Catfight at Baijing!

Had a great game with one of our locals, who is halfway through assembling his Yu Jing Strikezone Wotan bundle to start ISS (he usually plays JSA). He’s built most of the S2 infantry models, but he proxied a few models here and there, the most glaring of which was the Su Jian being proxied by an Aragato. Wrong silhouette size, but we had a silhouette marker nearby to check LoF whenever necessary.

He brought a cat robot and I brought Tomcats and Hellcats, so it was a cat fight on the Baijing Orbital Consulate! Pew pew pew!

I’m also trying out the Prisma app to hide my unfinished paint jobs. Pretty cool looking, thus far!

Zero Cool was rudely awakened by the toe of a boot in his ribs. Rolling over, he cracked an eye open, revealing an Alguacil he had never seen before. Blinking a few times to activate a few latent subroutines, he called up all the available data based on a facial recognition match. “Who the hell are you, and what the frak are you doing waking me up?” he demanded as the data began rolling in.

 

Name:Maria Angelica Cruz

Serial Number: 7266-163-XRA-37

Grade: Sgt. Major

Unit: Alguacil Vortex Special Operations (Black Hand)

Primary Station: La Forja

Remarks:Sgt Cruz is an extremely effective operative, both personally and in coordinating troop movements. She is typically assigned as an attachment to normal Alguacil fireteams, and is activated to accomplish missions for the Black Hand when necessary. She has single-handedly destroyed a Gorgos-class TAG and can be expected to display similar levels o lethality on a consistent basis.

 

“You can call me Sarge,” replied the stranger. “Assemble your team. Bring your best engineers. Briefing in 1 hour, leave your comlogs at the door,” she replied. “I outrank you!” protested Zero Cool to her retreating back. She spared him a glance. “Well, sir, I suggest you get your ass out of bed and in the briefing room ASAP.”

 

After she left, Zero Cool continued peeling away at the redacted sections of her file and convinced himself that this was real. He made the calls.

Overview

• Mission: Strikezone Wotan Highly Classified (Baijing Version)
  • Experimental Drug
  • HVT: Espionage
  • HVT: Inoculation
  • HVT: Retroengineering
• Theatre: Baijing Orbital Consulate
• Forces: Nomads versus Imperial Service (300)
• Deploy First: Nomads
• First Turn: Nomads
• Strikezone Wotan Report: WiseKensai versus Cephas4

[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_501.png[/img][b] Highly Classifed 300[/b]

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[b]GROUP 1 |[/b] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]7 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]1

[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_13.png[/img] [b]JAGUAR[/b] Adhesive Launcher, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CCW. (0.5 | [b]13[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_26.png[/img] [b]PROWLER[/b] Spitfire, D-Charges / Pistol, CCW. (2 | [b]36[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_6.png[/img] [b]REVEREND HEALER[/b] MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, EXP CCW. (0 | [b]37[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_34.png[/img] [b]ZONDBOT[/b] Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]3[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_10.png[/img] [b]ZERO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]24[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_16.png[/img] [b]INTERVENTOR Hacker (Hacking Device Plus)[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]24[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_30.png[/img] [b]MORAN (Forward Observer)[/b] Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_9.png[/img] [b]BANDIT Hacker (Killer Hacking Device)[/b] Light Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | [b]25[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_24.png[/img] [b]TOMCAT Engineer[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]22[/b])

[b]GROUP 2 |[/b] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]5 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_impetuosa.png[/img]1

[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_1.png[/img] [b]ALGUACIL Lieutenant[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | [b]10[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_48.png[/img] [b]KRAKOT RENEGADE[/b] Red Fury, Chest Mine / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (1 | [b]24[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_14.png[/img] [b]DAKTARI[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]14[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_34.png[/img] [b]ZONDBOT[/b] Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]3[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_24.png[/img] [b]TOMCAT Engineer[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]21[/b])

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[b] 6 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army

[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_202.png[/img][b] Imperial Service[/b]

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[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_8.png[/img] [b]SÙ-JIÀN[/b] Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | [b]59[/b])

[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_5.png[/img] [b]CRANE IMPERIAL AGENT Lieutenant (X Visor)[/b] Spitfire, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | [b]54[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_1.png[/img] [b]CELESTIAL GUARD Hacker (Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_1.png[/img] [b]CELESTIAL GUARD (Forward Observer)[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]13[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_1.png[/img] [b]CELESTIAL GUARD (Forward Observer)[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]13[/b])

