Three Years Ago- Sodrakron Military Academy

It was a warm spring night- the glow bugs were all out in clouds of blinking stars, and their show was accompanied by the reedy wail of crickets. On the edge of the busy port metropolis where the Military Academy lay, nature dared to encroach, but most of the cadets had chosen to socialize indoors, with the exception of a pair of young women who had come out to a viewing platform with a commanding view of the wooded hills, and all that life that had woken up and now celebrated its flourishing- for the glow bugs would die off in but a week or two. The girls both wore the white of cadet officers, the tokens of nobility that assuaged their unorthodox status as females in the army, but one had the even stranger feature of a set of pointed ears- tucked under her cap, out of sight, though all already knew what was hidden, but this pair sat rather close together this night.

“Rufia?” The shorter, pureblooded Nauk said to the Twaryinauk young lady.

“Mh?” She turned her head to look to Haile, her friend, perhaps her best one. Haile was fairer then her, unblemished of face and thick of eyebrow like a proper Nauk woman. Her hair was a prettier shade of chestnut compared to Rufia’s blood-hued locks. She couldn’t help but smolder with jealousy at this particular moment, looking at the young Countess. “What is it, Haile? You don’t have to stay out here with me. I just wanted to be away from…men for a while.”

“I did not think he would reject you so rudely,” Haile murmured, an embarrassed grimace crossing her face, “I thought-“

“It’s alright, Haile.” The tone of Rufia’s grumble told that it wasn’t alright, but there was nothing to do about it. “It’s just how it is, even if I want to forget.” She sniffed, “…I didn’t ask to be born a damn Bat-Ear, Haile. My father chose some salt-stinking wretch of a mistress, but I have to bear the burden of that preference for shite.”

“…You inherited his sense of taste, perhaps?” Haile tried a small joke, but earned a harsh glare. “…” Haile folded her hands in her lap, silent, before saying quietly, “You do not have to stay at the Academy for my sake.”

Rufia’s stare softened. “I thought that you commanded me to attend with you?” She turned her waist slightly, “Besides…what would you do if I didn’t help you in study? Are you going to ask a strange student for help?”

“Most certainly not,” Haile crossed her arms in a huff, but her tone turned melancholic again. “I would probably just…do poorly. Are my academic marks worth you being unhappy?”

“I just thought it would be different when we got here. That being here meant I was…I don’t know. Better. Not like other pointy eared street garbage, a red-lantern woman like he said...”

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“You are not street garbage,” Haile corrected sternly, “You are the Lady Sommervind, a daughter of a noble house. Bastard or no, your father passed his name and title to you. But…it was not going to be different. But that will change when I am Praetor. It will happen. I know it. It is destiny, and I feel it.” Rufia ever had her doubts about what some might have concluded was delusion- but that naïve hope inspired her nevertheless. She wanted to help Haile do it- that it seemed impossible was what made her want to defy her own skepticism. That, and the way she rubbed that odd trinket when she made such ostentatious statements. Suddenly, Haile placed her hand on hers, “…You still agree, do you not?”

Rufia paused, then grasped her hand back. “I do. I know we can do this, no matter what anybody thinks.”

-----

Alright, sorry for the delays, and as much as I’d like to keep putting off starting the thread until I have everything where I want it to be, I legitimately cannot put it off any longer. So we’re kicking the thread off now. Like before, we’ll be waiting the obligatory 3 days for everybody to show up, but we’ll get things wrapped up from before that I didn’t get to last thread.

First, the lingering plot threads and mini-op resolutions, and things like the human trafficking being looked into, which I’ll take care of as soon as I get back tonight- I wanted that done right away, but things haven’t worked out that way.

Second, when people show up, if they’ve managed to get 2 XP from operation participation and haven’t disrupted their XP progression in any way, I’ll need to know if you want your EXP level, or if you want another Commander Trait. Customized commander traits are allowed, but they can’t be any more powerful than other traits, and they ought to be on theme with your unit class. Once that’s decided, I can properly post updated unit cards.

After that, we’ll have everything needed to properly move on to the 3rd Op. Not exactly a smooth transition, but that’s the breaks when it’s not just moving right along the road like from the 1st to the 2nd.

So, in order, what’s to be taken care of as people show up-

Plot and Action Resolution
Level Up Processing
3rd Operation Briefing + Deployment

I’ll be back in about six hours to work on getting things properly ready, so for now, just asking people to check in- if anybody wanted to get in from the last thread and didn’t, this thread’s start is the last chance to sign up. Once the 3rd Op starts properly, I’ll either consider you present from now til the end or I won’t. This includes anybody who’s dropped off, just to slim down the workload. Thanks for your patience, and for sticking around thus far.

>>5546429
Ready and ready to mingle baby, HOORAH! Welcome back tanq!

I would like to use the XP for an EXP boost, thank you very much.

>>5546429
>Reporting in
>+1 EXP Level
Ugh, I really want the extra trait, but I've been getting really killed by initiative. Oh well. Let's peel open some more bat-eared tin cans.

Reporting in from a McDonalds during my work break...

>>5546429
Let's get this shit boys.
Use the 2 XP to bump EXP by 1. It's time to become a menace.

>>5546429
Keeping my +1 EXP Unless I can go balls to the wall and get rid of the safety net that let's people get their unit wiped out once and survive for more stats.

>>5546537
Preferably have the unit trait be called band of brothers.

>>5546429
Yay we're back.
>Exchange +2 Exp for Goliath Novus

>>5546429
>Reporting In
>I want Ironheart instead of the Level

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>>5546429
Reporting in, I'd just like to mention you said I could replace my Biter Trait with the EXP trait.

>>5546429
And we return to weather the rest of the storm
>2 Maps completed to get to Exp Level 4

>>5546429
Meine damen und herren, Pantsu

>Bump up to EXP 5

>>5546429
>Reporting in.
>No EXP because T-15 :c
Good to be back, tanq. What's the word on requisitioning stuff, by the way? I don't think we got around to that last thread.

>>5546429
Reporting for roll call
Give me that sweet, sweet +1 EXP level please.

>>5546429
I exist.
Taking the bump in EXP up to 3

>>5546429
I anticipate only good things this mission.

>EXP +1 please and thank you.

>>5546429
>Going for that exp chief. My men are militia and it would be better if we got some XP to regulars level.

>>5546871
>>5546429
also a question: Were we able to scavenge all those field guns and toe them behind our trucks?

>Reporting for duty
>Action of last thread in evening
>2 exp for level

So in last thread i was asking what should i help with in fixing or modifying. So i leave this here and people can pitch some ideas as i can do 2 or if nothing is needed some of my tanks are getting mods anti tank or anti infantry.

>>5546429
Reporting in

>>5546874
I could do with double Autocannons since it'd also let me double as anti-air. I can't remember if I got them.

>>5546429
I'm here and ready to help bust some traffickers.

>>5546429
Ohh I just remembered I wanted Ironheart

>>5547021
>>5546959
>>5547021
Whoops forgot my name

>>5546429
Von Totmann reporting in, as ordered!
No level up for me though, sadly.

Eberhardt reporting! No levels here.

>>5546429
>Reporting in
>+1 EXP Level

Good luck everyone ; )

>>5546429
>Reporting in!
I want to exchange my EXP upgrade for Plutus, then spend that to up-armor my TDs.

red leader reporting in

>>5546429
Reporting for duty

>>5547478
Forgot to mention I'll take the +1 EXP

Lt. Fenrickrieger reporting in. I'm good with the +2 defense from experience.

>>5546874
>If available HMG to 2 of my tanks if not flamethrowers

>>5546959
I have no idea where in your tank you would fit twin autocannons as you have flamethrowers and main gun already.

>>5547833
The main gun for my lead gets replaced with double Autocannons.

Alright, I was supposed to get things rolling yesterday, but that didn't pan out. We'll get to it today though.

Thus far for role call so far though-

>>5546537
>>5546624
>>5546727
>>5546871
>>5547160
>>5547168
>>5547223
>>5547328
>>5547747
Dragoons-
D-1 Krogh
D-2 Kohlkopf
D-3 Ferrari
D-4 Gauthier
D-7 Lehrson
D-8 Vilgerson
D-9 Von Totmann
D-10 Von Bern
D-11 Eberhardt

>>5546502
>>5546659
>>5546974
>>5546763
>>5547478
Recon-
R-1 Splitterschwert
R-3 Unterbrust
R-4 Von Eschenz
R-6 Fiskersonn
R-7 Wespe

>>5546505
>>5546582
>>5546606
>>5546715
>>5546874
>>5546959
Cuirassier-
C-1 Vix
C-2 Sikorsky
C-3 Lutzow-Spelinger
C-4 Kannenpflanze
C-5 Martins
C-7 Vilgerson (F)

>>5546643
>>5546521
>>5546740
>>5547318
Panzerjager-
J-1 Von Zufalligdorf
J-3 Niel
J-4 Giovanni
J-5 Wesker

I ain't gonna ride anybody's asses for attendance, definitely not when my scheduling's as off as it's been- it'll be the usual with deployment and reserve calling, but we won't be doing any remote from the start stuff for this.
Call it a favor, in a way- you people aren't heading into a parade and then a big celebratory party, but you knew that from the start, didn't you?

>>5546537
Unsure what that would be- getting rid of the wounded safety net I'm reading? I think I can work something like that out. Potentially. Still have to think about how much is equivalent exchange though, of course.

>>5546624
That'll be fine, yes.

>>5546715
>What's the word on requisitioning stuff, by the way? I don't think we got around to that last thread.
Exchange of vehicles is straight across if you want- weapons can be stripped off the enemy vehicles and all that, though I don't think many people wanted or needed to do that.

>>5546873
>Were we able to scavenge all those field guns and tow them behind our trucks?
That can be done yes. Though the subunit type would change to the gun and crew rather than an infantry squad.

>>5546959
> I can't remember if I got them.
You got 'em if you want them. 2cms.

>>5548615
>Exchange of vehicles is straight across if you want- weapons can be stripped off the enemy vehicles and all that, though I don't think many people wanted or needed to do that.

IIRC there was going to be an RP list right? At least I assumed that was what was meant by requisition.

>>5546429

>Register for duty


>Commander and Trait
Elwin Volger
Plutus: Blessed with wealth and status.

>Unit Class and Trait
"Black Cats" Recon Group
Army Reservists

>Token
Red Dust

>Stats
EQP 2, INT 5, EXP 1

>>5546429
>Name
Black Squadron (Black 1)
>Unit Class
Panzerjager
>Unit Trait
Landsgraf's Own
>Commander Trait
Mirage Aspect (From Chimera's Charm >>5506107)
>Token
Peacefield
>Character Description
A group of young Vynmark men and women, mostly minor nobles, whose family lands had been displaced or overrun during the course of the war.

They've thrown away any identity they'd had before the war, opting to wear masks to cover their faces, ranging from small masquerade masks to gasmasks.

They're led by an enigmatic leader simply called Black 1 whose bulky overcoat and flowing scarf hide pretty much all their visible features from all others.

>EQP 3
>INT 4
>EXP 0

>>5548615
Crap completely forgot to report in.

>Raine's reporting in
>Raine wants Honos instead of the level

Gabriel's coming in too, I've been keeping him away from the out-of-combat stuff but I ask him what he wants to do for the combat stuff...

>Also he(Lt Nathan Gabriel) wants Plutus instead of the level so he'd get the 77mms.

>Paramarine Guard Duty- Threat Level 0, 2 Successes Needed.
>D2- Kohlkopf - Rolled 6
>D3- Ferrari - Rolled 2

> Red Blades Investigation - Threat Level ???, 2 Successes Needed.
> R1- Splitterschwert - Rolled 4
>J1- Zufalligdorf - Rolled 10+1
> D4- Gauthier - Rolled 1+1

An unwelcome surprise had interrupted the conclusion to the revelry taking place in Kobberhus after the day’s victory. Most were slumbering by then- including more than a few of those who were meant to be guarding particularly important prisoners- some were trying to fool around with whatever female prisoners they could find that were willing, with only a few finding any strange sorts receptive to consorting with those they were fighting just hours ago.

So when “Kohlkopf,” as he was called in lieu of his mouthful of a normal name, found out that around near a dozen of the captured Caelussian paramarines were missing, he almost choked on his stew. The alarm was raised, and those who stumbled to attention clumsily searched about- fruitlessly. There was no sign of them save for what they had left behind- the unconscious bodies of a pair of hapless guards, snoozing as though they’d had too much mead.

No officer would have wanted to file that report- but with Lieutenant Ferrari doing…something, it was up to the other dragoon officer to give the report to Major Yule. Thankfully, he did not explode in fury- but he certainly smoldered in frustration as he tried to coordinate a search with whomever he could gather to him- not many were close and not occupied, or with some, unable. His mood turned sourer as a group from another unit approached- a few tanks with them. The types didn’t seem like common ones- strange custom sorts, perhaps of mercenary origin. It wouldn’t be unexpected given that, judging by the markings on the vehicles and the armbands on the soldiers, these were members of the so-called Small Council Army- Red Blades, sometimes called, by the style of their emblem. The fasces of Vynmark, but only with the left axe blade, the blade of Toil that was the reflection of the blade of Grace.

“Now isn’t a particularly good time,” he said heatedly as he waited with his hands behind his back for a panzer officer to dismount. Yule blinked when it turned out to be a woman, and his tone searched for a direction to be puzzled in when she had both the long ears of a less respectable race, and the marks and décor of a noble house- of Sommervind.

“My apologies,” the lady officer said with a salute- she had light strawberry blonde hair- save for a single thick lock at the side of her head of dark red hair- Twaryians and Twaryinauk by extension were never seen with blondeness, so that minority must have been her true hair shade. An armband of a similar hue to her natural color was squeezing her bicep through the jacket of a Chimera, no glint of a Cuirassier’s steel upon her. “You must be Major Sanen Yule. I am Rufia, of the house of Sommervind. What trouble are you having right now?”

Yule put his hand on his chin, as his eyes went to her ears, then her armband. “A few prisoners managed to escape because a few people relaxed too early. What did you come here for?”

“It might be related,” Lady Sommervind said with a nod to one of her comrades, “I wanted to come and congratulate Haile…er, the Countess Rendsdottir-Hageldorf, on her triumph here. She is a friend of mine. But my own unit found some suspicious sorts, and I thought to come and question you about them.”

“Suspicious how?”

“They do not wear Twaryian uniforms,” Sommervind said, “But they do not seem to speak Nauk. That’s rather suspicious on a battlefield meant to be evacuated of all but soldiers, don’t you think? Any mercenaries ought to be in our colors, after all.”

