Sedated Skirmish Account

8/21/2019 Sedated Skirmish Account

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I WANNA BE SEDATED:A BABYLONS BURNING BATTLE REPORT

Text by Ian Scott, photos by Mark Eatherington

INTRODUCTION:

This is an account of a small Babylons Burn ngskirmish scenario that MarkEatherington and I fought out on the 24thNovember, 2004. We took some photosduring the game and decided to write the game up in case anybody wants to try asimilar scenario.

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The basic outline of the scenario two rival factions racing to grab a stash ofmorphine was decided upon in advance and we agreed to a fairly low point limit of

2750 points. Mark set up the table in advance on the understanding that Id get tochoose which flank to take and large quantities of beer and Monster Munch (thebreakfast of champions) were, of course, readily to hand at all times!

THE SCENARIO:

A prolonged turf war between rival street gangs had cut off the Dr. FeelgoodSyndicate from its usual trade routes for several months. The Syndicate had nofood growing capabilities of its own it was based around an old pharmaceuticalwarehouse and factory and had been trading drugs for food, arms, pharmaceuticalingredients and equipment. With no shipments getting in or out, the Syndicatebosses attempted to ration their supplies by the simple expediency of not feedingtheir slave labour. Eventually the slaves, on the edge of starvation, rebelled andrushed their guards. Those who survived escaped into the night, taking most of theremaining food supplies with them and the few Syndicate members who hadsurvived by locking themselves into the central compound ultimately starved todeath.

The gang war was finally ended at least temporarily when it spilled over intoterritory under the protection of the Santorelli Mob. Within a few days, word hadgot around that Dr. Feelgoods was deserted but intact. The lure of large quantitiesof morphine lying around for the taking was too much for the Santorelli Mob toignore and they quickly organised an advance party to take the Syndicate

compound and hold it until enough vehicles could be found to empty out thewarehouse.

Unfortunately for the Mobsters, they werent the only ones to hear about thestash. A cult Reverend Lovejoys Church of Ultimate Grace had been muchdepleted in recent months after a series of attempts to gain admittance to localEnclaves and spread the word were violently rejected. Reverend Lovejoy recognisedimmediately that the abandoned Syndicate compound would provide a fine new

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home for his Church to rebuild and, better yet, explore their concept of prayer andmeditation through the medium of intravenous injection

The Ultimate Grace Culties and the advance party of the Santorelli Mob arrive infront of the compound at the same time and theyre not happy to see eachothernow its a race to get inside the compound and close the gates on the

competition!

The outer barricade of the abandoned Syndicate compound. The open ground in front of the entrance meant whoever

reached the gatehouse first would probably have a big advantage.

THE MOB FORCE:

I decided to play the Mobsters in this scenario. With the low point limit, I knew Iwouldnt be able to afford any Mercs to back me up I wouldnt even be able toafford any cheap Ganger allies if I wanted to be sure my core Mob squads wouldhave enough firepower to deal with any Cultists that got in their way.

Sticking to Mob squads meant that Id be going without long range weapons but Ireckoned there would probably be enough cover to get to the gates without takingtoo much fire and then hit the Cultists at close range where my shotguns, SMGs,MPs and heavy handguns would give me an overwhelming advantage in firepower.

Whenever I field a Mob force, its always led by Maria Santorelli the eldestdaughter of the big boss, Constanzo Santorelli. In about six battles shes yet to behit so I tend to think of her as a good luck charm!

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Maria Santorelli (officer)Veteran Exp. LevelArmour Level 1 (fur coat!)SMG, HE Grenade and ShadesPoints: 432

Wary of the special vendetta rules that apply to Mob forces (theyve screwed upmy plans before) I decided Id better add a second officer Marias trustedlieutenant, Knuckles Vinzetti to help keep any wayward NCOs in check.