[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_26.png[/img] [b]SFORZA[/b] Viral Rifle + Adhesive Launcher, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]25[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_4.png[/img] [b]PHEASANT IMPERIAL AGENT (Chain of Command, X Visor)[/b] Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, Stun Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | [b]34[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_2.png[/img] [b]ZHÀNYING (Sensor)[/b] Breaker Combi Rifle, Nimbus Grenades, MadTraps / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]28[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_28.png[/img] [b]KǍNRÈN Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0.5 | [b]32[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/202/logo_15.png[/img] [b]LÙ DUĀN[/b] Mk12, Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]21[/b])

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[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]9 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]1 [b]| 5 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army

The room quieted as Zero Cool walked in, accompanied by an unremarkable looking woman in Alguacil kit. “This is ‘Sarge.’ She’s running the show on this one,” stated Zero Cool before sitting down and gesturing for Sarge to begin her briefing.

 

“Thank you. Let’s just get right to it. We’re going back to Baijing to extract an asset before his cover is blown. It’s gotten paper thin and we need to get him out before the ISS figures it out. He’s a high-ranking officer in the ISS, so you can see why this would be a problem for him.”

 

“With all of our recent activity on Baijing,” she continued, looking pointedly at Araña, who unabashedly wiped a lipstick kiss print off his cheek while flashing a shit-eating grin, “Yu Jing command has been questioning how we’ve been able to get in and out so easily and have such good understanding of their patrol patterns.  They’ve upped security and have deployed some ISS assets to ensure the ‘JSA bumpkins,’ as they put it, are actually doing their job.”

 

“We’ve got a tough mission ahead of us. Our asset will be deployed with an ISS patrol with some heavy firepower,” she said, flashing a picture up on the briefing hologram.

 

 

“We’re going to insert, extract our asset, and leave a suitable corpse behind. That’s where you come in,” Sarge said, turning to the two Tomcat engineers. “You’re in charge of managing the stasis module that the decoy corpse will be in until we extract the asset.”

 

“Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, leave no survivors. We cannot leave any witnesses. Our asset is supposed to ‘die’ with the rest of his patrol. Questions?” There were none. “Gear up, we’re on the next shuttle.”

 

Deployment

I lost the roll off, and he elected to have me deploy first. I chose to go first, with the intent of alpha-striking as hard as possible to reduce the Su Jian’s order pool. In case I didn’t do enough damage, I tried to cover up as much of the middle of the board with hacking AROs as possible to halt a Su-Jian rampage. The Moran went into the middle with Acid Burn (Zero AHD) on the left, and Zero Cool hung out behind a building to hack through the Moran’s repeater. The Moran was also hanging out near JNCO Jean Jimmy the HVT with the Prowler and Cereal Killer (Bandit KHD) to prevent him from advancing. I put my Algaucil Lt in a position to cover JNCO Jean Jimmy as well, but prone.

My two doctors went on opposite sides of the field, with their Zondbots paired off with the opposing doctor to get as much coverage as possible. Araña (Jaguar ADHL) covered one of the approaches to my HVT and the Reverend Healer’s back.

My opponent set up a 4-man Celestial Guard + Crane Agent link team behind some buildings in the back. His Lu Duan and Kanren made up his left flank, supported by a Pheasant. The dreaded cat robot Su Jian went on the right, backed up by a Zhanying with MadTraps covering his HVT.Father Lucien Sforza took an elevated position with his attendant holoechoes, and I dropped my Krakot (+3 PH and Regeneration) down in a position to attack one of Sforza’s holoechos on my first turn. There was a giant pile of 9 holoecho markers on my right flank! Pretty intimidating shell game. With that, we shook hands, and started chucking dice at each other!

Turn 1

Top of Turn 1 – Nomads

Fortunately for me, the holoecho that the Krakot had to impetuously run at was the real Sforza. He passed his first round of ARM saves, but a second order of shooting dropped him. I spent another order gunning down a MadTrap, and then left the Krakot out in the open to ARO stuff. Sadly, I didn’t have enough orders to drop him into suppression.

“Contact,” subvocalized Zero Cool into his throat mike. “They’ve got holoechoes up, try to get them to reveal-” Before Zero Cool finished his thought, the Krakot had already come around the corner and gunned down one of the holoechoes. Fortunately for the Nomads, the two other images of Father Lucien Sforza flickered out as the real Sforza crumpled in a heap.

