Vergeltungswaffen

Surrounded!

2008-11-29T20:02:00.014+01:00

In the middle of nowhere, on the tracks of the escaped American spies, the party meets a Hetzer followed by a trail of zombies.

A zombie manages to get on the roof and clings there. Suddendly the hatch opens, and an American crewmember gets out to blast the undead with his tommy gun.

The party reveals to the (probably) friendly group, and so, taken care of the undead, they meet and greet. There are only two crewmember, escaped by the terrible slaughter that hit the retreating american army. the survived a week and captured this German tank, and are now trying to reach the American forces. The party tells them France has also suffered contagion, and now it is safer to be here then near Paris. They join the arty in their search for the American spies.

The blue car in which the GI's fled lies abandoned on the roadside. They must be near!

the party steps into the wood, and find a half-burn cabin, surrounded by partisan forces. In there the Americans are somehow kept under siege.

One of the irregulars comes to tell the party that they intercepted this american patrol in the wood, and are keeping them under surveillance. The partisan group met in Veghel managed to tell this partisan section to keep an eye on any American trying to reach Belgium. This is what they did, and they were waiting for orders before storming the cabin.

Sophie goes to talk with the spies and find a way to get back what the American stole from the party: the books of Volkehauer, the vial containing the virus... many things that will prove useful to contrast the plague in the future.

The Americans ask for Lotte, and propose to share the loot and ask for the assurance that they will be able to get away safely. So, Lotte is sent in with the sdkfz, the bargain is made under the constant aim of both Tony's sniper rifle and the American one.

But when the exchange is nearly done, Vanni steps out of the halftrack, assaulting the surprised GI. In the confusion the American marksman, trying to shoot Vanni, kills Lotte with a badly placed bullet!

Killed the first spie, Vanni and Je Jack jump in to take care of the marksman and secure the loot.

The guy is captured alive. The party reach the cabin, and the loot is put back into safety. Lotte is dead.

Before the party can interrogate the GI, a strange noise is heard across the wood. An american platoon is coming over to rescue the spies... that's what they were waiting for here! A strange armoured giant walks with them... what the hell is that?

Across the fiel the hetzer tries to take aim of the walking machine...

A powerful anti-tank round hits the MaK leg, tearing it apart.

The Americans make a push, Doc. Elias lies on the ground, and only the Mob lies between the advancing soldiers and the precious Loot in the Shack!

Eventually the US soldiers are routed, but Elias lies dead on the ground. Another heavy loss for the freedom fighters...

Show Business

2008-11-12T12:27:00.000+01:00

Sargent Fritz Meyer tells the party all he knows...
The whole region is being abandoned. The Wehrmacht is drawing to the Siegfried Line, retreating in the safe Rhine Region. Only a few battalions are left in the zone, with a simple order to follow: try to survive, engage any enemy force that is scouting the zone, try to keep silent and not to attract Z's attention. Interfere with any enemy initiative. The chain of command is solved, the rogue battalions are left on their own.

There is only one hope left to the abandoned rogue battalions... find Lotte. Nobody understands why, but there is an order, issued by Volkenhauer himself a couple of days before the Z-day: anyone who will find and rescue a singer named Charlotte Sengler will be rewarded with a sure pass to the Rhein Region. This reward is extended to anybody: civilian or military, friend or foe. It looks like Volkenhauer had lost his doll and was really concerned about taking her back. No one knows if there has been a love affair, some political reason or if she's part of the Vergeltungswaffen plan... but Lotte seems to be a primary objective for the party.
The partisans tell the party they have heard Lotte singing on the Eindhoven Radio frequency a couple of days ago... if there is a hope of finding her, it lies in the Radio Station!

Eindhoven is a silent city now. No noise, no sound. Only, from time to time, a machine gun sound somewhere downtown. The whole city has been zombified with the terrible Vergeltungswaffen...
AS a strategy, Montana and Wallensteint remain outside the city, waiting for the group to come back with Lotte. They need to guard the SdKfz and the precious food contained in it.

Moving in the city, a desperate scenario appears... no living walks the ruins of this place. Totò and Claire make their way through an abandoned bakery, where they manage to find some food.

In the meanwhile, Sophie finds a car, with some gasoline in it.

Quickly comes the rest of the group, and the car is pushed silently in a concealed place.

From the bakery's roof, Totò and Claire manage to see the Radio station... it's besieged by zombies!

The party gets nearer, walking silently. A ruined house near the Radio Station is chosen as the headquarter for this operation.

The second floor is clean, from there the party has a direct view on the Radio Station.

Gary, Sophie, Vanni and Doc. Elias go scouting the nearabout, to look for some other cars or goods of some sort. That's when they find the source of the machinegun sound. There are five GI's in a ruined building...

Dueling with a bunch of German soldiers in Navy uniform. Attracted by the gunfire, many zombies crowd the streets around the houses.

As the Germans see Sophie and the others, they scream: Der Strom! Der Strom! They are friendly agents!

