Chapter 1 - Gear up time

[kcdusk]

Back in 1984, when I bought the first edition of T2K. The first thing I did was march a soldier on foot overland using the random tables and encounters and tried to see if he could survive NPC meetings, radiation, water, food etc for a week. Now in 2022, having just bought T2K V4.0, I intend to do a similar thing to test out the free league rules.

This first encounter was gamed out in February 2022. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place in the real world. But I used the looming conflict as a modern day background. I didn’t intend for this to be tasteless now that we know the invasion took place. I remember thinking at the time that despite all the now obvious signs, the invasion wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t happen. It did happen.

My PC just needed a place to be, and maybe a reason for being there. And I saw Ukraine as a magical place on the other side of the world, in far away Europe (Poland being a first edition point of interest) where he could walk to Chernobyl, which is a second example of a 1980s point of interest. I didn’t realise that now I am getting around to proof reading the adventure, some re-checking of rule understandings and writing this AAR up for others to read in May June 2022 that so much has actually happened in real life Ukraine. Again, no offence intended.

My PC is called Mason Geddes. My goal is to march him overland about 7 days to get from an unnamed city in Ukraine, to Chernobyl. And then see what happens from there if he survives his travels.

Obviously, this is a work of fiction.


First Meeting/kit up/lay of the land
Mason Geddes. Typical retired soldier, with formal experience overseas with the Australian Forces and, informal experience in various recent conflicts. Sensing a growing threat in Ukraine, he has flown into northern Ukraine with the intent of moving up to the expected front line of any potential Soviet invasion. A point of interest is the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the north, so that becomes my travel end goal.

Flying commercial into Ukraine, there was no opportunity to import his required survival gear and weapons needed for the conflict. Instead, using a trusted contact, Mason had arranged to meet a local “fence” or contact to provide equipment.

Feeling very much vulnerable, and like he was in a dungeons and dragons scene, Mason approached the bar given as the meeting location.

Located under a block of flats, a flight of stairs leading down into a basement was the entry point off the street. The greyness of the winter day meant his eyes didn’t take much adjustment to the low light on reaching the bottom of the stairs and walking into the bar.

Was the contact really going to be here? And do an exchange of money for weapons and other survival gear in a public bar? Even by Ukraine standards, and a country on the edge of war, this felt too brazen.

But there he was. The Fence. Sitting in a booth off to the side. As arranged.
The “fence” stood up and met Mason as he approached the booth. Extending a hand shake greeting, the fence produced a knife – and attempted to strike Mason by surprise. Hoping to fleece him of his cash.

[As my first encounter using the V4.0 rules by Free Legion, I’ve decided to have a non-weapon/non-lethal combat encounter. I’ve decided the fence has the skills of a refugee as per page 38 of the Referees Manual, and he produces a knife. I rule he achieves surprise as Mason wasn’t expecting such quick open conflict in the bar, meaning he gets a free opportunity to hit Mason without having to draw initiative.

From a game perspective, I have put my PC in a difficult position, but against a lowly skilled NPC to see how the game system plays out.]

Round 1
The Fence approaches Mason, extending his hand to shake in greeting, however he quickly produces a knife and tries to strike Mason, in an attempt to steal his money.

Task: Fence attempts to stab Mason. Slow action.
Ability Die: Strength C (D8)
Skill Die: Close Combat Nil
Modifiers: Nil
Mod. Ability Die: Strength C (D8)
Mod. Skill Die: Nil
Ammo Die: N/A
Roll:*2,na,--
Result: miss

The Fence misses his strike attempt. In response, and still surprised at the quick turn of events, Mason tries to disarm the Fence. Hoping to defuse the situation and complete their intended transaction so he can gear up and head north.

Task: Mason attempts to disarm the fence (page 64 Players Manual) Fast action.
Ability Die: Strength A (D12)
Skill Die: Close Combat B (D10)
Modifiers: Nil
Mod. Strength A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: B (D10)
Ammo Die: N/A
Roll:*7,3,--
Result: one success. Therefore Mason knocks the knife out of the fences hand. However, the disarm action can be blocked by the Fences remaining fast action this round.

Task: Fence tries to block the disarm action (page 64 Players Manual) Fast action.
Ability Die: Strength C (D8)
Skill Die: Nil
Modifiers: Nil
Mod. Strength C (D8)
Mod. Skill Die: Nil
Ammo Die: N/A
Roll:*5,na,--
Result: no success.

Masons single success against a one handed weapon (knife), and the failed block attempt, the knife is parried and drops to the ground between the two combatants.

Using his second and last remaining fast action, Mason strikes out at the Fence hoping to do a small amount of damage, essentially to wind him and bring the contact to his senses. The Fence has used his fast and slow actions, so is unable to attempt to block it.

[I thought this non-lethal combat would be a good introduction to the rules, and get a feel for how the D12, D10, D8 and D6 system works having never used it before.]

Task: Mason strikes Fence. Slow action.
Ability Die: Strength A (D12)
Skill Die: Close Combat B (D10)
Modifiers: Nil
Mod. Ability Die: Strength A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Close Combat B (D10)
Ammo Die: N/A
Roll:*3,4,--
Result: miss

2nd Round
The Fence has lost the advantage of surprise, and senses he is outclassed having been disarmed of his knife. Not expecting any mercy due to his ambush, the Fence tries to end the combat by drawing a pistol.

I house ruled the initiative here. I don’t like the 50/50 nature of drawing from a deck of cards. Instead I constructed a kind of opposed roll. The Fences mobility (D6) verse Masons close combat (D12+D10).
The Fence rolled a 3 = miss
Mason rolled 7+5 = one success. Therefore gains initiative.

Mason again tries to disarm the Fence, to keep him alive and locate the survival gear he was promised.

Task: Mason attempts to disarm the fence of his pistol (page 64 Players Manual) Fast action.
Ability Die: Strength A (D12)
Skill Die: Close Combat B (D10)
Modifiers: Nil
Mod. Strength A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: B (D10)
Ammo Die: N/A
Roll:*7,5,--
Result: one success. Mason disarms the Fence of his pistol.

To prevent this from happening the Fence can try and dodge the disarm action.
Task: Fence tries to block disarm action (page 64 Players Manual) Fast action.

Ability Die: Strength C (D8)
Skill Die: Nil
Modifiers: Nil
Mod. Strength C (D8)
Mod. Skill Die: Nil
Ammo Die: N/A
Roll:*2,na,--
Result: no success.

The pistol now clatters to the floor, and comes to rest next to the knife. The small crowd inside the bar has gone silent in shock at the attempted knifing (a semi regular event) and then the drawn pistol (uncommon before midnight).

Realising he is outclassed, the Fence runs towards the door, accelerates up the stairs and moves towards a car parked on the street.

A civilian (page 64 of the Referees Manual. I chose a different kind of NPC just for the diversity) is waiting behind the wheel with the engine running.

Mason himself gets to the top of the stairs and sees his Fence enter the car. Having taken the time to pick up the .45 pistol, Mason has had enough of being messed around and draws down on the occupants of the car. Looking to disable their get away and take possession of his promised equipment, which may be in the car.

Initiative comes into play again. I still don’t want to draw cards from a deck. So I compare coolness under fire rolls (highest goes first).

The civilian has a CUF of D so rolls a D6 and gets a 4. Mason has a CUF of B and so rolls a D10, securing a 6, and thus goes first.

Mason aims his pistol at centre chest of the driver of the car, which classifies as a stationary target.

Fast action: aim
Slow action: fire called shot from the .45 pistol.
I need to know the range to the vehicle, and decide given the short time it took the fence/refugee to get to the vehicle, that it was near the door of the bar. So I roll a D6x10m to randomly determine how many hexs away it is.
I roll a 2. So 20m. Which is short range for the .45.

Ability Die: Agility A (D12)
Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Modifiers: -2 for called shots to chest
Mod. Strength A to B (D10)
Mod. Skill Die: Ranged Combat A to B (D10)
Ammo Die:2
Roll:*3,4,2,6
Result: no hits. 8 bullets expended empties the magazine. But a possible suppression for the 6 on the ammo die (page 67 of the players manual).

The driver makes a coolness under fire roll (D6) and rolls a 6, a success! Therefore he is not suppressed (my later reading of the Suppression rules on page 67 uncovered in the last paragraph that targets fully in a vehicle cannot be suppressed. Good to know this unnecessary die roll didn’t impact on the result).

The driver engages first and second gear, and drives off down the street.

For round 3 Mason reloads his 45. I could have tried to reload as a fast action in hindsight, but made the call on the run to spend the entire round reloading. I arbitrarily rule the car has moved to long range for the pistol.

Round 4
Mason fires his 45 at the vehicle which is now at long range.

Ability Die: Agility A (D12)
Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Modifiers: -2 for long range, -1 for moving target
Mod. Strength A to C (D8)
Mod. Skill Die: Ranged Combat A to B (D10)
Ammo Die:2
Roll:*4,8,2,5
Result: one hit to the driver. 7 bullets expended empties the magazine again.
Hit location roll D6 is a 2 (torso) as the bullet passes through the seat from behind. Damage is 2.

I rule that having taken a hit, the driver must pass a driving skill check to continue to drive with no incident. The drivers skill is D6 and the roll is a 2, so a fail.

The driver slumps forwards onto the steering wheel, then flops back in his seat as the car takes a suddenly left turn and crashes into a parked car on the side of the road.

