Diamonds in the Rough: Escape from Kalisz (4e Rules, v1 Timeline)

[Raellus]

Thanks, kc. I'm really pleased that you're enjoying it.

To clarify, on the HW roll to shoot the truck's engine, I rolled two d10s (i.e. two ten-sided die), but only got one success. IIRC, at least two of the ammo die came up 1s, so I didn't push the roll. On the next turn, I rolled 0 successes and at least three 1s. Just really bad luck.

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[Raellus]

Christmas in July

It's about 0630 hours on July 29th. The sun has crawled above the eastern horizon, disappeared into a low, thick overcast. The cloud cover has a sickly, greenish tinge today.

While the Diamonds wait for the last of the prisoners to reach the woods east of the POW camp, Sarge switches seats, leans forward so that he's almost nose-to-nose with Captain Walker. The OT-64's troop compartment is fairly spacious for an APC, but it doesn't offer any real privacy.

"I'm not liking the idea of wandering the woods with 30 jumpy friendlies- makes blue-on-blue a real danger," he starts, just above a whisper. "Plus, if Ivan's going to go after 'em, they're gonna start by sweeping those woods. What if we zig instead of zag, head west, maybe even draw Ivan away from the prisoners"

Walker considers the suggestion for a few seconds before responding, "Isn't there a river just east of here The Prosna, is it

"Yes Cap'n, but Pole Position can swim."

Walker removes her K-pot, slips on a Warsaw Pact-issue padded AFV crewman's helmet, plugs into the vehicle's intercom system.

"Willis, how long will it take to prep Pole Position to swim a river"

There's a pause, long enough that Walker wonders if the intercom is working. "Less than five minutes," Grease finally replies. "Just gotta set up the trim vane, test the props- then should be good to go."

"Okay. We're gonna head west, look for a good crossing point," Walker says.

Aside from a thin haze of smoke over the forest, beyond where the road enters the tree line up ahead, there's been no further sighting of the Soviet reaction force. When the last of the freed POWs is out of sight, Grease executes a three-point turn, backtracks through the hamlet, before turning right on to a paved two-lane heading west, towards the Prosna River. The paved road stops about 460m from the river, but a dirt farm track leads from the terminus right up to the riverside.

It takes a while to find a spot where the slope of the both near and far banks is gentle enough for Pole Position to make ingress and egress with minimal risk of getting stuck. The Prosna itself is only about 12m wide- less than twice the OT-64's length. It's possible that the APC's wheels won't even leave solid ground during the very brief crossing.

After successfully crossing the Prosna and lowering the bow-mounted swim vane, the Diamonds head south, following a dirt path that parallels the winding river.

"What the... is that snow In July" Honeybear asks, from up in the gunner's cupola. Nobody makes out what he says. A few gray flakes drift into the troop compartment through the open air-guard hatches.

"Button up! Everybody, button up now!" Bird shouts from the vehicle commander's seat. There's a scramble in to shut all of the roof hatches. For reasons beyond any of the Diamonds' grasp of meteorology, it's snowing ash- likely radioactive- that's somehow managed to escape the upper atmosphere. It's not an unknown phenomenon, though. All of the Diamonds have heard of the infamous "rain of death". However, not everyone realizes what the danger was (and still is) until Pole Position is locked down, and there's a moment of relative calm in which to share information.

Between the ash and the already dim morning light, visibility through Pole Position's various view ports is significantly diminished. It's hard to see beyond about 100m. Grease slows the APC and continues to follow the riverside tracks. A few minutes pass before Pole Position emerges from the ash fall as if having rolled through an ephemeral curtain.

"Are you feeling OK" Sandy asks the team radioman. P.R. is staring at his upturned K-Pot, held in his lap, his face looking pale and waxy. "I think I'm gonna be sick," he announces, just before vomiting into his helmet.

"Shit," Sarge mutters, quickly removing his own helmet, into which he promptly joins P.R. in emptying his stomach.

Trapped in the close confines of the locked-down crew compartment, some sympathy vomiting inevitably ensues. For a couple of minutes, Pole Position plays host to a veritable puke-fest. P.R. and Sarge can't stop.

Walker looks meaningfully at Deacon, the team's de facto medic.

"Could be radiation poisoning," he offers.

"Willis, look for a decent place to stop," Walker instructs over the intercom.

"Looks like maybe a church up ahead, 'bout 300m; couple other small buildings too, maybe a road running east-west," Grease responds.

"There's some trees a little over to the right where we could set up and observe," Bird suggests from the commander's seat. Grease repeats this for Capt. Walker.

"Sounds good. Head for the trees, stop there."


REF'S NOTES:
After discovering that I don't have any playing cards that I could use to generate a random encounter with the Oracle at home (I know, I know, I could have just used the encounter deck, or used an app), I pulled another card from the encounter deck: Rain of Ash! Although the PCs were able to get "indoors" quickly, I decided to roll for Rad Attacks anyway. Only P.R. (2 permanent rads) and Sarge (2 permanent rads) failed their Stamina rolls (using only their STR attribute, since neither had the skill); the other PCs rolling d6s were very lucky (and Sandy & Honeybear both rolled successes on their two d12s). I went ahead and rolled to see if anyone gained permanent rads from the rad attack and, fortunately, no one did.