Trying to move around the buildings to meet the Strom agents, the freedom fighters run into a group of Zombies... caught by surprise, Vanni is wounded.

Quickly followed by Sophie, who seems to be in a bad shape.

While the wounded Sophie and Vanni remain with the Strom agents, Gary and Elias try to talk with the GI's: we're on the same side! But the street isn't the best place to talk, as many zombies keep coming...

So they get in the house, where they tell anything they know to the GI group: the Germans are ok, they won't cause any problem. The real enemies are now the undead and the hunger.

On the GI's side... they are two soldiers of the XXX corps, who failed to fall back and found themselves cut out of their comrades' zone, and three 101st airborne division soldiers, dropped in Veghel and trying to regain a safe position moving south.

The party manages to put the two groups together, and they rejoin the rest of the party. Coming back they find a second car.

In the radio station a silhouette appears, it's Lotte screaming for Help!

The singer has been trapped in the broadcast room, she cannot get out as the zombies have swarmed in the building.

She has a clear path to the rooftop, she is hungry and shocked. the party tells her to keep quiet, they are going to storm the building in a few minutes...

The zombies are everywhere, but the party has a plan. The tension is high, they have never faced so many living dead...

they grip their guns and wait for the two cars to start driving by the radio station, in order to attract as many zombies as possible, leaving a few around the building, so that the commando can gat in and save the precious Lotte...

The plan is simple: two cars are going to drive near the Z's to attract their attention and so lighten the pressure on the building. As soon as the quantity of Z's is acceptable, the party in the house is going to storm the Radio Station and free Lotte.

The walking corpses, attracted by the engine noise, draw close to the cars.

Covered in gore, the pilots drive in the small streets around the Station.

But a zombie somehow manages to break the windscreen, and Claire, along with one of the yankies, loose control of their car, crashing the vehicle against a wall.

Gary spots the danger, as more and more living dead are getting near to the unconscious bodies in the crashed car. He walks behind the zombies unseen, and lobs a grenade among the undead to draw their attention and stop them from moving toward Claire.

Even if one of the cars is crashed, the plan is going really well, as many of the zombies besieging the Radio Station are now chasing the blue car. Elias leads the assault to the Station.

Elias, the Airborne troopers and the Strom agents get into the building, fighting hand to hand against the Z's. They try not to use their guns to keep silent and not to attract other Zombies.

Meanwhile, Gary gets to the crashed car. The GI is dead, but Claire is still breathing. He takes her up and runs away from the shambling mass.

The blue car gets near, and manages to bus Gary and Claire...

Just in time before the Zombie horde arrives, following the car's noise.

Inside the Radio Station the fight is hard, but eventually the freedom fighters manage to conquer the first floor, where Lotte is trapped.

After the last undead's brain is splintered on the floor, the party meets Lotte, she seems to be in good shape, even if she must have been here for two days without food nor water. And, most of all, how can it be that Lotte has survived the Zombie breakout, and seems to be the only breather in the whole Eindhoven?

However, the party exits Eindhoven, trying to avoid further fights.

In the outskirts of the city, the party runs into a child survived the horror, her name is Alice, and she's wandering in no man's land along with her cat Bumbo.

And so the party settles outside Eindhoven, to heal wounds, rest and decide what's next. Here's the complete party now: Left to right, up to down: Blue car, Sdkfz, Der Strom Agents, Airborne GI's, Montana and Wallenstein, Lotte, Sophie, Claire and Joe Jack, The Ragazzi at full strength, Elias and Fritz Meyer, Gary and Alice.

During the night the party hears a scream and some shots; they run to see what's happening, and find Lotte biting a GI to death!

The two GI's take the car and drive away! Claire and Sophie try to take down Lotte.

The GI is dead, Lotte is put down by the Maquis, but...

something strange has happened: during the night the Americans have stolen all the material the party have collected in Volkenhauer's hideout (books, samples of the deadly virus, and so on). The have also tried to kidnap Lotte, but the girl reacted with a vicious strength and showed she could well take care of herself.

That's why she didn't die in the Z-outbreak! She's been infected with a different virus, and she's starting to show her real nature... she's a blood drinker, immune to Zombie contagion, but maybe even more dangerous!

17/09/1944 Z-day

2008-11-05T23:59:00.001+01:00

As the Zombies push hard to break the scratch build barricade, the party quickly leaves the bunker. They know this is a location that could come handy in the future, to investigate Volkehauer's lab, but it's not time now.
They carry away some book found in his secret chamber and a specimen of the deadly virus.
As they get out of the underground they hear far away the noise of artillery pounding Veghel. They decide to destroy the bunker and the pillbox in order to seal and conceal the lab keeping it safe.

They move on to Veghel in order to join some allied sector.
Cautiously moving through the woods on the south of the canal, they meet abandoned farmhouses, they spot some German patrol, and finally they get to see a village where a bunch of civilians are running away from a dozen of living dead!

