Asteroid Blues

So this is definitely a battle I lost, but learned a lot in.

Opponent wins the Lt roll and chooses to go 2nd; I pick deployment.

This is when I realise I didn't pack in an FO despite knowing the mission beforehand. I probably swapped it out and forgot to swap it back in, so despite the many cheap Kamael options, no Liaison for the Tohaa. Draal gets the Datatracker seat.

Tohaa Classified Mission: Identity Check; Haqqislam Classified Mission: Follow Up

The whole conflict starts because a jumpy Kiel-Saan puffs up to S5 after hearing the boisterous Haqqislam forces. Everyone else scrambles to position with orders to get a signal through to nearby forces and to verify the identity of the attackers. That no Kaauri Sentinels are attached to this squad weighs heavy on the troops.

Seeing the communications array out in the open, the Makaul put up a smokescreen for the Draal to safely traverse the fire lane. Her prodigious movement allows her to activate the antenna immediately and already begin her path towards the one on the far left flank.

Reports from the Nikoul are that the enemy has an emplacement on the roof, so the Kriigel and Makaul triad move towards the ladder and shroud it in more eclipse smoke. Wispy vapour trials mark the passage of an Igao who ascends and jabs her spear into the prone form of what we now know was a Mukhtar armed with a spitfire. Unfortunately, the Igao is unable to capitalise on her surprise attack, leaving the engagement pending.

The Kiel-Saan, of course, is spotted by the enemy and a symbiomate is wasted on him. He fails to land any shots, even with a red fury in hand.

From all the smoke generated, our enemies definitely know we're around the corner, and we definitely know they're hostile after a grand total of 6 speculative grenade blasts leave craters in every space except the ones we stand in. The Kriigel reports that each blast was preceded by the warcry, "I only need a 10!" No Tohaa are harmed, but the same can't be said of Ariadna's emplacements.

Next is when we catch our first clear sight of what we're up against. Tarik Mansuri?! We knew the Haqqislam were in the area, but for such a high profile figure, and the unnatural toughness of that Mukhtar -- we were sure it was Shasvastii. Mansuri enters a firefight with the Kiel-Saan and deflates it. Bodycams suggest that the Kosuil had a clear line to ARO in retaliation, but he claims too much eclipse smoke was still lingering for him to draw line of sight. The Makaul all unanimous testify that a recent fight between the Kosuil and the Kiel-Saan was more likely to have clouded his vision than their smoke.

When Mansuri moves to his next emplacement, the Nikoul orders a coordinated strike that the Kosuil finally joins in on. Sakiel Lt. Logaan, the Nikoul, the Kosuil, and even a Makaul with a pistol take part. While bleeding, Mansuri keeps going, but the Makaul goes down.

Kriigel Kaadar and the Makaul toss up more eclipse smoke with the goal of removing the grenadier from the board. They make several mistakes: firstly, they fail to leave a gap through which to weave smoke through, and so waste orders throwing speculatively; secondly, Kaadar should have activated his pheroware to instead isolate what we now know was an al-Fasid or even Mansuri himself. It is a painful reminder that Kaadar's strengths are investigative, not battlefield.

Draal Operative Roaa is already on the other side of the engagement zone, and while she takes some fire, she takes command of the communication array on the other side to send the SOS to other Trident groups. At this point she should have put down a Dazer to deny enemy access, but she is too far for command to remind, and so she instead just dives back into cover.

Our Chaksa assigned to the Kiel-Saan reports that the Igao takes a pistol wound after a failed takedown on her opponent. Ever loyal, he remembers and prioritises orders, rushing down from the side of the building to do a sensor sweep -- pinging the HVT and confirming, too late, that these are not Shasvastii, but true Humans!

The Makaul, believing their grenades have landed, rush out of the smoke to discover that they've... rushed out of the smoke. The Haqqislam open fire, but are unable to stop the Makaul from unleashing a gout of [redacted] on the al-Fasid and the space trucker behind him.

The freed up Mukhtar is now free to bring its armaments to bare against the Kosuil and Nikoul, and succeeds in dislodging our sniper from his foxhole.

The Namurr special operative on the left flank comes out of hiding and ambushes our diligent Draal and Chaksa Auxiliar, taking them both out. She then digs herself in to secure the center objective, but not before running afoul of a Kriigel Eraser attack.

Mansuri leaps down from the roof to engage the Makaul, who has already brought its spear to the neck of the al-Fasid. With deft motions only possible with Makaul training, the Makaul invalidates Mansuri's 19 with i-kohl and martial arts. I'm really sad that we won't be seeing more of these boys coming out of Daedalus any time soon.

Also, I repeat, Tarik Mansuri is down!

With a little bravado, the Kriigel chooses to sacrifice himself for the rest of us by activating a Mirrorball in the Mukhtar's vicinity, flooding it with white noise. He takes a bullet and slumps up in the alley after the transmission of "take care of my Cube."

This is where it gets even worse. The diplomat in our care no longer seems content to stand idly by. With an ill-conceived plan to report illegal weapons (learning belated that those rules didn't count in this scenario), she rushes up. Eventually, her frustration leads to her rushing the Namurr in hand-to-hand combat!

Our triads in shambles, Lt. Logaan reveals himself and runs through the fire lane (surviving shock ammunition) to shoot down the Mukhtar through the white noise.

The Haqqislam core now dashes to the leftmost communications array, the one not defended by a mine. One is able to send a signal through for reinforcements while the rest gang up to suppress our diplomat, but not before she strikes one in the face and knees. The parting shot of the Kwawarij before he doubles over in pain is to jab the delegate with tranquiliser, but even so she refuses to relent. She makes them fight hard for every limb they try to secure, but they do get her.

Tohaa completed deck objective (1pt) and maintained one activated antenna (1pt)

Haqqislam control activated antenna (1pt + 1pt) and the central tech coffin (3pt) with Liaison (1pt). Liaison rolls WIP and succeeds (1pt).

Haqqislam 7 - Tohaa 2

I see ALL my mistakes here in small forgotten protocols. Forgetting the Kriigel's pheroware and the Draal's Dazer definitely hurt. Not weaving smoke properly. Should have placed the Kiel-Saan central to be the final boss of the techcoffin. Should have pumped Tarik with some K1 Combi action to protect the Kiel-Saan, etc.

Not adding a Forward Observer on a Forward Observer mission, ugh.

Spec fire sucks and I will do everything possible to never experience it again (although I'm very happy to have avoided SIX ORDERS of grenade fire from the al-Fasid).

Fun game all the same, although I wish my Jiyuan games didn't get cancelled the day after. Was fun to have Makaul again, but I'm definitely too used to Spiral Corps shenanigans now.

Be sure to read my opponent's battle report! His vignettes are sharp!