Night's Black Agents AAR
What is an AAR? AAR stands for After Action Report. A military term, it is a report (not always written) that is compiled after an operation, mission or even war. It is a review of the actions and events that take place with a view to improvement. As such mistakes are laid bare and alternate actions are suggested.
Events in Question: On April 19th the group having been burn listed for uncovering the fact that their bosses being bloodsuckers was not as metaphorical as we would have liked decided to strike back. The chosen method of vengeance had been an attack upon our boss (a VP of Totally Not Black Water) while he was staying at a fancy hotel in Germany. Just him, half a dozen guards and unknown to us another vampire. This was plan B, as the first plan of attacking during an agreed upon met was abandoned due to Victor being ambushed while casing the meet site.
The goal was to capture a high up member of the company to use as leverage to prevent the murder of Daniel's Mother, as well as an information source. The group had no verified information of the weaknesses of the enemy, their goals, or resources. This had to be corrected. Failing that, killing a high up member of the company would be a good counter strike and would help upset the enemy's plans it was felt.
Using the information Victor pulled from the internet, Ron, Daniel and Freddy infiltrated the hotel and proceed to the 8th floor, where we swiftly realized we weren't sure who was in which room. Freddie chose a room at random which happened to have the main target (the VP) within it. The proceeding attempt to quietly stake the vampire was undertaken by Ron. Ron was chosen due to having the highest weapon score, this was a good idea. Ron had a weapon score of 2, this wasn't a good idea. I then rolled a 1 on my attack. This was a very bad idea. The Vampire did not roll a 1 on his attack, nor did Freddie on his flamethrower attack.
During the combat, Daniel would pull back the curtains to see if sunlight would hurt or kill the vampire, the results were inconclusive. Freddie and Ron would use homemade flamethrowers (created by Orin) to much greater effect. Unfortunately this alerted the guards at which point the downhill slide picked up speed. A pair of guards showed up and exchanged fire with Ron and Daniel, causing further injuries. At this point the VP had stopped moving and was doing his best imitation of a bonfire. Allowing the infiltration team to concentrate on the guards, holding the doorway they exchanged fire.
Ron decided that he needed to change the terrain of the battlefield and set one of the doors in the hallway on fire. This triggered the fire alarm and caused guests to flood the halls. At this point Orin, Quentin and the Good Doctor swung into action heading into the hotel. They arrived as a last ditch plan to create more fire failed. Daniel died of a head shot. Swiftly followed by Ron. Orin attempted to use his flamethrowers to herd the guest out of the way for easier shots. This exposed him to enemy fire and he was mowed down. Freddie was killed as well. Quentin realizing there was no escape charged and tackled the second vampire out of a hallway window. The Good Doctor revealed a suicide vest and blew himself up killing everyone.
Sidenote: Special Congratulations to Doc Ben to taking the lead in Nights Black Agent killcount! And to I Ben for most bad ass death yet!
What went right? The infiltration was done nearly expertly with the group penetrating the hotel and smuggling in weapons without a hitch. The extraction team reacted well to changing circumstances and displayed virtues of loyalty and bravery instead of fleeing to the Ukraine. Causing the fire alarms to go off to create additional chaos and confusion was also a good plan that just didn't pan out.
What went wrong? We did not arrive with a plan to subdue the vampire that we could reasonably carry out, we carried out the mission with incomplete information and we did not utilize the tools available to us in a game winning manner. The teams depended to heavily on improvisation and not enough on teamwork and planning.
Most missions are won or lost before execution, that is true here. There was a failure to use preparation and networking points to gather additional gear and information. The mission was not completely planned. Ron for example had 17 pts of Networking and 8 points of preparation sitting on the table he should have used. I allowed myself to be leery of using Networking due to the fact that the points do not refresh. This was a mistake as the dead spend no points. This applies to any game honestly. Additionally we had no plan for if the staking didn't work and it showed as one bad dice roll pretty much made everything fall apart. Future missions should not be carried out without the proper gear and skills and further care should be take to ensure all relevant data is gathered beforehand.
During the mission the infiltration team had chances to flee but did not take them. They did not properly coordinate their attacks or defenses. The extraction team did not work as a team but as individuals which led to their rapid destruction. While their loyalty did them credit, it is to be considered that the extraction team would still be alive if they had been willing to scrub the mission and walk away. Both teams should have been more willing to cut their loses and concentrate on escape if survival was the primary goal. Although it should be noted with the 2nd vampire on scene, it is possible that flight was simply beyond the teams at that point.
"it takes two sides to end a war but only one to start one. And those who do not have swords may still die upon them." Tolken
