A ray of hope II

[Adm.Lee]

As I mentioned [URL="http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=3452"]here, I offered my son and his pals a T2k game for the summer. After Origins, I invited in group member Rnitze and his son, too. Character generation was yesterday, so we are on our way. I really wish I'd had more than one copy of the careers pages on hand, I had to go around the table to get everyone's terms in.

Rules are v.2.2 (mostly); I told them all to roll up 2 PCs, to allow for casualties. I was planning to run good ol' "Escape from Kalisz" but events intervened. Early on, at least two of them entered the Marines for their first terms, so I asked if everyone wanted to play Marines, rather than Army. Most said yes, so I will be shifting to make use of Raellus' "Task Force Inchon" concept. (Off to read that again tonight....)

As it is, we've got 7 Marines (1 Irish-born, 1 East German), 4 soldiers and a Navy Lt. j.g. Two of the Marines are a sniper team, 1 Marine and 1 soldier are engineers, and the ranking officer is an Army intel geek. They rolled for vehicles, and negotiated for a BMP-B (vice a Bradley) and a HMMWV.

Some of the guys started to get a glimmer of character-building through the lifepath system, using their choices in careers to build some story. One had 4 terms as a FedEx truckdriver before getting drafted. One had two criminal terms, followed by 2 as a cop before joining the Army MPs. One went to university to earn a Ph.D., then spent 4 terms as a geology professor before the war came along.

Something I noted is that some of them damaged my illusions on the [skill + attribute vs.d20] system, maxxing out their Small Arms skill and putting their biggest stat into Strength. There's a sniper with 9 Str and 10 skill, meaning his Short range, aimed shot, to-hit number is 76. (Yes, I know, he can still miss the shot on a roll of 17-20.)

I showed them a BRDM shooting at their BMP, which I think drove home that it's not THAT well-armored.

Something that surprised me: no one talked about where their characters were from. I remember that being a key piece of chargen (both rules editions) even when we first started playing. What I mean is that no one talked about their home state or city, "This guy's from Boston, and he played in a band," "This guy's from Hamburg," or "He's from south of nowhere in Tennessee." For that matter, one doesn't even have a name.

As for gear, I just had them give me a wish list, and I reviewed it this afternoon, then tacked on food & fuel and some miscellaneous stuff. Shooting starts on Tuesday afternoon, but there's one more kid that wants in, and he needs characters (They're gonna want a corpsman, so that may be one of them).

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Great to hear you're indoctrina... err... educating... yeah, yeah, we'll say "educating" the younger generation.
But seriously, that is great news. It's nice to see that new gamers can be exposed to "old" RPGs and find that they enjoy them.

As for the bit that they didn't discuss where their PCs were from, it doesn't surprise me too much. I recall someone on this forum saying something related to this. It was some time back (last year?) but essentially he had introduced some younger people to T2k and was explaining the background/history of the Twilight War. They said something along the lines of "We don't care about the history, we just want to play the game".

[Legbreaker]

I've just finished a six day marathon of 2.2. Started with Kalisz, moved through Black Madonna and then Krakow and got a few miles down river in Pirates before we'd all gotten sick of the sight of each other.
None of the players is over 21 and it was their idea to play it in preference to the dozen other systems I've got.
I'll have a summary of events posted once I recover from the sleep deprivation.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

As for the bit that they didn't discuss where their PCs were from, it doesn't surprise me too much. I recall someone on this forum saying something related to this. It was some time back (last year?) but essentially he had introduced some younger people to T2k and was explaining the background/history of the Twilight War. They said something along the lines of "We don't care about the history, we just want to play the game".

I really quickly ran the Cold War/Twilight War for them, and I could tell they didn't really grok, or care. One got confused in his attempt at backstory, saying his West German PC got conscripted into a Soviet labor project.

[Adm.Lee]

I ran again today, for the first real playing session. I leaned a lot on random encounter tables and played dice to tell me if NPCs had any good or useful information.

The party started in a woods SW of Elblag, having been run out of that city by the 3rd MRD. They had a BMP and a HMMWV, with about 1/3 of full ethanol tanks. I had turned initial decision-making over to the player that wasn't 13, and was an Army vet. He played with Google maps, and planned a route SSE so as to avoid the Polish cavalry at Malbork before looping back to the Vistula. As there was a lake and a canal between them and the Soviets, they hoped they were staying on their side of it. He plotted a course that put them into patches of woods off country roads every 10km or so, to hole up for the night.

Dice served early to heighten the tension, their BMP had a suspension breakdown as they neared the end of their first leg. I allowed them to drag it off the road and into cover, but not very far from the road.

All the while, someone was watching them from the west. Every once in a while, their best spotter (Marine sniper gunny sergeant, of course) would see someone eying them with binos. (This was Polish cavalry, but only scouts with no interest in tangling with Americans headed away from them.)

