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 I have a confession to make: I really hate the bloated, incomprehensible mess that is Fields of Fire. At the same time, I consider it to be one of the best games I've ever played in my life. To be honest, it appears that every single person that had bought it has the same love/hate relationship with it. My goals with this Let's Play are to both showcase this unique game to broader audiences and to have someone to shame me into not ragequitting in the middle of a campaign yet another time. So, what's the deal with this game? Fields of Fire is a solitaire board game putting us in the shoes of an infantry company commander, published by GMT Games in 2008. It features a rather innovative take on the genre, shunning many established conventions. The way I like to explain it, Fields of Fire is not as much about commanding a company as it is about being a company commander. It's a game that disregards whether a unit possesses BARs or not and is content to measure terrain in units of "between 10 and 100 metres each, uhh work it out yourself, dude" and yet meticulously tracks which radio model you're using and which frequency it is on. Designer Ben Hull, a marine officer himself, managed to really hit the mark when it comes to representing what it's like to be a commander, crafting narratives, and - most deviously - making you really care about your little cardboard infantrymen.  Quite unorthodoxly, instead of covering a single battle or theater of operations, the game follows particular unit, 9th Infantry Regiment, "Manchus", through four campaigns set in Normandy, Korea and Vietnam, allowing us to see the evolution of US Army capabilities and tactics as well as arrival of sweet new radios! It also means there's a lot of content. Just look at all this poo poo:  With 880 counters and 220 cards split between the conflicts, it's hardly an exaggeration to claim Fields of Fire is three different games packed into one unassuming box. This coupled with the fact each mission will look radically different each time, means FoF offers a lot of replayability. So far it sounds pretty cool, why the hate?  To begin with, these player aids are all double-sided to fit more tables. While certainly not a "monster" wargame, it still is fairly detailed and complex, with counter swarms in larger scenarios becoming quite confusing and tedious. Most damningly though, Fields of Fire rightfully earned a reputation of being nigh-incomprehensible and having a learning curve rivalling that of the Dwarf Fortress. The game shipped with the most  , badly organised, rulebook in existence, which coupled with lack of another, more experienced, player at the table, meaningful parallels with other games or computer to automatically enforce the rules, made it really hard to know how it was supposed to work. When you do get it everything usually makes sense. Having said that, sometimes the rules really just are lax or obtuse and I still expect to do some minor mistakes during this LP!Goon participation! I'd like to offload some decision making to you guys, to have someone to blame Feel free to name or claim particular officers for fluff reasons! Just don't get too attached to them. You've piqued my interest, where can I get this game? Regrettably, your best best is scavenging Ebay, as it's long out of print. But do not despair! First off, there is a possibility of us getting both a reprint and a second game in series, covering the exploits of 1st Marine Division. The reprint is stuck in the P500 program for quite a while, meaning GMT games needs a few more pre-orders to consider it viable. The sequel is subject to the same pre-order requirements, but it has the benefit of both fans who already have the first game and generally being a new, shiny thing. The publisher has repeatedly stated he's interested in making an iOS port of the game, but all I currently know is that the supposed work started six months ago and that their contracted developer bailed on them. Still, we will probably see it finished within our lifetimes! Finally, since GMT uploaded the vehicle chart I think you can grab everything you need to play via Vassal (the floorboard emulator I'm using for this LP) on the publisher's site. Also the revised rulebook, thank heavens. If you like the game, don't be an rear end and throw some money at GMT! They're really cool dudes and I want to see more of FoF printed! Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2013 around 17:27 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 16:16 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 12:01 |
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Regimental Archives Mission 1: Trévières Offensive, June 8 to 10, 1944 General Briefing - What the hell am I looking at?!! Turn 1 - First steps. Turn 2 - Take cover! Turn 3 - A taste of blood. Turn 4 - Orchestrating the push. Turn 5 - Grinding to a halt. Turn 6 - A taste of their own medicine. Turns 7-8 - The American Way. Turns 9-10 - Mopping up. Mission 2: Cerisy Offensive, June 11 to 19, 1944 Mission Briefing Turn 1 - Free at last (from the shittyness of SCR536). Turn 2 - Ambushed! Turn 3 - The clusterfuck. Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at Apr 24, 2013 around 00:43 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 16:16 |