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[kcdusk]

Did the driver of Pole Position have to make a driving roll, to successfully swim the river

[Raellus]

Did the driver of Pole Position have to make a driving roll, to successfully swim the river

I believe so. I don't remember seeing anything in the rules specifically about amphibious vehicle operations, but it seems like something that would merit a driving check as it's not really routine for most military vehicle operators, and would, IRL, require more skill than simply driving down the road would. So, I rolled for it.

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[Raellus]

End of Shift 1, July 29, 2000

It's hard to see much through the SKOT's vision blocks, but it doesn't look like it's "snowed" here. From what Grease and Bird can observe without exiting the vehicle, the nearby settlement consists of an old brick church and less than a half-dozen other structures sitting astride a paved east-west road. There are no obvious indications of habitation.

Sarge and P.R. have both stopped vomiting, but nausea, dizziness, and weakness persist. Deacon does his best to treat them, but there's not a lot he can do with the team's scant medical supplies.

"Charcoal might help. If you can find or make some charcoal..." Deacon speculates.

"Gas masks and gloves," Walker instructs the scout team (Bird, Honeybear, Sandy). "At least until we can get a look at the ground." They exit via the SKOT's rear doors which, being oriented vertically, are less likely to be retaining as many potentially radioactive dust particles as the horizontal roof hatches.

A close inspection of the earth and foliage in the vicinity of Pole Position suggests that this area didn't receive a dusting of ash, so Walker authorizes everyone to remove their uncomfortable MOPP gear. Grease sets about rinsing Pole Position down with buckets of water from the nearby Prosna.

With Bird on point, Walker leads the scout team towards the hamlet. As they get closer, it becomes apparent that there's been fighting here, although it looks to have taken place several months, if not years, earlier. There are several shell holes in the old stone church, including one that caved in most of its roof, exposing the interior to the elements.

Each of the settlement's handful of buildings is given a cursory search; all appear to have been thoroughly looted. The only items of use that the scouts find are a fishing pole and a European football (i.e. soccer ball).

The scouts return to Pole Position with their meager haul of loot. Captain Walker spreads out the unit's map of the AO on the troop compartment floor. Her index finger traces the Prosna River south from Grabow, until it curls east just north of an east-to-west paved road. If Captain Walker is reading the map right, the hamlet they've just searched isn't even on it.

"If we're here, then we're only about... 5 klicks south of Grabow, and Ivan. And I don't like being so close to this paved road, especially when we know they're looking for us." She looks at Sarge, "You OK to travel"

"Yes, ma'am," McNulty grunts, failing to conceal his continuing discomfort.

Walker flashes a skeptical frown, but she doesn't argue. "Question then is, where to next"

Leaning over the 1:50,000 scale US Army map, Walker points out a highway running north-south intersecting their line of march on a westerly heading. If the Soviets are still trying to cut off escape for survivors of the 5th ID, that highway is probably patrolled aggressively. The woods the Diamond's had been dipping in and out of for the past two days lie to the east.

"That leaves south," Walker's finger taps an irregular patch of dark green on the map. "This small forest is about 5 klicks from here. We could lay up there for a few hours, take a bit of breather."

There are no objections. Grease drives the SKOT out of the thicket and turns east on to the road running through the hamlet. For the next half-an-hour or so, the Diamonds' driver follows a more or less southerly heading, using mostly unpaved country roads. The dark line of the forest is soon visible on the southern horizon. Pole Position rolls towards a small hamlet.

Up ahead, an old man- he must be at least 75- steps out from behind a stack of hay bales by the roadside and fires a single shot well over the approaching APC with what appears to be a bolt-action rifle.

A somewhat comedic standoff ensues- an elderly Polish David squaring up to an armored Goliath.

With Bird and Honeybear covering, Walker exits the vehicle; Deacon follows, helping P.R. to walk- the team's translator is still weak and unsteady as a result of radiation poisoning. Introductions are made, and after a few minutes of back-and-forth, the Diamond envoys convince the old man that they are friendly.

Trembling with rage, the old man- Bartosz is his name- explains that marauders- Russian bandits is the term he uses- have been raiding small settlements in the district from their hideout in the forest to the south. There're about 20 of them; they steal food, rape any females they can get their hands on, and kill anyone bold enough to resist. The nearest military garrison, 20km or so to the west in the town of Ostrzeszow, isn't interested in doing anything about it, despite numerous entreaties. Bartosz has heard all this from survivors of nearby settlements, and he says that his village, Skarydzew, is almost certainly next on the bandit's hit list. The old man claims to have fought the Russians back in 1939, and insists that he's not afraid to do it again, even if he has to fight them all by himself. He promises the Diamonds all of the food and fuel they can carry if they help him repel the marauders.