No one could know better what is to be done, and so they fire from distance, aiming the head. Bullets scream in the evening air, and more zombies are attracted.
Tony, Vanni and Totò are charged by a couple of Z's shambling out of a burnt shack. The hand to hand combat is creepy as just one scratch could turn infect them!

Gary jumps over a fence, spreading some lead on the walking corpses...

Doc Elias is nearly attacked by a zombie, but he manages to take him off with a point-blank shot with his faithful Smith and Wesson.

The party eventually manages to control the Z's and to stop more from arriving... the civilians are safe, and they welcome their saviors in their house.

The party comes to know that German troops are retreating to the East, in the Rhine region. During the night there has been a massive moving around, and only a few patrols remain roaming this area.
The civilians tell the party there is a group of partisans, stuck somewhere along the canal, hidden in a small village. The party comes to know the position and the secret signal to contact them, knocking on the door with a rhythmic pattern.
The party gets to the village, as described, and it seems to be quiet.
They recognize the house described before,

they knock on the door with the secret code, and they meet the partisans. They are few, but they have a radio, and they are ready to fight the invader.

As they are talking, a German halftrack comes rattling in the square. Claire notices through the window the German patrol approaching.

They seem to be looking for someone, searching house to house. And, along the way, they are taking all the food they can find, leaving to civilians with nothing to eat.
The party and the partisans decide to attack them to steal the SdKfz and the food, and to know who are they looking for and why.

The party gets out of the house, and deploy all around the town to catch their foes from all sides.

Robbie and Claire try to ambush the German patrol, shooting from and abandoned house's window.

The manouver is somehow incorrect, though, and Sick Robbie and Doc Elias find themselves exposed with noone to cover them!
The firefight is harsh, and Robbie is shot to death by a sudden burst from an unseen enemy!

Doc Elias runs to save him, but it's too late. The English commando lays dead on the floor. Gary finds himself with no comrade left. This war has taken a heavy toll on the party!

Eventually, the party manages to win the German team, and find themselves with an Halftrack filled with looted food, something that can come very handy in these difficult times.

There is a survived German soldier too, he is Sergent Fritz Meyer, he finds with no companion in a stranger land, and starts to tell everything to the able torturer Tony...

17/09/1944 Grand Finale: Storming Volkenhauer's hideout

2008-10-29T23:55:00.000+01:00

After some roaming through the woods, pursued by German teams, some Freedom Fighters find themselves split from the rest. They look at the maps, and they recognize the zone, as described by Der Strom's agents. There are a bunker and a pillbox in the wood, clearly without a defensive purpose. That may be the entrance to Volkenhauer's secret underground cove...

Montana, Sophie, Bertrand, Howard, Robbie ad Elias decide to get nearer, and then find a good place to wait for the other members of the party.

As they see some German trooper in the defensive emplacements, Vanni decides to go and spy the situation. He wears the DAK uniform and goes for a close look.

As he walks to the bunker, the other Freedom Fighters arrive from the North... the group is now at its full!

Vanni manages to play his part, and the German garrison welcomes this strange-looking Afrika Korps Kamerade. They are few, and evidently nervous.

The attack starts, and to draw the attention, Sophie, Montana, Wallenstein and Koenigsberg start shooting at the pillbox. Some SMG fire responds quickly, and Koenigsberg is sent to Valhalla.

Quickly the fire intensifies, and the weak pillbox defenses are torn apart.

In the large bunker the Germans prepare to react, firing in the wood. Vanni behaves normally, and he pretends to lend a hand to the Kameraden.

Attracted by the shooting, some reinforcements arrive, it's an MG-team ranking up behind the pillbox.

As nobody looks at him, Vanni slips out of the bunker, leaving behind him a couple of grenades!

Only a soldier survives the horrible blast.

In front of the pillbox, Robbie covers the advance with some smoke grenade, putting a strong smokescreen between the party and the MG.

The party runs to the pillbox.

Vanni tries to draw the MG attentions, hoping his uniform will prevent the Germans from shooting him... "there's a traitor!", he screams desperately, with a strong Southern-German accent... they seem to believe him.

But as the MG turns back to the smokescreen, Montana and Totò jump out and kill the team with deadly precision.

Can anybody remember the survived soldier in the bunker? Well, he's back, and willing to make the traitor pay... he gets out of the back door, and shoots Vanni right in the back...

...the italian spy falls on the ground.

But Sophie is already on the spot, and tears the Kraut apart with her faithful Sten.

Vanni suffered just a flesh wound, and recovers quickly.

Totò reaches the empty pillbox, and finds a hatch similar to the one on the bunker's floor.

Everybody get in the bunker, there's a hatch, it's open, and it leads to the dark creepy cove of Volkenhauer!

The group split... the Maquis, Tony, Vanni, Elias and Montana descend the bunker's hatch, finding themselves in a humid, badly lit subterranean room.

The LRDG, Isaac and Totò get into the pillbox hatch. The room is smaller, but as well dark and humid.

