((I’m going to restore your team health for the second part of the fight, I had planned to have the
enemy specials and
officers be a sort of a boss fight in the first place (hence why they haven’t shown up yet). There are a lot of things I like so far about the mechanics but some things (like the cover system
) that need adjustments, you can read about my thoughts in the note section at the bottom.))
((Sigh, all the German weapons’ numbers are year numbers. I think I will reverse my name changes on a few of them for clarity’s sake, but I’ll give them numbers that make sense in the setting when they are mentioned in NPC dialogue.))
Turn 5: Mission 1
(Gothia receives 1.5x damage this turn!)
Zehn ducks behind a tree and peeks out for some shots. Sighting the west
riflemen he fires 10 rounds. (10->5, -3 cover -> 2 hits)(2 damage)(12 fire superiority) The wooden window cross frame is hit causing splinters and glass shards to rain down on the
rifleman. He’s shaken, but he’s far from dead.
Zehn, then turns his Vickers on the north most
rifleman in the window. There’s smoke blocking (3 turns remaining on smoke) his sight to the north doors, behind it is the last member of the enemies flanking attempt.
Zehn squeezes the trigger. (10-> 1 hit, -3 cover -> 0 damage)(10 fire superiority) It proves difficult to hit the north most rifleman. Most of the rounds glance the building and fly harmlessly into the woods to the east. ((Just so you know, you didn't fire through the smoke, you just rolled really low.))
Philip rips the pin from a grenade and allows the safety latch to pop off and fall to the ground. He heaves it in a high arc and sends it tumbling through the west window that
Zehn just shot to bits. (6 dice -> 3 hits -> ignores cover)(3 damage)(4 fire superiority) From outside you here a hard thud, it sounded like someone jumping back and landing on the floor. The grenade explodes seconds later killing the
rifleman and spitting a few of its fragments out the window.
Hans takes a look up at the window. It’s a bit high, but he’s climbed more difficult things before and training. Tally ho!
(4 regular success) Slinging his rifle,
Hans gets a footing on the brick base and kicks up, he manages to get a grip on some brickwork and hoists himself up to the window. He rolls into the window and lands in a crouch. The grenade created a bit of a hole where it went off, exposing insulation and the electric wires to the 1st floor lights. The west window
rifleman’s body lies besides it, his leg got it the worst, separated from the knee down. You hear yelling from downstairs and clamoring footsteps. Down the hall a bit and north is a door. It goes to the where the north window
rifleman is and further down the hall is another door, it leads to the east section of the building. South, along the hallway are south-facing windows. You can see the long road that leads to the building and the truck
Jim is hiding behind, but your view of
Krilage’s and
Madeline’s hiding place is obstructed by the east section of the building.
Philip also decides to enter the building with
Hans (3 regular failure).
Philip succeeds in climbing up halfway, but he has a difficult time getting through the window. (Philip will automatically enter the building through the window at the start of next turn, read above paragraph for a description of the second story).
Madeline, afraid of being caught bound up decides to distance herself from her team mate. She sights the MG-34 toting enemy
squad leader and unleashes 5 rounds! (5 -> 4 hits, -3 cover -> one hit)(2 damage)(10 fire superiority). The gewehr’s bolt locks in open position. The rifle has deterred the
squad leader, but he’s certainly not down for the count.
Jim squeezes off the remaining three rounds of his Webley and barrels towards the building, leaving his southern position at the Opel Blitz truck. (3 -> 1 hit, -3 cover -> 0 damage)(3 fire superiority), The .455 rounds pepper the building corner but fail to score any hits. Jim does not make it to the building, he makes it halfway, near some of the trees along the entrance pathway.
((I’m not sure if you were trying to go after the enemy or not, so I’m making go first.))
Krilage moves north, he remains in the brush though. From his slightly more north position he can sight either the north east building corner
squad leader or the wounded, 2nd story east window
grenadier.
Krilage slides a HE rocket down the back of the M1A1 and sights the building corner. The MG-34 presents a much bigger threat. Wrapping the wire to the launcher’s contact point,
Krilage shoulders the weapon and squeezes the trigger, he stands to get a slightly flatter trajectory with the ground to hopefully avoid having the rocket skip on the snow and fail to detonate. (13 -> 7 hits, -3 cover -> 4 damage)(5 fire superiority). The rocket screams out of the barrel with incredible acceleration and explodes on the snowy ground. The enemy
squad leader is killed.