As this was my first encounter, I called an end to the action there. I ruled the fence had seen enough, having been disarmed of his knife and then pistol, then seeing his mate shot. He runs off through the growing crowd.

Mason approaches the vehicle hoping his promised equipment was inside.
Having got this far into the first encounter, I decide that the car does contain most of his required items, but not all.

Thinking the main weapon is the most important item I make up a quick random table for a D6 roll to determine what weapon is left behind.
1: FN FAL
2: FAMAS
3: SVD
4-5: AKM
6: AK-74.
Die roll is a 1, so FN FAL.

A backpack containing binoculars (+2 recon), a med kit and a telescopic sight for the rifle are also found. Mason has kept the original knife and 45 pistol.

I determine at this point that Mason is going to exit the city, and head towards Chernobyl which is expected to be near the front line. City travel determines that 1km is travelled (page 149 Players Manual). And I decide that is far enough to reach the edge of the city limits.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed the game mechanics more than I thought.
My playing character is quite strong, but that was by design since I expect him to be on his own most of the time, simply because it reduces my amount of bookwork until I learn the system.
I created my playing character by choosing his attribute and skill levels.
I put my character in a couple of difficult situations by design, to see if my more skilled PC could progress. There were a couple of fails, but many successes.
I felt the action played out realistically.
The next post will cover Mason Geddes first overland travel encounter.


I would like to share two links to games that I have found inspiring and useful in transitioning to V4.0. I took some of their writing structure to help give some format to this first post of my own.

http://twilight2000solo.blogspot.com/2021/04/0151-baggin-and-taggin.html

https://mindlands.blog/2022/01/02/escape-from-kalisz-a-twilight-2000-solo-mini-campaign/

[kcdusk]

Evening Day 1 – Just past city limits

Mason parks the car at the last visible home in the city limits, letting the occupants know it has a quarter of a tank of gas and the keys are in it. Grabbing his backpack and weapon, he trudges off away from the setting sun and towards the Soviet border further to the East.

I decide to roll for a random encounter to end Day 1. And draw 10 Diamonds, “Drop your weapons” and the Soviet Military road block. A BTR-70 sits facing the direction Mason is hiking from, there are 3 soldiers in total, with two soldiers milling about in the middle of the road.

Page 143 of the players manual discusses Keeping Watch. My PC gets to make a passive RECON roll that cannot be pushed (due to it being passive task). It’s a straight recon roll, because the enemy is not actively ambushing me. Success means I spot them first, failure means they spot me first. Having the option to shoot first, or avoid an encounter, is one of the largest decision or dice points in the game IMO. Being a solo character, I am glad Masons RECON skill is high.

Masons passive recon check is as follows;
Ability Die: Intelligence A (D12)
Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Modifiers: none, I didn’t think to spend more than 5 minutes looking for them
Mod. Intellegence A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Ammo Die:NA
Roll:*12,9,NA
Result: 3 successes (rolls of 10 or higher count as two success).

Mason spots the group of soldiers smoking in the middle of the road, and the vehicle silhouetted against the advancing night sky. At this point I made a wild refereeing decision. Due to rolling 3 successes, I changed the encounter from enemy Soviet forces to friendly Ukraine forces. This also allowed Mason to barter for some other items I realised I would need but hadn’t accounted for yet before moving on from the contact at the bar.

When I was much younger, I always went to long lengths to note down every item my PC caried. This was part of the fun of making up unique playing characters, but also partly due to my cousin who was always the referee being a hard arse about if I missed anything, then I didn’t have it! This was both a point of torture for me and later an ongoing challenge to make sure I had it listed down.

As I got older and started running my own solo games, I moved away from the pain staking details approach. Now, I assume my PC has almost every real world item that is reasonable, but if a particular item or tool is needed then I will roll percentage die to check if he has it, or doesn’t (maybe he lost it on his journey). Items you can expect him to have might be 80 to 90% likely. A harder to get item might have 10 to 20% chance of finding it in his backpack. This method introduces some honesty around the likelihood of having an item and setting the percentage chance, but the upside is that long detailed pedantic lists can be avoided for most of the time.

For this game I know my PC is marching cross country on foot, during winter conditions in Europe. As part of rolling 3 successes I changed the encounter from an enemy encounter to a friendly one. Does this affect the game too much? I don’t think so. Having spotted the enemy road block I could have avoided it, so there is little harm done in my eyes.

On the morning of the 2nd day, my character marches through the woods on his way to Chernobyl.

Random encounter calls for The Orphans. A D10 is rolled and the encounter occurs at 100.

My PC sees a farm up ahead. There is smoke coming from a chimney, some chooks are pecking around the back door and presents quit a pretty scene.

A bit like myself, my PC is loath to engage with people on his journey, so takes a knee to observe before passing by. By doing so, my PC misses the opportunity to engage with some kids who are at home, and might have provided my character with some food.

Edging around the home, my PC may bump into two armed Russian soldiers who are approaching the farm house as part of the random encounter. Again this calls for a my PC to roll for passive recon to see if my PC sees the soldiers first, or is surprised.

This system places a lot of onus on the player, in that they get to perform the passive RECON roll and so the element of surprise or being surprised rests with the players die roll. If the player passes their passive recon roll then they have the element of surprise. I am OK with this, but decided in this case to perform opposed rolls to see how that changes the mechanics and if it felt more natural.

One party or the other may see each other.
Or neither party may see the other.
Or both parties could see each other at the same time!


I use stats for two soviet soldiers from the typical NPC table on page 37 of the Referees Manual.

Two soviet soldiers passive recon check is as follows;
Ability Die: Intelligence C (D6)
Skill Die: Recon C (D6)
Modifiers: none, I didn’t think to spend more than a minute looking for them
Mod. Intelligence C (D6)
Mod. Skill Die: Recon C (D6)
Ammo Die:NA
Roll:*5,2,NA
Result: no successes.

Masons passive recon check is as follows;
Ability Die: Intelligence A (D12)
Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Modifiers: none, I didn’t think to spend more than a minute looking for them
Mod. Intelligence A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Ammo Die:NA
Roll:*4,7,NA
Result: One success.

Mason hears someone approaching, and drops to the grass. Two soviet soldiers are seen walking from the woods and bursting into the farm house.

Within seconds Mason hears a commotion coming from inside the house. A friendly dog is seen bounding outside, scattering the chickens. The dog doesn’t leave the home though, merely barking frantically from outside.

There are screams, yells and then silence returns to the woodland after the sound of gun fire dies down.

Mason drops his head. This could have been avoided. Or maybe he is being too hard on himself, the soldiers are in the wrong here shooting children and their pet dog.

The soldiers have stayed inside. Mason decides to set an ambush for their departure.

Ambush is covered on page 63 of the players manual. Mason rolls to see if he can ambush the soldiers without closing the distance to the home. Page 59 of the players handbook discusses visibility and line of sight, and theres a table of modifiers on page 60 - I don’t see any modifiers that apply here. Page 139 of the players manual discusses Nordic light conditions and potential modifiers and also weather modifiers. I determine that no modifiers apply in this case.

Ability Die: Intelligence A (D12)
Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Modifiers: none
Mod. Intelligence A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Ammo Die:NA
Roll:*6,2,NA
Result: One success.

With the successful ambush, the soldiers leave the home and are unaware of Mason laying in the weeds. I decide to include the potential for the soldiers to walk towards mason or away from him (increasing the range for the encounter). I roll 2D6x10m and roll a 7 or 70m range. The soldiers have walked towards Mason. 70m is close range for the FAL when Mason open fires. Fire combat modifiers are on page 65 of the players manual. A full action is spent aiming using the scope as per rule on telescopic sights on page 63, where aiming is a slow action and so is firing. So if your using a telescopic sight you cannot aim and fire in the same round. So its Slow action to aim and slow action to fire in the following round.

Ability Die: Agility A (D12)
Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Modifiers: +1 rifle skill, +2 scope, -2 called shot at head, -1 moving target, -1 for low light = -1 overall
Mod. Strength A to B (D10)
Mod. Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Ammo Die:none
Roll:*5,7,NA

Result: one hit to the head. Damage 3. Technically no critical hit, but I house rule a called shot to the head will result in a critical hit. A 7 is rolled on the critical hit table, resulting in a lethal hit. One bullet fired.

Soldier B is still standing. I decide there is a 50/50 chance of remaining still or taking cover. The die roll indicates he remains standing.

Page 54 of the players handbook discusses initiative. In the last round I had the surprise and shot first. Now we are in round 2, I decide to do opposed CUF rolls.
The Russian soldier rolls a 3. My PC rolls a 5 and can fire first in round 2.

In round 2 my PC goes full auto to test out how those rules work and their impact on hits and ammo expended. The FAL has ROF of 4.

Slow action to aim, fast action to fire since I’m not using the scope
Ability Die: Agility A (D12)
Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Modifiers: +1 rifle skill, -1 for low light = 0 overall
Mod. Strength A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Ammo Die:4
Roll:*4,11,5,2,4,5
Result: 2 success and 16 bullets fired.

Each bullet does 3 damage, which equates to 6 damage. IMO this is enough to put that soldier down. In hindsight this could be two separate hits or one critical hit. And 17 bullets have now been fired.

Both soldiers have been killed. It doesn’t make up for the killing of the innocence kids. But its something.

