Yuma Proving Ground - a Forbidden Zone - Suffield Canada - 23rd Aug

[Dan55]

Great aar and wonderful terrain and figures.  Well done.

I only have the basic book, but I think this is how it's meant to work.

I think you did most of the stuff correctly.  I don't know about firing into a melee however.  In a melee all participants involved roll at the same time, so your squad idea is correct.  I don't know what happens to the actions owed to the other fighters after that first combat round is figured out.  Newly entering fighters may make the defender roll again (I guess) if the newcomer hasn't used up his last action for this turn and chooses to attack  I believe claws/teeth are meant to represent 1 weapon total.

Drinking a potion or applying a med kit to an ally takes an action.  Applying a med kit to yourself I believe is a special case and is free.

Anomalies are rare and dangerous "things" (items) that have the ability to ignore some of the laws of physics.  They are caused by whatever created the "forbidden zone" in the first place.  For this reason they are worth lots of money, and carrying one around MAY grant an advantage.

[Spinal Tap]

Enjoyed reading that. Thank you for sharing.

[Doug ex-em4]

I enjoyed the wrap-up, John and good to see Captain Donovan again - was it his car that got taken away on the boat way back when?

Regarding rules, what do people think is the range for a thrown grenade? It says 1-18" in the rules but that seems a heck of distance for a thrown item when compared to firearm’s ranges. So, is that the range for a rifle grenade? If so, how far for a throw? I’m thinking 6-8" may be more reasonable.

Doug

[CapnJim]

Well, well, well.  What is it with men in black suits...?  At least the Vagabonds are out of The Big House.  My guess is they can get into as much trouble keeping folks out of The Forbidden Zone as they did trying to get into it themselves....I could be wrong, but....

[Vagabond]

Thanks Mike, Lon, Marine, Spinal, and Cptn, your encouragement is greatly appreciated in these troubled times around the Yuma Proving Ground.

Doug, yes that's the same Captain Donovan, he gets around a lot.

Dan thanks for your thoughts on how I read the rules, I've been watching some videos on Guerrilla Games. He uses teeth and claws as 1 attack so I think you're right.
Although he had one of his team armed with 2 shotguns and they both counted in melee!!! 6 melee dice each action, some special trait or skill allows you to do it apparently . It also sounds as though if you have a smg and a machete you count both in melee 4D smg +1D Machete, how that works I've no idea.

There's a number of things I have a bit of difficulty with in the rules but I think that's probably my take on what rules should be, compared to the majority view.

Anyway I've had another game since this one and it was bloody. 
Cheers

[CapnJim]

Although he had one of his team armed with 2 shotguns and they both counted in melee!!! 6 melee dice each action, some special trait or skill allows you to do it apparently . It also sounds as though if you have a smg and a machete you count both in melee 4D smg +1D Machete, how that works I've no idea.

There's a number of things I have a bit of difficulty with in the rules but I think that's probably my take on what rules should be, compared to the majority view.

Anyway I've had another game since this one and it was bloody. 
Cheers

That "using 2 weapons in melee" thing uses the Knife Man skill (page 30).  Although firing 2 12-guages at one time one-handed each is gonna make for some sore wrists...but I guess it beats being dead.... 

And looking forward to your next report...

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

What a great story!      

The only disagreement I have with the report is that Andy Donovan, all 'mouth and trousers', that bloke. He drew first on the two innocent Mabel Street Mob gels. They only produced their gats when Andy tried to arrest them for 'being in the vicinity of an ongoing robbery'.

Looking forward to seeing more stories about the Vagabonds.

[Vagabond]

I've decided to combine the storylines based on the Incident at the Yuma Proving Ground and the various threads that are spinning off from that original story rather than how I started i.e. a new thread for each game.

So I'm moving Game 2 onto the end of my first thread (this one) and then I'll add new stuff on to the end of that. Shouldn't take too long

Cheers

[Vagabond]

Zone Alfa Game 2

I was in the Easy Does It Roadhouse and wondering how I was going to get out of the place without being eaten alive when Andy Donovan strode into the joint with Police Woman Petra Stanislav. He looked at Stanislav and she nodded in my direction and they both ambled over. Donovan looked at me and then addressed the immaculate woman across the table, saying “I know who this is but might I have the pleasure of knowing who you are and why you are sat opposite a Vagabond” Katie Monk smiled her hard but winning smile and said “I work for the Global Tribune, I met Mr Black and some of his associates back in 18, they helped me on a job, and my name’s Ms Monk, but you can call me Katie”.

