Download pdf - Babylons Burning

Evan Anhorn (order #465190)

Near Future Skirmish RulesFor 28mm Miniatures

byIan Scott and Mark Eatherington

with fiction byJay Forster and Mark Eatherington


CreditsOriginal concept and background by Mark Eatherington and Ian Scott

Rules and game design by Ian ScottFlesh and Blood fiction by Jay ForsterForce list fiction by Mark Eatherington and Jay ForsterEdited by Ian Scott

Layout and graphic design by Jay Forster (www.generate.me.uk)Miscellaneous design by Mark Eatherington, Jim Campbell andJames Michie

Cover art by Jim CampbellTitle graphic by James MichieInterior artwork by Elena Vanin, Jim Campbell and Craig Humpston

Playtesting by Alex Donley; Bernd Freigang; Benjamin Hilbig;Volker Majcan; Malcolm Martin; John and Kim Owen; JJ Parus;Ann Pixler; Matthias Stein

Legal NoticeAll rules, fiction, artwork, tables, counters and photographs contained in this documentare copyright Hetzerdog Development Co., 2003*.

Permission is given to print this document for personal or review use only. Thisdocument may not be distributed by electronic or other means without the expresswritten permission of the Hetzerdog Development Co.

(* With the exception of Elena Vanin's artwork, which is copyright Elena Vanin,2003. Ms. Vanin retains all intellectual and commercial rights to her artwork used inthis document.)


3Background 4Prelude 4Impact 6Aftermath 7Now 9

Introduction 13

Scale & Sequence 14Organisation 14Unit Cohesion 16Order of Play 16

Actions 18Aiming & Firing 19Overwatch 20Movement 21Communications 22Other Actions 22Support Team Actions 24Solo Actions 25

Support Teams 26Solo Elements 27Officers 27Snipers 28Medics 28Runners 28

Resolving Combat 29Rolling-To-Hit 29Melee 37Armour & Cover 38Damage 40Suppression 41

Orders 43

Game Types 46

Weapon Tables 49

Equipment Lists 56

Point Costs 58

Appendix I : 61Force typesEnclave Forces 61Street Gang Forces 64Mob Forces 67Mercenary Forces 70Ghoul Forces 73Scav Forces 76Cultie Forces 79Syndicate Forces 82Wasteland Forces 85

Appendix II : 86Burst templates & counters

Appendix III : 90Blank record sheetsInitiative SheetSolo SheetSupport Team SheetSquad Sheet

Appendix IV: 94Quick reference sheet

CONTENTS


4BACKGROUNDDecember 2014 - October 2015: PreludeThe first warning came in 2014, when astronomers detected a hithertounknown meteor on a collision course with the Earth. It was huge - over fivekilometres wide - a so-called 'Planet Killer' and was calculated to be no morethan twelve months away from impact.

Once informed of the problem and made aware of the seriousness of thesituation, governments across the world commissioned scientists to begin toexplore possible methods for either deflecting the meteor or for destroying itoutright.

The outcome of this research was that the more technologically andeconomically advanced governments, co-ordinated by the United Nations,prompted their respective space agencies and militaries to co-operate withone another in the creation of a new breed of nuclear warhead armedrocket. These rockets were designed to knock the meteor into anothertrajectory, safely away from the Earth and its lunar satellite (for theconsequences of the Moon being knocked off its orbit would be almost ascatastrophic as a direct hit on the Earth).

The population, reassured by the authorities that the meteor would be safelyrealigned, carried on with benign interest, sales of telescopes rocketed butthe media found other stories to concentrate on and life generally carried onas normal.

There were, however, many small groups of Survivalists, religious doomsdaycults and others who, distrusting their Governments or motivated byapocalyptic fantasies, stocked up on essentials and began to quietly moveout of the cities. Small communities of like-minded survivalists and cultistssprang up in remote, isolated areas - fiercely independent, practically self-sufficient, and (at least in the USA) armed to the teeth.

The first rocket barrage took four months to prepare and initiate and waslaunched in staggered waves from sites worldwide in April 2015. Most ofthe rockets hit the meteor, but the haste with which the launch had beenprepared and the guesswork on which the calculations were based ensuredthey caused little in the way of damage and completely failed to alter itscourse.

Work immediately began on the preparation of a second barrage comprisedof much larger missiles - this time with the intention of vaporising the meteorcompletely. This second batch took a further three months, by which time themeteor was easily visible in clear skies, even during daylight, and peoplewere becoming nervous and increasingly pessimistic.

Rioting and looting occurred in many cities as panic started to take hold -thankfully, such outbreaks were sporadic and quickly put down by the policeand armed forces. There was a growth in religious fundamentalismworldwide and mainstream churches, long in decline in the Western world,


5reported record attendance figures. A number of states began to takemeasures against hoarding and other anti-social behaviour and certain keyfood, transport and fuel supplies began to be rationed.

The second anti-meteor strike was launched in early August 2015, and theimpact of the missiles on the meteor was watched by most of those who wereable to see it. Again, the missiles failed to do their job (though it took a fewdays to determine that fact given the huge cloud of debris thrown up by theimpacting warheads). Instead of destroying the meteor utterly, they hadmerely succeeded in smashing it into a trail of huge (and now somewhatradioactive) fragments.

Scientists, viewing the results of the failed strike, informed their respectivegovernments that the remnants were still large enough to cause immensedamage to the Earth, with major impacts expected over a period of days andspread across the surface of the globe. This was information that thecombined Governments decided it would be unwise to share with the generalpopulation.

Instead, the populace was informed that the strike had been largelysuccessful - there would be a period of atmospheric disturbance, majormeteor showers and the possibility of several larger impacts following which,life would continue as before. In general, the expected environmental effectsof these impacts were dramatically understated and the radioactive nature ofthe fragments went virtually unreported.

Civilians were told to shelter in basements, or even in their homes during theweek that the fragments were expected to fall - in some cities civil defenceplans dating back to the 1950s were dusted off and posted in prominentplaces or broadcast on local TV and radio networks. These were policieswhich the governments knew would provide little (if any) protection to theircitizens should a large fragment land anywhere in their immediate vicinitybut they hoped that these futile gestures might placate their panickingpopulations and enable them to maintain a semblance of order.

Even with this reassurance, however, panic buying, looting and riotingresumed and spread quickly throughout most of the major population centresof the world - the majority of which were ruthlessly and violently occupied byriot police and the military.

Many groups and individuals took to settling old scores before it was too lateand religious fundamentalists gathered their flocks for the coming of theirrespective Judgement Days. Most states took extreme measures to limit thespread of accurate information regarding the imminent strike but, inevitably,there were leaks of official documents and dissenting views from independentscientists appeared online. Naturally, as this unofficial information circulatedwidely, many began to disregard the sugar coated official statementsaltogether.

Food and fuel supplies in cities soon ran low as looting, hoarding,government requisitions and a breakdown in transportation networks tooktheir toll. This, in turn, lead to vicious infighting between the previously lawabiding inhabitants of the cities as neighbours of many years fought oneanother for the last tin of beans on the supermarket shelf... In some cases,frustration and panic led to bloody pitched battles against the police and


6against the armed forces that were increasingly being relied upon tomaintain order.

Many people made attempts to leave their homes in order to look for asanctuary or just to be close to distant loved ones. This sudden exodus causedhuge traffic jams - tens of thousands of people left their gridlocked cars onthe roads and walked out of the cities, carrying what little they could on theirbacks.

The armies of most countries - unaware, in the main, of the extent of theirGovernment's deceptions - carried on with their orders, maintaining thepeace alongside the police forces and other government agencies andpreparing to help with the clean up operation after the expected "minor"meteor showers. Only key members of the various Governments, selectgroups of scientists and important civilian specialists were aware that therewas going to be a major disaster. They and their immediate families (alongwith any flunky with a major favour to pull in) began to retreat, in secret, tonuclear bomb shelters (in those nations lucky enough to possess them), minesand other subterranean shelters. Select military units designated to act asguards worked under the impression that the shelters were merely aninsurance policy. Inevitably, the locations of many of these undergroundretreats were leaked and their guards were placed in the unenviable positionof having to turn back heaving, desperate crowds at gunpoint.

November 2015: ImpactIn November 2015, the first, and lightest, wave of meteor rubble began tostrike the Earth's atmosphere. Initially, the small meteor showers merely lit upthe night sky, creating an awe-inspiring display as they struck the upperatmosphere. The world's population looked on, many becoming somewhatcomplacent as the one or two small fragments that managed to find their wayto the ground in the vicinity of settled areas caused little more than smallcraters and minor peripheral damage.

