Shattergrounds

“Command, this is first leiutenant Zhou Mei, reporting from sector 26 Delta. I’m getting some strange heat signatures from my data-link, can you confirm? This area is strictly off limits to outsiders.”
“Understood Zhong Wei Zhou, we are checking… this is indeed strange, satelite scans indicate multple heat signatures in your area. We don’t believe this is in error, excercise extreme caution.”
“Copy that command, request an investigation team be sent immediately. It’s possible a Japanese insurgence force has been dispatched.”
*radio silence for 43 seconds* “Zhong Wei, we have disptached a force to investigate. Ensure any intruders are repelled.”
“Roger that Command, first leiutenant Zhou out”

Pre-battle Notes:
We were playing Cryogenics with the Shattergrounds special rules (0.5 SWC TAGs, Engineer bonuses, and a free Monstrucker)
I drew HVT Innoculation for my classified, which my Tiger soldier could hopefully perform due to high WIP and the mission type.
We rolled off on our Lt WIP roles and I won, deciding to go first.
I’m running Vanilla Yu Jing with a handful of hit pieces, A Su Jian HSG + Krit Kokram FTO Duo, a tiger soldier paramedic, a Hac Tao NCO, a couple Long Ya, and Major Lunah, with some other units to provide orders.
My opponent decided to turn the tables on me and showed up with an Ariadna list with a blank courtesy list… at least a dozen camo tokens scattered about the board with no indication of what was what, apart from a lone monstrucker hidden in the backfield.

Turn 1 (Top) – Yu Jing
Eager to rush the objectives, Krit and the Su Jian move up the field to open a cryo-coffin… but find it’s empty. Continuing their push, the Su Jian deftly dodges two mines in the midfield while in mobility form then runs past a liberto minelayer. On my left flank, I reveal my Hac tao and move to discover an S5 camo token. The Hac Tao suceeds at discovering an antipode and tries to shoot it in bad range, putting me on 11s; the antopode dodges needing a 15 but not before the hac tao sneaks one HMG shot through and destroys my opponent’s defensive turret. Most of the rest of my first turn is spent trying to deal with the liberto (unsuccessfully) and moving the su jian up onto my oponnent’s roof in his backfield and dropping it prone.

Turn 1 (Bottom) – Ariadna
A chasseur FO reveals in the midfield and sucessfully opens a cryo-coffin… it’s also empty!
A Scots guard with SMG’s Akimbo reveals while trying to outmaneuver the prone su jian, dumping 4 rounds into the su jian and causing 2 wounds and forcing it into NWI. I made a big mistake here, and should have just delayed but attempted to discover; chalk it up to not being familiar with Araidna’s miriad camo units, I assumed it wasn’t too dangerous to a su jian… which was wrong! Another order makes quick work of the su jian, after another error on my part; I should have gone template mode on the Heavy shotgun but decided to try to hit the scots guard in hit mode on a 17 due to range and mimetism, but I miss and get hit a couple more times. The su jian goes down… ouch!
Next, my opponent makes a mistake in moving a camo strelok controller up near my long ya and declaring a dodge, thereby breaking camo. My long ya declares BS attack with a flammenspear in blast mode which will catch not only the strelok, but also two other camo tokens! Given the range and mimetism, I am hitting on a 5. My opponent rolls a 3 to dodge, and I roll a 4 to hit, burning the strelok and another camo token unit with a decoy. This changes the left flank encounter significantly, by disconnecting the antipode and killing a couple of camo models.
After this turn of events, Uxia McNeil activates and moves through the central building. Uxia reveals and drops 2 boarding shotgun templates into the offending long ya, sending it to unconscious level two. My Hac Tao has a bead on uxia if she leaves the room, so she throws smoke and coup de graces the long ya, preventing me from engineering it back up.
Another camo marker superjumps up a building in the middle, it then reveals to be a beasthunter(!) and uses its heavy flamethrower to burn a kuang shi to a crisp, surviving a chain rifle hit in the process and avoiding a shot from the celestial guard controller.
The liberto drops another mine and play passes back to me.

Turn 2 (Top) – Yu Jing
Here is where I decide to play the objectives; these camo tokens are going to be a nightmare to dig out, so if I can get ahead on points there may be a chance for me.
I have an ace up my sleeve in the tiger soldier paramedic, and I have a plan! I activate the Hac Tao and move forward to see Uxia; she takes the bait and declares throw smoke to block her line of sight. She wins the face to face and smoke goes down. Next I attempt to combat jump the tiger soldier very close to the left cryo-coffin closest to my deployment zone… but the tiger soldier fails! No matter, it just costs me a few more orders to move the tiger soldier up under the cover of smoke to activate the cryo coffin and reveal my HVT. Then, to continue the objective game, I move a kuang shi up to set off what I suspect is a mine near the last cryo-coffin. The kuang shi sells its life to clear the way for the tiger soldier. With my remaining orders, I rush the tiger soldier forward and activate the final cryo-coffin, thus preventing my opponent from getting 3 objective points.
My final few orders are spent repositioning group 2, with one long ya moving up to threaten some sightlines and the hac tao moving into a commanding position securing my HVT. After some back and forth in my mind, I decide to recamo the Hac Tao, hoping that the mimetism -6 will save his bacon vs these Ariadnans.

