Police Raid on the Tailfeathers Roadhouse - AAR

[Vagabond]

Captain Andy Donovan spoke with quiet authority and when he said “listen up men” they listened. “The Mabel Street Mob are known to be holed up at the old roadhouse outside of town on the Normanton road. You know the old Tailfeathers Saloon and Gambling hall”.


We are fairly sure, they are all there –

Loretta Salerno, the newest member of the gang and the driver. She likes to tote a Thompson and not just for show, she is a deadly shot, not been long in the States, originally from Southern Italy, no one seems quite sure where.
 
Ruth Marrot – a shadowy figure, she runs the finance side of the operation, looks like she had an accident with an acid bath, (or Mike Owen can’t sculpt female faces) another deadly shot with her colt automatic.

Nicole Boursier, the 2nd in command and the front woman for the gang. Comes from Louisiana way, we think she has French connections with the Cosa Nostra in Marseilles.
 
Barbara Vasseur, another high class French girl, known as the executioner, you can guess her role in the mob. She can shoot the pips out of an apple with that shotgun. Of course there’s not much left of the apple.

Patsie Jones from Brooklyn – mad as the hat she wears, the meanest of the bunch and twice as nasty.

We think the mastermind behind the gang is also going to be there Lian Su Smith, Chinese American and a bit of a looker by all accounts. Generally avoids the limelight but as cunning and deadly as a fox in the hen house.

“OK Don’t forget” he said “These girls are dangerous and we need to go in fast and shoot first, I’ll take care of the Attorney’s Office, don’t forget our storyline, you gave them fair warning and they fired on us first, we only responded in self defence. If we do it by the book we will be coming back in body bags”.


The Police Squad -
 
Walter Ellery is good with his weapon’s of choice - a baton and a sticky bun, not so useful against these girls unless he can get up close, and if he does he’s not going to hit some pretty little girl – is he? Actually – yes, he’s meaner and tougher than a doughnut eating cop should be.

Petra Stanislav – the top of her year at the Police Academy, she is the rookie in the squad, but more capable than most cops, she would make a name for herself in the ensuing action. Unfortunately she is renowned for her clumsiness, everyone leaves the room when she loads her pistol.
 
Big Jim Floyd – strong as a horse but as clumsy as Stanislav. This was to be a problem.

Norman “Action Man” Grumach, smart as a whip but no good with a firearm.

Juanita Aguila, another fine cop but maybe better at operational organisation rather than actually in the operation.

Finally Captain Andy Donovan – a veteran of the streets of Chicago, led many squads on raids such as this, but he did feel a bit uneasy as to the quality of the officers under his command. He was looking forward to retiring in one piece, and this had been on his mind more than a little recently since coming to this hick town, full of bootleggers and dopeheads.


I recently had a western game on this table and by replacing the wagons and horses with trucks moved the time period on 40 or so years. Lazy I know.
The Mabel Street Mob are somewhere on the table decided by dice so Captain Andy’s plan was simple, he was entering from the road on the left. Expecting most of the mob to be in the saloon he sent the car with Walter driving and Petra as shotgun to drive past the roadhouse and block the road out and the main force in the van with Norman driving would pull up outside. Everyone would hop out and dive into the roadhouse and arrest or more probably shoot anyone in there. They would then mop up the rest of the gang wherever they happened to be.
If they acted fast they should catch the gang napping and have numbers on their side initially.


Dispositions of the Mob were decided on a dice roll. 1 dice for each of the mob - 1, 2 or 3 they are in the road house on a 4 they are in the big cabin, 5 in the small one, 6 somewhere on the board in a random place.


A close up of the small cabin. (I must fit a door)


The police car drives past the Saloon.


Stanislav jumps out of the car, Walter is slower and still in the drivers seat. The Police van screeches to a halt. The mobsters react, Patsie Jones comes out of the saloon to see what is happening. Sees the police and jumps back shouting “It’s the cops”


Inside the roadhouse Patsie, Loretta and Nicole are alert and covering the windows. They decide to stay put and are prepared to have a shootout with the cops. Not too many brain cells in the building but Nicole should have known better. (Bad dice roll)


In the small cabin Ruth is alert and checks the door, then the window, she doesn’t see Petra crouched behind the police car but decides she is in a good position to sneak away with the books if she has to, so remains in the cabin.


