Cling to your Corner

I had a game win with Combined under my belt, now I just needed to prove that I could do it with Steel Phalanx still.

Bravery Without Forethought

James was my practice partner, and we again set up a pretty open table with plenty of elevation.

Overview

• Mission: ITS14 Unmasking
• Forces: Steel Phalanx versus Yu Jing (300)
• Deploy First: Yu Jing
• First Turn: Yu Jing

As I mentioned in my previous battle reports, Phoenix is very good, but I kind of wanted to explore Teucer as a ranged tool. I’m convinced that the Thorakites Feuerbach can get work done, so +2 BS, -3 Mimetism, MSV1, and NWI sounded like great additional capability. Unfortunately, the real downside to Teucer isn’t the loss of Mimetism -6 and CC skills that you lose by trading out Phoenix, it’s the awful link options. I decided to double down on long range with a Makhe Missile Launcher, as they’re a requirement for the link, basically.

I don’t like it, and the other Makhe options are probably more appealing, but I did want to use up as much SWC as possible. It was also going to be a pretty reasonable ARO to stand up, depending on board state and matchup. I needed to make room for Teucer, so I had to downgrade some of the link options in Hector’s link. Thankfully this section of Steel Phalanx’s roster is more forgiving in terms of link options.

Teucer Test

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HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser, Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 69)
DACTYL (Doctor) Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher ( | MediKit) / Breaker Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0 | 20)
ACMON Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0 | 31)
THORAKITES Feuerbach, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 23)

TEUCER Feuerbach, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 39)
MAKHE Missile Launcher, Zapper / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32)
PANDORA (Hacker) Pitcher, Pulzar, Flash Pulse(+1B) ( | MediKit [+1B]) / Viral Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0.5 | 26)

THYREOS (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, D-Charges, Shock Mines / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (0.5 | 24)
PENTHESILEA Submachine Gun, Nanopulser(+1B), Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
LAMEDH Rebot Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)

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10 1 1 | 5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code

To round it all out, I kept a Thyreos for protective duty. I had some good use out of Penny in spite of my awful play last game with Steel, so I wanted to see if I could repeat that. With all that, I had just enough points to fit a flash pulse bot.

James took a very similar list to his last one, but this time he took the sniper version of Sun Tze and replaced the Su Jian with a Blue Wolf. Jeong is sidegraded to Krit, and then the rest of the usual suspects make an apperance. Unfortunately the Zhanying is too expensive with the TAG in the list so it had to be downgraded to a lowly Zhanshi.

James (RomanLegion)

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GROUP 1 9 2 4

SUN TZE v2 (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token]) MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 51)
KOKRAM (Forward Deployment [+8″], Minelayer) Heavy Shotgun, E/Mitter, E/M Mines ( | Deployable Repeater) / Heavy Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0 | 41)
YÁOZĂO PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
BLUE WOLF AP Spitfire, Heavy Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 71)
BLUE WOLF PILOT Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
ZHANSHI (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 16)
CELESTIAL GUARD Monitor Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenade Launcher / CC Weapon, Pistol. (0.5 | 13)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 5)
BEASTHUNTERS (Surprise Attack [-3], Camouflage, Forward Deployment [+8″]) Heavy Flamethrower, Panzerfaust, AP Mines / EXP CC Weapon(+1B), Pistol. (0 | 17)

GROUP 2 4

MAJOR LUNAH VIRAL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 29)
WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 15)
WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 15)
CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)

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5.5 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code

In contrast to the last game where Sun Tze ran out into the open to fight Nourkias, this time James resolved to hide in the corner and take sniper shots at targets of opportunity. Sun Tze himself isn’t the biggest fan of that, but it’s not a bad plan for that profile (which is excellent).

If you fight with all your might, there is a chance of life; where as death is certain if you cling to your corner.

Sun Tze, The Art of War

Deployment

James decided to go first, so I made him deploy first. I mistakenly labeled the Zhanshi hacker as a CG hacker, but oh well. In any case, the things of note are Sun Tze on the ground floor in the back left near a ladder. Lunah is on a building, encouraging me to keep my head down, and the Weibing and Krit’s repeater form a loose quantronic cordon just in front of James’s deployment zone. The Beasthunter and the Blue Wolf were James’s reserves.

