Asteroid Blues

Some tunes to listen to as you read.

After the complete devastation wrought upon Commander Berithh's forces by Haqqislam command, and the demotion of Lieutenant Gabriel, the Acontecimento Regular who lead a two squads to failure previously, things were about to change.

"Very good Captain Astelan," Berithh replied, "See to it that they pay for the lives they took here in Liberty Cargo."

The narrative contained in this report is a continuation of the narrative which began two reports ago. If you're curious about the slaughter of PanOceanian forces caused by Husker, be sure to check that out! Anything in italics represents the actual narrative, whereas the plain text represents what is going on in the game from a non-narrative perspective!

In preparation for the game, we weren't able to do a roll off for the mission until we actually arrived at our local game store, so I had tried to make a solid general list which I could use for most missions, and I came up with this;

From experience with my last game with Husker, I know he replied heavily on Smoke and Camouflage, so I decided to up my detection from the Friar's MSV2, up to the Aquila.

I was also apprehensive going into this game with him, because I think at the time of writing, he's 5-0 or something to that effect.

This is the list he brought, though obviously at the time I wasn't aware of it;

We had a roll off, and it was decided that we would play in Engineering Bay; my suggestion. The mission seemed genuinely cool, I had never played it before, and I liked the whole Isolation in the middle side effect; I after-all did have two veteran troops!

Husker won the Initiative Roll off with a 16 (I wonder who his LT is going to be...), and chooses deployment. I end up going first.

PANOCEANIA: TOP OF TURN 1

"Targets on sensors, all forces prepare to attack!" Captain Astelan of the Aquila Guard voxed to the Neoterran forces. "Machinist, Bolt, with me. Fusilier team Alpha, secure that building!" He pointed ahead.

"Damn. We should have brought Swiss Guard support." Astelan cursed, "Send the Peacemaker up that flank, and the Bulleteer on the other. Delay all attempts of breaking into the communication tower until enemy overwatch forces have been eliminated. I'll make for the center area in case they have any infiltrators."

(As the game begins, I roll my Metachemistry for my two Corporate Security Units. The one on the right rolls Total Immunity, while the one on the left rolls MOV 8-4)

The turn begins with the Bulleteer receiving Assisted Fire from the Fusilier hacker, before opening fire on a Daylami and Warcor. It is able to fell the Warcor in the first volley of shots, but the Daylami is able to pass its armour save. The Bulleteer advances towards an advanced cover position while still firing at the Daylami, and is able to end the Daylami's life after finally reaching cover.

The Aquila/Bolt/Machinist haris pushes up the center of the board. Upon reaching the central location, the Bolt begins to secure the building by throwing a drop bear inside, advancing inside, then throwing another drop bear.

Meanwhile, the Peacemaker pushes up the PanOceanian right flank, before opening fire on the Barid Assault Hacker knocking him unconscious. It then takes aim at the Kameel beside the Barid, and utterly destroys it in a hail of bullets. While in its current position, the Fusilier Hacker utilizes the Peacemaker's inbuilt repeater, and successfully possess the Maghariba Guard.

HAQQISLAM: BOTTOM OF TURN 1

"Sir, we've taken control of the Maghariba!" the Fusilier hacker voxed to Astelan.

"Someone gets eyes on Alpha!" the Aquila ordered.

The Haqqislam turn began with a command token being spent to cancel possession on the Maghariba, and the Muttawi'ah moving forward, throwing smoke as they advanced up the board. A Muttawi'ah advances towards the Bulleteer, and unleashes its Chain Rifle! The Bulleteer fires back in retaliation, rendering the Muttawi'ah into the Dogged state, while it goes unconscious itself.

At the rear of the board, the remaining Daylami moves into position and fires at the Peacemaker with his Panzerfaust. The Peacemaker suffers a direct hit, and falls into the second level of unconscious.

In the center of the board, an impersonation marker reveals itself to be a Fiday at the same time that it throws a smoke grenade! Remaining in the prone to avoid the Aquila, the Fiday crawls through the smoke and descends upon both the Fusilier Missile Launcher, and Fusilier HMG!

By killing both Fusiliers with the Fiday, the Haqqislam High Command accomplishes the classified objective of Predator!

PANOCEANIA: TOP OF TURN 2

"Sir, we've lost our armoured support. Both the Bulleteer and Peacemaker have been damaged. Without them, we'll quickly lose our flanks." the veteran Bolt said to Captain Astelan, choosing to say it in person opposed to the section's comms. He didn't want to alert the others to the possibility of being overwhelmed.

"I'm aware, but we need to hold back the Haqqislam forces from claiming this terminal, and with the Engineer here, I'm sure I'll persevere."

The PanOceanian forces focus primarily on securing objectives, and creating unknown variables for their opponents.

The remnants of the Fusilier Link team split apart, with the CSU on the PanOceanian right flank moving to the right hand objective. The CSU on the left flank, with her superior movement, moves 8 inches to the left flank, kicking her out of the link. The remaining Fusilier (The LT) moves away from where the Fiday could drop down on him. The right flank CSU claims the objective he is on, while the Fusilier moves further into cover.

