A Very Bad Plan
By Erin (IceCream)
Overview
- Mission: Acquisition
- Forces: JSA (Erin/IceCream) versus Bakunin (Melanie/MJGrey) (300)
- Deploy First: JSA
- First Turn: JSA
What's Mine is Mine
O-YOROI (Lieutenant) AP Heavy Machine Gun, Heavy Flamethrower, Crazykoala / EXP CC Weapon. (2 | 75)
O-YOROI PILOT Contender, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
YOJIMBO Contender(+1B), Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, Crazykoala / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 18)
RYŪKEN (Hacker, Forward Deployment [+8″], Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, Shock Mines, D-Charges ( ) / Breaker Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0.5 | 29)
YURIKO ODA (Forward Deployment [+8″]) Combi Rifle, E/Mitter, D-Charges, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 27)
PANGGULING (Hacker, EVO Hacking Device) ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 15)
TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 27)
OYAMA Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Breaker Pistol, E/M CC Weapon, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 20)
9
3
2 5.5 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Infinity Army
The idea behind this list would be to use the O-Yoroi as a primary attack piece, and use it along with the Ryuken-9s and Yuriko Oda to litter the midfield with mines and CrazyKoalas via coordinated orders. Additionally, the three Ryuken-9 killer hackers would each cover one of the three points for the mission, be able to tag and defend them, and could all flip into Cybermask via one coordinated order which would make a very annoying midfield to get through. I brought the Evo Hacker baggage bot for Fairy Dust on the O-Yoroi, and also to refill its koalas.
Aquisition
GROUP 1GROUP 2
RIOT GRRL Boarding Shotgun ( | TinBot: Firewall [-6]) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
AVICENNA Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 27)
TSYKLON Feuerbach, Pitcher / PARA CC Weapon(-6). (1 | 36)
MODERATOR (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 9)
REVEREND CUSTODIER (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle, Pitcher ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 31)
ZERO (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 20)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Assault Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 6)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
CHIMERA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Eclipse Grenades / Viral CC Weapon, Pistol. (0 | 20)
3X PUPNIK DA CC Weapon. (0 | 3)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Melanie and I have been pandemic play partners, and one thing she’s been developing on is bringing more ARO pieces. The Tsyklon (Feuerbach) and Riot Grrl (ML) in the Core link were taken as a scary AROadblock to get through, with the Riot Grrlx2-Avicenna Haris as the main attack piece. Much to my dismay, she’s also been learning how to use the Überfallkommandos more and more effectively as time goes on, and they have gotten very scary.
The Table
Deployment
I won the Lieutenant roll, and decided to go first. First turn seemed preferable to me because my mines would need to be set up, and I’d need to get into marker state with the Ryuken-9s. I was planning to keep my O-Yoroi in reserve, and I wanted it to start wrecking everything without Bakunin having a chance to respond.
My Neko-Kempei-Tanko link was set up in the middle of my DZ so the Tanko could get good shots off in ARO or clear out enemy threats. The Ryuken-9 were placed to be able to each advance to one of the objectives. I planned to deploy my O-Yoroi as my reserve troop on my right side of the board, so I placed Yuriko and my baggage bot in that area to support it. Finally, Yojimbo was going to take up my left flank, and use smoke and koalas to deal with anything that showed up on that side.
Bakunin deployed second, and took two strong ARO positions with the Tsyklon and Riot Grrl (ML). The Tsyklon could also throw Pitchers across the whole mid-board to allow the Reverend Custodier to hack through. Her offensive Haris was deployed in cover on her right flank so she could push forward and attack towards objectives and the mid-field on her turn. Her Zeros took up positions in the midfield, to contest the objectives.
I placed my reserve O-Yoroi after Bakunin deployment, and I tunnel visioned on my initial plan, and foolishly put my O-Yoroi into a terrible position, with both the Tsyklon and Riot Grrl able to ARO it.
Turn 1
JSA Top of 1: Or, How To Ruin Your Own Plan
Fully in tunnel vision mode, I decided that my O-Yoroi should shoot its HMG at the Riot Grrl (ML) and Tsyklon (Feuerbach), because it’s a TAG and it’s supposed to be very good at shooting things and that’s why I took it. This was a very, very bad idea. I split my burst and fired twice at each ARO piece. The Riot Grrl won her face-to-face, and my TAG lost two Structure from her rockets, while the Tsyklon and the O-Yoroi’s shootout ended in a stalemate. Time to re-think this catastrophe.
I spent a command token to flip all of the Ryuken-9s into marker state as planned, thinking that one of them would be able to fix the situation.
