Durgama Takeover

We were returning from a previous campaign where blood has been spilled enough to hydrated a whole region, and at midpoint during travel, we had received the assignation of some O12 officers. What was a simple return to HQ instantly became an escort mission then.
Those orders were coming from the high command, so few questions were asked. It didn't bother me that much at the moment, since the destination was still the same, but knowing there had been friction with the Bureau's troops wasn't a good knews. A month sooner we were working with them, and know it seems the cards have turned. Again. To be honest, I lost count how many times it happened.
I was hoping for a few hours to rest before our next assignement, but it had occured we won't even have ten minutes, as Starmada's troops launched their assault right in front of Xiandao's doors. Their audacity baffled me at the moment. Those weren't manners for a supposedly ally, even less for the police of the Human Sphere.
We could have gone the diplomatic way, but they choose to test the might of Yu Jing in its own territory, so be it. The only thing that bothers me a little is that my hacking device did not finished is software update in time before the attack, so I'm not sure I could count much on it this time..."

Lieutenant Yaran Tsin, Daofei, leader of the Bojolàng Assault Group - out.

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Here we go withe game! As we're playing in my faction territory, I'm willing to not give an inch to my opponent, but he's a skilled player so it won't be easy. He wons the Lt roll and take the initiative, which perfectly translate the fast attack his troops launched!
He deploys everything hidden in total cover, except for a Kytta bot and the E/M mines from his Raveneyes officers. I see many troops that are a threat to my advanced camos, like an Epsilon, a Psi-cop with MSV1, a Raptor and his movable heavy flame-thrower... So I chose safety for my Guilang and most importantly my Daofei, on who I have high hopes given the scenario. The rest deploys in total cover too, except my Long Yas, which are my only long-range defensive option. Our HVT are practically looking at each other in a straight line in the middle of the table.

Turn 1 - Starmada
First classifieds are Follow up, Test run, and Predator.
My opponents begins by cybermasking his NCO Raptor, and makes him (and his bot) advance near an edge of the table. The first can move freely out of anyone sight, but I choose to reveal a Long Ya to discover his Devabot, since I don't want him to approach any further. Fortunately, he managed to. At their next activation, the bot take a flammenspear in the face, but didn't burn enough to disapear from the table... This result in Parvati bringing her Yudbot to repair him, and the Raptor managing to follow-up one of my HVTs. 2 classifieds done here. Then the Raptor flanks my Long Ya and get him down, as well as the F-13 turret behind. He ends in total cover behind the trees. On the other side of the table, in the entrance of the base, a Raveneye officer take position to defend the opposite flank.

Turn 1 - Yu Jing
Current classifieds are Predator, Extreme Recovery and HVT : Designation.
Time to shine, soldiers of the State Empire! The Shang-Ji brings down the Kytta quickly, followed by the Daofei who goes for the deconnected Devabot and the Yudbot at his mercy. Once those two are down, he finishes them off in contact to get two classifieds. He then go for the Raptor, who tanks too many shots for my own good. A coordinated order from my heavies make him finally bite the dust. The Daofei ends the turn in total cover and camo state, near two enemy HVTs, and the Shang-Ji falls back to safety.
The Monstrucker also repaired the Long Ya, and this one tried to help with the Raptor, but here too those AP ammos hurted like cotoon. A monk also thrown a smoke, and was seemingly happy to have done so.

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Turn 2 - Starmada
My opponent is unlucky with his cards, and gets HVT : Kidnapping, and HVT : Espionnage. HVT : Designation is stille active too. So it will be very complicated for him to score this turn.
My Lt is safe where he is so he can't go for him without passing in range of one of my Long Yas. He moves his Epsilon on a rooftop to shoot the first Long Ya, but this one survive and fall back. He then attemps to discover the other one, but fails. My opponent baits me with his Betatroopers haris, and I take the chance, knowing well where this is going for the drone. They all manage to dodge the shot, and the Epsilon promptly shoot him down. The Betatroopers haris split, with the Spitfire one hiding ready to shoot at my Lt if the opportunity presents itself. The Epsilon falls back too, while his fellow Nyoka HRL take position to defend the two HVTs I'm interested the most.

Turn 2 - Yu Jing
I discard HVT : Espionnage and pick up HVT : Identity check, and then suddenly the third HVT becomes the most interesting, since my Guilang is not that far from her. He moves until seeing her, scan her with his MSV, and then go for the Nyoka blocking the path of my Lt. The Guilang shot him down, but not without dying too, because I was about to template the other members of the team, before retracting myself. In all cases, the wolf had done his job and the Daofei hacker could now move without the treat of a burning rocket in the face. Here we go now at attempting the designation of one of the HVT. I throw 4 orders to do so, and not a single Spotlight pass... He then decides to leave this one for now and go civ-evac the third one. Two more classifieds on my side. I end up my turn with the Shang-Ji taking position on a container, and the Monstrucker repairing the second Long Ya, which re-enters camo state. Painful as it can get.

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Turn 3 - Starmada
New classifieds are HVT : Nanoespionnage and Sabotage. One again those are not the most practical objectives my opponent can achieve, but he still pushes his troops to do what it takes. Shame my dices goes in its way though... The Betatrooper Spitfire shoot my Daofei who manages to dodge out of sight. His Epsilon do the same thing as before, tries to discover the same Long Ya, and fails again. He baits me a second with the second Betatrooper and his Psi-cop buddy, and I choose to shoot again. Shot failed. The Epsilon wants the drone dead, but now its the Long Ya that tanks everything. Despite this, the Duo manages to do a classified on one of my HVTs, and civ-evac the last of my opponent's for his role play story. In doing so, the Betatrooper take a wound from the Shang-Ji. His own Lt, a Raveneye officer, moves on to protect the flank of his Beta Spitfire.

Turn 3 - Yu Jing
I pick up Telemetry, and immediatly tries it with my Lt, but nothing passes again. Enough with the hacking. The Rui-Shi take down the Psi-cop after a failed attemp from the Shang-Ji. The second one then goes to take on the Epsilon, but after three tries, the Epsilon is still standing, and my "superior" boy has even taken a wound in doing so. The Daofei kills the Betatrooper paramedic, then take a run to the nearest thing he can explode with a D-charge : a bunch of trees. He takes a wound from a determined Epsilon in doing so, but still manages to "sabotage" the poor trees in front of him. That makes one extra classified for me, so that I have 5 and my opponent 3. We chose to end the game here, as I can't score much more without risking my Lt, and given how hacking turned out for me until now, I'm not willing to test my luck any longer.

Victory for the State-Empire then, but the tides could have turn if my opponent had better cards to play with at his second turn, clearly.

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"In the end, the Starmada soldiers were forced to fall back, but still achieved to retrieve the upper officer we had the guard. Righ in front of our labs. All the devastation we could cause upon them isn't enough to clean that insult. This, will not stay unpunished, and it is not over, as both sides have valuable targets from the other in their grasp. The ones we still have will know the joys of an interrogation by the Imperial Service. And next time I see an O12 commander making a remark about how Yu-Jing treats his allies, I will gladly remind him of that event."

"Okay, now, where is the IT department here..."