MSG Kone Email

Posted with permission: Per MSG Kone - The below are rough estimates only!

MSG William Kone Emails:

November 13th

Marching Troops: Well since you called me out, I’ll do it. (I would have anyways). The movement between zones will be a follow up email.  A lot to unpack. I’m going to call a friend. 

Opening: 

Coffee: I’m a weird guy in the military, I don’t do coffee. But my Battalion’s Warrant Officer says if you don’t use the same cup for a minimum of 7 years (with out washing) it won’t taste very good. (and never put anything but coffee in the coffee.) It is the only time you see him, is getting coffee.  

It will be interesting to see what Sam Sandersens’ lawyer leaves you message wise. 

Favorite: Patty. Followed by Crutch and BA.  Best Knight? I could play with Dave, he would be easy to manage. Sara is too devious and manipulative.  Early Brian is a jerk. I’ve played with jerks far to much. Now days, Brian is getting better, I could tolerate him now. Hard 8? Jo Jo.  I would not have any issue playing with Bridgette.  

The Knights (and most of the cast) have grown over the years. They are very different between now (#309) and then (#1-100).  Nitro has changed over the years also, he was “anti” rules following and not roll playing of the mind. Later he wanted to get back to playing at Cons. He put hard work into that and was successful in overcoming the “Slap”. And is getting real praise with his work with the hackmaster junior teams.  

But Crutch, He is a great GM. I love his “dying stupid” rule about photos.  I gathered it did not happen if you died five times heroically, but trying to use a single shot 32 to hold up a gang hideout? Yeah, die stupid, get humiliated.  

My Favorite joke character: When 3e came out, and race was no longer a restriction to classes, I built a  Ranger who was a Gnome.  The DM and group did not get it at first. Even after I got a white riding dog I named Platinum. It was when we hit 6th level and I took the leadership feat and got a wild halfling named “Silverheals” with a nickname of Conco who road a dog named Brown Fella. At that point they got the joke. 

I like that the writing has gotten better, and so has the art. Not Alex Ross level, but better. I never say lazy about things I can’t do. Jolly gets a big pass on that from me as long as I’m laughing. 

 History happens, it’s called news when it does. I would have to look at my journals to know what was important to me at those times.  

Bag Wars: 

Rading Bag Zones, BA is a candy Monty Hall GM.  Give this a try, go to google maps, zoom out till you see the whole of Africa. Close your eyes and wiggle your mouse then click on a spot on the continent. Zoom in. Any small town or village ignore. How often do you find a city?  Do the same for the US. Then Cananda.  Or even Alaska.   You are going to have 10’s of miles between. Unless you are sending out sweep parties (at risk of getting them lost) you could march right by a bag zone just a 1/4th a mile away. 

Even if you assume the entire plane is the size of Alaska, and every Type II bag fed into it. (I would argue it is at least small planet size) Since each zone is 1d10x100 miles apart, that leaves a lot of space between them.  Add in there has to be a large number of Type II bags that the owners don’t even know are Type II. They won’t be storing every green towel they loot in a bag they assume is limited. (And most wont have GM’s that ignore the size of the opening is the size of the opening rule. And who is going to use magic to reduce/shrink food supplies they would have to use magic to get back out.) 

Even if actively searching for other zones, they would want to stay on course. At best they are searching a two mile wide area. Attached are 2 links to an example of this going from Anchorage to Wainwright, about 990 miles, and from the tip of Texas to the top of the panhandle, about 830 miles. The Alaska line crosses one small town. The Texas one, two, possibly three if you are generous.  