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US Army Field Manual FM 7-10: The Infantry Rifle Company posted:Your Mission:  On the 7th June, only a day since the D-DAY landings commenced, Manchus reached sands of the Omaha Beach. Even though they were spared horror of the first landings, they were in no position to enjoy the French summertime, as the division headquarters were hell-bent on relentlessly pushing inland - after all, the liberation of Saint-Lô was already a day behind the schedule! It was the G Company of regiment's 2nd battalion that had the dubious honor of being the first to encounter German soldiers, near the town of Trévières. Their position was not to be envied: the flooded Aure valley forced them to ford it on foot, hand carrying their supplies over the river, and leave the armored support behind. Yet, they persevered and pushed forward - straight into the maw of waiting enemy.  These are the forces under our command. If you want to More importantly, though, we have to decide on how to deploy our on-map mortar assets. We can either combine them into a single section or split into three fire teams. If kept as a platoon they'll be able to employ indirect fire, utilising other units as spotters... As long as we keep them near someone with actual means of long-range communication. If we split them into fire teams istead, we can easily spread them out to cover advance of each flank and make more (weaker) attacks than the ammo-chewing full section. VOTING: MORTAR SECTION A) Deploy the mortars as three fire teams to support each platoon. B) Deploy the mortars as a single section to enable indirect fire. Speaking of long-range communication... The sad truth is, the old-fashioned shouting and pointing angrily with one's finger just doesn't cut it in the expanse of terrain covered by an infantry company. Thankfully, we've got these technological wonders at our disposal:  VOTING: COMMUNICATIONS A) A single SCR-300 to communicate with Battalion HQ and SCR-536 for everyone. B) A single SCR-300 to communicate with Battalion HQ and field telephones for everyone. Choose carefully, as whatever we'll end up using is bound to be source of much grief. Beside these, we'll have access to various pyrotechnical signals - and if all else fails, our commanding officer might go oldschool and assign some grunts to runner duty, delivering his orders personally. With all of that out of the way, let's have a look at the mission itself!  Our objective is to take and secure the elevation protecting the entrance into Trévières and clear first two rows (counting from the Staging Area) of enemy forces, all within ten game turns. If we secure the Attack Position suggested by battalion command, or go beyond the call of duty, we'll be awarded more experience points! In most missions, including this one, player is only given the size of card grid and all of the terrain features are randomised. Sometimes the game mixes this up by adding certain prerequisites or deciding your maps ain't worth rat's rear end and forcing you to place the cards face-down. The cards themselves aren't really meant to be considered a grid - they represent irregularly shaped areas of varying size. They're meant to emulate how the boots on the ground see the terrain ("Uh, there was a barn to the left and some forest I guess and the Jerry was standing somewhere between them"), rather than the old farts slouching over maps. This leads to some rather funky geometry: units trace their lines of sight in straight vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. This abstractness might require some getting used to, but in the end it encourages to spread out linearly in a rather realistc fashion. If the adjacent card has white (instead of green) borders along the axis we're tracing our line of sight, we may look through it and into the next in line, up to three cards in favourable conditions. Units on higher ground, such as hills or looking out of multi-story buildings get to ignore the card borders entirely (unless it's another hill). The face-down cards at the bottom row form the Staging Area - this is where we swarm out of. Consider it a one, big card that is adjacent to all of the first row. Units cannot shoot into or out of the Staging Area. A final note is that the battle doesn't happen in a vacuum - although we're restricted to our 12-card area of operations, we might still get flanked by an enemy outside of the initial grid! So, what does that mean for us? The Primary Objective position could turn out to be a quite scary entrenched MG nest, while the Secondary Objective might be a relative non-factor if we leave it's flank for later. We can set-up a long range fire bases from straight under the Primary Objective, the Orchad to it's right, or the first row village card if we manage to cram some heavy weapons into a multi-story building (excepting direct lay mortars, sadly). If we flank the Attack Position from left or right we can keep the other side of it in check. This suggests a few possible battle plans: VOTING: PLAN OF ACTION A) We push along the right flank, heavily. We can advance through highly defensible villages for some semblance of safety and by securing the three rightmost cards we can suppress the Primary objective from two axes, as well as protect the approach from the bottom. B) We quickly set up shop in the gully, with a clear sight to our objective. While it's not as defensible as the village, it'll be able to support the three second row cards that form the approach to the objectives. C) Let's try to pincer them! We set up bases of fire in the first row and advance through the orchad (second row) and bocage, get them in a crossfire, push into less defensible Secondary Objective and then high five if we manage to pull off the double envelopment. D) No plan survives contact with the enemy! Let's spread out in a balanced fashion, probe the enemy and then shift to whatever we find advantageous. Dismissed. Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at Apr 14, 2013 around 13:45 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 16:16 |
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Ooh, this looks interesting. Sign me up to As for votes, split the Mortar Section into A) three fire teams, for communication go with A) SCR-536 for everyone, and for the plan of action B) set up in the gully.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 17:11 |
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Neat, sign me up too. As for voting, i'd have to go with Triple A.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 20:42 |
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Feel free to claim particular units as your alter egos! Every counter belonging to the company, excepting runners, is fair game!
