Rear Echelon Commandos - Recap and Review

Combat!

Season 1 Episode 2: Rear Echelon Commandos

In this episode the primary player characters involved are…sort of...Saunders, Caje, and Kirby.

At the opening, Caje follows Saunders into a barn where cows and soldiers rest. Saunders drops his equipment belt, and collapses with fatigue to sit on the floor. Littlejohn gets the first line. The news is that they’re getting three new men. Hooray! NPCs to soak up damage, or are they going to be regular player characters?

Kirby introduces the three newcomers as each having two years of rear echelon experience: a cook, a physical fitness instructor, and a disc jockey. As Saunders shakes down the new guys, we learn the physical fitness instructor was actually a ballet dancer (played by Tim Considine of Disney fame). Disc jockey claims that he’ll be back in London in two weeks. He’s definitely got obnoxious NPC written all over him; he’ll probably be at the center of the story in this adventure scenario. The cook is just very fearful.

The introductions have been made, it’s time for the opening credits and a messenger from the DM with the mission objective. Instead, of a messenger, the DM does a role-play lead-in. Saunders complains to Hanley, who is now a lieutenant, and seems to be washing T-shirts. 

Saunders says that the replacements won’t last a week. Hanley, perhaps still remembering Hazel and the French girl from the first episode, assigns Saunders to take out a recon patrol of six men the following afternoon. When Saunders argues that he can’t find six men who can stand, let alone go on patrol, the Lt. tells him to take two men plus the three replacements. The DM is running the Lt. tonight…and no good comes from arguing with the DM.

 The Sgt. runs the three through grenade drills. Disc jockey is full of attitude and nearly blows himself and the Sgt. to bits when he fumbles a grenade. Saunders' quick reaction prevents catastrophe. Instead of contrition, Disc jockey gives Saunders a heaping helping of attitude. 

It looks like Saunders is about to roll the dice on the non-gentle persuasion table when Caje interrupts the little tête-à-tête. The Lt. wants him; they’re moving out.

Saunders is to take the patrol, using an inaccurate map, to the destination, find out if the Germans have left a certain town, and report back. Hanley gives them specific instructions not to engage the enemy; the mission is for recon only. We know that instruction is going to go down like the Prime Directive an encounter with Captain Kirk; there will be an engagement with the enemy.

Caje takes a moment to tell Ballet not to worry too much about getting killed. Ballet says it’s killing others that he’s worried about. I sense a future moment when Ballet will be faced with the difficult choice of killing the enemy, possibly saving the lives of the others on the patrol. Saunders follows up with Ballet. He learns that Ballet comes from a family of cops where shooting others and getting shot are par for the course; Ballet just doesn’t like it.

I suspect things are about to get interesting when Saunders leads the patrol to a bridge with an overturned motorcycle and sidecar on it. This particular DM loves to throw a bridge into the mix whenever possible--I remember one from the first episode. But it’s a fake-out. There’s no action at the bridge, aside from Disc jockey’s whining. In dungeon parties I’ve seen, Disc jockey might have had an unfortunate accident while crossing the bridge. Not here; these players know their DM too well; they would never get away with it.

The patrol makes it to the town. A nice view from an arch promises some future action at the church seen through the archway--I love that shot. The Sgt. divides his squad into three pairs, with each PC taking an NPC. Saunders takes Disc jockey. Soon enough, we find a bridge in town. I knew it. I knew there would be some action at a bridge.

There’s a lot of goose stepping going on around the town…by actual geese, and they won't stop honking. The Germans are in a building at the end of the street…where Disc jockey was supposed to look, but didn’t. Disc jockey lies to the Sgt. and tells him that he did check the whole street. 

Fortunately, the Germans remain oblivious to the American incursion, being distracted by a basket of kittens. Who knew the Wehrmacht had a secret weakness for kitties?

I love the cinematography here. There are many great shots in this episode featuring unique shadows, lines, and angles. The black and white film really makes these shots fabulous.

