Co B, 116th ACR

[Chris]

Hello Gamers,

I've just started a new group playing Twilight 2000 and I kicked off with Escape from Kalisz. The group has managed to break away and is heading off south-east. They had originally planned to run west & then north-west, but their guide asked them, "Where do you think all those Reds are going to go once they finish off your comrades?" and decided that was a bad idea.

Now none of these players has run the classic T2K modules before, so they don't know what's ahead of them. However, their inteneded course will take them into the lost 116ACR company. Now, one of the crew is an American Colonel. What barracks room lawyering tricks can I... I mean, Captain Winters, use to keep him from assuming command and still maintain the appearance of loyalty and discipline?

Thanks,
Chris

[dragoon500ly]

Couple of ways of looking at this.

If you want to keep B Troop as still loyal, then the Colonel would have every right to assume command. Unless Captain Winters wants to maintain the fiction of "previous, overriding orders", for which she would have to produce the written copy confirming the orders.

"Sorry Colonel, but I do have direct orders from CINCEUR to support the 10th Special Forces Group for a classified, need-to-know mission. I'm afraid that I cannot detach any personnel to escort you back to our front lines, but I can provide supplies and a guide to assist you. Here are my orders signed by Lieutenant General Dumbjohn." Game, set and match.

Another way is if the Colonel shows, by his actions (or inactions) that he is unable, or unfit to exercise command. This on is a very hard one to prove, but say the Colonel is badly wounded, to the point of requiring major pain-killers, he would then be unfit to command on medical grounds. Just an idea.

To prevent him from taking over, these would be about the only means to do so.

And a hint from an ole cavalry trooper, The First Squadron of the 116th ACR would be comprised of Headquarters Troop, Troops A, B and C and Company D (tanks).

[helbent4]

Chris,

Also, you could bump up the Captain's rank to Colonel as well. If the players have never played Black Madonna, they won't know the difference, will they?

If you want to go that route then Coy B/116th ACR could be the last surviving unit of the regiment, or Warren could have been attached to the unit for the purpose of their mission sometime before the debacle at Kalisz.

Tony

[pmulcahy11b]

It could be used as an interesting game hook -- does Troop B stay loyal to Captain Warren (who has gotten them through this much and suffered terribly personally as well), or do they take their orders from this person, who may be a Colonel, but they don't know?

[Raellus]

You could use a MILGOV/CIVGOV loyalty split. Then there's the whole "You might have the rank but so-and-so is this unit's operational commander so thanks but no thanks." T2K canon suggests that rank structure as of 2000 has become somewhat... flexible.

Does the Colonel still have his eagles and military I.D.? Perhaps he can't prove his rank to the new unit's satisfaction- a convenient fait accompli.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Does the Colonel still have his eagles and military I.D.? Perhaps he can't prove his rank to the new unit's satisfaction- a convenient fait accompli.

That's a good point, in a T2K game I GMed while I was in Korea, one of the players "promoted" himself from Sergeant to Major by taking the insignia from a dead soldier. (It was just before he met, in the game, the rest of the existing player group. The players were none the wiser, and I kept the secret for game play.)

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

"Sorry Colonel, but I do have direct orders from CINCEUR to support the 10th Special Forces Group for a classified, need-to-know mission.

Note that B Coy, 116th ACR had no connection whatsoever with the SFG tasked with recovering Reset. B Coy mission which was never actually relayed to them (their contact never showed up), was the retrieval of something else rather important to the stabilisation (or destabilisation depending on who's hands it was in) of the region.

What Corps is the Colonel? While they may have the rank, do they have the training to command an armoured unit?

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Note that B Coy, 116th ACR had no connection whatsoever with the SFG tasked with recovering Reset. B Coy mission which was never actually relayed to them (their contact never showed up), was the retrieval of something else rather important to the stabilisation (or destabilisation depending on who's hands it was in) of the region.

What Corps is the Colonel? While they may have the rank, do they have the training to command an armoured unit?

Have a copy of Black Madonna so I do know the canon background, however, does the Colonel know this?

As for the corps that the Colonel belongs to; the Green Machine posts officers just about everywhere, regardless of their original training. I have seen armor officers, straight from Judge Advocate, take over tank companies. And they don't necessarily have to complete Armor Officer's Basic.

There was actually a course called the Tank Commanders Certification Course run out of Ft. Knox, Kentucky where these people went through a two week course that turned them into instant armor experts. Now, while all US Army officers are shades of George S. Patton just waiting to jump in the ole turret and kill commies by the hundreds...two weeks does not turn an officer into a tanker. Just provides enough info to insure that they can kill their crews and most likely their units in the shortest period of time.

So having a strange officer arrive to take over a combat unit, especially one trapped behind enemy lines, I'd lay good odds that the troop officers and NCOs are trying to figure out every possible way to keep this guy from taking over. I'd also bet that a few of the troopers may be discussing having an accident involving the colonel and a hand grenade or two.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

So having a strange officer arrive to take over a combat unit, especially one trapped behind enemy lines, I'd lay good odds that the troop officers and NCOs are trying to figure out every possible way to keep this guy from taking over. I'd also bet that a few of the troopers may be discussing having an accident involving the colonel and a hand grenade or two.

"Sorry, sir, but Captain Warren's our commander. You're just some guy who showed up out of nowhere." Smacks of extreme disrespect, but a big possibility under the circumstances.

[Legbreaker]

Perhaps one approach would be to allow the Colonel to take over in a figurehead type position - they think they're in charge, but the Captain still holds the reins.

If the Colonel wants the unit to move to another location, and the Captain disagrees, I'm sure she can find dozens of "problems" preventing such an action - lack of adequate fuel, broken down vehicles, sick/injured crewmen vital to the smooth operation of combat vehicles, etc, etc...
The less the Colonel actually knows about armoured operations the better this would work.

If they do happen to have armoured knowledge and/or experience, then falling back on the written orders idea is definitely the way to go. If the orders contain problematic info, such as deadlines, expiry dates, etc, then Opsec could be called into play - does the Colonel have the necessary clearance to even view the orders?

[Chris]

Thanks for the very quick replies.

I won't know till they get there what the Colonel's intentions or condition will be. I had thought about a heavily wounded Colonel being declared not fit to command and even after he is "better" having the unit's medical officer declaring the same. "TBI, he acts normal until stressed."

Given the strong desire of B Coy to stay put I could really see a "Siege of Firebase Gloria" moment if he got pushy.

The Colonel is US Army Rangers (T2K v2.2, sorta) and the minimum age for it. 10 INT and he hit every promotion roll (Duh!). Anyway, by 2000 he was wearing more than 1 hat. We hashed things out informally for the groups background, he was in charge of 1st Battalions 5th ID(M)'s recon assets, co-ordinating security for the few engineer assets, and, last winter, running training for scouts pulled from the replacements from the States and local population. I'm going to have to give him a write-up about the B Coy. He'd have had some contact with them before hand.

Thanks,
Chris