Hello fellow GMs

I wondered if it's common to use the current rules on Mission assignment gear and logistic checks. I've used it sometimes and sometimes ignored it in my game so far, but after discovering how low chance there actually is to get what you're supposed to get, I'm beginning to reconsider how it's done.

For example, last time the players were to go on a mission they were to sabotage a training camp (Last Testament). Among the mission gear was explosives and stealth gear.

The chance of them actually getting it though was low: Even though I have given one of them the title of Brevet 2nd Lieutenant and a reasonable base logistics rating (10 is ridiculous even for a squad). Even with the generous bonuses, they were still less than 50% likely to get their assigned gear, which in some missions could be disastrous.

We handled it through roleplay though. The players didn't complain, and the fact that they twice rolled the result for "box with Inquisitorial markings on it", and they already had such an item from the last time they failed that check (and never opened it), they proclaimed that this was no coincidence, and that they were actually working for the Emperor through the Inquisition. So instead of complaining they went around in their platoons scrounging for explosives, and I let them get it as one of the players is the highest ranking Cadian in the base, and they had just finished a mission where they captured quite a lot of demo-charges from the enemy.

So all is good this time, but how often can this happen before it becomes beyond ridiculous? I can get having an odd piece of equipment here and there missing or replaced, but the chance of losing everything is very high. And if I had made them use their base logistics (10) plus the bonus they have from campaign (5) they would only have 25% to roll against.

How are you guys handling it? Should I sometimes just make a few items on the Mission assignment gear available no matter their roll?

The point is kind of that the Munitorum are a highly inefficient (some would argue useless) body and no group of regular guardsmen is worth much of anything.

It also introduces interesting roleplay challenges in players acquiring the gear that they need.

Then there's always personal requisitions, which makes acquiring gear of any sort a cakewalk provided the party has a high intelligence support character.

The system, I think, works as intended, but if it isn't working for you, then you can circumvent it entirely, or have other ways of acquiring the necessary gear crop up during the mission when they previously missed out on it at the requisition phase.

I run with it RAW and don't tend to have any problems, though it's probably worth making mention that my players are lead by a PC Company Captain (Logistics 40) after having climbed their way up from 10 through a series of stupidly lethal missions and purchasing munitorum influence repeatedly. Gives the talent some value.

It's a rather expensive talent though... 500xp for just the first one, and it increases with every purchase and whenever the Logistics rating goes up. None of my PCs have bought it yet, as they all have other advanced deemed more critical.

The way I look at the talent is a "nice, but not required". It's for those who want extra pull with the munitorum in addition to their rank, so they can get stuff they normally would not get. It's not IMO meant to be necessary to get the basic stuff.

Note however that even your Captain has only 50% of getting all his assignment gear and 30% chance of getting none of it. I do find the humor in the seemingly incompetent Munitorum (which is heretical to criticize), but if it happens every other mission it gets a little too ridiculous.

It also does not always make sense when you have a more well defined circumstance. For example, right now the PCs are in a stranded part of a regiment under the command of another regiment Captain, who commands a supply base. When he sends them on missions, and considering the favor he shows them, It's very strange when a dice roll just makes what he wants coincidentally unavailable, especially if it is already decided what kind of resources are available. So the system works when the PCs are in a supply zone where the number of soldiers are extremely high, and the deliveries needs time to come from off-world locations or through a staggering bureaucracy. When there is a supply depot acting practically independently though, what is and what isn't available should be a lot less random.

But... I like the tables, and don't mind throwing it into the mix from time to time to juice things up.

. So the system works when the PCs are in a supply zone where the number of soldiers are extremely high, and the deliveries needs time to come from off-world locations or through a staggering bureaucracy. When there is a supply depot acting practically independently though, what is and what isn't available should be a lot less random.

This is your answer right here. Roll when it make sense to roll. When it doesn't make sense, just roleplay it out. Other factors, such as rank and need always factor in - and just because that tank, and barrels of explosives is in front of the pcs, doesn't always mean they have the authorization to take them. ^^.

Or you can make those players work for it. I haven't read through final testament yet but I'd imagine there would be stores of fuel, gunpowder or grenades at the base they could use to improvise. Maybe one of the players can spend a fate point to happen upon a barrel of prometheum while on the mission?