"Real Wrath of God Stuff!"

Pre-Battle Table.  We played a game last night were a U.S. ranger team led by Captain America was tasked with recovering something extremely valuable from a German convoy.  The convoy is currently awaiting a train to arrive so that the "item" can be sent to Berlin for study.  We decided that we would roll at the beginning of each turn to see when the train will arrive.  If successful, the train will arrive two turns after the successful roll.  This allowed the Americans to kick it into overdrive if needed and for the Germans to get everything in order and ready to go as soon as it arrives.  The game is during a heavy rain and at night.  Every action, a die was rolled to see if there was lighting present during the turn.  If so, this would only double the sighting range instead of triple it as normal. 

The American force.  The U.S. player's force consisted of Captain America and Bucky leading a 10-man elite ranger squad.  The American's also have two OSS agents acting as a Burlesque act that is on route to give a show at a bar in town.  The German forces are not actually known so the Americans will just have to see what goes down.  The American mission is to locate the "item" and then HQ will radio orders to destroy it or evacuate it to a pick up point 5 miles West of their location.  The "item" and ranger will be evacuated via sub.

The German Force.  Unknown strength.  The German's mission is to get the "item" to Berlin no matter the cost.  So with no further ado, a kick ass, bone crushing and faith shaking battle report for ya.

The first turn begins with the arrival of the two sexy OSS agents.  With a impatient Coronal waiting to see the show, the sentries quickly let the duo proceed.  The duo arrives with fanfare and the show begins.

Cap and Bucky make it to the bank without any problems and see that there are two sentries ahead.  They gotta take out the bridge sentries so the rest of the rangers can quickly get into the town.  Cap has a plan.

The sentries are surprised when Bucky emerges from the trees between them.  The two men quickly raise their weapons and demand his surrender at the shadowy figure.  Bucky complies and as one of the Germans flicks on his flashlight he realizes that they are in trouble.  Bucky see the sentries realization and smiles with a slight nod to let him know he's right.

Cap emerges behind the trio and throws his shield at the two Germans.  The shield bounces off the sentry's heads and ricochets back to its owner's hands with ease.  The two Germans fall prone to the muddy ground.  "Nothing to it ol' chum" says Cap.  But just as he says it he sees another figure in the darkness.  A wino has just witnessed the deed.

The rest of the Americans sprint across the railroad bridge after getting the all clear signal.

Meanwhile at the train station, the Germans are unloading the "item" under the supervision of Dr. Braum and the Flaming Skull.  The rest of the security detail sets up a perimeter around the station.

The Alpha section secures the wino and weighs down and dumps the two Germans in the river.  The light post is also neutralized. The Mst. Sgt. wants to off the wino because he will slow them down but Cap staunchly refuses and orders him not to be harmed.

But the muffled voices are heard over the falling rain and another sentry looks down the lane and realizes he can't see his comrades.  The German walks down the lane calling out to them, when he sees a group of men in the shadows just as lightning lights up the sky.  The German stops with weapon raised and takes a closer look and when another bolt of lighting lightens the sky he can see a bright red white and blue figure staring right at him.  But before the German can make his escape, Cap's shield flies through the air at him.

The second he throws it, Cap curses himself knowing that there wasn't enough spine on it.  Instead of taking off his head, the shield only hits his helmet and then ricochets back the the Sentinel of Liberty.  The sentry freaks out at his near death and dives into the perceived safety of the trees.

The Mst. Sgt. and another paratrooper sprints to the shaken sentry and easily takes him out without a sound.

Cap neutralizes a couple light posts with his shield and then leads a section of G.I.s towards the church while being covered by the BAR teams.  Bucky and the RO secure their POW.  In the treeline, The Mst. Sgt and the other para dump the dead sentry in the drink.  Meanwhile back at the cabaret, the OSS dancers are a hit and the Colonel heads upstairs with one of the agents and another girl for a more private show.

Dr. Braum and the Flaming Skull head back to the SS headquarters to report back to their commander.

But upon pulling up, they see the Red Skull and Field Marshal Kurtz along with their Valkyrie bodyguard exiting the building.  The are informed that the station just called and told them that the train should arrive within 20min.

The security detail tightens up its perimeter and gets ready for the arriving train.  In the distance, they hear a faint whistle of the approaching train.

As if on cue, most of the G.I.s turn to the sound of the faint whistle and curse.  Cap orders Bucky to set the bridge to blow and then he and a section of paras double time it towards the station.  "This is going to be close" Cap thinks to himself.

With the impending arrival of the train, the Mst. Sgt. tries to contact HQ to see what they want them to do.  The RO relays the message and adds that they have not even observed the station yet and that they do not know the strength of the enemy guarding it.  "Need confirmation on whether to secure and retrieve the "item" or to neutralize it."  The HQ responds with a, "Hold."  "We don't have the time!  We need orders ASAP, over!" screams the Mst. Sgt. in the phone.  "Repeat.  Hold for orders." repeats HQ.

