Ellis, Miko, Cat, Scott, and Quinn are hunting for the main group of Soviet advisors who’ve slunk off from the ZOMO offensive to do some unspecified commando action on Von Bahr’s western flank. Out of radio contact since they left the ambush site/rally point, they have no idea what’s been happening at the ZOMO command post and subsequently at the mortar battery.
[I’m blogging this separately for readability, but this scene ran in parallel to the mortar battery raid, with focus shifting back and forth at appropriate moments and at the end of each combat round. This scene had Ellis and Miko being played by their regular players; Cat being run by her player, whose primary is Minka; and Scott being driven as a rental by the player behind Red and Cowboy. Quinn stayed an NPC, as all she was doing was driving.]
It’s been a long afternoon of light rain, high humidity, and fruitless searching. The UAZ-469 with Ellis’ detachment aboard is crawling through the Polish countryside, staying in concealment and off main roads as much as possible. Patience is in short supply as the team rolls up from the south side of another little cluster of buildings at another nameless crossroads. Leaving the UAZ in a scattering of trees, Ellis, Miko, and Cat ease forward to scan with their binoculars…
Jackpot. On a rooftop on the north side of the not-even-large-enough-to-be-a-village are two men in Soviet uniforms with something Ellis hasn’t seen in a long while: the thick tripod-mounted tube of an ATGM launcher. About fifty meters closer to the team, near the actual crossing of the roads, two more men are hunkered down in a rubbled building. Cat picks out the wavering line of a radio antenna next to them, and the angular shape of a parked GAZ-66 light truck nearby.
The team crawls back to the UAZ to discuss tactics. The enemy forces are all on the north side of the settlement and oriented northward. Ellis’ quick analysis is that they’re waiting for Von Bahr to try a breakout to the west so they can neutralize his T-72… but they don’t appear to be watching their backs yet. So Ellis, Cat, and Miko will sneak forward to take up positions in buildings on the south side of the road. As soon as the firefight kicks off, Quinn will floor it out of cover, allowing Scott to bring the UAZ’s mounted M2HB (a recent replacement for the PK appropriated by Cowboy) into action.
At least, that’s the plan.
As Ellis, Miko, and Cat approach their selected buildings, they hear the faint rumble of a vehicle approaching the crossroads from the east. Ellis sees it first – it’s a battered BTR-70, one he recognizes after spending a good number of hours around it listening to its radio.
[With Magda strapped into one of the litters and unable to do her usual navigation job, Bell and Erick got a little turned around on the way out of the battle area…]
The Soviets aren’t unaware of this either. The launcher crew begins reorienting to the east and the duo in the rubble also swing around. It’s the latter group who catches sight of Miko and shouts the alarm, and the fight is on. As the first shots ring out and Ellis ducks into the nearest building, he catches sight of the BTR hitting the brakes and beginning to reverse into a J-turn.
Miko opens with a fragmentation grenade, stunning both of the troops in the rubble pile. Ellis and Cat exchange inconclusive fire with the duo atop the building. This attracts the attention of a third pair of Soviet troops, previously unseen by the team, who were stationed in another rubbled building on the north side of the village. Fortunately for our protagonists, they go for their rifles rather than engaging with the RPG-7 they’re carrying.
Both lightly injured, the two men in the southernmost position begin pulling back north toward the GAZ-66. Scott and Quinn arrive in a screech of tires, but Scott’s initial burst of .50 goes wide. One of the Soviets pulls himself into the GAZ and mans the PK mounted in the cab’s gun ring. His return fire tears through the UAZ’s cargo compartment and sends Scott and Quinn bailing out of the vehicle.
Miko dashes across the street and into another partially-collapsed building to hurl another grenade. This one goes wide, its only function to attract attention. Four AK-74s chatter and Miko goes down, bleeding out from a brachial artery wound [bleeding shoulder crit]. The RPG team starts running south, bypassing Miko and maneuvering to flank the team.
Cat continues trading fire with the Soviets on the rooftop as Ellis sneaks out the back of their building. He sets up just as they come into view. A burst from his G3 drops one Soviet in his tracks and sends the other scurrying back to cover. The two men trade fire and injuries for a few moments, Ellis finally resorting to his sidearm to drive off his opponent.
Cat moves up and boards the UAZ as Scott and Quinn resume their positions. The little jeep-analogue rolls out again, screeching to a stop between the GAZ-66’s machine gun and Miko’s prone form. Cat bails out and drags Miko to cover as Scott and the GAZ gunner trade fire, an exchange that leaves the GAZ with a leaking radiator and Scott with an injury that forces him and Quinn out of the UAZ again. Scott props his RPK across the UAZ’s hood and continues firing, managing to keep the ATGM team on the roof from making the situation any worse.
Cat gets Miko back in action, for certain values of “action.” With his functional arm, the teenager preps and tosses a grenade toward the GAZ. It flies true…
… and explodes in a shower of hellfire. Miko wanted to see what his recently-looted white phosphorus grenade would do. The two Soviets aboard the GAZ die screaming. Enraged, the ATGM team pops up and hammers Miko flat with another volley.
Horrified, Cat slams Miko down to the sidewalk and strips him of any more grenades before trying to resume treatment.
This is the point at which Ellis’ opponent returns to the main fight, appearing behind the pinned-down quartet and lobbing a frag of his own into their midst. Cat and Scott both catch fragments and are knocked prone. As the man levels his AK to finish the job, Ellis emerges behind him and casually empties his Beretta 85 into the soldier’s back.
Cat picks herself and her M4 up and blasts one of the ATGM team off the roof. His partner, realizing he’s the lone survivor, finally surrenders. As Cat resumes trying to save Miko, Ellis shakes his head, reloads, and walks over to see if the radio survived.
Running this in parallel with the mortar fight was a study in contrasts. I was genuinely afraid I might wipe this party. The dice just did not go in their favor until the last few rounds. The final damage was:
- Ellis: Health 1/4, Stress 5/6
- Miko: Health 0/5, bleeding shoulder crit
- Cat: Health 4/5, Kevlar vest destroyed
- Scott: Health 1/5
- Quinn: somehow uninjured, but also two-dimensional
This effectively concludes the Battle of Radom series. I’ll try to get some informational posts up so readers can keep track of all the secondary PCs and NPCs who’ve been introduced, and I also am considering a referee’s perspective post about the overall story arc here. There will be one more game session dealing with the battle’s aftermath, but due to scheduling and wanting everyone at the table for that, it’s about a week out at best.