Shattergrounds

8 Working Angel Combined Rapid Response and Reconnaissance Company
Task Force: Romantic Getaway

Group 1
Cassandra Kusanagi (Lt.)
Mother Agatha Wabara
Princess Fingerguns - Reverend Custodier
Proximate Cause - Cenobite
Saint - Reverend Moira
Uhahu
Bran Do Castro
Proof of Purchase - Salyut Zond
Alistair Spook - Sin-Eater
Tsyklon Zond

Group 2
Up Yours - Die Morlock Gruppe
Comic Book Villain - Die Morlock Gruppe

"By God, push forward towards the pilots!" Kusanagi shouted, as they weathered the withering fire from the PanOceanian operatives. Despite her legendary presence and zeal, they were still being prevented from advancing forward.

She received a quantronic message, and she instinctively looked to the side of the dome that separated her fireteam from the sea. "Brace!" she shouted, the entire complex shook. The dome burst, as a drop pod penetrated through. Water surged into the facility for a few scant seconds, before facility's breach protocols kicked in, sealing the damage.

Men and women piled out of the drop pod, and took up firing positions to reinforce the beleaguered nuns while Uhahu shepherded the two REMs they had brought along to supplement their numbers to flanking positions. The last person to exit the vehicle was a Morlock who hastily approached Kusanagi and saluted. "Up Yours, 8 Working Angel CRRRC. We're here to save my true lo--reinforce you!"

Kusanagi grinned ferally. "Finally. Put them to the Sword, Nomads! Save The Pilots!"

Lorenziniforce won the lieutenant roll and decided to challenge herself by taking first turn. She deployed her fusilier fireteam with support on the western flank, Patsy Garnet's fireteam in the middle within sprinting distance of the panic room, and some camo tokens, including her reserve covered the eastern flank.

On my end, I had Uhahu and the Salyut hugging the antenna on the western flank where the large building obscured them from view, put the Morlocks in the center along with the Reverend fireteam who camped out in the building to keep them from being shot up. I then deployed Bran Do Castro as my reserve at the center to cover any approach to the panic room.

Patsy Garnet and her fireteam huddled in cover. The sudden impact followed by the sudden ingress of water that warned them the facility had been breached had caused a temporary cessation of hostilities. The water levels had finally stopped rising, but the breach had still allowed enough water to reach up to their knees. "What happened?" one of her fellow ORC's asked. "I don't know," she admitted. "Best to be careful. Send the Fugazi Dronbot to scout."

The ORC nodded and gestured the little REM forward. It had only just peeked out of cover when a furious barrage of heavy machine gun fire ripped it to shred before the fireteam's eyes. "Enemy reinforcements!" Patsy shouted on her comms.

"Just what we bloody well need," the Feuerbach ORC muttered. "We have to keep them busy," Patsy shouted. "I know." The fireteam moved forward, the Feuerbach trooper taking point, as he was the only one with the range to return fire. They braved the hail of machine gun fire from what they know knew to be a Sin-Eater, trusting to their armor as they attempted to take it out to clear the way for the rest of their comrades.

"What the hell?" Patsy said, as they huddled behind cover. They were now finding themselves in the novel position of being entirely outgunned. "We can't hold out much longer," she shouted. The voices on the other end of the line frantically told her that they needed just a little more time. "Fine," she said with gritted teeth. They were PanO. They were No. 1. They could endure this.

Top 1

-I was sick and Lorenziniforce was a little fried so mistakes were made from the get go. She ran the Dronbot and her Haris headfirst into the Sin-Eater HMG's firing arc and lost the face to face.
-On my end, I forgot that I couldn't ARO off camo movement and dropped smoke and attempted to pitcher. The pitcher attempt failed however, and fortunately said camo marker moved out of LOS and had no real plans to engage the anything.
-With no attack piece poised to challenge the Sin-Eater in position, she opts to take out the Tsyklon with the Helot Sniper on the top right of the map, even though it was an active turn neurocinetics shot (always a fan of those, though). I opt to try to give myself better control and throw a pitcher by the panic room, but the Tsyklon flubs again and is destroyed for the trouble.
-Lorenziniforce then spends the rest of her turn repositioning her troops to ensure that they all outrun the biotechvore at the end of the round.