I actually looked at the table for the first time now, and realized what a mess I was in. The Ryuken-9s and also the Tanko (ML) would all have the same issue of getting shot at by both of the Bakunin ARO pieces if they tried to untangle the situation, and everything else I had was pretty much only short range. My left side of the board was fairly clear though, and Yojimbo was over there, so maybe he could move up, use smoke to obstruct the Tsyklon, and let my O-Yoroi shoot four times vs the Riot Grrl? It was worth a shot.
Yojimbo had moved up with his impetuous order, and had tossed a koala up near the objective, so he continued pushing forward down that flank. I hadn’t checked the angles correctly though, and the Riot Grrl Haris was covering this path. It wasn’t the straight shot I thought it would be to where Yojimbo could throw smoke. Yojimbo tossed out a koala to threaten the Haris, and then pushed forward. His odds were decent vs the solo Riot Grrl though, and drove around the corner, unloading his Contender at her to keep him safe. The team dodged, keeping them safe from the koala, but giving Yojimbo a better shot. He hit, but the Riot Grrl passed her save.
Because I was destined to mess everything up this turn, I now realized there was no position I could safely throw smoke from without provoking a handful of AROs. Plan B… or C? or.., D? now in shambles, it was time to try something risky. If I could just knock out the Tsyklon, the O-Yoroi should be able to take down the Riot Grrl, Yuriko Oda could repair it, and everything would be back on track. My Tanko Missile Launcher fired on the Tsyklon in an attempted suicide trade and… the Tanko pulled it off! The Tsyklon went down to a Tanko missile, while the Tanko got exploded by the Riot Grrl.
Plan back on track, the O-Yoroi fired it’s full burst HMG at the Riot Grrl! . . . aaaaand got crit by the Riot Grrl and died. Oh.
Ok plans are for losers, it’s Yojimbo time. Yojimbo charged the Riot Grrl Spitfire, crit her in CC, and took her down. He repeated this performance on the next Riot Grrl in the Haris, and then rode to the back on the board, forcing Avicenna into NWI with a shot from his contender, and setting himself up for some major damage on the next turn.
Bakunin Bottom of 1: The Furry Convention
Despite losing my TAG, I had still made a mess of the center of the board with all of my minelayers at deployment, so clearing that out was going to be a priority if Melanie wanted to start scoring. The Überfallkommandos, excellent at dodging, were the perfect candidates for this job. They charged up the board, avoiding some potshots from Yuriko and Yojimbo, and dodged into my minefield, safely setting off the mines, but losing one of the puppies to an ARO shot. Two furries in the pack left, they discovered and mauled my central Ryuken-9, but lost another member to ARO fire.
Sometime during this chaos, the Reverend Custodier shot a Pitcher into the mess, to further mess up everything hackable that I had in the mid-field.
Melanie wanted to get her Riot Grrl Haris working again, so she tried to flash pulse Yojimbo to prevent him from AROing. I thought there was an attack coming, so Yojimbo dropped smoke on his feet, accomplishing Melanie’s goal for her. No AROs to worry about, Avicenna started healing the Riot Grrls. I realized what was happening now, and dodged Yojimbo out of smoke to try to fight back. The Spitfire Riot Grrl was up though, and she finished off Yojimbo, shrugging off his nanopulser.
Melanie healed up her second Riot Grrl, and finished her turn by moving a Morlock down her left side of the table to threaten Yuriko Oda with a chain rifle.
Turn 2
JSA Top of 2: Time to Improvise!
Plans are a liability. Just winging it, that’s where the magic happens! I didn’t have a ton of strong pieces left, and that Riot Grrl (ML) was still watching the center of the table. First order of business then would be to move the remaining mid-board Ryuken-9 back while in camo, to get out of Repeater range. Once back and in cover, it fired on the Chimera, taking her down. The Riot Grrl (ML) shot back, but missiles didn’t find their target.
Next up, my left side Ryuken-9 walked up to the top of her tower. She wanted to try to take out the Riot Grrl, and I’d have to just see what happened with the camo token at the top. The camo token revealed itself as a Zero, and dropped a mine! Without an immediate threat from the Zero, the Ryuken-9 shot at the Riot Grrl (ML). She won the face to face, and managed to punch through the Grrl’s armor and knocked her unconscious! (I proxied Cordelia as this Ryuken-9, and since she’s going to become my MVP, I’m going to call her Cordelia-9 going forward.)
Since the Zero revealed to place its mine, Yojimbo’s CrazyKoala from the beginning of the game activated, and killed it!