When it was confirmed that some of these impact craters were, as feared,highly radioactive, army NCB teams rapidly sealed the areas off and startedto decontaminate them as best they could with increasingly stretchedresources.

Naturally, in the third world, where no infrastructure existed to deal with suchdisasters, people were essentially left to fend for themselves as best theycould with predictable outcomes.

After the first 24 hours, the impacts began to increase in scale and becamemore frequent - showers could be seen in the daylight as well as during thehours of darkness and the military were soon unable to cope with the numberof impact sites. Many governments started giving civilians televised warningsto leave the immediate vicinity of any meteor strike and wait for armed forcesto evacuate them to resettlement centres. Many of these warnings wentunheeded however, as satellite and radio communications were increasinglydisrupted by the atmospheric activity.

Few areas escaped without some damage and a corresponding loss of lifebut to many it still seemed as though their communities would pull throughrelatively intact.


7This level of strikes continued for another 36 hours until, finally, the largestfragments - many of them hundreds of metres across - began to impact,landing across the globe, on both land and sea.

These larger meteors caused massive, almost unimaginable devastationthroughout the world.

Where they smashed into the sea, the displaced water resulted in huge tidalwaves that left many seaboard cities flooded and partially flattened ruins.

On the land they caused massive craters, throwing up vast quantities of dustand rubble. The hundreds of impacts triggered seismic activity alongpractically every fault line on the planet. Earthquakes devastated vast areas,with entire cities crumbling or even disappearing underground.

Volcanoes erupted spontaneously and violently, spewing yet more smoke anddust into the already dust-choked atmosphere and obscuring vast tracts ofland under a spreading carpet of molten lava.

The massive amount of dust created by the initial impacts and by thesubsequent seismic events was thrown up into the atmosphere causing aplanet-wide, impenetrable cloud that rapidly obscured the sun's light. Withinhours, light levels dropped to a dim twilight that was to last for over sixmonths - the planet lit only by vast fires consuming forests, grasslands andcities. This cloud acted as a huge insulating blanket, and multiplied the effectsof the uncontrollable fires and volcanic activity, ultimately raising globaltemperatures, melting the icecaps and rapidly raising sea levels.

Over the following months, cities already battered by tsunamis began tosteadily disappear under the rising waters, and lowland areas across theworld, from North West Europe to the Pacific Rim, disappeared beneathraging seas and swollen lakes and rivers.

December 2015 - December 2024: AftermathOnce the meteor showers had died away, the survivors emerged from theirbasements and shelters and found a dark, twilight world that bore littleresemblance to that which they had left behind less than a week before.

Entire cities had been wiped off the map by impacts and earthquakes, vastareas were now unstable active volcanic fields, choked with poisonous ash,dust and molten lava flows. Some cities were left half-buried under millionsof tons of dust and rubble, whilst others were partially submerged off newcoastlines, only the tops of the tallest buildings rising above the waves.

On top of this devastation, radioactive impact craters littered the planet -deadly but often invisible areas that for years to come would kill the unwarywithin hours if they were lucky, months if they were not.

Organised services - from medical, fire and welfare services to police andthe military - disintegrated under the weight of the task in front of them,weakened as they were by their own massive casualties and by thedesertions of those who, seeing no hope, left to be reunited with theirfamilies.


8Of those few remaining government bunkers not destroyed by the impacts orby subsequent events, many found themselves entombed in theirunderground retreats, buried under volcanic debris or tons of impact dust.

With land communication lines destroyed, and the few remaining satellitesnot smashed by the meteor shower rendered inoperable by the huge amountof dust in the upper atmosphere, all but very short-range radiocommunications were impossible. This combined with the fact that therewere, in any case, very few people left alive to contact meant that theinhabitants trapped in these bunkers slowly suffocated as air filters struggledto cope with the volume of airborne dust. The inhabitants of other bunkerssimply starved to death as their hastily assembled provisions failed to meetthe needs of their swollen populations.

The lucky few that did manage to emerge from their shelters found themselvesin no position to resume normal government.

With the police and the armed forces effectively out of action, the onlyresources at their disposal were whatever was inside their bunkers. In mostcases this included, at the very least, a regular power supply, fuel, basic foodand medical supplies, rudimentary agricultural stores, a small contingent ofsoldiers, weapons, ammunition and a few vehicles.

Occasionally, in advanced nations, there were even facilities forhydroponically growing food without natural light but such equipment couldnever hope to meet the demands placed upon it and nor could replacementparts be obtained when wear inevitably took its course.

The troops assigned to the bunkers were put to immediate use, scouting thelocal areas for foodstuffs and for survivors. These surviving bunkers naturallybecame the focus of civilian refugees for miles around, forming encampments(or, more often, shantytowns) in the vicinity of their entrances, nominallyunder the governance and protection of pre-disaster leaders.

The immediate problems for most civilian populations were the lack of food,power and, in many cases, shelter.

Over time, many of the remaining urban populations began to form fortifiedenclaves for mutual protection - usually located in the vicinity of an intactpolice force or the remnants of a military unit. These enclaves were usuallylocated in particularly defensible areas and near to parklands that could beused, ultimately, to grow food.

Government in the enclaves ran the gamut from traditional democracies tosyndicalist communes and from military dictatorships to fundamentalistreligious theocracies.

Some of the larger urban centres housed several of these enclaves - notalways in harmony with one another.

With their organised structure, access to labour and relatively heavyfirepower, the enclaves were sometimes able to procure enough food to keepat least a portion of their population alive until such a time as new sourcesof nourishment could be obtained.


9Outside the enclaves, individuals, families and whole communities rapidlyfell prey to starvation and violence. Gangs sprung up, fiercely territorial andterrifyingly ferocious in the presence of outsiders and rivals. The gangspreyed on competing gangs, on the small groups of scavengers that scuttledabout the twisted ruins and, when strong - or desperate - enough, on theenclaves themselves.

Many of the less aggressive Scavengers banded together for protection,often finding their way into basements, sewers and catacombs. Scavengerswould pick the ruins for tinned foods, fuel, weapons, medicines and anysaleable items that might be traded with gangs or enclaves.

The most feared and hated of the urban survivors, however, were the Ghouls- those individuals who survived when others starved by feasting on humancorpses (one of the few commodities abundantly available at this time).

With the darkness killing off almost all crops worldwide and sending all butthe hardiest plant life into a temporary state of dormancy and with no outsidehelp forthcoming, only those communities who were willing and able to fightto hold on to what they had (and grab that which belonged to others)survived.

Survivors outside of the cities fared slightly better initially, and in more remoteareas communities often managed to maintain a semblance of law and orderfor some time. Few survived, however, when their food supplies finally ranout.

With so many people dead, and with no way of burying all of the casualties,diseases such as cholera and plague soon started to reappear in the form ofhuge, pan-global epidemics and resulted in even more death and misery untilthe unburied dead outnumbered the living many times over.

In total, the impact itself, the environmental calamities in its immediateaftermath and the resulting famines and diseases wiped out almost 80% ofthe world's population (closer to 90% in the densely populated United States,Europe and Japan) within just a few months of the disaster occurring.

January 2025: NowThe year is now 2025 - ten years after the impact - and disasters, famine,disease and civil strife have finally reduced the population of the world toabout 5% of its pre-impact level, a decline that has only recently started tolevel out.

Only now is society starting to resemble anything approaching order (andonly in isolated pockets even now).

The landscape has also changed beyond all recognition - sea levels haverisen by many metres, vast areas of the world are now barren wastelands,grasslands and young forests have overtaken previously fertile farmlands andthe ruins of once great cities have slowly surrendered to the choking dust.

The population is fragmented, tending to accumulate in areas that still clingto remnants of society, leaving vast, practically uninhabited areas withnothing but the occasional fortified homestead, holding out against the


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wilderness. The nation state is dead and outside the hastily assembled wallsof enclaves, bunker towns and other civilised settlements, so is any form oflaw.

A very few large cities did fare better than most others, with enough of thepopulation surviving to allow at least a semblance of civilisation to continuein the enclaves.

Most enclaves are now extensively, if crudely, fortified and gardens, parksand other areas of open ground have been planted with crops for food and,on occasion, for use in the distillation of crude alcohol fuel.

Many enclaves have demolished the buildings surrounding their borders toachieve "killing zones" whilst others rely heavily on traps or heavily armedpatrols to keep raiders from their walls.

Many enclaves have now become centres of trade, dealing with scavengersand some of the less aggressive gangs. Most trade is in the form of barter -food, ammunition, fresh water, fuel, medicines and the like - but some fewhave developed their own currencies, mostly only of value in the immediatearea.

