The Rise of a Saint - A Vice Kings AAR

[Fire and Ash]

The Rise of a Saint
- A Vice Kings After Action Report

​

Introductions
Hi All. I didn't see an AAR for this game yet and I've been having a blast so I thought, why not make one. I'll be playing The Vice Kings on I think normal difficulty with 10 factions.

Chapter 1.1 - The Setup
It was a warm night when I first heard about Daniel McKee Jackson, the Saint of Chicago. Back then he wasn’t known by that title. Back in March 1920, he was more of an Undertaker than a Saint. He was a prominent individual in the black community of Chicago. Pennsylvanian born, but Chicago raised and educated. He didn’t really give me any reason to keep an eye on him, that was until he fell in with Old Bill Thompson himself, the Mayor of Chicago. No one knows what they talked about for sure, but I’d take the sudden backing down of Jerry Johnson, City Councillor, due to family related issues as evidence of a deal struck. Old Bill making connections with a no name undertaker? You can bet I started taking an interest.

- Daniel McKee Jackson
(Sometime around March 1920, lousy photographer didn't date it)​

I opened my file on Daniel McKee Jackson and his associates later that month. First one I uncovered was Gibby Willard, Stumpy. He surprised me at first. Reckless, school drop out and loud mouth. I couldn’t imagine an opposite. However when I dug deeper I found the connection. Gibby's father had been a miner and taught his son the trade. When his dad passed away, guess who was officiated? By all accounts the son wasn’t very good at being a miner, but he had been good at one aspect that Daniel obviously valued. Explosives. I could never prove it, but I’d bet 20$ they were behind the bombing of a funeral parlour up in South Side a few months back.

The second was Grover Monks. The Monk wasn’t a new name to me. Old Man Monk was as old as the city sidewalk and twice as tough. Back in his prime he’d been a hired gun for The Carnival Crew. Might have been one of the best shots in the city eight years ago. Now he was partially blind and up until striking up with Daniel, broke. The Monk was way past his prime, but that still didn’t mean he wasn’t a bad shot.

- Grover Monks (The Monk) left, Gibby Willard (Stumps) right
​

The Vice Kings as they came to be known, were based in a funeral parlour in Chinatown. Chinatown back then wasn’t what it is today. You got to remember, this was the days of Prohibition. The district was run down, killings every other day and multiple gangs vying for control. Three Gangs other than the Vice Kings were in the running for complete control.

1. Los Hijos De La Llorona (Roughly translated, The Kids of the Crying Woman)
   1. Leader: Salazar Reyna
   2. Some sort of spanish gang that migrated north and found themselves in Chicago. Their connections down south gave them support to set up operations in Chinatown. They were the big contenders at the time.
2. The North Side Mob
   1. Leader: Dion O’Banion
   2. Irish Americans. Small time, with a few breweries under their control, right until Prohibition kicked down the doors. Usually that would be the end, but they went underground, somehow kept up their connections and even expanded. They had a near monopoly on breweries in the North Side and were expanding into Chinatown.
3. The Alley Cats
   1. Leader: Mabel Ryley
   2. Irish predominantly, but they let just about anyone in. The Alley Cats had originally been small time under Daniel Ryley, but never underestimate the power of a Woman's Touch. Few years later, the Alley Cats owned several casinos and speakeasies and her husband, Daniel, was dead. Swings and roundabouts.

The Vice Kings were the new contenders. Some of the bereaved that had used Daniels funeral services, willed him property. Big Warehouse and a couple of small businesses. I couldn’t prove it yet, but I knew The Vice Kings had some sort of brewery and speakeasy setup down there. From the way Daniel met with the other bosses and established connections, it was easy to see a new contender had entered the fray.

- The 4 Kings & Queens of Chinatown
Salazar Reyna (Los Hijos De La Llorona) - Top Left, Dion O'Banion (The North Side Mob) - Top Right
Mabel Ryley (The Alley Cats)- Bottom Left, Daniel McKee Jackson (The Vice Kings) - Bottom Right​

Things weren’t peaceful in Chinatown, but outright war between the gangs and outfits wasn’t common. Bad for business, but the North Side and Los Hijos were fixing for a showdown. Los Hijos struck first and attacked a casino owned by the North Side. North Side responded by whacking three of the Los Hijos outside a bar. Perfect chaos for someone to exploit and you can bet Daniel McKee Jackson was going to do it. Between March and April half a dozen buildings in Chinatown were ransacked and several small time outfits got hit. No one could place it on The Vice Kings, but plenty of people in Chinatown knew to be quiet about it...And that is how it started and I guarantee you one thing, by the of this, Chicago wasn’t ever going to be the same again.

