This Is Not A Test: Marsha's Report - Snipe Hunt

This Is Not A Test: Marshal's Report - Snipe Hunt

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.

Marshal O'Halihan leading the Gardia

Marshal's Report

Snipe hunt

Reported by: Marshal O'Halihan
Date: October 12, 2086

Unit details:

Marshal O'Halihan
K-9 Handler Mutt
K-9 units, Dawg & Cagney
Sniper Manny
Officer Flynn
Officer Murphy
Officer Scullin
Officer Timmy O'Toole

Activity Report

Officers approaching the northeast ruins

The Gardia were informed of a potential cache of relics in some nearby ruins. These relics are thought to only be known by a few of the locals who do not have the capabilities to secure the potential arms and would be at the mercy of any who recovered the relics. Marshal O'Halihan was assigned to take the Gardia and secure any weaponry or other relics before they became a problem.

The unit approached the ruins of this old mixed-use area from the east in two distinct groups. Marshal O'Halihan lead K-9 officer Mutt, Dawg, Cagney, and Officer Flynn to the southeast approach. Sniper Manny, Officer Murphy, Officer Scullin, and Officer Timmy O'Toole approached the area from the northeast approach.

Officer Manny had previously scouted a structure that would allow for visibility across the entire area. Officer Manny quickly moved into position, securing a structure and making his way to the second floor to provide a wide area of visibility and to allow him to provide cover fire to the other officers. Officer Murphy moved into a support position on the ground floor of the building, which may have possibly been an apartment building. With this cover, Officer Timmy O'Toole was able to secure one of the suspected ruin sites.

Mutt covering Dawg

The Caravanners moved in quickly and started laying down fire at the officers. The Caravanners were bolstered by a number of mutants which seem to be under Killee's command. I'm not sure how she was keeping them organized, but they seemed eager to engage.

Officer Flynn was able to move quickly to secure a second sets of ruins. K-9 Handler Mutt sent the K-9 Units forward to engage a few of the caravanners that emerged from the remnants of a structure. On the approach of the K-9 Unit Dawg, the caravanner Spot emerged from the ruins to engage. K-9 Handler Mutt fired on Spot as Dawg engaged. The shot was on target and sufficient to incapacitate Spot. Dawg continued into the building to engage  Ms. Perfect. Quickly Dawg was surrounded by Mrs. Argyle and Mrs. Stuffings as well.

K-9 Unit Cagney moved up along the backside of a ruined pipeline to approach the group engaged with Dawg. Upon emerging from behind the pipe, Cagey was shot at by Mr. Flash. Cagney moved on to engage Mr. Flash to keep him isolated from the rest of the engagement.

Marshal O'Halihan was able to secure the ruins and send Offiver Flynn forward. With the caravanners essentially pinned down behind some ruins further to the west, Sniper Manny was able to provide support fire that allowed Officer Timmy O'Toole and Marshal O'Halihan to perform thorough searches of the ruins. Officer Scullin moved forward into the ruins to provide some cover for Officer Timmy O'Toole and to attempt to push the caravanners out of cover. The caravanners moved in from the southwest and caught Officer Scullin in a crossfire. While he was wounded by Killee in the firefight, he was merely banged up in the engagement.

Dawg surrounded by caravanners

When he had finished his search, Marshal O'Halihan was able to engage the caravanners who were engaged with Dawg. After Dawg was knocked down, Marshal O'Halihan was able to wound Mrs. Stuffings and Mrs. Perfect. The shot was sufficient to take Mrs. Stuffings down, but Mrs. Perfect ran for cover.

As this engagement progressed a significant electrical storm was moving into the area. Both sides moved quickly to disengage and retreat to safer locations. As a result of the caravanners hasty retreat all officers were recovered and returned to HQ.

Post-Activity update

Killee's increasing caravanner band

Though Officer Scullin is new to the unit, his bravery and tenacity were recognized. He has been promoted within the warband to a specialist. Sniper Manny was recognized further and received the personal targeting array that was discovered by Offiver Timmy O'Toole. The Gardia greatly benefits from the resourcefulness of Officer Flynn. Based on the outstanding performance of Mutt and Officer Murphy, they were recognized for their marksmanship. Dawg was recognized for her continued ability to engage and melee with the enemy. For his bravery to secure the ruins, Officer Timmy O'Toole was awarded a set of Riot Gear and a bayonet.

