Durgama Takeover

Pei Zhi and her new team crowded the briefing room, their faces lit by the cool blue glow of the commander’s hologram. Another man entered the room but kept to the back, leaning against the wall.

“Your objective will be to defend the Cameliard Guard Post. A Combined Army incursion is closing in as we speak.” The commander’s hologram gestured, and the man in the shadows stepped forward. “This is Agent Adil Mehmut. He’ll be accompanying you on the mission.”

The lieutenant nodded at the agent but furrowed her brows at the commander. “Aren’t the Military Orders in charge of the post? Where are the knights?”

The commander shook his head. “The PanOceanians are currently nowhere to be found. It is left to us to hold the line. Ready your troops lieutenant. I know you were looking for a chance to redeem yourself. This is it.”

Adil put a hand on Pei Zhi’s shoulder, smiling gently. “I know how you feel. We’ve got your back, lieutenant.”

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Deployment:
I won the LT roll and took deployment since Armory has end of round scoring favouring second turn, so my opponent would have to choose between going first, or conceding deployment and losing first turn.

He elected to go first and put down a Morat-heavy Combined Army list. A Suryat, Anya Treitak, and Ikadron went down in heavy cover on the right flank, while the Raktorak and an R-Drone and went down in the middle. The left flank had a Rindak perched on the top floor. R-Drones and Imetrons were scattered in the back/in heavy cover as well, and then the DZ was screened by a Shrouded, Caliban CoC and minelayer Liberto.

On my end, I plopped down a Liang Kai-led monk haris as close to the Armory as possible and supported them with the Beasthunter.

I anchored the right flank with my 4-man core and Lu Duan, mostly covering shorter angles, and then left a Long Ya and Chaiyi on each flank to slow alpha strikes down.

My opponent had held two models back in reserve with a command token and placed a Kaitok on his left flank in the large ruined building, and a Yaogat sniper in the middle, within easy striking distance of an over exposed Chaiyi.

My reserve was a Hundun, which went down on a building where he would be shielded from the Suryat, but have an angle on the Rindak or Kaitok if they decided to advance.

CA turn 1:
A Yaogat sniper moved up and blew away the Chaiyi before tucking back into safety. My opponent then moved his Rindak up and accomplished a classified on the HVT. I had an angle across the map with the Hundun through a gap but chose to hold fire, thinking my opponent might use the Rindak to open the doors and therefore waste more orders, but he had the Rindak simply accomplish a classified on my HVT then pull into cover and enter suppressive fire to cover that lane.

Instead, a Raktorak moved up and opened the armory door, then pulled +armor from the Panoply. The Liberto followed suit, further securing the room.

YJ turn 1:
The monk haris moved up. One of the monks filled the room with chain rifle bursts, which traded with the Raktorak and left the Liberto dogged. Needing to clear the Liberto so I could secure the armory, the monks continued their attack and Liang Kai finished off the Liberto. The monk duo moved into the room and each grabbed a CC weapon from the Panoply before settling into defensive positions – Liang Kai climbed the ladder and stood above the walkway while the monk took cover behind the ladder.

Off on the side, the Lu Duan moved forward and traded fire with the Rindak to no avail, while the Kaitok threw flammenspears downrange. After a couple of orders spent shooting did nothing and low on orders, I dashed the Lu Duan forwards and attempted to flamethrower the Rindak at extreme range, just barely brushing it with the template. The Rindak tanked both armor saves and knocked the Lu Duan out.

The 4-man core used my remaining orders to reposition slightly to defend against the Rindak and Kaitok on that flank.

CA turn 2:
The Kaitok moved forward to start an attack run and the Hundun finally revealed, throwing a HRL out at long range, but the Kaitok dodged successfully. The Kaitok moved forward, engaging the Long Ya and Shang Ji. The Shang Ji out of template range, the Kaitok unleashed all three chain rifles against the Long Ya, knocking it out, but was in turn burned to death by the Shang Ji’s HRL.

Hoping to bait the other Long Ya into revealing, an R-Drone ran by the Yaogat sniper. Too tempting a target to miss, the Long Ya revealed and threw a flammenspear at the R-Drone, clipping the sniper. The R-Drone burned, but the Yaogat tanked the template.

Now revealed and an easy target, the Long Ya was no match for the Suryat, who then made its way towards the room. It charged in, engaging both monks under 8” with its heavy pistol, choosing to split fire. Unfortunately for the unlucky Suryat, Liang Kai beat him out with an LSG shot and he failed a save against the monk’s chain rifle, knocking him out.

With the remaining orders, a Caliban CoC entered the room, outpointing Liang Kai.

YJ turn 2:
The Beasthunter began the turn by moving up and detonating the Rindak with her Exp CCW, but she in turn went down to ARO fire from the overwatching Yaogat sniper.

The core then moved out, Adil in the lead. He sensored the Caliban’s camo away, and after a couple of rounds of fire, sent it to Seed-Embryo state. He then moved forward and engaged the Yaogat sniper, knocking it out from the Armory doors.

With the remaining orders, the team moved in to secure the armory, So-Ra leaving a mine covering a doorway.

CA turn 3:
In loss of lieutenant and with most big guns down, my opponent elected to concede.

Score:
CA scored 1 point for a classified, while WBA held the armory each round and acquired more items, leading to a:

9-1 WBA victory!

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Pei Zhi stepped into the armory, past a Shasvastii corpse, still smoldering from the battle. The Imperial Agent – Adil – met her, his rifle slung across his power-armored shoulders. The battle had been an unmitigated success.

“It looks like they weren’t expecting us,” Pei Zhi said, smiling wryly. “And I hear you’re responsible for single handedly taking down a number of hostiles.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. Good tactics are as important as good shooting.” He smiled, “But yes, I don’t think they were expecting much resistance. In any case, well done, lieutenant.” Adil tapped at his ear. “But it seems I’m already needed elsewhere.”

“The life of an Imperial Agent, eh?” Pei Zhi held out a hand, which Adil clasped. “Till we meet again,” she smiled.