With negotiation and reconnaissance concluded, the team preps their gear and moves to their staging areas. Red, Erick, and Ellis, along with NPCs Ross and Ortiz, move south in the UAZ-469. Their job is to link up with the White Eagles, await a suitable convoy, and support the ambush on the QRF. The main assault element for the hit on the QRF’s base is composed of Pettimore, Zenobia, Miko, Cowboy, Magda, Minka, Leks, and NPCs Bell, Novotny, and Turner with the BTR-70K and the OT-64.
The Battle of Radom begins fifteen kilometers west of the city. The White Eagle-friendly merchants in Opoczno report that a Soviet convoy is passing through on its way from Lodz to Lublin. It’s a BRDM-2 escorting two GAZ-66 trucks and a staff car. The ambush team moves into position and begins prepping the ground…
I resolved this as an off-screen mass battle scene, using a cobbled-together guidelines (too loose to be called “rules”) and a fair amount of improvisation. Here’s how it worked:
The White Eagles are committing their Platoon B: 25 experienced troops under Mariana Rabarchak. They’ll also provide one of their four vehicles, a pickup truck mounting an SPG-9 recoilless rifle. The convoy ambush will focus on disabling the vehicles and pinning down survivors so the QRF has an obvious reason to come to the rescue hastily.
Friendly force strength looks like:
- command section (Rabarchak and 3 troops with a PK machine gun; veteran quality)
- infantry section 1 (6 troops with an RPG-7; experienced quality)
- infantry section 2 (6 troops with an RPG-7; experienced quality)
- infantry section 3 (6 troops with small arms; experienced quality)
- SPG-9 team (3 troops; experienced quality)
- PC contingent (counts as veteran quality)
Expected enemy force strength is:
- convoy survivors (hopefully low numbers, small arms only, and experienced quality)
- QRF Scorpion light tank (veteran quality)
- QRF gun truck (veteran quality)
- QRF APC (veteran quality)
- QRF infantry squad (6 troops with some type of light support weapon, veteran quality)
Once the ambush goes off, combat resolution will be abstract. Opposed Command checks between Rabarchak (d10+d8) and the Soviet commander will determine which side goes first each round.
Each group gets one “attack” with one base die for every 3 troops, or fraction, still active. Base dice are determined by troop quality: experienced d8, veteran d10. Heavy weapons provide additional d6s, similar to ammo dice: 1 for a machine gun or RPG launcher, 2 for a heavy machine gun, auto grenade launcher, or cannon.
A unit can always target an opposing unit that attacked it on the last enemy turn. Alternately, it can roll randomly for its target, representing the chaotic and uncertain (and map-free) nature of maneuvering in this fight.
Hits on vehicles are resolved normally, using the attacker’s most powerful weapon.
Hits on infantry are resolved with a random roll to determine who’s hit (one per success on the attack) Roll 1d6; if it’s equal to or less than the weapon’s base damage, the target is a casualty (dead or too injured to keep fighting; exact fate to be resolved later). If the die result exceeds the base damage, the victim is injured but still in the fight; a second injury makes them a casualty. White Eagle/PC forces get a +1 modifier to this roll because they’re fighting from prepared positions.
An example:
White Eagle infantry section 1 attacks the QRF infantry squad. They’re 6 troops of experienced quality, so they get 2d8 base dice and another 1d6 for their RPG-7.
An unlikely roll of 7/6/6 yields three hits on the QRF infantry.
Randomly selecting victims yields three different Soviet troops taking hits. The RPG-7 has a base blast damage of 2, so we roll 1d6 for each of the hits. Die results of 4/5/1 indicate that the attack injures two Soviets and kills a third.
The Soviet infantry team is down to 5 combatants, 2 of whom are injured and will be dropped by any successful subsequent hit. They’re of veteran quality, so they’ll still be rolling 2d10 base dice for their return fire, plus bonus d6s if they have a heavy weapon.
The initial hit on the eastbound convoy goes off exactly as planned. The BRDM-2, on point, rolls directly over one of the team’s carefully-hoarded antitank mines. Although the resulting destruction of the fuel tank somehow doesn’t ignite a fire, the crew bails out anyway.
