First of all, comment that this game was played using Osprey's Black Ops rules despite being located in the Dust 1947 universe. The narrative of the story made the rules most appropriate to recreate the scenario of the theft of a train guarded by sentinels.
Also is my humble tribute to the
Last Train from Goldwasser battle report from the legendary Major General Tremorden page that has inspired many of us in this hobby, and indeed the rules used for the train are the same ones of famous web page.
Black Ops rules were redacted for use with modern combat entourages, but its gameplay, especially for stealthy incursions into places protected by sentries, is highly recommended and very easy to adapt.
Without further ado, let's travel to the province of Babil, in the center of Iraq, at the end of 1947, on a spit of land in which the Euphrates and the Tigris seem to want to join. Despite the efforts of a mysterious sect to prevent the site from being plundered by the English, events recounted in
"A Well of Evil", the British had discovered within it very valuable pieces of the Hittite civilization, and had extracted a unique statue with inscriptions carved in an unknown language. The statue in question seemed to be the key to open an inter-dimensional door, not in vain in Akkadian the ancient Babylon means "The Door of God".
Aware of the importance of the find, the high command has made the necessary preparations to transport the statue by train to the RAF base in Shaibah, near Basra, and travel from there by plane to England via Alexandria, Malta, Gibraltar . The train will leave at dawn, and until then it will be guarded by allied troops.
But this information has reached the ears of certain people who have passed the information to the Cult ...
... and based on that Ekaterina Simonova, leader of the Sacred Dawn cabal has other plans for that train.
Plans that go through a raid with the militant chamber of the cult: the Saboteurs, fanatical worshipers of the first-born god Nyarlathothep, ready to blow up everything and everyone who confronts them with their sticks of dynamite ...
... as well as the Maidens of the Cult, devoted to the crawling god.
Ignorant of the threat and numbed by the cold of the dawn, the few sentinels struggle not to fall asleep and wander erratically, stalking shadows that seem to come to life in the dark night.
In the meantime, the Saboteurs continue their advance without setting off alarms. So do two tall and sinister figures, the brothers Rudolf and Bran Sebontterdoff, members of the esoteric organization Thule and specialists in communications and mechanics. It is in them that Ekaterina trusts to start the locomotive and escape with the train and its valuable cargo.
The infiltration continues without arousing the suspicions of the sentries who have not yet detected the presence of the intruders ...
But the arrival of a motorized patrol guarding the perimeter seems to awaken the soldiers from their lethargy ...
... and one of them immediately detects one of the intruders and start shouting: “Intruders Alert!!!” screaming begins to alert his companions.
At the same time, a second sentry runs into the rest of the saboteurs.
Another one, seems to distinguish between the shadows a dark shape that advances towards - Stop, who's going ?! For any answer, he receives a blast of lead that ends his life.
The screams and the shots ended up waking up the officer who was resting in a nearby Dar al Tuba, - What the hell !!! But immediately realizes that they are facing a full-blown attack and orders the newcomer jeep to move forward to repel the intrusion.
Rolf Sebontterdoff raises his megaphone to order immediate fire, as there is no point in continuing with caution.
Immediately his orders are carried out. The sentry guarding the statue is killed by one of the saboteurs ...
... and Rudolf reaches for the locomotive with the intention of starting to raise steam as soon as possible ...
... while Ekaterina tries to end the life of the allied commander.
But not everything goes the way the Russian beauty had anticipated. One of the sentries kills a maiden ...
... and yet another opens Suppressive fire against the saboteurs he had surprised ...
... and who, carried away by their fanaticism, have wanted to continue their advance, paying for their stubbornness with death.
While the assault continues, the shots of the submachine guns fall like snow hail on the soldier in the palm grove but by some miracle he manages to avoid them.
The allied commander also opens fire with his Sten on the enigmatic figure of the young woman who, accompanied by a Lion, runs towards him. But with surprising agility, the girl manages to avoid the burst ...
.. and launch an attack on the fast vehicle that passes by. Surprised by the sudden agresion the two men are unable to react and a shot from the Mauser pistol kills the machine gunner. His panicked partner accelerates to save his life ...
... escapes at full speed, losing himself in the vastness of the desert.
Rudolf Sebontterdoff has achieved enough pressure and the old locomotive begins to gain momentum. One of the Saboteurs has climbed into the rear carriage, determined to safeguard at all costs the sinister and mysterious sculpture that stands next to him...
... meanwhile the lonely soldier in the palm grove manages to finish off another of the maidens – Die dirty cockroach, die !!!
But his numbers are inexhaustible and he is soon surrounded by a mob of crazed assassins.
The noise of the combat surround everything; shots, explosions, the thunderous roar of the fight prevents the allied commander from seeing the imposing mass of the locomotive ramming and running over him.
With no one offering resistance, the train moves forward, still not too fast to allow the survivors of the Cult to embark ...
... but it is not easy to get going and one of the maids pays with her life after trying.
Ekaterina has looked for a shortcut and waits for the train a little further ...
... and with her prodigious agility both she and her feline pet climb onto the wagon without difficulty.
The raid has been a success, it matters little to her that many of his minions have perished, but there’s somenthing wrong…
... where is Bran Sebontterdoff? No one has seen him, they are the only survivors of the attack but no one knows anything about his whereabouts. The German's fate darkens the joy for the success of the mission.