Creating a Cyberpunk Red Character

A little over a year ago, I was pining for a chance to play some Cyberpunk Red, as I just did not have the time to run a game. Here we are, mere weeks away from starting a new CPRed campaign, and I figured I would relate how to make a CPRed character based on what I have seen online. Of course, given enough time and money, I have this idea that I want to convert the fantastic Firestorm campaign from CP2020 to the new Red rules and run my players through it as an intro and then they start playing as their kids/relatives in Red proper (2045-ish). But I do not really have the time to do all the conversion right now, so we are going to start with the Jumpstart Kit's Apartment intro adventure and go from there. Long before  any of that, I always like to find sources and references to see how other people are doing what they do, and see if there are any known pitfalls I can avoid. Pertaining to that, I have joined the Night City Stories (NCS) community on Reddit, if for nothing more than just having a need to create a Red PC and exploring the system a little. 

First, a bit on NCS - it is the Cyberpunk Red equivalent of a West Marches campaign played out over the internet. I will not bore you with yet another explanation of what a West Marches campaign is, you have either heard of them, or you can follow the links and find out for yourself. CPRed lends itself so well to this concept, I am hard pressed to say that, given a choice, whether I would like to run/GM a D&D 5e or a CPRed West Marches campaign in my local area (I am not currently doing either, but it is something I have pondered). So NCS is just that, a bunch of GMs (does anyone else miss "referees" from CP2020?) post up edgeruns, and whoever volunteers for them goes off and plays on the posted date and time. As you can see, if you bothered to go look at their Reddit, NCS does have some rules for character generation, which makes it easier for those of us who have oxidized well since the last time we played Cyberpunk Red or 2020. So I decided to use their rules for character creation, and am even going with the Complete Packages like they do for my soon to be starting CPRed campaign. As an example of what this involves, I am going to create a character and relay my internal monologue and choices I made while making this. If you want simpler, go for a Streetrats template build or a fast and dirty Edgerunners build, but for my example, I am deep diving into the Complete Packages to get more fidelity and choice of making a character. Follow along in your CPRed core rulebook, starting on page 40. Also, if you want an example of what your generic anything should look like (and I am providing these as well to my players to help them choose/create a character), check out RTG's Single Shot Pack, that has pre-gens of every role available.

For me, I was having a hard time settling on one role over the others - traditionally, I have played many Techs/Medtechs (used to be, in CP2020, no distinction between the two), Nomads, Solos, Fixers, and Netrunners. I finally understand Medias these days (read the comic Transmetropolitan, or Seanan Maguire/Mira Grant's Newsflesh novels for some fantastic examples of what a Media is/does), but did not in my early Edgerunning career, and I freely admit to not liking Corpos (I'm sorry, Execs), Cops (Lawmen), or Rockers. Solo is too easy, like "human fighter" in D&D, the default when you are unsure what you want to play. Netrunners are cool, and I like the new rules that keep them in the present with the rest of the party. Techs are also great in this version, less maintenance as in the old version, and more mad scientist/inventor, like in the classic RPG, Deadlands. Medtechs are also more their own breed of beastie in this version, and always very welcome in any party.

But Nomad... Nomads have become less about the Pack (though still important) and more about driving a vehicle (page 161 in the core book). Which I resonated with. You see, recently (okay, a year and a half ago before car and gas prices went insane) I traded in my old reliable commuter, which was becoming less and less reliable and more and more in need of some major repairs, and bought what my wife is referring to as the Mid-Life-Crisis-Mobile - a 2017 Ford Mustang GT (with a 6-speed manual, the Performance Pack, and possibly the loudest aftermarket pipes thanks to a previous owner). Hey, the wife and I are not going to have any more kids, and we are in a financial position that we could splurge a little. Plus, the 'stang is more affordable than most of you realize, especially as mine comes with the Millenial-specific anti-theft device, a transmission you have to row yourself. I needed a car to get to work every day, and this does fit the bill, just a bit excessive about it. To be honest, it is excessive about everything, really.

So I chose a Nomad, but I did not start in on your typical Nomad, either. Most Nomads have decent Cool stats, as they do a lot of negotiating, but the more I tried to nail down my new guy, the more I heard this utter gearhead nerd talking about the dual-turbo setup he wanted to bolt onto his current ride, and maybe a shot of nitrous, too. Out went the typical Cool stat, hello decent Tech stat, along with the matching skills, mainly in vehicle repair. Oh yeah, I am so dual classing this PC Nomad/Tech (it is legal! page 143 in the core book) - he can drive anything with wheels, and repair/upgrade it as needed. However, starting as a Nomad and using the Complete Package to build the PC, I automatically get a four in the Nomad's Role Ability - Moto.

I had this idea I wanted this character to be related to one of my old characters I played a lot, specifically my old Netrunner, the Wild One. He was the character out of my stable of CP2020 characters that was most like me - me growing up in the CP2020 universe, with just a thin coat of paint. I am by far not the only person out there who has done this, and as long as you can recognize your own flaws in the PC alongside your (possibly inflated) attributes, then your fellow players generally do not find them too egregious. Wild One was a pretty fun character to play, the head of a protection gang in the Kansas City area (big fish in a tiny pond, when talking the Cyberpunk universe - we set our campaign in KC because we were not far away when we played), and being a Netrunner in 2020, with its datafortresses and netrunning rules, he spent a lot more time sitting back and guiding the party than he did going on jobs with them. I figured he did not make it long past the end of the Fourth Corporate War and Bartmoss's unleashing of the RABIDS on the Net. But how, then, to tie this new character back to the Wild One? One night stand before he klepped it in the fall of the Net? Vat clone? I went with something a little less strange - the Wild One's Medtech (Netrunners of the time employed Medtechs to monitor their vitals on 'runs into the Deep Net, as Netrunners were virtually comatose while doing so) had quite a crush on her patient, and when the RABIDS brain burnt him, leaving a comatose vegetable behind, she gathered a "sample" before pulling the plug on the life support and impregnated herself. My new Nomad was the result.

