DAY 10 – APRIL 27th 2000
EAST of DOBRODZIEN, POLAND – EVENING
ROUND 07
NASCAR keeps firing on GROUP 1.
NASCAR’S ROLL [click to expand]
NASCAR is at medium range (-1), firing at a prone enemy (-1). His Machinegunner specialty grants him a +1 for the roll, so his final modifier is -1. He also rolls 3 ammo dice (ROF for the M249 is 6):
NASCAR rolls for HEAVY WEAPONS:
- Roll HEAVY WEAPONS [D10+D8] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 10 and 4)
- Roll ammo dice[D6+D6+D6] = 6 + 5 + 4
- Roll hit location die = TORSO (rolled after deciding not to push the attack roll)
Good hit: one man in GROUP 1 suffers 2 base damage points + 1 for the extra success, for a total of 3 which is critical and kills him. The 6 on the ammo dice is used to inflict another 2 base damage points to the remaining soldier in GROUP 1. NASCAR fires 6+5+4 = 15 rounds.
GROUP 1 is also suppressed.
His fire is on target and everyone in GROUP 1 keeps their head down.
LED and DONNA move up one hex, and so do ALEX and CRANE. They finally have a firing solution on GROUP 3 (which can in turn see them).
TEAM 1 gets up (fast action) and moves trailing LMG TEAM.
TEAM 2 wants to finish off GROUP 1.
TEAM 2’S ROLL [click to expand]
TEAM 2 is firing at long range (-2) at a prone target (-1). Simplified rules for groups of NPCs: one person fires and each other grants a +1 to the roll. Total modifier is -1. TEAM 2 rolls 3 ammo dice (full ROF of their M16A2s):
TEAM 1 rolls RANGED COMBAT:
- Roll RANGED COMBAT [D8+D8] = 1 SUCCESS (rolled 8 and 5)
- Roll ammo dice[D6+D6+D6] = 6 + 2 + 1
- Hit Location Die = LEGS
We’ve got a hit: the soldier in GROUP 1 suffers 2 base damage points +1 for the 6 on the ammo dice. The total damage is critical and he’s killed. The 1 rolled on the ammo dice means TEAM 2 has to reload.
A few well-aimed rounds are sufficient, and GROUP 1 goes silent.
TEAM 3 moves around the forest parallel to TEAM 1.
Team CALDWELL keeps firing on GROUP 3.
TEAM CALDWELL’S ROLL [click to expand]
The shooter of team CALDWELL fires his M21. The enemy is at medium range (-1) and prone (-1). The shooter’s comrade grants him a +1 on the roll. The shooter fires a single bullet (no ammo dice).
Team CALDWELL rolls for RANGED COMBAT:
- Roll RANGED COMBAT [D8+D8] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled double 8)
- Hit Location Die = TORSO
Another good hit from CALDWELL’s shooter: one enemy suffers 3+1 damage points and is killed. The remaining one is suppressed.
GROUP 3 loses its round recovering from suppression.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
All the Polish elements in the Flock’s force have been eliminated and GROUP 3 has suffered losses in excess of 50%, so there’s a 50% chance the last man will surrender (6-10 on a D10):
- Roll[D10] = 1 -> he’s committed to the cause
I guess there’s one more round to play…
End of Round 07
ROUND 08
NASCAR gets up (fast action) and moves one hex (fast action), then goes prone again (free action).
DONNA can see the enemy, though she has little chances of hitting him (-1 for the range and -1 for the prone enemy: she would roll a single D6), so she takes overwatch on the enemy hex and will fire only if the enemy is about to fire himself.
LED opts for the same (he has better skill level, but still suffers from his injury and would have a -2 for firing a two-handed weapon).
ALEX is ready with his hunting rifle. He takes aim at the sole enemy (fast action) and fires a single shot.
ALEX’S ROLL [click to expand]
ALEX is in short range, firing at a prone enemy (-1). He rolls no ammo dice, firing a single shot.
