Critical Mass - Operation Hungry Walrus June 21st, 2023

 

Mission Briefing

Scenario: Rescue

(Campaign Location, Selentra Residencial Compound) 

Combatants: Vanilla Yu Jing vs Vanilla ALEPH

Points: 400

Final Scoring 9-3 in Yu Jing's Favor

Deployment

YJ won the roll off, thanks to the genius of Sun Tze and his legendary WIP 17. Choosing to go first, YJ deployed out an impressive showing for this all out desperation play to the Residential Compound. Bixie and a Shang Ji were deployed to threaten a push up the left flank, while a Blue Wolf was deployed to get messy in the center of the board. Sun Tze took up a commanding position over the left and center, with Long Ya, a duo of Moterized Bounty Hunters, and Kuang Shi filling the board. The Brutis imitation team was unleashed to full effect. An Asura, Ajax and Eudoros all filled out to their respective positions with a dark mirror of Hector showering out commands from his cenetral position. The mercenary connections of the rogue AI were clear in the number of cheap disposable help that filled their side of the board. Coming in from reserve, a Su Jian duo was placed on the left side of the field, as far away from the Asura as possible. In response, Atalanta was placed staring down the mechanized pair,  

Turn 1

Orders from High Command were clear, Selentra held and unknown and critical purpose in the Jade Empire's interest on New Hypatia. So clear was their commitment, that Sun Tze had been sent to take direct command from General Ryui for a last minute push. Their opposition was clear, Brutis had invested its full might of ALEPH replicas and mercs for an attempt to thwart whatever critical information the secrets held by Chenma Pharmaceutics.

Yu Jing is built off the commitment of citizens to a greater structure, of those willing to risk themselves so that others may rise to the task at hand. This is exemplified best within their leadership, often the first to jump into the enemy's line of fire for their fellow soldiers. Sun Tze is no exception, and with an early coordinated order he ordered the Blue Wolf forward as a spearhead, with a Long ya awakening from it's camouflaged state for the three of them to open fire on Atalanta. Even as a copy, the legendary markswoman's aim was deadly. Landing a hit on Sun Tze and wounding the general, she managed to shoot out a central servo arm on the Blue Wolf, causing his shots to go wide. But the humble Long Ya with his Panzerfaust struck true. Immolated in a burst of flame, the sniper was dealt with and the Sui Jan duo cleared to advance. Bursting forward, both duos made their way up their respective fields with covering fire going out from the Shang Ji and Blue Wolf. No enemies were downed with Ajax suffering a wound, but by the end of turn 1 the YJ team had managed to pull all Chenma personell from the enemy's side of the field and into their deployment zone, with the Shang Ji, Blue Wolf, and Bixie setting up overlapping lines of suppressive fire to keep the enemy at bay.

In the face of an early blitz, the Brutis team moved forward with brutal efficiency. Eudoros faced down the Blue Wolf and despite the hail of gunfire was able to down his eclipse to block line of sight from the TAG. A path opened, Ajax moved through the optical disruption field to dodge into close combat with the TAG. Mighty blows swung from both combatants but the brute strength of the synthetic killer cleaved the Yu Jing war machine in two. One problem dealt with, the Asura entered cybermask and moved into the suppressive fire of the two Yu Jing heavy infantry. Forced to deal with the oncoming threat, the Shang Ji dropped his suppressive fire and engaged identification protocols, opening himself to the Asura's carbonite. Locked in position, the Shang Ji began running his reset protocols as Bixie and the Asura engaged in a tense gunfight. The Asura ate a shot and kept advancing, wounds trading on each side. It wasn't until the Shang Ji reset the Asura was forced to move out of line of sight and threaten the two with hacking should they attempt to advance. Frustrated with the lack of progress, Hector moved up and ordered Ajax, Eudoros, and a Daleth into suppressive fire alongside him in an attempt to corral the Jade Empire. 