So Lifepath - with the above in mind, I pick everything I need from the Lifepath (starting page 43 in the core rulebook) to get me there. North American as cultural region, I could go with any of the languages as Wild One was mainly an English speaker, but "dad" was not in the picture (he was already dead) when this character was born. What did mom speak? I do not know, but I am thinking Spanish just to spice things up. I was raised in southern New Mexico and speak a bit of Spanish myself, so I could see this character's mother being of Hispanic descent and mainly speaking that language. For personality, Intellectual and Detached - as I typed earlier, this guy is not Cool, he is a gearhead nerd who is most interested in driving fast, and making whatever he is currently driving even faster. I could even go Picky, Fussy and Nervous, but I like Intellectual and Detached, so that is what I am going for. Clothing style, since this character is a new character and part of a Nomad Pack, I'll got with Nomad Leathers (yeah, I know, generic, but you can always change this throughout the life of any PC) and hair... what am I thinking? This character is partly Hispanic, so it can be about any of the options. Not Bald, this PC may be female (have not decided yet), and I do not prefer women without hair. Probably something they can fit under a helmet, but probably not too neat, so I will go with Short and Curly. Affectations I will go with Tattoos. This PC likes to get inked, already has a few (can decide this later or now, not really important quite yet) and always looking to get more to add to the collection. Most Valued - *hmmmm* I will go with Your Word. This PC is a person of their word, builds back into the Intellectual and Detached, I like it. Go easy with the next one - I Like Almost Everyone. Friendly, but detached, so not a total snob asshole. Most Valued Person - dad was non-existent (literally just a sperm donor) and mom was a bit flaky to begin with, so I will say A Teacher or Mentor. Someone in the Nomad Pack who taught young PC how to drive and wrench on vehicles. Most Valued Possession - A Tool (they want to be a Tech so badly...). The last is easiest, when making a Nomad, stick with a Nomad Pack. Oh, you could do other backgrounds that can make sense, but I'm sticking with the Pack for this one. Which Nomad Pack? I always leave this as an open discussion with the rest of the party and the GM - what fits into the game the best? I am not married for this character to belong to any one particular Pack, I can write the background around whatever fits best, even an ocean-going Nomad Pack.

Yes, yes, there are more options in Lifepath, but you get the gist of it - some of these decisions can be super important to you as the player, and some can be chosen at random. You decide what is important in making up your character and what is not so important. And the options in the core book are really good, but you can come up with anything you can think of and go with that, even if it is not listed. Like Affectations - I picked Tattoos, but I could easily have said "everything they own is neon pink" and so their catch-phrase suddenly becomes "oooh, that's nice! got it in pink?" to every bit of shiny they run across. Let your imagination run wild. Focus on telling the PC's history, but do not be afraid to be vague now (during character creation) to give you freedom to come up with better ideas during play. Decisions made on the fly, in the middle of a game while at the table with your friends can be more interesting than something you had decided months/years ago. 

Now onto Statistics (page 72) - the Complete Package option uses a point-buy system instead of random generation by dice. As a starting character (yep, you can totally create Major or Minor Heroes, whatever your GM will allow, but for this, we will start with Starting Character, as that is also what I am inflicting on my players) you get 62 points to divide between the ten Statistics - Intelligence (INT), Reflexes (REF), Dexterity (DEX), Technique (TECH), Cool (COOL), Willpower (WILL), Luck (LUCK), Movement (MOVE), Body (BODY), and Empathy (EMP). I am not going into what each of those means, just to say you can take a look at the pre-roll tables for the Streetrats and Quick & Dirty builds to get an idea of what is important, average, and less important for each of the Roles. If it has mostly 5s and 6s, that's average. If it has mostly 3s and 4s, that is less important. And if a Stat has a lot of 8s, that is important. For instance, Nomads - INT is average, REF and DEX are above average, TECH is not important, COOL and WILL are important, MOVE and BODY are average, and EMP is less important. However, I want to multiclass this PC, so I also peek in on the Tech Role, see what they think is important (INT and TECH). INT for a Nomad is of average importance, but for a Tech is very important. Similarly, TECH is also very important to the Tech, but not important at all to a Nomad. So I want to emphasize those two, but I have to give up something in return, as you cannot have everything. I have already decided that this character is not Cool - while friendly, they are just not into talking to other people (Persuasion and Trading are usually high on the Nomad's list of Skills, but not this one) - so COOL will get bumped from "important" to "not important at all". I still want this PC to remain a good driver, so I will keep REF as important, but move DEX down to merely average - they will not be a combat monster, but still be able to drive like Randy Pobst. 

