarge appears to be their target, but both shooters miss badly. Grease and Sarge return fire and drive one of his antagonists away from the fence.

Honeybear, prone next to Cap, sends a long burst into the underbrush, producing an anguished yelp from his target.

[Round 4]

Captain Walker clears her jam quickly; Sandy, however, struggles to clear hers. Bird takes aim, waits for his prey to break cover.

A 40mm HE round sails long, exploding against a long storage shed at the back of the Diamond’s compound. The tormented runner in the road finally makes it to cover. The shooter behind the fence has another go at Sarge but misses again. Grease and Sarge both return fire, tearing up the fence and knocking the man down. Both Diamonds are confident that they hit their target.

Honeybear follows up his first burst with another, tracers disappearing into the dark shape of his target. It's almost certainly a kill.

[Round 5]

The enemy SAW gunner reappears in the guesthouse window; Bird is waiting. He squeezes the trigger, notes a puff of brick dust just below the windowsill. The SAW gunner returns fire, hitting Sarge in the left arm and knocking him down. Grease avenges the Diamond’s senior noncom, hitting the SAW gunner with a burst of fire before his weapon jams. The window is once again vacated.

Walker fires at the second shooter in the brush, producing a cry of pain. PR, having recovered his wits, takes aim and fires several bursts (15 rounds) at the same target, likely scoring at least a couple hits before his weapon jams. The brush is still and silent.

Honeybear takes aim at a figure leaning out from behind the northeast corner of the guesthouse, knocks the target down with a 16-round burst.

[Round 6]

There’s some indistinct shouting coming from the quarantine compound, but no more visible movement or gunfire. Sandy calls for Deacon, on behalf of Sergeant McNulty. The team medic bandages the senior noncom’s wounded arm. [Another successful Medical Aid roll, this one healing 2/2 damage; Sarge is good to go.] Grease wrestles with the borrowed M16A2 (Sarge’s old weapon), trying to clear the jam. The rest of the Diamonds remain vigilant, enemy compound in their sights. After a minute or so, they hear the sound of an engine coughing to life.

The visitor’s Humvee exits the north end of the quarantine compound, engine sounds rising in pitch as it accelerates sharply. Only Bird has LOS and a functioning weapon. He takes aim and sends a parting shot after the speeding vehicle.

Four of the village's freshly minted militia have congregated at the crossroads in the middle of town. They open fire on the fast-approaching Humvee but their marksmanship isn’t up to snuff. The Humvee speeds away.

Ref's Notes:
This was the logical conclusion of the random encounter, Murderous Bastards, which began in the previous post. Although the engagement was 8 v 8, this firefight didn't go nearly as well as the Diamonds' previous two. Darkness imparted a -2 penalty to all direct fire. Rolled direct fire hits yielded very few multiple successes, and the 3 ammo dice I rolled for every assault rifle burst turned up very few sixes. The OPFOR, being US soldiers, all wore body armor, so the lack of multiple successes and/or sixes on ammo die meant that hits didn't do enough damage to Crit. Nearly every pushed direct fire roll resulted in a jam. All three PCs hit by enemy fire failed their CUF rolls. Body armor really helped the party, again. I find myself rooting for torso or head hits because of this. Deacon did great on Medical Aid rolls, so all WIA PCs were able to return to the fire with full HP, and no one took any lingering damage.

-

Raellus

06-23-2022, 03:34 PM

A few minutes pass. There’s no sound, no sign of movement in or around the quarantine compound. A couple of curious militiamen arrive from the south end of town. This prompts PR to call out a warning to any militiamen who might be approaching from the north.

Sarge details Bird and Honeybear with over-watch, Captain Walker remaining behind to supervise. Moving in staggered pairs, the senior noncom leads PR, Sandy, Grease, and Deacon towards the lot north of the Diamonds’ residence. They find two bodies, lying prone in the brush.

From there the clearing team crosses the road and enters the quarantine compound. They clear the buildings, finding three more bodies, one inside the guest house, one at the northeast [exterior] corner of same, and the last behind the fence in the backyard. Apparently, three of the ‘guests’ managed to escape in their Humvee. With less than half a tank of meth, they’re probably not going to get too far.

During the sweep of the guest compound, three M16A2s, one M16A2 and M203 GL combo, and one M249 SAW are recovered, along with 6 full STANAG magazines, one half-empty 200 box of linked 5.56mm, two M67 hand grenades (fragmentation), and a number of large knives of mixed military and civilian make. Helmets, vests, and boots are also salvaged (Deacon insists that they all be deloused before use). The Diamonds make out slightly better off, in terms of ammunition, than they were before the fight.

For the rest of the night, no one sleeps particularly well. It rains again for a few hours. A double-watch rotation is maintained until stand-to at dawn. After a spartan breakfast, the Diamonds dig five shallow graves in the empty lot next door. Sarge pockets the casualties’ dog tags. They may have been criminals, but their families deserve to know they won't be coming home. Deacon conducts a brief, poorly attended funeral service.

July 27, 2000

After lunch, a small group of locals arrives at the Diamonds’ residence. It’s the village’s ersatz governing council. They appear nervous.

“Basically, they said, ‘Thanks for your help, but it’s time for you to leave’,” PR translates. “We’re welcome to stay the night tonight. They’ll give us some provisions for the road.”

“Tell them thanks for their hospitality. We’re grateful for any supplies that they can spare. We’ll pack up and be ready to go after breakfast tomorrow.” Walker answers.

The dignitaries are visibly relieved at the Americans’ response to what amounts to an eviction notice. A couple of them even seem to regret their decision, but they leave it alone.

This night passes uneventfully.

July 28, 2000

The Diamonds wake well-rested. The villagers provide a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fried potatoes. As promised, they also supply the Diamonds with some provisions for the road (a couple loaves of bread, a few carrots and potatoes, a cabbage, and 2.5 kilos of summer sausage). PR

The Diamonds say their goodbyes (both Bird and Deacon were sweet on the young woman who nursed the Americans back to heath during their bouts cholera) and Pole Position rolls south, into the unknown.

They’ve been on the road for a couple of hours when the sharp-eyed Bird spots a roadblock up ahead in the distance. Through scopes and binoculars, the Diamonds study the dug-in MBT posted at a crossroads. It appears to be manned by at least a dozen Polish army troops.

Ref's Notes:
The Diamonds fired off 52 rounds of 5.56mm, 60 rounds 7.62mmN, and 30 rounds 7.62mmS during the fight with the murderous bastards, but ended up recovering more 5.56mm than they expended. They also picked up a few 40mm HE rounds, and a couple of hand grenades.

I wasn't sure what do about the PCs stay in the ville. Staying put didn't really advance the plot at all, although I would like to play with the Base Building rules at some point. I consulted the oracle and resulting card was black, so I decided that meant the villagers decided to ask the Americans to leave. Relations between the two parties were good (the Diamonds armed, and Sarge trained, their seminal militia) so the parting was amicable. I threw in a couple of days worth of rations.

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kcdusk

06-24-2022, 07:01 PM

Good decision to move on. Early days, so keep the party and the story moving.

Noted re base building rules. Once the Diamonds have moved away from immediate threats and decided on a long term goal, there maybe the opportunity to build a base later.

Raellus

07-14-2022, 11:14 PM

The roadblock is easily avoided, although doing so entails more backtracking. The Diamonds have put a lot of miles on Pole Position over the past 10 days, but haven’t put much distance between themselves and Kalisz.

It’s while trying a different path through the forest that a bedraggled figure steps out of the underbrush and flags down the SKOT.

…

“They’re about 30 of us left,” the man says. His woodland pattern BDUs are torn, filthy.

His name is Mick Daniels, an American soldier from the 5th ID, captured by Soviet forces 9 days ago and subsequently interned in an ad hoc POW camp (a walled poultry farm) about a mile south-southeast of the town of Grabow. Ivan’s been using the prisoners as forced labor. Daniels’ party was assigned to assist a squad of Soviet engineers in repairing a couple of badly damaged bridges over the Prosna and Mlynowka rivers, just east of the town.

”There was more than twice as many, but a work party went out a couple days ago, never came back. I figured, after the bridge is finished, we’re next.”

Daniels made a break for it, was shot in the arm, but managed to get away. He’s been wandering the forest, dodging patrols and growing weaker from blood loss and hunger, for the last 24 hours or so.

“I thought I was done. Saw the diamonds on your APC, recognized your K-pots, took a chance. Thank God I did.”

Deacon attends to Daniels’ bullet wound (-1 PMK) while the escapee recounts his travails, describes the POW camp.

It’s a rectangular compound, 110m long and 60m wide. A wall, 2-3m high, encloses an open courtyard and three buildings, two long henhouses (along the north and south sides) and a storage shed (west). To act as ersatz watchtowers, the Soviets have parked a 4x4 farm trailer just outside the back (east) wall, and a ZIL-175 truck outside the front wall, each manned by a two-man machinegun team. The crews are primarily focused on the interior of the compound. Sentries walk the exterior of the northern and southern walls. There are about 10 guards in total, at the moment. Those not on duty bunk in a small residence just southwest of the "prison".

…

“We can’t just leave them,” Sarge says.

“Look, I know how you feel right now," Walker replies. "I feel it too. But we’ve been lucky so far. Very lucky. A rescue mission? We’re not all Rangers, Sergeant.”

“But we’re still soldiers… aren’t we, Captain?” Sergeant McNulty asks pointedly. “And so are they. American soldiers. What if the tables were turned and we were the ones locked up and running out of time?”

…

A rescue op is planned. The Diamonds will hit the camp at dusk, after the bridge work party has returned to the camp. Sarge, Bird, and PR will infiltrate a patch of woods just over 200m east of the camp to observe and report. Once work detail has returned to the camp, the scout team will call it in. The others, in Pole Position will roll up on the front of the camp, stopping about 100 from the front gate and engaging the “guard tower” near the main entrance to the compound with HMG fire. Bird will engage the machinegun team on the wagon at the back. This should eliminate any danger to the prisoners inside.

To be continued...

-

Raellus

07-15-2022, 04:12 PM

Bird, PR, and Sarge successfully infiltrate the wooded patch 200m east of the camp. They observe the returning work party arrive by truck and the sentries casually moving to their posts. PR calls it in, and Pole Position rolls out of concealment and towards the camp at close to maximum road speed.

As the Diamonds’ SKOT APC nears the compound, the scout team opens fire. Bird and PR each hit their targets, eliminating the machinegun team in the wagon. Sarge engages the sentry outside the northern wall, but misses. His target runs west and drops from sight.

Grease stops Pole Position, quickly but smoothly, 100m north of the main gate. Alerted by the gunfire at the back of the compound, the machinegun team in the ZIL out front spits out rounds at the strange APC. The fire is heavy and accurate, and one round manages to punch a hole in the gun shield protecting the SKOT’s HMG. Although the bullet bounces harmlessly off the gunner’s PAGST vest, Honeybear involuntarily ducks down into the troop compartment (failed CUF roll).

Unbeknownst to the Diamonds, the camp guard’s CO radios the engineer platoon in Grabow, demanding immediate assistance. Two guards emerge from the detached dormitory south-southwest of the prison and prepare to engage the attackers…

Sandy dismounts right and goes prone in some underbrush just east of the road. Captain walker dismounts left (west side). Deacon stays behind just long enough to make sure that Honeybear is okay.

With bird staying put on over-watch, PR and Sarge leave the tree line and start running west across a fallow field towards the prison camp.

The Soviet machinegun team continues to pour fire at the intruding APC, peppering its armored hull with rounds. The assistant gunner empties an entire mag at Sandy. A few close calls force her to hug the earth (failed CUF roll).

A horizontal plume of dust and white smoke from the yard of the guard’s residence announces the launch of an RPG-18 anti-tank rocket. The projectile bores into the dirt road and explodes well short of its target- so short, in fact, that the SKOT’s gunner doesn’t register the threat. The rocketeer’s partner empties an entire mag in the direction of the APC doing nothing but making a lot of noise and scratching the paint.

Honeybear is back up in the gunner’s cupola. He takes aim at the PKM gunner in the bed of the ZIL just north of the main gate and squeezes off a long burst. This shatters the truck’s windshield and knocks the enemy gunner down. Deacon exits the SKOT and goes prone next to Cap.

For the next six rounds, PR and Sarge run across the field. (Imagine the running scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.)

The Soviet rocketeer drops the empty RPG launch tube and readies his rifle; his partner is busy reloading his own.

Another rifleman opens up on the SKOT from the shadow of the ZIL. Honeybear continues to pour fire into the truck’s cab, exploding the Soviet machinegunner’s head like a overripe melon and forcing his assistant to take cover.

Sandy’s regained her composure and takes aim at the two soldiers kneeling in the front yard of the guard’s residence with her M203. With a loud BLOOP, the 40mm HE round arcs towards its target, landing close enough that the ensuing explosion knocks both Ivans down.

With Pole Position obstructing their LOS to the enemy in and around the ZIL, Walker and Deacon both take aim at the settling cloud of dust and vaporized explosive to the south.

Since PR and Sarge are drifting across his LOS, Bird displaces, moving 20m north along the tree line before going prone again facing the camp.

The shooter in the shadow of the ZIL looses a burst, hitting Sandy in the chest. The American grenadier’s PAGST does its job, absorbing most of the projectile’s kinetic energy. Still, the impact knocks the wind out of her lungs, and pain radiates through her chest (torso -1 HP, failed CUF roll).

The dust from Sandy’s 40mm HE round has settled, revealing that both targets are still in the fight. Before they can open fire at the Diamonds, Walker and Deacon beat them to the punch. Most of the Americans' combined 26 rounds strike home, messily eliminating both targets.

Bird spots the northern sentry lying prone behind an AK and facing Pole Position. The Wyomingite fires a single round, sees a puff of dust geyser up from the target’s right kidney region through his rifle scope. The target’s head flops forward and he lies motionless- another probable kill.

A lone figure breaks from the shot-up ZIL, disappears behind the southwest corner of the compound wall before any of the Diamonds can engage.

Recovering her breath, Sandy calls for a medic. With Captain Walker and Honeybear covering, Deacon sprints across the road, behind Pole Position, and arrives on scene to render aid.

Suddenly, the battlefield is quiet. There are no targets in sight. The firefight lasted less than a minute-and-a-half, but the Diamonds know that the help for the guards is probably on the way. They don’t have much time to spring the prisoners.

Walker returns to the SKOT’s troop compartment, calls PR on the radio. The radioman replies, breathlessly, than he and Sarge are less than 50m from the back wall of the prison. Deacon helps Sandy into the APC. Walker instructs Grease to move Pole Position up to the front gate…

Ref's Notes:
I wanted to try my hand at attacking in combat, so I created this encounter from scratch. Since I've learned through experience that in 4e, the defending force has an advantage, I kept the OPFOR at 1x PC. The scenario justified this: a Soviet motor rifles squad consists of 9 soldiers, and I figured that 30 or so overworked, underfed prisoners didn't require more than 9 guards.

During attack, mobility is important. After taking out the MG team at the back of the compound, PR (AGL A, Mobility D) and Sarge (AGL B, Mobility D) spent the next six turns* crossing 200m+ of open ground. In effect, this essentially made the remainder of the firefight 6 PCs v. 7 OPFOR. This is what I get for underestimating how long it would take the scouts to reach the prison compound. Due to the random results of mobility rolls- several pushed- PR opened an early lead, but the older, slower Sarge eventually caught up and passed him, arriving at the back wall first (but straining a calf muscle towards the end). I'm seriously considering prioritizing Mobility during future Skill Improvement (I already had, for a couple of PCs).

*After an initial successful Driving roll, poor Grease also didn't do anything interesting for 6 consecutive turns. I figured it would be unrealistic for him to open his driver's hatch and join in on the firefight because, if he were hit, Pole Position would be effectively immobilized. So he stayed buttoned up for the entirety of the scrap.

I'm glad no one else was playing PR, Sarge, or Grease during this encounter, because they would have been bored AF.

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kcdusk

07-16-2022, 04:50 PM

1 v1 generally favours the defender. So even playing roughly even numbers, as the attacker you were maybe underdogs.

Did the OT-64 turn the tide for the attackers? I forget what its armed with.

Did the defenders take advantage of cover? It reads a little bit like they were fired at, and hit regularly.

In old T2K our characters ran 30m, trotted 20m, jogged 10m and crawled 2m automatically! Every PC was essentially the same movement wise. In V4.0 mobility adds another variable, which i think is good. Some PCs will be mobile, others will be cumbersomely slow. Perhaps V4.0 having a war-game like bent, with gridded maps, helps us as Refs, plot PCs on a map and that opens up visually the importance of movement more than V1.0 did for example - which puts further emphasis on mobility.

How did you find running so many characters solo in an extended fight go for you? Easy/hard, long, methodical ....

6 or 7 enemy were downed. One PC took a hit. Was this just due to the difference in skill levels (D6s v D10 or D12s)?

Raellus

07-17-2022, 01:52 PM

1 v1 generally favours the defender. So even playing roughly even numbers, as the attacker you were maybe underdogs.

That's what I was thinking as I set up the scenario.

Did the OT-64 turn the tide for the attackers? I forget what its armed with.

It helped, but not as much as I thought it would, especially when the gunner (DShK HMG) was suppressed in the first round. He also didn't roll very well. He was rolling two D12s and every single ammo die and didn't produce extra damage or hits until his final round of combat.

Did the defenders take advantage of cover? It reads a little bit like they were fired at, and hit regularly.

A couple of them were.

The MG team in the ZIL were standing in the bed, behind the cab. The cab only had an armor value of 1, but it stopped the DShK (Dam 4) from getting any crits during its first two bursts). Honeybear eventually both the A and B gunners in the torso, but neither were killed outright. The A gunner was finished off by a head shot, but the B gunner got away (temporarily).

On that note, I'm not sure how to RP getting hit in the chest by a 12.7mm round, losing 4/5 HP, and surviving.

In old T2K our characters ran 30m, trotted 20m, jogged 10m and crawled 2m automatically! Every PC was essentially the same movement wise. In V4.0 mobility adds another variable, which i think is good. Some PCs will be mobile, others will be cumbersomely slow. Perhaps V4.0 having a war-game like bent, with gridded maps, helps us as Refs, plot PCs on a map and that opens up visually the importance of movement more than V1.0 did for example - which puts further emphasis on mobility.

I agree. I like the Mobility mechanic. I just underestimated how long it would take to cross 200m (if I'd done some basic arithmetic, this would have been obvious; instead I assumed, "It's not that far,"). Lesson learned.

How did you find running so many characters solo in an extended fight go for you? Easy/hard, long, methodical ....

During the first couple of firefights I ran, I used a sheet of notebook paper to "track" everything but it got sloppy pretty quickly and didn't work very well- I kept missing things or getting them mixed up. So, after the last fight, I made a simple Word doc tracking sheet and it helped a lot. 9 v 9 was no trouble at all to run. I attached it. In the main boxes, I recorded the character's action and the result. If a character failed a CUF roll, I wrote CUF X in their next turn box.

I was really disappointed that none of my PCs passed a CUF roll because I want the chance to roll to improve their CUF score.

6 or 7 enemy were downed. One PC took a hit. Was this just due to the difference in skill levels (D6s v D10 or D12s)?

Yes, and a successful group ambush (the scout team) at the outset. They eliminated 2/9 enemy in the very first round.

