“Colonel,” his junior asked of him, “Why’re we even still here? There’s no salvaging this. Council’s crazy if they think otherwise.”

“We’re here,” Edgard told his rationalizing subordinate, “Because the Council’s giving a lot of money for us to send a message. To be petty annoyances at least. One great beast’s about to eat the other alive here, and we’re the sort that lives off the scraps.”

“Is it worth it?” the junior officer looked over at the pillar of black smoke, rising from the burning part of the city. “For all this?”

“Ever sleep with a girl who only dresses in jewels?”

The young man’s lip curled. “No. I can’t say I’m interested either.”

“Try it.” Edgard chewed on a cigarette. He’d seen more than a few of these weird sorts. Mercenaries with principles too lofty to keep for long in the line of work. “You’ll come around. First we get back I can take you to a broad called Stella Lux. She’ll do two at once for the same pay, you won’t even have to buy a shiny rock for her to gawk over. Morning-til-morning.”

The uptight officer’s curled lip turned to a grimace as he grunted disapprovingly. “Colonel. I’ve certainly not known you long enough to even think about such a proposal, even if I were interested. Do you try to drag everybody you know for more than four days into a whorehouse?”

“Stella lives in a mansion, not a whorehouse.” Edgard said gruffly, “You don’t have to have met her more than a minute to mount her, either. Meanwhiles, you don’t have to meet you or me at all to get us to go get ourselves killed, ‘case you forgot.”

“Hmph. Of course not.” The young lieutenant snapped his glance away. “More importantly. The Republic is in Todesfelsen. I hear tell they’re coming this way. Are we going to stay for that, too?”

“Nah.” Edgard blew out a smoke ring, “Not if you’ve done what I told you.”


“With the exception of your latest suggestion, I have.”

“Good. N’ we can just sit and wait for one last thing to happen.” Edgard let the cigarette burn his fingers a bit, he needed just one more drag out of this one. “You asking if it’s worth it, by the way.” The cigarette was dropped and it lay there, cinders glowing bright. “Taste enough bullshit, and eventually, anything’s worth getting the taste outta your mouth, even for just a minute. Or a few days, as it happens.”

“We’ll see.” The Lieutenant snorted, “I have heard that the commander of the Republic’s forces is an…interesting character.”

“Which one?” Edgard asked dully. The Republic's chain of command was a mess to perceive from the outside.

“The one attacking the city now with tanks. The Archduchy traitor.”

“Oh yeh.” Edgard crossed his arms and dredged up memories of briefings and dossiers. “He’s plowing their boss, isn’t he? Diddling Cyclops.” Rumor certainly told as much.

“Unlikely.” His younger counterpoint said dourly, “Were that the case, he wouldn’t have annoyed the council nearly as much.”

“Council meaning Liemanner,” Edgard shook another cigarette, unlit, at the junior. Liemanner was the name of not one, but many people, Edgard had come to find out. He never investigated anything, but he had a habit of hearing many things from many people, particularly when they were annoyed. Liemanner’s nature of being a multitude made him practically immortal, though such sometimes convinced the individual aspects that they themselves were equally deathless. Not so. “I know you’re a spook, son. No need to be coy. So the Council didn’t want you handling anything…extra?”

“I don’t see why I would, or why it’d be wanted,” the young officer said innocently, though his voice must have tasted of venom somewhere below the feigned ignorance. “I’ve heard, after all, that the good sir Von Tracht did something that…appeased the council.”

“Oh,” Edgard lit the cigarette, only the second of many more to come that day. “What’d he do?” Not that Edgard knew what had been wanted of the man in the first place.

“He released an officer of his with less…restraint, whom set about at the given objectives inadvertently. It was not known that he had taken other nobility with him. Especially not nobility who stood to lose. Political developments, as well, have made the council more tolerant of the good sir’s destructive mischief.”

The Council. Bah. The only good thing Edgard could say about them was that they let their pawns live exorbitantly. “Well, well, less for us to do. Keep that offer I gave you in mind, boy. Believe it or not, letting loose keeps you real.”

“We will see,” the Lieutenant said again, as impatient as before.

“Damn right we will. ‘ven if you can’t get it up for anything but good behavior, I need a dinner date. Cheaper to eat with a friend, if you want, than with a whore. An’ you don’t want to eat with Stella. Get her out of bed and she doesn’t shut the fuck up about goddamn rocks.”

---------

A hooded figure, tightly grasping her rifle, alighted upon a roof in the crumbling city of Todesfelsen. None of the people here, she’d found out, ever bothered to look up unless there was good reason for it. Most of the time, at least, enough for there to be respite from the city’s wrath.

No safety from the turmoil within, though. Hilda Glennzsegler had suffered much, and learned to ignore the pain. Grievous injury, maiming, such was not new to her. Neither was the pain of loss, as she lost her parents and her brother became a monster. This new pain though, somehow, it was worse than any other. Worse than the creaking pain in her arms and legs, where strange forces had twisted and melted her flesh, and worse than the fresh pain in her calf, where a shot from a scattergun had flung pieces of debris in a grazing strike. It was heartache, a burning sensation low in her throat and atop her mind.

It was silly, part of her said to herself, and yes, it was very much so, especially given the present situation. Yet it hurt so regardless, even more because she couldn’t set it aside. Didn’t want to, since abandoning the feeling meant turning away from the small light in her life. Despite everything that had happened, Hilda wasn’t ready to let that hope go.

The thoughts were able to come forward more clearly while she rested. Hilda was on her way to find her love, protect him, as she’d vowed to herself to do at any cost, but her numerous injuries had made her body irritatingly intolerant of the demands she made of it, and quick rests were the only way to soothe her screaming legs enough for them to leap and climb again. As the pain faded, though, feelings Hilda didn’t know how to suppress came bubbling up. Thoughts of things she knew she couldn’t have, but wanted desperately anyways.

A daydream of a rural home, far from any ash coated ruins or violent wastes, living quaintly but a man who loved her for whom she was under her scars, rather than because of them or in pity of her. Preferably with no others for far around.

Hilda was a simple person, of country birth, who couldn’t read nor write in her country’s language and lived off the land’s bounties. She wasn’t completely stupid, though; she knew that her fantasy was an impossibility. Yet the less plausible it became, the worse it felt to come back to reality.

She’d been having these daydreams since she first fell in love. That in itself had happened with shocking speed; she had been deprived of affection so long, she had forgotten the warm, comforting pleasure even a morsel brought, and she discovered suddenly that she had been starving, the fantasies developing and growing in scale and detail to fill the gnawing void. At first the flaws in the fancies had been the sort that were easy to justify, or ignore outright. That she was common and he a noble, that she was ugly and unfeminine, and especially that he was already engaged to another woman.

As her desire had swelled with time, though, so too had the cracks in her dream multiplied, and deepened. She no longer had any equal footing on grounds of purity since she’d become another man’s used rag, her appearance had only become uglier over time with more injuries, and worst of all, she had betrayed Richter’s trust, the trust and admiration he had placed in her, which she had so dearly valued…

Hilda would have cried, once. She had shed true tears the night she almost violated the one whom had given such trust, and they had been boiling agony after so long not having felt such sadness, such wretched despair. The pain, though, had become familiar. Yet another ache in a body covered with wounds old and new. There was yet still a faint glint of hope, in Hilda’s mind, though. A vain hope that this wound wouldn’t become another ugly scar; that even a shred of the love she felt for Richter Von Tracht, could be reciprocated, somehow. No others, in her mind, would have given her a first chance, let alone a second; what other choice did she have?

A steady leg stretched out, and Hilda decided that she was ready to move again. There’d be no hope left at all if the light of her life were to perish in this battle, and she had to do anything to prevent that from happening. Hilda knew where she had to go; knew the direction, heard the sounds of tank battle, and listened on rumors of those who crawled under her, she simply had to make it before it was too late.

--------

You are Lieutenant Richter Von Tracht, and you’ve been caught in the middle of a running battle for the fate of a city that, until quite recently, you considered an enemy. Yet here you were, ostensibly having come to save it. Whether you could or not wasstill uncertain; a firestorm blazed to the south, and your allies inside the city were scattered and poorly equipped, only saved by the timely arrival of you and your Republic troops. It was a situation to feel quite grim about indeed, but your victory earlier had steeled your will, and you felt contradictorily invincible yet mortal. You could die, yes, but as a commander of the Archduke’s soldiers, your heart could not be held by fear.

You’d recently linked up with two factions of allies; the Copper Group miners militia, who had been reduced to tatters, with only a few still fighting, and the rest having surrendered to another faction of miner militia led by somebody called Hagan. The others you’d met were part of the East Down miners, who had been taking a beating before your group broke through enemy lines and reinforced them.

Despite their chain of command being scattered about, when word spread of your arrival, plenty of allies flooded towards you and things finally seemed to stabilize, especially after they were given express recommendation from yourself to retreat behind your troops. Their objective, before they had been stopped and driven back by Todesfelsen loyalist militias, had evidently been an armory. All of your allies had been betrayed by Hagan’s Gold Group, who had seized the arsenals of the militias who had been organized by Loch’s infiltrators to rise up and take the city of Todesfelsen when the Republic came. A plot possible because of Todesfelsen’s late instability; the one leader capable of binding the city together had been assassinated, and with no hope of peaceful reunification, the city had quickly built up for civil war. There had been an attempt by the Death Heads, the brigand mercenaries who formerly held sway over the city, to unite and make a power grab, but the most powerful of their factions had been defeated in the field by you and the Army of the Republic. This was no longer a question of if Todesfelsen would fall, but when.

The longer it took for peace to come, though, the more ravaged the city became. Haste was of utmost importance.

The militas’ desire to capture the armory was understandable, yet any questioning as to exactly what was in the armory failed to turn up reliable information. The most you got was that it was a recent delivery from the Death Heads’ former allies to the south, the Blood Suns, themselves cronies of the Southern Cities of Sosaldt, whom indirectly controlled Sosaldt’s chaotic state through movement of money and contraband. There were certainly guns in the armory, you'd been told defensively, as well as ammunition, and explosives. Lots of explosives. Definitely explosives, was the certain thing.

Something of questionable use, you thought, given that your mission was to save the city. Appealing in the eyes of those who had few weapons or ammunition at all, though, certainly.

You also asked about the possibility of your enemies scuttling the weapons at the armory. That line of questioning made all you asked extremely uncomfortable. That possibility would have extinguished their last hope; so you ceased pursuing an answer for that. You’d simply hope that the enemy was still feeling valorous, and would not have damaged their reserves for something like, say, a whole mechanized battalion blowing into the city to destroy them.
What terrible fortune the enemy had, that that situation had just come to pass.

Intelligence regarding the enemy you were about to assault, too, was uncertain. There was conflicting reports on their strength and their level of fortification, but one thing was the same no matter who you asked; the enemy was attacking in a disorganized matter, more propelled by momentum against a poorly equipped ally, rather than by any great force or tactical genius. A perfect target, you were informed repeatedly and profusely, to counterattack with your much more powerful unit.

Some unhappy “volunteers” were drafted into your units, though, to serve as guides. Spare munitions were granted to them, as to not have your allies be completely helpless, but you knew that a large source of weapons had to be captured soon for the burden to be lifted from you and your allies’ shoulders. Your mission here wasn’t to fight for your allied militias, after all, it had been to reinforce them and capture the lines of communication in the city. Yet without said militia allies, you’d never be able to hold said objectives…

It couldn’t be helped. All there was to be done was to decide the plan of action. You had three companies against an unknown quantity of enemies, disorganized, but in urban terrain, that you had little intelligence of the layout of. A difficult situation, but at least not as terrible as it could be.

>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.
>Maintain the possible illusion of being in many places, and seeming larger than you are. Spread your companies and attack the armory objective from three directions.
>Maintain position, wait, and absorb some of the enemy’s momentum. You’d find out some more valuable information, and you’d give your allies more time to form up into cohesive units again.
>Other?

-----------

>https://pastebin.com/UagT0hnh
>past threads in pastebin. Twitter is @scheissfunker for announcements and some other bullshit

>https://pastebin.com/k8yuNeuS
>Miscellaneous information pastebin. None of this is need to know, and if you have questions then feel free to ask in thread.

>>2457514
>>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.

The others look like they will have scarier rolls

>>2457514
>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.

Despite the risk of the city limiting how effective our larger numbers could be, spreading out to maybe encounter more enemies anyway would only be detrimental.

>>2457514
>>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.

>>2457514
>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.

I feel bad for Hilda. Why can't we just make her our mistress?

>>2457514
>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.
We can split our assault once we reach the armory- but it’s better to keep our troops and armor as a whole iron fist rather than exposing them to isolation and encirclement.

>>2457514
>>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.

We don't have enough information for anything fancy, and our allies aren't worth spit in their current condition.

>>2458445
Time will tell.

>>2457514
>>Consolidate all your forces, and make a simple one directional push towards the armory. Best to keep things simple, and strong.

>>2458445
She's gross and yucky now though

Blugh. Back now. Writing.

>>2458807
>She's gross and yucky now
>now

Much as you would have liked to form a triad of spearheads and smash through enemy territory, taking huge swathes of ground, if the last battle didn’t have the familiar support of a Strossvald battle line, this situation was even less ideal. The best thing you could say about your allies here was that they were on your side; beyond that, they were poorly equipped, low on ammunition, and almost certainly were weak in morale. They simply couldn’t be trusted, so, you had to concentrate your strength on one wide front to face this unknown but surely numerous enemy.

“Get the battalion in a line, facing northwest,” you told Battalion HQ, “Our objective is an armory located along a road, connecting two of the main roads radiating from the center of the city. According to allied intelligence, while there is a large contingent of enemies, they are disorganized, and should not out up stiff resistance in our initial push, so the more ground we take the quicker, the better. The enemy has also evidently not fortified the majority of their lines, although the armory itself has some amount of defensive structures. We’ll be keeping close together so there’s no weak points in our formation, since our allies will be unable to fill in any gaps, or provide any support until we capture this cache for them. 2nd Company and I will be in the center, while 1st and 3rd take the south and north flanks. I want us ready to move in five minutes or less!”

With no small effort, the battalion was ready to move right as five minutes ticked into six. Satisfactory, you supposed with a short sigh as you pressed your pocket watch’s cover down. It still gleamed shining brass as the day you had taken it to the academy.

The battalion moved forward in a powerful block, and soon passed the last remnants of fleeing East Down miner militia, a few turning about and stepping backwards, to watch your groups roll onward to take up the positions they had fled from. You imagined them being ashamed, perhaps eager to win back some honor, but the objective was forward and they were behind. You hardly looked back long enough to see them at all.

A good thing, as the enemy made their appearance not long after. Roughly dressed militia fighters charged into visibility in twos and threes, and stumbled over themselves upon seeing the strength of your units arrayed before them. The first few surrendered on the spot, to be taken by accompanying White Eyes and lashed together before being thrown into empty lanes to be collected later. Other units reported the same sparse contact reports, and spirits were rising, as any enemies not clever enough to either flee or surrender in the time it took for your battalion to parse what sort of enemy they were, were shot down on the spot.

This was child’s play, you thought irritably as your vehicles and their escorts barely even slowed to take the next round of prisoners, you should have been happy that this was so easy, but there was no satisfaction in these tiny victories. It was like winning pennies in bets; useless. That, and it made you oddly suspicious…what if the enemy wasn’t actually as disorganized as they seemed?