The north window
rifleman returns fire in response to
Zehn’s inaccurate burst. (1 dice -> 1 hit, first shot ignores cover)(2 damage)(2 fire superiority).
The wounded enemy
grenadier appears at the 2nd story south east window, he spots
Jim, but he decides to try and silence the rocket launcher. He lobs two grenades at
Krilage’s position,
Madeline would have been hit too had she not moved. (6+6 dice -> 3 hits, -2 cover)(2 damage)(3 fire superiority). The grenades barely reach the woods and the
Krilage is well shielded from the blast in the woods.
An enemy
machinegunner and
grenadier appear in the first floor south-east room, near where
Jim was heading. Luckily, the trees will provide him cover if they shoot at him. A
squad leader appears in the first floor south west room (of the east building section). “
Lass diesen Idioten für mich. Ziel für die Raketen-Infanterie!” The
squad leader yells and proceeds to empty his MP-40 at Jim. (30 dice -> 13 hits, -2(-1 from skill) cover, -2 body armor) (12 damage)(42 fire superiority!). 9mm rounds chew away at the tree, they prove annoyingly effective at punching through.
Jim covers, putting his advanced
cowarding covering skill to use, at the tree. He slumps down under the terrifying barrage of close range machine pistol fire. Good time to be wearing body armor!
The enemy Maschinengewehr roars to life, firing a medium burst. (20 dice -> 7 hits, -2 cover )(8 damage)(25 fire superiority) The
grenadier heaves two gothic stick grenades towards
Krilage’s position. (12 dice -> 5 hits, -2 cover)(5 damage)(7 fire superiority). Krilage covers by throwing himself on the ground. Branches and bark bits fall onto him from above and grenades blast around him. This incredible firepower is bringing the royal commandos close to a route! (19/72 health remaining!)
Recap: The floor west window
rifleman was killed by a grenade. The north window
rifleman is alive. There is a smoke grenade at obscuring the north building doors with 3 turns remaining. The last member of the flanking party that attacked
Krilage and
Madeline was killed this turn by a rocket. There is a wounded
grenadier at the south-eastern 2nd story window and
three new enemies have appeared, a
grenadier and
machinegunner at the 1st-floor south-eastern windows and a
squad leader at the 1st-floor south-west window. There are
3 officers and
4 special type enemies and a bunch of noncombatants that have yet to be sighted.
Zehn is in the forested north-west corner of the map,
Hans is inside the west section of the building and
Philip is outside the west 2nd story window on the side of the building.
Jim is at one of the trees along the path to south doors (the main entrance) of the building and is in short range of the
three new enemies.
Krilage is at the tip of the south-east forested spot and
Madeline is one movement's worth of distance east of him (that puts her off map).
(Turn Fire Superiority totals: 44 (
Commandos) vs 81 (
Low Gothia)(
Gothia has again secured the fire superiority damage multiplier!)
You can move about one range's worth (I won't be picky) of distance and shoot one weapon each turn. When you attack declare who you are shooting at (can be multiple people if they are reasonably close and hits exceeding the kill carry over to next target) and how many bullets you are firing. The first shot of your attack gets +1 to hit and cannot be blocked by cover.
Weapons that say 'blast' in their profile can hit multiple enemies up to the number specified. (ex: blast 3 can hit three enemies) Blast weapons roll their full dice against everything they hit, they don't benefit from the first 'shot' bonus (notice that HEAT Rockets aren't blast and do get the first dice bonus) and cover is calculated normally against them unless otherwise specified.
Cover blocks a set number of hits from every attack that hits you except for the first shot of an enemy attack.
After each turn both sides' number of shots fired and damage dealt are added up, the side with the higher value deals 1.5x damage next turn,
(this modifier is ignored when determining which side is awarded the 1.5x damage modifier.
-Blasts are about 3x3 tiles on this map or about ¼ the size of the house.
-You can move about ¼ the map’s height/width in one turn (and maybe if write that you ‘sprint’ and don’t do anything else I’ll let you go even farther). Don’t count the tiles, if it seems reasonable it is.
