Achtung! Cthulhu Mission Dossier Volume One: Behind Enemy Lines brings together the first five scenarios published for Achtung! Cthulhu. They will take the Agents from the White Cliffs of Dover and the coast of east Scotland to the coast of the Netherlands and into the mountains of Romania, as well as to a baseball game in the USA. In addition, there is an extra mission, new to Achtung! Cthulhu, that will involve the Agents conducting a mission that parallels Operation Chariot, the raid on St. Nazaire. All six missions can be run as one-shots, but most of them can be run in chronological order and woven into a Game Master’s ongoing campaign that will take the Agents from the Phony War of 1939 through to the height of Nazi and Axis power occupation around the world. With care, this includes being worked into and around a campaign such as Achtung! Cthulhu: Shadows of Atlantis. Two of the scenarios are not designed for this, the one set on the home front in the USA and the new addition, both being set after the events of the campaign and one of them being designed as a one-shot, suitable for convention use. Both though, offer changes of pace and tone, enabling players to experience the Secret War in other places and with other types of character.
The six missions follow the same format. Each begins with a Synopsis for the Game Master, a Mission Briefing & Goals for the Agents, and some Historical Background to provide context. This is followed by the actual scenario itself, divided into its various acts, and ending for the Agents with a Debriefing. For the Game Master there the stats for the NPCs—both enemies and allies—and monsters that the Agents will encounter over the course of the mission.
The anthology opens with the short, sharp Under the Gun. This is set both atop and in the White Cliffs of Dover, where the army, preparing fortifications against a much-feared German invasion, discover strange stone pillar which seems to make everyone feel at least queasy, if not leave them suffering nightmares… Of course, the pillar is not just of interest to Black Sun, but also the local villagers, who possess a certain goggle-eyed appearance. Effectively, this is a mini-encounter with parallels with The Shadow Over Innsmouth—or at least the 1928 raid on the town—and it is combat focused, more so than other scenarios for Achtung! Cthulhu. Its short length also makes it easy to add to a campaign or to serve as a combat-focused interlude.
The second scenario is Operation Vanguard, which could thematically carry on from ‘Under the Gun’ as the links to Deep Ones are more obvious. The action, more detailed and involving stealth and investigation, as well as combat, switches to the Dutch coast and the Dutch fishing town of Nermegen. Section M has learned of a strange installation being constructed at both St. Olaf’s lighthouse and on the nearby Skellen Island and of the presence in the town of Nachtwölfe. This is a commando-style mission, right down to having to paddle ashore in folboats—or folding canoes, as used in Operation Frankton and made famous by the film, The Cockleshell Heroes. Whether making contact with the local Resistance or investigating Nachtwölfe activities, the emphasis is on stealth and that also goes for getting into both the lighthouse and the Nazi installation on the island. In the latter, the Agents will discover what Nachtwölfe has been up to, which has been experimenting on captured Deep Ones! The scenario will end in a big, bruising battle as the escaped Deep Ones take their revenge on their Nachtwölfe scientist and soldier captors. Throughout, the Deep Ones are kept implacable and mysterious, so although the players will know what they are facing, their Agents will not. One option here is have the players handle the Deep Ones as well as their Agents in combat so that the Game Master is not rolling too many dice, especially when it comes to the monsters of the Mythos versus the Nazis.
Operation Falling Crystal takes place on the east coast of Scotland where an archaeological dig discovered a strange blue crystal in nearby caverns. The archaeologists have no idea what it is, but Section M does! It is Blauer Kristall—or Blue Crystal—much coveted by Nachtwölfe, which uses it to fuel its increasingly weird weapons of war. Section M would very much like to get its hands on some of the strange mineral so that it can study it and perhaps develop a means to counter the strange technology being fielded by Nachtwölfe. With its set-up of something strange being discovered under the ground and it attracting the attention of the Nazis and as well as Section M, this scenario is very similar to the earlier ‘Under the Gun’. However, it does go beyond this, if only a little. There is both scope for investigation beyond the archaeological dig itself and for interaction with the Mythos beyond running away or blasting it to bits. This lifts what is otherwise adequate scenario that the Game Master would not want to run too soon after ‘Under the Gun’.