Looking back on this encounter my thoughts are;

I made the decision not to approach the farm house, half knowing what the outcome from the random encounter would be, but my PCs generally don’t interact with other NPCs. I am determined to change this going forward.
With my PC remaining hidden, I think my choices and random actions of the NPCs was reasonable.
I’m not sure how I feel using ammo dice. Theres a one in six chance of success which seems small (rolling a 6). While also increasing the chance of a weapon jam. I’ll need to read up on this more to better understand and decide if its worth it.
What hasn’t come into play yet is “pushing” a roll. This is something I haven’t come across before, but seems to be a highlight of Free Legion game play. It looks like a system that can lead to more success, or greater failure! In times of need you can try again but at the risk of further failure. A case of double or nothing.
I was actually upset at the children dying. I know I made the decision not to enter the home where I might have been able to protect them, but if I had made the decision to enter the home knowing I was protecting them from an enemy that hadn’t appeared yet, that would feel insincere and meta-gaming.
A hit is a hit is a hit. Weapons do the same amount of damage regardless of hit location, the only way to increase the amount of damage is with multiple successes or ammo dice success, which may then also lead to critical hits which can introduce more outcomes.
I rushed the road block and farmhouse encounters. I didn’t spend enough time looking up rules or modifiers. I didn’t concentrate on getting the process right so the mechanics I’ve detailed are likely wrong or incomplete. I was too excited to get into the action and get the game moving. I’ll need to slow down and make sure I don’t develop bad habits going forward. Getting the rules right is most important when starting out!
Again, early stages but loving the new rules. Theres enough modifiers in play to make it feel like most things are important, but simple enough to apply that each skill check doesn’t feel hard or take too long to calculate.
I have started my own list of modifiers on a seperate sheet to refer to which will speed up game play, and i can add too over time

[kcdusk]

Day 3 Morning Encounter
Waking up on day 3 of his journey, Geddes unzips his sleeping bag (+2 on survival roll sleeping on bare ground) and jumps into his thermals and fatigues (+1 modifier for RECON rolls) before the cold bites any deeper.

Over a cold breakfast, Geddes studies the map and his journey ahead. The journey breaks down into the following over the coming 6 days;

1 day marching through woods.
2 days marching through hills.
One day in the mountains.
One day in the hills.
And lastly, one day through woods, before arriving at his destination which presents as “ruins” on his map.


Looking around to make sure nothing is left behind, Geddes hefts his backpack (-2 on mobility rolls while worn) onto his back, slings his FAL over his shoulder and starts off into the woods.

Following a single track, perhaps made by sheep or goats, Geddes walks amongst the trees as the sun rises.

Random encounter roll is 10 of spades which is That’s an Order. While playing the encounter out though, I mistakenly read the 10 Clubs encounter details, so I played through Murderous Basterds by mistake!

With my single character travelling off road, unknown to him a single NPC is ahead. Geddes gets to make a passive RECON roll to see who sees whom first. Passive RECON roll as follows;

Range 2D10 = 4 + 6 rolled = 100m as range for encounter.
Intelligence Die: A (D12)
Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Modifiers: nill
Mod. Intelligence A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Recon A (D12)
Ammo Die:none
Roll:*4,3,NA therefore no success. Therefore Geddes is spotted first by the NPC.

Random roll tells me the NPC has an Uzi which is a bit of good news, because its range is 30m. The NPC decides to hold off on firing at Geddes and instead tries to ambush him/me (page 60 of the players manual).

The soldier attempting to ambush (called Waylaying in the player handbook) Geddes has Intelligence of C and Recon of C, so gets to roll D6+D6 hoping to get at least one 6 . Because that’s what he’ll need to roll to allow Geddes to get to within 20-50m and use his Uzi at short or medium range. There are no modifiers to the roll for allowing Geddes to get that close.

The NPC Waylaying roll is made and is an opposed roll, so Geddes gets an opportunity to spot the NPC and react first. The NPC performing the “waylay” action needs more successes than Geddes to not be seen.

NPC waylaying roll;

Intelligence Die: C (D6)
Skill Die: Recon C (D6)
Modifiers: nill
Mod. Intelligence C (D6)
Mod. Skill Die: Recon C (D6)
Ammo Die:none
Roll:*2,2,NA therefore no success. Meaning the NPC was unable to find a place to hide, and would be spotted automatically. I decide there really isnt time to try and find a suitable location before Geddes arrives on the scene.

To help the NPC I decide that the NPC will “push” the waylaying roll. They roll 2 x D6 again and score a single success.

Geddes now has to make a passive and unmodified recon roll in opposition to the NPCs success. 2 x d12s are rolled and failed (4 and 1). So the NPC has successfully ambushed Geddes.

Round 1
The NPC waits for Geddes to get to 30m range and then takes time for slow aim action, then fire.

Ability Die: Strength B (D10)
Skill Die: Ranged Combat D (D6)
Modifiers: -1 moving target = -1 overall
Mod. Strength B to C (D8)
Mod. Skill Die: Ranged Combat D (D6)
Ammo Die:4 – spray and pray!
Roll:*2,1,4,6,5,2. No hits. One suppression (for the 6) and 17 shots fired.

Geddes CUF is A (D12). Rolls a 3 which is a fail. Therefore is suppressed and drops prone, taking +1 stress and looses his fast and slow action this round.

Round 2
(looking back at this encounter I make a mistake here. Geddes should have lost his round 2 actions also due to suppression).

Initiative I am resolving by rolling CUF v CUF (I’m taking the time to try some house rules)

Geddes is D12 v NPV D8. (again looking back, Geddes had his backpack on so should have been a -2 due to being restricted. This is the stuff you find writing encounters up a few week after the actual game play and while still learning the game).

Geddes rolls a 2!
NPC rolls ….. a 1!
Geddes gets to act first.

Geddes fires at the NPC, range is 30m so is close range for his FAL.

Ability Die: Strength A (D12)
Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D12)
Modifiers: Nill
Mod. Strength A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Ranged Combat A (D121)
Ammo Die:2
Roll:*12,4,6,3. So a hit due to rolling the 12 and additional point of damage for rolling 10 or higher. Then the 6 rolled on the ammo dice is either additional hit on same target or increase damage or hit second target in same hex. I choose to hit the same target a second time. 9 bullets fired.

The FAL does 3 points of damage.
First hit 3+1 = 4 points of damage to the torso. (again in hindsight this qualified as a critical hit that I missed in the moment!)
Second hit 3 points of damage to an arm.

As per page 74 of the players manual, the combination of above hits results in incapacitation for the NPC.

Geddes does a quick search of the unconscious man wearing Russian markings. Oddly Geddes only finds an M72 LAW with one round stashed nearby. Geddes leaves the Uzi, and props the soldier up against a tree, letting natural justice decide his fate.

Day 3 Daytime Encounter
Geddes continues to march through the woods into the day. Adrenaline keeping him moving forward, aware that the area he is pushing into used to be peaceful forest, but is slowly becoming badlands between two soon to be warring nations. Nothing could be taken for granted anymore.

Winding through the woods, Geddes notices a hard outline up ahead. Dropping to his knees, he can see the silhouette of a 4WD with some kind of HMG mounted on the back. The HMG is manned by a soldier, Geddes is sure there will be others nearby.

The range is 100m and Geddes ditches his backpack and readies the M72 he acquired earlier in the day. He takes aim at the gun truck up ahead.

Ability Die: Strength A (D12)
Skill Die: Heavy Weapon C (D8)
Modifiers: Nill
Mod. Strength A (D12)
Mod. Skill Die: Heavy Weapons C (D8)
Ammo Die:NA
Roll:*10,6,NA. The truck is hit with 3 successes.

Direct damage of the M72 is base damage +1 for each additional success, modified by armour and cover.

The M72 does 6 damage + 2 for the additional hits -1 armor penetration +1 for the 4WD armor for a total of 8 damage points.

The hit location on page 84 penetration table shows random roll of 5 means a cargo hit which absorbs 1 point of damage. Moving down the table, the next item hit is ammunition which absorbs 2 points of damage and then the suspension takes the remaining 5 points of damage which renders the suspension destroyed and the vehicle inoperable.

I calculate blast damage and all three NPCs are suppressed.

Geddes takes advantage of the eruption from the vehicle and what looked to be a solid hit. Birds take flight, black smoke from burning tyres perhaps starts to bellow up from the position. The soldier standing on the gun truck is no where to be seen. In the vacuum that follows, Geddes backtracks the way he has come to scout around the location giving it a good wide berth.

Evening encounter
Evening is approaching and Geddes wants to stay on time or ahead of schedule if possible, in case there are delays later. He decides to do a forced march (page 140).

Strength (D12) and Stamina (D12) are called on. 2xD12s are rolled and the result is 10+11 for 4 successes!

I decide that due to the number of successes, Geddes marches on into the night reaching the hills early before crashing for the night with no random encounter. Failure would have meant stopping and forced sleep.

When sleep actually comes, Geddes finds a spot out of the wind, in a slightly depressed ditch and settles in for the night. Survival roll to sleep on bare ground (page 149) with a +2 for the sleeping bag means D10+D12 becomes D12+D12. A 2 and 7 are rolled, so one success. Failure would mean no sleep for the night leading to potentially becoming sleep deprived.

Navigation roll page 140 is D10+D12 with +2 for having a compass so D12+D12. A 1 and 12 are rolled for two success. So Geddes is on track! Failure would mean he deviates from course, and likely being further away from his intended destination rather than closer.

Winter is coming to an end, but its still freezing at night. A survival roll verse the cold is called for per page 149 players manual. There is a +1 for having a blanket which sees D12+D12 rolled and a 6 and 8, so he survives the cold.

