The Front WW2 RPG session 3: Assault the Moathouse!!
After defeating the German force that held the town of St. Hommlet, our Heroes discovered that the Gestapo man and some SS soldiers had just made off with about 10 POW's before the player's raid!!
Corporal Murphy orders Prvt. Sterling to trail the enemy truck up the north road and get a look at the moathouse the french have told them about.
While Sterling takes off to do this task the rest of the group, contact HQ. The POW's are first priority and they are told to leave the mortar team at the village and to move out in pursuit of the SS troops.
The squad decides it will be better to go on foot even though it will take them longer to travel the 5km or so to the moathouse location. They do not want to give away their element of surprise with a vehicle!
The day has become quite overcast and a constant drizzle males everyone soaked and uncomfortable. Also a thick fog has settled on the countryside limiting the groups visibility.
The squad gets a frantic call from Sterling on the radio! He has been spotted and the SS have dogs!! They hear shots fired the radio goes out. The decide to double time it to get to Sterling as fast as possible. At the last moment Prvt. Fynn catches sight of an ambush and alerts the squad! A firefight breaks out in the woods!
Minor scrapes are endured and Prvt. Stone takes out the two SS troopers on the right with a Full Burst from the BAR! Prvt. Honeycut rushes the Trooper on the left who attempts to run and cuts him down with a shotgun blast!
 |
| Forest firefight! |
A short time later the Squad arrives at the area where Sterling is last presumed to have been. They do not find their fellow grunt, but they discover something else!! Along the side of the road a handful of POW's have been dumped in the mud. They are all dead but not from gunshots. Something else has killed these men and Dawkins thinks it might be some type of new Gas weapon! Just what are the Nazi's up to??
 |
| What has killed these men? |
The squad presses on through the the fog and eventually comes upon the Moathouse as described by the villagers. There is no patrol evident so the men sneak right up to the gateway.In the courtyard they can see a cargo-truck (1/2 track is a stand in) being loaded quickly with boxes and equipment from inside the fort.
 |
| Sneaking up! |
Being cautious and timing things just right hey are able to take out the 3 SS troopers stationed in the guard tower using bayonets! Murphy takes a bad hit to the face, but pushes through, he can't let down Sterling or the POW"S!! A Flamethrower is found here and Stone volunteers to use this weapon to great effect within the confines of the structure.
 |
| Taking out the guards silently! |
Murphy swaps out his helmet for a german in hopes that in the bad weather it lend to the guise that he is one of the SS for surprise purposes. Plus he knows a smattering of german as well and can usually get in a phrase or two to stymie the enemy before they raise an alarm. The squad leaves the confines of the tower and make to take out the two men loading the truck. In the scuffle a trooper within the moathouse attempts to fire on them but Prvt. Stone lights him up wth the Flame thrower!!
 |
| The alarm goes up! |
Murphy and Honeycut break for the main entry to the moathouse proper and take out an emerging SS trooper with a hail of .45 rounds and buckshot! An mg32 opens up on the others as they use the truck for cover! Stone fires a burst of flame to cow the machine gun so he and Fyn can get to the entry proper. Dawkins in the meantime has located the keys for the truck and starts it up.
 |
| Stone blasts the MG! |
Under orders from Murphy, Stone & Honeycut lay down suppressive fire tearing into the scrambling SS troops! While Fynn keeps the MG team down by firing on them!
 |
| The flamethrower at work!! |
Murphy takes this moment to unload a short burst into the room where the MG team is finishing them off! Dawkins back the cargo truck up and blocks off the windows directly behind him.
 |
| Murphy finishes off the MG team! |
The next few rounds are a furious room to room firefight, leading eventually to a showdown with a Panzershrek team that emerges from the basement! An interior wall is blown to bits and luckily our heroes are able to avoid any serious damage! Stone kills the SS commander and defuses the detonator device that has the entire structure wired to blow!!
Murphy leads Fynn and Honeycut down the stairs after the trooper with the bazooka. They know he is wounded but don't know how much. They are worried about any prisoners that may be below!
In the basement the squad finds the lone wounded SS trooper pointing the panzershrek at the wired explosives. Nearby Sterling is locked in a cell. The room is filled with the scattered remains of medical and laboratory equipment. The trooper threatens to take them all out by shooting the explosives, but Honeycut fires a load of buckshot and kills him before he can make good on his threat!!
Releasing Sterling the wounded private relates that he came upon the SS dumping the bodies on the road side when he was ambushed by a dog presumably used by the SS. When he arrived here the commander order him taken below while the truck with the rest of the POW's continued north. The remaining troopers were evacuating this location and setting it up for destruction with the explosives.
Wasting no more time Murphy and the men pile into the cargo truck after looting the panzershrek & MG32 and head north after the POW's. In the back Dawkins scours through boxes and finds some notes and documents referring to something called Projekt - Prometheus. He also finds testing notes from prior experiments on other POW subjects.
The squad hopes to catch up with and take out the other truck before it reaches its destination.
** Unknown to our brave little band, high above them in the skies a battle between British and german air forces plays out. see prior post: Session 2a Air Combat!
Stay tuned for The FRONT session 4: Projeckt Prometheus! in October 2018!!!
