Protect and Survive - The “never a dull day” Story Arc
“Civilisation has fallen apart since the Calamity struck in 1965. The community is centred in Oakwood village and built slowly over the years as fellow survivours congregated together for security, but the world is turning more dangerous by the day as other groups start to fight us for resources, and packs of wild animals seem to be thriving more than humans. Now the leader of the community has come to me saying, “We are all devastated by what happened to Bernard and his team but now we are placing our faith, and indeed our security with you!” Let’s hope their faith is warranted…
My Response Team is called The Crows and they refer to me as “Able” because we use the phonetic alphabet as call signs, necessary in a world where a shouted command or warning improperly heard could mean disaster. We have been outfitted from a stash found in an old army surplus store and recommissioned weapons, so hardly state of the art gear, but it gets the job done.”
Information about the figures used throughout can be found in my Other Figures page.
Game 1 - Warn them off
This is a Low difficulty Protect game set in the Valley.
Round 1 - the Crows enter the south end of the valley and as no adversaries are yet in sight, and they had a good Entry roll that will skip to round 2 if they don’t uncover any, they all make “at the double” moves up the valley.
Round 2 - the Crows are still yet to uncover any adversaries and decide to keep pushing forward, moving at speed but ducking and weaving as they go. Things now start to happen, there are signs of movement at the other end of the valley, including a Zealot moving into view, but then Dog also spots movement behind the team and there is another one there!
Round 3 - Deeming the guy behind them to be the bigger threat, Able and Dog both turn and shoot, causing a wound each. Fox crests the hill on the left and spots another Zealot, she fires off a shot and surprises herself when the target slumps down dead. This leaves Easy to join the fusillade to the rear, and another bullet tears through their would be assailant, but she’s still standing! Baker’s turn, another shot rings out and the threat is over, or at least that one is. Just leaving Charlie to crest the hill on the right, and although he thought he saw movement in the trees ahead, there is nothing there.
This is all too much for the first enemy that appeared, they head away from the Crows, though stop before completely disappearing as if considering how it will look to their comrades. There is no sign of anyone else though, it’s like they are waiting for the Team to come and find them.
Five Zealots in plain sight. The one that was lieing bleeding on the floor legs it! The next is so close to the edge they go with him. The one that had been indecisive and since got wounded is so scared they dive behind the hedge instead of running off too. The next guy is made of sterner stuff and fires off at Baker who would have been in trouble but his weaving run behind the tree saves him (though not the tree!). The last one also draws a bead on poor Charlie and with the tree down he’s hit and incapacitated. Then two more Zealots come into view, and the team feel like that must be all of them, though it is more than they thought they were facing at the start.
Round 5 - “Baker is down” shouts Charlie, helpless to do anything with his jammed sten, who decides to try and outflank the enemy. Fox and Easy start slamming bullets into the hapless Zealot cowering behind the hedge. Able and Dog both plug the one that shot the tree.
The Zealot behind the small hill decides to stay there, the one taking the awful pounding goes back to being indecisive at the edge of the valley, the tree killer has had enough and limps off, the other two are still game and fire at Dog, without even coming close.
Round 6 - Fox and Easy start easing forward, firing as they go. Fox gets a second round into Mr Hesitant and he’s down and out. Easy gets a head shot on the Mr Tree Killer and he’s dead too! Dog gets a bead on Baker’s nemesis and hits him, and Able realising Dog has the better position screams at him “shoot him again!” Which he duly does, forcing him to the floor and bleeding heavily, but not out yet. Charlie has had enough and is charging through the trees.
Mr Timid behind the hill has seen enough, he’s off! Baker’s shooter is cowering behind a hedge, and the last standing zealot is edging away.
Round 7 - Charlie charges into Baker’s shooter, wounds him by smacking him in the face with his useless sten, he totters backwards and Dog plugs him in the back without a second thought. He’s dead and good riddance! The others fire shots at the final adversary hovering at the edge of the battlefield getting a couple of good wounds on him and that’s his final shreds of courage gone. It’s over!
Aftermath - Charlie rushes back to Baker, and is torn between relief and anger when he discovers Baker sitting and shaking his bullet scarred head but no lasting damage. A search of the bodies turns up a couple of bandages. The attempt to repair Charlie’s sten gun ends in failure, and they throw it away. Charlie did learn from the experience though and now has 4 Experience points.
What they learnt - Sometimes you need to protect members of the Community from external threats.
Game 2 - Prey
This is a Low difficulty Patrol game set at the Crossing.