Thoughts;

I have now been able to quickly trial hand to hand combat, ranged combat and heavy weapons verse a vehicle. My initial thoughts on the system are positive.
This episode covers a single day. It was a long day for my PC, true he decided to include a forced march!
Travel, sleep, navigation, and cold are briefly covered. There is more than just the enemy out there that can impact a PC.
Geddes always seemed to be rolling a D12 or D10 – is he too powerful a character? I’d answer “no” at this stage. In designing my PC I always intended for him to be on foot, comfortable in the wilderness and living rough. Arguably walking cross country, sleeping under the stars and navigating off road is Geddes bread and butter so he should be skilled at these challenges. Also, I can see there are 3 or 4 or 5 die rolls each day that will be required to keep up this kind of travel. Even with good skills and favourable die rolls, at some point there will be a failed roll and some sort of impact on Geddes. This feels right to me, extended cross country walking can generally be done no problems, but over a few days I’m sure there will be some mishap to deal with.
Further to the above I think the margin of error for Geddes is small. He is well skilled so getting favourable dice to roll. But just the percentages of something going wrong over time is high, and I expect those small failures will start to snowball into a larger impact. Lost sleep, getting lost, suffering from the cold are all little things that might impact. And that’s before any combat!
I am also aware I am not tracking food or water. I am assuming he finds both along the way to keep my record keeping down this first time through.
I intend to bring about some social interactions, which is where Geddes may have more difficult challenges. This is my own personal challenge because combat is easier to made decisions and dice out engagements. I struggle personally to do the same with social encounters. We’ll see, I am looking forward to it.

[Raellus]

Apologies for not chiming in until now. I hope it's OK to offer some suggestions?

I've found that keeping track of food and water isn't too hard. IIRC, a PC needs one food ration and one water ration a day to avoid the effects of starvation/dehydration so as long as you find, barter, hunt/scrounge one of each per day, your PC will be fine.

Eating and drinking is an important survival consideration which would (IMHO, should) influence PC decision-making. For example, because they were running low on food and water, I had my PCs make contact with a village they probably would have tried to avoid.

Are you rolling for weather changes each shift? I forgot to do so for the first few days of game time. Once I remembered, I started doing it and it definitely added an interesting element to the story/game.

-

[kcdusk]

Suggestion are why we're here!

Food and water may be easy to track, i haven't taken the time to really look yet. Now that i've done a little bit of everything, i am looking to add the rest and round out the game. Good to know it may be quick and easy though.

No! I haven't been rolling for weather, but i agree it can really affect a game, especially for a PC on foot and sleeping rough.

I have already played out the next 3 or 4 days, I just need a bit more time to write them up. I'm out of range all next week, so might be a fortnight or so before the next instalment is written up.

[kcdusk]

Day 4 Morning
Geddes wakes in the morning, pushing the bivvy off his face. Despite still being dark outside, he rises, packs and starts munching on a power bar. Light is coming on fast, but the sun remains below the horizon. Once out of his warm bivvy and packed, he looks forward to getting walking, all the better to keep the cold at bay.

I pulled a 6 of spades which indicates a ruin, which doesn’t apply when travelling off road, so I ruled no encounter.

As the day moves on Geddes travel begins to take him into the mountains. Speed slows, heart rate rises and the amount of rest stops increase also. Cresting a saddle between two hills a small village is seen further down the path. Not wanting to draw attention. Geddes skirts around the village keeping the village just in his sights, while reducing the chances of anyone spotting him.
With 45 minutes before sun set, Geddes finds a place to bed down and rest. At night he sleeps.

I draw an encounter that does not apply during the night, so determine no encounter over night.

Day 5 Morning
Geddes again rises well rested. Travel is going well since the initial shooting exchanges. He feels he is covering good ground, and remaining undetected so far. Despite not knowing the local political situation or receiving any updates on the approach of war, it felt so inevitable when we began his journey.

The bivvy again peels back, but this time with light crunching. The biv is rigid, is it cracking? No, it’s a thin crust of ice breaking as the bivvy material moves. It remains pitch black outside. Geddes checks the time, noting the sun should be visible. It takes a few moments to understand a thick fog has rolled in (Random encounter table).

Geddes rolls a D12 and D10 verse navigation in the fog, and rolls 8+7 which is a success. Moving across the land despite the fog (-1 modification) is part of Geddes experience and presents no problems.

The fog continues through the day and I determine another navigation roll is needed. A 5 and an 8 indicate success.

However, a BMP-2 appears about 140m distant. This presents a significant foe, and Geddes slowly drops to his haunches. There is a commander in the hatch, binos at his face scanning ahead but no in Geddes direction. After a few minutes it appears as if the BMP-2 is alone. Perhaps this is a forward soviet spotting vehicle? Whatever, it is on friendly ground and therefore, despite any dotted lines on a map, clearly in the wrong location. Geddes determines this is his first chance to impact the impending war in any significant way.

Geddes calculates that he can fire on the commander in the hatch. And hit or miss, he is likely to remain hidden for now. Therefore it is a risk worth taking.
Lining up the commander through the scope on his FAL he fires a single shot.

D12+D12 +2 for scope, -1 for medium range, -2 for a called shot to the head = D12+D10. The roll is 11 and 2; therefore 2 successes.

The FAL does 3 damage +1 for the second success makes 4 damage dealt, which is a critical hit. This is the first time I have looked at the critical hit tables. I like that they not only provide more damage, they give good description which can add to role play and also introduce some other negative modifiers depending on the outcome. In this case, the critical hit to the head also shatters the commanders teeth as he involuntarily falls down inside the BMP.

I determine that due to fog, range and being buttoned up, that the BMP was not able to locate which direction the shot came from.

Geddes breaths out hard. That is about the best outcome he could have hoped for. Deciding anything else is pushing his luck, Geddes waits for the BMP-2 to move on before making tracks himself.

[Ckosacranoid]

One other thing to keep in mind is that when you set up camp, you can make a hidden camp to keep from dealing with others, I know there is a recon roll to make for whether you get it hidden or not. And for food and water, just mark them used in the first shift when you wake up, and makes it easy to keep track that way. Nice write up though.

[kcdusk]

hello Ckosacranoid
Thank you for the comment, and yes you make a good point.

My short term goal is to;

game play a full day including weather, food, water and all other non-combat issues like navigation, cold, fatigue etc
and, an interpersonal encounter to use my PCs soft skills - and see where that takes the solo game.

[Ckosacranoid]

No problem. Glad I could help.

[kcdusk]

Day 4 Morning
The day started earlier than expected for Geddes. A light patter turned into a constant thrumming of rain on the canvas above his head. While cold outside, Geddes was comfortably warm in his bivvy. Growing up outdoors had its advantages, and sleeping rough was enjoyable rather than a chore. The protection of his bivvy from the rain a relief and he felt safe. The rain was also likely to keep any wandering people bunkered down, so he was able to drift off to sleep unworried.

Waking up in the morning, the rain had lessened but was still a constant drizzle. The hard part was getting dressed without putting a foot in the mud and contaminating his sleep wear with dirt! Still, today Geddes expected to reach the village which might mean sleeping under a roof for the first time in days. From there he expected to leave the safety of Ukraine and enter what was expected to be a heavily contested area.

Hiking through misty rain enabled Geddes to clear his mind and take in his surroundings as he marched on. Expected landmarks came and went routinely. With only a few kilometres to go, Geddes began tracking slowly through some dense woods where he thought the village would be on the other side. He was careful on his approach, not being sure of what kind of welcome would await him.

The village can now be seen not far away in the distance. Stone buildings, mainly single story with a few scattered two story buildings. Lots of people going about their day in a routine way. The village looked calm, peaceful. After watching for a short distance away, it becomes obvious that the village receives many visitors. It looks like this is some kind of meeting place, a popular place for trading given all the horses, carts and trucks coming and going (the trading post was a characteristic rolled randomly from a list in the referees manual. The list is quite long and could provide any place with some character, that could be beneficial or a detriment to a character. I like its possibilities).

There was a string of power lines entering the village, but there were a number of poles laying down in a field, indicating the power had been cut, potentially from artillery or sabotage (again this was the result of a die roll that added a touch of character that could be played on).

Entering the village Geddes felt exposed, he had been travelling by foot for days. He smelt. Despite best efforts he was quite dirty. Hell, he was carring a FAL over his shoulder! Yet no one glanced at him.

As well as being a trading centre, the village was a collection point for “United Nations” soldiers. No, this didn’t make it an official UN operation. In fact it was the opposite, all kinds of wanna-be soldiers had travelled to many towns looking to fight the opposition. In reality it was nothing more than soldiers of fortune types, some ex-military looking to sign on for a final tour, some extreme tourists looking for a thrill. Geddes didn’t know what type he represented, but he now knew he had found the right place.

Geddes asks a military looking type where the muster point was, and headed over to determine his next steps.

Geddes having his own weapon (a FAL) on display meant he was able to bypass some of the initial discussions with new recruits. He was soon standing in front of an officer who would decide his next movements.

“You are a trained soldier?” asked a heavily bearded man. Looking Geddes muddy appearance over, FAL held relaxed at his side.

“yes”, replied Geddes.

His answer hung in the air. The silence dragging on. Still no one took the initiative.

“well, it seems you have had many experiences” replied the officer. “Normally people applying to go to the front line talk too much, are bragging of their kills and destruction. Not you though. You are quiet. Respectful. I think you have actually done these things for real”.

Geddes gently lowered his head indicating “yes”.

The officer points with his chin towards a tent off to the side indicating “that way”.