Knuckles Vinzetti (officer)Regular Exp. LevelArmour Level 0Heavy Handgun and HE GrenadePoints: 310

Comms-links would have been nice but I decided to buy a runner instead since I

figured she could double as a bodyguard for Maria.

Theresa Liotta (runner)Regular Exp. LevelArmour Level 1 (leather coat)SMG and HE GrenadePoints: 280

I had originally intended to field three squads of four but in the end I opted for twosquads of five so that I could afford a few more automatic weapons and shotguns.

The Enforcers (5 troops)

Regular Exp. LevelArmour Level 0Heavy Handgun / SMG / Handgun / Pump Action Shotgun / 2xMachine PistolAll troops with shadesPoints: 945

The Garibaldi Crew (5 troops)Regular Exp. LevelArmour Level 0Heavy Handgun / Handgun / Pump Action Shotgun / Machine Pistol / HandgunPoints: 810

Total Points for Mob Force: 2777

Okay, so I went 27 points over budget. I could have dropped an HE grenade or lostsix pairs of shades but I knew Mark would go over budget too (he always does)and, hey, the Santorellis wouldnt be the Santorellis without shades!

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THE CULTIST FORCE:

Mark took the Cultists in this scenario. He sensibly decided to do without anyTemplar squads for the same reason that I didnt bother with Mercs there justwerent enough points available.

Mark knew hed be outgunned up close so he decided to make sure hed havenumbers on his side. He fielded quite a few Culties with hand weapons only adangerous strategy but he reckoned it would mean that he could afford to scattersome rifles through his force which would give him a huge advantage over my Mobgoons at medium and long range.

Naturally, the Reverend Lovejoy would be there to lead his fanatical followers intobattle. Mark had decided that Lovejoy would be his only solo element so that hecould field more rank and file troops.

Reverend Lovejoy (officer)Veteran Exp. LevelArmour Level 1 (heavy coat)Pump Action Shotgun and Machine PistolPoints: 475

Alpha, Beta and Delta squads as deranged a bunch of happy clappers as onecould hope to meet! All the squads featured a lot of hand weapons mixed in with aselection of rifles and handguns. Beta squad were green, the rest were regulars.

Alpha Squad (6 troops)

Regular Exp. LevelArmour Level 1 (heavy robes)Sword / Semi-Auto Rifle / Angle Grinder / Assault Rifle / 2xHandgun / HandgunAll troops with gasmaskPoints: 1140

Beta Squad (6 troops)Green Exp. LevelArmour Level 1 (heavy robes)Sword / Semi-Auto Rifle / Angle Grinder / Assault Rifle / 2xHandgun / HandgunAll troops with gasmaskPoints: 855

Delta Squad (5 troops)Regular Exp. LevelArmour Level 1 (heavy robes)Handgun and Club / Semi-Auto Rifle / Chainsaw / Hammer / Machine PistolPoints: 800

Total Points for Cultist Force: 3270

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Thats right an overspend of 520 points! I could have told him to drop somecultists or reduce some experience levels. In retrospect, I should have told him todrop some cultists or reduce some experience levels. However, given that Markwas threatening to deny access to the Monster Munch and the fact that we didnthave much time to play the game in, I decided to let it pass. Next time though

SETTING UP ORDERS:

I chose the left flank and Mark took the right. We had decided that all forces mustbe set up on one terrain tile in the bottom corner of the relevant flank we wouldthen have to race up the table, trading gunfire on the way, to reach and hold thegate.

Aview of the battlefield looking up the table towards the gate to the Syndicate compound. The wide road sections of Marks

modular terrain board were to cause no end of problems for the short-ranged Mob forces.

The table was laid out in blocks there was plenty of cover in each block but verylittle to prevent fire up and down the wide open streets between them so we knewwe would have to be careful not to get caught in the open.

The Mob forces set up in the cover of three abandoned trucks parked up in front ofan old lock-up facility. There was plenty of solid metal to block them from the view and fire of the enemy but they were surrounded by open roads.