-Short range is about ¼ the house in length, Medium is a little more than twice that and Long is anything else. I’m not really going to be a stickler about range.
-The transparent bits represent the upper stories of the house. (sorry if that’s unclear)
-There are a couple of windows on each side of the building, I just couldn’t find a good way to represent them.
Enemy health total:
89, Enemy head count:
5 regular types,
4 special types,
3 officer types,
10 non-combatant types.
Regular Enemy Ammo Count:
15 rounds 9mm,
170rounds 7.92mm,
19 grenades
2 Panzerfausts.
Team health (
19/72)
Madeline Christie Atkinson (DivideByZero) (12 health)
Race: Human
Appearance: A thin, medium-height woman with high cheekbones and an eternally frustrated look on her face. She has milk-chocolate hair with two braided locks of hair running down either side to her shoulders.
Forbidden Knowledge -- Can make guesses as to how one would cast a certain spell, what a person could do with magic, whether magic was being used, etc. Magical knowledge that's just short of actual magic.
Camouflage – enemies shoot at -1 to hit when you are in cover outdoors.
Psychological Warfare -- Doubled first shot damage and first shot fire superiority effect with rifles.
Inventory(5/5 slots):
-Gewehr 01 (you see, 43 is a year number) (1 slot) (Short +4, Medium +3, Long +3) (fires 7.92mm) (10 round detachable box)
-60 rounds 7.92mm (1 damage)
-70 rounds 7.92mm
-3 No. 77 W.P. Grenade (3 per slot) (Short +4, Medium +5 Long X) (4 dice, 1 damage, blast) (hits every turn) (-1 to all shots through area) (ignores cover) (can use in addition to firing a weapon)
-70 rounds .303 (1 damage)
(-)Bayonet (Melee +3) (3 dice) (1 damage) (you can attack with this in addition to firing a rifle)
Jim Harrington (Questorhank) (12 Health)
Race: Human
Appearance: A tall, lean man. His brown hair is shoulder-length and almost always "up" in some way (usually a hastily-done ponytail). He keeps his beard and moustache short, . There's a faint scar under his left eye.
Speaks Low Gothic
Mechanic – knowledge check mechanics/vehicle weaknesses. +1 to repair actions.
Covered -- 1.25 increased protection from cover
Straight Faced -- +1 on lies/general deception.
Inventory(5/5 slots)
-Webley Revolver Mark II (1 slot) (Short +4, Medium +5, Long +6) (can always be fired in addition to any other turn actions)
-Basic Body Armor (1 slot) (grants -2 hits vs pistols, machine pistols, explosives)
-24 rounds .455 (1 damage) and 40 rounds .303 (1 damage)
-70 rounds .303
-70 rounds .303
(-)Bayonet (Melee +3) (3 dice) (1 damage) (you can attack with this in addition to firing a rifle)
Hans Koring Staffenberg (Sir Elventide)(12 health)(squad leader)
Race: Elf
Appearance: An average sized elf, Hans has a line of freckles across the bridge of his nose, straw-blonde neck length hair with a thin braid hanging over the right side and pale blue eyes.
Speaks Low Gothic
Silver-tongued – Intuition check: manipulation
Magosensory Perception – Sensory check: magic
Tactician – Intuition check: enemy tactics
Inventory(4/5 slots):
- Short Magazine Lee Enfield (1 slot) (Short +4, Medium +3, Long +3) (fires .303 English) (10 round mag)
-70 rounds .303 (1 damage)
-3 No. 5 Mark II Hand Grenade (3 per slot) (Short +4, Medium +5) (6 dice, 1 damage, blast 3) (ignores cover at short range) (can use in addition to firing a weapon)
-3 American TH Incendiary Grenade (3 per slot) (Melee +4, Short +5, Medium +6) (3 dice, 10 damage) (can use in addition to firing a weapon)
-empty
(-)Bayonet (Melee +3) (3 dice) (1 damage) (you can attack with this in addition to firing a rifle)
Zehn Graftkin(Doomblade187)(12 health)
Race: Orc
Appearance: A thick, solidly built orc, he has dark eyes and hair, and tries to keep his uniform neat at all times.
