Asteroid Blues

Relegated to guard duty. And for what? Letting some Aleph data slip to the Combined Army. Sure, the EI was our enemy. They were everyone's enemy. But its not as though they had taken PanOceanian information.

How wrong the Lieutenant was.

This was my first game ever fighting Haqqislam. The night before our game, I did some research into them. Pretty much all of my research yielded that I should be careful for infiltrators, impersonators, and cheap smoke.

There was one unit which immediately came to mind as a counter to these, the Hound of the Lord, the Black Friar.

I considered running my Jotum as my LT, but I knew that Haqq had access to cheap Jammers, and I didn't want to enter LoL simply because a Mutt got too close and jammed him. Consequently, I ran my Acontecimento Regular as LT again.

Hence, the following list was born...

Meanwhile, this was what my opponent would be bringing to the field, (Obviously, at the time I wasn't aware of what he was bringing)

My choice to bring the Black Friar and Nisse would prove to be a good one, at least in the first turn.

With that, let's move onto the game.

Table Layout & Deployment

PANOCEANIA: TOP OF TURN 1
Without any warning, Haqqislam troops were suddenly upon the PanOceanian garrison.

Almost in unison, the Mechanized PanOceanian units came to life. If it was a battle Haqqislam was looking for, it was a battle Gabriel would give them!

The battle begins with the EVO hacker giving the Bulleteer Assisted Fire, and the Bulleteer attempting to to discover + attack the infiltrating unit on the PanOceanian flank. Before the Bulleteer has a chance to discover, the infiltrator reveals itself! A Daylami! A brief firefight ensues, and though the Bulleteer is able to kill the Daylami through a spray of Spitfire rounds, the shotgun blast wounds both the Bolt KHD and the EVO-Hacker Mulebot.

With the infiltrating Daylami slain, the Nisse takes aim at another Daylami, this one who failed to successfully infiltrate the PanOceanian side. After a single burst of fire from the Nisse HMG, the right side of the board is cleared of any threats.

The Jotum moves forward, and takes aim at the enemy Warcor, removing it with the use of Shock Ammunition.

The Monstrucker moves forward to the EVO-Hacking Mulebot, and successfully repairs it.

Finally, the Sierra Dronbot, The Jotum, The Black Friar, the Bulleteer move forward, while the Nisse and the latter three enter suppressive fire, anticipating the incoming attack from Haqqislam.

HAQQISLAM: BOTTOM OF TURN 1

"We've got them!" Lieutenant Gabriel exclaimed over the PanOceanian comms. "All avenues of approach have been completely locked down, hold the line men!"

Haqqislam begins by sending forward their Muttawi'ahs, their thirst for battle overcoming their reasoning.

The closest target to the Muttawi'ahs is the Jotum, so they begin their advance towards it. Unfortunately for them, the PanOceanian lines had two units with Multispectral Visors, so as they threw smoke in an attempt to cover their advance, a steady stream of Shock ammuniton ripped forth from the Black Friar's multi rifle, killing one instantaneously.

Towards the Nisse's firing lane, a camo marker makes its way down the field. Unwanting to have the Nisse to lose its supressing fire, the Lt orders the TR Bot to attempt to discover the enemy. Wasting no time with the TR Bot being destracted, something calling itself a "Liberto" appears. Though it fires at the TR Bot, rendering it unconcious, the Bulleteer and the Nisse both riddle the creature full of bullets, killing it instantly.

Finally, the Barid AHD makes its way towards the lane where the Jotum is located. After failing to land two pitchers, a Kameel moves forward to reload the Barid's supply of pitchers. Fully restocked, the Barid is able to launch a pitcher close to the Jotum. With two orders left, the Barid attempts to possess the Jotum! The first time, the Jotum was able to successfully reset, and the second time, though unable to reset in time, is able to pass its BTS save with 2x 20s!

PANOCEANIA: TOP OF TURN 2
"That was too close! This is Lieutenant Gabriel to Bulleteer pilot, get up there and deal with that damnable hacker!"

