Brahmin Wood (mission)

Brahmin Wood is the first mission in Fallout Tactics.

Primary objectives

 * Eliminate the raider leader, Horus.

Secondary objectives

 * Consult with the elder.
 * Locate the shaman.
 * Free the tribal hostages without bringing any harm to them.

Insertion
As soon as the mission briefing is over, pull up your Pip-Boy 2000 and check the map.

You'll begin at the green circle on the map. Your squad consists of yourself, Farsight, and Stitch. Both of your squadmates have a knife and a Beretta, as well as a hunting rifle for Farsight and a pump-action shotgun for Stitch. Stitch also has a few medical items, and both of them are loaded down with 10 stimpaks each. You have an MP5, as well as an assortment of items based on your tagged skills. Make sure to reload your MP5, it starts out empty.

Proceed east, into the ruined building.

Consult with the elder
Inside the ruins, you'll find several of the town's inhabitants, mostly in a state of fear and panic. Mouse over and speak to Charon, the village elder. Charon basically repeats the goals of the mission; kill all of the bandits and save the trapped villagers.

Proceed north to the small bridge. Over the bridge, you can either head towards a large amount of ruins on the right, marked as position 1, or an armored fortification on the left, marked as position 2. There is a single raider with a pistol and a dog patrolling a door on the right side, which is locked.

Go left, and kill both of the raiders standing out front, in the sandbags. They're both armed with pistols, so don't be afraid to get in close.

Locate the shaman
From position 2, go west, into another small ruined building. The shaman, Hawkeye, is hiding out here, with a few civilians. Talk to him. Because he is the guardian of the Sunless Lands, he's not able to help you in the slightest. He tells you to talk to Charon, but you already have.

Proceed back to position 2, and approach the small building on the east side of the sandbags. Be wary; there's a raider inside armed with an UZI. A burst from that will tear right through you, so carefully go around and either use a burst from your MP5 or Stitch's shotgun to kill the raider. Loot the chest next to him for a key, which unlocks the door to the interior of the village. The door is marked with a grey circle on the map.

Free the tribal hostages
Head inside the gate house, marked as position 3. There's a raider armed with a pistol inside, by the fire, and a raider with a Beretta 470 Silverhawk shotgun outside, on the north end. Shotguns fire in a spread, so use Farsight's hunting rifle or single shots from the MP5 or your own pistols to kill him without being killed yourself.

From there, proceed north to a small hut, guarded by a dog. Deal with the dog, then head to the slaughter pens to the northeast, marked with another grey circle. Inside the slaughter pens, there are 2 dogs and a raider, all asleep. The raider has another shotgun, so either use the time to make aimed shots with the hunting rifle, or a quick shot from your own shotgun to kill her. From there, head south, into the grazing pens.

The small building on the south end of the grazing pens, marked with another grey circle, is where the hostages are being held. Two raiders, one armed with a wrench and the other with a Beretta, are watching the two entrances to the building. At this point, switch to single-shot mode on the MP5 and have Stitch grab his Beretta; you don't want to hit the hostages. Freeing the hostages is worth an extra 100 XP. From there, head out through the east door and into a field.

Eliminate Horus
There is a raider with a hunting rifle patrolling the small hut in the field, so be careful. Either have Farsight act as a counter-sniper, or use the MP5 and Stitch to surprise her when she rounds a corner. The building she's guarding holds another raider, armed with only a spear gun.

Sneak through the field until you can see the armored guard house, marked as position 4. Inside the guard house is a raider with a pump-action shotgun, so use the hunting rifle to get him without being shot back at. The doors are unlocked, but produce a strange 'Unlocked' prompt when used for the first time. Head through the guard house and out onto the road.

Move slowly towards the south end of the road, where the raiders have fortified a road block, marked as position 5. There are four raiders; two with pistols, one with another UZI, and one with a hunting rifle. UZI man is patrolling back and forth in front of the road block, the rifle guy and one of the pistoleros are hiding in the road block itself, and the other raider is offscreen, to the northeast. Kill all four of them, then head through the road block and into the ruins behind it.

There is a small elevated platform just inside the ruins that serves as a sniper post. Climb Farsight up there and kill the raider sniper, then use the elevated position to hit a formerly hidden raider in the ruins to the south.

Proceed gently through the smashed wall; another raider will try to ambush you with some brass knuckles.

When you enter what appears to be a small ruined office building, watch out. There's a raider hiding against the north wall with a rifle. Another raider is in the far corner, through the windows, with another dog. Head west, into another ruined building with a trash can fire. Another UZI raider is waiting to ambush you there, so flip the MP5 back to automatic.

Leaving the ruins, you'll find your squad in front of the village's resident fortress, where Horus' raiders have based themselves. There are two raiders, one with a 470 shotgun and one with a pistol, patrolling out front, a single raider with a rifle crouching in the northwest corner, and 5 raiders inside, including Horus. Kill all of them to complete the mission.

Return to Hawkeye to obtain a free bag of healing powder, and speak to Charon to get a remote detonator. Move your entire squad onto the green exit grid to get another 150 XP, and return to Bunker Alpha.

Bugs

 * Horus' house key does nothing. It may have been intended to open the locked door near the bridge, which would give you an easy way back to the starting point, but the door cannot be opened, even with 300% Lockpick or high explosives.
 * The doors in the guard house will display 'Unlocked' prompts when used for the first time, even though they are already unlocked.
 * Hawkeye's healing powder doesn't stack with others.