Operation Window Maker - The Attack

The team reached their jump off point as planned at 08:00 and split into the three attack groups.

I assumed it would take 1 hour plus 1D6 in 10 minute increments to reach their attack location. Breakfast rolled 1 so would arrive in 1 hour 10 minutes. Both the Explosive Specialist – Royal Marine Street and Assault Team Rainbow rolled 3 so arriving in 1 hour 30 minutes.

The game started at 08:00, the attack was due to commence at 10:00.

I checked and the helicopter was on the landing pad atop the building.

At 08:30 Helicopter Pilot Erika Klaus stepped out of the bar with Lola and Chardonnay they headed for the helicopter. Breakfast are still 40 minutes away and the other two teams are 90 minutes away.

09:00 after boarding and going through the routine flight checks they take off.

09:10 Breakfast arrive just off the South gate of the complex and Snap immediately hears something moving through the jungle. It’s almost certainly the tracked robotic vehicle (TRV) that had been previously identified trundling around the compound. Crackle steps of a twig and it goes Snap, the team freezes and the TRV halts.

9:15 The TRV doesn’t record any other movement and continues on its way. Crackle hears it move off and there is general relief amongst the team.

As there was an uncertain arrival time the micro plan was that each team would arrive at the compound, identify their attack point and then back off into the jungle to avoid detection. Moving back up to the wire/wall just before 10:00 hours and kicking everything off on time.

What do they say about no plan survives contact with the enemy!

Still 09:15 Zaira emerges from the bar area with two Foot Robotic bodyguards (FRB) and proceeds to wander around the compound in an erratic manner.

He’s obviously taking his morning constitutional but Breakfast are engaged with the TRV and don’t see him. The other two teams are still making their way to the compound so also don’t see him.

09:20 Pop Pop moves forward stealthily, on her own and if she had been taller, about 5’ taller she would have seen Zaira in the distance but the brown container obscured her line of sight. Such are the vagaries of a mission at Vagabond Manor that the game could have been over before the official start time of 10:00 if she had been able to take that shot.

09:25 She had to hit the dirt as she heard a 2nd TRV trundling from the west or her left, it then moved into view but didn’t spot her.

09:30 The Explosive Specialist, Marine Street reached the compound, she could see a FRB on patrol but it didn’t see her. You might have trouble spotting her as well, but her base is more visible than she is.

09:30 Team Rainbow also arrive at the compound wall but this doesn’t go so well. Magenta makes a noise as she approaches and an FRB detects the sound and turns in her direction. She realizes that the FRB has seen her because it raises its gun but she is faster.

Fast and accurate is a good combination, her reflexes take over and she fires without conscious thought and hits its centre of mass, right in the chest or at least the bundle of cables and steel tubing that would be its chest if it had a chest. It falls to the ground fizzing and popping as this happens and fuelled by the adrenaline rush, Miss Magenta is quickly over the wall and making her way to the bar which is assumed to be the HQ.

On reflection I can’t remember why I made that assumption but there must have been a good reason.

The sound of gunfire attracts another TRV, it turn’s from its preordained circuit and make its way to the East side of the compound.

The picture is largely irrelevant, it’s only included because I quite like it. Sorry.

Zaira is spooked by the sound of gunfire, as well he might be because it’s pretty close to where he had perambulated to. He immediately turns, and protected by his FRB’s he sets off back to the safety of the bar, the building on the left of the picture. This is a cautious retreat; they don’t want to run into trouble unaware and also don’t know Magenta is just the other side of the storage unit. You can see where Magenta has reached fuelled by her adrenaline rush, she also doesn’t know Zaira is loose in the compound and the other side of the building.

The rest of Rainbow team are still on the far side of the compound wall.

The gunfire kicks off the start of the action 30 minutes before planned.

Marine Explosive Expert Danielle Steel can see a FRB through the wire and decides her best course of action is to shoot it.