Major Yule turned his head to Kohlkopf, and jerked his head towards the group of allies in an implied command. A brief investigation brought some relief to the Dragoon officer- all the missing prisoners could be accounted for. What a lucky turn of events…at the very least, he couldn’t possibly be chewed out for somebody else’s blunder, at least now as badly now.

“It’s definitely them, then?” Yule scratched his chin as Kohlkopf brought the news, “Good for us you managed to snatch them all, isn’t it…”

“Some of your people were poking around like they were looking for something near our company,” Sommervind shrugged, “Perhaps you herded them into our hands? This day was a fortunate one for Vynmark, after all. I’d not doubt another favor of circumstance from the Judge.”

It was true, there were members of the Battalion investigating near the Red Blades- A mix of quite competent officers and their troops, Yule thought, but they hadn’t managed to find anything of further suspicion and incrimination than what there already was to speculate on. Had the observation been too brazen, or was Yule overreacting?

Lady Sommervind cleared her throat. “Would you like your prisoners back? I’m not sure what else to do with them…”

“Yes.” Yule said gruffly, motioning for the dragoon officer to take care of it. “You said you wanted to see the Lady Countess? I’ll take you to her.”

“Thank you, Major.”

Countess Haile, properly known as Rendsdottir-Hageldorf, had excluded herself from the rest of the troops tonight. Save for her personal guard giving her a safe distance, she was alone in the night, in the dim, shaded light under an awning in the village the battalion had used as a staging point for the day’s offensive into Kobberhus. She had been pensive ever since she had spoken with an unusual woman who had been retrieved- somebody the young countess had an unusual reverence for. A strange, floating girl who spoke strangely, and that Yule had been told an incredibly story about concerning her identity.

It wasn’t something he could quite believe, but she had been sequestered away nevertheless- and Haile left to her lonesome, the few who attempted to inquire after her state rebuffed mildly. The reaction to Lady Sommervind was completely different. The Major didn’t follow closely, but it was easy to tell from the way Haile sprang up and embraced the red haired Twaryinauk that this was somebody she was closer to than anybody that she had spent the past day with- he watched them converse, and frowned to himself when they began to walk in the direction where the so-called “Sky Queen” was being kept.
Yule would rather not have had that. He knew little about what the Countess knew or had planned, or the motive, but he did know that the floating girl whose feet did not touch the ground, whom claimed to be the monarch of a place only recalled in legend- for whatever reason, the Caelussians wanted to abduct her. For whatever reason, the Countess had directed a mission to save her that, were it part of her intention or not, had buckled the Twaryian line in this region enough that the enemy had not only been halted, but driven back.

Hum. Well, if the Countess trusted Sommervind, then maybe there were other things to worry about for now, Yule thought as he hitched his thumbs in his pockets and turned around. What the Twaryians might do next, for example…the night was not as protective against the Bat-Ears as it might be against others. Whether or not their ears had anything to do with it, they were known to train extensively in night fighting. It’d be wise to make sure nobody had their guard lowered too much in the pickets, let alone those trying to find dates amongst female soldiery.

-----

In the meantime, an effort to track an attempt at human trafficking of prisoners had begun by some members of the battalion- though something was off. Even the amateur investigators were finding that it was, perhaps, just a bit too easy. Who were they and where did they come from? The Zuide Confederacy, though they referred to particular cities in the union rather than the state as a whole. Normal, considering that it was as much a “state” as old Sosaldt had been, in that there was next to no official internal unity between those that inhabited the region.

Regardless of Vynmark’s own ban on serfdom and slavery, the lawless wastes cared little now as ever, and the traders had come hoping for the unscrupulous to exploit the chaos of conflict and hatred of the enemy. After all, the money that fueled the engines of war never stank worse than blood and gunpowder, yes? Hence why there was a deal with the Grand Council Army’s Procurements Department’s head, Lord Johonnesborg, for the “rights to prisoner handling.”

There was a problem with this testimony, though, even for the less than legally inclined officers- not that it was reprehensible. It was that it was codswallop . There were no such thing as private contractors for retrieval of prisoners. Not before they were transferred to Military camps. Such had been outlined by the Major when the prisoners had been organized in the first place.

Further surface snooping seemed pointless- proper paperwork was not forthcoming, only offers of monetary compensation, albeit with quite real, quite substantial money.

>Let the “traders” stay around- maybe you can draw out further talk some other way (How?)
>Make a move- round them all up and force them to talk all they know under coercion. (This is overstepping your authority)
>Other?

This is only for the people who’ve chosen to directly involve themselves in investigation, of course- ie, you weren’t occupied with anything else (such as repairs or other missions), or have just arrived.

>>5548621
>IIRC there was going to be an RP list right?
For the loot? For trading it in, yes, I suppose. To reiterate, the rules for turning in loot for standard equipment is that their RP level has to match the equipment level of what you're grabbing. IE, a T-16 and a T-8 would have to be added up for 3 RP to gain a single EQP Level 3 piece of gear.
This isn't every bit of it- the mortars and heavy guns, for example, I figured there were plans for, as well as the recovered friendly equipment.
This is the list of captured (and yet unclaimed, as far as I know) enemy materiel from last battle-

>x4 T-8U (RP1)- T-8 type anti-tank vehicle with a thinly shielded 4-centimeter fixed gun mount. Armor Rating 1.
>x2 T-8R (RP2)- Improved T-8 type with a 2-centimeter cannon used for reconnaissance. Armor Rating 1.
>x2 T-16 (RP 2)- Standard medium-type Twaryian tank with a long 4.5-centimeter cannon and machine gun. Armor Rating 3.
>x1 BM-2 (RP 1)- Light Armored Car with a 13mm heavy machine gun. Armor Rating 1.
>x1 Panoplia-B (RP 3)- Antiquated Petrekoran heavy tank with 4.5-centimeter main gun and 2-centimeter hull automatic cannon. Armor Rating 5.
>x2 4cm AT Gun (RP 1)- Standard Twaryian anti-tank gun. Piercing 3. Technically infantry type, as towed guns are counted.

First call goes to people whose unit type matches a piece of loot, unless it's, for example, Raine's claim to the heavy guns from the enemy HQ.

New arrivals are free to mingle, of course- though the RP is never actually limited, especially in-between

>>5548878
Jonah was awoken in the middle of the night by one of his squaddies. He was informed that the prisoners that mauled his platoon had escaped at first jonah was flabbergasted then confused which led into a furious rage."I'M GOING TO SKIN THAT HORNY FUCKING DOG AND FEED HIM TO HIS TWARYIAN WHORES" Jonah roared as he got out of the truck he was sleeping in knife and frag grenade in hand. This awakened his platoon from their sleep and seeing that their commander was about to gut another commander personally the majority of his platoon tackled jonah to pin him down.

"Damnit jonah you're the first commissioned officer we didn't want to frag we're not gonna give up something good bec-" Karl was interrupted by jonah throwing him off of the dog pile thankfully he was replaced by another man from his squad brandishing a rope. "As I was saying you ain't gonna do shit!" Karl jumped back into the dog pile to help tie the homicidal jonah down. By the end of it jonah was bound and gagged and thrown back into his truck while 2 of his own men guarded him incase he managed to break free of his binding and try his luck at murdering ferrari.

>>5548882
I'm currently repairing, but could I trade in RP for a unit mod?

>>5548882
I look forward to a long, healthy and fruitful working relationship with Lady Sommervind. May her fortunes be as strong as her clear Loyalty to Vynmark.

To confirm tanq, these units are also available as functioning additions to our forces, not only as trade ins?

If so, I'd like to take one of the T-8Rs as a 4th tank.
Although this is only if it isn't needed for the RP to repair and rearm one of our group who needs it more. That takes priority.

>>5546421
Wester reporting in. I'll keep my XP to bring my platoon up to EXP Level 3. Maybe I will be able to hit targets with a +2 to attack.

>>5548882
Unless there are any objections, I'd like to trade in that Pan-B I recovered to upgun my unit to 7.7cms. If 3 RP isn't enough for 2 standalone guns, could I trade it for a single m/31K instead and give one of my m/24Ks to Wesker?

>>5548615
>>5548882
Aw, fuck, then I have nothing to exchange for a 13mm pintle mount and there seems to be just one on the field. Stripping it off the BM-2 is an action and thus precludes mounting it, right? I forgot what the ruling was on that in the last thread. Regardless, I remember you saying that the battlefield was absolutely rotten with 8mms and that those can be made use of. So, do I need to roll for anything here?

>>5548878
Also, would I be able to recognize any of Sommerwind's vehicles from my mercenary career? Or would I at least be able to tell that they're not of this continent, if not?

>>5548882
Unless there are any objections, I'd like to trade in 2x T-8Us to reinforce my platoon back to their original strength of 3 subunits. My reasoning being I did play a part in capturing one of them so. I'm also completely fine with just trading in a recon tank rather than the 2 TDs if no one will object to that either.
Though I do recall us recovering 2x VpK-2s, I don't remember if they went anywhere.

>>5548882
>>5548951
Seconding this as well

>>5548643

Elwin Volger is not a large man. "Midsized" would be a generous way of describing his slim frame and average height. His size has, in the past, caused him no small amount of trouble in the schoolyard, in the dancing hall, in the training circle. Now, finally, he finds himself grateful for it as he slides unhindered out the narrow hatch of his VpK-2. He seats himself on the top of the car, looking down at the valley below.

"Do you see them?" A muffled female voice passes up from below.

"Yeah, that's them," Elwin says. "Our new unit, such as it is." He raises a pair of binoculars, one lens badly cracked, and peers through them. "Looks like a real grab bag. Old and new equipment, tanks and jaegers ... hell, half the soldiers are infantry in trucks. Seems like the stories were right. Command just threw together whatever they had and called it a motor unit."

Anna Welrod, the car's gunner and the squadron's chief mechanic, pulls herself up through the hatch to sit beside Elwin, who wordlessly passes over the binoculars. She lets out an unimpressed grunt as she surveys the unit. "This is what we're scouting for?" Her freckles shift as she frowns.

"They've been holding back the invasion in this area," Elwin says. "So they're doing something right. Best thing we can do right now is help keep that going."

Though mere reservists, the Black Cats are no strangers to combat. The bandit-infested western front sometimes requires reserves to be called into action, and as a far-ranging recon crew the Cats have bled and drawn blood before. After all, "peace" is not the same as "no fighting". Another advantage on their side is that unlike most recon reservists, stuck with the antiquated PzA-13s, the Cats are driving the more modern East Valsten VpK-2s, salvaged from the scrapyard and repaired due to Elwin's private wealth and Anna's mechanical wizardry.

That said, the intensity of the eastern invasion will be on a scale the squadron has never witnessed before. A somber mood takes hold as the VpK-2s start the journey down into the valley.

Elwin remains up top as his cars approach the tents and parked vehicles of the unit's camp, searching for a friendly face to guide him towards the command post -- or better yet, towards the grub line.

>>5548882
There were various equipment modding camp actions at the end of the last thread. Do they come through?

>>5548951
Depends on the mod- if it requires major structural changes like breaking out a welder and putting on armor plate on the whole front of the vehicle, then no, but modular things, yes.
Otherwise you'll have to enlist the help of one of those mechanical engineer characters, I'd reckon.

>>5549041
>these units are also available as functioning additions to our forces, not only as trade ins?
That is the case, yes. If you want to use a captured piece of kit instead of turning it in, by all means- though replacing a large portion of your unit with captured equipment means you sacrifice next operation's experience gain. Though really, it's the halfway mark anyways, isn't it.

One T-8R's addition will not shake up your structure, though.

>>5549140
Upgunning the m/24Ks to 7.7cms would require a more major rebuild than you can really do at the moment, mostly a problem of the gun's structure rather than the size of the shell or the vehicle's ability to potentially mount the gun. The latter option is acceptable- if Wesker wants the other one, of course. You'll have to agree on that one.

>>5549294
The BM-2 wrecks, while mostly not able to be made combat ready now, still have intact weaponry. The ruling is basically, that while a weapon is far easier to pick out alone from a knocked out vehicle and thus not impossible to get, if it's something big enough that mounting it requires major construction and cutting work on the mounting vehicle, it requires a maintenane/modification action.
13mms are about as big as you can get before the metalworking becomes a very involved endeavor. No rolls needed.
>Also, would I be able to recognize any of Sommerwind's vehicles from my mercenary career? Or would I at least be able to tell that they're not of this continent, if not?
Potentially- mercenaries don't tend to have encyclopedic knowledge of castoff armor and its customizations, but they know general sorts of vehicles. Sommervind's personal platoon consists of what looks like modified Netillian tanks of what he would guess are the NfK-7t type, though the turrets are different.

>>5549321
>Though I do recall us recovering 2x VpK-2s, I don't remember if they went anywhere.
Those are Fiskersonn's- restored by fiat because I forgot about his Mirage Aspect which would have saved them.

>>5549401
They're still on, yes- I'll go back and compile them with everything else here once it's decided on. I ought to go through and get a list, but the two I definitely have marked down are-
C4 Kannenpflanze- Pintle Mounts
R4 Von Eschenz- Camouflage

>>5548643
>>5548777
>>5548785
>>5549060
New entries and returners noted.

>>5549425
I know unit cards aren't updated yet, but could you show who's still down vehicles, in case some guys still need the RP for reinforcement? I'd like to claim stuff but they probably need it more.

>>5549425
>Start changing [C-7] Franziskas turret guns
>If available HMG to 1 of my tanks if not flamethrower

>>5547840
That explains i was starting to wonder where they would fit.

-----
"So let's get this show on the road. I'll need an welder and an hoist so get me those while i get my tools. It will be somewhat of an project attach those cannons in place of original but i think i'll manage." Vix said while making thinking about where everything would go.

Rolled 3 (1d10)

>>5549425
>No rolls needed.
A surprise, but a pleasant one. I hardly expected to get more than one 13mm, if that, but to do so without having to roll is very nice. That does leave me with nothing to do, though, so I'll shoot my shot at recovering the Pan-B. Nobody else seems to want it. Could trade it for RP or actually hang on to it and become the most cursed platoon in the battalion.
>mercenaries don't tend to have encyclopedic knowledge of castoff armor and its customizations
Right, especially since Kannenpflanze isn't very experienced or particularly mechanically-inclined. I'm not far enough along in the main quest to have seen anything Netillian other than NfK-5s, so I assume the 7 is a somewhat more capable model. Am I able to approximate how heavily gunned they are?

