Quote:
Originally Posted by ChalkLine
A Third Echelon Campaign
In most games the players get the gee-whiz stuff at the very start and it slowly degrades during the game. Little by little, they start to pick up AKMs for the ammo, shoot off their 40mms and so on.
But in this style campaign the players starts off with real last-ditch stuff, not even Vietnam-era body armour. 1950s webbing, old style uniforms, weapons two generations out of date and so on. A hardcore GM will make their equipment and weaponry actually a severe disadvantage so the players have a strong incentive to scrounge, loot and cobble together more modern gear that’s more effective. The vehicles are clapped out old horrors that should really be in the back lot of a museum awaiting restoration. Even horses should be scruffy old nags. Worse, it could be cheap repurposed civilian gear that rapidly falls to bits.
The main challenge in this is letting the players get access to their own side’s equipment. Unless you want them indistinguishable from the enemy in a short spate of time you need to let them find out where stuff they can use is. It also really kicks up the trading aspect of the game.
This by definition is a lean campaign. I’m usually of the opinion that the enemy simply don’t engage if possible if they're down to their last magazine because really by then you’re combat ineffective, but in this style game everyone is short of everything and the players should not be able to pick up four magazines off a fallen enemy. Usually loot should be in the order or a dozen rounds, and I’d bump the combat difficulties up so there’s a lot more shots per hit than there is now (T2K, and all modern games, makes it far too easy to hit in a firefight).
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How about playing Soviet characters from one of the mobilization divisions then that were basically equipped with WWII/Korean War era equipment - i.e. old T-34/85's for tanks, WWII rifles and submachine guns, etc.. - given how the Soviets basically never threw anything away that would be a great way to introduce something like what you described above
Love to see the PPSh-41 and PPS-43 as part of their equipment