0114 - The Great Escape - Part VIII - A Dark Alley Somewhere- Turn 6

 1110 08 AUG 2000, Zdunska Wola, Poland
===================================
"We drove 'em off. Potato ran the barrel hot but the chewed up remains of that one guy con-vinced the others to head for the hills. Now we need to patch up the leaky holes everyone seems to have collected."

The Poles are pushing into the front line and the forward group needs to fall back. Hopefully, they will have time to do so before the enemy can move.

The new initiative order for this round is:

1 Wally
2 Logan
3 Harris
4 Robinson
5 Potato
6 Klasha
7 Marshall
8 NPCs (Not Particularly Cooperatives)
9 Griffin
10 Macron

Most of the team will be able to move, but it might be hard for Griff and Macron after the enemy gets their go.

Initiative Step 1 - Wally

Wally really wants to help the others, but combat is not really his thing. Still, he will take aim at Polish soldier #1-7 (Fast Action) and will then fire (Slow Action). The target is prone (-2) but has not moved this round.  Wally has an Agility of B (D10) and a Ranged Combat skill of D (D6). He will go for broke and add 5 Ammo dice to the pool, as the magazine is half empty any. Both base dice are stepped down, with the D6 being removed and the D10 reduced to a D8. The results are 6 (Base Die - 1 success) and 2,2,2,1,4 (Ammo dice - no successes and a mishap, total 11). The Pole is hit in the torso and his armor removes 1 point of damage and is degraded. The remaining point is enough to incapacitate the soldier. Great shooting Wally! Was not expecting that honestly.

Initiative Step 2 - Logan

Logan will run south (Fast Action) and seek cover (Fast Action) in the building with Klasha.

Initiative Step 3 - Harris

See the Pole get fired up by Wally, Harris reorients to the North and goes into overwatch (Fast Action). He orders Robinson and Macron to fall back (Free Action).

Initiative Step 4 - Robinson

With his weapon jammed and hostile pushing from two sides, Robinson stands (Fast Action) and moves South (Fast Action), passing Harris on overwatch.

Initiative Step 5 - Potato

Determined to hold the flank, Potato again aims (Fast Action) at Polish soldier #1-6 and lets off another burst (Slow Action). The range is 2 (Short). The target is prone, causing a modifier of -2, but Potato has the specialty Machinegunner and gets +1 to all attacks with a machinegun (total mod. -1). He has a Strength of A (D12) and a Heavy Weapons skill of B (D10), down stepped to C (D8). He adds 4 Ammo dice to the pool. The results are 6,2 (Base Dice - one success) and 6,6,3,6 (Ammo dice - three success, total 21). Ouch!

Sixes on the ammo die mean that these are separate hits. The Pole takes a total of 4 separate hits for three points of damage each. If there were other targets in the same hex. we could spread them around, but that is not the case. The Poles are maintaining separation. Still, a total of 12 points, will be enough to finish him off, as he only has 2 points left. We can rule him as KIA.

Initiative Step 6 - Klasha

Armed only with her PM, there is not a lot Klasha can do to affect the outcome of the fight. She will remain in cover.

Initiative Step 7 - Marshall

Having only her PM-64, Marshall will go into overwatch (Fast Action) to the Northwest.

Initiative Step 8 - NPCs

The Poles now have four WIA, one incapacitated trooper and one KIA, for a total of 60% (or 20% take out of the fight). We can assume that the commander has some sort of tactical overview of the situation and will order his men to begin a withdrawal.

Polish soldier #1-1 will order his men to fall back (Fast Action) before moving to the North (2x Fast Action).

Polish soldier #1-2 will stand (Fast Action) and move north (Fast Action).

Polish soldier #1-3 will leave the building and move North (2x Fast Action).

Polish soldier #1-4 will follow his teammates North (2x Fast Action).

Polish soldier #1-5 does not to leave his friend behind and moves (Fast Action) to grab his fellow soldier who is incapacitated. Seeing the trooper trying to help is buddy and not doing anything offensive, Harris decides to hold his fire.

Polish soldier #1-8 sees the others running for the hills and decides to stand (Fast Action) and catch up (Fast Action).

Polish soldier #1-9 stands (Fast Action) and moves (Fast Action) along the road.

Polish soldier #1-10 also Stands (Fast Action) and heads for the bridge to the North (Fast Ac-tion), disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

Initiative Step 9 - Griffin

As the firing has died down, Griffin will stop running and train his weapon on the Poles, calling for them to surrender (Slow Action). Griff will point out that the team is now alone of the field except for the two Poles and Griff promises to treat their wounds if they surrender.

This will be an opposed Persuasion roll. Unfortunately, not Griff’s strong suit, as he has an Em-pathy of D (D6). Some factors will influence this, each giving a +1 to the roll.

The positive factors are:

• You have more people on your side.
• What you ask for does not cost your opponent anything.
• Your opponent has suffered damage or stress.
• You present your case very well (Griff makes it obvious that he does not want to kill the Poles)

This makes a total of +4.

The negative factors are:

• You are having trouble understanding each other. (Polish is not Griff's native language and Eng-lish not for the Pole)
• You are not in the same hex (more than 5 meters apart).

In total, the modifier for Griff is +2. Griff's Empathy of D is stepped up to B (D10). The Pole has an Empathy of C (D8). The Pole rolls a 1 while Griff rolls a 9 (one success). The Pole rolls a 5 (no success) lays down his weapon.

Initiative Step 10 - Macron

Macron moves over to help secure the prisoners.

Combat has ended.

All in all, I must admit I am happy with the results. The amount of ammo used is like the amount that probably been used in v2.2 for the same result. The reliability rules I find add an easy way track the condition of equipment. The hit capacity of the characters has been reduced dramatical-ly and, in comparison, normal NPCs have become a lot more dangerous. I like that a lot.

The problem I see is initiative. The combat round is a few seconds the characters can change their mind about what they want to do based on actions that have taken place. My suggestion would be for each to declare their actions and THEN draw initiative cards. That way, the players and NPCs are committed to their actions. I believe this helps to better simulate things happening simultaneously. I will be using this model in the future.