>Rolling to recover the unclaimed Pan-B

>>5548882
>Trade in 1 T-8U for Camouflage

>>5549491
If youre looking at the list tanq just provided, thats the stuff we already recovered but arent using, no need to roll for them.

>>5548882
Franziska acted in haste when she'd heard what had happened but now she was realizing that something bigger might be happening with the traders. She knew better than to do anything stupid that would jeopardize the bust and so elected to try to move smarter.

>Let the “traders” stay around- maybe you can draw out further talk some other way (How?)
>Try to infiltrate the ranks, make them think we want to trade and open up the possibility of possibly slipping them a high valued prisoner later on... not necessarily from the Ian's side either.

>>5548882
Can we trade in the 16cm artillery I stole for an NPC 12cm SPG group, not armored just something on a half-track or something to make them mobile and avoid counter-battery and can we trade some of the gear for an NPC AA unit to give us cover?

>>5549540
Oh, good. Because otherwise I'd have wasted a perfectly good wreck. I'd rather leave it to whoever recovered it, then, since it sure as hell wasn't me. If it still goes unclaimed by the end, though, I wouldn't mind us having a fourth 5 ARM tank.

>>5549425
>>5549491
Ignore the recovery roll here, tanq. Apparently I can't fucking read and thought you had listed unclaimed wrecks instead of unclaimed salvage. I'll come up with something for me and my guys to do before everything has to resolve.

>>5548882
I would like to use one of the T-8Rs to trade in for a EQP 2 vehicle. Would like to return to my original size of 3 subunits.

After hearing about the good fortune of the escaped prisoners being reclaimed, Kohlkopf decided that a spot of gratitude was in order. To that end, he made a small shrine to the Judge and placed a fifth of liquor on one side of the scales, and a knife and some anti-ballistic fabric on the other. Brutal duty and simple pleasure. Surely this couldn't be considered a bribe since the Judge had already ruled. No, it was just a gift to the wise and righteous one.

After giving prayers of thanks, Kohlkopf abandoned the shrine, the booze, and the blade to fate, as was only right.

>>5549425
>restored by fiat
Shit fair enough, I'll trade in 2x T-8Us for a VpK-2 then.

How detrimental would it be if a unit slashed another unit's tire?

>>5549385
Ulf is sitting on a nearby stool next to his group's car, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers while he listens to the rapturous laughter of his men after telling an extremely saucey joke about the Praetor, a pig and a broomstick.

His interest is soon piqued by the upcoming recon cars and he puts the cig in its rightful place between his lips and saunters over to the soldiers, lazily waving them to stop.

"G'day, lads. Always good to see fresh faced reinforcements." He releases some smoke from his lips, a sardonic grin creeping onto his face. "Ready to get shot at? The area is perfect fer it, you won't find it wantin'. But I 'spose ye want to get yer bellies full before that? Three tents down, ye'll find the cooks. Plenty o' grub and maybe some booze if the rest o' the lads didn't piss it away already." He cranes his neck and stretches lazily, in the same way a cat would in the sun.

"If ya want to see a commandin' officer, I'll advise goin' to Major Sanen Yule. He's a bit more impressionable than our Beloved Lady in Command. He should be mullin' around somewhere, ye'll see him." While explaining, he kneels down and inspects the cars a bit.

"Ye fresh from the Western Shithole? Good, means yer got kills under yer belts and miles on these tires. We'll need plenty o' that fer where we goin'." He finishes the cigaretter and extinguishes it on the sole of his boot, chucking it somewhere.

>>5547328
>>5546624
>>5546871
So at the end of last mission each of us had a mortar offered to us by Raine, but I do not have something I really want to sell it for so if anyone wants my mortar just say so.

>>5549425
Gonna trade in a T-8R for a VpK-2, with a 13mm gun if the BM-2 is worth that. (If not we can just strip it off)

>>5550160
Ohoho, taking one of my tanks are ya. I see how it is
Don't worry, momma Unterbrust takes care of her wounded little birds. Go ahead and trade up

>>5550510
I want that mortar

>>5550569
I had intended to give the mortar away to someone that already was given one just to consolidate and make things a bit easier management-wise, but if no one has spoken for it after a reasonable time it can be yours.

>>5548882
Claiming a T-16 in exchange for 8mm Pintles and Camo.

>>5550569
Vilgerson I'm trying to get us SPGs you don't need the mortar. Plus we have the 16cm artillery if that falls through.

Or I can just give you the other 4 man mortat group but I feel like those are more useful for gear exchange.

>>5550510
I wasn't really planning giving you all one mortar each just but a full 4 mortar set, I'm pretty sure the mortar groups had to kept together to be usable but I might be wrong.

>>5549425
This isn't an actual Nathan Gabriel action but if there's any REQ left, I'd appreciate if he get camoflauge on his 77mm Tank Destroyers. I wanted to give him those before during the first downtime but since he was already replacing his 50mm TDs the timeline felt a bit weird.

>>5549425
While I'm here I'd just like to list down people who are definitely in one group and are helping each other mechanically.

In communications we have
D-5 Raine
D-8 Vilgerson
D-10 Totmann
R-7 Wespe
C-4 Leopold
C-5 Martins (Mech?)
C-7 Vilgerson (Mech?)
>Possible mechanics are marked as Mech


Possible people that are kindaish in the group
D-10 Von Bern
R-3 Unterbrust
J-2 Gabriel (I just don't really like actually involving him in downtime so it's me mostly me right now.)

The mods that people seem to want
D-5 Raine: New Model Infantry Kit or 5cm Support Guns (Super Low Priority)
D-8 Vilgerson: Wants Camoflauge
D-10 Totmann: Would benefit from camouflage
R-7 Wespe: Hasn't mentioned anything
C-4 Leopold: Wants pintle mounts, HMG probably preferred
C-5 Martins: Would benefit from up armoring
C-7 Vilgerson: Wants to replace lead cannon with double Autocannons. Wants Hull Mounted Flamethrowers for all vehicles (Probably low priority)
D-10 Von Bern: Wants to give R-3 Unterbrust up armoring or D-5 Raine Camouflage
R-3 Unterbrust: Wants Autocannons on her turrets.
J-2 Gabriel: It'd be nice if he could have some camouflage on the 7.7cms.

>If it's just purely people working on stuff modding we have more than enough.
Finding equipment to fulfill the modding is the problem.

>>5549425
>Name
Roman Orlik
>Unit Class
Recon
>Unit Trait
Landsgraf's Own
>Commander Trait
Plutus (Requesting all tank cannons be replaced with autocannons or uparmoring if not possible)
>Token
Peacefield
>Character Description
Roman was set to become an architect before the Twarian invasion and like many young men his age, he'd joined the military to defend his country the moment it did.

Commanding a group of experimental M/28s armed with autocannons, Roman is much greener than his other recon counterparts but is always eager to learn and fight for his beloved nation.

>EQP 3
>INT 4
>EXP 1

>>5550706
>>5549425
J-1 Freddy (I'm not remembering her actual name) also wants camouflage. I thought she modded herself but she went into the Red Blades investigation

>>5550696
well getting the mortar and the spgs aren't mutually exclusive so it's fine to take em if no one else wants em

>>5550160

"We've done our bit, back out west. Playing rat catcher with bandits and mercs isn't exactly the same as what we're in for here, I think, but at least we're not green. Thanks for the advice."

Elwin touches his cap to Ulf, then slips down into the car to use the radio. "All right lads, chow line is three tents down. Grab some for me and my team while you're there. I've got meet-and-greets to be doing." The Cats squadron proceeds forward to the mess tent, while Elwin's command car peels off to go searching for this Major Sanen Yule and introduce himself.

Hey guys, still alive here, sorry I've been out and not getting things moving. I've just come down with some cold or something that's made me so lethargic I can't get anything done. I'm going to do my best to get the ball rolling tomorrow though, maybe a bit of bonus stuff will make the wait sting less too.

>>5550706
This is appreciated- keeps me from having to track it down myself, God knows I haven't done good work documenting this stuff. I actually have something planned for group operation stuff, mechanically, but like I said, been in a state where doing more than staring at screens makes me feel feverish, and not sleeping well hasn't helped.

>>5550706
This list missed me >>5549511

>>5551360
no worries, gws tanq

>>5550706
Forgot me. Like some towed artillery from the scavenging or at least some mortars.

>>5551360
How much RP would I need if I wanted to trade in my four trucks for four T/24 APC's? Would I have to pay the full 12 RP or would my EQP2 trucks lower that cost down to only 4?

Get well soon bud would also suggest lemon tea

Alright only a full week since thread start and I still don't have the actual battle going, that's just fantastic progress.
Oh well. Almost there.

>>5549485
Armament change in progress. Pintle mounted.

>>5549511
Camouflage applied. (-1 T-8U)

>>5549543
Try and get further in- with sweeter bait. Action noted.

>>5549554
Extra artillery is fine. An AA unit can be shoved onto the HQ unit with the mobile artillery.

>>5549626
Restoring Car (-1 T-8R)

>>5549882
Restoring Car (-2 T-8U)

>>5550531
Command vehicle replaced with bigger thing with another gun. (-1 T-8R, T-8Rs spent)

>>5550647
Pintles and Camouflage mounted. (-1 T-16)

>>5550706
>D-5 Raine: New Model Infantry Kit
Consider it a reward for storming the castle.
>D-8 Vilgerson: Wants Camoflauge
We'll trade in a BM-2 for that. (BM-2 -1, BM-2s spent)
>D-10 Totmann: Would benefit from camouflage
>C-5 Martins: Would benefit from up armoring
I'll wait on acting on these two unless they are directly requested by them themselves.
>C-7 Vilgerson: Wants to replace lead cannon with double Autocannons. Wants Hull Mounted Flamethrowers for all vehicles (Probably low priority)
Some poor recon tanks have had their cannons carved out and made available, the flamethrowers for the rest...we'll say, another piece of scrap. (-1 T-8U)
>D-10 Von Bern: Wants to give R-3 Unterbrust up armoring or D-5 Raine Camouflage
I'll refrain from acting on requests for people besides themselves for now- to be sure of things.
>R-3 Unterbrust: Wants Autocannons on her turrets.
2cms ripped off of the innocent wrecked T-8Rs. Presuming the mechanical work is done as the part 2.
>J-2 Gabriel: It'd be nice if he could have some camouflage on the 7.7cms.
I'll trade a T-8U in for such, considering the Plutus up-modifier. (-1 T-8U, T-8Us spent)

If there's no objections to me trading in things for you, what's left is
x1 Pan-B
x1 T-16
x2 4cm AT Gun

File: vynmarkinfantrysmallarms.jpg (658 KB, 1625x1800)

658 KB JPG

An aside- some fluff notes. These are the standard small arms in use by Vynmark's infantry. Which means you, Dragoons.
Why do I have this instead of just having things ready earlier?...Uhhh. No good answer for that, but it is stuff that's been in the pipe. A pipe rather too stuffed for my own good or quickness of updating, or getting things going in general.

>>5551404
Infantry support guns, mortars? There are options, though the support guns are direct fire compared to the mortars' indirect.
Mortars have been captured, but light support guns will cost 1 RP each, or the equivalent.

>>5549442
>I know unit cards aren't updated yet, but could you show who's still down vehicles, in case some guys still need the RP for reinforcements?
After going through things, the only person missing subunits (who is in attendance) is Wesker with his lone tank destroyer.

>>5551532
>How much RP would I need if I wanted to trade in my four trucks for four T/24 APC's? Would I have to pay the full 12 RP or would my EQP2 trucks lower that cost down to only 4?
We'll say 4, what with 12 RP being rather unattainable, unless you went with Plutus instead of EXP to bump your equip level up.

Getting things in one place for level up- so if you don't have one, you're not listed, obviously.

Cuirassier-
C-1: Vix - EXP +1
C-2: Sikorsky - Commander Trait "Goliath Novus"
C-3: Lutzow-Spelinger - EXP +1
C-5: Martins - Commander Trait "Ironheart"
C-7: Vilgerson (F) - Undecided

Recon-
R-1: Splitterschwert - EXP +1
R-3: Unterbrust
R-4: Eschenz - EXP +1
R-6: Fiskersonn - EXP +1

Panzerjager-
J-1: Von Zufalligdorf - Commander Trait "Plutus," Up Armoring
J-2: Gabriel - Commander Trait "Plutus," EQP Level Up
J-3: Niel - EXP +1
J-4: Giovanni - EXP +1
J-5: Wesker - EXP +1

Dragoons-
D-1: Krogh - EXP +1
D-2: “Kohlkopf” Fenrickrieger - EXP +1
D-3: Ferrari - Undecided
D-4: Gauthier - EXP +1
D-5: Raine - Commander Trait "Honos"
D-6: Wester - EXP +1
D-7: Lehrson - EXP +1
D-8: Vilgerson - Commander Trait "Band of Brothers"

>>5554669
Glad to see you back!
Raine's wishlist had a subsequent addition of me requesting camouflage.

The lack of interest shown by the slavers (for that was what they were, even if they didn’t refer to themselves as such) was stonewalling investigations- but there was too little to make any moves. Not without driving them off, or finding out who was behind these first-layer cronies.

Franziska Vilgerson was no stranger to crime. Not of this sort- her family was just of a nature that disdained such things as the law and order of the state, rather than personal moral code. Grandmother was a moonshiner, father a (self-justified) assassin by explosive means. Herself a thief of the same sort of fascinating equipment that had been placed in her hands now. Was it really a punishment if she got what she wanted anyways? Whatever. The point was, these sorts of criminals could be tempted by something else- plain and simple greed.

Somebody who looked like her had an advantage in temptations. Female, pretty, especially without the suffocating armor that was the obligation of tankers. A crafty look that apparently drew one into an assumption of co-conspiracy. So, the offer was made to the head “merchant,” a shaven head thug with a smirk yellow and greasy as old butter and a chin like a dagger.

“Ah-h-h, yer one of the compelled, ain’tcha.” He pointed to an emblem on Franziska’s uniform, “Questionable loyalty, as they say, doubtful morals. But they just don’t wanna get their hands dirty, aye? Well, if it’s high value we’re talking…t’ tell y’ the truth, the typical Twaryian wench that they toss forward into battle? Not worth much. A hole, aye, but not easy on the eyes, rude mannered, fight-y, only people who want those are the houses what lose a portion ‘a their five pfennings girls every month ‘cause they get hooked on Hourglass…there was a fine one, but she got rolled into a ditch, he he he. What’d be good fer me, good fer you? Somethin’ out of the business we were told t’ do. Get a Nauk. A noble lady. Somebody of good breeding. If y’ don’t mind me sayin’,” he reached out and stroked Franziska’s chin with a finger, “If you’ve got a twin, I think they’d fetch a high price on auction, he he he. Somethin’ that might proper buy somethin’, rather than the cost of comin’ here t’ waste time bein’ comped.”