Geddes nods again.

(a series of rolls for the attitude of the village, and then primary and secondary motivation cards saw Geddes meet with an officer who would decide his fate. I decided Geddes fate in this case would be decided more by the results of the Officer who he was meeting with rather than Geddes interpersonal skills.
The two cards I drew indicted a reluctant helpfulness followed by helpful. This lead to the small amount of role play above.)

Geddes was received and processed reasonably quickly the next day. The war was expected to kick off very soon, and while the village seemed to be overflowing with soldiers (amateur and national), no doubt this surplus would change once (if) (no, unfortunately, once) the war began.

Given his experience and skills, Geddes was provided with an RPG and a location to travel to the next day, where tanks were expected to traverse. Geddes load out included two rockets. "Do your best".

[kcdusk]

Geddes rolled out into the Badlands with his newly acquired RPG and also a guide, a boy who looked 14 but might well be aged 17 or more but presented as scrawny due to the ravages of war.

Geddes had half a days travel ahead of him to get into position. The guide would ensure there were no badly chosen tracks or chance of getting lost on route. The target location was in woodland where any push was likely to occur. The mission as Geddes saw it, was part necessity and part low risk test.

Success would mean contributing to the village not being surprised by an armoured attack.

Failure would mean the loss of an imported fighter (Geddes), loss of a single RPG and perhaps a young boy of early fighting age.

The early travel took place through European forest. Tall pines. Some low lying thickets. On an overcast day.

Talk was minimal. A combination of language barrier, wanting to hear any potential threats that may be lurking and just enjoying the sounds of the outdoors.

As they approached their intended location, the guide took Geddes by the arm and they both squatted down. The guide was able to explain there was a number of stone buildings up ahead, which represented their observation point area.
However, rumours suggested the buildings up ahead had become home to an advanced Russian sniper. Geddes trusted that this may be true. The buildings numbered about 5 in total. With one being 3 stories high. The dirt road that travelled through the buildings linked a known Russian staging point on their side of the border and the road tracked through a direct route to a bitumen road inside friendly lines. It was highly possible a sniper was here, providing intel back to Russia while also preventing the location from being occupied by the enemy.

[I have created the following encounter from within my own mind to help play through the engagement rules which I think will be used often in most T2K games. I have positioned a sniper in the third floor of the building. Obvious, yes, but also plausible and even if discovered will probably provide stiff opposition from a strong vantage point.

I have also assigned a soviet soldier NPC to guard the ground floor area, whose role is to provide early warning if an enemy soldier is able to get to the building unobserved.]

Geddes decides to wait until dusk has set in before approaching the building.
Page 144 under Keeping Watch says that a passive Recon role is required for the group approaching the encounter. Geddes has pushed up alone. He has D12 intelligence and D12 in Recon to spot the novice lookout.

Distance for woods is 2xD10 and I roll 5,5. Therefore the range is 10 hexes or 100m.

I roll 2xD12 and get 8+5 which is a single success. This means I can chose to show myself, back off or try and ambush the lone NPC.

I intend to creep up on the NPC and try and disarm/incapacitate him so I can enter the building quietly.

This requires an Ambush check per page 61 of the players manual PDF. This is an opposed Recon task check.

First Geddes. Distance is 10 hexes and I intend to move into the same hex as the NPC.

I decide to roll D10 and this will indicate how many hexes are foliage which has a +2 to my infiltration roll and then the remaining hexs will be shrubland which has 0 effect to my recon roll.

I roll a 1. Meaning only the first hex is foliage which will provide me with an advantage. I rule that my PC can move the first hex with no roll required, but must then travel the final 9 hexes through shrubs with no modifier.

D12+D12 + no modifier for foliage -2 for advancing and ambushing in the same hex as the NPC. This modifies my roll to D10+D10. I roll 10+8 which equals 3 successes.

The NPC is D6+D6 with a -1 for dusk, resulting in a final roll of a single D6. NPC rolls a 1 which is a fail.

Geddes has crept up to the NPC unseen. My intention is for Geddes to knock the PC out cold in close combat and enter the building unnoticed.

Geddes draws his knife which is a +2 damage verse a +1 for being unarmed. The NPC has 5 hitpoints.

Geddes HTH is (D12+D10) with a +3 for the PC being defenceless and then a -2 for Geddes choosing to hit the PC in the head via aimed attack. This results in D12+D12. I roll 5+11 which is two successes.

Damage therefore is +2 knife + 2 for the successes which results in 4 points of damage. Not enough to incapacitate the PC who has 5 hit points!
However, the knife has a critical hit of 3. So the 4 points of damage results in a critical hit.

The effects of this are;
As per page 75 of the PDF all critical hits incapacitate an NPC.
The critical hit when I played it through produced an eye gouge that killed the NPC anyway.
Geddes has made it to the building unseen. To be continued.

Observations from the encounter so far;

For the ambush our PC gets two die modifiers to his Recon roll being terrain and also how close he wanted to get to the PC. While the PC gets a single modifier to his Recon roll being any weather or darkness mods.
Interesting there is no “city” terrain type on the table at page which might provide modifiers for infiltration/ambush.
I wonder if the no city terrain issue above will be part of the Urban Operations manual?
My PC advanced into the PC hex undetected. I didn’t like using the knife to incapacitate the PC but I am glad I did. The knife added an extra point of damage, but more importantly the critical hit number was lower than an unarmed attack (3 v 4).
Interesting there is no close combat option to knockout someone.
While the PC was defenceless this provided a +3 to hit them, while this is a good modifier, for trained PC’s it can be wasted as D12+D12 is reached and the modifier wasted because it cant go any higher. Also, only one opportunity to hit (so make it count! I might have considered pushing this roll if I missed).
I have referred to an Officer and a Guide who are helping my PC. Instead of giving them names, I’ve deliberately used their roles to make description and understanding easier for myself and the reader.
Interesting that hit points of normal PC soldiers is 5 while even US Special Forces is 6. There is not much difference in hit points. Though I note again that critical hits will incapacitate a PC. I need more examples to see how I feel about this.
Using my knife produced a critical hit and an eye gouge (ouch!) which resulted in death. I felt a bit uneasy about this. I hoped my trained close combat PC could have dealt with the NPC more cleanly (ie knockout blow)
.

[kcdusk]

The ground floor sentry was dragged into a nearby room. Dusk outside continued to settle. Bird noises continued, but nothing much else was noticeable. What to do now? Advance up the internal staircase? Wait for the sniper to come down?
How long would it be before the sniper realised he was compromised? Did he already know? What comms and timing did they have, had any checkins been missed?


Geddes decided to advance up one floor [this would allow me to continue to check and test encounter mechanics. I decide Geddes will advance one floor at a time. While its likely a sniper is on the top floor, that might also be too obvious.

So I decide there is a 20% chance he is on the first floor, 30% chance on the second floor and then a 60% chance he is on the third floor. If no sniper is detected from these rolls (ie 3 unsuccessful rolls) then I will rule the sniper has left the building. Not knowing which floor the sniper is on will help keep the tension high in this solo mission, as my PC has to roll to detect and/or remain undetected for each floor he advances up which will happen before I know where the sniper is. Any failure on my PC part will be house ruled as we go.].

Geddes draws his .45 pistol. This may give him an advantage in the confined space of the building or in the circumstances of a “draw” for initiative.

Passive recon roll. As per page 144 this is a passive Recon roll (cannot be pushed). The only modifier appears to be a -2 if you are in a vehicle and the other group is on foot. I decide to houserule a -1 for moving up a stair case, -1 for the potential sniper being aware of such a move by Geddes and/or having prepared for such a circumstance. Geddes Recon roll goes from (D12+D12) to (D10+D10).

The roll is 7,4. Therefore a single success. Geddes has quietly crept up to the first floor. Is the sniper on this floor is a 20% chance and the roll is 87. Therefore the floor is empty.

Geddes moving up to the second floor is also a (D10+D10). The roll is 8,4. One success. Is the sniper here is a 30% chance and the roll is 12! So the sniper is on this floor, and Geddes has successfully crept up onto this floor. I decide to roll a D100 to determine how “visible” the sniper is.

The higher the number is, the more visible the sniper is to Geddes as he enters the floor. The D100 roll is a 1! How to interpret this? I decide the sniper is maximum distance, with three quarters hard cover. What is maximum distance in a building? I work in a 3 story building that is 37m wide, so I set range at 37m.

Round 1

Checking my character sheet, I have no hand grenades. So I am glad I had my pistol out, and decide to fire. Fast action is aim, slow action is fire. Ranged combat is (D12+D12);

This is medium range for the .45 so – 1

I determine that due to the 1 rolled about, target has full cover so -3
I rule another -1 due to dim light.

This makes my roll (D8+D6). Because the target has full cover, even a hit will see the target get the benefit of protection. To avoid this, I could incur another -2 for a called shot but that would leave me with a single D6 roll. I decide to add 2 ammo dice to my chances.

Aghhhh, the roll is 5,5. No hits. And the ammo dice were also 5,5. My magazine is empty and I missed him.

Round 2.

I am incorporating the following initiative table.

(mmm having trouble adding pictures)


I do really like the simplicity and logicalness of this table. But, I also like a certain element of randomness (die rolls). So I see the above items as modifiers to a competing CUF die rolls to determine initiative.

Geddes has a CUF of B (D10) with the following modifications;
+1 due to being aware (sniper still recovering from being surprised for this turn only)
+1 due to his pistol is drawn
No modifiers for standing/walking
+1 for pistol (we will find out down below the sniper has a Bizon as a close support weapon. So the pistol is smaller than the SMG).

