"Yeah, I saw the Lieutenant, hanging from a tree about a mile back"

This one was put on by Jeff Simpson and Ed Watts on Saturday night. Jeff came trying to recruit players (see lousy weather in the general report post). I was happy to oblige as I was looking for a game to get in.

The Rules were RUGGED ADVENTURES, the setting WW2, Western Front, D-Day, during the airborne landing phase. The setup was pretty simple. The players were all American sergeants, leading a squad in from the edge of the board to the other edge. Some of us had some specialists along with like a heavy weapons squad. All seargeants had s "RPG attribute" we had to play off of during the game. My guy (the first sergeant) was a dithering ass that could never make up his mind and so had to spend a lot of time rolling 1D6 to overcome his "fieldcraft" score in Rugged Adventures. Other sergeants, like the one played by Harry Morris, were smart in most things and probably should have been put in charge.



One of the interesting aspects of this game was that EVERY SQUAD possessed imperfect information. We were all working off of a ripped and torn piece of map that was all that was left of the titular dead lieutenant's map case after he took a mortar round. We had a piece of a tactical map plus some vague instructions about taking a bridge, plus one wider scale Airborne landing map.

The game moved along briskly, the map building itself as we went... and always the feeling that there was a German around every corner... very atmospheric stuff. At one point, a group of 2 US Jeeps drive up and confer with my 1st Sgt. and the other leaders. They are recon units from the 441st Glider regiment. They'll be happy to scout ahead, they say, and then they zoom off ahead, never to be seen again.

Slideshow:

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Along the way, My squad encounters some fire as well.. Germans keep popping in, engaging, both sides take a few casulaties, and the Germans bug out. We encounter some Anti-Aircraft prime movers and oddly enough, for once we're positioned correctly to support each other in the attack. Harry (the smart sergeant) takes out the lead track with bazooka fire, and I jump up and fire up the following track from behind, killing the driver and making the vehicle crash into a tree.

What appeared to be our objective (as small village with a bridge we had to take) was around the corner. we engaged in a sharp firefight with the Germans and both sides were taking casaulties quickly. At this point, Jeff called the game, citing that the game was really about our reactions under fire with imperfect information and an unknown hostile force popping in on either side of us. The game, he said, was based upon the movie A WALK IN THE SUN (1945) which featured an American platoon caught up in an almost identical situation. We didn't know it, but our sergeant RPG characters were drawn from this movie.

I had a fantastic time, myself, and thought it was a unique and innovative idea for a game.