With the 62 points I get as a starting character, I choose INT 7, REF 8, DEX 6, TECH 7, COOL 4, WILL 6, LUCK 7, MOVE 6, BODY 6, and EMP 5. Like I said, not at all a high Cool like you see with most Nomads, but he is going to be more Tech focused in the very near future. Empathy I also find to be the answer to the question "how much cyberware are you wanting to put into this character?" as that is the limiting factor. If I was building a Solo who I wanted to do a near-borg/total-borg transformation with, I would put as many points in EMP as they let me from the start. So here, I want some 'ware, but not a lot. This Nomad is not going to be Inquisitor level of pure, but not totally 'borged out.

I got skill... or I should say, I have bought Skills for my character. Pertinent pages in the core book are 81 for a short description of every Skill, page 85 has the Basic Skills, page 90 has how many points a Complete Package character has to spend and how to spend those points, and starting on page 130 is a deeper description of all the Skills. Complete Package characters, which is what I am making, get 90 points to put into Skills. Yes, I know, the book says 86 points, but you get 4 above and beyond that must be spent in a language related to their background. Automatically, our Nomad has Language: Spanish 4 (+7 from INT, for a Base Skill of +11). Related to your 4 free points, you have to automatically put at least two points apiece into the Basic Skills: Athletics, Brawling, Concentration, Conversation, Education, Evasion, First Aid, Human Perception, Language: Streetslang, Local Expert (home turf), Perception, Persuasion, and Stealth. You start with 90, spend four in your language, another 26 in the Basic Skills, and you end up with 60 points you can put anywhere you want (except their Role Ability - it is nominally a skill, but you cannot advance it during character creation, only by spending IP on it). Again looking to the Streetrats builds to see what is important, for Nomads we come up with Brawling, Evasion, First Aid, Stealth, Animal Handling, Drive (Land, Sea or Air) Vehicle, Handgun, Melee Weapon, Tracking, Trading, and Wilderness Survival, with Perception also getting a little bump. However, I have to be different (just like everybody else!) and so we also need to look at Tech - Evasion and First Aid are also important, but everything else is different: Education, Basic Tech, Cybertech, Electronics/Security Tech (x2), Land Vehicle Tech, Shoulder Arms, Science (your choice), and Weaponstech. Getting the balance between the two Roles and getting what I want out of the PC is fairly straightforward - you cannot have everything, pick just a couple of things you want your PC to excel at, and then, if you have anything left over, put them in Skills that you think will be helpful or that no one else will have. 

Here is what I chose, grouped how they have the Skills grouped, by category. In Awareness Skills, I put four points each in Concentration and Perception, and six into Tracking, which is INT based and i just put a lot of points into INT from the Tech side, so it makes sense to emphasize. In Body Skills, I leave the base two points in Athletics but go for six points in Stealth. Stealthy and a good tracker, this Nomad is starting to coalesce, the quiet one who would rather be wrenching, does not make a lot of noise or brag about themself, but gets the job done. Control Skills we have Drive Land Vehicle with six points, and combined with our high REF, this Nomad can drive it like they stole it. In Education Skills we have, oddly enough, Education, which I put four points into. It is not a skill high on the priority list for Nomads, but it is for Techs. I would put more points in if this PC was a Tech from the word go, but this reflects their coming into the Role sideways. Also in this group we see our two Languages, Streetslang at the base two points and Spanish at the base four points. Local Expert (Your Home) stays at the base two points, and I have not decided where "home" is or what part of Night City they call home, but that can always be changed later. Wilderness Survival I do put six points into, but this could go either way - the party never leaves the urban environs of NC and they never need this skill, or they get chased out of town into the wastelands between cities and the Nomad is the only one who keeps the party alive. I like having it as a "just in case" Skill, never know when it might come in handy, and fits with Tracking and Stealth. For Fighting Skills, everyone gets Brawling and Evasion, but I bump both of these up to six points, and also take Melee Weapon at six points. Mechanics have lots of long, heavy wrenches and breakover bars, this felt right. No Performance Skills, and for Ranged Weapons Skills, I put six points into Handguns. In Social Skills, the basic Skills Conversation, Human Perception, and Persuasion get the basic two points. Finally, in Technique Skills, First Aid gets six points, legacy of this character's mother, Land Vehicle Tech also gets six points, and Weapontech gets two points. We gonna put big shooties on our vroom-vroom! 

Now personal gear, or as CPRed calls it, Your Stuff. For Weapons, Armor, Gear and Cyberware, you have 2,550 eurobucks (eddies, EBs, euros... I do find it funny that the original Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk 2020 predicted the euro of our current reality all the way back in the late 1980s) to spend, and specifically on your Fashion, which is almost as important as the rest to a CPRed PC, you have 800 euros to spend. Most of your gear, specifically short descriptions and prices, can be found starting on page 91, but once you get into game and need the stats for most of these items, you need to go to page 340 and following, in the Night Market section of the Economy chapter, for all of those statistics. For this PC, here is what I picked up, and why on the important stuff. 

