Warglory, Liberators

[Szilard]

I'm suppossed to be runing right?
So I run like hell.

[Mee]

Actually, Weasel throws one, and hides, but . . . if he's already hidden, then two.
1) (1d20)[14]
2) (1d20)[11]

[Paladin5]

Ghost grids his teeth and swears under his breath. The situation has gone from bad to untenable and if he didn't do something fast a lot of his men were going to end up dead. The squad can no longer hold their current defensive positions but retreating back over the trench would give the Houten a turkey shot. The only option was to fall back to right section of the trench and hold out as long as possible. Hopefully reinforcements would arrive before they were completely slaughtered...

Ghost grabs a grenade from his belt and, while tossing it over the edge, yells to the squad, "FALL BACK TO THE RIGHT!!!!"

(d20)[14]

[Shirocco]

Ragdar cooks the grenade all right - he throws it so late it nearly blows his hand off. Apart from giving them something to laugh at the grenade has no effect on the grenadiers. Ragdar & Splinter's suppressive fire sprays out wildly, you can't see if it hit anyone but the flamer & machine guns are definently still in business. Weasel's grenades arn't on target enough to take the flamer out and breastplates mean they have little effect on the other troops.

Pie-eater can't run like hell, it hurts too much. He hobbles like hell instead. With Hooky having gone before a second earlier the Houten grenadiers arn't as surprised when the big orc lumbers into view... their sights are where a dvergr's head would be though, which isn't far above Pie's backside. An 8-guage trenchgun roars and it's not firing buckshot - these are loaded with solid slugs that ignor armour, not that it matters in Pie's case. Pie is blasted forward by the impact and falls into the trench with a lethal gut wound. Pie is down, he may perform one more action before his wound kills him.

((For expedience, i'm assuming you guys follow Ghost's order.))

The position is dire. Much as dvergr love fighting it is a mark of wisdom amoung them to see when a fight is going poorly. Ghost's order to shift right is heard despite the battle-din. As you guys try for a shift right burning fuel is hosed at the trench, roaring over the places where Splinter & Negvar were firing, splashing against the rear side of the trench, filling it with unbearable heat. With unused mortar shells and scattered munitions that's a dangerous place to be and you hustle with fire and bullet-hail flying overhead, rain comming down to no effect at all. After the bone-chill of the dvergr homeworld you've never been so hot in your lives.

Even as you reach the right-end of the trench seconds later, grenades fly in where you had been... these are not tins of bully-beef, nor your own forgiving handfuls of metal and shrapnel. These are short-fuse grenades and they go off right away with more force than the tins earlier. Several mortars are destroyed, their munitions adding to the blasts. Amazingly, perhaps because of it's thick barrel, the Blind Pig isn't set off.

Then you see them. Those grim men with armour and trench guns, a good eight of them, jump into the trench while two halt at the edge. They see you've shifted and fire without hesitation.


Negvar and Splinter are closest to the trench's right end, they can easily cover the squad's retreat. Negvar has time to reload while this happens. If they do this, when the enemy jump in Negvar can't miss - the Grenadiers are spread along 20 meters of trench but they appear bunched up from his perspective. Against men in the trench roll 1d3 with each burst, result is the number slain. Against the two up top roll standard 1d3 attack rolls. Your shots will be after the rest of the squad have retreated.

Hooky is cut off. With Pie down and gouts of flame in the way he cannot reach the squad - he's way off up the left end of the trench. Ragdar's heavy trench gun is half loaded (has one turn of shots), he has no time to finish reloading until he reaches the right Z-bend.

The rest of the squad will spend this turn running, there is no room behind the machine gunners - you'll need to go into the Z-bend behind them from where you cannot shoot the grenadiers. You can however look into the trench right of yours where the other squad in your platoon is (hopefully) holding the line.

[Szilard]

Does this army have the Medal of Honor awards?

[Shirocco]

The actual Medal of Honour is an American one, you won't be seeing those. Russia has the Gold Star (i think), Australia & Britain have the Victoria Cross, Germany had the Iron Cross (not sure today)... there's plenty around, i'm no expert.