But having PCs with better combat skills (A/B, in some cases, v C/C) definitely helped a lot. The Diamonds possessing the only AFV in the fight did also.

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Raellus

05-31-2023, 10:27 AM

It's been almost a year since I last rolled the dice and, with summer here, I've once again got the time and energy to restart my solo campaign. I think I am going to re-do the last battle (to free the 5th ID POWs) as I was/am not satisfied with how I set it up and ran it the first time. This will also give me a crash refresher course on the 4e combat rules.

Re the set up for the last battle, I don't think the OPFOR would have any trucks, as the work site is close enough for the POW work party to walk to and from the camp (the bridges are only a mile-and-a-half away). Also, I don't think the Soviets would allocate a cargo truck and a UAZ to a nine-man squad of camp guards. Finally, I think it was unrealistic that I had two of the camp guards engage an armed AFV (Pole Position) more or less from the open. They may be near the bottom of the barrel, quality-wise, but they're not suicidal. Finally, prison camp guards wouldn't be authorized an RPG-18.

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kcdusk

06-01-2023, 03:53 PM

yada yada yada. So happy to hear your going to game and report back an AAR.

Stop justifying it, and start rolling the dice! I can't wait to read more.

Raellus

06-02-2023, 12:10 PM

Bird and Sarge divest themselves of PAGST vests and K-pots and, with Daniels pointing out the way, begin their recce of the poultry farm-cum-POW camp, moving into position after dark.

Having avoided detection, the scouts set up an OP 200m east of the camp. One sentry, armed with an RPK, stands near the back gate (facing the wood). The scouts conclude that the prisoners must still be alive if the camp is still being guarded. Sarge leaves Bird with the team's PRC-77 and heads back to Pole Position to plan a dawn rescue.

Later, back in camp...

"We need to get on 'em fast, take out the guards before they can do anything to the prisoners. I'm thinking we go with a Trojan Horse approach. Pole Position is Pact issue. We cover up the 5th ID recognition symbols as best we can and roll up on the camp from the south. Bird will provide over-watch from the wood-line. By the time we get close enough for Ivan to realize we're not friendlies, we'll be right on top of 'em. Daniels here says they don't have any heavy weapons."

Walker looks unconvinced. "Even if this works, what then? We can't take 30 people with us."

"I know. Once we bust them out, they'll have to find their own way, but at least they'll have a chance. If we leave them there, they ain't even got that."

TBC...

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Raellus

06-04-2023, 03:33 PM

The ensuing combat encounter lasted 15 rounds. For the sake of clarity and flow, I’ve narrated the battle slightly out of round sequence and omitted most of the rules-speak. The linked map might also help the reader visualize the combat.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1a6BvyZMCUSYsChCFeKejT-xc6TqRd5I&usp=sharing

July 29, 2000

Pole Position races north, up the paved road to the poultry farm-cum-POW-camp, at barely safe speed. Grease is pushing the Polish-made APC to its limit. Besides Honeybear (standing in the gunner’s armored cupola), all of the other passengers are seated and holding on for dear life inside the troop compartment.

One of the sentries posted at the back (east) gate- an ad-hoc contraption consisting of sawhorses, lumber cross beams, and copious tangles of barbed wire- notices the AFV approaching from the southeast. He stares at the unexpected vehicle for a few seconds before concluding that something about it is off. He shouts a warning, echoed by his just-arrived replacement.

Bird, watching from the wooded area 200 or so meters east of the camp has the alarmed sentry in his crosshairs. He squeezes the trigger and the target’s head practically explodes. The second sentry watches his comrade’s nearly headless body drop limply to the ground. Frozen in place by shock and fear, the second sentry makes himself an easy target. Bird doesn’t miss. The second sentry falls, also shot in the head.

Just outside the cottage that the prison guards are using as a barracks, a shirtless soldier is taking a leak in the garden. He hears his comrade’s muffled shout, a gunshot, then another. Not even bothering to shake, he stuffs his pecker back into his trousers and hollers, “Stoy! Stoy!”

Pole Position still has a few hundred meters of road to eat up before the turn on to the dirt track leading right up to the chicken farm’s back gate. Grease pushes the 14 ton APC like it’s a 1.5 ton stock car.

Alarmed by the commotion, a guard at the northwest corner of the cement wall encircling the henhouse where the prisoners are kept leans out from cover. He spots a whiff of dust kicked up by Bird’s second shot, takes aim, and squeezes off a long burst. Rounds snap overhead and smack into the trunk of the fallen tree that Bird is lying prone behind, spraying him with bits of bark and splintered wood.

Several guards emerge from the farmhouse southwest of the ersatz POW camp, scrambling hither and yon to prepare some sort of coherent defense. The sergeant in charge of the Soviet squad gesticulates emphatically as he shouts orders. Two of the guards start working their way east along the southern wall. Another runs north to join his comrade at the northwest corner of the compound wall.

Pole Position disappears into the small wood east of the camp, slowing just enough not to roll as Grease makes a hard left turn onto the dirt farm track. When the APC emerges from the trees, the two Soviet soldiers posted behind the farmhouse’s low brick wall open fire with their assault rifles. Bullets ping off the OT-62’s armored hide, hindering it not one bit. Still on the move, Honeybear returns fire with the APC’s heavy machinegun, but his long burst is so wild that neither shooter bothers to duck behind cover.

The dirt track angles northwest; Grease steers Pole Position towards the back gate, moving the APC into cover behind the compound wall, then curls left and brakes hard so that the SKOT’s nose is pointed at the southeast corner of the compound wall.

The dismount team (Sarge, P.R., Sandy, Deacon, Mathews) hops out the APC's rear doors and heads towards the prison compound’s back gate. While Sarge and P.R. cover the inner courtyard, Deacon attaches a tow rope to barbed wire-wrapped gate.

In an attempt to dissuade anyone looking to interrupt the breaching op, Honeybear sends a short preemptive burst past the southeast corner of the perimeter wall.

The two guards approaching said corner can’t help but notice the roar of the Dishka and the stream of large tracers that just hissed past. Stopping a few meters short of the corner, one of the guards preps a frag and tosses it over the wall. It lands roughly between Pole Position and the dismounts near the back gate. No one is hurt by the ensuing explosion, but everyone outside the safety of the APC’s armor hits the dirt, voluntarily or not.

Overly optimistic about the effect of his comrade’s hand grenade, one of the guards leans out from the wall to assess the damage. Seeing the OT-64’s snub nose pointed in his direction, he reflexively shoots at it. Almost simultaneously, Honeybear squeezes the DSHk’s butterfly triggers, producing a spray of pulverized concrete and human gore where the shooter had stood just a split second before. Seeing his comrade’s torso abruptly reduced to bloody chunks just a couple of meters in front of him, the grenade thrower turns tail and sprints back east along the wall.

Meanwhile, Bird has the compound’s northwest corner in his crosshairs. When the guard who’d emptied a magazine at the American sharpshooter earlier leans out to evaluate his handiwork, Bird squeezes the trigger. A spray of concrete dust indicates a near miss, and the intended target ducks back behind cover. Unbeknownst to Bird, a bullet fragment lodges in the guard's the upper leg.

After rendering such aid as he can, the slightly wounded guard’s comrade fires blindly around the corner of the wall. None of the rounds come close to Bird’s position. A few seconds later, the guard repeats the action, again provoking no response. After reloading his AK, the guard peeks around the corner. This time, Bird shoots the curious guard in the left arm, nearly severing it. The critically wounded guard falls back behind cover and starts bleeding out.

Grease gives the stationary Pole Position a bit of gas (or meth, more precisely) to reorient it away from the east wall. More pressure on the gas yanks the ad hoc gate away from the back entry to the farmyard. Pole Position’s movement brings its right flank into view of the defenders at the farmhouse. Almost relieved to have an obvious target, they spray the APC with a fusillade rifle fire. Safe behind the vehicle gunner's shield, Honeybear returns their fire with a burst from the Dishka, blasting chunks of brick from the low wall (both guards are injured by bullet fragments and/or bits of brick shrapnel).

During this time, Sandy’s worked her way to the shattered, gore-spattered southeast corner of the perimeter wall. With Honeybear’s HMG fire keeping the defenders’ heads down, she takes aim and lobs a 40mm HE round into the farmhouse yard. It explodes right on target. Both defenders are uninjured by the blast, but it keeps them cowering behind the tattered remains of the wall. Satisfied with her handiwork, the Diamond grenadier pulls back behind cover and reloads her M203.

Despite the attention the farmhouse defenders have just received, a third guard arrives from the southwest corner of the henhouse compound and takes a knee behind an intact section of garden wall. He props the barrel of his RPK atop the lip and fires an ineffective burst at the Polish-made APC. Honeybear promptly returns fire, tearing the rash defender apart. At this point, the two survivors, both wounded, decide to quit the fight.

As soon as the back gate is torn away, Sarge and P.R. move tactically across the farmyard to the main henhouse where the prisoners are kept overnight. P.R. covers the front gate while Sarge approaches the door. It’s chained and padlocked.

“Red Diamonds! Rescue party! We’re here to get you out. Get away from the door!” Sarge shouts, before shooting off the padlock.

The hunched profile of a Soviet soldier appears at the front gate, crossing in front of it from right to left. P.R. squeezes off five rapid shots and watches the figure fall to the ground. It then becomes clear that the target was dragging a wounded comrade. Both Ivans writhe slowly in the dirt before the gate.

Sarge gets the chain off the henhouse door and starts ushering the prisoners out. Daniels calls his fellow inmates over to the back gate and directs them towards the copse east of the compound. Sarge notices that they’re all barefoot, stops one of the last out the door. “Where’re your boots?”

“The guards take ‘em,” the liberated prisoner replies, not-very-helpfully.

“Where are they?”

He points as the wall to the right of the yard's front entrance. “Right outside the gate!” the inmate answers impatiently, eager to be away.

Sarge curses under his breath. The prisoners won’t get very far on foot without decent footwear.

Sarge rejoins Sandy, says, “We gotta get their boots.”

They approach the front gate cautiously. It’s a purpose-made tubular metal frame, hinged on the right, wrapped in prodigious amounts of barbed wire. It’s chained shut but not locked. With P.R. covering, Sarge carefully unwraps the chain and kicks the gate open. Blocked by the two badly wounded guards lying in front of it, the gate only opens about a quarter of the way. Swapping positions, Sarge pokes his head out and looks right down the west wall. Sure enough, there’s a long row of US G.I. combat boots along its base. Sarge calls Deacon over to help carry the boots across the courtyard and out the back gate. He divests the guards of their weapons and covers them while Deacon and P.R. load up on boots. Little do the Diamonds know, there's a lone guard cowering just a few meters away, behind a dogleg to the southwest corner of the chicken farm's exterior wall.

TBC...

Notes:

Everyone except Grease (who didn’t need to roll) passed a CUF check during this encounter. Once this extended encounter is fully resolved, I’ll roll to gain CUF and report on the results.

Speaking of Grease, he successfully pushed several of his driving checks. Rolling two 12's thanks to the Racer specialty certainly helps. This helped Pole Position arrive on site faster. Once again, I underestimated how long it would take to move- this time, in a vehicle- during combat rounds. Fortunately, things still turned out pretty well.

It’s disappointing to roll two 12’s on a heavy weapons (GL) shot and not produce any damage on the enemy in the target hex. Knockdown and suppression are both helpful, but it seems unrealistic that, in this case, none of the three enemy soldiers in the target hex were hit by shrapnel (the Blast D dice were not kind).

I will not voluntarily divest PC’s of body armor again. Combat is just too deadly to take unnecessary chances, and there’re no mechanical penalties to movement or stealth for not wearing it.

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Raellus

06-06-2023, 03:21 PM

The prisoners’ boots are tossed over the wall. After a good deal more shouting and running about, most of them are collected and reunited with their owners (or, at least, those who wear the same size). The rest are thrown into Pole Position’s troop compartment, along with three captured AK-74s and an RPK.

Before the raid, Daniels was told that Pole Position could not accommodate all of the prisoners. This was to be a partial rescue- a prison break only, not an evacuation. As a kind of sop to her distressed countrymen, Captain Walker agreed that her squad would delay any Soviet pursuit force by acting as a sort of rear guard while freed POWs made their way into the forest about 1 km east of the ersatz prison camp. After they reach the concealment of the forest, the rest is up to them. No one is really satisfied by this arrangement, but it beats drawing lots to determine which prisoners get a ride, and which don’t.

The rest of the boots are distributed, along with the captured weapons (including ones captured in previous engagements). With the freed POWs scattering towards the eastern woods, Pole Position moves into the shadow of a tiny hamlet on the road leading to Grabow (where the bridges and a Soviet combat engineer platoon is located), picking up Bird along the way.

A few minutes after the Diamonds’ APC is in position, Bird spots a vehicle approaching from the north along the same road, where it emerges from a patch of forest. It looks like an older model Red Army cargo truck. The truck slows before it leaves the wood-line, either out of caution or because the driver's spotted the SKOT. The Diamond’s machine gunner opens fire, aiming at its radiator grille. The 15-round burst of 12.7mm produces only one clear hit, but the truck abruptly stops and starts backing away, trailing grey smoke from under its bonnet. It jerks to a stop after reversing about 20m. Honeybear fires another, longer burst (25 rounds); this time, his marksmanship is even worse. Seemingly untouched by the second burst, the truck lurches backward again, accelerates, and disappears from view into the forest.

“I think I hit it!” Honeybear shouts, ears ringing. “I saw smoke… but it backed up, into the woods!”

“At least you got ‘em moving in the right direction,” P.R. quips sympathetically.

Sarge looks to Captain Walker. She suppresses a shrug. “Do we go after them?” she asks the grizzled former-Ranger. He senses her reluctance, shares it- with good reason. He answers, “We lose our mobility and firepower advantages if we go into those woods. Hopefully, Bear gave ‘em a good scare, damaged their ride. I think we should stay put until the POWs are across that field, then get the hell out of here.”

Walker nods. “That’s what I was thinking too. Good. P.R. tell us when the last friendly is in the woods.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Notes:

The dice were not kind to Honeybear. I didn’t push either of his rolls because I don’t want to wear out the Dishka - it’s proven to be a game-changer so far, and I shan't risk losing it unless the situation is life or death for the PCs.

There’s no provision in the rules for making a called shot on an internal vehicle component. But, since it’s common knowledge that most vehicles have their engine in the front, I went ahead and rolled it as a normal called shot (-2) at a moving (-1) vehicle (+2). I only registered one hit from the initial burst (rolling two d10’s and all the ammo die). A 12.7mm round does 4 damage and the Zil truck has a front armor value of 1, so the truck’s engine takes 3 points of damage (-3 reliability). The driver pushed the roll while trying to reverse out of the kill zone. He failed, and the dice showed one 1, so the Zil loses 1 point of reliability. Since I didn’t predetermine the Zil’s REL score before the encounter, I went with the default (5). On his next turn, the driver successful got the Zil unstuck (Slow Action); since driving is a fast action, he made another Driving roll resulting in two successes. Adding 10m to its doubled combat movement (2x2) means that the driver reversed 50m during his second turn, effectively moving into concealment in the forest. So, with 1 reliability point remaining, the Zil manages to escape. That driver is one lucky S.O.B.

On the positive side, I consulted the "Oracle" and drew a playing card to determine what the freed POWs' reaction to being only partially rescued would be. It was a nine of Diamonds- helpful. I interpreted this as acquiescence (i.e. although not happy, no one begged, cajoled, or tried to push their way on board Pole Position).

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kcdusk

06-07-2023, 02:30 AM

The story is very very good.

The notes i think are excellent. At least, that's what i read a long for. Firstly to read the story, but i perhaps get more out of some of the reasons/decisions/house rules/solo aspect.

Don't have the book with me, but rolling two 10's for the HMG hit on the engine. Should that be 4 points of damage +1 for the extra success (the second 10), so 5 hit points. Less 1 for armour = 4 hit points of damage (your showing 4 - 1= 3).

Raellus

06-07-2023, 09:20 AM

Thanks, kc. I'm really pleased that you're enjoying it.

To clarify, on the HW roll to shoot the truck's engine, I rolled two d10s (i.e. two ten-sided die), but only got one success. IIRC, at least two of the ammo die came up 1s, so I didn't push the roll. On the next turn, I rolled 0 successes and at least three 1s. Just really bad luck.

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Raellus

06-10-2023, 12:53 PM

It’s about 0630 hours on July 29th. The sun has crawled above the eastern horizon, disappeared into a low, thick overcast. The cloud cover has a sickly, greenish tinge today.

While the Diamonds wait for the last of the prisoners to reach the woods east of the POW camp, Sarge switches seats, leans forward so that he’s almost nose-to-nose with Captain Walker. The OT-64’s troop compartment is fairly spacious for an APC, but it doesn’t offer any real privacy.

“I’m not liking the idea of wandering the woods with 30 jumpy friendlies- makes blue-on-blue a real danger,” he starts, just above a whisper. “Plus, if Ivan’s going to go after ‘em, they’re gonna start by sweeping those woods. What if we zig instead of zag, head west, maybe even draw Ivan away from the prisoners?”

Walker considers the suggestion for a few seconds before responding, “Isn’t there a river just east of here? The Prosna, is it?

“Yes Cap'n, but Pole Position can swim.”

Walker removes her K-pot, slips on a Warsaw Pact-issue padded AFV crewman’s helmet, plugs into the vehicle’s intercom system.

“Willis, how long will it take to prep Pole Position to swim a river?”

There’s a pause, long enough that Walker wonders if the intercom is working. “Less than five minutes,” Grease finally replies. “Just gotta set up the trim vane, test the props- then should be good to go.”

“Okay. We’re gonna head west, look for a good crossing point,” Walker says.

Aside from a thin haze of smoke over the forest, beyond where the road enters the tree line up ahead, there’s been no further sighting of the Soviet reaction force. When the last of the freed POWs is out of sight, Grease executes a three-point turn, backtracks through the hamlet, before turning right on to a paved two-lane heading west, towards the Prosna River. The paved road stops about 460m from the river, but a dirt farm track leads from the terminus right up to the riverside.

It takes a while to find a spot where the slope of the both near and far banks is gentle enough for Pole Position to make ingress and egress with minimal risk of getting stuck. The Prosna itself is only about 12m wide- less than twice the OT-64’s length. It’s possible that the APC’s wheels won’t even leave solid ground during the very brief crossing.

After successfully crossing the Prosna and lowering the bow-mounted swim vane, the Diamonds head south, following a dirt path that parallels the winding river.

“What the… is that snow? In July?” Honeybear asks, from up in the gunner’s cupola. Nobody makes out what he says. A few gray flakes drift into the troop compartment through the open air-guard hatches.

“Button up! Everybody, button up now!” Bird shouts from the vehicle commander’s seat. There’s a scramble in to shut all of the roof hatches. For reasons beyond any of the Diamonds’ grasp of meteorology, it’s snowing ash- likely radioactive- that’s somehow managed to escape the upper atmosphere. It's not an unknown phenomenon, though. All of the Diamonds have heard of the infamous "rain of death". However, not everyone realizes what the danger was (and still is) until Pole Position is locked down, and there's a moment of relative calm in which to share information.

Between the ash and the already dim morning light, visibility through Pole Position's various view ports is significantly diminished. It’s hard to see beyond about 100m. Grease slows the APC and continues to follow the riverside tracks. A few minutes pass before Pole Position emerges from the ash fall as if having rolled through an ephemeral curtain.

