Hulang Holding Action
I’ve been quietly assembling Yu Jing over the past few weeks in anticipation of the release of the Invincible Army Starter, and have a fair amount of stuff built–enough to start playing a subset of ISS and Vanilla, anyway. No Kuang Shi yet, but… ehhhh… Anyway. Nate was on babysitting duty on game night so we met up in the basement after bedtime for the kiddo to give Yu Jing their inaugural game. Nate doesn’t have much in the way of lighting for his basement, we were relying on his painting table lights for most of the game until I remembered that smartphones have “flashes” and turned it on in my camera app… apologies for the potato-quality photos till then.
Overview
- Mission: Unmasking
- Forces: Yu Jing versus Tunguska Jurisdictional Command (300)
- Deploy First: Yu Jing
- First Turn: Yu Jing
Unmasking
DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 (Minelayer) MULTI Sniper, Antipersonnel Mines / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
HÚLÁNG (Fireteam: Duo) 2 Submachine Gun, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 41)
ZHĒNCHÁ (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, D.E.P., Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 34)
GŬILÁNG (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29)
ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Duo, Tactical Awareness) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
KǍNRÈN Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, MadTraps / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 28)
MAJOR LUNAH Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10)
LIÚ XĪNG Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 32)
9
1 | 5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Jurisdictional Command of Tunguska
GROUP 1 |
REAKTION ZOND HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)
SZALAMANDRA Hyper-rapid Magnetic Cannon, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 90)
HECKLER Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Cybermines / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
PERSEUS FTO (Fireteam: Haris) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / 2 Pistols, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 33)
SECURITATE (Repeater) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
CLOCKMAKER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
PUPPET MASTERS (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines / PistolKnife. (0.5 | 14)
GROUP 2 |
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
I won the roll off, and I had a Liu Xing so I knew I’d want to go first, while Nate’s link was bunched up in his deployment zone. I also had plenty of mines and markers so I wasn’t terribly concerned with being counter-deployed. The board dictated my HVT placement. I gave Nate an easy Decoy to go after–he’s pretty savvy and I didn’t really see a point in trying to shell game him. I saw a good L-shaped nook to tuck my real Designated Target into and protect it with mines, so I did just that.
I didn’t see a great way to get to the right console, so I stuck a Guilang on that side to give me the option, but really it was there to defend my HVTs. The Zhencha going after the center objective was the easiest path forward, and I figured I’d put the Ninja on the left to go after the left objective, figuring the TO could let me get across no man’s land safely. Lunah and my Daoying set up to provide a crossfire on the board, and the Daoying’s mine covered the rightmost Decoy, with the Libertos’ mine covering my designated target from an attack through the doorway.
I figured I’d advance the Libertos with its irregular order on my first turn to do a holding action on whatever came to push the central button. I figured Nate would have no problem getting to the objective on my right, so I decided to make it tough to get to the center and left consoles by putting my Kanren and its MadTraps (proxied by some of Nate’s Koalas) near the center, ready to move and support the left side if necessary. My left side felt like I needed a little more oomph, so the Zuyong went there. I held the Hulang in reserve and passed deployment to Nate.
Nate spread his link out in the middle of his deployment zone, covering one another. Due to the terrain, he was basically forced to put at least two under a Liu Xing template, but he made sure the Liu Xing would die. He castled his Interventor up on his right, covered by a Puppeteer, a mine, and TR bot. The Heckler KHD went in the middle to go after the center objective, and the Clockmaker was on the left. So this meant that either the Securitate Paramedic or the Interventor was going after the right objective, if the Heckler couldn’t make it.
The TR bot was placed to cover the approach to Nate’s deployment zone and screen my approach through the central objective room. Nate more or less mirrored my HVT deployment, but I think his options were worse for deployment. In particular, the Designated Target was visible from a place that wasn’t protected by the Reakton Zond and the rightmost Decoy was wildly out of position. After the game, we thought about putting the TR bot on the other side of the building (original position marked by sun, suggested position by lightbulb).
This would’ve covered my approach to his designated target and would’ve forced me to spend orders on cautious move to get into position or something. In any case, with all of Nate’s HVTs on my left I put my Hulang there to be my DataTracker, and Nate responded with his Szalamandra on my right to be his DataTracker and go after my HVTs. Importantly, the Szalamandra’s LoF arc is parallel to the back table edge… leaving me a shadow zone for a Liu Xing.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Yu Jing
Alright. Well, my game plan is to drop the Liu Xing, and if it survives, just leave it there. Then it’s on to button pushing and hunting HVTs. We looked it up and apparently Nate can still deny me the use of all but one command token, so that’s what he did. Anyway, back to the plan. I drop in the Liu Xing right on top of the Securitate HMG and the vanilla Securitate. I’m positive that the Interventor is Nate’s Lieutenant, because Nate wouldn’t leave a Securitate Lieutenant in the optimal spot to drop in a Liu Xing.