Some enclaves have now become successful enough that they have outgrowntheir boundaries and their resources and are now beginning to encroach onthe lands of nearby gangs and of other enclaves as well as any neighbouringwasteland that might be capable of supporting crops or providing cleanwater.

Other enclaves, especially those built around the shell of pre-impactindustries, have begun to manufacture vital commodities - especiallyammunition, modified vehicles and agricultural implements - on a small scaleand depend on trade to keep adequate food and other supplies in theirstockpiles.

Most of the enclaves now claim the right to rule over the entire city in whichthey are based (despite their obvious inability to actually govern such anarea) and this is a constant source of friction between enclaves occupyingthe same urban conurbation. Gangs too, are less than pleased whenthreatened with assimilation or eviction.

Some of the more resourceful survivors realised that the most plentiful suppliesof food were likely to be found in the seas, which although depleted, offereda food source almost without parallel. These coastal dwellers soon found thatthe best and safest places to live were the flooded remains of the old cities.Living in the upper floors of the taller buildings they lay nets where one wouldexpect to see streets, connected the rooftops with hundreds of crude bridges,and used scavenged or improvised boats and rafts to traverse their newlyformed canals. These offshore settlements, impervious to all but the mostdetermined attackers (and occasional water based raider gangs), soonbecame relatively powerful in economic terms, with long lasting and easilytransportable salted fish becoming prized bartering produce.

Outside the enclaves, the initial survivors, having banded together for mutualprotection and survival, evolved into distinct groups over the years.


11

In the cities, most of the small street gangs and other groups of survivors -petty, territorial, vicious and primitive neo-tribes, continuously fighting eachother for territory and scavenging rights - have evolved a unique look. Sometake on the appearance of Native Americans or indulge in ritual scarificationor tattooing. Groups whose membership is based on age, sex or race arenot uncommon. Other groups have distinctive hairstyles or a strictly enforceddress code - all of them have something that sets them apart from theirneighbours.

Amongst the most dangerous gangs are those known as the mobs - built onthe foundations of the pre-impact Mafia, Triads, Yakuza, Yardies and otherorganised crime syndicates. A background in intimidation, a clearly definedchain of command and ready access to weaponry and ammunition gavesuch gangs a big advantage over other, newer, street scum.

Others groups, known as Scavs or Scavengers, who descended beneath thesurface of the devastated cities to live in the relative security of ruins andunderground places are sometimes difficult to tell apart from the gangs butmost of them are relatively civilised, often avoiding violence and survivingthrough trade.

Those degenerates who turned to cannibalism to survive - the Ghouls - havelong since been forced by the lack of fresh and unattended corpses toactively create new ones Preying on those not of their "families", theyemerge from their hiding places to drag victims to their isolated lairs beforedevouring the flesh from their still-warm bodies. Local enclaves and gangsalways hunt ghoul families they become aware of but for every Ghoulcommunity destroyed, another will arise elsewhere - the enclaves may nowgrow and trade for food but hunger is still an ever-present reality across theglobe.

Away from the cities, groups started travelling the wastes, scavenging forfood and useful items in the largely deserted ruins of the smaller cities andtowns. These were usually extended family groupings or the survivors ofisolated towns, living a nomadic lifestyle to avoid making themselves a sittingtarget for the gangs of raiders that quickly formed, preying on smallsettlements and anyone else weaker than themselves. Both of these types, theNomads and the Raiders, became the forerunners of the many "tribes" thathave developed over the last ten years.

Many of the more peaceful Nomads have small fields of crops in carefullyconcealed locations spread over vast areas of wasteland and spend theirdays travelling from one field to another, harvesting and sowing as they go.

Both the Raiders and the Nomads soon started using vehicles, siphoning thefuel from abandoned cars and petrol stations to keep them running and,later, trading for or stealing alcohol fuels or crude oil. The skills to keep thesevehicles maintained in the wastelands soon became a valuable commodity -mechanics are prized members of Nomad tribes, as well as making valuableslave captives for the Raiders - and Nomads have been known to travelhundreds of miles in search of spare parts.

Some Nomads have become specialised traders operating merchantcaravans whilst some Raiders are now fulltime Slavers (though most Raidersindulge in slaving to a certain extent). The specialised traders travel in


heavily armed merchant caravans from one enclave to another but theirs isa dangerous life as they are always a tempting target for raiders and gangs.

Slavers are amongst the most feared groups in the wilderness regions. Theindividuals whose liberty they steal are sold on to the less scrupulous Enclavesand settlements, some of which have evolved entire economies based onslave labour.

The Survivalists and other isolated groups that were better prepared for thedisaster than the general population fared well initially. Away from denselypopulated areas, their supplies often lasted them until the light reappearedand allowed them to start re-growing crops. The fact that many of thesegroups were highly armed and willing to ruthlessly defend their complexesadded to their success, and only a few of these small, xenophobic societiesfailed in the first years following the impact.

The Achilles Heel of these settlements is the small size of their labour pool andtheir inability to easily replace any lost, broken or expended equipment.Because of this, and because of the increasing sophistication of enclavedefences, they are now becoming a popular target for the larger Raidergroups.

Other rural settlements have sometimes expanded to allow refugees andother outsiders into their complexes, creating small, well ordered towns, withpolice forces, trading areas and, occasionally, industrial complexesmanufacturing tradable goods.

The conditions inside these settlements vary enormously. While some are runon military lines and are generally suspicious of 'outsiders', tending to keeptrading areas separate from their main complexes, others are morewelcoming, and a few even have democratically elected leaders.

A small number have opened up completely, creating free towns whereanyone can enter, as long as they respect the law of the land - althoughvisitors usually have to pay an entrance fee. These more open communitieshave started to make contact with other likeminded settlements and, over thelast few years, have done much to make the routes between settlements safefrom the worst excesses of the raiders, often commissioning Road Marshalsto patrol important routes.

Those who have no skills to offer the community and who have nothing totrade are generally given the choice of working for their keep (usually inappalling conditions) or leaving to find new opportunities elsewhere.

Of the other more organised survivors, some took over remote industrialfacilities where raw materials could still be obtained with limited equipment.Often these were Nomads who sensed an opportunity and settled down withthe aim of producing goods for trade - usually with merchant caravans runby allied Nomad groups. Most of these manufactories are reliant on slavelabour and all of them are the frequent targets of Raider incursions.

12Evan Anhorn (order #465190)

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Babylon's Burning (referred to from this point forward as BB).This is the game of vicious firefights and desperate struggles for survival in thepost-apocalyptic world of 2025.

In order to play BB, you will require the following:

N A number of six-sided and ten-sided dice (referred to in the text as D6 andD10 respectively).

N A tape measure - metric if at all possible.N Unit Roster sheets, Initiative sheets, Orders sheets and Game Counters (all

of which can be found at the end of this book and may be reproduced forpersonal use only) and something to write with.

N Circular templates for determining the area of explosions (see Appendix II).You may also wish to use cotton wool to represent smoke, CS gas etc.

N A length of cotton or string to mark out suppressive fire zones.N A flat area to use as a battlefield - a six-foot (180cm) by four-foot (120cm)

table is the standard but a four-foot by four-foot table will suffice.

N Scenery - BB is generally played in urban settings and thus requires arelatively large quantity of scenery in order to work as intended. This canbe bought (many companies produce excellent ranges of resin buildings),hand built or simply improvised (shoe boxes for buildings, toy cars, wallsmade of Lego etc.).

N A number of wargames miniatures of an appropriate type - BB is designedfor miniatures in the 25mm and 28mm scales. The number of miniaturesrequired will depend on the exact nature of the game played but 20-30per side is typical. The miniatures may be based as you wish as long as allthe miniatures are on similar sized bases - we recommend the use of British1p pieces, US 1c coins or similar small denomination coins for basing.Bases should be marked to illustrate the miniature's forward facing.

Other than the above, all that's required is one or more opponents and anunderstanding of the rules. Read on

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BREAD 37 $44.40TOILET PAPER 135 $337.50MIN WATER 89 $178.00TINNED FRUIT 78 $72.47SPAGH(*^ &e*f%&^(TTI(#?)****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR****ERROR

Flesh and Bloodby Jay Forster

Boxtown. The smell hit us way before anythingelse. Sweat and cooked dog with a hint of engineoil. Then the noise, of hungry mad dogs, the babbleof the trading section, cheers as a pit-fighter hitthe dust and the screech of metal on metal as themilitia corralled the teeming masses round theenclave. It's hell but it's the nearest thing tocivilisation for about 5k.

We'd hooked up with the food run from GreenTowers. It wasn't the things you could eat thathad about a couple of gangs on our shirttailshowever, it was that extra cargo they wanted apiece of. We heard some clips cook off abouttwenty minutes ago but we weren't worried - youdon't mess with the Green Towers boys whenthey're making a delivery. Not unless you got thefirepower.

