Durgama Takeover

*NOTE 1: All buildings with playable interiors (exclusively the Armoury building in this game) were played under the assumption that models could draw line of fire into, out of, but not through. Template weapons functioned normally, but could not select a target unless they abided by these line of fire rules. Mines and other deployables were not affected, and could affect targets through. ‘Doors’ on buildings without playable interiors were treated as ladders. The south western armoury building was treated as being infinitely high, while the eastern armoury building had a cieling.
*NOTE 2: O-12 list as posted is not the original, and the order groups are likely incorrect. Will be corrected with the original list PDF at a later point.

After O-12 saw fit to intervene with Yu Jing operations in Cameliard, it was a matter of time for them to be chased back to their home turf. However, in doing so, did the Yu Jing forces bite off more than they could chew?

O-12 won the initiative roll, taking deployment, expecting the Yu Jing forces to have a tough decision regarding turn order and scoring. However, this was the intended goal, with Yu Jing opting for an extremely offensive play and opting to go first.
Thanks to Sun Tze 2.0’s Strategos, as well as the extra command token, Yu Jing reserves the Hsien HMG, Daofei hacker, and Sun Tze, making for an extremely ambiguous deployment zone and greatly negating O-12’s deployment advantage.
With a highly ambiguous enemy to defend against, the O-12 army deployed with a conservative, layered defense with ample repeater coverage to bolster the dense midfield terrain and flexibly positioned Crusher near the centre. Casanova deploys just behind the open south-western armoury building.
Sun Tze deploys in the southeast, with a line of fire threatening the northwest corner of the table with the Epsilon and Sirius, although with several blindspots coming from the southwest. The Hsien is placed slightly north of the centre of the deployment zone, with the intent to quickly push forward. The Daofei attempts an infiltration roll to deploy on the enemy side of the table, and succeeds, landing on the south edge of the map, just next to a tight corridor leading into the O-12 DZ.
The O-12 Omega deploys in the central section of their deployment zone.

(Shona, Hippolyta, Warcor, and Valkyrie all represent Varangians, and Sun Tze 2.0 Marksman is represented by a Sun Tze 1.0 in this game and the associated photographs)

(Yu Jing to the east, O-12 to the west)

Turn 1:
Yu Jing active: The Liu Xing (identified as ‘undeployed trooper’) is moved to Group 1 using Strategos, and O-12 spends a command token to restrict the orders of Group 2.
Both Shaolin move impetuously westward. The Kuang Shi remain in position.
The Hsien moves towards the small building north of the centre to gain line of fire on the southern-most Varangian, opening fire and inflicting one wound (dogged). It then moves slightly south atop the building, putting more shots into the Varangian guarding the Northwestern corner and inflicting a wound (dogged). Without any orders left to spend, the Hsien goes prone following this volley.
The Daofei manages to squeeze through the corridor along the edge of the battlefield, its high MOV value allowing it to cross the narrow section that would otherwise be too tight for it to end its movement in. It is discovered at the start of its movement by Casanova, but manages to end its path outside of line of sight of any enemies. The Daofei then begins its assault on the enemy deployment zone, rounding the corner and opening fire on the Cyberghost hiding behind the building, killing it. It then carefully maneuvers around the southwestern corner of the theatre of operations to avoid enemy repeater coverage, firing on the O-12 Kytta bot, which proves more resilient than expected but eventually goes down after two volleys. With limited orders remaining to acquire optimal positioning, the Daofei re-enters camo state and then moves into a difficult to reach position within hacking range of the Omega to threaten it with hacking attacks (this also puts it in repeater range of the Fuzzbots).
The southern Shaoling in group 1 moves carefully around the armoury room to avoid the enemy camo marker (E/M mine), and ultimately into combat with the Crusher, where it inflicts one wound.
At this point, in spite of the considerable damage that the Yu Jing forces have inflicted on the O-12 hacking network and order pool, their positioning is over-extended and without adequate scoring coverage.

O-12 Active: With the Daofei monitoring the Omega, the Shaolin locking down the Crusher, and Sun Tze watching the Epsilon’s intended path with a range band that’s possibly against the Epsilon’s favour, the O-12 forces are in a difficult position starting out.
The remaining Varangians move impetuously eastward, and the southern one engages the Shaolin, who then dodges to face both it and the Crusher should either move.
In an attempt to draw the Daofei out of hiding, Katherine Cho vaults over a large crate to attempt to discover it. This desperate attempt, which resulted in failure, opened her up to attack from Sun Tze, who immediately shot her down. With limited options to safely advance, the Omega risks pushing forward, opening it up to a hacking attack from the Daofei. However, its tinbot manages to protect it from retaliation. The Omega positions itself in view of the Shaolin, who itself then dodges to line it, the Varangian, and the wounded Crusher in range of his chain rifle.
However, while this could very easily turn into a slaughter of expensive troops, the three troopers participated with in coordinated order, with the Varangian acting as vanguard, safely repositioning the Omega and Crusher, while the Varangian engaged with the Shaolin. This clever move turned the tables on the Shaolin previously locking down the entire centre of the table, and the monk was left with no good choices to respond, opting to kill the Varangian in close combat while being shot to death by the other two participants. The Omega then moves to the corner of the large northwestern building and enters suppressive fire to help defend against the possible advance of the Daofei.
Casanova then moved forward, first activating the southwestern console, and then moving towards the southeastern one. Upon exiting the armoury building, the Pangguling in the southeast revealed itself as a Lu Duan, attacking him with its Mk12, although neither trooper failed to hurt the other. Casanova continues to advance further towards the southeastern console, and the Lu Duan then opens fire with its flamethrower. This time, Casanova would destroy the remote, the flamethrower failing to inflict damage. Casanova then activates the console, and hides behind it while prone and enters suppressive fire.
Lastly, the now freed Crusher would move into view of the Yu Jing HVT, succeeding on two Forward Observer rolls to secure a classified objective, alongside the extra Intelcom bonus.