Round 1 - the Crows enter from the south and sensing that something is amiss send a couple of guys wide and the rest head up to the bridge, all moving at-the-double. One Markers is sneakily lurking behind a Bystander. The Bystanders make some surprisingly good choices and mostly start funnelling over the bridge.
Round 2 - the Crows, thinking ahead, take up positions south of the river, waiting for the Bystanders to cross so they can get a clear field of fire. Finally the first signs of the adversary as a tiger appears over the wooded hill. At which point most of the Bystanders make entirely appropriate decisions to head towards their rescuers, apart from one who cowers on the bridge, and the damned priest who actually heads back over it!
Round 3 - Baker has a shot at the tiger and wounds it. The Bystanders clearing out of the way gives Dog a clear view of a blank panther on the path behind them, he takes a shot and wounds it. Then the hairs start to rise on the back of Able’s neck and he realises there is a cheetah on the path behind them! He turns and shoots but it goes wide, Easy turns and lets rip with his Sten that knocks it over. George next, another wound. Fox is last and her gun jams!
The cheetah reacts first, but with two bullets in it all it does is get to it’s feet and snarl. The panther is even less happy and heads back the way it came, but the Tiger is just annoyed by its wound and heads straight for the bridge. Then another tiger appears from cover! Meanwhile the bridge is still blocked with Bystanders!
Round 4 - Dog moves for a better shot at the second tiger, but misses. Baker wounds the first Tiger again. Easy and Able both get hits on the cheetah, so that’s down. George and Fox head over the bridge.
The first tiger stops to lick at its wounds, and the second cheetah and puma seem undecided what to do, but the second tiger has no hesitation in barging past the Bystanders on the bridge and leaping straight at George who takes a wound and is pushed back so that when the panther decides to charge it goes for Fox instead, who in a feat of desperation slams it with her broken rifle, and kills it! Another cheetah appears on the far side of the river, then a puma appears near Baker and on his side of the river! That at least is all of them though, no other signs of movement anywhere. Meanwhile the Bystanders continue to be so shocked by all this they either cower on the ground or a rooted to the spot!
Round 5 - Dog gets a shot on target wounding the cheetah. Easy and Able get to positions where they can shoot and wound the tiger that attacked George, after George is so rattled by the attack that he misses! At which point, Fox clearly full of adrenaline from her kill, unwisely takes on the wounded tiger. That does not go well and she’s down, apparently tigers can get in an incredibly lucky blow too! Baker has his owns problems and shoots at the puma, wounding it.
That tiger is out for blood now and turns it’s attention back to George, wounding him again. The puma charges at Baker and he’s down! The other tiger however, has had enough and hightails it off the battlefield, while the cheetah gets a tree between it and Dog. The Bystanders are still mostly in a daze and milling about, but a couple have made it away safely.
Round 6 - Dog and Easy between them take down the tiger on the bridge, leaving Able and George to fire at the Puma, which George wounds. Both the puma and the cheetah stay where they are, put off by all the loud noise no doubt, but it’s all too much for the last Bystander on the bridge, who seems to be having a heart attack!
Round 7 - Able and George fire again at the puma and both hit this time which puts it down. Leaving Dog and Easy to try and hit the cheetah behind the tree across the river. Two good shots plough into it causing wounds bad enough to knock it to the ground. That’s enough to start sending it on it’s way.
Round 8 - Able follows up and plugs the cheetah again, and that’s enough to finish it off.
Aftermath - Baker and Fox both got of lighter than they might have, with minor injuries that will need a couple of weeks to heal. That’s twice now Baker has been a casualty! Being a fight against beasts there was nothing to find of any use, and the attempt to repair Fox’s Military Rifle failed, so the Team is short another weapon, and need to start making some better finds soon! Nobody gained any experience either.
What they learnt - Often you are just out patrolling and waiting for trouble to start.
Game 3 - Rescue
This is the first of the special battles in this Arc, and takes place in the ruins.
“Word comes through that a foraging team have managed to get themselves into some trouble, and need our help, preferably before more trouble turns up. With Baker and Fox out injured, I check up on the rest of the team and find that Easy and George are a bit worn down. Unfortunately Jig is too, so even with How and Item joining the Team this time, I make the difficult decision that George still has to go along, but he’ll be less capable of standing up to multiple wounds this time and I’d better keep an eye on him. At least our entry goes to plan and we can see the foraging team, though there also seems to be movement on both sides of them.”
Round 1 - Charlie thinks he’s heard movement to our left, and heads round to see, but there’s nothing there, and the rest of us start moving cautiously up towards the foragers. Just as we think we are in the clear though, Scavengers do start appearing on the left! Meanwhile the foraging team realise they are in trouble, three start moving towards us, two are rooted to the spot and one bizarrely hits the deck!