The Sniper has a CUF of B also.
For initiative then Geddes rolls a 5. With the +3 from above is an 8.
The sniper rolls D10 also with no modifiers and gets a 4. Geddes goes first.
Geddes chooses two fast actions, he takes full cover and reloads his pistol.
The sniper chooses two fast actions also, he remains in full cover and takes an overwatch stance.

Round 3

While Geddes actions seem simple, it took a while of thinking for me to decide Geddes will simply quick fire around the corner and look to push his to hit roll if needed. The sniper has overwatch, which feels like the sniper will have the advantage this round with his SMG.

Geddes quick fires around the corner. But the sniper gets first round this initative due to being in overwatch with his Bizon and so gets to fire first.

Sniper is (D10+D10) -1 medium -1 dim light so D8+D8 with 5 ammo dice. Rolls are (5,7),5,2,4,2,3. 16 shots fired with one hit. Hit location is torso which is behind cover. Damage is 1 – 1 so no damage!

Geddes may be suppressed though since technically he was “hit” even though no damage was inflicted, the close hit of the round could induce panic. Geddes has a CUF of B(D10) and rolls a 6, good enough not to be suppressed.

Geddes gets to return fire. Hit dice plus two ammo dice.

(D12+D12) -1 medium range -1 quick shot -1 dim light at sniper behind partial cover (arms and head exposed). Results in D10+D8. Rolls are 9,3,2,1. 3 bullets fired. One hit. I wont push this time given I got one hit. Hit location is torso which is behind cover. Cover in this case is an indoor wall which provides cover 1.
Damage of the 45 is 2 minus 1 for cover equals 1pt to the torso. The sniper must make a CUF check and rolls a 4 which is less than 6 and therefore a fail. The sniper falls to the ground and loses both actions next round.

Round 4

Geddes can use a fast action to advance 2 hexs (20m) towards the sniper which reduces the range to 17m. Geddes performs a mobility roll to see if he can move any further, each success is another hex (10m).

Geddes mobility is B and Agility is A and I presume can roll D10+D12 rather than D10 for Mobility only. Die rolls are 4,2. So no success and Geddes remains 17m from the sniper on the ground.

Round 5

Geddes initiative D10 +1 being aware +1 weapon is ready +1 smaller weapon, die roll is 8+3=11.

Sniper is recovering on the ground from being suppressed and rolls D10 and rolls a 3.

Geddes uses a fast action to run 2 hexs and so makes it into the Snipers hex. As his slow action this round Geddes can use unarmed combat, melee or fire his weapon, which I choose to do in the heat of battle.

D12+D12 -1 quick shot -1 for being in the same hex as an active enemy so chance to his is now D10+ D10 plus 2 ammo dice. Die rolls are 9,5,2,2. One hit and 4 ammo used which empties the .45.

Hit location is 2 = torso. 2 damage points taking the sniper to 3 damage.

CUF check for being shot is D10 and the roll is 1. Sniper is suppressed and prone on the ground at Geddes feet. Geddes locks in a fresh magazine and stands over the sniper, who pushes the Bizon away and rolls onto their belly in submission.

Cover is important. While it doesn’t make it harder to hit you, if the hit location is behind cover it can mean not taking damage – but still incur a CUF check

I found myself anxious during this encounter. Would I pass the stealth check up the stairwells? Was the sniper even in the building? Coming up against the high ROF Bizon. Then running to close the distance to the sniper when they were suppressed and went prone. Great stuff.

This might now present me with a chance to interrogate the sniper, which may help me move the story forward.

[kcdusk]

With the situation secure. Geddes calls out it is OK for the guide to approach. Together with the sniper, the three of them huddle in the building against the cold outside. Dusk has turned to night.

Geddes intends to interrogate the wounded sniper. This is covered under social conflict in the players manual. Geddes asks the sniper what he is doing there, and future plans?

Geddes Empathy is B and Persuasion is a C.
+1 for having more people on my side
+1 because it doesn’t cost anything
+1 for injured sniper
+1 because held captive
I gave a -1 due to language difference, even though I had my guide who could have translated.
This results in (D12+D12). Die roll is 9,9. So two successes. Geddes hears more than he expected (due to 2 successes).

The sniper was tasked with holding this cross roads and reporting back any movement. Armoured Personnel Carriers are expected any time from lunch time earlier today. This would be part of the first wave of soldiers entering country. The sniper does not expect them to be far off.

Geddes looks at his RPG-7 and two rockets. With luck it might be enough to make a convoy pause. But was not likely to be enough to hold up any vehicles or soldiers for long.

Geddes sends the guide back to the Village and report to the Officer the news of taking down the sniper and the impending attack via this road. And to use the success of today to bring back much needed supplies to enable the fight to continue. Geddes hoped his work today would be rewarded and allow him to make a difference in the actions to come.

The sniper is bound up on the top floor. Geddes provides medical attention to the snipers two gunshot wounds to the torso.

Medical aid for Geddes is (D10+D8). The roll is 6,3. One success, means heals 1 point and no infection.

[As referee, I decide to roll 2xD12s to determine the time of day that the convoy will arrive. The result is 5,2 so 7am the next morning.]

7am the following morning.
The convoy is made up of UAZ off road vehicle and 3 x BTR-60’s (with unknown number of soldiers).

Keeping watch roll. D12+D12 with a +2 for being on foot verse vehicles. Die roll is 5,5. No success! Hmmm. The convoy rolls into the village unseen and unheard. They come to a stop in the middle of the village intersection. A soldier from the UAZ gets out and speaks to the commander of the first BTR, who has popped out of a hatch.

I am struggling to explain how 4 vehicles have driven into the centre of the village without Geddes noticing. But here we are. I determine that the vehicles are close by now, when Geddes does become aware of them. In my mind, he may have heard them coming but not been able to action anything before they pull up.

Geddes does intend to fire down on the lead BTR though using the RPG-7. This is a form of waylaying (page 62 of the PDF).

Geddes Recon is D12+D12. Die roll is 11,8 for 3 successes. The convoy gets to make a passive Recon roll to detect Geddes in the upper floor building. They roll D6+D6 and get 3,2. Both fail, therefore the waylay is successful. The players manual doesn’t give any village/city engagement advice so I use ruins which indicates range of 2D10 hexes. The roll is 4,2 therefore 6 hexes (60m).

Geddes aims the RPG-7 and fires. The rocket streaks from the window and covers the short distance to target relatively quickly, striking the front of the BTR with a satisfying smack, crack … following by pluming black smoke.

Having now given away his position, Geddes realises in his haste he has forgotten rule #1 of an ambush, which is “always have an escape route!”. Geddes will never know the exact damage caused as he abandons the sniper and last RPG rocket, bounding down the stairs hoping to make it to the safety of the forest to cover his escape. Will he make it?

Geddes aims the RPG-7 using his heavy weapon skill (C) and rolls (D12+D8) +1 elevation so (D12+D10). The roll is 12,4. Two hits!
Hit location was the engine, doing 5 points of damage, taking the reliability factor to 0. Therefore, the lead BTR is immobilised. Further, there will be internal blast damage to passengers.
Driver (missed but suppressed), Commander (one hit for 2 points damage and suppressed), Passenger 1 (missed but suppressed) P2 (missed and passes CUF so not suppressed), P3 (missed not suppressed) and P4 (missed not suppressed).

Smoke plumes out of the stricken BTR. Debris falls down around the column. The soldier from the UAZ rises unsteadily to his feet. This was unexpected, the soldiers are confused in the aftermath.

I rule that Geddes needs to make a mobility roll to make it down the stairs in time and without injury, then a second mobility roll to make it into the forest unseen.

Geddes grabs his backpack and FAL and makes for the stairwell, hoping to take advantage of the confusion in the street. He makes it to ground level in good time and without injury (rolled 8 and 5 for a single success).

Pausing at the corner of the building, Geddes tries to time his run across a garden, a street and a short clearing and then into the forest without being seen.
Head down, he sprints, keeping any trees or other barriers as much as he can between himself and the enemy soldiers. He doesn’t look back, knowing that if he is seen he will know about it soon enough.

Geddes makes it to the forest and slides down behind a fallen tree trunk, taking comfort in the shadow and silence that surrounds him. He’d made it (for his second mobility roll he rolled 7,7).

Geddes now needs to make a navigation survival roll to successfully make it back to the village. He’s exited the village a different way than he’d arrived, was hurried as he escaped the building away from the convoy and was now moving without the benefit of his guide. It had been a confusing time and a rush, but Geddes was able to make his way back to the village. Hopefully he had bought them some time before the convoy makes it way their.

The Officer looked at Geddes warily.
Your guide here says you shot and captured a sniper. This is good work. And the sniper says a convoy is on its way?

Geddes responds. Correct. I just left the intersection, where I immobilised a BTR. They may not be far away from advancing on our position now.

The guide supports your story re the sniper. But a convoy, so close? I don’t know if I can believe you on that one.

Its true. They have crossed the border. Are armed, and are advancing in numbers. I have nothing to gain from making up this story, if I am wrong you have me surrounded. But, if I am right, we are all in danger.

We will prepare our village for a possible contact. We have some, mechanisms to deal with an attack. Is there anything else need from me?

Another RPG and rounds. Do you have any mines? Grenades? And if I can, I’d like to keep the guide. His local knowledge is good, and he is known to the locals which provides me with some credibility.