A Polish refugee in the woods admitted that he had seen broken-down Soviet BMPs east of the canal, on the main route of the Soviets into Elblag (duh, this is the whole 9th Guards Army). With no suspension parts on hand, they sent 5 PCs in the Hummer to see if they could get lucky on the Soviet MSR. They got as far as the lake immediately south of Elblag, where they had a shouting-distance conversation with a Polish smuggler band (the smuggler had a wagon on a raft, towed by a motorboat). He was unhappy with them, and promised to bring some tracks tomorrow.

On to a village with a bridge, with a Soviet ammo depot on the east bank. Three PCs swam the canal in a midnight rainstorm, to see if they could raid the truckers and depot there. Instead, they triggered a firefight. All 3 PCs caught minor wounds while slaying lots and lots of entirely too gung-ho Soviets. The Hummer came blasting through town across the bridge with its MG roaring. Curiously, or not, the village militia didn't interfere with anyone or anything once the tracers started flying in large numbers.

When dawn came, the PCs were stripping the vehicles (a 2.5 ton with diesel in its tanks!) and bodies, the villagers came out to parley. They accepted some of the guns and ammo, offering light medical care and food and promising to redirect any Soviet comebacks elsewhere. They had no BMP tracks, but thought there was a Soviet vehicle repair depot 4km up the highway?

Meanwhile, the grumpy smuggler tried to ambush the PCs with a Soviet horse patrol. Instead, that patrol failed to notice the 2 Marine snipers hiding behind them and settled down at really short range. You can guess how that ended: all the Soviet patrol wiped out (1 Marine slightly wounded), the smugglers wiped out and their boat adrift.

Next game, the PCs are feeling gung-ho themselves, wanting to hunt down the rumored Soviet AFV repair depot after they rest up, brew some ethanol for a fuel reserve, and heal their minor wounds. I'll be reporting back in 3 weeks.

GM asides: I'd be strongly tempted to abandon the BMP, throw everything onto the deuce-and-a-half with diesel in its tanks, and keep moving south. Also, since they could have captured the motorboat, and they have to cross at least two rivers, including the wide Vistula, before getting back to friendly lines, I'd want to put that on one of the trucks or trailer for later use. I was really surprised when they handed the boat over to the refugee who helped them earlier.

Evil GM asides: This is the early stages, when they get to collect stuff and think themselves powerful. Soon, I will show them some serious firepower and watch them scurry in terror! {rub hands, chuckle, rumble of thunder & lightning}

Rules thoughts: Oh, yeah, bullets don't hurt so much when everyone rolls 2d6 (AK74s & M16s) in v2. The .50 cal stuff really puts NPCs down, though.

[Raellus]

Cool, man. Elblag is fast becoming a classic T2K hot-spot! Keep us posted.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Rules thoughts: Oh, yeah, bullets don't hurt so much when everyone rolls 2d6 (AK74s & M16s) in v2. The .50 cal stuff really puts NPCs down, though.

Don't forget knockdown and stun! They can really screw PCs up.
One of my players (US Marine Sniper) thought he could get away without wearing any armour, not even a helmet. First contact with a handful of AK-74 armed marauders soon set him right.
Another PC was stripped of their armour when captured by KGB agents in Krakow. Was tortured for about four hours before they were rescued by the other PCs - were more upset over the loss of their kevlar than anything that had occurred!

And shotguns at close range!? All I have to say about that is OUCH!!!

[DocSavage45B10]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Rules thoughts: Oh, yeah, bullets don't hurt so much when everyone rolls 2d6 (AK74s & M16s) in v2. The .50 cal stuff really puts NPCs down, though.

Has anyone tried using D10s instead of D6 for damage dice?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by DocSavage45B10

Has anyone tried using D10s instead of D6 for damage dice?

Nope but I do drop the number of hit points the PCs get - when their head only has hit points equal to their CON score, they get a bit worried about blows to the head let alone being hit by bullets.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Don't forget knockdown and stun! They can really screw PCs up.

Yeah, that was a rude surprise. They only took minor wounds, but the "flat out for the rest of the turn" was a shock.

DocSavage, yes, I've thought out either using d10s, or allowing the d6 to "explode" (roll again on 6s). Not doing it this time around.

[Adm.Lee]

I ran again today. The grown-up veteran of the game and the guy playing the two Marine snipers were absent, but I added another 7th grader who couldn't make the last two games. I let him pick from the unplayed PCs for this game.

First off, I had planned two main events, plus the inevitable travel encounters. A refugee they'd befriended wanted them to follow him home (and run off those pesky Soviets and set him up as village chief?), as there had been a Soviet vehicle park near there. They did want BMP track-links to get their derelict moving again. So they decided to camp for three days (brew some more methanol) before heading for town.

