DB Asian Connection - Victors, Losers and Survivors

Putting her peddle to the metal, Katrina flies through the INN sailors in the intersection.  At the last minute the men leap out of the way and Yachigusa fires wildly at the speeding vehicle, punching a hole through one of the barrels.  Bruno fires back hitting the Lt. in the leg. Thinking they are clear, Bruno and Katrina have no idea that LMG gunner Akutagawa has been waiting in ambush since the first car was sighted and they are heading right towards him.

A full blast from the Lewis gun shreds the delivery truck.  Katrina is taken OOA , tires blow and with a scream of tearing metal the truck crashes onto its side.  Bruno, in an acrobatic leap, lands uninjured next to the burning vehicle and while Akuagawa reloads, pulls the limp body of Katrina from the ruined cab of the truck.  He then lets off a barrage of pistol fire at the LMG gunner nicking him on he head.

In a blizzard of judo blows, Rikki takes Ensign Tsukasa OOA.  Yet her victory is short lived as a burning sensation sears into her side, against all the odds, seaman Mikuni has successfully shot her through the smoke screen.  Dr. Hans in the mean time has started to drive away in the service truck.  He is annoyed that the vehicle is sluggish and slow in the soft soil of the plowed field as he has no idea that the rear right tire is now virtually flat from the bullet of one of Mikuni's earlier shots.

Ignoring Jack and the Dragon Bones, the Jagers advance up the street. They alternate their fire with shooting at the retreating British and at the INN sailors in the crossroads by the barracks.  In a lucky shot they take seaman Yachigusa OOA. Half the Germans have been wounded in the fire fight with the men of Captain Patsy and Lt. Commander Dartnell but the morale of the Jagers remains high-they have the honor of the Imperial German Empire to uphold after all!

The situation from a birds eye view. In the lower left Bruno, behind the brewery truck, is trading shots with Akutagawa and his LMG.  Oberst Dikkmann, with his captured rifle, is assessing the situation from his second story room.  To his right the model A with Karl and Tinker continues to burn and Captain Patsy's crew can be seen retreating trough the rough terrain behind the barn.  The Jagers are advancing past the paddock with the Dragon Bones in the upper right.  While on the street in the upper left center, the now seriously wounded Rikki is facing the remainder of the INN detachment.  Dr. Hans and his delivery truck is in the field just off screen behind the brewery to the right of the street.

The Oberst has taken a position in the window and opens fire on the unsuspecting Akutagawa.  With a curse he realizes that both shots have missed. (Heavy wound, his unfamiliarity with the Nipponese weapon and the weight of the bayonet may be to blame for his poor marksmanship as he empties the clip at the INN sailor and fails to hit even once.)  In fact in all the excitement and noise of battle, the INN sailor fails to even notice that he is being attacked from the rear. He continues to fire at the truck but the smoke is a virtual screen and he fires blindly at the vehicle.  Bruno is in a better position and wounds Akutagawa again.

Serious wounded (actually it was a light wound but he panicked and failed his morale even though he had Elite status) himself, Lt. Mizune and Mikuni take cover behind the barracks.  Things could not have gone worse for the young officer, he has only one unwounded man left, (the LMG gunner who while still firing is totally out of contact with his commander) and his prey has effectively escaped.  An unknown number of hostiles are coming into the village (the Jagers).  It is time to leave and inform INHQ of the situation here. The strong German security forces implies that the secret is of immense importance and stronger forces need to be assigned to take this knowledge.  On the outside chance any of his men survive, Mizune blows the recall signal on his command whistle.  As the INN sailors fall back, Mikuni carries the unconscious Yachigusa with him.  (A quick look at the ensign revealed his broken neck so he was left behind.)

Covering both their front (the INN) and left flank (British), the Jagers continue their leap frog advance towards the barracks.

With a last volley , Captain Patsy's crew withdraws, Nyle is OOA, Jack lost and Bud is wounded.  Heavy damage thinks the captain for such a small group.  Hopefully the information and pictures gained was worth the sacrifice.

Back in the forest where this disaster started, Lt. Mizune waits to see who responds to his recall order.   His last glimpse of that she-demon (Rikki) was of her limping through the field covering the slowly retreating truck.  A a future reckoning is needed...he will not underestimate her the next time.  In the distance, LMG gunner Akutagawa, seriously wounded and with his weapon jammed, attempts to fall back to the safety of the woods.  