PK and RPG-7 fire rips into the GAZ-66s and the staff car. One GAZ rolls over, its driver’s dead hand no longer on the wheel. The second GAZ and the staff car are damaged, their drivers and passengers bailing out and taking cover. The White Eagles begin sporadic harassing fire to herd and pin them in place to be rescued…
The QRF halts about 500m out to dismount the infantry, then advances in wedge formation with the Scorpion on point, the UAZ (mounting an AGS-17, let’s not forget) on the left flank, the OT-64 on the right flank, and the infantry squad using the Scorpion for cover while providing additional eyes. They fail to defeat Ellis’ crafty positioning of the other AT mines, though, and the OT-64 finds one the hard way. The blast rips through the vehicle, scattering the ammo stowage for its coaxial PK and heavily damaging the suspension. The crew bails out and the fight is on.
Round One
The White Eagles win initiative.
An RPG-7 round strikes the Scorpion’s glacis. The light tank shudders as the HEAT warhead rips a chunk out of its suspension, but it’s still drivable and the crew remains on board.
Small arms fire peppers the abandoned OT-64, killing the vehicle’s commander before he can re-mount.
The SPG-9 crew engages the UAZ-469, hoping to take the area saturation weapon out of play. Their first shot kills the commander and injures the gunner, but the gunner and driver remain steadfast.
Ortiz and Ross target the Scorpion and volley the RPG-22s they brought to the fight. Ortiz misses, but Ross scores a hit. A fuel fire erupts! The Scorpion crew hangs tough, though, and does not bail out.
Fire from the convoy survivors indicates they’re willing to take an active hand in their rescue. Two of the White Eagle infantrymen fall.
The Scorpion crew manages to extinguish the fire before it can reach anything explosive. Trailing smoke from its wounds, the light tank searches for its tormentors.
The UAZ-469’s gunner returns fire on the SPG-9 crew, injuring one of them.
The OT-64’s driver and gunner re-mount their vehicle amid a hail of fire.
The dismounted Soviet infantry zero in on the firing signature of the RPG-22s. A well-aimed GP-25 round tears into Red and Ortiz.
Round Two
The White Eagles maintain initiative.
An RPG-7 round, an SPG-9 shell, and a wall of fire from the command section’s PK all go wide of the frantically-maneuvering UAZ-469. That AGS-17 is still in the fight…
Another RPG-7 round strikes the Scorpion. The crew’s luck runs out as the commander is killed instantly. The blast injures the driver and gunner, but they still refuse to abandon the scrappy little vehicle.
Small arms fire drops another of the convoy survivors.
The PCs return fire on the QRF infantry, killing two with well-aimed shots.
The Scorpion entered this fight with an HE round loaded and has found a target. The blast sends one of the White Eagle infantry sections sprawling; two remain where they fell. A follow-up round from the QRF infantry’s GP-25 injures another.
The OT-64’s gunner locates the White Eagle command section and cuts loose with the PKV. Rabarchak’s RTO is torn apart.
Round Three
The White Eagles still have the momentum despite their losses.
An RPG-7 rocket ends the UAZ’s evasions. The vehicle comes apart in a yellow flash as its AGS-17 ammo detonates.
Another RPG strikes the OT-64’s bow, killing the driver. The gunner is alone on board his immobilized ride, but he refuses to bail out.
The SPG-9 crew loads HE and shifts fire to the QRF infantry, killing one more.
Hoping for a lucky hit, the PCs catch the Scorpion in the side with massed automatic fire. Sparks fly and a track link is severed.
The remaining Scorpion crew aren’t giving up yet. The gunner slams another HE round home, slews the turret, and engages the PCs. The blast knocks down Ross and Erick with moderate injuries.
The OT-64 gunner is still in the fight too. The KPV walks through one of the White Eagle infantry sections, claiming another victim.
The dismounts and the isolated convoy survivors have had enough, though. Both groups are below half their original strength. Their morale is flagging. Caught in a fire sack, they surrender [below 50% original strength and failed troop quality checks for morale]. The isolated OT-64 gunner realizes he’s in a stationary target that is about to attract at least three antitank attacks; he, too, pops a hatch and waves a towel. The Scorpion crew takes a bit more convincing, but with one dead, one injured, and a barely-functional vehicle [Reliability 1], they have to admit they can’t carry the fight on their own.
Red and Erick bind their own wounds, give Ortiz and Ross a quick assessment and patch job, and begin triaging the White Eagle casualties. Two were immediately fatal; three more are severe trauma cases.
Ellis, somehow uninjured, reloads his G3 and starts rounding up the prisoners. The haul is better than he expected: nine convoy survivors (three injured), the Scorpion driver and gunner (both injured), the OT-64 gunner, and three of the dismounts (including the platoon commander).