Module Suitability Review - Urban Guerilla

Image taken from Twilight: 2000 Wiki, IP is GDW/FFE

Urban Guerilla is described as an "adult" adventure where "..the dragon eats the fair maiden and has his way with the knight in shining armor." Victory is described as simply "..striking one more spark of resistance in the teeth of the New American hurricane.."

I must say, it delivers. Urban Guerilla came out when I was in the 7th Grade, and I read this adventure from cover to cover many times. Everybody wore grey hats. The New Americans were engaged in a subtle and nasty piece of genocide against their own population of Seconds and Thirds, and manipulated them through terror and "false-flag" attacks. But, the worst part? The resistance is fragmented, weak, and unable to do more than sting the New Americans here and there. Some of their actions could be seen as little more than terror itself, justifications aside, this adventure has a lot of grey.

Uglier than that bit of depressing news, New America is being made to work by a woman whose ideological corner-cutting is the only thing making this enclave successful. Were New American rule to collapse without a viable alternative ready to move in? Yeah, I think we all know that answer.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: My comments should in no way be taken as any endorsement of New America or any real-life organization that shares their goals. Just stating some very unfortunate post-apocalyptic realities, namely that power abhors a vacuum.)

The adventure does a very good job at giving us a look at how New America functions..the bit about the "classification test" was very well done..and a bit creepy. Thomas Mulkey hit this one out of the park, in my opinion.

All of the subplots weave together well, such as the captured documents and the unfortunate courier at the beginning, the leader of the enclave..and her teenage daughter, the psychotic head of security, who has sent for an assassin to deal with his apostate boss, and the small matter of a father and daughter who are on opposite sides of the dirty war unfolding in South Florida, and a little boy caught in the middle.  Then there is the casual corruption and the endless wars of "urban renewal" that lead to the deaths of thousands of ill-equipped Seconds and Thirds..and a potential rebellion in the ranks.

What a tangled web it truly is...but how does it translate well to a miniatures game?

Skirmish Games

To be honest, this is where Urban Guerilla shines, a lot of potential scenarios for rules like Black Ops can be found here, and there is a lot of mission fodder, some ideas include:

• Smuggling the daughter of the enclave leader, and her boyfriend out to Milgov where they can be debriefed.
• Rescuing the son of the leader of the clandestine resistance, and avoiding the New American trap they've set for just such an attempt.
• Performing a prisoner snatch to grab a New American soldier and getting the results of an interrogation out.
• Stopping a coup against the current leader of the New American enclave on the principle that the alternative could be far, far worse.

Larger Battles

There isn't a lot here for larger fights, but there are some possibilities, One of the best I can think of gaming out a popular revolt against the New Americans, particularly if it's in the confusion of a coup by the traditionalists who are unhappy with the current leaders "shenanigans". 

This has a lot going for it, and if done right, it could also make a good backdrop for some smaller battles as well. So all in all, there is something here, as there are some large forces arrayed against the New Americans (the Seminoles come to mind), and they just need something to unify them...

Next time, we'll be discussing King's Ransom. I accidentally skipped it as I have been trying to go in order of stock numbers, oh well. I promise I will discuss it and like always, there will be a lot of possibilities there.

So, have fun till then!