By Obyiscus

Overview

• Mission: Panic Room
• Forces: Starnada vs O-12 (300)
• Deploy First: O-12
• First Turn: O-12

Deployment

O-12 Deployment

My opponent deployed first and, as is common in Panic Room when going first, he deployed most things as far forward as possible and in zones that would be safe for the first turn of biotech zone. He attempted to deploy outside his deployment zone 4 times (2 gangbusters and 2 sirius teams) and failed the roll each time. While the odds for each weren’t phenomenal (7s) he was very unlucky and failed all 4 rolls. Not only did this cause him to have to deploy them in such a way that he would need to spend orders getting them into a safe zone, it also meant that he didn’t have a hacking net set in the midfield before the game started. 

Otherwise his deployment seemed to be set-up to allow the repeater baggage bots to run forward to cover the room, along with the 2 gangbusters. He then spread his flash and missile bots to sit on corners and the antennas respectively in order to provide some aros. His deployment has a mirrored effect due in large part to his list having doubles of most models.

His 2 holdbacks were his 2 millicent missile bots.

Starmada Deployment

My deployment was very quick (approx 5 minutes) due in part because I was trying playing on clock, and in part because I only had 10 models. I deployed following a mostly null deployment approach, hiding the core team in a central area with Hector and the Spitfire Beta watching some close lanes in case my opponent was holding back Andromeda, not wanting her to approach freely into my entire team. 

I deployed my Warcor and Kytta on opposite flanks watching shorter lanes (the warcor has a longer lane because I didn’t really care if he died). I then split the Varangians up in order to have smoke on either side of the fireteam if the need arose. 

My holdbacks were the Epsilon HMG and the Bronze (who was going to be deployed to stare at Andromeda had she shown up). Seeing that he didn’t have any real long range threat (aside from the missiles), I deployed the Epsilon to watch a longer lane that a number of his troops would have to use to efficiently reach the panic room. The Bronze was deployed central to the fireteam watching Hector’s back. 

Turn 1

Top of 1 – O-12: Setting up the web

Turn 1 saw the O-12 forces advancing out of their deployment zone in order to form a repeater net around the panic room. Both Sirius teams advanced up on the flanks (although the left most team failed to get the handler out of the biozone…but luckily made her save). The Kytta moved up to take up ARO positions to slow Starmada’s ability to advance on the flanks. Hippolyta used her impetuous order to move up and stage for future turns. The fuzzbots advanced up to cover the panic room with their repeater coverage. In order to allow units to safely cross the gap watched by the Epsilon, the Cyberghost threw down a white noise zone using the fuzzbot’s inbuilt repeater. The gangbusters advanced up, and one took up a position inside the room, placing a madtrap in the corner of the room on O-12’s left flank and closest to Starmada.

Bottom of 1 – Starmada: Clear and Stage [Time Remaining 1:25:00]

Seeing an opportunity for some easy kills and to set-up a string defensive position, the Epsilon advanced left into the biozone to take shots at the Team Sirius handler on Starmada’s right flank. At the same time he was able to see and take shots at the right flank Kytta. After knocking both unconscious, The Epsilon advanced up the ladder of the nearby building and took shots at the right flank Millicent (hoping to then take out the right side Fuzzbot). The shots bounced and fearing another engagement the Epsilon paused to let the Wrecking Crew play.

The Wrecking Crew, taking advantage of their heavy availability of climbing plus (and a useful ladder), maneuvered over the building as Hector and the Bronze advanced around the corner. Hector, leading the team, knocked out the Gangbuster in the room and then proceeded to take some shots down range into the Kytta splashing the Siriusbot. The bots were lucky and both survived. 

On the second order of this maneuver the Betatroopers accidentally strayed too close to the madtrap, but luckily passed their save.

The Betatrooper (Spitfire) then took over the lead of the fireteam and moved towards the left flank, scaled the building, and took shots at the Siriusbot and Gangbuster. The Betatrooper took out the Gangbuster but failed to knock out the Siriusbot.