In the big cabin Barbara checks the door but the Boss of the outfit - Lian is asleep on the bed.


Walter finally gets out and takes cover behind the car. The road block is in place. Its looking good so far.


Disaster - No one has emerged from the truck, it turns out Big clumsy Jim Floyd, tripped and somehow blocked the doors. (They didn’t activate for 2 moves) Lian wakes like a snake and she and Barbara are out of the big cabin making for the brown truck to get away (self preservation like the force is strong within them). They realised the raid was concentrated on the roadhouse and they passed a brains test but failed a guts test so decided to do a runner and escape.

The police finally get out of the truck but all the girls are active and ready. Jim sees Lian and Barbara and shouts stop we are the law, Captain Donovan gives him a sideways glance, what did I tell you he thinks as the girls open fire. Barbara’s 1st shot takes Jims hat off but does small damage, no brains in there, but her other shot takes down Juanita. Lian firing just after Barbara only has Jim as a target and she hits him with two shots, he goes down OOF.
Mad Patsie cracks open the saloon door and fires at Officer Grumach and takes him out with 2 shots to the chest. Double 6’s will do it every time. He falls to the floor before he can get a shot off.


Captain Donovan has not survived in the Police Force for so long being a mug and he sees officers down all around and runs for cover in the field to the left. He knows the operation is a bust.


From the back window of the saloon Nicole sees Officer Ellery with his bag of doughnuts and fires, missing and he ducks down behind the car, rookie Stanislav sees the gun flash and gets off 2 shots, one hits the window frame but the other hits Nicole who falls to the floor bleeding badly.
From the small cabin Ruth the Bookkeeper sees Stanislav fire into the Saloon and returns that fire, missing but causing Stanislav to duck back into the cover of the car.


An eerie silence ensued. Andy Donovan is crouched down behind the fence in the field, looking back at his downed command, there’s going to be a lot of paperwork to fill in.
Barbara is re-loading her shotgun, Lian has reached the brown truck but can’t get in, the door is stuck, Nicole is groaning in the Saloon, but otherwise it’s quiet.

Walter and Petra, get good guts rolls and pop up from behind the Police car, there is no movement in the Saloon window where Nichole was but they spot Ruth in the cabin, they both snapfire, Walter shades Petra to the shot but his bullets go into the log walls. Officer Petra Stanislav got top marks on the shooting range but this is reality, paper targets don’t shoot back and she misses as well, again hitting the log walls. Ruth holds her nerve and snapfires back at Walter hitting him once and he drops to the ground, Petra, fires back but ruffled by the moans of her partner her shots miss again and she runs out of ammo. Ruth fires back and hits Petra, it's only a flesh wound, she drops back behind the car to stop the bleeding.

Another pause as everyone assesses the situation.


Patsie and Loretta burst out of the saloon making for the brown van and escape. Lian finally gets the door of the van open, Barabara is ready to jump in, Andy Donovan recovers his nerve and fires his shotgun but is out of range and misses.
Officer Stanislav recovers from her flesh wound and pops back up, but Ruth the Bookkeeper is covering the area and fires, missing but Stanislav ducks back again.

Ruth leaves the shelter of the log cabin and climbs in to the van, you can just see the pot where she has been cooking the books. Andy Donovan runs towards the van as it speeds off and does not get in another shot.

Headlines in the Globe Newspaper the following day.

Four Officers wounded, in an abortive raid on an isolated Roadhouse Tavern known as the Tailfeathers Saloon. The raid lead by Captain Andrew Donovan - recently arrived from the Chicago Police Force was a complete fiasco. Witnesses said that the police van pulled up but no one got out for what seemed like an eternity. This gave the gang plenty of time to react to the raid and the officers were gunned down mercilessly as they emerged from the van.
Questions are being asked at the highest level why such a small and ill prepared squad should take on the notorious Mabel Street Mob unaided.