• Stun Baton, medium melee weapon. It is easy to kill someone after you stun them, but hard to bring a dead target back to life, never know when you need to capture instead of kill.
• Heavy Pistol with 100 rounds. Nothing fancy, this PC has the Handgun Skill and these are pretty good at the balance of ROF and Damage.
• Light Armorjack, leather jacket and bandana (this fits in with their fashion choices of earlier, and note you have to purchase these again in Fashionware below)
• Agent. In the grimdark future, everyone needs a pocket cell phone/computer.
• Carryall. Where you carry your stuff, this could be saddle bags on your motorcycle to a duffle bag to a military surplus extra-large field pack.
• Duct tape. This PC is part Tech, they do not leave home without this item.
• Flashlight. Even if everyone in the party has upgraded to Smart Goggles or Cybereyes with low light, IR/UV, whatever, these are a good idea as you still need a flashlight to read things written in regular ink or printed in non-IR/UV reflective inks (which is 90% of the time), or otherwise discern details in the dark. Too easy to just also bring a flashlight with you.
• Inflatable bed and sleeping bag. PC is part Tech, but also part Nomad, so sleeping on the road or wherever you can cop some floor space is the order of the day.
• Radio communicator. Until everyone in the party upgrades to the appropriate cyberware, this is too necessary for a well-oiled team.
• Radio scanner/music player. For those long trips across the Wastelands, got to have your entertainment and also be on the lookout for rival Packs that could be setting up ambushes in your path.
• Road flares (x3). Signaling source and a source of fire, lots of uses for magnesium road flares.
• Rope (10m). Never know when you will need some of this.
• Tent and camping equipment. See the inflatable bed and sleeping bag above, never know where you are going to have to make camp out in the Wasteland.
• Anti-smog breathing mask. This is the time of the Red, best to protect your lungs until you can afford cyber replacements.
• Medtech bag. This PC is good at the Medtech skill, which is a base Skill so everyone has some knowledge in it. Also, being as I personally am a former US Army Soldier, we were trained you always carry at least one bandage (and the deeper we got into the Global War on Terror, we began carrying IFAC kits, which had a tourniquet, an Israeli bandage, and clotting factor), because whenever you are wounded, your battle buddies will use your bandage on you. Their bandage is so if they are wounded, that bandage will be used on them. This is one piece of gear that I think all PCs should spend some eddies on.
• Tech bag. Yep, this PC is not officially a Tech, but already purchased their basic Tech bag so they can use those TECH skills (Land Vehicle Tech and Weapontech) from the start.
• Smart glasses with Image Enhance. This is far cheaper than true cyberware and not quite as useful, but I think it fits with the character concept. They can use these as a scout for their Pack, as well as use the magnification capabilities when working on vehicles and weapons. Less a combat useful bit of gear, but still, if you can spot the enemy before they spot you, that may not be useful inside combat but always a bonus as it allows you to either bypass the ambush or decide how you are going to deal with it. If you do not know the ambush is there, that is the worst possible option.

Fashionware is all personal choice - how important is flashy clothes to your character? For this PC, what with the low COOL score and all, fashion is not all that important. I grabbed a bunch of basic, sturdy clothes, and multiples of each. No, edgerunners never get shot, stabbed, blown up, burned, electrocuted, acid thrown or sprayed on them, tied to the bumper of a fast vehicle and dragged a mile down the road... (end sarcasm tag) One thing I will note, I love looking through the classic CP2020 books, particularly the core book and the Chrome books, when it comes to fashion choices. In fact, I am going to put those books out for the players in my upcoming Session Zero. As for housing, like the Nomad Pack earlier, I like to leave this as an open discussion between myself, the other players, and the GM. Definitely not a Corpo Conapt, but I do like to also choose a living accommodations goal at this point, as it is not quite so important where they are living at the beginning of the campaign, but where they want to end up, that helps define the PC's motivations. As for the Running Out of Cash? options (page 118 in the core book), I try to build my PCs without any kind of entanglements like this. Now if the GM and I have had a conversation where they need someone in the party to do this to provide plot hooks for the upcoming campaign, I am an experienced enough of a player that I am willing to take this on and help out.

And there you have it, what I think about when I am creating a character for Cyberpunk Red. Hopefully this helps you with your own character creation and de-mystifies the high fidelity character creation option. It is really not all that hard, and the way CPRed is built, the rules part of it, it is really hard to make a "useless" character (I like to think "less useful" or "non-maximized" rather than "useless"), so if you have any reservations, just dive in and see what works for you and your group. Remember, life is cheap in this grimdark alternate reality, and even maximally balanced PCs die at an alarming rate. Have fun, stay safe, go roll some dice with your friends.

TY 6mm Lessons Learned 13

Another month, another Team Yankee in 6mm Escalation League game, and attendant battle report (BatRep). Brandon brought 100 points of combined Polish T-55AM2s and Soviet T-62Ms to face off against 50 points of Uriah's British Chieftains and 50 points of my own American Pattons. We got started a little late, and one of ours had to leave early as usual, so we got to the beginning of Turn Six, and it looked at that point that the game was pretty evenly matched and could go either way if we had carried it from there on. Let's get to the pretty pictures and discuss anything to be learned.