On the bunker side Vanni goes first, exploring the underground corridor that opens in front of him.

On the other side Robbie does the same...

... quickly followed by the rest of the group.

Vanni waits on the corner, and he comes to face a German toe to toe!

With a quick reaction he takes him out, and then another, just around the corner!

On the pillbox side a firefight breaks out with some SS soldiers, they are armed with the fearful STG-44... Isaac manages to make his foe duck back...

And then Gary takes him out with a grenade, cleaning the room.

Back on the bunker side, more Jerries get out of the room, seriously wounding Vanni and stunning Montana.

Tony turns the corner and takes out one of them, while Bertrand jumps over the comrade's bodies trying to reach his foe with his axe.

He hits him with a wild swings, and the German, unbalanced, falls on the ground.

But the Kraut gets up again with a lightening reaction and stubs Bertrand to death!

Claire and Sophie, careless of their own safety run forward to avenge Bertrand's death.

On the pillbox side the party gets into a strange room, with four openings. Two of them are closed with heavy metal doors.

A whiz from the north door, like an electric engine working. Then, slowly, the south door opens... the party recognize quite soon the horrible silhouettes of the living dead... it's a trap!

On the Bunker side Tony sees something moving in the dark, he shoots... but it was Robbie! The two parties re-join, but Robbie is bleeding on the ground due to friedly fire!

In the small room things get hot as the party tries to push back the shambling horde.

Soon everybody's in, and someone tries to open the North door. Vanni has been cured by doc Elias, who's only got one first-aid kit left...

The zombies are gone, but there's something strange with Howard... he's badly wounded, and some horrible slime is oozing from one of his wounds. Quickly his officer Ltn. Maxwell disarms him and puts him on the ground. "Do it, Lieutenent... do it..." moans the English private. Gary knows what needs to be done, and takes his buddy out with a generous Webley headshot.

Vanni picks the lock of the North door, leading to another room. On the South wall there's a lever, evidently used to release the zombies. Another door on the North.

Sophie, Claire and Gary get into the now empty Zombie-cell. They found a badly concealed hole, leading to some deeper level. They choose to get down.

They get into a small room, leading to a large warehouse, where a bunch of highly trained Jerries are waiting for them. Sophie falls on the ground...

The party tries to force the block, and one after another they are put down by the Germans' intense fire! Isaac decides he's had enough and runs in, Smith and Wesson blazing. In a single move, he manages to take out two Germans, but he's hit by a ricocheting bullet.

The party swarm in and Doc Elias puts his boss on a wooden table to cure his wound. But it's too late. Isaac's last act of heroism was generously paid with his life.

Everybody's sadness is washed away in a few seconds, as a mass of zombies is sighted coming from the eastern corridor. This time they are really too many!

Everybody grabs a piece of furniture and puts it on the opening. The party tries to hold back the zombies, but they are so many... who knows how long is it going to last?

Suddenly the Archaeologist's acute senses feel a quick cold air current coming from the western wall. He gets nearer, and he finds a secret door!

With the help of the maquis he manages to get it open.

This must be Volkenhauer's hideout!

The worn and dirty tabels are covered with books full of strange theories and studies.

In the warehouse room things are getting desperate, as the zombies are pushing really hard!

Robbie explodes some M1 shots to keep them quiet, but more and more are coming!

Then, in the secret room a shot rings, and the door opens. Volkenhauer lays on the ground, a Luger smoking on the floor, and his brains scattered all around. Behind his body two huge glass vials...

Those must contain the deadly virus! The mission is completed, Europe is safe! The World is safe!

Suddenly a radio transmission breaks the static. In the Virus room comes the sound of distant voices, transmitting from far-away places...

"Station fourteen, Belgrad. The virus has been released, Over"
"Station twenty-one, Rome. The Virus has been released. Gott mit uns! Over"
"Station eight, Paris. The virus has been released, Over"
"Station sixty-five, Eindhoven. The virus is out. Over"

Mesmerized, the freedom fighters listen to over fifty transmissions, reporting the release of the terrible scourge from North Africa to Balkans to the very heart of Europe. Untold, or unknown by Der Strom, a hundred subterranean stations hid in former Reich-controlled areas, ready to spread the plague. The party's minds are twisted by the enormous scale of Vokenuaher's plan. Europe is lost... North Africa is lost, and maybe the whole world will follow them soon...

TO BE CONTINUED...

17/09/1944 (Mis)drop in Veghel

2008-10-22T17:27:00.000+02:00

The two German soldiers who joined the party, code-named Koenigsberg and Wallenstein, manage to get a contact with a secret society that is working inside the Reich to ruin Volkenhauer's deadly plan. This society is called "Der Strom", or "The Current". Der Strom's intelligence managed to track Volkenhauer's hideout somewhere near Veghel, in Holland. So the Order waits until the moment is fine, and as the Allies plan to invade Holland with the Operation Market Garden, the party joins the paras, hoping to reach Volenhauer's base as the German Army is alarmed by the present invasion.

