Durgama Takeover

The enemy is at hand! WinterForce reinforcements have been deployed to defend the Reliquary. We must not allow the Combined Army to seize control of these relics! To Arms!

WinterFor wins the Lt roll. I choose to go first, and my opponent makes me deploy first

WinterFor Deployment:
We’ve got options here. I’ve set up both of my Karhu Feuerbach teams watching long range firelanes. The one in the Fusilier Core is set up watching more of the table since he’s the one with Sixth Sense. The one in the WinterFor Beta Haris was watching a more horizontal firelane, just in case the enemy was able to make it to our AC2. The WinterFor Alpha fireteam consisting of a Vargar K1 Marksman, Vargar Sensor with Wildparrot, and Shona Carano set up for an early dash for the enemy AC2. There are a series of buildings that could provide cover, and should the opportunity present itself, it would be amazing to get Shona upfield. If she touches that AC2, we’re confident she can finish the job. My Beasthunter has deployed near the AC2, hoping to be useful with his panzerfaust, and deploying a mine using his minelayer skill.
A lone warcor watches a small gap on the right flank where someone could theoretically come through to take on my army horizontally.

Onyx Deployment:
Onyx deploys with a Unidron fireteam hidden from view of my Karhu Feuerbachs. They’ve set up on a building on the right flank, with most members hidden except for the Unidron Plasma Sniper. Surrounding the AC2, Bit and Kiss lie in wait for any hackable units to go for the objective. An Ikadron deploys watching the objective with his flash pulse. The most annoying aspect of this defense was a Q-Drone HMG. This Q-Drone was deployed in the perfect location to cause the most trouble for my approach. There were very few ways to get Line of Sight to it, and even then, it was almost guaranteed to be in optimal range. A Greif impersonated in the back right of my Deployment Zone.

WinterFor Reserve:
Seeing the Greif pop in behind a lot of my units, I knew I needed to counter deploy it. Thankfully, Liang Kai is the perfect person for the job. Unfortunately, using him in this way means he’s not going to get crazy movement from his Forward Deployment or Impetuous movement, but if he can take out the Greif all on his own, it saves me more orders in the long run.

Onyx Reserve:
Ominously, Onyx deploys something hidden as their reserve.

WinterFor:
Turn 1, I quell Liang Kai’s impetuous order so that he can instead do his job of taking out the Greif. He declares a discover and the Greif revealed itself, not wanting to get shot. Unfortunately, the Greif passed his armor saves against Liang Kai’s shotgun! Not wanting to waste any more time, Liang Kai launched himself at the Greif. The rest of my army heard a small explosion from behind the building and they knew the Greif was no longer around.

With that thorn in my side gone, it was time to clear a path for my Alpha fireteam. Using orders from group 2, the Fusilier core maneuvered to give the Karhu FB a view of the enemy Ikadron at extreme range. The Ikadron dodged, and was pelted with hits. Miraculously, it almost survived, passing 5 out of 6 armor saves! Next, the Karhu maneuvered a bit more to get eyes on Kiss. Kiss was easily removed by the superior burst and DA rounds of the Feuerbachs. At this point, we’re running out of orders in group 2, so the Karhu moves back to a more ARO-central position.

With some of the obstacles removed, the WinterFor Alpha fireteam move out. The Vargar and Shona moved up-field. At this point, I had neglected to count my opponent’s models properly, so I feared that there may be multiple hidden deployed Noctifers or something. If I had paid more careful attention, I would have realized that there was only one model missing from the table, and it was quite expensive.
Regardless, I made a bit of a mistake here and exposed my Varg K1 Marksman to a longer firelane on his second move.
Thankfully, my opponent made an even BIGGER mistake. The Sphinx revealed itself and took a free shot at my exposed Varg. The shot connected, but ricocheted off his armor. Fearing another attack, the Varg used Guts to get into cover.

The Sphinx is now visible, and I’ve got Karhu. The second pool’s orders have been depleted, but my WinterFor Beta fireteam is still available. After some careful movement to avoid the enemy Plasma sniper, we have eyes on the Sphinx. The roof shakes as the Feurbachs unleash a torrent of shots on the Sphinx. Two shots connect with the Sphinx and INCREDIBLY, the Sphinx fails 3 out of 4 armor saves. We just one-shot a Sphinx. Unfortunately for my opponent, we can’t risk that Sphinx getting up again. The karhu fires another volley upon the unconscious Sphinx. The Sphinx explodes in spectacular fashion.