By your reckoning, you were around halfway to the armory’s location when the first major obstacle was hit.

A sudden fusillade as your group turned a shallow corner; your White Eye grenadiers were around and behind your tank as the ambush was sprung, so none were seriously hurt.

With a shout and an order directing fire to where the enemy was, you organized a counterfire; it was coming from a two story shantyhouse whose corner was turned to you thirty meters away, and from the safety of the cupola, you spotted more movement around the street and other houses. This ambush hadn’t been completely ready when you’d arrived, you figured out based on who was moving where, and how. They could have caught you from the sides with more preparation, but they hadn’t had the time. Perhaps this enemy truly was as disorganized as they seemed?

This threat had to be dealt with, though. The White Eyes began to stream away from the road and into the nooks, crannies, and alleys of the surrounding urban sprawl. Von Metzeler’s tank scootched up to angle itself in the crook behind your tank, to get some fire of its own down, but the roads were still cramped enough to not allow more than one tank’s breadth in a road at a time.

You had the firepower to chew through the cheap housing ad hoc cover with your tanks, but it would take time. It could be quicker to have the White Eyes, who looked to you expectantly even now, to get in close and fling their powerful explosives; even one, maybe two would knock down the flimsy structures, even level multiple buildings and bury the ambush with little effort, but they would have to close in and risk casualties. Additionally, what if the unpreparedness was an illusion in itself? Perhaps you should double back…

>Take your time; erode the enemy with heavy fire from cover and from vehicles.
>Send White Eyes to destroy the buildings with offending enemies, as well as any enemies forward.
>Double back and go around this ambush, it wasn’t worth the time to deal with this.
>Risk damage to your vehicles, and help some White Eyes come forward under cover of your vehicles to fling their bombs from behind.
>Other?

>>2459074
>>Double back and go around this ambush, it wasn’t worth the time to deal with this.

>>2459074
>>Take your time; erode the enemy with heavy fire from cover and from vehicles.

Should have mentioned earlier, they have a huge stockpile of explosives, careful for any large IED's, especially with how narrow thees streets are.
They could level the front and end of a block effectively trapping us in a kill zone if were not careful.

>>2458933
She's yuckier and grosser now

>>2459074
>>Send White Eyes to destroy the buildings with offending enemies, as well as any enemies forward.

Initiative is our friend and we have it; let's build on it rather than let it slip away. If we can quickly demolish their pathetic attempts at resistance whenever they crop up they'll eventually stop resisting. An unprepared force's greatest ally is an overly cautious enemy.

>>2459074
>Erode the enemy with heavy fire from cover and from vehicles.
Order a mortar barrage dropped on the building while we shred their cover.
Follow through with:
>Send White Eyes to destroy the buildings with offending enemies.
Have them cut through the alleys and crannies to approach and toss a few charges to clear out the enemy

>>2459074
>>Take your time; erode the enemy with heavy fire from cover and from vehicles.

>>2459074
>Send White Eyes to destroy the buildings with offending enemies, as well as any enemies forward.

If we have the fire to erode the cover then we should have plenty to keep their heads down with, cover the White Eyes the best we can.

We should also consider having the infantry spread out in front of the formation as opposed to behind it when moving. We risk taking more infantry casualties if we really do think we are walking into some elaborate ambush, but the risk to the tank is too great to have it go first.

>>2459074
>Send White Eyes to destroy the buildings with offending enemies, as well as any enemies forward.
If we take our time here I'm afraid that we'll meet a more prepared ambush later.

>>2458445
Because it would be a shitty thing to do to Maddy?
Because it wouldn't give Hilda what she wants anyway?

>>2459300
we dont have to take hilda as a misstress, once this is over we should give her a place to stay on our lands, give her a civillian job to server us/ our family and make sure she gets a comfortable life to some degree, i dont think richter would just abandon a friend and ally who has sacrificed so much as Hilda has for his and maddys sake

>>2459348
Gamekeeper Hilda

>>2459373
exactly, she could be a great buddy to take out on richters own hunting trips, and once maddy produces offspring have her teach them marksmanship and outdoorsmanship

>>2459300
>caring what lolis gingers think

>>2459388
How can one arranged marriage cause so much grief, drama and trauma? That paper has dashed the hopes and dreams of every (living) non-retarded woman we've met

>>2459074
>Send White Eyes to destroy the buildings with offending enemies, as well as any enemies forward.
>Other?
Use our guns to keep the enemy focus on us while they move forward. But don't have the tanks advance much further, IEDs are no fun.

>>2459617
It's also a piece of paper based on brainwashing, misinformation and outright lies. Wake up Richter!

Rolled 19 (1d100)

“Bow gun, keep them from moving on the roads or lower levels, Gunner, direct the coaxial toward the second floor shooters,” you quickly directed your weapons on the available targets, “We aren’t moving from this spot.” With a movement around the left side, doing your best not to disrupt your gunner’s activities, you opened the side turret hatch; its armor was resistant to 13mm anti-tank rifle fire, you were sure it could protect you as you directed your White Eye support troops. Wary of enemy listeners, you did your best to sign your intentions; for them to go around, utilizing the cover of urban terrain, and use their disproportionately powerful explosives to deal with this threat in short and shocking order.

The squad leader seemed to already have the idea you proposed, and as soon as you were finished signing, he signed back OK, and silently directed his cloaked warriors to trickle through unseen alleys. While their explosive charges lacked the flexibility of grenades, and were clearly more meant for devastating ambushes (or, according to testimony, small cook fires on long patrols), you predicted that they’d be quite effective at completely annihilating these rather rickety buildings that made up the transition from the outskirts to city center.

The amount of fire your tank poured into the target was incredible, and pieces of sheet metal sloughed off as too many holes were ripped in them to remain part of the greater structure. Your tank’s machine guns were being expended slowly enough that one’s reloading was covered by the other, though the din that distracted the enemy from the flanking maneuver, also made you deaf to the same’s progress. You could only hope that they were finding success, and hadn’t been pinned down, or worse, eliminated somehow.

Suddenly, there was a blast to the right flank. You looked to the side, dreading what you might see.

>enemy DC degree of success 50 roll under

When you flashed a glance to the sound, you saw three fallen White Eyes, and debris floating about; a grenade, you thought quickly, before the two remaining fighters in the team fled towards you, one dragging a comrade while the other kept a gun raised towards the corner in alarm.

“Infiltration to our right flank!” you warned over the platoon net, “Watch out!”

What you would have given for firing holes right now, like the T-15 had, you thought as you readied the submachinegun for use. Jorgen had readied a pistol; veteran he was, he knew trouble on the flank might require his aid.

>Open the side hatch and wait in ambush
>Shout for the White Eyes to get clear and hurl a grenade down the alley; though you don’t know if the friendly casualties are dead or not.
>Move forward and allow the vehicle behind you to cover the alley with its main armament.
>Other
Also
>Roll up to 3d100, averaged, to determine friendly flank operation success. DC is 60 roll under.

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>2460095
>>Open the side hatch and wait in ambush

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>2460095
>Open the side hatch and wait in ambush

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>2460095
>Open the side hatch and wait in ambush

Writing now.

>average turns out 57

Living on the edge I see.

Rolled 1 (1d4)

With a short motion to Jorgen, you shouldered the Messer submachinegun. The Old Messer was a jerky, unpleasant piece to fire, with an impressive fire rate but every shot felt the same, but in a situation like this the battering would be worth it. Jorgen threw open the side hatch, and you waited for your quarry to pass into your sights

Your senses were quick, reflexes well-honed from many weeks of doing this same activity, though with much less sapient quarry. The scrappy dark tones of loyalist militia peeked from the corner, and you led your aim and held down the trigger…

>Roll 3d100, averaged, roll under DC 50, bonus of -30

Is it possible for Richter to miss a shot? We'll see.

Rolled 26, 55, 48 = 129 (3d100)

>>2460171

Your aim was true, and the moment the unfortunate enemy rounded the corner, their midsection disappeared in the flaming burst of your Messer gun, and they collapsed in a heap with but a sharp grunt.
A weak gesture from one of the fallen White Eyes, doing their best to appear dead, told you that more waited around the corner. Only one militiaman had charged out, the others evidently showing more caution, and now, hesitation. A stalemate, you breathed out, but how to deal with it?

With a sudden boom that would have been deafening were you out of the top, you heard what must have been the White Eyes managing to reach their target. Hans confirmed such.

“Boss! I can’t see it through this dust, but I think there’s nothin’ left to shoot at!”

This would have been the perfect opportunity to strike at the flanking force for your escorts, but they were still spooked, and hesitant. The chance passed, you thought bitterly, but then one of the downed allies shifted, pulling a slingbomb from their belt, and held it up threateningly before throwing it down the alleyway.

Insanity! You thought sharply as you leapt forward to pull the hatch closed, but even as the armored door slammed shut, you heard no explosion. Then, you realized what had happened; the enemy could hardly have known whether or not the explosive charges had been triggered before they were thrown, if you hadn’t; a clever feint, and you saw your allies collect their wounded quickly as a reinforcing fireteam took their place.

Either that, or it had been a dud, and that entire block of buildings to your right would have become a graveyard. That possibility was comfortably dismissed.

The dust steadily cleared, and the scale of ruin was revealed. Multiple buildings now slouched towards the road, filled with debris and bodies in varying scales of fragmentation. Impassable to most vehicles now, but tanks could likely crawl over, at least. Both the building that had been the main firebase, as well as several shanties beside it, had entirely collapsed, with some skeletal structure swaying being the only indication of what the piles of torn garbage had been. Some of the gruesome corpses were made less so from their grey coating of litter, though some pieces were the sort you’d rather not linger on.

“Some fleeing folks,” Stein commented, “Don’t think anybody’s staying after that.”

A short update from the rest of the companies, resistance was stiffening, but everybody reported that they were still pressing forward quickly. Perhaps oddly so, though; one company reported that they’d been caught completely off guard by multiple enemies that had avoided detection throughout the formation, but had sustained minimal casualties, the enemies having fled despite their superior position.

You guessed that they hadn’t realized their advantage; it was common enough even in war between trained combatants, but you still couldn’t help feeling suspicious. That said, the updates implied that your company had actually fallen a bit behind…1st company had advanced further than the others by a good clip, a boost of morale, considered that they had been bogged down earlier.

>If 1st company is almost there, then let them race ahead. The objective must be taken.
>Order them to slow down, or even halt. You need to keep together.
>Kick up your own paces, you’d catch up, and the enemy clearly wasn’t in any mood to resist you even with lack of caution.
>Other?

>>2460244
>Order them to slow down, or even halt. You need to keep together.

>>2460244
>Order them to slow down, or even halt. You need to keep together.

>>2460244
>Order them to slow down, or even halt. You need to keep together.

I'm worried that the enemy will level the armory or get time to plant traps but at the same time the fact we keep getting surprised tells me that we should slow.

>>2460244
>Order them to slow down, or even halt. You need to keep together.
It’s better to keep our local superior numbers and firepower together, we can get separated too easily in these narrow streets. Worst case, we all pick up our pace and come smashing down on the armory simultaneously.

>>2460244
>>Order them to slow down. You need to keep together.

I thinking stopping completely is the wrong move, but slow down.

>>2460244
>>2460943
Agreed, stopping gives the enemy some respite from our push. Warn 1st and the other companies to expect more ambushes or potential road blocks ahead.

Upon learning that the line had been disheveled, you gave a command to your allies; slow down progress, have elements of the line meet up again, so you had direct contact with one another. You expected disappointment, objections, and even braced for the possibility of rebellion as the tactical situation appeared to reward charging forth at all speed, but the last event failed to manifest.

Instead, all that occurred was mild grumbling. The most hotheaded of your subordinate leaders, the 2nd Company Captain, was shackled to you by nature of you spearheading his group, and he certainly did complain, but was wary enough of the strength you added to his group that he defaulted back to smoldering after only a pair of loud, bitter retorts questioning if you all were there to destroy the enemy or merely to annoy them.
The determined resistance became more organized, as you went on, but not as sturdy as it had been when you encountered the dug in enemies before, that had been scattered about with powerful bombs. You thought briefly that the earlier performance had made the enemy think twice about confronting you in a decisive engagement, for fear of being annihilated by explosives again, but the White Eyes’ dress was very distinctive, and additionally, only accompanying 2nd Company. 1st and 3rd had a mix of Republic Troopers and Blue Barbs. You’d expected problems with the latter “soldiers,” as they were more akin to the mobs of militia you fought than the unruly, though experienced brawlers that made up the forces of the White Eyes and the former Guillotines. No complaints had come up to you, though; presumably because any fighting thus far had been easily and quickly dealt with.

The other companies were also warned of similar obstacles like you'd encountered, and they replied that they had encountered similar groups, though none, they emphasized, had been particularly troublesome, and had chosen to withdraw after slight delays, or even to run when overwhelming fire was poured back upon them.

Another street traversed, and you heard fire splattering about, suddenly.

“The house ahead!” Stein warned, before opening fire of his own volition. Alarm was raised among your White Eye allies, but within moments, you realized something wrong.

“Cease fire!” you ordered, and the coaxial ceased its spitting. Dust and smoke cleared, and no further fire came.

“Just one shot from each of them, and they left?” Stein wondered aloud.

You asked for a casualty report from the dismounted grenadiers. No wounded, or killed; they’d been flitting from cover to cover, only in the open when it was between vehicles. No clear shots had been given, or taken, and if you were to guess it was all hurried fire against any piece of a person that looked open, before fleeing away. A mere annoyance, one that hadn’t even slowed you down, really.

Similar attacks happened twice more, with similar insignificant results. If the whole city would surrender territory like this, you thought, perhaps you could send one man down each road and have the whole thing under your thumb in the afternoon.

Among the irritation, though, there was doubt, concern. What better way to draw somebody in than to give the appearance of helplessness? Or were you overthinking this?
You were almost to the fabled armory when forward troops gave a troubling report.

“It’s empty, Kommandant,” a White Eye trooper told you, voice muffled by his kerchief, “It looks all dug in and covered up, but there’s no movement, nobody lookin’ out, nothin’. Like they just all picked up and left. Still stuff laying about and everything.”

“Really…” you mused. Had it really been this easy?

>Send in minimal troops to investigate, this seems suspicious.
>Quickly occupy the place with a company, storage, fortification, and all. It will serve as a valuable strong point.
>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.
>Other?

>>2461248
>>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.

Impress on them that this was a store house for explosives, and it could be booby trapped.

>>2461248
>>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.

I think they're going to try to blow us the fuck up.

>>2461248
>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.
Smells like a trap, they’re either preparing to surround us or bomb the hell out of the armory.
>Send in minimal troops to investigate, this seems suspicious.
We can secure our surroundings and probe the armory when we’ve secured the area. Use the utmost caution when sending in scouts, they’ve most likely rigged it to blow when we go inside.

>>2461248
>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.

>>2461248
>>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.

Not suspicious no sir.

>>2461248
>>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.

>>2461248
>Go around it. You can have your allies investigate it, while you form a loose perimeter.
Send the Blue Barbs to investigate. We did take them along as meatshields.

