"War is a drama, not a game of chess."
Gen Eisenhower

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Replacements

Well, time to see who will replace Lt. Ingram who was badly wounded during his first mission. A few rolls of the dice later...

Lt. Gary Caulfield is a Conformist motivated by Wealth. So he's a yes-sayer who doesn't stick his chin out. His temperament in combat is even (neither takes unnecessary risks nor is overly cautious) and he comes from a normal background. Unfortunately I roll low for his skill and he turns out as only a grade 1 leader. I draw the conclusion that he hasn't lead a platoon of his own before, either earning his stripes behind a desk or coasting along on another officer's merits. In any way it is not good for the platoon.

I then rolled to see if anyone from Jenkins' squad will step up while he's away. Hooray, yes indeed! Private 1st class Jeff Dimitriou shoulder's the responsibility. Since Jenkins is grade 2 Dimitriou automatically becomes grade 1, but it's better than nothing as otherwise the platoon sergeant would have had to take charge. (This roll was not a function of PF, but of the rules I play, the WW2 variant of M&B, which specifies the chance of "battle-field promotion"). His personality is Cheap and his motivation is Position just like Jenkins, which I figure is the reason he's stepping up to command the squad. In combat though he's cautious -- a bit understandable after what happened to Ingram and Jenkins!

Finally I roll for the next scenario: Patrol it is. I have to move through all nine parts of the board and if I encounter any opposition I have to drive them off, preferably without too many casualties. Unfortunately there is no support available. I also roll for a pre-combat event and gets Gung-Ho! One squad get a bonus in close combat, and I chose Jenkins old squad now led by Dimitriou. I reckon they want to give the hun a bloody nose as revenge!

So the composition of my little patrol is:

  • 2nd Lieutenant Caulfield (grade I).
  • Staff sergeant Sipowitz (grade III).
  • 1:st squad, six men led by Private 1st class Dimitriou (grade I).
  • 2:nd squad, eight men led by Corporal Dever (grade I).

I need to get some more figures based up and do some terrain building before I play the mission. Stay tuned, folks!

2 comments:

  1. Laffe,
    You could also have the LT a "90 day wonder" In order to get the huge number of officers the US army needed they put likely college grads through a 3 month course. These green officers were derisively refered to as the above moniker.

    Joe

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  2. There is a really good book with that title, "How a 90 Day wonder survived the war". Lt Curley gave a great description of the fighting shortly after the beaches were cleared and the fighting for the hills near St Lo. Great book.

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