Next, I activated the Prowler…

The Prowler forced the Crane Agent back into cover, and then took out the remaining MadTrap before retreating back around the barricade to hang out with JNCO Jean Jimmy the HVT.

“Well, I guess we’re initiating now,” grumbled the Prowler, poking out of cover and suppressing the Crane Agent, who rolled back behind cover. “I’ve got some deployables,” warned the Prowler, sending short bursts of spitfire rounds downrange and scrapping a pair of MadTraps. “Got ’em both. You’re clear!”

With the way clear, I dropped in a Hellcat BSG, ganked the Zhanying, and put a wound on the Su Jian (proxied here by the Aragato).

The Hellcat smashed himself up against a bulkhead, took a deep breath to steel himself against the fear rising in his belly, and forced himself around the corner, shotgun leading the way. The Zhanying ISS agent in front of him shouted something in Mandarin, bringing his breaker combi rifle to bear. Using his momentum, the Hellcat planted a boot in the Zhanying’s chest, slamming him into the ground and putting a pair of shotgun slugs directly into the back of the Su Jian. The Zhanying’s combi rifle went off, spraying breaker rounds wildly into the air. The Hellcat continued his movement and executed the Zhanying with a single shotgun blast the to the helmet.

 

The Su Jian, wounded, spun in place, tail lashing angrily as its spitfire acquired the Hellcat as a target…

Out of orders for the Hellcat, I focused my attention on the other side of the board. I wanted to get rid of as many holoechos as possible, so I sent Cereal Killer out to take out his Kanren. He dodged my shotgun blast and chose to dodge towards me. I figured I should use Redrum, as it’s stupid good. I declared Dodge, he declared Chain Colt, and I declared Redrum as my second short skill. Correction: I can’t have declared Dodge+Hack, that’s illegal. Whoops!

I failed my dodge and ARM, and he failed his BTS, so we both fell over, unconscious.

Cereal Killer was confused by the two figures in front of her. They were mirror images of one another, and both were raising a short, blocky pistol to point at her. When in doubt, shoot! she reminded herself, raising her light shotgun to let loose a few rounds. The nearest image of the Kanren fizzled out as its hologram was disrupted by the buckshot.

 

Cereal Killer noted the cable going into the remaining Kanren’s helmet and crowed internally in victory, thumbing the activation stud of her killer hacking device. As his brain melted from overloaded circuits, the Kanren’s hand spasmed shut, pulling the trigger of his chain colt, raking Cereal Killer with razor shrapnel. Blackness closed in around Cereal Killer, her thumb still firmly depressing the button on her hacking device as her legs gave way.

Bottom of Turn 1 – ISS

I hadn’t done all that much damage to his order pool, having only taken out the Kanren, Sforza, and the Pheasant, leaving him with 7 orders. My right flank was a little weaker as well, having lost Cereal Killer and with the Prowler out of camo. I hoped that the Krakot and Hellcat would gum up the works and save me from a Su Jian rampage.

He activated his link team and shot at the Krakot. I crit on my dodge, and he crit on his shooting, so he had to spend two orders putting the Krakot unconscious. So far, so good. The Su Jian activates, and the dice gods are kind to me–I crit it with the Hellcat, dropping it unconscious. RAWR! Catfight! Correction: The Su Jian has NWI, which we forgot in this game.

Before the Su Jian can fully bring its Spitfire to bear, the Hellcat frantically emptied his boarding shotgun into the heavily armed construct. The Su Jian struggled to remain upright, most of its workings shredded by the AP slugs, before succumbing to its own weight. “Su Jian down!” shouted the Hellcat, adrenaline coursing through his system from the kill.

The Lu Duan activates, and ends just outside of the Moran’s hacking range after sacrificing one of the holoechos to a Crazy Koala. I miss the chance to ARO the Lu Duan with my Jaguar ADHL, but oh well!

My opponent is down to his Lu Duan, his Pheasant, and his link team at this point, and he doesn’t want my Hellcat hanging out in his backfield next to his link team, so he shuffles them over to try to take my Hellcat out. With his last few orders, we have an ineffectual exchange of fire between one of his shotgun-toting Celestial Guards and my Hellcat BSG, and the turn passes to me.

Turn 2

Top of Turn 2 – Nomads

Unfortunately for my opponent, his link team is in perfect template formation for my boarding shotgun.  I can cover two Celestial Guard and the Crane with my template, so I do just that. I come around the corner and shotgun both Celestial Guard forward observers down, but the Crane passes his ARM saves.

