Asteroid Blues

Days after the incident at Pakngein Control LZ-12, the order to begin pulling out of Novvy Bangkok finally came from High Command. It had been an intense few weeks of fighting, but for all the fervor and bloodshed there was still no definite victory to be claimed by any side. Combined Army forces still crept up in every imaginable zone on the asteroid; and as always every faction of the Human Sphere was far to interested in gaining superiority of one another, rather than to try and end the alien threat here and now at Novvy Bangkok. To that end, there were missions left unfinished and questions left unanswered as Haqqislamite forces responded to their various orders for deployment elsewhere in the Sphere.

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Leila Sharif sat in the small quarters that had been her temporary home for the past few weeks, scrolling through various dossiers and mission debriefs filed by Haqqislamite commanders while in Novvy Bangkok. Something nagged at the back of her mind: what was the Combined Army doing here? Sure, a backwater den of scum and villainy was an easy foothold for an alien insurrection, but what was true advantage? Sharif couldn't find a greater pattern in any of the reports, other than continued hostilities between factions of the Human Sphere. If that was the end, it could have been accomplished elsewhere and with a greater response from all sides. The puzzle's solution eluded her, and it was beyond frustrating to the normally astute Husam Operative.

"Operative Sharif." The voice in her earbud interrupting Leila's thoughts, she blinked herself back into the moment and acknowledged. "Report to LZ-3 and link up with RTF Avenger-7; the Amir requested your expertise personally."

Sharif reached for the nearby mug of warm tea, taking a moment to appreciate the rich aroma of it before taking a final sip. Operations were ending in Novvy Bangkok in a matter of days, but there were still a few jobs that needed done.

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Haqqislam fails the initiative roll and I end up deploying first, my opponent takes the side of the board with the large landing pad. I set up my core fireteam on a rooftop and adjoining bridge with a Nasmat, Leila on a rooftop to the right, my three unlinked Mukhtar and a Nasmat in the center surrounding my beacon, and hold my Namurr back. Combined Army sets up spread wide; notably with a TR bot on the landing platform, a Charontid on my right, and Ko Dali in the center. I place my Namurr on the right flank, he counter deploys a Speculo right outside my DZ on the roof nearest my fireteam. I draw Experimental Drug for my classified (not sure about my opponent's) and we nominate datatrackers, his Charontid and my Namurr. My plan is to sweep the Tarik fireteam up the left flank or middle, the Namurr up the middle or along the right flank to the objective providing mobile overwatch for Tarik's team, and Leila going into Cybermask to sneak toward the objective or sneak shots at soft targets. The Namurr and Leila are also insurance to replace downed members of the core team, if my doctor's Nasmat couldn't keep them alive. The Mukhtar play defense on the beacon in my DZ, the doctor controlling the Nasmats as needed to keep the rest of the team moving forward. If need be, they reform the haris to move as a squad and go hunting.

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COMBINED ARMY TURN 1
Daturazi advance and lay down smoke for the team, the Taigha follows into the smoke. His Speculo sneaks up and reveals to blast my Mk12 Khawarij and Nasmat with a boarding shotgun, they go down. The rest of the fireteam was prone and couldn't see the attack, Speculo goes back into hiding then sneaks up the gantry. Another reveal, this time against Tarik, but the Speculo gets in a wound but gets taken out by a nanopulser and flamethrower from the team. My opponent announces an AD drop, but fails the roll and disperses...then sets up three decoys and reveals in the originally intended spot (he quoted an FAQ about Cadmus drops doing this, he's a friend and I believe him but WOW that's a dumb ruling)! The Cadmus sets off a couple of chest mines against Tarik, and instead of dodging like I probably should, I rinse repeat the nanopulser and flamethrower combo. The Cadmus goes down but manages to kill Tarik...this is going to be a long game. Ko Dali charges up the bridgeway in the center to the top of the highest tower, and promptly takes a missile to the chest and explodes. He had forgotten about the missile Ghulam and not realized my fireteam hadn't broke from the Speculo/Cadmus assault. The Taigha runs toward the center to engage my FO Mukhtar, gets shot at point blank range but survives. Last the Charontid starts toward my right flank, taking shots at the viral rifle Mukhtar and dropping it into NWI.

HAQQISLAM TURN 1
Loss of Lieutenant! Leila drops into Cybermask, the Namurr takes up overwatch on the right and a command token swaps an irregular order for suppression. Most of the rest of the team drops into suppression, except the doctor and NCO. The NCO takes a lucky speculative shot and blasts apart a Daturazi with a grenade. Doctor Mukhtar moves to heal his viral rifle comrade while his remaining Nasmat heads for the ladder to the roof with the wounded fireteam.

