Module Suitability Review - Rook's Gambit

Cover image is taken from Drivethru RPG, IP is GDW/FFE

Well, here we are. The last of the v1 adventures, Rook's Gambit. This adventure, by Alf Bergstrom, aka Raelleus on the Twilight: 2000 forums, is a pretty straightforward adventure, and one that tells an interesting "side story" of Going Home. Namely, a vengeful, and ambitious Soviet General (whose war record up till now reads like someone applying to the Douglas Haig Memorial Staff College), has gotten the bright idea (no pun intended) to use a captured American ADM (Atomic Demolition Munition) to destroy the concentration of American troops in and around Bremerhaven. The repercussions of such an action are well, staggering, to say the least, and the DIA has recruited a "crack" team (the player characters) to go in, disable or capture the nuke, and kill the good general before he touches off an even worse nuclear exchange. The adventure itself is available for sale as a PDF for $2.99 on DrivethruRPG.com.

The side plots, involving the Polish Free Legion are fun, and the chase to "get the McGuffin" are classic Twilight: 2000. as well as the sandbox nature of the adventure (there's multiple options for the ref to get the bomb to Bremerhaven). I love the inclusion of the castle as well, it's a nice touch, and frankly, I think it's better carried off than Castle by the Sea, but that's just me (Not a big V2 fan, but 2.2 had a lot of promise).

But how does this do as miniatures fodder?

Skirmish Gaming

For a skirmish game, Rook's Gambit does well for inspiration. The mission to sneak in and assassinate the General/steal the nuke is enough to make a very good Black Ops/Skirmish Sangin game. Furthermore, what makes it loads of fun is the castle, the amount of 15mm or 28mm castles out there to be used for a game like this are plenty, and it does give the game a whole "James Bond assaulting the evil overlord's lair" sort of feel.

Some other ideas include?

• Intercepting the nuke if it's already been sent out, either raiding the airfield, or shooting up the SSM, or waylaying the Spetsnaz team (The last is my particular fave), all of them would make excellent Skirmish Sangin/Black Ops fodder.
• Fighting out the 1st Polish Free Legion's "civil war", the numbers involved lend themselves to be more of a skirmish game, perhaps even a campaign. Force on Force would do pretty well here.
• An interesting what if? What if the Soviet KGB or GRU got wind of this little plan? Might they in willing cooperation with the Army (probably a first for the Soviet Union) go in and crush this mutinous nutcase before he does too much damage? And what if some American "free-lancers" got mixed up in it all? Yes, has the makings of a good Force on Force game, no?

Larger Games

The trouble with doing larger games is that the Soviet general is commanding a paper force. He has a frontal HQ and some assets at his disposal, but no major combat formations, so honestly, were there forces available to go crush him, it probably wouldn't last long. Unfortunately, he has just enough gear available to deliver the nuke. The rest, well, that's academic. But, sadly, for a large scale game, it's not really all THAT possible...but you could pull a what-if? Suppose our general makes some promises he should not have to a certain exiled marauder warlord that some American stragglers recently kicked the hell out of in Warsaw? And he has an army...and some murderous ambition of his own?

Well, that's it for now. It's post #60 everyone! Where do we go from here? Well, I have some book reviews I promised, some products I have been meaning to talk about, and there's enough coming down the pipe to discuss. Rest assured. I'll be keeping the flame for everyone, so as long as you keep reading, I will keep writing. 

ADDENDUM: I want to thank the TGN Blog Network for adding "500 Miles.." to their ranks. It's awesome to be a part of something like this, and it's nice to be recognized a bit.