Durgama Takeover

PREGAME:
We’re back again in the XianDao Neosteelworks! Considering I’d played the same area last evening when my other report was posted, we opted to play a round of Capture and Protect instead. We both drew classified objectives, and otherwise, the game went pretty well – it was certainly a close game with a lot of ups and downs, and the ending was an absolute nail-biter.

Kosmoflot won the initiative roll, choosing to take the first turn – in response they would also be deployed first.

PROLOGUE:
Following the events of ICAF Training Report #14, the collected O-12 and Ariadnan forces elected to part ways. Whilst the O-12 would leave to assist Zebu Station, the Ariadnans would choose to remain to collect addition…reconnaissance, on the Yu Jing facilities. Unbeknownst, however, was the presence of a hunting party of Morats which had stumbled upon the encamped Ariadnans. Taken aback, but in their decisiveness winning the initiative, the Ariadnans would spring to war!

DEPLOYMENT:
The Kosmoflot deployment echoed elements of the successful strategies employed against the O-12. The Polaris Team would take the left flank by their lonesome. The Unknown Ranger, Scots Guard, and Strannik would take to the centre-right. A Motorised 112 supported by the electromagnetic mines of a Raveneye would take to the right flank. Finally, three Rokots, a Mekhanik, and a Volkolak armed with an HMG would take the centre. Uxia McNeil would deploy in reserve, her infiltration providing a beneficial position closer to Morat lines.

The Morats in response deployed somewhat defensively. A fireteam including a Suryat, Yaogat, Vanguard, Raktorak, and Kurgat would deploy to overwatch the bearpode on the left flank. A harris consisting of a Kaitok, Kyosot, and Dartok would take the right flank alongside an R-Drone and another harris consisting of a pair of Gaki led by an Oznat. Unbeknownst, a Rasyat lay in wait outside the area of operations.

A DISAPPOINTING START [Kosmoflot Turn 1]
Uxia, leveraging her infiltrated position, would start the fight. Catching the R-Drone in the flank should seek to destroy it with a pair of slugs only to fail – one scattering harmlessly into nearby dirt whilst the other pinged off of the thing’s armoured hide. Another attempt was made, this time successfully – though at the cost of becoming Spotlighted by the nearby Dartok hacker.

Back towards the Kosmoflot deployment zone, the Uknown Ranger would lead his team to higher elevation and see to leverage their increased rate of fire against a singled out Yaogat – to little success. A single shot managed to wing the living legend, though he held ground behind a covered position. Similarly, a Volkolak would utilise his enhanced skillset to leap to a new angle to similarly strike at the entrenched Yaogat – successfully! A hail of solid shots would incapacitate, but not kill, the Morat.

Finally, the Bearpode would launch from its concealed position, taking an autocannon shot for its trouble though finding shelter further afield.

POWER OF A THOUSAND SPEARS [Morat Turn 1]
The Morat turn would begin in bloody fashion, the Kaitok immediately clambering a ladder to strike once fruitlessly against the entrenched Uxia – though the first failed, the second would not, and thus Uxia would be knocked out of the fight. From here the blood only continued, as a lone Ikadron drone would seek to, and mercilessly fail to, immolate the Bearpode in searing flame.

Aided back to combat-effectiveness by the tending of a Vanguard Paramedic, the Yaogat would rise from his temporary nap to strike back at the Unknown Ranger. This time the Ranger’s armour would prove no hindrance, rendering him incapacitated. Similarly, the Suryat, armed with a heavy machine gun, would deliver a hail of fire upon the Volkolak – not killing, but certainly wounding the valiant Ariadnan.

STRIKE BACK, HARDER [Kosmoflot Turn 2]
Embittered by their losses, the Kosmoflot would redouble their efforts. Wounded yet still capable of movement, the Volkolak would be treated by a new and experimental medical drug administered by a Paramedic Rokot – this drug, worked on in tandem with ICAF allies, proved to work a treat as the Volkolak was renewed and reinvigorated.

An unlikely trooper would prove to be all the difference. Striking unseen from a camouflaged position, a Cateran armed with a tesium-loaded sniper rifle would turn the defensive Kurgat to a chunky red hail though fail to further harm the Yaogat that sought to return fire.

