Alternatively Armed Armies

[Targan]

I agree that a PC party armed with the normal plethora of high powered military weapons would slaughter a rabble armed with primitive weapons but that doesn't mean that such an engagement would be risk-free for the PCs.

When the 78th ID (Light) decided to leave NYC and got ambushed (losing the NYC gold reserves in the process) it had more to do with sheer numbers of opponents and effective use of road blocks and channelling than with the relative effectiveness of each side's weapons.

I can imagine situations where poorly armed opponents who outnumber a PC party would be willing to take their chances with a well prepared ambush and primative weapons. The potential rewards (a bunch of military weapons, ammo and equipment) would be great and if the poorly armed folks are already living in really bad conditions and have a high mortality rate anyway they really haven't got much to lose.

I've described on this forum before an occassion in my campaign where Major Po's XO, a USN SEAL officer, came within a hair's bredth of having his face shot off by a half starved teenager with a zip gun firing reloaded 12 gauge rounds stuffed full of nail heads and broken glass. The SEAL had been stalking the kid through long grass and the kid, panicked and scared into immobility, stayed perfectly still until the SEAL was less than 10 feet from him. The SEAL's body armour stopped a couple of fragments and he took a piece of glass in the cheek. A sobering moment for him I think.