ALEX rolls RANGED COMBAT:
- Roll RANGED COMBAT [D8+D8] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled double 6)
- Roll Hit Location Die = TORSO
The enemy is hit: he suffers 3 base damage points, +1 for the extra success. It’s critical and he is killed.
ALEX fires a single round with his hunting rifle.
The last member of GROUP 3 is hit center mass and rests face-down into the foliage.
All enemies have been eliminated. It takes a while to make sure there’s no more threats around, then ELK calls it clear and his men start searching bodies for anything useful while two teams keep watch.
End of Round 08
End of Forest Fight
AFTERMATH
“All clear” shouts a tall corporal after straddling the tree line where one of the attacking groups met his demise.
LED and DONNA join ELK at the area where the enemy scouts are laying on the ground. A few paces behind them is NASCAR, looking at where the last enemy was killed. All around soldiers of the 1/116th Cav are collecting supplies from the corpses or keeping watch in case there’s more enemies wondering the woods.
CSM ELK turns to a sergeant “give me a head count, then get everybody ready to move in 10”
The sergeant nods and steps away.
“No prisoners. We could have used a prisoner or two” says ELK looking at the corpses.
“They didn’t seem interested in surrendering” observes LED.
“Still, next stop is the town and I feel we’re going in blind”
“They could say the same” says LED “they don’t know who or what hit the town, and the detail they sent off to find out will not return”
The sergeant reappears with a portable radio “team 2 has one KIA and one WIA” he says pointing at the trees behind him.
DONNA turns to LED and points at the same trees.
“Go” nods LED, and DONNA starts pacing towards the tree line. He then turns to NASCAR and points at DONNA.
“Got it” says NASCAR who then starts trailing the doctor.
“Who’s the KIA?” asks ELK to his subordinate lowering his voice.
“Bobby… Robert Raily, sir. They got him in the neck, there was nothing to do”
“F***ers” mutters ELK to nobody.
ALEX and CRANE join the group. CRANE throws on the ground a bunch of white armbands with upside crosses traced on them in black thick ink.
“In case anybody had any doubts” says CRANE.
ELK hunches down and picks up one armband “I need REDWING and CALDWELL to get their eyes back on the town right now”
“Yes sir” says CRANE, who then taps ALEX on the arm.
ALEX covers the distance between himself and LED with two quick steps “that last group we killed, one of them had the upside cross branded on his chest with a hot iron or something like that”
“We have to go” says CRANE.
ALEX looks at LED who nods in agreement, and team REDWING departs towards the town.
“Looks like some of these men have been press-ganged into service for the Flock” says LED.
“Look at them” says ELK pointing at the corpses “press-ganged or not, they could have surrendered, but they didn’t. I don’t care if they have a gun to their head; if they shoot at us, we’re gonna shoot back, that’s inescapable”
LED sighs, unable to find a counter argument.
“When we get to that damned church” goes on ELK “it’s going to be just as inescapable”
POST FACTO OBSERVATIONS
Forest Fight offers a good counterpart to the Battle of Wanda Chotomska School: it was light on narration and heavy on rolls, rules, and bookkeeping. In short: it was less enjoyable to carry on. The biggest reason for it is of course the size of it, in terms of actors involved. Adding up the Flock’s forces, the 1/116th Cav, the Players and PFC CRANE who I kept as a major NPC, there were 14 participants, which is more than the initiative cards available in the box set.
The forces of the 116th Cav weren’t exactly positioned for an effective ambush, but rather for a somewhat acceptable defensive line, blocking the obvious paths towards the bottom-right corner of the map (and the mortar carrier beyond its borders).
Despite the ambush not being successful (or rather being very easy to discover) the placement of friendly forces helped in suppressing the enemies as soon as they entered friendlies’ field of view. As a matter of facts, keeping the enemy groups suppressed was key to the slow process of eliminating them. For instance, GROUP 1 was suppressed in every round but one, and in the only one it wasn’t it inflicted a casualty and a wounded on TEAM 2 in a single attack.
