Small-scale tactical challenges

[Murphy]

My party of merc characters is on a long fat ticket serving as forward observers and scout/commando troops for some local army on Feri.

I've run a couple missions, but what it came to is just series of combat encounters in different terrains. I try to spice it up with having them make decisions where each option has different complications.

For example, they get to choose how they get from point A to point B during a city battle. If they go by the street, they can expect some enemy armor and barricades. If they go by the backyards, there will be close-quarters skirmishes. They can try to use the subway tunnels with some risk of getting lost.

A successful Recon roll reveals an enemy fortified position - they avoided blundering in and now have a choice to sidestep it and lose time, or call for support and break through, risking drawing more enemy attention to the area.

Alternatively, the party leader must choose who does what, and when. He may let one PC with a densitometer and a background in geodesy find the secret mining base in the mountains, or he may opt to capture an enemy patrol's officer for a PC with interrogation skills.

Thought I'd share this and ask for more ideas. Any typical war situations where a platoon commander must make a meaningful choice? Perhaps high TLs bring something new here that I didn't think of?

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Dated Information: Served in the Military during the 80's.

I don't know how many players you are running but from the general discription it's any where between 4 and 6 players. Recon/scouts is what everybody runs with that low of number. The issue become at that point what is the overall goal of campaign and how large operation it is.

Large scale military operations require scouts to report back information to central command and really (if all possible) no contact with the enemy. This makes for a boring game, I know. However, if they recon a site or target prior to a large scale operation they could be caught up in the fog of war. IE, the commander of the large operation encounters a stronger force and have to pull back, surgical strikes performed by team, and so on. Discord with the high command can also make for a challenge as well.

Small scale actions against Terrorist and guerillas: The only way to describe this is the group discovers a lead and follow it through until the end. This means no support from their base and they have to scrounge off terrorist and insurgents for weapons and supplies.

The problem with running this sort of game (for me) is never ending combat ends up being boring. If you don't give them a goal to achieve or raise the tension between commander and unit, they soon will want to play something else. Even this can help, brake the bordem of miltary command and combat (Movie Kelly's Heros is an example). Making the players see the point of view of the enemy and civilian population can help the game along as well (evil doers that everyone hates makes for a good enemy).

Start there, like I've said, I stopped running games in the early 90's so everything is kinda hazy for me but I did run a very long military campaign style game. I still have note books full of the charts and encounter tables in a trunk downstair...

 

[RockyMountainNavy]

It's not all war....

Instead of just focusing on pure combat settings you can look for an incident not in the front lines. Maybe the party is sent to a small village for r&r when it is attacked by a gang of marauders. Maybe the party gets clues that there is an enemy spy in the area but high command cannot divert resources to sniff them out so the party has too. Maybe the party gets caught behind the lines in a major enemy offensive and must rely on their scouting and recon skills to successfully evade capture.
It sounds like the leader of the group is giving the order. Widen the spotlight by giving him an injury (can't talk) and let his lieutenant take over for a session. This would go really well with the behind enemy lines bit!
Another in battle option is to have the party be like a long range deep recon unit. Mission is to infiltrate to a surveillance site, watch for key enemy movement for a set time, the get to an extraction point. Along the way throw at them issues like a friendly town that needs things like their water supply well fixed, takes time but needs to be done. Or while watching they see an enemy high commander staff officer...do they let him go, kidnap him, or kill him and run?
In the original post you asked what decisions a platoon leader made in battle. At that lower tactical level the the decisions are very tactical in battle. I would tell you not to put the focus there. Give the party moral challenges that make them choose what to do.

