Asteroid Blues

-We played Decapitation, decided before the missions changed-

“One of our operatives discovered the Caledonians are meeting with an unknown third party to discuss the sale of T2 weapons. Our mission is to stop this transaction and ensure our troops will not face these weapons on the battlefield. We want to send a clear message; supplying our enemies with T2 weapons will not be tolerated. Use extreme prejudice, both the third party and Caledonian commander should be neutralized. Our agent blew her cover getting us this intel, so lets get her out safely while we are at it. Dismissed.”

It was unnaturally quiet at the small outpost on the rim of the Main Strip’s. Haqqislam troops eyed the buildings, but found no sign of movement. Ghazi Mutts ran forward, comms equipment chirping and jammers scanning, but there was nobody around.

Cautiously the Al Fasid advanced towards the Haqqislam agent, who was hiding next to a staircase. “Stay behind me” he said, in a commanding voice. Covering one alley with a mine, he shielded the woman with his huge armored body, his HMG staring down the second alley. Quickly more troopers moved forward, surprised at the total lack of opposition.

With defensive positions secured, the position of the enemy agent was confirmed. The Hunzakut fired off a grenade. The distinctive “bloop” was followed by a long silence as the projectile came down from its arc. What followed was an explosion, debris and faint cries for help. Realizing the weapons dealer was hurt but still alive, another two grenades were fired off. The ground shook with their impacts with the cries stopped. The Hunzakut saw Tarik Mansuri move past her to take up a defensive position. She deployed a mine to cover him.

-My opponent’s decision to deploy out of sight means he did not suffer any casualties turn 1, but I could advance uncontested and take up positions at excellent firing points, deploying mines to defend them and going into Suppressive mode. His HVT ended up in range of my Hunzakut and was taken out with speculative fire. –

The Al Fasid saw someone climbing a tower, a sniper rifle on his back. Protecting the HVT behind him he fired his HMG and the assassin went down. Two Mutts fired off smoke to conceal Tarik and the alley leading to the enemy HVT. The Caledonians advanced through the mist, two Volunteers taking up firing positions and another one charging through the smoke, together with a Grey. The mine behind Tarik took out the charging Volunteer before he could reach the supersoldier. The Grey neared, but his earpiece exploded with shrieking sounds and static caused by the Mutt’s jammer. Deafened the veteran bumped into Tarik Mansuri, who cut the heavily armored trooper down instantly. A stray rocket tore one of the Mutts apart, though the woman remained standing longer than anyone thought possible.

-Lost a Mutt, Caledonian charge was stopped by a mine and Tarik. Enemy HVT PH roll failed, enemy HVT dead. –

The Caledonian medic bagged up her Medkit, hands bloody and shaking her head. Taking this as confirmation the HVT was dead our Tuareg shot the medic through the head, instantly killing her. Tarik Mansuri flanked the Scots hiding behind a barracks and poured a continuous barrage of firepower onto their position. Two of them fell, before the supersoldier took cover to reload. Next to him a brave Mutt got shot multiple times in an exchange where his chain rifle killed two Volunteers.

-Sniper killed the medic. Lost another Mutt. Tarik doing a lot of damage-

It was clear the Amir was causing the Caledonians all sorts of trouble and they focussed their attacks on him. A sniper missed his shot and was torn in half by a Djanbazan using his HMG. Another Scott fell in the exchange before the unthinkable happened. William Wallace himself, climbed on a bunch of crates, raised his hand and shouted a bunch of obscenities before unloading his combi rifle at Tarik. The Amir was unscathed and downed the Caledonian with his Spitfire, the body not even slumped down before our Tuareg hit it as well.

-Tarik in cover, suppressive, despite being targeted, won all Face to Face rolls. Enemy Lieutenant dead This was turn 2, but game over-

– Review: My opponent’s defensive strategy allowed me to take the Initiative and force the fights to be on my terms. He was facing mines and suppressive fire HMG troops in prime positions making it impossible to reach my HVT. He had a good, strong focus on Tarik, but smoke grenade AROs blocked most shots so I got to engage in firefights on my own turn, creating advantageous Face to Face rolls where he was outmatched. This went a lot better than I expected and was almost perfect –

-Shitty pictures, sorry!-