Lt. Bryce was speeding down a country road. He wasn't sure which one at the moment. He had taken several turns, crossed several fields, and powered along roads at speeds that made him wonder about his own safety. Despite it all there was always a glimpse of pursuing Soviet trucks, UAZ 469s to be sure, hanging onto his rear view.

The HMMWVs were rolling along a good clip, bouncing through yet another field to keep the distance between the trucks and the distant patches of forest. Fear of more snipers, anti-tank missiles, or tanks kept them rolling fast. The little group was searching the terrain for any sign of trouble. They had the speakers on their radios turned to max volume just in case there was another call from from Ragnarok six.

Bryce was trying to check a map as he drove. He was pretty sure he was closing on a larger road that would take him most the way to the exfiltration point. The CUCV was fishtailing a bit in the mud along the side of the road and drew his attention the side. As he looked up from the ditch Bryce had just a enough of moment to spot trouble and swerve the GMC across the road. A line of tracers cracked past in front of the truck.

The M998 was in the lead, Fedor drove with the determination of a convict on the run. Behind in he heavier, armored, M1114 Seamus had been watching their backtrail and had just decided to spin the gun forward a few minutes when he spotted movement to their ten o'clock. Then there was what could only be machine gun fire and tracers arcing across the fields. Following the line of fire he spotted more movement just ahead, like the top of a vehicle along the road. The first movement coalesced into a pair of armed UAZ 469 trucks about three hundred meters to their ten o'clock. But what were they shooting at?

Bryce was keeping it together. Looking in his review he spotted the other three UAZs that had been pursuing him. The new pair cutting a truly close intercept course was quite troubling. More tracers past by behind the CUCV. Pressing the accelerator down a little more and hope for a little Detroit powered luck Bryce pushed the truck on sending the needle of speedometer over seventy-five miles per hour.

Seamus was about to open his mouth about the two UAZ 469s when a GMC in Army three color matte pattern number six came hurtling from a curve in the road just ahead. Fedor cursed, unintentionally this time, in a long string as he swerved to the side. He looked over just as the CUCV passed going the opposite direction and could have sworn the American soldier at the wheel merely shrugged as he passed by. Seamus gave a shout, sort of combined warning and exclamation, Thompson yanked the steering wheel, and the M1114 shot to the side of the road, partially clearing out a ditch as a US Army, 5th Infantry Division CUCV shot past. A string of curses left the Brit's mouth to follow the near miss. Bryce was gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, two wheels sending up fountains of mud as he narrowly missed the HMMWVs barreling along in the other direction.

Safety in numbers seemed to be the best idea at present so Mike called loudly to the other occupants of his vehicle as he started to turn the wheel so that he was headed in the same direction as the GMC. "Seamus, engage any targets and start hammering them back. Tom, contact Cecylia and tell them to join us in linking up with that GMC. And then see if the GMC is Ragnarok Six."

The cavalry had arrived, at least as far as Bryce was concerned.  Still, he wasn't going to stop and shake hands.  He did ease of the gas just a little, after passing the two HMMWVs.  Mostly so he could grab the radio handset.

"Allied units passing to my six o'clock; unless you like borscht, turn around," Bryce said without giving his callsign info or descriptors of the allied units.  With COMSEC fuxored, the least said at this point, the better.

His warning however was unneeded, as one of the hum-vees started to turn around before the Lieutenant had gotten to the word borscht.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Wed 24 Nov 2021.

Fedor saw the heavier 1114 swerve into the ditch and then swing around toward the fleeing CUCV. Once again altering route without informing them first. He was starting to suspect the sergeant was trying to lose them...

Then the call came over the radio and the big Russian growled a reply (that only Cece wuld be able to hear).

"Fedor loves Borscht!"

He aimed the Humvee directly at one of the UAZs and smashed the pedal to the floor.

Tom tried to grab the hand set, as he was thrown around in the Hummer, and started to wish he had buckled up. Getting the hand set he keyed and said "CC, keep with us we're going after that GMC" he then keyed the handset again and said "GMC, we're on your six, is that Ragnarok six"

"Negative.  Ragnarok Six is dead.  This is Lazarus Four.  What should I call you, over," Bryce replied, taking a new callsign based on both his near death experience and standard Army battalion callsign procedures, where the unit S4 could use four as an identifier, similarly to how the CO would use six, the XO five, etc.

