Protect and Survive

[Dean]

Game 4 - Minerals

Back to a Low difficulty Search incident, and this one is set in Desolation against the Horde. At this point I am still waiting for the civilian survivours set from Wargames Atlantic, so some fantasy figures (Oathmark humans) are standing in.

“The desolated lands are a good source of minerals loose on the surface, but first you need to secure the area.”

With Baker and Fox out injured, Able checks up on the rest of the team.  Charlie is eager to go, but Easy is worn and Item has a niggling injury. Thankfully Dog, George, How, and Jig are all fine, so he assembles his team with those four and Charlie.

Round 1 - with Charlie adding +1 to the entry roll the team escapes the Adversaries being ready for them, and the first turn proceeds as usual with the team making fast moves forward on the hunt for trouble.  Which finds them quickly and two Adversaries obligingly appear out from behind cover.

Round 2 - A round of fire ripples across the battlefield starting from the left flank, as How, George, Dog and Able all plug the first unfortunate and the fourth wound takes him down.  Unfortunately that leaves Jig and Charlie without a particularly good shot on the second, but they both manage to hit him.  With a mate dead and two bullets in him, you might expect the second guy to run off, but instead he charges straight at George, and knocks him to the ground bleeding from a knife wound! Then two more of his mates pop up, one of them behind the team!

Round 3 - George stays down until How and Dog have killed his attacker, then gets up and fires at the one approaching from behind, but misses. Charlie and Jig take shots at the new one in front, Charlie’s shot smacking chunks off a rock, but Jig scoring a wound. Able then has to choose between shooting at an Adversary in front, or one behind.  He chooses the one behind,  as that one hasn’t been wounded yet, and puts that right. Both Adversaries are bleeding and have seen a comrade die, so both decide to retreat, and in the case of the guy behind, this means disappearing off the way he came! However, then another one pops on behind How!

Round 4 - How sprays the new target with machine gun fire, and gets a hit.  George also manages a hit. Dog has to move to get line of sight and that throws off his aim.  Able gets a straight shot at the retreating Horde guy and takes him down, not at all upset a killing someone from behind!  This also leaves him with clear sight across to another Horde a long way ahead, which Jig and Charlie go for.  There’s a nasty click a Jig’s gun jams, while Charle misses.

The Horde by How is leaking blood but didn’t see his mate get killed so has the courage to take on How, and again a team member is cut and prone!   The other one didn’t like being shot at and even though he wasn’t hit he stays right where he was.  Maybe that’s because he knew his mates were coming, another by How and the last one behind the team again. 

Round 5 - on the left, How gets up, staggers backwards a bit and lets rip at the guy who stabbed him, adding another wond and now forcing the Adversary prone, unfortunately that means George and Dog lose sight of him behind the crater and have to shoot at the newcomer instead.  George’s gun jams and How misses!

In the middle, Able is alone with another Adversary in his sights and manages to wound him.  While on the right, Jig moves on their target while Charlie provides covering fire, however Charlie’s shot plugs the guy between the eyes!

How’s nemesis decides to back off but stops to see what his mate thinks of that.  His mate is not impressed and heads towards How, but doesn’t get close enough to fight.  Able’s antagonist does the same.

Round 6 - How plugs the new guy and the same thing happens, he’s hit and prone and Dog can’t target him.  So Dog shoots at the other guy loitering on the edge of the battlefield and the fourth wound drops him at last. Able also plugs and drops his guy with Jig and Charlie doing double-time to get back to him. How’s guy gets up and attacks him, but How in desperation uses his sten as an improvised weapon and manages to swing it just right and the guy drops dead at his feet. Able’s guy decides as he’s the only one left it is time to go.  The battle is over. 

Aftermath - the team was searching for anything usable and Able was just congratulating himself on having no team members incapacitated in the battle, when there was an explosion and Jig was thrown into the air by a booby trap.  He’ll be out for two weeks and again they found nothing.  One bit of good luck on return to vase though as Jig’s gun was repaired and George swears his rifle now works better than before, plus Dog thinks he gained some experience from that battle.

What they learnt - Your team is often called on to go and find things or protect others who are, and there is always some sort of trouble.

[Dean]

In Protect and Survive, I have the concept of “scrap armour”.  I was scratching my head a little on how I could represent that, and looking through my spares.  There was a sprue of leftover Oathmark Orc Heavies.  So, Orc bodies, Stargrave arms and heads, perfect!

[Dean]

Game 5 - Wipe them out!

In theory a Low difficulty Destroy incident, but against the toughest opponents.

“Those survivalists will kill or maim anyone they meet, best to treat them like rabid dogs and put them down.”

With Jig out injured, both Charlie and How on an important mission, and Baker not properly recovered from his injury apparently, Able has Dog, Easy, Fox (who is fully recovered thankfully), George, and Item with him this time.  The team are eager though despite knowing that Survivalists are the hardest enemy they’ll ever face, and they split into pairs as they head towards their camp in the woods.

