Morat Impersonators
I was a little sad about my last tournament outing with Steel Phalanx from early in the year so I wanted a chance to redeem myself with vanilla ALEPH an upcoming tournament. Some practice was required in addition to my previous game versus Frank:
So I asked my other regular Yu Jing sparring partner James for a game at his place:
Overview
- Mission: ITS 14 Unmasking
- Forces: ALEPH versus Morat Aggression Force (300)
- Deploy First: MAF
- First Turn: MAF
I’m taking a bit of an odd ALEPH list with perhaps some under-utilized units, at least in vanilla. I just did a weapon swap on my Arjuna, and I’ve long wanted to make them work so they made an appearance:
Netrods are an obvious choice, as are Penny and Eudoros. I decided to take Alke as a Lieutenant purely for a Turn 3 hail mary sort of situation.
Unmasking v3
GROUP 1
8
1
3
GROUP 2
ALKÊ (Lieutenant) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 27)
PENTHESILEA Submachine Gun, Nanopulser(+1B), Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
EUDOROS Mk12, Nanopulser(+1B), Eclipse Grenades / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 42)
PROXY Mk.1 (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 14)
PROXY Mk.2 MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 28)
ARJUNA Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 32)
KIRANBOT E/Marat, Cybermines / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)
NETROD . (0 | 6)
MOTORIZED BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Chain-colt(+1B) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 9)
DALETH Rebot Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 16)
AÏDA SWANSON FTO (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, Viral Mines / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 20)
AGÊMA Marksman Missile Launcher / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 31)
LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 8)
6 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
Group two has a missile surprise and a bunch of useful tools.
James is just getting into Morats, so he’s proxying a bunch of his Yu Jing as Morats. That doesn’t mean he can’t play with a Kornak/Yaogat link, a pile of Drones, a Dropsuit Taryot (he does love his Liu Xing), and a bunch of fun tools in group 2.
James (RomanLegion)
GROUP 1
KORNAK (Lieutenant [+1 Order], Strategos L1) Mk12, Light Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 45)
YAOGAT MULTI Sniper Rifle(+1B) / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 35)
DARTOK (Hacker) Submachine Gun, Pitcher / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 21)
MORAT VANGUARD K1 Sniper Rifle / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 18)
GROUP 2
M-DRONE Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 16)
Q-DRONE Plasma Rifle / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 24)
DROPSUIT TARYOT Boarding Shotgun / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
ZERAT (Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Light Flamethrower, D-Charges ( ) / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 27)
KRAKOT RENEGADE Chain Rifle(+1B), Grenades / DA CC Weapon, Heavy Pistol. (0 | 14)
TYROK (Minelayer) T2 Rifle, Shock Mines / Heavy Pistol(+1B), Trench-Hammer(+1 Dam). (0.5 | 22)
OZNAT FTO Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenade Launcher / Shock CC Weapon, Heavy Pistol. (0 | 16)
GAKI AP CC Weapon. (0 | 4)
4.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
Deployment
I took deployment and James took first turn, which meant he was deploying first. The Yaogat link was all the way on the left and the Gaki link was all thew ay on the right, just piled up inside the buildings. The Drones took center, and a Tyrok and its mine screened the important link on the left.
I put two HVTs on the left defended by a Libertos. Aida defended a Decoy on the right, and I put a Daleth and Penny there too to have speedy reaction forces… mostly because I had two MBH on the left, one with HMG and one with Mimetism -6! Alke was on her own roof with a Daleth nearby, and the Arjuna and its bot were defending a roof and the area below.
James’s reserve was a Zerat, ready to make a run on the central objective. I had anticipated some sort of run on the central objective, so there was already an Agema watching that (and not the Yaogat). Lucky me! The Proxies came down as my reserve with the Mk2 watching the long firelane on my left and pinning the Krakot and the Mk1 putting a hacking area on the right.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – MAF
I took two orders from group 2 to make things difficult for James and limit the amount of orders he could spend on the Krakot and the Zerat. James started off with the Zerat, making a play on the central objective. I only had one window to take the shot before the Zerat was out of LoF, so I revealed the Agema and blew the Zerat up with a missile.
James sent in a M-Drone to deal with the Agema next, trying to do the dodge into triangulated fire thing, but he failed the dodge.
Eventually he decided to just shoot, at which point we realize he’s on 8’s anyway and should’ve just started with that. Oh well.
The M-Drone goes down to a missile hit and the splash onto the Zerat takes her off the table. James is annoyed now and throws a Dropsuit Taryot onto the table, catching a Netrod and my Daleth in an explosive template. The Netrod dies immediately, the Proxy whiffs her Carboniite, and the Daleth survives. Importantly, the Arjuna’s KIranbot gets to dodge and turns to see the Dropsuit.
The Dropsuit activates again, I dodge with the Daleth, Carbonite with the Proxy, and E/Marat with the Kiranbot.
James splits shotgun templates onto the Daleth and the Kiranbot, downing them both. The Proxy whiffs her Carbonite again, but the E/Marat stops the Dropsuit, finally.