“We won’t move in,” you told the scout. Then, over the radio, “Nobody even get close to the armory.” You weren’t completely certain about it, but you had a very bad feeling about all of this. A massive shipment of explosives, an abandonment of the armory and its surroundings, the seeming weakness of the enemy practically drawing you towards the whole thing…you have expected the whole thing to blow up a minute after you got there, and you’d read about how much damage a mine the size of the armory could cause; massive subterranean explosives had been used both in the Valsten Civil War and the Emrean Liberation, and you didn’t feel like finding out firsthand how effective they were in person, if this was what you strongly suspected it of being; a trap.

Instead, you tasked the East Down representatives following your people with the investigation; these arms would equip their forces, after all; if there were hidden defenders, you’d send in fighters. If it wasn’t a trap, the militias could run in and become a fighting force again in short order. Were it a trap, though…well, somebody had to find out, and cruel as it might seem, certain lambs were more suitable for sacrifice than others.

That place had to be given a wide berth, certainly. Even with little knowledge of industrial accidents, you’d heard of famous disasters that resulted from even plain chemical plants, let alone large stores of military grade explosives, and from what had been reported to you, this armory wasn’t a small building by any means.

Your concerns were passed on to the East Down men. Said concerns were promptly ignored.

“We need the guns, man,” a courier said to you enthusiastically, “If we don’t go after ‘em just because they might blow up, we’re screwed anyhow. We’ve got to do it!”

“At the very least inspect it thoroughly,” you stressed, “This isn’t some little bomb we’re talking about, it’s all of the explosives going off, everything around the place would be flattened.”

“Tch. Whatever. Already told you the deal.”

So you had been. Sighing roughly as the courier skipped off, the companies were ordered to form a diamond shaped perimeter around the area surrounding the armory. There was complaining, as expected, but when you explained your logic, your Republic allies were much more considerate of the possibility of there being a trap than the militia had been. Maybe the victorious though costly battle earlier had wetted their taste for keeping alive and well and dulled the sense of adventure the miner militia appeared to still have; or perhaps, it had been reinvigorated with your arrival.

Suspicion was only further aroused when, in establishing the new lines, your men found absolutely no contact whatsoever. That there was a trap was now positively certain, but…to what extent?

Idle chatter resumed as time without enemy contact became extended. As did some other things, as reports of the Blue Barbs contingent engaging in looting were reported, in bored fashion. It didn’t spring to mind to try and contain such, though; the armory behind you almost seemed to rumble, like a slumbering beast, and it was difficult to get it out of your head that the beast was about to metaphorically rise up and swallow you all. The hope was that you’d placed your persons outside of the potential radius of the wrathful awakening.

-----

“Militia came by. Said they checked out the place, everything looked good to them.” Came the report over the net from Battalion HQ.

“Really,” you said dryly, “That didn’t seem to take long.”

“They said they didn’t hear anything suspicious, and that there were enough weapons and munitions to not want to think about it too much.”

Didn’t hear, indeed. What, did they think they’d hear the clicking of a clock like some cartoon time bomb?

“Do remind them of the stakes,” you replied testily. “With the Copper Group captured and no word on where the third group is, whatever their name is, I don’t need East Down getting caught in some trap and turning into vapor.”

“The sentiment will be passed on, Kommandant,” the radio operator you were speaking with droned, not sharing your frustrations.

“At least tell them to look for observers. They’d have to be suicidal, but I’m not-“

“Kommandant, news for you,” the operator interrupted you, “the girl, your helper, or whatever. Who got shot.”

“…Yes?”

“She booked it.”

Your lips tightened of their own accord. “Elaborate.”

“Your medical people, they say they fixed her, but when they moved on to the next buncha wounded who came in, she left. Who knows where.”

“Fan…tastic,” you grit your teeth, “Any more escapees I should be concerned with? Maybe my fiancée has infiltrated our lines?”

“Kommandant?”

“Nothing. Acknowledged.” Bah. Well, if Anya was so fond of the idea of getting herself killed, then she could go do it. What did you care? Only…why? She couldn’t have been devoted to this cause at all. Was it out of some belief that compensation would be what she considered appropriate, or was she just the sort to attempt idiotic feats of daring just for the sake of it? If you found her before she got herself killed, maybe she’d say.

The news that the armory had been captured, and the enemies pushed back, caused a wave of militia volunteers to surge forth in hope of fighting once more. Those who had been tasked both with investigation and carrying back the message spoke, apparently, as though they’d found a king’s tomb, or at least they must have for this response to be appropriate. Headquarters relayed news of dozens, perhaps hundreds flowing down the roads in snaps and clutches of a half dozen or so, along with curious civilians who wondered what the reason for the sudden peace and celebration was.

You’d requested that 3rd company send some of their Blue Barbs to follow up on the militia’s checkup, too; not that you trusted Glockenblume’s mob much over the Todesfelsen rebels, but maybe they’d have some more sense of what to look for. Or what to blunder into. 1st Company happily volunteered a few; they shared the unnecessary detail that they’d caught a few raping a local, and all you could do in response was rub your head. The situation was too up in the air to detain them, yet you imagined thousands more cases occurring in the potential occupation to come, and certainly didn’t want to be the one to deal with handling both that and the repercussions. What you’d give for some more stalwart, disciplined, and most importantly civilized Strossvalder regulars.

Naturally, the Blue Barbs found nothing, either. Whatever the trap would be, it must have not been some simple tripwire, at least. A timer, then, perhaps? It would be a very rough guess.
Or, perhaps a timer combined with something mundane, like a pressure plate or tripwire, you thought idly over the commotion you heard all the way from the armory, nearly a quarter klick away. That would certainly be-

You only heard a sharp, deep crack, like the earth itself splitting open, and the ground heaving, the loudest sound you'd ever heard, before your hearing was completely overwhelmed with horrible, deafening ringing; a gale blew over you and the tank, and a cloud of thick dust and smoke swept over like a tidal wave, burying all. Your crew was shouting in alarm, but you couldn’t hear them. Debris clanking about was felt through the tank’s armor instead of heard, and when you finally felt safe enough to look out, you popped out, looking backwards, and saw a pillar of smoke where the armory used to be…and the landscape flattened out around it, as though a giant had lain down upon it.

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The vast majority of the force of the explosion appeared to have evaporated before it got to your line, though you still spied White Eyes picking themselves dumbly out of the rubble, walking around in a daze, or rushing about in a panic, mouthing to one another and not realizing that they were deaf.

A noble commander felt no fear, though. Those words flashed in your mind, and you thought to touch your fingers to your ears. No blood, no burst eardrums. Your hearing would return. What of the current situation, though? Your allies had been crowded around the armory, you remembered. No more. Countless dead, surely. The East Down Miners had been annihilated in the blink of an eye, in the worst case scenario. Best case scenario, they hadn’t dug too deeply or greedily, yet were still unarmed.

History. History held the answer. These detonations were never actions taken alone. They were always the prelude to an attack. Would it be wiser to dig in and hold in the rubble, or to fly..?

>Make your stand here. Battered and bruised, you aren’t beaten yet. This is, as they say, the part where the medals are won.
>The ground is untenable, your lines extended and your allies still weak as ever. You have to surrender space for time.
>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.
>Other?

>>2462973
Can we get the picture that had all our forces? Cant remember if we have a 4th company to use as a reserve

>>2462973
>>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.

File: tcq_1strepublicarmorbtln_(...).png (1.12 MB, 2800x2400)

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>>2463013
Sure.

And no, a whole company was annihilated in the dust storm battle, and unable to be replaced properly. Extra platoons of infantry made up the difference, sort of.

>>2463020
Should keep in mind though, I haven't marked the losses taken in this current battle down on this. I probably should do that.

>>2462973
>>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.

They may have wiped out the weapons but our forces are mostly intact, which they probably won't be expecting if they planned on using the explosion to weaken us for an attack. Once we contract our lines to prevent any units being flanked or isolated we should be more than capable of repelling any assault they plan on throwing at us.

>>2462973
>>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.

Which direction did we come from? have the closest Company bulge a little towards that direction in case we need to retreat. Tactically.

>A noble commander felt no fear, though. Those words flashed in your mind
WAKE UP RICHTER

>>2462973
>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.
Give a running resistance back to the crater, we need to buy time for the infantry to dig in.
Have the HQ company set up on the south side of the crater and begin shelling the main avenues to the north and west. Put the engineering detachment on rescue duty, start digging out whoever is still alive.

Warn third company to keep some eyes to the East and South in case the enemy tries to maneuver around to our exposed flank.

Request a barrage from the fort, have it fire on whichever side reports contact first to support their retreat.

>>2463037
>Which direction did we come from? have the closest Company bulge a little towards that direction in case we need to retreat. Tactically.

Roughly south to southeast. Not every company took the same route, though, or even ones really close.

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>>2462973
I'd like to collapse the lines a bit, we likely dont have anywhere near the man power to cover all those alleyways, and the last thing we need is to get the enemy mixed into our line.

Pull back towards the armory, we can also set up a casualty collection point and see if we can rally survivors. Doubtful, everyones probably to shellshocked.

2nd Company can set up a strong point in the building circled, if its still up, or if its rubble it can serve as heavy cover since everything around it looks empty. That building can also look at the northwest artery road and south west road, so setting up our towed guns and a mortar battery there seems ideal. Their main job is to block any advance from the north and south west road while maintaining the perimeter. Their the most over strengthed so hopefully they have enough guys to fill the line.

3rd Company can likewise set up in those buildings to watch anyone coming from the northeast feeder roads and the big block building can overlook anything coming from the main east road.

1st Comapny can act as a reserve while leaving a contingent to strongpoint that circled point to block any outflanking attempts.

Ilger can likewise can act as a mobile reserve either as direct fire support or in the unlikely event that enemy armor comes rolling in. But mostly staying near the southern end of 2nd company watching that main southwest road.

I'd like Richter positioned where 2nd and 3rd Company's line intersect so we can overlook the main north and north west road.

Im assuming we came in from the south/south east hoping thats still safe, but thats why 1st is in reserve.

>>2463045
and set up a forward position to the left of the circled blue building

>>2462973
>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.

>>2462973
>The bombs have gone off and cleared a kill area wide around. Have your forces retreat to the crater and the ruins around.

Starting again in half an hour, sorry for the late start today.

No, you couldn’t all linger where you were. The blast had inadvertently created an ideal defensive position to fend off a coming attack, and movement would alert even those still in shock of how the situation was developing. With no intelligence of what threat was on its way, restoring order was of utmost importance.

You called out, and heard nothing. Thankfully, it seemed, neither did anybody else. Damn it all, you thought, how long would you all be deaf-mutes? A moment more was too long. Something had to be done.

A tap on your leg. It was Hans, mouthing something to you. Deep in the tank, fully wearing his headset at all times, perhaps he still heard clearly. You barked your command at him, hoping that he’d understand, and more, that the message would be properly relayed across your platoon, and to the whole unit, anybody who could be reached.

It was a strange thing, to speak without hearing yourself. You had to do your part, too, to start getting everybody moving. Time to disembark.

A White Eye gazed up at you as you grasped him by the shoulders and lifted him up; he wobbled on his feet, still unsure of what to do. Strossvald signage was mean to be easily recognizable, and you hoped that would be the case universally as you made the gestures to “rally up,” and pointed to the smoking crater where the armory used to be. He looked at you cluelessly, made signs that told you what you already knew, that he couldn’t hear anything. Repeated pointing with ever more urgency eventually got the point across, and the White Eye went stumbling about for his team, which was nearby, but shocked as well. Your unit hadn’t been actually damaged, so far as you knew, but the size and strength of the blast had caused chaos nevertheless, the worst sort of disruption, where all were still combat capable, yet hideously vulnerable despite that.

It was encouraging to see Von Metzeler depart his tank, followed eventually by the rest of your officers, to begin doing their best to get things back in order. Even junior lieutenants were trained in leadership, and used to the obligation, even though their responsibility was fewer people. Von Igel was still sluggish, Von Walen, too abrasive, and Von Neubaum, too…himself, but they were working.

Rolled 96, 12, 65, 62 = 235 (4d100)

You didn’t see Bat Company’s influence at first, since they had been away from your platoon and aiding 2nd company elsewhere, but you saw a pair of their soldiers directing White Eyes and Republic tankers away; your radio message apparently having come through. This was certainly a situation where Captain Honnrieg’s presence was a true blessing.

Not all of the 1st Battalion had such boons, though. 3rd Company had Illger and his accompaniment, for whatever that was worth, but 1st company only had its own troops, and the Battalion HQ was purely Republic as well. It would be nice if everybody got the idea as quickly as your unit seemed to be getting it; you had a laundry list of things for the HQ group’s attachments to get to work on once you’d all withdrawn to your new position.

>Rolling 4d100 for regrouping. 1 is for 1st, 2 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 4th for HQ. 2nd has a bonus of -20, and 3rd has a bonus of -5. DC is 50 roll under.

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2nd Company was up and on its feet with lightning speed, and had retreated all the way to the armory with speed and organization that would have been the envy of a proper Strossvald Panzergrenadier company, however…none of the other companies appeared to even be close. Proper communications were finally beginning to be restored as 2nd Company reformed battle lines and dug into the rubble, but movement before then had been sluggish. 3rd Company and HQ had begun moving, and would be around soon, but 1st Company was only just beginning to reorganize. Worse, they reported enemy contact, and reported that they were going to continue occupying their current position, insisting that they couldn’t be expected to do anything else…

No sounds of combat reached your freshly restored hearing, and you stated as much…but 1st Company’s command was insistent. By your wager, the actual enemy attack would be arriving soon; and 3rd and HQ would barely have arrived by the time they did.

>No change in plans; demand 1st Company’s movement, and keep tabs on the other elements. This delay won’t hurt much.
>Adjust your plans; you didn’t have time anymore to stick to the original.
>Other actions?

For reference, the “original plan,” is a mesh of the replies earlier; especially >>2463039 >>2463045, unless any addendum is agreed upon, the battalion will try to act according to it...or, at least, their interpretation of it.

>>2464965
>Adjust your plans; you didn’t have time anymore to stick to the original.

3rd and HQ to continue as planned, 2nd to link up with 1st. 1st to fighting withdrawal towards 2nd.

>Other actions?

Contact the Fort and tell them friendlies will be defending inside blast area, well denoted by the FIREBALL that created and must have seen. Hopefully that will give them some indication where NOT to fire when we call for artillery support.

>>2464965
>Adjust your plans; you didn’t have time anymore to stick to the original.

Have our platoon link up with first to assess the situation.

2nd Company is still overstrength in infantry, we can peel off 4 trucks worth as a reserve

>>2465043
Supporting

>>2465043
>>2464965
Supporting

>>2465043
>>2465088
Same.

Even though 1st Company was a reserve in your original plan, and not the lynchpin of the defensive line, you still required them back with your other troops. A they were now, they would be facing an enemy coming from urban terrain, unable to get support from the other units, and most likely, they would have a hard time, even if the enemy you were going to face was ill disciplined militia whom, you hoped, was unready for a fight against a determined and well equipped enemy. You had to go over to 1st company with your platoon; and reinforcements, just in case, to see what their situation was, and if possible, get them to make a withdrawal back to the original intended lines.

A platoon of White Eyes was collected, along with their vehicles; 2nd company had more infantry than the other groups, they could afford to split off some escorts for your mission. Especially considering its importance.

The HQ group’s artillery detachments were told what to set their aim towards, the maintenance and engineering, to dig through the rubble in a token effort to salvage life and materiel (though you doubted there was anything alive within a hundred meters of the center of the blast), and the couriers were busily speeding communications and news between the subunits of the companies- a necessity given the general lack of radio communications with the low level units.

