DAY 15 – MAY 2nd 2000
SW of LUBLINIEC, POLAND – NIGHT
PHASE 16
LED gets ALEX’s attention and points at the depot in front of them, then put two fingers in front of his eyes and points at the roof of the barracks.
ALEX nods, and gets ready to move.
WITH the EYES of the REFEREE [click to expand]
ALEX will move outside of the area lit by the fire, but within visual range of the sentinel on the barracks’ roof, who may be looking his way. It’s of course an opposite RECON roll. ALEX rolls with +1 for his clothes helping him to blend into the grass.
- ALEX rolls RECON [D10+D10] = 2 SUCCESSES (rolled 10 and 1, an odd roll…)
The SENTINEL may be looking this way: as we have established by observing him, he spends more time on the side of the building overlooking the fire, so I’ll give him a 65% chance of being in a position from which he could potentially spot ALEX:
- Roll[D100] = 67
Close, but not enough.
He keeps as low as possible and cautiously move to the depot, going prone in the grass right beside it, in order not to highlight his profile against the lighter backdrop of the depot’s wall.
He checks the barracks’ roof: nobody in sight. He holds position and after 15 seconds the sentinel appears, still moving counter-clockwise along the roof’s perimeter. Just as before, ALEX observes him through the NVGs linger on the Eastern side of the roof, occasionally looking down at the fire, then move North and disappear in the green-painted darkness.
ALEX stands up and waives his arms. His companions can clearly see him, the dark silhouette contrasting with the dark grey of the depot. LED signs to the other to proceed, and closes the rear as the trio joins its scout.
The reunited group moves led by ALEX around the depot, past its collapsed Northern side, in front of the BTR, and reaches the dirt berm of the closest launch bunker.
ALEX turns and makes sure everyone is there and okay. He lifts his hand with a thumb up, and in a few seconds he sees three more thumbs going up.
He breaths with relief, and start leading the group through the starlit night, back to the opening in the fence they came in through.
The PATROL [click to expand]
Roll for the patrol:
- Roll[D10] = 3 -> the patrol proceeds
FINALE
“Anybody hurt? You all right? LT?” asks DONNA as the raiding party has returned and identified itself.
They are all standing in a circle, barely able to see each other in the starlight filtered by the trees. Only NASCAR has kept his position, his eyes scanning the dark rocket base, the light of the southern fire in front of him and the dim glow of the patrol’s torches now a small dot to the West.
“We’re fine doc, and better put some distance between us and this place before a checkup” he looks around, barely able to identify his comrades “someone ask BIANKA to lead us back to town”
Captain WALICH starts to say something in Polish, and LED gets closer to DONNA “when it’s safe to do so, check ALEX and the new guy first”
“You got it” is the response.
“Alright, ready to move. BIANKA opens, then ALEX, Captain WALICH, DONNA” says LED, who then reaches NASCAR “come on big guy, we are leaving, you and I get to close shop” “Copy LT” says NASCAR standing up “I’ll make sure all the lights are off”
The column undertakes its slow march through the dark forest, with BIANKA leading with her usual confidence and everybody else trying to follow the shadow preceding them.
“So LT, did you leave a trail of blood behind you?” asks NASCAR “that woman looks like she means business to me”
“She did good, like a professional” answers LED while following DONNA’s steps “and we sneaked around most of the Russians; only one guy we couldn’t avoid”
“Took care of him?”
“Yeah”
“We didn’t hear anything, knifes?”
“Yeah” confirms LED “I didn’t kill him right on the spot, but unless they have a surgeon in there, I doubt he’s going to make it”
“I’ll sleep fine, and you should too LT; was he one of the guards?”
LED shakes his head “nah, his uniform said captain” he ponders briefly “you know, there’s a good chance he was the guy in charge”
“Really?” asks NASCAR, a hint of excitement in his voice “you went in, knifed the head of the pack, freed the Polish guy, and got out without them sounding any bell. That’s some ninja s**t right there LT”
“Yeah…” replies LED with little conviction “it started crazy and ended up stupid”
They proceed in silence for a while.
“Hey LT, can I ask you something?”
“You want to know if it was worth it?”
“Well, was it?”
“I don’t know”
“You always say that”
“Yes, but I usually say something else too, don’t I?”
“We’ll see” says NASCAR.
POST FACTO OBSERVATIONS
This ‘fight’ was interesting, and presented the players with unique elements that set it apart from all previous fights. Game-wise the intention was to offer a different kind of challenge; narration-wise it was an opportunity to bring forth the story with less dialogue and more descriptive, flowing action.
I was looking for a session or more of action, and thought the deserters occupying this abandoned rocket base could offer my story and my players just that. The group’s extemporaneous decision to switch from their original intent of just reconning the base, to a daring raid aimed at liberating the hostage parallels my own change of mind about how to conduct this part of the campaign.
Originally, I thought the players could, with the help of BIANKA, gather intel and get to know the location, then thin the numbers by ambushing a party of Russians foraging or hunting in the forest, maybe set mines at the opening in the fence used by the enemies and surprise the search party they would send out. After that, I thought they could attack the base and its reduced number of opponents.
Then I came by the information that May 2nd 2000 was (almost) a new moon night, meaning total darkness except for the stars, with limited visibility and -2 to all Recon and Ranged Combat rolls. I immediately started to consider the new possibilities stemming from this intel.
