Ideas for small unit encounters

[Olefin]

Some ideas I had for small unit encounters that a typical player group could handle without them having to have a Bradley or tank along for the ride. I based these on the composition of Soviet units, looking at support units and not the combat units themselves.

for instance

Medical aid station for a Motorized Rifle Battalion (MRB) - you are looking at four men, one truck/ambulance, one trailer and one radio

Repair Workshop for a MRB - seven man, one repair truck/van, one trailer

A Supply Platoon for a MRB - nineteen men, one officer, with 8 trucks, 2 tanker trucks, one field kitchen, several trailers (if at full strength, a summer 2000 formation might be half that size), small arms only

A Signal Platoon for a MRB - thirteen men, one officer, 2 BTR's, 2 trucks (at full strength, most likely smaller for a summer 2000 formation), armed with small arms only

all the kind of encounters that a small group of men cut off and on the run are well placed to be able to encounter and survive even if all they rolled is a truck or Hummer or even no vehicles and are on foot

definitely not as hazardous as running into an infantry formation that has BTR's, BMP's or tanks and the kind of encounter a group that is just learning the game could probably survive pretty well

[Raellus]

Good idea, Olefin. I'd like to add to your suggestions:

A field kitchen with a couple of field ovens mounted on or towed by trucks.

A mobile blacksmith's shop attached to a horse cavalry unit; along the same lines, a veterinary unit.

A traffic control point. Not a roadblock, mind you, just a few MPs with small arms and a UAZ.

A penal construction unit. This could consist of quite a few men but all, aside from the guards, would be unarmed and the inmates wouldn't necessarily be hostile towards a party that could secure their freedom.

[Draq]

We could sit around all day and do this... I know I have.

[Matt Wiser]

How about a battalion's POW collection point?

Battalion NBC decontamination area...

Air-defense unit...even in 2000, old habits might resurface, and they're focused on the sky and not the ground....something like an SA-8 or SA-11 launcher.

[Olefin]

Always thought those types of encounters - ones against small units that have important stuff the players need - were the ones most like early Dungeon and Dragon encounters - after all no one sends a bunch of first level players against a Dragon - and it seems that many of the early encounters in the escape scenario seem to put them at very bad odds

plus a medical team has all kinds of supplies that a group of players needs - ditto the workshop or the mobile kitchen or repair workshop - and again as I said its a great way for a group to obtain their wheels instead of rolling for them

[unkated]

Bivouac (set up tents, out door shower) for ~50-80 men, occupied by only a handful - 4-7 man security force, small arms only; The rest are elsewhere. Nearby, (within 50-100m) are other similar areas. This could also be nearby a Battalion aide station and/or field kitchen.

The tents have packs with spare uniforms, blankets, a little food, personal stuff, small bits of booty - the stuff you'd leave behind before going to battle (like if your battalion was participating in the destruction of the US 5th Infantry).

Shooting will bring other small security detachments, and you don't really know when the company will return...

[Wolf sword]

Local village hunting party.

The PC stumble across a group of armed men...are they an army group out on patrol or something else?

Plenty of chances for observation checks, what are they wearing, armed with, and carrying.

[jester]

An abandoned field maintenance "facility."

Maybe broken parts, bits of twisted armor, shredded tires on the rim. A pulley on an A-frame. A seized engine, or maybe other parts or components half assembled/disassembled but now left behind when the front changed.

Another, an abandoned field hospital or aid station. Stretchers, bloody bandages maybe even a few bodies or hastily dug graves. Uniforms or bits, other bits of equipment cast aside while trying to tend to the wounded.

[Slappy]

Burial Detail - 2-10 men dispatched to see to the mortal remains of comrades. They are in the process of digging graves for several recently deceased. Could be from recent fighting, older injuries or disease/sickness. Small arms only, maybe a light truck. Likely indicates the presence of a larger unit nearby.

Displaced Persons Station - Facility used to control and possibly aid locals displaced by fighting. 6-8 soldiers with small arms, and a light truck, possibly also a BTR dealing with 30-100 civilians, mostly in family units. Soldiers are dispensing some amount of food and aid, but mostly trying to corral the civilians and encourage them to either stay put or move in a given direction. Attitude of civilians toward soldiers and vice versa could be highly variable. More likely encountered earlier in the war.

Civilian Interface Group - Small group dispatched to talk with local civilian leaders, assess loyalties, demand food, provide aid or whatever the local military units require. One Major, likely from intelligence. One junior officer aide. 4-6 elisted goons. Possibly one Captain from medical, engineering or other specialty branch. Most likely in a BTR.

[unkated]

Two vehicles:


One damaged vehicle (Tank, AFV, Truck) stopped either at the side of the road or in a field. Damage can be mechanical or combat; if mechanical, it may not be obvious to the PCs.

A second vehicle, probably a truck outfitted for repair and/or tow parked nearby, large enough to hold 6-10 men.

6-10 men (1-2 providing security, the rest intent on examining/repairing the first vehicle, 1-2 (full crew if tank or recce vehicle) are the damaged vehicle's crew). Security team has assault rifles in hand; the rest are unarmed with small arms nearby (in the repair vehicle).

