No Doctor Left Behind
By teddygundam
I figured I’d write one of these up to help build the hype around our August tournament. I should preface that I’ve only been playing for around three months, so my tactical planning isn’t the best. I’m learning more and more every time I play.
This week’s mission is a take on Biotechvore, with a fiery twist! The title of the mission has been changed to Dante’s Peak; lava is slowly moving in from our table edges!
I had just gotten off a seven-day work week and was itching for a game, so my roommate Wyatt and I busted out the table, set up the terrain and got to rolling. He brought his Onyx and I brought Ikari, which I’d only played once before. We rolled for initiative and Wyatt got it, choosing to play first. I rolled a 13, damn Ikari….
Overview
- Mission: Dante’s Peak (Biotechvore)
- Forces: Ikari Company versus Onyx Contact Force (300)
- Deploy First: Onyx
- First Turn: Onyx
Dante’s Peak 3
GROUP 1 |9
1
2
RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 20)
FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53)
KEISOTSU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32)
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
GROUP 2 |
KARAKURI Heavy Shotgun, Chain Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 38)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21)
KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Onyx Contact Force
SURYAT (Tactical Awareness) HMG + TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 48)
NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
KERR-NAU (UPGRADE: White Noise) Plasma Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
NEXUS Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
UMBRA SAMARITAN Spitfire, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Vorpal CC Weapon. (1 | 44)
>
RODOK Paramedic (MediKit) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
MAAKREP TRACKER HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 33)
Deployment
Wyatt deployed his forces as far forward as he could because that lava was coming! He set up with an Umbra Samaritan on his left, a Rodok three-man core in the middle with a Makreep MSV2 HMG next to them. Kerr-Nau was tucked behind a barricade and his Suryat duo was covering his right flank with some hefty firepower. He deployed his Nexus lieutenant on top of a building prone.
From left to right, I deployed a bounty hunter prone behind a barricade. My plan for him was to come out and go into SF when the coast was clear. My Al Fasid I put on top of a building behind some cover. He had a good view of the board and a nice path to take onto the other building and down a ladder as the game progressed. I deployed my Yuan Yuans on the table because I didn’t want to mess around with confused deployment and I wanted the cheap sources of smoke.
My Core link was deployed roughly in the center of the table with my Tanko ML having a pretty good view of most of the board. I deployed my Rui Shi and Yojimbo on my right to get some smoke+MSV2 nonsense going on. They were backed up by a Krakot and another Yuan Yuan, as well as another Bounty Hunter SMG.
Both my Yuan Yuans rolled +1 arm for their Booty, and both my Bounty Hunters rolled smoke for theirs. Huh. My Krakot got +1 armor and bioimmunity.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Onyx
Wyatt was out for Ikari blood, and he revealed a Noctifier ML to take a shot at my Al Fasid. I figured I was in bad range with my HMG, so I decided to dodge rather than chance a shot back. I passed on a 10 and Wyatt missed on a 20 (rough start!). I elected to fall prone because I wasn’t trying to mess around with that nonsense.
Wyatt then activated his Suryat duo, using his tactical awareness order to move around the corner and cover the lane on my left. He elected to break his fireteam to put his HMG into suppressive fire.
There was a big ol’ building on my Tanko’s right which Wyatt used to maneuver his Rodok core team into the center part of the table. He spent a couple of orders moving them up, then dropped three orders into them to reposition… and drop nine mines. Yeesh.
For his last order, Wyatt moved his Samaritan into a position to begin climbing the building, but quickly realized that he would be tangoing with my Tanko’s ML, so he stopped at the bottom of a ladder.
Bottom of 1 – Ikari
Super impetuous phase! Yojimbo moves up 8, but idles for his second order because he doesn’t want a face-full of mines. The Yuan Yuan on my right is in a better position in relation to the mines, so he moves up and drops smoke. My other Yuan Yuan runs out and procs an ARO from Wyatt’s Maakrep. I try to dodge out of the way but I take a bullet to the face instead and die. My Krakot moves up next to Yojimbo and idles as he also does not want a face full of mines… yet.
I decide to try something cute. I stand my Karakuri up and attempt to discover the mine closest to her. If I can reveal it, my Al Fasid can shoot a grenade at it and blow up a few of them under a template. Unfortunately, I fail my discover roll, so I abandon the idea. I use Yojimbo’s irregular to move him up and shoot smoke in front of my Rui Shi to get that nonsense going.
I start to move my core team up because lava. I spend two orders moving them up, and use the last part of the second order to throw marksmanship on my Rui Shi with my hacker.
My Al Fasid decides to get off his butt and into the action. I know he is millimeters out from being in good range of Wyatt’s missile launcher from the turn before, so I move him up just enough to get into that sweet spot. His Maakrep gets an angle on me as I move, so I split my burst with two shots into both of them. I land a crit on the missile launcher and two hits on the Maakrep, who fails his ARM save. Nice!
I spend another order moving my Al Fasid up, followed by a coordinated order to move my Al Fasid, Karakuri, Tokusetsu and Rui Shi up because lava is coming! My Karakuri soaks up a mine for me on the way and shrugs it off. I move my fireteam up a little more, then spend another command token to put my Fasid, Rui Shi and doctor into SF.