The Greener's are always packing heavy andJump Lead don't take kindly to crap like that eitherand everybody has to make a pit stop heresometime. Still, Gangers were never much for seeingpast today.

We figured it was some rivalry being settledanyway, or a power play for who gets to make thescore from the dealers in the trade section -nothing we needed to worry about. The placewould probably light up for the next hour or twoas the pecking order for who gets to score wassorted.

Pretty screwed up but as One Step said, it's justnature weeding out the dumb for weed. Then weheard a couple of explosions. That got everyone'sattention.

"Guess someone found that military transport,"One Step said. "Hell, I could have lived like a king if I'dgot that cargo up to the Nuthouse".

'' 'cept you'd be dribbling out the back end of abunch of Ghouls!" Jigger shot back. Maisie bouncedan apple off of Jigger's head. "Cut that out!"Jigger shouted. One Step caught it as it bouncedoff and passed it to me with a grin. "Here you goWriggler".

He pulled it away from me when I reached for it."You don't want to be eating nothing that'stouched that lice ridden rubble rat".

I flipped him, kicked him in the shin and grabbedthe apple. He yelped and then burst out laughing, Iwas getting good, he didn't yelp last time.

"Hey Doc, she'll be on the payroll soon. Getting akick like a mule."

Dad didn't reply, he'd been getting more worriedabout me hitting the road with him recently. Tryingto keep me alive was one thing I suppose but now Iwas of age I'd be expected to pull my own whichmeant my head would be ripe for plucking too.

Well I wasn't scared, I'd seen pretty mucheverything the rubble zones could throw at me.

Dad had other worries too - like everyone, hewas a little concerned that there were Gangersbehind us with military grade gear. Cade waskeeping one eye on our 6 while him and Dad talkedserious about stuff.

One Step's smile had frozen and this intense lookcame into his eyes. He was stroking the barrel ofhis AK trying to look distracted but I knew himbetter - he was buzzed inside, waiting for the crapto hit the fan. Jigger's leg was going like a freighttrain, he needed to score bad and nothing greenand herbal was going to fix the hunger. Maisie puther legs on his to stop him rattling. They'd tried to


SCALE & SEQUENCEGround Scale: 1 centimetre (cm) = 1 metre (m)*

Turn Sequence:

N Roll wind strength / direction (1st turn only)N Roll initiativeN Units perform actionsN Move / remove smoke and gas cloudsN Death rolls for seriously wounded

* Players may choose to use a scale of 0.5" = 1 metre (m) if no metric tape measure isavailable

ORGANISATIONMost miniatures (henceforth referred to as "elements") are organised into"squads" - these squads form the basis of BB. Some elements, however, will actas "solo elements" or will be placed in "support teams": solo elements includeofficers, medics and snipers whilst support teams are equipped with crew servedweapons such as HMGs (heavy machine guns) or mortars.

Different types of forces (Gangs, Enclaves, Scavs etc.) have differentorganisation rules reflecting their different fighting styles and circumstances.These rules can be found in Appendix I. We appreciate, however, that somepeople will wish to use these rules to cover backgrounds or forces other thanthose envisioned by BB's designers and the following rules can be used to build"home grown" forces.

14


ease the tension with the slapstick but it had fallenkind of flat - they'd heard rumours of what was inthat transport.

The prospect of a LAW up your tailpipe made itkinda hard to keep a front up. The Green Towersboys were looking a little nervous too, a couple hadtheir rifles in their hands and their rear gunner wassighting the caravan's six with the LMG. As well hecould anyway as the guys pulling the carts moved itup a gear. The wagon boss flagged the lookouts atBoxtown and they flagged back. Guess we'd bedispensing with the formalities then.

The closer we got the higher the tensionmounted. Things had quietened down a little inBoxtown and we could see extra bodies on thetops.

Things had got a little hectic at the gate too;they were keeping the blockade rolled back for usand that left things wide open for all the folkwaiting to get in. Smart ones were hitting therubble and getting their heads down.

To most of the Gangers and Scavs waiting fortheir little slice of the action this was a regularpart of the daily routine - always someone tryingto jump the queue and someone else having aproblem with it.

A posse was heading out to meet us, give us a bitof back up. Must have been about 8 of them. Theywere just about to push their way out from thecrush at the gate when the crap really hit the fan.

There was a screech of incoming artillery andBoxtown's front door erupted in fire, blood andtwisted metal. Kinda different red carpettreatment than what we was expecting. Gross.

Our cart stopped, one of our payoffs had takensome shrapnel, Dad checked him out but the look onhis face as he climbed back on the cart told me thatBrett was off the payroll. Shame. He was cute, evenwith the brands. The remaining 5 started pulling asfast as they could. One of the Green Towers boysjumped down and grabbed Brett's part of theharness so we could pick the pace up.

So far we'd been left alone but the Gangerswere nearer us than we were near Boxtown. Cadecapped one moron as he popped up like he was onsprings. Today's lesson: An assault rifle does notmake you bullet proof. A second gutter punk took abullet from the barricade, the contents of his headspraying out across the rubble behind him.

I didn't hear a shot so I figured it was a silencedrifle, which meant that some of the Nuthouse folkwere in town. That bullet's a days earnings for alot of folk around here.

Maisie took off as usual while Cade and One Stepwith the help of the Green Towers folk kept theGangers busy while she went looking for lurkers.Jigger just kept his head down, he was as likely tocap one of his own when he was like this.

We knew they had the gear to blow us to hell butwe figured the cargo was the prize and theywouldn't be so dumb. They all traded lead forabout a minute, ducking and shooting.

The Gangers had got themselves some qualityfirepower but it was no match for skilled longtimers. With the support from Boxtown and somerival Gangers they'd been sparring with earlier weheld them off long enough to get to the gate andinto safety. Once the valuables were out the waythe pressure got cranked up and they were cut topieces. Hey for democracy.

We worked our way through the maze ofcontainers. The dirty faces of the young and boredpeered out from the gaps where ragged sheetshung over the openings. Traders held anything andeverything in our faces - old CDs, bags of screws,


N A force may contain any number of squadsN A force may contain one support team for every three squads (or partthereof)N A force may contain one medic for every four squads (or part thereof)N A force may contain one sniper for every four squads (or part thereof)N A force may contain one runner for every four squads (or part thereof)N A force may contain one officer for every two squads (or part thereof)*N Every force must contain a commanding officer

* These officers are in addition to a force's commanding officer (who does notcount towards this ratio)

The standard unit in BB is the squad.

If using the rules above, each squad consists of four troops and one "NCO" - ifyou are playing a "standard" game, see Appendix I for squad sizes.

NCO is used as a convenient generic title for a squad leader in BB and does notindicate a formal military rank.

All members of a squad should be of the same general type (e.g. all riot cops,all Scavs or all bikers) and no more than one element in each squad may beequipped with a heavy weapon. NCOs and solo elements may never beequipped with a heavy weapon (see the weapons tables for definitions of "heavyweapons").

Support teams are units of three elements (an NCO and two crew) attached toa "support weapon" (as defined in the weapons tables). Support teams shouldbe treated as acting in the same way as squads except where otherwise notedin the rules.

Solo elements are specialist individuals such as officers, snipers, medics andrunners.

Both squads (including support teams) and solo elements are allocated anexperience level. This can be Green, Regular or Veteran. An element'sexperience level will effect its initiative, its flexibility and its ability to functionunder fire. All elements of a squad must have the same experience level,including the NCO.

Each squad or solo element costs a certain amount of points based on the valueof their arms, armour and equipment and modified by their experience level(with veterans costing more and green units less).

Each officer must be given a rank starting with 01 (the highest ranking officer).The ranking should then continue through the squad NCOs. Should the highest-ranking officer be killed, the next in line will assume command. This is importantfor the purposes of issuing orders as will be seen.

Snipers, runners, medics and troopers are never ranked and may not assumecommand of a force (i.e. a force that has lost all its officers and NCOs may notissue fresh orders).

The ranking of each officer and NCO should be noted on your force roster.

15


dog bones, you name it, someone hoped you'd buy it.Whores flashed their naked flesh, careful to coverthe scabs and sores. Drug and brew dens alsoadvertised their own brand of pleasure, with noshortage of interest from the Gangers and Scavsmilling in the cramped squalor.

I grabbed some pens from one guy and someunused paper from another, decorative, still in it'scellophane too. He was smart enough to realise itwas worth more to sell then wipe his backside withso Dad put him on the list - guy had a toothacheneeded looking at.

