The Story Battle Day

I'm late, but here nonetheless! This post is what I envision for new players on their first story battle day. This will only depict player driven battles, but Officer of Game (OG) led battles will be present throughout the game.

Two weeks and you're all ready for the next game. You're better prepared for the check-in procedure, but you feel left out of the loop since you cannot yet take monthly actions. You finish checking in and see that there is a board with company names on it and times as well as field hex names. You're not sure what to make of it, and ask the nearest OG what's going on on the board. She tells you that the board is to organize the events of the day. Each company and player submitted monthly actions, and these battles are the result of those monthly actions. They may have surveyed a hex with ruins or bandits on it, they may have attacked a group, or been attacked by a group. You're worried you won't get to play since you have yet to ally with a company or even have a  monthly action to use. She assuages your worries telling you that players not part of the companies in question can still play in those battles and most if not all companies will pay a small fee to have players join them to represent the mercenaries they hired to protect their assets or attack others'.

You're still confused, but feel better that you will be playing today. The first group on the board has a large engagement with another group. It will take place on the hex with a creek running through it. An hour after the check-in starts an OG announces the first game between two companies you don't know yet. The head officers of both companies get up to the front of the group alongside the OG announcing and both bid 1 bank note (BN) up front for volunteers and 1 BN for winning. The attacker declares it will attack with 100 mercenaries and 10 special ops NPCs, as well as their characters on the hex. The defender declares it will defend with 50 mercenaries. The OG asks that those supporting the defender line up in front of him, and those supporting the attacker to line up in front of her, last those who just wish to fight to line up between the first two groups. The largest line lays in the middle, those who just want to fight; but between the two supporting lines, the defenders are favored. The OG, trying to get as many players into the game, takes the middle line and adds it to the attackers, since they are proportionally capable of running more players at a time. You placed yourself in the middle line, since you didn't know enough about the companies to support them. He places you with the attackers.

The OG finds that the attacking side can use 40 players, and the defender 20. The Attacker may count 1 player as a special operator per every 10 players counting as standard mercenaries. so she deploys 37 players as mercenaries and 3 as special operators. Thus the proportionality of players reflects the mercenaries on both sides attacking and defending.

The OG then requests reactions by the defender, who states they will stand and defend. Then the OG asks the attacker if she will use the Spec Ops to outflank, which she states she will. Now since the battlefield is chosen, the armies made, and the battle ready, each side starts off to their spawn zones on the battlefield. The OG tells them they have 10 minutes from now to plan, after which an air horn will blare and the game is on. You follow the band of attackers as they make their plans with an OG who has a ticker and a chart of information on the army attacking.

The creek is crossed by 3 bridges and so they divide their attacking force into 3 groups of 12. You are part of the far left group. As represented by the gear they have available to the mercenaries attacking the defenders, each player playing as a mercenary has a rifle (non-repeater), and a knife. One in each group has 1 grenade. The special operators each have a repeater rifle, a knife, and a distortion generator which allows them to ignore any shot made by a player not wearing distortion canceling goggles. Those who did not have the proper equipment are given on loan that equipment from the company responsible for the attack, which includes the 3 grenades. Since you are just playing a mercenary, you have that basic equipment already which is a knife and a basic rifle. The ammunition is restricted to 100 bb's per mercenary. The head officer of the company you fight for gave the OG in charge of the battle 100 ammunition vouchers in exchange for 100 premeasured bags of biodegradable bb's.

The attackers have their own company members play their characters, since they were part of the group that attacked and not elsewhere in AP. They lead each group, except for the Spec Ops that are now running to get in place in their spawn zone, which is adjacent to the defender's spawn zone. The commanding players of the attacking company organize each of their attack groups. You are told to follow a man carrying a shield generator and do as he says. The other two groups take positions further down the spawn zone of the attackers.

The horn blares a minute afterwards and the attackers move in on the creek. Your leader heads the group, keeping it close to the far right of the battlefield's hexagonal border. You spot the defenders through the light brush, they have divided their forces into three groups, each taking positions 20 yards ahead of each bridge. Each group has a player toting a maxim gun, which takes a knee behind cover and counts to ten, before laying down suppressive fire against the attackers. This includes your group as you use the brush to cover your moves towards the furthest bridge. Now 50 yards away, you and your team makes start taking shots at the maxim gun operator covering the bridge you intend to take.

Looking down the field you see that both other groups on your side have taken up the same distance of engagement and are shooting at the defenders. If the battle continues like this, you think, then it will take up the full hour and force the attackers to use another month trying to defeat the defenders in this hex. Then your group leader orders your group to run for cover closer to the defenders matching your assault group after getting a nod from the head officer in the middle group. You then see the Spec Ops players getting into position on the far right side of the group you are matched up against. The player leading your group tells your group to charge when he gives a hand signal to the Spec Ops. His hand goes up in the air and you and the outflankers take the defenders by two sides. The defenders were expecting the Spec Ops, but can't shoot at them because of the distortion generators. it distracts a couple of the defenders and causes pause for the maxim gun operator. This is the opening your group needs as they charge for the brush flanking the bridge.

 A few of your squad mates lays down some covering fire as you and the rest of the group take the closest cover to the bridge. At the same time, the charging spec ops characters hit the deck as they lay down fire against the defenders. with two different angles of attacking fire the defenders buckle and retreat towards the center of the field. You and your squad mates take this opportunity to take shots at the defenders. only 2 survive to meet with the center group.

Hah! cliffhanger.