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 20:50 |
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Keep the mortars together so we have a coherent fire support option. Issue Field Telephones, because the hedgerows will block the walkie-talkies, the map's small, so we won't have to string much line. Tactically, A, if we don't secure those villages, we'll wish we had. I'm glad you're running this, it looks fun to watch but, uh, challenging to fiddle with.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 20:55 |
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VOTING: MORTAR SECTION B) Deploy the mortars as a single section to enable indirect fire. VOTING: COMMUNICATIONS B) A single SCR-300 to communicate with Battalion HQ and field telephones for everyone. VOTING: PLAN OF ACTION D) No plan survives contact with the enemy! Let's spread out in a balanced fashion, probe the enemy and then shift to whatever we find advantageous. Gotta do some recon before we firm up a plan.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 21:00 |
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Well this looks interesting. VOTING: MORTAR SECTION B) Deploy the mortars as a single section to enable indirect fire. VOTING: COMMUNICATIONS B) A single SCR-300 to communicate with Battalion HQ and field telephones for everyone. VOTING: PLAN OF ACTION A) We push along the right flank, heavily. It kind of looks like we wouldn't have line of sight on much of the map, so better field lines than handheld radios. Doing recon first is tempting, but since we're on a time limit I think we should just bull through whatever we find to take the best terrain (the villages). If I've understood correctly, we can deploy indirect mortars in the first village on the right to help take everything else, and advancing mainly down one row should reduce the field line wires needed.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 21:24 |
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This looks fun. Can I be 1st platoon, 3rd squad leader? I don't see myself having time to do more than check this thread every few weeks, so I can settle as being just a joe if that's an issue. Edit: Also, I choose all A's. Let the jerrys bust their teeth in a counter attack! Dirt5o8 fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2013 around 22:20 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 22:16 |
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Let's go with A) Deploy the mortars as three fire teams to support each platoon. A) A single SCR-300 to communicate with Battalion HQ and SCR-536 for everyone. D) No plan survives contact with the enemy! Let's spread out in a balanced fashion, probe the enemy and then shift to whatever we find advantageous.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 22:43 |
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B) Deploy the mortars as a combined unit to provide indirect fire. A) A single SCR-300 to communicate with Battallion HQ and SCR-536 for everyone. B) Set up in the gully. For the hell of it, I'd like to claim the .50 cal MG attached to the company HQ as my Nazi killin' alter ego.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 23:37 |
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Let's go B, A, D for votes. And put me down as one of the fish. :p
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 00:16 |
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I'll go with Keep the mortars as one unit, field telephones for all, and set up in the Gully. Also, I'd like to enlist into one of the LMG squads. As leader, if they have one (as opposed to being folded into a larger platoon).
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 02:34 |
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Separate the mortar teams, give everyone field telephones, and set up in the gully. Unless anyone else has claimed the position, I'd like to volunteer for the position of XO. I don't want to directly be in charge-I'd get blamed for everyone dying.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 04:23 |
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Keep the mortars together(A), field telephones (B), and lets roll through the villages (A) Can I take 2nd Platoon? I've always wanted to lead men into combat and try not to pee myself.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 04:47 |
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B, B, and D for me. I'll claim something too. Doesn't matter what. I'm a happy guy.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 05:40 |
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A, B, D, for me. That bocage will screw up our radios, and having our mortars split up means we can react equally well to differing conditions. Also, I would like to claim CO 1st Sergeant.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 06:35 |
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Sign me up, I want to be in the thick of fighting. A we'll want heavy support to handle any entrenched positions. A field telephones look like rear end B we've got a lot of good defensive approaches from the bottom section.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 08:00 |
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A, B, D. Also, would like to command one of the rifle squads (whichever one).