The main bulk of the shipment had gone straightto Jump Lead's trading compound to be weighed upand checked over, ready to be sold on to thepopulation. Well, most of it. The Green Towers folkhad kept a little back themselves to trade formaterial luxuries in the streets though never for sexor narcotics. Beautiful people don't need any ofBoxtown's special gifts.

Their carts would then be loaded up with theirpayment of parts and tools plus whatever theyfound for themselves. They'd be gone come firstlight - they never hung about longer than theyneeded to, frightened they might catch something.We'd be here for a couple of weeks, probably. Whenthe Doc's in town everyone wants to see him.

Dad had just finished tending the wounded fromthe combat. 32 dead and about another 40 injured.The question on everyone's lips was how did abunch of no-hope rubble scum get their hands onall that mil grade gear sitting in the middle of aGhoul warren.

A meeting had been called by Jump Lead and he'dhad one of the surviving Gangers doing the funkyfandango while they picked his brains. With peoplefrom all the local factions here there'd be somemajor repercussions.

We reached the inner compound. The crowds hadgathered to hear what was going to beannounced about today's events and watch theGangers that got caught do the Boxtown boogie.Dad wasn't too happy about me seeing that butI've seen worse. Don't know if he's more upset thatI am seeing it or that it doesn't really bother me.

Jigger drifted up to us looking like his old self, thetwinkle in his eyes said his veins were buzzing withthe stims that were pumping through them.

Maisie was looking pissed off. No need to askwhy, she was none too happy about Jigger's habit.He seemed to be getting more and more dependenton 'em. Dad was hoping to find something that'dwean him off 'em but chems like that ain't easy tofind. Some Scavs he dealt with had found a buriedpharmacy packed full of pills and once this businesswith the Gangers had been dealt with we'd meet upto see what they was offering.

A couple of Jump Lead's militia cleared a space inthe crowd for us to get through and we startedclimbing the ramps leading up the Stack - the pile offreight containers that Jump Lead ruled his littleempire from.

We worked our way up under the shadow of themassive crane that had built this town - now aperfect look out point that made it difficult foranyone to dump any major surprises on the enclave.Well, most of the time.

It looked like we were the last to arrive and wemoved over to the place reserved for us throughthe chatter of the assembled people.

One Step sucked his teeth as we approached."Kowolski!" he cursed under his breath. Kowolskiwas a sergeant in the Nuthouse forces but beforethe Hit he was a street cop and he and One Stephad some history. He was looking about with hiscop eyes, scoping the crowd out for any sign of


UNIT COHESIONSquads must attempt to maintain "unit cohesion". Unit cohesion means that allmembers of a squad must be within a certain number of metres of anotherelement in that squad. How far elements can stray from their fellow squadmembers is dependent on their experience level (see table below). Solo elementsare never effected by unit cohesion.

Elements that find themselves further from their nearest squad member thanallowed (as a result of a casualty inflicted on the squad, for instance) mustattempt to re-establish unit cohesion as soon as possible and will suffer negativemodifiers to initiative and suppression until they do. An element may refuse tore-establish unit cohesion if it would have to leave cover to do so in an areaknown to be covered by the enemy or if suppression inhibits their movement.

UNIT COHESION TABLEExp. Level Max. distance from

nearest squad member allowedGreen 6 m

Regular 9 mVeteran 12 m

As can be seen, green elements tend to bunch together, making them vulnerableto burst fire and area effect weapons and limiting their flexibility.

ORDER OF PLAYEach side will need to fill out an "Initiative Form" before play starts. This formlists each of a player's squads and solo elements. Next to each entry are anumber of blank boxes - one for each game turn (generally referred to as around).

At the beginning of each round the player rolls one D6 for each squad andsolo element and modifies the roll according to the table below. The resultingnumber is then written in the box for that round. Both players then see whichsquad / solo element has the highest score - that unit moves first, followed bythe second highest score and so on.

If units belonging to different players have the same score, the players must rollagain for those units (but without modifiers this time) to see which of the tied unitshas precedence (highest roll goes first).

If the tied units belong to the same player he or she can decide which to movefirst and it is not necessary to re-roll.

Example: Both players have three regular squads - A1, A2 and A3 vs.B1, B2 and B3. The players roll for initiative and add modifiers.

A1 scores 4.A2 scores 7.A3 scores 2.B1 scores 5.B2 scores 4.B3 scores 3.

16


things turning nasty. All the Nutjobs were keepingtheir eyes open. It's rare to see them relaxedanywhere but at the Fort.

He focused on One Step and flashed a shark grin."Hey, One Step, when we're done here why don't wego finish the job?" He was talking about the job OneStep got his name avoiding.

One Step didn't get a chance to reply - he wasdistracted, same as everyone, by Crowbar (thenumber two man in Boxtown) banging on the metalfloor to get the meeting under way. Jump Lead satbehind him, stretched out on his sedan with aMargarita delicately held in his big fat paws.

"Well people, the situation is this: the Dead Enders,a bunch of low life rubble scum, got a hand fromparties unknown to get into a Ghoul zone to lift theweapons that were in that transport plane. Saidparties then disappeared South with most thecontents of that plane leaving the Dead Enderswith some shiny new toys to play with four daysbefore our associates at Green Towers made theirscheduled delivery. We can assume that someone istrying to soften us all up a little and that whenwe're nice and ripe they'll be along to pick us."

"It's gotta be the Mobs - who else could it be?"said the Green Tower's representative.

"I don't know," Dad replied, "it just strikes me asnot being their style. They generally like to workfrom the inside to get a slice of the action, like theydid out in Coal Town. They wouldn't want to dosomething that'd wreck business."

"This don't add up," said Stitch. "That zone iscrawling with Ghouls. That's a no-go zone forGangers - even if you're packing heat like theseMerc boys that was with 'em you're gonna beleaving most of your posse in the dust. Them Ghoulscome at you from every way. Weren't hardlynobody got stiffed doing this. Man that ain't right"

"Ghouls aren't known for their bravery underfire," stated the Nuthouse spokesman. "We don'tknow how well coordinated this Mercenary unitwere. Besides, they fed the Dead Enders enoughcontradictory information that we can't really besure of anything. What you're suggesting impliesthat the Ghouls are somehow involved in a stagedoperation that gave the Dead Enders sufficientfirepower to disrupt our trade arrangements.Organised crime I can understand, organisedcannibalism is ridiculous."

One Step snapped out of staring into thedistance and spoke up "Maybe we're all looking atthis the wrong way. The Dead Enders are now outthe picture because someone gave that bunch ofwhackos an excuse for everyone to wipe them offthe map. I hated that bunch of twisted psychos asmuch as the next guy but they were the leadingGangers in that zone. There just ain't a gang downthere that's got what they had, the place is gonnafall apart as everyone fights for as much of theirturf as they can get. That makes a weak front onBoxtown's south side to everything beyond the 5kmark that wants in. Cartels, Ghouls, Wasters,whatever; they ain't gonna have much stoppingthem"

Cade and Dad were still talking it over when wewent to meet the Scavs two hours later. The onlything everybody could agree on was that thecartels like to be up front when they screw youover, all that Mafia honour crap. Whoever wasbehind it didn't want to advertise the fact.

Milo was a pretty typical Scav, twitchy, on edge,like a rat caught in the open ready to dive behindsome rubble any moment. He had some good gearbut not what Dad needed for Jigger.

"Is that it? I need more Milo."Evan Anhorn (order #465190)

Since A1 and B2 both scored 4, the players must roll a second D6 forthese squads to see which will act first. A1 rolls a 3 whilst B2 rolls a 4.B2 has precedence and will act before A1. Order of play is thus:A2 / B1 / B2 / A1 / B3 / A3.

INITIATIVE MODIFIERS TABLEFACTOR ROLL MODIFIER

Squad NCO has been killed or incapacitated -2Unit is green experience level -1Squad NCO not adhering to Unit Cohesion -1Solo or Squad NCO has light wound -1Solo or Squad NCO is suppressed -1Unit is veteran experience level +1Squad is within the Command Radius of an officer +1Unit is solo element +1Gang, Scav or Ghoul Force on 'Home Turf' +1

NB. All applicable modifiers are cumulative.

A dead or incapacitated NCO does not count as "not adhering to UnitCohesion".

An officer, even if he has replaced a dead squad NCO (see Solo Elementsbelow), will only gain the +1 bonus for being inside the Command Radius (seeSolo Elements below) of another officer if that officer outranks him.

If modifiers result in a negative score (i.e. less than 0), the unit may take noaction this turn - it is frozen with panic or indecision. Elements left on overwatchpreviously will function normally and elements will still defend themselves frommelee attacks.