With Lunah on the table, I had to keep my head down. I really didn’t have a good plan to protect the right side of my deployment zone because it was so open, so I decided to let Penny fend for herself over there. Hectors’ link was in the middle of the table with the Dactyl and Acmon protecting various firelanes that only reached out to just outside my deployment, in particular the elevated region of the board on my right.

I held the the Mahke and the Thorakites in reserve, and then James put down the Blue Wolf and the Beasthunter. The Thorakites went down to cover the high ground, and I decided to try and challenge the Blue Wolf if it decided to move out with the Makhe. I had originally planned on putting it right above Pandora, shooting across my deployment zone, but it didn’t quite work out the way I wanted.

Turn 1

Top of 1 – Yu Jing

With Lunah and the Blue Wolf on the table, this opened up a path for the Beasthunter to move forward. I did manage to get a single discovery off against it with the Mahke, which succeeded. James lamented that he should have just shot a Panzerfaust back, as he ended his first short skill of movement out of LoF. A minor quibble, but not a bad note to take into the next game.

The Beasthunter re-camoed and then jumped over the box near Penny, getting discovered by Acmon this time.

This didn’t prevent the Beasthunter from rudely attacking Penny though. I managed to get a dodge off with the Lamedh, a spotlight with Pandora, and a CC attack with Pandora. Ignore the 2 wound marker there, she did lose the face to face but only took 1 wound.

James kept swinging. This time Penny successfully defended herself, but the Beasthunter passed ARM against her monofilament. The Beasthunter did not, however, pass BTS against a successful flash pulse from the nearby Lamedh.

Unfortunately, I lose the Makhe to the Blue Wolf as it stomps across the table to take up position guarding a firelane on my right. With that, the turn goes back to me.

Bottom of 1 – Steel Phalanx

Annoyingly, James hasn’t lost anything yet.

I forgo Penny’s impetuous order and coordinate an order with the Lamedh, Teucer, Pandora, and Penny. The Lamedh moves into base to base with the Beasthunter to give Penny burst two, and both Pandora and Teucer move out in an attempt to advance on the left flank… more on this later.

James decides to give me the Beasthunter here and declares his CC ARO against the Lamedh to deny me an order. Penny kills the Beasthunter successfully, but the Lamedh goes down as well. Fortunately I’ve got Acmon right there, and he fixes the Lamedh right up with a quick GizmoKit shot as Hector advances. I have grand plans of deleting the Blue Wolf, so I start working on that.

I start by doing no damage with the Thorakites Feuerbach.

Hector manages to get himself crit and takes two wounds, putting him in NWI. Oh no, it’s that game where Pandora killed him all over again!

Unwilling to risk Hector I finish off the Blue Wolf with the Thorakites while retreating Hector and the Dactyl. The Dactyl barely manages to heal Hector out of NWI, forcing me to spend a command token, even. Everyone’s in a bad spot, but at least the Blue Wolf is unconscious and being watched by the Thorakites.

The Thorakites is in view of Lunah, but so is Teucer, so maybe in forcing the split burst… I dunno. It’s not a great situation, but I also didn’t expect it to take basically all of my orders to take out a Blue Wolf to just unconscious. This also meant I didn’t have the orders to hide Teucer… ugh ugh ugh.

Turn 2

Top of 2 – Yu Jing

Well, the Blue Wolf isn’t off the table yet, so James can recover it… maybe.

First he sets up smoke with the Celestial Guard in front of Lunah. Uh oh.

This lets her take on Teucer and take him out.

Thankfully, when she moves to take out the Thorakites, while Lunah does win the face to face the Thorakites makes BTS and drops prone.

This does allow Krit to move forward and reveal an HVT while his bot picks the Blue Wolf Back up before advancing up to the high ground to support the Weibing.

Speaking of which, the Weibing attempts to take on one of the Decoys, but I successfully dodge against its fire.

This is the extent of James’s order pool, however, so the bad stuff stops happening to me. Killing the Beasthunter and stalling out the Blue Wolf has been really helpful thus far, even though it took my entire first turn.

Bottom of 2 – Steel Phalanx

At this point I need to get out of my deployment zone and get some work done. Penny starts her run and gets spotlit by the Zhanshi through the Weibing’s repeater.

I start moving Hector’s link, getting the Dactyl spotlit, and James dodges the Weibing out to see them, which lets me get Penny behind the ‘bot and take it out.

After forcing Lunah prone with the Thorakitai, Hector goes to work, drawing line of fire to the Blue Wolf.

