THE VON LUBECK DEVICE

SUBJECT: We walked through the eye of God.

SS INTERVIEWER: The eye of God? What do you mean by that?

SUBJECT: We saw the truth. That there is no space, no height, no distance. Those are all lies. Misinterpretations.

SS INTERVIEWER: And how did you know this?

SUBJECT: It was burned into our brains, Sturmbahnfuhrer.Burned into our goddamn brains, I tell you!

In January, 1938, a Heidelberg physicist by the name of Dr. Otto von Lubeck approached the Wehrmacht High Command with a request for funding. He insisted that he had struck upon a revolutionary scientific process- a way to send solid matter, including living beings, across great distances in the blink of an eye. Rebuffed, he became a laughingstock, and vanished from polite society for more than two years. He returned in 1940, just after the fall of France, and offered to demonstrate his process for the OKW, in the comfort of General Wilhelm Keitel's offices. Bemused, Keitel gathered a group of staff officers and watched with unconcealed mirth as Dr. von Lubeck set a small metal archway on his desk.

"Now, gentlemen," he said with all the dignity he could muster, "I shall set up my other device in another office, and throw a ping-pong ball through to your desk."

As Dr. von Lubeck left the office, fully half of Keitel's staff burst into peals of uncontrolled laughter. Several minutes later, with a hiss like water poured on boiling metal, a small white ball appeared out of the tiny archway and bounced across Keitel's desk.

Von Lubeck soon had his funding, and the Fuhrer's personal attention.

By late 1941, von Lubeck has his own workshop with almost sixty assistants, all working around the clock to perfect his device at a useful size. As the device was gradually scaled up from the tiny desktop prototype, more and more problems manifested themselves with the teleportation effect. With every setback, von Lubeck became more and more obsessed, more determined to venerate his theories in the eyes of the Fuhrer and the German scientific community. His obsession clouded his judgment... and dozens of veteran German soldiers, eager to try out the latest "wonder machine" from the best minds in Germany, would be the ones to pay the price.

In October of 1941, the German offensive against the Soviet Union was bogged down along a broad front, harried by weather, logistics, partisans, and unexpected casualties. Hitler, in his warm headquarters back in Germany, fussed and fretted over his map tables, countermanding the officers whose skills had brought him the brilliant victories of the previous two years. Desperate for a way to achieve a breakthrough, already manifesting the mad reveries that were to steal his sanity later in the war, he received a short message from Dr. von Lubeck- and grew ecstatic. "My Fuhrer," the physicist wrote, "the device has at last been perfected for tactical service!"

Hitler cast aside all judgment in his excitement, and sharply silenced the protests that arose from his entire general staff. German science would lead the way, he muttered, eyes dark with fantastic ambition. He ordered the von Lubeck device shipped to the Russian front via armored train. Untested? Nonsense, he replied. Dr. von Lubeck had played tennis across General Keitel's offices, had he not? Other scientific advances, such as the Kampfers,had performed brilliantly, had they not? Cursing his advisors for frightened old women, the Fuhrer of the Thousand-Year Reich ordered the von Lubeck device, untested, into battle.

On the night of October 18, a night assault by two German armored companies smashed a hole in the Russian lines guarding the route to Moscow. Acting with uncharacteristic abandon, the Germans frantically opened their breach, threw up a defensive enclosure, and allowed the Russians to cautiously approach them. German engineers worked through the night to assemble a mysterious silver artifact, almost seven meters tall, as infantry and tanks dug in around them. Miles behind the German lines, platoons of new armored vehicles and fresh infantry camped for the night beside a similar portal- waiting for a morning assault that would send them pouring out of thin air several miles behind the main axis of the Russian defenses.

When dawn's weak light broke over the German position, Soviet officers witnessed the size of the strange device, and sent runners back requesting an artillery strike on the bizarre German enclave. As if on cue, German artillery along a wide front began shelling the Russian lines, concentrating on nothing, dropping shells at random. The available Russian artillery thundered in response, and the duel began. As a strange green light began to glow from the tall silver device, the Russians on the scene realized that their artillery was spoken for and a direct assault would be needed to stop whatever the Germans had in mind.

This encounter is High Mission Priority for both sides.

The Germans are attempting to transport a large attack force through the untested von Lubeck Device. Those forces brought through the von Lubeck gateway are to throw back the Russians and move behind their lines to raise havoc and confusion. The Germans will win a Major Victory if they can move at least four units to the Russian edge of the map and dig them in for a single Turn. The Germans will win a Minor Victory if they destroy all available Russian units by defending the clearing.

The Russians will win a Minor Victory if they can destroy the von Lubeck device. They will win a Major Victory if they can destroy the device as well as every German unit on the map.

The Von Lubeck Device

The device itself has a Structural Damage Capacity of 145. This unusual toughness is due to a side-effect of the transportation field which weakens kinetic impact and explosive force directed at the device from outside the field.

The operating crew receives an additional +1 modifier to their defense rolls due to the meticulously constructed command post they shelter in. Killing the crew will not turn the device off. German units will continue walking into the gate, unaware, but only a single die should be rolled to determine their fate (see below).

Russian Reinforcements

At the beginning of Turn 2 and every turn thereafter, two vehicles and two infantry units may be placed on the Russian edge of the map.

German Reinforcements

Sadly for the enthusiastic German troops lined up to teleport to victory through the latest technological miracle, Dr. von Lubeck's brainchild is deadly in its untested state.

At the beginning of each turn, the German player may bring up to three units through the von Lubeck gateway. Each transit requires the operating crew to make a skill test against a Threshold of 6 (they are Veterans at this task). This skill test determines what happens to every unit brought through that turn.

If the operators make their test, the units come through unharmed and ready for battle. If the operators roll a total of 5, the units come through irretrievably insane. A single die should be rolled for each insane crew:

1. Intense Confusion: Starting this turn, the unit may take action only on every other turn.

2. Berserker Fury: Unit is overcome with battle rage and will close at the best possible speed with Russian forces, refusing to dig in or use Defensive Maneuvers. Unit will fire on the move and not cease until destroyed.

3. Crew Catatonia. One vehicle crew member or half an infantry unit (rounded down) becomes catatonic. Mark lost crew members as casualties.

4. Violent Confusion: Unit begins attacking nearby German units. Place it in control of the Russian player. It will act as a Russian unit until destroyed. If a genuine Russian unit moves within 3 MU of the confused unit, it will destroy itself in a suicide frenzy.

5. Suicidal Confusion: Unit attacks nearest German unit in every fashion possible for one turn and is then removed from play, killing itself in a suicide frenzy.

6. Hallucinations: Unit will suffer a permanent -1 to Fire Control due to auditory and visual hallucinations.

On an operation roll of 4 or less, the units sent through the device that turn will vanish forever.

The heart of this scenario is the random fate of the German reinforcements. On paper, the German force has enough strength and skill to beat back the Russians with little trouble. Unfortunately, German reinforcements must run the gauntlet of potential madness and destruction before appearing on the map. If the Germans can't get enough functional forces through the device, the Russians will overrun their position.

Ah, the pulpy delight of super-science gone awry.