Durgama Takeover

A tall figure moved silently through the halls of the Raveneye Station’s Starboard Fire Control Module echoing with sounds of gunshots. The figure wore a familiar Ariadnan uniform, marking it as a Line Kazak of the 14th Support Detachment. And yet, whoever saw the unknown individual moving in the distance couldn’t shake a feeling that something was off, that somehow, he was not a friend but a foe. Did their eyes deceive them? Everyone was tired after days of constant fighting against the waves and waves of Morat attacks – seeing a familiar figure, even if slightly unsettling at first glance, was a reprieve for the tired mind. The figure kneeled behind one of the makeshift barricades set up by the defenders and proceeded to clean their rifle, as if waiting for the action to begin.

Air in one of the corridors gently moved as if stirred by an invisible force – if one was to feel this slight breeze they would most certainly welcome it as a break from the chemical-ridden stale air of the station. What this movement heralded, however, dwarved the deepest fears of the brave defenders of the Fire Control Module. They would soon learn what powerlessness felt like. As soon as the air became stale again, a dark mist swallowed the corridor, as if wanting to embrace and disturb the newly-found peace.

Ariadnan defenders, blissfully unaware of the changing tides of the assault, enjoyed the few moments of peace and quiet. It all changed once the lone Line Kazak heard on his commlink, whispered in a hoarse, deep voice “break them”.

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I think you might have some guesses as to who is who in this little introductory fluff piece – time for the actual battle report!

I was playing vCA vs my opponent’s TAK, mission was Frontline – I managed to win the LT roll and, after a moment of short hesitation, decided to go first. I deployed everything rather defensively, screened by the classic 4 Taighas. In my reserve I kept a Greif Operator, who has never really let me down (and continues to overperform time and time again).
My opponent deployed around 17 camo markers, some of them in more obvious aro positions and some of them tucked away safely in full cover. It was the usual TAK assortment of camo – Strelok minelayers, Scouts and, reserved, Antipodes. He also had a single Dog-Warrior, as well as a haris of Dynamo AP Spitfire, Dynamo SMG Panzerfaust and motorized 112 – pretty neat little haris, but hard to hide. My Greif went down near the aforementioned haris, wanting to exploit their lack of template weapons – my opponent’s reserve, the Antipodes, dropped on the other side of the board, deployed to harass one of my flanks.

I start my turn with the usual Taigha rush, eventually forcing one of the Scout snipers to reveal – nothing conclusive happens, Taighas dodge the shots while exploding mines, but nothing dies. It is then though when I begin my Greif run – he reveals to shoot one of the bikes and a Scout, killing the Scout but having a mine from the Dynamo’s mine dispenser placed right in his face. I then sacrifice a Taigha to detonate the mine and free up the Greif – two of it’s fellow gribblies already perished trying to put a dent into the Ariadnan defenses, but their high PH coupled with +3 to dodge rolls for mimetic units made killing them with templates borderline impossible.

Taigha’s mission is successful though and the Greif is free once again – this time the Dynamo gets a bullet for it’s trouble and goes unconscious. The Greif then proceeds to crawl around, killing a Strelok, tanking a mine, killing a Dozer and the 112, and finally getting hit by the Dynamo AP spit and going unconscious. Total number of points killed: 92. Good Greif, good lol

I then EVO buff the Q-drone and take down the other Scout sniper, making the final kill count for vCA’s T1 6 models. Not bad I’d say.

My opponent’s turn comes – he forms one big group with all his remaining Command Tokens and proceeds to rush my Q-drone with his Dog-Warrior, killing it together with the help of the Antipodes. This consumes most of his orders and his turn ends with the Q-drone unconscious and surrounded by dogs. I actually really wanted the thing to die so that I could plasma the hell out of everyone, but the drone somehow persisted through the AP assault.

My turn 2 comes – and I have a mess in my backyard that I need to clean up. I begin moving the Anathematic to deal with everything, but she somehow misses two 16s against the Dog-Warrior and gets stuck in CC with an Antipode. Well, you know what they say: it’s Nourkin time. Nourkias proceeds to Nourk all over them, with B3 in CC just obliterating everything he touches. However, it takes up the better part of my turn and I’m left with very few orders to meaningfully move my troops up the board. So both Norukias and the Anathematic assume defensive positions and prepare for Ariadna’s T2.

My opponent brings in a Spetsnaz paratrooper in front of my T-drone – bold move that pays off, because the T-drone misses it’s shot on a 6. The Spetsnaz though then proceeds to have a rather uneventful shootout with the Anathematic, managing to put a single wound through. Annie then gets jumped by a Strelok BSG – however, with the +3 mod to dodge rolls for having mimetism, she dances around the incoming hits and comes out of this engagement with only 1 wound remaining, but alive and kicking.

My T3 finally comes and I go ham with Nourkias – he kills the Spetsnaz, murders a Strelok and the Antipode Handler and places himself safely in the zone closes to my opponent’s DZ. Annie then moves up the board a bit and enters camo in the midfield. Not a very remarkable turn, but Nourkias managed to do two classifieds and secure the HVT, so points are on the board.

T3 for Ariadna is spent killing Bit and Kiss and an Ikadron using the last of the Dynamo’s, the AP Spitfire one – he however does not live to tell the tale and dies to Caliban’s pulzar hit. My opponent also moves up some pieces up the board to recapture the zone closest to his DZ – he outweighs Nourkias by just a few points, but that’s enough to steal these few precious points away from the Combined Army.

Final score is my closest and mid zones, together with 2 classifieds and a secured HVT to my opponent’s closest zone – 6-1 win for the Combined Army!