Saunders and his patrol reunite in a dress shop--it looks like it's right out of an episode of The Twilight Zone. He assigns them to go through the town, house-by-house, in the same teams as earlier. Before he leaves the shop, Saunders hangs his binoculars case on one of the mannequins in the dress shop. That seems strange; I suspect some German is going to see the case and become suspicious.

Ballet discovers some dead Germans, and fails his saving throw versus inexplicable paralysis. Kirby has to go get him, and drag him back to the dress shop. Caje and the cook end up going back to the dress shop after the cook can’t even climb stairs without stumbling in fear and dropping his rifle. These NPCs are downright annoying. Saunders and Disc jockey also return after the former catches the latter not checking a house; Disc Jockey admits that he never checked the street as he earlier claimed to have done.

Kirby and Caje complain about the replacements. The Sgt. sends Caje back to the bridge outside of town to guard against any German patrols. Saunders figures that if he can’t find Germans in the town, the DM could be sending some to him via the bridge. Nevertheless, he takes Kirby to check the town while the NPCs complain and commiserate in the dress shop.

Naturally, left to their own devices, the DM doesn’t even require the replacements to make a saving throw versus stupidity. Disc jockey builds a fire. Saunders sees the smoke…only moments before the Germans see it. Kirby and Saunders make it back to the dress shop. The Germans have gathered around the machine gun...

like kids around a new View-Master projector. 

(That would be like 3rd graders around a new iPod for a more modern comparison).

The Germans open up; Kirby goes down. Saunders drags him back into the dress shop amid heavy machine gun fire. The Germans soon decide to move to the upper story of the building for a better field of fire against the Americans. Meanwhile, Saunders decides to haul along Disc jockey in an attempt to take out the Germans with grenades.

Saunders has trouble avoiding German fire while keeping Disc jockey on mission. The Sgt. takes a hit, but the damage roll is not bad; it’s a minor wound to the leg. Disc jockey and Saunders are pinned down, unable to move--Saunders by his wound, Disc jockey by his attitude.

The DM, seeing that two PCs are down with wounds, and the other is out guarding against wandering monster attacks, decides to stir things up with more NPC conduct: The cook goes out to help. He doesn’t last long, and is soon doing some water therapy. One NPC out.

The DM doesn’t let that stop things. Send out the next NPC. Ballet makes his move. In a stroke of sheer genius (not), he goes right to where Sanders and Disc jockey are pinned down under enemy fire. When the DM is running the NPCs, they can do whatever the DM wants. Saunders humorously suggests that he blow up the Germans and the machine gun. Ballet agrees to do so.

After ditching his shoes, he uses his unique skills of balancing and jumping—learned in ballet, we assume—to make his way across the rooftops, making all of his saving throws along the way. Disc jockey even gets up and shoots a German who comes outside to take aim at Ballet. Apparently the German on the big machine gun failed his saving throw versus distraction by thoughts of kittens in a basket; he would’ve had a perfect shot at Disc jockey.

Ballet at last gets into position, and sends through the window his warmest regards with suggestions for a complete interior decoration renovation in post modern devastation by hand grenade.

No word on whether any kitties were injured in the episode.

Later...

Back with the rest of the platoon, Kirby is getting his shoulder patched up, and Saunders learns that he’ll be getting 5 new replacements. Ballet and Disc jockey have become soldiers. I was completely wrong in my predictions about the binocular case and action at the church.

It was an episode largely driven by the NPCs; the PCs were just along for the ride. I blame the DM.

Actually, the episode is not a bad look at the difficulties faced by both the veteran soldiers and the replacements. I believe it was in Citizen Soldiers that Stephen Ambrose discussed the resentment or distrust that the veterans often had for the replacements. The veterans knew that the replacements were likely to do something stupid that would get themselves and those near them killed. The replacements had a significantly higher casualty rate than those who had been in combat for several weeks. The veterans didn’t want to form ties with the new guys who likely wouldn’t be around for long. The replacements, lacking both practical training and experience, had to get by with what little direction the experienced men could spare them. They felt unwelcome and vulnerable.

And I just found this link confirming what I just wrote. Kudos to me for remembering as much as I did.