 (https://mapgoose.com/draw-on-map?linkId=65516b712192c573a974ed5a#main-map ) Alaska 

(https://mapgoose.com/draw-on-map?linkId=65516ca52192c573a974ed5b#main-map ) Texas 

I would say to run across a bag zone, if actively searching, would be 1 in 10,000 to find a bag zone (01 on d100 twice in a row) and another 01-05 on d100 to find it with items, and 01 d100 to find it with recent additions. (other wise it is a bag of hefty capacity stored in a dragons lair who was killed a thousand years ago and was missed in the looting.) BA again shows his Monty Hall default ideas of a good game. How many zones did they find? It seems like one every day. Putting them about 12 miles apart, not 1d10 x 100. 3 zones in 5 days? BA is making a rate that an 80 day march would be over 45 zones looted. Way too easy. 

Four who can be trusted? Churchmen maybe, or willing to be placed under a geas that would effect them if they violated the contract. (I could see that in a world of magic).  There are “honest politicians”, once bought they stay bought. 

Sara is a manipulative player. We don’t see her out of game much, where I bet she is provoking all this meta gaming and hostility.  It comes out here where she clearly sides with the UT, and all her “my PC does not know” where out of game she dropped hints she would not be looking. 

Brian pulling the RAW for the pigeons still leaves BA free to add modifiers, Bad weather, strong winds, no sun, no magnetic guidance.  Surely the rules on weather would still add negatives to success. I might give them 25% success if I was feeling nice.  

Brian is “lawful selfish”; BA should have slapped him down for planting stuff on the high share soldiers.  He has a Gwad he follows, likely lawful good or at least lawful, who would not take kindly to this over and over. 

Sara has hired a named mercenary company. I can’t tell if the ones hired for the main body are a named group.  

If the UT+1 had said “We disbanded them, but kept them on retainer and are activating them.”  And that is why they are setting up a few days later with the plan. As a named mercenary group, disbanding would have really meant released from contract, not sent them all home.  If they are mercenaries, they would turn and start looking for another job or use the time and funds to reset and train.  A retainer would have them checking with the UT+1 before taking another job. 

Why would BA think they trusted him?  This whole saga is because they did not trust him. And has been all about not trusting him.  Every time he counters their “well thought out plans” (which seldom were) they have less trust for him. 

BA is long suffering. He puts up with a lot.  And has for a long time. It is implied that they have been gaming since high school (Bob, BA, Brian, Johnny).  {Hmm, spin off “KoDT: the Wonder Years”. Or “KoDT Babies”} 

But BA blows it. He taunted them with the information about no magic zones. After all the hits he took in the set up, it is understandable, but he blew it. 

Brian’s mage is intelligent, but survival is a wisdom based. A back azimuth would not help them much as that only helps you go back the way you came.  With out a map, re shooting will just tell you a general direction. If at zone one you get 274 degrees, and at zone two you get 245 degrees, all that tells you is you are drifting to the left as you march. IF you can find another zone (which is not a problem for them it seems) you could easily go right by it and over 60 miles a 1 degree off is 1 mile. So if they could keep it to one degree off, they would miss the target by 15+ miles.   

But since they are running across zones left and right, they won’t be too off and likely will find where they want, I would just add a few days to the travel if I was dumb enough to let them find so many. (1 in 10,000 per day of searching would not be 3 zones in five days). 

However as you talked about Sara questioning dumping provisions for booty, it hit me that maybe, maybe, it is BA setting them up by playing to Brian's greed. 

Brian “worried” about theft.  

Mercenaries and militaries of the past were very harsh on theft of community loot and individual property. Often it was a death sentence carried out by fellow soldiers.  Roman guilt was determined by the officer, and overseen to ensure that the soldiers were hitting them hard enough as the thief was beaten to death. As late as 1850, British Soldiers and Sailors would be hung or shot for theft in the ranks. Then displayed to all.  

The eastern Roman empire (Byzantium) was seen as soft in that the first offence was flogging and being put out of the camp for a week. (pretty much a death sentence in a combat zone).  

Sara knows what is going on, and her PC is not dumb but is greedy as everyone else and wants to let Brain do what she would do but avoid the blame. Sara is pushing the UT’s buttons and knows what will happen, but wants none of the fall back. 

