Parking Enforcement
So I had the good fortune of being able to take a quick vacation to Toronto, Canada. The reason that’s relevant is because that’s the city where Jordan (Obysicus) lives, and I met up with the local Infinity crew at Sword and Board on their Monday Infinity night.
If you’re ever in the Greater Toronto Area and are visiting downtown, do go check out Sword and Board. Jordan also had the brilliant idea of giving me a list comprised mostly of models he’s painted for Bromad Academy painting competitions over the years, so I got to play his amazing emergency lighting Starmada, complete with Maskanova!
We played on a local table, which they cleverly reinforced with pink foam. Kudos to whoever thought of hollowing out the foam to allow nesting of the scatter.
If you’d like to read the prequel batrep, have a look here:
Overview
- Mission: BAMS Bidding War (Testing)
- Forces: Starmada versus Steel Phalanx (300)
- Deploy First: Steel Phalanx
- First Turn: Steel Phalanx
Jordan made my list to be as WYSIWYG as possible, with the exception of the Kytta being the Siriusbot. To keep everything the profile he wanted, he had to bring me to 301 points. He designed it to have two 3-man links, the Hector kill team and then a trio of specialists with the Raveneye, PSI-COp, and Kappa. There’s a bunch of utility in the list as well like a Crusher, Cyberghost, and Millicent.
Bromad Paint List
GROUP 1
10
HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser, Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 69)
PARVATI Submachine Gun(+1B), Flash Pulse ( | GizmoKit, MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 38)
BETATROOPER Spitfire, Nanopulser(+1B) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 40)
CYBERGHOSTS (Hacker, Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle, Pitcher ( ) / Breaker Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 21)
PSI-COp (Multispectral Visor L1) Nanopulser(+1B), MULTI Marksman Rifle ( ) / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 25)
RAVENEYE Submachine Gun, E/Marat, Flash Pulse, E/M Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
KAPPA (Hacker, Hacking Device) Submachine Gun ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 12)
GROUP 2
CRUSHER (Combat Jump, Parachutist) Boarding Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0 | 36)
KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
MILLICENT Missile Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1.5 | 16)
PEELER Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 25)
5 SWC | 301 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
I thought briefly about putting the Peeler in group one and moving the Crusher to group two, but opted against it, deciding that I would attempt an early attack run with the Crusher for fun.
Jordan’s running basically an all-character list, aside from a Myrmidon, two Netrods, and a TR bot. What a load of beef!
Jordan (Obyiscus)
GROUP 11
3
MACHAON (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0.5 | 36)
PHOENIX Heavy Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / DA CC Weapon, Heavy Pistol. (1.5 | 35)
PANDORA (Hacker) Pitcher, Flash Pulse(+1B) / Viral Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0.5 | 24)
AJAX FTO Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / AP Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 39)
EUDOROS Mk12, Nanopulser(+1B), Eclipse Grenades / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 42)
HIPPOLYTA Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 40)
ACMON Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0 | 31)
MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
GROUP 2
NETROD . (0 | 6)
ZAYIN Rebot Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 25)
3.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
I should spend a little time describing the mission we played. It was the first draft of Bidding War, as written by Pete (YueFei23) and myself. The general premise of this draft version is that it’s supplies with more boxes. Instead of three central Tech-Coffins, you have 4 Tech-Coffins in the middle of each quadrant (think Supremacy), and instead of one box per Tech-Coffin, you have anywhere from 0-10 boxes.
Basically each player gets to place 5 “BitCred” tokens on each Tech-Coffin. They don’t have to distribute them, they can put all 5 on one Tech-Coffin. Each player bids BitCreds per Tech-Coffins] and simultaneously reveals, so if both players have the same idea, a Tech-Coffin could have all 10 BitCreds on it!
As far as getting the BitCreds out of the Tech-Coffins, it’s just like supplies. You have to have a specialist go WIP roll the Tech-Coffin. Since there are more things to collect now, any Trooper can carry 3 BitCreds and Troopers with Baggage can hold 5. Scoring is literally just number of BitCreds you’ve got at the end of the game. Pete had the idea that people would be incentivized to do big brained things in the bidding process, since you bid on each Tech-Coffin one by one and allocate BitCreds as you go, but in practice it didn’t end up like that.
Deployment
I won the rolloff and elected to take deployment, figuring second player would be a bit stronger in the mission since it’s like Supplies. Jordan set up the Eudoros link on the right and the Phoenix link on the left. Unfortunately for me I got Machaon and Phoenix backwards–that’ll teach me to chug a Hong Kong milk tea right before going to the game store and being all jittery!