I land the Liu Xing right where I need it, in spite of the Interventor trying to stop me. The blast knocks out both Securitate, but I lose the Liu Xing to a hail of gunfire from the Securitate–Nate rightly knew he needed the Liu Xing gone and didn’t want to bother with dodging. I spend an order getting the Ninja to the left console and an order getting the Zhencha to the center console. The Zhencha reveals the real Designated Target, but the Ninja fails its roll before moving towards the Decoy. My Hulang crits down the Designated Target in a single order before retreating to my side of the central room.
I run the Libertos forward to cover and just advance it forward, and then use my only coordinated order to recamo the Zencha and the Ninja.
I haven’t moved the Guilang or the Kanren, but I’ve put a bunch of points on the board. I’m pretty happy about that. I use tactical awareness to throw the Zuyong into suppression… because?
Bottom of 1 – Tunguska
Well, it seems reasonable to try and pick up the two Securitate with the Paramedic as the link shuffles forward, so Nate makes the attempt. Sadly, it ends up killing both downed Securitate.
Perseus smokes up the approach so I don’t get any AROs with Zhencha till it’s too late.
He finally reveals Perseus, and asks for AROs. I decline to pop out of camo and Nate attempts a discover and fails. He elects to intuitive attack on the next order and I drop a mine in response. Zhencha may not be shock immune, but not everything has shock!
With the mine down, Nate doesn’t want to risk Perseus by moving away and dodging and giving me a free shot with an SMG, so he brings in Sally and mows down the Zhencha from range. Hey, I’ll take it. That’s a ton of orders and there’s still a mine there.
Now that Nate can get a uncontested dodge roll, he moves Perseus to safety and passes his dodge roll. Perseus and the two remaining Securitate settled into cover, and moved his warcor forward.
After cybermasking his Interventor, Nate passes the turn.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Yu Jing
I dive the Libertos into the room, but get discovered by the warcor and the TR bot.
I throw caution to the wind and roll the Libertos into position covering the link. Nate dodges to avoid getting shotgunned or chain colted, so I just drop a mine covering the link, figuring I’ll trigger it with Lunah if I have to. Shockingly, I pass both ARM rolls generated by the TR bot’s hail of fire, and my Libertos survives!
This lets me trigger the mine by firing a light shotgun at one of the Securitate, covering the link. We had some questions about whether or not this was possible, so out came the laser. It ended up not mattering, as Nate either passed his dodge rolls or his ARM rolls, with only Perseus taking a wound from the light shotgun and going into NWI.
I get back to objectives, run the Ninja back into base to base with the left console and finally tag it.
I coordinate an order to move the Ninja closer to the now-revealed decoy, and move the Hulang, the Guilang, and the Kanren. The Hulang moves to the right side of the building to position himself for a run on the last console or an E/M run on the Szalamandra. The Guilang moves forward to protect my Designated Target, and I do some shenanigans with the Kanren.
Perseus is watching the Kanren’s approach to the center room, so I force an ARO with one of the MadTraps before moving the real Kanren through the danger zone to safety. The Kanren’s MadTrap passes BTS against Perseus’s breaker rifle, and both of them make it into the center room. I spend an order and rush the Ninja into base to base with the revealed HVT and take it out.
For some reason I thought Lunah had MSV1, so I stood her up to take a shot at Perseus, who threw smoke in response. I think Nate crit his smoke or something, but it didn’t really matter. I ran the odds and they’re definitely in Perseus’s favor, even with Marksmanship Level X (although MMLX helps a lot).
I forgot about the Zuyong again, so I just moved it covering Perseus’s approach, and then coordinate suppression with the Zuyong and the Kanren, using the Holoprojector suppression trick again to cover Perseus.
Bottom of 2 – Tunguska
Nate does a coordinated order after moving the Interventor into group 1, advancing the Szalamandra, his Interventor, his Heckler, and clears out the MadTraps with his repeater Securitate–it still supplies an order and is now a repeater in the central room.
I can see the Interventor with the Kanren, but elect not to break suppression to attempt a discover. Nate tries to clear out the Kanren with Perseus, but I pass BTS and elect to stay in place thanks to Martial Arts.
Tired of messing around, Nate stomps the Szalamandra forward, turning Lunah into paste, followed soon after by the Zuyong. I hadn’t expected this, figuring that Nate would make an objective play with his specialists (I guess the Szalamandra counts with its KHD pilot), so the Hulang was facing the wrong way. I sacrifice the Zuyong to declare Alert, letting me fix the Hulang’s facing. This pays off, because Nate was going to do that thing where he shoots a model in the butt even though the defending model is facing the attacking model (but LoF is blocked by scenery).
When it finally comes time for me to declare a ARO, I waffle a lot. Nate left me a silhouette base so I knew where Sally started. I can’t decide if it’s in 16″ or not, but I eventually throw caution to the wind and throw an E/M grenade. We measure, and it’s just over 15″. Nate had been planning on walking by and getting 4 more inches, but now he was forced to shoot. I tank the hit and go prone.
Nate continues stomping the Szalamandra around as part of a coordinated order with , face checking the Daoying’s mine…
and making an objective play with the Interventor on my left. I choose to discover now, breaking suppression with the Kanren and passing my WIP check.