James then walks the Yaogat off its perch and onto a different building just to see the Agema. This had to be done, but it’s actually quite good for me because it sort of pins the link in their deployment zone and controls their sight lines a little. The Agema loses the fight, but it’s dictated the pace of James’s first turn so I’ll call that a win here.
James pushes some of his forces like the Q-Drone and the Oznat haris up the table and passes turn.
Bottom of 1 – ALEPH
I need to get rid of the Dropsuit Taryot. It’s only immobilized. The Q-Drone is also a problem. Then I can start moving around the table. I can at the very least spend Eudoros’s impetuous order to get him a little further up the table. First up–the Q-Drone. The Mk2 easily -12s it and forces the Q-Drone to undergo rapid disassembly.
I’d like to get rid of the Oznat so I send in the HMG MBH. The bike is too big and will be seen by the Yaogat, so I hop the MBH off and split burst on the Oznat and the Gaki. It doesn’t go well for me and I just can’t make the dice work. I drop one of the Gaki at least while the other tries to dodge up to see me.
With the Gaki wounded I dump a full burst of HMG into the Oznat, but I get crit down.
The second MBH rolls in to take its chance with an SMG but I can’t make it work. The other Gaki is finally in sight of the dismounted MBH so now I’ve gotta be careful.
Thankfully Eudoros is nearby, but he can’t remove the Gaki.
I’m really frustrated, so I switch my attention to another problem. I still need to remove the Dropsuit. Thankfully Penny is there and she SMGs it down.
Okay. Back to the Oznat problem. I throw the MBH under the bus and split burst on the Oznat and the Krakot, losing the MBH to the Yaogat and the Morat Vanguard. Finally the dice go my way and the Oznat and the Krakot are shocked off the table.
Eudoros reveals a nearby Decoy and drops the last Gaki.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – MAF
The problem with the Gaki link is that it can be pretty fragile and unlike the Kuang Shi link doesn’t defend itself particularly well. James is now playing from a pretty significant deficit of orders. Still, M-Drones are really good and he manages to put a wound on Eudoros with his remaining M-Drone.
I do manage to land eclipse smoke on the second attempt though, which is all I can ask for at this point.
To stay in the game, James has to push the link forward because that’s all he’s got left, so that’s what he does. He manages to reveal one of my Decoys but can’t get to it. Of note is that he had to leave the Yaogat behind because it was stuck on a roof and he didn’t have the movement to get it down.
Bottom of 2 – ALEPH
I need to be very careful this turn. If I’m too aggressive I can put James into retreat. I need to do enough damage to neuter his list and get some points on the board. I start by unleashing Eudoros, who easily takes out the Morat Vanguard.
James had retreated the M-Drone to near where the Oznat was. This time, the dice give me what I want and the M-Drone goes down in one order.
I can now dodge into 16″ of the Yaogat to give me the best odds, especially now that it’s solo. This is a pretty big risk as the Yaogat is on flat, but so am I and I’ve got more dice. It goes my way, thankfully, and I crit the Yaogat down.
I’m behind the Dartok so I blap it out of the way of my Daleth, which rockets onto the central platform now that there’s no hacker there. I guess correctly and reveal the Designated Target!
I take out the Decoy I revealed earlier on the way to the real target…
then put a wound on Kornak as I pie slice the corner.
I make it all the way around the corner to see the Designated Target and split 2-1 on the target and Kornak, respectively. Kornak stays up but the Target drops.
I’ve got one more order on the Daleth so I shoot Kornak in the back and drop him for good.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – MAF
James is unequivocally in retreat now, but Morats gonna Morat. The Vanguard Paramedic makes a push on the Decoy it revealed, somehow dodging Aida’s viral mine and ALL of the shots coming its way.
It manages to see the Decoy, but I successfully dodge and the Vanguard gets absolutely pasted by Eudoros, the Daleth, and Aida (who dodged to be standing on the last order).
The sole survivor, the Tyrok, slinks off into the darkness for a
9-0, 224-22 ALEPH Victory!
Post Game Analysis
I was really not having a good first turn this game. I had such a hard time getting damage to stick with the MBH. I eventually just committed and got lucky. The rest of the game was just continuous pressure, watching my angles and range bands, and prioritizing targets well. We talked about this game afterwards and we thought the key issues were the Yaogat’s positioning.
It was certainly a problem for me to deal with, but I had a clear line of approach with Eudoros and the MBH, and if James had committed to locking that lane down that would have made it way harder for me to take out the Oznat and Gaki, even though that was already really hard. It would have forced me to play a slower game and pushed with Eudoros carefully under smoke, but it also might have opened a run for Penny.
I think that’s the power of this style of list and of ALEPH in general. Eudoros and Penny can exploit any opening and really hammer results home, and the rest of ALEPH’s support package is just so solid. I guess this game boils down to James not having the right board coverage at the right times and me having the tools and the aggression to slam into the gaps. It also illustrates the dangers of advancing into the midfield with a link and not covering the “go all the way around and shoot us in the back” route. Thanks for reading.