Although the Zero was down, I was in a kind of tight spot with Cordelia-9, since I’d need to clear the mine if I wanted to cap the objective. I was also aware that Yuriko was locked down by the Morlock on her side. Feeling very smart, I declared a coordinated order to move and dodge with both of them. Cordelia-9 successfully dodged the mine, and moved into base to base with the objective, and Yuriko was able to safely dodge back out of the Morlock’s template range! Cordelia activated the objective, putting me into the lead!
I didn’t want to waste Neko’s Tac. Aware order, so I moved him up to fire his pistol at the Morlock. He took a wound due to a lucky shot from the Morlock’s pistol, but finished it off with his next order.
That was the end of the turn, but I was feeling good about my position.
Bakunin Bottom of 2 – Cordelia OP; Nerf Cordelia
Melanie had deployed a Moderator paramedic behind her Riot Grrl (ML), and used her first order to try to get the Riot Grrl back up to menace the mid-board once more. The Moderator missed both of her MediKit shots. Cordelia-9 could just barely see to the Moderator’s position, so she took a potshot. . . and knocked the Moderator unconscious!
Melanie used a Command Token to reforge her Riot Grrl Haris, and moved them forward to take the objective tower that Cordelia-9 was holding. If she flipped the objective and got her Grrls up there, it would be a difficult, uphill battle for me to take the game. As the Riot Grrls climbed the walls of the tower, Cordelia-9 dropped a mine to buy herself time. The Riot Grrl Spitfire came at Cordelia-9 first, but Cordelia-9 pistol whipped the Grrl, taking her down! Cordelia’s mine exploded uselessly behind them.
The second Riot Grrl fired at Cordelia with a Boarding Shotgun! Facing the wrong way to shoot back, Cordelia-9 luckily dodged away from the blast! The Riot Grrl closed in on her again, but this time, Cordelia-9 was ready! She returned fire with her SMG and crit the Riot Grrl, dropping her on the spot!
This was a major blow to Bakunin. If she was going to have any chance at winning, she’d need to pull off a miracle. Her second Zero moved forward to try to get into position to hold the middle objective, but got discovered in the way! Out of orders, her turn ended.
Turn 3
JSA Top of 3 – Locking in Victory
Neko was Frenzied from killing the Morlock, so with two exclusive orders to spend, he’d try to press the advantage and finish up the game. The Reverend Custodier was the last major piece who could threaten objectives in the center, so Neko headed forward, taking down the Zero with his pistol on the way. He got into range, blasted the Custodier with his chain rifle, and just freaking died from her ARO, without even hurting the Custodier!
As I should have learned by now, the solution to every problem when playing JSA is a Ryuken-9, so the mid-board one walked forward and fried the Custodier’s brain through her own repeater with Trinity. The Ryuken-9 kept moving forward, and got into base contact with the center objective!
Cordelia-9 walked up to an unconscious Riot Grrl and Coup de Graced her, scoring me my classified objective. She then walked over to the railing above Avicenna, and a burst of SMG fire finished Avi off. As I ended my turn, Melanie conceded.
Post Game Analysis
The very obvious lesson from this game is to never plan anything, and just always make stuff up as you go.?Joking aside, the lesson is to not get tunnel vision on a plan and then commit to it when it clearly no longer could work. I kept thinking about that saying, “No plan survives contact with the enemy” after this game, for very obvious reasons. Even though my Engineer and baggage bot were on the right, I needed to deploy the O-Yoroi on my left side of the table so it wouldn’t be staring down two explosive damage AROs in a Core link that would just kill it.
For coordinated orders, using one order to flip multiple troops into marker state seems very good, and I’ll keep that in my playbook going forward. I felt very smart about my coordinated order to move-dodge with two completely unrelated troops doing totally unrelated things, and I don’t think I’d have thought of it if this mission hadn’t been in the front of my mind. I’m going to keep an eye out for more kinds of situations like these in the future; I’m sure I’ll come up with some other interesting plays now that I’ve been trained on it a bit.
I’m learning more about my playstyle as I get more games in, and I’m just not sure TAGs are a good fit for me. I end up doing a lot of dangerous attacks that will be generally favorable, and when I’m making those attacks with a 75 point troop, they become unreasonably risky. Especially since it’s in the same army as that nightmare creature, the Karakuri, the O-Yoroi just doesn’t feel very good for me and my playstyle.
The Ryuken-9s outperform my expectations every game I bring them, and they’re starting to become a staple of my JSA list building. Between them and Yojimbo, I always seem to have the right tools to solve my problems in JSA.
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