New Year, new After-Action Report! I had two gangs ready to go, and received both my hard copy of Wiley Games' "Wasteland Warriors" and a Gale Force 9 "Battlefield in a Box" Toxic River yesterday, so it was a great time to clear off the dining room table and set up a 3' x 3' battlefield. I used a slightly modified version of the scenario "The Escape" from the Wasteland Warriors book:
Annette's Gang, laden down with loot scavenged from a buried tech-vault, take a short-cut through territory held by the Soviet Occupying Army (though since the Fall, there's no longer any Soviet Union; despite claiming to continue to follow the last orders given before the Big One, they're just another scavenging gang), following a toxic river to where a boat has been cached. The sound of shots fired and whooping war cries signal the arrival of Olga, Tigress of the Cossacks and her ragtag commie followers.
THE CREWS
ANNETTE'S GANG (Crew Trait: Loyal)
- Annette (Gang Leader; Human; Veteran, Coolheaded, Killer) armed with a Shotgun
- "Nine-Yards" Nora (Specialist; Human; Ranged Fighter, Strong) armed with a Heavy Machine Gun
- Stalker (Regular; Human; Ranger) armed with an Assault Rifle
- Bandit (Regular; Human; Stealthy) armed with an Assault Rifle
- Croak (Regular; Mutated Animal; Brute; Mutations: Regenerate) armed with a Club
SOVIET OCCUPYING ARMY (Crew Trait: Ranger)
- Olga, Tigress of the Cossacks (Gang Leader; Human; Sixth Sense, Bodyguard, Encouraging) armed with a Pistol and a Rad Boomer
- Luchenko (Specialist; Human; Ranged Fighter, Stealthy) armed with a Sniper Rifle
- Commissar Ivanov (Regular; Human; Thundering Charge) armed with a Sword and Pistol
- Mysha (Regular; Mutant; Pugilist; Mutations: Flier, Dark Dependency, Sonic Scream)
- Heroes of the Soviet Union (Grunt Group; Human; Loyal) armed with sub-machine guns
The first few turns of this game were fairly quiet; Olga's gang moved into position, with Luchenko climbing into the ruined building to find a sniper's nest while Ivanov moved towards the bridge to cut off access; Annette's gang are starting on the opposite side of the river from where their boat has been cached. Meanwhile, Annette's gang moved down the board, mostly keeping to the river and moving from cover point to cover point. Stalker and Croak crossed the river to the opposite bank near the starting point instead of waiting to reach the bridge 3/4ths of the way down the board.
Olga tried to position herself to shoot at Annette, but got shot by Nine-Yards Nora for her trouble instead; Luchenko fired at Nora in response, initiating something of a sniper's duel; both figures being equipped with long-range weapons and the Ranged Fighter Trait, they continued to fire back and forth as Nora tried to move downriver. Croak and Stalker got shot at by Grunts; Croak went down, Wounded, but then stood back up as his mutated lizard-flesh reknit itself.
Around Turn 6 is when things went absolutely wild. Croak started bashing the grunts with his club while Stalker moved to finish off Olga - but the Tigress of the Cossacks managed to bring him down despite being wounded and prone herself, resulting in the two wrestling on the ground in their own mingling blood. One of the grunts ran over and tried to save Olga from Stalker, putting a second Wound on him; Croak managed to rescue Stalker, bashing the grunt's head in as Olga died from her wounds.
Meanwhile, a Joker was played, triggering a storm - reducing LOS to 12" and giving everyone a -1 to Shooting rolls. Mysha blasted Nora with a Sonic Scream, putting a Shock token on her; but Nora rallied and squeezed the trigger, sending the bat-winged mutant Out of Action. Bandit was Wounded and crawled along the riverbank for two turns before recovering enough to stand up and stagger towards the bridge and waiting boat. Ivanov, waiting on the bridge, got shot by Nora but struggled back to his feet.
Ivanov shot at Annette, putting a Shock token on her, which she shrugged off; trying to return fire, however, resulted in a "1" - Out of Ammo! And in Wasteland Warriors, since she's not carrying extra ammo, she's Out of Ammo for the remainder of the game. Undeterred, she proceeded to beat Ivanov's ass with the butt of her shotgun.
Luchenko, exhausted and wounded, tried to retreat deeper into cover, but another Joker played caused him to stumble into a booby trap; discovering a hidden explosive the hard way. As the bits of Luchenko rained down, Annette's gang collected the badly wounded Stalker, boarded their boat and sailed down the river to relative safety...
END RESULTS
Annette's Gang made it off the table without losing anyone and with five bags of loot, gaining 3 Renown. Bandit was "just winged" and will be able to play in the next game, should this become a solo campaign; Stalker needs more attention and will have to miss the next game, and will begin play with one Wound already on him the following game.
Sorting through their finds from the tech-vault they raided, Annette determines that they've obtained a Bayonet, some Extra Ammo, a powered exoskeleton, a futuristic helmet, and a Beamer (Laser) Pistol (needs a power pack). Because the Beamer is a Tech Level III weapon, someone's going to have to figure out how it works before anybody can use it. The exoskeleton, likewise, will need some study before it's useful.
On Olga's side, everyone was ultimately taken Out of Action which...this won't be good.
- Olga: makes a full recovery and is ready for the next game.
- Luchenko: must miss the next game, but is eligible for the following game.
- Ivanov: must miss the next game, is eligible for the following game, but gains the negative trait "Drunkard" and starts every subsequent game with one Wound.
- Mysha: the carcass is taken to the composter for reprocessing into Soylent bars. Start looking for a replacement.
- Heroes of the Soviet Union: Their memories will be honored, comrade.
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
Atticus normally ignores my hobby space and solo games but decided to get very interested in the table today, jumping up on it and circling around sniffing and/or knocking over anything he could. You never know what will emerge from the Wasteland...
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