I was of course concerned by the marked disparity of forces, and I had already established the Polish 1st SOC as unable to help the players. Then I envisioned BIANKA, and her gift of NVGs to gain the upper end. I imagined the bag she carried was prepared by Captain WALICH, her husband, with instructions for her to take it should anything happen to him.
To keep things interesting, there was only one set of NVGs, and only one of my characters could use it. BIANKA proved to be smart and capable, but spoke no English. Also, and good thing we didn’t get to that point, I knew that if pressured to choose between her husband or one of the players, she would have had no trouble in picking the former, any time.
I tried to keep the (mostly) Recon rolls in a sweet spot between a measure of realism, and not tempting fate. I knew with every additional roll my chances of failing grew higher; in fact, most of the tension I felt came from deciding whether to have a dice roll or not.
I try and keep in mind to stack the odds in my players’ favor as much as possible, and when I had ALEX successfully hidden in the bathroom and ready to strike the Russian captain, with a nice +3 modifier, I thought the enemy’s fate was sealed. Then I rolled a double 1 and paid for my arrogance…
By the time the raiding party entered the office building I was envisioning all the ways the action could progress, and where it could lead. Best case scenario: the players free the hostage without seeing or be seen by anybody, disarm the booby trap guarding one of the openings on the fence to the West side, and escape leaving no trace. Worst case scenario: the players are discovered, and forced to barricade themselves on the roof of the office building, with the height advantage, but surrounded by 20+ enemy soldiers.
In this last case, I thought the group inside the base would be trapped. Therefore, as an extra advantage, I imagined the engine of the BTR was wired in order to power some spotlight, positioned on the roof of the office building, and aimed at the Southern entrance, the courtyard and the Western fence. In case of alarm, one of the Russian would turn on the BTR and in so doing the lights. I imagined the enemies would at first not be able to see who was on the roof, and be confused as to where the intruders were, granting a handful of rounds of advantage to the trapped players.
Overall, I really liked this night raid: once more Twilight: 2000 helped me create a unique experience, and another piece of this solo campaign. Though it was a pain in the a** to produce and update all the maps…
I went through the battle report a short while after playing it, and here are some notes I took:
- OFFICIAL MATERIAL: the town of Lubliniec is briefly described in The Black Madonna expansion book. It is mentioned the Polish 1st SOC has its HQ at the southern edge of the town, and there have been troubles with some Soviet deserters occupying the former Rocket Base battery 13 SW of town. No further details are presented, but it’s a great base to build upon. If you are running your campaign in the Silesia region, every town presented, no matter how brief the description, represents a kernel you can flesh out with details of your own making.
- A DESERTER’S HOME: the deserters haven’t been here for long, so I presented the base as run down, with still a lot of work to do before having it in order. After all, I figured anybody’s first priorities would be basic supplies (food and water) and security, with everything else coming second.
- SECURITY IS GOOD/BAD: I positioned the guards in a way that made sense to me, considering the occupied buildings and the layout (and extension) of the base. After the first few phases, I started to have doubts about my choices, but I was already committed, and in the final stretch of the mission, I changed my mind again and considered it a good enough apparatus, given the manpower constraint of the deserters. I guess my advice is: don’t sweat it too much. Unless you see an unequivocal, plain mistake, the rest will be good enough. Also, at the end of the day we’re playing a game…
- DID I HAVE A PLAN?: The original plan called for NASCAR and DONNA to move inside the base and set up at the closest berm, within longe range of the sentinels guarding the entrance. I obviously forgot…
- THE DICE KEEP ROLLING: I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. The more dice you roll, the higher your chances of failing. If you are a player, look for ways to proceed towards your goal without having to roll for every single action. If you are the Referee, consider how many things you want your players to roll for: too many and you risk consequences for failed rolls to pile up and bog down your group.
- EYES AND EARS: I had my characters roll Recon both to remain unseen and to remain unheard by the enemies. A Recon roll usually bundles these two aspects together, but I on occasion decided to roll for just one or the other, and apply modifiers only if relevant (e.g. no low light penalty if the guard is rolling to hear something). Not sure this is the way the rules intend, but that’s how I decided to go.
- ERRORS: of course I made mistakes, as per usual. My biggest may be that when ALEX attacked captain SMIRNOV, I may have forgotten to apply a further +3 modifier to his roll, on account of the target being unaware of his incoming attack (Defenseless Target, Player’s Manual, page 62).
- SPEAKING RUSSIAN: there were a lot of interactions in Russian, and a few in Polish. I don’t speak neither one nor the other, and have used Google Translate for every single sentence the characters uttered. I am sorry if there are errors in spelling, grammar or vocabulary.
- CAPTAIN SIMONOV: after LED’s attack inflicted a critical injury to captain SMIRNOV, I briefly considered the possibility of instantly promoting him to a major NPC. He would have remained alive with a critical injury to be rolled and picked from the table of the Player’s Manual, page 76. Ultimately, I didn’t go this way as I couldn’t see how the group could have benefitted from having the enemy leader captive, other than if they were discovered.
By the time they get back, day 15 of the campaign is over, and LED is sleep deprived.
I have compiled a list of useful practices for facing a (fire)fight in Twilight: 2000 4E. If you are interested, you can find it on this page.