“Are you feeling OK?” Sandy asks the team radioman. P.R. is staring at his upturned K-Pot, held in his lap, his face looking pale and waxy. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” he announces, just before vomiting into his helmet.

“Shit,” Sarge mutters, quickly removing his own helmet, into which he promptly joins P.R. in emptying his stomach.

Trapped in the close confines of the locked-down crew compartment, some sympathy vomiting inevitably ensues. For a couple of minutes, Pole Position plays host to a veritable puke-fest. P.R. and Sarge can't stop.

Walker looks meaningfully at Deacon, the team's de facto medic.

"Could be radiation poisoning," he offers.

“Willis, look for a decent place to stop,” Walker instructs over the intercom.

“Looks like maybe a church up ahead, ‘bout 300m; couple other small buildings too, maybe a road running east-west,” Grease responds.

“There’s some trees a little over to the right where we could set up and observe,” Bird suggests from the commander’s seat. Grease repeats this for Capt. Walker.

“Sounds good. Head for the trees, stop there.”

REF’S NOTES:
After discovering that I don’t have any playing cards that I could use to generate a random encounter with the Oracle at home (I know, I know, I could have just used the encounter deck, or used an app), I pulled another card from the encounter deck: Rain of Ash! Although the PCs were able to get “indoors” quickly, I decided to roll for Rad Attacks anyway. Only P.R. (2 permanent rads) and Sarge (2 permanent rads) failed their Stamina rolls (using only their STR attribute, since neither had the skill); the other PCs rolling d6s were very lucky (and Sandy & Honeybear both rolled successes on their two d12s). I went ahead and rolled to see if anyone gained permanent rads from the rad attack and, fortunately, no one did.

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kcdusk

06-17-2023, 06:42 PM

Did the driver of Pole Position have to make a driving roll, to successfully swim the river?

Raellus

06-17-2023, 07:14 PM

Did the driver of Pole Position have to make a driving roll, to successfully swim the river?

I believe so. I don't remember seeing anything in the rules specifically about amphibious vehicle operations, but it seems like something that would merit a driving check as it's not really routine for most military vehicle operators, and would, IRL, require more skill than simply driving down the road would. So, I rolled for it.

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Raellus

06-19-2023, 02:20 PM

It’s hard to see much through the SKOT’s vision blocks, but it doesn’t look like it’s “snowed” here. From what Grease and Bird can observe without exiting the vehicle, the nearby settlement consists of an old brick church and less than a half-dozen other structures sitting astride a paved east-west road. There are no obvious indications of habitation.

Sarge and P.R. have both stopped vomiting, but nausea, dizziness, and weakness persist. Deacon does his best to treat them, but there’s not a lot he can do with the team’s scant medical supplies.

“Charcoal might help. If you can find or make some charcoal…” Deacon speculates.

“Gas masks and gloves,” Walker instructs the scout team (Bird, Honeybear, Sandy). “At least until we can get a look at the ground.” They exit via the SKOT’s rear doors which, being oriented vertically, are less likely to be retaining as many potentially radioactive dust particles as the horizontal roof hatches.

A close inspection of the earth and foliage in the vicinity of Pole Position suggests that this area didn’t receive a dusting of ash, so Walker authorizes everyone to remove their uncomfortable MOPP gear. Grease sets about rinsing Pole Position down with buckets of water from the nearby Prosna.

With Bird on point, Walker leads the scout team towards the hamlet. As they get closer, it becomes apparent that there’s been fighting here, although it looks to have taken place several months, if not years, earlier. There are several shell holes in the old stone church, including one that caved in most of its roof, exposing the interior to the elements.

Each of the settlement’s handful of buildings is given a cursory search; all appear to have been thoroughly looted. The only items of use that the scouts find are a fishing pole and a European football (i.e. soccer ball).

The scouts return to Pole Position with their meager haul of loot. Captain Walker spreads out the unit's map of the AO on the troop compartment floor. Her index finger traces the Prosna River south from Grabow, until it curls east just north of an east-to-west paved road. If Captain Walker is reading the map right, the hamlet they’ve just searched isn’t even on it.

“If we’re here, then we’re only about… 5 klicks south of Grabow, and Ivan. And I don’t like being so close to this paved road, especially when we know they’re looking for us.” She looks at Sarge, “You OK to travel?”

“Yes, ma’am,” McNulty grunts, failing to conceal his continuing discomfort.

Walker flashes a skeptical frown, but she doesn’t argue. “Question then is, where to next?”

Leaning over the 1:50,000 scale US Army map, Walker points out a highway running north-south intersecting their line of march on a westerly heading. If the Soviets are still trying to cut off escape for survivors of the 5th ID, that highway is probably patrolled aggressively. The woods the Diamond’s had been dipping in and out of for the past two days lie to the east.

“That leaves south,” Walker’s finger taps an irregular patch of dark green on the map. “This small forest is about 5 klicks from here. We could lay up there for a few hours, take a bit of breather.”

There are no objections. Grease drives the SKOT out of the thicket and turns east on to the road running through the hamlet. For the next half-an-hour or so, the Diamonds' driver follows a more or less southerly heading, using mostly unpaved country roads. The dark line of the forest is soon visible on the southern horizon. Pole Position rolls towards a small hamlet.

Up ahead, an old man- he must be at least 75- steps out from behind a stack of hay bales by the roadside and fires a single shot well over the approaching APC with what appears to be a bolt-action rifle.

A somewhat comedic standoff ensues- an elderly Polish David squaring up to an armored Goliath.

With Bird and Honeybear covering, Walker exits the vehicle; Deacon follows, helping P.R. to walk- the team’s translator is still weak and unsteady as a result of radiation poisoning. Introductions are made, and after a few minutes of back-and-forth, the Diamond envoys convince the old man that they are friendly.

Trembling with rage, the old man- Bartosz is his name- explains that marauders- Russian bandits is the term he uses- have been raiding small settlements in the district from their hideout in the forest to the south. There’re about 20 of them; they steal food, rape any females they can get their hands on, and kill anyone bold enough to resist. The nearest military garrison, 20km or so to the west in the town of Ostrzeszow, isn’t interested in doing anything about it, despite numerous entreaties. Bartosz has heard all this from survivors of nearby settlements, and he says that his village, Skarydzew, is almost certainly next on the bandit’s hit list. The old man claims to have fought the Russians back in 1939, and insists that he’s not afraid to do it again, even if he has to fight them all by himself. He promises the Diamonds all of the food and fuel they can carry if they help him repel the marauders.

Back at the SKOT, the team discusses the way forward.

“This isn’t our fight,” Sarge says half-heartedly, offering Walker a way out.

“You know Kurosawa? Seven Samurai?” P.R. asks. His question is met with shaking heads and blank stares.

“How about the Magnificent Seven? Steven McQueen, Charles Bronson, that bald dude from the King and I?” he tries again. This time, most of the team responds in the affirmative.

“They were the good guys, right?” Again, assent.

“And we’re good guys, aren’t we?” Agreement, but somewhat grudging. The others can see where he’s going with this and most of them have mixed feelings about it.

“Then this is our fight.”

NOTES: Can you guess what random encounter I drew for the day's second shift? Leading up to it, I used the Quick Search rules to scrounge the church/hamlet without spending a full shift there. The d10 roll came up 98, giving the party two more rolls on the Scrap Table. This resulted in a fishing pole and a remote control. Since the latter doesn't make sense for the setting, I rerolled and the result was a football (which I ruled as a soccer ball, again given the setting). Grease was successful on his driving rolls, and Walker's persuasion roll (Helped by P.R.) was very successful, so Bartosz was convinced to trust the Diamonds, and ask them for help.

-

Raellus

06-22-2023, 03:49 PM

July 29, Second Stretch

Bartosz gives the Americans a brief tour of the hamlet and introduces them to the rest of the village militia- all four of them, as it turns out (a grim-faced woman of about 25 and a teenaged boy, both armed with shop-built crossbows, a middle-aged man with a pump-action shotgun, and a Polish army deserter in his 30s, armed with a KMK). They share what they’ve gleaned from neighboring villages visited by the marauders. From their reporting, the Diamond’s get a sense of the marauders’ MO. The bandits come out of the woods around noon, rape and pillage until dinner time, then head back into the forest with their booty before the sun goes down.

The plan is relatively simple. When the marauders come, the hamlet’s defenders will be prepared to ambush them. The militia will guard the settlement’s eastern and northern approaches (least likely to be used by the marauders). Bird, Honeybear, PR, Sarge, and Sandy will occupy fighting positions concealed in a small wood at the hamlet’s SW corner, overlooking the marauders’ most likely route of ingress (the forest is 620m to the southwest). Pole Position, crewed by Grease (driver), Capt. Walker (gunner), and Deacon (passenger) will be located centrally, on-call near the village church. Those who are able spend the rest of the day preparing concealed fighting positions. Sarge and P.R. continue to rest and recover from their recent bout of radiation poisoning. By the end of the day, both are feeling considerably better, and are able to eat a light dinner (and keep it down).

July 30, 10:45 hours (2nd Stretch)

The marauders, 18 of them, amble down the road, conversing loudly, half of them carrying their weapons over their shoulders. They appear completely oblivious to the awaiting ambush, or any potential danger whatsoever. When the marauders are strung out along a slight jog in the road, roughly southwest 100m from the copse where the Diamond’s lay in wait, Bird initiates the ambush, dropping a machine gunner with a headshot. Honeybear mows down two more, including the bandit’s RPG gunner. Sarge, P.R., and Sandy all add to the carnage, scoring hits of their own. (The opening fusillade produces 4 KIA and 3 WIA, one mortally).

The survivors, caught in the kill zone, belly flop onto the road, half of them frozen in fear, the other half returning fire. P.R.’s head snaps back and flops face-first into the dirt. The team translator is completely unresponsive.

Sarge picks up the unit’s AN/PRC-77’s handset, shouts into the mouthpiece, “Diamond actual, send Deacon! P.R.’s hit. Over.”

At the same time, Honeybear takes a bullet to the left shoulder, knocking it out of its socket. He growls in pain, stops firing.

Only Bird and Sandy are still shooting. Bird misses his target- a RPK gunner in the bandits’ point element. Sandy lands a 40mm HE round near a cluster of rifleman at the rear of the enemy column, temporarily quieting them.

Capt. Walker relays Sarge’s urgent radio call for the team medic, then orders Grease to high-tail it towards the fighting over the vehicle intercom. As Pole Position starts rolling, Deacon hops out the back door and sprints into the woods. Grease pulls out of the village church’s grassy parking lot and races towards the action. Capt. Walker hunkers down nervously behind Pole Position’s DSHk- she’s only ever fired an HMG once- a US issue M2HB- and that was years ago, in training.

The marauders continue to return fire, burning through their ammo. A few take advantage of the lull in incoming to run for cover beside a low berm running parallel to the road along its southern edge.

The two sides exchange fire for the next sixty seconds. Honeybear fights through the pain of his dislocated left shoulder to pour fire into the kill zone. Bird coolly picks off several more bad guys. Sarge’s M16A2 jams. He clears it, but after the next burst, the rifle comes apart in his hands.

As Sarge slides P.R.’s rifle out from under his motionless body, the radioman cries, “I can’t move!”

“Hang on, kid. Deacon’s on his way,” Sarge says, trying to reassure the young man. The grizzled combat vet is worried, though- there’s not much the team’s amateur medic can do if P.R.’s hit in the spine.

The Diamonds’ marksmanship is better than the bandits’. Several more of the latter are hit, some fatally. When only half of the 18 bandits that walked into the ambush are still alive, panic starts to set in. Several of the survivors break and run- using a dry irrigation canal behind the roadside berm as cover- leaving a couple of stranded comrades behind.

Breathing hard from exertion, Deacon arrives and starts to assess the team translator. Pole Position arrives soon after. As Grease stops smoothly, Walker takes aim at a cluster of upright figures at the far end of the enemy line, squeezes the DSHk’s butterfly triggers. Much to her surprise, two enemy runners tumble like rag dolls, slapped down by 12.7mm rounds. A follow up burst is less successful- the path of the tracers show that she aimed too high.

The firefight is over in under two minutes. Twelve bandits lie dead in the roadbed or the drainage ditch. One bandit hiding on the far side of the berm plays dead, later surrendering when the Diamonds sweep the kill zone; another dies from shock and blood loss by the time Deacon arrives. Four of the fleeing marauders disappear into an irrigation canal that runs roughly south about 675m across an open field between the road and the forest. The Diamonds decide not to pursue them. Recovered from the battlefield: 1 PKM, 1 SVD, 2 RPK, 1 RPG-7, 1 AKSU, 1 GP-25, 7 AKMs, and assorted ammunition.

Notes:
The Diamonds successfully rolled Recon (Opposed) to Waylay the marauders, so the five PCs on the ambush team drew the first turns in the ensuing combat. I had the PCs with the lowest Recon skill doing something else in the hamlet, so rolled d8s (IIRC, I pushed and got two successes).

Although I’ve read scores of non-fiction combat accounts (and seen some pretty raw combat footage), I’m never quite sure how soldiers would react to being ambushed. I decided to use the oracle to help me decide how each marauder who didn’t fail a CUF roll would respond during the first round of the firefight. Red- helpful- results mean they would run for cover. Black- harmful- mean that they would return fire (low number cards meant un-aimed fire; high number meant dropping prone and returning aimed fire). Unfortunately, most of the cards I drew were black, high number or face cards. The OPFOR rolled well during round 1, resulting in critical hits to P.R. and Honeybear.

After a great start to the ambush, in round 2, P.R. took a crit to the dome. His K-Pot absorbed 1 point of damage, but three more got through. He rolled an 8 on the Crit table (Shattered neck). Since that qualifies as a lethal wound, I started the clock. P.R. was out of the remainder of the fight. Honeybear took a crit to the arm (the roll resulted in a dislocated shoulder). For the rest of the firefight, he rolled with a -2 modifier as a result of this non-lethal wound.

After the fight, I rolled recovery time. P.R.'s is 14 days; Honeybear's is 1 day. It looks like the Diamonds are staying put for a while.

Again, Bird’s M21 was a crit machine. Despite firing only one bullet per round, he scored a hit in every round but one (the 2nd), every hit a Crit. Snipers in 4e are deadly.

Again, I’m disappointed with the rules for grenade launchers. Even though Sandy rolled a hit on the targeted hex, AND a success on one of the two Blast D damage dice, since the four bandits occupying the hex were lying prone, they took no damage. Three of them failed their CUF rolls, though, so it wasn’t a total bust.

Captain Walker, despite rolling only a single d6 (since she doesn’t have any skill in Heavy Weapons), killed two fleeing enemy with her first burst of HMG fire (rolling 4 ammo dice). IMHO, someone with no skill, and with multiple negative modifiers acting against them, should have less chance of success than a single d6 roll, but I don't know how one could do that with the 4e system without depriving them of any chance of success whatsoever (perhaps equally unrealistic). 1/6 seems too high, 0/6 seems too low.

Grease and Deacon successfully pushed Driving and Mobility rolls, respectively, helping them get into position to help the engaged Diamonds relatively quickly (4-5 rounds). I’ve learned that separating teammates by more than 50m or so during combat is a very risky thing to do, as it takes friendlies out of the fight, skewing the combat action economy in favor of the OPFOR. Even one "lost" turn can greatly affect the outcome of a firefight.

Sarge rolled so many 1s during that firefight that his M16A2 lost all of its Reliability points and completely broke.

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kcdusk

06-22-2023, 04:50 PM

Love the notes section. Thanks.

kcdusk

06-25-2023, 03:41 PM

TBH i found writing my own creative writing section challenging. Reading the Diamonds story has been good.

I enjoy seeing both sides of the player/Ref fence. Whats the in game challenge, how do the players tackle it, what does the Ref mechanics of dice and modifiers look like?

How does the game tone compare to my own game / view of T2K?

I also like seeing how non-rifle skills are used in other games. For example using the drive skill to cross a creek. Or leadership to turn a battle. I know my own games end up combat heavy when running solo, so i am trying to add more non-combat encounters to develop a more rounded character.

I'm a little surprised this section hasn't attracted more attention. is it because everyones book marked the forum? So they don't see new posts in this section?

I have a scrap book of all my played out encounters. i've been doing some work to write it up, so others can comment (good or bad). I think its motivational to see what others are doing with the game.

Raellus

06-26-2023, 12:00 PM

When asked to help move PR out of the shallow foxhole in which he’s slumped, unable to move, Honeybear reveals his own injury; the machine gunner’s dislocated shoulder is quickly, if painfully, popped back into place by Deacon. The medic tells Honeybear to take it easy and not use the injured arm for a few days; he’ll fashion a proper sling later. Sarge and Sandy help Deacon move PR while keeping the injured man’s neck immobilized, while Bird and Capt. Walker keep watch over the battlefield.

PR is strapped to a narrow door and, with the help of a few villagers, transported the village church where the Diamonds are lodging (an itinerant priest who used to hold mass there every fourth Wednesday and Sunday of the month was killed by the marauders in a different village a week or so ago).

With Bird and Capt. Walker providing over-watch from the woods and road, respectively, Sarge and Sandy sweep the ambush kill zone. Sarge corners a marauder trying to slink away on the concealed side of the roadside berm. When a couple of the village militia arrive on scene, there’s concern that they might summarily execute the captured bandit. Without PR to translate, communication is a real challenge. Bartosz speaks some Russian from his days in the Red Army, so he’s able to communicate with the captured bandit, but Sarge and PR have no idea what the Russian speakers are saying to one another. Instead of killing the captured bandit, or perhaps as a prelude to execution, the villagers put him to work digging graves for his 13 dead comrades.

An assortment of older-model Soviet small arms- as befitting deserters from a Category III motor rifle division- are recovered from the battlefield. Those marauders not killed at the outset of the ambush were down to their last magazine.

Later that day…

Walker, Sarge, and Deacon speak in hushed tones outside the door to PR’s ad-hoc hospital room.

“What’s the prognosis, doc?” Sarge asks.

Deacon shifts uncomfortably on his feet. He knows the appellation was used in good humor, but he still doesn’t appreciate when others over-inflate his medical acumen. The team’s amateur medic is already putting enough pressure on himself.

“Is his neck broken?” Walker follows up.

“Maybe. I can’t know for sure without an X-ray…” Deacon shruggs.

“But he’s paralyzed, right?” Walker asks.

“At the moment, yes- from the neck down. I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up too high, but the paralysis could be temporary. There was trauma, which means swelling- that could be putting pressure on the nerves in his spine, blocking signals, kind of like a kink in a hose. Right now, all I can do is keep him immobilized so he can’t do any more damage to his neck, and try to get the swelling down. I’ve given him some anti-inflammatories but we’re running low; ice would be really helpful, but I doubt this village has an ice machine…”

The village has neither an X-ray or an ice machine. For the latter, the best that can be done is cold compresses (a flannel soaked in well water). The nearest hospital is in Ostrzeszow, 16km (as the crow flies) west of the village. According to the militia, the city is playing host to a field hospital for Soviet casualties from the Battle of Kalisz, of which, it is understood, there are many. The idea of sneaking into the city to use an X-ray machine or kidnap a proper doctor is quickly dismissed, as is the notion of leaving RP there, trusting to the Soviets to take proper care of him, and proceeding to E&E without him. It is clear, however, that, given PR's present condition, the Diamonds are going to be staying put in the village for at least a couple more days.