The couriers assigned to 1st Company, though, had been understandably cut off and isolated. For now, a route of communication still existed, so even if the radios failed, you could still talk with them. That wouldn’t be the case if a large force was coming and managed to split the isolated unit away from you, though.

While you were moving, you contacted the fort. You had a feeling you would need their heavy artillery.

“1st Battalion to Fort,” you announced yourself, and without waiting for acknowledgement, “Did you hear that massive explosion?”

“The armory going up like a match?” It wasn’t the dry, sardonic tone of Fritz, thank goodness. Though it was a voice you didn’t recognize. “Damnation, you weren’t close to that, were you?”

“Thankfully, no,” you informed the fort contact, “Though that crater and the general vicinity is where we’re holed up now, with the exception of the urban area to the southeast of it. I trust I don’t need to tell you where not to shoot, if I ask for it.”

“…Of course.” The man must have found your sarcasm off putting. It was unfair of you, but it took longer than an hour to get over friendly fire.

“Good. There’s a big enemy attack soon-“

“Oh yeah. Their net’s alive with it. We’re still compiling intelligence, but this group sounds like it’s coming at you with everything they have. Hold firm.”

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No encouragement was needed on that front, but you thanked the man, and excused yourself. Back to linking up with first company before this “everything they had” made its presence fully known.

With there still being no sounds of combat, you thought, perhaps this would simply be a case of giving some extra encouragement-

No. Cracks and pops began to echo from closeby, to the east- 1st Company had found something worth shooting at, or something had decided to start shooting them. The little sounds told of isolated skirmishes- then they began to explode in all directions.

“Driver, pick up the…” then you remembered your tank’s precarious mechanical position. Instead, you signaled the White Eyes and their trucks to advance beyond you. They passed to your left, and bumped their way over stray bits of rubble, and the occasional dust coated corpse, or more accurately, usually, the twisted bits of one, flung out this far and likely further still.

“Message, boss,” Hans said with some uncharacteristic concern. With a grunt from you being accepted as an affirmative, he put you through the net, and you heard from 1st Company’s commander.

“These ain’t the guys from earlier, Kommandant!” 1st Company said in a panicked hurry, “And there’s a real hot load of ‘em! We’ve got good positions, but…crap, crap,” Orders were bellowed away from the radio. A scratchy POOM, POOM, POOM, of the pom-pom cannon, audible both on the radio and over the air, “The real deals, black jackets with white. Like in the storm. We’re gonna need help, Kommandant.”

There was the confirmation. Whatever faction, or factions you were fighting now, they were making a final decisive effort to rout you from Todesfelsen, and what remained of your allies with you.

“Can you start to retreat to the armory?” you asked the Company Commander, who responded with hostility.
“Retreat? And get run over? Hell no!” Another set of orders barked, more fire. “Kommandant, help us, or we’re getting bowled over. Shit’s fucked as is.”

>Stay in cover. I’ll be calling in artillery on top of you, all we have.
>Retreat immediately, no matter the cost. That is an order. I’ve come with help to facilitate that, but we don’t have the strength to hold this position as well as the armory.
>Fine, I’ll divert troops, on top of what I have coming. Don’t give an inch in the meantime.
>Other?

Real molasses pace today, I know. We'll be speeding up tomorrow; proper battle pace.

>>2465705
>>Stay in cover. I’ll be calling in artillery on top of you, all we have.

>>2465705
>>Stay in cover. I’ll be calling in artillery on top of you, all we have. Don’t give an inch in the meantime.

To bad we had our white eyes race ahead, we could have had them dismount and set up fighting positions to cover our retreat.

>>2465705
>Stay in cover. I’ll be calling in artillery on top of you
>But not all we have, only enough to force the enemy to keep their heads down. Then the 1st can retreat.

>>2465981
Supporting if possible

>Stay in cover. I’ll be calling in artillery on top of you, all we have.

Make sure to tell him that infantry support is coming and then to tell the reinforcements to keep their head down for incoming artillery toward where they are going.

I'd say only use enough to keep the Death Heads cautious but from the sounds of it we actually may need it all.

Resuming at the turn of the hour, 7 EST.

How is a crater of rubble more defensible than an intact block? It sounds more like a killzone to me.

Is it really wise to group in there when the enemy can hide in streets and buildings and put us in containment? Without the artillery we won't have enough munitions to clear em out if they get set up and they can just wait for attrition or retreat before our allies arrive behind them.

Tanq, which direction is our main force? Are we in the way of the enemy's retreat if they aren't looking to fight to the last?

>>2466720
>How is a crater of rubble more defensible than an intact block?

It isn't a single crater surrounded by completely open ground; it's more a big crater, a bunch of ruins, then spaces of cleared ground in between skeletons of buildings and piles of rubble. Defensible terrain surrounded by open ground that must be crossed in order for a force with no long ranged anti armor weapons, to be a threat to a largely armored force.

>Tanq, which direction is our main force?

..You are the main force. Allied militia are present but unable to withstand dedicated assault.

>Are we in the way of the enemy's retreat if they aren't looking to fight to the last?

Not at all.

>>2466745
>..You are the main force.
I was always under the impression that we were a vanguard of sorts and the allied infantry outside was coming in. We'd weed out the enemy, link up and organize our allies so the rest could walk in and pretend to be conquerors

>>2466753
That isn't the case. Since significant enemy presence was still between the main body of the Republic's army and the city itself, the mobile forces (you) maneuvered to get to the city quickly, link up with friendly militia, and capture lines of communication within the city using the militia's territory as a jumping off point, and letting them hold ground once it was taken. Your force was more an elite to destroy the rebels' objectives that they couldn't take on their own, to facilitate them gaining control over the city more quickly, and then, the Republic Army would march in, ideally after most of the enemy factions realized their position and surrendered. Actually storming the city with the bulk of the army was never part of the plan.

The rebel militia turned out to be lacking in weapons, and unable to hold ground reliably without arms and ammunition, so steps were taken to try and amend that. The situation, as it turned out, was not what it was thought to be. You're on the wrong side of the city entirely for any of the Republic's Army to help you, you're using the entirety of their mobile assets, you're basically on your own without the militias helping you.

And this potential ability to arm the militias turned out to be a trap.

If there's any more confusion I'd be happy to clear it up.

>>2466770
Nah it's fine, I usually only lurk because you run at night, I catch up on my morning break. It's easy to forget the details when you're not fully participating. I'll let everyone else shoulder all the responsibility is making correct and informed decisions.

Today I just happened to be unable to sleep

“Stay in cover,” you told 1st Company, “I’ll be calling artillery on top of you. Enough to let you draw back.”

Some silence. “On top of us. Kommandant. You know these rigs don’t got roofs, yeah? Half the places are made-a crud, too. Pretty sure you’ll just be killing us before these guys can.”

“…No, not literally on top of you, but it’ll be close,” you specified, “If it’s not close, it won’t…just dig in. You have until I get there in a few minutes.” You refused to negotiate any further on that subject, and called a courier accompanying you from 2nd Company’s command to you, telling him to relay the news of potential incoming to the White Eyes ahead; that way, they’d be firmly in cover in case anything splashed too closely. That wasn’t expected, though; your plan was to have the friendly artillery sight in on a more distant target, then adjust them closer. The enemy was just too close in from the sound of things to spot on them.

The orders to organize the bombardment themselves were delegated to Von Metzeler; as you were at the lead of the column, and were coming very quickly up on the area of conflict, you needed to be focused on the coming problem.

2nd Company’s C Infantry Platoon’s trucks had been neatly parked right at the edge of the armory explosion’s circle of devastation, and their occupants had filed out, spreading by squads into a line to reinforce wherever they could, focusing towards the northern angle. The southern road would have offered an excellent place for your tanks to look down and defend against enemy flankers…yet the enemy must have realized that too, since you saw nobody, even far down the road. You’d have to follow the White Eyes in, and trust in their ability to keep any Death Heads from sneaking around you. All tankers were trained as infantry first, truly, but you would prefer to keep basic a chafing memory rather than how you’d have to survive the coming fight. Certainly, your tank had…unusual protection, but none of the other tanks in your platoon did. You’d managed to avoid getting most of your people killed or injured so far, and you’d like that to be a mark of pride upon your return to Strossvald.

Spotting shells began to fall down, far away, as you’d specified. Hopefully not too many civilians would be injured; though by your wager, far more enemy were hit by these barrages than anybody else, though the heavy artillery almost certainly would blow apart most of these buildings with a direct hit.

You’d be moving in under cover of fire. But how to move?

>Split up your platoon among the White Eye line, to maximize coverage and support. You anticipated having to stiffen the line before you could pull it back.
>Keep everybody together, in a rough square, so you could all cover one another.
>Keep the tanks back, ready to respond to any possible threats. You didn’t anticipate being needed right away, if at all. You could trust 1st Company to get its act together with the reprieve artillery granted.
>Other?

>>2466787
Right, cool. Just making sure, since it's easy to see all the pieces from my perspective, but not necessarily to know if I've given the proper prospective to those who have to deal with the problem.

>>2466842
Are 1st Company's trucks still intact? Would like to begin ferrying operations back to the main line when possible.

>Split up your platoon among the White Eye line, to maximize coverage and support. You anticipated having to stiffen the line before you could pull it back.

>>2466842
>Keep everybody together, in a rough square, so you could all cover one another.

No need to risk tanks too much

>>2466857
As far as you know, their vehicles are still fine, yes, and it's exceedingly unlikely anything has happened to them. More a matter of getting the troops up and out, without being interdicted, since that was 1st Company Command's stated reason for not moving.

>>2466838
>Split up your platoon among the White Eye line, to maximize coverage and support. You anticipated having to stiffen the line before you could pull it back.

If only to quickly coordinate the retreat using tank radios.

“See how the White Eyes are forming a line?” you asked rhetorically over the platoon network, “Back up each of those lines, a tank behind each section at least. I want to form a bulwark that will not break.” A bit poetic, perhaps, especially considering there were already tanks in 1st company’s formation, but the degree of strength was enough that you could have some pomp.

So the column flattened out, and occupied alleys and lanes. That you all had radios between you became a necessity, since even though there was only a building or two between you at most, you couldn’t see a lick of one another. The White Eyes you had followed seemed to become aware of your plots, as you saw them checking back sometimes to see if you were keeping up with their admittedly faster movement through the town. Caution on foot was easier to exercise than with a great metal beast, after all.

The spotting shots ended, and muffled, but still quite loud BANGs and BOOMs began to accompany debris and clouds being thrown up far in front of you. Without a good idea of where 1st Company’s lines extended to, you could only hope the gunners’ guesses, and where they had been told to adjust to, was accurate…

>Roll for general bombardment effectiveness. Bit of a different deal here; these dice are collective. Three sets of 1d100, but with bonuses based on the munition. Mortars have a bonus of 10, Howitzers a 15, and the heavy fort guns, a 40. If you can total the rolls above 150, then the bombardment will have a detriment upon the enemy. Over 200 will mean a significant impairment on the attack. Failing to break 150, however, will mean that the barrage targeting had…mixed, effects. First roll is mortars, then light howitzers, then fort guns.

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>2467085
>considering there were already tanks in 1st company’s formation

I would hardly consider them tanks, since those autocannons tear right through all of them and their only response to those are the two (three?) m28's with the field guns welded to them.

>>2467104
wew

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>2467085

Come on dice, Daddy needs a new pair of *highly accurate holes in the ground.

Rolled 43 (1d100)

>>2467085
Bracing for arty to fuck us over AGAIN.

Fucking arty I swear on my nan

>>2467104
>>2467151
>>2467185
Well I guess 180 ain’t so bad

Apologies for delays

The shells falling were louder and louder as you approached, yet they had a precision to them that made you feel oddly safe heading towards them. The booms rolled over one another, varying in volume and position; you would expect any under this bombardment to be incredibly wary of getting out of whatever cover they were in; a perfect scenario to retreat under, you would have concluded, were it not for the sounds of combat persisting without regard for your imagined state of the battlefield.

“Enemy spotted,” Von Neubaum said blankly over the radio. “Saw them fleeing, probably from us. They’re using smoke pots or bombs to cover their movements, from the looks of it. This group got through the shelling. Guess they felt rolling dice wasn’t a good enough measure of luck.”

“Refrain from sarcastic statements,” Von Metzeler criticized harshly, “However, I have seen evidence of smoke being used to hide movements, as well. There have clearly been breaches in 1st Company’s lines.”

Damn it all. You hadn’t linked up with the majority of 1st Company’s troops yet either; you’d seen some Republic uniforms flitting about, but otherwise the majority of troops and equipment must have been at the front, or nearby it. Thankfully, you surely had little further to go.
A White Eye waved from a window, and you peered out, waving for him to speak up.

“Blacks’re keeping back when your tanks show up,” he yelped over, “Really squirrely-like. Met some hurt guys, spread the word.”
You gave him a thumbs up and returned to the tank’s insides. “Hans,” you addressed the radio operator, “Has first company given any updates?”

“They didn’t respond to a hail,” Hans said irritably, “Might’ve missed them with all the switching you keep havin’ me do. Ey. First Company, respond, over.”

“Keep me updated,” you told Hans, keeping an eye out for any threats. The news of Death Heads regulars sneaking about made you tense; if this were on favorable ground, you may have been haughtier, but in terrain so enclosed as this…

“Found ‘em.” Von Neubaum reported, “Looks to be a fortified forward command point for a platoon. Spreading the good news of the Judge’s mercy.”

“Lieutenant Von Tracht.” That was the voice of Bat Company’s armored car operator. “We have a problem.” Without waiting for you to ask for elaboration, the rifleman turned crew continued; “Three vehicles here, either rendered combat incapable or abandoned. Squad’s clearing the local area, but Cap’n’s thinking they hit here and went through.”

“What vehicles?” you asked hesitantly, before Hans did your thinking for you, and sharply adusted the radio frequency.

“Test, test,” you heard Honnrieg’s voice on the company network, “This better not be what I think it is.”

“I’m afraid it is, Captain,” you replied morosely to a question not asked of you.

“Damn us all to hell,” Honnrieg muttered with frustration, not bothering to turn off the transmission as he threw the headset away, judging from the clattering noise over the net. The booming of continued bombardment occupied the otherwise awkward silence, until Honnrieg returned in short order. “Lieutenant, we found a basement with a tunnel, looks to be what they came through. I’m going to guess nothing more’s coming through this shelling, but if there’s any other places like this, I wouldn’t count on holding this unless we had enough guns to cover all our flanks…yeah? I’ll tell him. Something more. Smoke drifting up from the east, Lieutenant. They’re fixing to come around. We don’t get out soon, we’ll be encircled.”

What a horrid mess this was. You still hadn’t linked up with the majority of 1st Company; you’d found the front line, but without radio communications and with all of them bunkered up, it would take time to get them all heading back in the same direction with you; at least you weren’t actively under attack from the enemy’s main force, for now…

>Remain and recoordinate 1st Company; prepare to break direct west with them.
>Pick up who you can right now, and retreat while the enemy is incapable of acting decisively. Lingering will only get you trapped.
>Maybe you can delay further. Order a temporary clearing in bombardment; if the enemy is shifting effort, maybe making a limited strike here will confuse them and buy you time; you could exploit the tunnel discovered, as well.
>Other?