Franziska wore a fake smile. What a creep. Though from the way the man spoke…they were paid to come here? Actual trade of most of the prisoners would be of little worth? There was something further to go on…

An easy excuse to break off was made in claiming to go look for options. What next, though…

>?

-----

Two Recon groups, one Chimera. Decent additions, Yule thought as he greeted each newcomer in turn and briefed them on the situation- a motley group, much like what was already here. One from the border with the dust lands, another band of nobles separated from their former lands (Their leader refused to identify himself- a funny privilege of nobility, to be somebody of significance yet anonymous), and one that had a strange bunch of m/28s with alternative main armament. Considering the prevalence of T-8s in the Twaryian line of battle, they’d probably do well.

Each was given a separate standby for further orders. It wasn’t clear yet what would be done next- in a week, the mysterious girl would have somebody able to come rescue her on the coast, so presumably, Haile would try and get the battalion down there. A week was a long time in an active war scenario as this, though- even with the Twaryians near Kobberhus defeated, there was a whole front left to go, and command surely wouldn’t tolerate such a powerful formation as this sitting on its heels here. As it stood now, the unit was resting and refitting for a couple of days. After that, though? As it stood now, the Countess was using her authority to prevent herself from being subordinate to any other direction besides “High Command,” but would it remain that way?

Yule decided to clear that up, as he ventured towards the cottage Haile had gone to with her Twaryinauk apparent friend. It was the same hut that the “Sky Queen” Velecacia Alsbeth Guldharth Belle Himmselsdorf-Galdraz was being kept in. Thankfully, she did not insist on being referred to in full.

“Major Yule?” The Countess addressed the Major as he stepped in, under blessing and advance notice of a guard, and he saluted silently. “Is something the matter?”

It looked like the three women inside the cottage had been speaking- Haile had cleaned herself up from the dust and grime of earlier today, her makeup reapplied well, and she looked very much glad. It was different from the others present.

Lady Rufia Sommervind had a neutral look about her- her brow had been furrowed initially, as though she was being forced to think on an entirely new subject of learning. The token on her beret was the Twins’ Breath- a plant whose flowers bloomed arbitrarily, in defiance of seasons. They were sturdy, and lingered in a way that it was possible for a plant to have blooms from multiple seasons, of different lingering hues, though it was quite rare, and mostly a circumstance of a gardener’s hobby than an occurrence seen oft in the wild.

File: ADscene4.png (2.04 MB, 1400x1000)

2.04 MB PNG

Velecacia had been draped in the green weather cloak of the dragoons, donated by one of the soldiers. It hid her well- especially her quite unusual costume, and most importantly, the fact that her feet did not touch the ground. For now, she looked relatively normal, save for the tiara she did not remove- a move Haile supported her in. The Sky Queen looked vaguely discomforted- like she smelled something off and would rather not linger, but she also could not walk on her own, instead having to push off of objects, to float elsewhere, or to cling to others to let them drag her. Such was why she was so close to Haile.

“Lady Countess,” Yule said, returning his saluting hand behind his back. “I wanted to check with you on future plans. Were you discussing them with…”

“Lady Sommervind,” Haile said, more patient than usual.

“Yes,” Yule said, “Since you are friends, I assume, were you invited to come along on this operation, or did circumstance bring you close by?” Lady Sommervind had said she had come to congratulate the Countess on her win, but she was here on the same night of it, rather than sending a telegram, after all…

“I was indeed meant to support you, but I had to be somewhere else,” Sommervind said, “Further down south, there was a series of probing attacks by Twaryian armor. There are not many mobile anti-armor formations these days, you must’ve heard.”

“Always too few,” Yule murmured, “Some others have been arriving late as well. Anyways. Are you going to be staying with us, or are you needed in other places again?”

Sommervind shook her head once, firmly. “No. The Countess Rendsdottir-Hageldorf has informed me of different priorities. We’ve had a discussion concerning…what the risks might truly be. Our situation isn’t one where we have a country behind us, if you ask me.”

Haile’s smile faded. “Yes. Though it is better this way. Somewhat. If all of Vynmark becomes apprised of her grace’s presence…” She looked to Velecacia, the mysterious girl from the crashed airship, who did not look back- she seemed to be squinting at Lady Sommervind. “Is something wrong, your grace?”

Velecacia shook her head, ruffling beneath the cloak. “It is unimportant. Lady Sommervind’s ears hath an unusual character compared to most of thee.”

“I am a Nauk,” Sommervind said patiently, touching the points of her long ears, “My mother was a Twaryian, but rest assured I am of my father’s name and blood, who was of much more respectable lineage and character.”

Yet those bat ears tell more than any flowery words can claim otherwise, Yule thought, but he said nothing. No reason to piss off the Countess when she seemed to be in a pleasant and personable mood.

The so-called Sky Queen was either naïve or did not care about leaving such alone, though. “Thou detests thine own heritage? A father cannot be so without a mother.”

Lady Sommervind paused and glanced, breath halted. Velecacia’s voice was a soothing sort. Very difficult to be shocked into anger by, no matter what was said. “Your grace, I wished to avoid this subject in favor of more present concerns, but my mother was not a seemly sort. My father and her were not ever wed. I wouldn’t be here without my mother, but my father could have chosen any other woman and still had me.”

Velecacia simply nodded, but her face still had the slight pout of curiosity after something just slightly out of reach.
“Returning to our present problem.” Sommervind crossed one arm over the other in front of her, “If Caelus does wish to abduct Her Grace, it’d be unwise to announce our presence, even to those we think are our allies. Haile explained to me that some members of the Small Council Army were acting suspiciously? Who can say how many more so influenced might be in the Grand Council Army? Is Vynmark’s army even in a state to be distracted by this? I don’t think so. Countess Rendsdottir- Hageldorf possesses one of the most powerful mobile formations of the army. We can defend ourselves better than anybody could hope to. So moving down to the coast over the course of a week for Her Grace’s arranged evacuation is best suited for exactly what we have now. That we risk facing the Twaryians, yes, but in a capacity already defeated time and again, rather than their entire army seeking out Her Grace.”

“Our unit is distinctive amongst our comrades, as you’ve noted,” Yule pointed out dully.

“All the more reason they would not expect Her Grace to remain with us,” Sommervind countered, and Haile beamed, “This battalion, reinforced, has more to concern itself with than bodyguard duty for an unknown girl. Let them presume we’ve passed her off to others. Let them pore over communication interceptions trying to find where she is. Meanwhile, the Hageldorf Battalion ventures southwards to crush the offensive towards Sodrakron just like they crushed the offensive here. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll do that anyways. I’m sure none of the troops here would object to striking two birds with one stone.”

Yule couldn’t help but frown. Experience taught him that things rarely panned out in such an optimistic way- that an enemy rarely danced exactly to the tune of one’s most hopeful expectations. “If the Countess supports Lady Sommervind’s proposal, I’ll carry it out. Does Countess Rendsdottir-Hageldorf have any objections?”

Haile’s eyebrows raised in confusion. “What? Of course not. I have full faith in Lady Sommervind’s operational plans. Why, in the Academy, there was not one exercise or war game she did not find herself on the victorious side of.”

“In fairness,” Lady Sommervind’s cheeks reddened a touch, “I cannot deny that I’ve always been lucky, both in simulated and what real battle I’ve had. Fortune has a way of smiling on me, I guess.”

The Major squinted. “Would you mind a test of that? Not much, just some Stenpapirsaks.”

“…Alright.” Sommervind shrugged.

…

…Ten rounds. Lady Sommervind won the first nine, but on the last hand, Yule could have sworn she changed her hand at the last moment, but…not to win?

“If my streak is over,” Lady Sommervind put her hands behind her back again, “I’ll have lost it for good. It’s how luck is. When you lose at dice, you’ll likely keep losing, no matter how much you want them to start winning again.”

“I know that feeling.” Yule sighed and scratched under his beret, “Lady Countess? Is there anything that needs to be conveyed to the men yet?”

“Ah, no. You need not linger if you have else to do, Major,” Haile said, still looking fascinated by the children’s game just played out. “I will remain here. Our future plans have to be finalized. We will leave in a couple of days. Reaching the coast in five days after that should prove easy.” She turned to look at Velecacia behind her, “Be at ease, this will prove to be an easy triumph with Rufia with us.”

Maybe. Yet Major Yule had an off feeling he couldn’t quite place as he left the cottage. It’d be nice if it was as simple as being unable to trust a Bat-Ear…though if Sommervind was so close to Haile and was aware of the potential of treachery, perhaps there was little more that could be done about that.

Was it time to sleep? Yule didn’t feel tired. He wanted to stay up and think about why, now of all times, he couldn’t shake a bad feeling. Yes, the Second Fortress Line had fallen, and who could say whether the Twaryian offensive had been stalled anywhere else but here, but even without the factor of the strange blonde floating girl, the Twaryians had been dealt a savage blow. If the Third Fortress Line held, that gave more time for the prestigious Vynmark Naval Infantry, and the Marines, to mobilize and prepare defenses further, more time for troops from the west to come around like some just did.

So what was set to go terribly awry?

-----

“The hell do you mean, we’re going?” a female pilot complained to her superior at an ad-hoc airfield- one that had to be specially expanded to accommodate a craft central to the squadron’s operations. “We just handed the Caelussians their own teeth in a bag, we’ve been shredding the slony, and their offensive just got socked in the nuts, we’re not done yet, Storm Lord.”

“Captain Tabitha Mylnarski,” the superior officer said Wrath Leader’s name properly. He had aged since the flight from Ellowie and back again- his forehead creased more easily, and his hair had thinned at the sides. “This is an order, from home. If the Caelussians are involved in force, and they capture the command center, this mission will have been worse than a failure.”

“God damn it.”

“We can fight the Twaryians. We can’t fight the Caelussian Federation. The Two Republics can’t afford to throw itself in to this.”

“The Two Republics,” Wrath Leader spat in contempt.

“Ellowie must fight its own battles before Vynmark’s.”

“I know,” Wrath Leader said sharply, “I’ll tell my people. Nobody’s gonna be happy about this, you know.”

“Hm.” Storm Lord said nothing and went back to the paper on his desk.

The tomboyish pilot turned sullenly and walked back out. Of all the bullshit…she wondered idly if the decision came from the bigwigs of the Republic, or from the phony King. Her thoughts were interrupted by the rude sound of a wolf whistle coming at her from a man who’d seen her enter the tent but hadn’t raised any notice until she left the other way.

>More to follow- just getting this out instead of stalling even more. Any proposed interactions with anybody are free, if you want.

>>5554665
Is there still time to ammend my previous requisition idea? At the risk of compromising someone or another by mixing 5cm and 7.7cm subunits, I think I'd rather trade in the Pan-B for a support gun and 13mm on my command vehicle and move the 8mm I salvaged at the end of the last thread over to my 2IC.

>>5554669
>Dual wields Machine pistols
Nothing personnel kid

>>5554669
>We'll say 4, what with 12 RP being rather unattainable, unless you went with Plutus instead of EXP to bump your equip level up.
Very good, there should be enough RP left for me to trade in for a full upgrade to a Panzer Dragoon then.

>If there's no objections to me trading in things for you, what's left is
>x1 Pan-B
>x1 T-16
>x2 4cm AT Gun
I will claim the T-16(2RP) and the two AT-Guns (2RP total, I also think these to be my salvage from last thread?) and trade those in for a full unit EQP upgrade. This is a lot of RP to claim, but it's been a week and these remain unclaimed so I figure it's fair game at this point. I'll lock this choice in when I return from work in 12 hours, so if there's any objections you have until then to voice them.

>>5554837
While jonah is tied up, literally. Hoffman would like to ask one of the prisoners why they fight. Do they just want land? ethnic cleansing? spreading an ideology he doesn't know too much about.

>>5555332
Well if no one else would object I would like one of the 4cm AT Guns to hang onto.

>>5554665
Didn't J-3 claim the Pan-B? If that doesn't go through, I'd like to put myself in line for that if nobody else claims it.

>>5554830
Rufia definitely looks like the dominant one in a yuri pairing.
Also I like that the map matches the actual game map.

>>5554665
I'm alright with taking the up-armoring if Bern still wants to give it

>>5554669
Man that carbine is really short. Are we using the 6.5mm or the 7mm?

>>5555669
Seems to me like the same caliber as the full-length rifle, which is probably using the same round as the MGs. Which is to say, 8mm. Now imagine the fireball.

>>5554665
Sorry I was really sick

Uparmoring would be great yeah.

>>5555669
>>5555683
Meant 7.5mm or 8mm, oops.

>>5554665
Might as well give Raine Camouflage since it turns out Vilgerson and Totman have them so they can be the camo infantry squad.

>>5555599
>Also I like that the map matches the actual game map.
>big red X over the place I am right now
Hmmmm.
>>5555513
Yeah, I was hoping to trade it wholesale in for an m/31K, but from the way tanq put it, that was predicated on Wesker agreeing to take one of my replaced m/24Ks and I haven't hard anything from him.
If you'd like (and tanq allows it, of course) I'd be willing to go halves on the RP with you. I get the support gun replacement and the rest of the RP is yours.

>>5556006
I haven't had much to say really, if you want to do it and pass the m/24k to me we can do it. I've been on and off the thread but I wasn't sure if I should be doing something except wait for map start. Wasn't sure if there was anythinv good I wanted.

>>5556190
If you're fine with using mixed calibers, I am too.
>>5554665
I'll retract the other suggestions and stick to this, sorry for all the back and forth tanq.

>>5555502
Is that strictly neccessary now? We captured 8 intact AT guns last mission, and with von Bern swapping out her TotB the only two units that can effectively use those guns are you and von Totmann, which means an even 4 guns for each of you. An extra gun for you is one die extra on attacks against armored units or an explosive attack on infantry attacks, if I get this trade-in I will effectively double my dice pool against infantry in range 5 of me (4x2 8mm Machine Guns per attack added) for a total of 16 dice. I personally believe that to be significantly more impactful for the battalion as a whole.

If you'd still insist however I guess I don't really have much to put against it. We leave the AT-guns in battalion storage for now and trade in the T-16 for a unit mod for each of us instead.

>>5556006
>>5556298
Glad the two of you got that sorted out. The two of you are far squishier (both in terms of ARM and INT) than me and reinforcing you should take precedence.