Bucky and an engineer make quick work on placing the explosives on the bridge.  "Will this be enough to blow it?" asks Bucky.  "It won't destroy it but it will prevent the train from crossing anytime soon." returns the engineer.  "Ok, lets go!" says the engineer as he grabs the wire.  Bucky picks up the plunger and they head off towards the church double time.

Cap silently pushes open the locked door of a small wine bar, only to discover a civilian sleeping in her bed.  On his heels, a BAR team enters the building without the occupant knowing.  The other paras take cover and watch the flanks.

The Red Skull and his entourage mount up and head towards the station.

The radio crackles with life and the order is given, "Secure and retrieve the item".  "FUCK!" exclaims the Mst. Sgt.  He radios Cap with his handie-talkie and lets him know what command has in store and the super-soldier only answers with an, "Affirmative."  He then orders Bucky to set up the plunger and wire and get ready to blow the bridge.  The BAR team sets up cover on the gatehouse and the rest of the section heads for the church.

The BAR gunner sets up as his partner ties up the civilian.  Cap and the other rangers cross the street just as the Red Skull's convoy turns the corner.  Luckily, their is no one home and the two paras head upstairs.

The Red Skull and his entourage arrive at the station.

In the distance Bucky sees the lights of the oncoming train and hits the detonator's plunger and the bridge explodes in a fireball.

BOOOOOOM!  The distant sky is lit up by the explosion and all the security detail goes into action.  The men take up defensive positions around the item and a team is sent out to see what is going on.  The Flaming Skull takes position next to the item as Dr. Braum screams orders to the troops.

"Damn!" says the Skull and immediately orders his Valkyrie to tell the men to load the item back in the truck and to get ready to move out.

Then suddenly, the rangers open up!  A rifle grenade hits the unit going to check out the explosion, taking one out and wounding another.  The G.I.s in the building opens up with rifle fire and another rifle grenade.  The grenade blows up the staff car , killing Dr. Braum and another German.  Cap then double backs around and throws a grenade into the open-top of the flakwagen.  The explosion wrecks the truck and gun and kills the gunner and a loader.  The rest of the crew are thrown to the deck.

The rangers get to the church to find the heavy oak door locked.  The G.I.s lay into it with their rifles but to no avail.  One of them opens up and the door is blown open.

The drunk troops are a bit slow to realize the situation but when the garrison's siren starts to wail, the men hop too and grab their kit.  But before the men can get out the door, the burlesque dancing OSS agent opens up with her not so fake FG42 and takes out the entire bar.  

Upstairs in one of the bedrooms, the Colonel jumps off his guests in response to the garrison alarm and sudden gunfire downstairs.  As he reaches for his gun he sees that it is gone.  He looks up and sees it pointed at him by one of the girls and before he has a chance to react he is killed by the OSS agent.

The OSS agent heads down to help out her partner and runs right into the Colonel's adjutant and the barrel of a MP44 and....

With the sirens blasting, explosions and gunfire, several civilians think it is an air raid and start to make their way to the the church's basement for cover.  Man, are they going to be surprised!

Still half dressed, the flak emplacement's crew emerge from their gatehouse barrack only to be ripped apart by the BAR team's fire.

The German's return fire is murderous and forces the BAR team to displace!

With the BAR broken, the flak crew sprint to their weapon pit and ready their weapon.  A medic makes for the fallen crew to see if he can do anything.

The Red Skull orders a Valkyrie to get the Flaming Skull to help her secure and move the "item" right before he floors it to the garrison's barracks.

The Red Skull pulls up just as the garrison is about to move out.  He orders the Major to send his men to the station and help secure the "item".

The garrison then splits up and heads for the railroad station while the Red Skull stays back away from the fight.

The Germans respond to the American's fire with some of their own!  The building is riddled with bullets that forces the rangers to hit the deck.  A couple Germans use the covering fire to try and flank the Americans.

As the two Germans round the corner, the other BAR team opens up!  One of the Germans is taken out and the other breaks for cover!

One of the Valkyries sees Cap and she charges with guns blazing and a bayonet in her mouth.  The woman smashes into Cap's shield and they begin a lethal dance where only one will survive.

Although close, Cap is able to best his super-human opponent and her lifless corpse hits the wet ground with a splash.

The other Valkyrie reports the Skull's orders to the Flaming Skull and they head to secure the "item".  With their super-human strength, they lift and move the crates away from the fighting.

Meanwhile at the brothel, the Colonel's adjutant orders the OSS agent to come to him.  Not knowing the situation he underestimates the woman and she gets the drop on him.  She pulls her pistol from her panties and empties it into his chest.  Enraged at the scene of her lover's demise, the other woman jumps on top of the agent clawing at her eyes and throat.  But before she could start to strangle the agent, she is shot through the head.  The agent gets up and says to herself with a smile, "Nothin' like a little girl on girl action".
 

The two agents met up downstairs and gather up some weapons and ammo and then head back up to the top floor where they will give the rangers covering fire when they can.

Before the rangers enter the church, the Sarge sees the flak crew man their weapon.  He stops in place and opens up with his Thompson.  The other two Americans follow suit and their lay into the flak crew.  The fire is accurate and devastating and kills two and wound another two of the crew.  The survivors break and jump headfirst into the trench next to their gun pit for cover.