The Romanian Imperative leans into the Pulp sensibilities of Achtung! Cthulhu by sending the Agents into the unstable situation of the Balkans chasing after a Zeppelin! Jokingly referred to as a “wee holiday” by Section M, the Agents are to reconnoitre the area to determine why Nachtwölfe has sent a Zeppelin to a mining village in the Mures Mountains in Romania, discover what it is doing there, and take action. This entails a flight to Belgrade, in Yugoslavia, via Athens in Greece and from there a lengthy drive across the border into Romania and to the mountains, guided by a friendly smuggler. Dealing with checkpoints—Romanian and German—will be the least of the Agents’ problems, but once they reach the village, they will be able to learn a little about what has happened recently and also in the past. This, when combined with the opportunity to observe the work camp below the nearby castle over in the next valley, gives the players and their Agents all the information they need to make their next move. Ideally, this should start with contacting the locals who have been hired to rework the mine, but can also involve investigating the ruins of the castle, the work camp, and ultimately, getting aboard the Zeppelin itself, stationed, unmoored, and unnaturally immobile above the camp. The Zeppelin, enhanced by Nachtwölfe technology, is fully detailed and comes with a set of deck plans. The scenario should end with a fight aboard the Zeppelin—although a very careful one since nobody wants to set it alight—and with the chance that the Agents capture it and fly it back to Britain. They will be handsomely rewarded for their efforts if they do. This is a fun and exciting adventure that fully plays into the Pulp action of Achtung! Cthulhu.
‘Operation Eastbourne’ is the first of the two scenarios in the anthology intended as a change of pace and the only new scenario. Thematically, it can be run as a sequel to both ‘Under the Gun’ and ‘Operation Vanguard’, but need not be. It is effectively two missions in one. The Agents make up ‘Team Beta’ accompanying ‘Team Alpha’, a unit of commandos who will assault a gun battery as part of Operation Chariot, the raid on the French port of St. Nazaire intended to put its dry dock out of action and so prevent German navy ships like the Bismarck or Tirpitz being repaired there. This means that it is set later than the other missions in the book, so the Game Moderator may want to save it for later in her campaign. However, assaulting the gun battery is not the Agents’ objective. Instead, they will investigate a Black Sun archaeological dig and determine what the Nazis are up to. The players will play through both missions as part of the scenarios, the idea being that not only do they roleplay their Agents, but also the commandos (stats for the latter are provided to enable them to do so). The Agents can stick together or they can mix and match, so the players will be roleplaying mixed group of Agents and commandos for each mission. What this means is that either team could come to the help of the other if it gets into difficulty and since, unnaturally, both missions will involve encounters with the Mythos, roleplaying the commandos will remind the players that not everyone has encountered the Mythos before and will not necessarily be quite so blasé about it.
Although divided into the three traditional acts of an Achtung! Cthulhu scenario, ‘Operation Eastbourne’ need not necessarily be run in linear fashion, but could instead be run with the action in parallel, switching back and forth between the different missions at dramatically appropriate moments. In whatever way it is run, ‘Team Beta’ should meet up with ‘Team Alpha’—or even come to the rescue of—in the third and final act when the Black Sun operatives bring their plans to fruition on the rocky beaches of the Atlantic coast. This sets the stage for a big fight as the Nazis attempt a summoning, the Allies attempt to stop them, and all hell breaks loose! It is another grand finale which plays out more like a miniatures game and which calls for big heroic action. A very classic Achtung! Cthulhu scenario.
The Romanian Imperative leans into the Pulp sensibilities of Achtung! Cthulhu by sending the Agents into the unstable situation of the Balkans chasing after a Zeppelin! Jokingly referred to as a “wee holiday” by Section M, the Agents are to reconnoitre the area to determine why Nachtwölfe has sent a Zeppelin to a mining village in the Mures Mountains in Romania, discover what it is doing there, and take action. This entails a flight to Belgrade, in Yugoslavia, via Athens in Greece and from there a lengthy drive across the border into Romania and to the mountains, guided by a friendly smuggler. Dealing with checkpoints—Romanian and German—will be the least of the Agents’ problems, but once they reach the village, they will be able to learn a little about what has happened recently and also in the past. This, when combined with the opportunity to observe the work camp below the nearby castle over in the next valley, gives the players and their Agents all the information they need to make their next move. Ideally, this should start with contacting the locals who have been hired to rework the mine, but can also involve investigating the ruins of the castle, the work camp, and ultimately, getting aboard the Zeppelin itself, stationed, unmoored, and unnaturally immobile above the camp. The Zeppelin, enhanced by Nachtwölfe technology, is fully detailed and comes with a set of deck plans. The scenario should end with a fight aboard the Zeppelin—although a very careful one since nobody wants to set it alight—and with the chance that the Agents capture it and fly it back to Britain. They will be handsomely rewarded for their efforts if they do. This is a fun and exciting adventure that fully plays into the Pulp action of Achtung! Cthulhu.
