Bank Heist!

Greetings!

Time for another AAR, this time of our most recent playtest of the upcoming "Ground Wars: Future Skirmish" rules. To show the versatility of the rules, this time I set up a contemporary operation (hardly "future", really), a bank robbery or, more properly, the attempted get away.

I am going to straight into the AAR first this time, and I'll explain the details at the end. So, without further ado...








Before describing the set-up and special rules, I have to apologize for not fixing the spots where the software - Comic Life - cropped text boxes when converted to jpg to the extent that some words were lost. I would fix them... but I'm not gonna. It's been a long day and it's time to move on to the next project. :)

The metal figures are all from Foundry's Street Violence range. They were all painted by Fernando Enterprises. The figures with the thicker bases (the civilians) are all Heroclix figures. They will be rebased onto washers soon, promise.

The buildings are almost all O Gauge buildings by MTH. They are AWESOME!, and not unreasonably priced all things considered. The "police station" is a kit that will soon be replaced by an MTH building. The 7-11 is Miniature Building Authority's mini-market. The cars are all random die-casts I have picked up over time. The trees are K&M, and the ground is a canvas cloth I painted myself, pretty much the only painting I did for this game!

Here are the information packets given to each side, starting with the Stubbs Gang:

THE STUBBS GANG

The Stubbs Gang are fraternal septuplets with a sketchy past. Coming from an impoverished family, the impact of their birth on the local community turned from one of support for the unwedded mother and children to one of neglect and eventually disdain, as the little buggers turned out to be criminals at heart. They have all done prison time, but refuse to reform as they see crime as the only way they are going to make it in the world.

The Stubbs believe they have planned their robbery of the First County Bank to the last detail: They will begin their operation at the last moment before a holiday weekend when the bank and the downtown area will be relatively deserted. They will take hostages to insure their being able to get to their get away vehicle. They will arm themselves with military grade weapons just in case they have to shoot their way out of trouble. And they will wear disguises so that no one will recognize them (they seem to have neglected the fact that they were born and raised here and are the only midget septuplets in the area).

Porky and Bozo are at the get away vehicle. The rest are just existing the bank with their loot and hostages. No gang member may move faster than his hostages, and the loot causes them to be at a -1 penalty in combat as long as it is carried.

VICTORY CONDITIONS: Escape with at least 3 bags of loot in a vehicle via the exit point.

THE STUBBS GANG STATS

Name	OFF	DEF	MOV	HLT	PSI	HLV	SKILLS
Rasta & Beaky (Assault Rifles)	2	3	6*2	3	-	1	Natural Warrior; Small; Tough
Ace, Gene (SMG) Jason (Assault Shotgun)	2	3	6*2	2	-	1	Small
Porky (LMG) Bozo – ATW & Lt. Pistol	1	2	5*1	4	-	1	Small
Get Away Vehicle	OFF	DEF	MOV	HLT	PSI	MRL	SKILLS
Stolen Van	NA	0	10*4	5	-	-	Armor (1); Crew (1); Passenger (6); Turn (4)

THE POLICE

The good news for the police is that, when the bank alarm is sounded, they are at that point in a shift change when there are more police in the downtown area than usual. Captain Fingers puts out the APB and orders his officers into action before calling for the SWAT team to mobilize. It will take SWAT some time to get there, and the Captain has no choice but to place his men and women in the line of danger until they can arrive and equalize what is an unfavorable situation.

The SWAT Team will arrive in their vehicle at the designated entry point at the end of Turn 4.

VICTORY CONDITIONS: Foil the Stubbs’ get away without losing more than 25% of your force.

THE POLICE

Name	OFF	DEF	MOV	HLT	PSI	HLV	SKILLS
Captain Fingers (.44 Mag)	2	3	6*2	3	-	2	Ace; Leader (1); Tough
Sergeant Fingers	2	3	7*3	3		1	Natural Warrior
Detective Teri (Pistol)	1	3	7*3	2		1	Big Baby
Officers Grady, Holmes & Gooseberry	1	2	7*3	2	-	1
Officers Dunkin & McMoto	1	1	6*2	2	-	1	Coward
SWAT Sniper (Sniper Rifle & Pistol)	2	3	7*3	2	-	1	Armor (1); Natural Warrior
SWAT Team (SMG & Pistol)	2	3	7*3	3	-	1	Armor (1); Natural Warrior
SWAT Vehicle	OFF	DEF	MOV	HLT	PSI	MRL	SKILLS
SWAT Vehicle	NA	0	12*6	5	-	-	Armor (1); Crew (1); Passenger (5); Turn (3

All uniformed officers have a pistol and night stick. Detective Teri is currently undergoing his union-mandated year of cross dressing before having a sex change operation; this is having an unsettling effect on his fellow officers and is represented by the Big Baby Skill. The SWAT team, being better trained, is immune.

Here are the weapon stats for this scenario. The only difference from the base stats is the addition of the "Ammo (X)" stat to most of them, to represent the fact that everyone is carrying limited ammunition.

WEAPONS
Name	Range	Base Damage	Step	Weapon Abilities
Melee Weapons
Night Stick	1	1	4
Empty Hand	0	1	5	Weak
Small Arms Weapons
Light Pistol	6/12	1	4	Ammo (4); Weak
Pistol	6/12	1	4	Ammo (4)
.44 Magnum	6/12	1	3	Ammo (5); Armor Piercing (1)
Assault Shotgun	4/8	1	2	Ammo (3); Short Range: Armor Piercing (2) Med. Range: Accuracy (1); Weak
Assault Rifle	12/24	1	3	Ammo (4); Armor Piercing (1)
SMG	6/18	1	4	Ammo (3); Burst (2); Suppress (0)
Sniper Rifle	24/48	1	1	Ammo (4); Armor Piercing (2); Sniper
Anti-Armor Weapon (AAW)	6/12/24	2	1	Ammo (1); Armor Piercing (4); Heavy
LMG	12/24	1	3	Ammo (3); Armor Piercing (1); Burst (4); Suppress (1)

WHAT'S UP WITH TERI?!?

Okay, that's an honest question. Here's the story. I sent the entire Foundry Street Violence range to my painters a few years ago. Overall, they did an awesome job. At the time they apparently didn't understand African skin, so they painted all the black guys as whites (in spite of getting color photos of how the figures should be painted). This was fixed with a quick ink wash. The only other funkiness was that they added lipstick to one figure. A macho male detective figure. That figure became "Teri". It was just too funny to fix, so I left the figure with its grotesque lipstick and wrote him into this story as a man wanting to become a woman, but because the union won't pay for the operation until he spends a year dressed as a woman (look it up - it's rule in at least some unions), they won't pay for the operation. And so Teri was born!

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it! My thanks to Jochen and Scot for pushing figures, and to Dave Reed and Robert, both of whom would have been here if circumstances would have allowed it.

Cheers!

- Rod