Back at the SKOT, the team discusses the way forward.

"This isn't our fight," Sarge says half-heartedly, offering Walker a way out.

"You know Kurosawa Seven Samurai" P.R. asks. His question is met with shaking heads and blank stares.

"How about the Magnificent Seven Steven McQueen, Charles Bronson, that bald dude from the King and I" he tries again. This time, most of the team responds in the affirmative.

"They were the good guys, right" Again, assent.

"And we're good guys, aren't we" Agreement, but somewhat grudging. The others can see where he's going with this and most of them have mixed feelings about it.

"Then this is our fight."


NOTES: Can you guess what random encounter I drew for the day's second shift Leading up to it, I used the Quick Search rules to scrounge the church/hamlet without spending a full shift there. The d10 roll came up 98, giving the party two more rolls on the Scrap Table. This resulted in a fishing pole and a remote control. Since the latter doesn't make sense for the setting, I rerolled and the result was a football (which I ruled as a soccer ball, again given the setting). Grease was successful on his driving rolls, and Walker's persuasion roll (Helped by P.R.) was very successful, so Bartosz was convinced to trust the Diamonds, and ask them for help.

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[Raellus]

The Magnificent Few

July 29, Second Stretch

Bartosz gives the Americans a brief tour of the hamlet and introduces them to the rest of the village militia- all four of them, as it turns out (a grim-faced woman of about 25 and a teenaged boy, both armed with shop-built crossbows, a middle-aged man with a pump-action shotgun, and a Polish army deserter in his 30s, armed with a KMK). They share what they've gleaned from neighboring villages visited by the marauders. From their reporting, the Diamond's get a sense of the marauders' MO. The bandits come out of the woods around noon, rape and pillage until dinner time, then head back into the forest with their booty before the sun goes down.

The plan is relatively simple. When the marauders come, the hamlet's defenders will be prepared to ambush them. The militia will guard the settlement's eastern and northern approaches (least likely to be used by the marauders). Bird, Honeybear, PR, Sarge, and Sandy will occupy fighting positions concealed in a small wood at the hamlet's SW corner, overlooking the marauders' most likely route of ingress (the forest is 620m to the southwest). Pole Position, crewed by Grease (driver), Capt. Walker (gunner), and Deacon (passenger) will be located centrally, on-call near the village church. Those who are able spend the rest of the day preparing concealed fighting positions. Sarge and P.R. continue to rest and recover from their recent bout of radiation poisoning. By the end of the day, both are feeling considerably better, and are able to eat a light dinner (and keep it down).

July 30, 10:45 hours (2nd Stretch)

The marauders, 18 of them, amble down the road, conversing loudly, half of them carrying their weapons over their shoulders. They appear completely oblivious to the awaiting ambush, or any potential danger whatsoever. When the marauders are strung out along a slight jog in the road, roughly southwest 100m from the copse where the Diamond's lay in wait, Bird initiates the ambush, dropping a machine gunner with a headshot. Honeybear mows down two more, including the bandit's RPG gunner. Sarge, P.R., and Sandy all add to the carnage, scoring hits of their own. (The opening fusillade produces 4 KIA and 3 WIA, one mortally).

The survivors, caught in the kill zone, belly flop onto the road, half of them frozen in fear, the other half returning fire. P.R.'s head snaps back and flops face-first into the dirt. The team translator is completely unresponsive.

Sarge picks up the unit's AN/PRC-77's handset, shouts into the mouthpiece, "Diamond actual, send Deacon! P.R.'s hit. Over."

At the same time, Honeybear takes a bullet to the left shoulder, knocking it out of its socket. He growls in pain, stops firing.

Only Bird and Sandy are still shooting. Bird misses his target- a RPK gunner in the bandits' point element. Sandy lands a 40mm HE round near a cluster of rifleman at the rear of the enemy column, temporarily quieting them.

Capt. Walker relays Sarge's urgent radio call for the team medic, then orders Grease to high-tail it towards the fighting over the vehicle intercom. As Pole Position starts rolling, Deacon hops out the back door and sprints into the woods. Grease pulls out of the village church's grassy parking lot and races towards the action. Capt. Walker hunkers down nervously behind Pole Position's DSHk- she's only ever fired an HMG once- a US issue M2HB- and that was years ago, in training.

The marauders continue to return fire, burning through their ammo. A few take advantage of the lull in incoming to run for cover beside a low berm running parallel to the road along its southern edge.

The two sides exchange fire for the next sixty seconds. Honeybear fights through the pain of his dislocated left shoulder to pour fire into the kill zone. Bird coolly picks off several more bad guys. Sarge's M16A2 jams. He clears it, but after the next burst, the rifle comes apart in his hands.

As Sarge slides P.R.'s rifle out from under his motionless body, the radioman cries, "I can't move!"

"Hang on, kid. Deacon's on his way," Sarge says, trying to reassure the young man. The grizzled combat vet is worried, though- there's not much the team's amateur medic can do if P.R.'s hit in the spine.

