Delivering a Message
I’ve been spending a bunch of time at Shiv Games lately to learn/play Malifaux, so it was really nice to hit up Glimpses of Wonder and Warfare again to get a game in against Jordan (sprocketgx). With Operation Edgelord launching, I wanted to have a narrative game to drop during the launch to build hype! I’m going to recuse myself from the campaign in terms of making my games count (since I’m running the campaign) and instead use them to sort of do mini lore drops.
I really like the way the crystals look with these buildings.
Overview
- Mission: BAMS v0.1 Supply Raid
- Forces: Nomads versus Steel Phalanx (300)
- Deploy First: Steel Phalanx
- First Turn: Steel Phalanx
July’s Mission Matrix for Nomads versus ALEPH says we’re playing Supply Raid!
If you want to know more about it, you can go read the mission here:
Supply Raid is very similar it overall concept to the canonical ITS mission Supplies, but has 9 crates instead of 3, and has some unique mechanics to obtain a supply box. Essentially, you can WIP roll a crate to have it be “extracted” by a drone on your next turn, or you can bash the crate open with anti-materiel and obtain the contents immediately. It creates a very dynamic midfield, and it’s a lot of fun. I would encourage you to check it out, and a big thank you to Tristan Whyte for writing the original mission (which I added some… corporate flavor to).
Reverend Healer Apogee Hall stripped her soiled synthgloves and tossed them into the recycler, surveying her patient, a Corregidorian male recovering from severe ammonia burns.
“How’s he doing?”
Apogee turned to see Ishara, her Haqqislamite shift supervisor at the Averroes Hospital.
“He’s opted to keep the scars. Something about the ladies back home being into that sort of thing. I just finished changing his burn dressings, and the drainage is clear now. Skin is knitting together nicely.”
Ishara nodded–she’d read the patient’s chart while walking over and she could have guessed at the decision to keep the scars. Typical. Ishara was really just there to make sure Apogee was adjusting well during her rotation at Averroes.
“I just got a priority request to free you up when your shift is over. Came straight in from the hospital administrator. Anything I need to know about?”
This was news to Apogee. “Well, uhm—”
A small cyan flower unfurled in Apogee’s peripheral vision, gently placed there by her geist.
“Seems like I’m being called upon by the NMF,” Apogee offered. This wasn’t unusual, any number of the Ghulam doctors working at the Averros campus could be called on by their fireteams, but it was inconvenient. Apogee didn’t recognize the flower, but the fact that her geist had even showed it to her suggested a high priority sender, or at least someone with access to Bakunin encryption keys.
“I’d best let you go then, your shift’s almost over anyway.” Ishara looked away too quickly and shifted her body to open a path for Apogee to walk past. “Perhaps we can have some tea when you return?”
Apogee smiled and brushed her hand on Ishara’s shoulder as she excused herself. “I’d like that, hopefully I won’t be away for long. I’ll send what I can when I can.”
Crypto WinterReverend Healer. Forgive the hurried introduction. I am Interventor WiseKensai of the Shadowship Crypto Winter, and I have need of your services. I’m cobbling together a small NMF crew to intercept a shipment disguised as medical samples. Our sources tell us that there’s Combined VoodooTech in the shipment. We have to get as much of it to the ‘labs as possible.
Your geist already has all the details, as well as the authorization codes to access the port under the guise of inspecting medical packages. You see why I need you, specifically, I trust.
Reverend Healer Apogee Hall
HuEOS 289 – Averroes Hospital CampusInterventor, I stand ready to assist.
I decided to lean into the fact that Nomads have highly competent gunfighting specialists. Of everything that I took I think only Armand and group two doesn’t fit that bill. Nothing particularly crazy here, I just wanted to do something fun and exciting to play. I’ve really been enjoying Kusanagi as a lieutenant, and I just finished painting up my Reverend Healer from so long ago, so she had to be in the list.
Stuff!
GROUP 1
10
1
GROUP 2
KUSANAGI (Lieutenant) MULTI Rifle, E/M Grenade Launcher, Zapper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (+1 | 39)
MORAN (Surprise Attack [-3], Camouflage [1 Use]) Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse, D-Charges, Crazykoala / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 18)
EVADER AP Spitfire, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 29)
ZONDBOT PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
ARMAND (Multispectral Visor L1) MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Breaker Pistol(+1B), Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 39)
MARY PROBLEMS (Hacker) Submachine Gun, Zapper, Pitcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 28)
JAZZ Hacker & BILLIE undefined / undefined. (0.5 | 25)
BILLIE Flash Pulse, E/M Mines / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
ZONDNAUT (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 23)
ZONDMATE Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenade Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 5)
2
VERTIGO ZOND Missile Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1.5 | 16)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Assault Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 6)
7 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
Apparently Jordan (sprocketgx) played the following list against Nathan (Jhokalpus)’s Bakunin and 10-0’ed him a few game nights ago, so I had to get revenge for my fellow Nomad player! The list is 10 orders of goodstuff Steel Phalanx, although I do think that Jordan consistently is a little light on SWC in his lists (yes yes Hector has Plasma, so he’ll be fine).