The other encounter was a result of me trying to think through "what would the Soviets be doing?" To my mind, the Ninth Guards Army was intent on rolling past Elblag and the 2-2 Marines' outpost and meeting XI US Corps to the west. That meant two divisions could keep rolling west over the bridges, while 3rd MRD mopped up and reorganized around Elblag. That translated to 1 battalion being detailed to patrolling into the area where the PCs now were. I rolled some dice, to figure out strengths and weapons available to this battalion (let's call it 3d battalion, 9th MRR). Then, I had an idea. I rolled some dice to see if it was feasible. (My rule is: roll a d20-- high means it's a good idea, or the stuff is available!) A die-roll of 20 told me that the battalion had a reasonably intact LAV-25 at their disposal. Hmm, and a lot of Marine gear is recently captured, and I bet there's a few English-speaking officers around.

Thus was born Major Volokov, a Leningrad-born intel officer from Frontal Aviation, now working for the Army. I drew high Sociable cards for him, so he's interested in rounding up prisoners, rather than kills. He took as many English-speakers as possible, filled out a platoon with riflemen and equipped them all with NATO helmets, flak jackets, Marine jackets and M16s. The plan was to pretend to be Marine stragglers and bring Marines in close, where they could be outnumbered and convinced to surrender. Moving only at dawn and dusk, they hoped poor visibility would help the deception. Of course, a large number of player characters would have different ideas....

It didn't quite work, and the resulting firefight took up the whole gaming session. I let each player (5) take one of the 12 PCs, and those were the ones on watch that night. They heard the LAV approaching, but didn't recognize the sound. When they did see it in the dawn after their last night of intended camping, the range was barely 100 meters. The players thought they might be more Marines, and so they called out, and some approached the road when hailed in English. And when called on to surrender, the shooting started at point-blank range.

The kid manning the SAW hosed down two fireteams really quickly, including the sneaky Major, the guy with the sniper rifle shot from the woods, and the others traded shots up close. Nearly all of the PCs were hit early, and most were hit often. The Barrett could not penetrate the LAV's armor, but the M203 gunner immobilized the LAV. One kid tried to start their HMMWV in order to run down some of the riflemen. This resulted in him unconscious at the wheel with the engine running amid the enemy troopers.

Later shots with the 40mm wrecked the LAV's interior, but could not stop the MG fire. As some player characters were knocked out with serious wounds, I let them bring in their backup characters, running up from their camp in the woods. One of the enemy was able to wrestle his way into the still-running HMMWV and drive away with it (oops, there went half of the food and all the reserve ammo!). The last two Russians in the LAV surrendered, but there weren't so many conscious PCs to accept the surrender.

There were 8 Soviets still alive and taken prisoner, only 3 conscious (good thing one was a medic). Only 3 of 12 PCs were untouched, 3 had serious wounds. The players' Hummer was gone, the LAV was unusable for a long time, and their BMP still needed a track. Their sole remaining vehicle is a 2.5-ton, now going to be full of all their gear.

The ranking prisoner informed the players that they still needed to surrender, as there were other platoons to the north and south who would be coming to check out the gunfire soon, and the rest of a battalion out there. The players are now thinking of running for it. Right now. I didn't get a decision about the prisoners, but I think they will insist on staying put, with or without the Americans. Their medics will be coming soon, after all.

Looks pretty grim for our heroes. I think I'll hurry them along with a mortar barrage?

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

The other encounter was a result of me trying to think through "what would the Soviets be doing?" To my mind, the Ninth Guards Army was intent on rolling past Elblag and the 2-2 Marines' outpost and meeting XI US Corps to the west. That meant two divisions could keep rolling west over the bridges, while 3rd MRD mopped up and reorganized around Elblag.

That's exactly what I envision the Soviets doing.

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Thus was born Major Volokov, a Leningrad-born intel officer from Frontal Aviation, now working for the Army. I drew high Sociable cards for him, so he's interested in rounding up prisoners, rather than kills. He took as many English-speakers as possible, filled out a platoon with riflemen and equipped them all with NATO helmets, flak jackets, Marine jackets and M16s. The plan was to pretend to be Marine stragglers and bring Marines in close, where they could be outnumbered and convinced to surrender. Moving only at dawn and dusk, they hoped poor visibility would help the deception. Of course, a large number of player characters would have different ideas...

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.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Raellus

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.

I've done a variation of that to players. The good guys were a Spetsnaz team that had defected to the NATO side, but still wearing Russian uniforms and kit and weapons. The bad guys were NATO stragglers who had turned marauder. They're in a vicious firefight, and the players show up in the middle of this. They don't know who to help.

[Adm.Lee]

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....

