Quote:
Originally Posted by Raellus
That's exactly what I envision the Soviets doing. 
This is crazy. I was toying with the idea of sending some bogus "Marines" into my players' lines but not quite on this scale. I didn't go through with it, though. If you don't mind, I think I would like to steal your idea for a later encounter. |
Bwahahaha!
I've got a psionic talent!
Go for it, really, I'm pleased to contribute, especially since your "Beach too far" has inspired this game in the first place.
Some details:
FWIW, I broke down 3-9 MRB as 3 companies of 60 men each, a 20-man recon platoon (horsed) and a mortar battery (4x82mm non-automatic, 1x120mm, all with horses for pulling and caissons). One company is holding the Vistula and Nogat bridges, one is garrisoning/mopping up Elblag, and one is patrolling to the south for Marine stragglers, west of the Elblag Canal. The recon troop is also patrolling, on the east bank of the Elblag Canal. The HQ and the big mortar are at Jelonki, where there is a crossing of the Canal. The 82mm mortars are attached to the sweeping company.
If you look at Google maps, there's a large lake/swamp and some woods south of Elblag. That's where my players went, but it's also an obvious place for stragglers to try and hide, so that's what the 7th company of the battalion is focused on.
That company split up- 1 platoon (and half the mortars) to the north, 1 to the south (with the other half of the mortars), and the 3rd tried the deception trick. I imagine Maj. Volokov is from Army HQ's GRU detachment, and he pulled some of his half-dozen English-speakers from the division, and/or Army HQ. I put a higher percentage of females in this platoon, figuring they were drafted as English-speakers.
(BTW, look up the canal and the lake south of Elblag. The lake is a moderately deep swamp, and the Canal has some sections that are a railway to carry boats overland. That was curious to read.)
Something else I learned from reading Wikipedia on the Elblag area. Since it used to be the dividing line between East and West Prussia, there is still a German-speaking minority. That's something else the GRU would be concerned about, so there could easily be another, German-speaking, cell looking to sniff out Prussian guerrillas.
FWIW, Maj. Ivan Sergeevich Volokov
Str 1 (autogun 0, armed martial arts 0, Pistol 2, Unarmed MA 1)
Agl 3 (Ground vehicle 3)
Con 3 (Combat Engineering 1, Swimming 3)
Int 7 (Observation 2, Streetwise 2)
EDU 6
CHA 7 (Act/bluff 1, Interrogate 4, Language (English) 7, Leadership 2, Persuasion 5)
10 Hearts, 2 Spades. 3 terms in Air Force Intelligence, but maybe I should have gone for a tour as an attache or illegal agent in America....