​

 

[Mag Riada]

Love it. Great bit of screenshotting there, brings it to life in a way. Daniel is a fascinating character, one of the real life, historic bosses. He has been a key ally in my Donovan campaign. Can't wait to see how you develop his story.

 

[Fire and Ash]

Chapter 1.2 Big Trouble in Little China

I was settling in at my new digs, courtesy of your truly when violence in Chinatown exploded. The Stateroom, a brothel in Chinatown was blown up. No one claimed responsibility, but everyone was pointing fingers. It was a steaming pile of compost blocking the driveway and someone was going to have to clear it up. The owner of said establishment being under the protection of The Alley Cats just added more kindling to the fire that was Chinatown. Like the well intentioned morons they are, the Bureau of Prohibition decided the best way to solve violence in Chinatown was to throw gas on the fire.

The BOP in their infinite wisdom made a big long list of all rackets they knew of in the district and decided to raid each one. Few of those turned out to be breweries and hundreds of gallons of alcohol flowed into the sewers. Having completed their civic duty, they tapped themselves on the shoulder, said well done and left. Thing is, they didn’t make the criminals less likely to fight, now there was less booze, if anything it made it more savage. Gangs were fighting over the scraps and if my source was correct, the Vice Kings were one of them.

-12 would die over the month of May due to gang related violence in Chinatown. ​

It didn’t take long for Old Bill, or Big Bill as others call him to make an appearance. I got a photo of him entering a funeral parlour, meeting Daniel & The Monk. Can’t be sure what they discussed, but if I was a betting man...Big Bill sits in on the BOP meetings. He was either down here to offer condolences or to offer The Vice Kings, a way out. The meeting was quick and Bill looked pleased, so something was agreed. Daniel and Monks looked unhappy. Later that week I got word that two men had been killed outside The Gala, a Casino racket ran by the Portside Workers. No one was talking but the Portside Workers weren’t happy and there was talk of $50,000 gone missing. Couple of days later the BOP let The Vice Kings open up their rackets again.

On the 20th The Alley Cats figured out who bombed their racket and entered the war against the Los Hijos and they pulled The Vice Kings in as well. Seems that Los Hijos had made too many enemies, that or they had been outplayed by someone else. Things went south real fast with that . The Red Roses, a brothel run by the Cats, got hit hard by Los Hijos. Three dead and dozens wounded. It was worse for the Cats because they were gathering a crew there to take over a speakeasy called The Lounge. Managed to get myself a man on the inside of that joint. Got some real good views when the Kings hit it instead. Three seconds, that’s all it took for the Undertaker to walk in there and pop three of Los Hijos guys. Saint? Hell if I could make this public, he'd be known as the Undertaker. Much better name for a man who put this many bodies in the earth. The Alley Cats didn’t take the hits well though. The loss of The Stateroom & The Red Rose, now the Kings were taking territory the Cats had marked for themselves. Mabel felt disrespect and she was going to let the city know. At her headquarters in the Near South Side she put out the word. The Alliance with the Vice Kings was over and they were to be shot on sight. Hell of a way to end a month.

So the Chinatown war becomes a mess of complications. You got the North Side Mob at war with Los Hijos, Los Hijos at war with the Kings & Cats and the Kings and Cats at war with each other. In the next week we had running battles throughout the district. Los Hijos Trillium Casino got hit by the Kings and had to close doors. The Cats hit the Kings brewery and two of their speakeasies and, I gotta tell ya, the funeral business was booming. 8th of June two cops get shot and the papers talk about shutting the whole of Chinatown down. Dion steps in calls for a sit down. Los Hijos and North Side Mob didn’t like each other, but they felt their war had been fought civility. None of their boys stepped out of line, no rackets burnt to the ground, few broken bones and maybe the odd death that could be forgiven. The Kings & the Cats though, they weren’t fighting civilly as he would put it. Cops getting shot, bombs going off, bad for business. Dion & Salazar met first to get on the same page and then with the others. The message was simple. Stop the fighting or face North Side & Los Hijos together. Might as well had called the 12th of June Chinatown peace day as the fighting between all parties stopped.