Later, there’s some discussion about whether or not to track down and eliminate the four marauders that survived the ambush, but it’s decided that the potential costs of such an effort outweigh the benefits. At least one of the escapees is wounded, as evidenced by blood trails leading away from the kill zone. After the massive ass kicking they took today, the likelihood or their return to Skarydzew is judged minimal.

NOTES:
This "session" was mostly RP. The only random event here involved how the militia would respond to the prisoner. I pulled a card from the Oracle- the result was "mildly helpful". I ruled that this meant that the PCs would not have to be responsible for deciding the prisoner's fate. That wasn't quite enough guidance for me, though, so I pulled another card for NPC (militia) motivation- the result was "generous". I ruled that this meant the militia would not harm the prisoner. I've got the next day rolled up and outlined but I'll share it in a subsequent post, so as to keep the length of these reports somewhat manageable (and hopefully avoid a TLDR situation).

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Raellus

06-27-2023, 02:37 PM

Deacon cares for PR as best he knows how, massaging and stretching the radioman's arms and legs every few hours. PR regains some feeling his upper body, then a hint of movement in his fingers. He cries tears of joy.

Honeybear has to be reminded constantly to take it easy with his injured shoulder. The rest of the Diamonds busy themselves around the village. Grease, as usual, works on Pole Position, starting by doing his best to decontaminate the APC, inside and out, with soap and water. After maintaining their personal firearms, the others sort the captured Soviet weapons based on condition. The diamonds keep the RPG-7 (with two HEAT rockets) and the PKM (w/ 100 rounds) for their own use; three AKs, the SVD, and the RPK are donated to the village militia, along with two full magazines for each weapon. The rest of the captured weapons (an AKSU, five AKMS, and an RPD) will be used for trade.

Keeping their promise, the villagers keep their American guests watered and fed, as well as keeping a brew on in the village still. The captured marauder is kept locked in a root cellar.

NOTES:
As per the Care rules on p. 74 of the Player’s Manual, Medical Aid rolls can be made once per day if a shift is spent caring for the injured character; if successful, that day counts double for time spent recovering. Deacon succeeded on his rolls for 7/30-8/2, so that will cut 8 days from the 14 days originally rolled for the injury on the Crit table, as mandated by the rules. I haven't rolled past August 2nd.

Bird will make several TECH rolls over the next few days to restore lost reliability points to the Diamonds’ weapons (p. 91 of the Player’s Manual).

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Raellus

06-27-2023, 02:38 PM

Around mid-day, two riders are spotted approaching on horseback from the east. Both wear US-issue battledress and carry M-16 pattern weapons. Contact is made. The pair- a man and a woman- are stragglers from the 4th Squadron, 12th Cavalry (5th ID). For the past 13 days, they’ve been on the run, eluding Polish and Soviet Army patrols. The two riders started out with several others, but a couple of clashes with enemy forces since the “You’re on your own” transmission have winnowed the group down to two. They ask for food for themselves and their horses, and ammunition for their M4 carbines. Discussion inevitably rolls around to the two parties joining forces.

“We’re not going to hang around until you’re ready to leave,” the man says, upon learning of the Diamond’s delayed travel plans.

“What’s your rush?” Sarge asks, trying to keep his frustration under control.

“You haven’t heard? The big brass decided to pull US forces out of Europe; there’s gonna be a major evac, from some port in northeast Germany, end of the month, first come, first served. We’re fuckin' going home.”

Sarge and Walker both raise their eyebrows at this revelation.

“And how do you know about this… ‘major evac’?” Walker asks skeptically.

“We ran into a guy who hid out for a couple of days with a comms specialist from the 5th ID head shed.”

“So, hearsay,” Sarge says, nonplussed.

“You wanna take the chance he was full of shit?”

There’s an uncomfortable pause while both parties process this.

“I’m not going to order you to stay,” Walker says, breaking the silence. She knows full well that her unit can’t stop the Cavalry troopers from taking off if they’re really determined to do so. The Cav troopers expressions only reinforce this.

Sarge makes one last pitch with the “strength in numbers” argument.

“Bigger group means bigger target- and slower. We got a better chance on our own.”

The Diamonds command team discusses whether to grant the Cav troopers’ request for ammunition. Ultimately, Walker decides to offer the pair a trade; she doesn’t feel right letting two friendlies head off on their own without providing some potentially life-saving assistance. The two troopers are offered their pick of the remaining small arms captured from the marauders (not those previously spoken for), plus as much Soviet ammo as they can carry, for the pair’s carbines and remaining NATO-caliber ammo. The riders accept the deal. They take two AKMs (including the one with a BG-15 40mm grenade launcher attached), seven compatible mags, and two 40mmS HE rounds; in exchange, they hand over their M4s and four full STANAG magazines.

NOTES:
To determine encounters while the Diamonds remain encamped in Skarydzew, I’m using the Frequency rules and Stationary Encounters table on p. 36 of the Referee’s Manual. The Frequency rules suggest one encounter per shift. That seems reasonable when the party is on the move (they could run into stationary groups, or others on the move) or in a city, but not so much when the party is staying put in a small, isolated hamlet (technically, they can only “run into” another group that’s on the move). Consequently, I’m rolling the dice only once per day/every other day (?) from 7/31, as that seems more reasonable to me.

Anyway, the first roll called for a draw from the RED, but the result didn’t apply, so I ruled that as No Encounter for the day. On day two (D6+1), the result was 6, Stragglers. The D6 roll to determine how many stragglers appeared came up 2. The encounter suggests that the stragglers will attempt to steal from the PCs and leave at the earliest opportunity. That reminded me too much of the Murderous Bastards random encounter that I ran earlier in the campaign, so I omitted that part about stealing. I supposed I could have rolled an opposed Persuasion roll to convince them to stay, but that would have completely nerfed the encounter described by the rules, so I didn’t. Instead, I rolled to see if Walker (Persuasion C) could convince the riders to share any rumors that they picked up since the death of 5th ID. I awarded Walker +2 in modifiers for asking for something that didn’t cost anything (rumors), and outranking the people she was trying to persuade (CPT vs. SGT). Even rolling 2D12 vs. 1D8, she had to the push the roll in order to succeed. The result on the Rumor table was 9. I worked its contents into the dialogue.

Once again, I forgot to roll for Weather changes [for any of the shifts since the PCs arrived in Skarydzew]. Doh!

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kcdusk

06-27-2023, 04:07 PM

“You haven’t heard? The big brass decided to pull US forces out of Europe; there’s gonna be a major evac, from some port in northeast Germany, end of the month, first come, first served. We’re fuckin' going home.”

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Wow! Great stuff!!

kcdusk

06-27-2023, 04:09 PM

[FONT="Courier New"]NOTES:
To determine encounters while the Diamonds remain encamped in Skarydzew, I’m using the Frequency rules and Stationary Encounters table on p. 36 of the Referee’s Manual. The Frequency rules suggest one encounter per shift. That seems reasonable when the party is on the move (they could run into stationary groups, or others on the move) or in a city, but not so much when the party is staying put in a small, isolated hamlet (technically, they can only “run into” another group that’s on the move). Consequently, I’m rolling the dice only once per day/every other day (?) from 7/31, as that seems more reasonable to me.

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I've been doing the same, only rolling once per stationary day. I've been ignoring the result if it doesn't fit.

Raellus

06-29-2023, 06:04 PM

It rains for a few hours during the morning, so anyone not on guard duty tries to stay indoors. The rain lets up around noon, but overcast remains. It’s going to be a grey day.

PR continues his ad hoc physical therapy program supervised by Deacon. In addition to making continued progress with his fingers, hands, and arms, PR has regained some feeling and movement in his feet. His spirits have risen tremendously- he’s convinced that he will soon be able to walk again. He even insists that the team medic prop him up in bed (i.e. into a reclining seated position). Deacon is trying to temper his own optimism about his patient’s prognosis, but the medic’s hopes have risen as well. He now no longer fears that PR will experience significant, long-term paralysis.

At about ten hundred hours, a group of seven rain-soaked civilians arrives from the west. They hail from the neighboring settlement of Wygoda Plugawska, just under 2km west of Skarydzew, but have been squatting in the larger town of Doruchow (4.3km further west) for the past week, since the last marauder raid on their hamlet. The marauders took most of their home settlement’s food; what little the bandits left behind has since been consumed, leaving nothing until the upcoming harvest season. The people of Doruchow fed some of the refugees for a while, but that town is running low on food now too, so they were asked to leave this morning. The refugees have come to Skarysdzew to ask for charity, but are willing to work for it, and repay the food debt after the next harvest. With its new guests (i.e. the Diamonds) already providing more mouths to feed, Skarydzew is approaching a similar situation- provisions are running out faster than anticipated. Everybody’s about to go hungry, it seems.

When the refugees learn that Skarydzew’s American guests killed most of the marauders just two days prior, they grow animated, ask if a teenage boy was with them. The refugees explain that the boy was kidnapped from their village during the last raid- why, they can’t be sure. They beg the Diamonds to go find him and bring him back, even claiming that they heard that the bandits also had some American prisoners too. The Diamonds believe the part about the Americans is bullshit, laid on to give them an incentive to look for the civilian boy, but they agree to help anyway.

The Diamonds start by interrogating the captured marauder- something they didn’t see much use in doing, earlier. The process is complicated by the need for two translators- Bartosz translates Russian to Polish, and PR translates Polish to English (and vice-versa). The prisoner is in no mood to talk, but Walker is able to get him to admit that his group did indeed kidnap a boy for use as a camp “servant”; he also gives the Diamonds a rough idea of where his camp is located in the woods to the south.

“When we get there, make sure to identify your targets. We don’t want to hit the kid we’re trying to rescue, so no sprayin’ and prayin’, got it?” Sarge admonishes the rescue team, just before they set off.

The rescue team consists of Walker, Sarge, Deacon, Bird, Honeybear, Sandy, Grease, and one of the village militiamen with experience hunting in the woods. Any trail the marauders may have left has been washed away by the morning showers, so the team has rely on the prisoner’s directions and dead reckoning to locate the marauder campsite.

After about an hour of slow, cautious movement through the woods, the hunter, on point with Bird, indicates that he’s hearing voices from up ahead. Sarge gets the team on line and they begin a tactical advance towards the suspected campsite. 30m from the camp, Bird catches his toe on an exposed root, loses his balance, and falls forward; somehow, his "new" M4 carbine discharges a round when he hits the ground. The marauders are alerted. They drop prone, facing the danger, and open fire.

Deacon is already prone, making him a smaller target. Nevertheless, an incoming round grazes the medic's right cheek. Somehow, he manages to keep his cool and return fire. Just a few paces away, Walker staggers as a round pancakes against her PAGST vest. She falls forward, going prone, takes aim at her attacker, and squeezes of a few rounds. Both Diamonds score hits, although neither is aware of this at the time.

The rest of Diamonds go prone and start engaging targets. Sandy, Grease, and Sarge all miss theirs, but Bird and Honeybear eliminate two of the four marauders.

The opposing groups exchange fire for about 10 more seconds. The marauders are the first to cease fire, it turns out, because they are all dead. Two Diamonds (Deacon and Walker) are slightly wounded during the exchange.

The kidnapped teenager is found, curled up behind a tree, feet chained together. He’s filthy and badly shaken, but otherwise unhurt (at least, physically). The Diamonds seize the dead marauder’s weaponry (four AKMs w/ 3.5 mags, three RGD-5 hand grenades, and a few assorted knives/bayonets) and search the filthy bandit camp. Grease is a master scrounger- apart from some very dingy camping equipment, he turns up an Oriental carpet, a fire extinguisher [fully charged], and a Nintendo Gameboy hand-held video game console! (Batteries not included, unfortunately).

The party returns in triumph to Skarydzew with the rescued teenager and a carpet-full of loot. To show their gratitude, the refugees from Wygoda Plugawska share another rumor they’ve heard. A merchant passing through Doruchow told them that Krakow has declared itself a free city and is hiring soldiers of any nationality to join its nascent defense force. The Soviets are also supposedly hiring mercs to help them retake the city. Some of the merchant caravan guards were discussing signing on with one side or the other (probably whoever pays better) when they return to the area.

NOTES:
I finally remembered to roll for Weather changes! Twice a day seems more reasonable to me than four times a day (i.e. at the beginning of all four daily shifts).

This is encounter was built by rolling D6+2 on the Stationary Encounter Table. I rolled 7 on 2D6 to determine the number of refugees. I had to ponder for a while to figure out how to make this encounter fit into the narrative, but I’m satisfied with what I came up with. Since the party agreed to help, the refugees shared two rumors (I rolled twice on the rumor table). I tweaked the rumors a bit. One (R6) was the throw-away about the marauders having some American prisoners, the other (R2) was about the Krakow and the Soviets competing to hire mercs.

The rescue op started with a successful roll for Interrogation [pushed]- the prisoner confirmed the refugees’ story about the kidnapped boy. I wanted to use Bird’s Hunter specialty to try to track the marauders all the way back to their camp, but the morning rains washed away all spoor, so I scratched that. The opposed Group Recon roll to attempt to “Ambush” the camp failed 30m from the camp, so the engagement began at close range, and the marauders drew the first two initiative cards.

I didn’t use as many ammo dice in this firefight. The marauders were running low already, and the good guys were trying to reduce the chance of a stray round catching the kid they were trying to rescue. Deacon and Walker survived head and torso hits, respectively. Body armor is a real life-saver!

I used the Oracle to determine the condition of the kid and drew Seven of Diamonds (mildly helpful)- I ruled that this meant that the kid was unhurt and relatively healthy (at least, physically).

Since the marauder camp is relatively small, I ruled that the party could roll for Scrounging even though they spend less than a shift searching it. Grease rolled three successes (I even forget to add +1 for Help from another PC). I Googled “random gameboy game generator” and, low and behold, there’re a couple. I used the first one that popped up and the result was Streetfighter II (1993). Luckily, the Diamonds scrounged a couple of AA batteries a few days earlier. Let the games begin!

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Raellus

07-02-2023, 04:09 PM

The Gameboy is a real morale booster. Deacon commandeers it for 'therapeutic medical reasons', handing it off to PR so that the convalescing RTO can work on his fine motor skills. PR doesn’t mind the rotating cast of visitors, there as much to take a turn on the Gameboy as to visit with their injured squad-mate.

That evening, the Diamonds convene for a full team meeting, the main purpose of which is to determine a long-term course of action. Captain Walker starts things off.

“This village now has eight more mouths to feed. We can’t stay here much longer without putting our hosts in a bad spot. Once PR is back on his feet, literally, we’re leaving. Question is, where are we going? We need a long term goal. Otherwise, we just keep running in circles.”

Walker spreads out a large travel map of Poland on the table. It's poorly lit by candlelight. Her finger marks a spot, not even a dot on the map, about 6 or 7 kilometers south of Kalisz.

“We're right about here. Since Kalisz, we’ve been trying to keep moving east and south, keeping away from the FEBA, where the enemy has their frontline troops.”

“Worked out real great, so far,” Honeybear quips with a mischievous grin. Sarge half-heartedly shoots him a cross look; Walker can’t help but smile at the chorus of chuckles that follows.

“So just imagine what we’d run up against if we’d headed west instead,” Bird says, coming to Walker’s defense (not that she really needed it).

“Thank you, Corporal. In the last couple of days, we’ve heard some pretty interesting rumors. One: there’s a big evacuation of US forces from Europe leaving from Bremerhaven, Germany, end of this month. That’s about 690 klicks from here, as the crow flies."

Walker's finger traces a straight line between Skarydzew, Poland, and Bremerhaven, Germany.

“Second, Krakow, about 200 klicks southeast of here, has declared itself a Free City and is hiring mercs to beef up its defense force.”

“Just to clarify, what’s a ‘Free City’?” Sandy asks.

“Independent- neutral, not taking sides,” Walker explains.

“Like Casablanca in WWII,” PR adds to quizzical or blank looks. “Seriously? Bogart, Bacall? 'Play it again, Sam'? It’s an American classic!”

“Like Casablanca,” Sarge confirms (aside from PR, he's the only one present who's seen it).

Walker continues, “Now these are rumors, but they're all we have to go on. So, as I see it, our two options are start heading northwest, make for Bremerhaven, or at least friendly lines, or, head southeast, to Krakow. Option one is farther, and takes us back towards the front lines, but it does get us all closer to home. For Krakow, the reverse of all that is true. Questions, suggestions, concerns?”

“If we make it to Bremerhaven, and the rumor is false, we’re still back in friendly territory. If we get to Krakow and the rumor was false, then we’re 200 klicks further away from friendly territory than we are now," Sarge points out.

After a bit more discussion, a vote is taken. Bremerhaven wins.

-

Raellus

07-03-2023, 12:52 PM

Thursday, August 3, 2000 (roll +3 on SET)

At about noon, Grease, on sentry duty in the copse on the west end of town, radios in a sighting. Two vehicles - a Humvee mounting a Dishka HMG, and a military van of some sort- are approaching Skarydzew from the west. Both sporting Soviet Army tactical symbols (a “Z” perhaps?).

The Diamonds and the hamlet’s tiny militia have discussed what to do in this sort of situation. The Diamonds lay low (but ready to fight or run at a pinch), while the locals do the talking, sticking to a “this is just a sleepy little village; there’s nothing to see here” narrative. The vehicle-mounted Soviet patrol is met by one of the hamlet militia on the edge of the settlement. After a brief conversation (hidden Diamonds watch the exchange, but can’t hear what’s said), the two vehicles pass through town at a leisurely pace and continue on their way, heading east. Once the patrol is well out of sight, the militiaman reports that it was operating out of Grabow nad Prosna / Palaty, searching for NATO raiders believed to be running amok in the area (most likely, this refers to the Diamonds or the escaped American POWs). The Russians apparently bought the militiaman’s claim that no one in the hamlet has seen or heard of any Americans in the area.

NOTES:
To decide which Diamond was on sentry duty at the western OP, I rolled a D8- Grease got the job. I rolled opposed Recon and he won, so the patrol didn’t see him lurking in the trees. I treated the conversation between the militia and the Soviet patrol as a Social Conflict and rolled for Persuasion (opposed), with both parties rolling a single D8 (EMP C). The militiaman won, so he successfully bluffed the patrol, which went on its way, none-the-wiser, without searching the ville.

Friday, August 4, 2000

Arm around Deacon’s shoulders, PR is up on his feet and walking (shambling, more like it). His legs are weak and wobbly, but he’s regained a lot of strength in his upper body, and his fine motor skills are improving rapidly (probably thanks to Street Fighter II).

Later that afternoon, the militia “captures” a Soviet soldier on the northern approaches of the village. He’s in bad shape- bloody and delirious, barely able to walk or speak, and when he does talk, he doesn’t make much sense. His uniform is torn and dirty; his only weapon is a crude shop-built hand grenade of some sort.

Deacon fixes up the Soviet soldier as best he can, using supplies provided by the village. The Diamonds suggest that the villagers take the injured Soldier to the nearest Soviet garrison (Grabow) in order to earn some good will. The Americans offer to take the bandit EPW with them when they leave, dropping him off several kilometers away.