This can be smaller, with just the vehicle crew and an immobile vehicle.

Alternatively, this can be a damaged heavy weapon (120mm mortar, cannon or howitzer) with and ordnance repair crew.

[Brother in Arms]

One of the Coolest Units I ever fielded in a game was a small civilian rifle squad. A village Defense unit that was on patrol in a thick pine Forrest. At the base of a small mountain that concealed and fortified village.

The unit was an 8 man sqaud all of which were armed with Yugoslavian SKS 59/66 carbines. Every man carried a typical Chi-com chest pouch that contained 100 rounds of ammunition on charger clips. They wore brown mechanics coveralls and commercial sneakers. They carried nothing more than a canteen and a small ruck sack.

(Apparently their ruck sacks were full of home made rifle grenades!!!)

Which party of PCs and NPC's soon found out.

The Party was riding in an old dodge power wagon that they discovered abandoned in a junk yard. Sadly it blew a head gasket and no one in the party new how to fix it.

So they walk down old narrow logging roads into a large pine forest. As they snaked up the hill sides and switch backs they passed through the forest and saw old ruins which were the collapsed cellars holes of 19th century farms. They also saw old tumbled down stone walls.

The next thing the party heard was the an enormous bang in the distance and a thump as a rifle grenade landed at the feet of there point man and blew both of his legs off!!!

From there a volley of semi automatic gun fire erupted from the thick brush. The PC hastily returned fire and dove into the cellar holes for cover. They felt somewhat safe until more rifle grenades started to drop in onto their ad hoc positions and they were basically pinned down. They managed to get a Machine gun firing in the direction that the rifle fire was coming from. They ended up firing an awful lot of rounds into big pine tree trunks and into the dirt.

Eventually the rifle fire began to taper off and seemed to grow more distant and soon completely stopped. The point man was grievously wounded but was not dead. The Sergeant in command immediately shot him. The machine gunner had been shot in the hand and someone else in the party has been grazed but wasn't really hurt.

The PC's were very angry and wanted revenge. So they decided to wait for night fall and move slowly up the hill into the darkness but they encounter no one.

They came to the edge of a clearing like a grown up hay field and in the moon light. One of the PC's spotted 3 or 4 men standing in the clearing. So dropped down into prone position took careful aim. He fired upon them and struck two of them immediately. The rest of the party fired into the darkness at the escaping figures. After a mad minute it was dead silent again. The party decided to circumnavigate the field and worked there way around it. They had two volunteers go investigate the field and they found 2 young men who where dead. They could hear the sound of some one whimpering and in some tall grass they found a teen age woman. She has been shot in the calf and was in shock. When they approached her one of the pc's tried to give her first aid but the other PC pulled out an entrenchment tool and wanted to beat her to death. She pulled out a a knife and attempted to defend herself from the E-tool wielding PC.

The rest of the party came quick when they heard the commotion and the e tool was removed from the vengeful PC. The injured woman surrendered her knife to the man who had started bandaging her Leg. She told them there where mines and booby traps all over the field. And there were 4 more small rifle squads that would be on patrol. So they bandaged her leg gave her some water and left her in the tall grass. They left the bodies and the arms in the field where the dead men laid for fear of these traps.

It proved to be quite a shocking encounter for the PC's. So much so they didn't bother looking for the village.

[Olefin]

An abandoned field maintenance "facility."

Maybe broken parts, bits of twisted armor, shredded tires on the rim. A pulley on an A-frame. A seized engine, or maybe other parts or components half assembled/disassembled but now left behind when the front changed.

Another, an abandoned field hospital or aid station. Stretchers, bloody bandages maybe even a few bodies or hastily dug graves. Uniforms or bits, other bits of equipment cast aside while trying to tend to the wounded.

Actually like this encounter - are the PC's willing to take the risk to search the area and see if anything useful got left behind or do they just ignore it and move on? Played a game once where all we had was our uniforms, small arms, two clips of ammo and one grenade each and water and food for two days to start - we spent a lot of time initially doing searches of places like that described above just to get equipped enough to survive, let alone try to get home.

[kcdusk]

Looters actively looting or terrorising villagers. The looters are the same nationality of the PC's, the looters might be of a higher rank than the PCs.

Will the PC's support the soldiers due to rank? Nationality? Or protect the villagers? To me this is the kind of decision that sets T2K apart from other games.

Once through the encounter (assuming the PCs survive), are the villagers in a position to help the PCs (food, shelter, direction, intelligence)? Or maybe report them to the enemy soldiers outside of town? Nothing is black and white.

[Brother in Arms]

These are awesome ideas gentlemen. Made me think of a few small unit encounters and in most of the games I ran "most" of the encounters fit that description.

PC's encounter a small "pioneer unit" collecting firewood. This is especially good for later in the war when things have stagnated a bit and it's a cold winter I imagine 4-6 men with small arms, and maybe a farm tractor or improvised "skidder" (which is a home made buggy for hauling tree length logs) Or UAZ hauling a trailer with cut logs in the back. Maybe even a couple draft horses depending on how rough things have gotten.