Koenigsberg and Wallenstein, once soldiers of Volkenhauer, now his deadliest foes.

The aircraft is hit by AA fire, and the landing spot is missed. The party must drop out, and they find themselves somewhere in the fields near Veghel...

The party lands scattered around, and Gary finds himself terribly near a bunch of German soldiers.

Hi throws a grenade around the corner. The grenade scatters, but the German grunts flee in panic.

Tony and Isaac drop in a wood facing the Farm. As soon as they touch ground, an MG opens fire from the house, and Tony is wounded...

Howard, Vanni and Elias land behind the farmhouse, near a ruined shack. The landing is soft, and the three soldiers in the shack are engaged and caught by surprise.

one of the killed soldiers has a precious Panzerfaust, quickly taken by Vanni.

Sophie joins the group, putting up a small defense in the shack.

Robbie, dropped quite far away, is engaged in a shootout with a Kraut. None seems to prevail...

The German garrison get into the farmhouse, putting up a defense and waiting for reinforcements. The MG-42 and the SMG-armed soldiers try to stop the party with automatic fire. Claire, Sophie, Totò and Tony shoot them from all-around, and quickly the party softens the enemy defenses.

The party advances in leaps, but in the confusion nobody can see Tony. They cannot stop to look after him, they need to clean the farmhouse first. Totò runs through the road and finds a safe spot by the outward wall.

Montana and Koenigsberg run through he wood, but the Archaeologist is reached by an MG-bullet. No way, the house must be cleared right now!

Ltn. Maxwell does what is needed, when is needed. He climbs into the house and blast away the last Jerries with a well placed grenade lob.

The party manages to get into the house, waiting for Robbie and Tony who are still somewhere outside. They try to study the maps, find out where they are and how can they get to Volkenhauer's cove. But a noise catches their attention. It's a large diesel engine! More enemies are coming... and there's a Tiger with them!

The house isn't safe anymore, an 88 could punch through it like nothing. So the party splits: some go behind the house...

Some go North, trying to prepare an Ambush with the captured Panzerfaust.

The Krauts advance carefully, covering the advance of the tank...

The ambush group waits patiently, then tries to draw the infantry's attention shooting out some enemy. The Tank proceeds to eradicate the enemy infantry, but as soon as it crosses a small hump, Montana sees a soft spot in the monster's tough hide. So he grabs the Panzerfaust and punches through its armor!

The tank is burning, the Germans fall back, and when everything seems to be at its best...

A new reinforcement squad reaches the battle theater! Deluded and frustrated the party needs to run away, without the possibility to find Tony and without the ease to study the maps. Everybody runs through the wood, hoping to remember the right way, and hoping to find all the comrades at the randez-vouz: Volkenhauer's hideout!

22/05/1944 - Combing Sant'Elia

2008-10-15T20:01:00.000+02:00

Sicily is invaded, and so the Order wants the party in Italy. The issue is Volkenhauer is still free and he may be trying to test the terrible virus on Italian civilians and to trouble Allied offensive by spreading the plague in the invaded soft-belly of the Reich.

That's how the party passes more than one year in Italian land, investigating every conquered town, searching for Volkenhauer and his terrible minions.
After the bloody battle for Cassino something happens. As the Germans withdraw to the North, and the Allies are combing the nearby towns, they find a German pocket of resistance in a small town on the hills: Sant'Elia. It's reported less than a platoon in the area.
Civilians are sent to tell that if the Allies will try to attack or shell the town, the Germans are going to spread a mortal virus. They just need two days to evacuate, and then the town will be free.
The fact is taken less than hilariously by the Allied HQ, and in a couple of hours an armoured company is ready to go and take the village.
But the Order has eyes and ears everywhere, and so the Allied HQ receives an high rank order to stop the attack and let a bunch of ill-sorted commandos to search the town before any attack is made...

The party gets the order too, they have got one day to find out what's happening, eliminate any living-dead, clean the village and find out any real virus-threat.
It is very important to keep the thing secret even to the Allied. The Order doesn't want the virus to be known to any army... they may well use it against their foe, and the risk for civilians is too high.

By the way... what happened to Bertrand? After Al-Mohad the poor guy fell in a deep state of confusion. He's been seen roaming around the fields searching for foes to kill, believing he is some kind of immortal super-hero... one night he came back wearing a firefighter helm and a rescue axe. He may have found these things in a nearby abandoned town. He never wanted to get rid of this stuff.

So the party start moving into Sant'Elia, they approach the town moving into a bombed area in the west side. Bertrand and Claire move in.

Backed up by Claire, Isaac and Elias.

The mobsters and the LRDG take a south position, behind a low wall. From there they can cover the advance through the main square.

The town looks quiet. The only noise is a constant and pounding industrial noise.

Tony notices that the noise comes from a tall sigarette factory... the door is shut, and in front of it, trying to get in, there is bunch of living dead!