(I make a persuasion roll for Geddes, with a +1 for the sniper success. But he fails).

You left the RPG behind, for the enemy to use against us! Then ask for another one? You should be disciplined for aiding the enemy, not reequipped!!! Your help is appreciated. You are free to stay with us, but I can offer you no more assistance than I already have.

Geddes realises he is back on his own. He hadn’t really considered this, he had been thinking ahead to ambushing the enemy again, only with more firepower. Now, he felt sad for the village perhaps being attacked by surprise.

Geddes sits down out of the way and watches life go by. How can one soldier improve their impact on the battle? What can he realistically achieve?

As referee I want to game out an anti-tank mine verse a BTR. But the Officer has made it clear Geddes will get no more help.

I decide Geddes will try and steal an anti tank mine. This will be a Recon check at -2 difficulty. If caught, I expect there will be serious consequences. If successful, I intend to mine the entry to the village where Geddes expects the convoy to approach from.
Oh, and to add some randomness to the story I will draw a random encounter card to see how that impacts my PCs intended actions.

[Raellus]

I am struggling to explain how 4 vehicles have driven into the centre of the village without Geddes noticing. But here we are. I determine that the vehicles are close by now, when Geddes does become aware of them. In my mind, he may have heard them coming but not been able to action anything before they pull up.

An easy explanation is that Geddes dozed off. It's a cardinal sin in the military, but he's human, and been going pretty hard in the lead-up to current scenario.

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[kcdusk]

New day.
Geddes spends a few hours looking for a way to steal an anti tank mine, or some other option to help protect the village from the suspected first enemy advance which he expects to arrive soon. The more Geddes thinks about it, the more he feels guilty for steeling even from the Ukraine army, even if it is in their best interests.

Finally, Geddes decides he cannot go through with it. He couldn’t live with himself if he got away with it, and if he was caught then he would likely face serious consequences and likely be out of the war.

Geddes wonders how best to continue? Heading into the warzone as a one-man-army made sense while he was sitting at home, but now here in theatre, he recognised how little influence he really has. Also, despite some successes such as being equipped from the pre-arranged arms supplier, finding this village, capturing (then loosing) a sniper and even immobilising (or destroying) an AFV Geddes had come close to death a number of times. What he was doing was not sustainable.

However, Geddes couldn’t shake the feeling he should be doing more.
Geddes finds his guide helping the village get some combined chores done, and is able to persuade the Guide to loan him his UHF radio. This will mean Geddes can contact the village from about 5km away. Geddes has decided to head back towards the road intersection where the sniper and AFVs were encountered, and radio back to the Officer at the Village if they are indeed coming this way, hopefully providing some amount of early warning for whatever “mechanisms” the Officer had to protect the village with.

Geddes begins walking back down the road away from the village. Stale bread and hard cheese in hand. Undergrowth turns to forest the further he travels. Dark clouds turn to misty rain. Then constant light drizzle. Life is not fair or easy.

Geddes shucks his wet weather jacket hood over his head and resolutely walks into the worsening rain. A bend in the road provides a good place to rest up. The bend provides good cover. And the long road stretching towards the enemy gives good site lines along the road, to provide plenty of advance warning of any vehicles. Geddes rests his pack about 50m off the road under a wet weather tarp to keep it dry. Geddes takes his FAL with scope back to his resting point. With his back against a tree, he waits. His wet weather gear is good. Frequent checks suggest he remains dry. And his body feels warm despite the conditions.

A few hours pass. Mentally Geddes is in a good space. This living outdoors business has been his life, and the mental game of dealing with the rain is easier because he has remained warm and dry. A boom in the distance indicates heavier rain may be on the way.

Or does it?

Two aircraft thunder out of nowhere, they pass overhead relatively low, and their trailing boom follows not far behind!

There are more thunderish like booms north and south of Geddes position. There must be many planes passing overhead towards the friendly village!

Then in the distant there are lower decibel rumbles. It’s a different sound to the enemy aircraft. Explosions maybe?

The attack has begun.

Geddes gets on the radio to the Officer back in the Village. The Officer takes a while to answer, and when he does he sounds confused and not present in the conversation. That’s as good as it gets, before the transmission turns to static.
Perhaps half an hour has passed since the first attack aircraft had passed overhead. Distant explosive booms can continue to be heard behind Geddes in all directions. Red and orange flashes can just be seen through the rain, reflecting off the low clouds. Explosive booms still occurring randomly. Somehow the rain has intensified making Geddes feel even more isolated, caught between going back to the village to help and waiting where he was.

Then the first AFV lurches into view some 300m away down the road.
Geddes is still getting static on the UHF. Can he assume the village has been bombed? Or are channels just being blocked? Its impossible to know the full picture.

The UHF magically comes to life! Geddes can hear the officer frantically giving orders, explosions still going off in the background. Responses to the Officers questions are coming fast and melding into one pot of confusion.

Geddes is still propped against his tree in the rain. The Armoured Fighting Vehicles continue along the road towards his position and eventually the village. And then, turning the corner behind the AFV’s, came the Main Battle Tanks. This was no longer a probing force. It was a full blown invasion.

Geddes slowly brought the UHF up to his mouth and keyed the mike “To the Officer at the Village, there is an invasion force coming your way, five clicks out. Good luck, your own your own …”.

[kcdusk]

Geddes slipped away, and between the undergrowth and rain he was able to move unseen back to his pack and tarp. Sheltering under his tarp and out of the rain, Geddes had to think. Where too now?

Mechanical clanking continued in the background as vehicle after vehicle rumbled by. Geddes took his time to outline his options in his head;

Travel back to the village?
Stay where he was?
Head deeper behind enemy lines?


Geddes began to de-camp. He would soon be out from under the projection of the tarp that was doing a great job keeping the increasingly heavy rain off of him, as he carried out last checks on his backpack. Too soon he would be out in the weather again, which despite his all-weather clothes, would soon become dismal and cold.

Holding on to the last corner of tarp, a sudden violent gust of wind whips it from out of his hands. Geddes turned to watch the tarp blow quickly towards the mechanized Russian column of tanks, APCs and IFVs!

Geddes ducked into the brush, as thwack, the tarp blew against a BTR-70. It might have gone unnoticed in the deteriorating conditions, but it partly wrapped over the driver or commanders viewing hatch. Either way, the BTR-70 stopped due to loosing visibility forward! A soldier popped their head out and starting to remove the tarp, seemed to slowly realise what the item might mean. He slowly turned and looked into the brush, and began scanning deeper into the forest for where such a man made item might have suddenly come from.

Crouching still, Geddes had an important decision to make. Remain stationary and hope he isnt seen? Or quickly haul ass out of there?

The decision is effectively made for him. As the rear ramp thumps down, and 6 armed soldiers disembark. There is no real sign of urgency, but clearly they are going to conduct some form of quick check.

Geddes turns and runs. Speed away from contact being more important that stealth.

One of my favourite games growing up was James Bond 007 by Victory Games (1983). My cousin and I played this the most, which may add to why I think its such a great game. Plus our ages at the time. But I have always thought the game system was one of the better ones I have seen. A roll of the dice determines if you were successful or not and depending on how low the roll was, the quality of that success. Skill levels, Ease Factors and Performance Modifiers. It really was a great system.

Something that I distinctly remember being the best I had seen, was the chase mechanics it used. It handled chase scenes, actions and range really well. I intend to use a modified version of the chase rules for the upcoming pursuit of Geddes through the Jungle.

I’ll determine starting range (close, short, medium, long, extreme, extreme +1 for example) and then roll mobility checks. Each success shortens or increases the range. If Geddes gets a success and the soldiers get a success, then the range remains the same for instance. If Geddes gets 2 successes and the soldiers fail there roll, then Geddes moves 2 ranges clear. Once Extreme +1 or more is reached at the end of a round then the chase is over. And the soldiers will need to track Geddes. Or if the range is reduced to close, then the chasing soldier can enter HtH with Geddes (tackle).

[kcdusk]

The rain thumps down into the damp earth, and 6 Russian soldiers disembark. They are slow but steady in their movements, practiced but not enthusiastic to be leaving the dry of their ride for the rain outside.

Geddes curses his tarp blowing away and determines that a ground check is about to take place, so speed is more important that stealth.

I determine that the range of the encounter starts at medium.

I also determine that since Geddes is watching the 6 soldiers dismount, he gets a free action to evade them, before both sides getting turns each round to extend or close the distance.

I also detrmine to break the 6 pursuing soldiers into 3 groups of 2. With the first group being made up of the leader plus 1 other, so they have better pursuit stats as seen below.

The skill and attributes used for the pursuit are Agility and Mobility.

Geddes turns and runs away from the road, and the 6 soldiers. The dampness underfoot, falling rain and sounds of war somewhat muffle his escape. Having seen the soldiers he has this single chance to put real distance between them before the soldiers have a chance to react.

Geddes has Agility and Mobility of D12+D12.
Group A is D10+D8
Group B is D6+D6
Group B is D6+D6

Round 1
Starting distance is Medium.
Geddes is wearing his backpack, which impacts him with a -2 for mobility.

Geddes gets a free action and rolls D10+D10, result is 7 and 2. So the one success increases the range to Long for all 3 chasing groups.


Geddes continues to run deeper into the woods without looking behind. He is sure the soldiers will be close by. Running through his mind is his backpack. Should he keep it on and risk being caught, or dump his pack which might make his life alone on the road more difficult for the gear he will loose?