 

[Ruarigh]

What books have you read or films have you seen that might translate into scenarios for this sort of group? My first thought is to send them off on a mission of their own choosing. Give them clues to a great treasure and see how they approach stealing it for themselves (Kelly's Heroes, as mentioned earlier). What about the mercs having them go under cover into the enemy strongholds? They could have an infiltration mission rather than the usual combat with this approach. If the game ends in combat then the mission might be accounted a failure. They might be sent on an assassination mission (The Eagle has Landed). Another mission might see them making contact with a friendly resistance unit behind enemy lines. They could have to negotiate a treaty between the resistance unit and their own teams, or escort a non-combatant negotiator into the area to do the job. The R&R idea is a good one too. The team gets to take a break back in the main city and gets involved in criminal shenanigans, attempts to subvert them by the enemy, scandals, local politics and just about anything else that could happen in a normal Traveller game.

If you can introduce civilians and non-combatants into the scenarios then you could easily find ways to frustrate, annoy and generally wind up your players in a manner that would make the gaming experience more satisfying.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Private Ryan scenerio, except the private is a nobleman's son who ranaway and joined the military or the restistance.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I agree with RockyMountainNavy and Ruarigh - those are some good ideas.

Here's mine: They are the recon element for a small unit going to retrieve non-combatants behind or near enemy lines - refugees, basically. They find out there is something more at work, and it is a trap. (The trap could be sprung on the small unit, or something that goes all the way back to a main friendly area - a locator for a suborbital weapon to take out headquarters or something dramatic.)
The problem is that the commander of the small unit won't believe them. They need to eliminate the threat or convince the commander before everything goes to pot.

 

[Omnivore]

Mission: Infiltrate area near HQ of enemy division. Find and observe staff officer briefing facility. Verify presence of the division's S-2 <identification details provided> aka 'target'. Call orbital laser target designated kinetic missile strike mission and provide laser target designation.

Catch: Your team is using higher tech level equipment than the supported army. A translation gadget is necessary for communications with the missile launching satellite. The gadget breaks. Options include looting parts from enemy to kludge together a fix (assuming relevant skills); change the plan to assassinate the S-2 by sniper fire or improvised explosives; or simply abandon the mission.

Possible twist: security breach, enemy knows your team is coming.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Typical twists to whatever mission the group is already on.

Run across an injured friendly.
Run across an injured unfriendly.
Run across an injured non combatant.
Run across a child with nobody to care for them.

Run across someone who knows where there is 'something important' but looking into it could mean canceling or delaying the mission. Can the informant be trusted? The 'something important' could be a weapons cache, enemy leaders temporary hideout, prisoners being held by enemy, location of crashed/disabled vehicle/drone, and so on.

Of course in these and almost all situations, if there is communications with 'command' decisions are out of the groups hands.

 

[Murphy]

These are lots of good suggestions, thank you all.

Here's what I have now. The global mission is taking over a city with spaceport. Both sides are busy preparing for battle, and there's not much going on yet except for some long-range artillery back-and-forth. Not much orbital support because the war has exhausted that kind of resources for both sides.

It is 2-3 days before the main assault begins. Some days ago a battalion was sent to harass the enemy with hit-and-run missions, taking advantage of the fact the city is only loosely fortified. Turns out the enemy has concentrated more forces in the area than we knew, and the battalion managed to get cut off behind the enemy lines. Due to their mobility PCs are tasked to find the unit and deliver supplies for it to last until the main assault begins.

Slipping through enemy defenses should be relatively easy with their TL12 equipment (the enemy only has TL11). However, they must then remain with the unit, meaning they get to do commando missions for 2-3 days in an enemy-occupied city (I think finding / taking out enemy artillery pieces). The local populace has been partially evacuated but those that remain are hostile. Non-combatants can make a commando's life hell without taking up arms, and you're not supposed to shoot them, right? Informers for the occupying army and such?

One of the reasons I even started this thread is not that I can't come up with scenarios, but that I often can't be sure if my scenario is plausible. Maybe there's some logical fallacy, I never know (neither me nor my players have a military background).

 

[Hyphen]

... the battalion managed to get cut off behind the enemy lines. Due to their mobility PCs are tasked to find the unit and deliver supplies for it to last until the main assault begins.
[snip]
Maybe there's some logical fallacy, I never know (neither me nor my players have a military background).