COMBINED ARMY TURN 2
More advancing Daturazi and smoke, along with a Taigha who gets double nanopulsers from the FO Mukhtar and dies. The Yaogat steps out to take shots at the FO, getting himself and his Daturazi buddy hit with nanopulsers but all three survive the encounter. The Yaogat doubles down and puts the Mukhtar into NWI, but his third attack has all three once again making their saves and surviving. The Charontid steps into smoke and starts trying to murder my right flank, the viral rifle Mukhtar survives another attack but gives ground and ducks behind cover. The Namurr is the next target, trying to suppress back as the Charontid stomps forward to my beacon with HMG blazing. I survive the first round of shots, the next round I take a gamble and try for the dodge (completely confusing my opponent when I break out of cover) to cross that extra gap. Another series of shots from the Charontid and I hit it back with the e/marat, taking only a single wound as he botches the save! Now with that thing out of commission I might have a fighting chance.

HAQQISLAM TURN 2
I secretly nominate my Namurr as my new Lieutenant. Leila runs for the rest of the core fireteam, intending to get them back to full strength. Doctor Mukhtar takes most of the turn patching up the team, and moving his Nasmat to the roof to get the Khawarij back into the action. I then realize the Nasmat needs to cross right in front of the TR bot; the missile Ghulam tries to eliminate the threat and gets killed for it. The Nasmat tries to make the run and gets gunned down, prompting me to form the Mukhtar haris with my doctor no longer linked to any drones. Last order goes into killing a Daturazi and dodging the Yaogat back into cover with nanopulser shots.

COMBINED ARMY TURN 3
My opponent is in Loss of Lieutenant, but Morats don't generally care. He gets tricky on me and daisy chains smoke up the right flank, burning command tokens to flip irregular orders and make a run for my beacon. The Daturazi scoops up the beacon and runs back to Big Daddy Charontid, dropping it at his feet (now his Datatracker is scoring!) and takes up position to body block. A few movements from the Yaogat and Haiduk and that's his turn.

HAQQISLAM TURN 3
From this point I have the choice to run my Namurr up to the beacon and push on points, or try to Kill the Charontid. Viral rifle Mukhtar steps up to the corner and lays out a trio of nanopulsers on the Daturazi and Charontid, killing the first and scoring two wounds on the other! I pour another three nanopulsers into the big meanie and he goes down in a cloud of vicious nanites. From here I count orders and do a little eyeballing of distance...I think I have just enough if I burn everything to dead run across the board and try to capture the opposing beacon. All I have to do is make it past a TR bot, Yaogat spitfire, and Haiduk. Let's do this! Up to the center building, I take shots at TR bot and its a wash. I break from cover with Spitfire blazing, taking a single HMG hit and getting to the next piece of cover. Now I'm facing the bot and Haiduk, two shots into each and jumping off the roof as I go...killing the Haiduk and the TR misses due to bad ranges. On the ground now, I need that TR dead but the Yaogat has me dead to rights with a pistol. I pour everything into the TR bot and blast it to pieces, shrugging the pistol shot. Burning my Lieutenant order last, I'm now in the Yaogat's rear arc and I break for the beacon and make contact then turn and gun the Morat down with the spitfire.

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GAME END

9 - 0 Haqqislam Wins
182 - 0 Points Remaining

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RAMAH TASK FORCE ( 300 PTS / 6 SWC)
GROUP 1 (10 Regular)
Tarik - Lieutenant L2 - Spitfire
Ghulam - NCO - Grenade Launcher
Khawarij - MSV2 - Mk12
Ghulam - Missile Launcher
Naffatun - Heavy Flamethrower
Leila Sharif
Mukhtar - Haris - Viral Rifle
Mukhtar - FO
Mukhtar - Doctor
Nasmat
Nasmat
Namurr - Spitfire

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COMBINED ARMY (300 PTS / 6 SWC)
GROUP 1 (10 Regular / 3 Impetuous)
Charontid - Lieutenant - MSV3, HMG
Daturazi
Daturazi
Daturazi
Speculo Killer - Boarding Shotgun
Cadmus-Soldier - EI Killer Hacker
Ko Dali
Haiduk - AP Marksman Rifle
Yaogat - Spitfire
Q-Drone - HMG

COMBAT GROUP 2 (1 Irregular / 1 Impetuous)
Taigha