Rumors

Around the settlements, there are incoming rumors of some clans of mutants even more deplorable and appalling than those we have encountered recently. If the rumors and old campfire stories are true than a true vile menace is about to return to the Tri-State Area, the Cannibal Clan. The legendary Wormwood clan; an inbred, cannibalistic family that dwells somewhere in the caves on the border of the Highlands. Reports have come to us that this cannibal clan (and there may be more than one clan given the distance between the reporting settlements) has been raiding small, isolated settlements and absconding with people for, one can only imagine, the most dreadful of reasons. Further reports indicate that the clans are desperate and using the most gruesome weapons to eliminate any resistance. We will be investigating these reports as we patrol the region and report back what we learn. Hopefully we will know more before Halloween!

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.

This Is Not A Test: Marshal's report: Caravanner Raids

This Is Not A Test Battle Report

The following are the Marshal's reports of recent occurrences of peacekeeper activity from event at or near to Games and Stuff in Glen Burnie, MD. All reports are provided directly from the surviving ranking officer and are considered accurate and true. 

Marshal's Report: 

Caravanner Ambush at Cromwell Business Park

Reported by: Marshal O'Halihan
Date: September 27, 2086

Unit Details:

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

Activity Report

During normal patrol operations, Marshal O'Halihan lead a unit of peacekeepers on a routine patrol through the old Cromwell Business Park when a group of caravanners ambushed the officers. It is suspected that the caravanners were just out scavenging for materials. Without warning, the caravanners started firing on the officers.

Tight spot for K-9 Handler Mutt

The caravanner known as Black Widow, initiated the conflict by incapacitating Officer Brown. The wound to Officer Brown turned out to be terminal and he died at the scene. Officer Murphy immediately returned fire and was able to knock down Mr. Flash. The shot was enough to keep Mr. Flash from the firefight.

As the officers sought the cover of a nearly demolished office building the overwhelming numbers of the caravanners was quickly apparent. The K-9 Handler, Mutt, sought to secure what was remaining of the second floor to offer some height advantage. He was pursued by the Caravanners, Mrs. Suffings, Mr. Flash, and Killee. The K-9 unit quickly locked into melee with Mrs. Stuffings, but subsequently Killee entered and incapacitated the K-9. At this time Mr. Flash started lobbing malatov cocktails at Mutt. In the ensuing conflagration and confusion, Killee managed to get a shot on K-9 handler Mutt who became ineffective.

During this time a second force of caravanners approached from left west side of the building around some architectural sculpture. This second group started firing and hit Marshal O'Halihan. The shot made it through armor and it quickly became apparent that an alternate strategy was in order. Marshal O'Halihan immediately withdrew from the conflict under cover of Officer Murphy. Sniper Manny and Officer O'Brien remained to lay down cover fire and to secure the wounded units before withdrawing from the area. During the withdrawal, Officer O'Brien was able to wound Granny Hawk to keep her from pursuing further.

Marshal's Report: Caravanner Kidnapping Raid 

Reported by: Marshal O'Halihan
Date: September 27, 2086

Caravanner raid on remote settlement

Unit Details:

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

Activity Report

Following the ambush at the Cromwell Business Park, Marshal O'Halihan regrouped the unit and added Officer Flynn. In an effort to prevent further issues with the caravanners under Killee's direction, Marshal O'Halihan had Sniper Manny track the caravanners from the business park.

Sniper Manny was able to track the caravanners to a remote settlement about 20 miles distant. The settlement was comprised of a main house with two smaller out buildings. The area around the settlement was well overgrown. It appeared that the caravanners intended to loot and plunder the entire settlement and take the inhabitants as captives. Marshal O'Halihan was able to deploy the forces to three sides of the settlement in an effort to provide cross fire for rescue operations.

