0150 - Cellar Knife Fight - Part V

 1130 14 AUG 2000, Near Lubliniec, Poland

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"From the journal of Michael Griffin: One more boom and they had enough. To be honest, me too, but we needed to look tough for the bad guys. Glad they gave up when they did. I was starting to sweat a bit."

 

This could be the make or break turn for the team. Two are incapacitated and two more wounded. The Stragglers are in bad shape too, with 56% causalities. It will all come down to who goes first.

 

Initiative

Now time to draw initiative for this round.

 

Order	Name
1	Harris
5	Potato
6	Griffin
7	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #3
9	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #1
10	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #2

 

Before someone asks, no, I did not fudge the draw. This is what the random card draw gave me. I thought about it, but I decided to keep myself honest. When I draw, I assign the cards in the initiative order from the previous round. The draw was then, unsorted, the following:

 

	Order	Name
Nine of Spades	9	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #1
Ace of Spades	1	Harris
Seven of Spades	7	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #3
Six of Spades	6	Griffin
Ten of Spades	10	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #2
Five of Spades	5	Potato

 

All on the up and up here. No need to look further. Move along, this is not the turn you are looking for. ;-)

 

The room is still dimly lit, giving everyone a -1 modifier to fire combat.

 

Initiative Step 1 - Harris

Harris is suppressed (damn you, Panic Spreads rule!) and needs to roll for recovery. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 6, recovering but losing his Fast Action.

 

The team is in a desperate situation. Potato's weapon is jammed and Griff's is empty. Both are suppressed and will need to recover before acting. Harris needs to wound or kill as many of the Stragglers as possible. Time to go for some M67 desperation.

 

Task:	Throw grenade at the Stragglers
Ability Die:	Strength B (D10)
Skill Die:	Heavy Weapons D (D6)
Modifiers:	-1 dimly lit,	= -1
Mod. Ability Die:	Strength B (D10)	[Unmodified]
Mod. Skill Die:	--	[Removed, total = -1]
Ammo Die:	--
Roll:	9,--,--
Result:	1 Success

 

The grenade lands where it needs to be. All of the targets in the center hex are prone so the Blast will be reduced to D (2D6).

 

Straggler	Roll	Result
#1-4	6,6	Two hits (Torso, 1+1 Damage = Critical hit), NPC killed
#1-5	4,3	No hits
#1-6	3,1	No hits
#1-9	1,6	One hit (Arm, 1 point of damage), check for suppression (CUF C - D8) is an 8 (pass)
#1-10	6,4	One hit (Leg, 1 point of damage), check for suppression (CUF C - D8) is an 1 (Fail)
#1-16	1,5	No hits

 

Since Straggler #1-10 failed his suppression roll, the rest of the group will need to check. The Panic Spread-rule rides again. All have a CUF of C (D8).

 

Straggler	Roll	Result
#1-5	4	Fail, suppressed
#1-6	4	Fail, suppressed
#1-9	1	Fail, remains suppressed
#1-10	2	Fail, remains suppressed
#1-12	3	Fail, remains suppressed
#1-13	8	Pass
#1-14	5	Fail, drops prone and is suppressed
#1-15	4	Fail, suppressed
#1-16	6	Passes and recovers from suppression
#1-18	4	Fail, drops prone and is suppressed

 

In the surrounding hexes, most of the targets are prone, reducing the Blast of D to nothing. The exception is #1-11, who was still standing and plinking away at Potato. The roll here is 4,6 and he takes a fragment to the torso that is stopped by his vest. He will need to check for Suppression and rolls 2, dropping prone and becoming suppressed.

 

Those causalities will push the stragglers over the edge. The group has suffered 6 KIA and 5 WIA (61%). The majority of those troopers that are not dead are suppressed and some, like #1-13 no longer have a firearm. It is time to throw in the towel and the only sound left to be heard in the cellar is the sound of ringing ears. Somehow the group survived again.

 

 

0149 - Pushing the Roll

A question came up on the FB chat, if we had somehow missed the characters pushing the roll. To be completely honest, I am very reluctant to "push the roll" because of the possible consequences. When you have a hit capacity of 5, the possibility that you could lose 20% of your hit capacity because a bad roll makes you think twice about pushing it. The question is, is my fear realistic of just that "gut feeling"? I thought I would take some time an look back at a few rolls and see if pushing it would have changed anything.

 

What is "Pushing the Roll"?

If your initial skill roll fails, "pushing the roll" allows you, simply said, to re-roll. However, if you fail the second roll you suffer one point of damage (for STR and AGL skill rolls) or Stress (for INT and EMP skill rolls). If you make your skill roll, however, nothing bad happens to you as a result of the roll. In addition, if you suffered a Mishap (two 1s when rolling two or more die or one 1 when rolling one die) during your initial roll, you cannot push.

 

How to "Push the Roll"?

To push the roll, you re-roll your dice pool but there are a couple fine restrictions:

 

• You cannot re-roll any dice showing a 1
• You MUST re-roll all ammo dice
• You can only re-roll active checks. Passive skill checks may not be pushed
• You may only "push the roll" for a skill check once. The second results stand, period.

