
DAY 10 – APRIL 27th 2000
EAST of DOBRODZIEN, POLAND – EVENING

Scout teams REDWING and CALDWELL are regrouping with the main force of the 1/116th Cav under command of CSM ELK, whose men are lying in wait to ambush the Flock’s assault team dispatched to find and destroy the mortar. The 1/116th Cav is positioned roughly 500 meters from the Flock’s occupied town and 200 meters in front of the M1064A3 mortar carrier and its crew.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – CONSIDERATIONS [click to expand]

AMBUSHING
The success of the ambush (the surprise part of the ambush) is determined by an opposite RECON roll, as described in the Player’s Manual at pages 60-61. The ambusher needs to roll more successes than the enemy to remain hidden until he wants to spring its ambush.
The 1/116th Cav is waylaying in ambush, and has spent a stretch preparing its position which grants it a +2 on its RECON roll. The distance at which they intend to attack the enemy is roughly 50 meters, and a distance of 2-5 hexes doesn’t add any modifier to the roll (see table on page 61 of the Player’s Manual).
For a group ambush, the person with the lowest RECON skill rolls for the group setting the ambush, and the person with the highest RECON skill rolls for the group being ambushed. According to the Referee’s Manual, page 37, an average US soldier has INT C and RECON C:
- 1/116th Cav rolls RECON: roll[D10+D10] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 6 and 2)
In the interest of the story, I’ll make a separate roll for the players (LED, NASCAR and DONNA). They also have spent a stretch preparing the ambush (+2 to the RECON roll). DONNA has the lowest RECON skill (she doesn’t have any level in it) therefore she rolls for the group:
- DONNA rolls RECON [D12] = 0 SUCCESSES (rolled 1…)
She obviously does not (and cannot) push it…
When in sight, the players will immediately be spotted by the Flock force, and 1 or more successes on the Flock’s RECON roll will mean they spot the 116th Cav as well. Odds are not good…
THE FLOCK
As seen by team CALDWELL, the Flock has dispatched 10 men to find and destroy the mortar. In the course of their movement, they’re joined by a patrol that was coming back to the town after hearing the shelling. The total number of Flock’s soldiers is increased to 14, divided as follows:
- 3 four-men groups armed with light weapons
- 1 two-men team of SCOUTS
I’ll house-rule one of the four-men groups will be of Polish soldiers and so will be the SCOUTS. They’re all wearing steel helmets; SCOUTS are armed with Hunting Rifles and GROUP 1 (Polish) with AKMs.
For the other two groups: roll[D6] 1-2 Polish, 3-4 Russian, 5-6 US. There’s a 50% chance they will have helmets (6-10 on a D10):
- GROUP 2: roll[D6] = 5 -> Americans – Helmets roll [D10] = 4 -> no helmets
- GROUP 3: roll[D6] = 4 -> Russian – Helmets roll [D10] = 5 -> no helmets
GROUP 2 will be armed with M16A1s and GROUP 3 will be armed with AK-74s (using the same weaponry within each group allows me to use the simplified rules for groups of NPCs, meaning less bookkeeping).
The SCOUTS will precede the main force by an average of 4-5 hexes (40-50 meters), not more as the Flock’s force is in a hurry.
I’m assuming the Flock’s SCOUTS cannot see REDWING or CALDWELL retreating on account of the forest they’re traversing.
SURRENDERING
The Flock’s core is made of former Polish soldiers and they will not surrender nor let anyone else surrender. If the Polish elements are dealt with, then the remaining groups will have a 50% of surrendering once they have suffered at least 50% of casualties.
RENDEZ VOUS
Teams REDWING and CALDWELL join the main force. They know where the kill zone of the ambush has been set up, and they will move on its side, joining the rest of the 116th Cav on the flanks.
REDWING and CALDWELL have a 10 rounds advantage over the Flock’s force, which is enough to get in position as the Flock’s SCOUTS enter the area (see preparations map for Round 00).
BLUEFOR WEAPONRY
TEAMS 1-3 have soldiers with M16A2s, LMG TEAM has a gunner with an M249 while the other soldier carries an M16A1, team CALDWELL’s shooter has an M21 and his comrade an M16A1.
All 1/116th Cav soldiers have flak jackets and Kevlar helmets.
TAKING RISKS
As discussed in Dobrodzień (and in Praszka before that), the players don’t want to take any unnecessary risks. They have agreed to participate in the attack on the Flock and will do their part, but they expect the 1/116th Cav to carry the brunt of the operation.

