Okay, the squad is ready to be written up for the first of what will hopefully be many missions that won’t feature fratricide. Hopefully.

I’m not going to go in to great detail on how the process works, but the end result will be an 8 man squad of infantry ready to kick ass, take names, and hopefully notice minefields before stepping in to them. Each trooper has a cost, and I’ll be rolling for a max cost for the whole squad first (Squad Quality rating). Do not be expecting us to be 8 incarnations of Sgt. Rock. Maybe I will be, and the rest of you can be my Gomer Pyles. Actually, soldier costs come down to whether or not they are a Commander (and we’ll need two of those) and how high their Initiative rating is. Ever played an RPG? You know how Initiative works. Haven’t? Figure it out.

Each soldier’s info box has 2 Port spaces to write down weapons. I don’t know why they are called Port spaces. I DO know that standard weapons (rifles, pistols) take up one. Bigger stuff can take up two or three, but they can be split between two men in the case of something like a light machine gun. I have to buy weapons based on a number of specified Weapon Points for the squad, so we aren’t all going to be Rambo. I mean, I will be…

Then there are 6 boxes for ammo. Then we have Combat Points, which are generated at the end of missions by actions during them. So you have to survive to get them. We’ll see on that front, I guess.

As for in game ratings, those are randomly rolled out on tables, though they are affected by each man’s individual Initiative rating. All of them are pretty self explanatory : Perception, Weapon Skill, Driving Skill & Movement Point Allowance. Oh, I’ll be rolling for everything using the pastel shade D10’s in the box. Seriously, these dice look like those horribly chalky mint things grandmothers and 80’s roadside diners always seemed to have.

And that’s it! Let the games begin :

Squad Quality : 33. This based off a roll of 3. This is not a great start.

Weapon Points : 38. Okay, this is better. We’re going to suck, but goddamn will we spray some fucking lead while doing so!

Riseborough – Commander, Cost 13. Yep, that leaves 20 for the rest of you. Suck it! I’m the Commander, you bastards!

Initiative – 4

Perception – 8 Nothing escapes me! I am the all seeing eye!

Weapon Skill – +1 This is obviously just a modifier applied to a fire roll.

Driving Skill – 6

Movement Point Allowance – 4

I’m toting a Browning Automatic Rifle, mainly because it’s pretty much my favourite gun of the era, 4 clips for it and a grenade. Actually, EVERYONE has 4 mags for their weapon. No pistol, because the BAR takes up both Port boxes. Also because I ran out of Weapons Points. So nobody has a backup piece. Something tells me this will bite us in the ass.

Johnstone – Commander, Cost 8. I’m seeing Liam in the role of the gruff Sergeant, always chomping on a cigar and slapping the men in to line. And yes, the two of us have left the other 6 of you with 12 total points. Turns out Commanders are EXPENSIVE.

Initiative – 3

Perception – 6

Weapon Skill = +2 This is the highest modifier you can get. Liam’s pretty much an assassin.

Driving Skill – 2 This, on the other hand, is embarrassing.

Movement Point Allowance – 4

He’s got a Thompson sub machine gun, favourite of mobsters in every gangland movie ever made. I’ve hefted one of these things, and they’re fucking HEAVY. The standard 4 clips and a grenade are also in the mix.

Keller – Cost 3. This sort of puts James in a sub-commander spot. If Liam or I bites it, he moves up (as does the next man).

Initiative – 2

Perception – 3 Welcome to the ranks of the increasingly oblivious.

Weapon Skill – +1

Driving Skill – 6 Well, he WAS a professional truck driver, after all.

Movement Point Allowance – 4

James has an M-1 Carbine. It WAS going to be a complement to a Bazooka, but those cost 8 points, and the rounds are a point each. We’ll see what we can do down the line, James. 4 mags and a grenade as well.

Weitzel – Cost 3. I find the idea of a soldier with a German name fighting for a US squad amusing. I can work with that.

Initiative – 2

Perception – 4

Weapon Skill – –1 That is some shitty rolling on my part. And some shitty shooting on Chad’s part.

Driving Skill – 4

Movement Point Allowance – 4

Chad’s got the standard US infantry weapon, an M-1 Garand, 4 mags and a grenade.

Brown – Cost 3. We need the cliche bookish type who has a future after the war that we’re all tired of hearing about.

Initiative – 2

Perception – 3

Weapon Skill – -1 I’m beginning to think that the squad missed Basic Training…

Driving Skill – 6 How useful. He can’t shoot, but he’s practically an Andretti.

Movement Point Allowance – 4

M-1 Garand, 4 mags and a grenade.

Woods – Cost 1. We have reached the ranks of the leftovers. You guys basically passed Basic thanks to sheer desperation.

Initiative – 1

Perception – 1 A parade could march by and Sean would be none the wiser. We may be best off using him as meat armour. Actually, this is what happens in a game when a 0 roll on a D10 MEANS 0, not 10.

Weapon Skill – 0. Seeing where the bottom half of this unit ended up, this is miraculous.

Driving Skill – 2 Probably shouldn’t be trusted with a bicycle, much less a motorized vehicle.

Movement Point Allowance – 3.

Sean gets a Thompson, because he was the only person in the bottom 4 of the unit who MIGHT be skilled enough not to shoot me with it. 4 mags besides.

Harll – Cost 1. Kelly made a comment in my post talking about Ambush! that he hoped Vlad wouldn’t kill us all with a self fragging. It amused me, so I put Vlad at the bottom of the squad. But I also figured it was only fair to put Kelly in the 2nd last position.

Initiative – 1

Perception – 3

Weapon Skill – -2 Welcome to the bottom of the barrel. How Kelly survived rifle training without suffering several mortal wounds inflicted upon himself is a mystery. I would say that he’s a threat to the safety of the rest of the unit, but that would require him being able to hit any of us.

Driving Skill – 4

Movement Point Allowance – 3

M-1 Garand and 4 mags.

Dudas – Cost 1. So now we’ve got a guy with a German name AND a dude who kinda sounds Russian. Nice!

Initiative – 1

Perception – 1 Vlad isn’t even entirely sure that he’s alive. Actually, this seems like a fitting score for a man who really did frag himself with a bomb made from a plastic pop bottle, dry ice and water.

Weapon Skill – -1 Feeling pretty good about himself now that Kelly’s in the crew!

Driving Skill – 0. Rather than drive the vehicle, Vlad prefers to just wave a screwdriver in the general direction of the steering column while munching on a burger. Actually, it might be safer for all involved if he just filled his bandolier with burgers.

Movement Point Allowance – 3.

Vlad gets an M-1 Carbine, 4 mags and the final grenade. I HAD to give him a grenade after Kelly’s joke!

So there you go. Let’s hope we run in to the sorts of German soldiers seen in propagandistic films made by the West during the war. If we meet some Waffen SS Panzer grenadiers, a whole lot of you aren’t seeing Mission 2.