[The Regiment] Doing Your Part

I'm working on a war-themed hack with my buddy Paul Riddle. It's called THE REGIMENT.

The PCs are usually operating as part of a squad which in turn is part of a platoon. There are lots of soldiers around, leading maneuvers and following the leaders. Everyone is fighting as a team, and everyone wants to do their part.

Here's a new move structure I've come up with to deal with leaders and followers. I'd love to hear what you think. (The game has "personal-scale" moves, too, of course. But that part is solid already).

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SQUAD MANEUVERS

When you do your part in a maneuver, roll+battle. On a 10+, you give 1-hold to the maneuver leader. On a 7-9, choose one:

• Spend 1-supply to give 1-hold to the maneuver leader.
• Expose yourself to danger to give 1-hold to the maneuver leader.
• Keep your head down and don’t take any chances.

If the leader already has 3-hold, take +1forward instead.

When you lead a maneuver, roll+leadership. On a hit, you succeed at the maneuver. On a 10+, get the accumulated hold from the soldiers in the maneuver, up to 3-hold. On a 7-9, choose one:

• Spend 1-supply to get the accumulated hold.
• Expose yourself to danger to get the accumulated hold.
• Abandon the maneuver.

The Maneuvers:

Assault: On a hit, you inflict your harm on the enemy. Spend your hold 1-for-1:

• You inflict +1harm.
• You suffer -1harm.
• You maintain unit cohesion. Everyone takes +1forward.

Suppress: On a hit, you suppress the enemy (their volume of fire is reduced by one). Spend your hold 1-for-1:

• Enemy is pinned (they can’t maneuver).
• If the enemy is suppressed and pinned, you inflict your harm.
• You maintain unit cohesion. Everyone takes +1forward.

Flank: On a hit, you maneuver into a flanking position. Spend your hold 1-for-1:

• You suffer -1harm.
• You break contact and move in concealment.
• You maintain unit cohesion. Everyone takes +1forward.

Advance: On a hit, You close with the enemy. Spend your hold 1-for-1:

• You suffer -1harm.
• You break contact and advance in concealment.
• You maintain unit cohesion. Everyone takes +1forward.

Withdraw: On a hit, you retreat from the enemy. Spend your hold 1-for-1:

• You suffer -1harm.
• You break contact and withdraw in concealment.
• You maintain unit cohesion. Everyone takes +1forward.

(Flank, Advance, and Withdraw are basically the same move. They're split out because of how other moves interact with them.)

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Thoughts? Suggestions?

Note: Depending on the circumstances, before you “do your part” you might have to act under fire, push yourself, attack the enemy, or make some other personal move. Combat shouldn’t just be a series of “do your part” rolls.

Hey John,
Neat idea! Does 'do your part' imply the character's perception of what that part is? Or is it more the expectation of the squad / leader? I realise that these two may be one and the same, but if you have the trope of recalcitrant rogue / hero in the squad, he may act, believing he is playing his part, but in actual fact cause more problems with the maneuver.

Maybe I'm just postulating another personal move - when you act like a hero, roll+ guts? to maybe expose yourself to harm, threaten the squad or (on a hit) carry +1 forward.... Just brainstorming and writing it all down. It may be a crock.

Great concept for a game. Saving Private Ryan all over.

Yeah, like all moves "do your part" is always answered by the GM with, "Okay, cool. How do you do that?" So it will depend on what the character does, and what the leader is telling them to do, and how those match up.

Roll+guts, yes! Guts is indeed one of the stats.

I've been working on this some more today, and I think I might have a more elegant solution. I still like the idea of a move that gives someone else hold to spend, but that might not be the right answer for this problem.

We'll see. Thanks for the feedback.

Withdraw should maybe be a little tougher- frex, "you don't lose unit cohesion- don't take -1 forward.)

I like it, although I wish I knew what era this was taking place in, small unit tactics have changed remarkably over time.  I think there should be a move for sending a message, because unless it's the far future where everybody has encrypted headset radios like in Aliens, you've got to coordinate your movements somehow.

Also, I'd like to see something about taking advantage of terrain, since that's a really huge part of small arms tactics.  And maybe preparing the field, stuff like making range stakes and arranging overlapping fields of fire and kill pockets.  Maybe I'm getting too Army for you here, not sure how crunchy you want it.  But being able to read the ground has been a key skill of infantry for hundreds of years now.  

EDIT: Damnit, forgot to write the thing I actually meant to post, which that "doing your part" only works while the initial battle plan is operational, right?  How does that work?  It relates to the coordination thing I mentioned, if the tactical situation suddenly changes, does "doing your part" still work the same way?

Damn, you guys are reading my fucking mind.