The Diamonds spend the rest of the day preparing to leave Skarydzew early the next morning. The villagers load the Americans up with as much alcohol fuel as they can carry, as well as a couple of days’ worth of food and fresh water- all that they can spare. It’s going to be tight until the next harvesters, but the villagers don’t begrudge upholding their end of the arrangement. They know it would have been much worse had their guests not eliminated the rapacious ex-Red Army marauders.

NOTES:
During the Diamonds’ stay in Skarydzew, I’d rolled all but one of the encounters on the Stationary Encounters table. The remaining encounter is Large Force, but I couldn’t think of a way to wedge that into the story, given that the village militia successfully bluffed the small patrol (the Scouts encounter) on Day +3. I don’t want to burn through the random encounter deck either so, for day five, instead of rolling for a fourth time on the SEC (adding +4 to the roll), I decided to see what kind of encounter I could create by drawing cards on the Further Elements Table. The results were 4 (Tired Soldier), 6 (Decayed), King (Bleeding), and 5 (IED). I was going to interpret Decayed as a case of gangrene, but since the next result was Bleeding, I decided that Decayed refers to the tired soldier’s state of mind.

-

kcdusk

07-03-2023, 06:34 PM

During the Diamonds discussion, it felt like there were two options.
1) free city of krakow, or
2) something like Pirates of the Vistala/Going home.

I thought you'd end up going South, too Krakow. Only because i know you ran the Pirates game years ago.

Q how did you make the decision about which way to travel?
Q how do you feel heading in the same geographic direction as your Pirates game (is it more of the same?)?

I know i've said it before, but i only roll once per day on the stationary encounters table. Your explaining how you rolled and then turned the results into a story i think is valuable for new (even expereinced) solo players to see how this is done in practice, stringing random results into a cohesive story line. What you describe is very similar to my own games.

Raellus

07-04-2023, 12:15 PM

During the Diamonds discussion, it felt like there were two options.
1) free city of krakow, or
2) something like Pirates of the Vistala/Going home.

A third option I considered was building a local base. This is the game concept that I find most appealing personally, but, ATM, the characters haven't found a place that they feel invested enough in to consider staying there long-term. This could change, however, as they continue their travels.

Q how did you make the decision about which way to travel?
Q how do you feel heading in the same geographic direction as your Pirates game (is it more of the same?)?

I thought about rolling the dice or pulling a card for this decision, but I didn't want the choice of the PCs' ultimate destination be quite that arbitrary. "Consulting the Oracle" works for a lot of things in this game, but for a major plot point such as the party's long-term goal, I feel like solid reasoning is more of a necessity. To make the decision re destination, I debated the pros and cons of Krakow v. Bremerhaven in my head. I basically did a quick and dirty cost-benefit analysis, and then played it out IC. Ultimately, Sarge's point was the most convincing to me. I couldn't imagine any of the Diamonds voting for, "Let's drive 200km further behind enemy lines to join a Polish city militia that may or may not be recruiting American troops, or even exist at all, for that matter." It's too much of a gamble, and there's not a strong enough pull for any of them.

Again, random rolls or draws, or the consequences of future encounters could change the Diamonds' course/goals/destination. I just needed a general direction to get things rolling again. Who knows? They may still end up in Krakow.

So, yeah, the main reason the PCs decided to head north is that I think that goal makes the most sense, logically, and in terms of realism, at this point in the story. I have another, supporting reason for pointing the game north, but I don't want to spoil what might be coming up, so I'll let you in on it later, if and when the story has arrived at another significant IC decision point.

-

Raellus

07-05-2023, 01:54 PM

The Diamonds leave Skarydszew just after sunrise. They work their way slowly but steadily north and east, sticking, as much as possible to back roads. By noon, they’ve driven roughly 25km and are approaching the town of Blaszki, which sits astride a major east-west roadway linking Lodz and Kalisz- very likely an MSR for the Warsaw Pact forces operating in the region. Bird spots an apparent ambush near a roadside petrol station; Grease successfully detours around it.

The Diamonds’ map shows a small forest on their current route, about 4.5 kilometers southwest of Blaszki. They plan to stop in the woods, pull off the road, conceal Pole Position under some foliage, and reconnoiter the way ahead on foot before sundown.

That afternoon, Bird and Sarge move north through the woods to get eyes on the town. Hearing voices in the trees up ahead, they stealthily sneak up on what appears to be a small campsite. Unaware that they are being observed, the civilians (who look to be hunters) sit around a small campfire dressing a freshly killed feral hog. The American scouts slink off back to the hide site. After a brief all-hands meeting, it’s decided to try to make contact with the group, see what they know about Blaszki and its environs . Bird and Sarge head back to the civilian campsite with PR and Sandy in tow; this time, however, the Americans are detected by the campers. After a brief but tense faceoff, PR persuades the Polish civies that he and his fellow soldiers mean them no harm. A deal is struck- an AKM and one full mag for information. The civilians report that Blaszki now lies in ruins, a casualty of the latest round of fighting (i.e. the Battle of Kalisz). No one lives there full-time anymore. The only inhabitants at the moment are a squad of Polish soldiers that run a checkpoint at the crossroads in the town. Allegedly, the Polish soldiers solicit bribes from civilian traffic. The civilians are not sure if the checkpoint is manned overnight, but they’ve seen no traffic on the highway after dark. When asked if there are alternate routes that cross the highway, the civilians explain that the fields and other roads in the area are still littered with all kinds of mines.

Bird and Sarge proceed to the northern edge of the forest. Blaszki is barely visible as a jagged silhouette on the northern skyline. Burned-out military vehicles, both NATO and Warsaw Pact, squat on the shoulders of the main road into town, tragic mileposts. Additional wrecks dot the surrounding fields. There was a mighty duel. A lot of soldiers- from both sides- died here just over two weeks ago.

Since the other north-south routes crossing the highway are apparently mined, the Diamonds decide to make a run through Blaszki after sundown. It’s probably too much to hope for, but maybe the squad manning the reported checkpoint will be asleep at their posts. If not, Americans might be able to bluff their way through the checkpoint- Pole Position is a standard-issue Polish military AFV, and PR’s Polish is good enough that he can often pass as a native speaker. Worst case scenario, the Diamonds might have to shoot their way through. According to the civies, the Polish troops don’t have any heavy weapons so, if it comes down to a fight, the Diamonds should have a firepower advantage.

After sundown, the Diamonds hit the road again. There’s not much of a moon up tonight, so visibility is limited, but Grease enjoys the benefit of OT-64’s driver’s IR equipment. The town, or rather what’s left of it, isn’t visible until the Diamonds are nearly upon it. Very little appears to remain intact. The main roads have been cleared, but rubble clogs the side streets.

The Diamonds spot the checkpoint first. Grease turns on the SKOT’s blackout headlights in an attempt to allay suspicions. The lone visible sentry doesn’t seem too alarmed at the sudden appearance of the approaching vehicle. Perhaps he recognizes its silhouette. As Pole Position edges closer, Honeybear waves a friendly, silent 'hello' from the gun tub; PR shouts from the air-guard hatch, “Zabieraj swoj tylek z drogi, glupek!” (Get out of the road, dumbass!) The sentry steps aside, salutes the passing APC with his middle finger, shouts, “Zwolnij, czubek!” (Slow down, nutcase!). Pole Position passes through the intersection unmolested, the ruse seemingly successful.

Wary of mines, the party stays on the main north-south road for another 4km before slowly taking a right turn and laying up for the rest of the night at an abandoned farmhouse.

NOTES:
This encounter includes a few random encounters from the deck that I’d pulled during previous sessions, but skipped as they didn’t fit prior situations. They are Empty Tank (the ambush at the petrol station that the party spotted and detoured around), My Kill, My Meat (the hunters in the woods south of Blaszki), and Cash is King (the Polish Army checkpoint in the town). To determine if the Polish soldiers manning the checkpoint were awake or asleep, I consulted the Oracle. The result was 9 (dangerous), so a watch was posted. Driving, Recon, and Persuasion rolls (most opposed) were successful, so the Diamonds were able to avoid combat. When I was younger, I probably would have sought it out, but seeing how dangerous combat can be the PCs that I’ve grown attached to, now I tend to try to avoid a fight whenever I can.

-

Raellus

07-08-2023, 11:00 AM

The Diamonds rise just before the sun, get back on the road. After a quick jog east, they turn north again, pick up the pace. It’s easier to see the road in daylight, so Grease gives Pole Position a little more methanol. The Diamonds continue to pass burned out military vehicles. Two out of every three are American models. Some of the blackened wrecks are still sitting in the road, indicating that this particular route hasn’t seen much heavy vehicle traffic recently. Pole Position rolls through an abandoned hamlet. The houses on the east side of the road are more badly damaged than the ones on other side. Among the char-stained exoskeletons of burned houses, rests a destroyed Soviet self-propelled gun, its blown-out barrel still elevated like some dried flower from an industrial nightmare.

As is his wont, PR periodically scans the channels on the SKOT’s integral radio. He picks up a fair bit of Russian and Polish transmissions. He can’t understand the former, but the latter are mostly brief and innocuous- the routine comms of an early 21st century military force at war. He slowly turns the dial…

“This is Diamond Regular One to northbound vehicle, come in. Over,” requests an English-speaking voice through a susurration of static. It carries hints of Louisiana bayou and desperation. “Diamond Regular One to northbound vehicle, please respond. Over.”

PR looks around, asks, “He talking to us?”

“Pick up,” instructs Captain Walker.

The caller says he’s a lone survivor from 1st platoon, Bravo Company, 4-6 infantry. He’s wounded and hiding out in a wooded area just west of an abandoned hamlet called Chlewo. 5th ID hadn’t established distress or confirmation codes prior to its dissolution, so PR goes old school with some American sports trivia.

“Diamond Regular One, who won the 1997 World Series? Over.”

“The [Kansas City] Royals,” the voice answers.

“How about the ’98 series?”

“There wasn’t one. The whole season got canceled.”

“I think we just passed it,” Sarge reports, consulting the map.

“Let’s go get him,” Walker says, decisively.

NOTES:
This is a combination of entry #6 on the Radio Chatter table and two draws on the Encounter Categories table. To be continued...

-

Raellus

07-08-2023, 02:06 PM

Grease doubles back, parks Pole Position on the road, nose facing the woods where the alleged 5th ID survivor is hiding out. With Honeybear providing over-watch, Sarge, Bird, Sandy, and Deacon dismount and advance cautiously towards the tree-line. They find the lone survivor- he's unarmed, save for a pistol (M9), and he lost his K-Pot somewhere along the way. “I had to choose- radio or rifle,” he explains.

“Vehicles inbound from the north!” PR shouts from the starboard front air-guard hatch. The Diamond dismounts are 230m away from the SKOT.

A military convoy is approaching at a pretty fast clip. The lead vehicle appears to be a BRDM scout car. It’s trailed by a jeep-like vehicle mounting a tube-like crew-served weapon of some sort (probably a recoilless rifle), followed by a van and a 6x6 cargo truck.

Grease deftly re-orients Pole Position to face the oncoming threat- this makes the APC a smaller target, as well as facilitating re-boarding for the dismounts. Honeybear opens fire first, at just over 300m range. The burst produces a bright flash and brief shower of sparks from the BRDM’s small turret. The scout AFV slows and makes a sharp left turn, disappearing into the rubbled village.

The Diamond dismounts leave the main body of the woods and run towards a line of tattered trees oriented on a diagonal about 120m from the road (and Pole Position). Luckily, there’s already a slit trench dug there- a remnant of the battle that enveloped this area a little over two weeks ago.

The second vehicle in the convoy is now on point. The Tarpan Honker (a jeep-like Polish military vehicle) stops in the middle of the road 260m from Pole Position; its crew lowers the windshield and takes aim at the APC with an SPG-9 recoilless rifle…

PR and Honeybear are quicker on the draw. 12.7mm rounds chew through the Tarpan’s grille, while small arms rounds pelt the exposed crew cab, wounding the gunner.

Behind the Tarpan, the van takes a right and disappears into the rubbled hamlet. The 6x6 cargo truck stops in the road, dismounts a squad of infantry. The Polish riflemen (identified by their speckled, olive green uniforms) hit the ground running, following the BRDM and van into the ruins east of the road.

“They’re tryin’ to outflank us! Right side!” Walker shouts. This is supposition, as none of the Polish infantry are visible to any of the Diamonds at present.

The Diamond dismounts continue running towards the trench, Bird and Sandy outpace the others, but pay for their exertion with a twisted ankle and a pulled hammy, respectively. Eager to contribute, Bird takes a knee a few meters short of the trench; aims at the recoilless rifle gunner. When he pulls the trigger, nothing happens. The round is a dud.

PR and Honeybear both engage the Tarpan. PR’s M16A2 jams. Honeybear’s Soviet-made HMG proves more reliable. He hits the enemy jeep with another burst of 12.7mm rounds, killing the gunner and vehicle commander, and damaging the suspension. The Tarpan’s driver and loader are splashed with gore; traumatized but uninjured, both crouch down and try to make themselves as small as possible.

The cargo trucks- a STAR 266- turns right, stopping a few meters off road (now facing west). This unmasks a ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun mounted in the bed. The twin-barreled 23mm auto-cannon thunders out a long burst, directed at Pole Position. Fortunately for the Diamonds, the enemy gunner’s aim is off. The ZU crew begins to reload the auto-cannon.

Sandy reaches the trench, takes aim at the biggest threat (the STAR gun-truck) with her M203. The bulbous 40mm HE round traces a shallow arc through the air, exploding just above the STAR’s gas tank which, miraculously, fails to ignite. The gun crew, however, momentarily drops out of sight in the truck bed.

Assuming that the recoilless rifle in the Tarpan is no longer a threat, Honeybear rotates the SKOTs armored cupola a few degrees to the left, takes aim at the STAR gun truck. Roaring and spitting fire, the Dishka blasts apart the gun truck’s front left wheel and sends a 12.7mm round through its unarmored cab.

“Lets go get our people! Take us off road,” Walker shouts over the SKOT’s intercom. Grease complies immediately, accelerating smoothly into a tight left turn. Honeybear struggles to rotate the gun cupola fast enough to keep the HMG’s muzzle on target. Pole Position rumbles forward, off road, heading towards the scraggly tree-line from which the dismounts are still firing on the two visible enemy vehicles.

Just as it completes its turn, the enemy ZU-23-2 crew opens fire on the OT-64 SKOT. 23mm HE rounds explode against the right side of the SKOT’s troop compartment but fail to penetrate the Polish-made APC’s steel hide. A second or two later, the SPG-9 loader, now acting as gunner, fires the recoilless rifle at the moving SKOT. The rocket-assisted 73mm HEAT round leaps forth and fireballs against the ACP’s flank, burning a hole into its engine compartment. Somehow, the HEAT round doesn’t do enough damage to the SKOT’s engine to disable it. Pole Position continues to bounce across the field towards the friendly dismounts.

Honeybear was zeroing in on the STAR when Pole Position was hit (in fact, he assumes all of the hits were from the ZU). He squeezes the Dishka’s butterfly triggers and watches with satisfaction as green tracers streak into the ZU-23-2, producing several sprays of sparks. The STAR’s entire crew bails out, starts running east towards the ruined ville.

At this point, the Polish infantry squad and the BRDM-2 still haven’t reappeared. It’s not entirely clear what they’re up to, but they’re most likely still moving through the ruins on the east side of the road in an attempt to flank Pole Position’s last known position. The bulk of the surviving enemy force is now east of the road, rubble interposed between it and the Diamonds. Walker hatches a tactical plan to take advantage of the current situation.

Trailing a cloud of dust, Pole Position jerks to a stop behind the tree-line trench; Walker opens the rear hatches from the inside shouts, “Mount up! Let’s go!” Sarge echoes the order.

With the APC crew providing cover fire, the dismounts climb out of the trench and re-board the APC, Walker doing a head count. Sarge grabs the bound and blindfolded ex-Red Army by the LBE and tosses him out the back door. As soon as everyone is back aboard, Walker orders Grease to go. The driver steps on the gas and Pole Position lunges forward, heading west until he finds a gap in the trees, then hitting a sharp right turn to head north.

While the Americans were briefly out of sight behind foliage and a couple of farm outbuildings west of the road, the surviving SPG-9 crew dismounted their recoilless rifle, set it up pointing at the spot they expect the OT-64 to reappear.

As Pole Position leaves concealment and bounces across a fallow field, the opposing forces resume exchanging fire. Incoming rounds from small arms ping harmlessly off the Skot’s side armor and raised air-guard hatches. Sandy, standing in the right-rear air-guard hatch, spots the SPG-9 set up in the road. Before the enemy loader-turned-gunner can take another shot, he’s cut down by her rifle fire. Sandy’s rifle misfires just as her primary target falls, mortally wounded.

Having cut approximately 700m across the field, Pole Position reaches a dirt road branching off to the northwest from the main north-south [paved] road. As Grease maneuvers onto this branching road, the BRDM-2 announces its return to the fight by loosing off burst of 14.5mm fire at the retreating OT-64. The incoming tracers miss the SKOT gunner’s cupola by a few inches, but it’s so close that Honeybear instinctively duck’s down inside the troop compartment.

Now on a relatively firm, even surface, Grease puts the pedal to the metal, leaving the enemy in his dust (literally). The engine doesn't sound quite right, but it continues to do its job for the time being.

NOTES:
As mentioned in the last installment of notes, I prepped for this encounter by drawing cards and looking at the results on the Encounter Categories table. The first result didn’t of Crater didn’t make sense, given the AO; the second result was Military Convoy. Looking at my map, I couldn’t think of a compelling reason for a convoy to be travelling the stretch of road the Diamonds were using at the time, so I pulled a third card. The result was Military Patrol. I tried to make a story out of the latter two results but something was missing. I rolled on the Radio Chatter table and the result was a badly wounded American calling for help. That was the missing piece. I decided that there was a Polish 10th TD outpost in a large village up the road. This outpost hosts a mounted patrol tasked with hunting down American stragglers detected by an RDF team (the Ural van). This RDF team triangulated the wounded American’s position when he made contact with the passing Diamonds and dispatched the outpost's hunter-killer team consisting of a BRDM, Tarpan Honker with SPG-9, UAZ-452 RDF van, and STAR 266 gun truck carrying a squad of veteran infantry. This was the “military convoy” in the cards. I worried that this force was too strong, but I wanted this encounter to be both realistic and a serious challenge for the party.

This was my first shot at vehicle combat. Luckily, Honeybear drew an earlier initiative card than the BRDM-2 gunner, so the good guys got to shoot first. He made it count, hitting the BRDM’s turret and wounding the enemy gunner (who failed a CUF roll). I ruled that the commander ordered the vehicle into cover since it couldn’t return fire at that time.

For the SPG-9, which isn’t stat’ed in the rulebook, I used the numbers for 73mm AP (i.e. HEAT) ammo. I was really worried when the enemy gunner rolled a hit on Pole Position. When Engine came up on the damage table, I thought it might be the end for the Diamonds. Fortunately, the OT-64’s side armor held up, and the net damage wasn’t enough to destroy/disable the engine. For the ZU-23-2 hit on the SKOT, the result, luckily, was Ricochet.

Sandy hit the STAR with a 40mm grenade. The result on the appropriate table was Fuel Tank. I was hoping the fuel would ignite, but neither of the D6 blast dice showed six. The hit still made the gun crew go prone, though, effectively stealing their turn. Honeybear's second hit on the STAR resulted in a damage roll of Cargo. Was the ZU-23-2 cargo? It was the only object in the truck's cargo bed, so I ruled yes, and the burst (6+ damage) hit the ZU. That brought its reliability rating below zero, destroying it.