Turn 2 (Bottom) – Ariadna
The situation on the ground has changed significantly; both HVTs are on one side, and my opponent doesn’t have many points there to dominate those zones. Most of this turn is spent moving his forces across the field toward the HVTs, with Bruant nearly running all of the way across the board. An SAS with chain rifle goes for an attack on my tiger soldier, but I luckily pass the dodge and move slightly closer to the enemy HVT. Near the end of this repositioning turn, Bruant attempts to discover the Hac tao, needing a 4 or less due to range, cover, and mimetism -6 and he fails to reveal the monstrous HI.

Turn 3 (Top) – Yu Jing
Seeing the bricks falling into place, I do my best to set up a line of defense to stop my opponent from dominating both HVT’s.
The tiger soldier rushes toward the enemy HVT and completes my classified by innoculating them, then maneuvers back outside and drops into surpression fire.
Major Lunah jumps down and maneuvers over to cover the left sightline.
Krit Kokram decides to pull back, setting off a mine but thankfully dodging free of it and repositioning nearer to my HVT.

Turn 3 (Bottom) – Ariadna
It’s all lead up to this! The Ariadnan’s make a big push here, all the Yujingese forces can hope to do is defend and hold them off. I’d like to note that I started this turn with 200 VP still alive… we will get back to that in a second.
The first course of action is the Ariadnan beasthunter, who sneaks out to get a line on Krit and Major Lunah. Krit declares a dodge, and Lunah declares BS attack with her Viral Sniper Rifle. The beast hunter goes for Krit with his panzerfaust, needing an 11 vs my 12 to dodge… dice are rolled and he hits me, rolling a 7 to my 5. Krit fails two of his 3 saves from the panzerfaust and is knocked out. Lunah suceeds in her unopposed shot and the beasthunter is obliterated. That’s 36 pts out of the zone.
Next, a scots guard with AP Spitfire engages Lunah, he’s on 4 dice needing 9’s to a single die from Lunah on a 10… dice are rolled and miraculously every shot (on both sides) misses! The Scots guard elects to try again, 4 dice on 9’s to a single die on a 13 this time since lunah isn’t surprised anymore. Dice are rolled… and Lunah is hit 3 times and fails 2 saves and dies. 29 more points eliminated from the zone.
Finally, Bruant is up to clear the Tiger soldier in surpressive fire near his HVT. He moves up, having already revealed in the previous turn, and shoots another spitfire into the tiger soldier. This is pretty dicey given the factors involved, I’m on 3 dice on 7’s vs his 4 dice on 6’s. Dice are rolled, the tigersoldier rolls well, hitting all 3 times, but Bruant rolls a crit! Thankfully, or miraculously, the tiger solder makes both of its saves and passes guts to stay in place. Hold the line!
Bruant activates again, with the same exchange of gunfire. Dice are rolled, and he scores another crit! This time, the tiger soldier falls. 31 more victory points subtracted from the tally. That tiger soldier’s actions in service to the StateEmprire will not be forgotten. Thanks to her heroic sacrifice, the Ariadnan’s do not have enough orders to dominate both quadrants.

End score 7-5
Yu Jing Victory!

Post game thoughts:
What a great match! My opponent has quickly become one of my favorites locally, always presenting such unique challenges to work through. He managed to kill 96 victory points in his last turn, while I was just trying to postpone the onslaught and prevent him from claming both HVT’s.
I normally bring some form of sensor in my lists, and man did I wish I had brought a Weibing or Adil Mehmut to this match. I would have been able to capitalize on the su jian much more effectively, instead of just rushing it back into my opponent’s DZ.

*heavy breathing*
“Command, this is first leiutenant Zhou Mei reporting in. We sucessfully repelled an infiltrating force of Ariadnans.”
“Zhong Wei Zhou, I think I misheard, did you say Ariadnan forces attacked sector 26 delta? Please confirm.”
“That is correct, but with the help of the Tiger Soldier Liu Ai and a Hac Tao *redacted* we were able to hold off the attackers for long enough for reinforcements to arrive and scare them off.”
“Zhong Wei, this incident has been documented. Return to your post for a full debrief.”
“Understood Command, will comply. In those last few moments, I could hear the Ariadnan’s mention something about “Sauce”, can you clarify what they must have been after?”
“Zhong Wei Zhou, that information is classified… return to your post”
*Transmission Ends*