Hollow Victory
I showed up to game night without a real plan and just the lists I had packed from the previous tournament. Andy (Antillese) came with his vanilla ALEPH looking to play Biotechvore.
Overview
- Mission: ITS14 Biotechvore
- Forces: Jurisdictional Command of Tunguksa versus ALEPH (300)
- Deploy First: ALEPH
- First Turn: ALEPH
I was looking to prove to myself that it was me and not the list from last game,
so I just played it straight:
Heavy Metal v2
GRENZER (Lieutenant, Discover [+3], Biometric Visor) Combi Rifle, Light Flamethrower(+1B) ( ) / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
HOLLOW MEN Missile Launcher, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 33)
JELENA KOVAČ Breaker Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
Fiddler FTO (Super-Jump) Contender(+1B), Drop Bears, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 28)
VOSTOK Mk12(+1 Dam) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 44)
ZONDNAUT (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 23)
ZONDMATE Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenade Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 5)
SZALAMANDRA Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon, Heavy Flamethrower / CC Weapon. (2 | 72)
SZALAMANDRA PILOT Contender(+1B) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
MOTORIZED BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Chain-colt(+1B) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 9)
9
3
2 | 5.5 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
Andy’s got a Marut list that’s under-provisioned by an order, but he’s got the Marut order to make up for it. It’s really relying on the Rudra and the Marut.
MARUT (Lieutenant, Strategos L2) MULTI Heavy Machine Gun, Heavy Flamethrower, Nanopulser / AP CC Weapon. (2 | 99)
KARKATA Flash Pulse / CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
RUDRA K1 Marksman Rifle, Mine Dispenser / Heavy Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 38)
SAMEKH Rebot Missile Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1.5 | 16)
DALETH Rebot Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 16)
PENTHESILEA Submachine Gun, Nanopulser(+1B), Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
SHUKRA (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 24)
PARVATI Submachine Gun(+1B), Flash Pulse ( | GizmoKit, MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 38)
APSARA (Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 19)
REM RACER (Hacker, RemDriver [+1 BS], Hacking Device) Submachine Gun ( ) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 21)
Deployment
I won the rolloff and chose side, so Andy chose to go first. He deployed Penny on the left with the Samekh and Parvati in the middle. The Daleth was on the right, and most of the other stuff was just sort of scattered around in cover.
Of note is the fact that he had a Remracer out before the Rudras, which I don’t think is legal? I didn’t catch it at the time and it’s not a big deal, just mentioning it for learning. I didn’t know where the Marut or Rudras were going (although I correctly guessed that it was a Marut list before seeing the Marut). I decided to play it really safe and cede a fair amount of board coverage to the Marut. I set up the Grenzer MSR on the right covering the bridge where the Samekh was and the Hollow Man watching the lane on the left, expecting that to be where the Marut landed. I put a bike on either side. I was a bit worried about Penny, but I had the Vostok covering her main approach.
As I expected, the Marut showed up, and then a Rudras. I put the Szalamandra in the only real spot it could go, in the middle of my deployment zone behind a big rock.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – ALEPH
I limited Andy’s command token usage, and then watched him immediately use it after Penny’s impetuous order to move the Marut, the Rudras, the Samekh, and Penny forward.
The Samekh then challenged the Grenzer, which was a big and unnecessary risk:
| 71.7 | 12.6 | 15.7 |
It went my way, and then Andy spent an additional order on this trying to fix the Samekh with Parvati’s gizmokit, which is another pretty low-probability thing to have go off.
The Rudras finds a small spot where it can only see the Hollow Man and not the Grenzer, so we have a fight. It’s at BS13, but it’s just outside 24″.
| 59.6 | 22.1 | 18.3 |
It goes poorly for the Rudras and it drops. Andy decides he wants to lightsaber the Szalamandra in half with Penny, but she whiffs her smoke and her chances of getting closer unopposed.
The Marut goes next and manages to hit but not wound the Hollow Man.
Eventually it does a wound and forces the Hollow Man into cover.
Parvati has a go of getting out of the zone, but she gets wrecked by the Grezner MSR at range.
Andy manages to get the Apsara out of his deployment zone but not out of the biotechvore zone. Only the Daleth, the Marut, and Penny are alive after he’s made all his BTS rolls.
Bottom of 1 – Tunguska
In contrast, my to-do list is much shorter. Get stuff out of the zone and kill Penny. I start by doing a wound with the Zondnautica’s impetuous order.
The Szalamandra forces the Marut around the corner with a wound.
I do the same thing I did to Jordan’s Hector with Fiddler and set up some mines.
The Vostok swings around and forces a dodge due to the mines and Penny is wiped off the table.
I then engage the Daleth with the MBH’s SMG but it passes all its ARM saves.
I get Jelena onto a rooftop along with the Grenzer Lt and catch the Marut out of cover with her Breaker Rifle.
I do one wound, and try to finish the Marut off with the Szalamandra while getting out of the zone, but end up taking a wound instead.
The Transductor is just inside the zone, and I can’t see the Zondnautica because it’s hidden under a catwalk so I just forget about it till the end of the game.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – ALEPH
Andy jokes that he’ll have won the game if he takes out the Szalamandra, and engages it with the Marut, throwing one burst at Jelena. Jelena finishes off the Marut but the Szalamandra takes two wounds and goes down.
He then goes for the Lt snipe with the Daleth, but I dodge everyone into the right positions on the approach…
and between Jelena’s breaker combi and the Hollow Man’s chain colt we stop the Daleth.
We call it here at a
5-0, 260-0 Jurisdictional Command of Tunguksa Victory!
Post Game Analysis
I think the key takeaways here are Andy likely didn’t have a plan to get everyone out of the zone, and spent a few too many orders on things that weren’t good odds. He should’ve started with the Marut versus the Hollow Man, then used the Rudras on the Grenzer. Then he can walk out with impunity. Some stuff still dies, but he’s in a much better position. I think he was too committed to taking out the TAG and had too many other things on his to-do list.
He’s still figuring out his ALEPH and hasn’t played much Biotechvore, so this is definitely more of a learning experience than anything. Thanks for reading!