He fails.  Hit in the back by several shots from the Jagers and two more hits from Bruno, the brave INN sailor drops cradling his now useless weapon in his arms.

Not yet realizing victory is theirs, the Jagers, wounded and tired, will soon collect any prisoners of the losers and find those that have survived the raid.  This round is over, how many more are to come is for the future to disclose.

Casualties

British: in an unprecedented amount of luck, Jack Balance survived his bullet wounds and close encounter with the Dragon Bones. Unfortunately he was captured by the Germans.  Nyle Kadet failed to recover.

Germans: Tinker and Shultz died of their wounds (the latter was cut almost in two by Minuze's katana).  Although horribly burned, Oberleutant Karl Kriegsmank was able to crawl from the burning car and survived.  Katrina died in the arms of Bruno who has vowed eternal revenge on the INN.

INN Sailors: true to the samurai code all the sailors left behind died.  Yachigusa recovered from his wounds.

Results: 

British: Captain Patsy received a nice fat reward for her pictures and first hand description of the Dragon Bones.  The surviving crew was very happy with their shares (larger with two fewer members as they thought Jack was dead-oh well them's the breaks). Imperial HQ is now assessing the data from her and previous expeditions.

Germans: The capture of Jack produce no real information apart from the fact that the British know of Dr. Hans and his "pet."  The identification of INN personnel was very unsettling and will require a "measured" response.  Rikki was given the "Kaiser's Medal" for her defense of the doctor.  After recuperation she will be reassigned to a position worthy of her special talents.  The Jagers were honored with promotions and appropriate military honors. The loss of Katrina, the truck and several hundred litters of high quality spirits was economically devistating and forced Johan Braumeister to sell the brewery.  He and his men also have a grudge against the INN. 

Imperial Nipponese Navy: Almost a total failure; for the loss of an officer and more than half his men, Lt. Mizune gained only the minuscule knowledge that the secret of the Dragon Bones was important.  Permission to commit seppuko was denied in the face of this failure as INHQ wanted to punish him through the humiliation of living with his disgrace.  Mizune will do anything to erase this mark on his honor and will volunteer for every future deadly mission.

DB Asian Connection - Fight or Flight

Having decided to try for the commercial truck, Rickki and the Doctor race down the street.  But first Dr. Hans lobs one of his strangely colored bottles in the general direction of the INN pursuers.  With a loud bang, a cloud of acrid smoke rises between the two groups.  Seaman Mikune fires blindly through the foul smelling brew and nicks one of the rear tires starting a slow leak.

The ensign and sailor detour around the gas that they now realize is Tear Gas, annoying but not overly dangerous.  Mikune and Rikki exchange shots but both miss. Ensign Tsukasa readies his sword to deal with this obnoxious female.

Lt. Mizune and seaman Yachigusa have followed the doctor and his assistant down the rope and ready to cross he street in pursuit.

Taking no chances with their valuable collection of alcohol, Katrina and Bruno head down the road to the perceived safety of the main village. Jack, incensed at the possible loss of his booze, opens fire on the truck, lightly wounding Katrina.  Bruno returns fire and takes Jack OOA.  To add insult to injury, the Dragon Bones beast (In the first Dragon Bones Adventure these creatures are referred to as a PRAM-Prehistoric Reanimated Automatronic Monster, but in this engagement this title is as yet unknown to any but the doctor so they are simply referred to as Dragon Bones.), in its mindless meandering, stomps on the hapless Jack (the beast normally moved randomly, but for the rest of the game the dice showed that it was content to stand on poor Jacks head).

Fortified in the brewery, the rest of the staff readies their weapons. (No manner How much shooting occurred, these characters refused to leave the safety of the brewery and help fight off the raiders).

In the face of the fire of the Jagers and Bruno, Captain Patsy and First Mate Browman decide it's time to find a safer position.  As Scot's BAR has jammed and his men are under an increasing amount of fire from the Jagers, Lt. Commander Dartnell has reached the same conclusion.  He calls on his men to retire and regroup with Captain Patsy.  (The combination of Jack being taken out and the fear of more Jager reinforcements coming helped both the Captain and Lt. Commander to fail their respective morale rolls and they retired to the rough ground behind the barn.  To their credit they both rallied next turn).

Mad Eye is ready to continue the fight, of course!.  Captain Patsy and Dartnell on the other hand know that with 25% of their men down and the BAR still out of action the odds are to great.  Time to flee with the information they have before they are overwhelmed by superior numbers.  (In fact there were only six Jagers left and half of them were wounded, but in the dark the British raiders did not realize how effective their fire was.) 