“I’m down here on a story but Mr Black isn’t being very helpful, he keeps talking about a confidentiality agreement he signed with Homeland Security and he seems to think they are scarier than I am”, she smiled again. Captain Andy Donovan smiled right back at her, “Well Katie that’s why I’m here as well, Homeland Security are not the most communicative of organisations and I was expecting to get a little help from Vincent as to what he’s been involved in recently. I tried to look small and insignificant, which is difficult for a 6’2” Biker who would like to be a Hell’s Angel’s. “Look” I stammered and played my trump card, the 2 of clubs, “go and talk to Silas, if anyone knows what is going on in the desert, it’s Silas”.
PIC01

Silas, on the left and his brother Bull.

They live closer to the Yuma Proving Ground than anyone else and they refused to move when the Army came to enforce the Exclusion Zone. The small patrol of a corporal and a couple of men backed off when Silas waved his shotgun around in their general direction and they moved on to more amenable homesteaders.
When you live off grid sometimes you fall through the cracks and the Army had lost track of the fact that two old men were still out there and hadn’t gone back to ensure they moved out.

“And where might I find this Silas” Captain Andy Donovan enquired of me. “I know Sir” chipped in Stanislav, I think she might have taken a shine to big Andy “he’s only a couple of hours from the wire, it’s a bit of a walk but I can take you there”.
PIC02

Donovan as you may remember is Senator McGivvens chosen Law Enforcement Officer and heads up the recently inaugurated Special Operating Detection & Investigation Team in charge of security in the outer zone.
He might be in charge of S.O.D.I.T. but was getting very little cooperation and even less information from Homeland Security and felt he needed to know what was going on in the Zone he was guarding.

He’d brought a small but hand picked cadre of men with him and he’s taken them, along with some of the local law enforcement team on a Recon mission to find Silas. His aim is to circumnavigate Homeland Security and get into the zone himself to take a look and assess the situation first hand.

He’s explaining to James Lamont and Diaz that they need to protect his back door. “I don’t have much faith in this bunch of clowns who call themselves Law Officers, we’re going into a dangerous situation and I want a couple of reliable men out here for when we return.
PIC03

This is the bunch of clowns he’s referring to, they’re members of the police force in a small town and not used to this sort of emergency. As it turns out, who is!

Behind them is a watchtower and Aguila is instructing Walter and Norman to man the tower. She is afraid of heights otherwise she would have taken this prestigious position. As it is she decides that Big Jim Floyd should remain on the ground. An unkind person might wonder if that is so Jim can provide some protection for her, should it be needed.
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The outer fence around the new exclusion zone had been erected very quickly and consisted of a double ring of wire and a beaten zone between them. There are no gates near where Donovan is going in and he doesn’t want to cut the wire for obvious reasons.
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This is just a gratuitous shot to show the watch tower and serves no other purpose.
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This is the team he’s taking in with him, Willhelm Schmidtt and Hans Ludenstein are the other part of his hand picked team. Both armed with pump action shotguns, B.A. Pistols and a truncheon each. I’m treating a truncheon the same as a knife and I believe in melee they count the shotgun and the truncheon. I feel that has to be wrong, but in the video I watched explaining the rules, that’s what they did, if anyone can confirm either way, that would be useful. In addition they have a medikit each, something they would be grateful for.
Petra you’ve met, she has a pistol and truncheon, also a pair of handcuffs for those dark lonely nights, in spite of her youth she’s a good cop, best in her year and a crack shot as well.
PIC07

If you’ve got this far you may pause and wonder what a news crew is doing at this place, at this time, and you’d be right to wonder at that.
It is, as usual, a long story, Katie Monk with her back to us but her face to the camera knew stuff…..stuff she’d not been allowed to print and she’d a score to settle. So in return for a solemn promise from the Law, she told Captain Donovan stuff……stuff that if some other Lawmen found out she’d passed on, she would find out just how scary Homeland Security could be. In return for this information Donovan had decided he’d better keep her close.
PIC08

He’s explaining about rules of engagement to Big Freddie. “You don’t shoot anybody or indeed anything unless I give you a direct order, have you got that” Freddie looks bored and nods, he knows that if he was to count the bodies he’d shot, it would need a few more fingers and toes than he currently had. That’s without the “things” that would need a few more fingers and toes.
Donovan didn’t think he needed to give the same lecture to Katie Monk but he was wrong, although she would have taken no more notice than Freddie did.