Thoughts:
-We were both kind of fried, her more so than me though I am rather sick (hence the TTS). It had also been more than a month since our last game so mistakes were definitely made.
-I think starting with the Dronbot had been a mistake and she should have just stuck to the Haris first, as it was the more reasonable chance with the feuerbach. My Sin-Eater was just outside of effective range but mimetism and cover we were both relatively even BS-wise and she was just unlucky against the Sin-Eater's burst. She also tried to move the ORC closer with the second attempt, which I felt had been a mistake as it improved my shooting somewhat.
-PanO's lack of smoke really hurt here as PanO found itself in the very rare situation where it was actually being oppressed in shooting.

"I'm coming Ellie! I'm finally here! I'll save you!" Up Yours shouted, as he rushed forward, heedless of the incoming enemy fire. Comic Book Villain groaned. "Not again," she said. "She better be one hell of a dolphin after what you've put me through, Yours," she muttered, as she grabbed a fistful of smoke grenades and broke cover to assist her friend.

"Our enemies call us monsters, O God. So be it. Let us be monstrous in their sight for thy glory. Let them tremble in fear and never know another night's peace!" Kusanagi cried out, as she broke from the building they had been using as cover. She rushed forward, making for the panic room where the pilots were hiding. Now that reinforcements had come and eased the pressure, she unleashed all her fury upon her enemies, laying waste to every soldier who dared face her.

Kusanagi stalked through the corridor. She was about to turn to the west in response to the sound of footsteps but found Bran Do Castro positioned their. A legend in his own right, the Triple Zero gave the Director of the Black Hand a sardonic salute before motioning her forward. He hefted his boarding shotgun. He was only a single man but he had this whole wing covered.

"This is Kusanagi to all operatives. We're in the panic room and securing it. We can't unlocked the sealed pilots until we're sure the area is secure. Clear the facility of all enemies."

Bottom of 1

-With smoke covering the approach to the panic room, Kusanagi is able to do what she does best. She uses most of Group 1's orders to get into the panic room, while cleaning out two Helot Snipers and a Fusilier. I also take the chance to toss a pitcher to annoy Patsy and the Boarding Shotgun ORC.
-Bran Do breaks cover. Most enemies hold while the others decide to discover. I push Bran Do as close to the fusiliers as possible so he can cause a headache as an ARO piece next turn.

Bottom of 1
Nomads
-Controlled the Room: 1
-Had essential personnel in the room: 1
-Total: 2

PanO
Total: 0

Thoughts
-Kusanagi is really scary when you have no MSV or smoke. Being able to pitch repeaters more accurately is also nice.
-A fairly simple turn spent taking out ARO threats and positioning Bran Do to be a future problem.

The Croc Man and two Fusiliers hustled down the corridor. If the could flank the Reverend Fireteam, they could ease the pressure from Patsy and salvage the situation. They rounded the corner and found themselves face to face with a single man holding a Boarding Shotgun. The Croc Man was the only one who was fast enough to react. He fired his own shotgun at the same time Bran Do Castro fired his and then all was dark.

Top of 2

Lorenziniforce tries to clear Bran Do using her Croc Man. The exchange fails as he manages to make 1 save, entering NWI while Bran Do's own shot takes out three soldiers. With most of her attack pieces taken off the board, she decides to concede the match.

"ELLIE! My human love!" Up Yours shouted as he scrambled into the room.

"Shh, easy. The pilots are safe," Kusanagi said. The machinery had finally finished cycling, and the first seal opened. The second seal was a transparent wall that showed the tank within holding the pilots. One particular male dolphin met Up Yours' eye, and it was then that he knew he had been lied to all along. Ellie was neither a girl nor a human, but a male dolphin pilot, but it didn't matter. Then and there he Up Yours knew that he was well and truly in love and he knew that Ellie loved him too...

...only for this revelation to turn into anguish as the walls of the facility rips open, and a PanO blackops submarine latches onto the tanks tearing them from their anchoring as they make good their escape. Up Yours could see the fear in Ellie's eyes as he pressed his dolphin's snout against the glass begging him to save her. He fell to his knees and cried to the heavens. He was going to save his love if it was the last thing he would do.

Here, in Montalban, the paradise of sand and love, it had just become personal.

***TO BE CONTINUED***
***CUE WISTFUL ED THEME***

-As previously mentioned, we were both kind of fried while playing this, though Lorenziniforce admittedly more so, which is why I appreciate her taking the time gaming with me. She's still a fairly new player and obsessed with trying out every new thing which sometimes works out brilliantly and sometimes not. In this particular case, I think not having MSV or smoke really hurt.
-She's still deciding if she wants to join in on the online campaign fun so this report will be a standalone unless she does and decides to add her input.
-Kusanagi core is really scary.
-Will Up Yours ever see his love again? Tune in next time and find out!