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I've done a variation of that to players. The good guys were a Spetsnaz team that had defected to the NATO side, but still wearing Russian uniforms and kit and weapons. The bad guys were NATO stragglers who had turned marauder. They're in a vicious firefight, and the players show up in the middle of this. They don't know who to help.

Wow, talk about a conundrum! Truly wicked, Paul.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

If you look at Google maps, there's a large lake/swamp and some woods south of Elblag.

I wonder if those woods would have survive the war or been burnt to the ground at some point?

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

FWIW, Maj. Ivan Sergeevich Volokov
Str 1

Wow! So weak he can barely stand up with his clothes on!

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

I wonder if those woods would have survive the war or been burnt to the ground at some point?

Eh. The farm fields around seem largely to be lined with woodlines, I bet those would go first. Also, I ruled that the area is either "devastated" or "terrorized", so there weren't so many farmers to burn up the woods. More new trees, fewer old trees.

Wow! So weak he can barely stand up with his clothes on!

True. Kind of a 93-pound weakling. When I get odd numbers like that, I rule that's a result of wounds or disease. Maybe he could be a sickly guy with a cough and a withered arm, courtesy of a chemical attack. Ooooh, and play him like the short black-coated Nazi from the first "Raiders of the Lost Ark" film. Wish I'd thought of that before the PCs shot him....

[Legbreaker]

I was thinking the woods may have burnt during earlier fighting - napalm strike, nuclear thermal flash, a few incendiary rounds gone astray during a dry summer, etc.
The same could apply to all woods, fields, etc we can see on google maps/earth.
Some regrowth is likely of course, but I don't imagine it would be a whole lot in just a year or three. Plenty of burnt stumps and charred logs laying about to trip over though.

I love the flexibility and realism the various mapping programs and sites give us, but like most people, forget sometimes that what we can see today isn't likely to be what would be there in T2K.

[Adm.Lee]

Hum, I hadn't thought about fires.

OTOH, the "woods" terrain category doesn't seem to care if we are talking about a lot of saplings, big old trees, or anything in between.

FWIW, the lone adult and T2k vet in the group is now emailing me about digging in and making a last stand against the Soviet follow-on forces. They have captured some Soviets, so the Intel officer PC will be interrogating them for information.

The game has a skill roll for information, what do you think might be a good mechanic for an NPC trying to bluff a PC? "Yes, we have three BMPs and a tank. And some mortars. You're better off surrendering."

That gave me another idea on this NPC, and her motivation. Since I specified there were a few extra females among the English-speaking Soviets, the ranking PW has turned out to be an English-speaking woman. What are the odds that she's trying real hard to get the PCs to surrender, because her most recent CO was the late Major? If she can talk the PCs out of an expensive battle, she'd be the best candidate to replace the Major as Special Intelligence Officer, no? Promotion for her, vindication of the late hero's ideas? (Not necessarily in that order).

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

That gave me another idea on this NPC, and her motivation. Since I specified there were a few extra females among the English-speaking Soviets, the ranking PW has turned out to be an English-speaking woman. What are the odds that she's trying real hard to get the PCs to surrender, because her most recent CO was the late Major? If she can talk the PCs out of an expensive battle, she'd be the best candidate to replace the Major as Special Intelligence Officer, no? Promotion for her, vindication of the late hero's ideas? (Not necessarily in that order).

I'm trying to think through this, without having the game end so soon in either a TPK or a trip to the PW camp, and I had this thought.

What if this GRU officer were to play along with defecting to the PCs, following them and offering some guidance, so that they can find the base camp(s) for the 2nd Polish Free Legion, west of the Vistula? Then she can find a way to call in some more of her division. Now that would be worth a promotion, right?

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

The game has a skill roll for information, what do you think might be a good mechanic for an NPC trying to bluff a PC? "Yes, we have three BMPs and a tank. And some mortars. You're better off surrendering."

Persuasion skill is the one to use here, modified by any Disguise/Acting ability the character may possess. Might be an opposed test against the listeners Intelligence?

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

What are the odds that she's trying real hard to get the PCs to surrender, because her most recent CO was the late Major? If she can talk the PCs out of an expensive battle, she'd be the best candidate to replace the Major as Special Intelligence Officer, no? Promotion for her, vindication of the late hero's ideas? (Not necessarily in that order).

I'd say draw motivation cards for her. She could have a totally different outlook on how things should proceed. No matter what, I'd think saving her own skin would be high on the list of priorities.

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

I'm trying to think through this, without having the game end so soon in either a TPK or a trip to the PW camp, and I had this thought.

Nothing wrong with having them as prisoners - ups the stakes quite a bit and makes them think up imaginative plans to escape.