In the background or I suppose it’s really the foreground Donald shoots footage of the exchange. He’s under strict instructions that everything will be censored by Donovan. Donald will only take his instructions from Katie so isn’t worried by the censorship.

In the background the men and women who do the hard lifting are lifting the pair of ladders into place so that they can cross the first fence.
PIC09

Donovan recognises that Freddie is probably the most experienced man on the team, and he’s not part of Donovan’s team either, so is more expendable than the others. So he puts Freddie on point, flanked by Hans and Schmidtt.
Freddie knows the score and knows his capability and isn’t worried by this.
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Donald Tronji gets a last shot of the crew heading off into the desert. He’s already got the film layout planned, I counted them out and I counted them in. He thinks, I know it’s been done before but that was a long time ago, no one will remember that…..surely.
PIC11

As they head towards their destination the three at the back seem to be bunched up more than is tactically wise but some times the women gravitate towards a handsome man, although Andy isn’t a handsome man, he is big and that might suffice.

[Vagabond]

After that short intermission and a word from our sponsors I’d like play the first reel of the story setting the scene before progressing to the action.
PIC12

Our intrepid hero’s are over the wire and making there way to Silas in the desert. They knew where his camp was but they didn’t know that after the visit from the Army patrol, Silas and Bull had decided they needed a little more protection.
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So they’d decided to ring the place with a wire fence and a big gate. This might make things a little more difficult!

The main objective is the wooden shed that the brothers use for their sleeping quarters, there are 2 secondary Hot Spots, the tent in the far corner and a wandering one. Its location would be decided once Donovan and his team arrived at the gate.

As everyone knows now, the area around the Yuma Proving Ground is a dangerous place, the brothers might be OK, holed up in their compound or they might not be.
Taking the Z.A. chart for id of Zone Hostiles a D6 roll of 1 indicates it’s the brothers rather than a swarm of something and they’re OK, a D6 roll of 4 usually indicates Zombies and you’ve guessed it, they’re not OK but are now Zombies.
PIC14

A roll of 6 on the set up die means Donovan has 7 moves to get into the compound, search it for the brothers and get out before an Army patrol turns up demanding to know why he is inside the blue zone, rather than outside guarding its outer perimeter.  That might require some fast talking but I think he’s up to that challenge.
PIC15

As before a die roll decides where Donovan’s team enters the board and providentially it’s in front of the gate and Stanislav is able to say, rather smugly, “there it is Sir” “You didn’t mention wire fencing did you” he responds. “did anyone bring wire cutters”. There’s a resounding silence when I rolled 3 having decided that they would have wire cutters on a roll of 5 or 6.
PIC16

Is the gate locked? 1-5 it is, did I mention it’s a dangerous place out there? - Roll 5, whoops it’s locked.

Not to worry Katie Moss is a skilful lock picker, a skill she picked up in a previous life, one that she doesn’t talk about much, or at all. I forgot to mention, after the last fiasco with the Rookies now everyone is Hard and she has 2 actions trying to pick the lock. Unfortunately she fails….twice. Hummm.
PIC17

Once the team arrived at the gate I rolled to see where the wandering Hot Spot would be. Fortunately it’s on the far side of the compound and out of sight. It will wander 1 to 6” in a random direction each turn until it is in sight of one of the team.
The Hot Spot is the penny with 4 lentils on it.
PIC18

I don’t believe it’s as easy to climb an 8’ wire fence as most rules writers and so everyone has to test to make the climb. Donovan, Freddie and Stanislav are not dexterous enough to make the climb and so only Hans and Schmidtt get over. Katie has used up her actions failing to pick the lock and will try the climb next move.

Well at least someone is inside although I worry a little because the Games Master might make them test to climb back out, especially if they get injured.
PIC19

Katie has hidden talents and in spite of the tight dress and high heels she’s over the fence in no time. Freddie and Stanislav move right to cover Schmidtt as Donovan goes on Alert to cover Hans.
PIC20

As Hans moves forward to check out the tent he disturbs a bunch of zombies, two of them look very like Silas and Bull, although Hans doesn’t know that. He’s a little perturbed when they make an immediate move towards him. He fires as they come and misses, nerves I guess, understandable in the circumstances but a bit awkward all the same.
Donovan on Alert, can’t fire a shotgun without hitting Hans and so he draws his pistol instead.
PIC21

Schmidtt climbs onto the truck, which isn’t such a good move as some ghoulish looking creatures rush out and surround him. He fires as they come and one explodes in a ball of blood and green flesh.