Killee, Mr. Flash, & Mrs. Argyle flee

Sniper Manny was deployed to the north east quarter of the settlement where he was able to utilize significant cover with clear lines of sight to the center of the settlement. Officer Murphy, K-9 handler Mutt and the K-9 unit deployed to the south western corner to utilize some natural rock cover and vegetation to approach from the rear of the compound. Marshal O'Halihan led Officer O'Brien and Officer Flynn to the main approach of the compound.

With first sight it was clear that the caravanners were about to depart the compound. The inhabitants were bound and gagged and assigned to the caravanners. Immediately Officer O'Brien was able to identify Killee who had a captive in tow and was ordering the others to leave. He had a clear shot and utilized it effectively. The ambush immediately proved effective and the caravanners acted as one would expect. Killee after the shot immediately made to flee and took Mr. Flash and Mrs. Argyle with her for protection.

Sniper Manny taking Swifty out

While Swiftly was making to escape the compound, Sniper Manny was able to knock him down with a well-aimed shot to prevent escape. The other caravanners attempted to engage and provide cover fire, but were ineffective with no leadership. As other caravanners made to flee with captives, Officer O'Brien was able to mortally wound Mrs. Woods to prevent her escape. Marshal O'Halihan was able to incapacitate Black Widow who was holed up in one of the out buildings and laying down machine gun fire on the officers. When it was apparent that the officers clearly had the upper hand and the remaining caravanners were abandoned, they made a hasty retreat.

All materials were recovered and the inhabitants of the settlement freed.  As a special thank you to the officers, the inhabitants gifted Marshal O'Halihan with a cache of pre-fall ammunition for his Large Caliber Assault Rifle. To assist the unit, HQ has assigned a new officer, Officer Scullin, to the ranks. The unit will continue pursuit of the caravanners until captured or killed.

ASIDE: If you look closely at the settlement picture toward the top of this report, you will notice a cool little bottle cap activation marker. These are a nice little touch to your gaming table and are available in the This Is Not A Test shop.

I scream, you scream, We fight for Ice Cream!

This Is Not A Test Battle Report

I was lucky enough to be recruited to run some demos of This Is Not A Test at NOVA Open this year. In order to learn the game, I spent a Saturday at Games and Stuff with the creator of the game, Joe McGuire. Read my This Is Not A Test, Repeat This Is Not A Test for my thoughts on the game rules and feel of the game. Here is how my introduction to the post-nuclear wastes went...

Table layout

Table Set-up. Thankfully, Joe has all of the materials at the ready for our demo/tutorial. The table set-up had a couple of roads running through, plenty of abandoned/wrecked vehicles, signs. There are also some centrally placed buildings. Each of these buildings are completely playable inside and out. There are areas of rough terrain (craters, toxic spills) and some wilderness terrain. All together, we put together a table with plenty of potential for good game play.

Joe made all of the terrain and teaches courses on many of the items through the Historic Miniatures Gaming Society (HGMS) if you get the chance to attend. The buildings are purchased (Plasticville) then customized specifically for the game. 

My faction (all upstanding citizens)

Selecting Factions. Joe for the demo has a set of prepared factions which he has spent time to balance out. This made selection pretty easy and for me, I just selected based on a few items; no robots, no mutants, and something interesting. Now that was a pretty limiting selection, but I wanted to really get a feel for the basic mechanics with the hope of playing additional games to get deeper into some of the other mechanics. In the end that brought me to the a police-like faction, though with a prisoner in tow, which was composed of five characters and included a range of close combat and ranged actions. We will get to the really interesting components as we go through the battle. 

Joe's faction (bad guys one and all)

Joe selected an alternate faction from those remaining to also stay pretty basic. He also ended up with five characters with a range of available weapons. He had one character with specific long-range availability for lack of a better phrase a sniper.  

 Deployment. We didn't follow a specific side versus side deployment. We both used a 6" deployment standard and deployed our characters onto the board. I selected to deploy my characters around some terrain and in a line to give potential for direction change after the first couple of turns. With This Is Not A Test, this is possible because the depth of the table is greater than the range of the weapons. No bombardment to worry over.

deployed

deployed

Joe deployed in more of a cluster around his leader. The leader provides a boost to activation when characters are within 6" of the leader, which he knew and I didn't. Joe also took advantage of the billboard at the edge of his side and was able to deploy his sniper to the top of the billboard to give height and increase line of sight.