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 08:08 |
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Sign me up as mortarman Arglebargle III so I can die stupidly four thousand miles from home for a war that will never come to American shores. But not until they overrun our rifle platoons, because I'd rather be in the rear!
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 08:29 |
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Voting B, A, A and sign me up as 1st Platoon, 2nd Squad leader. Or just as a grunt if there's any work involved in being a squad leader.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 08:47 |
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Hmmm, put me in one of dem der bazooker fingies. As for the choices, I think advancing through the villages, with field telephones and a combined mortar team should work well. Blaze through the villages and move on from there. So thats a vote for B,A,A
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 09:14 |
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BACteria for everyone
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 09:25 |
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I don't care where you put me, as long as i am in the fight. As for the voting, i would suggest B, A, C. As long as we don't face anything worse than infantry, we should do fine.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 09:31 |
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Voting closed so we can kick this off early! You've chosen to deploy mortars together, equip radios and advance along the right flank. Since advancing in a balanced fashion lost by only one vote, I'll send a token scouting force to the left as well, just to make sure no Jerry is going to flank the main force.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 10:52 |
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 Gentlemen, say hello to Kurt.  Our friends at 15th Field Artillery Battalion had decided to assign him to us for the duration of this mission, as we expect enemy presence around the town. He comes with a brand new, shiny, SCR-300 to get in touch with his buddies back in the rear and blast Jerry back to the stone age, where he belongs.  HE is the default "make things go boom" barrage. If you don't know what white phosphorus is - well, I don't want to spoil your maiden google image search. The only person authorised to call for fire support except Kurt is our commanding officer (CO HQ), though he's way less proficient at it. This is our final loadout:  The grey smoke grenades, labeled "smoke" are High Concentration smoke grenades, meaning it's the concealment-providing kind you know from all sorts of games. Mechanically speaking, white phosphorus is a jack of all trades, able to provide smoke and deal damage, but slightly worse at both these tasks than it's HE/HC counterparts. As a sidenote, Platoon HQs don't actually carry the rifle grenades - I have a habit of giving them out to 3rd squad of each platoon and keeping the counter on this display for convenience. You might have noticed our radios are set to particular networks within which they operate. Battalion Tactical Network is a fancy for how our superiors keep tabs on us. Company Tactical Network is what our officers use to communicate with each other. Not pictured is the radio belonging to Kurt, set to Artillery Field Direction Network - meaning if we'll want our CO to call for fire by himself, he'd have to switch out from one of the networks! Onwards to killing Nazis then! The first thing to do this turn is for the CO to draw an Action Card. They look like this:  The cards are a bit crowded and for a good reason - they are responsible for every single bit of randomisation during the play. See the two rows at the bottom? These are literally pure RNG, with upper value being the "dice" size and the lower one being the result. It's used for all sorts of rolling on tables and some weird ranges (d7?) are provided in case you'd like to use them to pick a random target or order or whatever. Having one universal deck of cards to do everything is pretty nifty and while overall I like the system, it comes with one big drawack: it gets reshuffled a lot. I already had to do that by the end of this short turn! What interest us at this moment, however, is the helmet icon in the upper left corner and it's Command Value. Commands are the core mechanic behind the game - they're basically action points we can spend to do stuff with our unit or it's subordinates in communication. Even though 4 commands is a pretty good draw, they're not nearly enough to do anything meaningful with our company. Thankfully, CO HQ has an ability to activate other officers - meaning we can spend a point to have them draw their own command points. After blowing all our points on activations we get:  Much better. Platoon HQs are unique in that they can order only their squads around, but they have ability to give certain orders to the whole platoon at a discount. 3rd Platoon looks like it's itching for action, so let's have them volunteer for point duty!  I've also moved Thatbastardken to make sure their flank is secure, expending one command per unit. The units left the range of verbal-visual communication, I don't really have anything else to do. Therefore, I save all leftover commands to use in future turns.  What happens next is the Initiative Segment. All officers who weren't activated draw their commands, but they have to use Initiative Value instead - it's that second, smaller number near the helmet - and hope they actually get to do anything this turn. If our CO couldn't establish a connection to Battalion HQ, he'd have to activate via his own initiative as well! XO and 1st Sergeant are an exception to this rule and instead of drawing a card they get exactly 1 command because  .Executive Officer is the only one that we hadn't activated. He acquires and immediately saves his one command. Finally, there's the General Initiative Segment, representing the fact that people sometimes do things even when not prompted by their superiors. We draw a card, take it's Initiative Value and distribute the commands among the units as we see fit. We've hit the best card in deck, obtaining whoppin' four commands, more than enough to have each squad try and scramble for proper cover.  