Burden of Command: A hard choice maker is you!Objective of the Game:Burden of Command is a pseudo-high-mortality game where the player is a freshly minted lieutenant in charge of an army of grunts. You are in charge of sending men to their deaths to complete *strategic objectives*. The better you get at completing objectives, the more resources get thrown your way. This game is also trying to simulate army logistics in a !fun! (OCD) way.
Character Creation:Your commander character is not a hero of the likes of achilles and hector. He is an organiser and decision-maker who does not take part in combat personally.
Character Sheet:Name:
Description/Bio:
Favorite Department in the military:
Attributes: ((Distribute 10 points here))
Coup d'ouil:
Operational Vigor:
Character:
Headquarters Assets:
Communications/Signals:
Logistics/Transport:
Intelligence:
Medical:
Engineering:
Psychology:
!science!:
!spiritual!:
Troop Tables:
Force organization Charts go here. Equipment is equipped at the squad level.
Personal Attributes: All instructions sent out from your HQ are rolled against one of these
Distribute 10 points among the following, every 5 points gives +1/3 to rolls. A score below 3 gives a -1.Coup d'ouil: "A glance that takes a comprehensive view." The quality of mind that can discern truth and solutions in combat from thousands of possibilities.
Operational Vigor: Personal Energy of Action that allows for complex and rapid instructions to be sent out.
Character: The commander's ability to communicate his convictions. This also affects his morale: if the commander breaks, the unit breaks.
Headquarters:The headquarters contains supporting staff and equipment that handles many non-combat functions and also facilitates research and development.
Communications/Signals: Ability to make sure instructions get through to all echelons. The more platoons under your command, the more the demands on this department.
Logistics/Transport: Ability to coordinate the Movement of the guns and butter to the front. The longer the supply lines and the broader the frontline, the more difficult this is. This stat is separate from actual hardware.
Intelligence: Ability to coordinate all sources of information collection
Medical: Capacity to process casualties of the more serious sort and patch them back up into a workable state. The numbers here are abstractions of your rear-area hospital capabilities.
Engineering: Your advanced construction capabilities that go beyond grunts with entrenching tools. You need this for things like bridge building, base building, advanced demolition, tunneling, vehicle R&D.
Psychology (Info-ops, Public Relations): With this you can win hearts and minds, cover-up war crimes and perform social engineering.
!science! (CBRN development, Hazmat): You can't just requisition a nuke. But you can try building your own. The same applies to more kinky toys like viral agents, nerve gas, chlorotetrafluoride, etc.
!Spiritual!: This department handles everything religious, occult and supernatural.
Manpower Types:Basic manpower have initial costs, but do not draw pay. They do however need resources to survive, and feeding them is part of logistical !fun!.
Conscripts:Surplus population levied from societies facing malthusian disasters.
Effects: +0s to all rolls
Cost: 1 KiloCredit bounty to entice the unemployed
Upkeep: 500g of subsistence per day on the field. 1 Kg of subsistence per day when out of combat. 2 Kg of fresh water. 3.5 Kg of breathable atmosphere.
Notes: May have more complex needs than the clones.
Clones:Vat-born purpose grown beings with implanted skills and memories. Often blamed by the riff raff of naturally born beings for stealing their menial jobs.
Effects: +1 to all rolls.
Cost: 10 KiloCredits to grow in a testtube.
Upkeep: 500g of subsistence per day on the field. 1 Kg of subsistence per day when out of combat. 2 Kg of fresh water. 3.5 Kg of breathable atmosphere.
Veterans:Clones or Conscripts that have survived the rigors of continuous combat and are considered battle-proven.
Effects: +2 to all rolls.
Cost: NA - promoted at GM's discretion from survivors of missions
Upkeep: 500g of subsistence per day on the field. 1 Kg of subsistence per day when out of combat. 2 Kg of fresh water. 3.5 Kg of breathable atmosphere. (500 litres at 1 bar)
Notes: Can be more ingenious at foraging for supplies and at fieldcraft.
Enlisted Positions in your Army. Assignment of position has no bearing whatsoever on skill and experience.:
Grunts: Your typical trigger pullers. They provide the bulk of all forces.