And that is the end of the two month scrap, in the movie I want it called Big Trouble in Little China, catchy name right? Loser has to be The Cats. They were pretty established in the South Side and Chinatown was their plan for expansion, with a few rackets there at the start. End of the way, they got none and the Ring’s Kings started expanding into the South Side. Los Hijos position got weaker and stronger in a way. They lost rackets, but most of them weren’t turning a profit. The ones they got left, the Casinos, they are and a big one at that. Big Winner, that’s the Vice Kings. More rackets, more cash and more funerals. As I said earlier, business was booming.

You’re probably wondering how I got to know all this? Lets just say I’ve got a man on the inside…

 

[typhz3396]

Nicely written, keep them coming! I'm also playing a Vice Kings campaign and I'm intrigued where you'll take things.

 

[Fire and Ash]

Chapter 1.3 The Jefa and The Children's End

They say to be a woman in a man’s world you have to be twice as strong, twice as ruthless and twice as cold as any man. I’ve met a lot of women during my time, some matched that statement and then there was Elvira Duarte.

- Elvira Duarte 'She-Devil of Chicago'​

Don’t let the appearance fool you. She ain’t no old lady looking to be helped across the road. Right here is the most ruthless woman in Chicago and I met a gal who fed people to Tigers! Elvira Durate. Mexico born and raised. People make a mistake when they think about criminals in Mexico vs the US. Even here they’ve got to operate under some level of deception. BOP can’t have any old button shooter blow one down the streets. There is a respect to authority that’s gotta be recognised. Mexico is a country that’s been at war with itself for years. Gangsters there aren’t criminals, their pillars of the community. They work with the cops, army, politicians in securing what belongs to them and they don’t have to hide it. So if someone steps out of line, they aren’t just taken out, they’re made an example of in the most ruthless display possible and you better believe Elvira was the most ruthless. I truly believe that if Carranza hadn’t been killed, she’d be running that country by now, but he did and here we are. From what I was able to piece together, Carranza had been her horse in the race and with him gone the military came for his supporters. She read the writing on the wall and left Mexico for the US. I’m not sure how she ended up in Chicago, but by the time I was with the Vice Kings, she was running this place.

She had tendrils everywhere. Gambling, prostitution, racketeering, guns and drugs. You name it, nothing entered or left the city without her getting a cut of it. When she met with the Saint, I moved in. My contact who did the work at the Cocktail & Whistle set me up with a job there. I worked with a bartender called Izzy, a nice gal. It got me close to the guys closest to Daniel and that’s where I got the scope. The Saint was worried. His brewery had been hit three times in two months. Once by the BOP and twice by his competition. He needed to secure his income and pay tribute to the She-Devil of Chicago. In a rare one to one meeting between the two, Elvira and Daniel struck a deal. She’d provide him with over 100 barrels and in return he paid a fortune. I’m not sure how much, but let's say things were tight after the deal. It paid off though. While the other breweries got hit and struggled, the Vice Kings went strong. Over the next month the Kings would expand into two more clubs in Chinatown, planting themselves firmly as the third big power in the district. News of the deal didn’t stay private for too long and when Mabel Ryley caught wind of it, she came to the table. Word got out soon after that the truce between the Cats & Kings was gonna last.

Things were quiet for a bit until some bad news came down the pipe. Big Bill was back and he had bad news. The chair for the Second Committee had been filled and not by Daniel. It was no secret that the Saint had his eye on that seat for a while. Words were said and Bill left smug while Daniel left unhappy.

Things were quite the following few months, everyone still licking their wounds. The Saint somehow got himself his hands on several hundred barrels of premium whiskey. With the wealth that bought he started setting up rackets all over the place. Even hired himself a Doctor of some sort. Took me awhile to peg the dame as the newest member of the crew.

- Norah 'Headshot' Quin​

From what I can gather she was an Irish immigrant. Well educated one at that, with a medical doctorate. Pissed off the wrong people in the Emerald Isles and ended up fleeing to Chicago. Not the sort I would take to pick up this type of work, but they breed them fierce in Ireland if the Dublin Uprising was any indication. Credit to her, she was one of the few people that I didn’t peg as enjoying her work for the Kings.