This is a small mercenary army. There are established codes of honour amoung Nagaard mercenaries, and some of the honours they issue are common across them while others are unique. Pie's a strong candidate for some kind of honour - but only if someone survives to recommend him.

[RandomLunatic]

((The Iron Cross was about the lowest German decoaration available, and towards the end of both wars, the Germans over-issued them to the point that getting one was about as exciting as finding the toy in your box of cereal. IIRC, the best field decoration for WWI Germany was the Rot Adler Orden (Order of the Red Eagle), which came in four or five classes-the lower the number, the better. Red Eagles awarded for very distinguished military service could be given mit Schwerten, (with swords).

And, by the German system, Pie would be lucky to get anything, as single acts count for very little. Consistantly exceptional performance is needed to get anything above IC 1st.

For Czarist Russia, I have nothing. Same for the USSR, and modern Russia.

And now, less historical geekery and more gaming! Yay!))

Negvar hastily pulled the gun below the trench rim as the flamethrower's wake of destruction comes reaching out for him like a warship's searchlight. He holds his breath as the gout of fire passes right over his head. Images rise unbidden of Stiff's final moments, which are as equally unpleasant as they are motivational as he presses himself into the safety of the lee of the trench wall.

Once the danger passes, he loses no time in complying with Ghost's orders. He starts to reach for the half-empty magazine, then gets abetter idea and goes for a grenade instead. Hope I'm guessing this right, he thinks grimly as he pulls the pin and lets it cook.

He shields his eyes as the trench becomes a pretty fair impression of hell itself. The Nagaard were less susceptable to bright light than other dvergr, but this was still too much for his tastes. All the while, he tries to keep his count accurate. Two one thousand, three one thousand.

Once he judges by the diminishing explosions it is safe to look again, he leans far enough around the corner of the Z-bend to throw the grenade, and then follows it with his machine gun at the ready. His first pair of bursts are aimed at the men while they are still recovering form their landing. Lined up as they are, there is no way the shells cannot find a target. The heavy bullets make a mockery of the Houten's armor and half of them fall.

The recoild has pushed the muzzle of his weapon upwards, so his last burst is directed at one of the men overlooking the trench-torso, meet bullets. It was destined to be a short-lived relationship.

((Decided to cook a grenade instead of reloading. Hope I can throw it right before they jump in without any loss of shooting. My guess is you want a d20 roll?
I prefer my grenades sunny-side up (1d20=10)
Shooting guys in trench (1d3=2, 1d3=2)

Shooting guy on trench rim (1d3=2) ))

[Shirocco]

((Shows what i know... as i said, no expert on medals. We'll worry about that later. Anyway good post, i'll allow the grenade toss, where was he trying to throw it?))

*Edit: was thinking of this , which would take some doing to earn.

[RandomLunatic]

((Right about into the middle of the section of trench we are leaving-would not want to have Hooky and Pie survive the tank blowing up only to be killed by 'friendly' grenades now, would we? Likewise, do not want to blow up any of our own guys as they are retreating if the timing is off.))

[Szilard]

Pi-eater (I want to get his name right before he dies.) pulls a couple pins off the grenades strapped to him. He almost saw this day coming. I guess it pays off to read books.

[Benejeseret]

Ragdar makes for the Z-bend. Hearing the others call out that the trench is breached, the lad goes for his grenades. Unless they can deter the rest of the forces more will be on them in no time.

Two grenades are tossed. One goes to the flame crew that still roasts overhead while the second is to ensure no further Houten are going to spring up overhead (somewhere between the flamer and 'above' them to the advancing line).

{ flamer grenade=(1d20)[9] and other (1d20)[6] }

[Paladin5]

Ghost moves at a good pace towards the z-bend with the rest of the squad careful to make sure the fall back stays orderly and doesn't deteriorate into a blood bath. Watching for danger, his gaze wavers constantly between Nevgar and Splinter covering the retreat, the z-bend ahead, and the ground above the trench.