This turns out to be a bad decision because she misses, it turns…and she gets off a 2nd salvo of SMG fire in its direction but misses again, the FRB then returns the fire it’s armed with some sort of auto cannon and doesn’t miss. Street hits the dirt, hard and reflects she needs more range time. Blowing things up is fun but shooting straight is going to save your life.

Then she reflects that it would be nice to get out of here to be able to get more range time.

She’s out of the fight, OOF, badly injured but not dead…..yet.

Pop Pop and the rest of Breakfast are held up by the TRV, it’s moving around the perimeter towards the sound of firing but having a little trouble with tree roots etc and only moving slowly. Breakfast are a Sniper Team and don’t fancy mixing it with this well armed machine.

All the remaining FRB’s react to the shooting and call for orders. They need new orders to override their pre-programmed instructions. Control is apparently sleeping and doesn’t respond but Mrs White…you remember Agent White, she’s in the same building as Control and hearing the shots assumes, rightly, that the attack has started. She picks up a kitchen knife and moves warily towards Control. 

It’s going to take 2 moves to get there. He needs to remain inactive next move or she will be discovered….he has a gun! It’s a bit of a tense time in the Bar.

This FRB turns and sees the rest of Rainbow who have followed Magenta over the wall.

You remember the TRV, the one I liked the picture of? Well it moved back toward the shooting and into line of sight of Rainbow, they are now over the outer wall. A gunfight ensues, the majority of Rainbow take cover behind this low wall but Purple and Magenta return fire and both score a hit. They are using some form of explosive charge weapons and firing through a wire fence. Unfortunately one of these hit’s was a hit on the fence and explodes on contact but the other slipped through the mesh and took out the TRV.

Zaira and bodyguards are getting close to the Bar, he’ll soon be safe inside. They hear a scream from the building. Agent White has reached the Control and stuck the kitchen knife in him. Control is Johnny Mo and he’s now the ex Johnny Mo. She needs to reach the bar door to lock and bolt it before Zaira enters. Will she make it in time.

Meanwhile the FRB by the North Gate has been having a bit of a torrid time and Miss Magenta has shot it through the head, it is now defunct.

Zaira’s lead FRB sees Miss Purple as she moves forward, there’s an exchange of fire and Purple doesn’t survive it, Rainbows first casualty is dead before hitting the ground.

To be fair the FRB is rather cheating because it has some form of armour piercing cannon and a huge drum of ammunition, but I don’t suppose it thinks of cheating or anything else really.

Zaira makes a run for the bar door and reaches it before Agent White, be bursts through and in spite of his short stature he’s a very powerful man and puts her OOF. Well that didn’t go as I’d have liked.

Miss Green and Miss Blue move forward to attack the FRB with the big cannon, as you can see Green didn’t survive the encounter but neither did the FRB, she’s bleeding on the ground and he’s leaking hydraulic oil or whatever robots leak when they’ve had various pipes and cables severed.

It’s not clear in the picture but there’s another FRB behind the black SUV, it can’t see Miss Blue and she can’t see it.

Well not until it moves closer towards the bar door. There’s a huge fire fight. Miss Blue goes down first, then Miss Magenta is shot. Just in case you’re not counting that’s 4 out of the 5 members of team Rainbow down and only Miss Scarlet the Team Leader still standing.

You don’t get to lead a team like Rainbow without being a bit bold, brave and handy with a weapon and in the final exchange of fire it’s the FRB that falls and Miss Scarlet who is victorious.

Then there’s a sharp rifle crack as Pop Pop, tired of watching the TRV make it’s slow way around the compound, has decided to shoot it in the back. The Geneva Conventions are OK with this and the shot takes it out of the fight.

This action draws another FRB into the fight. It’s directive was to guard the south gate but seeing the TRV blown up, right in front of the south gate, a move of a couple of yards to see where the firing came from seems quite reasonable. Even so it was mentally preparing its defence in case it had to answer to the RAT’s (Robotic and Tracks) court of enquiry. This was a mistake because splitting its computing power between a court defence and a firing solution meant that it missed both Pop Pop and Snap, they ducked down into the undergrowth.