The troops cautiously move forward, clinging to cover and overwatching each other - utilising every single trick that boot camp has managed to beat into their heads. As forward elements of company's 3rd Platoon secure the farthest outskirts of Trévières, they find the houses completely empty - both of enemy presence and their former occupants, who apparently fled in fear of fighting a long time ago. A particular mansion catches the attention of soldiers - not only are it's walls comfortingly thick, but a quick check of the upper floors revealed windows facing the city itself, making for an excellent base of fire.  The other platoon was a little less lucky: while their maps clearly indicated they will be moving through a forested area, the thin woods were little more than a glorified grove, offering only simplest concealment to the soldiers. As the troops marched forward, there was nary a Nazi to be seen. Intense, unnerving silence was broken only by a private's awkward attempt at telling a joke, in hopes of diffusing the tension. "So a fighter pilot got shot down and captured by the Jerry. He's badly hurt in the landing and they have to amputate his leg, but the guy pleads: 'please, can you take it on the next raid and drop it over England?' They look at him confused, but-" "INCOMING!"  Suddenly, artillery shells start dropping from the sky! The soldiers scramble in panic looking for cover, while Sergeant Dirt5o8 tries his best to outscream the furious barrage.  Enemy fire kicks up inordinate amounts of dirt and mud, making it difficult for anyone - especially the ones in the middle of the inferno - to discern what is actually happening. Following the nearest moving shape, Dirt5o8 manages to slide down into a ditch where his men appear to have fled. Conrad - present. Mallone - present. Anderson - wounded. Valchek - ... 
Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at Mar 19, 2013 around 12:45 |
| # ? Mar 17, 2013 16:23 |
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This poo poo is hella cool, I am having trouble following some of the rulely bits but the info dumps you are doing are really helpful. This game seems quite neat. Also I did want to be in the thick of it I guess! 
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 16:55 |
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That's Lieutenant Sparkmaster to you. I didn't spend three months in OCS to be called a noncom 
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 18:49 |
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Can I drive the Jeep?
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 19:01 |
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Good luck out there everyone, and remeber-you're probably going to get exploded by Jerry's artillery fire. No pressure! 
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 19:56 |
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Pladdicus posted:This poo poo is hella cool, I am having trouble following some of the rulely bits but the info dumps you are doing are really helpful. This game seems quite neat. I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm striving to make this LP readable to both people who aren't used to staring at cardboard nazis and those unfamilliar with spergy military poo poo. Thankfully, this was probably the last thing I wanted to get in-depth with from the outset, and similarly to me drawing important lines of sight, I'll try to subtly reiterate important bits a few times. sparkmaster posted:That's Lieutenant Sparkmaster to you. I didn't spend three months in OCS to be called a noncom Ah, I hosed up, it was actually Sgt. Aerdan's squad, you're still sitting in the staging area. I've noticed I also hosed up labeling platoons on the "dudes moved" image. We're off to a good start  . I'll go fix that poo poo immediately!the JJ posted:Can I drive the Jeep? While it's explicitly written as part of OOB and not in the list of available assets, according to the rules jeeps are crew-less and are being driven by whoever hops in. But do not despair, for you can be the jeep itself!  Or we just assume you're forbidden to bugger off on your own, as you'll probably end up as CO's chaffeur anyway. Your call. Also, I'd like to remind everyone we still have free places left to enlist! And I've got the feeling that the yet-unclaimed squad currently occupying the mansion will soon see it's luck reversed...
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 23:45 |
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Is that the end of our first turn, or is it done when everyone has used up their orders? And who am I in charge of, as 1st Sergeant?
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 03:49 |
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It's the whole turn. Orders get used up or saved for later (there are limits on saving based on experience), then the enemy moves/appears and we finish by seeing how much everyone got hurt. Unused and unsaved orders simply get lost, as time passes. If the XO could be considered a land equivalent of First Mate, the 1st Sgt is more of a Boatswain. While CO and XO generally work with other officers, he manages the remaining untermenschen of the company. He's also third in command, in case something was to happen to our leadership. In game terms, him and XO can command everyone around, as they're kind of considered santa's little helpers and and therefore an extension of CO. By the way, expect second turn to arrive later today (much later, though) and it's a proper turn this time!
