Handing an explosive bill [Starmada vs. White Company]

N4 is out, Starmada is out and White Company as well - the perfect reason to wrap everything together. While AssaultUnicorn pushed the White Company in a messy cargo bay, it was my task to hand the latest speeding ticket to Mr. Hawkwood in a game of domination from the new rulebook.

I have already played two smaller games with Starmada with quite mixed results (the reports will follow soon) and since the sector feels quite aggressive in general, I wanted to smooth the transition and buid something similar to my DBS lists. For that reason, a defensive core-link was build with Bluecoats as cornerguards, filled with the great MSV 1 Psi Cop. To have something in a second lane, a TR-bot was necessary. The Peacemaker here is displayed by the mixture of Crusher and Lawkeeper, while the rest is simply there for reasons. I love Santiago Knights and I love the surprise of AD troops, so the new BSG KHD is a big deal, forcing the EVO. To be not totally unarmed in the infowar until he arrives, a Cyberghost should support the gang. And two Varangians for reasons - I have no experience with warbands and far less with a good smoke-support...

AssaultUnicorn must have thought the same and build someting similar to my DBS-lists, too. A defensive core-link, Hawkwood and a Varangian as second beatstick, once the Bulleteer is shot and the Peacemaker is disabled, too. He saw the potential of boosted REMs some time against me and White Co can totally support that game. Assisted Fire is enough reason for a EVO, so the Tiger Soldier is well hidden in that list, to be a last surprise.

The chosen map was heavily obstructed in the midfield with a lot of walls of infinite height, but also with a lot of breakable windows and doors to be opened. Each quadrant is easy to access and has some sweet spots to hide well, while the north has a better spot for linked ARO-pieces.

I lost the Lt-roll and should go first in the south.

The only reasonable spot for a MSR was the far right lane, so the core-team goes there. I misplaced the Psi Cop a bit more centered, recognizing it in my first turn. The TR-bot starts on a window on the right center with a Varangian nearby to smash the window directly. The hackers take the left side of my DZ with the Cyberghost a bit more advanced and the Kytta as support. To prepare a raid with the Lawkeeper, the second Varangian starts on the far left and the Crusher sits prone behind the left console.

The left sees the EVO-Mule, two camo markers and Hawkwood with his Guard, while the core-team goes on the right side. The Haidao overwatches both sides from a container in the back. The Danavas hides behind some crates on which a Warcor tries to shoot some questionable pictures. A third camo-marker and the Bulleteer ae also on that side.

My Lawkeeper sees a nice ride towards Hawkwood, so starts on the left and is counterdeployed by the Peacemaker, which is set in suppressive fire.

Starmada 1: The Varangians advance, while the Lawkeeper waits (just to secure him from ending up in a bad position). While the right one clears the sight for my Peeler and advances into the center, the left one discovers a door in front of the Peacemaker. The Bot can't react to the SMG-volley and goes down, but the nearby Fusilier crits the Varangian down in return. The Crusher activates the console and closes up to the position the Varangian cleared. Together with the other Varangian, he enters suppressive fire. My Cyberghost forgets to place a pitcher next to my Peeler and advances cybermasked. The Kappa MSR gets stunned by the Warcor.

White Co 1: The Bulleteer gets buffed and takes out my MSR and a Bluecoat without any problems. Now Hawkwood tries to clear the Crusher and is blown away by a D-charge. The Varangian griefing for revenge berserks a wound on the Crusher but can't throw an other D-charge out of his pocket and is blown into pieces, too.

I control three quadrants here, scoring the first two points.

Starmada 2: I want to clear the whole left flank, so the Lawkeeper sacrifices his sidebot, triggering a mine. To bait out the Guilang, the Crusher leaves his safe corner and instead of dying, he drops a Fusilier and the Guilang. Unfortunately, the Warcor manages to stun him. The Lawkeeper now crosses the far left flank and fails several times to drop the Warcor. In the last order I fail to wound the Haidao but at least survive. On the right my Psi Cop is directly shot by the Bulleteer.

White Co 2: The divided order-pool now starts to get empty, so the last surprise has to drop in form of the Tiger Soldier. It takes some time, but in the end the Crusher and Lawkeeper are shot. The Bulleteer now only needs to get rid of the Peeler to clear my DZ, but as it happens, a HMG-crit pins him in place. The core-team advances a bit to hold some positions in the last turn.

We tie on quadrants this round.

Starmada 3: It is time for the Santiago, even if I failed to clear the opposing EVO in the previous turns. He tries to land behind the Mulebot and fails the roll, scattering on my left flank. He approaches the Tiger Soldier but is too noisy by planting a mine, so that the target dodges around the next corner. Two orders more need to be spend to shred the Tiger with a D-charge in CC (he tried to dodge away, but since my second move reached his original position, we ruled the dodge to be canceled -> correct me if that is 'wrong'!). With the last order the Santiago knocks out the EVO and hides behind a crate.

White Co 3: Barely out of retreat, the link approaches the Santiago, wounding him ones, while the single Guilang flips both consoles on the left and stealing my near right sector.

With two sectors controled now and two consoles flipped, AssaultUnicorn wins 5-4 in a more than close game. The Crusher was a real monster to deal with and was a real surprise for me. The Peacemaker was a little gift for me, since AssaultUnicorn forgot about the door in front of him. On the other hand, the Bulleteer really hit my right flank, disabling me from dropping the Warcor, which caused major trouble in the second turn. Without the orders I sunk in him, I could have caused more damage on valuable pieces. Starmada seems to  be really devastating with alpha-strikes but may have problems to keep the race in the following turns. Here White Company could secure some resources long enough to outpoint me in turn three, while I had nothing reliable left to scare him away. Nevertheless, it was one of our bloodiest games so far and his unlucky CC-streak continued (several electric pulsed Yuan Yuans and such things). It feels a bit strange that D-charges are such a valuable CC-weapon now.

I really liked the taste of Starmada in this game and the different approach this sector shows, so I will dedicate some time to this in the future. Besides that, I want to field all the new miniatures I painted recently.