Today, few are hated more than the “barracks thief”.  Soldiers all get paid the same, so if you take something that belongs to another it is something you could have bought if you wanted it. One of the fastest ways to get an Other Than Honorable discharge is to be caught stealing from a fellow soldier. No one wants them around.

 This is very different than “Strategic Transfer Of Logistical Equipment Now.”  (STOLEN) equipment and tools from another company/Platoon that they forgot to lock up.  That is just being creative with government resources. (Think Rizzo the supply guy on MASH, he knows someone who knows someone that would trade two grease guns for a case of sterile water, or "I'll see what I can find"...in another supply shop.) 

Would the troops stand for it? Sara’s named company would, they have a tradition and standards. An ad hoc company of random guys, less so, but culturally justice in the old days was harsh so it would not happen again. (steal some coins from the party treasury, get hung, not going to steal again).  

Sara’s group could be like the Vestiaritai, the personal guards of the Emperor of Byzantium. They were made up of mostly Norse from Scandinavia and would serve generations, Father, Son, Grand Son, all competing to be allowed to join and be in the group. (Closest today would be the Swizz Guards in the Vatican.) They would have little tolerance for theft.  Though the officers who really know the soldiers would be suspicious of a sudden change in the soldier.  

If the “army” with the UT+1 was ad hoc, the attitude towards theft would be the same but not have the mitigation of the officer.  

I’m more interested in how Brian managed to plant the stuff. Or was it Bob doing it? Brian cant magic it in place. He does not strike me as able to hide in shadows, Since Bob is not lawful good, I have less feelings on that. 

Deeds, who is to say that those deeds are for places that still exist? Or can be reached in 50 years of travel? Or are still valid and not 200 years old. Or gold coins that were minted by an enemy nation and are prohibited to have.  

Forced march. 376 from dehydration and fatigue. Looks like the water question was not answered before they left.  At some point (long before this) the officers of the men would refuse to move at forced march. (I’ll cover that in the movement email).  But basically, Brian is on a timetable, but is stopping for looting, and not keeping to the plan. Again, maybe BA did plan this, dumping the provision for booty and knowing Brain is going to cause this. Now it is highly unlikely that they will be combat effective on arrival. 

I would not be surprised if Brian was making them carry extra provisions on their person while the wagons are filled with loot. And if he was going to make them carry a part of the loot and drop the soldiers comfort items for the loot they won’t get.  

Brian: It's 950 miles to the Bag Zone, we've got 1,800 troops, 50 wagons, it's a dead magic zone and we're wearing sunglasses.

Dave and Bob: Hit It! 

November 16th

Bag Wars #10, March Across Bag World. 

I am not a logistician. My military occupational specialty (MOS) is “12B, 12Z, and the discontinued 12F” I am currently a 12Z - Combat Engineer Senior Sergeant.  My experience is Route Clearance, Minefield Clearance, Mobility/Counter-Mobility, and Demolitions.  The closest I’ve come to planning something like the March across the Bag World, has been when I was on Brigade S3 as an assistant FuOps NCO.  I am in the Army Reserves, (currently mobilized in support of operations at Ft. Bliss – yeah state side!) and my civilian job is Paramedic in a mid-size city (Louisville KY).  I don’t know about a big move like this. I know some what 88-210 people with equipment how complicated it can be. 

So I stopped by the S4 shop and talked to the Captain about where I would find info on something like this. (He is also a gamer, but since he is an officer in my higher unit, we can’t play.) He gave me several FM’s and DA Pams to help me figure it out some. Many of the things beyond water he pointed out. 

First some assumptions. 

We don’t know what Bag World is like out side of the bag zone.  Is there a light source?  Or is it dark with tinny points of light (zones)?  Is there weather? Wind? Is the land smooth like a flat map, sandy like the Sahara, or like the desert I’m working in now? (See photo from out side my office).  