Knowing the only way to possible hold on is removing the AHD Barid, the Bulleteer begins to rush straight towards the Haqqislam deployment zone. Encountering a Farzan along the way, the Bulleteer wastes no time in eliminating the Hassassin with its spitfire. Bursting forth from cover, the Bulleteer forgoes all cover and unleashes a payload onto the Barid, killing the hacker. In return though, the Bulleteer is shit by a critical shot from the Barid KHD's rifle, and is knocked unconscious.

With the treat of the hacker gone, the Monstrucker uses his Palbot to move and revive the damaged Seirra Dronbot.

Assured that the threat of Assault Hackers was over, the Jotum activated on the second last order of the turn. It was at this moment, when a Taureg assault hacker revealed himself from hidden deployment! Despite the Jotum's attempt to reset, the Taureg was able to gain control of the Jotum!

With the final order of the PanOceanian turn, the Monstrucker moved his Palbot into base to base contact with the Jotum, attempting to immobilize the frozen giant. However, with one slam of the Jotums fist, the Palbot is rendered offline.

HAQQISLAM: BOTTOM OF TURN 2

"Wha-what?" Gabriel could barely muster the words, as the Jotum turned towards its own forces.

Gabriel could barely grasp the situation as it unfolded right in front of him.

Using a command token at the start of the Haqqislam turn, the Jotum is briefly returned to control of PanOceania, before being taken over again by the Taureg.

What happened next, happend so fast, PanOceanian forces hardly had time to react.

The Jotum, turning on its former allies, guns down the Nisse, while the Black Friar moves in to lock the Jotum down in close combat. Fortunately for the Black Friar, because the Jotum targeted the Nisse elusively, he can dodge unopposed closer to the giant. As the Jotum raises its weapon at the Black Friar, the Black Friar attempts to Engage, but is gunned down before he can reach close combat.

The Jotum begins moving through the PanOceanian lines, killing all that stand before it. Before long, only Lt Gabriel, and the Monstrucker are left standing.

Feeling no connection to PanOceanian assets, the Monstrucker begins to fire at the Jotum as it comes into range. At this point, the monstrucker scores three consecutive critical hits on the Jotum, bringing it down.

With the Jotum down, a Fiday, who had long awaited an opportunity to reveal itself, moves around and kills the Monstrucker, leaving the only PanOceanian unit left.

PANOCEANIA: TOP OF TURN 3

Short on orders, the Lt attempts to move forward to contest the zone closest to PanOceanian deployment, but fails to reach it.

HAQQISLAM: BOTTOM OF TURN 3

The Haqqislam forces move into optimal positions, securing as many objective points as they can.

Berithh
Nil

Husker

-Dominate the nearest sector to your deployment (+1)
-Domiate central sector (+3)
--Dominate Central Sector with Liaison Officer (+1)
-Dominate farthest sector from your deployment (+4)
-Classified (Secure HVT) (+1)

FINAL SCORE
Husker (10) - BERITHH (0)

"A complete loss of PanOceanian forces, loss of three remotes, loss of a TAG, and you come back here, tail between your legs, and all you can do is apologize?" Commander Berithh lashed out at Lieutenant Gabriel.
"Sir----Sir" Gabriel stumbled on his own words.
"The only survivor of this failed engagement is you! You let your men die around you, and did nothing!" Berithh spat.
"I can explai--" stammered Gabriel.
"You will do nothing! From this moment forward, you are relieved of your command! Dismissed!"

"Have the Neoterran forces arrived as requested?" Berithh asked, his voice having regained its composure.
"Yes, Commander." the Aquila replied, his voice heavily modified through the suit, making it sound more robotic than human.
"Excellent. There is work to be done..." Berithh began.

Holy hell. That's all I can truly say about this game.

Honestly, I thought things were going well, up until my last two orders of turn 2. After that, when the Tuareg revealed itself, the game just slid wildly out of my control.

Good game Husker, you truly showed me what Haqq was capable of!