Round 2
Starting distance is long.
geddes rolls first as he is being pursued.
D10+D10 and rolls 5 and 1. No successes so the range stays at long.
Group A is D10+D8 and rolls 9 and 3 so range closes to medium
Group B is D6+D6 and rolls 5 and 6 so range closes to medium
Group B is D6+D6 and rolls 4 and 2 so range stays at long.


Geddes can hear sticks snapping and grunts & groans from his pursuers. IF he doesn't loose them in these woods soon, he has no doubt he will be caught. Geddes shucks his backpack off, and continues to run with only his FAL in hand.

Round 3
Geddes is D12+D12 and rolls 2 and 8. One success means the range extends by 1.
Group A is D10+D8 and rolls 1 and 5 so range goes out to long
Group B is D6+D6 and rolls 4 and 4 so range extends to long
Group B is D6+D6 and rolls 2 and 5 so range extends too extreme. If the distance ends a round at extreme +1 then they loose Geddes trail.


Geddes chances a look behind him, he makes out a few pursuers still hot on his trail. He feels he has opened up some distance between himself and them. He is thankful none of thought to stop and shoot at him. It was likely a good decision, as he would be a moving target amongst the trees and very difficult to hit at best.

Round 4
Geddes is D12+D12 and rolls 10 and 3. Two success means the range extends by 2.
Group A is D10+D8 and rolls 9 and 5 so range extends from long to extreme.
Group B is D6+D6 and rolls 5 and 1 so range extends from long to extreme +1 and so loose track of Geddes in the woods.
Group B is D6+D6 and rolls 6 and 2 so range extends from extreme to to extreme +2. This group also looses Geddes.

Geddes is running full pelt. He has taken some branches to his face. But he feels no pain as he runs on. Water drips across his face, some directly from the sky, some drops falling from his boonie hat. It might only be his mind playing tricks, but he feels like he is running slower and his pursuers getting closer!

Round 5
Geddes rolls 5 and 1 for no change to range.
Group A is at extreme and rolls 6 and 6, two successes!, reducing the pursuit range to medium.


The chase has moved from initial sprinting, to a more drawn out run now. Both sides are over the initial adrenaline phase and have settled into a speed that is perhaps 90% of what it was. Geddes ducks and weaves amongst the trees, free of his pack. The last remaining group chasing him have fallen behind, but have not quite given up.

Round 6
Geddes rolls 2 and 7, extending the range too long.
Gruop A rolls 3 and 4 so the range stays at long.


Geddes suddenly changes direction 90 degrees, through some thicker trees and over a low lying hill that briefly hides him from his pursuers. The following soldiers are slow to realise Geddes has changed direction, and just catch a glimpse of him as he disappears over a small rise.

Round 7
Geddes rolls 10 and 9, 3 successes, which extends the range to extreme +2.
Group A rolls 5 and 6 which makes the range extreme +1. This group also looses Geddes in the woods.


Geddes continues to run through the rain. It takes a few minutes longer for him to realise he has lost the soldiers.

He falls down next to a tree to catch his breath and see if he can hear them still coming. He also starts to take stock of what he's lost by dropping his rucksack, and what small items he still has on his person.

A full 15 minutes later, Geddes stands up and prepares to move out. Apart from loosing most of his gear. He is now facing one main problem, which direction is the front line?

[kcdusk]

Geddes lay exhausted on the wet ground. He had evaded his pursuers, but in doing so had lost his backpack which contained much of his gear (including cold weather gear). And also, his next action was to asses where he was, because potentially he had become lost during his escape.

To know where he is, Geddes needs to pass a Navigation test, which requires a survival roll (Geddes is A+A). I rule Geddes has lost his map and compass with his backpack, so -2. I also assign a further -1 due to running wildly during the pursuit. This reduces his chances to B+C (or a D10+ D8).

Geddes rolls a 3 and a 2. So fail. Geddes is lost.

There is still a few hours of daylight left, and while he keeps moving Geddes will not feel the cold too much. But once night begins to settle, he can expect cold and frigid conditions with no protective gear.

Whilst definitely lost, Geddes keeps his head and is just able to work out where the sun is, and get an approximate feel for where North, East, West and South is. So he does have one simple choice available to him; which way does he want to go?

North would mean a 50/50 chance of crossing into a neutral country or into the enemy state. East would definitely lead directly into the enemy state. South would lead towards a safe option. West would be back towards where Geddes expects the front line to be, approach friendly lines but from the enemies side.
Geddes decides the fight has started, and he needs to be a part of it. So he chooses to head North. There is a chance this leads to a neutral state, and from there he can re-enter the fight. But there is also a chance it leads further behind enemy lines, where Geddes can make an impact.

With Geddes heading North I roll for a random encounter. I roll 3 of Spades = pack of wolves.

Geddes can hear howling wolves in the distance. Turning his head from side to side, he determines that they are behind him. Possibly tracking him? This is something he will need to monitor in the short term. Night time is approaching, which could be dangerous if the wolves are following.

With the sun setting, the final random encounter of the day has Geddes coming across a road, with a car load of locals driving dangerously fast. They are clearly panicked and in flight mode! Geddes looks down at his fatigues and FAL. Will they see him as part of the invading force? Or as a friendly?

Geddes decides not to take a chance, and ducks off the road into a drainage ditch. The vehicle blasts on by. Geddes rolls onto his back exhausted and thinks about all the gear he lost by dropping his backpack. It made sense then to help him evade capture, but now, it would make it more difficult to get through the night.

With no warm clothes no sleeping gear to help him through the cold night. I determine that Geddes must pass two survival rolls or suffer hypothermia. Geddes grew up sleeping and hunting outdoors which is represented by his Intelligence (A) and Survival (A) ratings. I assign -1 for the cold, -1 for no sleeping gear, and another -1 for extra difficulty. Geddes rolls D10+D8 and gets 8,4. So one success means while suffering through a cold night, he is OK for now. Second roll is also D10+D8 and is 4,2. So a fail.

Being hypothermic means Geddes suffers 1 point of damage and 1 point of stress. These are his first injuries!

Geddes makes it through to sunup. Hypothermia cannot be healed until you are able to get warm. Geddes intuitively knows he is in trouble, and at first light makes every effort to find a way to get warm. He rises slowly to his feet, and begins to walk. Almost anything Geddes comes across that attracts his attention will be considered if it has the potential to provide warmth.

I roll for a random encounter to start the day. (Also, I should have pushed that second hypothermia roll, I might have been able to avoid the impact. But this is a rule that is new to me, so I don’t always think of it in the moment).

The encounter I rolled didn’t make a lot of sense. While I was wondering how it might fit into my story, I heard a wolf howl …..

I decided to ignore the rolled encounter and instead use the howling wolves encounter from yesterday. This made more sense and I think is a good example of how to join encounters together to make a larger story.

A wolf has been tracking Geddes. The carload of people late yesterday may have given them pause, or made they shy away. But overnight they have picked up Geddes sent and they have come together this morning.

Geddes makes a recon roll (keeping watch). D12+D12. The roll is 2,5. So Geddes fails to see or hear the wolf approach. Stats for animals, including wolf, are on page 38 of the Referees Manual.

The wolf wishes to ambush Geddes, so is stalking him. This is resolved via opposed Recon rolls.

Wolf: Intelligence D and Recon A. So D12+D6. No terrain modifiers. No darkness modifiers. The wolf wants to advance into Geddes hex, so -2 to the recon roll reduces the D12 to a D8, plus the remaining D6.

Geddes is D12+D12.

The rolls are; Wolf 4,1. Both Fail.

The rolls are; Geddes 9,9. Two success. Therefore Geddes sees the wolf approaching him.

Range to the wolf is 110m (11 hexs).

Geddes is cold, weak and knows he is vulnerable when he first sees the wolf. Internally he’d love to let it go, he has no desire to shoot any animal. But realising the wolf sees him as weak and therefore prey, Geddes understands he must act. Then it hits him. The first Star Wars movie, when Luke Skywalker crawls into a Tauntaun. Geddes doesn’t just need to kill the wolf to keep from being eaten, he needs to kill the wolf to stay alive himself!

Geddes touches his holstered 45 colt, thinks better of it, then makes his FAL ready. Lining the shot up, Geddes knows the first shot is likely to startle the wolf and make him run. Normally frightening the wolf off would be enough to stay safe. But Geddes needs the warm, dead body for himself.

Geddes ranged combat is A+A.

-1 medium range
-1 small target (feels right)
-1 shrub land modifier

Final roll is B+C or D10+D8.

Roll result is 9,6. Hit with two successes. FAL damage is 3 +1 for the extra hit, so 4. The wolf goes down, Geddes lowers his head, but understands this will be a bloody way to get warm.

[Raellus]

It's helpful to see others apply rules that I haven't a chance to experiment with yet, like hypothermia for example. Thanks for blazing that trail.

I also like how you made the Pack of Wolves encounter a two-parter, playing it out over two days. I wondered why there was only one wolf in the "pack" so I looked up the encounter in the Ref's manual to see if a dice-roll determined the number of wolves in the pack. In the manual, at least, nothing is mentioned about the number of wolves encountered. That seems odd. Is there a number on the card? I'd look through my deck, but I don't want to see any spoilers for my own campaign.

It must be a huge wolf if Geddes is planning on wearing it like a Tauntaun! Or is he going to use the pelt for warmth? Either way, I look forward to that scene.

And, at the risk of being totally nerdy and pedantic, it's the second Star Wars movie (in order of release). :p

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