REPLACEABLE LOSSES [Morat Turn 2]
Placed somewhat on the backfoot by the Ariadnan counteroffensive, the Morats would seek to prove why their forces are labelled as the ‘aggression’ force. Marching down the left flank, the Raktorak would seek to engage the Bearpode in a daring series of strikes with his Vulkan shotgun – to little avail, as the heightened senses and steely musculature of the beast provided far too hard to land a telling shot upon.

In the centre, the Kaitok and his allies would march – harassed every step by the flash pulse unit wielded by a covered Scots Guard. The Kaitok itself was blinded by dazzling light, though the Kyosot and Dartok continued unabated – to their doom, that is. The Kyosot would slam into cover, its weapon blasting chunks out of nearby structures as ultradense tesium rounds detonated against their surface – though mercifully missing both the Scots Guard and nearby Irmandinho. In response the Irmandinho would launch a salvo from a chain rifle, catching the Morat off-guard and gutting it in a cloud of superheated metal. Finally, the Dartok would run for shelter and find it.

In a desperate act, another Ikadron drone would emerge from the depth of the Morat lines and blind the stalwart Scots Guard with a precise beam from a flash pulse unit.

THE LINE HOLDS [Kosmoflot Turn 3]
An uneventful step for the Kosmoflot forces, ultimately. The final phases of the defensive manoeuvres would see the Cateran utilise his unparalleled climbing skills to descend and reascend while buildings to find a suitable target – the exposed armoured form of the Suryat. Despite this flank, the Cateran’s aim would prove insufficient and in response, the trio of Morats would obliterate the man utterly. He died for the Rodina.

With the centre exposed, the Motorised 112 would gun their engines and move flat out towards the Morat’s seemingly unguarded…thing. It was not until the dust long settled and Kosmoflot forces were forced to pull back that it was unveiled to be a data storage device detailing the Neosteelworks…much the same as what the Kosmoflot themselves had and were equally trying to protect. Curious. The 112 would reach the objective in record time, dismounting and ascending a ladder only for tragedy to befall her. Indomitable Ariadnan physique is proof against many ills, but against the indiscriminate carnage of an Ikadron’s flamethrower, it would prove unable to resist. The 112 would be immolated.

Lastly, the Scots Guard would move to a better vantage point, rumours of Morat drop troopers have long circulated the ranks and thus he sought to catch it unawares with suppressive fire…if it landed where expected.

DESPERATE RECOVERY [Morat Turn 3]
Their forces largely spent, the Morats would seek to dispose of what elements they could before the deployment of less overt measures. The Suryat would move to engage the suppressive Scots Guard in the centre fire lanes, though his shots ultimately proved to be of little use against the sturdy armour of the Guard. Ultimately spent, the Morats would move to new means to crack Ariadnan defences.

A Rasyat had been deployed a ways behind Ariadnan lines before the battle had even begun via parachute. All the while the battle raged the creature awaited its signal to strike – and strike it did. Though it was met with a hail of Rokot-wielded hydrostatic submachinegun rounds they proved ineffective against its armoured form – in a similar fashion the Scots Guard would find little purchase from his shots. The other Rokots and supporting Mekhanik would prove to be minimally responsive to the booming crack of a boarding shotgun, though mercifully the Scots Guard target of these assaults survived one. He did not survive the second.

Utilising its covert skillset to move without sound, the Rasyat would boldly trigger the Mekhanik’s electromagnetic landmine to little effect. Something about the creatures meant they didn’t seem to suffer any of the effects other factions had…something to report to the ICAF when appropriate.

The final desperate moments unfolded in slow motion.

The Rasyat slunk forwards, eclipse grenades in hand. There remained but one chance to stop it and the offending Rokot…missed. Not even the thunder of a Mekhanik’s heavy pistol proved of much use as the inky blackness created by the eclipse grenade would undo any sight.

The Rasyat secured the Kosmoflot objective, on the very final order of the game!

POSTGAME:
This one was a well-balanced mission, in my opinion. My opponent is a very experienced and very much great player. I had suspected Rasyat-themed antics, though forgotten that Morats simply don’t care about isolation! A fatal blunder, in the end, that one.

All in all very close. Kosmoflot ends the game with 1pt from securing their classified objective, and the Morats end the game with 3pts from securing the objective.

I am tremendously happy to be participating in Durgama, and want to thank you all for reading!