0012 - Scene III – Clearing the Mines (1500 21 JUL 2000)

In the last scene, the team traveled to the site of the abandoned convoy. They observed the scene and set up an overwatch team and decided that the rest would approach the minefield before clearing the mines and recovering the vehicles. Now for the scene setup:

Clearing the Mines: The overwatch team will remain in place. The dismount team will accompany Harris forward and provide security. Harris will clear a 10m wide corridor for the vehicles by probing, marking and removing the mines. Once Harris is finished, the dismount team will recover the remaining trucks and bring them to the position of the dismounts.

Now it is time to check if the scene is modified. The current CR is 6, meaning the scene will be modified on a 6 or less. The gods of the die decide to make the roll a 5, resulting in an altered scene.

The most logical alteration would be that such a valuable resource such as the convoy is not unguarded. There are several trucks just sitting there, loaded with food. Someone, besides the characters, is gonna want part of it. To be sure, we can consult the GME:

GME Question: Is the convoy being guarded? - Likely – Chaos Rank 6 (85% chance of yes) – 29 – Yes.

GME Question: Are those guarding the convoy Soviets? - Very Unlikely (if they were, the Major would not need the help of the characters) – Chaos Rank 6 (50% chance of yes) – 95 – Exceptional No.

Ok, not even close to be Soviets. That leaves a few options open. The first being marauders, as they are everywhere at the moment due to the chaos of the recent fighting.

GME Question: Are those guarding the convoy Marauders? - Likely – Chaos Rank 6 (85% chance of yes) – 35 – Yes.

Now, how to interpret the Exceptional No in combination with the fact that the opposition are marauders. Maybe they are NATO troops.

GME Question: Are those marauders NATO troops? - Unlikely (the number of NATO troops in the area is limited but that does not mean that they cannot be marauders all the same) – Chaos Rank 6 (50% chance of yes) – 19 – Yes.

Now that is an interesting twist. Now we need some marauders. For that I will use my handy-dandy generation tool hack. It would help to know the nationality. For this, I use a table I created when I made my own modified encounter rules (NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY!!) 

Die (1d10)	Nationality
1	Canada
2	Denmark
3	Finland
4-5	United States
6-7	United Kingdom
8-9	Germany
10	Norway

The die says that they are German (9). On a roll of 1-3 (D6, of course), they are West German, otherwise they are East German. Again, the Gods of the Die decide East German. I generate the stats and set up my NPC Record Sheet.

Anyway, I knew I drew that bunker in for a reason, and I then add the map as a layer in OpenOffice (or LibreOffice, does not matter) Draw and then disable the layer to prevent me from accidentally moving it. Once the stats and the map are done, the shapes for the PCs and NPCs are added to the map. It is important to prevent their size from being changed, believe me. You will know when you move them.

So, everything is setup. We can assume the East Germans have prepared camouflaged fighting positions in advance and that the bunker is camouflaged as well.

The scene is modified so that the East Germans are waiting in ambush. The characters will move one trn and then be allowed to roll for Observation. The East Germans, ideally, will wait until the characters reach the edge of the minefield before opening fire. We can safely assume that they know the extent of the minefield.