A ray of hope II

[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.

[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.

[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....

[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).