Random Events in military games

[ChalkLine]

- Suddenly the enemy pulls out for no apparent reason
- During the night is a rainstorm. In the morning the players find a jeep/hummvee or similar parked just outside their position. It is fueled and functional, it appears the operator got lost in the storm and has wandered off somewhere.
- The Players are directed to a land feature (hill, ridge, ford etc) and instructed to dig in. Have the players spend time describing their work. Once they have finished have another unit turn up and take over the position while the players are sent somewhere else and, you guessed it, ordered to dig in.
- The enemy takes a strange dislike to one of their pieces of equipment. While stopped a hidden enemy observer calls in strikes of some sort on them until one piece in particular such as a trailer, still, generator etc is destroyed. Once this happens the observer moves away and doesn't bother the players any more.
- While in position a truck moves up in the middle of the night and provides the players with plenty of tasty, hot food. They then give out cups of hot real coffee. The truck is lost and is supplying the wrong people. If anyone points out that they are not supposed to be getting this stuff the truck's crew immediately take back any remaining food and move off to find the right unit.
- A force maybe ten times the size of the player's unit appears in front and look like they're getting ready to attack. Unfortunately at this time command can supply absolutely no support. The huge force gets bigger with the addition of armoured vehicles and then suddenly moves off in another direction leaving the players alone.
- A bunch of PsyOps on the other side arrive and annoy the players with loudspeakers spouting very bad propaganda messages. These messages totally mistake the reality of the troops and promise things such as 'a business of your own' and 'all the potatoes you can eat'. The only way to get rid of them is to find one of the well hidden loudspeakers and destroy it.
- Your own PsyOps turn up and do the same thing in reverse. This annoys the enemy so much they mortar the hell out of your position. You have to find some way of getting the PsyOps team to go away.
- In the morning a very large animal is found in your position, apparently having wandered in during the night. Command wants this thing saved at all costs and the players have to find a way to get the frightened and uncooperative beastie to the rear.

[Enfield]

These are fun. Here are a couple of others.

- A group of senior officers show up and demand that the party take them to a strategic spot to see an operation scheduled to take place. The operation doesn't take place, no one shows up. The senior officers, disgruntled, want to head back to their base. They have mistaken the party for their drivers/escort.

- Cryptic Signals, dueling poets: Strange signals are heard over a radio channel. They are random words from W.B. Yeats from one voice, T.S. Eliot from another. They are a mysterious code.

[rcaf_777]

Ok this was taken from my Tour in Afghanistan

PC buy a pack animal for transporting gear, this animal is mean and bites and refuses to move once loaded. Turns out the PC's were sold a pregnant pack animal.

[Enfield]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

Ok this was taken from my Tour in Afghanistan

PC buy a pack animal for transporting gear, this animal is mean and bites and refuses to move once loaded. Turns out the PC's were sold a pregnant pack animal.

You guys should have read the 1933 Animal Management published by the British Ministry for War. It would have covered how to check for that. One of my favourite books ever.

[unkated]

Some more:

• At night, 5 shots, spaced several seconds or even minutes apart, zing through your position. May be from the same direction or multiple directions. They may or may not hit anyone. Then there are no more. A search in the dark reveals … nothing. Search later in daylight reveals nothing either.
  
  
• You are caught in a barrage of 5-10 rounds of mortar or heavy artillery (105 -152mm howitzer) shells, all within 2 minutes. Then it stops. Veteran characters may be able to identify the weapon used. It can be from either side. (You are on some else's "shell here" map coordinates.)
  
  
• The next prominent piece of terrain a klick or so ahead on your march (town, cross roads, point where road tops a ridgeline) is shelled with a barrage of 5-10 rounds of mortar or heavy artillery (105 -152mm howitzer) shells, all within 2 minutes. Then it stops. Other than the terrain feature, you cannot see a target for the shelling.
  
  
• 500-600 m away (or further), out of sight, there is a loud explosion, a bright flare, and then a smoke plume. On investigation, some kind of truck exploded. There are pieces of metal, machinery, shredded tires, in a 10-20m circle around a small crater; if wooded, there are small fires in the brush. No clue as to whose truck it was, what type of truck it was (there are large pieces to identify), or what it was carrying. There had been no engine sound before the explosion.
  
  
• 5-600 meters away from your team’s encampment/emplacement, at twilight or later, another group arrives and begin to set up an encampment. They are of a size similar to yours, but seem to be unaware of your presence. You cannot tell whose troops they are. (If your team does nothing, in the morning, they will break camp and move on, oblivious to your presence).

Uncle Ted

[unkated]

Originally Posted by Enfield

You guys should have read the 1933 Animal Management published by the British Ministry for War. It would have covered how to check for that.

I just tried to find that on-line, with no joy. I did find a site discussing the US Army Veterinary Corps in WW2, mostly from the administrative end. However, it struck me that if I wanted to create a clandestine unit operating near or behind the front whose presence would not be closely questioned by my own troops, with a few trucks of odd equipment, whose activities would not be too closely monitored ...

Food Inspection Team - a couple officers, 3-4x as many enlisted men, a couple jeeps (or more modern equivalent), a couple trucks with lab equipment and a generator. Ostensibly, to test meat bought locally for use by troops.

Refrigeration Company - To set up and run a refrigerated store room. Company-sized (probably operated as separated platoons) - but who would question their presence? Or know what disassembled refrigeration equipment looks like? "We have orders from Corps to set up here. Please don't touch those tanks, they are rather delicate. We'd rather not feed the Regiment spoiled meat."

I, of course, keep picturing a company of troops armed with Mr. Freeze backpack-mounted ice weaponry...

Veterinary Deatchment - Divisional Vet and assistant teams to look after animals, many in Italy. You could wander around a while, asking directions to a unit not quite in the area...

Uncle Ted