Durgama Takeover

Fresh off their success in the last operation, the Jackals are sent by Haqqislam High Command to an orbiting asteroid. This asteroid base has been transmitting research data from the Darpan Research Station, gathered by the terrorist group known as Equinox. This data must be gathered - and quickly!

Once again though, the Haqqislam forces are set upon by Yu Jing troops and a vicious struggle quickly develops.

We played a custom mission which I wrote. You can see it here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nCfQ1Ya9awe4FbXtERyxOoBSDEuhYdAsKw3lkgjfe0U/edit

The basic idea behind it is to press buttons (Consoles and Beacon), and to move the Beacon to your Deployment Zone.

Haqqislam - The Jackals Unit

Yu Jing - Generic Bad Guys.Force

The Mission: Intercept Transissions (Custom)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nCfQ1Ya9awe4FbXtERyxOoBSDEuhYdAsKw3lkgjfe0U/edit?usp=sharing

The Objective: Intercept the data being transmitted through the consoles and beacons. Capture the beacon.

Haqqislam arrives on the scene first and takes the initiative with early manoeuvres. Yu Jing troops appeared later and acted second.

As usual the assassins had planted a forward agent to gain an early advantage. Al Djabel creeps forwards towards an enemy Digger, and throws a smoke grenade. The Digger dodges into CC. Al Djabel tries to strike, but fails and goes unconscious.

In hindsight - having Al Djabel take on a Digger was an awful idea, and I have no idea why I did it. But there you go......

Haqqislam Command shakes its head. What a poor first move.

In response, the lieutenant commands a series of co-ordinated moves. "We must capture those Consoles!". The Mukhtar hacker, Asawira, and Rafiq move forwards together. The lieutenant concentrates hard, co-ordinating these troops four times in quick succession. But the response is a commanding lead with three buttons pressed and a very strong board position.

The Yu Jing troops then act in response. Krit Kokram and the Zuyong HMG push forwards aggressively. They gun down the Digger that was guarding the central Beacon, and the Asawira too.

However, in an incredible show of misfortune, Krit takes two wounds to a Liberto's shotgun and nearby mine, putting him unconscious. It's a disaster!

The Zuyong HMG moves forward and attempts to press the central Beacon, but fails.

Finally, on the far side of the field, the Mowang takes shots at the Liberto and unconscious Asawira, removing them.

At the end of the round Haqqislam maintains more Consoles than the Yu Jing forces, and therefore pulls ahead.

It is at this point that Haqqislam Command spots an opening! The Mowang and Zuyong have been left in the open. This can be exploited!

Knauf creeps up the nearby stairwell and switches his rifle to DA mode. He steadies the weapon on the balustrade and gently squeezes the trigger. In one shot he confirms the kill! Mowang down.

A Nadhir switches off its cloaking, taking the Zuyong HMG by surprise. The Nadhir sprays the heavy infantry with armour-piercing rounds and the Zuyong falls quickly. The Nadhir gazes down from its elevated position, ready to hose down any Yu Jing troops that dare approach with suppressing fire.

Now that the way is clear, the remaining Digger is ordered to press the central Beacon and drag it back to safety, which he does without taking fire.

The Yu Jing forces are in a difficult spot. Mowang down. Krit down. Zuyong HMG down. However, there's one Zuyong HMG left. It edges forward and takes shots at Knauf. But Knauf's aim is true on this day and his reactive shot strikes hard - immediately downing the Zuyong. Ouch!

With nothing else to do, a Digger and Kuang Shi carefully crawl forwards to secure Consoles for the Yu Jing side. Unfortunately for them, the round ends with 3 Consoles to Haqq and 2 to Yu Jing. Haqq gathers a wider lead.

It's the final act now! Haqqislam is comfortably ahead, but can put more pressure on the Yu Jing side. The Mukhtar hacker runs forward and takes a Console away from the Yu Jing forces. Haqqislam now owns four, to Yu Jing's one.

The Yu Jing lieutenant thinks for some time. There's no way they can win, but they must try to achieve some objectives....

...Hawkwood runs forwards and scores a [Classified] Objective.

Finally they co-ordinate multiple Kuang Shi to remove the Mukhtar hacker and take a button back - but it's not enough.

The game ends with Haqqislam's victorious Jackals Unit holding more Consoles every single turn, and the Yu Jing forces only able to complete [Classified] Objectives.

Thank you so much to my opponent for another fantastic game!

Dice can often swing games of Infinity and it felt like that happened here to some extent. Knauf killing a Zuyong HMG in ARO was absolutely disgusting. However, Catbab and I had a chat afterwards and we both realised that their big mistake was going hard on aggression in turn one, instead of pressing buttons. This was a mistake because the mission scores three points in the first round for pressing more Consoles, and therefore they gave away a lot of Objective Points by being aggressive instead of objectives-focused.