Game #2 - Computer Ambush
- Rough beginning
- Neither the fastest nor the brightest
- Something is moving, someone is not moving
- Cooperation kill
- A hotel, a shop and a church
- We require more NCOs
- The shameful retreat
Well, Tanktics is a simple game, and I thank the volunteers who are going to try to stop the Soviets to test the forum, but here is our first game that will shine in Commenters Command - Computer Ambush - the first "Squad Tactical game" ever. 40 years later, it still has more options than, really, pretty much everything released in the last 10 years that was not published by Slitherine :).
We will play the Americans, your name will be your forum name. Each player gets to choose :
- His weapon (rifle, submachine gun, machinegun), one of the advantages of the rifle (in addition to long range accuracy) is that you can put a baionette on it.
- Well, that's pretty much all,
I will generate the stats for the soldiers, one of the players will be a demolition expert and another may have a garotte for sneak kill
Another divertissement!
Good. Machinegun. (I guess a BAR, no?)
Dayyalu's already taken the machinegun, so I'll take a submachine gun (either a thompson or a grease gun)
Baud and Dayyalu joined the US Army.
I roll 2D4 and added 2. The stats in the game are actually going from 3 to 10 so at least no one could have 3.
Dayyalu got lucky and is clearly the university jock. Baud... well, he hunts bears in Alaska.
PO is observation. HH is hand-to-hand.
I'd like a rifle please. This game actually looks pretty cool.
Quote from The Rat Scribe on 6 May 2021, 20h07
Dayyalu got lucky and is clearly the university jock.
I can be the War Comic protagonist I always didn't want to be.
Sir! Private Andnjord reporting for duty sir! I request a rifle sir! I will bayonnet those nazi pigs for freedom, sir!
(I had completely missed this 😢)
And we have two new volunteers enlisting in the US Army. I am afraid we don't have the sharpest tools in the shed here. Andnjord had some exceptional roll, comparable to Dayyalu. Fellow... less so, but at least he can detect the Germans from afar.
Dayyalu got lucky and is clearly the university jock.
Andnjord had some exceptional roll, comparable to Dayyalu.
Question is, were we rivals in our university or best buddies who teamed up to haze, bully, harrass, teach a valuable lesson on the importance of fitness to the nerds who played wargames?
Let's see if my french dude can do any better. Roll me a bayonette user please!
Gimme a machine gun.
I assume it's a BAR?
Well, here are our new recruits :
Kalerion should be officer and Helly should be NCO you say ? Well, someone does not know how it works in the army. In all likelihood, Kalerion is a grunt that never wanted to be here, Helly is CO and Fellow is the NCO : he is not the smartest out there, but he is strong and tie his shoelaces without help.
At six players, we can start a game, but I will give it until tomorrow for latecomers.
Current weapons :
- Baud : Thompson
- Dayyalu : BAR
- Strange : Rifle with compulsory bayonet
- Andnjord : Rifle with compulsory bayonet
- Helly : Rifle with compulsory bayonet
- Kalerion : BAR, which makes sense given he is the worst shooter in the group
As you will see, the game offers an incredible number of options. Actually, except for terrible graphics and UI (all keyboard...), relatively limited inventory and the fact that everything happens on the same floor, it has as many options as a modern game. You can walk, you can crawl, you can dodge (which is in between), you can sneak, you can overwatch, you can pick up stuff on the floor or drop it, you can plant explosives, you can garotte nazis, you bayonet people in the face, etc...
The game is WEGO with continuous time (so if for instance an action takes 20 time unit and you have 10 time unit left, it will start the action at the end of this turn and end it 10 times units after the start of next turm) so... just tell me what you do and don't worry about how much you can do in a turn.
We will fight in a small village in Normandy, this one :
More information incoming when the game starts for real.
I'll join and take a submachine gun, if it isn't too late for me to do so!
Before we begin, it'd be cool to get an overview of the stats and how much they affect what we can and can't do on the battlefield. I'm very pleased with my high Post Office score, but I'm struggling to see how I can put it to practical use. Maybe letter bombs?
Introduction
Annndddd we are off !
Here is our valiant team !
Sergeant Helly : Smart, but not TOO smart like this intellectual Kalerion. He leads by example, but as a very limited authority on his men.
Corporal (acting) Dayyalu : His physical prowess at University and his love of what was not yet called "dakka" immediately fast-tracked him in the role of Corporal, when the previous corporal blew up in a freak grenade accident.
