This Is Not A Test: Marshal's Report: The night has eyes

This Is Not A Test: The night has eyes

The following are the Marshal's reports of recent occurrences of peacekeeper activity from event at or near to Dropzone Games in Glen Burnie, MD. All reports are provided directly from the surviving ranking officer and are considered accurate and true. Just as an aside, I took a look at Joey's caravanner sheets and learned that the leader is Tilly, but I like Killee better so I'm sticking with it. Perhaps that is just the moniker this group of peacekeepers, The Gardai, have given her.

Marshal's Report

Gardai symbol

The night has eyes

Reported by: Marshal O'Halihan
Date: October 7, 2086

Unit details:

Marshal O'Halihan
K-9 Handler Mutt and K-9 unit
Sniper Manny
Officer Flynn
Officer Murphy
Officer O'Brien
Officer Scullin

Activity Report

Routine patrol

Oct. It had been six days of routine patrols and most signs of the caravanners seem to have ceased. After the last assault on the caravanner group lead by Killee. Officer Manny was able to track them for about two days, but then lost the trail to them after two days of substantial downpours. Marshal O'Halihan ordered the patrol into a nearby farm house that had a mostly intact stone perimeter fence and the remnants of a set of fenced animal pens.

The first night went through with no issue, which was a boon for the unit. Nearing the end of this month-long patrol rotation is draining and the men are nearly spent so the rest was welcome. The second evening was not so restful.

Wasteland farmhouse

On second watch, the test started for Officers Flynn and Scullin. Scullin was sent out to support us after the last incident with Killee's caravanners. His new eyes served us well as he was able to quickly spot a group approaching the compound and send the alarm through the unit. the caravanners moved quietly into the compound and it became instantly apparent that they intended to take us completely by surprise and put an end to us silently.

Post-Incident Activities

Laser Carbine Rifle

After the route of the Caravanners, the unit did a full sweep of the area. Officer Flynn discovered a laser carbine rifle in the remnants of what appears to have once been a storage shed. This seems to have been an absconded weapon from a time when a resident had served. The rifle was stored with the remnants of other military materials all of which were useless. It is not entirely understood how this rifle survived the fallout and local destruction.

On the following day after, the unit took some well deserved R&R. Officer O'Brien was missing at role call to start the march back to the HQ. Marshal O'Halihan got word of a low-rent tavern with a local strong brew. Officer O'Brien was found to be in the middle of festivities and a scuffle and inebriated. Officer O'Brien was placed on a one week confinement to HQ.

The hard work of the officers is starting to show. Marshal O'Halihan and Sniper Manny were recognized for steadfast training and improvement on the firing range. Sniper Murphy was rewarded with mesh armor. After the close combat altercations with the Caravanners, Officers O'Brien and Murphy continued engaging and training in close combat and hand to hand melee. By the number of bruises on Officer O'Brien it was clear that Officer Murphy was able to land more punches, but to his credit, Officer O'Brien seems better able to weather the blows. Officer Flynn was armed with K-9 Officer Mutt's assault rifle and Officer Mutt was given the laser carbine rifle based on his continued skill and mettle in combat situations. He immediately immersed himself with the care and maintenance of the weapon until he was familiar with the inside and out.

The dedication and training of K-9 Handler Mutt and the efficiency of his trained K-9 unit, Dawg, was rewarded with a promotion. Given this promotion and continued hard work, it was noted that Dawg has seen specific improvements in health and well-being and which seems to have resulted in a quicker step. To further reward K-9 Handler Mutt, he has been assigned an additional K-9 unit, Cagney.

Officer Timmy O'Toole was assigned to the unit. Officer O'Toole sought out to join the Gardia after hearing of the Marshal O'Halihan's leadership and the skill of the officers in his command.

Painting up Dawg

Every good police unit, in this case my peacekeepers for This Is Not A Test. My K-9 Handler, Mutt, only works with the best and highest class dogs. Dawg is a wasteland rarity, a beautiful German Sheppard of the old lineages. She is a tenacious and quick companion who would put her life on the line to save others.

The base model is the dog miniature from the Reaper Miniatures familiars pack ($1.99), one of the Bones line. This pack of miniatures includes a bat, a hawk/eagle, a faerie dragon, a cat, a weasel/ferret, and of course this dog.

To get the classic German Sheppard look, I went immediately to a Bing Image search. Sheppard's typically have a brown/tan legs and under body with a dark black top half and muzzle. I started by blocking in the colors using the Reaper MSP HD Desert Tan for the lower body. The underbelly and highlights on the legs are Reaper MSP HD Maiden Flesh and the Tusk Ivory. The black is from Vellejo Game Ink.

I used the Game Ink because it let me build up into the body of the miniature and let me do some wet blending in the transition. I painted up the lower body and then applied the black ink from the top down. When the black and brown blended, it provided a transition area. When this was dry, I went back with the Desert Tan to very lightly add some highlighting to the transition. Now one caution is the blank ink is quite shiny. I toned this down with a bit of dry brown brush to these parts, but was careful not to totally flatten out the black.

I based Dawg on a standard beveled edge plastic base. I painted this green with some Vallejo Model Color U.S. Dark Green. I added a few small stones which were sculpt remnants from some magic putty that I used for another project. I'll post more about the work with Magic Putty soon. The stones were painted with a combination of Reaper MSP HD Field Grey, Ash Grey, and Dirty Grey. The grass comes from the free sample of Gamer's Grass that I got in my NOVA Open swag bag.