I rolled a lot of jams in this firefight- I risked pushing rolls to hit the enemy heavy weapons, trying to neutralize them before they scored punishing hits on Pole Position (which would have stranded the Diamonds). Bird, who’s usually a crit machine with his M21 (I haven’t kept track, but he’s racked up the most kills of anyone else in the unit so far, by a wide margin) experienced one of said jams, and didn’t score a single hit during the entire firefight.

Grease came up big on his Driving rolls. He always succeeded, usually earning extra distance, and only once needing to push (on the last roll of the firefight).

Bird and Sandy both injured themselves pushing Mobility rolls. Luckily, neither were hit during the firefight, so the -1s from the failed pushes didn’t really hurt.

I’m getting a lot faster Ref’ing firefights. I don’t have to look as much stuff up in the rules. The Ref screen and weapons cards helped with this, since I didn’t have to flip through the Rule Book half as much, and my ad-hoc combat tracker is proving indispensable.

This map shows the various unit locations at the time the engagement ends: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1a6BvyZMCUSYsChCFeKejT-xc6TqRd5I&ll=51.75237647197456%2C18.46117933013394&z=15

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Tegyrius

07-08-2023, 03:00 PM

Whew. That had the potential to go very poorly for your protagonists. It seems like good initiative results really carried the day.

Are you adding New Guy as another PC?

- C.

Raellus

07-08-2023, 03:34 PM

Whew. That had the potential to go very poorly for your protagonists. It seems like good initiative results really carried the day.

Yeah, my stomach sank when the SPG-9 hit Pole Position's engine. I immediately assumed a mobility kill- it was a huge relief when I compared the 73mm AP (i.e. HEAT) damage and the OT-64's side armor. Every time I rolled a hit on the enemy vehicles, I kept rooting for weapon or gunner kills, usually to no avail. It was pretty suspenseful. I can say that I enjoyed the suspense, now that the results are in (and positive).

Are you adding New Guy as another PC?

I think so, at least until the party can find a relatively safe place to drop him off. By then, though, he might be too integrated to dismiss. Anyway, I rolled a D6 for his archetype (Officer), then rolled a D6 for his rank (1st Lieutenant). I'll probably roll a D10 and see what specialty the results line up with to determine what his Army branch is.

I forgot about the ex-Red Army maraunder POW until just now. I'm going to minorly RETCON him being tossed out during the firefight. He's tied up and blindfolded and doesn't know any more about the Diamonds than the Polish hunter-killer team hasn't figured out for themselves.

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kcdusk

07-11-2023, 04:07 PM

Writing continues to improve.

Great battle scene and explanation in the notes.

Love that there was some vehicle combat. I'm always trying to add it to my game to use skills other than rifle, but am still working on doing it well.

I am new to the system but am liking the push rules. An extra chance for PCs at the risk of additional stress or injuries. I like the rule. And i like the decision making position it puts on players to have to make the decision to push or not.

This is becoming one of the better/best solo RPG write ups i've got in my short cuts.

Question: have you been using the included maps for your firefights? Or conceptual maps? Or hex grids over google map locations?

Raellus

07-12-2023, 02:39 PM

Thanks for the kind words, KC.

Question: have you been using the included maps for your firefights? Or conceptual maps? Or hex grids over google map locations?

I use google maps and its integrated measuring tool (which gives measurements in Imperial units). I plug the measurements into a Google app that converters Imperial to metric. It's a bit clunky, but I'm used to it. I've seen folks insert hex grids over google maps locations, which would be more ideal, but it sounds more complicated to pull off than what I'm already doing.

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Raellus

07-14-2023, 11:55 AM

Grease pushes Pole Position north, driving through mostly open farm country, dotted here and there with black and orange wrecks. The party passes several tiny farming hamlets along the way, some showing signs of recent habitation, others obviously abandoned. After traveling about 7.5km, the OT-64 approaches a patch of forest. Grease knows that his baby took several hits from large-caliber weapons during the firefight and he wants to inspect the damage. Similarly, Deacon needs the APC to stop moving and the troop compartment cleared out so that he can take a closer look at Lt. DeGrasso’s wound. Believing that two of the Polish army detachment’s vehicles were immobilized during the firefight they’ve just fled, Walker and Sarge decide that the risk of making a brief pit stop in the woods is acceptable.

Honeybear and Sandy, carrying the RPG-7 in addition to her M16/203, are tasked with watching the party’s back-trail. A still-wobbly PR tags along to handle comms. Bird and Sarge head deeper into the woods to scout out the road up ahead. They take Lt. DeGrasso’s radio- an AN/PRC-148 handheld, unusual outside of SF circles.

Grease gives Pole Position a walk-around, assessing the latest battle damage. He finds four shallow, sunburst-shaped gouges and one small borehole in the OT-64’s right side armor, the latter just over the the APC’s engine compartment. Grease pops the hatch, inspects the engine. Miraculously, the 73mm HEAT round didn’t do significant internal damage. It should continue to run, but it shouldn’t be pushed too hard. Grease estimates that it’ll take about eight hours of work to get the old diesel (converted to burn alcohol) back to optimal condition, relatively speaking.

In Pole Position’s vacated troop compartment, Deacon removes Lt. DeGrasso’s PAGST vest, lifts up the wounded man’s shirt. The damage is worse than it first appeared. Much worse. The bullet entered at the hip and didn’t exit- Deacon had assumed it was lodged in DeGrasso’s upper leg somewhere. Swelling and lividity in the patient’s lower belly indicates, however, that after entering near the hip, the bullet traveled up through his pelvis and into his abdomen, doing significant internal damage. DeGrasso seems to realize the true severity of his wound as well. Only surgery can save the man now, and that’s simply not an option under the current circumstances.

Deacon looks up, meets his patient’s eyes. Behind the man’s obvious weakness and pallor, he sees guilt. “You knew?” the medic asks.

Degrasso responds with a weak nod of his head.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought you might leave me. I don’t want to die alone,” Degrasso answers, earnestly. Deacon wants to reassure the mortally wounded man, saying something comforting like, You’re not gonna die, or it’s gonna be OK, but lying feels like more of a cruelty than a kindness. A few seconds of awkward silence pass until the Chaplain’s Assistant asks, “Do you want me to pray with you?”

DeGrasso seems taken aback by the question. “In a minute…” he answers weakly. With more effort than should be necessary, the mortally-wounded officer removes something from his upper-left chest pocket. “Here. Get this to XI Corps. Do not let the commies get their hands on it…”

DeGrazzo passes Deacon a device of some sort. Deacon recognizes it as a 2gb Zip disk.

“What’s on here?” he asks, taking the disk.

“Don’t know. Wouldn’t tell you if I did. It’s important- that’s all…”

Meanwhile, Bird and Sarge scout the route ahead. The smell hits them first, getting stronger as they draw near to the northern edge of the woods. They hear the buzzing of hundreds of flies before they see the first of the corpses. A few meters inside the tree line, the scouts find a row of bodies, a dozen at least- their bloodstained cammies identify them a American soldiers. All of them lay face-down, hands tied behind their backs with items of their own clothing. Their boots have been removed, as have their weapons, ammunition, body armor, and LBE. They’ve have been dead for several days at least. Although the majority of corpses are mostly intact, animals have gotten to some of them, making an accurate count difficult. Bird and Sarge have smelled the corruption of death many times before, but they have to cover their noses and mouths to avoid heaving.

After making sure the area is secure, Sarge grimly says, “Let’s get their dog tags,” They go about the extremely unpleasant task in silence.

By the time the scouts return to the SKOT, DeGrasso is unconscious.

“Gutshot. He’s not gonna make it,” Deacon quietly announces.

Walker is looking at the map. “We shouldn’t stay here. If I had to guess where that Polish platoon came from, I’d say here, Goszczanow…” she stumbles over the name, “less than 5 klicks southeast of these woods. We need to a little more distance between us and them. There’s another main road across our route, about 3 klicks north of here.”

“It looks like there’s more patches of forest, ‘tween here and there. We could relocate closer to that road, get eyes on it. If there’s traffic, we can wait ‘til dark to cross,” Bird suggests.

NOTES:
No rules here. Just a bit of story-telling. I originally thought that Lt. DeGrasso would be joining the party, but I just couldn't get inspired to flesh out his character. I decided to kill him off instead, poor guy. The intrigue hinted at in this shift is a bit cliche and I honestly have no idea where to go with it, at this point.

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kcdusk

07-14-2023, 04:48 PM

I thought finding the bodies might have been a random card encounter.

i thought the zip drive might lead to operation reset or ....... there was a USA set module, about controlling the weather, can't think of it off hand.

hehe. love that its tough killing off a NPC/PC. Means you're invested.

Raellus

07-16-2023, 02:30 PM

Two days out of Skarydzew, the traveling food provided by the villagers is gone. The Diamonds have one day’s worth of rations left. The prospect of starvation rears its emaciated head.

On the outskirts of the next village of note (Liskow?), a large wooden sign is posted overlooking the road. It reads:

Głodni ludzie, kontynuujcie. Nie możemy wyżywić swoich.

PR translates for the others. “It says, ‘Hungry men, keep going. We can’t feed our own’.” The Diamonds decide that there is no use trying to negotiate. They pass through, eyed wearily by the townspeople. The local militia appears switched on and fairly well equipped with military grade small arms.

A few kilometers later, the Diamonds are flagged down by an American, one of sixteen it turns out. They are a gaunt bunch, closer to starving than hungry. They explain that they were turned away by the town the Diamonds just passed through. They ask- practically beg- the party for food. Walker explains that her squad is down to its last meal. The stragglers then suggest teaming up to essentially mount a raid on the nearby parsimonious settlement.

“Those assholes got plenty of food. They just don’t want to share it. You and us combine forces, that’ll change their minds.” Their leader, a brevet lieutenant, suggests.

“We’re not marauders, Lieutenant,” Walker declares, flatly. “We’re headed north, not south, and I suggest you do the same.”

The Lt. frowns, pauses but doesn't argue. “Why north?”

“We heard a rumor that US forces are pulling out of Europe end of August. Need to get to Germany before then, or else miss the boat,” Honeybear adds from the gun tub, hoping to help diffuse the situation.

“You got a radio?” Sarge asks the stragglers.

“Battery’s dead. Gotta spare?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

The two groups of Americans part on decent terms. The Diamonds offer to scout the road ahead (i.e north) a few kilometers and report back, mostly to assuage their own guilt from refusing to hand over the last of their food to foot-bound countrymen already gone a couple of days without.

The next settlement on the road is the polar opposite of the previous one. It’s smaller, and the villagers are almost too friendly. Their tiny militia is poorly equipped- a couple of shotguns and a pistol or two is all they have with which to defend themselves, but their larders are apparently full. They offer to trade food for better weapons. They even invite the Diamonds to stay- an arrangement involving an exchange of room and board for security.

The Diamonds want to keep moving, but a trade agreement is reached: the party will give five AKMs with 14 full magazines of for four (D6) days’ worth of rations, enough methanol to top off Pole Position’s fuel tank, and twelve shotgun (2D12) shells. The Diamonds tell the villagers about the 16 American soldiers they met on the road, just a few kilometers to the south, suggesting that this other group may be willing to provide additional protection for a spell, if the villagers agree to feed them. The villagers seem open to that proposition, so the party offers to backtrack, act as middlemen. Everyone involved is satisfied with the outcome. Before the Diamonds leave the next morning, the villagers warn them about what they will encounter if they continue to travel on the main roads north.

August 8 (Shift 1)

Taking a calculated risk, the forewarned Diamond party approaches the town of Malanów. The vegetation in the area is unusually sparse and drab for this time of year- it’s as if winter has descended early, but only on this particular section of Poland. The surrounding fields are fallow, inhabited only by scattered tufts of stunted yellow grasses, interspersed here and there with a few heartier weeds and nettles. The first stands of trees the party pass by are bare, then blackened. A couple of kilometers on, windrows of deadfall lay where patches of forest once stood, the ranks of trees lying with their tops pointing roughly south.

The first vehicle the Diamonds see appears badly weatherworn but otherwise intact, simply abandoned. Further on, they pass the burned out husks of military trucks, rusty rims ensconced in the pavement. What appeared from a distance to be whitewashed stones dotting the roadsides turn out to be human skulls, bleached by many suns. Further still, some vehicles lay on their sides, a few smashed like empty soda cans. The impression one gets is that a child giant, in a tantrum, has strewn his toy box full of army vehicles around the sandbox and then completely forgotten about them.

All this time, everyone is riding buttoned down inside Pole Position. Grease detours around the obliterated Polish town, avoiding the impact crater itself and the worst of the surrounding radioactive hotspot.

NOTES:
These episodes were strung together after a couple of days of writer’s block. I’d draw one random encounter that didn’t seem to fit the situation as it left off after the last. I did this several times. Each subsequent draw seemed to make things more muddled, not clearer. It took me a couple of days of thinking/imagining to put together a logical, coherent story from the disparate random encounters. It all came together this morning. I made a few rolls and voila, here are the results.

The part about the parsimonious town was generated by drawing cards on the Settlement Problem & Attitude table in the Solo rules. The results were Refugees (Problem) and Hostile (Attitude). I cribbed the idea for the billboard outside of the town from a favorite photo from the USA’s Great Depression.

The second element was from the Random Encounter card, Watcha Got? I’d already played out a couple of “desperate stragglers” scenarios earlier in the campaign so I tried to handle this one a bit differently. The third element was from the Buying and Selling Random Encounter Card. This village was willing to trade food for guns and ammo. I decided that the Diamonds would try to cut their own deal with the villagers, then attempt to broker an arrangement between the civilians and the hungry stragglers the party had recently met. Stringing the last two encounters together required some Opposed Persuasion rolls. Fortunately, they all went the PCs’ way.

Lastly, Ground Zero. First, I had to find a spot that either side would expend a tac-nuke on, and it had to make sense based on where v1 canon has units positioned in the summer-fall of 2000. The only place that came close to fitting those criteria is Malanów. Jed McClure's Poland hexmap index (https://static.squarespace.com/static/5333111ae4b09574e43ca618/53331a78e4b082de9f228e51/53331a7be4b082de9f2290ec/1390775431607/Hexmap_index.pdf) has proven invaluable during the course of this campaign. I can just type in the name of a settlement near the party's line of march into the search box and if it's described in canon, there it is. Once I had a target worked out, I decided that it made no sense that friendly villagers wouldn’t warn the party about a tactical nuclear strike crater less than 10km from their hamlet, directly on the party's line of travel. So, I made the party aware of the danger zone well before they arrived on scene. However, I wanted to try my hand at describing what the landscape around such a spot would look like, so I had the party skirt the area, as opposed to avoiding it entirely. Since the rules state that rads are halved for those inside a vehicle and the party is deliberately avoiding the areas of strong and extreme radioactivity, I’m ruling that no Rad Attack took place during the shift it takes to detour the area.

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kcdusk

07-20-2023, 01:40 AM

As explained in the 4e thread, i think repeating random encounters is ok. For instance in your game, running into refugees or parties of USA soldiers - will come with different results depending on the cards (helpful, aggressive, sneaky, etc). And i think most encounters for example will be these "run of the mill" running into friendly or suspicious civilians, other on-the-run friendlies or enemy patrols. So i am in favour of double-ups or repeat similar encounters.

Although i admit you do a better job of non-combat encounters, i think even if they don't make sense, well - that's the T2K world. I think you need to make the randomness of it fit. Otherwise, your only accepting cards/encounters that fit your view - that fit your story line - you are almost taking the randomness out of it. And i think this is a big part of the T2K story line. Not knowing who is friend or foe.

Or even the story making sense! Escaping from Kalitz! It is chaos, so i say let the encounters be gamed as they crop up.

A bit like me, its not until my party is out of food will they mingle with villages for example. Its only when they are forced too. This is something i am trying to do better at, non-combat encounters. They are important, they can be deadly or awkward, but i think they are essential. And by forcing my own PC to socialise, i know it is adding to my game. More than just combat - recover -combat which is a bit = DnD dungeon crawls.

Raellus

07-21-2023, 11:00 AM

The deer leaps from the trees, tries to clear the road in a single bound. Grease hears an impact, but Pole Position is too sturdy to feel it. Through the driver's vision block, a brown blur, there and gone in less than a half-a-second. Honeybear has the best view. He catches movement to his right front, tracks the final phase of the deer’s suicidal lunge. Clipped on the fly by the 14.5 ton APC, the animal cartwheels through the air, lands hard on the other side of the road.

“You just hit a deer!” the team's machine gunner (and cook) calls. It’s still twitching.

Grease brakes instinctively.

“There’s our dinner,” Bird drawls, monotone.

Pole Position is parked in the road, about 10m northeast of a culvert that crosses a narrow canal running northwest-to-southeast. About 200 meters northeast of the SKOT, the road disappears behind a small cluster of ruined residential buildings, the edge of a what appears to be an abandoned village. To the west of the road is a thickly wooded area.

Everyone is standing outside the vehicle, stretching their legs. Some watch Bird put the badly injured buck out of its misery, others don’t.

“Fuck, Bird, why you gotta use a knife?” Sandy asks, looking away.

“Cuz Ivan can’t hear a knife from a mile out.”

“Are we lucky or was that deer just really un-lucky?” PR asks.

“Guess that depends on who you ask,” Grease answers.

“Oi there!”

Eight heads turn almost as one.

A man stands in the road, about 200m north of where Pole Position is parked. None of the Diamonds noticed where he came from. His cammies look vaguely American, but they're not. He wears a white brassard around his raised left arm.

“British Army! You lot Yanks?” the man calls…

The speaker is Sergeant Bill ‘Topper’ Hudnall, formerly of the BAOR’s Special Observation Post troops. He’s currently operating as part of a group of around two dozen partisans, mostly Polish. They’re loyal to the NATO-aligned Polish Free Congress but operating independently at the moment. They lost contact with the PFC about a fortnight ago, after it was pushed out of Poznan by PACT forces. The partisans’ current base of operations is in the village of Ruda, a small settlement tucked into the forest between Turek and Konin. Those two towns are currently garrisoned by troopers from the Soviet 89th Cavalry division. Topper and a detachment of his guerilla comrades were laying in ambush the major east-to-west road which doglegs through the abandoned hamlet just up the way.

Topper glances at his wristwatch. “We’re about to head back to camp. If Ivan’s not showed up by now, he won’t be coming through today. You fancy paying a visit?”

“Have you met any other Americans?” Sandy asks the question on all of the Diamonds’ minds.

“Yeah, a few, about a week ago. They was heading north, like yourselves. Had a Humvee. We tried to recruit ‘em, but they weren’t interested.” Topper answers.

The Diamonds accept the invitation, and both groups head off for the partisan camp…

NOTES:
So I’ve been struggling a bit with how to move this campaign forward. I also feel like the campaign was getting a bit repetitive. Move, encounter a village that needs help, cut a deal (fight for food), rinse, and repeat. I too like the random nature of hex crawling, but it was starting to feel "desperately random" (name the film!). With the exception of the recent fight with the Polish hunter-killer team, the last few times I’ve drawn an encounter involving combat, the party has rolled successfully to avoid it. I’ve grown somewhat protective of the PCs, so I find myself trying to duck fights whenever possible, or only fight if the PCs have the upper hand. If I was playing with or running a game for other players, this pattern of would probably get boring after a few sessions (at times, it felt a bit stale to me). I found myself feeling the need to contrive a scenario where the PCs would be forced to fight, and do so without an advantage.