Peace in Chicago didn’t last long. The North Side Mob got attacked by the White City Circus crew. The North Side responded with the support of Los Hijos, Saltis & Capone outfits. Even so, the White City weren’t no pushovers, with street battles on the daily. Of course opportunists arise and people looking to settle grudges, get chances to settle them. September 21st, the Vice Kings with the support of their ally, the She-Devil of Chicago, declare war on the Los Hijos for all Chinatown.

Salazar headquartered at the Country Central Casino in Chinatown. Even after all this it was his strongest district, he had a bit in lots of places, Little Italy being the next biggest, but Chinatown had it all for him. It should be no surprise he wasn’t tooled up then. He had his crew, Philip ‘Rock’ Collins, guns and more guarding that Casino. When I found out he was dead, his whole crew gone or with the Kings and his place ransacked I was shocked. I know the Saints were bringing in some fire power, but the Los Hijos weren’t small, they were big. Like so many others I had underestimated the Saint and in less than a week he practically took control of Chinatown. The Mob weren’t happy, but what were they going to do? Open up another front to deal with the upstart Kings? It was around this time that I got prompted by the agency to speed things up. By this point my alias was pretty well taken and I was a trusted face among the Kings. It didn't take much more to get picked up the Saint himself.

- My alias Tommy Biscuits (I don't like the name either.)

End of Chapter 1

 

[Fire and Ash]

Interlude 1

Hi all! Firstly a special thanks to the following:
- @Mag Riada
- @typhz3396
Likes and comments are what give life sustaining force to AAR writers. Thank you both for doing so.

This post will not be continuing the story, rather focus on the game aspects I could find a way to write in.

Gangster Builds Explained Part 1

For those paying attention I'm up to 5 gangsters now, including my boss. For each speciality of gangster, there are about two build paths you can take with them.

Tommy & Norah are the newest members of my crew, so I haven't developed them as much as the others. Enforcers build paths are either support or bruiser gangsters. For Tommy I'm going Bruiser, his build path will be the following>

Tier 1 = Draw Fire : Taunt nearby enemies, forcing them to target you. When used, gain 40% damage resistance to all incoming damage.
Tier 2 = Bulwark: Reduces all incoming damage by 10% while in cover, but take 10% more damage outside of cover.
Tier 3 = Bull Rush: Charge the target character, knocking them backwards.
Tier 4 = Slugger: Melee attack now have a 60% change to knock out.
Tier 5 = Meat Hook

I feel like this build works because it has great synergy. Draw fire is absolutely fantastic. Maybe one of the best starting tiers in the game. The Supress sounds good on paper, but the area of suppression is pretty small and 40% per shot stops being so good when you deal with enemies that use machine guns. No matter what you build on Enforcer, Draw Fire, is almost always going to be what I pick to Tier 1. Combine that with Bulwark, in cover you're getting 50% damage reduction. This now means I've got a really tanky taunt magnet. Bull Rush gives me the utility I need to get across the map quickly. Slugger is also a top skill for me. Shattering Impact, guaranteeing armour destruction is nice, but that's vs a 60% to knock out, regardless of armour. Combine all this with Meat Hook and you have a really solid melee bruiser. My equipment reflects this.

Tommy has the best melee weapon I have and a shotgun. I don't think I'll make him use a machine gun, as the 2 ap cost would be really steep with him. The only thing I might change build wise is potentially trading armour for initiative. This build works best, if you get high up in the turn order.

If I was going the support I'd probably go...

Tier 1 = Draw Fire : Taunt nearby enemies, forcing them to target you. When used, gain 40% damage resistance to all incoming damage.
Tier 2 = Covering Fire: Overwatch triggered by Enemy Moves and Actions.
Tier 3 = Bullet Shield : Protect any allies in range. You take half the damage they would have taken.
Tier 4 = Submachine Gun Training: Can now equip Submachine Guns.
Tier 4 = Meat Hook.