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

What if this GRU officer were to play along with defecting to the PCs, following them and offering some guidance, so that they can find the base camp(s) for the 2nd Polish Free Legion, west of the Vistula? Then she can find a way to call in some more of her division. Now that would be worth a promotion, right?

Hmm, could work, but how likely are the PCs to trust her that much? It'd come down to her having a HIGH Charisma and Persuasion skill and you as GM convincingly RPing it.

[Adm.Lee]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Persuasion skill is the one to use here, modified by any Disguise/Acting ability the character may possess. Might be an opposed test against the listeners Intelligence?

One of the PCs has an Interrogation skill, I think I'll oppose that with her Persuasion.

I'd say draw motivation cards for her. She could have a totally different outlook on how things should proceed. No matter what, I'd think saving her own skin would be high on the list of priorities.

8 Diamonds, 6 Hearts. Wealth over Social, so it kinda fits.

Nothing wrong with having them as prisoners - ups the stakes quite a bit and makes them think up imaginative plans to escape.

Nope. I just really, really don't get the feeling that these guys will "come along quietly." Plan: Custer is more like their style.

Hmm, could work, but how likely are the PCs to trust her that much? It'd come down to her having a HIGH Charisma and Persuasion skill and you as GM convincingly RPing it.

That last bit is always the tricky part.

Upon further reflection, I think I will sit back and just let them figure it out, it's not my job to make their Golden Bridge. I'll just work out some encounters to drop into place.

It has been useful to work through this NPC who is among them, thanks for the feedback.

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

It has been useful to work through this NPC who is among them, thanks for the feedback.

That's what we're here for!

[Adm.Lee]

Again, I was short our two most experienced players today.

A short debate opened the game-- fight or flight? what to do with the prisoners? I was a little shocked at how much detail one of the boys wanted to go into, to hide the bodies after shooting the prisoners. His little brother, usually the hack & slash-only guy, was the one who asked, "wouldn't that be, like, a war crime?" Fortunately for me, saner voices agreed to leave the prisoners behind when they left.

They did decide to siphon the ethanol out of the broken BMP and drop the 2-ton still out of their last remaining vehicle, the 2.5 tonner, and drive out of the closing jaws of the Soviets.

Of course, they bumped into one platoon of the Soviets anyway. 3 four-man squads, carrying a PKM and dragging a DShK (towed behind a bicycle), along with a company commander with a radio to the 120mm mortar. The firefight went mostly OK, and they were actually about to gain fire superiority, when they tried bringing their lone truck into action. This exposed not only the truck, but the seriously wounded inside, into range, at the same time as one of the Soviet squads got into a flanking position. One wounded PC died*, many took wounds when those guys opened up from the treeline. The mortar didn't do much but scare them, but it did cause them to not pursue when the Soviets decided to break contact.

The truck got hit in the engine, but I ruled that they could get it running again after a half-day delay.

This did get them through the Soviet "jaws," and south into country unpopulated by major military units. They got almost to the highway running east from Grudziadz without further incident. I think there are still Polish cavalry patrols from Malbork, and they will have to find a way across the Wisla, once they get there. (In retrospect, they thought they might have to abandon the truck once the got to the river, maybe I didn't need to let them keep it running).

Gamewise, I had trouble holding some of their attention, as some of them had long periods in which their characters had nothing to do, given the large numbers of hesitations some had, especially once they had been knocked-down. I think I want to shift to a simpler initiative system, probably lifting the easy one from Savage Worlds. Everyone will get an action, and it will be clear when one's turn is coming up.

They are learning to drop prone early and often. I don't know if the lesson on flanking will sink in. Forming teams for fire & maneuver hasn't come to them yet.

* In just about every game I have run for this guy, I've killed or incapacitated his character. My dice (or my table?) have it in for this boy. Fortunately, he has a backup PC.

[Adm.Lee]

Not much fighting today, more sneaking and scouting.

In a fast-forward interlude from the end of the last game, I had the group drive their truck SSW, to get nearer to the Vistula (but still not there), and then set up camp in an abandoned village. I figured they found a garage behind an apartment building or hotel that still had roofs, and moved in. Within a block of them, I introduced a new PC and 2 NPCs, fellow Marines/sailors that had escaped captivity by the Soviets, and wound up in the same ghost town. The player that rolled his new PC made him a Navy doctor, so now someone can treat wounds!

--- Which gave me license to "resurrect" the PC that was killed in last week's fight. "Oh, he's only mostly dead."

Around their new base, they set up their many captured machineguns and sent out hunting parties/patrols, as they were nearly out of food.

Two guys (not the sniper team, we all noted) were able to surprise some bunnies and kill two before a pack of dogs treed them. From the top of the tree, they dropped a grenade, which must have bounced up at them again-- both were wounded, one enough to be seriously wounded in the face. At least it killed all the dogs! Once they'd dragged the many bodies back to the camp, the had meat and the new doctor had more business.

