Searching an Abandoned Army Base

    F Troops arrives at the abandoned army base to begin its exploration into the mystery

Our Sunday evening gaming crew got together to play out the fourth installment of my post-apocalyptic campaign. Each player has their own gang of survivors, and most have been steadily using their Renown Points earned to add skills and traits to their crew. Some, in particular Mike S's Bucknuts, are proving even more effective and deadly than they were at the start of the campaign! The scenario for this game was that the survivor gangs had each heard that a nearby army base had recently been abandoned.

    A shot of the base before the start, showing where each survivor gang would come on

Each gang had sent a scout to spy on the base from afar, and all groups received similar reports. The base had indeed been abandoned - there was no movement, and no signs of life. There were clearly indications that a battle had taken place. The quonset huts were riddled with bullet holes and the perimeter chain link and barbed wire fence had been cut and showed signs of forced entry. The players' scouts all surmised that it was NOT an attack by the Machines. There appeared to be no signs of heavy artillery or high caliber weapons -- only small arms. The Machines would certainly have brought heavier weapons in their assault, if it had been them. Each gang outfitted a party to unravel the mystery of who the attackers were, and hopefully to scavenge some useful military equipment, food, or supplies.

    Daffid and Yoav of the Followers of the Dark Prophet enter the base and take cover

Players had four members of their survivor gang arrive at the edge of the table, two on each long sides of the base, one on each short side. Their arrival locations corresponded to a place where the fence had been either cut or physically forced inwards. Gang members entering through those places wondered what could have bent the aluminum bars inward. It must have been very powerful! I was playing my Green Dragons, and we had chosen to bring along our leader Ting, specialist Wang, Quon, and recently-upgraded Bao. He had been practicing with the assault rifle and ammo the Green Dragons had brought back from the second scenario. 

    Wang of the Green Dragons dashes up to the fence, and quickly surveys the buildings beyond

Wang dashed up to the fence, quickly surveyed the sandbagged positions, supplies, and quonset huts in front of him for signs of activity. Seeing none, he ducked through the cut section of the fence, and darted between the two closest quonset huts, seeking cover. Bao crept into the twisted remains of a burnt out vehicle for a firing position to cover him. On the left, Quon entered the woods to keep an eye on the Nightstalkers. On the right, Ting crept into the woods to take a position to observe the Bucknuts. He cursed them as he caught sight of them. Those country bumpkins were the bastards that had killed Chen in the last scenario!

    Gunfire erupts as the Blood Brotherhood catches sight of the Followers and opens fire on them

All along the perimeter of the base, the other survivor gangs were making their way inside. To the Dragons' left, the Nightstalkers entered in force -- all four darting inside, two creeping inside the first quonset hut. Wang could hear them moving things around inside, searching for valuable equipment. He darted along the path between the huts and took cover besides a stack of spare tires and other equipment. Gunfire rang out, and Wang ducked down even more. Bullets began to tear through the tires and boxes near him and he huddled into a ball, hoping that whatever was inside was solid enough to stop the bullets. He peeked over the top and saw it was indeed the Bucknuts who had been shooting at him.

    Daffid goes down wounded, as the gun battle with the Blood Brotherhood intensifies

Outside the fence, Ting had opened fire once he could make out the form of the Bucknuts' leader, Coop. The woods and the target's good defensive position prevented his shots from having any effect. Coop sighted along the barrel of his assault rifle and fired off two bursts at Ting, forcing him to dive for cover as bullets hit all around him. Coop shouted, "Green Dragons - we weren't trying to kill your man in town, last time! We were shooting at the dogs!" The Bucknuts' leader paused to make sure Ting was listening. "Truce? Let's see what happened here first, and we can settle our differences later." Ting wasn't sure he could trust them, but he knew they all seemed to be much heavier armed and equipped than his men. He shouted okay, then called out to Bao to relay the information to the others.

    A third survivor gang joins the battle as F Troop arrives and begins shooting at both the other two

The shouting was immediately drowned out by the staccato booming of gunfire from the other side of the base. The Followers of the Dark Prophet had entered near the front of the base, immediately taking up cover. Moments later, the dark red robes of the Blood Brotherhood slipped around one of the quonset huts and opened fire. Gunfire rang out back and forth. Daffid of the Followers slumped to the ground wounded, and Brother Intensity cried out and fell beneath the pile of supplies he was sheltering behind. Bursts of automatic gunfire rang out as the two sides fired on each other. The Followers' leader Solomon motioned one of his men along as he crept along the side of one of the quonset huts. The two quickly disappeared inside.