I tried using the tables in the Solo rules to give me a starting point. The results weren’t particularly helpful or inspiring, so I went back to the random encounter deck. I drew Outnumbered. In order to make that scenario work, I had to find a road in the Diamond’s path that the Soviets would use to move a supply convoys. Then I needed to find a spot where the party wouldn’t be able to quickly retreat- their MO- upon meeting the Soviet convoy. I spent a lot of time studying the Google Map satellite images of Poland to find a location that fit the bill (this is a downside to using Google Maps instead of 4e travel and combat maps). It was taking so long to find a spot that meet all of above criteria that I almost gave up and shut down the campaign until next summer. Instead, I went back to the Solo tables and drew some playing cards. Again, the results (Animal, Active) seemed unhelpful. But then inspiration struck. I imagined the SKOT hitting a deer and that gave me a reason to stop Pole Position and get all of the PCs out of the vehicle. Combined with the map location I found, this situation would have forced the party to engage in at least a few rounds of combat against a superior force.

I started the fight and the Soviets dew first initiative. The engagement opened at 200m. The BTR exchanged fire with Pole Position; the enemy’s BTR missed, rolling two 1s- the rules state that this means running out of ammo (already?), but I ruled it a jam instead, believing that to be more realistic (also, the net effect is the same- in either case, the NPC gunner has to spend the next round of combat not shooting). Honeybear missed the BTR with his first burst of Dishka fire. Originally, I had the partisans appear at that point and ambush the convoy. The Diamonds basically waited and watched before making contact with the partisans after the firefight was over (I was dictating that the Soviets lost). That felt a little too Deus Ex Machina to me so I stopped the combat and did a little Retcon.

I introduced the partisans because I want to give the PCs a purpose other than just getting to Bremerhaven in the hopes of going home. The partisans are going to try to persuade the party that the right thing to do is help the people of Poland eject the Soviet occupiers and overthrow the puppet Polish government, bringing freedom and democracy back to Poland. Even if they don’t persuade the PCs to join them long-term, the Diamonds will agree to help the partisans ambush a large Soviet convoy. I might have to improvise some rules for mass combat or come up with a reason to split the groups, as a 30 v 40 battle is going to be too unwieldy to handle.

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kcdusk

07-21-2023, 10:02 PM

My own solo games generally follow a couple of different paths.

1. I have a long term goal in mind, and i use the random encounter cards to fill in the journey there. For example my "target" is 5 days march away. I travel for 5 days using the random encounter deck, then if i reach day 5, i engage my target (sniper shot, call in mortar rounds, some other task such as gather intel (for a non-combat roll)).

2. Day after day slog of random encounters, with the random encounters being gelled together to make an overarching story line as the cards are played.

3. Or i pull together 3 or 4 encounters i'd like to play against, and just game my PC through them. In this way, i am mostly just having fun doing the math and decision making of combat. Learning how weapon A might be better/worse than weapon B. Or testing results v armour. or Blast radius etc.

I understand how writers block or monotony can filter in though. Once the fun is gone, go do something else. I'll do a day hike, or camp in/sleep/camp out of a location to get a real world kind of T2K fix.

Or, i play Advance squad leader, harpoon or chess to change things up.

Raellus

07-26-2023, 06:21 PM

The roads leading through the forest to the village are mined- partisan guides lead Pole Position on a short detour around an anti-tank mine belt. At first glance, the partisan camp looks like a run-of-the-mill Polish hamlet. Closer inspection reveals cunningly camouflaged bunkers and fighting positions scattered throughout the settlement.

The partisans call their band the “Lisi” (Foxes). Its leader is an ex-Polish paratroop officer named Kacper Boduch. The Lisi’s cadre* of ex-Polish army soldiers (and Topper) slipped behind the advancing Soviet army shortly after Poznan fell back into communist hands, eventually making its way east to Ruda. During its trek, the cadre managed to recruit a little over a dozen new fighters. One of those local recruits explains that Soviet cavalry troopers swept through the forest about three weeks ago, just prior to the arrival of the partisans, at which time they took all of the village’s horses (except for one old nag). This embittered the villagers which ultimately helped the partisans win them over.

After sharing a meal in the common mess, Walker, Sarge, Deacon, and PR meet with the partisan officers in a farmhouse that serves as the Lisi’s HQ building.

The guerillas have only fought a few inconclusive skirmishes with horse-mounted patrols since arriving in Ruda. Instead of seeking out battle, the Lisi have spent the past two weeks or so trying to recruit and train new fighters, fortifying the hamlet, and gathering intelligence on Red Army operations in the region. They’ve had little success in the former endeavor, but the partisan’s de facto intelligence officer, Father Gregorz Marcin, has managed to learn quite a bit about local Soviet forces. The Soviet 89th Cavalry Division is responsible for operations in the region. This formation is a division in name only. Its current strength is estimated at 300 troopers, with a few trucks, no AFVs, and only one artillery piece larger than 82mm (a 120mm mortar, based in Konin). Father Marcin shares the following intel at the meeting:

Turek
30 troopers detached from the squadron in Kolo; Turek’s citizens aren’t particularly fond of their Red Army guests, but they don’t want the war coming back to their town.

Konin
120 troopers; one 120mm mortar. The cavalrymen are helping the townspeople repair the highway bridge over the Warta.

Kolo
110 troopers; the detachment in Turek is from this squadron.

Sompolno
The rest of the 89th Cavalry division, including its HQ and support units, is located here.

The most intriguing morsel of intelligence regards reports of a Soviet armored train spotted traveling between Kutno and Kolo. Father Marcin hasn’t seen the train himself, but he heard it once, and locals living close to the rail line between the two small cities have reported seeing it about twice a week (once moving westbound, then again, eastbound) since around mid-July.

“We’ve been trying to build our strength but recruitment is going much more slowly than we’d hoped. The local people are tired of war, and don’t want to risk what little they still have to fight the occupiers. With your help, we’re strong enough to do something… significant. We aim to liberate Turek. Even if we only hold the town for 24 hours, it will send a message to the Russians. ‘You are not welcome here. You are weak, and we are strong. Go home, before it’s too late for you.'”

Commander Boduch then lays out his plan.

“We’ve learned that the 30 Russians in Turek are running out of food. A resupply convoy is being sent from Kolo, the day after tomorrow.

“If we ambush the convoy here… (he points at a small patch of woods astride the road connecting Kolo to Turek, 18.5km south of former, 5.5km north of the latter) it should draw out the Turek garrison. A second partisan force, about 1500m to the south, will be set up to ambush the expected reaction force. Even if the Russians in Turek don’t take the bait, they won’t last much longer without food.

“Either way- sooner or later- we march into Turek, raise the flag of the Free Democratic Polish Republic and spread the word.

“Your force, and a couple of my men will make up the northern group. Once you’ve stopped the convoy, you will reinforce the southern group. Together, we will take control of Turek.”

NOTES:
I created several PC-level partisans using the archetypes (and Spartan’s house rule that each PC receives a second specialization at char-gen). The partisan leader succeeded at an opposed persuasion role, thereby convincing the Diamonds to help liberate Turek- I’m not sure what I would have done if he’d failed. The party’s job is basically to play out the random encounter, Outnumbered, which I’ve been sitting on for a couple of sessions. It now fits the regional situation that I’ve developed. The party successfully rolled to waylay the convoy. Spending a full shift to prep the ambush gave the party a +3 modifier (from one C to one B and one C); the enemy rolled to detect the ambush from a moving vehicle with a -2 modifier (from one C to one D). The firefight will be described in the next post.

*The Lisi Cadre
Kacper Boduch, ex-6th Pomeranian Parachute Division
Bill 'Topper' Hudnall, ex-BAOR Special Observation Post Troop
Father Gregorz Marcin, ex-Polish Army chaplain
Anton 'Osi' Schimanski, ex-NVA combat engineer
Vadym 'Kozak' Dovhan, Donbas Cossack, ex-Red Army machine gunner
Witold and Jadwiga Dabrowska, a husband-and-wife sniper team (she's the better shot)
Grzegorz ‘Niedzwiedz’ [Bear] Rusiecki, ex-Polish Army tank gunner
Narcyz Cywinksi, ex-ZOMO

The remaining partisans use the Civilian NPC stat block.

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Raellus

07-29-2023, 03:47 PM

The Diamonds settle into position in a small wood overlooking the 470 highway (a two-lane, paved road connecting Kolo to Turek; they are strung out in a linear ambush formation on its east side). Pole Position is parked in a natural cut, about 60m east of the ambush line. There's a bit of a wait. A wise old soldier once described war as, "long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror." That will be the case today.

Unexpectedly, the Soviet convoy, when it arrives, is led by a BTR-70 (the Lisi had reported that the 89th CD didn't have any AFVs). Two 4x4 cargo trucks (GAZ-66) follow in the soviet APC's tire tracks. They contain another surprise- about a dozen soldiers per truck, riding in the open cargo beds. This was supposed to be a supply convoy! Instead of being up against a couple of truck drivers with minimal security, the Diamonds are about to pick a fight with a full platoon of Soviet infantry backed up by an APC and its 14.5mm autocannon. The party could allow the convoy to pass, but that would complicate things for their Lisi partisan allies waiting to the south. Against her better judgment, Captain Walker does not order an abort.

Fortunately, Ivan does not appear to be aware of the waiting ambush. Sandy kicks off the action as the BTR crosses in front of her position at the left end of the Diamonds' linear ambush. As soon as the Soviet APC fills the sight of her RPG-7, Sandy squeezes the trigger. With a jolt and puff of wispy white smoke, the rocket leaps at the target…

Faster than the eye can see, the PG-7VL HEAT round burrows through the side armor of the BTR, spewing a stream of molten copper and steel into the cramped troop compartment. All the Diamonds see is an orange fireball and a cloud of dust and smoke. Hidden from view Inside the BTR, one unlucky passenger is cut in half by the fiery jet and killed instantly. His neighbor’s near arm is badly burned. The rest of the passengers are buffeted by the blast, singed by the heat flash. For a few seconds, the survivors are all too shaken up to move. When they do, it’s to bail out of the stricken BTR in a panic. Everyone but the doughty gunner, that is. He trains his auto-cannon to the left, towards the threat…

The rest of the Diamonds join in, maximum ROF. The packed cargo trucks are the targets. Half a dozen Soviet infantrymen are killed or incapacitated in the initial fusillade. Several more are wounded. Damage to the trucks is minimal, mostly cosmetic.

The next 30 seconds are pure chaos. The truck drivers stop their vehicles and bail out. Some of the passengers are frozen in fear and shock, others scramble to dismount, stepping past bleeding comrades and over the bodies of the fallen, before leaping over the tailgate or lee side, desperate to reach the impression of safety given by the woods on the west side of the road. A trio of foolishly brave Soviet infantrymen pauses to return fire. Bird calmly picks one of them off.

The BTR’s KPV sends a searching burst into the western tree line. The gunner’s aim is high; severed boughs and branches rain down on a few of the Diamonds, but no one is hurt.

The Diamonds continue to pour on the fire. Several more Soviet infantrymen are cut down. The high ROF has another consequence. Nearly every Diamond experiences a stoppage. It must have something to do with the late-war manufactured ammunition they were issued prior to the doomed summer offensive.

Sandy reloads the RPG-7 with the party’s last rocket. She takes aim at the parked, smoking BTR, squeezes the trigger. The HEAT round strikes the APC just below its main gun, instantly silencing the weapon. For the next few seconds, 14.5mm rounds cook off inside the small gun turret, producing a hollow metallic banging with each sharp explosion. In rhythm with the banging, puffs of grey smoke leap from the open hatches, mingling with darker billows. The sound reminds Sandy a little of making Jiffy Pop popcorn on the stovetop as a kid. Funny what goes through a person’s mind during a firefight.

The numbers game begins to work against the Diamonds. With nearly all of the Americans trying to clear stoppages, fire superiority begins to rapidly shift in favor of the Soviets. Rounds buzz and whip-crack over the Americans’ heads, or thunk into the tree trunks they’re sheltering behind.

The Diamonds are now painfully certain that they bit off more than they can chew. Bird becomes the target of several Soviet riflemen at the back of the convoy. He’s hit first in the upper body, his PAGST vest absorbing most of the impact, then the leg- a graze. Pain bleeds through the adrenaline and he momentarily loses his cool (failed CUF check).

After clearing stoppages, the Diamonds attempt to regain fire superiority. Most of them don’t even bother to aim. Rounds go downrange, magazines are emptied- it doesn’t seem to help. The incoming fire doesn’t let up. Sarge takes a ricochet to the nose. He can tell immediately that it’s broken. Blood pours from the wound and down his throat (Critical Hit to the head: Nose Crushed; failed CUF check).

Captain Walker has enough combat experience to know that this fight is rapidly going downhill for her team. Surprised that Sarge hasn't already made the call (she's grown to rely on the grizzled veteran's tactical leadership under fire), she steps up and makes it herself.

“Pop smoke!” Walker shouts.

PR and Sandy are close enough to hear Walker’s command (enemy fire is much lighter on the left [south] side of the kill zone). Sandy is first to toss a smoke grenade- Goofy Grape (purple). PR follows suit (green). Sarge, meanwhile, has regained his wits, realizing that his facial wound, although painful and remarkably bloody, is not life-threatening. He pulls a smoke grenade (Mellow Yellow)* from his LBE and hucks it towards the road behind the trailing GAZ-66.

Just after the first of the canisters starts spewing its opaque payload, Honeybear is hit in the chest by a burst of machinegun fire. His PAGST vest stops one of the rounds, but not the other two (Critical hit to the torso: Internal Bleeding). The clock starts ticking…

A few meters away, Grease, reloading, sees his buddy get hit. “Medic!” he hollers.

Deacon, despite being wounded, slightly, himself, leaps up from the ground. Trailing leaf litter, he runs to the Diamond machine gunner’s position. Dropping to his knees, he rolls the big man on his back, tears open his protective vest. The entry wound is obvious, big and gushing blood. Deacon sticks his hand into the wound, somehow finds the severed artery on the first try, pinches it closed.

A split second later, Bird is hit again (Critical hit to the torso: Snapped collarbone). The cumulative pain is too much to take. He passes out (0/5 health points means he's incapacitated).

Captain Walker has no smoke grenades of her own to contribute; instead, on instinct, she empties a full mag into the GAZ-66 opposite her (the middle vehicle of the Soviet column). The hopeful fusillade pays off. The truck’s cargo bed erupts in a series of small explosions, adding to the visual and auditory chaos (+2 damage to Ammunition). Still popping off, the GAZ starts to burn.

A wall of sorts- three parts physical barrier (the burning BTR, the two abandoned trucks), three parts purely visual (clouds of colored smoke)- now separates the eight bloodied Diamonds in the trees on the east side of the road and at least twenty Soviet soldiers in the trees on the west side.

“Fall back!” Sarge shouts on the right. Walker echoes this command on the left.

Blood streaming from his shattered nose, Sarge crouch-runs over to and Honeybear and Deacon. Grease wants to stick around and help too, but he knows that Pole Position is the team’s only hope now- he springs up and sprints deeper into the woods, towards the Polish-made APC.

“We gotta move him,” Sarge says.

“I… uh… we can’t. I’m… uh… holding his artery closed,” Deacon stutters, staving off feelings of panic.

“Well keep holding it shut with that hand and grab his leg with the other. I’ll get his arms,” Sarge says, frustrated with the whole FUBAR situation, not the team’s amateur medic.

They hoist Honeybear up and start carrying him, slowly, into the woods. In their haste, they leave the machine gunner’s M240 behind. Priorities.

The Soviets seem content to let the ambushers go. They fire a few searching rounds into the smoke, but make no effort to press their advantage, even though an assault now would almost certainly overrun their opponents. What the Soviet soldiers know that the Americans do not is that the convoy has lost over half its strength (24 KIA), and several of the survivors are wounded.

Grease makes it to the SKOT, hops into the driver’s position. It’s risky, but the fastest way to his badly wounded companion is west, towards the kill zone, through a gap in the woods. The Diamond driver maneuvers the ungainly b-wheeled APC like it’s a Japanese sub-compact. He meets his withdrawing teammates half-way.

Seeing Honeybear unconscious, covered in blood, carried by Sarge (also covered in blood) and Deacon, the latter’s hand inside the team’s machine gunner, Walker shouts, “Everybody on board! Someone get on the big gun!”

“I’m on it!” Sandy shouts, dropping the RPG launcher on a fold-down bench before scrambling through the gunner's roof hatch.

“Where’s Bird?” PR calls out. Those not otherwise occupied look around. The team sniper is nowhere to be seen.

“Gawdammit!” Walker yells, frustration boiling over. “Everybody on board! We’ll go to him!", she shouts. Squeezing past a supine Honeybear, Deacon’s hand still inside his torso, Walker makes her way to the forward bulkhead. Practically punching the intercom talk button, she shouts, “Grease, take us north, to Bird’s position.”

“Guns left!” Sarge commands, his gruff baritone uncharacteristically nasal.

As Sandy trains the Dishka to bear on the enemy-held tree-line, Grease executes a tight right turn, drives 110m north just outside the forest verge. Leaving the concealment of the dissipating smoke, the team’s Grenadier squeezes off a long burst from the Dishka at the far right end of the Soviets’ firing line (the enemy’s left flank), eviscerating the rifleman occupying that spot.

Grease crosses the roughly 110m to Bird’s last known position like Dale Earnhardt, fishtailing to an abrupt halt in the grass just under the forest’s eaves. The expert maneuver leaves the SKOT facing the threat, its read passenger screened by the APC’s armored bulk. Incoming rounds PING against Pole Position’s nose and left-flank.

“I’ll go,” Sarge informs Walker. “PR, you’re with me.” Tugging Sandy’s trouser leg, he says, “Covering fire!”

With a stable firing platform, Sandy’s accuracy improves. With her second burst, she eliminates two more enemy riflemen in shockingly gory fashion. Incredibly, their nearby companions aren’t traumatized into quiescence.

Sarge and PR leap out of Pole Positions rear doors, into the woods. It takes them a few seconds to spot Bird, prone and well-camouflaged as he is. He’s unconscious but rouses when PR starts shouting his name. The usually stoic Bird cries in pain as his companions drag him to his feet. He half-walks, half lets himself be dragged the short distance back to the waiting SKOT. PR grabs the sniper's trusty M21.

Thick forest limits Grease’s options. He could execute a looping U-turn, try to flee across country, but the smoke from the grenade canisters is all but dissipated, and the slow, sweeping maneuver would have to occur in at least partial view of the enemy. North is also an option, but that would take the party towards Kolo, a major Soviet outpost, and away from their partisan allies. Going south will take the Diamonds back towards the Lisi, but it means driving past the entire enemy firing line while dodging burning obstacles. Ironically, the only sure way out of danger is south, through the ambush kill zone. This is all discussed on board while Sarge and PR retrieve Bird.