It’s the first time I had to work with medium and long distances – and the penalty they carry – for most of the fight, and while they’re not that big of a burden for groups of NPCs, they can put a non-unsignificant toll on a single player firing his weapon. Compound that with penalties for enemies being prone or in cover, moving enemies, and penalties start to really pile up.
Groups of NPCs attack all at once with a single roll but the shooter is helped by his comrades with a +1 granted by each up to +3. This is meant to represent the higher volume of fire being thrown downrange. It’s a nice bonus to have, but it works for groups of enemies as well.
The battle ended with 14 enemies KIA and a single casualty for the 116th Cav. The players played a very little part, except for NASCAR who scored a good number of hits on GROUP 1. This choice was deliberate, as the players would have been at risk of serious injuries if exposed to focus fire from a group of NPCs. Add to this DONNA’s poor skill level in Ranged Combat and LED’s penalty for his injured arm.
Side note: this post brings the campaign North of post 50, and I’m glad I managed to get this far.
After reading back the battle report, here are some notes I took:
- BETTER READ THE RULES, LIKE REALLY: I’ve been applying a particular rule up until this battle, and upon reading it again on the Player’s Manual I realized I’ve been applying it the wrong way. In a ranged attack, if you roll a 6 on the ammo dice, you can use it to increase the damage dealt on the enemy by one point, or use it to deal damage to another enemy in the same hex. So far, I’ve used this second option to inflict a single point of damage to the second target, but it actually means you inflict base damage to the secondary target (Player’s Manual, page 66) and you have to re-roll the Hit Location Die for any additional target. Also, you can use a 6 on an ammo dice to trigger an additional hit on the same target (I’m assuming re-rolling the Hit Location Die, which is interesting because your additional hit might be in an un-armored location. Beware of machineguns. Also, read the rules, really…
- IF THE ENEMY CAN’T ACT…: Suppression has been key in preserving the life of all friendlies involved in the fight. The one time a group of enemies wasn’t suppressed, its attack caused one casualty among the ranks of the 1/116th Cav.
- THE MORE DICE YOU ROLL: I had the 116th Cav teams fire on their full ROF most of the times; this means a higher chance of rolling a 6 and causing extra damage, and at the same time a higher chance of rolling a 1. When employing simplified rules for NPCs a 1 rolled on an ammo dice means the group needs to reload, and reloading is always a slow action for NPCs, so the group will lose its next round.
- LINE OF SIGHT: line of sight was very important in this fight. Best way to determine whether you have line of sight on something is described in the Player’s Manual, page 60: draw a line between the center dot of your hex and the center dot of the target hex, then check if the conditions listed on the Manual apply. If they don’t, you have line of sight. If you play with no hexes, final decision is up to the Referee.
- LARGE BATTLES: managing large battles was a lot of bookkeeping. I now have a few ideas about how to reduce it, but if possible, it would be best to isolate the players in a section of a larger battle, and have them fight a limited numbers of opponents (basically, what I did in Praszka).
- HINDSIGHT: I am writing this final note a few days after finishing the battle, and while in the process of writing the narrative part before friendly forces finally enter the town occupied by the Flock. I introduced the possibility of an enemy surrendering at the beginning of Forest Fight, because I felt a prisoner (or more) could be a good way to bring some intel to the players before entering the town, instead of having all the information delivered only after resolving the Flock’s threat. In hindsight, I should have house-ruled that the last guy remaining at the end of Round 07 had surrendered. After all, I enjoy telling a story, and there’s no need to roll for every single detail.
This battle was the 5th of the campaign, and adds to the variety of situations my players have faced so far: from attack to defense, small arms to AT, grenades to mortars, indoors and outdoors, in urban environments and forests.
I used my own observations to compile a list of useful practices when facing a (fire)fight and thought it a fitting entry for the Resources section of the blog. If you are interested, you can check this page.