Round 1 - Dog made the first move, coming at the camp from the left, he thought he saw movement but just as he decided it was a false alarm, he spotted a an actual survivalist lurking behind a tree further away! Then another came into view at the edge of his vision, and could see Able and Item in plain sight, the element of surprise gone, he fired at the guy behind the tree, who was clearly hit but took no damage, these guys have got their hands on some mikitary grade armour! Easy fired at the same guy, to the same effect!

Able and Item fired at the one who had just appeared near them. There was a horrible click and Able’s gun refused to fire, but Item did at least get past the armour and draw blood. George and Fox moved forward on the right and spotted yet another survivalist but also had little luck with George missing the shot and Fox hitting armour.

At this point each survivalist fired back in the direction they had been shot at from.  Dog was hit, the shot at George missed, and the guy pointing his gun at Able had met the same fate as Able as no shot rang out. All this gunfire of course brought more of the enemy into view, there were now five survivalists in view.

Round 2 - Dog and Easy now had a closer threat, and both got a hit, with the burst from Easy’s sten dropping the target to the floor. Item shot at the guy near him and Able, and drew a wound, and with Able’s gun out of commission he could only encourage Item to, “shoot him again, dammit!”, which he did and the bullet forced the target bleeding profusely and prone. George and Fox had a trio of targets, George hit one while Fox got off a great shot, killing her target.

These Survivalists are tough, the one near Dog got back on his feet and shot Dog with enough force to now force him prone. The two in the camp did not seem at all put off by their dead comrade and both fired at George, drawing blood. Even the one near incapacitation and with a broken gun got up and headed towards Able and Item, drawing a sword as he did!  The final survivalist also appeared from inside one of the tents.

Round 3 - Item fires at the oncoming, sword wielding, survivalist and the shot hits armour, but again Able urges him on and his second shot hits true, a fourth wound, and yet the target is not down! Dog gets up and shoots at his attacker, but hits armour.  Easy shoot at the new target and knocks him prone. George and Fox both get good hits on their foes on the right. 

There’s blood flowing freely from all these survivalists now they aren’t breaking, but is affecting them.  Dog’s target shoots but misses, the guy with four wounds and a broken gun grinds to a halt, and Easy’s target also misses.  Except on the right where Fox now has a wound and George lets out a scream and drops like a puppet with cut strings!

Round 4 - Item fires again, another hit and finally the survivalist goes down, so Able goes up the hill to find out what is happening with the rest of his team.  Easy gets another hit on his target, but Dog’s luck really runs out and his gun jams, while Fox misses her target. 

Dog is not completely out of luck as his nemesis fires wide, Easy however, takes a wound as his opponent gets off a good shot and ducks into cover.  The tree in front of Fox takes a hit for her.  Then the survivalist who took out Charlie spots Able coming over the hill and not realising Ableks gun is broken, finally cracks under the pressure and legs it! Three adversaries left.

Round 5 - with Easy’s main target hiding behind a tent, he plugs a shot into Dog’s nemesis, and Dog takes the opportunity to wade into hand-to-hand combat.  It’s really not his day though, the guy manages to parry his blow, further wrecking his rifle and dropping him to the ground.  Fox plugs her target again. Able sees a chance a gets Item to run round the hill and shoot the guy hiding from Easy in the back!  This just causes the survivalist to spin around and shoot back, and Item takes a wound. Meanwhile Fox also takes a wound, as it is tit-for-tat on the right flank. Dog however is prone infront of an angry survivalist who plugs a bullet into him at close range, and he’s out of the battle.  Four verses three!

Round 6 - Easy gets a good shot at the guy that took out Dog, he’s down but not yet incapacitated. Fox misses her shot, Item hits armour.  Able’s attention is split between the two now, but it’s Fox he bellows a command at, and she fires again, drawing blood.  Her nemesis fires back, or at least tries to, he pulls the trigger but nothing happens! Item gets hit again. The shot at Easy misses. 

Round 7 - Easy pumps a fifth round into the guy on the left and he finally goes down!  Fox gets another wound on her target, but Item misses his.  This time Able barks at Item, but the second shot gets stopped by armour.  Fox’s target ducks behind a tent, clearly perturbed by the jammed gun, and Item’s target misses his shot.  Four verses two now.

Round 8 - The two remaining survivalists both think they are hiding, but they are caught in a crossfire now.  Easy, coming from the left, gets a bead on the guy with the broken gun on the right and plugs a shot into him that puts him on the floor.  Fox, moving in on the right, gets a line on the guy on the left and plugs one into him.  Item still has a bead on both, but plugs the guy who has been shooting at him, that five wounds and the guy is finally down!  Able spurs him on and Item also puts a fifth bullet into the guy on the right and he’s not moving either.  It’s all over!

Aftermath - that was a very hard fought win.  Dog is going to be out of action for a couple of weeks, but Charlie will be okay.  Both jammed weapons are repaired and we stripped one of the survivalists of a set of armour, a military rifle, and a sword! Plus Item learnt a lot from that battle.

What they learnt - It’s a kill or be killed world out there and keeping the Community safe is often a nasty business.