The Diamonds' marksmanship is better than the bandits'. Several more of the latter are hit, some fatally. When only half of the 18 bandits that walked into the ambush are still alive, panic starts to set in. Several of the survivors break and run- using a dry irrigation canal behind the roadside berm as cover- leaving a couple of stranded comrades behind.

Breathing hard from exertion, Deacon arrives and starts to assess the team translator. Pole Position arrives soon after. As Grease stops smoothly, Walker takes aim at a cluster of upright figures at the far end of the enemy line, squeezes the DSHk's butterfly triggers. Much to her surprise, two enemy runners tumble like rag dolls, slapped down by 12.7mm rounds. A follow up burst is less successful- the path of the tracers show that she aimed too high.

The firefight is over in under two minutes. Twelve bandits lie dead in the roadbed or the drainage ditch. One bandit hiding on the far side of the berm plays dead, later surrendering when the Diamonds sweep the kill zone; another dies from shock and blood loss by the time Deacon arrives. Four of the fleeing marauders disappear into an irrigation canal that runs roughly south about 675m across an open field between the road and the forest. The Diamonds decide not to pursue them. Recovered from the battlefield: 1 PKM, 1 SVD, 2 RPK, 1 RPG-7, 1 AKSU, 1 GP-25, 7 AKMs, and assorted ammunition.


Notes:
The Diamonds successfully rolled Recon (Opposed) to Waylay the marauders, so the five PCs on the ambush team drew the first turns in the ensuing combat. I had the PCs with the lowest Recon skill doing something else in the hamlet, so rolled d8s (IIRC, I pushed and got two successes).

Although I've read scores of non-fiction combat accounts (and seen some pretty raw combat footage), I'm never quite sure how soldiers would react to being ambushed. I decided to use the oracle to help me decide how each marauder who didn't fail a CUF roll would respond during the first round of the firefight. Red- helpful- results mean they would run for cover. Black- harmful- mean that they would return fire (low number cards meant un-aimed fire; high number meant dropping prone and returning aimed fire). Unfortunately, most of the cards I drew were black, high number or face cards. The OPFOR rolled well during round 1, resulting in critical hits to P.R. and Honeybear.

After a great start to the ambush, in round 2, P.R. took a crit to the dome. His K-Pot absorbed 1 point of damage, but three more got through. He rolled an 8 on the Crit table (Shattered neck). Since that qualifies as a lethal wound, I started the clock. P.R. was out of the remainder of the fight. Honeybear took a crit to the arm (the roll resulted in a dislocated shoulder). For the rest of the firefight, he rolled with a -2 modifier as a result of this non-lethal wound.

After the fight, I rolled recovery time. P.R.'s is 14 days; Honeybear's is 1 day. It looks like the Diamonds are staying put for a while.

Again, Bird's M21 was a crit machine. Despite firing only one bullet per round, he scored a hit in every round but one (the 2nd), every hit a Crit. Snipers in 4e are deadly.

Again, I'm disappointed with the rules for grenade launchers. Even though Sandy rolled a hit on the targeted hex, AND a success on one of the two Blast D damage dice, since the four bandits occupying the hex were lying prone, they took no damage. Three of them failed their CUF rolls, though, so it wasn't a total bust.

Captain Walker, despite rolling only a single d6 (since she doesn't have any skill in Heavy Weapons), killed two fleeing enemy with her first burst of HMG fire (rolling 4 ammo dice). IMHO, someone with no skill, and with multiple negative modifiers acting against them, should have less chance of success than a single d6 roll, but I don't know how one could do that with the 4e system without depriving them of any chance of success whatsoever (perhaps equally unrealistic). 1/6 seems too high, 0/6 seems too low.

Grease and Deacon successfully pushed Driving and Mobility rolls, respectively, helping them get into position to help the engaged Diamonds relatively quickly (4-5 rounds). I've learned that separating teammates by more than 50m or so during combat is a very risky thing to do, as it takes friendlies out of the fight, skewing the combat action economy in favor of the OPFOR. Even one "lost" turn can greatly affect the outcome of a firefight.

Sarge rolled so many 1s during that firefight that his M16A2 lost all of its Reliability points and completely broke.

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[kcdusk]

Love the notes section. Thanks.

[kcdusk]

TBH i found writing my own creative writing section challenging. Reading the Diamonds story has been good.

I enjoy seeing both sides of the player/Ref fence. Whats the in game challenge, how do the players tackle it, what does the Ref mechanics of dice and modifiers look like

How does the game tone compare to my own game / view of T2K

I also like seeing how non-rifle skills are used in other games. For example using the drive skill to cross a creek. Or leadership to turn a battle. I know my own games end up combat heavy when running solo, so i am trying to add more non-combat encounters to develop a more rounded character.

I'm a little surprised this section hasn't attracted more attention. is it because everyones book marked the forum So they don't see new posts in this section

I have a scrap book of all my played out encounters. i've been doing some work to write it up, so others can comment (good or bad). I think its motivational to see what others are doing with the game.

