Campaign Paradiso: Ariadna Impressions 6

Ariadna Impressions 205

I'd vanquished Overlord in 203, and managed to come face to face with the player who had scored a big zero in the very first chapter: Tevesh.  Now, whether you like him or hate him on the Infinity forums, Tevesh is a great guy to  game with.  He's full of energy and craziness, and he's more than willing to roll with the punches.  And punches were thrown...oh yes, they were thrown.

Tevesh's main faction is Haqqislam, one of the main factions I fear in the hands of a skilled player.  It doesn't cheat with extra wounds and fancy crap like ALEPH, but its versatility is staggering.  When preparing my list for this mission, I felt like I had to be ready for just about anything.

In the end, Tevesh managed to beat me 2-1 after some nail-biting maneuvers.  We both discovered, though, that our biggest opponent was Lady Luck, not the guy standing across the table - we both flubbed a number of very key rolls, and they were (in part) responsible for why things shook down the way they did.  You can read here how Tevesh's specialist was unable to activate his Autopilot Console about a billion times in a row, despite needing only a 17 to do so.  And, of course, how his Odalisque withstood a billion attempts to get rid of her final bloody wound...

Forgive the quality...I only had my crappy cellphone camera on me...

On to some highlights from my perspective!

Task Force "Lift"

Chasseur (Minelayer)

I knew that Tevesh would be super-aggressive, so I prepared myself by taking not one but two Chasseur Minelayers.  I wasn't able to afford both, initially, but I saw the 2 rogue xp floating in my pool of unspent-ness and immediately invested in Mobile Reserve 1 (I hadn't spent any points into Specialties so far, but I figured that this would be worth it).

It turns out that this Chasseur's Minelayer mine caused a bigger problem for Tevesh than the model itself did.  He failed to Discover the mine three or four times in a row (using three or four different models), meaning that the mine stuck around for a really long time.  I had put it behind a really tall obstacle in the middle, so the whole centre of the table just beyond my deployment zone had a nasty surprise waiting for troops crazy enough to enter the zone.

The Chasseur himself played backup to his brother-Chasseur, both of whom tried to get rid of the wounded Odalisque that was getting ready to blitz my line.  Despite dropping mines around corners and then turning to torch her with flamethrowers, both of these bumbling fools failed to get the job done.

Rank: D.  This guy's mine was useful, but that's about it.  I had him in a good position, and he failed to deliver despite two auto-hit shots on an Odalisque, one of which she didn't have Cover against.

Chasseur Minelayer The Second

Argh.  In the end, this guy was even less useful because his Mine went off as the game ended (killing Tevesh's model as it killed my last unit).  He was also the first Chasseur to try hosing down the Odalisque, and his spectacular failure made me blow more orders on getting his brother-Chasseur over from across the field.

On the plus side, the Chasseurs and their mines (4+ Camo markers) must have made Tevesh think twice about what he was going to do and about how many orders I actually had.  That's something, at least.

Rank: F.   Not even this guy's mine was useful.  He flubbed an almost-sure kill against a model that presented a huge threat to my forces, and he made me burn through subsequent orders besides.  What a jerk.

Foxtrot Forward Observer
 This was one of my three Forward Observers, and another victim to the rampaging Odalisque.  He was deployed on the same flank as one Chasseur and a mine, and he managed to move up onto the train when it rolled onto the table.  The Odalisque was covering much of the door, but the Foxtrot was able to open it just out of her LoF.  I was running short on orders, so I wasn't able to deal with the Odalisque (despite leaving behind a present for her in the shape of a mine...yet another mine she shrugged off), and that was a mistake that cost the Foxtrot his life.

Because of the way the train crates were placed, the Foxtrot was one of the few models in position to deal with the Odalisque.  He tried his best (which, it turns out, was nowhere near good enough), but failed and was gunned down mercilessly on Tevesh's next turn.  Without, of course, triggering the Autopilot Console.  Bah.

Rank: C.  The Foxtrot was in a great position all game long, and he managed to open the door could have scored me a few points in the end.  Still, he failed to get rid of the Odalisque and failed to click the Autopilot Console, so I wasn't too happy with this guy.  He didn't even really provide a significant speedbump for the rampaging Odalisque.

Zouave Forward Observer

I initially took this guy because 205 is one of those few missions that doesn't penalize Mechanized Deployment.  Then I realized that there would probably be a lot of close-up fighting, and that the Zouave was fantastically equipped for this kind of job.  With the addition of 5 points to my army from Mobile Reserve, I was able to upgrade this model to a Forward Observer just in case my other FO models croaked.

In the end, I decided on using the Zouave to menace Tevesh's train cab, but my Assault Pack got there first.  He was a good model to fall back on, but it turned out that he was just too far from any significant action by the time our order pools had started to dwindle.  Something-or-another (an Al'Hawwa?) gunned him down on the way to finishing off my remaining troops after a Veteran Kazak failed to clear his flank.

Rank: C.  It really wasn't this guy's fault that he was largely useless, but his inability to stop Tevesh's flank attack (from an un-Camo'd Al'Hawwa) knocks him down a little bit.  I don't regret the investment, though, because Zouaves have such great potential.  I'll get you next time, Gadget.

Tankhunter Autocannon
This Tankhunter was another big "argh" moment for me.  He managed to catch that sneaky Odalisque out in the open (-6 for her because of cover and mimetism), but totally flubbed the ARO (needed 15 or less).  The worst part was that I had set him and the Chasseurs' mines up to basically deny that entire angle cover, hoping that this would help eliminate the Tankhunter's "wild shot" syndrome from previous games, but no dice.  As much as I love the AC, my Tankhunter's inability to actually score a hit is starting to really piss me off.