With the Yu Jing forces spread too far and too thin, they are only able to claim one quadrant to O-12’s two, scoring two more points for O-12.

Yu Jing: 0 // O-12: 6

(It’s worth noting at this point that unless the Yu Jing forces manage to sweep the remaining turns and activate at least two consoles, they cannot win. Furthermore, the Yu Jing army is unable to complete its classified objective, which means Secure HVT is the only classified option available)

Turn 2:
Yu Jing Active: Using Strategos, the Chaiyi is moved to Group 2. The remaining Shaolin moves impetuously westwards, and then further towards the northmost building, deploying smoke. The Hsien then moves towards that same building, ascends the staircase, and opens fire through the smoke on the Omega, who attempts and fails to dodge. The Omega suffers one wound, and retreats behind cover, but is unable to fully obscure itself from the Hsien’s vision. The Hsien then fires once more, finishing the Omega off, and then enters suppressive fire to cover the northwestern side of the table.
The Liu Xing drops onto the table, behind the large northwestern building and outside of view of any enemies. It then rounds the corner to fire at the enemy kappa hacker, and is also seen by the enemy Sirius team leader. Both troopers fire back at the Liu Xing, but fail to do damage while the Kappa is slain. With this, the threat of O-12’s hacker presence is removed. The Daofei then moves to touch the southwestern quadrant, attempting to destroy the enemy turret and Sirius peripheral along the way, but is unsuccessful.
With few options left to score points and stay in the game, Sun Tze and a pair of Kuang Shi rush to contest the southeastern quadrant. As a coordinated order, they move forward, opening both Kuang Shi to Casanova’s suppressive fire. He shoots one of the Kuang Shi uncontested, allowing the order’s participants to continue moving forward. In another coordinated order, the remaining and Kuang Shi move further into the zone, with the Kuang Shi entering combat with Casanova and breaking his suppressive fire. On the way in, Casanova and Sun Tze fire at one another, but neither manages to hurt the other.

O-12 Active: Loss of Lieutenant. The remaining Varangian moves to hit the Hsien with repeated chain rifle volleys, inflicting a wound but dying in the process and failing to break it out of suppressive fire. With Sun Tze no longer watching the northwestern corridor, the Epsilon moves into position to guard the northwestern console. The Sirius team activates, with the leader targeting the Daofei with her red fury and the peripheral targeting the Hsien with its riotstopper. The Sirius team leader is killed and no damage is inflicted to the Daofei, but the Hsien is immobilized.
Casanova hits the Kuang Shi critically with his monofilament CCW, but fails to actually inflict any damage. Spending the last O-12 command token to get a regular order, Casanova finally kills the Kuang Shi, but is wounded by Sun Tze, who fires his pistol into the melee.

Yu Jing narrowly manages to control three sections, scoring two points and denying O-12 the victory for now. But with a dwindling order count and lack of specialists, there is still much distance to close.

Yu Jing: 2 // O-12: 6

Turn 3:
Yu Jing Active: The Liu Xing is moved to Group 2 using Strategos. Sun Tze attempts to move around Casanova and northwards while firing his pistol so as to avoid letting him dodge into melee. Casanova dodges several volleys successfully, but is unable to stop Sun Tze’s true goal: moving into position to trigger the E/M mine to free a path for the Daofei to advance to activate the console. Sun Tze triggers the mine, shrugging off its effects with total immunity (although the result would have been the same regardless, Sun Tze was not going to be receiving further orders). With the obstacle removed, the Daofei pushes forward, suffering a wound from the turret in the process, but manages to activate the southwestern console.
The after suffering a wound, the Liu Xing finally dispatches the turret and the Epsilon, and moves to activate the northwestern console. He then moves to fire upon the Fuzzbot sitting near the enemy HVT.
With one last order, the Daofei enters the southeastern quadrant and attempts to fire upon Casanova to remove O-12 contest over the HVT. This attempt is unsuccessful, and Casanova survives.

O-12 Active: Retreat. O-12 forces are incapable of leveraging any attacks.

Yu Jing controls three quadrants, scoring two points, with two more from the consoles on top.

Yu Jing: 6 // O-12: 6

End of Game: Draw, 6/6

Closing thoughts: I was skeptical of Sun Tze 2.0, but upon hearing Robert Shepherd’s thoughts on the trooper, I was interested in trying him, and the Symbiocuirass rule eschewing Yu Jing’s normal choice of Lt option made this an excellent opportunity for testing. He was surprisingly effective. While he could probably use a little something more to push him over the edge, I think Sun Tze 2.0 is definitely worth further experimentation. He opens up some fun avenues for list building that traditional vanilla Yu Jing structures can lack. HI Sun Tze is very much a trap, however, and should be avoided.

While I managed to present a strong offense early on, striking from angles my opponent was unable to predict, their defensive game was surprisingly resilient and they kept their eye on the objectives in spite of all the damage I was doing. This lead to a dangerous over-extension, and in reality, I was really only one bad dice roll away from losing outright. This was not helped by an overall lack of specialists, especially leading into the late game where I was scrambling for objectives.
It’s very easy to lose one’s nerve when against such an aggressive assault, and I really have to give credit to my opponent for being able to play through it and turn that momentum against me.