Quiddity of Killing
This is Game 3 of the Salem Sh*tshow 2023. You can find Game 2 here:
I don’t know whose table this is, but it looks great! I was paired against Mark, who has been playing since N2 but took a long break, only returning recently.
Overview
- Mission: ITS14 Biotechvore
- Forces: Nomads versus Qapu Khalqi (300)
- Deploy First: Qapu Khalqi
- First Turn: Qapu Khalqi
Triple Hellcat list again! Reminder, all these lists are random.
Shit Show B
GROUP 1
10
GROUP 2
GRENZER (Lieutenant, Discover [+3], Biometric Visor) Combi Rifle, Light Flamethrower(+1B) ( ) / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
ZOE FTO-2 (Hacker) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 25)
MODERATOR (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 11)
AÏDA SWANSON (Minelayer) Submachine Gun(+1B), Viral Mines / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0.5 | 23)
HOLLOW MEN Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
MOBILE BRIGADA Missile Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 37)
HELLCAT Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 30)
SPEKTR Combi Rifle, E/M Mines ( | Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 32)
6 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
Mark got a pretty eclectic grab bag of QK units. The important bits are that he has Scarface and a pretty decent amount of real guns.
Mark (TheImmortalOne)
GROUP 11
SCARFACE Loadout Gamma & CORDELIA TURNER undefined / undefined. (1.5 | 81)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (- | 0)
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17)
GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
GROUP 2
DJANBAZAN Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
JANISSARY AP Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 34)
ROUHANI Submachine Gun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 21)
KAPLAN Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 28)
FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
KAMEEL (Deactivator, Repeater) ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 8)
ALGUACIL (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 15)
WARCOR (Sixth Sense) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
5.5 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
Deployment
I won the rolloff and chose side, figuring I’d learn from my game against Steve.
There were four main avenues of advance. The left table side, the two roads, and a path through the building on the right. Mark set up to push the Ghulams through on the right, the Djanbazan and Kaplan through the road on the right, and the rest of his forces along the road/board edge on the left.
I had basically the same paths of advance. I had Follow Up and HVT: Identity Check, so I put my Grenzer Lt on the right and then stacked up Zoe and the Moderator there. The Brigada watched the road on the right with the Hollowman hanging out on the left.
I attempted to put Aida 4″ up but failed the roll, so I stuck the Spektr guarding her on the corner there. Scarface came down my right table edge and then I put the Grezner down watching the left side.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – QK
I take away command tokens instead of orders, and then Mark gets started. The first order of the game is the warcor critically flash pulsing the Brigada. The odds actually kinda suck for me, 10% is real high:
| 68.9 | 22.0 | 9.1 |
Various bits of Mark’s army try to make it forward under the watchful eye of the Grezner. The Fanous doesn’t make it.
Unfortunately for me Aida is wildly exposed. I had hoped to have her there to be annoying but I guess that’s not going to happen. Just an absolute, well, shitshow. I should’ve dropped a mine. That would’ve at least possibly done a wound.
Mark doesn’t have much in the way of orders, so he probably shouldn’t be risking advancing further into my deployment zone, but he sees the Grenzer Lt and goes for it. I decide to not reveal the Spektr, although I probably should have. Funny thing is he has no idea that it’s my lieutenant, he was just being aggressive. He retreats just out of the biotechvore zone.
He does lose some stuff to the zone, but that’s small comfort.
Bottom of 1 – Nomads
I’m in loss of lieutenant and I have no orders because they’re all off table.
I move the Spektr into group 1 and try to make do with what I’ve got. The Spektr reveals and drops a mine, then the Brigada takes a shot at Scarface. Scarface dodges the mine and the Brigada whiffs on Scarface in the open.
I spend two command tokens to do this again, losing the Spektr on the mine drop, and then the Brigada whiffs again. This time the mine hits, but Scarface passes both BTS saves. Well that’s game. It doesn’t matter where I go, I can’t escape Scarface.
I pick up the Grezner with the Paramedic, and somehow pass all my BTS saves except for one wound on the Hollowman.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – QK
Sigh.
Scarface kills the Brigada easily, as she can’t hit anything this game apparently. I guess she never really cleared the stun state from the first order.
Scarface grabs In Extremis Recovery off the Spektr.
Then the Ghulams get Mapping.
Scarface goes for the Lt kill again, but this time the Lt fends him off with a decent combi rifle roll.
Bottom of 2 – Nomads
Well I’m not in loss, but I can’t do anything of consequence.
The Hollowman at least kills both Ghulam by threatening a chain colt.
I make one last attempt to deal with Mark’s stuff by bringing in the ADHL Hellcat, but I cannot hit Scarface from behind with a normal roll, and the second time I do it Scarface passes PH.
I manage to get a few things out and that’s game.
0-9, 49-172 Qapu Kalqi Victory!
Post Game Analysis
Sometimes you just shit the bed so thoroughly that you should just pack it up and go home, which is what I did after this game. Admittedly my carpool guests needed to get home right after the first day, but I was all too happy to go home and regroup.
Really I lost the game in deployment. I should have just stacked everything on the left except for the Brigada. It was just significantly safer there. I think part of it is we agreed to not play with building interiors, which dissuaded me from making that attempt. I guess I should slow down and think about the implications a little more, especially when I’m cutting off a potential safe line of advance for myself.
The other thing to do would have been to reveal the Spektr to put down an E/Mauler and then a Repeater so Zoe can help out. Or perhaps putting down a repeater from the Spektr and a viral mine from Aida. I had told myself that under no circumstances would I reveal the Spektr, and I stuck to the plan, but by the time I had confirmed my decision Scarface was too far forward.
Even a simple swap of the Paramedic and Grenzer in positioning would have been helpful and probably would’ve made the game recoverable. Regardless, with being in loss on turn 1 it quickly turned into an unrecoverable position. Immediately after the customary game end handshake, Mark said: “I do not like Biotechvore.” He hadn’t played it in awhile, and took some pretty unnecessary risks which paid off big time. I don’t really like Biotechvore either, because it’s often decided very early on and then the rest of the game is rather unpleasant.
Mark offered a rematch at some point in the future when he “wouldn’t bring Scarface.” That absolutely was not the issue. I left a deployment vulnerability, and basically anything could have exploited it. I had all of the tech and tools in the right position to address the issues as well, they just all failed me.
One thing I suppose I could have done on Turn 2 was go on a tear with a Hellcat Spitfire, but that didn’t seem particularly helpful either. I was really unhappy (and I suppose still am) with my performance this game. Basically bad deployment allowed for a good decision by Mark to cripple me and then it was just playing out the rest of the game to see how many points he could score before the time ran out.
There are some actionable improvements for me this game, but really the big takeaway is that bad games can happen to anyone at any time. Thanks for reading.
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