The 'Home Turf' Modifier only applies if specified in a scenario - see game types(p46) and appendix I - force types (p61) for details.

17


"S-s-sorry Doc, it's a, it's a, dangerous p-p-placeto go, 'tis, very dangerous. Th-th-they's wise to usnow them Ghoulies there, s-s-saw me n' Charlieleavin', they be watchin' now for us t-t-to go back.Uh-uh, no way, no sir, not me, oh no."

"How many Ghouls?" asked Cade"'bout th-th-that," he replied, opening and closing

his hand three times. "'bout t-t-twenty"."We'll need a crew," he told Dad."How many?" Dad asked."'bout twenty" Cade replied with a grin mimicking

Milo's hand gestures."Will you show us?" Dad asked Milo"Well..." Milo looked at Charlie who shrugged,

"it'll cost you. Cost you big." Milo always lost hisstutter when he had his nose into some profit.

Milo offered to be the guide for a cut of the haul.(Charlie wimped out though.) He wanted a lot but ifhis facts were right there was more than enoughto go around. Half a mall that had been swallowedup by the quakes. Sixty metres below ground leveland hardly damaged. The sort of find only Scavscould stumble on. We set up shop and got the usualbunch of losers, but managed to scrape in a fewmarks (those officially branded with their jobdescription, in this case able to handle themselves)and some unknowns with recommendations. Atleast four were blatantly Jump Lead's own but Dadlet it slide. With the payoffs in Dad's crew whocould look after themselves (no point taking anyskill-sellers, too hard to replace) we had 24 in theposse. Maybe a little OTT but with a gang warabout to erupt in the territory we were goingthrough and the prospect of a Ghoul infestedwasteland at the end of it all, we figured it wasbest to go for intimidating over stealthy.

A 'meet and greet' was staged that evening atone of the local watering holes. 'Stumpy's' was agrimy pit under canvas. Stumpy was a one armed, nononsense, ex-wrestler who brewed the sort ofstuff that sent you blind if you had too much. Plentyof his customers were close to that, judging by thepoorly aimed punches two Gangers were throwingat each other outside the entrance. The crowdwere getting more fun pushing them back in whenthey tried to quit and throwing the odd kick theirway. We worked our way round the crowd and in.A scream of pain got everyone's attention.

"Hands off," Maisie said mildly to the guy who'sarm really wasn't meant to bend the way she washolding it, while her steel toe capped army bootcrushed down into his spine. "Do I look like thatsort of girl, hmm?"

"Nuh, nuh, nuh, aaagh!" came the carefullyconsidered reply, muffled by the floor the guy'sface was being pushed into.

"You'll be more careful next time, won't you?" shecontinued.

"Yi, yi, yi, oh god, oh god, stop, pl-please".She let go and without a backward glance

walked away. This guy was obviously in the johnwhen the brains were being handed out. He snarledand went to draw a piece. Maisie was faster. Shewhirled and threw in the blink of an eye. The lastthing that went through the chump's brain was 8inches of polished steel.

"Anyone else looking for a good time?" she askedthe crowd as she pulled the blade out, her bootwedged against his throat for leverage. They allfound something else to focus their attention on.

The entertainment over we all settled down tobusiness. Dad and Cade laid down the law. Goteveryone straight on how this operation wasbeing run. Primed everyone for what to expect. Tosave time, and keep everyone focused they'd pickedMilo's brains earlier rather than have him gibber


ACTIONS

Each member of a squad or solo element may perform two actions per round.Any two actions may be performed with the following exceptions - no unit mayperform more than one "move" action in any one turn and some solo elementspecial actions (see Solo Elements below) count as two actions and thus cannotbe combined with any other action.

The order in which actions are performed is also up to the player (e.g. anelement could move then fire or fire then move). Obviously, an "aim" action canonly be taken before a "fire" action.

Actions may not be split under any circumstances. For instance, an elementcould not take half a move, fire, and then take the remaining half of its move.

18


and stutter a random selection of what he knew. Itwas expected to be about four days plus maybeone over if the weather turned nasty or we all gotbogged down in a firefight. It was unlikely Gangerswould be a problem but you couldn't count on it,especially under the circumstances. Cade ranthrough some basic tactics. One guy startedgetting a little cocky, didn't take to being 'like somedamn soldier boy', so that made 23. After that itwas all pretty straight forward and once peoplewere up to speed everyone made for their digs.We'd arranged to meet up outside the front gateat first light.

We hadn't been going for more than two hoursbefore we hit trouble. Lucky for us it was someoneelse's, but we were looking to end up being in thecrossfire. Two gangs, the Razors and the RubbleLords were sparring for territory and we had nochoice but to pass through the battlegroundbecause of the terrain, a tangled mess of collapsedbuildings one side and a colossal, rubble chokedchasm on the other. We approached the rear of theoutfit who called themselves the Razors. They werea pretty typical crew, about fifty strong; not quitethe typical mix of firepower though. If the Lordshad anywhere near as much in the way of grenadesand automatics this was going to be quite a show,looks like not all the military gear had stayed in thehands of the Dead Enders. We went as far as feltsafe and took stock of the situation.

"What do you think?" Dad asked Cade."If we take them on we're going to lose bodies,

they know the terrain. If we stick around the oddsare we'll get drawn in one way or another and we'llstill lose bodies. Once they start hurling some ofthat about we ain't safe within half a k of here.These idiots are gonna want to show off their newtoys"

"It's like goddamn Christmas in the rubble," addedOne Step.

Just behind where a couple of Razors were dug-in the ground erupted in a spray of dust and rubble.

"Showtime." Jigger said.They ducked and bobbed, letting off short

bursts. One raised his rifle at an angle andtriggered the under-slung grenade launcher. Fromwhat we could hear of the carnage that followedit had found its target. The victims had friendshowever and both Razors were blown to pieces asthe Lords carpet bombed their dug out. One roundovershot, landing less than 100 yards in front of us,showering us with debris.

"To hell with this crap! We're gonna get capped ifwe don't haul ass!" One Step cried.

"I, I, I know a wa-way past this, I do.f-f-f-follow me," said Milo.

"Now he tells us!" Maisie sighed.Milo led us over to the edge of the chasm. The

section we were standing at was about 400 yardswide and nearly three times as deep. In the murkydepths we could see rubble and vehicles and debrisbreaking the surface of oily, filth choked water. Onthe opposite face we could see protruding pipesand sewage tunnels, still serving their purpose asthey spewed their contents into the chasm.

"Milo, you have got to be kidding!" Maisie gagged."There's no way through there unless we swim andthere's no way I'm getting into that filth!"

"N-n-no swim, s'okay, there's a w-w-waythrough, all dry. T-t-trust me"

Maisie snorted but passed up on the obviousreply. "You go first then"

Milo shrugged and lowered himself over the side.He began working his way down using thenumerous cracks and crevices and the odd bit of


The following actions can be performed:

N Move (walk)N Move (run)N AimN Fire (single shot)*N Fire (3 round burst)*N Fire (full auto burst)*N Throw grenade / incendiary (if equipped)N Cut wire (if equipped with wire cutters)N Change equipped item N OverwatchN Close assaultN Heal wounded (Medics only - counts as two actions)N Open / shut door, window or hatchN Climb flight of stairs / ladderN Enter / exit vehicleN Pick up bodyN Clear jammed weaponN Assemble / Disassemble support weapon (support team only)N Issue orders (commanding officer / NCO only)N Assume / relinquish command (officer only)* If applicable to weapon carried.

Individual elements within a squad do not need to take the same actions as longas Unit Cohesion is maintained (or regained if previously broken).

AIMING AND FIRING ACTIONSAn element can choose to fire any of its equipped weapons in any of thatweapon's fire modes. Some weapons can only fire single shots whilst othershave 3 round burst or full auto burst modes available. Some weapons may haveother options (for instance rifle grenades).

Most weapons are direct fire weapons and must be directly targeted on anenemy element (although burst weapons may end up hitting other elements aswell). Area effect weapons (such as LAWs, RPGs and grenade launchers) maybe targeted at a given point on the battlefield rather than at a specific enemyelement, as may automatic weapons firing suppressive fire.

The number of shots possible with a single "fire" action is determined by theweapon's stats - see the "Weapons Tables" section. Most weapons can fire onceor twice with a single action - multiple shots fired in a single action must be firedat the same target (i.e. if a weapon is listed as being able to fire two bursts, bothbursts must be directed at the same target. If the player has an action pointremaining, they may then choose to target a second enemy).