Necromancy—roll to commune with the dead! Bonus if offering is made.
Man of Many Words -- Understands many colonial and Euro-Roman languages.
Machinegunner – the first enemy shot at with more than 10 bullets deals -2d6 less damage that turn.
Inventory(5/5 slots):
- Vickers Orc Adaptation (3 slots, 2 slots for orcs) (Short +4, Medium +4, Long +5) (fires .303) (100 rounds drum)
-X
-20 rounds .303 (1 damage)
-70 rounds .303
-70 rounds .303
(-)Bayonet (Melee +3) (3 dice) (1 damage) (you can attack with this in addition to firing a rifle)
Krilge Schmidt(Pancaek)(12 health)
Race: Orc
Appearance: Krilge is big and muscular, like most orcs of his kind. He also has a bit of belly and a permanent soft expression on his face. He has many small scars scattered over his body, results of dabbling with explosive substances. He keeps his hair short on purpose, and his eyebrows are often rather sparse by accident.
Demolition orc-- 1.33x dice to any explosive you use including ordnance type.
Shrapnel avoider—additional -2 hit cover when you are shot at while contextually moving
Family orc -- +1 to positive speech, -1 to negative speech, +2 to talking to children
Inventory(5/5 slots):
- American M1A1 60mm Rocket Launcher (1 slot) (Short +4, Medium +4, Long +5) (60mm rocket)
- empty slot
-1 X1 60mm HE Rocket (2 rounds per slot) (10 dice, 1 damage, blast 4)
-1 X1 60mm HE Rocket and 1 M6A2 60mm HEAT Rocket (2 rounds per slot) (3 dice, 15 damage)
-1 Light Demolition Charge (1 slot) (Short +4, Medium X, Long X) (6 dice, 3 damage, blast 5) (ignores cover at short range)
(-)Bayonet (Short +3) (3 dice) (1 damage) (you can attack with this in addition to firing a rifle)
Phillip Ottersen(Slick)(12 health)
Race: Human
Appearance: At 6'4'' the Filipino-English mix is rather tall for a human especially given his heritage, with black crew cut an a trimmed mustache and beard. Tends to have a happy-go-lucky expression always looking at the bright side no matter the situation. Is laden with the equipment of a Grenadier.
Grenadier's Arm-- All thrown explosives inherit a (short +4, medium +4, long X) profile in place of their regular one, always ignore enemy cover.
I Will Be Your Shield!!!-- Can share shield cover with a nearby ally. Additionally, shields do not take a slot.
Hey now, What about that stiff upper lip?-- +1 to comforting actions/speech.
Inventory(5/5 slots):
(-)(1 slot) (-6 hits vs weapons with lower than 3 damage) (cannot fire guns other than pistols, throwing/melee are OK)
-Basic Body Armor (1 slot) (grants -2 hits vs pistols, machine pistols, explosives)
-Flanged Mace (1 slot) (Melee +3) (1 damage) (5 dice)
-2 No. 5 Mark II Hand Grenade (3 per slot) (Short +4, Medium +5 Long X) (6 dice, 1 damage, blast 3) (ignores cover at short range) (can use in addition to firing a weapon)
-3 No. 5 Mark II Hand Grenade
-3 M18 Smoke Grenade (3 per slot) (Short to medium range) (-1 to all shots through smoke)
(-)Bayonet (Melee +3) (3 dice) (1 damage) (you can attack with this in addition to firing a rifle)
his is just a list of possible gameplay changes. No changes will be made until at least the end of a mission.
-Reduce bullets per slot, enemy ammo totals (not explosives per slot, just bullets) and scale down enemy health accordingly.
-Introduce new cover mechanics.
(These two above changes should help restore the bullet economy and help balance melee, conservative shooting and explosives)
-Switch to a map based game for ease of communicating locations/ranges/objects/etc/etc
-create general guidelines for shooting at, fighting in and shooting out of buildings so that they aren’t so dependent on context.
-provide more information about enemies (cover, stats, weapons, general behaviors, etc)
(The above three changes are to simplify the game from my side and also facilitate player strategy by decreasing the amount of gameplay relevant detail that is communicated by writing alone)