You'd need a pretty bloody big truck to supply a batallion.

Either you're looking at securing an entire supply line for back-and-forth deliveries, or a big one-way convoy.

Alternatively reduce the cut-off unit to company size (e.g. Easy Company at the Battle of the Bulge), or make it that your PC's must transport a vital piece of equipment (e.g. a replacement for the communicator that the enemy blew up).

For more intrigue on option 2, the equipment was really destroyed by a saboteur, who will now have to destroy the new gear brought in (an guarded by) the PC's...

 

[Fritz_Brown]

Run across a child with nobody to care for them.

You evil man, you. :devil: Twists to this are legion, but typically involve someone tagging them as kidnappers, and bad and good guys chasing them due to misunderstanding.

One of the reasons I even started this thread is not that I can't come up with scenarios, but that I often can't be sure if my scenario is plausible. Maybe there's some logical fallacy, I never know (neither me nor my players have a military background).

Your scenario is good. (Except for the size of the unit, as pointed out.) You might add in there that the enemy has acquired some uniforms/identification from the players' side. So, how do they really know who is who? (Who played keeper for the Mishgaal Slashers grav-ball team in 1108?)

 

[Murphy]

So, how do they really know who is who?

Remembering my thread about introducing aliens, I consider making the friendlies non-human. Probably an all-Vargr unit. A planetary army of a pro-Imperial state on Feri can probably have a couple of these, right?

Can give a few free bits of roleplaying and also fits neatly with the separate unit idea - they're not part of any brigade.

Edit:
Actually, screw that. I can't think how could such a big pack of Vargr fit into any human army at all.

 

[Whipsnade]

Thought I'd share this and ask for more ideas. Any typical war situations where a platoon commander must make a meaningful choice? Perhaps high TLs bring something new here that I didn't think of?

You might want to nose around various war game fora like Boardgame Geek or Free Wargames UK for various play aids called "scenario generators". Many small scale tactical war games, and not just those featuring miniatures, provide ways for the players to create new scenarios. Advanced Squad Leader, for example, has one such system. Some systems are part of the game while others have been created by fans.

I regularly these systems to "roll up" a few dozen encounters from which I'd pick a few interesting candidates.

 

[Omnivore]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing Whipsnade is referring to exactly, but I've found Scott Grasse's old SP Scenario and Battle Setup windows program of use for generating background information. While it is meant for use with the SPWAW game and the WWII period, it generates interesting matchups that can give you basic ideas that you can translate into your genre (such as OTU) and TL.

It amazingly still works on Windows 7 without problems despite being written over a decade ago - download link Spwawsg.zip at the blitz http://www.theblitz.org/downloads/.

 

[Whipsnade]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing Whipsnade is referring to exactly, but I've found Scott Grasse's old SP Scenario and Battle Setup windows program of use for generating background information. While it is meant for use with the SPWAW game and the WWII period, it generates interesting matchups that can give you basic ideas that you can translate into your genre (such as OTU) and TL.

That's a very good example of what I was bloviating about. Any GM worth his Cheetos can peruse the output of such a system to select interesting encounters for his mercs.

 

[77topaz]

It amazingly still works on Windows 7 without problems despite being written over a decade ago - download link Spwawsg.zip at the blitz http://www.theblitz.org/downloads/.

In which directory and sub-directory would that be?

 

[Omnivore]

In which directory and sub-directory would that be?

Ooops, sorry missed that part: Downloads/mods/steel_panthers/

 

[flykiller]

various play aids called "scenario generators"

you've mentioned these sorts of generators in the past (recalling specifically backstory generators and "factions" by somebody), but every time I go looking for them they're out of print or selling for $300. the concept seems simple enough so I tried coming up with my own, but it would save time if you could give an example or two of how they work.

 

[Enoki]

Use the historical scenarios in this book:

http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/InfantryinBattle.pdf

Pick an appropriate portion of one of the multitude of infantry actions presented and place your small unit into the overall scenario. Just change the terrain to fit the world you're on.