ROUND 00a – PREPARATIONS
Teams REDWING and CALDWELL have eyes on each other and proceed in parallel for most of their movement; once they get to the defensive line they’re waived in by the awaiting force and take position on its flanks.
ALEX and CRANE arrive right where the rest of the players are set. ALEX sees the three heads of his comrades all turn in his direction; LED nods at him and he nods back.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]

The map for Round 00 – Preparations shows the situation just as the enemy SCOUTS enter the area. At this point, their vision is blocked by rocks and vegetation and they cannot see any of the US teams.
I created the map by combining four of the battle maps that come in the Twilight 2000 Boxed Set as well as in pdf format. The seams are visible where there’s a sudden change in the color, but my OCD can definitely live with that. Also, I did some light editing to make the maps blend in a little better (hexes on the edges are usually open terrain, which allows for maps to be placed side by side, but tends to form corridors of open terrain where one map transitions into another, so I placed a few more terrain features)
The white arrows indicate the path followed by the scout teams in the 10 rounds of advantage they had over the Flock’s scouts.


ROUND 00b – CONTACT
The Flock’s SCOUTS advance towards the mortar.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]

The Flock SCOUTS’ path is marked on the map below; I’m assuming they are proceeding in a straight line as much as possible. The mortar is not firing anymore and they are trying to get to it before it is relocated someplace else.
The three groups are spread out a handful of hexes behind the SCOUTS.
ALEX and CRANE go prone right next to the rest of the players, while team CALDWELL remains ready behind some blocking terrain.
As the SCOUTS get closer, they eventually enter in the players’ field of view.
LED, NASCAR and DONNA all hunch down a little closer to their rifles as they bring the front sights on the silhouettes of the two men that just appeared past the trees. They also became instantly aware of a warrying sign: the two men are looking straight at them.

WITH the EYES of the REFEREE – INITIATIVE [click to expand]

Time to establish initiative: as the Flock’s SCOUTS enter the hex in the above map, they have LED, NASCAR and DONNA in their field of view (forest hexes allow a three hexes deep visibility). The players have failed their RECON roll (0 successes) for ambushing and are automatically spotted by the enemy SCOUTS, so who goes first is a matter of drawing initiative cards.

I’ve spent some time wondering whether it would be better to have the players all act with the same initiative card (at least LED, NASCAR and DONNA) or split them allowing each their separate turn but complicating the overall bookkeeping of this fight).
I then decided to go with each player having their turn (there will be more to keep track of, but since I’m playing solo, a slower than usual pace is not a problem).
I’ll start by drawing four cards for LED, DONNA, NASCAR and the enemy SCOUTS. ALEX and CRANE will automatically take fifth and sixth place in the initiative order (house-ruled, as they’re close to the other players) and I’ll treat CRANE as a major NPC for this fight.
Also house-ruled: ELK’s teams (none of which can see the SCOUTS in their current position) won’t act for the next round.
Let’s draw cards:
- LED – 08
- DONNA – 07
- NASCAR – 06
- SCOUTS – 04
Yes, I did shuffle…
Here’s the order for ROUND 01:
- Enemy SCOUTS
- NASCAR
- DONNA
- LED
- ALEX
- CRANE
In Round 01 I’ll add the rest of the NPCs to the initiative order.

FINAL COMMENTS
We’re jumping straight into another fight, but that was the plan after all.
I’ll of course group my comments and present them at the end of the battle.
If you want to know more about the dice mechanics of TW2K, check this page.