Freddie and Stanislav look on in horror as they realise they’ve used their actions for this turn.
PIC22

Katie wonders if it was a good idea climbing over the fence and also wonders if pulling the pocket revolver and the can of mace is going to be 1 or 2 actions or maybe even a free action. There’s time for a passing thought on who will activate first next turn and finally, she wonders why she pays a bodyguard who can’t climb a fence and isn’t available to guard her body when she needs him.

The green ghoul just wonders what she will taste like.
PIC23

This bit is a little confusing, well it confused me. Ghouls activate 1st, 2 of them attack Schmidtt, one of them hits Schmidtt and he fails to save so is down. He defends and gets two hits, both of the Ghouls fails to save so 2 Ghouls down. He can’t use one of his 2 hits to parry an attack because he’s the defender not the attacker.
PIC24

The zombies activate next and there are 2 of them in contact with Hans, he goes down. Katie shoots at the Ghoul nearest her and hits it but does no damage, it moves into contact with her.

The remaining 2 zombies move towards Katie but Donovan now has a clear field of fire and blasts them, they both die.

Freddie also has a clear field of fire through the cars and shed he hits both remaining zombies and one of them goes down.
PIC25

Katie is wondering if it’s possible to train one of these things, you know, a bit like a pit bull terrier, she’d be the envy of everyone she knows, walking round with a Ghoul on a lead.
PIC26

Petra Stanislav doesn’t give a damn, she moves and fires, killing Katie’s new pet….dead. Katie reflects that’s probably the best outcome.
PIC27

Start of a new turn and there’s only 1 zombie left standing, however there’s only Katie still on her feet in the compound and time is ticking.
PIC28

The zombie moves towards Katie but Donovan blows it away just before it reaches her. Stanislav shouts “That’s Silas” then mumbles “Well it was Silas”

Katie thinking on her feet, moves forward and searches his corpse, with a lucky roll she finds the key to the gate padlock and throws it to Donovan. Donovan opens the gate nest turn. Well at least she won’t have to climb back.

Hans and Schmidtt make use of their Medipacks and they’ll be ready to move soon but will it be soon enough.
PIC29

The wandering Hot Spot wanders around the corner of the compound and sees Freddie, they move towards him mumbling and grumbling something about brains, Freddie thinks that’s a bit rude so shoots one of them as Stanislav moves over in support, I’m not sure Freddie needs support but it’s the thought that counts.

Freddie and Stanislav continue to fire into the advancing zombies to no avail.
PIC30

Katie rushes to the shed but doesn’t find anything. That failure is replicated by Hans when he searches the tent. Schmitt examines the truck and with yet another lucky dice roll discovers that the keys are still in the ignition.

Lets get the hell out of here yells Donovan and everyone starts to run for home. With a head start Freddie Donovan and Stanislav are making good time but the three in the compound aren’t going to be so lucky until Schmitt turns the key and the trucks engine bursts into life, Katie and Hans jump on board.
PIC31

This is at the end of the 7th move, as the Army patrol are going to come on the 8th I gave the game to Donovan, I think they deserve it.
PIC32

Schmidtt is actually supposed to be inside the truck but I’m not cutting my figures in half for effect, you’ll just have to imagine it.
Donovan is a little out of breath but will soon commandeer a ride.
PIC33

Freddie and Petra Stanislav are enjoying their jog across the desert, I wonder who will win?
PIC34

Not these guy’s, that’s for sure, they are more my kind of shambling runners.

Well Captain Andy Donovan now knows what Homeland Security wouldn’t tell him. Something has gone awfully wrong in the Yuma Proving Ground and the secure perimeter isn’t secure. The following day the army pulled back from the Yellow perimeter fence and took over control from Donovan at the outer fence of the Blue Zone.
Donovan has seen the Senator or is it a Governor of a State and been given some unequivocal orders that hopefully will be revealed in due course.

Katie Monk has no evidence to confront the worlds press with but it confirms her previous assertions, maybe her Editor can overturn the previous decision on her foray into the Mojave Desert in search of  ……… Redacted……..