I want to get the Lu Duan into hacking range, so I coordinated order with the Moran, Acid Burn, and the Prowler, intending to shoot the remaining Celestial Guard in the back with my Prowler. Unfortunately for me, my opponent flamethrowers my Moran through a narrow gap that I had forgotten about!

The Moran is a boss and dodges, so I sorta waste an order, but also reveal the Lu Duan, so that’s good at least. Well played to my opponent! I activate the Prowler by his lonesome and gun down the remaining Celestial Guard.

“Take out those Celestial Guard!” commanded Sarge the Algaucil. Simultaneously, the Hellcat and Prowler pincered the link team as it advanced in the open towards the attacking Nomad team. The resulting exchange of fire was loud and brief. As the chaos calmed, only the Crane agent was left standing, his armor pitted from shrapnel but unbreached.

Araña attempts to panzerfaust the Lu Duan, but whiffs. Zero Cool then attempts to isolate the Lu Duan, but fails his WIP. With my last two orders, I reveal Acid Burn and get the HVT: Espionage classified. Lots of failed hacking rolls this game!

Bottom of Turn 2 – ISS

We determine that he’s in retreat, but totally mess up the retreat rules. All of his stuff ignores the effects of retreat, but we miss the loss of lieutenant clause. In any case, he coordinated orders his remaining troops forward, with the Lu Duan as the spearhead. I try to hack the living bajeezus out of the Lu Duan, panzerfaust it, and the Hellcat shoots the Crane as it walks towards him.

The Lu Duan and Araña whiff, but the Pheasant crits an E/Mitter hit on the Jaguar, isolating him. The Hellcat puts a wound on the Crane, but then dies to a full spitfire burst. Before doing down, hero Hellcat took out 2 Celestial Guards, a Zhanying, and a Su Jian, and put a wound on the Crane. Talk about value! The Lu Duan activates again and comes around the corner to flamethrower the Moran, who dodges again! So nimble! Zero Cool and Acid Burn unfortunately whiff their hacking rolls. He spends his Lt order on the Crane and manages to gun down the Prowler before finally passing the turn.

Turn 3

Top of Turn 3 – Nomads

Since we messed up the retreat rules, we kept going. I pop the Alguacil Lt up and mow down the Lu Duan and the Pheasant with her combi rifle.To finish the job, the Reverend Healer swings around a corner and finally drops the Crane with a lucky burst from her MULTI Rifle. I bring in a Tomcat to beep boop the HVT, and pick the Prowler back up with the Reverend Healer’s bot.

Sarge pops out of cover and with two precise bursts drops the hostile Lu Duan-class REM and the ISS Pheasant agent. “Take out their Lieutenant! He’s the last one left!” she commands. The Reverend Healer breaks cover, finally breaching the Crane agent’s armor with rounds made for that purpose. “X-Ray down,” reports the Observance assassin.

 

“Okay, make the swap,” commands Sarge. A Tomcat wheels in a oblong crate next to the waiting Yu Jing HVT asset. “Sorry for the confined quarters sir, we’ll have you out in no time,” apologizes the Tomcat as he upends the crate, dumping a corpse dressed in a Yu Jing field uniform out of the crate. The agent nods in acceptance and with the Tomcat’s help settles into the now-empty crate before the Nomad strike team vanishes back into the shadows, leaving nothing but corpses in their wake.

I’ve got 3/4 to his 0/4 of the main classifieds, and I’m securing his HVT. If we retcon events and actually apply the retreat rules correctly, it’s a 6-0 victory, but as it played out:

8-0 Nomad Victory!

Notes

• Hellcat BSG is easily the MVP of this game, having dropped 113 points of models!
• Probably should’ve dropped in a Tomcat on my right flank to tie down the Lu Duan, but not terribly necessary.
• I’m happy with my usage of the Prowler spitfire, as well as the Krakot Renegade.
• Instead of taking 2 AD engineers and 2 doctors, I think I need to mix them, i.e. a normal doctor and engineer and then a Tomcat doctor and Tomcat engineer. More flexible.
• Deployment this game was decent. I need to be better about placing my Krakot early, especially if I’m going first. The extra order is quite useful. I did okay this game, but I need to be consistently good at it.
• Take the time to check for more AROs! I missed a chance to panzerfaust the Lu Duan (but probably would’ve missed it, oh well).