Encounter Groups

[Apache6]

The Willow Family are refugees seeking a new home. They are basically decent hardworking people who are fleeing again from incessant fighting. They had a pretty decent little garden in their old home and would very much like to settle in a secure cantonment, where Susan would be very useful in raising the garden.

Robert Willow: Is an average looking 35 year old sporting a weeks beard. He was an electronics installer prewar. He is wearing hiking boots, blue jeans, an Army Woodland cammo jacket and a floppy wide brim hat and an old (1970) external frame back. He’s pushing a wheelbarrel and armed with a .357 revolver in hip holster, a hatchet and a hunting knife.

His wife Susan is a pretty woman, and trying to hide it. She’s wearing blue jeans, hiking boots, a black leather jacket, over a dark blue long sleeve mettaliica concert shirt and a beige sun hat. She is wearing a blue day pack with a blanket roll tied beneath. She’s carrying a shovel which she sometimes uses as a walking stick, and which shehas used to ‘spear a wild dog’ and a knife. She was an accountant and a hobbyist gardener prewar, but has become quite the green thumb.

They have two children Laurel is 16, and takes after her mother. Her hair is cut like a boys. She’s wearing tennis shoes, loose parachute pants, and a baggy sweatshirt. She’s carrying a hoe, and has a sling shot (which she has just recently learned to hunt birds and squirrels with) and a lockback buck knife, a large duffle bag/pack and a one gallon juice jug/canteen. Kimberly is 6 and has a small hello kitty backpack. They have two mid sized mutts with them. They are not particularly well trained, but stay close to the family and will give alarm by barking. They will attack (fairly ineffectively) anyone who threatens the family.

They are carrying their most valuable possessions and a days worth of food on their backs, with more food, and heavier stuff in the wheelbarrel. They have a 4 person dome tent, a waterpurifier pitcher, a hobo stove, a medium sized cast iron skillet, they have a cloth sack with 15# of apples, a gallon thermos jug with hot stew, 30# of potatoes, 3 jars of canned corn. Each person basically has one extra shirt/pants, a sweater or jacket and a couple extra pairs of socks...

[Apache6]

Brandon Micks is a 14 year old boy dressed in mixed civilian cammo clothes and carrying a Ruger 10/22 semi auto .22 LR with a scope. When encountered he’ll have two squirrels in a day pack (he caught them on snares). He’s the man of the house now, since his father was killed by whatever “enemy” group is in the area. He’s very familiar with the local area, and will be a willing and effective guide. His family is living in a suburban house, both the yards have been turned into a garden, they have five chickens, and the pool is stocked with catfish. His mother is 38 and quite haggard looking and will be adamant against his being involved in anything, though he will sneak out. He’s got a 12 year old sister and they have adopted a 11 year old boy. Their father and a 7 year old brother are buried in backyard.

[Apache6]

The Blackman – Cooper Homestead: This group is a combination of two families who owned adjacent farms at the end of a farm road. In both cases when the war got serious the extended family came to visit and stayed. Prewar friends, they work together pretty well and are thankful for what they have. They are making do fairly well. They have dogs tied up at the end of the road, which has a strong chain across it. If there is any sign of a threat they will have armed guards posted.

The Blackman farm was a 49 acre family farm prewar that had been bought as a retirement home. The farm had lain fallow for more than 40 years, although it was leased on and off for hay for cattle. There are two houses, one a modest 1930 farm house and the other a nicer 1980 ranch house. There is now a 20’ RV parked and used as a living space and one of tool sheds is basically been turned into a ‘bunk house’ for teenagers. Other buildings include a pump house, a chicken house, the smoke house (this is recently built with salvaged lumber) and the barn. They have several dozen pear, apple, and pecan trees. They have an ancient tractor that they keep running, barely, with a very limited supply of diesel.