Turn 2

The primary mission was to secure and safeguard Yu Jing personnel and that had already been handily sorted. With the opening concerns dealt with, Sun Tze now turned his attention to the advancing war machines that would need to be dealt with quickly. 

Prioritization of threats was Sun Tze's first move as he moved the Shang Ji into his personal command unit. Deep from his back lines, a Celestial Guard moved to throw out smoke cover on the left side of the field. Blocking the Daleth from covering the Asura unit. With a path opened, the Bounty Hunters were dispatched up the field and quickly closed the distance. A roar of machinery bore down on the Asura. The Duo leader emptied her SMG into the target while the second biker closed with a monofiliment weapon her ISS handler had provided earlier that week. Forced to choose, the Asura gunned downed the oncoming monofiliment weapon, as she herself was put unconscious by the first biker. With her last remaining instructions, the biker moved forward to empty her chaincolt into the Daleth remote, downing another asset from Brutis in a noble sacrifice. The left flank secured, the Shang Ji moved to get a bead on Hector, engaging from outside the ideal range of the suppressing weapon, the Shang Ji scored two hits on the enemy LT, forcing him to move out of LoS. Showing superior Yu Jing engineering, the Su Jian lept from under cover of more smoke from the Celestial Guard. Springing onto Ajax, the murder kitty suffered a hit from the combi but downed the enemy in the same blow. As the Su Jian pulled back to a more secure location, the Yu Jing strike team waited for the counter assault 

Assets were dropping fast, though Sun Tze had been forced to expend his disposable bike units in the process. Hector ordered Eudoros to engage the Long Ya that was exposed, downing the unit as it laid out a mine to ward off access to YJ's right flank. Pressing his assault, Eudoros found an angle the Su Jian had failed to hide from and emptied a volley of his Mk12 into the Yu Jing platform. Scoring a critical hit, the warrior was able to down the enemy war platform. Knowing it was now or never the synthetic killer continued his approach, facing down Sun Tze in an attempt to down the enemy leader. Sun Tze utilized the defensive systems of his suit to flash pulse the enemy recreation, ending his rampage with an overload to his sensors. Withdrawing from his failed attack run, the ALEPH team waited for an opening in the enemy to pounce. 

 Turn 3

Enemy threats were being handled, but at costs greater than Sun Tze would have preferred. Pulling the remainder of his forces into a single cohesive unit, the recreation knew it was time to secure victory or see it slip through his grasp.

Time was running short and the enemy needed to be dealt with. The Kuang Shi were mobilized to move forward and flank Eudoros on either side. Unable to engage both, the warrior employed his Heavy pistol into both of the attackers, scoring a critical hit and bodying the second. Between the templates of the chain weapons and the activate explosives of the Kuang Shi, the imitation of Eudoros was immolated beyond repair With no enemy targets posing an open threat, several more Chenma personal were moved to be out of reach from the enemy through coordinated efforts of the Yu Jing force. With precious moments to spare, Bixie lept forward thanks to her augmentations and was able to catch the rogue Hector out of cover, gunning him down even with the noble Yu Jing hero caught out of position.

As the feed from Hector was severed, the Shukra unit seamlessly assumed command to salvage what was left of the situation. The Posthuman was activated, it's MK12 used to drop the final wound into Bixie that forced her to the ground. Between the teamwork of the posthuman and a Beasthunter two Chenma were taken from under the noses of the YJ team, and drawn back into the dead zone of the Brutis force. In their last moments, the Posthuman switched into the Engineer host and injected a techno virus to the downed Daleth, achieving some mysterious classified directive from Brutis. 

Wrap-Up

Super big shout out to my buddy Andrew for coming in clutch with a grand finale game for week one of the event! Had a super fun time busting out 400 points on both sides, the double Su Jian was a ton of fun and no one ever seems ready for Sniper Sun Tzu. His ability to just tank hits and riskily push through that first gunfight with Atlanata was really critical for the game. There was a major misplay I think with Eudoros gunning down the Kuang Shi but I've never played ALEPH! How would you have handled it?