[Vagabond]

Zone Alfa Game 03 The Intro

Katie Monk has decided, enough is enough, she’s going to blow the gaff and sod the consequences. She’s been pushed around by Capitol Hill (Cptn ?) too long and they shouldn’t mess with her any more.

After the incident with Captain Andy Donovan and a shared near death experience she’s going back to the Mojave and he’s going to Canada. Hopefully the story will unfold a little more smoothly than it has so far but you never know.

Katie has hired some of her old bodyguards, that’s old, as in the past, not that they are old, if you understand the difference. Some of these have appeared in the story so far and some have not, but if you have the attention span of a goldfish, as I have, it won’t matter who is whom.

The event will be played out over the internet and I shall be some disembodied being down in Devon, all I need to remember is; do I put the cream on the scone before the jam and all will be well. Unfortunately I can’t recall which way they do it in Devon, I’ll just have to hope the Mad Lord Snapcase cut’s me a little slack because it’s a frightfully important thing in that part of the country, apparently.

Sorry to ramble a little but I’ve found some nice Shiraz, Mrs V doesn’t drink midweek, and as I believe wine goes off within 6 hours of the cork being drawn I’m having to dispose of it as quickly as possible.


The Girls.

Katie Monk has changed out of her business suit and is impersonating Laura Croft, fit and hard, she’s the one on the left, Angie centre and Ulrika right you’ve already met in the rescue of Alice. These are all the Mad Lords figures and it’s interesting how similar our painting is of the figures. Well similar in colouring in, his are more of an artists standard where as mine are more of a 10 year old but I’m not bitter.

Well not a lot!



The Boys

On the left we have Big Willie Snapcase who is the brother of Fat Willie, Fat Willie couldn’t make it to the Mojave because he gets a nose bleed flying and there wasn’t enough time to drive. Big Willie had an exciting experience down a mine one time when he was 16 and his dark brown hair turned white. He doesn’t talk about it much but if you buy Fat Willie a few beers he might let you in on the secret, of course it might cost you quite a few beers because the brothers are close, but what else are you going to spend your money on.

When it comes to driving, Tugger Doug is your man, he’s in the centre, and has crisscrossed the this country as a truck driver and proudly explains that’s why he’s called Tugger, he says that’s because he’s tugged countless trailers across thousands of miles, desert or mountains it’s all the same to him. Of course the few people close to him know Tugger is a pseudonym for some one who pulls a van, in his case a 30’ Airstream the iconic version of the famous caravan.

Tank on the right doesn’t suffer from nose bleeds and so flies to joins the expedition carrying Rosie. Rosie in case you were wondering is the whopping big gun he takes everywhere. He doesn’t need a concealed licence to carry Rosie because he would be hard put to conceal her, unless she was in Tuggers Airstream.


This is their destination, a disused facility in the Mojave that I had the privilege to play over back in 2018 when this story was conceived although it was only really brought to life recently when I was referred to this board and some wonderful game tales were on display.

You reprobates know who you are.
Thanks.

[Vagabond]

OK now I’ve sorted the housekeeping out and got the thread in some form of order I’ll continue with the introduction to the next game.

PIC01B

The trip up the Mojave River had been uneventful except for sightings of some very strange sea creatures that shouldn’t really have been there but as the Marie Anne docked, Katie Monk’s thoughts went back 5 years, to the story that she would forever think of as “The Scoop”. It started like this.

“It’s like going to see the Head Mistress at Roedean” moaned Katie Monk to her cameraman, “you never know why she wants to see you”. “It could be smoking behind the bike sheds, or the small incident in town with the butchers boy, what ever it is, it’s usually the one thing you’re not prepared for”. “What do you think it could be this time”? “I know there were a few issues with our last story, but if it hadn’t been for that interfering mother it would have been fine. We should have received an award for investigative journalism not been hauled over the coals.
PIC01

Donald Tronji reflected on that last shit storm, the kids were all happy and content. Of course they were living in squalor, in a poor country, very little to eat and washing in the street drain but they’d been smiling and laughing. Katie wanted a piece to camera, bewailing the kid’s plight for prime time TV and she needed a grubby, crying child as her centrepiece.
The upshot was she’d hit the kid in face, made his nose bleed, thrown him in a muddy puddle and so had her subject ready for the camera in no time at all. The look of concern on her face as she started on the fourth take was as good as it had been on the first, he had to admit, she was good. Katie had to pinch the child hard to make him continue crying for the last shot but it was going well, they would soon have everything in the can and be away from this godforsaken hole.