I run the Yuan Yuan on my right into the area with the mines and drop a chain rifle template. He takes a mine hit and dies while the Rodok passes his dodge. I move onto my second group and spend a third command token to move my Pathfinder, Krakot and two bounty hunters up because lava is coming! I use my last two orders to put both bounty hunters into SF and pass turn.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Onyx
Wyatt is staring down a lot of units in SF and pauses to collect his thoughts. He notices that he can slice the pie just enough on Yojimbo with his Samaritan as to not draw any AROs from any one else. Yojimbo attempts to smoke dodge but rolls a 20 (of course) and is spit fired off the table. Once again, I have not put his koalas in stand-by. Sigh…
Wyatt decides to get Kerr-Nau into the action. He spends a couple of orders carefully maneuvering him around the buildings to avoid my Tanko’s ML. He gets him into the mine field of death with the rest of his Rodoks and attempts a WIP roll on my brawler lieutenant who is on the other side of the building. He fails on the first try but gets it on the second try. Very suspicious…
Wyatt spends the last of his orders moving his lieutenant up because lava is coming! One of my Keisotsu tries to take a shot from downtown in ARO with a combi rifle but fails horribly because that’s what he’s good at.
Bottom of 2 – Ikari
I only have one impetuous order with my Krakot which he uses to move up and idle because I don’t want to mess with those mines just yet. I spend the Krakot’s regular order to have him spec fire a grenade onto a cluster of troops/mines. He’s hitting on a 10, but he flubs his roll and I move on.
Wyatt has left his Samaritan in a juicy spot for my Fasid to capitalize on. We exchange fire and the Samaritan goes into NWI. The Fasid moves up and fires on the Samaritan again, critting him off the table.
With the Samaritan out of the way I focus my attention onto the remaining Rodoks. I move my Krakot around the corner into the mine field, taking two antipersonnel templates to the face as well as two AROs from the link. I’m not expecting my Krakot to survive this exchange, so I line up a juicy shot and drop two chain rifle templates. He manages to take out a Rodok and two mines, but fails to kill Kerr-Nau who passes his dodge.
I really want those last two Rodoks and Ker-Nau gone, so I start walking my Karakuri up some stairs and onto the roof of the building they are hiding behind. In retrospect, I may have been better off walking her around the corner and soaking some more mines, but it actually worked out in the end. Unfortunately, Wyatt forgets to declare his change face dodges, so both Rodoks are facing the wrong way to get shots off when the Karakuri gets into position. She gets to the ledge and puts two heavy shotgun blasts into Ker-Nau, killing him dead.
I spend the last two orders of my main group moving my fireteam up because lava is coming! I use my last command token to coordinated order my Pathfinder and two bounty hunters to move them out of the toasting zone. I have one order left so I throw the bounty hunter on the right into SF.
We measure to move up the lava and I realize that I’ve completely forgotten about my poor doctor! She was hiding under a bridge in SF but gets caught in the lava and meets an untimely demise. How awful!
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Onyx
I’ve had to leave some of my guys in pretty poor positions to get them away from the lava, and Wyatt is quick to capitalize on this. He moves the Suryat HMG up to get a nice line of fire on the center field.
He takes a shot at my Karakuri on the roof who fires back with a D.E.P. I miss my shot and take a point of STR. I fall prone because all I have left to fight with is a shotgun. He continues to move the Suryat up and fires into a very exposed Al Fasid. I attempt to shoot smoke, but Wyatt gets three shots into me instead. I fail two of my ARM rolls and go down. The Suryat’s taste for blood is not sated yet, so he moves again and fires two shots each into my Rui Shi and Pathfinder who both fail their FtF and subsequent ARM rolls.
The Suryat is out of viable targets that he can get to with the amount of orders Wyatt has left, so he decides to move one of his remaining Rodoks up to my Tanko to try and take it out. He’s trying to get points on his last turn because he realizes he’s probably behind. The Tanko pulls out a pistol because the Rodok is close and is met with a shotgun blast. The Tanko wins the FtF and the Rodok goes down.
He spends his last two orders putting his Suryat into SF and moving his lieutenant out of the lava zone.
Bottom of 3 – Ikari
I still haven’t completed any of my classified objectives yet and I see an opportunity to get my Rescue. I walk my Karakuri back down the stairs and casevac my Rui Shi. I move the bots back up the building and out of the approaching lava zone. Cue the soundtrack from the Bodyguard.
I spend the last of my orders moving the rest of the team out of the lava zone and call it a game.
We total up our remaining points: Wyatt has 105 remaining, I have 148. 4 points for me, 2 for Wyatt. We’ve both completed the same number of classifieds, one apiece, so neither of us get the bonus of accomplishing more than the other player. One point for each of us.
5-3 Ikari Victory!
Post-Game Analysis
I still don’t have a total handle on Ikari, but I’m getting better each time! I find kill point missions will probably be a little harder for them because casualties on the Ikari side tend to be pretty high.
Wyatt and I went with opposite strategies for this mission. He took a small number of high cost troops in fireteams to maximize order and movement efficiency, while I took a large number of troops with lower costs to mitigate my losses.
We both agreed at the end that Wyatt allowed my Tanko ML to dictate a lot of his play and that sometimes in order to play the game, you need to actually play the game. He might have been better off trying to deal with my Tanko from the start rather than playing around it and getting his Rodok team surrounded behind that building.
As for me, besides remembering not to let my doctor melt to death (I’m so sorry!), I need to come to the board with a clearer strategy and game plan. I threw down smoke and marksmanship for my Rui Shi, and didn’t fire a single effective shot with it. I also may have wasted orders lobbing spec-fired grenades into the minefield, but I was really trying to blow up some of the mines under a template to clear the way.
Thank you for this batrep. Fun read!