[Shirocco]

Hellishly hot as it is, the squad make it to the Z bend. Splinter changes magazines while Negvar throws his hand grenade. You can't see what affect the grenades are having, but there's been no fire cloud to denote an exploding napalm tank.

When the men jump into the trench, so many things go badly for them they never have a chance. Pie eater dies with a rippling bang as his grenades set each other off tearing him and a Houten Grenadier to pieces. Splinter & Negvar's machine guns lay waste to the rest, Negvar's hand grenade going off unnoticed in the midst of it.

As the machine guns shoot the pair up top fire on them... their first shots are near misses, heavy slugs thumping into the ground near your feet. It's their second shots that tell - the heavy slugs drive straight through Splinter's armour, carving deep wounds in his chest. He falls to his knees and trys to shout but coughs blood instead, even as Negvar blasts one of those men in revenge.

Before he can kill the other Negvar sees the great and terrible cloud of flame sweep toward the Z bend. Splinter is on his knees, knuckles white on the machine gun as it's barrel rests in the mud. His fate, it seems, is sealed.

((Reflex saves guys. That flamethrower is about to flood the Z-bend. Negvar can see it comming but has to move the most, the others can't see it yet but don't have to move as far. So it's about even. If you try to save Splinter it will mean a penaulty, his wounds appear fatal as it is.))

[RandomLunatic]

Negvar looked at Splinter for a brief of instant-all he could do for him was put a round into him to finish him quickly, rather then let him roast alive. But Negvar had spent the last of his magazine on the Houten. Sorry he mutters to Splinter as he turns to run. FLAME! he calls out to the others. Hopefully they would be able to figure it out-Negvar just ran like hell.


((Reflex Save (1d20=16)))

[Szilard]

Boom?
Yeah, so do I get to bring in a new character sometime later, or do I sit back and watch the show?

[Shirocco]

((Random, don't get me wrong - i enjoy reading posts like that - but these machine guns are open bolt. They're always open, which helps clear heat but makes them less accurate than other guns. Ghost's SMG is closed bolt, which is part of why it heats up so fast. Your magazine is empty anyway though.))

((Szil, yes you'll get a chance to roll a new guy after the trenches are done. I'll PM you in a sec.))

[RandomLunatic]

((Why do I always manage to screw this sort of thing up? Fixed.))

[Benejeseret]

Ragdar

The lad tries his damnedest to get out of the flames heading to the far corner of the Z-bend. Scrambling around the corner the young Dvergr is very aware his shotgun chamber holds only a few shots and prays more of the Humies aren't around this bend.

{scrambling around the bend reflex (1d20)[7] and maybe awareness (1d20)[5]+5 to see whats around the bend in time to get his barrel aimed at it if needed...}


((I noticed you said trench gun earlier...he only had a dvergr shotgun and the radio to start))

[Shirocco]

((Ya, they mean the same thing. A trench gun is a nickname for shotgun. I do remember that yours is a heavy calibre one, roughly 4 guage or so... Ragdar has strong wrists! Being a radioman it's your only weapon.))

[Paladin5]

Ghost momentarily freezes seeing the incoming flame. Regaining his senses, he starts sprinting through the Z-bend yelling to the squad, "FLAMER!!! GET A ******* MOVE ON!!!" "This," he though grimly, "is no fight, it's a ******* massacre."

(d20)[4]

OOC:

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That can't be good...

[Shirocco]

((you guys could make a band. The first album can be "The dice are trying to kill me". I rolled for Mee and he did no better than today's average, believe me.

Good news is i checked my facts. Napalm's not invented yet, this is oil. As such it's not particularly sticky.))

Negvar is quickest on his feet by far, but explosions are heard as he shouts. Nobody hears him. Maybe you assume it's grenades, or maybe you know his magazine's empty and figure it's a bayonet charge - either way only Negvar has really started moving when a torrent of blazing napalm and cloud of fire washes over Splinter and rebounds off the wall behind him. Ghost and Weasel are slow but at least move, burning oil splashes off their armour and fire tastes their skin. Pain aside you feel a wave of air rushing past you to the hungry flames. As you three rush from the Z-bend with flames blasting out behind you Ragdar is slow to get moving and cops a light helping of the same.