The Epsilon then activated and knocked out the Millicent. Not wanting the Millicent to be revived, the Epsilon put more shots into the Millicent removing it. The Fuzzbot in view dodged the Epsilon’s shot but wasn’t quite able to get into the room.

The Wrecking Crew then repositioned to set-up defensively. The Betatrooper (Spitifire) stayed on the building watching a large area, supported by the Bronze who watched a long lane with his Akrylat-kanon. Hector was set up to watch the room, and the Betatrooper (KHD) deployed watching down the right flank (not the ideal gun, but able to take 3 wounds and then be revived the next turn). Parvati hid to ensure that she would be around to bring any team members back up if they went down.

Turn 2

Top of 2 – O-12: Did I say you could die?

Hippolyta restrained her impetuous to avoid running into the waiting Epsilon. She then threw an eclipse smoke to allow Pavarti to run her Yudbot up to heal the Sirius team handler, and the Kytta. Meanwhile, Parvati moved up on the right flank to stage for the next turn. 

Hippolyta then moved over towards the Panic Room, also staging for the final turn.

Saladin then began moving up to get out of the biozone. On his way he engaged the warcor (killing it) and the Betatrooper (KHD). Ultimately, Saladin wounded the Betatrooper once before hiding in the corner.

The left Siriusbot was left in the biozone after reconnecting to its handler, but tanked both saves.

Bottom of 2 – Starmada: I can do this all day! [Time Remaining: 55:00]

Both Varangians used their impetuous leading the left Varangian to head up the building, while the right flank Varangian moved up the right flank. The right Varangian triggered the repeater net and Hippolyta leading to the Varangian being targetted and Hippolyta dodging around the corner.

The Epsilon started to move down the ladder on the left side of his building in order to engage Hippolyta. However, on his way he took shots at the revived Kytta and Sirius handler. He killed the handler, but was stunned by the Kytta.

Realizing that Hippolyta was not shock immune, the Varangian decided to try and get lucky and moved up shooting at Hippolyta with his SMG. Hippolyta dodged the shots and engaged the Varangian as the Fuzzbot dodged into the room.

 Needing to find a solution to Hippolyta, Parvati lead the Wrecking Crew towards where the Epsilon was waiting on the ladder. On her way to the Epsilon Pavarti healed the wounded Betatrooper back to full. Parvati then unstunned the Epsilon. 

Now unstunned, the Epsilon climbed back up the ladder and over a few orders took out the Kytta, and the Fuzzbot (who dodged the Epsilon for like 3 orders). Finally he turned his attention to the engaged Hippolyta. The Epsilon shot into the combat hitting the Varangian twice and Hippolyta twice. The Varangian tanked both hits, but Hippolyta went down.

The Wrecking Crew arranged themselves to ARO in O-12s final turn. All team member stayed up to watch and shoot, except Pavarti who went prone behind the wall. The Varangian entered into the room to secure the points, trying to get close enough to the unconscious Fuzzbot to avoid guided missiles.

Turn 3

Top of 3 – O-12: Last ditch efforts

The remaining Millicent tried to launch a guided missile into the Varangian, but the Varangian successfully dodged the shot and moved close enough to the Fuzzbot to avoid future attempts. The rest of the turn saw Pavarti trying to solo the entire game. Parvati ran up towards the room, followed by the remaining Sirius Team, healing the Gangbuster outside the room on the way. Next she advanced into the room, gunning down the Varangian in the process while taking a wound from his chain-colt. Finally, she revived the Gangbuster in the room to help try and hold out for the last turn.

In the end turn, the Cyberghost got knocked out by the biozone.

Bottom of 3 – Starmada: Twisting the knife [Time Remaining: 32:00]

Hector activated and moved around the poster block to take shots into Pavarti. The first round saw Pavarti survive, but the Gangbuster died to the plasma splashes. Hector continued and took out Pavarti as the Betatrooper (Spitfire) moved left to get ready to take out the last hacker. The Betatrooper (Spitfire) assumed control of the team and took out the Sirius Team (handler and bot).