Jordan (sprocketgx)
HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser, Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 69)
THORAKITES (Paramedic) Submachine Gun, Pulzar ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
MACHAON Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0.5 | 36)
MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
PHOENIX Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / DA CC Weapon, Heavy Pistol. (1.5 | 35)
DRAKIOS FTO Combi Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0 | 30)
Scylla FTO & Charybdis FTO undefined / undefined. (0.5 | 40)
ATALANTA (Total Reaction) MULTI Sniper Rifle ( | TinBot: Discover [ReRoll]) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 44)
Deployment
I won the rolloff and elected to have Jordan deploy first, so he took first turn. Given his list composition, he put Phoenix and crew on the right and the rest of his forces on the left. Atalanta was his reserve–I saw her on his mini tray, waiting to be deployed, so I had a little bit of extra info.
Given that Phoenix was on the table, I knew where Atalanta was likely to go and planned to put Le Muet in a spot that would be invisible to her and to Phoenix until I moved out. I would be able to see much of the table from his position though, so it was really a quite excellent spot. Given that I knew the likely location for Atalanta, I put a Moran on a roof nearby in the midfield to be able to drop a Koala on her.
The rest of my stuff was just spread out in my backfield, with the Morlocks on either side and the other Moran on the left to screen against Phoenix’s list. Apogee went in the middle, ready to hop on an objective, with the other nearby objectives covered by the Evader and Mary Problems.
HuEOS 289 – Space Port Loading AreaReverend Superior, I’m in position. I’m seeing some movement in the distance. I don’t think we’re alone here… Well, there’s the wideband broadcast, let’s see who this is.
Apogee’s geist spooled up a hardened comms container, dumped the incoming data packet into it, and decompressed it for playback.
HuEOS 289 – Space Port Loading AreaAttention, Nomad forces. I am Hector, Homerid Champion, leader of the ALEPH forces arrayed here. We are here supervising the loading of cargo. I trust we won’t have an issue?
ALEPH representative Hector, I am Reverend Healer Apogee Hall. I am transmitting my orders, countersigned by the spaceport authority, to perform a medical inspection of the cargo.
I have received your orders, and they appear genuine. We will begin our operations, you may do the same. Be warned, any attempts at Quantronic access will be met with extreme prejudice.
Acknowledged. I must insist we be allowed to inspect the cargo before you load it, but we will begin on our side of the loading dock and move towards you, slowly.
Apogee’s geist patched her back into Nomad secured comms and quarantined the container for further analysis by the Reverend Custodiers.
Good work, Reverend Hall. Alright team, let’s take this slowly. We’ll have to find some way of seizing the crates. Reverend Hall, start coming up with some plausible medical babble as justification.
Yes, Reverend Superior.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Steel Phalanx
I reduced Jordan to 10 orders (Hector is really good) and then we were off! Jordan started off by sending Drakios and Scylla in to mark some crates for extraction on his next turn. He got the middle crate nearest his deployment zone easily, and then started moving forward into the midfield.
At this point, Drakios is ready to challenge Le Muet, so Jordan fires the first shot and puts two panzerfausts into Le Muet. One hits, thankfully only doing a single wound, but this forces Le Muet out of Mimetism -6 and prone. My flash pulse bot can see this too and stuns Drakios.
Apogee watched in resignation as a pair of smoke trails arced across the loading dock, terminating in a dull whump against the side of an administrative building. Her geist flashed their sniper’s status dot amber. Not a casualty, yet, but she’d have to a look later.
“Well, I guess I don’t need to come up with an excuse now…”
On an open channelALEPH forces, you have made an unprovoked attack on NMF troops. We will be logging a formal complaint and responding with lethal force to perform our mandated cargo inspection!
That is a Tohaa agent and does not fall under NMF jurisdiction! We must secure them for questioning!
On an open channelThat is a Tohaa mercenary in the fully legal employ of this NMF detachment! You have fired on a NMF trooper. Lay down your arms and we will spare you.
I will not give that order! ALEPH forces, you may engage NMF targets!
Apogee unlimbered her MULTI rifle and activated her Optical Disruption Field. It was time to provide job security to the medical profession.