Next day, a 4-person patrol found a trio of stripped trucks... and drag marks towards a nearby gas station. That turned up a cache of track-links, unfortunately booby-trapped with a Soviet Claymore. Again, more business for the doctor.

Day after that, the 2-man hunting party bumped into a smugglers' camp. Some gunpoint negotiations set up a meet for the next day, to swap a PK and belts for more food. That's where we suspended the game for this week. The party is considering double-crossing the smugglers, or at least short-circuiting the inevitable double-cross by the smugglers. (To be honest, I was planning on the smugglers playing it straight. They just weren't please with the PCs introducing themselves as Germans, so the prices went way up!)

I think I have 3 Fridays left until school starts for some, so I'd better get them moving on their way across the Vistula to NATO lines, huh? Perhaps the smugglers offer to introduce them to someone with a boat?

[Adm.Lee]

One deal made, one deal offered, one case of mistake identity, one firefight.

We started with the group motoring to a crossroads roadhouse to trade an MG for food. They tried to set up covering positions in a nearby barn, but the (lightly armed) farmers dissuaded them from taking it over. There was no shootout at the roadhouse, just some toasts to seal the deal.

Then, the smuggler who brought them food (the group was down to its last MRE) observed that they were on the wrong side of the big river from the rest of NATO-- maybe he could offer them a boat ride? The group's negotiator pressed for contact with someone on the other side, as well, so they agreed to meet again in 5 days. The group returned to the abandoned village they were camping in, now with 4 days' of food.

One player (remember, these are 13-year-olds) wanted to do something destructive, so he slipped out at midnight, took their scouting bicycle, and pedalled back to the farm, wanting some pig. Again, the sharp-eyed farmers saw him coming, and ran him off with Mauser fire. (I had hoped this would scare the player back into line-- nope.)

When he got back to the building they were using for base, he tried to mess with the sentry. When challenged, he hollered, "No speak-a English!" So the sentry shot him. (The fun part here is that the two players involved are brothers.) Only then does he identify himself, and they agree to let him get closer once they get a flashlight on his face.

This is when the evil GM has the other sentries spot someone else moving on them from another direction! Eighteen marauders, hoping that the MG they traded away might weaken their defenses. It didn't. The Marauders got up to their house, close enough to put grenades through the windows, and even bust in themselves. A furious firefight at room-to-room range wiped out most of the marauders and wounded several PCs. The few that tried to run off were dropped by the group's sniper using NVGs.

While this was happening, the lone-wolf PC, upon entering the building had tried to shoot his brother's PC. And missed. The two of them got into their own little firefight through a closed door, which ended when the sniper (on another rooftop) shot up the lone-wolf. The inside brother almost finished him off.*

A court-martial, or at least an execution, was considered against the lone-wolf (unconscious) by some of the team, as they suspected him of bringing the marauders back on them. As GM, my gut was about to make me intervene, but things cooled off, and the player's promising to color within the lines from now on. We'll see.

Oh, and the kid whose characters I always seem to wipe out? He didn't make it to the game, so his guys were safe.

* This led to an intense discussion on the crappy damage done by pistols and SMGs in v2 rules, versus the really high hit-points that PCs have, against NPCs. The decision is to try it with v1 damage rolls next time: i.e., 4d6+4xDam at close range. NPCs will get doubled hit points, from 20 to 40, 'cause it seemed they were going down way too easy.

[headquarters]

We started playing this game in our early/mid teens too. I GMed alot but was also a player.
I have to say all of this rings a bell and brings back good memories of sessions past. The lone wolf wanting to get something destructive done - and subsequently gets into trouble with other PCs. The GMs silent worries about the "alignment" of their PCs . ( Yeah its a game but sometimes you consider - is torture , massacre or fratricide really a good subject for a game?)

And of course the PC vs PC or indeed NPC damage discussions... ( v.2.0)

These were though in our group and firstly led to all players getting a sawed of 12 gage. The relatively low bulk and very high damage means that it was dubbed the party killer. One hit in an unarmored location was almost sure to bring the subject down. Many PCs were erased from their sheets by one of these. Over time this brutish way of dealing with quarrels among the PCs went out of fashion. ( Were we getting older and more mature??) But it is still practiced by one or two of the PCs. ( Equipping a PC with implies that you are geared for an infight )

Now the PCs have adopted more sophisticated ways of killing eachother. A favourite these days is secretly arranging with the GM that the next firefight some of your shots will be going into the back of your fellow party member..In a chaotic loud firefight no one will be the wiser as long as this is aranged by sending a note or the slight nod to the GM to do the preplanned murdering..ah..the joys of gaming..