The setup was fairly full of terrain - one bit of road and buildings, but mostly hills and trees giving lots of cover and not many clear lanes of fire that reached very far before getting blocked again. Uriah and I knew Brandon would be fielding a lot of tanks, mostly T-55s, either the original ones reintroduced in the new Warsaw Pact book, or the upgraded AM2s. Either way, there would lots of armor on the field and so I needed a force that could face the storm head on. At 50 points, though, Abrams are right out - too expensive and with the possibility of having to put 40% of our Formations into Reserve from the start, too many of the Abrams would have to start the game off-table. So I went with a M60 Patton Armored Combat Team - one track as the company HQ, two three-tank platoons (one of which would end up in Reserve), two M901 ITVs, three M106 Heavy Mortar tracks (Reserves), a M113 Mech Platoon with three M113s, three M249 SAW w/M72 LAW teams, and three M47 Dragon teams (Reserves), and from Divisional Support there were three M109s, a M113 FIST, and a pair of M163 VADS. This was a list I have had in my Forces page for a while, but having played it, I am tempted to swap out the Mech Platoon and M106 Mortars for something else, maybe a pair of Cobra attack helos, or the Mech Platoon and the M109s for a pair of Warthog ground attack planes. But, in this game, it worked well enough to last 'til we stopped. I will say that I wish I had some Units with Spearhead, but knowing we were facing a lot, A LOT, of tanks, we would be more defensive and not really using Spearhead. Still, I would prefer to have the option at need. As always, any Army list you build will always be in flux, especially at this scale where adding models is so inexpensive compared to the 15mm scale.

Our battlefield.

The American Force that would show up from the beginning, and the NATO Objectives.

The American Reserves.

Brandon brought, as expected, a mix of Polish T-55AM2s and Soviet T-62Ms. For his main Formation, he brought in an almost full T-55AM2 battalion (one command track, two 10-tank companies and a five-tank company), with a four BRDM-2 recce element, six Carnation self-propelled artillery pieces, and four Shilka SPAAGs. From Polish Divisional Support came a BMP OP, another four BRDM-2 scouts (in Reserve), a pair of Su-25 Frogfeet, and three Spandrels. From Soviet support, he drew on a T-62M battalion (one command track, and two six-tank companies), four BMP-1 scout element, and four Gaskin AA missile trucks, with everything but the Gaskins in Reserve. This is a nasty list, with multiple Spearhead Units (though after that push in Deployment, the BRDM-2s are little use except as fast movers up roads, against the lightest of armed/armored foes, or as ablative meat shields - BMPs of any flavor tend to bring nasty guns with them and can double as extra infantry transports as needed), and just enough of a mix of gun and missile AA fire to deal with air units well. I do want to do some number crunching and see if the AM2 model of the T-55s is worth the extra cost over the base model, but I know the slight bump in AT and Forepower to the T-62Ms is worth the cost, even against my Pattons, which (spoiler!) shrugged off many T-55 100mm cannon shots. I do think Brandon would have been better served putting his Gaskins in Reserve and bringing out another recce element with Spearhead to make an early push at the other end of the table, but in the end he made it work.

Huh, now that is weird. Studying the pictures we took, I built Brandon's army in Forces, and came out long, 106 points instead of 100. With the sudden change in plans and being late, either he made a mistake, or I have in interpreting what I see in my pics and from what I remember. I am by no means mad at Brandon, as I definitely did not see anything amiss at the time, I think we as a group need to slow down and pay closer attention.

The entirety of the WarPact Force, in all its glory.

WarPact Reserves.

WarPact Deployed Forces.

That is a lot of vehicles.

Heeding the call for a NATO support mission, Uriah brought out his British Chieftains. Chieftain Armoured Squadron with a one track command element, two two-tank Chieftain Armoured Troops, three Swingfires, four Scorpions, and from Divisional Support, two Marksmen and two TOW Lynx helos. Deploying were the command track and one of the Armoured Troops, the Marksmen and the Lynx helos, and in Reserves were the other Armoured Troop, the Swingfires, and the Scorpions.

British Deployed Units.

British Reserves.

After settling on which Formations everyone was bringing to the table, we got down to business. Both sides chose Defend (sneaky Warsaw Pact!) and the resulting roll brought up Encounter. Simple enough - no minefields, two Objectives per side, Capture an Objective to win, no Round limit, both sides have Scattered Delayed Reserves, and you roll to see who starts putting out their Units first and choose time of day, and then roll again to see who gets to go first. WarPact won the first roll, and chose Daytime, then NATO won the second roll and got the privilege of going first. Deployments were as expected - NATO hunkered down with their fewer tracks around the Objectives on their sides and WarPact brought out the Spearheading recce units to get the first two of their T-55AM2 companies as close to those Objectives as possible. For my Deployments and Reserves, I decided that I wanted the bigger guns and the OP of the M109s, plus knew that whether we went first or not (in Encounter, going first means all of your Units count as having Moved right off the bat), I wanted to get the M901 ITVs into an advantageous position so they can start firing as soon as possible. The TOWs of the ITVs are nothing to sneer at - high AT, low Firepower, they are a danger to practically every WarPact tank out there - and I knew I wanted them from the start. Could I have brought in the infantry instead and gotten two more ATGMs through Dragons off the bat? Yes, but I am not as fond of the Dragons as I am the TOWs. I think in hindsight, I should have brought the infantry on instead of the M901s and gotten two extra ATGM shots at long range and the four shorter range LAW rockets. I need to check AT and Front Armor values again, see how Dragons and LAWs stack up against T-55AM2s (future research result - Polish T-55AM2s are FA 14, while LAWs are AT 12, and Dragons are AT 18. Should have gone with the infantry deployed and 2 extra Dragon shots and hoped he would rush me with lighter armor than 14). Unfortunately, I would have had to leave almost all my support Units (M109s, M901s, and M163s) in Reserve to get my last tank platoon into my Deployed Force and out of Reserves. Overall, I think besides waffling between infantry and M901s, I had picked correctly and got a good mix on the table to deal with multiple threats.