An element may use its first action to "aim". This means that the element is takingextra time to ensure as accurate a shot as possible and is reflected in its "to-hit

19


cable or pipe to aid his descent. We all followed.Once you got going it was actually pretty easy,with plenty of options for where to put your handsor feet. Shame about the stink though. Milodisappeared into an opening below us, just abovethe water line. There was a slow current going intoit that drained the chasm of its contents. Therewas about 5 feet of space above the murk, thoughmost of it was partially filled with pipes andtwisted metal that carried on ahead of us, allowingus to make our way without having to enter thewater. The stench got too much for me and I puked.This was too much for a couple of the others andthey puked as well. One leaned out too far, therewas a grinding creak as a section of piping gaveway, dumping two of the hired guns into the filth.For a moment it was funny until they startedscreaming and thrashing. Then they got pulledunder by the current and dragged into the gloom.

"What the?" Jigger's voice filled the stunnedsilence.

"God only knows what's pouring out of thosepipes back there," Dad answered. "Probably somechemical spillage in there I don't doubt. Terrible. Er,not much further is it Milo?"

".Nope, n-n-not far," he replied.After what seemed like an eternity we reached a

junction and took a tunnel that sloped steadilyupwards. We were able to drop down after a littlewhile and we took stock of the situation. We didn'tspend too long mourning the dead, not as if we'dhad a chance to get to know them.

"So where you taking us Milo?" Cade asked."I know's a p-p-place we can get eats and b-be

safe, 's 'bout 2 k-k-kay 'long the t-t-t-tunnels. N-n-n-no Gangers, pretty safe"

"Pretty safe?" Maisie noticed cynically."B-b-booby traps, keeps out the s-s-scum!" he

grinned. We covered the route pretty quickly, the tunnels

had fared quite well for the most part and it wasobvious effort had been made to make the journeyas easy as possible. If you knew the right way togo. We passed several corpses wearing gangcolours on the journey; either impaled on spiketraps, crushed under rubble or snared in mantraps,to name a few of the numerous methods applied.Uninvited callers were obviously not welcome downhere, this was Scav territory.

"Dammit Milo, we've been here before!" Jiggermoaned

"Nope, jus' l-l-looks the same," he said with a grinMilo wasn't lying but the route he was taking us

was definitely longer than it needed to be. Guess hedidn't want any of our posse knowing their wayaround down here. Milo stopped under a narrowshaft that rose up above us and banged threetimes on the metal ladder that went up into itsdepths. There was a grinding sound and light shonedown into our faces.

"'s Milo, got s-s-some guests""'many?""'bout twenny"The voice above conferred with some

associates. We couldn't hear what they weresaying.

"Too many. Stay downstairs. Wotcha need?""Jus' eats."More discussion."Wotcha got?"Milo looked at Dad, his expression echoing the

question."Some doctoring good enough?" Dad suggested."Yeah, reckon. W-w-we got a doc, he'll f-f-fix up

what he can. That 'kay?" Yet more dicussion.


roll modifiers" (see Combat Resolution below). Burst weapons may not be aimedin full auto mode and flame-throwers, thrown weapons (including grenades) andmelee weapons may never be aimed.

It is not possible to use an element's second action to "aim" and take the "to-hit"bonus over to the next round and nor will elements which end the round onoverwatch gain any benefit from an "aim" action.

OVERWATCHA unit may decide to go on overwatch. In this case, the facing of the miniatureis critical as the element can only cover the 180-degree arc to its front (it isrecommended that an element's facing be shown by placing a mark on the baseof the miniature). An element can only be placed on overwatch if no enemyelement is currently visible to it.

When an element is placed on overwatch, an overwatch counter is placed nextto it on the table. If, following the element's turn, any enemy element passesthrough the element's LOS (line of sight), it may be able to get off a snap-shotat the enemy even though it is out of sequence. Both sides must roll 1 D6 andthen consult the table below for modifiers.

If the element on overwatch gets the highest score, it can interrupt the enemyelement's turn with one "fire" action. If the enemy survives the attack it can carryon from the point at which it was stopped.

If the enemy element gets the highest score, the unit on overwatch can, if stillable (i.e. if the same enemy element is still in view and the overwatch element isstill alive), use one fire action after the enemy has finished his current action. In either case the overwatch counter should now be removed (even if theoverwatch element didn't manage to get off a shot since it will still have had totrack the target).

If an enemy element should blunder into several elements on overwatch, it mustroll versus each of them in turn. Thus, if it wins one roll and loses one roll, it mustallow one of the overwatch elements to fire, then continue with its move afterwhich the second overwatch element may fire if it still has a target.

Units on overwatch can only fire once (one single shot or, if the weapon tableallows, one 3 round burst, one suppressive fire burst or one full auto burst),regardless of the number of shots usually allowed by that weapon.

Suppressed elements may not be placed on overwatch.

Elements may not be placed on overwatch after performing a "run" action in thesame turn.

OVERWATCH MODIFIER TABLEFACTOR OVERWATCH UNIT ACTIVE UNITElement is Sniper +1 +1Element is running N/A -1Height advantage +1 +1Element in cover +1 +1

20


"Ok. Him, you. That's it.""A kid ok?" Milo was one step ahead"Yeah.'guess." That didn't need discussion. "Guess they ain't heard o' your mule kick!" One

Step grinned at me.

The shaft opened into what was once a largeunderground car park. Dusty vehicles werescattered all around us. Most had people living inthem from the candlelight I could see flickeringthrough the windows. We were led over to a smallcargo truck, people eyeballing us and whisperingto each other as we walked by. Must have been acouple of hundred, maybe more living here.Probably one of the safest places to be in thisterritory. The tunnel where the exit ramp had beenwas choked with rubble which meant the sewerways were the only way in or out. A bunch of kidsstarted tailed us across the tarmac, asking dumbquestions. "Where we been, where we going, whatwe got," trying to sell us junk. Guess Scav kidsstarted early.

Milo had a quick chat with an old guy who I guessmust have been the boss around here. He gesturedout into the gloom and Milo nodded. He turnedaround and walked back to where we werewaiting.

"Got a lady about t-t-to drop. Looks bad. C-c-complications."

"Drop what?" I asked."A b-baby, dumbass!" Milo said with a grin.We followed him over to where the old guy had

meant. In a battered minivan a woman lay on herback on dirty bedding. Her stomach huge andbloated from what was inside. Her breathing wassharp and rapid; sweat poured down her face andneck. Dad took a little while to check her over,gently pressing her belly, feeling the shape of it.

"Get me the chloroform, honey," he asked me. Ipassed him the bottle. He poured a little on somecloth and held it up to her face. She backed away,wide eyed.

"Easy, it'll be ok." He looked at her man to helpcalm her down and after some reassurance she letDad get on with things. Once she was out he gotone of his better blades out of his bag. The fatherstarted freaking a bit.

"Hey, what the hell ya'doin' ""It's a breach birth, the baby's sideways. It isn't

going to come out the way nature intended. If Idon't cut her open they'll both die"

The guy chewed his lip, looking at his woman. Witha sigh he nodded and Dad got to work.

Dad had her open and the baby out in seconds.Three sets of jaws dropped as we saw what thiswoman had spawned. It didn't take a doc to knowthis kid wasn't right or the son of the guy sittingnext to us, or for that matter alive. It's pale fleshwas noticeably lighter than his dark skin and shewas bordering on Latino herself under the grime.To top that it had both a clubfoot and a witheredarm but if that wasn't enough nature had reallyplayed dice with the way it's face had been puttogether with one eye higher than the other and itsmouth all crooked. I felt my lunch trying to escapeagain. While Dad and the guy looked at each otherfiguring what to do next I saw movement from thegash in the woman's belly as a small pink armreached out grasping the air. I got Dad's attentionand he quickly got out the second child. Smaller butdefinitely what nature intended and the rightcolour too. He quickly cut the cord, cleaned it upand handed it over to the now relieved father. Thedeformed, lifeless mutant he wrapped in rags andtook with him as we left after a few words ofadvice and encouragement to the grateful father.


NB. A unit has a height advantage if it is at least 5 metres higher up than itsopponent is.

For overwatch purposes, an element counts as being "in cover" if it is at least50% obscured from view (e.g. firing from a window or from behind a waist highwall).

MOVEMENT ACTIONSNo element may use more than one "move" action in any given round. Twotypes of "move" action are permitted - walking and running.

Changing facing is a free action and does not count as movement. Facing canbe changed as many times as desired at any point during an element's round.

Walking is the default movement type. An element may walk 12 metres.Walking will give an element a small negative modifier "to-hit" if it subsequentlyfires in the same round. This does not apply to hand-to-hand combat.

Elements may also run at a rate of 24 metres per action but this will result in aheftier negative "to-hit" modifier and the element will be at a disadvantage if itencounters an enemy element with overwatch orders during its move.