On the right, Item sneaks along the side of the cargo container and spots an Adversary hiding at the other corner. He fires almost point blank but just hears a “click” and looks at his gun in dismay! As the target swings towards him that gives their position away to Charlie and How who both gets good shots on target, the Scavenger is scrabbling in the dirt, bleeding from two wounds, and hops up and heads away from the battle.
Back on the left, Charlie takes a bullet from his opponent, but the other one’s shot misses Able.
No other Adversaries appear and the Bystanders keep out of the way
Round 3 - Charlie is incensed at having been shot, a plugs the scavenger right between the eyes! Able and Dog both gets shots into the other one on the left and they are bleeding heavily but not incapacitated yet. Item sees his target getting away and throws caution to the wind, charging into hand-to-hand combat, and getting in another wound. George and How have no targets so move up to better positions.
There is now a badly wounded scavenger on each side of the battlefield heading away as best they can. Meanwhile How has become a Bystander magnet and has three of the foragers converging on him. The Team is also starting to wonder if the one that hit the deck right at the beginning might have actually died?
Round 4 - on the left, Dog misses the retreating scavenger, but Able puts a fourth bullet in her and she’s permanently down. Charlie runs up to confirm, spots movement in the ruin ahead, it’s another scavenger. Then all hell breaks loose, that guy appearing triggers movement on the right and a scavenger appears at the edge of the battlefield, but he’s not alone and another appears. According to the intel that should have been all of them, but Able gets a prickling sensation on the back of his neck and spins round to find two more coming up behind them!
Oh boy, How spins away from the mob of foragers and clips one, George also hits him, but that leaves Item with no firearm and three enemies ahead, so he ducks back to cover! The Scavengers start to react, the one with two wounds behind the Team runs off, and the one with him scuttles off to cower behind a wall. The badly wounded one on the right halts where he is while his two rescuers head for where they saw Item disappear behind the wall. The new one on the left notices his dead comrade and starts heading off the battlefield. There are no Markers but the remaining Bystanders are freaking out.
Round 5 - Charlie takes a shot at the scavenger wandering through the ruin in front of him, but misses. Dog knows there is one skulking behind the wall so moves to get a clear shot and plugs a bullet into them. Able can’t get a shot so commands Dog to fire again, which also hits home and drops the scavenger to the floor. Item slinks around the container, while George hops over the wall and fires at the pair heading after Item, but the shot goes wide. How is now hemmed in between three foragers and a stack of tires, so uses his only exit route, which takes him straight towards Item.
The scavenger lying in a pool of blood by the wall realises he has no cover from Dog and legs it. The one on the left keeps on heading away. The guy with three wounds on the right takes a shot at George who foolishly left cover and pays for it, he’s down! The last pair split up, one goes behind the container, following Item still, while the other one appears to be thinking about leaving as he goes back to the edge of the area. Two of the Bystanders finally decide to clear the area but the other three still don’t seem to have a clue what to do.
Round 6 - Charlie plugs a shot into the guy skulking on the left edge and knocks him to the ground. Dog then moves to a good position and draws a bead. With the scavenger prone and rolling about in pain he doesn’t expect to make the shot, but amazingly the shot rings out and the scavenger goes stops moving. Item and How take up positions behind the container, and Able moves over to support. The scavenger all on his own now on the side of the container thinks better of it and heads back to his mates, who both have decided to make a run for it!
Round 7 - How pops out from behind the container and plugs the last scavenger from behind, Able shouts “and again” which How is happy to do, and “Billy no-mates” the final scavenger decides it’s time to go.
Aftermath - Able feels really bad about poor George having come with them in the first place, so applies one of their precious bandages himself and thankfully by the time the get back to base George is feeling much better. They found enough bits to make a set of Scrap armour, which Able in his guilt gives to George. Just for a change they manage to repair Item’s rifle, plus How’s first mission proved a learning experience and he gained 4 Experience. So not a bad day after all, certainly better than it looked when five bad guys all appeared at once!
What they learnt - people always seem to be able to find imaginative ways to get themselves into trouble and then you need to bail them out.
Game 4 - Minerals
Back to a Low difficulty Search incident, and this one is set in Desolation against the Horde. At which point I was 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 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.
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.
Game 5 - Never show weakness
The second special game in this story arc brings in our first encounter with a special character.
“Zealots have been sniping at any small group near the borders of the Community, go and deal with them.”
