Durgama Takeover

After taking the guard post at Cameliard, the Invicible Army forces under my command settled in for a long defense of our newly acquired territory. This peace was to be short-lived, however, as our scanners soon indicated that Shasvastii operatives were attempting to infiltrate the Reliquary by stealth. Launching my men in to action, were arrived swiftly at the battlefield and set up for a bloody engagement.

The lack of proper preparation for this engagement was soon made apparent, as the Yu Jing forces did not bring sufficient tools to cripple the enemy AC2. Chief Jeong was packing some demo charges, but no one else thought to put their sapper training into action and bring their own charges. The only hope at this point should Jeong fall would be for a suitable weapon to be drawn from the panoplies.

Faced with well-entrenched foes led by a Gwailos with HRL, the Shasvastii forces were poised to hold strong overwatch positions. Thankfully, our Shang Ji AP HMG gunner showed no fear in the face of alien weaponry, blasting the Gwailos straight to dead on the second order. Following up on this advantage, the Mowang and Chief Jeong advanced up the table after the messenger remote threw itself on the Speculo's mine to clear the way. Regrettably, I was lax in my observations of the battlefield, and the FO remote was able to see Jeong as well as the Mowang as I made my approach to the enemy AC2. I knew (lol) that the first shot would miss, which it did. I also knew that the second shot would miss as I moved him back into total cover, but I knew wrong this time. Jeong unfortunately got hit, failed his save, and went down! At this point, I knew I had to get him back up, because I had no other troop able to complete the mission!

The fireteam advanced to the centre of my deployment zone, with my paramedic Zhanshi able to revive Jeong with his medkit. Jeong then advanced into the central room to hide from the various camouflaged troops that were lurking around. With only a couple of orders remaining, the Mowang decided to press the advantage and try to strike a decisive blow against the enemy forces. He was soon met with a Noctifer's missile, however, which caught him greatly by surprise. Still, the State Empire's armour did its job and resisted the majority of the missile's explosive force. Knowing that this was actually more luck than good judgement, the Mowang used its weight of fire to gun down the Noctifer, and then move into position to take down Aida Swanson.

Unbeknownst to the Yu Jing forces, despite knowing that they had struck hard against the Shasvastii infiltrators, the Shasvastii started their turn in a sate of disarray, with what appeared to be a distinct lack of leadership coordinating their orders. Perhaps the Gwailos has actually been commanding the battle?! Still, this seeming lack of preparedness and ability to coordinate their actions did not deter either a Taigha from launching itself as the Mowang in the rear (and being mercilessly put down by the Mowang in combat for its troubles), or from Sargosh from drawing a bead on the Mowang and firing into the weaker rear armour of the demon king. The Mowang's armour held up against the alien's assault, losing only a single wound before being able to turn and face the alien menace. This was not enough, however - as usual, Shasvastii operators are not to be trusted as one of the camouflage markers stood and fired again into the Mowang's rear armour. This time around a round found a weak point in the suit and pierced it, taking out the Mowang's windpipe via the exit wound and preventing him from continuing the fight.

As the dust settled, it appeared as though the Shasvastii were on the back foot. Certainly, they had not been able to destroy our own AC2, but they had taken down the initial offensive we undertook against their territory, and kept the one troop that could bring them to ruin far away from its target.

Time was getting on, and we knew that there was not going to be an opportunity for a drawn-out engagement. If we were to strike down the enemy AC2, we had to do it now and secure the Reliquary against alien incursion.

My fireteam of Invicibles advanced up the field, shooting down the Shrouded that had taken the Mowang out by shooting him in the back. Tai Sheng led the charge to the right hand panoply, hoping to gain a weapon that could destroy the enemy AC2. Instead, she received +4 ARM, transforming her into a living tank. Believing the path to be free, Chief Jeon took off towards the console, hoping to plant his d-charges and blowing it to pieces. Regrettably, however, the suspicious allies that arrived early at the battlefield turned out to be a speculo agent who gunned Jeong down for the second time this engagement!

Tai Sheng fired upon the speculo agent, forcing it to take cover and allowing the Zuyong paramedic to advance up the field. Firing her medkit at Jeong for a second time, the nano-adrenaline brought Jeon back from unconsciousness, allowing him to strive towards the enemy AC2 to complete his mission.

As he arrived at the AC2, his first strike was successful! Overcoming the automated defenses, pieces of the AC2 went flying in every direction, with 2 of 3 supporting struts taken out. Only one strut remained, but Jeong was feeling the effects of an excessive amount of painkillers, and whilst he valiantly struck again at the console, he was unable to finish the job. Still, he deserves formal commendation for his services to Yu Jing and its people, as well as to all of humanity, for his determined service and commitment to the objective at hand.

Having advanced up the field, however, our own AC2 was quite exposed, and the alien menace did not hesitate to take advantage of this fact. A taigha creature, foul alien dogs that they are, advanced aggressively up the left flank, using the large central building to avoid engagement with my fireteams. The enemy Caliban gave it fire support, gunning down our embedded journalist with a vicious burst of its spitfire. Instinctively knowing the way was clear, the Taigha charged directly towards the AC2, its jaws snapping in anticipation. What they feed those things I am not sure, but it must have a lot of calcium for its teeth to be able to rip apart reinforced steel!

The taigha chomped ferociously at the console, avoiding the automated defense systems and forcing a total of 2 regular hits and a crit against the machine. Still, as proof of superior Yu Jing engineering, despite the dog's best efforts, not a single structure point was lost.

At this point, the Cameliard bases defense systems kicked in, and anti-personnel gas started to be deployed in great quantity to the area. This caused the aliens to flee and seek refuge in a safe area, and gave our troops the opportunity to reserve their rebreather filters for a further engagement.

As the dust settled, the score ended up at a 6-1 victory for Yu Jing. My opponent Dave is still fairly new to the game, and so having his main gunfighter as his LT without chain of command was a bit of a mistake. Still, he was able to work out some solutions to tricky problems, and once he gets a bit more familiar with the game I'm sure he'll be tearing up the local scene something wicked. Best of all, he was a pleasure to play against, too, and I'd love a chance to play again some time soon.