Keep the log coming. It is a fun read.

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

One deal made, one deal offered, one case of mistake identity, one firefight.

We started with the group motoring to a crossroads roadhouse to trade an MG for food. They tried to set up covering positions in a nearby barn, but the (lightly armed) farmers dissuaded them from taking it over. There was no shootout at the roadhouse, just some toasts to seal the deal.

Then, the smuggler who brought them food (the group was down to its last MRE) observed that they were on the wrong side of the big river from the rest of NATO-- maybe he could offer them a boat ride? The group's negotiator pressed for contact with someone on the other side, as well, so they agreed to meet again in 5 days. The group returned to the abandoned village they were camping in, now with 4 days' of food.

One player (remember, these are 13-year-olds) wanted to do something destructive, so he slipped out at midnight, took their scouting bicycle, and pedalled back to the farm, wanting some pig. Again, the sharp-eyed farmers saw him coming, and ran him off with Mauser fire. (I had hoped this would scare the player back into line-- nope.)

When he got back to the building they were using for base, he tried to mess with the sentry. When challenged, he hollered, "No speak-a English!" So the sentry shot him. (The fun part here is that the two players involved are brothers.) Only then does he identify himself, and they agree to let him get closer once they get a flashlight on his face.

This is when the evil GM has the other sentries spot someone else moving on them from another direction! Eighteen marauders, hoping that the MG they traded away might weaken their defenses. It didn't. The Marauders got up to their house, close enough to put grenades through the windows, and even bust in themselves. A furious firefight at room-to-room range wiped out most of the marauders and wounded several PCs. The few that tried to run off were dropped by the group's sniper using NVGs.

While this was happening, the lone-wolf PC, upon entering the building had tried to shoot his brother's PC. And missed. The two of them got into their own little firefight through a closed door, which ended when the sniper (on another rooftop) shot up the lone-wolf. The inside brother almost finished him off.*

A court-martial, or at least an execution, was considered against the lone-wolf (unconscious) by some of the team, as they suspected him of bringing the marauders back on them. As GM, my gut was about to make me intervene, but things cooled off, and the player's promising to color within the lines from now on. We'll see.

Oh, and the kid whose characters I always seem to wipe out? He didn't make it to the game, so his guys were safe.

* This led to an intense discussion on the crappy damage done by pistols and SMGs in v2 rules, versus the really high hit-points that PCs have, against NPCs. The decision is to try it with v1 damage rolls next time: i.e., 4d6+4xDam at close range. NPCs will get doubled hit points, from 20 to 40, 'cause it seemed they were going down way too easy.

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by DocSavage45B10

Has anyone tried using D10s instead of D6 for damage dice?

we use d12s to get the job done

[Adm.Lee]

Our next to last game session had an early end scheduled, so I effectively ran it on fast-forward.

The group met up with the smugglers as scheduled, no further midnight disturbances from any marauders. They traded about half of their captured Soviet small arms for passage across the river, some more food, and contact with the Polish Free Legion on the west bank of the Vistula.

In the time between the meeting and the boat-ride, they questioned the now-conscious AWOL from the last game, and he told them about finding the abandoned Scorpion light tank nearby. The mechanic and an escort were sent to check it out. He reported that it had been stripped, but could run at half-speed (Suspension and turret-traverse damage, but not the engine). This appealed to them, so they put some of their dwindling diesel store into it, and drove it to their bivouac. Then, after converting it to alcohol-running, they put the last of their ethanol into it, and started driving to the river. They hoped the tank could at least be intimidating, even if it did suck down all of their ethanol, and then most of their store of methanol on top of that, just getting to the river.

At the river, the boatmen had something big enough to carry the vehicles one at at time, but... not those guys on horseback approaching from upriver! A very brief firefight ensued, with rapid shooting by the sniper team panicking 16 marauders at 220m. Well, panicking the survivors, anyway.

On the west bank of the Vistula, they met a scout from the 2nd Polish Free Legion, who was quite surprised to see a tank coming at him, and 15 Americans asking for more fuel. He showed them a place to stash the vehicles while he led a foot patrol back to his base, where they might trade for more methanol.

{I figured if the Legion has been in place long enough, it can probably scrounge or brew its own small fuel stores.}

At the base village, someone was awfully happy to meet some Marines, sailors and soldiers. -- the DIA liaison officer. He'd just been handed a Soviet battle plan, captured from the 3rd MRD, showing that division swinging southwest from Gdansk through Chojnice to catch the IX US Corps' rearguard in the flank. When the team told him that they had a vehicle, but needed fuel, he was very eager that they make the attempt to drive through.

