Infinity Batrep: Operation Onyx Sentinel

 

Infinity time again. Ben had painted some more Aleph. I have some new EI troops... but not a 300pt list and anyway when I took them vs Chris, I was crushed. So, given Ben tends to know what he's doing, it really only could be Zulu Lance once more. Ben had a 12 Order force led by an Asura. I had my Magister link led by a pair of Santiago Knights. Then another Santiago as the Lt. Then on top of that a Father Knight hacker. Yep I'd gone all out anti-mechanised. On the other hand, Aleph has the filthiest hackers in the game and I was fielding seven Heavy Infantry and a pair of REMs. The mission was Firefight, which I think is new for this season of ITS. There are three Panoplies alone the midline, units deploy 16" in, AD troops can enter the side within enemy deployment zones AND the map is +3 to arrive for drop troops. Points are for kills, specialist kills and Lt kills, then for the most Panoply  grabs. Then there are classifieds. So who prevailed?



+++ESTABLISHING BATTLESPACE CONNECTION+++
+++PLANET PARADISO EAST FLAMIA 2185.11.1 19:15+++
+++TUITIO FIDEI ET OBSEQUIUM PAUPERUM+++
FLAMIA ISLAND Is now firmly under the Aegis of the Military Orders. Our Knights strike daily at Alien and Traitor alike. However scanning stations there have provided troubling insights to Hexagon Intelligence. Under guise of a rest and refit, Veterans of Zulu Lance are led by Knights of Santiago on orbital insertion in the dusty equatorial desert. Target: An anomalous and secretive Aleph research dig at some aliens ruins. 
 

+++19:16 LOCAL+++

Aleph operatives set up Basecamp around the digsite. AI operatives had supply caches in the centre, and sowed drop assistance transponders around AO. Their aim was to assist covert resupply from the air. These provided our gateway: HI Knights led in Specialists, with Lt Diaz De Vivar in command. The swift drop allowed control of the axis of attack but the speed of Aleph processing allowed them to react before we'd taken poisition to stike. 

 

+++19:19 LOCAL+++

Aleph operatives pushed our left flank, around the Oasis. These movements were a feint. AI killer-hacker revealed from Thermo-optic camouflage and bore down on Father-Knight Domingo. At first biotechnical shields held off the attacks but his synapses were fried by repeated assaults. The AI infiltrator then angled itself a concealed shot at point-blank range on the Sierra R.E.M.and eliminated it with combi-fire. It's fellows were strangely hesitant to engage Zulu Lance despite a sniper on clear Overwatch of their deployment.

 

+++19:27 LOCAL+++

Zulu Lance gunned down the Dakini Tacbot sniper swiftly and taking no effective return fire. They then rounded the ruins and gunned down another Tacbot and the main prize: The enemy Asura HI Lieutenant.. This temporarily disrupted Aleph direction of the local battlespace. 

 

+++19:26 LOCAL+++

Lt De Vivar seized on the enemies confusion and Zulu Lance broke to the centre. The enemy Killer-Hacker died to a stream of nanites. At this point, caution was abandoned and the Lt made a lone attack on an enemy bot and its handler. The Bot was pacified but the handler was active. Realising his exposed position out on the left flank, the Lt took up suppressing fire. 

+++19:32 LOCAL+++
Aleph forces may have been shattered at the command level but still coordinated a precise tactical insertion on our left. The Santiago Lieutenant could not be flanked but was gunned down by accurate fire from the Garuda Tacbot, firing almost immediately as it hit the sand. Other endeavours met more limited success. A Deva Functionary tried to gun down Magisters from Zulu Lance. One fell. However enemy progress was fragmented and slow. Another infiltrator managed to move on the centre weapon cache and deployed a vicious monofilament mine.
 
+++19:35 LOCAL+++
Divine retribution visited the enemy Deva, in the form of shoulder launched Panzerfaust rounds from the Magister's vengeful brother. With the Lt unconscious, more complex manoeuvres were impossible but good defensive positions were adopted and a new Fusilier took over local command and readied a nearby R.E.M. To assist on a raid on the nearest panoply. 

+++19:38 LOCAL+++
Aleph forces were now stretched. There were too few resources to tackle Zulu Lance head on. Opportunities were taken on the left flank and Specialist Ripley was gunned down. Further monofilament mines were laid in the centre and the infiltrator there secured another panoply. 
 

+++19:40 LOCAL+++
Brother Magister Arkady had left the link and charged the Aleph infiltrator. Somehow he survived both return fire and a pair of exploding Monofiliment mines. The way cleared, The three remaining Knights of Zulu Lance took out the AI infiltrator and the Lt Secured the nearby Panoply. Despite numerous attempts, Brother Arkady was unable to muster the clarity of thought to search the other Panoply. A local Yu Jing judicial observer was also secured.
Sitrep Tagged: Objectives complete. 
+++TERMINATING BATTLESPACE CONNECTION+++
I like that mission, a lot. The close start and boost to AD troops effectively collapses the frontline and really fragments the board. I count myself pretty lucky that was a,Killer-Hacker and not an Assault Hacker. Sure the first contest would have been easier for me but if that had been an Assault hacker.... he could have taken out members of Zulu Lance. Then he would have been in a perfect position to ARO through buildings at the rest. TO camo assault hackers in hidden deployment are evil. Otherwise my list shoots well (even though I forgot the burst bonus turn 1) and has armour. Better yet, my armour seems to work better than it should. I don't think it hurt that no one confronted the Knights first turn in the active phase. So maybe the seven Knights across the board helped keep the heat off the A-Team.
Thanks for reading.