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 09:32 |
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I think explaining what some of the tokens on the board represent would go a long way towards that, but I have no idea how well it would actually work, given the nature of the game and its complexity.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 17:11 |
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 Only one of our squads was hit and while it broke down completely in panic, it probably hadn't endured any meaningful casualties. The boys are still threatened by that artillery observer, but I'll leave them hanging anyway - rallying the squad back together would probably take much time and many commands and I'm not too keen on sending an officer into that death zone. My plan is to instead keep pushing our main flank and try to deal with the FAO utilising our left flank before he has a chance to wreak more havoc. Our CO draws four commands again. I decide to first activate XO and 1st Platoon, as they've got only one command saved and then 3rd and 2nd Platoon, as they've got a job to do. The two lieutenants march forward with remaining men.  I'd like to say a few words about what the cover actually represents. Soldiers are always assumed to utilise every bit of cover and concealment on their way, crouching behind walls and clinging to foliage. The inherent defensible value of the terrain is represented by the cards themselves - it's these big numbers in top left corners. Some terrain features, like bocage, are of rather linear nature - and cards representing them boast two different Cover&Concealment values! When units are attacked through sight-blocking green card border, they get to use the higher modifier, otherwise they have to rely on the lesser one. Nice and simple. Now, the various cover markers represent particularly defensible microlocations within the card. When unit gets under a cover marker it means it's no longer just sticking to walls, but has buggered off to hide in some shed or bomb crater. One particular implication of that is units gettng fragmented across the battlefield, which makes managing them even more of a headache - to give your grunts an order you both have to be in the open or under the same cover marker. That's why I had remainder of 3rd platoon enter the house, even though they'll probably be moving out soon - to be able to get the 2nd squad moving! Next, I have XO Dr. Snark order heavy mg and artillery spotter to set up in the building and establish a base of fire. He also moves the mortar section to the village, but leaves it in the open (mortars are kind of hard to use with a roof over your head). When firing indirectly, they don't have to deal with lovecraftian geometries governing lines of sight and the village seems like a safe spot for them. 1st Sergeant Arujei then bolsters Sparkmaster's flank with a Browning LMG, just to give them some additional firepower. Finally, Lt. Biosterous advances his whole platoon towards the village. Partially just to use up redundant commands and partially to keep someone ready if the entirety of 3rd Platoon gets bogged down like their first squad. Pladdicus squad is left behind, as we hit the stacking limit of 16 steps per card.  My cunning plan for the left flank is as follows: I blow all my remaining commands on attempts at spotting the FAO and have Sgt. Thatbastardken move forward, so that in case of (probable) failure I can try and enter the hill, combing the terrain for the pesky Kraut. And to generally spread out, I guess. Alas, finding a single camouflaged head sticking out from a hole in the ground at a distance is no easy task and both squads fail to discern it. We end the turn with 3rd Platoon having a single command over the limit of three that a green officer can save. The redundant command is promptly lost. At this point everyone besides CO HQ and 2nd Platoon has exactly three commands saved. I get two commands out of the General Initiative - just enough to have the forward squads try find some cover. It appeared as if everyone in the Goon Company was at least a bit shaken by the sudden attack on Sgt. Dirt5o8 squad. They finally were to see real combat. Real enemy, real bullets, real death. "Just keep moving!", barked Biosterous, hurrying his men in attempt to circumvent the dangerous marshes. "You've heard the man, get a move on!", Dr. Snark agreed with him. "The boys are pushing forward and I don't want them to be sitting ducks because you couldn't bother to haul your drat asses!" And the boys pushed forward indeed, tiptoeing through the empty village. Housing began to give way to farm and utility buildings. Their destination - orchard - came in their sight. Triple A had reached for his trusty radio, ready to report accomplishing his mission - it was only about thirty steps in front of him - when he heard a most terrifying roar that would become all too familiar. "Take cover! TAKE COVER!!!", he screamed, racing behind a nearby tractor. The soldiers all scrambled to safety. "Sir, sir! It's some loving strongpoint out there!", shouted private Collins. Meanwhile, as the furious fire dies down, Sgt. Dirt5o8 manages to gather and count up his terrified men. They were hurt, but apart from unfortunate private Anderson it was nothing they couldn't patch up with a bit of time. As he commandeered his men to give some semblance of cohesion to the first aid efforts, he couldn't help but to think about the Kraut out there who called the barrage in the first place. Have they hidden from him? Did he run out of ammo? Or perhaps, he's still out there, planning an even more devious strike? As Sgt. Thatbastardken's squad reaches edge of the forest, a sudden rush of bullets catches them by surprise! The soldiers cower in fear, dropping to the ground, some running back into the woods.  