I could see it as a rugged scrub and rock and sand area with a diffuse light that gets brighter for a bit then mostly dark again but no “Sun” that can be seen. Gray low haze/clouds/gas above. I could see some limited water sources, mostly from decanters of endless water that was activated in a zone, and is just continuing to flow, flooding low areas and making streams till it is absorbed.  

I will also assume that there are no major barriers between the goal and starting point. (a chasm or mountains would be possible if I was running it) I assume limited land marks, mostly rolling dunes and bare rock with small areas of scrub trees. I also would expect visibility to be in the three to five mile range from elevated positions, and ½ mile in generally flat from the ground. (note the photo of Ft. Bliss McGregor Range, those mounds are three to nine feet tall.)  

Since the last century, (’79) I have had an interest in Roman and Medieval war fighting. (I’m sure that had a lot to do with my attraction to D&D back then) 

The Roman Legion walked a lot. Calvary was not much use due to the tech of the day and the cost of a horse limited its usefulness (lack of horse shoes). The standard over open unmaintained land was 8 to 12 miles a day in 10 hours. On paved roads with set stop areas, 20 to 22 miles was posable.  

At every stop the unit would build up a camp, set up walls and defenses. Along roads these areas were mostly set for the Legions so they did not have to work as hard at the stop so they could go longer. 

Under Marius, (107-100 BCE) the Legionnaire would be trained to carry his armor and weapons and equipment to survive. Roughly 50 to 80 pounds. This would include his share of the squads equipment, stake, shovel/pick, chain, section of tent, and a few days of food.  (It should be noted that todays US Army the standard is 45 pound pack and 32 pounds of armor and weapons for the Infantry and Engineers, my how things have changed). 

Today we expect a Soldier to cover 12 miles on improved roads (packed earth or pavement) in under 3 hours with full gear. 3.5 hours at the latest. However it is expected to provide a minimum of 24 hours of non-strenuous activity before moving back. The more elite groups will do more and train for it but even they plan rests. 

This leads to the next assumption. The majority of Soldiers will be carrying their weapons, armor, and general personal belongings: tools, tents, change of cloths, small amount of water, two days of food. Total weight of 60 pounds. I estimate 2% of the troops are mounted as scouts. They have the same, but mostly let the horse carry it. 

We have 950 miles between points. I can see Brian pulling RAW math to say “15 miles a day should only take 60 days to get there.”  Like you just drive down the highway. The book says “can walk 15 miles a day”…on good roads, down hill with wind at your back.  

Like the pigeons, RAW says nothing about fatigue from going at a fast pace for two months every day, so there for he will argue it should not be taken in consideration.  

A more realistic would be a goal of 8 miles a day minimum and 10 miles max, and plan on 120 days with some built in rest points. Every four days of 10 miles, you can rest a day. Two if the way ahead looks like 10 miles days. 

We don’t know the condition of the troops they hired. Is it a group with a history and traditions? Or is it people hired off the streets like in Blazing Saddles? A group will be more likely to have trained and be ready for harsh conditions. Ad hoc hires would quit faster than a temp worker at Chuckie Cheese when the ADHD convention is in town.  

Now the pioneers made even longer trips, the wagon trains expected to cover 12 to 15 miles a day with oxen and horses. The hand cart companies (people pushing/pulling an oversized wheelbarrow) averaged 10 miles a day.  However it should be noted that this was over semi-improved trails/roads.  Often with pre-staged re-supply points and water refill.  

Lewis and Clark’s travels through unbroken trails and such averaged 4 to 5 miles a day and they stayed mostly near the rivers using boats to haul most of their gear and some traveling. 

The horsemen of the Steppes would cover 30 to 50 miles a day, but they used a series of horses, changing mounts every hour so they would not wear out (the normal was five horses per rider).  I’m going to plan for two horses per cart and one horse per scout plus a few to make the number even for math reasons. 

