Long shadows at Dagger Ridge

Doc Noface scouts out the ruins ahead of his gang. 

The next round of the campaign got underway last weekend with a few gangs clashing over various remote parts of the region. For their first outing the NeoPrimitive Froom Gang decided to try and oust the mystery posse from their position in the substation.

This was to be a Sabotage mission, with the Primitives attempting to hit the power terminal at the rear of the steps in the centre of the table. This would knock out the floodlights and provide cover for a full-on assault.

 

 

 



The Primitive strike team deployed in two small teams. Doc Noface and Organ Man took cover in the ruined building, hoping to carve their way through to the terminal with the help of Organ Man's Tom-E Gun. The other three-man team set off across open ground behind low piles of junk, hoping to draw fire.

 



Mudrock readies his shotgun

The mystery gang clustered around the terminal, ready to pick off anyone who strayed too near. Who made the bright decision to put the Doughnutter and poorly-armed NeoPrimitive on guard duty? Nevertheless, with Frat gangers armed with Tom-E Guns and a crazy sniper on the right wing this wasn't going to be a walkover.

As the 3-man team crept amongst the barriers (the reclamation scout picking up a few choice pieces along the way), they caught sight of the Frat hiding in the building. Mudrock charged forwards and blasted at the nearest ganger. Unfortunately his opponent was able to dive out of range, leaving the Primitive in cover but away from his mates.

The Frat responded with a hail of shots which took Mudrock out of the fight, but they had broken cover. Iced Cream, the Doughnutter-gone-native, hefted his mighty crossbow and put a shot in the shoulder of one of the agents. Grinning his satisfaction he put a foot on the end of the bow and began to draw the string back fro another shot...

Meanwhile, Organ Man and the Doc were creeping through the rubble trying to stay out of sight of the sniper. Coming to the end of the buildings they had a difficult judgement call to make. Should they risk a dash across the open to the terminal or dig in and try to provide covering fire for their team-mates on the far side?

High above the complex an Artisan bounded across the gantries. Her pistol shots scattered nowhere near the fighters below but the haphazard whistle of projectiles was doing no good at all for the nerves of the NeoPrimitives cowering behind the barricades.

 

As Iced Cream fitted his arrow into place he caught a glimpse of the armoured Frat agent coming around the corner. Too late, he hefted the bow onto his shoulder as a Tom-E Gun blast tore his other shoulder open. The Doughnutter hit the deck, hard. There was little time for the Frat agent to celebrate however, Organ Man had made his decision and sprinted across the narrow gap to the next gantry and peppered his enemy's rear with shot. This was the chance the sniper had been waiting for. Left alone and partially exposed in the ruins, Doc Noface was an easy target. By the time Organ Man realised what was going on behind him his leader was on the ground. As the Artisan leapt down from the walkway and sprinted towards them and a second stepped out from the shadow of the main building the NeoPrimitives decided to cut their losses and run.

Gang with no name: 18XP
Froom Gang: 6XP

Mudrock did not survive the encounter, he was captured and executed by the Gang with no name. Iced Cream and Doc Noface sustained Trauma, lowering their base Endurance by 1.

Meet the gangs- Pressed Squad 2A

 

Following reports of a NeoPrimitive scouting party taking a particular interest in the cable run West of Ozzer's Gap a GenCorps field squad was dispatched to investigate. Field squads consist of three GenCorps officers in Ohmic Tac Suits and may be accompanied by attendant cadets. In this case the three officers tracked the NeoPrimitives for two days deep into their sacred hunting grounds. On the third day they were ambushed by a much larger group of Primitives. One of the officers was slain, the other two made it to cover. After lying low overnight the officers managed to make it back to the Long Hand where they came upon a couple of Trash Runners. Their convoy had been set upon by a NeoPrimitive warband and only Tranter, the leader, and Maxwell, her driver, escaped. Banding together for safety they decided to head towards the substation on the ridge. Before they got very far another wreck by the side of the road yielded two more members of the posse. A Dougnutter, recently arrived outworld, and his NeoPrimitive guide who had also been set upon by a raiding party.

 

I started this posse with Alpha, the leader of the GenCorps field team. GenCorps in Ohmic Tac Suits are great additions to a posse but you're limited to three and they eat up the deputy allowance, especially if your leader isn't GenCorps. I took a second operative so that they could work as a subteam and then went with Trash Runners (a good all-round choice), a Doughnutter for his tech score and a NeoPrimitive to gain some training and use up the remaining points (Primitives are cheap!). I mostly stuck to giving each member of the posse equipment and training from their own tech and training ratings as this posse is pulled together from a bunch of survivors rather than a specially-equipped band. I made sure to give the NeoPrimitive the Reclamation Scout ability to start pulling in tradable goods and gave one of the Trash Runners a Wagoner ability as I hope to find the guys some transport as quickly as possible!

Meet the gangs- The Girls from the Tank

The Girls from the Tank are a luddite cell from GenCity 1984. As encouraged by GenTV they found partners, got married, had children and took advantage of GenPower's generous childcare system. With growing unease they watched their offspring become distant. The children barely spoke or acknowledged their parents and would only respond with textbook quotes when pressed. When the children reached the age of 10 they were removed from school and sent to the GenCorps Academy. Their parents lost all contact. Enraged, the mothers banded together and joined the local Luddite resistance. They ceased all Gennying work and took up arms against GenPower. The Girls' particular aim is the destruction of the GenCorps Academy and the liberation of their children.

As an all-Luddite group the Girls have little training and access to only small amounts of equipment. They have a charismatic and strong-willed leader, Vonne, who handles all communications with the Luddite circuit and has sourced them a small stash of firearms to begin their crusade with. She knows, however, that to take down the Academy they are going to need a lot more than a couple of rifles and a shotgun. They have moved their base of operations to the outer edge of the GenCity near to Shifting Sands where they can engage in small-scale hits against the corporation whilst being able to leave the city for foraging and networking further afield. They have recently decided to make a trip to Mondizi in search of paid contracts with which to expand their arsenal.