Overview

I'm back home and, more or less, on the mend from the summer flu I brought back as a souvenir. I'll try to get the post up tomorrow!

Good to know you're still in the land of the living.  I'll be here.

Hey everyone. I unexpectedly got a trip crammed into my schedule (heading out on Wednesday, going to last seven or eight days). Preparations for that have kept me busy and I'm not sure I'll be able to post much until I return. I'll try, but I don't want to promise anything that might not hold up.    Thank you for being patient! :)

Hearing shots ring out, Darcy broke into a dead sprint for the only cover nearby.  She went down and slid in the last stretch like she was going for home plate.  Pausing only a moment to steady her breath, she looked over at Francis, safely ensconced behind the obstacle next to her, and with a nod, both leaned out from behind their shelter to engage the OPFOR in the woods.   ((One maneuver to take cover, 2 strain to get a maneuver to aim.   Action:  Shoot Opfor 1.  2 successes, and 4(!) blank dice

Hank and Filip move to use the local trees as cover and open up on the visible OpFor team, but the shots miss.   1 Fail, 3 Advantage Spending Adv Give next ally a Boost (1), and target a setback (2) to next check  

The week got a little chaotic, sorry about the delay! Post and shoot away!   I rolled up initiative for Betty to get things moving.

Initiative Order 2x BLUFOR <= 1x OPFOR 2x BLUFOR 1x OPFOR Agenda If you want to take actions in a specific order, you can. Otherwise have a first come, first serve approach and just jump in when you have time to post. After the first two player posts, I get one turn, then the other two players get theirs, then I another.   Refer to this post for info on ranges. Most likely you will be shooting at targets at Medium range with normal cover, so Average difficulty at two Purple and one Black.  

I would stretch the definition of Short Range a little beyond what the books define it as. We're going to disregard the "talk without raising your voice" descriptor and push it out to 50 metres...-ish. Not a hard ruling and especially for indoors/close quarters fighting we may end up compressing it again, but I'd say we're looking, very roughly, at the following:    Game Range Band  Approximate Distance  Engaged  0 ~ 5 m  Short  5 ~ 50 m  Medium  50 ~ 300 m  Long  300 ~ 800 m  Extreme  800 ~ 1500 m  >Planetary Scale  ~ 1500+ m   By that... metric, Hank and Darcy are at medium range for each other, while all other fireteam-fireteam ranges are short range. Both enemy units are at medium range currently, but moving closer could potentially bring at least fireteam 2, the one at the farm building, into short range.   I can try putting a hex grid on future iterations of the map to make it easier to estimate ranges. That, once again, will not be a hard rule, but it should help with getting a feel for it.   As for the black-and-white objects, I have no clue. I'll rule them as generic cover with one Black die though.

What are the ranges?  To the enemies, and each other.  I made sure to get the talent that lets anyone who goes into cover within short range of Darcy add a point of ranged soak as well as defense.   Speaking of cover, does anybody have a guess at what those little white-and-black things south of the shed are?  I honestly can't make out anything no matter how close I zoom in.

  The first two buildings are checked without any incidents. The metal shed because there is nobody in there. Granted the huge parked agricultural machinery and the dodgy lighting make for an oppressive feeling while checking corners and clearing the space, but it is soon evident that Darcy's team of two is utterly alone inside. Hank's team, meanwhile, encounters one of the customary 'area is off limits, turn around' signs used during exercises to protect the private spaces of the civilian population.   The section pushes deeper into the farm complex, spread out to present a more difficult target and cover each other. When Darcy steps out from under the metal roof, she spots movement in the trees beyond the paddock: at least two figures can be seen moving from tree trunk to tree trunk, trying to stick to the shadows. Unfortunately for them, the sunlight reflects noticeably off the yellow-coloured brassards they are wearing to identify them as the enemy in this exercise. They clearly are Yellowland forces.   Just as Darcy makes her report over the section radio net, two heads and rifles stick around the far corner of the main farm building, right in front of Hank and Dan's fireteams. A third figure dashes across the short open space and into the cover provided by one of the parked pickups just a few metres away.   Agenda I still need Initiative rolls using Cool from @rmorgens, @Jades, and @Demented Once we've got the initiative stack, the shooting will start   

Hank Hank turns to Betty "Elton?  Brother?  No.  He's a cousin"  

That's fine, I hope things are a little less bothersome now.   Can you please do me a small favour and edit your post a tiny bit? I should've been more explicit about it, but the driver who dropped you off is out of the picture, to keep the encounter simple (which is also why the farm people are not there right now, handwaved away). So your buddy is going to do what buddies do and stick to you. To keep the whole thing manageable, your fireteam members will effectively remain glued to your character most of the time.   I only plan on changing that if we end up doing things like consolidating all the NPCs into a base of fire while you guys do house clearing or such.

