Shattergrounds

Welcome to the first in a series of articles where we’ll be breaking down the contested locations and their accompanying missions for Phase 1 of the Shattergrounds Campaign. 

We’ll start with Bios Bleu Gate in the Lorena area.

Bios Bleu is a beautiful harbor and Island where the richest citizens on Concilium live.Controlling the access to Bois Bleu Island means having a direct connection to the corporate and political elites of Concilium. Everyone who has wealth and power in this system owns a villa on this exclusive island, which has become a vacation retreat for celebrities and leading figures of politics and industry. Hence, if you control whether or not these people can access their homes, either through the marina, the docks, or the bridge that connects the island to the mainland, you will suddenly become best friends with all these influential and powerful people. Both ALEPH and Nomads are attempting to gain favor with the rich and powerful people who live here

Faction Goals and Starting Influence  

ALEPH wants to remain on the good side of the elite who can better cement ALEPH’s trusted position of esteem in the Human Sphere.

The Nomads in contrast want to undermine ALEPH as well as make connections for the benefit of Tunguska and the other nomad ships. 

ALEPH Start with the advantage in this area, Nomads 2nd and all other factions 3rd.

Mission Overview 

The Mission for this location is “Superiority” a Direct Action Mission on Page 10 of the Phase 1 Rules.

This is a Classic ITS mission, maybe the most accessible of all the missions in the ITS packet with a mix of area scoring and objective activations.

NO HVT or Classified deck is needed for this mission so it is good for new players.

The Scoring for this mission is a mix of end of round scoring and end of game scoring:

• 2 Objective points at the end of each round for dominating more quadrants than your opponent, no points for the same number of zones
• 1 Objective Point for each console hacked by a player at the end of the game up to a maximum of 3 Objective Points.
• 1 Objective Point for having a Key Ops unit alive and in a zone you dominate at the end of the game. 

To Score maximum Objective Points you will need to;

• Dominate more quadrants than the opponent for all three game rounds
• Have at least 3 consoles hacked at the end of the game 
• Have your Key Ops in a quadrant you dominate at the end of the game.  

The mission features four Quadrants that are evenly spaced to divide up the area between the two Deployment Zones. 

• To Dominate a Quadrant you must have more Victory Points than the opponent inside the area. 
• These Quadrants cannot be measured before the end of each game round.
• Only Troopers represented by Models or Markers (Camouflaged, Shasvastii-Embryo,Seed-Embryo…) count, as well as Proxies and Peripheral Troops.
• Troops in a Null State do not count.
• Units with the Baggage Skill give an extra 20 points on top of their normal points cost when dominating a Quadrant.. 
• Troopers possessing the Shasvastii Special Skill that are inside a Quadrant count for their points while they are in the Shasvastii-Embryo State or any non-Null State

There are 4 Consoles on the table, one in the center of each of the quadrants.

• The Consoles require a Specialist troop to Hack them with a normal WIP roll.
• Units with the Hacker Skill get a +3 WIP bonus to Hack the Consoles and get two roll two dice when they do.
• An Hacked Console can be Hacked by the other player meaning both players count as having hacked that console. 

Each player will have a Key Ops unit who gets Dodge (+3) and an extra Tactical Awareness Order 

• The Key-Ops can’t be an Irregular troop, a Remote or a unit that goes into any kind of marker state.
• A Key Ops unit will be Dominant if they are inside a Quadrant you dominate at the end of the game in a non-null state.  
• Best to pick one of your tough troops who would benefit from the extra order and Dodge bonus, example would be Hippolyta for ALEPH or O-12 who’s already tough but would now be Dodging on a 17 and can put the extra Tactical Awareness order to use.

General Mission Tips 

• Once you’ve hacked a Console there’s no need to defend it unless you want to deny your opponent Objective Points, they don’t switch ownership in this mission so get 3 of them and you’re good for those 3 Objective Points. 
• It’s very hard to Score for Quadrants in the first round unless you go second and can take at least one Quadrant from the opponent.  Usually it ends up that you both control the two quadrants on your half of the table.
• Infiltrating Camo units, Combat Jump Units and Parachutists are great for taking Quadrants at the last minute from an opponent. 
• A unit in hidden deployment, preferably infiltrated, can reveal at the end of a round to take a quadrant by surprise. 
  • Croc Men, Hexas, Specters, Prowlers etc all excel at this  
• Bringing multiple baggage units to secure the quadrants on your half of the table is a good idea.
• Having the Key Ops unit in one of these quadrants is also a safe way to get that additional Objective Point.
• This is a good mission for the Reinforcements mod as both players can build high points Reinforcements groups to secure the two quadrants on their half of the table on the 2nd or 3rd turn. 
• This frees up more of the initially deployed non-reinforcement units to concentrate on taking the two quadrants on the opponent’s half of the table.    

Special Campaign Rules 

The two special Campaign Rules for this mission TRANSORBITAL MED/AMMO SUPPLIES & AQUATIC ADVANTAGE.

TRANSORBITAL MED/AMMO SUPPLIES adds two 25mm supply boxes that each player places in THE OPPONENT’S half of the table. So 4 boxes total, 2 for each player.

A unit from your army in contact with one of your supply boxes, not your opponents, can spend a short skill to cancel an Unloaded State or Recover 1 Would from their profile. 