Sergeants: Squad leaders that help you split your platoon into more manueverable elements. Also available in platoon, company and brigade/regiment level versions.
Officers are dealt with later.
Damage Modelling:To Hit: D6 + Skill for each attack - there is no dodge
To Wound: D6 + Lethality v D6 + Skill/Endurance+Armor-AP, 2 and below produces casualties
Range: falloff, effective... maximum range = 2*falloff, volume of fire is increased at the shorter range.
Suppression: volume of effective shots / number of targets Suppression is not implemented
Units may take leadership checks after taking "significant" casualties. The commander takes leadership checks based on overall casualties
Blast Radius Casualties: d(3.14*r*r), casualties take a dodge roll of D6 + skill
Combat Example:Squad AIG001 containing 10 conscripts fires on 20 civilians with their 10 assault rifles at close range.
They roll for 20 attacks at lethality 2, skill 0. The score 5 hits (4s, 5s), 2 overshoots, 1 catastrophic failure.
One of the overshoots hits one of their own troopers (1), the other merely passes through 2 of the enemy in one go.
The crit fail rolls: 6, the trooper merely empties his magazine enthusiastically.
We roll damage for 7 hits against endurance saves for 7 hits. (4,2,6,1,4,2,6)+2 vs (2,5,3,1,6,1,1) The targets take 4 wounds and 3 shrug of the hits.
The 4 casualties roll for permadeath/criticals on 1s (6,5,5,3), they go down, but the casualties are recoverable.
Squad AIG001 containing 10 conscripts shoots at a bunch of freedom fighters taking cover in the rubble. The rubble gives +2 armor.
They roll 9 attacks at lethality 2 skill 0.
1 crit fails. 1 overshoots, 7 clean hits.
1 overshoot splats a friendly trooper.
1 crit fail destroys the trooper's weapon
7 hits roll their lethality bonus vs the target's armor bonus: (6,3,1,1,2,6,1)+2 vs (2,6,2,2,4,1,3) +2. The targets take 2 wounds They !rtd (1,6), 1 dies. 1 is recoverable.
Flow of die rollsShoot ->
!rtd for hits. -> !rtd for crit fails and overshoots
opposed roll for wounds -> !rtd for casualties
Notes to self: Cover is part of armor in the opposed roll. We may want to simulate trenches slightly differently. Also will we simulate air-burst munitions?
Armory sectionPrimitive Bullet Weapons:Small Arms:Low-Impulse Assault Rifle:Range: 300, 150
Attacks: 1, 2
Lethality: 2
Mass: 3kg
Ammo: 4g
Magazine: 500g
Unit Cost: $1,000
Ammo Cost: $0.30
Full-powered heavy riflesRange: 800, 400
Attacks: 1, 2
Lethality: 3
Mass: 4kg
Ammo: 10g
Magazine: 800g
Unit Cost: $3,000
Ammo Cost: $0.50
Anti-Materiel Rifle:Range: 1200, 600
Attacks: 1
Lethality: 4 AP 2
Mass: 10kg
Ammo: 50g
Magazine: 1 Kg
Unit Cost: $10,000
Ammo Cost: $2
Crew-Weapons:Squad Automatic Weapon:Range: 300, 150
Attacks: 3, 20
Lethality: 2
Mass: 5 Kg
Unit Cost: $5,000
Ammo Cost: $0.30
Medium Machine Guns:Range: 800, 400
Attacks: 3, 20
Lethality: 3
Mass: 12 Kg
Ammo: 10g
Unit Cost: $10,000
Ammo Cost: $0.50
Heavy Machine Guns:Range: 1200, 600
Attacks: 3, 20
Lethality: 4 AP 2
Mass: 40kg
Ammo: 50g
Unit Cost: $15,000
Ammo Cost: $2
MinigunsRange: 1000, 500
Attacks: 20, 100
Lethality: 3
Mass: 40kg
Ammo: 10g
Unit Cost: 20,000
Ammo Cost: $0.50
Notes: attacks do not reflect ammo consumption
You may research better ammo for primitive small arms.