Rank: D.  I bump this guy up from an utter F because he could at least keep a certain avenue covered.  Tevesh knows that I love the Autocannon, so I hope that his presence made Tevesh think twice about movements in that general vicinity.

Briscard Forward Observer

For all the "argh" moments I had in this game, the Briscard helped me to tilt the morale scales.  She weathered some attacks from Tevesh's drunken LGL-lobbing Hunzakut and promptly put a billion holes in him and the mine he had dropped to cover his flank.  Confident that her weaponry could help her in any assault, she blitzed forward and cleared the Hunzakut's second mine, and then put a wound on the lovely Odalisque that would be such a giant pain in my ass later on.  I suppose I could fault the Briscard for not finishing off the Odalisque, but that wouldn't be fair - after all, she did wipe out Tevesh's infiltrator and his mine defences, clearing a path for me to reach the train.

Oh, and that Farzan that Tevesh used to click the Emergency Stop panel?  Yup, you guessed it.  Marksman Rifle death for him, too.  Overall, very awesome.

Rank: A+.  She didn't score me any victory points, but she helped me establish my tempo after Tevesh's LGL bombardment-and-mine-laying shenanigans.  With a kill count of 2 troops, 2 mines, and a wound on a very tough unit, this Briscard was my MVP beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Veteran Kazak AP HMG (Lieutenant)

I decided to go balls-out this game and take an active Lieutenant (I'm usually guilty of hiding my Lt. among cheerleaders).  I figured that my Vet Kazak was tough enough - and protected enough by my other troops - to be a solid late-game killing machine, especially with an extra order behind him.

Well, at least the survival part was true.  We hit the late game and Tevesh's Lasiq was stuck right in the open after killing my Antipodes on the train.  He had laid down Suppressive Fire against the closer of my two attack vectors in an attempt to protect himself, but the corner of my vector was just outside his 16" range, meaning I could engage the Lasiq from Cover and outside his +3.  I didn't have much left at this point, but I did have my Veteran Kazak with AP HMG...

"What better way to deal with the Lasiq?", I thought. I'd be at a straight 13 (+3 range /-3 mimetism), while he'd be at -6 (+0 x-visor/ -3 mimetism/ -3 Cover).  My order pool was getting painfully low (I could only do this by using my Lt. order!), so I had no choice but to enter his Suppressive Fire, but 4 dice needing 13s should have done the job against 3 dice needing 6s, right?

WRONG.

One dead Veteran Kazak later, and I was pretty sure that the game was over.  Neither of us had triggered our Autopilot Consoles, so it all came down to who could wipe out whom for that final victory point.  With a dead Lieutenant and very little left on the board, I knew that Tevesh would be the winner.  But I wasn't going to let him have it for free.  That was where my intrepid Line Kazak came in...

Line Kazak

Lieutenant decoy, booyah!  In an interesting ironic twist, this cowardly Kazak was my final model on the board as the game drew to a close.  Not only that, but she managed to ice the Al'Hawwa that had killed my Zouave just a turn before.  She finally fell to a Kaplan's fury as Tevesh's model went around her Suppressive Fire corridor, but her tenacity and surprise Al'Hawwa vengeance-kill definitely gives her a full military burial.

My last model fights for her life...

Rank: A.  Cheap order and survivor attitude!  And hey, dying to a Kaplan active turn combi volley isn't a shame when you're a lowly Line Kazak between 4-8" away from the target.

Antipodes Assault Pack and Controller

These crazy wolves did exactly what I took them to do, which pleased me to no end.  After a failed attempt on the Autopilot Console, Tevesh hunkered down with his Kaplan Engineer in the train cab, waiting for the inevitable reprisal.  He thought he had things covered, but that's when I started moving one of my Camo markers at 6-6...

A few quick and ominous moves later, Tevesh's Kaplan was screaming in agony as he was ripped apart by two hungry alien-wolves.  I only say two because the cab was too small to let all three enter CC.  This turned out to be a good thing, because Tevesh promptly brought his Lasiq up to deal with the wolves, only to discover that he could only see one of them through the door because of the way they had been placed.  The Lasiq intelligently put down Suppressive Fire on the door, but that meant that Tevesh was no longer able to get to his Autopilot Console in time.  Score one for the angry wolf pack.  Sure, they were ripped apart by Viral rounds as they tried to get off the train (they were dead anyway, so why not try?), but that didn't stop me from using them to cut off Tevesh's attempts at gaining victory points.

The Controller, on the other hand, hid like a coward for most of the game.  She seized her moment, though, when Tevesh left his Odalisque a little too far up...a full Rifle burst later and my brave Russian had avenged the deaths of so many of her kinfolk.  Like all my troops, though, the Controller met her end, but not after she had delivered her alien-wolf charges into the fray and done a little extra damage besides.

Rank: A+ .  My wolves did what they came to do, and I even got some extra mileage out of my normally-cowardly Controller.  This was definitely not a purchase I regretted.  I'm also glad to see that I'm starting to learn how to use my pack, because I don't bring it to the table often enough to really figure out how they work best.

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One other major game highlight was the ridiculous packing job of the yard-workers who were responsible for our hijacked train.  I mean, seriously?

We think that the train should totally sag to the side...

Overall, this was an awesome game that was very well-fought.  We both fell prey to the machinations of Lady Luck, and we both had a great time.  On to Chapter 3!