[Raellus]

Remains of the Day

When asked to help move PR out of the shallow foxhole in which he's slumped, unable to move, Honeybear reveals his own injury; the machine gunner's dislocated shoulder is quickly, if painfully, popped back into place by Deacon. The medic tells Honeybear to take it easy and not use the injured arm for a few days; he'll fashion a proper sling later. Sarge and Sandy help Deacon move PR while keeping the injured man's neck immobilized, while Bird and Capt. Walker keep watch over the battlefield.

PR is strapped to a narrow door and, with the help of a few villagers, transported the village church where the Diamonds are lodging (an itinerant priest who used to hold mass there every fourth Wednesday and Sunday of the month was killed by the marauders in a different village a week or so ago).

With Bird and Capt. Walker providing over-watch from the woods and road, respectively, Sarge and Sandy sweep the ambush kill zone. Sarge corners a marauder trying to slink away on the concealed side of the roadside berm. When a couple of the village militia arrive on scene, there's concern that they might summarily execute the captured bandit. Without PR to translate, communication is a real challenge. Bartosz speaks some Russian from his days in the Red Army, so he's able to communicate with the captured bandit, but Sarge and PR have no idea what the Russian speakers are saying to one another. Instead of killing the captured bandit, or perhaps as a prelude to execution, the villagers put him to work digging graves for his 13 dead comrades.

An assortment of older-model Soviet small arms- as befitting deserters from a Category III motor rifle division- are recovered from the battlefield. Those marauders not killed at the outset of the ambush were down to their last magazine.

Later that day...

Walker, Sarge, and Deacon speak in hushed tones outside the door to PR's ad-hoc hospital room.

"What's the prognosis, doc" Sarge asks.

Deacon shifts uncomfortably on his feet. He knows the appellation was used in good humor, but he still doesn't appreciate when others over-inflate his medical acumen. The team's amateur medic is already putting enough pressure on himself.

"Is his neck broken" Walker follows up.

"Maybe. I can't know for sure without an X-ray..." Deacon shruggs.

"But he's paralyzed, right" Walker asks.

"At the moment, yes- from the neck down. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up too high, but the paralysis could be temporary. There was trauma, which means swelling- that could be putting pressure on the nerves in his spine, blocking signals, kind of like a kink in a hose. Right now, all I can do is keep him immobilized so he can't do any more damage to his neck, and try to get the swelling down. I've given him some anti-inflammatories but we're running low; ice would be really helpful, but I doubt this village has an ice machine..."

The village has neither an X-ray or an ice machine. For the latter, the best that can be done is cold compresses (a flannel soaked in well water). The nearest hospital is in Ostrzeszow, 16km (as the crow flies) west of the village. According to the militia, the city is playing host to a field hospital for Soviet casualties from the Battle of Kalisz, of which, it is understood, there are many. The idea of sneaking into the city to use an X-ray machine or kidnap a proper doctor is quickly dismissed, as is the notion of leaving RP there, trusting to the Soviets to take proper care of him, and proceeding to E&E without him. It is clear, however, that, given PR's present condition, the Diamonds are going to be staying put in the village for at least a couple more days.

Later, there's some discussion about whether or not to track down and eliminate the four marauders that survived the ambush, but it's decided that the potential costs of such an effort outweigh the benefits. At least one of the escapees is wounded, as evidenced by blood trails leading away from the kill zone. After the massive ass kicking they took today, the likelihood or their return to Skarydzew is judged minimal.


NOTES:
This "session" was mostly RP. The only random event here involved how the militia would respond to the prisoner. I pulled a card from the Oracle- the result was "mildly helpful". I ruled that this meant that the PCs would not have to be responsible for deciding the prisoner's fate. That wasn't quite enough guidance for me, though, so I pulled another card for NPC (militia) motivation- the result was "generous". I ruled that this meant the militia would not harm the prisoner. I've got the next day rolled up and outlined but I'll share it in a subsequent post, so as to keep the length of these reports somewhat manageable (and hopefully avoid a TLDR situation).

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[Raellus]

July 31, 2000

Deacon cares for PR as best he knows how, massaging and stretching the radioman's arms and legs every few hours. PR regains some feeling his upper body, then a hint of movement in his fingers. He cries tears of joy.

Honeybear has to be reminded constantly to take it easy with his injured shoulder. The rest of the Diamonds busy themselves around the village. Grease, as usual, works on Pole Position, starting by doing his best to decontaminate the APC, inside and out, with soap and water. After maintaining their personal firearms, the others sort the captured Soviet weapons based on condition. The diamonds keep the RPG-7 (with two HEAT rockets) and the PKM (w/ 100 rounds) for their own use; three AKs, the SVD, and the RPK are donated to the village militia, along with two full magazines for each weapon. The rest of the captured weapons (an AKSU, five AKMS, and an RPD) will be used for trade.

Keeping their promise, the villagers keep their American guests watered and fed, as well as keeping a brew on in the village still. The captured marauder is kept locked in a root cellar.