Start the march. The aim here was purely to get closer to each other. There was sufficient distance that I couldn't hit him at all and coverage to ensure I wasn't able to get hit. Joe took advantage of starting his group around his leader to successfully activate most of his figures. He used the transit bus to protect his route.

My aim from the beginning was to use the diner and ice cream parlor as a funnel to where I could set up some crossfire. As such my first attempt was to take my leader and longest range shooter to attempt to take the top of the diner. The rest of the group was moved up with the goal to take control of the ice cream parlor to prevent any side attacks.


Control moves. I continued to make attempts at controlling the diner, but it turns out that failing an activation can really disrupt your plans. When the leader failed and wasn't able to climb to the top of the trailer, I had to come up with some alternate plans.

Joe was continuing to come up around the bus toward the back of the parlor and between the two shops. Joe had a clear path to the back of the parlor though and sufficient coverage to potentially overwhelm my guys all at once. The shops provided some solid cover to work and still maintain the plan of a cross-fire scenario between the buildings.

Change of plans. With Joe now pushing out to the open, I had a chance to start the melee. I moved into position and started the fire. I also noticed the rear door of the parlor and how that would provide some disruption to Joe's forces and started working my close combat hot head through since he was steadily working up toward the back of the parlor. I attacked through the back door to where Joe was, but was ultimately knocked back off of his character.

Joe (clearly a natural model) still had his sniper sitting pretty on the top of the billboard and waiting for someone to shoot. Thankfully, the cover was proving sufficient to prevent her from picking off any of my men while I advanced. This limited her capabilities and kept her out of action for a while. Joe took advantage of the covered offered to him and brought his leader up to the side window of the parlor where he was able to start attacking my hot headed prisoner. With a failed save, I hit the deck and went prone.

First blood. With the potential savage damage from his leader, I was forced to reconsider my plan. I pulled my prisoner back with the intent of running him through to the leader to occupy him. The rest of the plan was still holding and Joe was moving into the cross-fire.

Joe got some good shots off and was able to decimate the hot head, but now before suffering a loss himself. With the back door of the parlor no longer a problem, I was able to take out one of his guys. We were down a man each and his sniper was still stuck up on her billboard. Joe's leader threw a jam, which made his relic plasma weapon rendered useless unless he spent some time to resolve.

Turn 4. With the cross-fire in full effect and the madness of the back and forth, the bodies started to take shots. Now we were both getting plenty of hits, but also making plenty of defense rolls. I got numerous shots off on his leader, but he was able to evade all of them. We both lost another guy and we steadily moving toward the final showdown.

Joe managed to clear his plasma gun, which can be a devastating weapon. He proceeded up the side of the building where he had the strength of one weapon alone to make me reconsider my deployment. Joe took his sniper down from the billboard to bring her into action. He started moving her up into a support position and that necessitated drawing his people closer.

The trap is sprung! BOOM!

The trap is sprung. With Joe's move, I was able to spring a trap that I had hoped would work and win the day for me. Joe's leader moved up around the edge of the building near to where my prisoner had fallen. That was when I detonated his explosive collar. It is how he would have wanted to go I am sure. What should have been a great day for victory, turned out to be just a puff of smoke as once again Joe was saved with crucial rolls. Joe took the blast and then walked himself back.

I thought I had him on the ropes and pursued thinking could take some quick shots to put him down, that may have been a mistake. As soon as I rounded the corner, he had me and took out another of my men. Sure I got some shots off, but between his rolls and the number of wounds he could withstand the poor bloke didn't stand a chance. Now I was down to my last man, but I had an assault rifle and eventually Joe was going to fail a roll.

End Game. With Joe's leader damaged and looking to regroup with his sniper, I had only one choice. Take some drastic action. So I starting firing through the ice cream parlor making another round of multiple successes. I was finally able to find success and take down his leader, but that wasn't the end of it. He still had his sniper who decided it was best to make use of her position and live to fight another day than be another bullet-ridden body in the waste.

The end scene...a win for the good guys.