Tom had to Pause for a beat to remember then answered "This is Hotel Five"

"NATO forces on this network, this General Arkardy Belichov." A voice came over the radio. It was strong, clear broadcast; this guy was close. This guy, was also, the big man of Soviet Special Operations. "My scouts are currently pursuing the last vestiges of your army. Please, stop fighting and lay down your arms now. You will be treated accordingly. As it is, there is strong possibility that you will be absorbed into the Soviet plan for expansion. We are in need many skilled people."

13:36, Today: Fedor Ovcharenko rolled 8,3 using 1d12,1d6 with rolls of 8,3.  Driving.

1 success.

13:37, Today: Fedor Ovcharenko rolled 1,3 using 1d6,1d12 with rolls of 1,3.  GL Shot (pushed).

13:37, Today: Fedor Ovcharenko rolled 2,1 using 1d6,1d12 with rolls of 2,1.  GL Shot.

Missed and damaged the GP25 (new Rel 4)

Fedor gunned the HMMWV forward, charging at the oncoming UAZ 469, in the last moment the Soviet driver swerved, cleaned out a ditch for about forty meters, then hopped the edged of a field and went spinning wildly in the mud. It would come to a halt near a hundred twenty meters away facing to the north from wince it came.

Fedor immediately snatched up the AKM by the magazine and curled his fingers into the grip and trigger guard. Smashing the rifle across his chest, Fedor leaned into the door and slid the GP-25 over the window seal. As the second UAZ 469 closed the distance a gap emerged between it and the M998. As the two vehicles passed Fedor fired the launcher and sent a 40mm round ricocheting off of the corner of the cab of the UAZ. There was an explosion some sixty meters in the field behind the road once the vehicles has passed each other at a collective ninety miles per hour.

Sliding his arm back, Fedor felt something slide across his jacket. Taking a quick look down he spotted the culprit. The side-mounted sights for indirect fire were bent. He sighed. That would have to be fixed. Later. He set the weapon aside.

"Half a dog is better than stone soup...", growled Fedor as he swung the Humvee into a turn and accelerated to catch up with the other vehicles.

Bryce thought about sending a bitting response to this Arkardy, mostly impugning socialism, but thought better of it.  No use in poking the bear and he wanted to keep radio transmission to a minimum, to prevent possible direction finding.

Since Bryce was in front of the adhoc convoy at this point, he checked map as he drive, looking for a possible link up area, where he could stop, meet with the others, change radio freqs and update crypto, and discuss next steps.

Seamus swung the M2 heavy machine gun round and opened fire on the nearest UAZ...

2,7,12 using 1d10,1d8,3d6.  Firing with M2HG, 3 ammo dice.

17:52, Today: GM, on behalf of Seamus Murphy, rolled 1 using 1d6.  ammo dice.

17:52, Today: GM, on behalf of Seamus Murphy, rolled 6 using 1d6.  ammo dice.

17:51, Today: GM, on behalf of Seamus Murphy, rolled 2 using 1d6.  ammo dice.

rerolled the ammo dice to see the ammo the numbers rolled and came up with an extra hit.

the 7 is a hit, the extra hit is useful here. since this is you initial roll you can push and re-roll the the d10 that rolled a two and the the two d6s that rolled 1 and 2. remember that if you push and roll a 1 on the d6's you will lower the reliability of the M2 by 1 for each 1 rolled on the D6s.

just wanted to point it out because we haven't had a lot of opportunities to go over this stuff.

Cecylia's eyes grew wide as Fedor started to accelerate towards the first UAZ. To call it surprise would have been a lie: she knew Fedor well enough. He'd done rather... intense things in the past, often along side of her, but this, this was a first. She felt like cursing under her breath but didn't find the time to do as she busied herself with making sure she was strapped in.

As the first UAZ swerved pass them, she couldn't help herself but close her eyes and grind her teeth. Her jaw was starting to hurt. Time passed in a flash, and when she finally peaked opened, they were still hurtling forward towards the second vehicle. She glanced over her shoulder at the machinegun, bouncing slightly in it's turret mount.

“This is such,” she began, unstrapping herself “a bad idea...”

She squeezed herself between the seats and climbed into the turret. She'd seen Fedor use the M60 a few times, and was herself not a completely useless shot... but there was a big difference between seeing and doing. Her hands were shaking but she never the less tried to go through the motions. She found the charging handle easily enough but had to fiddle around a few precious seconds to find the safety.