NOTES:
As per the Care rules on p. 74 of the Player's Manual, Medical Aid rolls can be made once per day if a shift is spent caring for the injured character; if successful, that day counts double for time spent recovering. Deacon succeeded on his rolls for 7/30-8/2, so that will cut 8 days from the 14 days originally rolled for the injury on the Crit table, as mandated by the rules. I haven't rolled past August 2nd.

Bird will make several TECH rolls over the next few days to restore lost reliability points to the Diamonds' weapons (p. 91 of the Player's Manual).

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[Raellus]

August 1, 2000

Around mid-day, two riders are spotted approaching on horseback from the east. Both wear US-issue battledress and carry M-16 pattern weapons. Contact is made. The pair- a man and a woman- are stragglers from the 4th Squadron, 12th Cavalry (5th ID). For the past 13 days, they've been on the run, eluding Polish and Soviet Army patrols. The two riders started out with several others, but a couple of clashes with enemy forces since the "You're on your own" transmission have winnowed the group down to two. They ask for food for themselves and their horses, and ammunition for their M4 carbines. Discussion inevitably rolls around to the two parties joining forces.

"We're not going to hang around until you're ready to leave," the man says, upon learning of the Diamond's delayed travel plans.

"What's your rush" Sarge asks, trying to keep his frustration under control.

"You haven't heard The big brass decided to pull US forces out of Europe; there's gonna be a major evac, from some port in northeast Germany, end of the month, first come, first served. We're fuckin' going home."

Sarge and Walker both raise their eyebrows at this revelation.

"And how do you know about this... 'major evac'" Walker asks skeptically.

"We ran into a guy who hid out for a couple of days with a comms specialist from the 5th ID head shed."

"So, hearsay," Sarge says, nonplussed.

"You wanna take the chance he was full of shit"

There's an uncomfortable pause while both parties process this.

"I'm not going to order you to stay," Walker says, breaking the silence. She knows full well that her unit can't stop the Cavalry troopers from taking off if they're really determined to do so. The Cav troopers expressions only reinforce this.

Sarge makes one last pitch with the "strength in numbers" argument.

"Bigger group means bigger target- and slower. We got a better chance on our own."

The Diamonds command team discusses whether to grant the Cav troopers' request for ammunition. Ultimately, Walker decides to offer the pair a trade; she doesn't feel right letting two friendlies head off on their own without providing some potentially life-saving assistance. The two troopers are offered their pick of the remaining small arms captured from the marauders (not those previously spoken for), plus as much Soviet ammo as they can carry, for the pair's carbines and remaining NATO-caliber ammo. The riders accept the deal. They take two AKMs (including the one with a BG-15 40mm grenade launcher attached), seven compatible mags, and two 40mmS HE rounds; in exchange, they hand over their M4s and four full STANAG magazines.


NOTES:
To determine encounters while the Diamonds remain encamped in Skarydzew, I'm using the Frequency rules and Stationary Encounters table on p. 36 of the Referee's Manual. The Frequency rules suggest one encounter per shift. That seems reasonable when the party is on the move (they could run into stationary groups, or others on the move) or in a city, but not so much when the party is staying put in a small, isolated hamlet (technically, they can only "run into" another group that's on the move). Consequently, I'm rolling the dice only once per day/every other day () from 7/31, as that seems more reasonable to me.

Anyway, the first roll called for a draw from the RED, but the result didn't apply, so I ruled that as No Encounter for the day. On day two (D6+1), the result was 6, Stragglers. The D6 roll to determine how many stragglers appeared came up 2. The encounter suggests that the stragglers will attempt to steal from the PCs and leave at the earliest opportunity. That reminded me too much of the Murderous Bastards random encounter that I ran earlier in the campaign, so I omitted that part about stealing. I supposed I could have rolled an opposed Persuasion roll to convince them to stay, but that would have completely nerfed the encounter described by the rules, so I didn't. Instead, I rolled to see if Walker (Persuasion C) could convince the riders to share any rumors that they picked up since the death of 5th ID. I awarded Walker +2 in modifiers for asking for something that didn't cost anything (rumors), and outranking the people she was trying to persuade (CPT vs. SGT). Even rolling 2D12 vs. 1D8, she had to the push the roll in order to succeed. The result on the Rumor table was 9. I worked its contents into the dialogue.

Once again, I forgot to roll for Weather changes [for any of the shifts since the PCs arrived in Skarydzew]. Doh!

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[kcdusk]

oeYou havent heard The big brass decided to pull US forces out of Europe; theres gonna be a major evac, from some port in northeast Germany, end of the month, first come, first served. Were fuckin' going home.


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Wow! Great stuff!!

[kcdusk]

[FONT="Courier New"]NOTES:
To determine encounters while the Diamonds remain encamped in Skarydzew, Im using the Frequency rules and Stationary Encounters table on p. 36 of the Referees Manual. The Frequency rules suggest one encounter per shift. That seems reasonable when the party is on the move (they could run into stationary groups, or others on the move) or in a city, but not so much when the party is staying put in a small, isolated hamlet (technically, they can only oerun into another group thats on the move). Consequently, Im rolling the dice only once per day/every other day () from 7/31, as that seems more reasonable to me.