As for Uriah's list, the only niggle I had concerning it was that I wish he could have brought the Scorpions onto the field sooner. Those little buggers are hard to hit and tend to stick around a lot longer than anyone has the right to expect from them. British lists are hard to field against horde lists, especially at this low a point total, as the Brits just do not have an inexpensive tank to field. West Germans get the Leopard 1. America has the M60 Pattons. About the only thing I could say that Brits have that work exceptionally well against hordes are a MILAN-spam list combined with tons of Scorpion recce. But that is an awful lot of infantry, IFVs, and Scorpions to purchase, base, and paint up, not to mention that, except for the Scorpions, you are not terribly mobile. Yes, your infantry have FV432s to ride around in, but those are awfully soft and you have to spend a round dismounting before you can really bring the pain to bear, usually enough time for your opponent to start putting artillery and AA fire onto your position and force Pins. Once the Pins lift, however, it's a lot of hate to bring against your enemies.

Brandon's list I have seen before, and it is right nasty. Plenty of tanks to absorb losses, and he keeps the better tanks in Reserve so they come into play after the T-55s have softened up the opposing gun lines. So many tanks on the field, and just enough support to ruin your day.

Deployment area and Objective area boundaries are set.

From the other side.

WarPact artillery and NATO Objective on the WarPact right flank.

Let's see, tanks, tanks, more tanks (all T-55AM2s), and some AA and scouts, WarPact mid-right.

More T-55AM2s and Shilkas, WarPact mid-left.

Spandrels and artillery OP BMP near the NATO Objective, WarPact left.

Chieftains and Marksmen near the WarPact Objective, NATO right.

American FIST and TOW Lynx, NATO middle.

Americans, VADS, Pattons and M901s, near the WarPact Objective, NATO mid-left.

American M109s, NATO left.

TURN ONE - Having won the right to Attack first, NATO moves up and starts hammering everything they have a line of sight to. The T-55AM2s to the front of the American Pattons lose four tanks and have another Bailed... still four tanks away from having to make a Morale check. The American VADS push to as close to the middle of the table as possible to cover as much of the field with their 30mm Vulcans as they can. Still, I wish I had brought some missile troops instead. The Brits do not have much they can shoot at, but they shoot at what they can see and miss. As the Attackers in Encounter count as having Moved for their first Turn, the American artillery cannot get anyone to spot for them and sit quietly in the corner of the field. The Patton command track Shoot 'n' Scoots successfully back into the woods and out of line of sight.

WarPact rushes forward as they have to - all of the T-55s advance hard, their OP BMP making its Blitz move to pop out of cover and start spotting for the artillery, and the Frogfoot flight appears on the board to ruin the Americans' day. Artillery ranges in on the VADS but fail to hit anything (PHEW!) but the Frogfeet rain down the hate on the Patton platoon, killing two and leaving the remaining track in need of a Morale check next Turn. The American dice turn traitor, rolling snake eyes on the armor save.

Somewhere during this turn, the Spandrels leave the field. Either Brandon realized his list building mistake and removed them, or they got blown away, possibly the Lynx flight or the Chieftains caught a peek, as the only force I could have possibly shot at them was the VADS, and I do not remember taking that shot.

"Ding!" goes the bell.

Chieftains adjust.

VADS move off, and Pattons start stacking the enemy.

"Get some!"

Successful Shoot n Scoot puts this Patton out of the line of fire of the T-55s.

BMP OP makes a successful Blitz move to Range In on the VADS, T-55s start the charge forward.

Undeterred, T-55s in front of the Americans move forward.

Su-25 Frogfoot Flight of DOOM!

Traitorous American dice. That's one.

And there goes the first platoon of Pattons.

"I don't know, I just don't like this neighborhood anymore..."

TURN TWO - Still not time for Reserves, as both sides "enjoy" Scattered Delayed in this mission. The remaining American Patton fails Morale and scampers for the hinterlands, while the American command track fails its Cross Check and Bogs in the middle of the woods, out of line of sight of any enemy vehicles. The M901s both roll 1s for their attack (traitorous dice! they are replaced with a different set), but the VADS, escaping the Ranged In area, manage to Bail two of the BRDM-2 scouts. At this point, I completely fail my mental check and forget to do anything with my artillery. *feh* Down in British territory, the Chieftains still cannot see anything, so they sit idle. The TOW Lynx helo flight shows up and smashes the WarPact OP, denying their artillery a decent Range In the rest of the game. Ha ha! Take that!

Unimpressed by this grievous loss, the mostly Polish WarPact force continues its March across the table. Every Bailed vehicle Remounts. Slow Firing T-55s manage to fail to penetrate the American command tank and miss the M901s (again, PHEW!). The Frogfeet show up again, aiming for the American artillery, but are ineffective on this pass. The VADS are not so lucky and both are Bailed by enemy fire. Facing the Brits, the T-55s stick to cover and Dash as far as they can while remaining in cover, and the Shilkas finally creep away from where they were Deployed, trying to get a shot at the Lynx flight. I cannot fault Brandon for keeping the T-55s at the British end of the table away from the Chieftains, as they have no chance of damaging the Chieftains, nor can they withstand the AT put out by the British 120mm rifles.

Turn Two!

They were hung, shot, drawn, and quartered.

The last Patton scampers, and the Command track Bogs in the woods.

Hey, we got one!

VADS move away from the impact area and Bail some scouts.

Bailed Scouts... that was a lot of dice for not a lot of effect.

The T-55s march on.