>>2468688
>>Pick up who you can right now, and retreat while the enemy is incapable of acting decisively. Lingering will only get you trapped.

This is the enemy's home turf and they're clearly making good use of their advantage; staying here is the exact opposite of what we want. We'll probably need to cut our losses as far as 1st company is concerned.

>>2468688
>Remain and recoordinate 1st Company; prepare to break direct west with them.
We can have the artillery obliterate anything behind us, while we concentrate our forces and push back to the lines.

>>2468688
>>Remain and recoordinate 1st Company; prepare to break direct west with them.

There's still too many of them unaccounted for and hopefully alive to just abandon them. Hopefully the enemy won't anticipate us charging straight towards them after seeing us dig in near the armory.

And say what you will about the arty, it does a fine job scaring off pursuit and putting the fear of the Judges gavel in those in front of us. I'm assuming the Judge is a Death God that kills with court subpoenas and sustained objections.

>>2469270
>Hopefully the enemy won't anticipate us charging straight towards them after seeing us dig in near the armory.

Oh God I'm retarded.

It's meant to be east. East, back towards friendlies.

On that account, I'll hold the vote open longer in case amending that would change any opinions, or if attacking seems like an idea you want.

>>2469350
Aw.

I mean retreating east is the smart thing to do sure, but if we were smart we would've been bankers.

Same choice though, can't let them all die even if we get encircled, in fact once we all regroup it'd make our punch out that much more powerful.

>>2468688
>>Remain and recoordinate 1st Company; prepare to break direct west with them.

“We’ll do fine,” you said roughly back to Honnrieg, “We aren’t leaving our people…”

Our people? Well…

“Lieutenant?” Honnrieg asked, “You going to finish that thought?”

“Ahem. Yes.” You rubbed your head, “There’s too many of 1st Company still unaccounted for, and I’m sure they’re still alive, waiting for us. We’re going to hold until we get everybody back in contact, then we’ll break right back east and consolidate our forces. We’ll have to disperse, but this artillery barrage is giving us the time we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“Aye.”

You repeated the same message to your platoon; this barrier of fire certainly couldn’t be kept up forever, and you would be surprised if after this extended barrage you could execute the same sort of suppression again in this battle. Work quickly, you told yourself, the answer to that question didn’t have to make itself known. Neither did the other doubts, such as, what if the enemy could move quickly enough to cut you off, what if there were more tunnels and you were about to be caught in the worst terrain possible, what if your faith in your allies was misplaced, and you were sentencing yourself to doom?

There was little choice but to place your trust in these formerly strange foreigners on that last note. Perhaps it was foolhardy to presume special treatment by fate just because they fought alongside you, but they had come this far, no?

Your tanks acted more as an anchor than as part of the linkup effort; they could hardly help, being in this urban environment, and what would you do elsewise? Leave them when you knew enemies were prowling about? So you sat, infuriatingly impotent yet critical all the same, since with 1st Company’s troops either holed up or, in the case of the closest platoon, extricating themselves from said holes, you had to be the firm and steady wall ready to absorb the tide of an unexpected forceful attack. As you waited, your neck often found itself stretching out of the top hatch, and sometimes a little more than that. Dangerous? Of course, and you certainly had felt the consequences earlier for discounting your armor, but hearing about 1st Company’s command cleared out as it was made you wary of the enemy squads still moving around, waiting for chances to ambush the unwary or weak, and it was a funny thing, but you didn’t feel safe inside that armor, even with supernatural protection warding what would otherwise be unthinkable to survive. Training had instilled too instinctive a fear of firebottles to brush off caution entirely.

“Commander,” Von Metzeler said coolly over the radio, “There is an unknown contact. A person climbing around the roofs.”

“The roofs?” you echoed back, ducking into the turret and keeping an eye upward, “What did they look like? Friendly?”

“They did not linger long enough for me to look. I may have frightened them by pointing my sidearm.” Von Metzeler was as nervous as you, it seemed, despite his icy demeanor. “A person covered in cloaks, but dark black. Not trimmed in white like our enemies. They were peeking, watching. Like they were looking for somebody in particular.”

“Same, actually,” Von Walen piped up, “Some creepy shit, heard shuffling above. Giving me the willies. Means they’re moving down our line.”

“You didn’t report that?” Von Metzeler demanded.

“’Course not, God damn, what do you think? Thought it was just shit bouncing off the roofs, certainly enough coming down, even with it not on top of us.”

Debris did sometimes get flung rather far and land amongst you; it wasn’t an unfair presumption to make, not knowing for certain somebody was on the roofs. Though if they were looking for somebody…Not Von Metzeler, not Von Walen, they’d be coming up on you next, and you were honestly the most likely out of all of you to have received special attention, weren’t you?

Clank!

Some clumsy fool had disturbed litter to your right flank, and thank goodness for that! You whipped about and saw Death Heads, black jackets and white trim, clear as day, trying to sneak up on you with a firebottle; the sort with striking matches, that didn’t emit the scent of burning rags that served as a warning. Three of them; your mind puzzled all of this out near instantaneously, though they were giving you a moment to get ready, as they were as surprised by your detection of them as you were by their presence; but they hesitated, and you didn’t.

At the same time, a rustling above you, and to your rear...

>Duck back into the turret, reverse the tank!
>Draw your sidearm!
>Duck in and hurl a grenade out blindly
>Other?

>>2469642
>Draw your sidearm!
Shoot the grenadier first then worry about his friends

>>2469642
>>Draw your sidearm!

With a flash of your hand to your belt, you straightened up and extended your armed hand. The submachinegun would have been better, but it hadn’t been in hand; besides, you had six shots; you’d only need three. You aimed for the grenadier first, straight for his heart, and the firebottle he held close to it…

Hopefully whatever was behind you could wait.

>Roll 3 sets of 1d100, DC 30 roll under for each, -30 bonus

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>2469708

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>2469708

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>2469708

Rolled 49, 71, 91 = 211 (3d100)

Rolling my own set, except with a -35 bonus.

You pulled the trigger once, and moved confidently onto the next, then shot at the next fighter, already realizing as you fired a second time-damn! You had scarcely missed the first attacker, and you realized with a start that you’d miss the second target too!

Damn, damn, you thought quickly as you were already moving with misplaced haughtiness to the third man, who you grazed gently on the ear with a bullet.

Then the enemy holding the firebottle jerked back, flinging his projectile on the ground in the process.

“The hell!?” you couldn’t help but cry as the plume of flame sent a wave of heat at your face. The other Death Heads were even more distracting, leaping and yelping, which saved them from two more shots; strangely, from behind, and loud enough that it must have been a rifle, but no typical rifle could be fired so quickly...

Had you been saved? No matter; you had three more shots to take and the enemy was open!

>Roll another 3 sets of 1d100, DC 40 roll under, -30 bonus.

Rolled 26 (1d100)

>>2469777

Rolled 33 (1d100)

>>2469777

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>2469777
Since no one seems to be rolling

Spurred by frustration from your earlier misses, you plugged both of the remaining assailants with a round each. You had one round left in the chamber, convenient, just enough, in case…

You whipped around, though not pointing your weapon just yet. A scuffling sound. Whoever was up there, evidently, didn’t want to be seen. You glanced back at the groaning wounded and dying to your right.

“Kommandant?” Jorgen babbled up at you.

“A bunch attacked from our right,” you said quickly, “Keep an eye on them in case they decide they’re not beaten yet.” You waited for your crew to cover the freshly defeated Death Heads before you looked back up at the rooftop to your right; it was typical sort of shanty house, though made of shoddy brick instead of sheet metal. The roof was where the builders had stopped caring; it looked flat, and only had a slight outcropping in the (supposedly uncommon) case of rainfall.

A keen ear was difficult to keep with the current artillery bombardment, but you listened nevertheless; and heard nothing. Whoever was up there, you wagered, was still about.

>Well, come out, then. Who are you hiding from up there?
>I have a grenade right here, you know. Surrender or I’ll think about tossing it up there.
>Hey. Thanks for the favor, there. I might have been screwed.
>Other?

>>2469810
Only needed two for this it turned out, since needed just two good hits with the -30. Shame, cause that's an amazing roll.

>>2469823
>>Hey. Thanks for the favor, there. I might have been screwed.

>>2469823
>Hey. Thanks for the favor, there. I might have been screwed.

>>2469823
>>Well, come out, then. Who are you hiding from up there?

>>2469823
>Hey. Thanks for the favor, there. I might have been screwed.
when that doesn't work
>Well, come out, then. Who are you hiding from up there?

OMG wurst gurl is back!

>>2469823
>Hey. Thanks for the favor, there. I might have been screwed.
It's Hicchan!

>in b4 it's someone else entirely

File: tcqscene127.png (467 KB, 1000x800)

467 KB PNG

“Hey!” You called up towards the rooftop, “Thanks for the favor, there. I might have been screwed without your help.” No response, though you thought you heard a strangled sounding choking noise. “Well,” you proffered, “Come out, then. Who are you hiding from up there? Me?”

The figure that slowly stood up and looked down was hard to recognize at first, since they were covered in a cloak and their face as covered, but it didn’t take much examination for it to become obvious as to who it was. The rifle was the same, the scar trailing up the side of her face was still visible, but most of all, you recognized Hilda’s piercing eyes, though they seemed somehow sadder, more sunken, darker around the edges, and she refused to meet your gaze, instead looking somewhere down on the ground. Her arms were covered in grody bandages, through which somehow familiar tacky black slick seeped in between.

Her hair was different, too. You weren’t sure if she had cut it or if it was simply tied back instead of forward like the last time you’d seen her.

Hilda didn’t stand for long; she knew she was in a place of death. She crouched down (though cringing in obvious pain as she did so) and backed away, slipping from view without another word. Not even a greeting? You thought curiously.

>Fine, then. She’s likely in her element up there, anyways.
>Hilda likely has little idea what’s going on or what your people are doing; call her back and invite her down.
>Is she avoiding you? Then she wouldn’t come to you on her own. You’d have to chase her down, or send somebody to catch her for you.
>Other?

>>2470516
It's totally her brother with produce under his shirt.

>>2470918
>>Fine, then. She’s likely in her element up there, anyways.

I think it's best to let Punished Hilda just be herself.

>>2470918
>>Hilda likely has little idea what’s going on or what your people are doing; call her back and invite her down.

At the very least explain the situation and if she needs any help.

>>2470918
>Hilda likely has little idea what’s going on or what your people are doing; call her back and invite her down.
Pull out dat sweet necklace!

>>2470918
>>Fine, then. She’s likely in her element up there, anyways.

>>2470918
>>Fine, then. She’s likely in her element up there, anyways.

Fine, then, you thought, not saying a word as Hilda vanished once more. Why she was leaving without a word wasn’t your business, not if she didn’t want to say. She might have been a mercenary under your contract, but you hadn’t held her to any taut obligations. Hilda was probably more in her element climbing about the rooftops anyways; she’d made it this far through a city tearing itself to pieces, she could be trusted to keep herself alive, and pitch in help wherever she could.

The feeling of Hilda’s necklace against your collar made itself known once again, and you pulled it out of your jacket and looked at it. A trophy from the creature that mauled her, which she had entrusted to you, in affection. She claimed it was a charm for luck, but had you been particularly lucky? Perhaps. You had won the main battle, after all. Perhaps, considering what Hilda had been through, if it were anything it was more like something that ate up bad fortune instead of bestowing good. Poor girl.

The necklace was put back into your clothes. Sentiment would come later; survival was your highest priority now.

“Message from Battalion, boss,” Hans said over the intercom, “I’ll say it straight. They want to ease up on the shelling on our place. Uglies are starting to pop up in more places, lotta them, and they’re about between half and two thirds the way through their ordinance.”

Damn it all. You knew you didn’t exactly have a grand ammunition train, but you were already running that short? The bombardment had been such that the bulk of the enemy was kept off of you, you supposed.

“They’ll sustain it for now,” you decided, “Get reports from the platoon, have them find out how close we are to leaving this mess.”

Rolled 2 (1d4)

The requested news trickled in, over the course of an agonizingly long couple of minutes. Encounters with infiltrating Death Heads had caused further casualties, though minor, because of the nature of their low numbers and the entrenchment of friendly elements, which made the enemies less brazen than they could be, for fear of being surprised by a Republic concentration.
>d4 is for how many platoons were found, out of the four remaining.

Rolled 3, 1, 2 = 6 (3d3)

>>2471610
Rolling for which ones were found. 1 is 2nd Armor platoon, 2 is for 3rd, 3 is for Blue Barbs. If the second dice in the same, the third is added or subtracted for a different amount. If triples...well.

The Republic Infantry has been found already.

Almost the whole of 1st Company had been found once more…at least, what was left of it. A single armor platoon, and the Blue Barbs fighters that had been with them. The latter had evidently been directed to take their combat drugs; an addendum to the report, a recommendation from the courier delivering it, a White Eye, that the Blue Barbs ought to just be left behind at that point, but you’d be the judge of that.

One armor platoon was still missing, though. They might have been rickety chariots of junk, but they were spirit brethren. Could you leave them behind, to expediate your retreat? Maybe they had fallen victim to infiltrators just like the 1st squad, the command, did. Such light armor did poorly in such circumstances, it seemed…

>You couldn’t leave them behind. You’d come here to rescue as many as you could, didn’t you? Order Battalion to continue bombardment until told otherwise. They could hold in their current position.

>You’d found as many as could be expected, it was time to leave. Lingering would be death; how soon until the enemy had gone around the wall of fire obstructing them? Keep up the wall, though, until you are all on your way out.
>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need.
>Call off the bombardment, but leave the Blue Barbs behind to occupy the enemy while the rest of you escape. They’d be of little use other than as a delay, though this might have political consequences if this is discovered…
>Other?

>>2470918
Huh. A lever-action is a strange choice for a sniper, very uncomfortable to reload while prone. Though if it's her old hunting rifle, it's understandable.

>>2471643
Shooting people wasn't her primary career choice, after all.

>>2471633
>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need.
>Let's save the Blue Barbs for storming a fortified buildings or something.

>>2471633
>>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need.

>>2471633
>>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need.
Call out for Hilda, that we are leaving, with luck she's still in ear shot and can hitch a ride.

After a minute or two, give them a farewell salvo compliments of the fort guns.

Actually, maybe we can get Hilda to find the lost platoon for us and at least them we're bugging out.

Oh, and before we leave, scuttle the m28 derivatives that were knocked out. No point in letting them use those guns on us.

>>2471735
>>2471742
+1

And also contact Loch; I want to see what his grand plan is for this final assault.

>>2471746
I was under the assumption there would be no final assault. They mop up the field, we cut the main lines of communication in the city so when the republic army arrives Todesfelsen just ceases all resistance at the hopelessness of their cause

>>2471751
I'm talking about this latest (and most probably last significant) counterattack by our Death Head friends.

>>2471754
oh, why would we waste his and our time doing that though, he's busy on the field. Were here in the thick of it with better information then he would have of the current situation.

>>2471633
Have the artillery slow their barrage, but continue at random but short intervals to keep the enemy sitting pretty while we peel away. Could we potentially have them concentrate fire in front of or behind us while we push?

>You couldn’t leave them behind.
We can get the slower elements of the survivors withdrawing while we make one last push and search, we need to buy time for everyone to pull out. Worst case, we cut south and follow the road back to the crater.

>>2471735
Supporting, Hilda can navigate much more stealthy than a squad of infantry and tanks.