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I've been doing the same, only rolling once per stationary day. I've been ignoring the result if it doesn't fit.

[Raellus]

August 2, 2000

It rains for a few hours during the morning, so anyone not on guard duty tries to stay indoors. The rain lets up around noon, but overcast remains. It's going to be a grey day.

PR continues his ad hoc physical therapy program supervised by Deacon. In addition to making continued progress with his fingers, hands, and arms, PR has regained some feeling and movement in his feet. His spirits have risen tremendously- he's convinced that he will soon be able to walk again. He even insists that the team medic prop him up in bed (i.e. into a reclining seated position). Deacon is trying to temper his own optimism about his patient's prognosis, but the medic's hopes have risen as well. He now no longer fears that PR will experience significant, long-term paralysis.

At about ten hundred hours, a group of seven rain-soaked civilians arrives from the west. They hail from the neighboring settlement of Wygoda Plugawska, just under 2km west of Skarydzew, but have been squatting in the larger town of Doruchow (4.3km further west) for the past week, since the last marauder raid on their hamlet. The marauders took most of their home settlement's food; what little the bandits left behind has since been consumed, leaving nothing until the upcoming harvest season. The people of Doruchow fed some of the refugees for a while, but that town is running low on food now too, so they were asked to leave this morning. The refugees have come to Skarysdzew to ask for charity, but are willing to work for it, and repay the food debt after the next harvest. With its new guests (i.e. the Diamonds) already providing more mouths to feed, Skarydzew is approaching a similar situation- provisions are running out faster than anticipated. Everybody's about to go hungry, it seems.

When the refugees learn that Skarydzew's American guests killed most of the marauders just two days prior, they grow animated, ask if a teenage boy was with them. The refugees explain that the boy was kidnapped from their village during the last raid- why, they can't be sure. They beg the Diamonds to go find him and bring him back, even claiming that they heard that the bandits also had some American prisoners too. The Diamonds believe the part about the Americans is bullshit, laid on to give them an incentive to look for the civilian boy, but they agree to help anyway.

The Diamonds start by interrogating the captured marauder- something they didn't see much use in doing, earlier. The process is complicated by the need for two translators- Bartosz translates Russian to Polish, and PR translates Polish to English (and vice-versa). The prisoner is in no mood to talk, but Walker is able to get him to admit that his group did indeed kidnap a boy for use as a camp "servant"; he also gives the Diamonds a rough idea of where his camp is located in the woods to the south.

"When we get there, make sure to identify your targets. We don't want to hit the kid we're trying to rescue, so no sprayin' and prayin', got it" Sarge admonishes the rescue team, just before they set off.

The rescue team consists of Walker, Sarge, Deacon, Bird, Honeybear, Sandy, Grease, and one of the village militiamen with experience hunting in the woods. Any trail the marauders may have left has been washed away by the morning showers, so the team has rely on the prisoner's directions and dead reckoning to locate the marauder campsite.

After about an hour of slow, cautious movement through the woods, the hunter, on point with Bird, indicates that he's hearing voices from up ahead. Sarge gets the team on line and they begin a tactical advance towards the suspected campsite. 30m from the camp, Bird catches his toe on an exposed root, loses his balance, and falls forward; somehow, his "new" M4 carbine discharges a round when he hits the ground. The marauders are alerted. They drop prone, facing the danger, and open fire.

Deacon is already prone, making him a smaller target. Nevertheless, an incoming round grazes the medic's right cheek. Somehow, he manages to keep his cool and return fire. Just a few paces away, Walker staggers as a round pancakes against her PAGST vest. She falls forward, going prone, takes aim at her attacker, and squeezes of a few rounds. Both Diamonds score hits, although neither is aware of this at the time.

The rest of Diamonds go prone and start engaging targets. Sandy, Grease, and Sarge all miss theirs, but Bird and Honeybear eliminate two of the four marauders.

The opposing groups exchange fire for about 10 more seconds. The marauders are the first to cease fire, it turns out, because they are all dead. Two Diamonds (Deacon and Walker) are slightly wounded during the exchange.

The kidnapped teenager is found, curled up behind a tree, feet chained together. He's filthy and badly shaken, but otherwise unhurt (at least, physically). The Diamonds seize the dead marauder's weaponry (four AKMs w/ 3.5 mags, three RGD-5 hand grenades, and a few assorted knives/bayonets) and search the filthy bandit camp. Grease is a master scrounger- apart from some very dingy camping equipment, he turns up an Oriental carpet, a fire extinguisher [fully charged], and a Nintendo Gameboy hand-held video game console! (Batteries not included, unfortunately).