Lt. Mizune and his men close with the fleeing doctor. Unfortunately the need to avoid the tear gas has left them exposed in the intersection.

With a burst of speed and a fearsome battle cry, Ensign Tsukasa charges into hand to hand combat with Rikki. Expecting an easy victory, he is shocked by the unarmed fighting skills of his female opponent and takes a heavy blow along the side of the head. Rikki avoids most of his counter stroke, but knows what that warm sticky feeling is as the katana slides lightly along her left forearm.

The Jagers keep up an ineffective fire on the retreating British sailors.  The Germans slowly advance down the street for they have also noticed the INN sailors outlined in the headlights of the brewery truck down the street. 

(Jack's body is just visible under the right foot of the Dragons Bones Beast)

Rather than abandon his assistant, Dr. Hans lobs another gas bomb between the rest of the sailors Rikki and her antagonist.  The expanding cloud again screens the two parties from each other.  With the explosion, Rikki realizes the doctor is not running...she screams for the him to get in the truck and flee, NOW!  Katrina and Bruno now see that they have left the frying pan for the fire...enemies behind, hostiles to the front and bombs to the right what should they do next..."FLOOR IT" yells Bruno.

Experience, and bulk, vs rifle and bayonet-the house battle continues.  Only the skills honed in the trenches of the Great War have kept Oberst Dikkmann from being impaled like a pig.  In the end, experience paid off as the Oberst twists the rifle in a practiced move and finishes off the INN sailor with his own weapon.

Next- Victors, Losers and Survivors

Dragon Bones Asian Connection-Casualties and Surprises

With the spirit of his Samurai ancestors guiding his hands, Lt. Mizune uses his katana to cut down the hapless Shultz.  The attack was so swift that Oberst Dikkmann was only able to witness the action as he had yet to even draw his automatic pistol.  Rikki has not been so slow, as soon as the shooting began she readied her escape rope and forces Dr. Hans through the window and out of the immediate danger.  She then takes careful aim on the doorway and the now victorious Lt. Mizume.

The end of Oberleutnant Karl Kriegsmank's patrol.  After a second violent volley of automatic fire, the riddled bodies of the Oberleutant, Pvt. Tinker and the Model A end up crashed into a farmers fence.  Leaking petrol begins a small fire, but how long will it be until it reaches the fuel tank?

Having heard the automatic rifle fire, the rest of the security patrol rushes forward.  Seeing the flash of weapons fire they head towards the rough terrain where Lt. Commander Dartnell's men have just finished off the Oberleutnant.

What the 'ell is that exclaims Captain Patsy, and its moving!  She now has an idea as to why its called Dragon Bones. Jack is unimpressed, he has just seen the brewery and a convenient truck full of booze.  Nyle, on the other hand, has panicked and run off the way the raiders came.

Nyle rallies when he reaches Lt. Commander Dartnell and his men.  Dartnell tells him to check the Model A and its victims for information and weapons while he and his men continue to investigate the barn.  In the excitement and poor light all four men fail to see the doctor climbing out of the window of the two story house (just visible above Mad Eye Swensda).

Dartnell checks the barn covered by Macantosh while Mad Eye looks over the car. Once again the men are so intent on their respective duties that they fall to see  the Dragon Bones (just to the right of the picture), the escape of Dr. Hans,  or even the activities at the brewery ahead.

In a feat of expert markswomanship, Rikki hits Lt. Mizune with a light wound and pins both him and Yachigusa as they duck for cover from her hail of slugs. As Oberst Dikkmann takes aim at Yachigusa's back he is startled to see yet another INN sailor appear in the doorway. The Oberst snap fires, misses both men and has now announced his position...oops! 

With the INN men temporary pinned, Rikki uses the confusion to follow the doctor down the rope and heads for the barracks, unaware that the building is empty as the security detachment is on patrol.  At almost the same moment both she and the INN sailors to the rear of the two story house see each other.  Enemies to the rear and side between her and the barracks, forces Rikki to change her plans on the run...yes run, run to the brewery-stout walls, men with weapons and a vehicle to commandeer if necessary.

The patrol moves towards the burning model A when they see movement on the rough terrain hillock.  As a man they fire a volley...

