5C Sandbox Campaign - the Collapse Mission 1

As those Eureka NBC soviets sat on my shelf unplayed for way too long, I figured it was time for some table action. Given their protective gear, I went for a Zombie outbreak scenario - the general idea being to play the government response, which in the movies gets eaten so the movie makers can show their remains to illustrate that help is not coming.

Rules wise I'm using Nordic Weasel Games FiveCore with it's Sandbox patrol supplement. As base for the Zombierules I'll usethe "on Samhain's Eve" Supplement for Chevauchee (FiveCore's medieval brother) and/or the Heroes and Horrors supplement.

We'll be following a Squad of Soviet Motor Rifles, which has been dispatched to deal with a large scale upheaval somewhere in the USSR. Rumors abound of a Virus or leak in a chemical plant or meteorite strike turning upstanding citizens into reckless and decidedly un-socialist hooligans. Crazy talk, obviously, as far as our protagonists are concerned...

As suggested by Sandbox, we start with a full strength Motor Rifle Squad. I went with a BTR-Squad (i.e. the guys not riding a BMP IFV, but rather a half-obsolete BTR transport). This means we got 7 guys (plus driver and gunner - but those obviously stay in the vehicle) with 1 RPK SAW and 1 RPG-7.

The first mission is a presence patrol - the least dangerous kind of sandbox. Basically our lads have to patrol an area which saw some public disturbance to show the citizenry that the state is still around and very much in control - despite what some western capitalist agents would like them to believe.

this is the mission area which we have to patrol. As it's just about showing presence, we have to leave the heavy artillery at home, leaving us with 5 men armed with AK-74 rifles.

most of the patrol went perfectly smooth with only a bunch of (non-hostile) locals encountered.

"wanna buy a copy of pravda, comrade?"

-"where the hell did you come from, all of a sudden?!"

(every round you have to make a scout check, which can lead to an encounter materializing anywhere - thus you're never sure an area is really clean. Thankfully, this is just a harmless local.)

everything was calm...

Olga and Ivan cherish the view from this sniper position...

As I only came up with locals and a whole lot of nothing, I let my guard down. And then...

"CONTACT! Why do they keep yelling "cheeky breeky" though?"

Suddenly Petya gets jumped by a bunch of hooligans coming out of nowhere. Serves me right for getting cocky and dispersing too much...

a furious firefight ensues. The quality advantage of regular military ensures that my squad isn't decimated. Next time, I'll have them stick together!

Poor Petya suffers a severe leg wound. Thankfully the rest of the squad manage to clear a corridor for Oleg to reach our wounded comrade and prevent him from bleeding out...

With Petya almost immobile - quite a bummer on a patrol mission - Oleg calls for a med-evac. What's Russian for "get to da choppa!"?

The remaining patrol was uneventful with only more locals encountered.

Lesson learned: Stick together - the enemy can jump you from anywhere!

Aftermath:

Petya's wound seems less bad, than initially feared - he'll be out for just 2 days. Thankfully, I also rolled 2 days for the passage of time until the next mission, so we'll be at full strength!

There's also a roll to see if anyone picked up a new skill, but I had no luck. I guess chatting with the locals and bruising up some unruly do-no-gooders isn't all that educating.

The next mission rolled will be a combat patrol. This is structurally identical to the presence patrol but the encounter table virtually guarantees heavy fighting. Good that we can bring the big artillery this time!