The bad news birds are back.

VADS Bailed in response.

T-55s continue to move forward, and the Shilkas bestir themselves.

TURN THREE - No NATO Reserves this turn. On the American side, the VADS manage to Remount one of their tracks (yay!), and then immediately fails Morale and runs off the field (boo!). With the enemy bringing itself into Line of Sight, the command track and M901s kill a T-55 and Bail another. Artillery manages to Range In and destroy another T-55. The Brits, tired of not doing much on their end of the field, moves the command track to shoot at the T-55s sneaking up on them, but fail to do much of anything, as do the TOW Lynx flight (more traitorous NATO dice). The Marksmen, seeing a wave of 100mm cannon fire bearing down on them that they, wisely, want nothing to do with, and seeing an uncovered Objective across the field from them, Dash in that direction to see what pressure they can apply to the WarPact forces.

No Reserves for the WarPact forces this turn, either. They Remount the one T-55 that was Bailed and continue to drive after the American Thin Three-color Camo Line, and break cover to make the final charge at the Chieftains. The BRDM-2s break cover and head for the M901s, attempting some light armor on light armor shenanigans. The Frogfeet show up again, gunning for the M901s. Bored with no available spotters, the Carnations leave their corner to deliver some direct fire hate. The Lynx flight catches hate from the Shilkas and Gaskins, and loses one of their number, facing a Morale test next Turn. The Frogfeet bring out the Salvo template on the M901s, but fail to do much, besides lower the property value of that grid square. (yes, I know the Salvo template does not cover an entire grid square, it just feels like it) Someone, I cannot remember who exactly but by the pictures it is most likely the Carnations, destroys two of the M109 self-propelleds, leaving the Unit to face a Morale check shortly.

Patton Command track, M901s, and M109s continue to pile up the WarPact tracks.

I am so proud of that artillery kill.

Chieftain Command gets a slim shot on the T-55s, but to no use.

Clash of Titans. Or, Quality vs Quantity.

Marksmen sneaking around the far flank, Lynx flight hiding behind trees.

T-55s rush at the Chieftains.

Undeterred by their losses, the remaining T-55s charge into close contact.

Frogfeet are back.

With no OP, the Carnations decide to go do some direct fire shenanigans.

TOW Lynx flight catches some hate.

That is the Salvo Template.

And now the M109s are making a Morale Check.

TURN FOUR - NATO gets Reserves, two whole Units! Uriah and I agreed to one Unit apiece, and we both brought out more tanks. We even got on the entry roll the thirds of the table we needed, lowering our collective stress considerably. Then the Americans and the British both fail Morale, losing the M109s and the Lynx flight. The newly arrived Pattons and command track remove two tracks from the field and Bail two more tracks from the original T-55 company. The M901s duck around the side of the hill, playing chase-y chase-y, catch-y catch-y with the BRDMs. The Chieftains open up on the T-55 company to their front that has been playing hide and seek with them, destroying four and Bailing one in one barrage of cannon fire. The Marksmen continue their charge towards the near-side Objective.

WarPact make the roll for one Unit of Reserves, Brandon picks a company of Soviet T-62Ms, and they appear right in front of the hard charging Marksmen. On the opposite end of the table, only one T-55 passes his Remount, but then also passes Morale, keeping that company hanging on by a thread. The remaining T-55s fire at the Americans to no effect. On the British end, the T-62Ms open up, destroying both Marksmen in one salvo. The T-55s Remount their one Bailed tank and Dash forward to get side shots next Turn on the Chieftains, their only option as the 100mm cannon of the T-55 cannot do anything to a Chieftain's Front Armor. 

Turn Four!

The Cavalry has arrived! Okay, some Reserves...

M901s running away from the BRDMs.

Chieftains exact a nasty toll, and look! More Chieftains!

Lynx sticks around and Bails a Shilka.

Carnations continuing their advance, as do the BRDMs in the background.

Even after killing so many T-55s, that Company is still in the fight.

Remaining T-55s surround the Chieftains to attempt side shots next Turn.

T-62M Reserves wipe out the Marksmen, and the Shilkas and Gaskins (not pictured) do for the last Lynx.

TURN FIVE - NATO again gets two Reserve Units, Americans pick the mech infantry platoon, and Brits the Scorpions, Americans coming in on the NATO left, and Brits into the middle. Not ideal, but not the worst. I waffle a bit on where to send the infantry to, for the hill on the farthest left or the long, skinny treeline in the middle of the table to the American front-left? I finally settle on the hill. Infantry and transport rules means the transports move this Turn, and then next Turn the infantry dismounts and starts setting up. Or moving to Assault the Carnations, which would have been interesting to watch. Back to the battle, the Brits fire 10 shots and finish off the T-55s that have surrounded them, first Unit off the board for WarPact. Americans yell "hold my beer!", finish off the last two T-55s in the Unit they have been in close combat with since the start, and then maul the next T-55 company, destroying two and Bailing one of the six T-55s in that company. As for the Scorpions, I have no pics of them Deployed, and I cannot remember what they did. I think they mostly loitered behind cover near the Chieftains to make sure the T-55s were destroyed.