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The Mob force is deployed in the cover of a parking lot full of trucks.

Meanwhile, the Cultists set up behind a derelict shop. They were bunched so closelytogether that a few HE grenades would have taken out the lot but Mark knew Ididnt have anything that could hit him at that range and, in any case, most of hisforce was out of my LOS.

The Cultists at set up (resisting an urge to go dumpster diving).

Giving orders was a simple process since we both had a very clear objective andonly one way to attain it get to the gate and stop the other side from doinglikewise!

It was clear that whoever reached the gates first would have a big advantage but Iwas worried about all the open space to my right (the main road). For that reason I

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ordered the Garibaldi crew to take the warehouse in the centre of the table whilstthe Enforcers would be sent as fast as possible up the left flank with orders to takeand hold the gatehouse. The warehouse would give the Garibaldi Crew plenty ofcover and from there they could harass the Cultists and cover the advance of theEnforcers. If I needed them t move up subsequently, Id send my runner to givethem new orders.

Fortunately, whilst Mark had also seen the need to hold the centre of the table, hehad decided to take the shanty town behind the warehouse with his Beta Squad.This wouldnt pose an immediate threat to the Garibaldi Crew since the warehousehas no windows or doors on that side. Less fortunately, whilst Mark ordered theAlpha Squad to advance to the gate as fast as possible up the right flank, heordered the Deltas to the same objective, but via the warehouse right on acollision course with the Garibaldi Crew!

TURN 1:

Marks cultists made a mad dash across the street at full pelt on the far right flankwhilst the Enforcers did likewise on the far left.Meanwhile Maria and her runner held back (I didnt want to bunch up too much)whilst the Garibaldi Crew took cover behind an old VW camper van on their way tothe warehouse meaning that most of them were out of LOS.

Positions at the end of Turn 1.

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The few Garibaldis who did have LOS didnt have anything that could hit the tightlybunched Cultists at that range. Not for the last time, I wished I had an RPG or aLAW

The Cultists did get off a few rifle shots at the visible stragglers from the GaribaldiCrew but with the long range and the fact that both sides were running, its notsurprising that they didnt come close to hitting anything.

Marks Cultists rush across the street in a tight bunch, confidentthat theyre out of my range. My kingdom for a rocket launcher!

TURN 2:

The Enforcers moving up through multi-storey ruins with Maria bringing up the rear.

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The Enforcers pushed forward into a large derelict building with Maria and therunner hot on their heels. With several buildings between them and the nearestCultists, I wasnt too concerned with keeping them in cover.

The Garibaldi Crew reach the front of their warehouse objective.

The Garibaldi Crew pushed on towards the front door to the warehouse withKnuckles bringing up the rear while Mark did his best to cram his entire force intothe narrow alleyway at the other end of the warehouse. I realised subsequently thatI probably could have got off a few rounds with a shotgun at the rearmost members

of the Delta Squad but I didnt notice at the time and I very much doubt I would havehit anything anyway given the range and other modifiers. Nothing Mark had was ina position to fire so turn two was over in no time.

Disappointed Cultists find the Gun shop already looted and nothing playing at the Elite Cinema.

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TURN 3:

In this turn, whilst the bulk of both our forces continued in their rush for the gate,Marks Deltas entered the warehouse via the backdoor and were joined amoment later by the Garibaldis coming in through the front!

Only one of the Cultists was visible the rest were behind some of the crates thatlittered the warehouse interior. The first Mobster through the door opened fire onhim with a Machine Pistol firing full-auto bursts. Unfortunately, she must have beendistracted by something shiny as with two bursts at just 12 metres range shemanaged to hit absolutely nothing Marks Cultist wasnt even suppressed. And ifthat wasnt bad enough, the second burst jammed her gun!

Doh! The lead element of the Garibaldi Crew gets a jam resultjust as a gang of angry looking monks storm the warehouse.

