Hello fellow GMs,

Since OW is by default very mission-oriented, it stands to reason that is what most sessions revolve around. PCs report to CO, receive orders, execute mission, return for debriefing. At least, that is the intention. Since the players are usually grunts (and if not, this point still remains) they will be doing a lot of the same things, mission-wise. How do you avoid repetitive missions? What sort of interesting things do you like to plan, or what complications do you like to throw out? Do you try to focus more on role playing-heavy sessions, or ones that are more tactical/combat-driven?

I do like roleplaying more than combat-focused play, and for that reason I tend to do a lot of scouting missions and behind-enemy-lines deployments, simply because it provides more opportunities for roleplaying, and lets the players have more initiative because they're expected to operate alone for extended periods of time and as such are more independent than the line infantry grunts.

for me nearly every session has a "hanging around the camp" part to it, where theres like an hour of characters roleplaying a social element around the camp, for example what do you characters do when they wake up in the morning? do they roll out of bed and do press ups? do they go to mass? If your characters are part of a platoon, what is their relationship with their lieutenant, any rivalries with other squads?

Also things to spice up missions:

really sh*tty orders that players must either avoid doing or creatively overcome. for example being told to advance towards an enemy position only to find out that they have many turrets, after which the mission goes to **** and they have to regroup and find a way around.

I think that only war should be played at a large scale, where characters are part of a larger force, so you could have characters choosing where they deploy in a warzone, then giving them the choice on where they go next after they complete each sub mission. e.g. first you go to the left flank and clear the enemy there, do you want to lead the charge to secure more ground on this flank? or do you want to hit the enemy currently fighting in the centre in the side? make it clear that a large battle is going on around them, and they can only do so much as a single squad

also, watch war films for inspiration on what kinda missions to do