Captain Donovan could well be retiring earlier than he thought, his reputation was tarnished in the incedent in the Ozark Mountains when the raid on the Moonshiners went so badly wrong, posted in Dec 16, this could be the final straw.

All the Mabel Street gang got away except Nicole Boursier, who is badly wounded and may not recover, but if she does she may turn States evidence or need busting out of jail.

Only problem with that is I don’t have a jail. Ho Hum.

If you are still here – Thanks for reading.

Any C and C's are most welcome

[Hobby Services]

If you don't have a jail setup for Nicole, how about an indoors fight in the hospital or at the DA's office where she's being interrogated after recovering?

[wulfgar22]

Lovely figs...nice set-up...and great read! Thanks!

[Porthius]

Great AAR and the table set-up looks brilliant! 

[Mason]

Brilliant!
I do love your reports, so full of characters and fun to boot.
 

Getting so much use out of your scenery is great.
I have done the same with my Old West set-up and used for early 20th C. games too.
 

As for rescue scenarios: How about busting Nicole out en route to the courthouse?
A prison van ambush scenario could be fun....

[whomever1]

Good story-telling. I haven't gotten into the habit of explaining events from the challenge someone met or failed.

[d phipps]

Lovely terrain and figures! THANKS for posting.

[tin shed gamer]

Always a fun read. It did make smile when your game left you needing to make more scenery,just to keep the campaign moving ,as I'm permanently doing the same thing.
Personally I go down the route of building/buying a jail. It's definitely going to have more than one campaign in it.

Mark.

[marianas_gamer]

Lots of fun as usual. Great table and story telling. More paperwork for the poor Captain and a real groaner there about "cooking the books"
LB

[Vagabond]

HS. Wulfgar, Porthius Whomevet thanks for your comments and suggestion.

I always find it interesting how one game can lead to another, where as some finish completely. If Nicole had died or been carried off by the rest of the mob that would be the end of it, as it is there could be another game to see what happens.

Mr Mason I like the idea of a prison van ambush, might have to try that some time.
I am pleased that you are enjoying my reports because one of my guilty secrets is that I saved all your game reports of strange aeons to word and read through them occasionally. Hope I don't get arrested for crimes of insanity.

Dave - thanks to you for Pulp Alley, I know I don't use your rules but so many do and that is why we have such a thriving pulp board, which we all derive inspiration from.

Tin Shed a sheriff's office/jail is to be the 2nd building in my embryonic western town. However I've spent more time agonising over should it be Adobe or clapboard, printed texture or coffee stirrers and paint how to sit it on the terrain board I haven't started yet, than actually building and still no decision yet. And I used to be indecisive.

Lon - great to hear from you. Yes Captain Donovan is not having a good time in my games, but I thought cooking the books was a good line compared to some of the others. 

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

I always enjoy your superb games and this one is no exception. Love the Mabel Street Mob, looking forward to seeing what happens next!

[Doug ex-em4]

That table (3'x3' 2'x2'?) makes we want to break out some figures and start playing - inspiration doesn't get any stronger than that.

Thanks for sharing.

Doug

[Vagabond]

MiLord that's kind of you to say, I always wonder if my reports are too long and too wordy, they require quite a commitment in time for folks reading them.
 
Most of the Mabel Street Mob moved to France and were involved during the war serving with the Resistance in a story covering an SOE radio operator and a downed plane. I did write it up but the report is very long. The game lasted 38 turns So a big post. Maybe I could edit it.

Doug the table is 2' 4" sq. Based on 1' sq tiles that I rarely use because I don't like the joins on the table and the road at 4".
You've inspired me in the past with your game reports, pleased I could do the same.

Cheers

[Ballardian]

 Great AAR with some lovely terrain!

[Mason]

Mr Mason I like the idea of a prison van ambush, might have to try that some time.
I am pleased that you are enjoying my reports because one of my guilty secrets is that I saved all your game reports of strange aeons to word and read through them occasionally. Hope I don't get arrested for crimes of insanity.

You are, quite obviously, beyond help....