    Wang takes cover from the Bucknuts fire, but also has to worry about the arrival of the Nightstalkers

The gun battle at the front became even more intense as a third group arrived. After occupying the sandbagged guard positions outside the gate, F Troop moved up to the fence and began firing on both the Blood Brotherhood and the Followers of the Dark Prophet. More bullet holes in the buildings of the army base as the rival survivor gangs battled it out. Those who ducked inside the quonset huts found signs of the previous bloody struggle. Bloodstains were everywhere, and trails of bodies being dragged could clearly be discerned. The attackers had ransacked the place already, it appeared, and everyone struggled to find anything of value left among the debris of battle. 

Commander Zander of the Nightstalkers seemed particularly spooked. After two of his men found some useful equipment, he was the first to motion his men to exit the army base. "Whatever did this, boys, might be back. Let's get out of here!" The well-equipped group then quickly ex-filtrated through the large gap in the fence. Zander stopped to examine the bent aluminum bars. "No vehicle tracks," he muttered, shaking his head. "These bars were bent by someone or something. I don't want to meet whatever could bust open a fence like this!" His men stealthily crept from the base, regrouping in a patch of woods.

    Bucknuts begin to ex-filtrate from the compound, with their leader Coop covering their withdrawal

A cry from near the front of the base signaled another casualty of the gun fight. F Troop's Captain Amos slumped next to his firing position, clutching his side. "Got him!" Deacon Justice of the Blood Brotherhood shouted in triumph. It seemed there was little effort in searching among the base's buildings from the three groups near the entrance. Instead, here was a chance to settle some scores and pay back some bad blood between rivals. In my campaign, players earn Renown Points for knocking out of action members of rival survivor gangs. However, they receive a bonus to that score if it is from a group that inflicted a casualty on your gang during the previous game. This might explain Jenny's behavior with her Blood Brotherhood this game, and her bloodthirstiness!

Once the third casualty had been suffered by the players, that sprang the return of those who had attacked the base. I had the players who'd all suffered a casualty roll off, with the winner indicating which of the six woods spaced along the table edge "something" would arrive. Joel chose the woods between my Green Dragons and Mike S's Bucknuts. On the first turn, I indicated the shadowy "something" was stealthily creeping to the edge of the woods, so that it could see out. Its closest targets were Bao inside the cover of the burnt out car and Brutus and Jackie O of the Bucknuts, who had just exited the base and were in the open. 

    With the Bucknuts distracted by "something" firing at them, the Green Dragons prepare to exit

I had received an extra card for the "something" -- I like how the players reacted to the mystery, by the way! I saved the "2 card" for the creature, because it allows an extra die to be rolled, when attacking (player chooses the best). In addition, it was armed with an assault rifle. So, I fired two bursts, with Jackie O falling to the ground wounded and Brutus receiving a "Shaken" marker for near misses. Since anyone in hiding loses that status when they shoot under the Fistful of Lead Core Rules, I described the firer as a dark, human-sized figure that looked vaguely like...Allen! Allen has a bushy beard, hair, and mustache. I said the hair and skin were very much darker than Allen's, and immediately the players began to speculate on who or what the firer could be.

On the Bucknuts turn, Brutus scooped up the fallen Jackie O and ran behind the woods out of sight of his ambusher. Bravely, Wrich stepped around the woods and blazed away with his assault rifle. He missed, from which the players learned the firer had the "Stealthy" skill. Return fire inflicted a Shaken marker on Wrich, but also resulted in an Out of Ammo for the shooter. My Green Dragons took advantage of the distraction of the Bucknuts gun battle with the attacker to exit the base, as well. We dashed off-table with two backpacks full of supplies. Not the greatest haul, but for the first time, we were also leaving the table with no casualties!

    Players speculated over the identify of the mystery attacker - was this a clue to the fate of the base?

Near the front of the base, both the Blood Brotherhood and the Followers ceased firing and made their way off the base. Joel saw them do this, so had F Troop seize the opportunity and dash forward and search for some supplies. After finding some, they also took the opportunity to leave, carrying the unconscious body of Capt. Amos with them. The game had been a tale of two separate encounters. At the front of the base, the three survivor gangs had fired on each other from the outset. All three suffered a casualty, but upon rolling at the end of the game, the gang members all survived. On the other hand, the Nightstalkers, Bucknuts, and Green Dragons had avoided gunplay, for the most part. None suffered a casualty, with Jackie O recovering from her wound before exiting the table.

Fierce speculation ensued as to the identity of the dark-clothed, dark-skinned attacker. I decided to throw in something to worry the players as we broke up. I informed them that all of their gangs, upon heading back towards their bases, felt they were being followed. Whatever was following them was too clever to be caught, though. Whenever they tried to leave someone behind to ambush the stalker or double back, the pursuer would detect it, and stay out of sight. Doubtless, the next mission will involve more clues as to who this mystery enemy might be!