Past the rubbles, Isaac and Elias get into a garage, and a zombie shambles through the room, trying to get them!

The gunfighters eliminate the wretch, but, attracted from the gun noise, more zombies shamble down the stairs. The cowboys fall back, as Bertrand throws himself into the garage wielding his axe.

Meanwhile, on the south side, the Mafia guys and the Brits are reached by some automatic weapon shots. The mimetic uniforms of some SS show on the city hall's roof.

The party returns fire, but more Krauts show in the top floor of the tall green house near the square. There is a sniper up there! If the mobsters or the Brits don't get the sniper, it could prove deadly for the guys coming up from west.
That's the plan: while the LRDG lands covering fire, Tony, Vanni and Totò will assault the house and eliminate the sniper.
They go, and everything works fine, but Totò is reached by a bullet.
Gary runs out of his cover to grab the wounded comrade, dodging the bullets and defying death. The action is a success, and Totò is now safe.

Tony and Vanni are in the building, and they climb up to get the sniper. The SS is captured, and the mobsters are now in the best fire position of Sant'Elia.

From there Tony and Vanni engage the SS on the City Hall.

After a few shots, Tony grabs the sniper rifle from the ground, and as the bullets of the StG44 scream all around, Tony manages to keep his nerves, adjusts his aim and takes down the SS.

From that position, it is possible to see the whole Town. Called by the firefight many zombies move out in the streets. Beside the green house there is an M13 Carroarmato, a light Italian tank. Some jerry cans and bins are stacked in the square, and a wire, starting from the, goes into a house nearby. It could be a mean to blow the noxious gases up and contaminate Italy!

Montana and the French Pilot try to get some pressure away from their comrades, and so they try to run over some zombie. The small but nervous engine of the Topolino carries the two in a zombie safari.

Windscreen wipers try to clean all that gore...

The thing is funny, so they make a screaming U-Turn to get more zombies.

But in that moment... Sophie Bert and doc. Elias, cleaned the garage from the zombies, step into an abandoned Citroen, wanting to speed up things and get into the heart of battle. AS they get out of the garage, the cross the firefight between Tony and the City Hall, then they turn left into the main street... where they risk a collision with the blood-crazy Topolino!

the Citroen is ok, but the Topolino looses control, and flips. Montana is Ok, but the French Guy is unconscious. A zombie smells blood and shows up.

Montana gets rid of the living dead, and carries the pilot on his shoulders to get him out of the action. But something goes wrong. An SS pops out from a nearby house and pours fire on them. Montana is ok, but a bullet reaches the French Pilot, who receives a deadly wound.

The Citroen, avoided the collision, runs through Sant'Elia. Bertrand and Sophie jump into the cigarettes factory and knock out a surprised German. Ha tells them that the factory's machine was kept running to produce noise that attracted zombies, and kept them away from the team's main goal: get rid of the Virus!

Sophie interrogates him roughly, speaking a simple German: "What? Eliminate the Virus?". The SS answers with a proud tone: "Yes, we are soldiers, not plague-bearers... Captain Volkenhauer is a madman, he wanted us to get us to get surrounded and to free the Virus, to turn the Allied host in a shambling mass of living dead. This would affect civilians, and spread God knows where. At first we obeyed, but them seeing the effects of that thing, we tried to emend this fault, and we bought time with menaces to bury those jerrycans and avoid this tragedy". All is clear now, the SS are on the party's side! Now it's time to clean Sant'Elia from the zombie infestation and take away any remaining portion of the Virus. And the Germans? As long as their hate for Volkenhauer is burning, they are valuable comrades.

It's time to do some cleaning, and doc. Elias kills many living-dead with his revolver.

Sophie screams an order, and Claire puts a generous quantity of C4 by a house. The plan of the Maquis is simple: make some noise, draw the zombies out of their hideouts and take them all out. The explosive is set, and Claire runs away while a house is blown up.

Now Gary, Howard and Isaac reach the M13 Carroarmato, covered by Robbie smoke grenades.

The Zombies start moving toward the explosion, but they find Claire's SMG and the 47mm to face them.

Howard applies his ballistic knowledge to the crude Italian gun, and blows some Zombies up.

The freedom fighters tear apart the undead scum, and purge the abomination out of Sant'Elia.

Epilogue:
Bertrand jumps around the rubbles maiming some still moving corpse, while Rev. Isaac gives the last rites to the dead French Guy. Gary and Howie share a Woodbine, sitting on the chassis of the M13. Montana and Robbie put the jerrycans on the Citroen and the Topolino, they'll take them to the Order: someone will study them and maybe find a cure to Volkenhauer's scourge. Doc. Elias cures Totò, who's been hit on a shoulder, and will be ok, while Tony tries to squeeze the Germans and make them tell anything. They are very collaborative, and they want to stop the Vergeltungswaffen as much as the party does. Even if Italy survived this danger, maybe Belgium or France will not, and the German people is in danger too... they know their first duty is to protect their country, and so they don't hesitate to tell the place where they know one of Volkenhauer's hideouts is.