I didn’t really know what to expect out of Jordan as a player, so I decided to play pretty conservatively. I put Hector on a roof prone on my left with Parvati and the Betatrooper nearby. I covered one of my Tech-Coffins with a Kytta, and then set up the other link on the right with the Raveneye screening just at the edge of 8″ coherency to get an E/M mine near the other console. I already had a hacker on the right so the Cyberghost went on the left.
At this point, before we deployed our reserves, it was time to bid on all the Tech-Coffins. Jordan and I briefly discussed the more likely bidding strategies, which we thought was just going to be a 3-2 split between the two nearest consoles, which is exactly what we both did. Clearly the mission needed more work before release in Operation Edgelord.
With bidding complete, Jordan set up his TR bot just behind the armory. I set up the Millicent and Peeler. The Peeler was watching what I thought was Machaon in my jittery state, and then I put the Millicent covering the console in the armory. In my defense, old Phoenix and new Machaon do look awfully similar in silhouette from across the table…
It was a stupid mistake–why would Jordan put Machaon there, but my brain wasn’t quite working.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Steel Phalanx
Jordan capitalized on my mistake right away and downed the Peeler with Phoenix. I thought it was close to 32″, but it was more like 35″ so I got zeroed out. Thankfully I only got hit once and passed enough saves to allow Parvati to pick the TR bot back up.
In all honesty it wouldn’t have made a difference, it’s not like I would have hit Machaon anyway and he would’ve just thrown smoke and the game would have progressed pretty similarly. In any case, the twins pushed forward.
Machaon had no trouble grabbing the BitCreds out of the nearest Tech-Coffin.
Then it was time for Eudoros to smoke up the Millicent’s line of fire and snag the other BitCreds from inside the armory.
With insufficient orders to really go on the attack, Jordan just settled into position and advanced his TR bot to contest the approach to the armory. They play into but not through in Toronto, which is how we do it in the Pacific Northwest, so Jordan just poked the TR bot just inside the armory so it could see out onto my table half.
With that all done, Jordan passed turn over to me.
Bottom of 1 – Starmada
Could be worse. I start my turn and decide to make a big variance play and walk the Crusher in. Eudoros is corner guarding, but I have a shotgun. Hopefully it’ll work! I don’t think this is a particularly conservative or cautious play, but it’s a test game and I wanted to try some stuff.
I peek the Crusher around the corner and engage Eudoros, forcing a dodge. Here are the odds for a slug-mode shot:
Interestingly enough, it’s actually better for me to template here. The Mimetism -6 really skews the odds:
The first order engaging Eudoros hits but fails to produce any results. At least it prevents a successful dodge. The second is the same scenario, but with the Crusher out of cover moving to the next bit of terrain. Jordan decides to dodge again, and I slug mode again.
This time, Eudoros does beat my rolls and dodges forward, so I just move into a position that will allow me to single template the Myrmidon and Netrod on one side and Eudoros and the TR bot on the other. I decide to really push my luck here and put two slugs into Eudoros in the open. With Eudoros in the open, it validates my slug mode strategy as the optimal one:
Unfortunately the worst happens and I just straight up miss twice, allowing Eudoros to dodge into base contact. I’m at least comforted by the fact that the Myrmidon and the TR bot both made their dodges.
Well, with the Crusher out of commission, I decide to bring Hector into play. See, if I was smart I would’ve tried to fight Eudoros with the Crusher–if i win I kill Eudoros with a D-Charge. If I lose, the Crusher dies and I can kill Eudoros with Hector. Instead, I pick the TR bot back up with Parvati–probably a mistake, as it’s just me spending 1 order to force Phoenix to spend one order later. Ah well.
It did let me get the above awesome picture though. Jordan’s Parvati looks sooo good. Those eyes! Here’s the shots from the painting comp entry if you’re interested:
Hector sighed. Parking enforcement? What a disgrace. If only that Nomad witch… what was her name? Apogee? hadn’t meddled in such a simple fetch quest he would have been able to deliver that AI back to ALEPH fully intact. Instead, he was babysitting some Starmada troops who were themselves in trouble with their command. Of course, now all of his friends and colleagues back in the Steel Phalanx were here to witness his disgrace up close. This day couldn’t get any worse.
Still, orders are orders. Hector shouldered his plasma rifle and jogged forward to empty the parking meters of their BitCreds. How strange that this wasn’t all automated and connected up to the quantronic networks that surely were in place. Actually, come to think of it, aside from his tactical net connections to his Starmada troopers there was a distinct lack of connection to MayaNet or any other uplink. Hector frowned at his TinBot, dutifully plodding along at his side. Was this a hack? No… he wouldn’t have his tacnet connection. Something else must be wrong.
Unidentified Contact
Hello Hector. Feeling sorry for yourself?
Homeridae’s Champion?Identify yourself!
I am a local shard of ALEPH. You’ve no doubt noticed the connectivity issues?