Actually if we want to risk it we could ask the fort to fire some WP as their final rounds. They won't be able to chase us if there's a literal firewall between us and them.

>>2471633
>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need.
>Other?
But do as another noon suggested after a minute loose one quick volley to keep the Death Heads on their toes.

Honestly I don't think Hilda can find all those people, re direct them to safety and keep herself hidden at the same time. Plus we can't really contact her, she doesn't have a radio and it sounds like she already left.

>>2471633
>>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need.

>>2471742

If they only had the crews shot out of them we could probably have some infantrymen hop in them and drive them back to our lines.

>>2471633
>>Allow the bombardment to end, and pull everybody you have right now out. You wouldn’t bogard the support the rest of the battalion might need

>>2471925
Well I think the idea would be she finds them for us and guides us so we can link up and retreat after gathering the remnants- as opposed to blindly probing further into hostile and congested territory.

Will be back updating this evening, at about 7-8 EST. Kill til then.

>>2474031
>Kill til then.

Kill who? Myself?

>>2474611
No, me.

What you had now would have to do, as far as you were concerned. Although…

“Hilda!” you called up to the roofs, hoping that she hadn’t gone too far. “There’s a platoon of armor stranded somewhere. I need you to find them and direct them east!”

Hilda’s lack of response was understandable; maybe she didn’t want to alert anybody nearby to her presence. You did hear some scuffling, though; likely her, on her way. She didn’t want to face you, or speak, why? Well, so long as she was still willing to aid you, there wasn’t a particular problem.

“Tell Battalion that they can stop the shelling,” you said next to your radioman, “One more volley, and to everybody else, tell them that we’re getting out of here. We can’t stay any longer, especially with no artillery support.”

“What about the fort guns?” Hans asked, “Didn’t hear no ammo problems from them.”

“…They can cease, and wait a minute, then resume in the same place. Just to keep these people on their toes. Also. Ask if they can make the final barrage more of the incendiary shells. The pursuit might take somewhat longer if they’re afraid of being burned.”

“Aight.” Hans rattled off your requests, and you kept peering about the top, wondering where the next set of enemies that had snuck in might be hiding. The rickety architecture had become oppressive in such uncertain conditions, and you found yourself missing the reassuring presence of…well, any infantry. Even the Blue Barbs, whom you saw more as enemy than friend despite them being part of the Republic, would have been pleasant to have around at the moment.

“One more thing,” you remembered, “When the Republic’s moving back out, have them pick up 1st Company command’s tanks, and if they won’t start or don’t work, destroy them completely. We won’t leave anything behind for the enemy to loot.

Each of your platoons reported the contact of all friendly forces reconvening, uniting in their retreat, and you finally directed your driver to reverse, all the way. You didn’t want your rear exposed to the fire about to come, as the last barrage began to come down. After that, there would only be a minute or so before the enemy came again in full force, even if the harassment strike after that made them think twice, they’d definitely be coming from more than one direction. Decisive conflict would be unavoidable.

Yet you all reached the trucks, just in time, seemingly, as the edge of your platoon’s formation spied Death Heads, moving across the main street; likely to flank your overall position. Too late to encircle us, you thought smugly, though you had to admit that the thought to linger had been in your mind. You’d done it for the White Eyes, so…No, you’d left them some help. A reinforcing army consisting of a single woman, the back of your head criticized you. No, you could trust Hilda. She could sneak them out.

With that, 1st Company fled back, the rear being covered by your platoon. The irregular cracks of skirmishes breaking out had started to intensify, and no sooner had 1st Company been placed once more at its planned position had reports of smoke being laid down come forth. They had plenty of the stuff, too; the city streets were slowly turning to fog, while enemy shooters traded potshots with the Republic defenders.

“Boss,” Hans said as you were puzzling out how this new offensive could play out, “Message from Battalion, special for you. Hagan wants to talk.”

“Hagan wants to talk,” you echoed dully, “I suppose an offer for surrender would be too fortunate.”

“Negotiation, is how Battalion says he puts it.”

>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you’ve destroyed his allies.
>Surely a trap, but maybe one you can turn in your favor? You have the explosive, after all…right? Agree to meet.
>Demand a ceasefire before any “negotiations” begin. Maybe you can avoid more violence, if you play your cards right.
>Other?

>>2476019
>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you've destroyed his allies.

hope we didn't just spash wp on top of Hilda, I don't even like her much but Jesus leaving her alone to find terrified encircled tankers who are more likely to shoot anything moving then to listen to a disfigured raspy voices stranger they've never met and have no way of verifying her commands...

>>2476019
>>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you’ve destroyed his allies.

He's just looking to see who will give him the better deal. Once we destroy this enemy group our bargaining position will be stronger.

>Other?
He still has prisoners he could threaten to use against us so it'd probably be better to get Battalion to tell Hagan that they couldn't reach us due to the battle or something rather than telling Hagan to fuck off.

>>2476019
>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you’ve destroyed his allies.
He’s definitely a distraction- focus on preparing everyone for the assault.

Position the tanks behind our entrenched infantry, they’re going to attempt to rush in behind the smoke and blow our armor before we can rain hellfire on them.

Have the fortress target the edge of no man’s land- when the smoke encroaches on us and they make their charge- order a bombardment.
Which sides have smoke emanating towards them?

>>2476056
Hopefully, we’re drawing most of the enemy’s attention. Just to be safe, warn the West side of potential friendlies fleeing back towards the lines.

>>2476019
>>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you’ve destroyed his allies.

Honestly im tempted to collapse all but one exit from his precious mines and run a river through it.

>>2476787
Supporting

>>2476019
>>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you’ve destroyed his allies.

Speaking with Hagan would be an unnecessary distraction, you concluded, stashing away you binoculars as the smoke being poured into the front line was steadily turning them useless. The wind wasn’t strong, though it was pushing the smoke about; more towards the enemy, as it turned out, which could turn out in your favor. Yes, Hagan could sit pretty until you had dealt with his allies here. Perhaps Hagan even had confidence that you’d win, or maybe he thought you would rather have the aid of your militias sooner, and would broker a better deal with him with that pressure upon you. Maybe he was simply weighing which side would give him the better deal, before throwing his support entirely behind them. You’d rather bargain, you thought, from a position of superior strength than this.

Of course, he still had prisoners you wanted to have freed and fighting. Hagan would likely not appreciate you blowing him off, so why not falsify the simplest, and often most honest inconvenience of the modern battlefield?

“Hans,” you addressed your radio operator, “I’d love to speak with Hagan, but the radio’s just been…acting up, you know?”

“Boss, man,” Hans was barely containing himself snickering, “You want me to not do my job? I’ll pin that on you and they’ll write you up, y’know.” He cleared his throat, “I’ll relay our communication troubles to battalon…just before we have them, of course. Funny as hell, our radio’s doing a remarkable impression of my mother; it only hears what it wants to.”

You could forgive the unnecessary verbosity; your meeting had been tragically delayed, something you wished had been more often the case for a few obligatory court attendances.

Troops all around had dug themselves into the rubble; an easy task, as there was enough in pieces large and small to shift about by hand, and you had directed all armor to take position behind at least a fire team. Your lines were rather spread, but the armor would provide the firepower for all of it to be quite hardened against any enemy infantry assault, you wagered. It wasn’t the tightest of defensive lines, from what you heard of elements’ positions, but the line had contoured with the most defensible structures being the strong points, so there could be no doubt in its integrity, unless the current situation changed.

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The wall of smoke, when it began to fade, was patched up again with more smoke candles; the enemy hadn’t attacked through it like anticipated, and the White Eyes lying prone around you, or leaned up against long blocks of shattered stone, were getting antsy. A few shot their rifles, either in frustration, or at what they hoped could be a possible target, assumedly. Murmuring about “when they were going to get over here” was growing in volume; challenges were being shouted from the south, by drugged up Blue Barbs. The troops wouldn’t understand why you’d rather the enemy not come yet; not until Hilda had returned with the missing tank platoon, with or without their vehicles. A notice had been shared with the battalion, informing them of the possibility of their return. Few shared your confidence that they would come back at all, but it had at least been begrudgingly agreed to not fire on any approaching vehicles unless they fired first.

Either way, it allowed your men more time to dig in, more time for the artillerists to lay their guns and mortars, and your position would only become more difficult to assault. When the enemy attack did come, your guns would make their passage over the space between them and the crater hell. The ground wasn’t completely flat and open; there was enough debris to be able to crawl through, steadily, but not without the movement being seen, and certainly not enough to provide good cover from shelling. Shelling that would be generously provided when it was clear an offensive was beginning…which, oddly there was still no sign of. What could they be waiting for?

A report of smoke rising from the south; the wind was still blowing north, along the lines it had carried the storm from earlier, and now the smoke was beginning to drift more over your positions…was it a feint? A true attack coming from behind? Or was the enemy numerous enough to attack from every direction at once? Somehow, you doubted the latter. There was some deception at play, but what sort?

>Maintain position; they couldn’t have moved everybody without you noticing, could they? There are just infiltrators behind to try and throw you into disarray.
>Contract your lines to establish a defense equally strong on all sides, though weaker than your current arrangement against the expected direction of attack. Flankers could do too much damage.
>You were about to be encircled; could you survive that? Retreat from this position, back towards friendly militia lines!
>Other?

>>2476787
>Which sides have smoke emanating towards them?

The wind isn't such that the smoke is blowing too far from where it was originally dumped, though with time, it certainly spreads. Current smoke is illustrated on the map.

>>2476019
>An unnecessary distraction. Hagan can sit pretty until you’ve destroyed his allies.

In b4 ignoring him gets Anya killed. She reached him and said that we are a reasonable poof or something

>>2477397
Do we have flare or some such? Prepare our lines to reform but hold off for now. Send scouts south and east with orders to shoot flares if they spot a strong enemy presence.

If it's safe they can attempt to snuff out the smoke. Bury it or whatever. Use their own good judgement

>>2477397
Honestly, third companies A unit looks a little exposed, why not pull them out and stick them with HQ as a reserve incase of a real attack or a breakthrough. 3rd's 1st Armor could also be pulled back between their 2nd armor element and the 2C Blue Barbs, still overlooking that main road. If the death heads take up residency in their old positions, im sure our guns could level it or make their stay as inconvenient as possible. Possibly an incendiary round we can throw that way.

1st companies 1st armor could probably be pulled back as well to act as another reserve unit, they already have the smallest frontage but im not sure how depleted their formation is, or if they could survive with only 1 squad of armor.

>>2477408
First we burnt Hilda with magic fire, now we might have burnt Hilda with chemical fire while sending her on another suicide mission. And now Anya's about to pass out from the opiates we forced on her in a den of people she dosnt like or like her. Clearly were just pruning the harem of the trash choices or something...

>>2477427
>Do we have flare or some such?

Hand flares are accessible (in possession of commanders), things like flare pistols aren't. You and Honnrieg are probably the only people in the battalion who have one of those.

>>2477397
>>Maintain position; they couldn’t have moved everybody without you noticing, could they? There are just infiltrators behind to try and throw you into disarray.

I'm willing to gamble on it being a feint. If they had a significant force in our rear they wouldn't have revealed its position with smoke the same way they're smoking the rest of their line. They would have attacked where they were expected from the front to distract us and then drove the flanking force into our rear by surprise.

I also wouldn't mind some intermittent artillery fire around the edge of the enemy lines to help disrupt their preparations, and also to help range in the perimeter for if we need to call in fire support once the attack begins.

>>2477397
>Maintain position
>Send scouts towards the known enemies
>Send fireteams to root out infiltrators
>Have infantry 3A back away a bit, I don't like that bulge

>>2477442
Tank Commanders, no sense of right and wrong!

>>2477397
>>Maintain position; they couldn’t have moved everybody without you noticing, could they? There are just infiltrators behind to try and throw you into disarray.

>>2477397
>>Maintain position; they couldn’t have moved everybody without you noticing, could they? There are just infiltrators behind to try and throw you into disarray.

And supporting the relocation of 3A

>>2477442
>>2477510
Richter is never going to wake up at this rate.

>>2477480
>>2477427
+1

>>2477397
>Maintain position; they couldn’t have moved everybody without you noticing, could they? There are just infiltrators behind to try and throw you into disarray.

>>2477397
Shit, they may very well have disengaged and gone around us to attack from the back. Although that fact that they refreshed the smoke candles means some Death Heads are still there.

Honestly I just want to form an armor spearhead and push against one of the flanks just to mess with whatever plans they have.

>Other?
Pull an infantry unit away from the front and head them towards that smoke in the south. Or lines won't be that much weakened with one less unit there.
Scouts to poke at it and see what's going on, the rest of that infantry unit to form a thin line just in case it really is something.

Pissing in the wind here, but also have 3rd Company open up a salvo into the smoke north of them just to poke the hive. If nothing responds maneuver to East around the smoke. and attack.

>>2477397
>Maintain position; they couldn’t have moved everybody without you noticing, could they? There are just infiltrators behind to try and throw you into disarray.
There’s not enough smoke coming south and east to cover an infantry assault and too much open ground- it’s a bluff to destabilize our lines before they run at us. They may try to sneak groups of sappers and saboteurs around. However, I also believe that if the enemy has any armor, the smart move would be to send it all to our weakened flank to break through while their infantry encircles us.

Have their been any recent reports of enemy armor within the city? Seems like we’ve only dealt with infantry and I’d assume they’re going to throw whatever they have into this fight. Contact the Fortress, see if they have anymore information on the enemy’s composition and movements.

Tell HQ to dig in with it’s limited infantry covering their armor and have the two tanks provide fire support. Worst case, if they do flank us, have 3rd company’s 3rd armor platoon and/or 1st company’s 1st armor platoon intercept and pin them. Perhaps we should direct the mortars to fire south-east while the heavy guns blast the larger oncoming wall of smoke?

Does the engineering detachment have any explosives or mines they could plant in front of their lines southeast?

>>2477480
>>2477619
>>2477442
Word of caution: 3A is occupying one of the few remaining structures around the perimeter. If we move them, they should relocate to the smaller building south to still support 3rd company’s armor from any infantry assault.

A feint, you concluded. If the enemy had moved enough of their forces around to be a threat, you would have noticed it, no? This had to be a ploy to try and throw you off balance, but just in case…

“Captain,” you addressed Honnrieg and his raiders over the radio; they would be best for something that needed a…subtle touch, “I need you and your mean to investigate whatever’s going on to the southeast. Make sure we’re not about to take a charge to the rear of our formation.”

“Will we be missed?” Came Honnrieg’s reply.

“Probably. Light rifles shouldn’t be in a hole, though, should they?”

“Can’t argue with that. Yeah, we’ll go, even if there’s nothing big there, it’s good to do a bit of tidying up before guests arrive.”

The PzA-19 left your platoon, along with a truck of Bat Company soldiers. It was true that they were wasted if they were simply used as line putty; though you hoped that you had sent them in vain. It was funny to think, for a moment, that the armored car that would normally not be so brazenly used had an unusual amount of power here, where either armor was of no use at all, or armor rendered the vehicle invulnerable. So far as you knew, the overwhelming majority of enemy armor was still with the enemies lingering outside, the ones whom had been defeated in the storm and were now caught between surrendering to you, or to the Iron Hogs to the north, should the planned interdicting force not block them from such an option. You’d not heard any news about them coming back into the city; to the contrary, the people facing you now were an expeditionary battalion, apparently, but not one who practiced armored or maneuver warfare. Fighters skilled in brutish combat, yes, but not ones with the advantage of special materiel.

