From Saul's post I'm presuming that we've all regrouped back at the vehicles at the farm. Is that correct?

Yeah, that's kind of important, isn't it? Grant says that there were 16 guards prior to the mass desertion, himself included. They have one M60 machine gun, in addition to their other small arms.  Massey says 10, but he seems a bit slow.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 14:49, Fri 11 Oct 2019.

I was going to post, but then my kids said they wanted to watch Big Trouble in Little China.  Who am I to stand between them and Jack Burton?  I’ll get a post up tomorrow.

Glad to see you facilitating a well-rounded classical education.

In reply to Saul Noble (msg # 34):

That’s the best possible reason to delay a post.

Okay, so it sounds like y'all want to run a recon mission v. Reeves' alleged marauders and employ the CVMC and maybe the Chinese as hammer and anvil for a planned assault on same.

IN order to post a turn, I'd like an idea of how you'd like to run the recon with the assets assigned, and who is heading back to Lake Village to talk to the CVMC.

I think we've lost this_website_sucks (Armand Campbell). He hasn't logged on since 9/24. I hope he's OK, but if he shows up again, and doesn't have a really good reason for going AWOL, he shan't be rejoining our team. Feel free to assign Campbell as you see fit. I will NPC him until the opportunity arises to dispose of him (or TWS comes back).

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Looking at the map there are two wooded areas close to the marauder camp, one to the north and one to the south east.

I think it was suggested that the recon team take Razorback but it's got limited passenger space, particularly if some people are going to continue to man it so it can be used to back up the patrol if they encounter difficulties.

Therefore, for the recon I suggest

1. We use two vehicles, the JLTV and one other (The new Ford?). We leave just before dusk and drive to a point as close to the marauder camp as we can get without being heard With regards where that point is, I think we either need an informed decision from someone that knows how far the sound is likely to travel and / or a ruling from Rae as to what constitutes a point where we can reasonably expect not to be heard - I'd be hazarding a guess.

2. Both vehicles park up. Cao, Skillins, and Kabul stay with the JLTV ready to act as a QRF if needed.  The recon team deploy on foot. I'd favour using the woods to the north to provide cover but final decision should probably lie with those whose PC's are in the recon patrol (Can had earlier 'voluntold' Carissa, Campbell, Clark, and Carterby (might as well keep the alliteration thing going). Can we reconfirm who (if anyone) in that group has NVG's? (Rae, can you advise for Campbell?)

3. Non pyro drone is launched. Launch is synchronised to give maximum loiter time over the patrol.

Logically I'd imagine Scott and Saul are the best people to handle discussions with the bikers Presumably they can take the Explorer and maybe Watkins for security. I presume that will be done during daylight, i.e. before the recon team departs. Alternatively we can leave that until after the recon has been completed. I don't mind either way.

We should probably relocate 'base camp' to Jerome. Leaving Ace Hardware in a field with minimal security doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

If we could scrounge another horse or two from the locals in Jerome it might make the recon a little easier (depending on how many people can handle riding, that is) - less need to worry about noise if we're travelling horseback. It would also reduce our need to travel on the obvious routes when we start getting close to the expected bandit camp. Just a thought.

I'm on board with Dave's suggested COA; no refinements occur to me immediately.

If a drone's going to be used during the recon, the recon team will need to take either Xandra or Watkins to operate it.

You can probably borrow some horses if you want, but you'll need some collateral in case they are wounded or killed during the op.

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Xandra will not provide much reconnaissance value other than operating the drone, but she'll be willing to go if asked.

I'm cool with the plan.  Saul and Scott can handle CVMC liaison duties.  Carissa has NVGs, at this point she's basically appropriated Saul's.

Speaking of appropriation, @Teg, should we just transfer the suppressed sniper rifle over to Carissa, or would Scott like to continue to hold on to it?  She's been using it the most and this recon mission looks like the potential for more of the same.  I'm cool if would prefer not to let it go.  I just should have given her a suppressor for her M4 when I made the character.

My vote is for a foot mission over horses, although Carissa would probably argue it the other way.  I don't want to have to leave them tied up somewhere while we end up covering the last bit of distance on foot then have to get back to them.  If we end up in contact that could get complicated.

Do we want to try and use the Chinese, or would y'all prefer not to?  Again, no worries either way.

Some comments/thoughts/questions from me:

 - I agree that we need to move into Jerome and base ourselves there first before launching any recon mission.

 - Someone going to talk to the bikers makes sense.

 - Nash has NVGs.

 - It looks to be a 5 to 6 hr walk to the suspected marauder base according to the map. I therefore don't think that it's worth taking a vehicle and that the patrol should go on foot.

 - Regardless of how the patrol travels at some point they are going to be on foot and I'm concerned that we might be out of radio range. Nash has a AN/PRC-148 radio and based on my Google searches I think that that has a range of up to 12 miles. That seems like a hell of a long way so, Rae, please can you clarify what range Nash's radio has? Also do Clarissa, Mike or Xandra have radios and what range do they have? We've already established that Abbie and Armand don't have radios.