You all have 2nd degree and patches of 3rd degree burns. Weasel & Ghost both take these to the face and neck - Ghost's beard is aflamed and so are patches of Weasel's uniform. All of you bar Negvar take burns to various places on the back of your bodys. Splinter is dead. Negvar's the only one to get out unscathed.

In the trench before you 2nd Squad are really copping it. There's another flamethrower, it has them suppressed. Several of them lie dead in the trench and there's blood on their bayonets, they held off the first two waves the hard way. While they hunker down as close into the lee of the trench as possible with burning fuel dribbling down the opposite side there are grenadiers comming over the top to finish them.

You can see six targets up there. Only Negvar's in good condition to shoot but his magazine's empty. Ragdar is understandably put off by the burns he just received but at least he has half a magazine - D4 to shoot. There's plenty of mud, immersion will help both the burns and put out flames in Ghost & Weasel's cases, if they try and shoot with fire on their bodies it'll be D20 to ignor the pain then D6 shots.

[Mee]

Weasel immerses himself in the mud, thinking it will help.

((And I assume that takes all round.))

[Shirocco]

((Yep, mudroll takes at least one round of panicked thrashing and general agony.))

[Shirocco]

Welcome back! Bit of an unscheduled hiatus that. I've posted a recruitment thread as we're nearly done here and could use some more players. There are some important changes at work here, i'm introducing Traits - when this battle is done feel free to take a look and pick one for your character if you want, but remember they've each got a down side. The idea is to allow personality to be reflected in the rules, i know you blokes would have picked some if they'd been there initially.

Post your actions for this turn and we'll move it along. Don't die now!

[Mee]

((I'm still here, and I've already posted what he does, so I'll just wait.))

[Paladin5]

Ghost doesn't even think as the pain washes over him. Ignoring the chaos around him, he drops hard into the mud and rolls to extinguish the flames.

[Benejeseret]

The burn rages across the lad's back and racks him with searing pain. And that makes the young dvergr right pissed. With the shotgun raised he unloads the rest of the shells onto the enemy ahead.

{ (2d4b1)[2], (2d4b1)[4], (2d4b1)[4] and if 4+ (1d6)[3] then a fourth (2d4b1)[4] }

[RandomLunatic]

Negvar's empty weapon is of no use agaisnt the jumping grenadiers. But when he reaches for his gear, it is not a clip he grabs, but a grenade. He has a plan. It may even work.

Pulling the pin from the grenade and letting cook, he then draws another grenade with his left hand. If I make it through this, I'm gonna have ta come up with a way ta ready a grenade one-handed that does not involve teeth. Maybe fixin' me can-opener ta tha shoulderplate right there...

Peering up over the rim of the trench, he looks for his first target-the flamethrower that just chased him down the Z-bend. It is not hard to find-regardless of what you wear or how bad the visibility is, if your weapon produces a big line of flame that points right back at you, you will not be hard to find. Throwing the grenade, he pulls the pin on the other as he turns to locate his second target-the weapon keeping 2nd sqaud down, and gives them a dose of the same. Then ducks down out of view-hopefully ahead of enemy retaliation.

((Reflex save (1d20=19) ))

[Shirocco]

As Ragdar opens fire and Slip throws grenades several things happen at once.

Both the men assaulting the trench and the dvergr squad in it look your way. Ragdar's shotgun roars even as the pellets glance uselessly off the breastplates of the Grenadiers. Those men dive to the ground anyway, not realising the ineffectiveness of the gun. Weasel and Ghost extinguish themselves, though Ghost's beard will be some time recovering. Slip sees the flamethrower team who slew Splinter and broke the squad's position, his grenade throw is good. He has no time to watch it as he looks back to the flamer suppressing squad 2 and throws one their way... even as he does so men see him and guns are aimed. He ducks very fast and great big slug rounds fly through the space his head occupied a moment ago, even as Ragdar's last shot barks out. The cooked grenade goes off but there is no firey blast - the men were lucky, perhaps their breastplates saved them.