It takes two orders but I finally erase the Blue Wolf.

A few more inches of movement lets Hector see Krit out of cover, so Krit melts in a hail of plasma as well.

Acmon flips the central antenna, revealing a Decoy, and allowing everyone to get to various places of safety.

Turn 3

Top of 3 – Yu Jing

James has revealed my Designated Target, but I’ve taken out a lot of his attack power. He sends in a Kuang Shi to fight Acmon and makes it past Acmon, doing a wound in the process.

The Kuang Shi manages to make it into view of my Designated Target, but Hector dodges off the roof and into close combat, only allowing the Kuang Shi a single shot on the Designated Target, which I successfully dodge. PHEW!

The Weibing tries next, but is stopped by Acmon.

Acmon’s luck runs out when Sun Tze stands up to take him out though. I use the Panzerfaust for the rangeband, not the EXP, but with Acmon targeted through Krit’s repeater it doesn’t matter and I finally lose him.

Lunah stands up to make things difficult, and James passes turn.

Bottom of 3 – Steel Phalanx

Neither of us has killed a Decoy or a Designated Target, so we’re really not doing all that hot at the mission. Penny makes it happen though, flipping one of the remaining consoles. Unfortunately I guess wrong and reveal a second Decoy.

Hector easily kills the Kuang Shi he’s in close combat with, freeing him up to do stuff if I need it.

I need to clear at least Lunah out so I can move Penny around, so I throw the Thorakitai under the bus to take her out. I get lucky and sneak a shot through, which is all it takes with a Feuerbach, usually.

Penny downs the nearby Decoy after too many orders. Those guys can really dodge for such low PH!

I’ve only got one order left and I can’t get to the other Decoy, so I try to just gun down Sun Tze. I whiff all my shots and Penny goes down. Booooooo.

Still, with more Decoys killed, both Designated Targets alive, and more antennas, it’s a

6-2, 169-117 Steel Phalanx Victory!

Post Game Analysis

This was a pretty bad game, dice-wise, for both of us. I spent way too many orders going after the Blue Wolf for the odds I was on with the Thorakitai once I had exhausted the Blue Wolf’s Panzerfausts:

67.14

26.44

6.42

Hector was on worse odds–I should’ve just stuck with the Feuerbach:

46.01

37.96

16.04

In any case, I spent entirely too many orders to take out that Blue Wolf and had to do it again the following turn. I also totally forgot to rescue Teucer, which was a bit of a bummer. I was hoping to try him out, but I basically got no data other than I’m forgetful, lol.

Lunah and the Beasthunter continue to be huge jerks, and Sun Tze sniper version is definitely not to be ignored either! James was robbed a little this game too, with both my Designated Target and Decoy refusing to go down. Admittedly it did take me multiple orders to down a single Decoy, and he only had once chance on both of my HVTs, so it’s not entirely unfair here, just frustrating. Unmasking is a very order heavy mission and requires a good amount of board coverage, so you can often only get one chance.

I think I did a good job at removing the tools he needed to try again, i.e. Penny taking out the Weibing that was threatening my Decoy, and Acmon certainly did a great job holding the line and draining orders. I myself ran out of orders to go after more than one Decoy, and I think that was entirely the fault of me being stupid and losing Teucer, who would have been a good attack piece on that side. Pandora can also do it, but she can’t really get past Lunah efficiently or safely.

In short, I think the dice were just unkind to both of us this game. I don’t think James was overly aggressive or overextended, but I think I played to the strengths of my list well enough. In other words, I leveraged the Dactyl doctor to heal Hector up, used my heavy hitting weapons to attack the right targets (except for Hector versus the Blue Wolf on that first turn), and retreated when necessary.

In his defense, James did similar things with the Blue Wolf, it’s just much harder to hide than Hector, and I think the tools in my list handle attrition better. Once Krit and the Blue Wolf are gone, it’s really tough to get a Kuang Shi through Hector, for example. Conversely, I lost Teucer and the Makhe early on and still had plenty of killing power left in the list. I think James has been relying very heavily on the Beasthunter as of late, and when it doesn’t deliver it can be pretty bad after a lot of orders invested.

I think he made a mistake in going after Penny–he could’ve templated a bunch of my link, which probably would have been more impactful. In any case, this is a good example of a game where some small mistakes and bad dice snowballed for both of us. I just played a tad more carefully and my list had a bit more redundancy, and that made the difference.