• Recovering a Wound is only possible by units who have at least 2 wounds in their base profile or who have a skill like No Wound Incapacitation, or Dogged (however they’ll still enter the Dead state at the end of the turn) since an unconscious trooper cannot spend orders. 
• Units can only recover Wounds not Structure so TAGs, Combat Remotes and units that use STR instead of W can’t use this ability of the boxes. 
• This is good for any Heavy Infantry units who find themselves in the opponent’s half of the table, though assaulting units with NWI or 2 wounds and units with NWI who will have infiltrated into the opponent’s half of the table. 
• Reloading an unloaded weapon is a godsend for any units with Pitchers or Panzerfausts who make it up table. This would allow a player to easily expand their hacking area into the opponent’s deployment zone with Pitchers or to get off additional Panzerfaust shots at close range.   
• Only 1 use then they are gone so plan ahead which unit might make use of each box and place them accordingly.

AQUATIC ADVANTAGE allows one unit with Terrain (Aquatic) AND one unit with Terrain (Total) to gain the Parachutist Special Skill.

• Varuna Players Rejoice! Have you ever wanted to have both a Cutter TAG and a ZULU Coba walk on next to your opponents deployment zone and just wreck face? Well now you can!
• What about a Squalo and his Mechanist friend to fix him up, its WIP 12 or PH13  sure but its a friendly engineer close by.  
• Anyone who can take Beasthunters can take advantage of this rule. They’ve got terrain total, they’re cheap and they have HEAVY FLAMETHROWERS!
• Terrain (Aquatic) is less common outside of a few factions but lots of factions have powerful units with Terrain (Total) who can take full advantage of walking on from a table edge.
• Choose one or two high cost units to benefit from this rule and you can use them to take one or two quadrants off your opponent without warning in the late or midgame.  

Faction Focus 

Let’s take a look at the ALEPH and Nomads units who can be the most effective in this campaign mission 

Nomads

Nomads already have some excellent AD Deployment units like Tomcats, Hellcats and Meteor Zonds however the Aquatic Advantage Special Rule opens up many possibilities for units to use the Parachutist Skill to walk on from a table edge and alter the course of a game. 

• Kriza Boracs have Terrain (Total) and can walk on with +1 Burst Mk 12 & SMG. They are 54-57 Points  for quadrant scoring and are likely to survive a while with their ARM 5 and 2 Wounds.
  • A Supply Box placed near their expected entry point will allow them to regain any lost wounds quickly.  
• Wildcats can bring a nasty Hacker, Killer Hacker or Engineer with MSV1 and a light flamethrower to threaten a vulnerable flank and grab Consoles.
• Don’t forget Libertos who have Terrain (Aquatic) and bring a SMG and template weapon for 8 Points! 
• Bran do Castro is well placed to make the most use of both Aquatic Advantage and the Supply Boxes in this mission. 
  • He can use his Terrain (Total) to access the Parachutist Skill and walk on as a Camo Marker with no roll required, or just make use of his usual  +6 to Infiltration rolls. 
  • His Specialist Operative ability will allow him to hack a console if needed, though he acts better as an attacking unit to eliminate the opponents troops.
  • His Boarding Shotgun option for 32 Points can catch multiple units in its small template or get a Surprise Attack bonus to really hurt a troublesome unit. 
  • Even though he has only 1 Would, he has No Wound Incapacitation so can recover wounds from well placed Supply Boxes. 

 ALEPH 

ALEPH also have access to some excellent AD Deployment units such as the Ekdromoi and Garuda Tacbots however they have greater access than Nomads to tough 2 Wound and No Wound Incapacitation units that can really shine in this mission. 

• You can Parachute in Achilles. 
  • Yes you heard me right you can walk Achilles on right next to your opponents deployment zone! He doesn’t even care if he gets shot doing it, he has 3 wounds! You just let him loose and he’ll murder the whole opponents  backfield on turn 1 if you let him! 
  • Even If he takes a wound he can just run to a supply box and heal himself up, TWICE!
  • This mission was MADE FOR HIM. 
• What if you can’t take Achilles, what if you’re playing OSS? 
• Well how about the Marut TAG, Naga’s, Dasyus or Dart? 
  • The latter all have Camouflage and Mimetism as well as access to mines and hacking abilities in the case of Nagas’s & Dasyus. 
  • Dart is an excellent assassination piece who can use her SMG or Viral Tactical Bow as required to pick off high points value targets.
  • The Marut is worth a massive 95 points in its non Lieutenant option and can probably steal a quadrant from an opponent by itself.
  • Added to this is its MSV LV2, Multi HMG and Heavy Flamethrower meaning very little can stand in its way when it gets going.  

• Steel Phalanx players have access to many high points units with multiple wounds or No Wound Incapacitation who can use the Supply Boxes to heal themselves and claim quadrants for longer. 
  • Consider Ajax or Hippolyta who are excellent high points cost assault pieces.Or Penthesilea who can both hack the consoles and cause many headaches for your opponent as she zips around there half of the table.
  • Used at the right time any of these units can potentially turn the course of a game.

That’s all for now, can you think of any tactics or unit combinations that will allow you to dominate this mission? Put them in the comments below.

Check in soon for more Shattergrounds Mission Briefings.