Sorry, the weekend was... unpleasant... and yesterday I was playing caught up in the office.

Betty yawns and uses her arm to shade her eyes from the oppressive light from the sun.  She looks over to Hank, "You aren't Elton's brother are you?"   "Come on, Barnes, lets circle the building.  Make sure nothing ducks out the back or sneaks in." With a nod, the two of them depart the truck, prepare their rifles, and start to check the building's perimeter while Hank and Filip go inside.

Jades seems to be MIA, so I will move her fireteam along for the time being. Map update is in the works, contact is imminent.   With those rolls you guys definitely spotted the enemy in time, please hit up the dice thread and roll for initiative using Cool. I'll post up the next bit once I have the initiative order. We'll go with the standard FFG SW approach and allow anyone to take a given initiative slot on their side while the opposition will have a single initiative slot. That way we should have maximum flexibility for the pitfalls of play-by-post.

I figured staying outside, but close, using whatever cover's around. The vehicles and trees and such along this line looked good, and there's that little creek just to the right for more solid cover if necessary.  

@Intro Just to make sure I don't toss you somewhere you don't want to be just because of a misinterpretation, can you give me a quick Paint sketch (a rough circle is sufficient) of where you'd like your fire team to move?

"Dan King," Daniel introduces himself. "Ecologist, do agricultural extension, interface management, that sort of thing." He shrugs. "Spend a fair bit of time around places like this."   With the other pairs moving indoors, Daniel gestures to Mayko that they'll pull external security. Keeping to the cover of the windbreak trees and the vegetation along the watercourse, he gives Mayko her sector and then focuses on his own, scanning the surrounding terrain and tree-line. Which also gives him a chance to judge the health of the soil and vegetation - maybe a bit of a distraction, but it was hard to turn that part of his brain off.   Perception: 1 Success, 1 Threat

Hank Peterson + Filip During the drive out, Hank seems a little distracted listening to the hum of the truck's motor and rattling of the transmission.  "Hey all, Hank Peterson of Handy Hank's Fix-it shop.  This here is Filip Balkus who is a delivery driver when we aren't gallivanting around with weapons.  The other member of my team, Lisa Lefebvre, was off at one of her job sites and didn't make it in in time.  She runs Double-L Construction" After dismounting and walking up to the farm property, Hank hand signals Filip to move off to the right of the road to investigate the first out building on the right of the path. Roll = 1 Triumph; 4 Advantage; 1 Failure

Right, I knew I forgot something... let's say Average difficulty, so two purple. I'll edit the post to reflect that.   As for the slings, it seems like Star Wars and Genesys have differing rules for what they do. Consider it a houserule, because they certainly help a lot more with conveniently carrying a rifle than with handling it to bring it on target. Bipods and tripods cover that as well anyway.   Load Bearing Gear (plus 3 encumbrance limit) and/or backpacks will probably feature in the future, but I kept them out of the equation for now since the equipment list for the first encounter is limited and compact enough not to run into that issue. Once we're looking at bigger weapons, sidearms, rations, and all that, yeah... we'll need something to bump up the limit. Going to tackle that when it becomes relevant and keep things streamlined until then. High speed, low drag.

What difficulty is the Perception check?   Also, slings don't impact encumbrance, they alter a weapon's cumbersome rating, which is a different kettle of fish.  Backpacks and utility belts will free up encumbrance.  Which we'll need in order to carry any kind of useful load.

Darcy was a bit put off by the unnatural stillness in the air.  The idea a full farm sitting quietly on a summer afternoon, with no work to be done, seemed outright blasphemous.   Focus.  This is the real deal, she chided herself, shaking her head to clear any lingering thoughts of home.  With a quick gesture to Francis, the pair left the road and proceeded at a slight angle away from it, towards the metal shed ahead on the left.   Roll.  2 success, 1 triumph

@Jades @Intro @rmorgens @Demented   The time to shoot things is nigh, get your rifles and lace up your boots.   Subsequent iterations of the battle map will have the section split up into smaller fireteams so you can see where you are, but I didn't want to clutter it up unnecessarily while everyone was pretty much still in the same spot.   Since Baldr cannot handle the right dice just yet, do all your rolls in this thread on the old forums.