This build is more of a mid range support build. It works best when you're close to your team. Draw Fire keeps you tanky and the enemy focused on you. Covering Fire gives you more lock down on enemies that try to rush you. Bullet Shield is where your supporting really takes off. That's a lot of damage you are tanking, but it's also a risky choice. If you are in a group of allies and they all take damage, you could end up with a lot of damage being directed to you. For this build you will want a lot of armour, as much as you can get. Submachine Gun Training gives you access to mid range weapons, which as you want to be near your allies it probably the best choice for you. Lastly Meat Hook. I didn't talk about it much in the top build, because I think it works better in this one. Meat Hook drags an enemy to you. On the Bruiser build, it works out fine, but you already have an ability that lets you get close and does damage. Meat Hook is best used for pulling enemies into bad positions where your team can take them out more easily. The support build which is meant to be played in the middle of your team, make this ability from fine, to great, as you drag enemies right into the centre of your group.

Doctors two paths are either Bleeder or Heal Bot. I'm going Heal Bot for Norah, but my Bleeder looks really interesting for the next doctor I get. The lynch pin to both doctor builds is Malpractice. It's the best Tier 4 skill for them and it synergises so well with the other skills. What Remedy to last 5 rounds? Done. Want bleed to lose 2 more rounds? Done. Too good to pass up.

Tier 1 = Heal : Heal yourself or an ally for 60 hp.
Tier 2 = Lifeline : Any character that gets to zero hp, bleeds out instead of dying.
Tier 3 = Remedy : Heal Target for 30 hp and then 30hp for another 3 rounds.
Tier 4 = Malpractice: Increase the duration of statuses you apply for another 2 rounds.
Tier 5 = Miracle Elixir: Target character gets 1 extra AP and +100 hp for 2 rounds.

This build works by keeping your allies up. Even when they are zero hp, heal can get them backup. Remedy is your emergency heal. Combat usually doesn't last long enough to get the full utility out of it, but when it does, you need this. Malpractice works super great with it. One thing to note, I've never gotten a doctor to Tier 5 just yet, so I'm not sure if it procs malpractice. The wording on Malpractice & Miracle Elixir are very specific. Malpractice works with statuses you apply and Miracle Elixir doesn't say it applies a status. Remedy does say it applies a status. If Miracle Elixir does apply status, then the combo with Malpractice will make the doctor, maybe the strongest role in game. For equipment, mid range would best, but as that isn't an option, I would say Sniper Rifle for the start, swap to secondary to stay close.

Bleeder works on sustained damage, bleed being best. First thing to say about this build is that it doesn't have to be done with melee, but bleed chance stacking can only really be done with Melee weapons. I've yet to see a gun that does it yet. However it's not the end of the world, because some ammo does and Tier 2 Surgical Precision gives 55% chance to cause bleed with all attacks.

Tier 1 = Knee Cap: Reduce your own weapon damage by 75%, but applies slow.
Tier 2 = Surgical Precision : All attacks gain 10% critical hit and have a 55% chance to cause bleed with all attacks.
Tier 3 = Hack & Slash : Perform a 360 degree melee attack. Gain 10% critical hit chance and 10% damage for each enemy in range.
Tier 4 = Malpractice: Increase the duration of statuses you apply for another 2 rounds.
Tier 5 = Miracle Elixir: Target character gets 1 extra AP and +100 hp for 2 rounds.

Knee Cap is all about the setup. Slow not only lowers speed, but also initiative. It's not great damage, but what it does is help set you up in the best position to do Hack & Slash. Hack & Slash & Surgical Precision is giving you crazy chance and with a melee weapon, pretty great chance for bleed. Malpractice makes that bleed last even longer. This synergy might be one of the highest damage moves in the game. However due to positioning, I'd expect only ever to have three enemies in range. It's still great, but its going to be rare you can get it to really high numbers.


That's all for now. I'll cover the other in another update.

 

[Mag Riada]

Really enjoying the ARR so far, very engagingly written, well done! But also into the bargain, that is a great wee methodical explainer of how to approach skills and classes. I have a bit of a caviler 'live in the moment, pick what seems interesting and regret it' later approach to the skills. Interested to hear, if they come up as you progress, your thoughts on the Hired Gun, Con Artist and Demolitionist classes too.

 

[typhz3396]

Very much enjoying this AAR so far as well, I never considered using the full bruiser tree for Enforcers like you did you Tommy Biscuits, I might try that out next time I speedrun to getting Bruno Baldini via Maria Rodriguez in my next game. As for the story, it's well written and really engaging, I enjoy reading as if it was narrated by Boyd Holbrook (the actor that plays DEA Agent Murphy) of Netflix series "Narcos" fame. I look forward to see where Mr. Jackson's story goes here.