Primitive Explosives:Hand Grenade:Range: 20
Radius 2
Lethality: 2
Unit Cost: 30 credits
60mm MortarRange: 3480
Radius: 2
Lethality: 2
Weight: 21 Kg
Ammo: 1.7 Kg
Unit Cost: 10 KiloCredits
Ammo Cost: 500 credits
81mm MortarRange: 5935
Radius: 3
Lethality: 2
Weight: 40 Kg
Ammo: 4.2 Kg
Unit Cost: 25 KiloCredits
Ammo Cost: 1260 credits
120mm MortarRange:7240
Radius: 6
Lethality: 4
Weight: 150 Kg
Ammo: 13.3 Kg
Unit Cost: 90 KiloCredits
Ammo Cost: 3000 credits
155mm HowitzerRange: 30000
Radius: 7
Lethality: 6
AP: 40 (direct hits)
Weight: 4200 Kg
Ammo: 50Kg
Unit Cost: 500,000 Credits
Ammo cost: 6000 credits
Man-portable Anti-tank missile launcher (Javelin)Range: 2000
Unit Cost: 126,000
Ammo Cost: 78,00
Lethality: 3?
AP: 150
Primitive Armor Systems:Ballistic Fibres over Rifle Plate:Armor: 2 (50%)
Weight: 10 Kg
Unit Cost: $2000
Assault ShieldsArmor: 2 (front)
Weight: 5 Kg
Unit Cost: $2000
Vehicles:MechanicsVehicle damage roll: AP v Armor
If Penetration: !RTD
1 - wrecked
2 - loss of hull point, component destroyed
3 - loss of hull point, mobility kill
4 - loss of hull point
5 - loss of hull point
6 - epic explosions
In case of 1 or 6, crew may attempt a repair roll
Starting Vehicles:Higgins Lander:A metal box that is as expendable as the troops it carries.
Doubles as a troop carrier on land. Also doubles as your first logistics vehicle
Vehicle Stats:
Dex: -1
Hull: 1
Armor: 5
Capacity: 40 passengers
Max Payload: 5000 Kg or 40 armed passengers & 1000 Kg
Hardpoints: 2 machine gun mounts
Crew: Pilot + 2 gunners + engineer
Fuel Consumption: 1 litre of diesel per km. Capacity: 2000L
Displacement: 8,200 Kg
Cost: 10,000
Willy the Jeep:An Ultra-cheap "wheeled reconnaissance/utility vehicle". Up to 1 can be stuffed into a Higgins along with the troops.
Vehicle Stats:
Dex: 2
Hull: 1
Armor: 3
Hardpoints: 1 machine gun mount
Crew: driver + gunner + 2 passengers
Fuel Consumption: 1 litre of desiel per 10 km. Capacity: 100L
Mass: 1000 Kg
Cost: 1000
Other Supplies (Modelled after Nato classification system):Class I:Subsistence (goop that passes as food): $10 per Kg
Drinkable water: $1 per Kg
200 bar 10L pressure tank: 100 credits
Class II:tents, tools, housekeeping supplies, vehicle repair kits - quotes available
Battlefield aid kits - used by grunt medics to provide initial care for casualties. consumed on use.
$100
5 Kg (bandages, stretchers, etc)
Class III:Only Diesel is implemented for now
Fuels and Lubricants
Liquid Hydrogen: $1 per litre
Liquid Oxygen: $0.04 per litre
(rocket fuel uses a ratio of around 2:1 LH:LOX)
Diesel: $0.50 per Litre
Class IV:Construction materials, all fortification and barrier materials - Quotes available
Class V:Specific Chemicals - Quotes available on request
Non-maneuver elements:Advanced Manpower:Manpower not drawn from the proleteriat...
Officers: More newly minted lieutenants, just like you! Officers are drawn from the best educated classes.
$1M for non combat officers. $2M for combat officers.
Combat officers may be deployed like other troop leaders. They can carry custom equipment like PDWs.
Upkeep: $10,000 per day
Warrant Officers:Educated Manpower from the middle classes that fill specialist jobs
$25,000
Upkeep: $500 per day
HeadquartersGeneral Office IT Equipment:Staff workstation: Industrial grade computers capable of crunching numbers as hard as the specialist can input them.