Who did they see-Nyle, who with a stroke of luck saw the doctor and Rikki running from the house.  Knowing that the doctor was one of their targets Nyle's runs towards Lt. Commander Dartnell's men to spread the news.  Running was a mistake as it draws the fire of the Jagers and Nyle's goes down, his vital information being lost with him.  But his sacrifice has alerted the rest of the his companions to the new danger.  In fact it draws fire from Jack who both misses and exposes his position to the Jagers.

As Rikki and Doctor Hans race across the street Ensign Yoko Tsukasa and seaman Mikuni give chase.  They remember their orders to shoot only in dire necessity, besides they would rather capture the doctor and his companion is only a woman.  Rikki is torn, should she turn and fight, continue to run for the relative safety of the brewery-even as the short doctor is tiring, or continue down the street to a parked truck, what to do, what to do.   All the while Dr. Hans is fussing with some strangely colored bottles in his lab coat.

With Nyle shot, Dartnell arranges his men on the stonewall to face the Jager threat.  at the same time, Captain Patsy is trying to take photos of the Dragon Bones and gather further information on the creature.  The Jagers see Jack but are under orders not to harm the Dragon Bones creature an have yet to see Lt. Commander Dartnell and his men...when in doubt hit the dirt.

Meanwhile the brewery has been thrown into a beehive of activity.  Katrina is to drive the truck to safety in the main village.  Bruno will cover her until she drives away.  The rest barricade the courtyard and ready to defend their livelihood.

Up next-Fight or Flight 

Dragon Bones-the Asian Connection: "Where's the Doctor"

Midnight, at the outskirts of the small village of Kriegsburg, German Indochina Colony.  Two rival bands of scout-raiders approach in search of Dr. Has Bercherglas and his Dragon Bones data. But where is he?  Both parties know he is somewhere in this part of the village but not the specific location.  Captain Patsy Seemaster and her crew are in the fields in the upper left, Lt. Tatsuya Mizune and his Nippon sailors are in the forest in the upper right. In the brewery, in the lower right, Iman D'zul is loading the truck and Katrina Barpige is tapping one of the barrels in the courtyard. 

Lt. Tatsuya Mizune and his men approach the village in a stealthy manner.  Shooting is to be at a minimum-blades are to be the weapon of choice orders the lieutenant.

To speed up the search, Captain Patsy has divided her men into two groups.  Lt. Commander Dartnell, RNR, takes the BAR and Tommy Gun men and heads to the large barn while Captain Patsy and her riflemen check out the smaller barn-which also happens to be closer to the brewery and it's liqueur supply.

Lt. Tatsuya Mizune decides to avoid the heavily bared barracks and heads for the two story house.  The good doctor is known to enjoy the finer points of life and would surely prefer the amenities of a home to the austerity of a barracks.

Oberleutnant Karl Kriegsmank takes his position of security chief seriously, even in this God forsaken colonial dump.  The arrival of the doctor and his "Dragon Bones" abomination (seen in the paddock to the right)  has added a little excitement to the dull frontier life but is not the action fill adventure he longed for when he joined the Jagers after the Great War.  Still he is a professional so a random patrol is according to the book, besides he enjoys driving.  He just wishes that the rest of the men would keep up with his slow moving car, they are Jagers after all!

Captain Patsy halts her men when she hears the unexpected arrival of a vehicle.  Luckily the dark conceals the captain and her men but she is unhappily surprised to see the the car is the local security commander on a night patrol.  The captain can only hope  Lt. Commander Dartnell sees or hears the approaching car as well.

The INN have also seen the lights of the approaching car (just visible on the road to the upper left)  and Lt. Tatsuya Mizune sets up a little surprise should the vehicle pass his men's position.  With his rear covered the Lieutenant readies to enter the house in search of the doctor and his secrets.

Wanting to be diligent in his duties, Oberleutnant Kriegsmank drives down the side street rather than head directly to the barracks and a well deserved sleep. Hearing the approaching car, Dartnell has his men lay down in the rough ground.  Silently he signals them to cover the road.

With luck on his side, LT. Mizune and two men sneak into the house without alerting Shultz, the sleeping German guard. As the Nipponeses surprise Shultz; Tinker, the Jager in the patrol car glances to his left and spots the three British men in the rough ground. Tinker fires a shot while yelling a warning to his commander.

