Shootout in the Grey City
How the Furries Stole my Lunch Money
By DrZak
Overview
- Mission: Supremacy
- Forces: Bakunin versus ISS (300)
- Deploy First: Imperial Secret Service
- First Turn: Imperial Secret Service
Furries and Friends LI
KUSANAGI Lieutenant MULTI Rifle + Light Flamethrower, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (+1 | 44)
REVEREND HEALER Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, EXP CCW. (0 | 33)
REVEREND CUSTODIER Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
SIN-EATER HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 33)
RIOT GRRL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 34)
ZERO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
MODERATOR Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 11)
10 | 6.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Imperial Service
GROUP 1 |4
CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
GROUP 2 |
BÀO TROOP (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29)
KǍNRÈN Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 29)
WÚ MÍNG (Fireteam: Duo) Chain Rifle, Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59)
6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
The ISS took to the field of battle first, they setup along their edge across both sides of the central road in an effort to move forward to dominate both near zones.
My deployment was more asymmetrical, being that the mission was Supremacy and that the goal was zone domination, I chose a LI list led by Kusanagi herself, accompanied by a Reverend Custodier with HD+ and a Reverend healer in a Haris on the right hand flank, 16” up the board, thanks to MI FD1.
The Centre of the table was a 3 man (Grrl) core link of Riot Grrls, armed with a Spitfire, a BSG and a Missile Launcher. The left hand flank had a pair of Sin Eater Observants with a HMG and a MK12, again sneaking an extra few inches up the board thanks to FD1.
The final piece was a moderator paramedic with the Xeno tech, given the Kusanagi and her Haris were a decent chunk of points, I hoped that having the Xeno in this quadrant would allow me some extra points at the end of each round.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – ISS
Exploiting Bakunin’s lack of MSV2, the Celestial Guard with KSCD and LSGL, dropped a pair of smoke grenades on top of the Bao MSR, in a sign of the game to come, the first order missed both times. The second order landed the smoke and the Bao proceeded to be a twat.
First shot was against the Grrl with ML, the Grrl looked at the ranged and did the quick math, 2 dice on 7s (13, -6 Smoke, -3 Cover, +3 Range) vs 2 dice on 12s (+3 Range, -3 Cover), dodge .. she was definitely gonna dodge on 16s. Success, she avoided the shot and dodged behind cover, next order the sniper decided to pick on the SF Grrl, again the numbers did not look awesome for her shooting back through the zero-vis zone so she also dodged out of the way, again successfully.
With frustration the Bao sighted along at the Sin Eater HMG, weighing up his options the Sin Eater decided to dodge prone avoiding damage, but realising too late that that was the last order for that pool and as such dodging prone weakened the ARO presence down that side of the board.
The triple form of a Kanren crawled forward under the eyes of the two Sin Eater Observants and touched the console, first points ISS. The ISS second order pool started up and a Su Jian decided to pop out where the Sin Eater Mk12 was watching, 3 heavy calibre rounds tracked into the beast in combat form, dropping it to NWI. The Su Jian was momentarily shocked and the focus of attention shifted to the other flank.
A mysterious token appeared and slid along a building towards the reverends link. Appearing from the shadows was a ninja KHD and firmly in his sights was the Reverend Custodier .. REDRUM he murmured .. SUCKERPUNCH she whispered back, then her stack exploded and she slumped to the floor with blood, CSF and snot leaking out of her head.
Kusanagi was shocked to watch her comrade die so horribly, but fortunately she wasn’t shocked for long as the sword wielding personification of death flew around the corner to slice her in half, in a desperate attempt to save herself she fired her flamer, seeing the cackling death mask in the flames as the DA CCW cleaved her in half. Irony was the spectre of death slipping through the flames, his magical suit broken only seemed to add to the dread.
The focus now switched back to the Su Jian, buoyed by the success of killing almost 80 pts in two orders the murder kitty leapt towards the Sin Eater Observant with an obvious disdain, bordering on contempt the Sin Eater punched the high calibre, mass reactive rounds onto the carapace and watched blankly as the light went out in murder kitty’s eyes..
Bottom of 1 – Bakunin
Turn one for the Bakunin forces started with 8 orders, and LoL. The loss of Kusanagi threw discord and confusion through the internal comms line, until the veteran Riot Grrls gripped up her troops, the time for sadness was not now, there were still Yu Jing scum on the battle field.
The turn started with the healer putting aside her Hippocratic oath and spraying the sparking ninja in a sea of nanites, a wry smile touching her lips as she watched the flesh slough from his face and upper torso, she then used a command token to convert one of the Sin Eaters irregular orders into a regular and hacked the console closest to her.
A zero slipped from the shadows on the other side of the board and using his +3 WIP also hacked the second close console. To a general chorus of disdain, the Sin Eater HMG stood up and slipped across the catwalk he was on to have a good field of view across the table.
The moderator synced to the Xenotech moved forward his maximum distance towards the still twitching form of the ninja, and the xenotech moved a few inches along the wall past the console to ensure he was in a scoring zone. The last few orders were converted to regular and the Grrls link moved forward to dominate the centre, the missile launcher moved into a position where she could see the CG KSCD with smoke launcher should she try again to play shianigans.
Being as this was Supremacy, scores were counted after the first turn:
- ISS : 1 – console
- Bakunin: 4 – 2x Consoles, dominate more zones, have the Xeno in a dominated zone.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – ISS
Starting with plenty of orders, and only losing a few from each group, the ISS had a largely intact order pool, however the ability to project their will had been severely eroded losing the Su Jian, and the Ninja KHD, on top of that the two Sin Eater Observants were both now in a position to provide Support By Fire (SBF) and Overwatch to friendly troops moving up and to provide area denial across both of the objectives closest to the ISS line.