You need 1 per specialist staff.
$5000
Server: Allows for more complex networking of IT resources
- not implemented yet
Communications/Signals:Wireless Field-Radios: Wireless radio that allows for the relaying of commands beyond verbal and visual signalling.
Encryption researched seperately. - 5kg
Wired field-radios:A radio that offers much less risk to remote intercetion and jamming. This was used extensively in urban theatres and is still an option in the modern battlefield. The drawbacks involve long snaking wires that can be physically cut. - 5kg
Starting wired and wireless radios are 1000 credits eachRadio Operator (specialist):A button pusher to man the radios in your Headquarters.
Logistics/Transport:Notes:Trooper carrying capacity: 40kg
combat load: 20kg
Supply dumps, fuel dumps:Physical storage near the front lines for everything that your personel won't carry with them.
Supply Higgins:A dropship meant to move materiel from the abstract into he physical manifest. It is exactly the same as the troop carrier, and the two are interchangeable. The higgins is also used as a bread and butter transport truck between rear dumps and the front line.
Supply Specialist:A man dedicated to counting beans, guns, butter and other things an army might need. Without the bean counters, items might randomly go missing. (we'll track a items to bean counter ratio)
Intelligence:Battlefield surveillance specialist:Collects information from player and non-player elements and renders it into a semi-accurate state in order to increase the commander's situational awareness.
This department is also capable of cyber-warfare and drone capabilities, but these must be developed first.
Medical:Injury levels:Critical
Deteriorating
Seriously Injured -> Maimed
Wounded
Notes: The cost of medical care usually exceeds the replacement value of a prole.
Nurses (warrant officers):Prevents casualties from dying while waiting for treatment. They also handle most intermediate level treatment. They can be used in quick n dirty surgery setups.
Surgeons (officers):These officer class wizards fix broken people.
Collecting Stations:Regimental level casualty processing directly behind the front where doctors/nurses adjust splints and dressings, administer plasma and morphine. Also treats minor illnesses and combat fatigue. This station stabilizes casualties before surgery.
Treatment: Critical & Deteriorating -> Maimed
Variable Costs: $50 per casualty
Capacity: 10 per nurse, scales up to 400
fixed cost: $250,000
Field Hospital Wards:400 bed casualty storage
$100,000
Field Hospital General Surgical Suite:Comes with surgical prep, surgical instrument and material sterilization and storage, anesthesia equipment, etc...
$2M credits in setup cost
Cost per Casualty: $8,000
Casualties Per day: 4
Chance of survival: 5/6
Multi-Specialization Surgical Suite:$6M Credits in setup cost
Cost per Casualty: $20,000
Casualties per day: 1
Chance of survival: 5/6 + 1/6*4/6 = 17/18
On 1: RTD!:
1: dies
2: deteriorates 1 level
3: no change
4: improves 1 level
5: miraculous recovery
6: complications from overdose, usually dies.
Quick N Dirty field surgery:$100,000 setup cost
Cost per Casualty: $150
Casualties per day: 10
Chance of survival: !RTD
1: dies
2: deteriorates 1 level
3: no change
4: improves 1 level
5: miraculous recovery
6: complications from overdose, usually dies.
notes:Prosthetics and Robot limbs/bodies need to be researched, otherwise the horrendously maimed are discharged after being stabilized. You may however, ignore/euthanize the permanently maimed until we find a way to make them combat effective again, but it's not a nice thing to do.
Psychology - not implemented yet
PR Officer
Copywriter
Leaflet Printing machine
!Science!: - used for research and development
Evil Genius (officer): Oversees the development of toys.
Research Technicians: Elves who make the toys.
Bio/chem Labs$10M
Advanced chemical processing plantsCost varies according to what chemical processes we're handling and what equipment we need
Engineering WorkshopsCosts varies
Prototyping labCosts varies
!spiritual!:Chaplains (Warrant Officers): Uses the concept of a benevolent judea-christian God to stave of insanity in the men.
Other areas of !spiritual! have to be researched.