“This is such a bad idea...”

Cecylia Wojcik, doctorate of Art History and first violin of the Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra settled the M60's stock into her shoulder, leaned slightly forward on the gun, and discovered if she could fire an M60 with no training.

OOC: Cecylia will shoot at the stationary UAZ that's in the muddy field. I'm guessing it's probably a slightly easier target for her. With a Range of 8 (so 80 meters), 100m would put the target into the Medium range of the M60, giving her -1 to her roll. And she's defaulting. Wow. So yea, she's going to go heavy on that trigger and use Ammo dice all the way up to the weapons ROF, being 4. So, here goes nothing!

10:28, Today: Cecylia Wojcik rolled 22 using 1d6+4d6 with rolls of 3,6,5,3,5.  Discovering the M60.

Technically, that's would a be single Hit, but only on the ammo dice, meaning that the attack causes Suppression on the target, but not damage. This feels like an appropriate moment to Push :P so I'll reroll everything except the 6.

10:31, Today: Cecylia Wojcik rolled 14 using 1d6+3d6 with rolls of 1,5,4,4.

And Cecylia just made things worst! With that 1 on her base dice, Cecylia lowers the Reliability of the M60, so she probably leans on the trigger WAY too long and overheats it :P

So, in the end, she might cause the UAZ in the field to be suppressed and spend 19 rounds! I'm sure it looks super impressive tho!

21:54, Today: Seamus Murphy rolled 4,4 using 1d10,2d6 ((4,2,2)).

OOC: The rules on ammo dice aren't really clear in the Player's Manual.

Seamus swung the M2 as quickly as the turret ring would grind about. As soon as he could bring the muzzle to bear he began firing on the UAZ at their six. The heavy machine gun made its presence felt sorely. The windshield burst inward explosively. The driver died before he could fully realize the threat. Bullets traveled through the cab, the driver, the driver's seat, and ultimately through the passenger behind the driver. The man in the backseat had all of several heartbeats before he met the driver in Soviet soldier heaven. Somewhere east of Siberia according to legends.

Fedor was acutely aware of the effects of the big .50 cartridge. And it came as no surprise to him when he spotted tracers from Seamus' attack blazing through the UAZ and tumbling out across the field the M998's right. Cecylia was toiling against the momentum and bounce of M998 as she climbed into position behind the M60. Firing at the UAZ turned out to be more problematic than she thought.

The M60 was on a pintel mount and not in powered, traversing ring like the M2 on the M1114. She was forced to spin it to an extreme angle, lean in awkwardly in order to fire it, and found herself shaken (though she felt highly stirred) by the movement of the vehicle. When she fired it was surprising for her to watch the tracers bound off the ground all around the stationary vehicle. And more than a little frustrating not to hit it. Fedor looked back in the side-view mirror and winced, but he wasn't surprised.

Thompson smiled at the thumping report of the M2 above. It filled the HMMWV with a lot of ear pounding noise, but at the moment it was music to his ears. Tracers flashed past, too close for comfort. At least one of the gunners on the UAZs was doing his job. It crossed his mind that they were running at high speed back into and area where they would most likely encounter ATGM teams, snipers, and more marauding Soviet mechanized troops. The a handful of tracers came through the M1114, and for the first time, smashing glass and tearing through the cargo area. He winced. That could be bad for them.

Bryce was rolling along, making really good time on the way to not getting killed alone, when a series of explosions to his front left and around fifty meters away in the field. It was 30mm grenades, launched from an AGS-17 from a UAZ 469, and not for the first time during this chase. These Soviets were extremely persistent. It made him wonder what they were truly after.

Carter was impressed. Not for the first time in a day they were seemingly dodging sudden death and courting eternity in the other place. He looked about recognizing ground they had covered since fleeing the last time the Soviets ambushed them. And that place was getting closer by the moment.

Carter was a little dazed, with the bouncing around as the Hummer spun round behind the truck and sped away, and the noise of the 50 cal. But as he settled a little, he realised, out of the frying pan....

Lifting the handset Carter keyed it and said "Lazarus - whatever number you were, we need to get off this road, there are enemy up ahead we already encountered."

Replacing the head set best he can, he get his weapon ready and keeps it handy in case he needs to fire it - hoping he won't have to