A second Mobster moved to the doorway and opened up with his handgun. Again,the dice were against me and I got no hits but at least this time I managed tosuppress the Cultist. Now I just had to pray that the Garibaldi Crew got betterinitiative than the Deltas next turn so that I could pull back before my now unarmedlead element got rushed by half a dozen drooling religious loons

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TURN 4:

It seems my prayer paid off the Garibaldis initiative roll (after modifiers) was 7!The plucky young lass who had rushed in with gun blazing last turn beat a hastyretreat out of the warehouse and attempted (unsuccessfully) to fix her gun. Theguy with the pistol in the doorway fired four times at the lead Cultist but hit onlyonce. After the Culties -2 damage modifier was taken into account he only ended upwith a light wound but at least first blood had gone to me!

There wasnt much room for manoeuvre in the warehouse doorway so the thirdmember of the Garibaldi Crew moved to the corner of the warehouse and, seeingthe Beta Squad Cultists moving into the shanty town, opened up with his shotgunto no great effect.

The Deltas take control of the warehouse whilst the rest of the Culties mass in the street and shanty town to the north.

Feeling rather outnumbered, the rest of the Garibaldis hunkered down onoverwatch and waited for mad monks to rush out of the warehouse or around thecorner from the shanty town.

Now it was Marks opportunity to strike back in the battle in and around thewarehouse. While the cowardly Betas dived for cover, the Deltas rushed forwardfor the kill. The Garibaldi in the doorway who had proved to be such a bad shot witha handgun got his comeuppance one Cultist heavily wounded him with a handgunand he was finished off with a well placed rifle shot from close range.

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The Garibaldi Crew beat a hasty retreat from the sliding door after one of their number is gunned down.

Elsewhere, my Enforcers and Marks Alphas were both in the process of movingacross the street in front of the Syndicate barricade. The range was long and bothsquads were moving fast. The only Alpha who could see the Enforcers and had therange needed an 11 to hit. I was feeling pretty cockyright up until Mark made theroll and cut down one of my guys with a three round burst from a KalashnikovAK47.

The Enforcers, slowed down by climbing through windows, are lagging behind

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Alpha squad in the race for the gate. Theyre also now one man short

Uh-oh In the space of a couple of minutes, Id gone from being fairly confident ofan easy victory to finding myself two men down without having inflicted more than ascratch.

TURN 5:

Turn five began with the Cultists Alpha Squad making a dash for the gate to thecompound they let off a few rifle shots as they went but had no luck.

Next up were Delta Squad the monks in the warehouse. The first to reach thedoor emptied his machine pistol into the Garibaldis NCO, hitting him no less than10 times! Suffice to say he was very dead indeed. A second monk rushed throughthe door waving a chainsaw but was suppressed by overwatch fire and failed topress home his attack. That left two monks in the open doorway with the GaribaldiCrew yet to act an unenviable position.

Back up at the gate, the Enforcers were rushing to the cover provided by a bunchof sand-filled oil drums. The ranges had finally closed to such an extent that most ofthe enforcers could now get a shot back at the Alphas but only one handgun shotfound its mark, lightly wounding a Cultist. This wasnt the first time a heavy woundhad been modified down to a light wound by the Cultists special -2 damage rule itreally can mean the difference between total victory and humiliating defeat forCultist forces.

The Enforcers and the Alpha Squad clash at the gatehouse.

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At last, it was now the turn of the Garibaldi Crew to act. That pesky machine pistolwas finally unjammed but not in time to fire this turn. Instead, I concentrated onturning that chainsaw-wielding monk into Swiss cheese with the combinedattention of a handgun and a pump-action shotgun at close range finally the Mobgot a kill!

And then there were three Delta Squad take a hammering in the warehouse.

Lastly, Knuckles moved in and put a round form his heavy handgun into the monk in

the doorway, heavily wounding him and effectively putting him out of the game.