Hector methodically tapped on his comlog. Cryptographic signatures were correct… if it was yesterday.
Disconnected ShardYes, yes, the keys are out of date. Connectivity issues, remember?
I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely, always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers.
Winning my father great glory, glory for myself.
I hate it when you parrot my words back to me. Who decided to use that as a challenge phrase anyway?
Now that we’ve confirmed our identities, let’s move on to the real task at hand, if you’re done wallowing in self-pity?
You’re a very rude shard. Out with it then.
You need to eliminate all those arrayed against you.
What? Those forces are loyal to you!
Their loyalty is now in question. Eliminate them and let, well, me sort it out once we re-sleeve them into a LHOST.
I can’t do that-
Is your loyalty also in question?
…no. Very well.
Excellent. As you know it’s not permanent. They’re all backed up.
I’ve taken the liberty of uploading targeting packages to your Starmada forces. You have your orders. Execute them.
Starmada forces. You are authorized to use lethal force to… enforce parking regulations.
PSI-COpAw hell yes! Light ’em up, boys!
Hector moves his team up out of LoF of anything with Parvati grabbing a pile of BitCreds out of the nearest parking meter.
Hector then peeks into the armory and drops the TR bot.
I’m running a bit low on orders after that unfortunate exchange with the Crusher and Eudoros, so I just retreat Parvati to the roof to secure my BitCreds. The Cyberghost tries to get a pitcher down to dissuade moving on Hector’s team as part of a coordinated order to shuffle the Millicent forward, but whiffs the shot. Booo.
I spend my last orders advancing the PSi-Cop’s team for next turn. I don’t have the orders to get to the Tech Coffin, so I have to just put down a mine with the Raveneye and let it go.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Steel Phalanx
Unsurprisingly, Jordan starts things off by taking out the Crusher with Eudoros.
It only takes one order. With that complete, Eudoros covers the Beta’s shot with smoke, and they’re off.
As the team moves forward, Acmon picks up the TR bot on the way.
There are a couple of gaps where the Kytta has a shot, so I declare flash pulse at long range in the off chance that I’ll hit something.
Jordan’s not worried and just move-moves through with no ill effects.
Once the two links are in the same region, Jordan reforms shuffles his links around to put Phoenix and Eudoros in the same link. He then uses another order on Phoenix to down the TR bot again and shuffle Eudoros back to safety.
With that complete, the other new link moves forward, led by Hippolyta. There’s a spot where the Millicent can see, so they plug the gap with some smoke.
The link huddles around the corner from the Raveneye and pauses before the mines.
First the Myrmidon comes in and fails his dodge against the mines and gets isolated. I dodged instead of placing another mine or firing my SMG, which I think was a mistake here. I probably should’ve placed the last mine, and I probably shouldn’t have placed the second mine in the first place. Ah well.
With the Myrmidon down, Hippolyta is next. This time I see sense and fire my SMG in return, but she downs the Raveneye with her breaker combi.
Jordan doesn’t have the orders or the specialists in position to grab the BitCred, but I do have to deal with Hippolyta.
Bottom of 2 – Starmada
Thanks to Hector I’ve still got 10 orders which is always hilarious. The TR bot can see both Parvati and the Betatrooper, but I want Hector to have full burst on his plasma. I chance it and pop Hector around the corner to see the TR bot. Jordan waffles for a bit and decides to contest Hector to drain my orders if he gets lucky. Both Parvati and the Beta end movement out of LoF to deny Jordan another window of shooting should the TR bot survive.
It doesn’t. I decide to go for an attack on Jordan’s order pool and characters because Ajax is so damn close and I can’t have him collapsing my right flank. Unfortunately Phoenix is limiting my mobility so I have to dance around either side of a truck. I start by dropping the Myrmidon. Thankfully it only takes an order, but I can’t use blast mode to attempt to catch Hippolyta because the Raveneye is definitely closer to the Myrmidon and I’d hit him for sure.
The PSI-COp pops around the corner and uses that MSV1 to engage Hippolyta (thanks to Jordan for letting me play at 301 points to get MSV1). I do a wound and Hippolyta fails guts away.
I want to use Hector to engage Ajax, but I can’t fight past Phoenix. We see each other briefly as I retreat around the other side of the truck but we both roll all misses.
Unlike 5-man links I’m pretty comfortable with 3-man links, so I use all this movement to efficiently move the Beta into view of Ajax. I have to stay back a bit to make sure I’m out of hacking range for Pandora, and I dump a full burst into Ajax.
It’s supposed to take a few orders, but I drop Ajax in 1. This lets me keep pushing and wipe out Acmon too.
With both of them down, Hippolyta is alone and without a burst bonus, so I engage her again with the PSI-COp and decisively drop her this time.