05/03/1943 - Blitz in Mateur

2008-10-08T09:11:00.000+02:00

50 Km from Tunisi, Mateur seems to be one of the last defence lines of the DAK. the Order riceived informations about some Officiers, formerly part of Kampfgruppe Volkenhauer, still digged in Mateur, maybe left behind by their Capt.
After the the flee from Zuara, Volkenhauer retreated in Tunisi, and he is very likely to be already gone in some reach of the Reich. That's how the Order needs to get some of his officiers to make them tell where did Volkenhauer go. The mission is easy, while intense firefights are tearing Mateur apart, and the U.S. Amry is making a push to eradicate german defences, the freedom fighters will sneak up to the spot where these officiers are, and try to capture one.
Rev. Isaac, Elias, Montana, the French Pilot, the Mafia guys, te LRDG, Sophie and Claire are coming along. Poor Bertrand wasn't the same after seeing the mummy, and he's back in the U.S. camp, tied to a camp bed to deal with his nightmares...

The block is lightly guarded, as the main fight is going on somewhere else. THese appear to be only rearguards or reserves.

"Sick" Robbie, Gary and Sophie move past some big building to catch the DAL unprepared.

Vanni and Montana come along, and the Archaeologist sneaks up the stairs to get rid silently of the two guards.

Robbie pulls a smoke granade, thus covering Montana Stone's advance up to the rooftop. The DAK soldiers are suprised!

Meanwhile a bunch of american soldiers show up. They've broken the line some block away and they're trying to get a good position to defend from counterattacks.

Seeing the assault of Montana Stone, some DAK soldiers pop uf on a rooftop and start putting some intense fire on the big house.

Montana is unlucky, and a miserable grunt hits his head swinging his Kar98 in the air. He's a star tho, so his famous hat manages to keep him alive (that prof. really cheated death!).

AS the GI's try to get to an elevated house, an MG pops up from a window, distrupting the squad's coherency and morale.

Meanwhile the LRDG and the French Guy, covered by the second smoke granade from Robbie, jump past a low wall and run to storm the DAK HQ and get some prisoners.

On the GI side, a single DAK still alive in he elevated house lobs a granade right above the incoming team. The blast is furious, and no GI survives.

Robbie runs around the corner, finding a DAK sergeant ready to put him down. Then comes Dumbass Howard and empties his Sten clip right ino the Jerry. Robbie received just a scratch.

AS the LRDG storms the big house, the Mafiosi clean the houses around, and Totò shows his muscles getting the Krauts into close combat.

The assault is over... Isaac Robbie and Howie manage to get their hands on a DAK Ltn. and his personal retinue. Tony's torturer talent is going to have them speak quite quickly.

29/01/1943 - Storming Al Mohad

2008-10-01T18:20:00.000+02:00

At noon the Freedom Fighters are disembarked from a truck some kilometers off Zuara. According to the map, the signal came from this area.

After half an hour walking they hear an engine buzzing. They squat and see a German Halftrack stuffed with Grenadiers heading down a white road. A road sign tells they're heading the unknown town of Al-Mohad...

They choose to follow that road, and in a couple of hours they get to a small village. On a slope, some excavations have been done, and some Egyptian manufacts lay under the dust.

Getting near to the town, Vanni wears an Afrika Korps uniform and tries to infiltrate the village.

Walking down the town, he sees that no more than twenty soldiers holding the garrison; but there's something strange: a german soldier is keeping a door closed with an heavy wooden table... he looks freaked out.

As he walks past a hall, he meets a DAK soldier. Something goes wrong and the soldier doesn't believe his identity, so he takes Vanni to his Sergent.

Vanni is scrutined, and finally deemed a traitor.

He is put in the platoon's jail, Captain Volkenhauer will judge what to do with him.

In the small Jail, Vanni finds some very sick captives, but among them two are ok: a French amateur pilot, and mr. prof. doctor Montana Stone!

Vanni greets Stone, and they decide they will try to escape as soon as the guard will be distracted. Doctor Stone is the man who sent the message, as he's heard that Capt. Volkehauer is putting together some devastating weapon, and he's doing it right here, right now. Montana was captured and forced to work on an archeological excavation, where he found some strange canopy vases...

Meanwhile, the others understand that something went wrong, and they decide to plan an attack.

Claire, covered by the mobsters and the Cowboys will blow a house up on the left flank to create panic and confusion. LRDG and the Maquis will storm the right flank.

Claire sets the C4...

And the commandos prepare for the attack.

The house blows up.

Gary gets to a garrisoned house, nobody seems to notice him.

He pops a granade in the room, and cleans it properly.

Am MG-34 on the rooftop starts singing, and both Adam and Isaac are badly injuried. Doc Elias arrives too late. Adam is dead, and Isaac is disappeared.