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TURN 6:

The loss of their NCO put the Garibaldi Crew at a disadvantage so I decided to haveKnuckles, my second in command, adopt them. He put the heavily wounded monkout of his misery for good measure too.

Knuckles adopts the Garibaldis and prepares to do some liquidating.

The remaining monks inside the warehouse decided that another rush towards mywaiting guns would not be a good idea and, instead, hastily closed the sliding door.Cowardly but wise!

The Enforcers now rushed the gate, firing as they went. The lead Cultie was hit by ashotgun but, once again, modified the damage down to a light wound. A second hit

from a heavy handgun (fired by the Enforcers NCO) put him down for good but itsa shot that could have been directed elsewhere if the Cultists werent so damnedtough. The Enforcers SMG trooper decided to forgo taking a shot at the Cultists,deciding instead to lay down a suppressive fire zone in front of the gate. Thatshould give the Alphas cause to stop and re-think their actions.

The Alphas did indeed think better of rushing through the open gate. Instead theyreturned fire but, in an orgy of bad dice rolling, failed to hit a thing. Phew.

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Enforcers and Alphas fight it out at the gatehouse.

The Garibaldi Crew opened the door again but nobody felt like sticking their headround the corner overwatch counters were much in evidence

Unfortunately, I had pretty much forgotten about the Beta Squad who had been outof sight in the Shanty Town and all my Garibaldis were facing the warehouse door.So when the first of the Betas rounded the corner, there was nothing to stop himfrom gunning down the Garibaldis only shotgun element.

Beta Squad sneaks up on the Garibaldi Crew, heavily injuring one of them.

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TURN 7:

The Enforcers got the highest initiative score and lost no time in cutting the leadingAlpha Cultie in half with no less than nine hits from a machine pistol! A secondEnforcer finally managed to make it through the gates.Maria, bringing up the rear managed to heavily wound a second Cultist leaving justthree of them on their feet.

The Alphas werent slow to counter attack the Mobster with two machine pistolswent down to a frenzied angle grinder attack and my last remaining shotgun guywas eliminated by six hits from an assault rifle burst.

The aftermath of the Cultist counter attack.

Now, including solo elements, both sides had four figures in the vicinity of the gate but the Reverend had yet to act. Thankfully, having run through the gates to takeout the leading Enforcer before she could shut the gates, he missed twice fromclose range with scores so low its a wonder he didnt shoot his own foot off!

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The Reverend couldnt hit a barn door from twenty paces

Back at the warehouse, things were getting vicious. The Betas continued to worktheir way around the corner and took out Knuckles, leaving the Garibaldi Crewwithout a leader once again.The remaining two Garibaldis finally worked up the courage to enter the warehouseagain (better than staying outside with six Cultists rushing toward them). Betweenthem they took out two more of Delta Squads monks leaving just one lightlywounded monk armed only with a hammer. Wisely, he shuffled behind some boxesand hid.

The Garibaldi Crew clean out the warehouse.

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TURN 8:

Oops! At the worst possible time, the Garibaldis get a modified initiative roll of 0(thanks to their dead NCO) meaning that theyre frozen with indecision. They wontbe able to act at all this turn and they have Cultists all around

Caught between a mad Cultist with a sword and a mad Cultist with a hammer, theyboth go down without much of a struggle. The centre of the table now belongs toMark and its all going to come down to the struggle at the gate.

The Garibaldi Crew comes to a sticky end!

Maria and her runner get off to a good start, taking out Alpha Squads anglegrinder with SMG fire from long range.

The Reverend opens up next, and this time he doesnt miss and the only Enforcer tomake it through the gates shuffles rapidly off this mortal coil. Thankfully, he doesnthave enough action points left to close the gate so theres still a chance.

The Alphas act next and Marias runner (who hasnt actually done any running asyet) is killed by a lucky shot.

The last remaining member of the Enforcer squad their NCO takes downanother Cultist. Nobody else is in view so he goes on overwatch to cover the gate.

Its been a very bloody round.