Nate is left with the Interventor in hacking area of my Ninja and in LoF of my Kanren. Unwilling to risk the Interventor any further, he tries to kill my Hulang with Sally, but I get a crit on my dodge roll and combat roll the Hulang into the center room. Nate retreats the Szalamandra, going after my Hulang again through the right door of the room, but I pass enough ARM rolls and end the turn in NWI. At some point there was another coordinated order, probably when Sally was just moving around, to get Nate’s Heckler up to the closest door of the room on his side.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Yu Jing
I’ve got 5 orders left. I spend three going after the Interventor with Redrum, and third time’s the charm–I crit and Nate fails the remaining Double Trouble roll, taking the Interventor off the board.
I spend my last two regular orders scurrying the Hulang to safety to preserve my DataTracker is alive point, and then finally stand up my Daoying to take some potshots at the Szalamandra. I force six ARM rolls and Nate passes 5.
Bottom of 3 – Tunguska
Nate’s in Loss of Lieutenant. He gets the Heckler KHD into the room and spends its order and one of the Securitate’s regular orders pushing the center console button. He chooses correctly (Nate doesn’t guess. He intuits.) and reveals my Designated Target. The Szalamandra has its order and the other Securitate’s order, and has to move move to have a hope of seeing my Designated Target on the second order, giving me a free roll on my MSR. I choose Stun ammo, and sneak a hit past the Szalamandra’s BTS 9. Out of options, Nate calls it, making it a
10-1 Yu Jing Victory!
Notes
Notes for Me
- I think I made a mistake in the last turn with the Hulang. There was a glued Securitate just standing there next to him, and a Heckler in camo state in the doorway. After taking out the Interventor, if I could’ve taken out one of the Securitates that would’ve eliminated a regular order in a loss of lieutenant turn, and then attempting a discover shoot on the Heckler might’ve taken out the last specialist that could easily done anything.
- That would’ve really hamstrung Nate’s ability to do anything, and the worst that could’ve happened would be me losing the Hulang, which takes me to a 9-1 instead of a 10-1.
- I was very happy with the performance of the list, especially given that it was my first foray out with Yu Jing.
- My only concern is the “wasted” Lieutenant L2 skill on the Daoying for the first two turns. I may try to find a slot for Tai Sheng, replacing the Hulong, to address this issue. The Hulong is quite good, but the Zhencha is an adequate replacement in most cases. I don’t like leaving home without E/M, but you can’t always have everything.
- The Kanren was.. okay. I definitely liked the ability to force an ARO to not the real Kanren, but I wish I had the forethought to do it with a Holoecho as opposed to the MadTrap. I’ll do that in the future.
- I’m getting better with Holo L2. It’s definitely a bit of a deployment puzzle.
- Ninja KHD is getting work done! No complaints from me.
- I think removing the Zuyong HMG from the list since it didn’t do anything may be an over-correction. I think in other situations it would’ve been quite useful.
- Liu Xing are… quite strong. Being able to surgically remove link members at very little order cost is very powerful. I of course would’ve preferred survival of the Liu Xing, but you can’t have everything. I’m curious to try the other profiles in less lethal landing zones. I had considered bringing it in behind the Szalamandra and boarding shotgunning the TAG in the butt and catching the clockmaker in the template, but there was a Securitate watching the back arc of the TAG.
Notes for Nate
As usual, Nate and I talked at length after the game about things that could’ve been improved.
- One of the first things we discussed was regarding the link. Pushing the link forward into the central room wasn’t really the right tool. Yes, the Zhencha had to go eventually for you to gain access to the central objective, but there are other tools for that, like the Szalamandra doing an intuitive attack on the camo token.
- The other major issue was the TR bot placement. With it covering a shallower diagonal lane on Nate’s side of the table, instead of the approach to the Designated Target, that gave me the freedom of movement I needed to get the Hulang into position. Even with the TR bot in the position suggested at the beginning of the article, I could’ve gotten the Hulang into place, it would’ve just cost more orders and limited the damage on the first turn.
- Not sure why you were gunning so aggressively for the Hulang. After it died, yes, you could’ve easily taken out the Kanren who wasn’t looking the right way (although I suppose I would’ve gotten a warning from the Hulang’s death). This would’ve put me at 3 orders and not in retreat in my last turn, which doesn’t change my turn 3 at all, nor does it change the outcome of your last turn… this is a biased assessment, of course, given the history, but I don’t see the reason. I suppose you were concerned about me hunting your specialists with the Hulang and the Kanren who were forward on the map, which is reasonable. I got horrendously lucky with that dodge crit.
- As you said, you’re a bit out of practice and also not up to date on all the things that vanilla Yu Jing can bring. One of the reasons you didn’t hop the KHD Sally pilot out was that you were concerned that the camo token near my designated target was a Guilang KHD, which doesn’t exist. An AHD would also have been bad, but it was just an FO, so that shaped your second and third turns.
- I think after the link advanced and was therefore vulnerable to my Libertos, things started crumbling for you.
- I think you did an excellent job counter-deploying Lunah and the Daoying. I had no shots all game till the last turn shots on the Sally.
- Looking forward to our next game!