Seeing his death in the form of multiple missiles fired in good range, the Boa troop remained prone and crawled away from the CG KSCD, a person not long for this world in his opinion. The CG loaded a pair of smoke rounds into the launcher, then disappeared in a fiery conflagration of doom, however she did manage to land one of the smoke grenades on her Bao, and the game of shoot and dance started again.
The bao popped up and sighted the Grrl with BSG, also the new LT, who dodged prone successfully. The next round was at the Grrl ML, the Grrl seeing death in the form of a 50 calibre round with “Death to all who oppose the emperor” scrawled along the shell dodged for all she was worth, successfully, the second round followed the first, but this time she was a touch slower and a round punched through her trapezius.
Grunting in pain, but still very much in the fight she dodged the third round coming her way into a position that cover put that also gave her vision along the top of the building at the elevated position holding the three Kanren and the third of four consoles. The Bao switched targets at this point and fired at the Grrl with spitfire, seeing her sister not love life, the spitfire punched rounds back at the Bao, but neither side was able to dominate and noting of substance happened.
Moving to the second group a Wu Ming duo moved up towards the cover at the edge of a row of buildings, the HMG sighted along at the Grrl with Missile Launcher and opened fire, deciding that this target was in a better range band.
The Grrl elected to fire back, however the range finder was a bit off, probably from all the dodging, and it turned out the HMG was a lot closer than she thought, never fear though as her two dice easily beat the Wu Ming who through a combination of raw grit and the cover from the wall (the Grrl had loaded an EXP/AP round into the launcher instead of just an Explosive one, we believe that this was a sabotage effort by the ISS) managed to avoid dying and only took a single wound.
Shaking himself off and sighting along his HMG again, the Wu Ming fired. This time, loading the correct ammunition, the Grrl sent a pair of missiles back and when the explosion cleared the Wu Ming’s charred form lay unmoving on the plascrete pathway.
Bottom of 2 – Bakunin
Sensing a subtle shift in the momentum of the battle The Grrls started pushing forward, the BSG took point and moved them all forward across the roof of the central building. A quick message from the ML caused the team to prop and for the ML to sight along at the Bao that had been making life difficult.
Without the smoke to hide him, the Bao presented a beautifully back light silhouette, almost begging to be blown away. Carefully the Grrl lined up the shot and sent the pair of EXP missiles on their way, seeing the danger too late the Bao rushed his shot, firing wide, before meeting his emperor on a custom Pyre courtesy of Gazprom Industries.
The BSG again took the lead and crept towards the three Kanren, realising something was up, she called to her Zero KHD in the shadows below, who snuck forward and attempted a hack, the Kanren fearing that he had been identified revealed himself and attempted to hack the KHD. 1’s and 0’s flew through the air faster than light, and after a blur of angry, rapid key taps, the Kanren slumped down. The Zero then spent a few orders moving up the ladders and hacking the console. A friendly flash pulse bot in the back line played with his laser pointer, but range and camo prevented anything from sticking.
Being as this was still Supremacy, scores were counted after the second turn:
- ISS : 1 – console
- Bakunin: 7 – 1x extra Consoles (3), dominate more zones, have the Xeno in a dominated zone.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – ISS
With the KSCD gone, all semblance of control was lost of over the Kuang Shi. The ran forward into the waiting arms and automatic weapons of the Sin Eaters who put down each and every one of them. Realising that the game was slipping from his grasp the ISS commander attempted to put suppressive fire onto the area surrounding the last console. A few odd pieces moved forward, but most were met by overwhelming fire from the Sin Eaters or the Riot Grrls, now dominating the central high feature.
Bottom of 3 – Bakunin
Bakunin only needed one more point. First things first the Xeno dropped his bundle, on a +3 WIP thanks to the hackers still on the board. The final piece of the puzzle was for the Healer to complete the Capture classified objective, seeing a Wu Ming in a not horribly exposed position she slipped forward, unfortunately the Wu Ming happened to be in an are that was dominated by the last few CG on suppression. She slipped forward putting down the first, before dodging the second on the second order, finally in control of the Wu Ming corpse (as opposes to Corps) .. she let the light fade and now the time of grief for Kusanagi and unnamed Custodier #1 could begin.
Post Game Analysis
The final Score was Bakunin 10 – ISS 1. Did the score reflect the game? Probably not. My opponent was “that guy” who always had the hot dice, and this game was one where the heat left and he couldn’t achieve anything. This was shown in the number of times where he would roll an 8 only for me to roll a 9 or him to finally crit only to see a crit in my pile of dice as well.
I believe that the Bakunin forces were better suited to this mission, it being a dominate zones, an LI list with an average points cost of 30 (except the moderator, but his points were spread around) means that one or two models in a zone has a solid chance of dominating especially when it is up against KS or CG at 5 or 10points a pop.
Other than that, the game showed that Grrls are mean, even in just a 3 man core, but the lack of MSV 2 can definitely cause Bakunin some problems. The Sin Eaters have gone from awesome to potentially one of my favourite auto include units (at least one), they are better than a TR bot in almost everyway and they can just lock down fire lanes.
That being said, in my last game the HMG one was put down hard by a bulleteer, again highlighting the lack of visual aids as a potential soft squishy point in the army.
All things considered except for maybe over extending with Kusanagi and the Custodier, I was happy with how the battle plan progressed, and unfortunately I cant really think of a way, other than not being so aggressive with them, that I could have avoided that situation, a TO KHD is just gonna hurt a HD+ custodier, and a ninja is a one shot homing missile that will kill most everything it is aimed at, though as this game showed it was a one shot trick, unlucky for me that one shot put me into LoL.