>>5554669
>D-3: Ferrari - Undecided
By my count I should only have 1 XP now and I thought you needed 2 to be eligible to trade the new one for a new trait, am I incorrect?

>>5556298
>>5557002
Being up even one more gun is a big boon by itself. Unless I misunderstood something.

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Alright, we're getting close now. Sorry again for all the delays, though I should have known it would happen when I decided to just go on ahead instead of delaying start time again.
Certainly hope none of you new people have been turned off by this.

>>5555327
The low rate of fire makes the mp.24 relatively controllable, helped also by its weight. It wouldn't be impossible for a strong fellow, though most likely difficult to aim, of course.

>>5555336
This will be covered in the next update proper. Which should be tonight or tomorrow if I get a hold of getting things done.

>>5555599
The map is actually one that was being used by the Twaryians beforehand. Well, technically, the Petrekorans moved into the village. Then you.

>>5555669
>>5555683
It is 8 millimeter. The original design does use a smaller 6.5mm round, as is Naukland's standard, but 8mm is ubiquitous to the Sosalian region. Vynmark, however, does use both calibers, much to the annoyance of its logistics officers who actually have to manage such.

>>5556298
It's cool. Each of you has one and one, then.

>>5555785
Raine is going sneaky then

>>5555691
Plating the rest of your platoon, considering your main tank is already stacked up with extra armor.

>>5557218
You were in the first operation, and the second, and didn't have a major equipment change, so you should have 2. Even if you didn't end up doing much in the first.

I'll have the unit cards up with the next deal- as well as the long awaited portraits. Funny thing about those- I was going to take longer because I wanted to clean up the lines, but the first set I did them on...I didn't like how they meshed with the rest of the card, especially next to the vehicle picture. So I went back to the first layer sketch and it looks better with the card, even if it's not clean.
I expect to have to edit plenty of them to fit expectation especially after so long

>>5557449
>>5550715
Did I get in or nah? All good if I didn't, just wanna make sure.

>>5557449
Doesn't the manual say you gain a level of XP per every 2 missions though? I started with 0 XP.

>>5557466
Nah, what he means is that two battles equal either a new trait or +1 EXP. Its on you what you choose.

>>5557449
>Saws off stock and unneeded barrel length to make dual wielding easier
Accuracy is for nerds! Just add a pistol grip and a 100 round drum mag on this thing and you got yourself a bullet hose. Speaking of which is there a 100 round drum mag for this thing or something along those lines for the mp24

>>5556354
Okay, that's a fair argument, as much as I would like the extra firepower. Tell you what, keep the AT Guns to trade in for the extra Anti-Infantry firepower.

>>5557459
Weird m/28 variants were mentioned among new arrivals in the narrative, so I'm pretty sure you're in.

>>5557530
Okay, apparently I'm retarded but in that case I'll just stick with the XP then.

Okay I've managed to rot in place for like two days, but tonight when I get back, we're finally moving on, I've just been lethargic as hell.

>>5557459
Of course. The hard cutoff is technically deployment, after all, and I've been so slow that hasn't even come up.

>>5557466
This >>5557530 is the case.

>>5557571
Not 100, but there are 50 rounders.
They are finnicky, high maintenance, and generally unpopular for lack of durability. The consensus on them is you're either firing them for the first or second time and after that they ought to be thrown away.

>>5555336
The trouble with talking with Twaryians was mostly one of language- few knew more than a few words of Old Nauk, and those didn’t tend to understand what was spoken to them. There were better results with Twaryians who, upon brief introduction, came from the border regions. Skirmishing with Twaryian border parties was far from unusual, despite that no state of war existed before this year. Some Twaryians acted like brigands, others migrated through, sometimes the former parties entered Vynmark’s borders to secure the latter. Trade also flowed in capacity to let such incidents fall by the wayside- it was like dealing with a temperamental neighbor, who sometimes shot at you.

The exact reason for the Twaryian invasion, nevertheless, was unclear. At least on a national level. The prevailing answer was a simple, yet unsatisfying one.

“You were next,” one Twaryian soldier in captivity, a young male officer, told Hoffman with a shrug. It was the fourth time he’d heard that answer. “Ellowie fell to Twaryians, with help of Netilland. Can’t fight Ellowians and Netillians, even after they finish war. Vynmark is not made up of fighters. So we come here for easy fight.”
“Conquest, then?” Hoffman accused, “Or do y’want just kill us all?”

The prisoner laughed a single sharp bark. “Not if you surrender. The Old Church forgives those who strayed. Those unwilling to return will be saved, by fighters taking on their sin. We will win over the heretic eventually. Such is what my grandfather’s grandfather told, such is what Saint Rufiya told our ancestors. Now is our time. You win today, what abut tomorrow?”

“I think it’s not your time if y’all keep getting hided like this.” Hoffman replied curtly, and stopped wasting his time with that one.

There was one interesting alternative for motivation, however- it came from a Twaryian captured officer, from further into the country, whose knowledge of Old Nauk was impeccable. Were it not for his long ears and ink black hair, he could have spoken and convinced any listener he was of Vynmark, or Naukland. He spoke of home, of the land he came from- and it was tinted with nostalgia, but no kindness was had for its state. The outer regions, where most Nauk-fluent Twaryians came from, was temperate and normal- most of them saw little need to up and leave.

Twaryi was a harsh place to live, despite being broad. Where it was not mountainous, where the soil was not stony, where salt bogs that drank up all life did not spread all over, the winds chilled with unusual enmity, and it was crowded with rarely enough food or shelter to go around for the poorest folk. The charity of the Old Church’s monasteries and convents helped where it could, but for most, the answer was to look outward, to attack the heretic that had treated them so spitefully for as long as could be recalled. The government of Twaryi, their Confederation Assembly, rewarded two acts with disproportionate generosity- raising large families, and military service. The former was granted easily with the latter- even though the core territories of Twaryi were unpleasant places to live, there had been great waves of migration from Caelus for over a decade.

That Twaryian Captain’s second and third wives were immigrants- he had the means to provide for more, so he did. Native Twaryian women hated these migrants’ method of societal intrusion, of course, but his first and true wife recognized the need for patriotic duty. After all, the Twaryians were not a particularly populous people- the lands conquered would need enough of them to properly settle, let alone continue battle.
So what was there to do to secure the future of the explosion of this new generation, than to strike out with all they could? Would they be expected to be crammed within Twaryi when there was already a struggle to thrive?

That argument could be claimed. Though, Hoffman thought as he went back to report to his platoon, it sounded like they were to blame for bringing forth all these people just so they could fight their wars.

>>5559651
So is polygamy an Old Church thing, or specifically a Twaryian cultural practice that the Church closes one eye about?

>>5559647
>Sawn off SMG
>Barely functioning pistol grip
>Gaudy and unwieldy 50 drum mag
The most based loadout, All they need now is a clown mask and someone screaming about how much they need a medic bag

>>5559651
As hoffman walked back to the platoon he was joined by karl carrying bundles of extra ammunition and some shells meant for the mortar teams in sacks strapped to his back. Karl looked up at hoffman and without being prompted hoffman took the bundles of ammunition off of karl's hand Hoffman looked down on the ammunition and noticed it was mostly twaryian ammunition.

"So why am I carrying twaryian ammo and you mortar shells?" Hoffman asked while karl removed the sack from his back to check it's contents.

"Jonah asked me to do this after we cut him loose, Don't worry he's calmed down Probably gonna go off and try to knock ferrari's clock out" karl nonchalantly answered as he squinted at the labels hoffman swore under his breath and began running towards his platoon's truck. There he found jonah with several crates filled with twari weapons and ammunition loaded up in a truck.

"Hoffman, Dump the ammo into the truck and get up here" A very sleep deprived jonah stuck his head out of the driver's seat. Hoffman did so and joined jonah up at the front. He noted that there were several maps of the area lying ontop of dashboard

"Jonah what are you doing?" hoffman picked up a map and then looked behind him to see karl waving at the other guys before getting on the truck.

"A great boon if we lose this war and something illegal if we win, What have you been up to?" Once karl was on the truck jonah drove off away from camp with the weapons in tow as thet drove from the camp hoffman talked in detail about his conversation with the prisoners and their reasons for fighting.

>Can Jonah bury a good bit of the capture twaryian weapons around the area to creat secret weapons caches? Or will that land him a court martialing?

How's it going tanq?

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Alright just about ready to finally get going. Just have to make sure I've got everybody how they're supposed to be. A few notables-
1. C-2 Sikorsky's down a vehicle. 4 tanks were recovered- only one m/24-32 type wasn't. I presumed you wanted to stay even, but if I'm wrong, well, you know.
2. A few of the Dragoons wanted mortars/guns. Just tell me what proportion of your subunits you want them to be and I'll adjust. Keep in mind that this reduces the subunit hit points to two so long as it's a gun crew, and anything larger than a light AT gun requires a turn to set it up- this set up turn does not apply to the normal infantry accompaniment in the unit.

You might also notice the (low res) portraits. I did get around to them- though they're monochrome, not as clean as I'd like them...but so are the vehicle pictures. Ah well. Underwhelming I'm sure, but I am happy that the spaces aren't empty anymore. At least, not for anybody but the new people.
I shaved the workload down by exempting the folks who I'm guessing aren't gonna be back. No spite towards them, but I just want to keep things going.
If, for some reason, you want higher resolution of portraits, that can be provided, but I doubt you'd get much more out of them than now.

Of course, if you want them changed, hate them, or whatever, feel free to demand edits.

In any case, we'll be moving right along tomorrow. Not the day after tomorrow. Hopefully.

>>5559890
>So is polygamy an Old Church thing, or specifically a Twaryian cultural practice that the Church closes one eye about?
It isn't either of them, really, more of a government action predicated upon the old times back during the initial migration, where continued fighting meant that the male population was low- an unideal measure even then. It isn't supported by the faith, the culture, or even the people's morals really, it's an action of the state.

>>5560690
>Can Jonah bury a good bit of the capture twaryian weapons around the area to create secret weapons caches? Or will that land him a court martialing?
If they were Vynmark's weaponry, then it'd be trouble, but captured enemy materiel? It's more fuzzy. Easier to get away with. There won't likely be much eyebrow raising.

>>5560918
I'd be lying if I said it was all good, but I'm hobbling up to the point where I'm not playing catch up anymore at least.

>>5561048
Already noticing a few things I forgot to put in- I'll go over them and fix them tomorrow along with all the other stuff that's needed to keep going.
Somehow, it took until now for me to realize I made the typo "miltia" for "militia" for many of the entries.

>>5561048
IIRC my recovery roll last thread was succesful, so I assumed that I recovered my own tank rather than putting it into the common pool.

>>5561049
Well to be fair on paper jonah is just driving around, Officially there are no weapons caches that's just between Jonah, Karl, and hoffman

Assuming I get the mortar I'd like Sub unit 2 to get the mortars

>>5561048
>Vix continuing Richter's cause.
>Kannenpflanze is outright cute
>Martins as a quintessential nerd
>Sikorsky has a protagonist's face
>Lutzow-Spelinger has a protagonist best friend's face
>The Vilgersons really look like siblings
>Krogh has that wise uncle look
>Kohlkopf looks like the amiable and innocent guy who dies suddenly to make a point about the horrors of war, uh-oh
>Lerhson looks like the innocent guy who mans up and sacrifices himself to make a point about the horrors of war, uh-oh
>Gauthier and Wester really have that battle-hardened look
>Von Bern has definitely seen too much
>Raine definitely looks like he be doing what Raine be doing
>Eberhardt has a protagonist's face for a different target audience
>Ferrari is a prettyboi
>Von Tottmann looks like a guy who always gets into a pickle and somehow always survives, his only reaction being a flatly delivered minor complaint
>Niel's moustache is goals
>Giovanni looking like an anime villain
>Wesker is unexpectedly handsome
>Gabriel, honestly, looks a bit generic
>Unterbrust looks like a pirate captain
>Splitterschwertt looks like a pirate boatswain
>Von Eschenz looks like the eager guy who goes into combat first and dies first to make a point about the horrors of war, this tendency really needs to stop
>Fiskersonn is goddamn dashing, oh my
>And finally, Frederica is the prettiest just as it should be. The scowl is also on point
I would play this version of Valkyrie Chronicles

>>5561048
Yoooo, that's fucking cool. Thanks for the hardwork tanq, it looks beautiful. I just wanted to ask if you could add a 5 o'clock shadow to Ulf if it's possible? Would make him look a bit more dishevelled but the moustache is perfect. Oh, and you should probably add Pixy Fortune to his card as he's EXP 4 now.

>>5561100
This sheet in general is missing a lot of equipment changes from this thread.

>>5561097
Tanq's trend of mutilated female characters continues on, it must be stopped!

>>5561048
The brust is too powerful, can't button the coat all the way
Great work tanq :)

>>5561097
Aye ye sayin she's got the booty, land-lubber

>>5561110
Are ye sayin she doesn't?

>>5561097
To be honest, I wasn't expecting Ulf to be such a dashing rugged sailor man. It has been a pleasent suprise.
>>5561110
Giant bubbling cannonballs...

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>>5561113
Beware the siren's call, or all you'll be sleepin with is the fishes
But aye, ye could bounce a dubbloon off it

>>5561114
Cursed combination of words, you will be keelhauled soon

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>>5561117
I accept my fate

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>>5561097
But we are playing it!

>Unexpectedly looks handsome
Pretty sure I originally also ask for Panzer/Flight goggles too but I do love how it turned out and that was only a minor detail. For the neck or just lifted abov the eyebrows.

>>5561048
Great job tanq, 4 months in the making and never disappoints! Thank you!

>>5561097
To be honest that's what I kinda went for. I went for a student who goes all quiet on the western front or a Friedhelm of generation war. His book about the war may be this universes all along the western front, but am not sure if this guy is going to survive. Made his unit like it could be a last stand unit and not a charger.

>>5554820
Had she been a proper lady, Franziska might have cringed at the man's improper manners but a proper lady she was not and a proper answer she did not give.

"Yes, I'm sure my twin would fetch a large price at the auction. Beauty runs in the family hahah"

Laughing like old friends, the female Vilgerson waved the man farewell smiling all the before turning the corner her smile melted almost instantly and she breathed a sigh of annoyance.

It was getting way too big for her to deal with on her own, her instinct was telling her that they were just plants from Ian trying to get VIPs out without needing to get through the proper channels but she couldn't handle them on her own.

Part of her wanted to tell Haile but she knew the countess was busy so she decided to deliberate with Alvin Raine.