In any case, whether the enemies behind were attempting a feint or not, you wanted to amend part of the line. Third Company’s A platoon was in a sturdy building, certainly a good defensive position, but also a potentially exposed one. The command for them to withdraw and shorten the line was given, and received no shortage of objections. As usual, the former Guillotines were too disciplined to do more than that. Bad Rot could be commended for his men, if not his treatment of young women. It was either that or they had begun to see you as the arbiter of victory; a flattering presumption, though one you couldn’t help would be nice to prove correct.
Some minutes passed, then, a warning over the radio.

“Enemy attack to the north!”

The guns pointed to the north responded promptly, but the affair turned out to be little more than a probe; the rest of the line remained a conflict of trading potshots and the odd cannon blast (from your forces; the enemy, it appeared, had few heavy guns).

Honnrieg came over the radio soon after. “Looked at the goings on to the south and southeast, Kommandant,” Honnrieg used the title the Sosaldtians often referred to you by; an eastern form of your title, where Old Nauk had a few grips left on the vernacular. He would have still called you Lieutenant over the platoon net, but he was a good soldier, and not one to accidentally undermine authority. “There’s a few slippery bugs, but we’ve wandered about a bit and if there’s a big attack coming from here, it’s made up of invisible men. Can’t be more than a squad, and they’ll be dealt with.”

“Hrm.” You grunted back over the radio. Would the enemy continue with whatever plan they initially had, if they knew part of it had been foiled, and you wouldn’t be dancing to their tune?

Your answer came far sooner than you would have liked.

“Oi, oi!” a White Eye cried out, “Here they come!”

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The Battalion Network exploded with alarms, to the point that you disconnected from the line and kept focused on the crew intercom. Hans would be on that for now, though it would mean he wouldn’t be able to operate the bow gun.

The ruined landscape ahead crawled with black figures, darting from cover to cover and crawling about like a flood of rats. They did not stop dispersing smoke, either, as more grenades and smoke candles were thrown about by their lead elements, obscuring all that came behind them. There were so many of them, you thought, and they were all well-spaced apart; the ground would crackle with bursting shots from light cannon and not strike more than one. Artillery fell, but not in a quantity to terrify the enemy; split between many angles at once, none of the fire did more than cause hate and discontent, and certainly didn’t impede the momentum of what appeared to be a human avalanche, whose numbers were…you couldn’t guess reliably, there had to be a company attacking you, but likely more than that. Stein had been set free to fire at will, while you observed the situation developing…

>A collective dice effort will be coming up, and the rolls will depend on several factors, given as options here:
>Hans can cease his radio operating duties in order to operate the heavy 13mm bow gun. Due to the design of the m/32, it would be extremely awkward to operate the radio while not in the position, so another cannot take his place to operate the gun in his stead. Having him do this will impede your effect on coordinating the battalion’s defense, but will improve your personal safety, adding 20 to the local defense roll. In exchange, you will be unable to keep tabs on the rest of the battalion’s status, unless you were to neglect your platoon’s status; platoon, and company/battalion networks are, after all, different channels.
>The current artillery status is of dispersed support, which while indeed inflicting casualties, isn’t putting the fear of the Judge in the enemy. You can have them concentrate upon a single area instead, to practically nullify the enemy attack on one sector, while weakening the others, to the tune of -15 on neglected companies, and +60 for the favored company.
>The Hellfire shell is a potent weapon, though you don’t know exactly how it works, or what it would do to a person, your fiancée hinted that it would be deadly, and widespread over a good area. If you shot it into the center of the oncoming assault, it could have quite a deadly effect indeed, for potentially little harm towards your own troops. Maybe it could be worth it?
>Other proposals will be weighted.

Each front will have a 3d100 roll, and the base DC, with no modifications, is to pass 190 in order to avoid close combat. This DC can be changed depending on options taken.

Vote will be next, with abridged versions of the above, and a few other answers.

>>2478055
>Have their been any recent reports of enemy armor within the city? Seems like we’ve only dealt with infantry and I’d assume they’re going to throw whatever they have into this fight. Contact the Fortress, see if they have anymore information on the enemy’s composition and movements.

There is little if any indication this group has armor; nominally, their actual group should have none. The Fort has not given any information that would contradict this theory.

>Does the engineering detachment have any explosives or mines they could plant in front of their lines southeast?

It's more a maintenance detachment than anything; they have very few in the way of equipment that could be used for that sort of operation, sadly,

Also, in regards to sending scouts, I figured Bat Company would be the preferable option for that sort of operation, so I made it that way. Hopefully that doesn't step on anybody's particular intentions.

Anyways, for the straightforward voting options. All will either be yes or no; exemption of a vote will count as against, and "other" votes, write ins, will be assessed, given their pros and cons, if any, and then added to a follow up vote:

>Take Hans off the radio and have him concentrate on personal defense.
>Concentrate the artillery on a particular sector instead of spreading it out.
>Use one of the Hellfire shells?
>Other actions?

Rolled 6, 58, 9 = 73 (3d100)

>>2479702

>>2479714
Not yet, not yet. That comes after deciding what to do here.

Which is good because these are higher-is-better rolls, meaning you might have dumped some awful luck.

>>2479712
Hans off radio, metzeler to command platoon, we on battalion net?

Concentrate artillery, maybe we can move the guys stationed there to threatened sections if the artillery is especially effective.

>>2479745
No, since higher is better, base number to roll higher than with 3d100 being 190, diverting artillery to one place will boost that company's defense roll by 60, reducing the number needed on 3d100 to 130, while putting a penalty of -15 on the other two company defense sectors.

190 is really god damn hard to roll on 3d100, I know, but this is just to keep them from closing into cqc. If they manage to, the fighting just has a potential to get more brutal. Degrees of success are also a factor; a close fail is much better than a far fail.

>>2479750
That's an option, yes, if you want to do that. Von Metzeler is of equivalent rank and experience and appropriate training to you, so he would be equally capable of platoon command.

>>2479750
I can support this. For artillery give it to 2nd Coy, since they seem the have the most people coming at them right now.

>>2479712
>Keep Hans on the radio
>Artillery
Can we hold the artillery until after the "first round" as it were so we could concentrate it on any trouble spots? Or could we still have it fire and adjust sectors during the battle once we know more?
>Use one of the Hellfire shells?
No. There's a wizard snooping about and he's already seen us. If shit hits the fan then maybe.

>>2479750
Didn't know this was an option, this works too.

>>2479786
>Can we hold the artillery until after the "first round" as it were so we could concentrate it on any trouble spots? Or could we still have it fire and adjust sectors during the battle once we know more?

You can, sure, when things get started you can readjust artillery if you feel it necessary, though there isn't much point in having it not fire at all for the time being.

>>2480031
Yea, keep it firing, we can always adjust fire during the engagement

>>2479712
>armor
Wasnt there an autocannon in the background during the assault on 1C? Or was that one of ours?

>>2480052
NfK-5ts are equipped with 2cm automatic cannons. Though they're tanks the Death Heads were originally equipped with, yes, it was one of yours.

>>2479712
>Keep Hans on the radio, since we're the one unit that isn't being directly attacked yet and coordination will be more important
>Keep artillery fire dispersed for now, concentrate fire if trouble spots develop

>>2479712
>Put Metzeler on the platoon command, ourselves at the battalion, Hans on the MG
>Concentrate arty on the 1st Company's sector
The enemy there looks more concentrated, and if we manage to destroy them we can counterattack and roll their flank.
>Try to locate enemy commanders and assassinate them with tank guns
With the enemy's dispersion the guns aren't of much use against the attack otherwise.
>If we have any flamethrowers put them forward.
>If the enemies take the building A1 vacated, put some T-15 shells into it

>>2480249
This looks good to me, though wouldn't the white eyes explosives level the building more effectively? They seem overpowered as hell. Keep our tank shells for distant targets

>>2480741
They're too short ranged. Tanks can do it without leaving cover.

I'll be updating in a couple of hours, but just so you fellas know, if you want something blown up, you do have the T-8 SPG, which has heavier munitions, in case you're fine with trading firepower for protection.

>>2480249
Flamethrowers had their fuel exhausted. It wasn't given much fanfare, being mentioned only in passing, but they were finally used up.

>>2479712
>Put Metzeler on the platoon command, ourselves at the battalion, Hans on the MG
We’re needed to keep the Battalion organized and Metzeler is more than capable of holding the platoon together.
>Order the infantry positions to prepare a volley of grenades and explosives when the enemy closes in.

While I do want to annihilate and roll this flank, I don’t want to risk endangering the other lines
>Keep artillery fire dispersed for now, concentrate fire if trouble spots develop

“Hans,” you got your Radio Operator’s attention again, “Put me on Battalion command, but before that, I want you to put Von Metzeler in command of the platoon. Then, stay on that bow gun until this is over. I’ll monitor battalion communications.

“On it, boss,” Hans said energetically; the thirteen millimeter was a stout gun, the same used by fighter aircraft, and not something the Death Heads would like meddling with. It would be the only gun of its type, too; Von Metzeler’s m/32 had lost its bow gun in the battle in the dust.

While Hans carried out your command, you rose…no, you corrected your movement as a few rounds cracked about, and opened the side hatch instead.

“You!” you shouted to a White Eye, who looked back in confusion, “Spread this down the line! If they come close, throw all your slingbombs, keep them away at all costs!”

The White Eye stared back, then waved to his comrade, and said something that you could only hope was relaying your command. You went to the other side of the turret and did the same for the other flank, though the infantry, and the tank as well, were beginning to get well engaged in the developing fight.

>Danger Close Explosives: If the 2nd Company line is reached and engaged in close quarters combat, the enemy close assault is delayed

The artillery fire remained dispersed, harassing, sometimes splashing here, other times there. It couldn’t be called ineffective, but if you didn’t know that the fire was being dispersed to be shared with all the company lines (a mortar and a gun each, from the looks of it; the fort guns hit sometimes, but were never very close so you could scarcely tell their effect), you’d have been rather dissatisfied with their performance. It was better than nothing.

The bow gun had terrifying effect on its limited frontal arc, its large rounds tearing chunks out of rubble and ripping apart bodies even behind cover, as the main gun did its own deadly work. You’d tried to direct Stein to find and aim for enemy leadership, only to be told irritably that all the enemies looked and acted the same. To be fair, from what you could observe, he was right. Watching the Death Heads move up was like watching a swarm of ants coming up on a disturbed hill, ready to sting the hand that stirred them…

>The artillery is currently holding off concentration fire. It will be shifted at will to the sector most in danger, though for the initial attack, it is giving a +10 bonus to all rolls. If it is decided to switch fires during the attack to the most troubled sector, the bonus will be a +45 instead of the +60 gained by having it concentrated from the start. Switching will also remove 5 from the other sectors' artillery bonuses.
>Hans is manning the 13mm bow gun, a terrifyingly effective weapon against this sort of attack. 2nd Company’s defense is aided by +20, the effect of your platoon’s presence being a factor as well.
>The T-15 is being reserved to potentially clear out 3rd Company’s A Platoon’s former position, if needed. However, this can be re-delegated to the T-8 SPG if needed; the T-15 has two bow 8mm machine guns, and thus is more effective at defending itself against infantry attack, though.

>Roll 3 sets of 3d100 for defense against initial charge. First is 1st Company, second is 2nd Company, and 3rd is 3rd. DC to roll over with combined dice is 190. Bonuses are +10 to 1st and 3rd, and +30 to 2nd.

I’d like to add, you don’t know how many are attacking from each direction; the map markers are rough and imprecise, and not to be treated as reliable information unless there is a quantity marker above it. So far as you know, all sectors are being attacked with the same effort.

Rolled 53, 5, 80 = 138 (3d100)

>>2481200
He may not have been a tanker but he wasn't wrong:
“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right,
they’re in front of us, they’re behind us."

"They can’t get away this time.”

Rolled 33, 66, 77 = 176 (3d100)

>>2481200

Rolled 27, 97, 29 = 153 (3d100)

>>2481200

>Rolled 53, 5, 80 = 138 + 10 = 148 - 1st Company Failure by degree of 4
>Rolled 33, 66, 77 = 176 +30 =206 – 2nd Company Success by degree of 1
>Rolled 27, 97, 29 = 153 +10 = 163 – 3rd Company Failure by degree of 2

-----

The enemy was no more than flitting shadows, with little flashes being the only indication that they were shades of death. There were so many, you felt as if you needed to pop out the top and lay down some fire of your own, but that could be suicide.

“Gunner!” you spied a target, “That chimney, to the one o’clock. Put some fire behind it, I think there’s a few who think it’s safe behind there.”

Stein said nothing, but moved the turret willfully; the adjustment was such that the power traverse would be too much, but the hand crank was still slow. No mind was paid to Stein’s new target; other developments were sprouting like cracks in a dam. With your attention on the battalion network, you couldn’t call on your platoon to target what you saw as threats, nor could you hear their warnings if they had any…but you had faith in Von Metzeler. A fellow officer, who could not know fear from battle.

A pile of rubble that had grown disturbingly thick with the enemy suddenly evaporated in a burst of dust and shards of brick; the T-8 with the 15cm cannon had made its presence known, and you noticed, had on its own dissuaded Death Heads from taking the path that it had lain to waste. One such pathway being in front of your m/32, which was similarly abandoned seconds after it was experimented with, in a heavy, thudding burst of the large bored machine gun.

Each new threat sprang out after the other, and combined with keeping an ear on the battalion network, it was all becoming a blur; your head ached with the attempt to keep up to speed on every change in the situation.

“Stein, target, oh thirty,” you said levelly as a fire team of Death Heads vaulted a shattered wall.

“Wait!” Stein snapped irritably, “I can only shoot in one direction!” The turret was turned to ten; you’d noticed, but had been vainly hoping that the tank could move as fast as your mind was being forced to.

“Right. Continue,” you said unnecessarily.

Then you noticed something strange. Among the Death Heads you noticed, you saw bickering; hands gesturing in frustration. Then, they went back the way they came…as did the threat before them. Fire was still being exchanged, but the Death Heads in your sector had stopped advancing, a good forty paces from your lines, and what fire there was was thin…had you done it?

Challenges were shouted from your lines; fighting words given no response. The once withering barrages from your tanks had become much quieter.

“Hans, Hans, cease fire,” you requested urgently, “Link me with platoon.”

“Boss,” Hans said dryly, “I don’t have to link you with platoon to tell you they’re runnin’ away, but hey, if you want…”

“No, belay that,” you said quickly as bad news began to be implied on the battalion network.

”They’re slipping into our lines…we need reinforcements!” The voice of 1st Company’s new commander, an infantryman who had never thought he’d be in command, but was the most suitable and had been thusly drafted only minutes ago. ”Help!”

”There’s too many coming from too many places,” 3rd Company stated flatly, ”They’ve moved into the old strong point in force, and they’re jumping off from there. They’re shooting down at us from there, and the other points are under too much pressure to stop them. If you don’t need your big guns, We sure need them.”

”You need them? YOU need them?” First Company said incredulously.

“Break!” Hiedler shouted over the panicking substitute commander. “Second Company, er, Kommandant, what is..?”