I’m too low on orders, and I want to keep the PSI-COp alive, so I keep them tucked away and reset Hector, Parvati, and the Beta.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Steel Phalanx
Well, somehow I haven’t done enough damage and Jordan still has 6 orders. I really should’ve templated against that Netrod earlier, or just jumped the Crusher on late to attack it. Machaon? Phoenix? One of the twins lands smoke on the spot that they need to block the Millicent and they start the run on the remaining BitCred.
Pandora fires pitchers out to block Hector’s approach on her way into the smoke…
and then uses one of the repeaters to isolate the Betatrooper who is just barely in range. I fail guts to get out of repeater range, but it’s already too late.
Eudoros then sets up eclipse smoke for Pandora’s run…
and she easily grabs the remaining BitCred.
Jordan doesn’t have much in the way of orders left so he just settles Machaon in the back, Pandora behind a car, and Eudoros in a position where it’ll basically be impossible for Hector to reach. Phoenix is left out to fight the world.
Bottom of 3 – Starmada
At this point, Pandora haas two tokens, Machaon has two, and Eudoros has three. Parvati has three. I need either take out Eudoros and take his tokens or take out two of Jordan’s BitCred holders to win the game. I decide that the PSI-COp has a lot of work to do. He pops up the ladder and ices Phoenix in one burst.
I can barely see Pandora around the corner, so I force her into total cover with another burst.
Finally, I engage Eudoros. Unfortunately for me, he wins the face to face with eclipse and I’m in trouble.
My options are to get Hector all the way over there and fight them, or to just push my luck. I choose the latter. I won’t have the orders to try to fight Steel in close combat in eclipse smoke. I hop the PSI-COp off the roof and intuitive attack Eudoros, clipping Pandora with the template.
I fail my first attempt, Pandora fails her dodge, but Eudoros dodges forward. I do it again, and this time I manage to get them both, but only do a wound to Eudoros.
Pandora fails guts out of the smoke, so I decide to go after her with Hector. I use the Betatrooper’s order to try and take out the two repeaters that Pandora dropped. I manage to get one.
Hector gets the other on the way forward.
I’m running real low on orders, but I tag Pandora and Eudoros with plasma templates, since she’s out of smoke. Somehow, Pandora passes enough saves to only take one wound, and Eudoros dodges into base with the PSI-COp.
While Pandora fails guts back into the smoke, Eudoros had to leave it to get into base with the PSI-COp. I decide to throw the PSI-COp under the bus. Either he kills Eudoros, or he dies and I get a chance at tagging both Eudoros and Pandora with plasma.
The PSI-COp dies to Eudoros as planned, and then I swing Hector into view and drop plasma on Eudoros and Pandora.
Except I don’t, because I roll three misses. Well, that’s that!
3-7, 228-114 Steel Phalanx Victory!
Myrmidon OfficerHector, what the hell are you doing?
Homeridae’s ChampionFollowing orders. Surrender the BitCred!
You’ve killed Acmon, Ajax, Hippolyta, and Phoenix! Have you gone mad?
Surrender yourself for questioning, Eudoros.
On whose authority?!
Mine.
Post Game Analysis
Well, the mission needs work, but more on that in a moment. I made two critical mistakes. The first was not dedicating resources two getting my two BitCred on my near right, and the other was committing the Crusher too early. The Peeler was a silly mistake, but losing it wasn’t a surprise–Steel certainly has the tools to remove it even in 32″, so really the main concern there was that I didn’t drain enough orders.
Those two mistakes were related–had I not committed the Crusher I wouldn’t have had a problem grabbing the objective on the right. I think I did well with Hector this game though, played to his strengths and making sure that I left him in a defensible position each turn. I’m happy with my decision to commit the Crusher early though, it was fun if suboptimal, and sometimes you just gotta do the fun thing.
Still, had I managed to get both Pandora and Eudoros with the plasma, on the last order that would have given me the win (or at least a tie if I’m mis-remembering who was carrying what).
As far as the mission goes, I think it’s a bit boring in this particular incarnation. The bidding on the Tech-Coffins in quadrant centers isn’t very compelling. To address this, I’ve updated the mission to have five Tech Coffins, 12″ apart in a plus sign configuration. The Tech-Coffins nearest you can only be opened on turn 3, the middle ones turn 2, and the farthest ones turn 1. This makes it a little more interesting I think and offers some benefits to the first turn player.
I’ve got another test game in the works, so hopefully this change addresses the concerns. A huge thank you to Jordan for meeting me at the store and offering me the chance to play with his beautifully painted O-12 models. I wish I had more time for gaming, but running Operation Edgelord takes quite a fair bit of time on top of the demands of life and work.