Problem was, the child’s mother saw everything, her brother was a local politician, and there was hell to pay. The UN Press Council had been called in and an investigation into Press Brutality was started.

Joe Diamond, the Editor would have sacked them both on the spot, except that the Owner thought Katie was the best thing since smoked kippers, and he liked smoked kippers, especially for breakfast.

At his instigation Diamond was instructed to do background checks and it didn’t take much digging to discover that the Council’s Chairman had a penchant for illegal substances and the Politician brother liked even less savoury things, so the hoo-hah died down quickly and Katie and Donald kept their jobs.
PIC02

Even so they had a severe shellacking and missed a couple of good stories that had gone to other reporters who were more in favour with the Boss….well that included almost everyone at that time.

Don Tronji wondered, and not for the first time, how long could he put up with this woman. The answer was the same every time, as long as he got paid top dollar. They were a successful team, she had no morals or scruples where a story was concerned and would go to any lengths to get it.

As her camera man his stock was sky high with his peers, a crying brat was a small price to pay.
PIC03

At the same time Liam O’Rorke was wondering pretty much the same thing as Katie, not about the Butchers boy or Roedean but about why the Boss wanted to see him and his cameraman so early in the morning. Damn the man, where was he, Liam had tried all the usual haunts but Billy was no where to be found. He would be sleeping off another drunken binge, that’s for sure. There’s going to come a time I won’t pull his chestnuts out of the fire he thought, and if he wasn’t the best S.L.R. man in the game, drunk or sober it would have happened well before now.
I wonder what excuse I can give this time, but then again the Boss knows his problems, after all, he’s his son.
PIC04

Joe Diamond was waiting in the corridor for them, this wasn’t looking so good.
PIC05
 
Katie pushed to the front and slapping a bright smile on her hard but beautiful face said “Hi Boss it’s good to see you, I waited for Liam to get here otherwise we would have been on time”. Liam just glowered at this lying toe rag of a woman but said nothing.
PIC06

Joe Diamond looked questioningly at Liam but he just shrugged so Joe didn’t ask where Billy Diamond was.
PIC07

Ok I think you all know Mr Kolinski the company lawyer, I’ve asked him to sit in on our meeting and give us the benefit of his knowledge on State Security and the law of Trespass, that sort of thing. This caused a few raised eyebrows and Liam wondered where this was going, maybe not where he wanted it to, but it was nectar to Katie.
PIC08

OK come to my office and we’ll go over the details.
PIC09

Well I’ll get straight to the point, we’ve had contact from a fellow name of Tomori Daisuke. His story is quite interesting although almost unbelievable. He claims he was flying over the Mojave Desert with his Boss, Hasimoto Taichi, that got everyone’s attention, when the helicopter had an engine problem and they went down in a fairly controlled landing in a small built up area. They radioed for assistance and were informed that they were in a restricted area and to sit tight and some one would come and escort them out.
PIC10

He talks of humans but they were behaving unnaturally, they seemed to shamble along, with very little coordination, almost like they were drunk or on drugs. Then they got violent and people got hurt. The Security force arrived but they were attacked by these drugged up people and so he made his own way out of the area and surprisingly, he made it back to civilisation.
He’s fairly certain that one of the other occupants of the helicopter, Okumura Katashi was alive after the incident but they escaped in different directions and he’s not seen Katashi since. As soon as Daisuke had a phone signal he called Katashi but some one else answered the call, they wanted him to stay where he was and said they would come and collect him. When he asked to speak to Katashi they just said “He is safe and well Sir, just give us you location and we’ll come and collect you”.
PIC11

It was the Sir that did it, he broke the Sim card and destroyed the phone, 5 minutes later a black sedan pulled up and 4 serious looking men got out. He’s been lying low since then, however he called us twice a day until eventually Tammy Jones in reception thought there might be a story in it and put him through. After five minutes Bill Johnson agreed with her and now we have Daisuke in hiding with a couple of good men babysitting.
PIC12

We’ve checked out what we can, the official report records the crash as being 500 miles further north than Daisuke says it was. The helicopter was a burned out wreck, three passengers, no survivors, no cause of crash yet. The radio call wasn’t logged; the flight recorder show it was not over the Mojave and Daisuke was not on the passenger list.
So either Daisuke is lying for the money or there’s a big cover up. I favour the cover up because the flight log says it was the 21st but we’ve a witness lives next to the field who is sure it was the 20th when they left. He’s a bit of a weird young man but described the 3rd passenger as a very attractive oriental woman with green hair, and that has to be Amori Mizuke, Hasimoto Taichi’s girlfriend and she was reported as one of the fatalities in the crash.