 

Comparisons

Now, to see if things would have gone different by pushing the rolls. To do so, I will compare the results of rolls made during the Cellar Knife Fight and other postsComap, showing the initial roll with the modifiers and simply rolling again.

 

Comparison #1

First of all, Harris' attempt to convince the Stragglers to join the group (from 0144 - Off We Go Again - Part XVII). The failure here is what started the screaming mess that has been the last four turns.

 

The initial roll was:

 

Task:	Convince the Stragglers to join the cantonment
Ability Die:	Empathy C (D8)
Skill Die:	--
Modifiers:	+1 won't cost the group anything, +1 presents a good case, +1 outranks the opponent, -1 opponent has more people	= +2
Mod. Ability Die:	Empathy A (D12)	[+2 Steps, total = +2]
Mod. Skill Die:	--
Ammo Die:	--
Roll:	5,--,--
Result:	Failure

 

This qualifies to push the roll, as it is an active skill roll and was not a mishap. One the push, Harris rolls a 9, with one success. Since this is an opposed roll, we would have had to roll for the Stragglers.

 

Task:	Opposed persuasion roll
Ability Die:	Empathy C (D8)
Skill Die:	--
Modifiers:	-1 opponent outranks you, +1 you have more people,	= 0
Mod. Ability Die:	Empathy C (D8)	[Unmodified]
Mod. Skill Die:	--
Ammo Die:	--
Roll:	8,--,--
Result:	1 Success

 

So, the roll ended in this case with both sides with one success. The team would not have been able to persuade the Stragglers and nothing would have changed.

 

Comparison #2

 

This one comes from 0145 - Cellar Knife Fight - Part I. In that turn, Harris had the Initiative 1 and got to fire the first shot and he dropped the ball.

 

Task:	Fire at #1-5
Ability Die:	Agility C (D8)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	-1 dimly lit room, -2 Quick Shot	= -3
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility D (D6)	[-1 Step, total = -1]
Mod. Skill Die:	--	[-1 Step and removed, total = -2]
Ammo Die:	2
Roll:	2,--,3,2	(5 rounds expended)
Result:	Failure

 

To push this roll, Harris would need to re-roll all three D6 die (Skill and two Ammo die). The push roll was 5,6,6. The skill roll failed again but Harris may have been able to Suppress #1-5 and possibly, with the Panic Spreads rule, also affected others in the same hex. This may have changed some of the outcome.  The straggler moved to cover that round after taking fire from both Harris and Macron. Since the roll failed, Harris would have suffered a point of damage, as he is using an Agility-based skill. High price to pay for a suppression.

 

Comparison #3

This one is from 0134 - Off We Go Again - Part VII. Macron engages a trooper at close range with three ammo dice.

 

Task:	Fire at Soldier #2-4
Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	+1 Rifleman specialty, -2 Target is prone = -1	= -1
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)	[Unmodified]
Mod. Skill Die:	Ranged Combat D (D6)	[-1 Step]
Ammo Die:	3
Roll:	9,3,1,3,2	(6 rounds expended)
Result:	Failure

                        

We can push the roll here too, but we may not re-roll the one. The re-roll is then 9,2,1,3,1. The task succeeded with two successes, which would have caused a critical hit with his AK-74 and he would have used less ammo. The total of two 1s would also result in a Mishap. It would have knocked out another trooper with a critical hit though, which would have been advantageous at that point.

 

So, three examples. In two, the results would not really have changed the outcome, with Harris actually sustaining damage in one of the rolls. The third would have had an influence but also a possible jam. Not really sure it would be worth it. Still a little skeptical about pushing the roll but I think everyone should try it to see if it works for them.

0148 - Cellar Knife Fight - Part IV

 1130 14 AUG 2000, Near Lubliniec, Poland

===================================

"From the journal of Michael Griffin: it was getting to be a bit much. Rounds were still incoming and the Potato got hit. The guy on the left put a half a clip into him for good measure. I could see a lot, as I was huggin' the ground. It was a lot of fire."

 

The Stragglers are very close to breaking. Their ammo is running out and there are many dead and wounded. The team needs to hold on for one more round.

 

Initiative

Now time to draw initiative for this round.

 

Order	Name
2	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #1
3	Harris
4	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #3
5	Griffin
6	NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #2
8	Potato
9	Robinson

 

The room is dimly lit again, giving everyone a -1 modifier to fire combat.

 

Initiative Step 2 - NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #1

Straggler #1-2 is the last member of the squad not suppressed. He winged Robinson last round, maybe he can do it again. The range is Short and he will add 2 Ammo die to the dice pool.

 

Task:	Fire FN-LAR at Robinson
Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	-1 limited visibility	= -1
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)	[Unmodified]
Mod. Skill Die:	Ranged Combat D (D6)	[-1 Step, total = -1]
Ammo Die:	2
Roll:	6,3,6,3	(9 rounds expended)
Result:	2 Successes

 

Two hits. That is not good. The first round takes Robinson in the head, his helmet removing one point of damage (and becoming degraded), leaving him with 2 an incapacitating him. The second round hits his torso, penetrates his vest and gives him an additional 2 points of damage. Robinson is down for the count.