They've stumbled on another MG42, the ubiquitous gun that later became one of the most recognisable symbols of the war - and not for lack of reason! Not only was it an incredibly effective and versatile construction, but - due to doctrinal differences - where an American company had two machineguns, it's German equivalent packed fourteen of these, providing substantial firepower advantage over BARs. Allied forces were forced to make up for it with armored and artillery support... Which in this case happens to be stuck on the other side of Aure river!  Uh oh, it appears that Jerry had preempted our flanking maneuver! In hindsight, it was foolish of us to assume Germans wouldn't expect a strike from such obvious position. The tricky thing about that bunker is the fact it lies behind our limit of advance - it's not in our operational area and therefore we cannot enter the card it's on. Thankfully, shooting at it is still fair game! Apart from your usual grunts, it also hosts an officer. Opposing forces don't get to enjoy the command & control shenanigans we do, his presence merely boosts any skill checks nearby units undertake - in this case, probably concentrating fire and perhaps shaking off any suppression we manage to inflict on them.  Goddamn yanks, thinking they can just lie down and wait for artillery to do all the fighting for them!  This is a rather unfortunate situation. The fortified command post is placed in such a way we can only attack it from within it's arc of fire, or from the hills that are our main problem anyway. The LMG nest on secondary objective is a little boon to us, actually, since it's easier to spot than FAO and when we achieve that we can zero in fire support and blast the defence line containing both enemy units. Regrettably, Kurt is unable to see it from his current position and it's juuust out of range of our mortar section! Unless some weird random event happens, the paralyzed teams in the grove will frantically fall back, leaving the lone fire team at the mercy of German gunner. This gives me some ideas... VOTING: SGT THATBASTARDKEN'S FINEST HOUR A) It's just a single LMG team, three Krauts tops. Let's have Sgt. Thatbastardken and his valorous comrades bum rush the hill and get up close and personal while Jerry is distracted by shooting the retreating troops. This could actually work if we don't get short-changed with commands. It'll surely use up all General Initiative we get and may require some tricky coordination with rest of the platoon. B) Rather than throwing his life away for mere amusement, let's have him entrench right where he's standing and soak up Jerry's fire for as long as possible. This'll allow the rest of 2nd Platoon to try spot the enemy and generally take offensive action, rather than wasting the turn on finding cover (and then getting mowed down anyway). Thatbastardken's vote on how he's going out in style counts twice! Also, I'll make a ruling on the spot here that dead goons may re-enlist, but only as part of (green) reinforcements we get between missions. VOTING: RIGHT FLANK A) Abandon the plan! We've already set up a heavily entrenched base of fire, let's shift to the middle under it's protection, allowing us to ignore the bunker with it's limited arc of fire entirely! We can place another MG in the gully, anyway. B) Stick to the plan! What do we expect to achieve by running from every enemy in sight? We persevere, secure this column and have the whole map in a crossfire! Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at Mar 20, 2013 around 21:54 |
| # ? Mar 18, 2013 22:17 |
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Gonna get me a B, B gun. 
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 22:43 |
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I think I've just noticed why I keep mistaking people's names over and over again. On the company chart, instead of putting each platoon near it's Lieutenant, I've sorted them into groups of first, second and third squads of all platoons . I'll re-edit all the wrong names so far, but apparently it's: * Thatbastardken who the first voting is about * Dirt5o8 that got shelled by artillery. * Triple A that's pinned by the bunker. * Flavius Belisarius and unclaimed Lt who can't spot for poo poo. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at Mar 18, 2013 around 23:25 |
| # ? Mar 18, 2013 22:55 |
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The Jeep votes for A, B.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 23:04 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 12:01 |
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The more rad of the two LMG carriers endorses A, B.
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| # ? Mar 18, 2013 23:19 |
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