Waking with a start from the sound of the rifle fire, the dozing Shultz is shocked to see hostiles inside the house! Yet his survival skills honed in the Great War take over and he snap shoots the nearest sailor and in a lucky hit takes him out of action (OOA). In response, seaman Yachigusa fires back (his anger at seeing his friend  Sakai hit over rides his commanders orders-the punishment will be severe), hitting Shultz in the forearm.  Rikki, an experienced agent, realizes the danger and orders the doctor to get behind her as she readies her pistol.  But does she have any other plan than fighting?  Oberst Dikkmann is slower to respond to the unexpected gunfire.

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Having been seen, Dartnell and his men riddle the car with automatic fire.  At near point blank range the heavy rifle and SMG rounds easily smash through the unarmored car,  even the Mauser machine pistol rounds punch home. In a bout of good luck (for the British) the Oberleutnant is riddled by .45 cal slugs from the Tommy Gun as well as .30.06 rounds from the BAR. (After Tinker missed, the return fire by Dartnell's men scored seven hits out of eight shots fired and all but one hit the unfortunate oberleutnant)

While the hard of hearing D'zul continues to load the delivery truck, Katrina rushes into the brewery shouting that the quiet night has been shattered by gunfire...lots of gunfire!

The battle continues...

Dragon Bones -The Asian Connection; Conending Forces

Rumors of a scientific breakthrough, code named "Dragon Bones," have reached Imperial Nippon Headquarters (INHQ).  A friendly agent has informed the INHQ that Dr. Hans Becherglas has set up a temporary lab near the junture of the borders of Mainland Nippon, and the colonies of German Imperial Indochina and French Southeast Asia. Lieutenant Tatsuya Mizune (auto pistol and katana) has been ordered to take a small Imperial Nipponese Navy (INN) patrol into German territory to attain data on Dragon Bones, and if possible convince Dr. Hans Becherglas to "visit" Imperial Headquarters.  At his disposal are Ensign Yoko Tsukasa (auto pistol and katana), Light Machine Gunner Akutagawa, and riflemen Mikuni, Sakai, Tsurata and Yachigusa, (rifle and bayonets).

Unknown to INHQ, a "Private Party" is also interested in the rumors of Dragon Bones.  Captain Patsy Seemaster (.445 Webly) has been "contracted" to do a little research into the background of these stories.  Her hand picked crew is assisted by  Lieutenant Commander Lewis V. Dartnell RNR (Auto Pistol), the "unoffical" Government representative. First Mate Bud Browman (rifle) keeps the crew in line. This is a tough job as he has to handle the likes of "Mad Eye" Swensda with his lovely Tommy Gun, Chief Engineer "Scot" Macantosh (a cool master of his BAR), and bully boys Jack Balance and Nyle Kadet (rifles).  Any information will earn financial rewards for the captain and her crew.  As an added bonus, the crew has eyes on liberating some of the finest liqueur in the region from the local brewery.  

Local security for the good Doctor and his experiments falls to Oberleutnant (1st Lieutenant) Karl Kriegsmank (Mauser machine pistol) and his seven Jagers - Achim, Dieter, Ernst, Eugen, Gunter, Hannes and Tinker (rifles and bayonets).   Karl has a well used Ford Model to assist him while on patrol of the village and its environs.

The brewery crew includes Sébastien de Tassigny, master brewer (heavy revolver) his good friend Bruno Schultzschalter (automatic pistol) portman Iman D'zul (heavy dagger) Johan Braumeister, owner (double barrel shotgun) and hiding in the court yard, Katrina Barpige the barmaid (a stout bottle club of Braumeister '29).  The brewery is full of barrels of vintage liqueurs.

The center of the rumors, Dr. Hans Becherglas ("hand bombs") and his assistant the mysterious Rikki Spimaser (auto pistol).  Oberst (colonel) Ewrin Dikkmann (Luger) and his aide Shultz (rifle and bayonet) keep a governmental eye on the doctor and his discoveries.  Dr. Hans has been forced to locate in this remote location due to the special circumstances of his gaining the "Dragon Bones"  from Kapitän Himmelskrieger and his air troopers (see DB Adventure in the labels section).  He wants to finish his initial studies and then move the specimen to proper research facilities in a more civilized environment.

All the pieces are  28mm metal.  The Germans are from Renegade Figures the Nipponese scientists and British are from Pulp Figures.  The brewery are  Foundry- Iman & Johan, Warlord-Katrina, Renegade-Sebastien and Pulp-Bruno.  The game will be using my own Pulp Fiction Rules.