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.

Substation Rumble

Pressed Squad 2A had made their way to Substation Alpha, intending to raise reinforcements against the NeoPrimitive band that had attacked them. When they got there they found the place eerily quiet, the gates in the chain-link fence wide open. Clearly it would be no simple matter of calling on the garrison, the best they could hope for was to make their way to the radio station and report to the GenCity. No sooner had they stepped through the gates then they came under fire from some shady figures up on the gantries... a previously un-encountered posse was holed up in the structure!

With open ground ahead to both sides and marksmen on the walkways above the squad's only chance was to split and sprint to the cover of the buildings. The GenCorps operatives headed away to the left whilst the rest of the posse swung off to the right, hoping the mesh would at least deter a few bullets. Before they reached halfway they were pounced by a masked agent, a flamboyant artisan and a crazed dougnutter. With the sniper on the gantry laying down covering fire both posses ducked and dived their way towards each other, making slow progress across the open. Maxwell kept close to the ruined outhouse and picked his moment to dart around the corner and open up on the unsuspecting ambushers with his shotgun. Meanwhile Judge Feer's nerves got the better of him and he empties the entire magazine of his Lawhammer into the shady figures, all of whom were still too far away for his wild shooting to reach them.

A desperate grapple between Maxwell and the artisan resulted in a stalemate until the trash runner finally managed to bring his opponent down. By that time reinforcements were close  and he had to hope that the narrow corridor between the building and fence were enough to limit his enemies' attacks.

Meanwhile, out to the left, Beta had fallen to the hailstorm from a Tom-E gun on the platform. The operatives' shields had kept them safe most of the way across the gap but couldn't shrug off the fire at close range. The enemy leader stepped in to finish off the stricken GenCorps, only to come face to face with an enraged Alpha. The GenCorps leader cast her opponent to the ground, but was left wide open as the agent above levelled his weapon at her.

With four of the posse Out of Action the squad opted to withdraw, forfeiting their objective but surviving to fight another day. The casualties sustained two head wounds and two cases of shell-shock whilst their enemies took a single case of severe trauma. The Pressed Squad disappeared into the night, using up the last of their field rations. Their mysterious enemies looted the abandoned Substation for provisions.

Scenario: The Pony Express
Pressed Squad 2A: 7XP
????: 28XP

Meet the gangs- The Lawful Free

The Lawful Free are Don Panzini's new Trash Runner outfit. Following Tranter's defection Panzini has entrusted the task of reopening the Quarry Run to Yates, a wandering bandit with a reputation for ruthlessness and available for hire. Currently travelling with Yates are a mysterious individual known as 'The Shadow' and an Artisan who goes by the name of Doc. Little is known about either but The Shadow's scruffy attire attests to a history on the treadmills of GenPower. To keep tabs on the outfit Panzini has sent his son Gideon and trusted bodyguard Big Mikey along. Gideon is a typically spoilt Frat Brat and Yates barely tolerates the kid, putting him in harm's way whenever the opportunity arises. Doc is slightly more aware of just what the Don would do to them if his heir was to be injured and tries to look out for Gideon whenever he can do so without Yates noticing.

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.

Let's go live...

Hi guys,

Welcome to the War 1984 Live Campaign: an introduction to the world of Factious Waste, a repository for battle reports, a platform for introducing special features and a community hub for those gaming outworld.

Here's how it works-

If you don't already have a rulebook you can pick one up by following the link to the right.

Grab a buddy or two and build yourselves some posses.

Join/Follow this site to stay in touch with updates and be able to post content.

When you play games you can submit battle reports, the outcome of your games will affect the development of the campaign narrative.

Each Sunday one or more of the location pages at the top of this page will be updated with objectives, discoveries, developments and other news to guide your games. Hunt around the region for news and offers of work and trade!

We'll be running at least up until Christmas, possibly until Easter when we hope to have the physical rulebook in production.