P.F.C Fellow : He can't really throw grenade well, he does not shoot that well, but if you need a sentinel garotted, he is your man. Also an explosive expert, because once you garotted the sentinel it is faster if he is the one to blow up everything
P.F.C Andnjord : The only reason Andnjord joined the Army is that he thought the Army would be a nice, cosy gig while he makes enough to start his business. Roosevelt promised the US would not get involved in dirty European politics, didn't he ?
Private Baud : He has been in the army forever, and for strange reasons he never was allowed even the automatic promotion to P.F.C
Private Kalarion : He thought he had managed to avoid the draft. But this was only a respite. Now he is here.
Private Laxeu : The new guy. He does not know the men. The men do not know him. He just hopes they don't send him to "scout". Also, still upset at the mistake on his name on his official document. No one wants to correct that for someone that is unlikely to be around next month.
[the only reason Helly is Sarge is that I misremembered that the highest ranked officer was a Lieutenant, and I wanted a character with high intelligence, but not too much like Kalarion, to be such an officer :)]
MISSION BRIEFING :
Sergeant Helly - you and your men must seize the village of Saint-Père-Le-Moulin and clean it up from German presence. Should resistance be more than expected, you must evacuate by the North and link-up with allied forces ! You do not have unlimited time but you do have some time. You will receive radio dispatch when times starts to run out.
Oh, by the way. According to our intelligence, the village is occupied by men from the dreaded SS Hitlerkopf Division. We believe there should be around 10 of them.
Good luck, Sarge !
Quote from Strange Fellow on 11 May 2021, 21h55Before we begin, it'd be cool to get an overview of the stats and how much they affect what we can and can't do on the battlefield. I'm very pleased with my high Post Office score, but I'm struggling to see how I can put it to practical use. Maybe letter bombs?
Excellent question !
Rank : The further away you are to the highest ranking soldier, the longer it takes to execute order (though impact is pretty small in my tests)
Name : At the bottom of the map, you can see a letter - that's you guys ! The first letter of the name of your character. That's why I had to change Alxeu's name, since the "A" was already taken
Strength : How much you can carry (though as long as you don't take 2 machine-guns with you it won't change much) and how much stamina you recover at the end of a turn
Intelligence : Influence in small part how fast it takes to execute any order. Also determines how fast you are on overwatch (it is actually called Intelligence / combat Reflex)
Dexterity : How fast you move
PO : Post Office. How well you write letters home and whether they pass censorship. Also, power of observation. How far you see hostiles or dropped stuff.
Throwing : Obvious, how good you are at throwing grenades. Not that grenade exploding one tile from a target that is not protected = instant death. The range depends on throwing, not strength.
Firing marksmanship : Obvious
HtH : Hand to hand combat. Helps a lot to also have a bayonet.
Finally, reading the map :
With my Jesse Owens like speed and good perception, I feel like I'd be the better choice for scouting sadly...
For now, I'd like to move behind the building to my left to start scouting out the big building on the bottom left edge of the map. Ideally I'd like to have either my barrack budy Baud or the new kid Laxeu with their auto-rifle acompany me.
Unless our sarge Helly needs me somewhere else?
Also no heroics for me, at least not yet. I'm trying to see this out you see, got ma pappa and ma mama back home who I have to provide for!
Listen up, men!
Intel is pretty fucked up on this one - seems like we get to face Hitler's best, and with neither tank, artillery nor air support!
This one is on us, guys, and we need to make it count - I'll personally get a bottle of the finest Islay Whisky to the one that drops the most of those "boches" as the french call them!
Alright, Andjorn - Kalerion - New Guy! You're with me - we're clearing that factory on the left.
Dayyalu, get the others and clear those houses on our right then start moving towards the church.
Don't start opening fire unless you have to, if we can clear the whole map without raising any alarm I'll add a whole crate of liqueur.
Andjorn, you're in front, you'll be our main eyes - New guy, you follow him and look at how he moves; live and learn, 'cause next time it will be your turn. Kalerion, start looking for a good place to set up that machinegun to cover the left street. I'll close the march. Don't get captured, guys - let's give them hell.
Yes sir, Sarge! I shall follow your orders without fail!
I'll show those Krauts what-for! It's the entire reason I enlisted in the first place.
...And maybe a good day here will make sure they get my name right further down the line.