Task Group Michigan – Campaign Notes #0. Before the Module: Briefing the Team – Commander’s Intent

This is a suggested briefing for the Recon Team that will be involved in “Liberation at Riverton”

“OK, people.  Thank you for coming”

“In case you didn’t know, I am the Regional Group Leader for Task Group Michigan.  You’re here today so that you can understand my… and the Project’s…intentions for Reconstruction in Michigan.  You’ll be doing Recon in the lower peninsula, so we’ll concentrate on that”

“First of all, I want you to remember the old Real Estate slogan ‘Location, Location, Location’.  Michigan has a LONG shoreline and access to 4 of the 5 Great Lakes.   This will be of major importance for communication and transport.  So… we will need to know about surviving port facilities and any functioning shipyards”

“Second… we’ll want you to check out the economy and resources. Obviously, Michigan’s most famous for making cars and trucks – but it also produces a lot of timber products.   Incidentally, your equipment will include details on producing Wood Gasifiers.  You may find that this will be useful for areas that don’t have liquid fuel .  ALSO… Michigan’s lower peninsula has several oil and gas fields.  They’re not huge and mostly rely on the “Nodding Donkeys”.  However, we’ll need something that produces fuel and lubricants.  I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn that one of the Task Group caches is essentially a drill and small refinery.  We need you to tell us where to operate”

“Third… surviving government.   I’m not optimistic about Detroit’s chances but it might be worth a look in that direction – if only for scrap metal.   Lansing…and the State legislature should also be investigated.  I suspect that it’ll be a target.   But, again, it might be worth looking at  Remember… the Project wants to work with Federal and State government ”

“Fourth…surviving military and security.  Michigan has several military bases.  Some of them are pretty big.  Maybe big enough to survive after being attacked.  Camp Grayling, for instance.  Lots of terrain.  Dozens of armored vehicles and it even has some experimental ‘green’ power generation systems.  Mostly solar, and wind .  Even if the original garrison does not survive… SOMEONE is going to be poking around the place and we’ll need to know about it.  I would also like to know the current condition of the Michigan State Police.  They have a good reputation for dealing with Disasters”

“Fifth…surviving Educational and Scientific assets.   By this I mean everything from people to facilities.  For example, experts in training nurses or  the Michigan University’s cyclotron.”

“OK.  Those are my priorities.  Any questions?”

 

First impressions of the 4th edition

I finally decided to purchase the new edition of The Morrow Project and to be more productive on this site

So how does this differ from 3rd edition?

1. SIZE!  This book is big (hardcover and over 300 pages)

2.  The artwork is prettier.

But let’s look at the game rules

3. Percentage-based? Check.   But there’s a clever way of dealing with criticals

4. Blood points and Structure points. Check. Some slight changes in layout and explanation

Background..

5.  TEOTWAWKI occurs in 2017.  A world war is triggered by panic over resources and an incoming asteroid.

6. Bruce Morrow averted the 3rd edition’s 1989 war.  Presumably this could be regarded as something like the ‘Star Trek’ reboot.

Equipment

7. Most of the changes seem to be in weaponry.  Glock pistols, M16 rifles, HK submachine gun and the Barett 50 calibre “sniper rifle”.  However, there are some new vehicles (electric bikes and variants of the HMMWV)

Character creation

8. Very detailed .  It reminded me of the GDW system or perhaps “Millennium’s End”.  Career paths, college degrees and so on

Other Stuff that’s GONE

The Blue Undead are gone.  The huge list of weaponry carried by every vehicle is gone (PD is encouraged to pick a sensible loadout).  The Science One no longer has an amphibious ATV – and the Airscout now runs on liquid fuel.

THINGS I LIKE

The equipment lists include stuff that might have been overlooked (wristwatch in the basic gear, for instance).

The background details are open for customization (size of the Project for instance)

The Encounter Groups have slightly more detail

There is greater detail on the planning

THINGS I DON’T LIKE

These are very minor and easily fixable.  For example, some of the new Encounter Groups seem unnecessary – but your tastes may differ.

Armour and blunt trauma.  The rules on “blunt” damage are unclear.  For example, the examples on page 91 and 100 for blunt trauma give very different results.  Page 93 gives us yet another complexity!  Flexible armour only protects at half its rated value for blunt trauma?   What?  Why not just list it at half?  Personally, I shall assume that the page 100 example is correct and I’ll ignore that “half protection” sentence on page 93

I have never been convinced that the Project needed 3 types of pistol (in 3 calibres) and now there are 4 more handguns and 2 new calibres: 45LC and 410 shot.

DISCLAIMER: my name appears in the list of “additional authors/contributors”