 

Straggler #1-4 needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 8, recovering from his suppression but losing his Fast Action. Since his weapon is jammed, he will attempt to clear it. Unfortunately for him, he does not have the Tech skill, so this will be rolled against his Intelligence.

 

Task:	Clear the jam
Ability Die:	Intelligence C (D8)
Skill Die:	--
Modifiers:	--
Mod. Ability Die:	Intelligence C (D8)	[Unmodified]
Mod. Skill Die:	--
Ammo Die:	--
Roll:	2,--,--
Result:	Failure

 

The blows the roll, breaking his weapon and disarming himself.

 

Straggler #1-5 also needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 8, recovering from his suppression but also losing his Fast Action.

 

The team, like the Stragglers, are nearing the breaking point. Maybe he can put Harris down and sway the odds in the favor of the Stragglers. The range is Short and he will add 3 Ammo die to the dice pool.

 

Task:	Fire AKM at Harris
Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	-1 limited visibility, -2 Target Prone, -2 Quick Shot	= -5
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility D (D6)	[-2 Step, total = -2 - Last die cannot be removed]
Mod. Skill Die:	--	[-1 Step and removed, total = -2]
Ammo Die:	3
Roll:	1,--,2,2,3	(7 rounds expended)
Result:	Failure

 

A lot of fire, but all ineffective. Harris is still in the fight.

 

Straggler #1-6 also needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 4, recovering from his suppression but also losing his both his actions for the round.

 

Initiative Step 3 - Harris

Now is one of those make or break situations. Hopefully, Harris will not drop the ball. Shooting is not Harrris's strong point though but he needs to do something to save his team. The range is Short and he will add 3 Ammo dice to the pool.

 

Task:	Fire at Straggler #1-6
Ability Die:	Agility C (D8)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	-1 limited visibility, -2 Target Prone	= -3
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility D (D6)	[-1 Step, total = -1]
Mod. Skill Die:	--	[-1 Step and removed, total = -2]
Ammo Die:	3
Roll:	5,--,5,4,4	(13 rounds expended)
Result:	Failure

 

No dice, the NPC escapes without harm.

 

Initiative Step 4 - NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #3

The weapon of Straggler #1-13 broke last round. He slings around behind his back and pulls out a club (Fast Action) and stands (Fast Action), call out to the rest to be ready to rush those bums out there (meaning our brave heroes).

 

Straggler #1-14 will stand (Fast Action) and prepare to rush the group with the rest of the troops in the room.

 

Straggler #1-15 needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 2, recovering from his suppression but also losing his both his actions for the round.

 

Straggler #1-16  needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls an 8, recovering from his suppression but losing his Fast Action. He fires his .38 at Potato. The range is short and he will add 1 Ammo die to the pool.

 

Task:	Fire .38 at Potato
Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	-1 limited visibility, -2 Target Prone, -2 Quick Shot	= -5
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility D (D6)	[-2 Step, total = -2 - Last die cannot be removed]
Mod. Skill Die:	--	[-1 Step and removed, total = -2]
Ammo Die:	1
Roll:	6,--,1	(1 round expended)
Result:	1 Success

 

The round hits Potato in the arm and he suffers 1 point of damage and a point of stress. He also needs to roll for CUF. His CUF is B (D10) and he rolls a 1, blowing the roll and becoming suppressed. Harris, as Potato's buddy, also takes a point of stress, after seeing his buddy hit.

 

Panic spreads and Griff and Harris need to make a check too. Griff has a CUF of B (D10) and rolls a 1, becoming suppressed too. Harris has a CUF of C (D8) and rolls a 5, also becoming suppressed.

 

Straggler #1-18 is suppressed and needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls an 6, recovering but losing his fast action. He stands (Fast Action) and prepares to charge out of the room.

 

Initiative Step 5 - Griff

Griff is suppressed and loses his turn.

 

Initiative Step 6 - NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives) #2

Straggler #1-9 needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 3, failing the roll. He recovers from the suppression but loses both actions.

 

Straggler #1-10 also needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 7, recovering but losing his Fast Action. He loads his last remaining 10 rounds into his weapon (Slow Action).

 

Straggler #1-11 will aim (Fast Action) and empty his clip into Potato (Slow Action). The range is short and he will add 4 Ammo dice to the pool.

 

Task:	Fire AK-74 at Potato
Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)
Skill Die:	Ranged Combat C (D8)
Modifiers:	-1 limited visibility	= -1
Mod. Ability Die:	Agility B (D10)	[Unmodified]
Mod. Skill Die:	Ranged Combat D (D6)	[-1 Step, total = -1]
Ammo Die:	4
Roll:	9,4,4,2,2,4	(12 round expended)
Result:	1 Success

 

The bolt locks back and Potato takes a hit to the Torso, suffering 2 points of damage and 1 point of stress.

 

Straggler #1-12 also needs to roll to recover from Suppression. His CUF is C (D8) and he rolls a 3, recovering from his suppression but losing both his actions.

 

Initiative Step 8 - Potato

Potato is suppressed and loses his turn.

 

Initiative Step 9 - Robinson

Robinson is incapacitated and will set the rest out.