 - Alternatively do we have a manpack/backpack radio at all? I've looked through the unit stores and I don't think that we do but I wasn't certain.

 - FYI it's about 17km as the crow flies between the suspected marauder base and Jerome so it may well be that Nash's radio is sufficient to stay in contact with everyone.

 - If the patrol goes on foot then I think that Razorback should trail along behind as backup, ready to move forward and engage while the patrol withdraws if we get into a contact.

 - I therefore think that we should head south down the 165 through Boydell and Montrose and then turn west along the 82. That has the advantage of making it easy for Razorback to follow us and I think that it means that we just have to cross one bridge, though I think that the patrol would we wading across if it's shallow enough.

 - That raises some questions for Rae: What do the locals know about Boydell and Montrose and the bridge along the 82 between Montrose and the suspected marauder base?

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Lastly my suggestion for assignments would be as follows:

Recon Patrol: Clark, Campbell, C Noble, Carswell, Carterby and Murray (if she has a lightweight drone that can be carried)

Razorback: Skillins, Kabua, Cao and Murray (if she needs support from a vehicle to launch drones)

Biker visit: S Noble & Guillory

Watkins can then either stay with the vehicles (and horse) left behind in Jerome or go with Saul and Scott.

Assuming that Murray is able to join the patrol on foot then, I believe, that should give every player a character in the recon patrol.

In reply to Nashoba 'Nash' Carterby (msg # 44):

My sources also give 12 miles as the LOS range for AN/PRC-148. I'm assuming LOS means that hills, ridges, etc. aren't between transmitter and receiver. The vehicle radios should have similar range. The handheld police radios that several team members use don't have that kind of range, though.

According to Massey, the bridges are up. The folks in Jerome don't have much current knowledge of neighboring settlements due to the hamlet's self-imposed isolation.

I think I have enough now to write a turn so stay tuned.

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In reply to Good Ol' Rae (msg # 45):

Thanks for the info.

Road distance to the target looks to be about 21.5km, as opposed to the 17km as the crow flies. Those are both distances from Jerome itself. From our current location, it would be about 26km and 20km respectively.

I’m fine with Mike not going on the recon patrol. I alluded to this in an IC post when he was drafted into the last patrol but I really don’t see sneaking around in the woods as his skill set / area of expertise. If you want him to go somewhere the best spot is probably aboard the JLTV so he can provide rapid response if someone gets shot.

I also really don’t see the point of walking for five hours when we have vehicles (particularly if we’re taking another vehicle, which negates any stealth benefits).
This message was last edited by the player at 17:10, Tue 15 Oct 2019.

In reply to Mike Carswell (msg # 48):

My thought was that the foot patrol would be a couple of kilometres ahead of Razorback. In fact Razorback could well stop in or near Montrose.

My thought re Mike being on the recon patrol was based around everyone being involved but if you'd rather he didn't go then that's fine with me. The same logic applies to Xandra.

In reply to Nashoba 'Nash' Carterby (msg # 49):

I still don’t see the point in walking the whole way there. Why not drive part of the way? (I did ask Rae to confirm how close we could reasonably expect to get before engine noise became a concern).

And to confirm, Mike will stay with the JLTV.

Assuming our in game maps cover this - Bearhouse Creek appears to get pretty close to the suspected bandit area. I'm not sure we want to try to be wading through a creek on our final approach, so I might recommend we attempt an approach from the southeast?

In reply to Abernathy 'Abbie' Clark (msg # 51):

I ended up having the recon team approach from the southeast so that they wouldn't have to cross any open fields or streams on the way in. Take a look at the campaign map to get a better idea of where everyone is at present.

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I'm good with that. I think it makes sense to co-opt what we hope will be the core of Jerome's defence force going forward (that's an OOC perspective, obviously - IC views may differ)

OOC, I'm fine with a trade.  Do note that the suppressed Remington (a Model 700 Ti, should minutiae matter) is chambered for 7mm-08, so it has ammo compatibility with exactly no other weapons in the team.  Current ammo supply is 225 rounds.

IC, all of Scott's guns and most of his other gear are prewar personal purchases.  He won't be happy about turning over the rifle but he does recognize the operational necessity (and doesn't have a problem conceding that Car is a better shot than he is).  He will, however, be somewhat put out if he doesn't get it back at the end of this deployment.



Xandra has no radio, as she was not expected to operate independently.  Likewise, she has no NVGs.  She is a combatant only in the sense that everyone on the team has been issued firearms.  Her role is civil engineering with some combat engineering capability (limited by a general lack of demo) and a secondary focus in aquatic mobility.

Sounds good to me.

I've updated Carissa's character sheet with the 700ti and the extra ammo.  That frees up a plain-jane M700 with scope and 100 rounds of .30-06 from Carissa's inventory that can be put into either the company stores or Scott's inventory if he wants still bolt action capability.

Edit:  Also, I'll touch on the trade in Carissa's post.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Wed 16 Oct 2019.

I’ll post when I can but I am completely swamped with work right now so it may not be today.