The party returns in triumph to Skarydzew with the rescued teenager and a carpet-full of loot. To show their gratitude, the refugees from Wygoda Plugawska share another rumor they've heard. A merchant passing through Doruchow told them that Krakow has declared itself a free city and is hiring soldiers of any nationality to join its nascent defense force. The Soviets are also supposedly hiring mercs to help them retake the city. Some of the merchant caravan guards were discussing signing on with one side or the other (probably whoever pays better) when they return to the area.


NOTES:
I finally remembered to roll for Weather changes! Twice a day seems more reasonable to me than four times a day (i.e. at the beginning of all four daily shifts).

This is encounter was built by rolling D6+2 on the Stationary Encounter Table. I rolled 7 on 2D6 to determine the number of refugees. I had to ponder for a while to figure out how to make this encounter fit into the narrative, but I'm satisfied with what I came up with. Since the party agreed to help, the refugees shared two rumors (I rolled twice on the rumor table). I tweaked the rumors a bit. One (R6) was the throw-away about the marauders having some American prisoners, the other (R2) was about the Krakow and the Soviets competing to hire mercs.

The rescue op started with a successful roll for Interrogation [pushed]- the prisoner confirmed the refugees' story about the kidnapped boy. I wanted to use Bird's Hunter specialty to try to track the marauders all the way back to their camp, but the morning rains washed away all spoor, so I scratched that. The opposed Group Recon roll to attempt to "Ambush" the camp failed 30m from the camp, so the engagement began at close range, and the marauders drew the first two initiative cards.

I didn't use as many ammo dice in this firefight. The marauders were running low already, and the good guys were trying to reduce the chance of a stray round catching the kid they were trying to rescue. Deacon and Walker survived head and torso hits, respectively. Body armor is a real life-saver!

I used the Oracle to determine the condition of the kid and drew Seven of Diamonds (mildly helpful)- I ruled that this meant that the kid was unhurt and relatively healthy (at least, physically).

Since the marauder camp is relatively small, I ruled that the party could roll for Scrounging even though they spend less than a shift searching it. Grease rolled three successes (I even forget to add +1 for Help from another PC). I Googled "random gameboy game generator" and, low and behold, there're a couple. I used the first one that popped up and the result was Streetfighter II (1993). Luckily, the Diamonds scrounged a couple of AA batteries a few days earlier. Let the games begin!

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[Raellus]

Strategy Meeting, Evening of August 2

The Gameboy is a real morale booster. Deacon commandeers it for 'therapeutic medical reasons', handing it off to PR so that the convalescing RTO can work on his fine motor skills. PR doesn't mind the rotating cast of visitors, there as much to take a turn on the Gameboy as to visit with their injured squad-mate.

That evening, the Diamonds convene for a full team meeting, the main purpose of which is to determine a long-term course of action. Captain Walker starts things off.

"This village now has eight more mouths to feed. We can't stay here much longer without putting our hosts in a bad spot. Once PR is back on his feet, literally, we're leaving. Question is, where are we going We need a long term goal. Otherwise, we just keep running in circles."

Walker spreads out a large travel map of Poland on the table. It's poorly lit by candlelight. Her finger marks a spot, not even a dot on the map, about 6 or 7 kilometers south of Kalisz.

"We're right about here. Since Kalisz, we've been trying to keep moving east and south, keeping away from the FEBA, where the enemy has their frontline troops."

"Worked out real great, so far," Honeybear quips with a mischievous grin. Sarge half-heartedly shoots him a cross look; Walker can't help but smile at the chorus of chuckles that follows.

"So just imagine what we'd run up against if we'd headed west instead," Bird says, coming to Walker's defense (not that she really needed it).

"Thank you, Corporal. In the last couple of days, we've heard some pretty interesting rumors. One: there's a big evacuation of US forces from Europe leaving from Bremerhaven, Germany, end of this month. That's about 690 klicks from here, as the crow flies."

Walker's finger traces a straight line between Skarydzew, Poland, and Bremerhaven, Germany.

"Second, Krakow, about 200 klicks southeast of here, has declared itself a Free City and is hiring mercs to beef up its defense force."

"Just to clarify, what's a 'Free City'" Sandy asks.

"Independent- neutral, not taking sides," Walker explains.

"Like Casablanca in WWII," PR adds to quizzical or blank looks. "Seriously Bogart, Bacall 'Play it again, Sam' It's an American classic!"

"Like Casablanca," Sarge confirms (aside from PR, he's the only one present who's seen it).

Walker continues, "Now these are rumors, but they're all we have to go on. So, as I see it, our two options are start heading northwest, make for Bremerhaven, or at least friendly lines, or, head southeast, to Krakow. Option one is farther, and takes us back towards the front lines, but it does get us all closer to home. For Krakow, the reverse of all that is true. Questions, suggestions, concerns"

"If we make it to Bremerhaven, and the rumor is false, we're still back in friendly territory. If we get to Krakow and the rumor was false, then we're 200 klicks further away from friendly territory than we are now," Sarge points out.

After a bit more discussion, a vote is taken. Bremerhaven wins.

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