Unphased, WarPact continues to drive forward. Getting one success on the Reserves roll, the last full company of T-62Ms roll on to the table on the WarPact right, directly behind the Carnations. Both Units move forward, driving towards the Objective the Americans are investing. The Gaskins also leave their Deployment space and roll forward, I am guessing to act as ablative meat shields as Gaskins do not have any secondary armament and the Lynx flight were the only aircraft NATO had brought. The Shilkas move and invest the Objective across the table from the British, and the T-62M company on that side of the table continue to drive towards the Chieftains. The BRDM scouts finally swing around the hill and manage to destroy one of the M901 ITVs, forcing a Morale check next Turn.

Turn Five!

Chieftains destroy every T-55 around them.

The last whole T-55 Company is a little scuffed up now.

Americans finally finish off the T-55 Company and start working on the next one.

More T-62Ms Reserves join in. American infantry in the foreground. BRDMs swing around the hill.

T-62s moving forward and Shilkas invest the Objective.

M901s catching fire from the rear, and Pattons getting Ranged In by the Carnations, spotted by the T-55 Battalion Commander.

And in the end...

TURN SIX - This is where we had to stop, as one of the group had to leave. At this point we decided it could still go either way. Both sides had inflicted serious losses, and there were not too many more Units left in Reserves. The Americans and British were more than likely going to get their final Units as Turn Six both sides roll three dice and are guaranteed at least one Unit no matter what is rolled. Americans had M106 mortars, not fantastic, but they still had their OP to spot, and they would be useful against the lightly armored vehicles. The Brits had the Swingfires, and those are super deadly in the defensive posture NATO was in. But WarPact only had three Units in Reserves as well, the T-62M command track, and BMP and BRDM scouts. The BRDMs would not be great except to run interference, but the BMPs are downright nasty for their cost, with decent speed, a cannon that is worth something, and a missile, if they can get set up for the shot. Personally, I think that the British side of the table was stalemated - the Brits need to remain mostly unmoving to be most effective, as Chieftains' ROF is two Halted but only one Moving, and Swingfires have to be stationary to fire their missiles, and the tanks facing the Brits really did not have the numbers to face that kind of firepower. Brandon was smart and not rushing the T-62Ms into firing range, in the hopes of decision locking Uriah into remaining static. Oh, the Scorpions could have rushed across the table and threatened the Shilkas around one Objective, or gone the other way towards the other, open Objective, but it would not have been much more than a feint. No, the real schwerpunkt was the American invested Objective - do the Americans have enough to clean out the last of the T-55s before the Carnations, T-62Ms, and everything else the WarPact could scrape up and throw in the mix arrive and start adding their guns? It would have come down to all the rolls at the beginning of Turn Six to decide the game - does the last M901 stick around to help wipe out the T-55s? Does NATO get both of their Reserves, and where do they come onto the field? How many Units does WarPact get, and where do they come in? Best case scenario for NATO is the M901 stays for at least one Turn, and they get both sets of Reserves, the mortars really anywhere and the Swingfires in the American table third. Though if the Swingfires show up in the British table third, that would free up one Troop of Chieftains to swing over and help the Americans out, as they do not need five Chieftains and three Swingfires to deal with six T-62Ms. On the opposite end, WarPact best scenario is the M901 fails Morale, and only one Unit of NATO Reserves comes in, out of position, while they get all three of their Reserve Units. And it does not matter which area they come in, WarPact could use them effectively anywhere, but if they came in to their right or middle to pitch in at the American invested Objective, that would be optimal.

My opponent and teammate agreed with my assessment - this match was still very much in the air and either side's to win or lose. The roll of the dice in the beginning halves of Turn Six would have vast consequences for both sides, but even favoring one side over the other, I still think the underdog could pull out a win if played correctly. At this point, NATO had lost a total of 26.5 points, and WarPact had lost 36 points. This seems like a huge gap, but NATO no longer has any AA except the AA MGs on the vehicles, and the Frogfeet are going to be a right pain every time they show up. Yes, the BRDMs and Gaskins will die any time they face off with a tank, but it takes time to kill enough to cause a Morale check or destroy the Unit outright, time in which those tanks could be doing other things, like killing the other vehicles that can actually hurt them. Remember, this Mission does not have a Turn limit, Brandon could easily slow the advance of his heavier gunned vehicles and rush ahead with his swarm of light vehicles and jumble things up - separate the command tracks from the other Units, so that when the big guns do arrive and force Morale checks, the commander is too far away to provide aid on the roll. Roll up and invest the Objectives, forcing the Defenders to break cover and/or focus on them to try and destroy the Unit outright, while the WarPact big guns roll up and get a free Turn or two of firing with no return shots.

As we agreed, this could have gone either way. I feel I am starting to look at tactics for the long term - in this situation you need to drive hard, yet in that situation you need to hold back. Let your opponent psych themselves into doing something, well not stupid, but suboptimal. Which order to pour your forces into the schwerpunkt. Am I a professional? Nope, even when I was in the military I was merely support and not in charge of tactical thinking. Now, I am not even a top-seeded amateur. But I do feel like I am starting to wrap my head around this better. There are some fantastic videos on YouTube on how to play Team Yankee for the 1st version of the rules, and I feel like I want to do something similar for the v2 rules. Probably not make a video series - I do not have the time to set up, film, and edit the videos, and let us not discuss my lack of paint on my models or unfinished state of my terrain - but just for myself so I have a concrete solid grasp of the rules, special features of all the Units and Teams, and all the edge cases that are out there. Thanks for stopping by and reading this far. Come back in a month or so, and you should find the next BatRep from our little band of misfits. In the meantime, get together with your friends and roll some dice.