Food, you can’t live off Iron Rations for two months. Todays Iron Rats yes MRE’s have come a long way. But not then. You will suffer malnutrition unless you supplement with standard rations. And standard rats also improve morale. (A hot bowl of soup after a long march in the rain in February ends a lot of complaining. Specially if the CO is serving and waits till everyone has had a serving.) Water gets used for this also. 

There is hygiene also. While it was less frequent in the olden days, it was still important. Romans had strict rules about washing and waste disposal. One of the big reason they won a lot of wars, they were less sick. 

Water: The Army Water Planning Guide (20 Mar 23) states a temperate climate with heavy work should result in 1.9 gallons of water drunk by a solider per day. That sounds about right to my experience. I will easily empty a 100 oz camel back hydration system twice to three times in a 12 mile ruck march.  

We have 1,800 Soldiers. 1.90 gallons per. That is 3,420 gallons a day. AWPG says expect a 10% spillage, so 3,762 gallon per day.  60 days is 225,720 gallons. 

Horses: (grew up mostly on the family dairy farm, so I know more about cows than horses, but we had them) at rest, grazing, and looking pretty, it is about 5 gallons a day. On a hard work day it is closer to 15 gallons. Hauling wagons and riding as a scout is hard work, specifically if breaking trail.  We have 50 wagons, two horses can pull three to four times as much as one so I expect it is two per. Scouts at 2% would be 36, which would allow going forward the path of march a day’s travel to look for issues, and still have sweepers looking for other zones or Bag World Raiders. (who knows, Barringer may have sent mapping parties or scouts and you don’t want to have them report back) and four spare so it makes 140. We will use 13 gallons per horse per day on the assumption that the scouts don’t work their mounts as hard.  

140 horse, 13 gallons per, 1,820 gallons, 10% spillage, 2,002 gallons per day. 60 days, 120,120 gallons. 

The AWPG estimates .15 gallons per day for 3 MRE meals, and .75 gallons per day for Standard Rations 2 x a day and one MRE.  I can see Brian insisting on everyone (but the UT+1) eating IR’s for 60 days and accepting their teeth falling out and old wounds opening back up from malnutrition.  A decent commander would go with two SR’s and one IR a day.  But Brian would when presented with the chart showing all IR’s is a bad idea, would do the minimum twice a week 2SR1IR. (or as we put it “Utilized Group Ration -A” = SR, and MRE = M: A-M-A)  

This would be about 16 days of A-M-A and 44 days of M-M-M. 16 days at .75 is 12 gallons, 44 days at .15 is 6.6 gallons. Per soldier, 18.6 gallons, total of 33,480 and 10% spillage 36,828.  

Hygiene: The Army expects hand washing, shaving, dental care, and regular “sponge baths” (or less polite “Slits and Pits” or “Whore Bath”) every day.  That is about 1.73 gallons per Soldier. Brian likely assumes once every three days, 3,114 with 10% spillage 3,425 gallons.  

A total of 386,093 gallons. At 8.4 pounds per gallon, that is 3,243,181.2 pounds. 1,621 tons. 

The average two horse wagon can pull 12,000 pounds over a smooth flat road. Off road it goes down to 6,000 pounds with out hurting the horse. As Doc Brown said “Roads? Where we are going we don’t need roads Marty”  

However this means at three tons per wagon, they are going to be short a few wagons just to move the water, about 490 short. To haul 1,621 tons of water they need 540 wagons with 3 tons of water on each. (not counting the weight of the container).   Of course, you do end up with a version of the tyranny of the rocket equation, but the reverse. As you go, you empty water, about 9 wagons a day. Except to haul 540 wagons, you need 1,080 horses, which need 13 gallons each day, which increases the number of wagons, which needs more horses…at some point (I Stopped trying to find it after 20 min) you reach the right number of horses to pull enough water to cover everything. 

