An intriguing things that’s developed in our (relatively new) BoB campaign: they scored the Special Mission on the Western Front where they rescue The Contessa and her retinue. She hasn’t been in a new mission, but losses in other missions mean the Marshall has elected to ‘decommission’ the Silver Stags and transfer the two surviving Troopers to other units, so now there are 5 Legion Units and the Contessa’s Guard.
Looking forward to seeing what the story does to bring them fully into The Legion, or not! It’s definitely a twist to have the Legion’s problem being too many Troopers.
It certainly makes room for interesting drama. In my game, rookies take pride in their squad and its history, so I imagine many in the Legion would resent the Marshall for doing this. Also, it would be interesting to explore where the Guards’ loyalty truly lies: with the mercenaries they just joined or with the Contessa? How does the Contessa feel about this? How do the other squads treat the Guards (eg do they tend to ‘forget’ them come meal time, aggressive hazing, etc)? The surviving Silver Stags would certainly fan the flames as much as they can.
As a GM, I would impose a -1D to the Guards’ engagement rolls until the Marshall addresses this. Then you get a great potential for a squad-specific arc, possibly from half-heartedly joining an outfit that doesn’t like them, to proving their worth and possibly embrace what the Legion stands for? Or, maybe they’ll desert, abandon the Legion at the worst possible time.
The Legion’s inner relationships and dynamic is something we love exploring in our game. Our Legion’s adversity comes as much from inside as it comes from outside. Plus, it makes the Marshall’s game really interesting because they have to figure out how to resolve conflicts in a way that maintains morale. Fun stuff!
Nah, an Engagement Roll penalty is extremely harsh for what amounts to some interesting fictional positioning. I’ll definitely ask about how this situation affects Back at Camp scenes, push on creating clocks related to it as consequences, and generally remind them it’s an unusual situation, but I’m not going to impose an arbitrary penalty when they fully succeeded on that Mission.
(Like, if they get a -1 to Engagement rolls off the bat, they just won’t ever use them, and that’s way less interesting than the other thing, where using them generates interesting fiction that a regular squad wouldn’t.)
I see your point, but I don’t think it’s harsh or arbitrary. There is an existing penalty for lack of trust in leadership and I would apply it directly as a result of a choice of the marshal, so it’s not arbitrary in the sense of being random or based on a personal whim. I would also add that it’s not tied to succeeding the mission: the marshal could have integrated at least some of the new recruits into the Silver Stags. They went a step further, once the mission was completed and after its benefits were awarded, to give the new recruits a squad of their own at the cost of decommissioning a long-standing squad in which Legionnaires had lived, fought, and died for years. I mean, speaking from the perspective of the rank and file, these guys had to be saved by the Legion and they get their own squad - named after them - the next day? And how humiliating it must be for the two remaining SS and puzzling to other Legionnaires to see the story of the Silver Stags abruptly end in the annals in what amounts to … a HR decision?
To me, it’s a huge deal and would warrant the -1D engagement penalty in addition to impacting other stuff, like Back to Camp scenes, when relevant and cool. Maybe I would not give the penalty to the Guards themselves, but to another squad that would have taken it especially badly, like the one that got the remaining 2 SS. It would give enough of an incentive to remind the players that their actions have consequence and to do something to address it in BtC, missions, or free play.
The harshness depends on how easy you make it to get rid of the penalty, I suppose. As for not using the squad in mission, it’s their choice and a valid one. It’s not a debilitating one given that there are other squads available. Eventually, they’ll run out of ways to sweep their problems under the rug this way and have to address it. You may have point in that it could be fairer to create a clock that would eventually lead to the -1D engagement penalty, and thus provide more time for the marshal to see problems coming.
More importantly, it’s not my game, it’s yours, so that means that as far as your table is concerned, I’m wrong and you’re right