I want the two of you to go and take a look, be careful and don’t make waves. This is Government land you’ll be treading on, there’s no record of land use and our quiet questions haven’t been answered.

I think there’s a story here and I want it, but I don’t want trouble, do you understand, he looked at Katie when he said this.
PIC13

Katie I know you’ll want Gasper your normal bodyguard on the job and I’ve got Big Freddie on stand by, but I’m going to pull in a couple more guy’s for this, better to be safe.

Our guy’s in planning think the best way for you to go in, is either by helicopter or boat because it’s a long truck ride overland.

To try and corroborate Daisuke’s story we sent an unmanned drone over the area, but there was a technical failure and it must have crashed, we got no pictures back. The pilot and ground crew can’t figure out what went wrong, the diagnostics on these things are transmitted automatically but they got nothing back.
PIC14

OK – so we’ve hired an old river boat the Marie Anne, to get you in.
PIC15

The skipper says he can tow a raft carrying a couple of vehicles up the Mojave River and put you ashore close to where we think the buildings are. On old maps there’s a small adobe village shown but Google Earth doesn’t display anything, it’s sort of fuzzy in that area, possibly redacted. It’s not quite where Daisuke thinks his buildings were and they were more modern, but nothing else is showing up so it’s our best bet.

This is Daisuke’s report of events:-

https://vagabondswargamingblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/red-sparrow-down.html 

Check it out but keep an open mind, either way you’ll be leaving in 24 hours, I want you to work as a team and I mean you Katie.

I think we have a story on our hands, it could be big and it could be dangerous, I want you to go down there and find out.
PIC16

OK Kolinski, I think we’ve got trouble with this one, I want you working day and night to get a water tight case together so that if it turns nasty and the Government is involved we can stonewall them forever.


This is a precursor to my most recent report that’s not been written or published yet. Katie and Liam went down to the Mojave. They saw things that should not have been possible and were able to escape the area with their lives but not much else. At one point they thought they wouldn’t make it out and so hid all the evidence they had collected in a tin box and left this on site. It’s this tin box that Katie will attempt to recover in the next instalment..

After their incursion the Government came down heavily on Joe Diamond and the Global Tribune, with nothing to back up the word of his Reporters there was no story. Security was tightened in the Mojave area and he didn’t authorise a further expedition.
That’s how things have been for 5 years, the only evidence available to the general public was Daisuke story posted on my Blog. The Blog was hacked by US Intelligence Agencies shortly after the post and parts of the story and some of the pictures were redacted. Have a look for yourself if you need verification.

In light of the recent events in the Yuma Proving Ground, the Globe’s owner, at the instigation of the State Governor has requested Diamond to resurrect the investigation into the Mojave Forbidden Zone to see if there’s any connection between the two. In addition to this there have been constant rumours of similar Governmental activity around the world, the most notable is in Canada, and Captain Andy Donovan has been despatched north to see if there’s any truth in it.

However even back in the 70’s reports were coming from the UK of an exclusion zone around an area called Northmoor. Nothing was known about this at the time and some of the events there are only just coming to light they’re being reported by a shadowy figure only known as Bullshott. I hope his security is sufficiently strong to fool MI5 who will surely be on his trail.
Another individual, Dan55 has been releasing information about similar events but so far he’s been very reticent to provide location information probably very wisely as this may pinpoint his location. We only know the names of some of the characters involved but these are certainly pseudonyms, again, a wise precaution to foil the Security Services.

[Bullshott]

A great introduction to Katie's next foray into the Zone. I like the way  you've woven other Zones into your story. Hmm, I wonder if this shadowy character called Bullshott will appear in Fletcher's adventures ...

[CapnJim]

Very interesting, If not confusing...

But I'm sure Katie will have it all sorted in no time at all.  Or not.  We await word of her adventures...

And, personally, I'm quite taken aback that you left out any mention of the recent "event" at my Plumbrook site.   
I'm quiet aware the SAE30 hasn't yet done their insertion to see what the **** is going on in there, but all in good time.  It's getting close, though.
Do they make a "pouting" emoji?   

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great stuff mate, loving it!