The heavily armed section manning the gates checks your identification despite knowing perfectly well who you are. After all, you are on a first name basis with most of them and one or two you actually met just this morning while doing your shopping or at work. Now they flash you terse smiles and their rifles pointedly stay at a low ready while your IDs are run through the system. Moments later they wave you through and you are in for the next leg of your journey to combat readiness.   All across the base hurried activity can be witnessed. With only very limited personnel numbers on an ordinary day, getting the battalion together and ready to deploy takes its time. Those living closer are already in full gear, getting vehicles ready, and doing their best to fill a fluid personnel roster as the men and women sworn to defend this spot of Cascadia trickle in. One of the dropships is already spooling up its engine, tasked with picking up platoons from more distant settlements so the brass can ultimately put together the puzzle pieces of an entire battalion. But it will take time to get it all together and into place.   As you rush towards the squat building housing your equipment lockers, a young woman runs past in the opposite direction, pilot helmet under one arm, an equipment bag slung over the other shoulder, and a steady stream of creative expletives on her lips as she makes for the dropship before her right-seater takes off without her. You know her, she knows, but there is no time for friendly hellos on either side.   The first sign that the whole affair is not quite the real deal is when the Sergeant in charge of the armoury hands you rifles with the prominently yellow adaptors that need to be fitted for the simulation ammunition. The magazines you receive next are marked with the same signal colour. But even after that revelation, it all still feels very much real. The roaring engines of the dropship taking off, the frantic activity, the harried briefing you get from the platoon commander before you are pushed back out of the gates to do your part-time job in the military.   According to the exercise scenario, an intrusion into BLUFOR-controlled territory was detected when one of the unknown dropships got sloppy on the egress route and pulled up a little too early. Once caught out by radar, this little carelessness set into motion the flurry of activity you are part of now. Your immediate task is straight-forward enough.   The Gervais family called up from their farm to let the powers in charge know that something or someone seemed to be lurking around in the nearby woods. Since the vector for the unknown-presumed-hostile dropships seemed an awful lot like it might fit right in with that mysterious activity, command decided that someone should check it out and figure out whether the intruders came from either the feared Red Alliance or the reviled Yellowland. Ultimately, after moving down through the organisational structure, that tasking landed right in your hands.   You hitch a bumpy ride in the cargo bed of a civilian truck, the driver of which was voluntold to help you out (and got rewarded with a flimsy slip of paper entitling her to be reimbursed for fuel costs as well as wear and tear), and with the sun still reasonably high up in the skies you find yourself pushing up the dirt road towards the farm. Everything seems peaceful enough at first: the birds are singing, the grass and trees sway in the gusting wind, and the Gervais family is nowhere in sight. Possibly off on holiday with no knowledge whatsoever that they are playing an unwitting part in the exercise script.     Issued Equipment Identical loadouts for this encounter: 1x Assault rifle, Ranged (Heavy), Damage 8, Critical 3, Range Long, Encumbrance 3 (reduced to 1 with weapon sling), Autofire 1x Extra reloads, Encumbrance 1 1x  Fragmentation Grenade, Ranged (Light), Damage 8, Critical 3, Range Short, Encumbrance 1, Blast 7, Limited Ammo 1, Vicious 1 1x  Smoke Grenade, Ranged (Light), Range Short, Encumbrance 1, creates smoke for 2+ turns 1x Light Body Armour, Defence 0, Soak +2, Encumbrance 2 (0 when worn) 1x Emergency Medpack, Encumbrance 1 Medic also receives 1x Medpack, Encumbrance 2   You also each deploy with one of your fireteam members. The other four did not make it to base in time and will have to sit this one out. We will be using simplified rules for them: while they are combat effective and can support you, they will add 1 Blue to all relevant rolls. Whenever you take damage, you may opt to reassign the damage to them instead. What to do Add the issue equipment to your character sheets as necessary Roll an Average difficulty Perception check in this thread since Baldr currently cannot handle the dice we are using Do your introductory post with a little fluff and let me know where you and your buddy are moving The dashed arrow is the overall direction the section is planned to travel to check out the farm Teams can split off and move around the edge instead, for example Corporal O'Donnal is in charge in-universe, but players obviously get to decide what their fireteam does, so avoid issuing orders in fluff text Bullets will start flying soon, but who is going to stumble over whom remains to be seen The map currently refuses to upload to Baldr itself, I'm working on that  

That's one of the options on the table, definitely. But it also means less ablative NPCs, so we'll see!   There's also potential for some diversification by giving more specialised weapons to one or two of the characters while the characters with rifle groups get more NPCs to give some extra protection. I'm kind of leaning towards this hybrid solution.