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Old 07-15-2022, 04:12 PM
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Raellus Raellus is offline
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Default Episode 10.2

Bird, PR, and Sarge successfully infiltrate the wooded patch 200m east of the camp. They observe the returning work party arrive by truck and the sentries casually moving to their posts. PR calls it in, and Pole Position rolls out of concealment and towards the camp at close to maximum road speed.

As the Diamonds’ SKOT APC nears the compound, the scout team opens fire. Bird and PR each hit their targets, eliminating the machinegun team in the wagon. Sarge engages the sentry outside the northern wall, but misses. His target runs west and drops from sight.

Grease stops Pole Position, quickly but smoothly, 100m north of the main gate. Alerted by the gunfire at the back of the compound, the machinegun team in the ZIL out front spits out rounds at the strange APC. The fire is heavy and accurate, and one round manages to punch a hole in the gun shield protecting the SKOT’s HMG. Although the bullet bounces harmlessly off the gunner’s PAGST vest, Honeybear involuntarily ducks down into the troop compartment (failed CUF roll).

Unbeknownst to the Diamonds, the camp guard’s CO radios the engineer platoon in Grabow, demanding immediate assistance. Two guards emerge from the detached dormitory south-southwest of the prison and prepare to engage the attackers…

Sandy dismounts right and goes prone in some underbrush just east of the road. Captain walker dismounts left (west side). Deacon stays behind just long enough to make sure that Honeybear is okay.

With bird staying put on over-watch, PR and Sarge leave the tree line and start running west across a fallow field towards the prison camp.

The Soviet machinegun team continues to pour fire at the intruding APC, peppering its armored hull with rounds. The assistant gunner empties an entire mag at Sandy. A few close calls force her to hug the earth (failed CUF roll).

A horizontal plume of dust and white smoke from the yard of the guard’s residence announces the launch of an RPG-18 anti-tank rocket. The projectile bores into the dirt road and explodes well short of its target- so short, in fact, that the SKOT’s gunner doesn’t register the threat. The rocketeer’s partner empties an entire mag in the direction of the APC doing nothing but making a lot of noise and scratching the paint.

Honeybear is back up in the gunner’s cupola. He takes aim at the PKM gunner in the bed of the ZIL just north of the main gate and squeezes off a long burst. This shatters the truck’s windshield and knocks the enemy gunner down. Deacon exits the SKOT and goes prone next to Cap.

For the next six rounds, PR and Sarge run across the field. (Imagine the running scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.)

The Soviet rocketeer drops the empty RPG launch tube and readies his rifle; his partner is busy reloading his own.

Another rifleman opens up on the SKOT from the shadow of the ZIL. Honeybear continues to pour fire into the truck’s cab, exploding the Soviet machinegunner’s head like a overripe melon and forcing his assistant to take cover.

Sandy’s regained her composure and takes aim at the two soldiers kneeling in the front yard of the guard’s residence with her M203. With a loud BLOOP, the 40mm HE round arcs towards its target, landing close enough that the ensuing explosion knocks both Ivans down.

With Pole Position obstructing their LOS to the enemy in and around the ZIL, Walker and Deacon both take aim at the settling cloud of dust and vaporized explosive to the south.

Since PR and Sarge are drifting across his LOS, Bird displaces, moving 20m north along the tree line before going prone again facing the camp.

The shooter in the shadow of the ZIL looses a burst, hitting Sandy in the chest. The American grenadier’s PAGST does its job, absorbing most of the projectile’s kinetic energy. Still, the impact knocks the wind out of her lungs, and pain radiates through her chest (torso -1 HP, failed CUF roll).

The dust from Sandy’s 40mm HE round has settled, revealing that both targets are still in the fight. Before they can open fire at the Diamonds, Walker and Deacon beat them to the punch. Most of the Americans' combined 26 rounds strike home, messily eliminating both targets.

Bird spots the northern sentry lying prone behind an AK and facing Pole Position. The Wyomingite fires a single round, sees a puff of dust geyser up from the target’s right kidney region through his rifle scope. The target’s head flops forward and he lies motionless- another probable kill.

A lone figure breaks from the shot-up ZIL, disappears behind the southwest corner of the compound wall before any of the Diamonds can engage.

Recovering her breath, Sandy calls for a medic. With Captain Walker and Honeybear covering, Deacon sprints across the road, behind Pole Position, and arrives on scene to render aid.

Suddenly, the battlefield is quiet. There are no targets in sight. The firefight lasted less than a minute-and-a-half, but the Diamonds know that the help for the guards is probably on the way. They don’t have much time to spring the prisoners.

Walker returns to the SKOT’s troop compartment, calls PR on the radio. The radioman replies, breathlessly, than he and Sarge are less than 50m from the back wall of the prison. Deacon helps Sandy into the APC. Walker instructs Grease to move Pole Position up to the front gate…


Ref's Notes:
I wanted to try my hand at attacking in combat, so I created this encounter from scratch. Since I've learned through experience that in 4e, the defending force has an advantage, I kept the OPFOR at 1x PC. The scenario justified this: a Soviet motor rifles squad consists of 9 soldiers, and I figured that 30 or so overworked, underfed prisoners didn't require more than 9 guards.

During attack, mobility is important. After taking out the MG team at the back of the compound, PR (AGL A, Mobility D) and Sarge (AGL B, Mobility D) spent the next six turns* crossing 200m+ of open ground. In effect, this essentially made the remainder of the firefight 6 PCs v. 7 OPFOR. This is what I get for underestimating how long it would take the scouts to reach the prison compound. Due to the random results of mobility rolls- several pushed- PR opened an early lead, but the older, slower Sarge eventually caught up and passed him, arriving at the back wall first (but straining a calf muscle towards the end). I'm seriously considering prioritizing Mobility during future Skill Improvement (I already had, for a couple of PCs).

*After an initial successful Driving roll, poor Grease also didn't do anything interesting for 6 consecutive turns. I figured it would be unrealistic for him to open his driver's hatch and join in on the firefight because, if he were hit, Pole Position would be effectively immobilized. So he stayed buttoned up for the entirety of the scrap.

I'm glad no one else was playing PR, Sarge, or Grease during this encounter, because they would have been bored AF.


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Last edited by Raellus; 07-15-2022 at 04:39 PM.
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