To end the game Pavarti moved up into the room while Hector advanced into O-12’s half of the table and completed Net-Undermine for an extra point.

Final Score

Starmada Victory (7-0)

Time Remaining: 20:00

Post-Game Analysis

This game really showed the strength of a list using a bunch of Heavy Armour and tanky guys, and also their weaknesses. Due to the durability of the team (and lack of big guns on the other side) I was comfortable leaving more of them up in ARO expecting to either still have them up in the next turn, or atleast unconscious ready for Pavarti to res. This allowed me to make it much harder for my opponent to advance because he knew that even if he won a shootout it wouldn’t cause me lasting harm. While the Betas aren’t particularly high armoured, their solid Arm 3 coupled with the mimetism and two levels of unconscious makes them very durable. The Bronze was tanky enough that I could reliably leave him up and be confident that he wouldn’t take the 3 wounds needed to kill him. Pavarti worked particularly well in this list being fairly survivable herself, giving the team a non-hackable model, and being able to heal both the Str units and Wounds units (very well). It didn’t come up, but I had really hoped that my opponent would put in the work to put 2 wounds on Hector or the Bronze only for Pavarti to put them back to full wounds.

Despite being heavy and durable, the team itself is quite maneuverable both because of a number of 6-2 models, but also the climbing plus on 3 of the models. The climbing plus really helped get me into ideal positions to take out enemy pieces without having to enter into the repeater net or into bad ranges.

This game also showed the main danger for the big heavy guys too, namely hacking. Because so much of my force was tied up in hackable units, the substantial hacking and repeater presence that my opponent had prevented me from moving the Wrecking Crew into the room and just becoming an immovable object. That being said, the list had a few pieces to hunt down and take out the net (and hackers). Unfortunately they took longer to do so than I would have liked, but in the meantime I was able to just throw cheap non-hackable guys into the room to grab it end of turn. 

Thoughts on Playing on a Chess Clock:

For this game I decided to try playing on a chess clock. I gave myself 1.5 hrs rather than the standard 1, largely because I find basic movement and LoF checking takes longer on TTS. I also didn’t play with a death clock, and was more using it to see where I was spending time, and to encourage me to play faster.

Turn	Duration (Minutes)
Deployment	5
Turn 1	35
Turn 2	23
Turn 3	12

Given the small compact nature of my army and the singular focus of the mission (take the room) I found that I was able to deploy very quickly. Making this easier was the fact that I quickly recognized that my opponent didn’t have any real long range active guns, so was able to find a good mix of long lanes and close lanes quickly. Being conscious of time I also made sure to start planning out my deployment while he was deploying (this is easier on TTS since I can easily look over his shoulder as he deploys).

Turns 1 and 2 were similar in length which makes sense since they played out similarly on the table (pick off some guys and set-up to defend without really engaging the room). I think that if I was more familiar with the units I was bringing this would have gone much faster as I wouldn’t have had to constantly look at profiles, and get distracted marveling at some of the great kit units had (especially the Betas). I was also delayed a bit by having to look up rules, like removing stun from units. As I expected the 1st turn took longer than the second, as the enemy was more entrenched turn 1 requiring more thought to how to engage them.

The final turn was very quick, and probably could have gone quicker if I had really tried to complete the game in as few orders as possible (I didn’t actually have to fight the Sirius team and could have just stepped into the room).

Overall, using the clock was an interesting thing to add, and I have used it again since. The biggest challenge with it for me was remembering to start and stop it. There were multiple times that I forgot to start it before I started acting, but also there were as many times I forgot to stop it. This is definitely something  that would get easier with practice, and with a physical clock as opposed to the one on my phone. In the next game where I tried it I used the clock on TTS which was much easier to remember. 

I still am not sold on chess clocks, especially death clock, but given my experience with slow opponents at some tournament I can definitely see their value. At the very least I think it is a useful tool I will use when practicing for tournaments in order to better analyze my play, how I spend my time, and to encourage myself not to second guess choices (especially in ARO).