Another option is a 2-4 man unit with small arms and a larger 4-10 man contingent made up of unarmed prisoners which could be old men and boys taken from a local village and forced to chop down dead trees. This way the party doesn't have to actually fight too many well armed soldiers.

Also if 2 guys with 8 old men and boys get jumped by 4-6 guys with small arms they may surrender pretty quickly. The Pc's might even let take all the stuff the armed soldiers have and then let the prisoners do whatever they want with there captors ( like chop them up with axes)

or If you wanted to make it a larger group of soldiers say 6-8 and more unique vehicle (maybe earlier in the war) you could have the Pioneer unit rolling a old PTS-4 Amphib...that would be an excellent log hauler and it could carry all the wood cutting crew so they wouldn't have to walk back to the village. Also it might be a unique vehicle for the PC's to commandeer.

[Brother in Arms]

or perhaps the pc's come across an engineer unit that is:

Repairing a wooden bridge

or building/rebuilding a retaining wall made of sand bags or even fascines or gabions? (use what you got right?)

Digging a well or some other mundane workman like duty that is Non com in nature.



Once when I lived in Old town Maine. We were in Garland maine when this happened. It was me, my girlfriend and my friend and his girlfriend. we where out in the woods with our evil combloc weapons an AK and an SKS and a mosin nagant and we stumbled into a national guard training camp! That had been setup recently for a training mission. They had couple old canvas G2 tents, a duces, a couple humvees a water buffalo all kinds of stuff and we were met with no resistance or guard of any kind. We wandered out and proceeded to shoot in the nearby gravel pit that is when a couple soldiers one was a honcho and asked us to stop firing because soldiers were on manuevers in the area and they didn't want to confuse there scenario. Of course they all had blanks with no live ammo... You never know what might happen.

BIA

[kcdusk]

This feels a bit too simple and "military-istic". But what about a simple sniper encounter? The PC group being fired on from a distance (perhaps a rookie rifleman shooting from distance).

Do they take cover? Split into groups and try and flank the firing position? Have they identified the firing position correctly? Do the PCs make panicked decisions or sensible ones?

This encounter might work better if the PCs are under time pressure also, instead of taking their time to deal with a deadly encounter, they might feel the need to rush through it.

I could see this being an encounter where no PCs are injured, or potentially a few being killed. In either case i see it being quite tense for the players.

[Brother in Arms]

How about this
The PC's enter a wide open valley with a winding river in the middle.

They spot 3-4 Warsaw pact soldiers wandering around on the other side of the river. But what the pc's don't know is that the rather bored crew members for totally concealed Shilka that is perhaps gaurding a fording point along the river.

But to the PC's they looks like lame ducks caught in the open but if they jump back in the Shilka and shoot level at the PC's they could be totally screwed. If they managed to pic the guys off they have there very own shilka...which might be a very useful trade item to the right village or group of Marauders.

What do you think?

[Brother in Arms]

KCDUST

I was thinking about your sniper idea. You could as a twist to it by making the sniper be a very young person say a 11-12 year old. Or you could do a team an old grandpa and his grandson that way they aren't soldiers at all just some civilians with old hunting rifles or very outdated military stuff. It would be really cool depending on location/country if the grandpa had something really old like a rolling block rifle, martini Henry or some other old single shot rifle.

That way if the pc's ever discover the "snipers" they won't feel the same as if they are get picked off by some Spetznas SVDs

BIA

[.45cultist]

I've used civilians with scoped rifles and demolition gear to "buy time" for the militia and troops to mobilize. The"sapper/sniper" thing is fairly simple and can be effective. A humorous encounter would be a "Mad Max" type brigand group with no military experience versus heavy weapons. It may boost PC morale and the survivors could be recurring foes who made the learning curve.

[unkated]

You come upon a small vehicle (Humvee, UAZ-469, light truck) parked in what appears to be a small farm of a few buildings, off the road. Alternatively, parked at the edge or within a small deserted looking village.

There are two men standing outside the vehicle; one seems bored, holding a weapon, the other taking a leak a few paces off.

1. The two may be alone, and pulled off the road for necessary reasons.

2. 2-4 others may be checking out the deserted buildings, looking for anything useful left around (as your group would do if these guys weren't already parked in front)

3. 2-4 others may be terrorizing a local or two they caught looking for stuff. (Queue screaming female if you want to use that cliche.)

Extra complication: Locals with some arms may have cleared out to a hidden bunker or hidey hole by the tree line, hoping to simply avoid the visitors. They will come to the aid of their own; They may object if you two groups start shooting up their home.

[kcdusk]

loving the ideas, hope people are using them!

[.45cultist]

Expanding V2's farm encounter "Stout Yeomanry", the farmer's were firearm collectors or a shelter like a kibutz or a stake, perhaps a prepper bug out point. Plenty of semiautorifles,add a Barrett and dynamite.