With Drakios out of commission, Scylla walked up to the central objective, getting past the first flash pulse and eventually (after several orders) getting the central objective activated.
With only a handful of orders left, Scylla ducked back into cover with Drakios and her Devabot screened their right flank.
Jordan wanted to defend the objectives, but didn’t want to over-extend Hector, so he compromised by putting the Thorakites out to ARO and Hector prone on a roof behind a box.
Bottom of 1 – Nomads
Well, it was time to get started. I needed to get Phoenix and Atalanta off the table or at least forced prone. I wasn’t thinking too carefully about getting smoke down in front of Le Muet, but I knew there was a gap I needed to plug to push something up to deal with Atalanta, so I used one of the Morlocks (who rolled dogged + total immunity) to get it done. I had to face to face a Thorakities SMG shot at bad range and got it done.
I figured at this point I would just pie slice to get Phoenix down, so Le Muet took the shot. It wasn’t great odds, because Phoenix was ignoring the smoke, and I had to account for it. It’s not wildly asymmetric though:
Luckily, 13.4% to do two wounds is still a pretty large chance, and I managed to drop Phoenix in one shot. It would have been much better to not have smoke…
but sometimes the perceived need for order efficiency places other demands on you. I do think this was a minor mistake, getting smoke down, but thankfully I wasn’t punished for it. Now to deal with Atalanta. The Moran on the roof dropped a Koala off right under Atalanta’s perch…
and then Le Muet forced the dodge and took her out. Jordan thought he should have just chanced the DMG 15 hit from the Koala and hoped to win the face to face against Le Muet to drop him. I agree with this assessment–Atalanta’s probably dead either way, but one of the scenario leaves me without Le Muet.
With both of Jordan’s ARO pieces down, the board is wide open. I send in the Reverend Healer and drop the Devabot easily…
then secure my near middle crate for extraction.
I was prepared to try and fight Drakios and Scylla with the Reverend Healer, but apparently they were so well hidden that I could advance on the central objective that Jordan flipped and flip it back. Scylla did get a spotlight off, but that wasn’t a huge problem. I want to delay Hector some, so I get a pitcher down near him with Mary Problems while she advances on her objective. This also sets me up get my classified later. Mary gets into position and snags another crate.
With my first order pool spent, I decide to just go on a run with the Morlock. I push into the smoke (which should be out of LoF from the Thorakites, but I was sloppy in placing the smoke template and we forgot), and beat the Thorakites again with another smoke grenade.
The Morlock makes her way towards Scylla to do some damage. Drakios dodges behind the crate, which will disappear on the next turn, which is a little less good, but the Morlock does get spotlit.
I push into view, seeing a Myrmidon from Phoenix’s ex-fireteam as well, and ask for AROs. Drakios shoots, Scylla dodges, and the Myrmidon shoots. I decide to just dump the assault pistol into Drakios, figuring I’ll just tank the Myrmidon’s pistol shot and deal with Scylla on the next order.
Even with the burst 4, the odds are not particularly good for me.
This is borne out with Drakios critting the Morlock and taking it out in one shot, through Dogged and Total Immunity. Blast and bother. With the remaining orders in the second pool I move the other Morlock into a position to cover the central objective, and pass turn.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Steel Phalanx
A drone shows up and takes away Jordan’s single crate, and then we’re off.
I’ve done a pretty tremendous amount of damage to Jordan, taking out both of his primary gunfighters and basically clearing the table for me to move around. Jordan wants to get the repeater away from Hector at the first opportunity, so he sends in the Thorakites to deal with it after breaking the duo to deny me the chance to hack Hector. That’s fine, as it lets me get my Telemetry classified without any issue.
Huh. Something’s off with this Thorakites.
Yeah I’m not sure, I’m seeing the same ghosting…
Could it be?
I’ll check. Standby.
The Thorakites starts pushing down my right flank, activating the crate just near Hector.
The Thorakites pushes forward to get to the next crate, triggering one of my Koalas in view of Mary. I try to stand the Moran up to deal with this, but fail, and I’m concerned that Jordan is just looking to trade for Mary, so I dodge her too. What I’m not considering is that the likely scenario for him is to dodge or pulzar, and I’ve got the Reverend Healer’s zondbot right next to Mary (having moved it up last turn).
Anyway, Jordan successfully clears the Koala, punishing my mistake, and then does indeed drop a Pulzar on Mary the following order. I trust in her BTS 6 and the zondbot, and shoot back, taking out the Thorakites.
Drakios wants to grab the middle crate back from me, but Reverend Healer Apogee plants a DA round right in his face and takes him off the table.