Keeping to the left shoulder of the road, Grease pushes the SKOT through the kill zone, Sandy laying down suppressive fire to the right (she rakes the lone undamaged GAZ with fire as the SKOT races past it, destroying the truck’s suspension and damaging its engine). Pole Position eats up the ground as Grease lays open the throttles. Shaken and feeling lucky to be alive, the bloodied Diamonds leave the battle behind.

NOTES:
Since the PCs were trying to establish fire superiority against a considerably larger force, I used the maximum allowed ammo dice for every PC attack roll (except the sniper, Bird’s) during the first couple of rounds. I was greedy and pushed all of the PC’s attack rolls during round 2 to up the odds of getting critical hits. Consequently, almost all of the PCs experienced a jam. Those pushed attack rolls did, however, result in several enemy KIA, so it was a trade off. I used a fast action to get each PC into full cover while they dealt with their stoppages. This meant that only the OPFOR was doing any shooting in Round 3. I considered having the PCs start a tactical withdrawal at this point, but I foolishly had them try to regain fire superiority instead. This meant that had to go back to partial cover (Fast Action), so all of their next attacks were carried out without the benefits of aiming. Not surprisingly, the hit rate went down. Also, because the PCs were going for maximum ROF, a couple of them went bingo on ammo.

Bird was crit’d in the torso (non-lethal) and incapacitated as a result on cumulative HP loss. Honeybear sustained a lethal crit to the torso (internal bleeding). Fortunately, Deacon was able to get to him quickly and the Medical Aid roll was successful, prolonging the machine gunner’s life for at least a stretch. Later, the Medical Aid roll to move Honeybear was also successful. I think he’s going to pull through, but he’ll be out of action for a significant spell of time.

During a couple of rounds, I forgot to roll CUF for characters in the same hex as someone suppressed or killed. I did, however, remember to apply the appropriate modifiers throughout the battle (e.g. -1 for firing into a forest hex, -2 for firing from a moving vehicle, etc.). I modified my combat tracker, adding a column for Stress. I kept track during the first 2-3 rounds and then I forgot. I'll go back over the tracker and update Stress for the PCs (there's no point doing so for the OFPOR now). I invested in a Ref screen and weapons cards a while ago and they’re paying off by saving me time (and wear on my Rulebook).

No rolls were fudged. I really thought for a while that this might end in a TPK. After Bird and Honeybear were knocked out of the fight, I contemplated having the remaining PCs surrender. I’d then draw a card from the Oracle to see if the Soviets would give quarter or not. If the party survived surrendering, I could then arrange a prisoner exchange between the partisans and the Soviets in Kolo for the PCs. Instead, I decided to fight on and attempt a withdrawal under fire. It proved to be a good call. The Dishka was deadly, racking up six kills with only three bursts. Fortunately, the Soviets’ RPG-18s all belonged to dead men (stuck on the trucks, no less) and the party made it away from the battlefield without suffering any more damage.

They wouldn’t know it yet (that would be metagaming), but the Diamonds’ ambush of the convoy was a clear-cut victory. They killed 3/4 of the Soviet force and destroyed or disabled all of its vehicles. The party did more than enough damage to allow the second phase of the plan to liberate Turek to proceed.

During the firefight, the party spent or lost six full M-16 magazines plus a few additional 5.56mm rounds, Honeybear's M240 and the remainder of his ammo belt (a total of 100 7.62x51mm rounds for the machinegun, plus 3 more fired by Bird), 63 12.7mm rounds, both of the party's RPG HEAT rounds, three smoke grenades, and numerous personal medkits.

Sadly (for me, at least), this will probably be the last campaign report from me for the foreseeable future. I head back to work full time next week, so I'll be preoccupied for a bit. Hopefully, I can get back to Diamonds in the Rough after things get settled.

*These three smoke grenades are half of the party’s total stock.

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kcdusk

08-01-2023, 04:29 AM

Your AAR style has been different to mine. More of a story book style whereas mine is more the nuts and bolts.

Yours is likely a more enjoyable read, whereas mine might be more in the style of a long example in a book.

I've enjoyed it. you've knocked out some material. I'm also about to head off on a 5,600km driving holiday, all on dirt, through the bush. So i'll be out of contact in a few days time also. I prefer my winter travels, whereas your enjoying the end of your summer time i guess.

Looking forward to picking the dice and discussions up soon.

Raellus

11-23-2023, 11:04 AM

Pole Position races south, Grease doing his best to toe the line between expeditiousness and a smooth ride. Back in the troop compartment, Deacon’s still got one hand inside Honeybear’s abdomen, fingers pinching closed the severed artery.

“He’s gonna need blood. Someone check his dogtags,” the ersatz medic instructs firmly.

Sandy’s still on the HMG; Bird’s arm isn’t working properly; Sarge has a blood-soaked drive-on rag pressed to the bridge of his nose, blocking the lower two-thirds of his view. Unwounded, P.R. stoops to comply. Walker cuts him off.

“Stop. Get Sgt… ‘Topper’ on the horn,” Walker orders. “I’ll check his tags,”

The C/O squats down next to the supine Honeybear, fumbles with the chain around his neck. “O negative,”

P.R. raises Topper on the radio, passes Walker the handset. She’s too angry to waste time on protocol.

“That ‘supply convoy’ we just stopped? You didn’t tell us it’d be escorted by a BTR and a fucking platoon!”

“Er… wait one, Diamond actual.”

“No. We’re headed back to the ville. Half my people are wounded, one critically. We did our job. That convoy’s not going anywhere. The rest is up to you. Diamond Six, OUT.”

She thrusts the handset back to P.R., making it plain that she’s done communicating with the partisan XO. Taking it back, P.R. sheepishly reports, “I’m O negative,”

“Fox Two to Diamond Six. Over? Fox Two to Diamond Six, pick up. Over?”

Grease is clear-headed enough to remember the detour around the AT mine buried in the dirt road to Ruda; he slows Pole Position to a crawl, maneuvers through a narrow lane cleared through the trees. Safely back on the road, the driver accelerates again- carefully measured, though, so as to avoid jostling the critically-wounded patient lying unconscious in the back.

…

Honeybear lies on a table in the village’s makeshift infirmary. Deacon’s hand is still inside the machine gunner’s torso. The chaplain assistant’s medic bag is spread open next to the patient. The machine gunner hasn’t regained consciousness; Deacon has P.R. standing by with the chloroform, in case he does.

“Somebody’s gonna have to pinch the artery shut while I tie it off,” Deacon says, unable to mask the trepidation in his voice.

“I’ll do it,” Walker volunteers. Like any good commanding officer, she feels responsible for the consequences of her orders.

“See those scissor-looking things?” Deacon asks. “No, the other ones. Yeah, that’s a clamp. You’re gonna clamp down right by where I’m pinching here. See? Yeah, right there. Good. Okay, hold that nice and steady,”

Deacon cuts a length of cat gut, fashions a loop. Using one hand to spread the fat and muscle bordering the wound, the team’s medic slips the loop around the exposed stub of the artery, cinches it tight, then uses both hands to tie it off, before trimming off most of the loose ends.

“Okay, good. Now slowly, open the clamp,”

Walker complies. The knot holds. Deacon closes his eyes, exhales long and slow. After he flexes his blood-smeared hands a few times, he sews up the wound.

“P.R., you’re up.”

Using a length of surgical rubber tubing and a pair of 20-gauge IV needles, Deacon rigs up a direct transfusion from the team’s RTO to the patient.

The procedures appear to have been successful, at least in the near-term. Deacon pushes through stress-induced exhaustion to treat the rest of the team’s respective wounds. Bird’s collar bone is broken (he diagnoses the injury himself, “Done it before, on the other side- fell off a horse when I was a kid,”). Deacon can’t do much more than immobilize the injured arm and fashion a sling. Fortunately, the sniper’s bullet wounds are mostly superficial. Sarge’s nose is a mess. The skin and cartilage of the upper septum are split open, literally to the bone (which is broken). Both the team Sergeant’s eyes are black, swollen to watery slits. With Sandy's help (as a boxer, she's seen plenty of broken noses), Deacon sets the bone, sews up the wound. Sarge will have an ugly scar when the wound heals.

When Deacon is finished rendering aid, nearly all of the party’s antibiotics and painkillers are used up. The Diamonds will have to beg, scrounge, plunder, or steal some more. The exhausted team medic slinks off to have a cry in private.

Ref Notes:
This write-up is based on several successful driving (Grease) and Helped medical rolls (Deacon et al).

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Raellus

11-28-2023, 05:39 PM

Ref Notes:

Due to Honeybear's wound, it looks like the Diamonds are going to have to stay put in Ruda for at least 3D6 days. I don't think that it would be realistic to apply the Healing Crits rules on p. 74 of the Players Manual (see below), as written, to a wound that essentially required battlefield surgery.

"CARE: If someone tends to you for a shift per day during the process of healing a critical injury and makes a MEDICAL AID roll, that day counts double."

As a result of their prolonged stay, I'm going to treat Ruda as a temporary (?) Home Base (Players Manual pp. 132-135). The Lisi have been using Ruda as their de facto home base for about a fortnight already. So, the following facilities are already in place:

Cow pen
Crop land (several plots)
Pigsty
Root cellar
Still (medium)
Well

IRL, there appears to be a small lumber yard in the village, so I might treat that as a Workshop for base facilities purposes. The Lisi have already started on some Defenses for the hamlet but I have yet to determine the number and location of these. Any additional facilities the party and/or the Lisi would like to add will be done so following the applicable Home Base rules. This will give me an opportunity to make use of Captain Walker's Logistician specialty.

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Ckosacranoid

11-30-2023, 07:30 PM

Interesting read for sure on your group's actions and what has happened. Yes, combat can turn on a dime with some rolls as I have seen in a few fights with different groups. Just as you think the PCs are about to get their ass kicked a role comes up to help them win the day. Some of the encounters are fun and others are WTF when they come and how to use them.
I have discarded cards when it comes up with things that just do not make sence at the time.

Over all this sounds like a fun game you have going on. I would say ambushing the train might be something the group could do and slow down and to loot. But it might lead to more trouble then it is worth. But that is one hell of thing to call about about getting new things and doing some damage to the reds.

Raellus

12-01-2023, 02:21 PM

Interesting read for sure on your group's actions and what has happened. Over all this sounds like a fun game you have going on.

Thanks! I'm glad you've enjoyed it.

I have discarded cards when it comes up with things that just do not make sence at the time.

Yeah, sometimes a REC just doesn't fit the in-game situation at the time it is drawn. If I can't figure out a way to make it fit, I'll put it in the "save it for later" pile. IIRC, the train REC was pulled from that pile.

I would say ambushing the train might be something the group could do and slow down and to loot. But it might lead to more trouble then it is worth. But that is one hell of thing to call about about getting new things and doing some damage to the reds.

Good catch! I'm also toying with the idea of using the functioning rail like to set up a Last Train to Clarksville scenrio (from the 1e module, Going Home).

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Raellus

12-02-2023, 11:11 AM

For the remainder of the day, the mood around camp is somber. The only bright spot for the Diamonds comes when Honeybear regains consciousness late in the afternoon. The machine gunner is extremely weak, and in a lot of pain.

The Lisi return to the village just before sunset. Disappointingly, the Turek garrison did not conform to Boduch’s expectations. For whatever reason, the Soviet detachment did not send a force to assist the ambushed convoy. Perhaps the latter wasn’t able to get a distress call off in time before its comms were knocked out of action. Whatever the reason, without the added strength of the American squad and its AFV, Boduch didn’t risk moving on the city. Before returning to base, however, the Lisi stopped to loot the convoy, the survivors of which had fled the area (presumably returning to Kolo). After counting 19 dead Soviet soldiers, the partisans recovered as much weaponry, ammunition, and food as they could carry, leaving some behind by necessity.

With PR and Topper translating, Walker and Boduch have a conference that nearly devolves into a shouting match. Walker is upset that the supply convoy was much stronger than she was led to expect; Boduch is angry that Walker aborted phase two of the operational plan, leaving the Soviets still in control of Turek. Fortunately, Father Marcin is able to diffuse the situation, having visited the makeshift infirmary and seeing the results of the ambush on the American allies first-hand.

That evening, the Diamonds have a meeting of their own. All of the Americans are present, save Honeybear.

Sarge is the first to speak. With his gashed, swollen, thickly-swathed nose, he sounds like he’s fighting a bad cold.

“Elephant in the room: we got a boat to catch, and a man [Honeybear] who’s in no shape to travel.”

“Deacon?” Walker asks.

“Can we move him? I suppose. Should we, though? No, absolutely not. I mean… I’m not 100% sure he’s even gonna make it through the night. He’s for sure not gonna be able to handle a road trip anytime soon.”

“How long ‘til he can- best guess?” Walker prompts.

“A week, at the very least.”

Walker’s quiet for a few seconds.

“Well, I’m not going to stand in the way of what could be y’all’s last best chance of going home. If anyone here wants to leave, you’ve got my blessing, but I’m staying put.”

“Me too,” Deacon says, almost without thought.

“Leave no man behind,” Sarge adds.

One by one, the remaining Diamonds state their respective intentions. It’s unanimous. They’re all going to stick together.

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Ckosacranoid

12-02-2023, 04:19 PM

I was going to say knocking out the train and stealing things from it will cause issues for the Reds I can see very much. The group will get lots of gear that they can use. But hitting it where they can have time to unload and carry things off before the cav shows up to run them off is the big thing and what the train might have for guards and carrying on it though I can see a big issue.

Raellus

12-06-2023, 06:43 PM

8/12/2000 Morning Shift (Cloudy)

Boduch proposes returning to the convoy ambush site with Pole Position and a mixed Lisi-Diamond force to recover the remainder of the abandoned supplies (or, at least, denying them to the Russians). After running it by Grease, Walker reluctantly agrees to the mission. The split squad consists of Grease, Cap, Sandy, and PR; Topper, Schimanski, Rusiecki, and Dovhan).

Sarge takes Walker's place, explaining, “I gotta do something to get my mind off this,” (he points to his bandaged nose). The platoon sergeant almost leaves it at that, but adds, “Plus, I wan to see how these guys operate,”

“You don’t trust them?” Walker asks.

Sarge hesitates, weighs his response, “Not yet.”

Walker acquiesces to Sergeant McNulty’s request.

When the recovery group arrives on scene, they discover that scavengers have gotten there first. It’s a gruesome scene. A pack of ten wild dogs are feasting on a trio of dead Soviet soldiers, and they don’t seem to be particularly frightened of the living. If anything, the dogs appear ready to make a stand to defend the scraps. When Kozak plinks one of them with a rock, it only makes the pack more aggressive. The Ukrainian draws his Shaska.

Pole Position is parked on the road, about 30m north of the tail of the destroyed Soviet convoy. The GAZ-66 is immobilized, but doesn’t appear damaged compared to the other two vehicles. The BTR has clearly sustained significant internal damage, based on the soot stains around every opening in its armored carapace. The middle vehicle is a blackened, amorphous mass, barely recognizable as military cargo truck. Grease and Sandy remain on board the APC (behind the wheel and in the turret, respectively); everyone else has dismounted.

Sarge and Topper confer. They’re reluctance to broadcast the party’s presence with gunfire, but it’s agreed that scrounging and area security can’t be accomplished safely with the dogs around, and there’s no way to get rid of them all silently (Topper left his suppressed Sterling SMG back at base).

Roll initiative…

Topper sends a warning shot skyward. A few of the curs jump at the sound, but the pack leader, clearly unwilling to back down, just barks back. Osi takes aim at the nearest mutt, squeezes the trigger of his short-barreled DDR AK. The mongrel drops to the turf, stone dead. Strangely, this doesn’t cow the survivors. Sarge fires next, killing another dog.

The alpha charges Kozak; the rest of pack follows its lead and attacks the intruders. Before most of the humans have a chance to fire, the dogs are among them.

Fighter jocks call a wild, close-range dogfight a “fur ball”. That term would be apt for what ensues here.

Topper, Sarge, and Osi all get bit in the initial charge. Long guns aren’t ideal for engaging targets that are literally at the shooters’ feet. Although the cur is close enough to pet by the time he squeezes the trigger, PR misses his target. Niedzwiedz misses his own attacker at point-blank range, despite being armed with a slightly handier AK carbine. Kozak’s 1927-model Russian cavalry saber proves much more suited to this kind of fight than modern assault rifles are. After avoiding the alpha’s snapping jaws, the big Ukrainian brings the curved blade down hard across the back of the dog’s neck, nearly severing its head. As soon as it flops lifelessly to the pavement, the survivors of the pack lose heart. They turn tail- literally- and run. It’s too late. They’re cut down in a hail of bullets before they can make the tree line.

Scavenging has to wait until wounds are treated. Rabies is the first thing on everyone’s minds, especially those bitten.

Inspecting his own wound, Topper reassures the others. “Nah, mate. Mad dogs don’t run in packs- rabies ain’t a social disease. We still gotta worry about good old-fashioned bacteria, though.”

Once bite wounds are cleaned and dressed, the scavenging begins.

Sarge limps over to the tree line east of the road, finds Honeybear’s M240 in the same spot it’d been left behind. The earth near the GPMG is still dark and damp with the machine gunner’s blood. Sarge lugs it back to the SKOT.

Niedzwiedz siphons ethanol from the unburned GAZ’s half-empty fuel tanks into plastic jerry cans.

Grease leaves Pole Position’s driver’s compartment to inspect the disabled BTR. The Soviet APC’s crew compartment is a blackened, gory mess; its weapons are thoroughly wrecked, the result of its main gun and coax ammunition cooking off. Two partially burned corpses- the gunner and a passenger, most likely- still crew the wreck. It smells like someone roasted pork over a bed of burning rubber. Miraculously, the BTR’s engine compartment appears undamaged.

While Grease and Niedzwiedz (a former Polish Army AFV crewman) inspect the disabled vehicles, the others pick up discarded weapons and search the corpses the dogs hadn’t gotten to yet. A survey of the bed of the unburned GAZ reveals several sacks of potatoes and other fresh produce, and Red Army rucksacks filled with spare clothing items and various personal effects. It appears that the passengers were planning on an extended stay at their destination. After a quick discussion, Topper and Sarge conclude that the convoy wasn’t just resupplying the 30-man garrison in Turek, it was reinforcing it.

The foraging party stows its loot- small arms, ammunition, grenades, food, and all of the rucksacks- aboard Pole Position. A full inventory will be taken back at base.

“We’d better get moving,” Sarge opines. “I can’t see Ivan just writing all this gear off.”

Ref Notes
For the day’s first shift, I pulled the Rabid Dogs card from the encounter deck. It fit the scenario perfectly.

This is the first time I’ve tested out the Close Combat rules. The pack drew an initiative of 4. Topper wasted the 1 slot with a warning shot. The next two characters easily scored kills (the dogs each had only 2 HP to begin with; pretty much every assault rifle has a damage rating of 2). It wasn’t difficult to hit a stationary dog at close range. On the other hand, once the dogs acted, a -3 modifier (-1 for a moving target, -2 for firing a rifle at a target in the same hex) resulted in a lot of misses once the dogs acted (charging and attempting to bit the dismounts). Most of my PCs didn’t have the Close Combat skill, so rolled their STR attribute only. Consequently, no one was able to block the dogs’ bite attacks. On the plus side, dogs have so few HP that a single hit from a rifle results in a kill shot.

I’m waiting on some rules clarification before posting what parts, if any, were successfully pulled from the damaged vehicles.

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