Wing and Sword: a d20 Modern military campaign [METAGAME]

[Barak]

Geebus. Half the unit is going to end up dead by.. A ravine.

 

[The Shaman]

Geebus. Half the unit is going to end up dead by.. A ravine.

HINT: you can take 10 on a Climb check...

 

[Bobitron]

HINT: you can take 10 on a Climb check...

Ahh. I remembered you couldn't take twenty, and assumed the same applied for 10. I think everyone failed an Int check on that one...

 

[The Shaman]

I think everyone failed an Int check on that one...

Yes, but isn't that exactly the kind of miscalculation you'd expect of a bunch of overeager recruits encountering their first combat situation? Trying to muscle their way up or down a steep slope instead of taking their time and carefully picking their route? From a roleplaying standpoint, it's perfect.

 

[The Shaman]

Oued Baraba map

The tactical map for your next encounter shows "Hill" 662 (a rocky outcrop barely above the level of the surrounding desert), a sandy wash, and the edge of Oued Baraba.

The grid represents 100' by 100' squares (roughly 30m on a side). The grid is a bit irregular, but that's an artifact of the shaky cartographer (... :\ ...) not the map - please treat each square as the same size. The encounter area is too large to show in 5' by 5' tactical squares unfortunately - this was necessary to give room to maneuver. Basically you can move across a full square at a run in one round, as a full-round action in two rounds, as as a tactical move in three rounds. Don't be overly concerned about precision, though - that's just to give you a general idea of how far apart things are.

North is to the top of the map. The contour line interval is 5m. The map slopes from east (right) to west (left). From the east edge of the map to the 645m countour marking the edge of the oued, the slope is less than that of a wheelchair-accessible ramp, for purposes of comparison (in other words, pretty flat) - the edges of the [i[oued[/i] are quite steep (as shown by the bunched up countour lines) except for a small gully at B2., which is merely steep.

Map features are as follows:

• Green splotches marks stands of shrubs and grass - these provide one-quarter concealment (10% miss chance).
• Gray marks rock outcrops - rock outcrops provide one-quarter cover to standing characters (+2 Cover bonus to Defense, +1 Reflex saves), one-half cover to kneeling characters (+4 Defense, +2 Reflex saves), and three-quarters cover to prone characters (+7 Defense, +3 Reflex saves).
• Yellow represents a shallow gully - a kneeling character in the gully gets one-quarter cover and a prone character one-half cover. A character may enfilade the gully if firing along its length, negating the cover bonus - for example, a paratrooper firing from D6 to D5 ignore the cover bonus for any target in the gully, though concealment from the shrubs may still apply.

You might want to review the rules on suppression fire - since you can't target a 5' by 5' square, just give me a general idea of where you're character is laying down a base of fire (for example, "Normand is targetting the shrubs at the east edge of C3 with suppressive fire"), or pick a target from the units shown on the map as the encounter progresses.

If you have questions about the map itself, please post them here in the Metagame thread. If you have any problems opening the .jpeg, please let me know that here too.

 

[знаток]

Assuming Vidal is right next to Duval, I've got some questions about what can now occur. First of all, I don't really know the relationship between actions and such and real time.

1. I'm mostly wondering if Vidal has time before the initiative order starts to get Duval's guidance on what to tell the air support.
2. Exactly how far off are the aircraft now timewise?
3. Do they need to do a pass over and see the visibility panel before they can get oriented and provide accurate support?
4. Is Vidal capable of judging whether the scout team is too close to the target for air support?

Also, I'm assuming if he just wants me to start shooting now, I can just follow Duval's lead because he's above me in the initiative chain. I guess questions 2, 3, and 4 can all be answered by some quick guidance from him, effectively shutting me up.

 

[The Shaman]

Taking 10 on a Knowledge (military science) roll...

1. I'm mostly wondering if Vidal has time before the initiative order starts to get Duval's guidance on what to tell the air support.

You could ask him a question or two as a free action each round.

2. Exactly how far off are the aircraft now timewise?

About 30 to 60 seconds before it will pass overhead (between 5 and 10 rounds).

3. Do they need to do a pass over and see the visibility panel before they can get oriented and provide accurate support?

The plane with which Vidal is in communication - Juliet 4 - is a spotter - the "fast movers" referenced in the radio transmission are jets that will perform the actual ground suppression mission. (Please forgive my use of the anachronistic American slang - in my reading on the Algerian war I haven't found a lot of detail on French Air Force pilots like I have for the legionnaires and the paras, so I'm a little lost on the correct terms to use.) Normal operations are for the spotter to make visual contact and provide direction to the attack aircraft in consultation with the forward observer.

We can assume that all of this background was covered in Vidal's radio operator training course. As for the last question...

4. Is Vidal capable of judging whether the scout team is too close to the target for air support?

When the time comes, that will take an in-game Knowledge (military science) skill check (and possibly a Spot check as well, depending on the target). The attack aircraft are still about four or five minutes or so out (remember, that could be as much as fifty rounds!) so you've got some time to focus on staying alive first...

 

[Bobitron]

I confess that I'm frozen with indecision. I think, seeing as how I'm acting last anyhow, Marcel will wait and see what happens.

 

[The Shaman]

That fog of war can get pretty thick, huh?



You can always delay your character's turn 'til later in the initiative count - well, Marcel really can't, but you get the idea. Asking for orders from an NCO would be a free action



Once I hear from shawdowbloodmoon (nice rolls, BTW) I'll let you know what the NCOs are going to do.

 

[The Shaman]

shadowbloodmoon, when I was updating my "consumables" page for all the characters, I couldn't find hit points listed on your character sheet. Could you roll that for me? Remember, full hit points for first level, roll for second level.

Thanks!