Things are going extremely well. We spend a few orders getting the WinterFor Alpha fireteam further up the field, Cautious moving to avoid the Q-Drone. Second to last order, my Varg deploys his Wildparrot in a position that can see three of the enemy Unidrons as well as a slave drone.
Spending a command token to convert the Beasthunter’s order, the Varg with Heavy Flamethrower and Combi moved out to see the Unidron Sniper and an enemy Ikadron. The fireteam opted to dodge, fearing the E/M template from the Parrot. To double their troubles, the Vargar split his shots on the Sniper and the Ikadron. The Sniper successfully dodged the WildParrot, but was blasted to pieces by the Varg’s Combi Rifle. The Slave Drone critically failed his dodge, and ended up isolated by the template. Further cementing my luck, the Ikadron was also knocked unconscious.

This alpha strike is a perfect example of how dangerous things can be when basically everything in your plan goes perfectly and succeeds on the first attempt. I built up so much momentum with this attack.

Onyx:
Onyx was reeling from the losses. They also only have one unit now that can feasibly destroy my AC2. Instead of moving up with the Nexus Engineer, he decided to make a long journey along the backside of the table, moving prone to avoid my Feuerbachs. My Opponent then reformed his fireteam using the Nexus Engineer as the 5th member. [Note: We realized too late that this wouldn’t have really been possible, because the Nexus was in Group 2, but I waived the mistake and we kept playing]

The Engineer managed to get LoS on the Ikadron we sent unconscious and revived it. Invigorated, the Ikadron launched itself at my Alpha Haris. Both the Varg and Shona succeeded in their dodges.

Finally, an R-drone moves into the building on the left flank to watch over the Panoply there.

WinterFor:
We’re doing well at repelling the Combined Army threat, but we aren’t achieving the mission very well. The Q-Drone is the main enemy in our way at this point. In order to get LoS on the Q-Drone, we’ll have to clear a path for my Beta fireteam to move up. My Group 2 orders are spent moving the Fusiliers to the left flank, taking out the Ikadron and a Unidron out at long range.

The Beta fireteam moves closer, the Karhu Feuerbach needing to take on multiple targets out of necessity. We’re in view of the R-Drone, a Unidron, and the Q-Drone. At this point, I’m panicking a little bit, because I don’t want to send my opponent into retreat without having the chance to get points on the board. But at the same time, I can’t expect Shona to run a gauntlet of all of 4 or 5 enemies on ARO. In such an awkward position, the Karhu isn’t in optimal range. We elect to only fight the Q-Drone and Unidron, allowing the R-drone to flash us for free.
The Q-Drone and Karhu’s shots collide in mid-air, no damage. The Karhu’s single shot at the Unidron connects, but it survives in the Dogged state. The Flash Pulse stuns my Karhu, ensuring I can’t make an attempt again. Dang. The Karhu elects to go prone so that Hawkins can try to take on the Q-Drone without the Karhu taking free shots.

Of course, Hawkins doesn’t have MSV or Mimetism, so this fight is much worse. Hawkins fails the shootout and takes a wound, ducking back into cover.
This cements that I’m not going to be able to get to the AC2, so now I’m really in trouble. I still don’t know if my opponent is in retreat yet.
I opt to send my Vargar to grab something from the Panoply. If I happen to grab MSV or an HMG, maybe that’ll give me a better chance vs the Q-Drone. Unfortunately, no luck. But at least we’ve got points on the board for now.

Onyx:
Thankfully, Onyx is barely not in retreat.
Onyx is out of options, so their only hope is to make a mad dash with their Engineer, hoping to move into the AC2 on turn 3 if possible. Unfortunately, he is not able to run the gauntlet of defense I have set up, and he falls unconscious.
Next my opponent fires a pitcher with Bit and Isolates Hawkins, effectively taking away one of my options for attacking his AC2.

Finally, the Nexus Lt makes a dash for the leftmost Panoply, but stops just short due to running out of orders.

Turn 3
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WinterFor:
No matter what, this Q-Drone has to die. My Karhu FB is no longer in a fireteam thanks to Hawkins getting isolated, but she’s the most expendable unit with the best odds to take out the Q-Drone. The other Karhu FB maneuvers to take out the R-Drone that stunned his friend in the previous turn. It all comes down to the Q-Drone now. Amazingly, my Karhu CRITS the Q-Drone! It falls unconscious.

With the final orders, we move up with the Alpha fireteam. The K1 Marksman kills the Nexus Lt. Bit is still in the way, so we sacrifice the Varg Sensor to Flame her. The Varg dies due to Shock, marking our only casualty of this engagement. Finally, Shona moves into the AC2 and in two orders blows it up.

Onyx:
Onyx only has two Imetrons remaining, so my opponent concedes.

We had a really decisive first turn push, and my opponent wasn’t able to focus his efforts properly to react. Many orders were wasted moving people from one side of the table to the other. We definitely had a conversation afterward about not revealing the Sphinx in ARO in the future haha.