I quickly worked out that the Soviet forces to the northwest Kalisz-Sieradz road, together with the destroyed bridges of the Warta River, form an impassible boundary to the north forcing the players southwards – the scenario even suggests to the GM that this is pointed out to the players explicitly. So I'd actually recommend moving out of the area as quickly as possible, bypassing the whole starter adventure as much as possible...
Escape from Kalisz Starting Positions
The players are forced to flee *southwards*.
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| Escape from Kalisz booklet excerpt (in media res player starting positions) |
- 1st position, D6 is just 5km inside the northwestern edge of the woods between Kepno and Zloczew, near the point where the tree line bends sharply north (marked on the map with a blue star), about 1 period (4 hours) travel southeast of Kalisz.
- 2nd position, D3 is a potentially more concealed location (marked with a green star), deep in the woods between Ostrow and Ostrzeszow, within striking distance of the road convoys travelling along the road to and from the Soviet-occupied city of Opole.
For simplicity, the starting time is 0800 hours, 19th July 2000 and their vehicle’s fuel tanks are assumed to now be empty, their engines are set to ethanol and requiring conversion to use methanol (unless the vehicle is a multi-fuel variant).
Unless the party has thought to purchase and carry additional fuel, they must spend the next three days lying low and distilling more alcohol before moving again. Although exact locations of the Soviet forces will not be known, the fleeing US elements will be well aware that the victorious forces will begin searching for them quickly.
It is *strongly* recommended that the party possess additional fuel reserves.
*Spoilers below!*
Day 1
Assuming the party do however stay in one place, the 1st position D6 will be discovered readily by the scouting elements of the reformed Polish 10th Guards Tank Division within a few days. The 2nd position D3, while initially appearing more secure is well within reach of the probes of the battlegroups of the Soviet 12th Guards Tank Division patrolling along the northeastern edge of the woods (Escape from Kalisz Scenario booklet, page 2).
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| Map A: Referee Map Detail of SW Kalisz Area (excerpt from Escape from Kalisz booklet) |
If the group has extra fuel, moving further into the woods is probably the best initial option – moving for even a single period (4 hours) from either position will provide further breathing space until the forces regroup enough to organise a formal search but will trigger a mandatory encounter. Roll on the “Wood” column of the revised Encounter Chart from "Twilight Encounters" and subtract 1 for a party starting from the default location then roll on the “Disputed Territory” column to generate the details. It is quite possible that any Patrol, Large Unit or Stragglers Group encountered may be fellow survivors of the US 5th Division, but that does not necessarily guarantee that they will be friendly.
If the party travels either due south or southwest respectively for 2 time periods through the comparatively lightly occupied wooded section of the map, this will be enough to leave the detail map area completely and effectively ending the introductory adventure by Day 2!
For a party starting from the alternative western point D3, a small Military Convoy encounter along the road is strongly recommended (12-24 people, motor vehicles, generated otherwise using the Twilight encounters updated rules). The lack of visibility provided by the woods means the two groups almost run into each other (Encounter Distance: 1d10 x 10 metres; RCN:ESY for both groups as moving unless the party stops to lie in wait near the road), provoking an early interaction with Soviet forces and a possible chase if clearly outnumbered. There is the potential of obtaining much-needed supplies and/or an additional unarmored vehicle if the party can prevail. Any successful strike will draw attention to the group once the destroyed convoy is discovered by the next convoy or a patrol from Ostrow looking for the overdue convoy.
See the map segment below for the orientation of the inset maps:
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| Relative Position of Inset Maps in Poland (modified from Escape from Kalisz) |
This may be appealing if the players wish to simply leave the area as rapidly as possible without attempting to damage the still disrupted Soviet and Polish forces in the area, allowing for a more unstructured post-apocalyptic feel to the start of the campaign.
- If the party leaves southwest off-map past Sycow, generate encounters according to the terrain type as if they were travelling through "Devastated" territory if they leave through the southwest edge near Olesnica, travelling towards the ruins of Wroclaw and until they cross the Oder into "Organised" lands. This direction moves them out of the area covered by the various "Krakow Trilogy" modules and into an undetailed sandbox campaign. The rail-line to Poznan now becomes accessible - although the characters will, of course, need to find a train...
- If they move off the southern edge past Praszka into the Marauder held lands around Olesno, roll on the "Terrorized" territory column. They have now entered Map B: "NE Silesia", part of the region detailed in the sometimes optional The Black Madonna adventure supplement, potentially providing them with a "softer" introductory adventure to the "Krakow Trilogy" if they manage to connect with Captain Molly Warren's B-Troop in their new-found home of Dobrodzien (page 28)...
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| Map B: Referee Map Detail of NE Silesia Area (excerpt from The Black Madonna) |
Day 2
And so might an alternate Twilight 2000 campaign begins...
Addit: just found this blog (defunct since 2013 sadly) that is composed mainly of a decent in-character play report of the first few days play of an Escape from Kalisz scenario, in this post "Kalisz and All Points After...". The group follows a similar strategy to my suggestion above.
Next post - "B Troop" Alternate Start
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