That 1,621 tons of water is followed by the weight of the food. AD&D used the weight of a Gold Piece to figure encumbrance. 10 GP to the pound. Iron Rats weighed 75 gp, and standard rats were 200 gp in weight. IR’s last a week per, and each Soldier is going to have 148 IR meals in 60 days about 22. (75 gp x 22 = 1,650 / 10 = 165 pounds per man for IR’s. 297,000) Standard Rations also feed you for a week, and they are getting 16. About 2 (2.3). At 200 gp per is 400 gp / 10, 40 pounds per Soldier, 72,000 pounds, a total of 369,000 pounds of food for people. (184 tons, 61 more wagons) not counting the containers it is stored in.  

Brian might try to say he is buying stuff to make food with, wheat, barely, eggs, meat, etc.  That is going to be bulkier, and since eggs and milk and meat does not keep, it will be on the hoof, needing water and fodder which will more than excide the weight of the prepared IR’s and SR’s. (and it will slow down the march as the cooks will need to stop, prepare, and cook the food. As well as goats and sheep don’t march as fast as people, cows can be herded but normally 8-10 miles a day). 

Horse Food: Forage is the main way to feed horses. Hay, grass, willow, mulberry, etc. Since these are working horses, its about 30 pounds of forage per day. You can reduce it by 10 pounds if you add 5 pounds of grains. A total of 25 pounds. 

20 per horse of forage, 5 per of grains. 140 horses.  2,800 pounds of forage and 700 pounds of grain per day.  168,000 pounds of forage, 42,000 pounds of grain. Another 210,000 pounds, 105 tons, another 35 wagons. 

So just for water, food and forage, we are looking at 1,910 tons, over 3,820,000 pounds, needing 637 wagons to move. 

The no magic zone is what is making this so hard for them. And it should have freaked them out when their magic did not work.  Had they done the basic math 50 wagons would not have been considered. They had to have been expecting to use spells and magic items.  Create water, Hero's Feast, decanters of endless water, 41 type I bags of holding, maybe a few belt of giant strength on the horses.  

Counting on looting, sorry, living off the land, other bag zones is not rational. As pointed out, how many people are going to store food in their bag? Very few. And if they are a minimum of 100 miles apart, it should take about 10 days marching between zones with no assurance of supplies.  

The armies of old were able to use local resources, water, and “found” food on their march to lower what they needed to carry.  We have not even looked at what other items they need weigh or space. Did they have siege equipment? Repair tools, cooking supplies, medical, pigeon food, et al.  

Had BA not spilled the beans about it being non-magic, he would have blocked them with rules they had to accept. I would have insisted on tracking the weight, and how much was used each day. This would have gutted the plan and required a full reset.  

If I was on the other side, I would have stepped back and changed it to sending small crews of men to build a road towards the goal. Every 20 miles start storing supplies and water.  When we get with in 20 miles of the target, build a secure point with extra supplies and have the army march. They would only need the days food and water so 20 miles a day would not be a strain on a good road, with the wagons you could rotate 1/8th  to 1/3rd of the soldiers to ride for a few hours and do further days of 30 miles.  

Of course even at 1/4th a mile a day that would take 10 years minimum. Unless you had three or four teams working. Four would be best, as it would only take just under three years to reach the goal. And I would not just have 1,800 to try to take the castle.

December 7th 

I am an Army Reserve member who currently is mobilized. So I have lots of down time. PT in morning, Office, range, staff meetings, and PT then back to the barracks to start all over again.  We get to have some field exercises and I get stuck on staff duty (24 hour shift) from time to time.  Writing is something to do to fill the time. You can only Face Time the family so much before they get bored.  

After I get home in April, the family will take up that “free time” I am sure.  (then I will have to put in a lot more hours working the other jobs.) 

Giving away magic weapons: The 2e AD&D Ranger was limited to only having what he could carry or have on his mount. One my PC’s took that to heart…sort of, I would “give” stuff to my party members then “borrow” it back later if I needed.  