By now, the team leadership was less than pleased with the relative value of the Scorpion (actually, it was still faster off-road than the 2.5-ton truck), so they offered it, as is, to the Poles, in exchange for 4 days' food and 950 liters of any kind of fuel. AS well, they offered the remainder of their captured Soviet small arms, ammo and grenades. This deal was eagerly accepted and executed. Oh, and some longbows and crossbows were obtained, too.

The Poles provided a guide, who started them on a chain of local guides to lead them on side roads around the Soviets and towards the NATO rearguard. We ended the session with them looking over a Soviet artillery group off the road, between them and friendly forces. This called for an assault, so a little planning was done, and we ended the game.

All set for a big fireworks-show-game-finale!

[Adm.Lee]

Last Friday's game promised a big fight, with explosions and armored vehicles-- a last hurrah before middle school takes most of the players away.

The group set up near the lip of a lightly wooded ravine, ~170m across. On the opposite bank of the ravine, 3 Soviet artillery pieces, dug-in and camouflaged, ready to start shelling the American lines. The PCs had been led to this battery by Polish Free Legion scouts, and now it was just about the only opposition between these wayward Marines and the lines of XI US Corps.

Of course, an Army-level heavy artillery asset like this had to be protected. The players' scouts could make out at least two infantry positions on the other side of the ravine, plus a BMP-B. On this side of it, 2 squad-sized fighting positions and a BTR-80 backing up the left squad. The players divided up into four teams and began stealthing their way towards the foxholes: 2 snipers in overwatch, two 5-man assault teams, and the medics and CO in reserve... and things began to go wrong.

The right enemy squad spotted them creeping through the woods and opened up, kicking off a Medium-range (60-70m) firefight, 16 Soviets vs. 10 Americans. The PCs started to gain a firepower advantage using grenade launchers and aimed rifle fire, until the KPV on the BTR got into action. The US sniper team drilled the APC with several .50 cal rounds, but they couldn't hit the gunner, and two Marines were killed outright with head shots.

Eventually, the sniper's big gun was able to silence the KPV, damaging its ammo supply. More 40mm grenades into the fighting holes helped to suppress the Soviet infantry, and here's where the players' inexperience came to the fore. They launched separate assaults into the seemingly silenced fighting holes, but only 1 man each. They found that the Soviets were either reloading or playing possum, and both died, one in hand-to-hand combat. Two more attempted to board the BTR while the KPV was silenced, only to hear it come to life again, critically wounding one more PC while the corpsman was knocked out by another rifleman.

At this point, they could hear the BMP grinding across the ravine towards them, and they opted to run away, leaving most of their dead and wounded behind. As the BMP emerged from the ravine, one of the team's least wounded members drilled it with his only LAW, cooking off the ammunition. The Soviet dismounts were thus disinclined to pursue, and the remnants of the party disengaged. I think the final result was: out of 15 PCs, 2 dead, 2 critically wounded, 4 seriously wounded and left behind, 2 unhurt and escaping, bringing another 5 seriously or lightly wounded out with them.

Immediate summary: I think they bit off more than they could chew, in their place I might have tried to attack the squad positions only one at a time. Also, I think they didn't use their two 40mm launchers enough, or in concentration. They didn't deploy smoke until the end, to cover their withdrawal-- I would have preferred to use it to mask the approach.

Attacking in daylight was probably another big sin, I would have let them wait until dark (OTOH, I didn't say they could, but I didn't say they couldn't.)
I toyed with having the big guns open up on a distant target if they delayed attacking, offering both incentive to attack and cover from the noise, but they went right into action.

Rules failures: since I shifted initiative systems away from V1's in favor of a faster card-draw system, that meant getting wounded or even hit by concussion didn't slow down the NPCs (or PCs, for that matter). I think the Soviets in the holes were more effective than they should have been, in retrospect. OTOH, I should have played them in separate 2-man fighting positions, I just lumped them all together in squads for simplicity in record-keeping. Note to self: keep more detailed records, and try my idea of more cards for initiative.

Bullet damage: we went back to v1's (xd6 +xy) formula for this round, to see if PCs would take more significant damage (also doubling NPC hit points from v2's 20, to keep it fair). The PCs did take more significant hits, seeing that there were a few Serious Wounds from AK/RPK fire, but I think it was the SVD and PKM that did more of that. The KPV, of course, with its Damage rating of 12 was off the scale, killing 2 PCs outright and Critically Wounding 2 more.

Next time, I'll try using d12s for damage, maybe allowing an extra die if one scores an Extraordinary Success?

Campaign summary: at least it ended with a big bang-- the BMP. The guys were still excited (though I could tell my own son was close to tears briefly at losing two of his three PCs, I'm not sure I've ever killed off any of his characters before). At least one asked if we could play again next summer. And they cheerily ate pizza before a sleepover at someone else's house, playing "Modern Warfare 3" until the wee hours of the morning. Ah, youth.