Claire's flank is dangerous, so Totò and Tony redeploy. Totò and claire prepare themselves to welcome the DAK troops who will get to the area of the explosion to find out what's going on. Tony goes after the the LRDG, Sophie and Bertrand to help. As he gets there, they get into the big house.

Chaos and confusion is at its top, the DAK run through the dusty square to find out what's happening...

But Claire and Totò welcome them with intense SMG fire.

Nervous and stressed, the guard leave his place in the jail...

And so Montana Stone, Vanni and the French Guy (who got a Tommy gun somehow) manage to break lose and step in the Topolino (the small green sport car).

AS the LRDG go further to clean houses, Bertrand, Tony and Claire search the misterious big house... and THREE MUMMIES crawl out of doorway!

Tony and Bertrand can't stand the horrible sight, and they fall on the ground mumbling and trembling. Sophie keeps her nerves, pulls Bertrand away and starts shooting the undead... at first she does nothing, but then, a well-place bullet from her Sten hits the mummy right in the head, and it goes down.

When learned, it's an easy trick, and the stone cold beauty takes all the mummies down.

DAK soldiers are routing, and the LRDG takes position in the houses round the square.

The freedom fighters greet Vanni and Montana, they salute the French Guy, a good comrade, and they interrogate the four captives.

Suddenly Isaac appears from somewhere, they thought he was dead, but the bullet was stopped by the bible he always keeps on his heart. That guy really cheated death...

The secret is uncovered... Capt. Volkehauer kept this secret base to carry on his experiments, and tried to reproduce the mumification techniques of the ancients, with the dream to revive the dead and create the ultimate Vergeltungswaffe, the Retaliation Weapon. As he found the site of a tomb judged cursed on the ancient texts, he kidnapped dr. Stone to lead the excavations. Under the earth, covered by millennia of dust, he found the canopy holding the brains of a cursed mummy. The canopy had been somehow able to preserve a terrible virus, able to turn men into LIVING DEAD!
This is the Retaliation Weapon, something able to disrupt humanity as we know it, something able to turn our worst nightmares into horrible truth!

The road to stop Volkenhauer is long and tough, but know the Order knows his name, and the Order won't let him cause a devastating holocaust.

Introduction

2008-09-15T17:43:00.000+02:00

Vergeltungswaffen is a Wargame/Roleplaying campaign based on NUTS and ATZ from THWG. I've put up a group of five players, each controlling a distinct "faction", as explained later. The setting is WW2, and the first game is set in 1943.

Factions

2008-09-01T17:55:00.000+02:00

Th Order (a mysterious and cryptic group of illuminati), is putting together a group of braves who are to find out what's happening in Egypt. The fact is a famous professor, namely professor Stone, sent a strange and allarming message from a small town in Lybia, the message is "Vergeltungswaffen".
This professor Stone is a friend of the Order and if he thought it was wise to inform the illuminati, this means something bad is happening. Moreover, mr. Stone is missing, and nobody has news about him. So the Order has put together a bunch of braves to rescue him. For this service everybody will get something...

The Maquis, french resistance. They've been promised goods and helps for their fight against the Nazis. They are useful as North Africa is still mostly French Speaking.

Sophie, the trio leader. She's an aspid, a rabid fury of insurgency, fighting the invading enemy wherever it lurks (ok, she's a cool nerved smg-armed doll).

Claire, the explosives expert. During the day a normal waitress in a bistrot near Mont-Martre, during the night a fighter for French Freedom.

Bertrand, the knifeman. Alcoholic, strange, violent. The right arm of Sophie, blond and ice-eyed, bertrand is quick and ferocious at close quarters.

The Mafiosi, italian mobsters. To infiltrate the italian army, the Order needs some italians, and these come from Sicily. What do they get from the job? the Nazis are spoiling the mafia's businnes in south Italy, and a well placed invasion could put everything back as it used to be...

Tony Twistelli, boss of Sicilian Mafia.

Vanni Pizzuto, born of a Sudtirolerin (german-speaking Italian from the North), Vanni is a perfect spy. He speaks fluently Italian, German and French, and his pale complession can pass as Arian with no prloblem.

Totò DiMauro, a muscular sunnovabitch; pimp, gambler and brawler, the right arm of Tony.

The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) - these guys have been ordered to lead the other nine to Zuara.

Ltn. Maxwell is a desert fox, and has a weak spot for Frecnh Women... it didn't take much to Sophie to get his attention...

"Sick" Robbie, expert in sneaky actions, carries the smoke granades and uses an american M1 Carabine. He likes SA rifle, he said once, and nobody can make him change his mind...

Howard Cork, a fatty gunner on his 40's. He is a dumb ass, but he can do miracles when he handles an MG...

The Order's fighters - sent by the order to coordinate everything.

Reverend Isaac McCormick. A silent, strange old-dressed shadow.

Brother Adam Quigley. He's the best shot of the order, with his winchester he can shoot quick and deadly from the distance.

Brother Doctor Elias Rogers. Famous for his horse-back surgery; one hand heals, the other kills.