“We're good for now.” You said with fatigued satisfaction. "We fought them off." Your front had slowed down, and your brains could catch up. Reinforcements were probably out of the question; you didn’t need the Death Heads you’d just batted off to try and come right back, though maybe your forces could go there…though, given that the enemy was said to be close, maybe it’d be best for you to stay. It depended, didn’t it?

Now was a time of crisis, though. Redirecting artillery could probably stop an attack in one sector, if every gun was devoted to one, though it would mean the other sector would suffer…

>Artillery can now be diverted, reducing the neglected sector’s resolutions by 10, but boosting another by 40. However, taking the artillery away from a sector already suffering will likely make things worse. Your own sector, being scored at 206, would not falter without the support, for example, since its roll would be reduced to 196 which passes the DC of 190, but the others would.
-----
>Divert artillery support to 1st Company (148 -> 188, very slight failure, but a much stiffer resistance to the initial assault)
>Divert artillery support to 3rd Company (163->203, success, likely to drive the enemy’s attack on 3rd Company’s sector off.)
>Divert no artillery, you need to keep this balanced.
Also
>Reinforce 1st and/or 3rd’s sectors with support from 2nd Company. One infantry platoon and one tank platoon can be split off before it becomes likely that another assault is attempted on the weakened line.
As always
>Any other actions?

>>2481532
>Send both the T-15 and the T-8 to reinforce 3rd Company and destroy the strongpoint
>Divert artillery support to 1st Company
>Recall Bat Company to reinforce our position

>>2481532
Forgot where each company was.

Okay, reinforce 1st with 2nd company. We remain. Concentrate artillery on 3rd company.

>>2481693
Supporting

>>2481693
Supporting

“Battalion,” you readdressed the headquarters quickly, “Adjust fire south, all of it.”

“Kommandant!” 3rd Company protested, but you interrupted them.

“We will be sending support in the form of a pair of pieces of armor,” you added, “With those, the strongpoint will be destroyed, and that problem will be dealt with. They’ll stay for support, as well.
”
“We won’t…yes, Kommandant,” 3rd Company relented forlornly. “Without artillery, they’ll be…getting in close pretty easy.”

“You will prevail,” you reassured them over the net, “If it looks as though you’re going to be in bad trouble, 2nd Company will send help and even the odds.” Part of commanding was maintaining the air of confidence; something that came naturally to those of noble blood, one would think, but such was not always the case; it was at least more prevalent than in people who would flee their nations and culture for…no, you shouldn’t think of your comrades that way. They had their own admirable traits, they had shown. Bat Company was given a much briefer, and less bravado dripping statement.

“We need you back here, Captain. These people seem well motivated.”

“Aye aye, Lieutenant. On our way.”

Short, sweet, and leaving you to monitor the situation through the radio once again.

“Junior Lieutenant Von Neubaum,” you spoke directly to your T-15 commander over the radio, “You’re needed north. Go around the rim of the crater, and find people from 3rd company to brief you further. Take the modified T-8.” Von Neubaum offered expectant silence in response. “The giant gun wagon.”

“A much more apt name, that.”

“One more smart remark from you, Junior Lieutenant, and I will separate your paramours from your person forcibly!” Von Metzeler growled, “Move.”

The T-15 began moving immediately, and you took your finger off the throat microphone to sigh deeply for a moment, scratching your scalp under your cap, then straightening it with both hands, before having Hans switch back to Battalion.

Von Neubaum may have been freshly motivated, but his smart remarks didn’t end; he said something sarcastic, dull toned as usual, to the T-8 SPG crew as he passed them, and they dumbly followed- though in reverse, wary of enemy snipers. The gunshield may have been vast, but the cannon occupied most of it, so remaining protected was a matter of good placement of the vehicle between the crew and the enemy, rather than merely residing inside of it.

“Kommandant..?” 3rd Company said uneasily, “That help going to get here soon? We’re…aw, hell-“ 3rd Company stopped transmission abruptly, then started again. “Better get here soon, the shit is hitting the fan!”

“Same, same!” 1st Company said excitedly, even though all artillery support had been directed to support them.

Halation of hellfire, you thought, you’d either be heroes at this rate, or mulch.

>roll 3 sets of 2d100, first die for first, second die column for third’s combat. Sets are averaged, and will be rolled against by the enemy. Due to attacking a fortified position in close quarters combat, the enemy suffers a -10 penalty in their opposing rolls.
>Roll is for CQC, similar to dust battle’s fight calcs. Degrees of failure are added to final casualty figures, with additional bonus on degree of ten failures from initial charge turn. 1st Company’s repulsion roll’s margin of failure was too small for there to be a degree of failure added, but withdrawing artillery support from 3rd means that their roll failed by four degrees, adding four degrees to the casualty figure if they lose combat. If they win, however, the reinforcing armor adds one degree to their damage to the opponent. If this seems confusing, don’t worry too much about it, just explaining how the math’ll work.

>TL;DR roll me up to 3 sets of 2d100, bigger is better.

Rolled 18, 4 = 22 (2d100)

>>2482322

Rolled 76, 25 = 101 (2d100)

>>2482322

Rolled 52, 4 = 56 (2d100)

>>2482326
>>2482329
Mediocre.

>>2482322

>>2482331

Sadly, everyone but mine was worse. Welp... is Hilda dead?

Rolled 76, 100 - 15 = 161 (2d100 - 15)

RIP in fucking piss 3rd Company.
Well, unless these rolls for the attackers are something truly awe inspiring.

>>2482338
>Rolled 76, 100 - 15 = 161 (2d100 - 15)
>Well, unless these rolls for the attackers are something truly awe inspiring.
Truly, they were.

Rolled 7, 6 + 5 = 18 (2d10 + 5)

>>2482338
I really should have shut my fat mouth.
Anyways each d10 (and 5) is the casualties for 1st and 3rd respectively. 1st's difference between them and their enemy, 49 to 61, is a degree of failure of 1, so the 1st Company takes one more hit over them. 3rd had a penalty of 4, plus another of 8 (11 to 100), so they'll be taking 12 (!) more hits in addition to the d10+5.

>>2482336
Hilda's not with 3rd Company, so she's probably comparatively fine.

>>2481520
>>Rolled 53, 5, 80 = 138 + 10 = 148 - 1st Company Failure by degree of 4
>>Rolled 33, 66, 77 = 176 +30 =206 – 2nd Company Success by degree of 1
>>Rolled 27, 97, 29 = 153 +10 = 163 – 3rd Company Failure by degree of 2
What was the enemy's rolls?

>>2482362
No rolls for that, flat DC of 190 to keep them from getting into assault. If it succeeded, they didn't get to have this round; which is what happened for you and 2nd Company, the enemy got thrown back without much if any damage to you.

>>2482352
>49 to 61,
>plus another of 8 (11 to 100),
Does the 3rd's enemy have any penalties like the 1st?

>>2482397
You're right, you're right, I mucked it up. Good catch.

Editing.

File: tcq_updatedbattalioncount.png (627 KB, 1300x1114)

627 KB PNG

The first thing that set you off was Von Neubaum’s muted remark.

“Oh. Damn.”

Not a good thing to hear out of anybody. “Hans! Battalion net!”

Your radioman switched the nets, and no good news came over the radio, as the rest of the battalion reported their misfortune.

“J-Judge damn me, they’re…reverse! Go back!” 3rd Company’s discipline had crumbled, but unlike 1st Company, the enemy didn’t catch the leadership this time. “Hhh…hhh…where’s A platoon? They’re…damn, damn, they’re not supposed to be there..!”

“Status!” you barked instinctively, “Immediately!”

“There’s a huge breach in the lines, ah, damn, damn,” 3rd Company whimpered, “Our infantry’s gone…Blues’re all we got. Damn, oh damn…”

1st Company responded with significantly less despair, “Holding! But…I don’t know for how long, they got stuck in, and I dunno if we can dig them out.”

Damnation, and damnation upon that! Your teeth ground against one another; a temporary setback. Your men would not falter at the final hour!

“Hey, Gitt’s kid. Or whatever.” You heard Illger, and wondered why. He continued; “We’re fine. Illger the Cockroach, you hear? We can pull this out. Iron Hawgs.”

“Are you fucking nuts!?” Came 3rd Company’s reply, “Fuck yourself! We need all the help!”

Illger seemed oddly confident…

>Make tactical decisions now:
>Current troops available to 2nd Company are your platoon (minus reinforcements sent to 3rd, but plus Bat Company), 2 tank platoons, one minus one tank, and three platoons of White Eyes. It’s recommended to at least leave half your troops to prevent any exploitation of a gap that would form.
>Current Battalion Estimate pictured here as well, for visual idea of rough numbers.
-----
>Reinforce 1st Company?
>Reinforce 3rd Company?
And
>Illger insists the situation that seems a disaster, up north, isn’t as bad as it seems, for some reason. Should you trust him and commit any reinforcements south, or keep lines maintained?
The current objective, really, is just to survive, so options are…sort of open! After any decisions are made here, there’ll be a second round of combat like earlier. Well, hopefully not exactly like earlier, but you get the idea.

The casualty was only a difference of 1, but, well, it's the principle of the matter.

File: tcq_townbattle10_crater.png (615 KB, 1300x1114)

615 KB PNG

Also, map of the currently known (or at least approximated) situation; there are still lines, and fighting, but that might not last, depending on what happens next.

>>2482408
>“Hey, Gitt’s kid. Or whatever.” You heard Illger, and wondered why. He continued; “We’re fine. Illger the Cockroach, you hear? We can pull this out. Iron Hawgs.”
>>2482409
Where are the Iron Hogs on this map? What do the colors for the units mean?

>>2482408
>Send Ilger, 1 tank platoon,1 WE platoon and our tank with its terrifying MG to reinforce the 3rd
>Send Bat Company to take command of the 1st. I feel like with some better leadership they can hold or even strike back.
>If Honnrieg manages to coordinate such a feat, 1st can retreat a bit while suppressing and fixing the dug-in enemy, so that the fort guns can freely hit the "stuck in" enemy.

>>2482416
Iron Hogs are with 3rd Company, 3rd Armor. They aren't marked specifically since there's only two of them.

As for the unit markers themselves, dark grey are Death Heads, Brown is Republic, White is White Eyes, dull-dark blue is your people from Strossvald, and lighter blue is Blue Barbs. As per illustrated up here: >>2482408

Part of why Illger isn't shown directly on the map there; the greys would be too similar for a small unit, probably should have used something else for Death Heads, maybe black with white outlines. Oh well.

>>2482408
Shift half of 2A and BC to reinforce 3C. I dont want Bat Company to rely solely on Blue Barbs for support, so hopefully sending half of 2A and the T-8 for close support will be enough to stop any breakthrough.
Maintain artillery on 1C.

>>2482408
>>Illger insists the situation that seems a disaster, up north, isn’t as bad as it seems, for some reason. Should you trust him and commit any reinforcements south, or keep lines maintained?
Unless the Iron Hogs can pull out some stuff we didn't see before, I don't see any DCs altered.
Artillery would do better if maintained on one area.

Is 2nd company going to face another wave?

>>2482422
+1. So 2/3 out of 1/2 necessary units are retained.
Have units prepare explosives if areas or buildings need to be evacced?

>>2482422
>>Send Ilger, 1 tank platoon,1 WE platoon and our tank with its terrifying MG to reinforce the 3rd
>>2482423
Illger's already with 3rd company.

>>2482422
>>2482456
Supporting.
Also I think we can trust Illger for the simple fact that otherwise he'll be overrun with the rest of 3rd Coy if he's wrong.
And hopefully Hilda can find that lost platoon. With probably being the biggest battle around the nosie should let them know where they need to go.

“Hold what you can,” you told 3rd Company, “I’m coming with reinforcements. Our lines won’t fall if I can help it at all. 2nd Company, I’m taking one armor, one infantry platoon with my people. Will you manage?”

“Gee, Kommandant, I figured we warranted a bit more faith than thath.” 2nd Company’s commander was haughty, confident; he had done quite well in the dust storm battle, and your presence must have bolstered his confidence far above his fellows.

“Very well then. 1st Company, I’m sending you reinforcements as well. They’ll take command of your defense when you arrive.”

As 1st Company’s uneasy affirmation came, you had Hans switch channels and relay this new change in order of battle to the platoon, and Captain Honnrieg. His reaction to the new command was about what could be expected.

“There won’t be trouble for long.”

Were it that you could say the same for when you arrived at 3rd Company’s disaster area.

Before setting out, you directed 2nd Company to do their best to rig traps, in case a second attack came for them. The first assault had been driven off before any emergency use of the slingbombs had been required, but a pile of high explosives wasn’t much good in your situation if they weren’t being used. It was an easier request than earlier; the force that had been focused on skirmishing beforehand had been the attackers too, and in drawing back to lick their wounds they had left 2nd Company well enough alone for some welcome to be prepared for the next visit.

“How are we for ammunition, Hans?” you asked your radio operator turned bow gunner. By your reckoning, a lot of the 13mm ammunition had been shot off in the last engagement.

“Got more from grouch’s tank after the storm,” Hans said, “So plenty. Not like they need it, when their gun’s bent n’ busted.”

Some well needed relief, not that it lasted long.

“Enemy, forward!” Stein cried out long before you expected any foes. You’d expected to find some line to reinforce, yet the first thing you found was enemies…

“Engage,” fell flatly from your mouth. “Hans, not you yet. I need to ask Von Neubaum where he is.” Hans made the proper adjustments, and you spoke, “Junior Lieutenant, where are you and your accompanying tank in this mess?”

Von Neubaum’s response, dry as ever despite all of this, thankfully came quickly. “With some of the grubby looking people. A battlefield is a strange place for a homeless shelter, but I suppose some have to make do.”

Von Metzeler either was paying attention to something else or contained himself as battle was engaged in once more.

Progress was simple, but slow. The enemy, for all their tenacity in breaking through, were not coming through in sufficient numbers to be able to stand up to a combined attack from two armor platoons and one infantry. Enemies would be spotted, everybody stopped, only for the foe to slip away after a shot or two. Eventually the forces not a direct part of your platoon ceased stopping altogether, and you weren’t about to correct their behavior, but soon you’d be coming up on the former front lines, if your guess was right; and the Death Heads would be there in force indeed.

“Kommandant?” Hiedler asked in a space where you were listening to the Battalion net, “The Fort’s reporting something headed our way, fast. Armor, trucks. That’s…bad, is it not?”

“Nah.” Illger’s voice came again, unprompted. “Great thing, actually. Just don’t die, for a bit longer.”

A great thing? Damn it all, when did Illger call for help? “Why didn’t you say anything?” you demanded of the mercenary.

He gave you an answer as if it might have been obvious. “Wasn’t a sure thing. Rough city, don’tcha know.”

That couldn’t be debated, could it, you thought sullenly. Sullenness turned quickly to alertness as a firebottle crashed into the ground in front of you, scattering burning bright sludge about, and inviting wild fire in all directions as a battle begun, with few knowing where their opponents were at all…

>Roll up to 3 sets of 2d100, averaged, higher is better. 1st is for 1st, 2nd is for 3rd. 1st has a bonus of +10, and 3rd now has a bonus of +25. Attacker’s dice have a penalty of -10 still.

Rolled 30, 22 = 52 (2d100)

>>2484213

Fuck us

Rolled 17, 76 = 93 (2d100)

>>2484213

Rolled 46, 55 = 101 (2d100)

>>2484213