The question of soviet camo and capturing prisoners has got me thinking about adding in a special role for soviet scouts. This would be a small unit of say 2-4 for those that wish to play a little differently. I see it as a possible ongoing thing that can be present at every event so the investment in the kit (ie scout suit) is worthwhile.
Their primary purpose would be the gathering of intelligence and reconnaissance rather than engaging the enemy just like they really did. It would be up to them to take and interigate prisoners rather than leaving it open to any of the players and do deep reconnaissance missions into enemy territory if required.
What do you chaps think? Worth considering or do you think it's better to try and keep all the soviet troops portraying the same unit?
Be a cool idea to give them special assignments but I don't think that for a game of this size it would be worthwhile trying it for this one. Maybe use this event to try and create number to a point were we can lose a small unit to be off being sneaky without detracting from the main scenario.
I dont have any problem with the idea as long as they are following a series of 'objectives suitable for scouts' and not doing there own thing.
I don't have a problem with a specific scout role, although I'd be wary of over-complicating things with a ton more special rules. Most people can barely remember ammo limits, number of bandages and if/when/where they regen.
Presumably the first part of the game will involve a certain degree of Soviet recce as the Germans sort themselves out? You could give all the Russians a chance at doing some recce, and possibly designate a 'deep recce' group, just as long as we don't end up with the German deployment area covered in Soviet inflitrators, which would be a bit silly.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
Kind of what I was thinking Martin. The scouts attempt to infiltrate the rear areas whilst the rest carry out recces of the forward German positions. It would mainly be for the first part of the game but they could take longer if needed. Just to trial it at least. After that the dynamics of the game changes anyway so they simply fight alongside the infantry. We can just call them assault engineers instead. Rules wise they wouldn't need much extra and only those playing scouts would need to know them- something they're likely to do if they're enthusiastic about playing the role.
It would be 4 people max to avoid taking too many men away from the infantry and having a bunch of Soviets running around behind German lines. Besides a big group would get spotted easily. I think the bigger constraint would be the size of the site rather than the numbers- we did it at Schaulen with only 16 Russians (4-5 scouts), however that was Ceri so the site was considerably larger.
Yeah try it mate. as long as you have someone you can trust to CO the group and I am sure you thinking of having Johnny in that role and that way you know they will be kept on mission and not go too mental.
The scouts attempt to infiltrate the rear areas whilst the rest carry out recces of the forward German positions. It would mainly be for the first part of the game but they could take longer if needed. Just to trial it at least.
Josh did this in one of his Eastern Front games way back (Fist of Dust? I can't recall now, it was over at Norwich anyway), it worked very well except in that case it was the Germans who slipped in their deep recce team while the rest of them kept the Russians occupied.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