Then a rolling noise like the thunder of cavalry to the rescue echoes along the trench line. The smoke is still in the air but has lessened, the tanks only meters behind you can finally see the men attacking. The chatter of their machine guns and whistling-boom of canister rounds is sudden and totally unforgiving. The few men you can see near the rim are cut apart, firey blasts from detonating flamerthrowers rise into the air, and what if any effect Slip's last grenade had is totaly lost in the welcome cacophany of 2nd & 3rd armoured companies. The Houten assault is broken. The grenadiers are a tough minded bunch and die fighting, but die all the same.



From here the battle is little more than a mop up. Armour units cross your trench line with the same graceless clambering as before and you escort them across noman's land. There is little resistance for the Houten lines have had it. When you reach the third and final trench you find artillery crews and a scant company or two of rifles who offer fleeting resistance before surrendering. The battle of the trenches is over.



The trenches are done and the way to the city is open. There are many miles to cross and here the heavy recon companies with their armoured cars will see much work. But for you, there is some well-earned down time. Your wounds are treated and reports taken. With 1st company annihilated and the other forward elements thoroughly mauled there's lots of spare kit around, and you have time to reflect on the day's events so far.

You find yourselves in an old tavern near the trench lines and the world root they guarded. As a way between worlds it's been a thoroughfair of travellers for thousands of years and this tavern is older than the colony - there's dvergr stonework in it's foundation, though it's run by men now. They are local men, not Houten, and their tongue is a mystery to most of you. Never the less, to thirsty throats the beer tastes good enough. It's your platoon's turn in here and with the beer all paid for you're free to make the most of it.



Upgrades! You guys have survived a battle. At the end of a major battle like this you are given access to one equipment upgrade and one perk. The following are available, if you have other ideas in mind feel free to post and we'll work out of they're doable.

Perks

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Riflemen can take Riflemen can take Survival Instincts (+5 to reflex saves, +2 awareness), Steady Hands (+1 for extra shot) and Bloodthirsty(more likely to kill an opponent in melee than wound).

Snipers can take Just Thunder (can time shots to fire on cue with distant explosions, disguising the shot), Iron Grip (can fire anti-tank rifles twice in one round) and Bogeyman (takes one Stealth check to kill silently, rather than 2 like everyone else.)

Machine gunners take Hip Shot (can aim automatics on the move and when surprised, hit rolls are one increment harder, must move at half speed), Nonchalance (reloads take half as long) or Blind Eye (When blind firing get +5 on awareness check to allow/improve hit rolls)

Radioman takes Tracker (+5 bonus when searching for enemy frequency), Sparky (+8 on radio repair attempts) or Well Connected (Knows lots of people in the artillery and mortar crews, can get shells down range in 2d3 turns instead of 2d6)

Equipment

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Rifles can take Match-grade Bolt (Extra shot roll goes from 5+ to 4+), Custom trigger (Careful Aim (singleshot) reduces shot difficulty by two increments), Bolt-On Shotgun (trench gun attached under rifle barrel, no longer spend one turn changing between trench gun and rifle).

Trench guns can replaced with heavy calibre shotguns. These treat wound results as kills and reroll misses, range is still 25 meters.

Machine Gun can have Sickle Mags (3 turns of ammo per mag), Quick Change Barrels (change to spare barrel in one turn, resets heat) or Fire Rate Kit (increases cyclic rate beyond 1,500rpm. Can engage 4 targets per turn, drains mag each turn. Optional trigger disengager can allow normal 6 bursts per mag (1.5 turns), but removes ability to lay decent suppressive fire.)

SMG can take Hollow Point Ammo (Reroll all shots, not just misses). Hollow point ammunition is banned by treaty from use in war, which could be a problem if you're caught using it.

Lastly, roll a Scrounging check (D20) to see if you get any freebies, like looted pistols or a few short-fuse grenades.

[Shirocco]

Ah, nearly forgot. I'll be adding a few alternate ammo types for shotguns into the main rules page later today. Will edit this post when i've done that.