The five at the door you are at, push past you and rush towards the burning building yelling out something you cannot understand.

The remaining Polish soldiers do the same at the other door. All are in a state of semi panic at the sight of the flames licking the eaves of the hall you just came from. A bucket line is begining to form from the fire hydrant towards the hall. (The hoses were apparently sold on the black market years ago, that is if they were ever issued by the communist government.)

Andy quietly says: "We can use this opportunity to take a horse each. A fast exit may be the best way out of here."

Some of us have absolutely no Horseriding experience (IC). How are we going to pass ourselves as members of a Cavalry Unit?
Do we have our own Horsemaster, pick out the most staid horses for the novices amongst us?

I look for a docile-looking, but not moribund, horse. Preferably one with saddle and tack already attached.

Mal goes over to the horses to check & see if they are capable of ben riden or if they are broken down nags that are recuperating inside the barn.


[Private to Nuked: 7 on Horsemanship Roll]
This message was last edited by the player at 13:41, Fri 02 Jan 2004.

Mal, Tanya and Cam inspect the horses to try and find the best to take. Mal and Cam quickly find what they both believe to be the best eight but, fortunately for everybody, Tanya points out that all the animals here are either injured or sick.

Guido keeps an eye on the door just in case we are interupted, "with no horse skills there is little else I can do at this time".

If no one posts soon Guido will tie himself into the saddle and do a mad dash past the gun pit dropping a grenade on the way through.

Any better ideas?

[Private to Nuked: Do you think that will do it?, carry this out if no one posts by the 11 Jan 04]

I'm happy to just walk out of the place as far as a machine gun nest and then blast the crap out of the nest and run.

Is it a plan? all other plans of sneeking out have been canned
Lets do it no one else is doing anything.
If we have the someone with horses ready and the rest of us approach the gun pit, 75% chance of failure and will be hunted there after.

[Private to Nuked: The game ends soon]

Lets not be too hasty about blowing up a gun Pit, that will undo all the work we've just done convincing everyone that we are dead.
I don't fancy being chased from the outset on horses that are already in poor shape.
Maybe we can send someone outside to get better horses from the yards out there?
If we pretend to be a legitimate Patrol we may get away without being rumbled (Murphy's law kicks in about here).
Does this building have a hayloft, upper windows to see our surroundings in more detail, we didn't get much of a look from the hall.

This building is just a typical warehouse / storage shed that has been taken over temporarily by the Polish Cavalry to house a few horses. There is no hayloft but there are windows located higher up in all four walls. There is also a ladder leaning against on of the walls that could be used to climb up and observe the surrounding area.

The change of sucessfully fighting your way out of here is about zero. Your best chance is to go now while the fire still attracts everybodies attention. How you do that is up to you.

"'ey, laddies and lassies. Healthy horses are just plain stupid and dangerous since they bite, but injured ones are even worse since they are completely useless.

I suggest that we just strap our gear on ourselves and starts walking out of the city from the backdoor of this building instead. Everones attention is probably on the fire, so even the guncrews are probably looking on it.

You Dave could probably get a great look from the roof to pick the best way out of here. We'll wait down here, making us ready to walk away"

OCC: just trying to get the game moving.

Guido will see if he can get a vantage point to "observe" a safe exit from the back of this warehouse, while attempting to keep a low profile

Ok Dave can go up the ladder & check to see what is around. Any open paddocks that could hold horses & anything else of interest would be helpful. Since he has the best obs skill, he should be able to pick more information up then anybody else
This message was last edited by the player at 14:26, Sun 11 Jan 2004.

Dave climbs the ladder and peers out over the windowsill. From his perch at the window, he can see in all directions (a row of windows runs all the way around the building just under the roof). To the west is the burning hall where a small army of soldiers is rushing about trying to extinguish the flames.

To the north and east is open fields where several dozen horses can be seen grazing the lush green grass.

To the south is the main road towards Lodz, and a couple of miles beyond a few fields, a forest can be seen.

There are no more MG posts that can be observed from here and all attention (besides those already mentioned) is towards the fire.

What I am mostly looking for is a gap in the observation of the MGs and view

The fields have a slight depressions that can only effectively be seen into from a position like the roof of a building.

The natural uneveness of the ground should give cover from the MG's after no more than half a kilometre.

By using the building you are presently in to block line of sight for as long as possible, you should be able to travel approximately 200 metres before either position can see you.

As a dumb idea, since we are dressed as poles, we can look like a pole patrol by getting 200 meters and making a sharp turn before we get into sight rather than making a straight line from the camp, 200 meters they can't realy challenge us without leaving their pit and they are not about to shoot other poles.
Ultimately we should draw no suspicion (I hope).

"Aye, let's start walking. Unless you, lassie, is keen on getting one of the horsies from outside?"

"They are evil, but they are good at carrying, those horses, and you seem to be a good rider!"

Don smiles to Tanya and takes a good look at her rear end, blinking back at her when he sees her being intimidated by it.

Don gets his gear going and starts walking, after a few meters he stops and checks so the others follows.

Is there access through the back of the building or do we have to make one?
Guido adjusts his equipment for the walk while making a mental image of the characteristics of the terain that he is about to die on go over so that the team can get the most cover for the longest period.
"Are we headed straight to the trees or are we going to look like a patrol and swing to one side to look like we are passing through, with the fire their main concern it is unlikely they will have a challenging patrol available."

"My suggestion is to get to the forest. Since we are Polish soldiers we can be in pursuit of the responsible for the arson. We might have a better chance of getting through as a searchgroup if we had at least one, or rather some horses. Though, I will not be one of those having one, if I have a say in this matter"

We could pretend we are infantry, just have to get rid of anything cavalry.

This is a Cavalry unit. Anyone not mounted will stand out. Even a novice could pass at a distance provided we pick quiet horses and stick to a walk.
The Idea of moving out concealed by buildings appeals to me. We could use that with the horses to move towards the road then head east for a while.
This would serve several purposes, We would seem to be heading towards these guy's superiors in Lodz lending us the apearance of legitimacy and if a pursuit were to be staged later it would send them in a misleading direction. Once out of sight we head south into the forest along one of the many minor roads.

Comments?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:07, Wed 14 Jan 2004.

"A well, I'll mount one of the beasts then, if you say so, mr Smythe. Since you are with me on the way to get out of here, let us do it."

...walking over to Tanya...

"'ey lassie. Why don't you go over to the horses and bring some of them here. Then we need to find the things to put on the horse as well, even though I have no idea of how to find it or do it"