I try to play my PC, but often my PC ends up with my personality. I only was able to play “evil” one time, and that was when I was pissed off at another player (who just “played his character” and caused the death of my PC that I really liked) and had made a min-max killer who took no grief and “played my character” until his was a pile of ash then scattered. (I was in a bad spot then too, half way through my Drill Sergeant tour, but as John Aston said on Night Court: But I’m much better) 

Drug induced writing? Totally against it.  

Battle begins. I can fully accept the idea that they were all focused on the bag opening.  

Pincer movement is basically as you described it, drawing in the enemy towards the center of the formation and allowing the sides to “pinch” them. Pincers were a second layer of men who would shift to the side and encircle the enemy and then surround them.  From Battle Staff one of the books I was forced to read was The Art of War where Sun Tzu recommends against this because your forces could panic and run away. 

But you have to draw the enemy in, unless it is a moving castle all you would be doing is attacking a flank of a defended position. Brian is likely using his “war gamer” knowledge of terms but not really knowing what they are.  “Oh Brigadier General Morgan used a pincer movement at the battle of Cowpens by having his militia fire once then flee to the sides with their backs to the British Regulars, then they attacked from the sides.” 

My thinking about Battle Mages would be they are professionals who train from an early age to sling magic and swords. They are no stranger to harsh living. BUT the abuse they saw in the march, it would be better to just have them drop in from the opening and use regular troops to attack on the flanks. They have to be very expensive. 

Sara is as much of a murder hobo as the guys, she just hides it.  However like a mob, she is getting carried away with the destruction they are handing out. Except she pods them into total destruction with her question of “we will show mercy right?” Fully knowing that now they won’t because she mentioned it and they are going to do the opposite.  

Brian worrying out loud that McGrevey avoided the Friendly Fire, means Sara can not pretend to not know. Brian continues to feel all loot, gold, money, titles, deeds, et al, belong to him and some to the other members of the UT+1. To allow a lowly NPC have any is an affront to him. Much like the business man who sues the other business for shorting a shipment by $50, and spends $5,000 to “make a point”. (Or the sociopathic gang boss that can’t be messed with).  

Of course what we don’t see is how Brian was going to cheat out his fellow players by “accidently” forgetting item X or putting item Y in the list where it just happens to fall on his turn to pick. He even tells them he is going to squirl away the high value items. Base on past behavior he was going to squirl away some of the squirled away items. Sara of course does not protest too much, just enough to keep them heading down that path. 

Toe nail clippings?  I’m not asking why that was in BA’s records, he added it for a random find and they kept it.  I wounder why Berenger kept them. 

BA is using their own words and actions. But Sara is grinning because she expects to be able to argue she was the “nice one” and was being forced to keep quite. (As well as possibly having slipped BA a note stating she was tipping off McGrevey to look closer at the loot inventory.) She expected to get out of this while the guys take the fall.  

I think Brain was sure that he thought he could talk them out of it by saying something about how he was worried about the theft that had been going on for a while and has secured it. He is working on the inventory now and was going to share the list with McGrevey. 

Why would they listen? Brian will stop them or rule lawyer them from dumb events. 

What Dave did to Bag Word: A friend described it as “Dave made the universe divide itself by zero”.  I would have asked if Dave threw it in or if he had grabbed it and dove in. (I would have asked to see if Dave changed and went in with the bag) 

You might be a military gamer if you argue over proper marching order: Does the mage counts as a squad weapon? 

You might be a military gamer if your GM has run a henchman/torch bearer/minion as a lower enlisted soldier who screws up. (gets drunk in town and you have to go sign him out of jail, gets a tattoo while drunk, gets married to a stripper while drunk, shows up late to movement and throws up all over your pack) 

You might be a military gamer if you had a load layout for your adventure pack as part of your PCC/PCI’s.  (Pre Combat Check Pre Combat Inspection)