>Sorry about the late reply, life got hectic for a week.
>Actions are held right now, I wanna talk to Raine and the crew.

>>5561193
What's the plan Franny, I'm not sure what to do either. I think we're gonna have to tell Haile.

>>5561048
Great stuff. Very good job on these, tanq. I honestly don't remember what Leo was supposed to look like (the original description is lost to me somewhere in the first thread) but this portrait has the perfect amount of haughtiness about it. I'll be sure to let you know if I think of anything else to make him look like more of a douche.
>>5561052
Right, I noticed some new Experience Level icons, but the EXP values were still the same. Some modifications are also not in effect (gib pintles).

Oh and also rip Krasnyy's feelings since Rheiner is MIA. Guess he'll just have to cope and seethe for the remaining two operations.

>>5561193
I see two options, option one is that we tell Haile and she'll probably want us to round them up now and probably lose the head of the snake.

Option two we wait till we get a VIP and try to use that as bait.

>>5561196
>>5561193
Shit I need to stop looking at college work while doing quest, give me sec I keep copying the wrong IDs.

>>5561196
>>5561205
>>5561208
Anyway, we can probably wait till we find a VIP to use as bait since they're not biting. I'm not sure man, college work has been kicking my ass I'm not sure I can dedicate enough time for this now.

>>5561048
I'm not in the card, I'm around too I just haven't been able to do much.

>>5561048
I grabbed the uhh, what was it called, Vipers bite? token from the anti-tank ace I managed to whack, replacing my peacefields. Just to make sure, since I see my peacefields are grayed out.

Also nice to see Totmann looks a bit like a dorky late teens/early twenties. It fits his general awkwardness.

>>5561048
Also, some question regarding the mechanics of becoming gun crews:

1) if we abandon the guns, we return to becoming 4HP units right?

2) if we take HP loss as gun crews, and then become infantry again, how does that HP loss translate over? Aka say I take 1 damage to a gun crew, reducing it to 1HP. If I then abandon the gun, how many HP will the dragoon unit then have?

3) do we get to use any other weapons while a gun crew? Rifles, AT-rifles, grenades what have you?

4) how does it affect what special weapons dragoons might carry?

>>5561091
Correction, after talking with raine I have decided to drop the mortar.

>>5561289
>>5561048
Either way, I already claimed 5 4cm AT-guns (they're light, right?) and I intend to use them. Im now a motorized anti-tank platoon, atleast until I abandon them all to flee an enemy counterattack or something.

>>5561048
Oh man.
Nailed it. Love it.

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>>5561048
Disregard that, I suck cocks. Still love the portrait though.
I made a terribly worded request to snag one of the 8mm MGs from the remaining T-16s for a pintle mount at the end of the last thread. For clarification's sake, did that my request get lost in the process or will Logistics and Requisitions only take the tank if it's got a working MG?
My sympathies for trying to keep track of all the requests, tanq. I get this must be like trying to herd cats, with half of the cats revealing themsleves to be migratory fish that leave and don't come back.

>>5561048
>Jonah trying to look as serious as possible
>Has a goofy ass ribbon on his helmet
Yep this is amazing, He's definitely going to die

>>5561048
Nice job Vix is looking good. It's actually funny how much scarf makes her look like proper lady also did Vix lose sight in her other eye. It seems so in the picture.

>>5561097
>Vix continuing Richter's cause.
Is this reference to main quest?

>>5561055
Alright, I'll take a second gander at it.

>>5561097
Honestly since most didn't have much to go on I'm happy enough for them to be distinct from one another.

>>5561100
Neglecting shaving, and sticking on the Pixy.

>>5561193
There's no problem, not like I haven't been busy either.

>>5561221
Sorry, I'll get you put on there asap.

>>5561274
The AT ace's token, yeah. I also need to shove everybody else's on them.

>>5561289
>1) if we abandon the guns, we return to becoming 4HP units right?
They'd go to being half-strength infantry- since a gun crew is half a squad. The assumption is the remainder is in reserve since there isn't room in the transports for a full squad plus the gun supplies and ammo.

>2) if we take HP loss as gun crews, and then become infantry again, how does that HP loss translate over? Aka say I take 1 damage to a gun crew, reducing it to 1HP. If I then abandon the gun, how many HP will the dragoon unit then have?
Same amount of damage/ticks. So if it took 1 then, upon reforming as infantry, they "started" with 2, then reduced by one.

>3) do we get to use any other weapons while a gun crew? Rifles, AT-rifles, grenades what have you?
The crew is assumed to still have their weapons, but keeping the gun firing is a full time job, so they won't be blasting off with everything they've got. For the sake of keeping it simple they can't use those while they're on the gun.

>4) how does it affect what special weapons dragoons might carry?
It doesn't- since the rest of the platoon isn't hanging around being crew. For practical purposes it's like mixed vehicle platoons where each subunit has different equipment.

>>5561348
The 4cm guns are indeed light. The upper limit of what is considered it.

>>5561428
Machine gun work going in.
>My sympathies for trying to keep track of all the requests, tanq. I get this must be like trying to herd cats, with half of the cats revealing themselves to be migratory fish that leave and don't come back.
I had an idea of what I was getting into, though I don't really blame anybody that dips out, especially given recent delays and hiatus. The pace is pretty slow, but it's by necessity.

>>5561630
Especially with the trait.
Which, by the by, is +1 to Attack, Defense, and Initiative in exchange for no saving grace on leader subunit destruction. I'm thinking I'll up the attack bonus to 2, since if the commander bites it the commander trait does too, seems fine to me.

>>5561690
>did Vix lose sight in her other eye. It seems so in the picture.
Up to you.
>Is this reference to main quest?
Richter Von Tracht is the main character of the main quest, yes. He has a similar looking facial reconstruction- though it was from a chemical weapon rather than fire.

>>5561764
wait so you're saying that Jonah can get targeted instead of the whole he gets hits last?

>>5561764
Nobody wants the mortars, could you take however many mortars you need to reinforce Sikorsky if needed?

For the rest would it be possible for the remaining mortars and the 16cm artillery pieces stolen to be exchanged for self-propelled guns as large as possible. Sorry slight meta-gaming but I assume either this mission or the next your gonna kill our NPCs with counter-battery fire or airstrikes so I wanna put them on something mobile.

If very unlikely any mortars from the 8 mortars total survive just shove them into the NPC mortar section under Haile's command, please.

>>5561764
Alvin Raine understood that some people had to get dirty if they wanted to world to be a clean place, that's just how it was. Part of him, the lazy immature part, simply wanted to keep pursuing the investigation with the men and women in his group. He understood that the Countess might not be in the best mood to receive bad news, especially with the premission planning and even though the soldier wanted to think she was a good person she needed to consider her priorities.

Not telling her would only bite them in the ass in the future though. Communication was key for key and he didn't want her to feel he was going behind her back on this one so he went to talk to her alone.

His excuse was requesting more equipment, specifically Self Proppelled Artillery, something he needed to do anyway, as realized quickly how vulnerable their support battery was. Especially if they ever decide to go deep within enemy lines, every support unit needed as much mobility and protection as they could afford.

When all the pleasantries were over, Alvin tried to make sure nobody was listening to their conversation and spoke in a hush conspiritorial tone.

"Slavers got into camp, they're trading POWs for gear and luxuries. Says they're trading in pleasure, it seems like a front though."

"I sent somebody to investigate and to find the heads of the snake but they're being stonewalled, the slavers want a VIP."

"Option one is you tell me and the boys to round them up, they cut off their tail and run. We wash our hands and say we made the world a better place. It would be a better place, especially if the human trash get taken out back and decide to suddenly TRY to escape."

"Option two, you DON'T SAY ANYTHING to me and I leave, this conversation will also never have happened all I did this meeting was beg and threaten for equipment like usual. You won't be telling me or my lads to do anything, whatever happens next is my soley responsibility. Just a rogue soldier with a bad history acting on his own, he didn't even mention any slavers to his commanding officer so if it blows up you can keep your hands clean."

Alvin looked at her expectedly, he wanted to keep pursuing these refuse in human form but the soldier knew it was ultimately up to the Countess.

>>5562153
>>5561764
Ohh just to be clear on the main points for this post.

>Ask Haile to exchange the mortars and artillery for reinforcement to Sikorsky then for SPGs/Mobile Artillery if possible.

>Give Haile options, either we grab the small fish or Alvin along with his group will keep pursuing investigation while giving deniability but there's a good chance they need a VIP to continue. He's open to listen to her suggestions too but he wants to give Haile the option for as much plausible deniability as possible.

At the very least, I hope we can find the ring leaders and get Haile to safety by the end of the Skirmish. I'm going in with the expectation we're gonna die, I don't want to and I'm trying not to, so even if we can't finish these plot threads we might as well fling any light we can for the future characters.

>>5561764
Also I'd much prefer it if the +2 bonus was on defense instead of attack

File: charactercards8.jpg (4.55 MB, 4021x2926)

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Alright, I think I've got most of what was missing. Feel free to point out anything that needs amendment or that I didn't catch, though. God knows I do that plenty.

Anyways, I thought we'd be moving along yesterday, but in actuality, that'll be tonight. Sorry. I almost have everything together at time of posting.

>>5561772
He doesn't have Honos- the targeting rules are not special for him.

>>5561913
Done, then.
Though for the next mission they'll be attached to the HQ, which is how it's always been assumed, but here it will be more...relevant.

>>5562202
I'm choosing not to have it apply to defense, otherwise it'd basically be an empowered level up, and my preference is for an experience trade to not be worth more necessarily than an EXP level.

>>5562846
My EXP is listed as -1 (should be 0) and I am missing my Camouflage.

>>5562846
Spent my time last thread taking Camouflage for my unit, otherwise we good

>>5562846
Ah I was under the impression that the buff was +2 atk +1 def and +1 init so I think that just puts me at the equivalent of exp 3. I was asking for more defense for more survivability and you know with the trait band of brothers I think it more fitting that jonah would be more focused on keeping the people in his unit alive rather than killing the enemy.

>>5562846
If you're still taking applications then I'd like to join.

>>5562931
You can join until deployment is over, and we haven't started deployment yet, but after that it's done, so you're good to join right now.

>>5562846
I should have 1 EXP if the cards are supposed to be updated for that

Name
>Ilse Anna Degenhardt-Iðunardóttir

Unit Class
>Panzerjager

Unit Trait
>Landsgraf's Own

Commander Trait
>Sniper's Oath

Token
>Northwesterlies, specifically a Closed Clouds

EXP 0
EQP 3
INT 4

A westnauk looking with her younger sister for their principal whom they were charged with protecting.

24 years old, 5'10" tall, unblemished pale skin, a 'typical' symmetrical high cheek-boned aristocratic face - the joy of any father - except for her deep-set, often half-lidded green eyes, black hair done up in a messy fringed donut bun though when loose it falls into a asymmetrical bob cut, slim with some evidence of moderate training and a semi-active lifestyle. Melancholic in private or with friends, usually affects a half-hearted, if not outright false smirk, though a quick glance at her normal resting face would reveal even that to be more happiness than she can usually muster.

I'll post my back story and character details regarding the lead up to Ilse joining the military later. I just wanted to get this out before deployment since I have to sleep and the post was over the 3000 word limit when the back story stuff was included, so for now I'm just leaving in the essentials, plus a much, much shorter bio and her physical description.

>>5562846
Pintles and Camoflage for me, as you noted >>5554665

>>5562846
Alright, nice. Shame I couldn't strip the 13mms off of the BM-2 wrecks, but I can absolutely live with 8mms. Anything is better than just one bow gun (didn't the T-15 have two of those? I'm assuming this uparmored version removed one).

>>5562846
Huh, so the VpK replaces a vehicle instead of adding to the unit INT, noted.
Was it possible to attach one of the old 13mms from our PzA onto the VpK's 8mm mount?

>>5562846
I should have camouflage, if it went through (requested here: >>5550732)

>>5562153
>>5562163
Raine found the Countess in a good mood- presumably from her company, whom he was introduced to.

“Ah, Lieutenant,” Haile had a pep in her voice that had vanished utterly before, that she hadn’t let show in the past day. “Hello. Lady Sommervind, this is Lieutenant Raine, one of my battalion’s motor dragoons that Major Yule brought along. He distinguished himself in storming the Twaryian headquarters in the castle of Kobberhus.”

Initially, it was merely talk of the artillery attachment to the battalion, recently expanded, notably, its mobility. There was nothing to be concerned with there- all of the battalion’s guns were plenty mobile, and their crews were well drilled in fire and maneuver, even if they hadn’t been tested the other day.

Then, however, the subject of the interlopers came.

The Countess’s expression went from surprised, to blank, to a smoldering dourness. Her attitude on the subject was clear. “You have my blessing to arrest these slavers in their entirety, with whatever means are necessary. They will be hauled away in chains to answer for this audacity. They cannot be suffered to linger here even a moment longer.” Her anger turned crestfallen, suddenly, and she looked to her Twaryinauk friend. “Rufia…why are they here? So soon after? I had not heard anything of these…vultures.”

“I cannot say. Though with your permission, Lady Countess,” Lady Sommervind pulled on the black glove on her left hand, “I will extract answers, once your men have captured these rogues. Though I advise you not be in attendance.”

…

Rounding up the slavers was child’s play. They had too readily revealed who they were and where, and they were not foolish enough to try and resist when they were largely swept up all at the same time. A few might have been roughed up before being presented to the other company for processing- affidavits affirming witness accounts for future trials had already been prepared, which would support the damning false papers the slavers had been unable to discard before being seized bodily.

Their true purpose would be found out soon enough- or at least speculated. Lady Sommervind did not take long to appear before Haile again, her hair somewhat disheveled and a weary look in her eyes, though they still glinted with confidence.

“I’m afraid that you may have rivals,” Lady Sommervind said to the Countess, who blinked back, puzzled.

“Rivals? Whom would send slavers after my prisoners?”

“Not for profit, Haile, but to discredit you.”

The Countess shook her head and furrowed her brows. “Discredit me? Now? Who?”

Lady Sommervind shook her head back and leaned against the wall of the cottage, shutting the door behind her. “Whoever did it was clever enough not to reveal their identity. They most certainly didn’t do it to try and profit themselves. As for the timing…why not now? We knew this might happen. The future of the country is being decided now, in more ways than the fighting alone. If people think you are succeeding too much, they’ll have contingencies to try and limit how prestigious your victories are…”

“…” Haile pursed her lips in frustration.