‘Operation Eastbourne’ is the first of the two scenarios in the anthology intended as a change of pace and the only new scenario. Thematically, it can be run as a sequel to both ‘Under the Gun’ and ‘Operation Vanguard’, but need not be. It is effectively two missions in one. The Agents make up ‘Team Beta’ accompanying ‘Team Alpha’, a unit of commandos who will assault a gun battery as part of Operation Chariot, the raid on the French port of St. Nazaire intended to put its dry dock out of action and so prevent German navy ships like the Bismarck or Tirpitz being repaired there. This means that it is set later than the other missions in the book, so the Game Moderator may want to save it for later in her campaign. However, assaulting the gun battery is not the Agents’ objective. Instead, they will investigate a Black Sun archaeological dig and determine what the Nazis are up to. The players will play through both missions as part of the scenarios, the idea being that not only do they roleplay their Agents, but also the commandos (stats for the latter are provided to enable them to do so). The Agents can stick together or they can mix and match, so the players will be roleplaying mixed group of Agents and commandos for each mission. What this means is that either team could come to the help of the other if it gets into difficulty and since, unnaturally, both missions will involve encounters with the Mythos, roleplaying the commandos will remind the players that not everyone has encountered the Mythos before and will not necessarily be quite so blasé about it.
Although divided into the three traditional acts of an Achtung! Cthulhu scenario, ‘Operation Eastbourne’ need not necessarily be run in linear fashion, but could instead be run with the action in parallel, switching back and forth between the different missions at dramatically appropriate moments. In whatever way it is run, ‘Team Beta’ should meet up with ‘Team Alpha’—or even come to the rescue of—in the third and final act when the Black Sun operatives bring their plans to fruition on the rocky beaches of the Atlantic coast. This sets the stage for a big fight as the Nazis attempt a summoning, the Allies attempt to stop them, and all hell breaks loose! It is another grand finale which plays out more like a miniatures game and which calls for big heroic action. A very classic Achtung! Cthulhu scenario.
The last scenario in Achtung! Cthulhu Mission Dossier Volume One: Behind Enemy Lines is Seventh-Inning Slaughter! This switches the action to the USA and a game in the All-American Girls Baseball League which is being attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Unfortunately, so is Jörg Becker, a Nazi sorcerer, determined to prove both himself a capable agent to his Black Sun masters and thus get promoted, and that no-one is safe from the reach of Nazi Germany, not even thousands of miles away on American home soil. This is the second of the two scenarios in the anthology intended to as a change of pace and is probably the best one suited as a one-shot. To that end, it comes with four pre-generated Player Characters, divided between two baseball players, a war correspondent, and a would-be technical genius, and a plot that is played out innings by innings, with weirder and weirder things happening from one innings to the next. Food spoils and writhes with worms, a foul ball hits a member of the crowd, a lightning storm gathers, a dog goes crazy, there is spontaneous vomiting, the same man keep disappearing and reappearing, and so on. Although there is not much that the Player Characters can do to thwart Becker’s efforts until it is almost too late, they will be kept busy dealing with all of the other weird issues as they pop up until then. Effectively, this is a firefighting mission against the Mythos until the Player Characters can root out, and are prepared, to face the cause. This is a different style of scenario to the others in the anthology, offering a change of pace and location that works as a one-shot, a convention scenario, or respite from the main campaign.
Physically, Achtung! Cthulhu Mission Dossier Volume One: Behind Enemy Lines is cleanly and tidily laid out. The illustrations and the maps are excellent, although it does need an edit in places.
Initially, the title of Achtung! Cthulhu Mission Dossier Volume One: Behind Enemy Lines reads like a misnomer. After all, not all of the scenarios take place behind enemy lines—at least not as far as the Allies and Section M are concerned. Once you get Black Sun and Nachtwölfe involved, then three of the scenario do take place behind enemy lines on British and American soil! If there is anything missing from the anthology it is advice on when to run the scenarios in relation with Achtung! Cthulhu: Shadows of Atlantis, as most of its scenarios would work well with the campaign. Otherwise, Achtung! Cthulhu Mission Dossier Volume One: Behind Enemy Lines is a solid collection of scenarios that offers plenty of punching, bullet flying, Pulp-action against the Nazis.
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