Just in case you’re wondering what the score is, let me remind you. Rainbow is fragmented, two dead and two badly wounded. There’s only Scarlet still operational, she can’t carry 2 wounded and decides to leave them both and head for the south of the compound and join up with Breakfast. She decides she must maintain radio silence and reasons that there’s not been much gunfire from Breakfasts area and so they are probably still operational.

Marine street is wounded and incapable of moving but no one knows that, so she’s on her own.

Four FRB’s and 1 RTV are down, deactivated by Scarlet’s team, and there’s 1 RTV deactivated by Pop Pop.

Breakfast are the only team still in the game, they are pinned down and decide they must maintain radio silence too, they know that there’s 1 FRB shooting at them from the South Gate area and surmise that as the last sound of gunfire in the west was an Auto canon that there’s at least 1 FRB or RTV in that area and certainly 1 RTV went round to the east and hasn’t been seen since. They believe they are on their own and react accordingly.

I almost forgot, Zaira is in the bar but Breakfast don’t know this, Scarlet does know this but as she’s maintaining radio silence she doesn’t pass on the information. Zaira has called for his helicopter to come and pick him up but it’s over 1 hour flying time away and probably doesn’t have enough fuel to make the return trip. He’s on his own, so locks and bars the steel door to the bar and it’s going to take explosives to get in. As Marine Street is the only one who can use explosives it’s looking a bit bleak for the mission.

Breakfast are professionals and they have a pride in getting the job done, so they decide to give it one more shot. Pop Pop checks to see if the FRB is still there, she Pop’s up, it sees her and fires, missing as she ducks back down again.

The FRB continues to fire at Pop Pop and there’s an ominous click as it runs out of ammunition. This is a golden opportunity for Breakfast.

Crackle runs down to the fence and starts to cut through it as Pop Pop and Snap rise and fire at the out of ammo Robot. Yes I know it’s a bit unfair but it’s the only way they are going to get the job done.

Snap’s submachine gun stutters and also runs out of ammunition but not before she’s unloaded most of the clip into the FRB and it collapses as it’s electrical circuits short out and it fries.

Having gone through the wire Crackle sees this FRB coming towards her. She fires first and misses, its return fire misses also but she gets it with her next burst and it’s down.

An eerie silence descends on the compound as Breakfast start to advance, taking up covering positions and then leapfrogging forward in the approved fashion. There is no sign of movement from the bar but Scarlet comes round the corner of a building and sees them. She shouts and lets them know that Zaira is still in the bar, they have him trapped.

Of course he’s trapped behind an impregnable door.

Pop Pop takes a good firing position behind the container and draws a bead on one of the windows but can see that they are bared and have what looks like steel shutters behind the bars.

I was wondering how I could resolve this, they can’t get in, but he can’t get out, but they can’t stay there for ever, but he can. It’s a bit of a conundrum.

As Snap and Crackle got close to the bar a solution presented itself. Snap blazed away at the windows and door to ensure no one came out and Crackle picked up the auto cannon and once she had figured out which was the safety and which was the trigger, she blew the door off its hinges.

Crackle was first through, she saw Zaira and fired, but missed and run out of ammo, Snap and Zaira fired simultaneously, and both hit each other and take out their opponent. Thinking about all the paperwork if they take Zaira alive, Crackle draws her machete and finishes the job.

Nothing moves in the compound. It’s very quiet, all except for a small motor as the last TRV tries to get into the compound but it can’t get through the gap in the wire. Eventually Crackle finds the deactivation switch in the bar and pulls the lever, there is now total silence.

The Chinook arrived, it was too big to land but all the wounded including Agent White were winched up and they also recovered the bodies of Miss Purple and Miss Blue. Zaira is dead and they left no real evidence as to who had carried out the hit, a pretty perfect result…..unless your name was Purple or Blue.

V’s report to Z was a little more succinct than my account here but essentially confirmed  the same information.

As you probably gathered there was a table of possible incidents to throw a spanner in  the works. 

Well - Thanks for reading, if indeed you did do and I'd appreciate any thoughts you might have.

Cheers

V