Seeing that the gatehouse is manned and armed with some machine guns, Bucky slips into the water unseen and swings down stream.  He hopes he can put a couple pineapples in the widows before those mgs do any more damage.

Over by the station, Cap sees a group of Germans heading for a flak position.  With his superior speed he makes a run to see if he can reach it before they do.

All the civies head back to their houses once they realize there is a firefight happening.  The two ladies from the brothel also make their escape and head for cover from the firefight.

The sentries return fire on the rangers who chopped up the flak crew but only made one of them hit the deck.  The machine gun crew within the gatehouse moved their weapon to a better vantage to rain lead down the road.

The CO at the train station lays down some spraying fire and the rest of the troops rush towards the building where they were ambushed from.

The Flaming Skull and the Valkyrie keep moving away with the "item" so they can secure it from the Americans.

 

The garrison troops move up, with half occupying the SS headquarters and the other half moving up to help secure the station.

The flak crew make it to their gun and manage to fire a salvo of 20mm shells at the oncoming American!  If it were anyone else they would be pulp but Cap's shield deflects most of the deadly fire but not all.  He emerges with only a light wound to the crew's horror.  But in a last ditch the LMG on top of the the town hall opened up but the American's shield was just to much for the murderous salvo.

Meanwhile over by the station, the BAR team is pinned by the raking fire but still  manages to crawl towards the stairs.  The other two rangers run out of the house and are surprised to see a German right there at the corner of the building.  Without loosing a second, the ranger jumped onto the German while his partner threw a grenade at the LMG team keep the other BAR team suppressed.  The grenade was right on target and killed the gunner and loader but the other German was able to crawl away.  Another ranger ran across the tracks, took aim and took out the last of the LMG team.  The ranger and German were fighting for their lives but the American was a bit faster and killed the German.  The American then picked up his rifle and killed another German at the other corner of the building.

The three rangers by the church break for the cover for the old building while the BAR in the cemetery run to join them.  Then the two OSS agents open up from the third story of the brothel and are able to kill one and wound two more.  The fire also causes one of the flak crew to break as well as two of the sentries.  One sentry makes it into the gatehouse while the other heads behind it where another sentry is taking cover.

Bucky swims up to the bridge and takes the two sentries by surprise and easily offs them with little to do.

 

Back at the station, Cap jumps shield first into the flak crew and is able to take them all out before they can fire again.  Now, if he can use this weapons against its users it might just give the Americans the upper hand in pushing towards the station.

The rangers push forward and one sees that Flaming Skull and his helper trying to move the crate off from the train track.  He uses his handy-talkie and lets Cap know of the attempted escape.

Cap leaves the flak gun behind and sprints his fastest to head the escaping Germans off.  Cap is able to reach the Valkyrie and overcomes her with a swift slam with his shield.

Meanwhile at the gatehouse, Bucky throws a couple pineapples into the gatehouse windows and the grenades rip the Germans apart.

As the smoke clears, the surviving Germans emerge from the gatehouse with hands up.  The Sarge has the nuns help them into the church where they will be tied up and cared for by the clergy.

 

The POWs are searched and tied up while the nuns treat their wounds.  The BAR team heads up to the bell tower to set up their gun.

Enraged at the American's appearance, the Flaming Skull uses his superhuman strength and throws the crate at Cap.  Cap is knocked back as the crate breaks open and a huge gold container spills out.  The lid opens and a strange energy fills the air.  Then strange sounds and apparitions emanate from it.  Cap senses something wrong and hits the deck with eyes closed tucked behind his shield.

The Flaming Skull watches the strange sight before him and then sees what looks like an angel but quickly turns into something more sinister.  The Nazi begins to shutter and then screams as his flaming skull explodes!   A strange light covers the entire town with an eerie glow and then screams are heard throughout.  Most of the town's occupants and the soldiers fighting within it die a horrible death as the Arc's power sweeps over it.  The occupants in the church are somehow immune from it but see its effects on those outside.  A whirlwind appears and the rain and storm is burned off and then as fast as it started, the conflagration stops. 

The Red Skull survives along with two other Germans.  The Red Skull knocks them back to their senses and they scurry to his car.

The Red Skull drives full speed off, cursing the loss of his greatest prize.

Soon after the strange and horrific light show, Cap, Bucky and the surviving Americans load the crate they came for in a bus and head out to their pick-up point in a stunned silence due to what they had just witnesses and survived.

A week later, the crate reaches America and Cap and the the rest of the rangers are debriefed.  After Cap's report of the "item's" indiscriminate destructive power, it is sent to the only place where it will do the most good; into obscurity and lost to anyone else who would use its power. 

I have to tell ya that when my wife wanted to throw the crate at me I kept asking her if she really wanted to do it and she said yes.  When the Arc opened up we rolled for every living person in the town and if they passed a 1/2 Morale Check then they would survive.  Well as you can tell, most were killed with the exception of Cap, Bucky, the Red Skull, two Germans and all the civilians and Americans in the church.  I figured since its God stuff his house should be immune to it.  Anyway, hope ya enjoyed this long one and until the next one.

Brian