The briefing to the Slammers players went like this:
Hidden somewhere near a village is a downed pilot and passenger from an
executive skimmer. The passener is none other than Major Steuben - Alois
Slammer's chief aide and head of the White Mice.
A force of Slammers troops has been put together as quickly as possible
to rescue them from the village of Ben'Lac.
Ben'Lac vilage is populated by the K'hiff but rumour has it that it is
a Thunderbolt mercenary base. It is situated on the banks of the Ben'ra
river which has a major bridge crossing it. All vehicles except the tank
will be able to cross the river without recourse to the bridge. The Slammers
force will approach from the 'far' side of the river.
The Slammers know that the two people that they seek are relatively nearby
because of a radio beacon that was picked up in the area but this has
now stopped transmitting. It is presumed that the targets are still alive
but whether they are still free or are captured is an unknown.
The Slammer's job is to sweep the area, including the village if necessary,
and recover the Slammers personnel. Any enemy encountered can be avoided
or neutralised as applicable.
All though the ELB (exact locator beacon) is no longer transmitting all
3 jeeps are fitted with detector equipment which will give a bearing of
the comms helmets that Steuben and his colleague were wearing. This equipment
will give an indication of direction, depending on range.
Forces:
Slammers:
6 Combat Cars
1 Command Car
3 Jeeps
1 Tank
Victory Conditions:
Major Steuben MUST be recovered.
Results:
The Slammers players lost some jeeps and two combat cars to early ambushes
as they crossed the river. The tank had to take the bridge, as can be
seen by the photographs.
Although they did not realise it, the Slammers team were on a time limit.
Every turn involved a greater risk (via a dice role) of the rest of the
Thunderbolt Legion mercenaries returning with some heavy armour (2 Panthers
and a St Chamond).
Steuben was eventually recovered by the expedient of, having located him,
reversing a combat car in to the building he was hiding under, though
the romm above was full of K'hiff - with buzz bombs, as it turned out!
Not only were the K'hiff hitting the withdrawing Cars with RPG's they
rammed them twice with smaller vehicles.
The Slammers got their man out but lost vehicles and crew in the process.
The tank, was badly damaged but still mobile. I'm sure Major Steuben thought
it was worth it!!
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