Anna Kreider is currently playing a game of Grey Ranks, and I had the good fortune of seeing her character drawings at Gen Con. So good. I love the strong line - it reminds me of mid-century animation, like stills from a film that would be really hard to watch.
Grey Ranks is in ready to order from IPR. We’ll be at Gen Con, at the Forge booth, with copies as well - and we’ll also be running games! Come track us down and play some Grey Ranks with the Bully Pulpit Games crew!
That’s right! Dave Younce sent me a really thoughtful gift:
Also, Grey Ranks arrived, each copy guarded by a pair of cats:
Many thanks, Dave! We’re going to enjoy the spices around here. Maybe there will be some left for Camp Nerdly 1.5…
Here’s a great actual play report of the third play session of a rockin’ game of Grey Ranks.
The players comment that the special rules for handling dead player characters don’t make sense, and I can see their point - although I disagree. I think the cool thing about fixing the dead character in time, space, and emotional state at the moment of death is that they will be relentlessly pulling from the same set of situation elements. Ignoring this rule won’t break the game, so it may be a matter of what feel you are after.
Steve suggested including sample characters in Grey Ranks, so I did some research and found actual partisans who exemplify, as best I can make out, the Things You Hold Dear in the game. So:
DANUSIA: MY FRIENDS
Danuta Raby was an eleven-year-old Girl Guide when the Germans invaded. She served in the Grey Ranks as a messenger during the Uprising and developed an intense camaraderie with her crew, often partying with other teens until dawn before reporting for duty. She participated in the house-to-house fighting in Wola and shot a German soldier in the head. Danusia spent time in a POW camp after the capitulation but survived the war.
GOLIAT: MY COUNTRY
Julian Eugeniusz Kulski served in the Grey Ranks as an under-age partisan throughout the occupation. The son of Warsaw’s Protestant mayor, Julian had a long history with the resistance prior to the Uprising - he’d even spent time in the Gestapo jail in Szucha alley. During the Uprising, he and his crew fought in Zoliborz before the order to surrender came. He was fifteen.
ANNA: MY FIRST LOVE
Lucyna Maciejewska was a Grey Ranks courier and medic. Her story revolves around her deep love for another Scout named Zenon, who she met in early 1944. They immediately knew they were meant for one another - she was sixteen and he was seventeen. During the Uprising Lucyna and Zenon were separated, and in the course of her duties she prayed he wouldn’t be among the scores of badly injured boys she tended to daily. Zenon was captured and executed on Gibalskiego street in Wola, but not before writing Lucyna a final letter, telling her to wait for him. She survived the war and never married.
WANDA: MY FAMILY
Celina Pastuszko was the daughter of a wealthy family that chose to stay in Warsaw during the Uprising. At seventeen, she volunteered her parents flat at 11 Zurawia street as a field hospital and communications outpost. Celina worked in her own home as an untrained nurse and medic, supporting both the Grey Ranks and the Home Army Bartkiewicz group. She was killed by artillery fire on 4 September.
BANANA: MY FAITH
Seventeen-year-old Zbigniew Banas was an enthusiastic Catholic scout even before the war. The leader of his crew, Zbigniew conducted high-risk operations centered around Powisle in City Center, the district of his birth. Banana was known across the city as a fearless courier who never hesitated to take on the toughest assignments, confident in God’s protection. He was killed by a sniper on 17 August.
VARSOVIAN: MY CITY
Witold Modelski earned his prestigious nickname for fanatic devotion to his city during the Uprising. Initially a courier, Witold demonstrated his fighting skill and was rapidly transferred to the Parasol battalion and served with distinction, earning the Cross of Valor. He was killed on 20 September defending one of the last Home Army strongpoints in City Center. He was twelve years old.