“Too many in the army can’t be trusted,” Lady Sommervind urged, “Trust in your battalion, and me. Be wary of everybody else when it comes to non-combat affairs. That’s my advice.” She paused. “It wasn’t going to be easy no matter what you did, my lady…”

“No, it’s…a good idea,” Haile let out slowly, knitting her fingers, “Especially for the week we have to wait for Velecacia. If they’re willing to send slavers…”

“Exactly.”

Countess Haile put her hands behind her back and stared at the curtain blocking the view out of the cottage, imagining she could see out past it. For all some commanders enjoyed basking in the place of their victory, she couldn’t help but want to stay here for as little time as possible, now…

-----

Along with the replacements and rearmaments, other things were delivered to the battalion in the following time. Most significant was what had been separating the battalion from being a properly command-integrated mobile formation- company level radio sets rather than platoon and battalion levels strung along one another. RsmT-2 Command Radio sets, of an expensive yet compact design able to be mounted wherever a typical radio could be, albeit with a bit more equipment that needed to be strategically placed and separated out to fit certain spaces. Allowing for simultaneous transmission and receiving on multiple channels, they were standard for Company Commanders, at least those of well-off units.

>A unit equipped with an RsmT-2 will provide an initiative bonus of +1 to all units within four spaces of it that do not have a Company Radio Set. These bonuses do not stack. More significantly, units within four spaces of an RsmT-2 carrier may use the initiative roll (unmodified) of the Company Command Radio bearer rather than their own initiative roll. If they are within range of two RsmT-2 carriers, they may choose which to use the initiative roll of freely.
>There are four RsmT-2 sets available for installation. Decide who you wish to carry them.

A couple of days had passed- the morning of May 7th, year of 1933. No Twaryian attacks had menaced Kobberhus itself, though the fighting had most certainly not ceased. The battalion spent its time growing more familiar with one another, pursuing what they could locally, but primarily, they prepared for the inevitable next battle. Munitions and supplies were stocked, organized, and proper organization was arranged. By the time the battalion was to leave, it much more properly resembled a military unit rather than an ad-hoc emergency formation.

Few were in a hurry to go, but the Countess was insistent- the southward journey was to begin, though it would be as ponderous as need be to aide in hiding the battalion’s location and destination from astute enemies watching and listening.

Some members of the battalion departed, others were formed into a rear guard, but that day, it was time to leave Kobberhus behind and venture southwards. As Lady Sommervind had said, a Twaryian offensive had been pressing for the great city of Sodrakron, but the ripple along the lines from the battle at Kobberhus had helped halt it as contractions and reinforcements had to be spread out, and order restored to the eastern line. By the time that they were ready again, Haile had insisted on her friend’s behalf…the battalion would be there to meet them. Even if they were prepared earlier than expected, it just meant they would meet their defeat sooner.

Or so it was said. Major Sanen Yule was doubtful- for precisely one core reason. All the threads he felt unease about came from one source- and that source was sitting across from him now, as the Battalion and its secret cargo traveled south.

The headquarters car had no windows, though it was well furnished and lit, and roomy, for a truck, with a little fixed stove and a kettle clamped firmly down providing for tea. Velecacia couldn’t look out as they went, though she’d been lent a tourists’ guide stuffed with pictures. Rather like entertaining a little girl, Yule thought, even if she claimed to be forty-five years old.

“I do not see why thou art so surprised by mine age,” Velecacia said in her reedy, whispery voice. “How old art thou, Sir Major?”

“Thirty-seven,” Yule said. “You count years different where you’re from?”

“The years in the Sky are the same as the Land,” Velecacia said resolutely, “Time tears at the body no differently. Although…much of mine life hast been spent in the embrace of the High Mount. Day and nights in all of their multitude bear little difference from one another, there.”

Yule didn’t try for an elaboration. He accepted that this girl was simply strange, and so was the place she was from. “That must be pretty inconvenient for hanging out with your friends.”

“I have no relations such as that,” the blonde girl intoned quietly, barely audible in the truck. “I am the Queen, and mine subjects needst such, not a friend.”

Ah. Yule paused on that one again. “Sounds like it’s hard being Queen.”

“It is a necessary duty.”

“Did you ask for it?”

“I was crowned at birth by mine mother, the last Queen,” Velecacia said, “And the High Mount took her upon my ascension.” She looked up from the book at Yule- her eyes were dazzling in their luster. “Didst thou choose to be a soldier, Sir Major, or were thou madest to be one?”

“Nobody in this war has much a choice now.”

Velecacia frowned. “Thou were one before. Far before.” She pointed to his gorget, “I noticed the symbol upon the throats of Lady Haile and Lady Rufia. They claimst to accomplish a great work, declaring such with thine symbols. Yet I look upon thou, and thine symbol ist gouged away.”

Yule pondered whether to answer that- looked around despite himself, and sighed, wrapping his hands around each other in his lap. “It was my choice to become an army officer, yeah. I could have been something else, but I chose this. Then something happened, and then, I couldn’t leave. Well, I felt I couldn’t. Though when I went in, this symbol here,” he pointed to his gorget, the brass scoured like it had been slashed at by a beast, “Matched the one on both of those women’s necks.”

The blonde girl stared, then looked crestfallen. “Thou seekst to mend thine shame. I shalt not inquire further.”

Yule cocked an eyebrow, and scoffed. “You presume a lot, your highness.”

“The Queen of the Sky must know if one has forsaken the land,” Velecacia said reverently, “One whose heart is too heavy, may be shackled to the earth. Only those whom wish to be free of the world may fly to the Hemelsberg, and make thine life there anew. Such an offer made to many may be easy to accept, however, one cannot, in thine heart of hearts, wisht to linger, nor return. The Free Folk may have no chain.”

Yule crossed his arms, and pursed his lips- newly discomforted. “Well,” he grumbled, then let his voice relax, “I wasn’t thinking of taking a trip there anyways, new life or no. My home and country is here, and it needs me.” He peered at Velecacia again, and had an idea. “So you say you can see hearts, or something like that. Tell me. You were looking at Lady Sommervind sort of strange. What did you see?”

“Her and not any other?” Velecacia asked, but Yule said nothing. “Lady Haile and Lady Rufia are friends. They have been so since they were young. I need no talent to see such, when they converse. However…her words doth contradict what her heart sayeth. She proclaims to be glad of her friend’s triumph, yet her heart is clouded and dark with doubt and conflict.”

“These aren’t easy times, and she is a bat ear. Besides, she was confronted with a girl claiming to be Queen of the Sky. I’m not through wrestling with that myself.”

Velecacia frowned. “Doubt of such sort is not cast by that which one can expel from thought by merely closing thine eyes, or turning about. It was a conflict she felt forced to face.”

…Yule had already advised the officers to be on their guard. Some had scoffed, other more suspicious ones paid him heed. He had rather hoped for Velecacia to speak something that would tell him he worried over nothing. Velecacia seemed, herself, to not be happy over remembering it- Yule tried something to distract, perhaps help. Maybe there was an easier solution than thought.

“What happens,” Yule asked Velecacia, “If we simply hide you away? It might be easier than escorting you through a war zone…”

Velecacia was quiet for a moment. “…I do not know. Thou suggest an action which hast never been taken, for the Sky Queen to abandon Hemelsberg for the Land. Such is…unthinkable.”

“Say if you did, though.”

Velecacia wrung the fabric of her cloak in a nervous grasp. “…I…believe that a tale of such is recorded in the mount. Of the Sky Queen’s duties, scribed in image and thought, and not word. Should the Sky Queen abandon the Hemelsberg…the Hemelsberg shall come to the ground.”

“So the big flying rock crashes down.”

“Tis more than a simple fall. Terrible as that would be, the Hemelsberg does not inhabit the world, as thee might think it doth. Instead, its world and this…would come together.”

A pause from Yule, as the sound of the engine humming up front and the rumble on the road was felt through the truck. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean,” he said blankly.

“I am as certain as thou art on the meaning.”

It wasn’t what Yule wanted to hear.

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Though the narrative did advance two days, I'm not meaning to trample on anybody's further plans, in case there were any, just getting things moving again.

>>5562931
>>5563042
You're good.
...Giving me plenty to work with with the description. Honestly the hardest part of them was trying to spin up people that looked appropriate, makes it easier the more detail there is.
Don't have it yet, of course, just saying.

>>5562860
>>5562897
>>5563041
>>5563056
>>5563119
>>5563166
Think I've gotten it all down. Further corrections pending.

>>5562907
As of now it's +1 to atk, def, and init. Pretty much dipping into everything a bit without getting the +2 benefit. For now, at least.
The normal EXP 1 would have just given initiative anyways. Still open for negotiation in case you're not feeling it.

>>5563062
>(didn't the T-15 have two of those? I'm assuming this uparmored version removed one)
It did- and yes. Partially to avoid twin gun goofiness early on though.

>>5563274
Couple of questions tanq:

-What's Haile's and Rufia's actual army ranks?

- Is Sommervind in our chain of command now? Are we obliged to obey any orders by her as we would Haile or Yule's? on paper at least

>>5563274
So just to clarify, we're out of air support and for the rest of support groups we have two batteries of long-range artillery and one battery of mortars?

>>5563274
Btw sorry I forgot I hadn't said, I want Ironheart instead of level up.

Regarding company radios, they will be most valuable for those intending to be in the thick of things doing concentrated attacks. Maybe something like 2 tank platoons and 2 infantry platoons cam carry radios? Or 2 tank platoons, 1 infantry platoon and 1 recon platoon. Either way, we need to group our forces around these radios for maximum benefit.

>>5563283
>What's Haile's and Rufia's actual army ranks?
Nobility has particular exception in Vynmark's army which can make things hard to perceive, as pulling rank on a societal better is a good way to get your ass in trouble, and direct patronage of units isn't quite the same as proper rank, but while Haile's command authority is limited to units under her patronage (you, presently), she is dressed in the style of and is treated as a Lieutenant Colonel. Rufia is a Captain. The mark on her Beret is as such- the symbol on all of you's, as a side note, is that of Lieutenant.
>Is Sommervind in our chain of command now? Are we obliged to obey any orders by her as we would Haile or Yule's?
Her unit is separate. While she is a noble, you have no obligation to follow any command from her.

>>5563291
>So just to clarify, we're out of air support and for the rest of support groups we have two batteries of long-range artillery and one battery of mortars?
That's about the size of it.

>>5563295
Gotcha.

>>5563274
Ohh well I read that differently Then yeah I'm cool with the +1 to everything.

>>5563267
>Request installation of RsmT-2 radio
Btw, can a unit equipped with the company radio benefit from the +1? Also, can a unit with the radio choose between its own initiative roll and that of another unit with the radio provided it is in range?

>>5563300
>Grabbing a radio, Martins is somebody in my group that should probably get one too.

>>5563274
>I'm not meaning to trample on anybody's further plans, in case there were any
I was going to harass Yule and Rufia's people (in that order), but most of the questions I had were basically answered in the narrative bits you posted, so it's all good.

>>5563274
Did my request for APCs here >>5555332 not go through? No one else claimed any of the equipment after Eberhardt gave his consent to me taking the AT guns for trade in as far as I know.

>>5563297
>Maybe something like 2 tank platoons and 2 infantry platoons cam carry radios? Or 2 tank platoons, 1 infantry platoon and 1 recon platoon
Tank Platoons using the Radios are in fact a waste. You want either Recon or 5 INI Dragoons to carry the radios to help offset the low initiative value of our Tankers. So any two Recon Platoons (Unterbrust with her EXP 5 should have one) and any two Dragoon Platoons aside from Eberhardt, Raine, Ferrari and Vilgerson is best suited to carry one.

>>5563387
The initiative value of the radio holder doesn't matter at all, it only uses the unmodified roll

>>5563389
>More significantly, units within four spaces of an RsmT-2 carrier may use the initiative roll (unmodified) of the Company Command Radio bearer rather than their own initiative roll.

Pretty sure unmodified here means the holders INI without the +1 bonus

>>5563394
>initiative roll (unmodified)
unmodified would usually mean just the roll without any modifications, like say, your initiative bonus

>>5563389
>>5563389
>Pretty sure unmodified here means the holders INI without the +1 bonus
That's how I read it aswell, though reading it back it could be either that or the rolled initiative die per combat round of the radio holder. Tanq would need to clarify.

>>5563394
I think it's like >>5563396 puts it. Let's say you have the radio and I'm next to you. You roll x and I roll y (which is less than x). I can then take x instead of y and add my +1 bonus to it.

>>5563400
Why would he bother to specify that it was unmodified in the first place if the radio-holder doesn't get the +1 bonus anyways? Unmodified can only be referring to the Initiative bonus.

>>5563396
>>5563401
Okay I see what you mean now.

>>5563267
>Proceed with the installationnof a RsmT-2 command radio on my tank.

Promise I'll attempt to keep good positionning for those in need of the initiative bonus.

>>5563321
>can a unit equipped with the company radio benefit from the +1?
Since it's meant to be reflective of the whole group coordinating, yes. Though they can't gain from another radio unit, no stacking, and all that.
>Also, can a unit with the radio choose between its own initiative roll and that of another unit with the radio provided it is in range?
No, the initiative trades only flow outward. So you can't bounce around the highest roll and apply it to everybody but one person.

>>5563387
>Did my request for APCs here not go through?
Sorry, I missed it when going back over things. I'll change it in.

>>5563400
This >>5563401 is the case, mostly. Though I should also clarify that the roll change is made before any modifiers. So if a unit with three base initiative took their command unit's roll, they'd take just the dice roll, and then apply any modifiers, rather than it being a case of taking the raw dice roll.

>>5563653
>Grabbing the last radio

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The Twaryian second wind was never unexpected- it would have come sometime. The surprise was in how quickly it occurred and with immediate effect, and to the unpleasant surprise of the Battalion, where it focused its energies. To the north and south, heavy mechanized offensives buckled the lines with the aid of a new heavy wave of air support, and while High Command only responded slowly to the unlikely news, breakthroughs occurred. Confusion ruled the battle lines of Vynmark- none could say for certain where the Twaryian breakthroughs were, or how far they had come. Only that the Hageldorf battalion would inevitably have to commit to an unexpected fight on their journey southward, as Vynmark’s remaining air force could not protect all of the skies, forcing the time of travel to mostly take place in the dark of night.