Meanwhile, the Hexa Killer hacker moves to a position to watch over the Fiday, while still remaining in marker state. With hopes that he may be confused for a Swiss Guard, he hopes to intimidate the Fiday of staying prone.

On the left flank, the Auxilia moves from cover, and claims the left hand objective for PanOceania after two attempts.

In the Center, the Bolt Haris moves into the central building, an act which puts the Aquila into isolation. Thankfully, the Neoterran Engineer, and Neoterran Bolt, are both Veterans, and are immune to the effects of Isolation. The Engineer moves to the Aquila, and cures his isolation, before moving to the center console and claiming it. A command token is then spent, reforming the Haris.

HAQQISLAM: BOTTOM OF TURN 2

"That's it, the center communications tower is ours." the Machinist said, putting his tools back onto his pouch.

"We've got what we came for, pull back before we're overrun!"

The Muttawi'ah begin their advance, impetuously moving forward. The one on the PanOceanian right flank advances and attempts to throw a smoke grenade, but is met in retaliation with a rifle shot from the PanOceanian Corporate Security Unit, forcing the Muttawi'ah into the Dogged state.

Concurrently, the Haqqislami Monstrucker advances while in the prone towards the far right marker, relative to the PanOceanian side. It successfully takes the objective on top of the roof, while facing no retaliation from PanOceanian forces.

On the other side of the field, the Maghariba Guard springs to life. Moving down it's flank, it moves to a position where it is able to see both the Machinist and Auxilia Forward Observer, and opens fire on them both, splitting its burst. Despite their attempts to fire back, both are knocked unconcious by the burst of the Maghariba's Heavy Machine Gun. Moving to a more ideal location, the TAG attempts to shoot at both the Aquila and Bolt, the two remaining members of the central haris team. The Haris breaks apart, as the Aquila attempts to fire back, while the Bolt attempts to dodge. The Aquila's rounds bounce harmlessly off the TAG, while the Bolt was unable to dodge in time, and is knocked unconscious. Now, the only target remaining for the TAG, it unleashes its full burst into the Aquila, who once against tries to stand his ground and fire back. This time, the Aquila is not so lucky, and takes three shots in return, though his armour blocks two of them. He decides to fall back to a move advantageous position, out of line of fire of the Maghariba Guard.

At this point, the Djanbazan ontop of the overlooking building stands up, and fires his HMG into the Aquila. The weight of fire is too much for even the Aquila's armour to stop, and he falls to the ground, unconscious.

PANOCEANIA: TOP OF TURN 3

"We can't... let them..." Blood escaped Astelan's lips, as he tried to communicate over the Vox. Feeling himself slip from consciousness, he can barely muster the words.

The Hexa begins to move towards the center room.

Up three communication towers to one, the Hexa Killer hacker, one of the few remaining ranking officers on the field, took it upon himself to hold the center. Weaving in and out of cover, being discovered then re-camouflaging, he makes his way to the center building, and nestles away in it.

HAQQISLAM: BOTTOM OF TURN 3

Back in Commander Berithh's office, a flood of information begins to decrypt on the holo-monitors around the room. Where the Haqqislam forces had broke into Liberty Cargo from, what they were after, and why they were in Nomad territory.

"We'll send a team immediately. Continue holding on until they arrive."

With the Hexa holding the center of the table, all Haqqislam forces begin to dislodge it. The Djanbazan, despite his MSV2, fails to discover the Hexa, while the Muttawi'ah fail their intuitive attacks.

Despirate to squeeze victory from the PanOceanian forces, a foreign creature moves forward into the center room, blocking line of sight to the far door. The commander of the Haqqislam forces, Saladin, makes his way into the center room. With only one order left in the Haqqislam pool, the game is called to an end.

Berithh

-Have more Connected Consoles than the adversary at the end of the game (4 Objective Points)

Husker

- Secure the Objective Room at the end of the game (3 Objective Points)
- Classified Objective (1 Objective Point)

FINAL SCORE
BERITHH (4) - HUSKER (4)

I just want to clear something up right quick, because I know people may have noticed something.

As per the mission objectives, to Secure the building you need to be the only one alive in the building.

However, before the map, when I read aloud the mission objectives, I read it wrong and said "To have more points in the building". That was the assumption we were operating off of, for the entire game. I've spoken to Husker, and I think it would be rude to retroactively claim victory.

Obviously, for example, his Libertos wouldn't have just moved into the place to block line of sight for Saladin, he would have tried an Intuitive attack to dislodge my Hexa. But then, going back further, I probably would never have put my Aquila in there, since I was simply trying to get more points in the room. Hell, maybe he even would have tried to just claim more objectives than me.

The point is, there are so many possibilities that would change if we had known you had to be the only one left in the building in a non-null state, I suggested we leave it as a draw, and he agreed.

The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of the holo-monitors around the room. A faint aqua coloured light casting its light on the occupants of the room. Two men stood in it, Commander Berithh, dressed in standard officer dress, and a Swiss Guard.

"Husker, what were you after?" he asked to the universe, knowing he would receive no reply.

That was a great game, Husker!

I think this has actually been one of the most fun missions I've ever played in Infinity. The modifications to it specifically put in for Asteroid Blues, the Isolation zone in the middle, just made it such a joy to play.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading this report! Until next time!