The Cooper Farm was a 100 acre farm that had four generations living on it. The grandparents no longer farmed but maintained large scale gardens and kept some chickens. Since the war they have acquired three dairy cows. Like the Blackmans, extended family came home, first the children, then others. The Coopers have also ‘adopted’ several orphans and widows. They have a 1940 farmhouse with numerous additions, two mobile homes, a 1940s barn, which is falling down, a modern steel barn, a wash house, a tool shed, and a steel garage. They have acquired 6 40’ ISO containers which they use for storage and living space.

George Blackman is a retired 52 year old machinist, who had been a volunteer police officer. He’s armed with a scoped bolt action 30-06, and a .357 revolver. One son is a 28 yr old Army veteran who lost his left arm at the elbow in Warsaw, he only received a hook replacement, he will fight effectively with a Semi Auto shotgun and a .45. His youngest son, 17, has a Remington 870 PA shotgun. His 26 yr old son in law is armed with a Semi-Auto Mini-14 and a 9mm pistol. There are five ladies, (50, 28, 24, 24, 21, 16, between them they have 2 pump shotguns, a .357 lever action rifle and a .357 revolver) and eight children between 13 and 2.

Theo Cooper is 80 years old, he’s sharp as a tack and very good at making do. He was a preacher and is compassionate and will do the right thing. He’s not going to go patrolling, but will defend his property with a 12 ga pump shotgun, with which he has bagged hundreds of birds over the year. He has two surviving sons. John is 55 has spent his entire life hunting this area and has a scoped bolt action 30-06. His son Jacob, 58 is a retired Air Force MSgt, who was recalled to active duty serving for 2 years, M-1 Garand, 9mm. Neither of them are fast but both of them can shoot. Jimmy is 35, he has a lever action 30-30, but prefer his compound bow which he’s very good with. A lineman for the power company, he is an expert with a chainsaw. Braden, 27 was a mechanic at the John Dear Dealer, he has a 12 ga pump and a .357. Jason 33, are unrelated, he and his family were refugees taken in and given a home in exchange for work (he’s armed with a PA 12 ga), They adopted a boy who is now 15 and armed with a scoped SA .22LR. They have seven ladies (55, 50, 35, 32, 28, 27, 27, including 2 widows they’ve ‘adopted.’ Three teenage girls (17, 16, 15, who are distractingly pretty) and six children 13 – 2. They care for a blinded veteran, 25. They have six dogs and four mature horses, that they ride effectively and plow with, less effectively, as well as two yearlings.

If alerted, their defenses will include a dozen 12 GA buckshot booby-traps, and 10 blackpowder filled primer initiated ‘mines’ activated by trip wires.

They have built a compressed gas powered 'mortarr,' which can throw either a one gallon ‘Molotov cocktail’ or a 9 pound blackpowder bomb (5% chance of a dud, explosive effects are equal to a defensive grenade) 250 meters with decent accuracy or 500m with poor accuracy. It’s got a laser range finder (intended for bow hunting). This is moved like a ‘two wheel wheelbarrel’ that forms a tripod, when set down. They have twelve bombs of each type, being packed 6 to a case. It will be set up behind a wood pile next to barn, with a good field of fire toward any approaching vehicles, and will look like farm stuff to most opponents.

They have built a hidden bunker in the woods, which doubles as a root cellar. If things are looking bad, the women, children will flee here. The entrance is intentionally designed to be defendable by one person and Theo and the older ladies will defend it to the death, protecting the women and children. It’s is stocked with plenty of food and water and has a concealed escape hatch.

They communicate and are friendly with most of the other farms around here. If they catch wind of a threat they can, and have, formed a posse to carry the fight to the enemy or come to the aid of other locals. If their homestead is attacked the posse will come to their assistance though it will take some time (3d6+4) hours to muster and show up. The group that will come to their aid will consist of about 26 men, all armed basically as above. They are semi organized into 3 x 8 man squads (each with 2 x 4 man fireteams, a Squad ldr and his battle buddy), if they are choosing the time of attack, this homestead will add an additional squad, led by Jacob to the posse.

[Canadian Army]

Originally Posted by Apache6

They have built a compressed gas powered version of a Norton Projector,

It is a Northover Projector; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northover_Projector

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