Even more disconcerting was rumors of ordinance of a type none had seen before, only that it was an incredibly destructive display of pyrotechnics. Little word had spread of what they were or how they were deployed- only that they prompted a haunting column of flame that could be seen over the horizon, a twisting serpent of fire that touched the sky, and warped the very air. The only thing that sounded like it, amongst the historically literate in the battalion, was a weapon deployed in the final months of the Emrean Liberation War just over twenty-three years ago, where they appeared and were never seen since, both the Emreans and the Reich keeping the nature of those terrible firestorms a closely guarded mutual secret. How they could have come here was unknown. Unease grew among the men- the average Twaryian soldier was fierce, but not particularly well equipped. An unfamiliar weapon coming from them cast doubts on presumptions…

-----

It was the third day of the journey- the first night movement, as the unpleasant surprise of Twaryian air raids caused only superficial damage, but were enough of a threat to force the battalion to hunker down. A misty night had fallen, with the stars and moon bright in the sky. The safety from air threat was not all for the better- that any fighting on the move would occur at night was ill tidings. Twaryians were known for being well trained and adapted to fighting at night. It was said their bat ears allowed them to better sense enemies in the dark, and keep aware of their surroundings, but any Twaryinauk would be able to (somewhat irritably) refute such a theory- it was their training, not their biology.

>Twaryian units receive a bonus to their attack in darkness of +1.
>In dark and/or night conditions, visibility is very limited- it is reduced by half, unless a target is illuminated using flares. Every unit commander has a flare pistol with the same range as a rifle which lights a cross of four tiles that can be used in their Fire action, or larger 3x3 flares can be lit utilizing mortars or artillery. Their duration is two turns.

The most important landmark to cross would be another transportation crossroads- a spread out town called Jagterfisk Pools- so called because, from a certain vertical angle, the titular ponds looked like a larger fish chasing its equally aquatic prey. Like much of the territory near the front, it had been evacuated by now, though the enemy was not meant to have reached this far in this quickly, if the frontlines were at all intact.

Not that they were even north. The battalion had barely slipped away from a Twaryian attack crashing over friendly defenses and putting them to flight. The rearguard reported that said attack force was now chasing them, too- and staying to fight them would be poor strategy, given the lack of information on friendly lines. Jagterfisk Pools had been passed through and scouted out by Lady Sommervind’s company just a couple hours earlier- but they reported contact, and had been forced to hold their position to the south of the town, controlling the exit road southbound.

It had been hoped that the enemy that occupied Sommervind was small enough to scatter before the might of the battalion without even drawing up for battle, but forward elements were giving reports that dashed apart such optimism.

“Confirm, reconnaissance elements,” Yule said into the radio, scratching his nose as the Countess waited attentively in the same armored command vehicle, “There’s already enemies all over? Damn. I was hoping we could slip by. No, there’s nothing for it but to fight our way through. They’re coming straight up our tail. If we delay we’ll be surrounded for sure.”

Haile tried not to fret in the seat across as she also listened in with a headset, but did not say much. “Major…” she said with a cough, “If there are Twaryian forces on our tail and we don’t have the time to turn around and fight them off…”

“Yes,” Yule took off his headset and glanced at the Countess, forgetting to address her properly, but neither cared at the moment. “Our ammunition and fuel and supply transport columns will have to follow up our breakthroughs as they happen. On the bright side, the enemy can’t have established themselves very well for how quickly they got in, and it doesn’t sound like their formation is more powerful than ours…as long as we move quickly before their reinforcements arrive, whatever they might be.” Without aerial recon, it was impossible to know what might be coming up- just that spotty intelligence identified limited amounts of mechanized assets present, for now. The force coming up from behind was definitely tank-heavy.

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Operation Three- “Nacht Tag” – Summary

The Battalion must break through enemy occupied territory in order to reach the southward road and continue movement to avoid isolation and encirclement. Lady Sommervind’s armored company will be holding the southern egress point- and will form the rearguard when the final non-combat elements cross the threshold. Primary enemy formation in defense is infantry and anti-tank and light artillery assets as well as motorized materiel, with limited amounts of armor. Fast reaction and armored reinforcements exceedingly likely. Intelligence is poor, so be prepared for any eventuality.

Primary Objectives are as follows-

1-Escort Headquarters Unit to Egress Point
2-Escort Ammunition Convoy to Egress Point
3-Escort Fuel Convoy to Egress Point

Note that convoy units have poor off road capabilities, and are restricted to roads.

The severity of the situation had also prompted an escalation in tactics in recent days. While there were no official treaties between Vynmark and Twaryi concerning what arms were restricted from the field of battle, there had been no reports of chemical weapons being used. It wasn’t known which side did it first- all that trickled down was that the Lachrymator-L Gas munitions crates had had the locks broken off of them, and distributed where they could be used. LLG was hardly the most intimidating chemical weapon compared to, say, Sulphur Mustard or Bertholite, let alone Flayer, but it was a chemical weapon nevertheless.

>LLG munitions are now able to be used by any unit with weapons of bore diameter 5 centimeter or higher, or grenades and rifle grenades. Lachrymator-L is a lavender-hued vapor that causes tears and coughing fits that make any exposed to it practically unable to fight so long as they are within it, but beware- you are just as vulnerable to it as the enemy is, whether in a vehicle or not, if you do not don chemical protection. Chemical Protection consists of masks and cloaks, and will guard you from the worst effects of chemical weapons, but interfere with perception, and will reduce your initiative rolls by 2 to a minimum of 0. Lachrymator munitions, for purposes of area of effect and duration, work like smoke munitions.

Deployment may begin- Infantry units may change their weapons loadouts if they wish. Blue tiles are for all to deploy on, Recon may deploy on Green.
Be wary- green tiles may have unsighted enemy contact within them.

My loadout is
>Marksman equipment
>MG

"oh great an escort mission this can't be too bad right? right?" Jonah looked at karl at hoffman who was absolutely miserable at the thought of doing an escort mission

>>5564935
>deploy cc23
How long will it take to don/remove chemical protection? I'd assume a free action due to training or no?
Also I assume railroads will not be traversable by our convoys yes?

Alright, I think we should organize our Company leaders (those with radios) such that we're covering as many of our approaches as possible. We should probably have at least an infantry radio going to the center town, and one vehicle radio going south (since that's the likely path of the convoy). Not sure if we even want to try North at all.

>>5564967
They should be traversable because they've been ruled to have roads adjacent to them.

>>5564935
>What's the movement on the convoy trucks. Actually what even are their stat spread like

>>5564971
Currently the ones with Command radio are

>[D5] Alvin Raine
>[C3] Gunther Lutzow-Spelinger (you)
>[C5] Vivian Martins
>[J5] Leif Wesker (me)
>Note: The radio is range 4 and see here for bonus: >>5563267 to whom it will concern


Depending on how fast the convoys are we can figure out a route to go through but whatever we do it seems were definitely going through the 1st big town near the ingress of recon turn 1 so we should Tear Gas it into submission. Honestly speaking, Recon as the work mostly cut out for them at the start. The flares are also a concern of where they need to be shot but it's way more liberal use.

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>>5564935
>Deloying u22

Also, what does Pixy Fortune actually do?

>>5564935
Deploy hh16, also fug I'm gonna hate when the chemical weapons get brought out. my ini is already low enough

>>5564935
>deploy jj23 in Forest tile facing S

Recon gotta recon I reckon'.

can we use demo charges as mines? like drop and forget and they'll explode on their own

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Deploying at X-21, preparing to screen the advance on the western flank.

>>5565322
>>5565324
>>5564935
Sorry, gg13.

>>5564967
>How long will it take to don/remove chemical protection? I'd assume a free action due to training or no?
Free action, yes.
And as said here >>5564971 railways are assumed to have roads beside them. Realistically that's not always the case, but here it is because it's following major communication lines anyways.

>>5564983
>Depending on how fast the convoys are
3 movement base, +2 on roads. They aren't necessarily incapable of off road, but they're particularly poor at it, and it should be a last resort.

>>5564991
>Also, what does Pixy Fortune actually do?
It was being coy not explaining it at the start, but at this point, it's worth explaining. What it does is, if you've used your token, it refreshes it and makes it refresh at the end of every mission, and also empowers it. For example, your Red Dust is upgraded to Damage Cancellation rather than Damage Reduction.
To find out what the other types do you have to use them.

>>5565030
>can we use demo charges as mines? like drop and forget and they'll explode on their own
They can be used in such a way- though they'll be pressure triggered or tripwire triggered, presumably, so they won't necessarily hit whatever's coming through without a manual operator (calculated as an attack roll- though they don't disappear if they "miss"), but they can be dropped and forgotten about in likely places of enemy passage as traps.

>>5564935
>Deploying bb13, facing south.

At least I assume I am J-7, could be wrong. Haven't forgotten about character fluff stuff I haven't posted. I'll get around to it when I'm less tired and busy.

>>5564935
This is a bad situation for a TD...
>Deploy at ff-17, facing south

>>5564935
>Deploying at hh-14, facing south
I'm guessing nothing untoward happened with the armless Twaryian I found underground and he got absorbed into the POWs, or is the timeline still floaty.

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>>5564935
Would it be possible to create impassable terrain for vehicles by using Demolition charges in town squares? For example, if you were to detonate a charge in these two tiles would it block vehicle movement or remove the road bonus from the tiles until they've been cleared of rubble?

>>5564935
>Deploy ff13 south facing
If the scouts don't see anything after deployment i can shoot heavy flare into city in south.

Do i have the pintle mounted hmg just so i know also do twaryians also have same vision limitation as us in this mission.

>>5561764
Considering how bad the hit looks i guess its at least partial loss of sight.

>>5565454
Changing my loadout to MG and demo charges then, I'll leave mines along the road behind the convoy so whatever is pursuing us can't use the roads too much to catch up

Well this looks like a good old shitshow, bonus points for night... atleast they should be lacking in heavy assets. Relying on our tanks to bulldoze our way forward would be a good idea then.

Otherwise I strongly suggest we pick a flank and for the most part stick to it. We cant and shouldnt clear out the whole map. The western flank looks like the best; more open and fewer complex terrain positions to clear.

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Have an analysis of what positions can and can't threaten our convoy if they move along the central route. As can be seen, its the positions on the west that are more troublesome generally; therefor I'd suggest we focus our efforts there, together with the center, and appart from an early attack on the woods in the NE to clear it of eyes and screen our efforts we really should collapse in along that line. I have a feeling the enemy will be very tricksy this time around, if we spread out too much and lack the mass to decisively punch forward we'll be bogged down in several smaller fights instead of more decisive ones.

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Here's the positions we need to grab to go through the center. Light blue are positions we absolutely need to grab and hold, green is the positions that would be good for us to grab and hold but not critical; they cant directly threaten our convoy from there but they'll be good positions to defend against enemy reinforcements. The red arrows are where the enemy reinforcements and QRFs are likely to come from. Do note, we can start abandoning positions as the convoy moves past them and they stop mattering, which will allow us to consolidate our forces again.

Same shit, but if we take the alternative route. Not much less that needs clearing desu, and it puts us closer to possible enemy QRFs, worringly so. It is good to keep in mind if we have a lot of trouble from the east though.

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>>5565574
Bah! forgot the image

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>>5565567
>>5565571
>>5565575
>>5565579
First, about the alternate route: it requires us to clear all the same principal positions as the main route (central town, south town, central forest, SW forest) while adding the western village to the list and much longer. I'd argue that it's completely unfeasible even in the face of trouble from the east.

Second, the critical positions. I don't agree that we need to take and hold them all, simply because we don't have the forces and time to do so. Taking them also involves moving into difficult terrain with short lines of sight, where the mostly infantry enemy forces have an advantage. I propose we instead clear the positions I marked yellow with fire and then keep them under overwatch, resorting to assault only if fire at range proves insufficient.
The positions marked orange I regard as "good to take, but not absolutely necessary", because they're quick to move in and out from.

>>5565599
The problem is that we dont have enough artillery to keep everything we need to under fire at good times, and with the poor spotting conditions the odds of a sneaky AT gun or TD whacking some of our supply trucks seem high... however, we can probably migate that with clever use of smoke at the right time now that I think about it... I'll think about an alternative plan, thank you for the feedback.

>>5565619
The stretches of the road from the central town to the central forest and from there to the southern town are very short, and with proper coordination can be mover through even without smoke (basically, we need to ensure there's no enemy overwatches and just cross them in one turn). The only place to worry about is imo the final stretch. It's there we'll need smoke.

>>5564935
tanq, is our artillery support able to fire this mission, being on the move?

>>5565629
Ensuring that there are no enemy overwatch is the issue, however those short stretches of open ground can be covered quite handily by infantry smoke, especially with grenade launchers, so I agree that isnt a problem. The last stretch is by far too big to cover with smoke unless we have like 5-6 platoons of infantry tossing them everywhere, which is a fun image and a bit of a stretch. An alternative to actually occupying those woods endangering the final stretch is to put a heavy screen of recon, tanks and infantry two tiles or so away from it, which should allow us to dominate the treeline and spot any sneaky types without getting suckered into a big forest brawl.

The forest NE of the final town along the main path does need to be occupied though IMO, both to give us room to maneuver and to make sure the enemy doesnt launch an attack out of there. Its simply too close to the road/rail and town, if we dont put our infantry there the enemy will be able to organize and launch attacks from there with ease.

>>5564935
>Deploy u21 facing W
>>5565575
I think I agree with this plan the most. The panzers should crash into the middle with a focused attack and then have the convoy go west. A recon force should sweep into the Western path to either clear or soften up the enemies there. Perhaps a certain part of the force should split in the central city and go further south, to create the illusion that the convoy is going that way.

>>5565635
>heavy screen of recon, tanks and infantry
This was my idea too.

>The forest NE of the final town along the main path does need to be occupied though IMO
That forest is tiny and the approaches to it easily controlled. I don't think we need to worry about the enemy launching attacks from there once we defeat whatever initial forces it has. It would be nice to occupy it if our infantry happens to be nearby, but I don't think we should purposefully target it.

>>5565641
Why do you like this plan the most?

>>5565654
Mostly because it lessens the approach of the enemy from all sides. There's less lanes of attack from the enemy. But, I'm also not against going through the central towns and keeping the Western flank save.

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>>5547223
>>5546727
>>5546871
>>5547747
>>5547328
>>5549060

I need volunteers for an Eastern Taskforce to clear the forest. CQC specialists are best suited but honestly any infantry will be fine.

The Female Vilgerson volunteered to lead the charge, her group's composed of convicts and psychopaths that strapped flamethrowers onto their tanks. She'll clear the way if you can keep her safe.

>Any other units that want to volunteer would be appreciated but there's gonna be a lot of close quarters fighting.

>>5564935
Hey Tanq is it possible to set up flare-traps that can alert us to enemy movement in that tile (and also illuminate them)?