Asteroid Blues

Utilizing deep scans taken from the Jiyuan Quarry, Nexus Operative Bein led his unit of Onyx Contact force members into a fissure found in the Asteroid. Using mining tools stolen from the Quarry and a little Rodok muscle the team cut a back route to bypass opposition into the Gallery Maze Chimney's. Though Malignos Infiltrators gathered intelligence that this area what under Aleph control, Aleph were not the only forces defending this area. A team of Yu Jing had been dispatched to protect their Aleph assets, and to keep watch for the invading Onyx team that had bypassed the security at the Quarry.

Operative Bein's team moved into the darkened Gallery. His own Fireteam deployed into total cover and consisted of a pair of Unidrons, one armed with a Missile Launcher and the second was a Forward Observer. The second Fireteam was a Haris of Rodok's, one being the team coordinator, and the other two armed with Missile Launchers who took high ground with cover to overlook the battlefield. Two Malignos utilized their infiltration and multiterrain skills to hide among the mid-field in the dangerous Thicket of carnivorous plants. A Med-Tech Obsidon took total cover in the back line, ready to utilize D-Charges or repair units if necessary. Lastly a Overdron Batroid joined the battle, armed with twin sniper rifles to lead the assault.

The YuJing forces consisted of Hsien Hitaro armed with a Multi Rifle leading the team. He was supported by two Gui Lang, one with a multi sniper deploying to overlook the field, and the other a hacker with multiterrain deploying in the mid field thicket. A Yan Huo with twin missile launchers took a defensive perch, while a Husong Yaokong took a center position to utilize his HMG;s and Total Reaction programing. A War Cor posted near the Husong, while a Lu Duan and a Celestial Guard took position in total cover behind them. Lastly a pair of camouflaged figures appeared on the left most building, one being a Dao Ying with multi sniper rifle, and the second being her mine to hide the fact that a Tiger Soldier was lurking in the skies above.

((This will be brief unfortunately, and if I get a chance to come back and write it more creatively I will. For now here is the summary)

Round 1.1 Onyx 10 Regular Orders, 1 Lt Order, 1 Tactical Awareness Order

Overdron targets Husong First from cover. With burst, range and cover, the Husong was at the disadvantage, and the Overdron's shots landed on the Rem causing two wounds, dropping it to unconsciousness.

The Overdron moved to target the War Cor. The range and burst overtook the attempt to Flash pulse, and removed the War Cor from the battle.

The Overdron moved to target the Yan Huo. First shots missed for both Overdron and Yan Huo, but in the next order the Overdron scored a crit and the BTS check removed the second wound causing the Yan Huo to fall unconscious.

The Overdron moved again and attempted to discover the Gui Lang sniper, but accidentally moved into a line of fire of the Gui Lang hacker's combi as well. The Overdron attempted a split shot between the two, missing the sniper, and taking a critical from the hacker. The Overdron changed position to only be seen by the Sniper, while placing two shots at the sniper. The Overdron missed, as did the Hacker and Sniper.

The remainder of the round was spent with the Overdron attempting to remove the sniper, but being unable to. It finally moved into a sniper position at the end of the round to provide ARO's for the following turn.

Round 1.2 Yu Jing 6 Regular Orders, 1 Lt Order

The Hsien utilized its LT order to move around its building into better position, then utilized the next order to move into line of sight with one of the Rodok's. Using the multi-rifle on shock mode for the increased burst the Hsien made two attempts to attack the Rodok, with the first missing and the second being successful. The Rodok fell to the shock ammo.

The Dao Ying revealed itself in an attempt to shoot the second Rodok to help keep the LT Hsien in cover, however the burst reduction and the cover and mimeitism of the Rodok was too challenging to risk more attempts on. The Hsien then moved out of cover to reach a better range to the Rodok, and fired in burst mode with shock ammo. The Rodok returned fire, and landed a successful missile on the Hsien, knocking him unconscious. The blast also caught the Dao Ying, but she was able to succeed in all of her armor checks to resist the damage. The Dao Ying made a final attempt to shoot the Rodok, and was successful, the double action round beating both of its armor checks removed the Rodok from the table. Lastly the Gui Lang moved up, placing a mine that pinned down the Malignos

Round 2.1 Onyx 8 Regular Orders 1 LT order 1 Tactical Awareness order.

My round two focus was designating and destroying Antenna's. The Malignos that was not pinned by the mine designated 4 Antenna's this turn, and I used the Unidron to destroy two of the Antenna's that were completely in the Yu Jing side of the table. I used my remaining orders, on the Overdron to attempt to remove the Gui Lang sniper, both failed. (I likely should have destroyed two more antenna's instead)

Round 2.2 Yu Jing 5 Irregular Orders due to Loss of LT.

The Yu Jing player designated a new LT. He then attempted to move the Lu Duan out toward the mid-field. I delayed the Overdron's reaction, and lost it due to the Lu Duan moving as its second action. The Lu Duan attempted a second move into the center of the field, and this time the Overdron placed a template shot that clipped both a holoecho and the real Lu Duan. The damage from the plasma sniper disabled the Lu Duan, while the Lu Duan's successful return shot bounced off the Overdron's armor.

The Gui Lang and Dao Ying snipers coordinated and placed shots on the Overdron, with one more wound getting through on the TAG. The Dao Ying kept pressure up on the TAG with command tokens being spent to give her regular orders to use. This eventually paid off as the TAG suffered its third wound, making it fall unconscious.

The Tiger Soldier used its own order to land on the right side near the pinned Malignos.

The Celestial guard moved up and used its order to Forward Observe a Antenna on the Combined Army side of the table.

Round 3.1 Onyx 7 Regular Orders, 1 LT Order

The Malignos Forward Observed the Antenna that the Celestial Guard had just activated, returning it to CA control. The Malignos exchanged fire with the Gui Lang Sniper, but neither could hit each other due to Camouflage and cover. The Malignos eventually pulled back into total cover.

The Unidron with the Missile launcher moved into partial cover to attempt to cover the Gui Lang sniper from activating in the final turn.

Lastly the remaining Rodok with Combi Rifle attempted to climb the stairs to get an overwatch on the Celestial guard, however the Dao Ying and Gui Lang Snipers shot and killed him.

Round 3.2 Yu Jing 5 Regular Orders 1 LT Order

The Tiger Soldier and Gui Lang coordinated a move, forcing the pinned Malignos to react with a Dodge. The Malignos failed horribly and took the mine as well as shots from the two troopers, and missed the armor roll on the mine resulting in death due to shock ammo.

The Gui Lang and Tiger Coordinated again to move the Tiger into range of the HVT. While the Tiger did hit the HVT a successful armor check stopped the HVT from dying. A final Coordinated order gave both the Tiger and Gui Lang a line of fire to the HVT and with their shots combined they took the HVT out.

The Celestiall Guard managed to Forward Observe one of the CA Antenna's turning it back to Yu Jing control, and the Dao Ying attempted to destroy it, though the armor was too tough.

((Final turn thoughts: Though I won the game my opponent could have turned it into a draw in the final turn. If he had designated more Antenna's and stolen the two I had designated I would have been brought to 5 to 5 final score.

Alternatively, if I had spent my turn 2 and 3 only designating Antenna's and destroying them I could have designated 5 antenna, and destroyed my two scoring antennas, and destroyed the three antenna my opponent needed to score, removing any chance for my opponent to score. In the end I got lucky that my opponent did not see the opportunity to turn this into a draw until it was too late.))