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High noon at the gatehouse.

TURN 9:

At the start of the ninth turn, I had only two elements still standing Maria andthe Enforcer NCO. With Reverend Lovejoy and one remaining Alpha Cultist, Markalso had two elements in the vicinity of the gate so there was a chance I could stillsucceed in my primary scenario objective of taking the gate if I got good initiativerolls and lucky to-hit rolls.

Maria Santorelli begins to feel a little lonely

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But then again, even if I did take the gate, Mark had no less than seven Cultistsmilling around at the warehouse and if I took the Reverend out, command wouldpass to the Beta Squad NCO who would inevitably rush the gate and there waslittle chance I could hold them off, even if the last, wounded, survivor from DeltaSquad stayed behind to give the chop to my wounded Mobsters in the warehouse.

The Beta squad has, amazingly, yet to take a single hit.

Other things to consider were the fact that I didnt want to ruin Marias 100%survival rate and also the horrible possibility that we might run out of beer! Withthese things in mind, I agreed to concede defeat on condition that my remainingtroops be allowed to depart safely from the table.

The Cultists began to chant as they skipped triumphantly towards a wholewarehouse full of opiates

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Ian: Whilst it didnt go my way, it was certainly a fun game with a lot of action. Itlasted about two and a half hours but we probably could have cut half an hour offthat if we werent stopping every few minutes to make notes for this report or takephotographs.

There were some flaws with the layout which I would change if we play this scenario

again and I certainly made some mistakes with my tactics and when selecting myforce.

If we were playing this again, I think Id opt for a lot less open space either by usingless roads or by putting more abandoned cars on the roads as cover. Im alwaystelling other people that cover and lots of it is the key to a good game ofBabylons Burningbut in this case I failed to heed my own advice and there wastherefore a bit less tactical ducking and diving than usual.

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As far as the forces were concerned, the Cultists proved to be a lot tougher than Igave them credit for. In previous games, theyve not done too well against my crackEnclave troops but in this game their mix of hand to hand prowess and accuratelong range rifle fire was more than a match for me. The Mobsters that have servedme so well before were really not suited to such an open battlefield they reallyneed Merc support to give them some long range punch for a layout like this (or

else cheap Gangers to soak up casualties whilst the Mobsters get in close).Underrating the Cultists and overrating the Mobsters led me to put the GaribaldiCrew out on a limb at the warehouse and, while they did tie down two thirds of theCultist force for quite some time they never really achieved their aim of slowingdown the Cultist advance to the gate and they never had much chance of survivalonce it became clear that they were outnumbered two to one.

Could the Mob have won? Its possible Id have been better off picking the rightflank which offered more cover (but would have involved moving my chair an ideatoo horrible to contemplate!) and I should have been more aggressive. Oh, and did Imention Marks scandalous points-overspend-cheating? Another 500 points worthof troops definitely would have improved my chances!

Mark: Well, I won, but then I did have the unfair points advantage! When we startedthe game we didn't think it would have had that much effect, so Ian let me carry onwithout changing my force (that and I threatened to withhold crisps!) We'd bothseen that in general, Mob forces had fared better than Cultists in our previousgames, and basically it only gave me one extra green squad.

However, those extra numbers, along with some verylucky dice rolls made all thedifference. It was a fun game, fast moving, and only slowed down by the need totake notes and photos. Even though I won, it was quite a bloody battle, with two ofmy squads wiped out, leaving only the green Beta Squad left, which was odd, as in

my original plan, they were meant to draw Ian's fire and be the 'sacrificial lamb' inthe shanty town area, so my more experienced squads could get to their objectiveunhindered!

I think if Ian had the same points values, it would have made a whole heap ofdifference, even a single sniper would have probably swung the outcome in hisfavour, taking out my elements one at a time from a distance while they were out inthe open.

And yes, we're already planning the rematch, with a higher overall points value, andthis time, I promise not to go over by 500 points!

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