However, any enemy forces firing on the element before its next round will findit harder to hit due to the speed with which it is moving.

Elements that run into hand-to-hand combat also gain a positive modifier forthat round only (see "Combat Resolution - Melee" below).

Some terrain will reduce the distance an element can move. Climbing a low wallor fence (or climbing through a window) will knock 5 metres off the allowabledistance.

Rough, broken, overgrown or flooded areas will reduce movement rates by25%, whilst rubble or deeper water (up to waist height) will reduce movementrates by 50% and cannot be run through.

These movement rate reductions apply in full regardless of how large aproportion of a move is spent in the effected area.

The reductions for ground type are not cumulative - take the greater reduction.The penalties for traversing low walls and fences are cumulative and apply inaddition to other movement reductions.

Players are advised to agree which terrain features will limit movement andwhich are impassable before the start of play.

Elements may pass through friendly elements but may not occupy the samespace at the end of their move. It is not possible to move through an enemyelement.

21


A little while later, after dealing with some of theother residents and making sure our posse hadbeen handed down plenty of eats, we sat with thehead man and a few of the Scavs to share somebrew and chew the fat. The father of the child,Louis, had joined us, the kid being looked after byits mother. The conversation turned to the eventsthat led to the strange birth.

"We was about 6k south west of here," Louis said"There was a crew of about 5 of us picking overthe rubble. Me and Kia went aside to fool around.When we was done and was lying there we gotjumped by a couple of Ghouls. One of 'em crackedmy skull open and as I was lying there with bloodpouring out my head the bastards raped her. Damnlucky Kia was out cold so she didn't suffer. Theywas too busy having fun with her to check if I wasdead and when I found the strength I pulled mypistol and blew their heads off. Looks like I wasn'tquite quick enough. Damndest thing though, us bothplanting a seed, didn't know that could happen"

"It's quite rare but it happens," Dad replied"Wherever that Ghoul had come from it had beensoaking up plenty of rads. With genes as mutatedas that anything's possible. Your kid's lucky to bealive at all but until it has matured a little it's hardto say if it'll stay healthy or if it's as perfectmentally."

"We're just happy to have a kid, as long as it ain'ttoo messed up in the head it don't worry us none.There's a few craters a little further south fromwhere we were, must have been done in the hit, Iheard they used nukes to try and stop it happening.The Ghoul could have come from round there, wesaw a fair few in the area, too many to risk gettingtoo close."

"That'd make sense. I'd heard people could live inan irradiated zone but I'd always wondered if itwas true. If the Ghouls are breeding there itdoesn't bode well for the future. As their numbersgrow they're going to start ranging further as thefood supplies thin out."

"We're safe enough here. We can deal with a fewstray Ghouls that poke their nose into ourterritory," said the headman.

Somehow I had a feeling he was going to regretthose words.

After we regrouped we emerged from thedarkness an hour or so later. Now way outside thegang zones. This was no mans land. This was Ghoulterritory. Dad had talked over what he'd learnedwith the others. Cade knew a little about thecircumstances of the 'Ghoul paradise' that laysomewhere ahead of us.

"Way before the hit was this place calledChernobyl, in Russia, had a big nuclear meltdown,irradiated thousands of miles of land. They clearedeveryone out. Weird thing was that after that,nature took over. Turned out man was moredamage then a dose of rads. The place got made awildlife sanctuary. A few folk moved back in, mostdid ok, a few more cancers but mostly it was likenothing had happened. Some places weren't safebut even places that shouldn't have been hadpeople living there ok. It was mostly old folk though,dunno why it didn't bother them"

"Radiation causes decay," Dad explained "olderchromosomes are already in a state of decay, Iwould think it relates to that. Simpler life forms havea less complicated genetic structure so perhapsthat protects them as well to a degree. Still tooharmful for younger humans I would have thought.In Ghoul society I expect they don't worry toomuch about birth deformities as we would. Theirinfant mortality rate would be quite high as well. Still


COMMUNICATION ACTIONSAt certain stages of the game, you are likely to want to give squads new orders(see the Orders section) or else give runners orders to pass on.

Only your commanding officer (or senior NCO if you have no officers left) canissue new orders.

If there are no officers or NCOs left, new orders cannot be given.

Changing a squad's orders costs one action and cannot be acted upon by thesquad until the next round of play (i.e. they cannot act on new orders in thecurrent turn, even if they have not yet acted).

New orders must be noted down as laid out in the Orders section.

Orders can be given in one of three ways - face to face (including orders madevia a runner), via a comms-link or via a secure comms-link. Your squads will onlyhave comms-links (of either type) if they have been purchased in the same wayas weapons and armour and both the officer or NCO giving the order and thesquad receiving it will have to be so equipped.

To issue orders face to face, the commanding officer (or runner) must be within10 metres of the squad's NCO (or any squad member if the NCO is dead orincapacitated).

Solo elements and NCOs may also wish to communicate with mortar teams togive them fire co-ordinates. This also costs one action point.

Orders can be issued at any distance to squads with comms-links. If the comms-link is not a secure comms-link, there is a chance that the enemy will interceptthe signal (presuming that the enemy has at least one squad equipped withcomms equipment themselves). When an order is sent over a comms-link, the enemy player may roll 1D6 - ona score of 6 you must reveal the new order to the enemy player. If the enemyhas active intercept equipment (see equipment tables), you must reveal the neworder on a roll of 5 or 6.

NB. In order to count as secure, the element sending the message and theelement receiving it must both have secure comms-links.

OTHER ACTIONSMiscellaneous Actions:

N Throw Grenade: An element equipped with grenades, incendiaries orother thrown weapons may throw them in much the same manner as a "fire"action. Objects can be thrown at an enemy element or at a point on the table(see Combat Resolution below). It is not possible to precede a "throw" actionwith an "aim" action.

Remember to cross any thrown weapons off your equipment list as onlylimited numbers are available and must be purchased in advance.

22


as an exercise in survival of the fittest it's asituation that will create a particularly hardy typeof Ghoul, I don't relish the prospect of findingmyself in the vicinity of those craters."

"Didn't s-s-see no craters when we f-f-f-foundthe mall," said Milo. "G-g-Ghouls looked pr-pr-pretty regular too."

As we worked our way across the weed chokedrubble we caught glimpses of movement around usas lone Ghouls and small packs of them checked usout. Hard to lie low with so large a posse. Asinstructed everyone kept their pieces stashed.Cade and Dad had been a little worried one of thecrew was going to get cocky and start taking potshots but everyone was keeping together, evenJigger. No sense stirring up trouble or bringingmore attention to ourselves. Our large number wasenough to keep the Ghouls wary, even it did make itimpossible to stealth our way through. By keepingthe pace up we weren't giving them a chance togroup up enough to attempt to take us en masse.

"Hi Ghouls, we're the sweet trolley," Maisiemuttered."How the hell did you get through this alive Milo?"asked One Step.

"C-c-cos I'm good," he grinned back. Then helooked serious "But weren't so many Ghouls 'boutwhen I c-c-ccame through 'fore."

"This is it," Milo announced, "in th-there".He pointed to a gap in a tangled pile of masonry

and girders, pretty indistinguishable from numerousother cracks and crevices around us. Its onlydistinguishing feature was a thin trickle of waterrunning into it.

"I-I-I'll go first," he grinned at Maisie. And he wasgone.

It was a tight crawl at first and everyonenervously worked their way in, expecting severaltons to squash us flat any second, then the floordropped away and the crawl-way widened into along, high crevasse. It snaked its way for a fewhundred feet and then opened up into a largechamber, illuminated by shafts of light where gapsin the roof allowed daylight to enter. Within it lay alarge section of what was once a pretty typicalshopping mall on a fairly gentle slope that carriedthe water to a pool about 200 foot below us,winding its way round mossy rubble. The two sideswere fairly intact and there were easily a dozenstores visible with about the same again on anupper level. Only where the shop fronts ended in atangled mess at the edges of the chamber was theillusion of normality broken.

Cade got the posse organised, first priority wasto guard the perimeter and scope outescape/attack routes. Turned out that there werequite a few on both levels that led into the rubblearound us, that made everyone real nervous andjumpy. It was impossible to tell which ones weredead ends and which ones led somewhere withoutgoing a ways into them and nobody was too keenfor that. Guards were set up at what were figuredthe more likely ways in or out and in the centrearea. We didn't plan to stay the night so there wasno need to start setting up proper barricades buta couple of the hired guns got themselves into asmuch cover as they could.

The first real sign things were about to gohorribly wrong was as we entered the pharmacythat was our main