With both lines of advance stymied, Jordan settles for getting his Myrmidons, lead by Machaon, tucked behind some ammonia crystals before passing turn.
Bottom of 2 – Nomads
The drones snag me three crates (the two remaining in the middle column, and my near right).
Jordan only has two specialists left and 5 models left, but that’s really 7 orders because, well, Hector. What a Homerid Champion! In any case, I need to undo Jordan’s work, so I send in Mary Problems, flip the crate that the Thorakites couldn’t…
then she snags Suspected Infiltration off the downed Thorakites.
Well?
Not ours.
Phew. Good. That asset was incredibly hard to insert.
Huge pain, for sure! I thought it might have been… given they Pulzar’ed me, specifically, to maintain cover… but…
Big-brained ALEPH makes mistakes too, I guess!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The way’s clear with both Phoenix and Atalanta down, so Mary easily gets in hacking range of Hector. I try to Oblivion on the approach but can’t get through the Tinbot. I force a reset again as I flip the crate to my control…
and then I force a dodge as I come into view with Climbing+ and threaten a zapper attack. This time, I get an Oblivion through, and I just leave Mary there watching Hector.
I’ve got plenty of orders in group 2, so I throw the remaining Morlock at Scylla. Scylla drops a shotgun template on me, which I save, and the assault pistol removes Scylla easily.
I have just enough orders to get the Morlock behind Machaon’s fireteam and split assault pistol fire between the nearest Myrmidon and Machaon, both of whom are out of cover. The Myrmidon dodges into combat, but Machaon rolls a 1 to my 2,3, and then he fails both saves! Brutal!
I have an order or two left in group one, depending if I use the O-12 prestiges, so I spend it moving the Zondnautica to my left…
and hopping off the bike to put a chain rifle corner guard in the way of Jordan’s remaining Myrmidons.
Jordan concedes the game at this point, as he’s only got two Myrmidons and an isolated Hector on the table. I’ve managed to get 2 more crates this turn, bringing the game to a
8-1, 293-101 Nomad Victory!
Hey there, big guy. We good? You gonna make me zap ya?
Do what you will, Nomad witch.
Zappin’ it is.
The mission over and cleanup well underway, Apogee lounged patiently on some stairs as she watched the Evader from her hastily assembled crew load Hector’s immobile body onto a pallet for delivery back to the nearest ALEPH recharging station, his power armor still sparking from Mary’s zapper. His Myrmidons had long since departed.
“Reverend Hall.”
Apogee got to her feet, turning to see the Reverend Superior approaching.
“Reverend Superior, how may I serve?”
“Excellent work with impromptu negotiations today. I see why our Interventor chose you for this team. You may be hearing from him more in the future, as there are many whispers in the quantronic wind. You are released from your duties and may return to the Averroes campus.” With that, the Reverend Superior continued her walk towards the Evader, who had completed loading Hector and was starting on the VoodooTech crates that remained.
Apogee shook her head in the absurdity of it all and accessed her Comlog.
Ishara, seems like I’ll be returning to campus sooner than expected. Still up for some tea?
Post Game Analysis
I really like this mission! Tim (Chainsaw) and Clint (pseudonymmster) both recommended it highly, and they were not wrong. Excellent work, Tristan. With regards to the game itself, I felt confident in my ability to have multiple options of dealing with Atalanta, but not so much with Phoenix. I just got lucky on that front. My other option would have been to just push either the Reverend Healer or the Evader into position, or just used the second Morlock to get smoke down in front of him to give me freedom of movement.
Once both Atalanta and Phoenix were down, however, the game got away from Jordan pretty quickly.I just had run of the board, and the tools to push where I needed to. Really happy with Mary’s performance this game too, she really got the job done and showed how effective she can be in hunting big expensive hackable models.
What do you make of the VoodooTech?
Well, aside from the one crate that the ALEPH operatives managed to extract, everything seems to be high density data cores or really advanced quantronic processing units. It’s pretty advanced in comparison to what we’ve got, and to some extent this is just educated guesswork, especially regarding the processing units.
What really makes me uneasy is that the data cores were empty. Not empty as in blank from the factory, but deliberately wiped. You can tell from the data patterns, that much we were able to figure out. An entropy analysis suggests that it probably isn’t encrypted and is actually wiped, at least that’s what we think given other recovered VoodooTech.
Why send just a bunch of empty cores, unless they were wiped in transit? Also what would need that much storage and compute, only to wipe it all?
It couldn’t be.
What are you thinking, Mary?
You can’t be thinking what I think you are…
The only thing that would need that amount of storage and compute, but would have the capability to wipe all of it in transit is…
…an AI.
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