The worst day since yesterday (DBS vs. Combined Army)

Cordelia was still tightening the last screws on the TAG as the two explosions shook the freighter they were using to leave Paradiso. It took only a few seconds until the all alarms went on. Not only a hull breach was alerted, but also an atmospheric contamination of an unknown source. "Even while leaving this hell, the shit sticks to our boots..." Cordelia mumbled, as Arslans gathering call could be heared on the comlogs. The only luck they had this day was the placement of their cabins in the nearer sections to the emergency shuttles. On the hallway towards them, Cordelia and her brother met the survivors of the Shock Team around Arslan. Most of the other passengers and some of their teammates already go killed by the contamination, but for the moment they were a bit ahead. But by crossing the next gate, the shit hit the fan as the silhouette of an Avatar-TAG appeared in the flames...

 

After the two previous losses in the aftermath, I was paired against Narzil, who also had two rough games and was without any victory. So we should fight over the last place possibly. I already knew that he is a big fan of the Avatar and Nourkias and with Biotechvore as mission on the horizon, my bad mood about DBS was only increased. The Avatar itself is one of the most dangerous units in N4 and my experience with Nourkias, once he reaches his target, isn't any better. Biotechvore then forces you into certain list-types, which limits your potential solutions for this a lot. At least it was the last game for me in the aftermath and I already decided to pause a bit with DBS, so the outcome was not that important.

Biotechvore expects you to leave the danger-zone as quickly as possible, so you want fast units and a top-notch order efficiency. This is the only reason behind most choices here: A core-team to move half of the list at once and cause some struggles in reactive, a haris to be a bit more flexible and aggressive on the other side of the map and the duo of Scarface to shoot the breach if necessary. The core-team (MSR Brawler, Doc, Arslan, Lt, HD) is a bit miscomposed, since there is no option to shoot their way, once the MSR is shot. Arslan may be a good late-game piece and a slight protection against smoke-throwing Speculos, but that is it. Since I saw no big opportunities in CA for many visors, I took the MSR Druze as anchor for the small team, also containing the ABH with red fury, as needed mid-range gun. Scarface should simply gun everything down. The big benefit here is, that I have no problem to fulfill most of the classifieds.

 

As expected, Narzil focussed on the Avatar and his buddy, Nourkias. As a secondary thread, Messer made an appearance, utilizing the repeater of the M-drone for white noise. Dr. Wurm should be the toolbox for classifieds and keep all the important and expensive units running. The E-drone is arguable, since I see no reason for it here, while everything else grants some cheap orders.

The map I chose for this last round is made by Badlazzor and fits the theme of this mission perfectly. Even if it looks quite open, the walls block a lot of long fire lanes and also the containers and other scatter pieces are placed carefully to tune things down to closer ranges and enable moving.

I win the Lt-roll and decide to deploy second in the south, since I don't want to expose myself in the center towards the Avatar. Nazril decides to go first.

Messer and a Slave drone take the rooms on the left side, while two Nox-troops take the center. Everything else is grouped around the containers on the right side, with the Imetron thrown in front of the DZ.

My core-team, without the Brawler MSR for the moment, hides behind the containers on the right, Scarface and Cordelia take the center and the haris should go for the left to attack the center from the flank.

Nourkias accompanies Messer on the left and the Avatar is deployed in the center. I find a place for my MSR Brawler, filling the core-team, overwatching the path of the Avatar without being seen directly.

CA 1: Nourkias crosses the corridors on the left, tanking a hit from the ABH and then killing the whole haris-team. This scores Predator. Even several hits from the viral pistols could not stop him and his regeneration-abilities. But in the end this has consumed way too many orders, so that only two coordinated orders could be used to advance some stuff and retreat Nourkias out of my danger-zone. The Avatar and the M-drone end up in the center, while Messer also manages to leave the contaminated area. My Brawler manages to wound the Avatar, before he is dropped by a burst from the HRMC. The E-drone and one Nox survive the contamination, while everything else fails their saves.

DBS 1: Luckily, the Doc is lying next to the wounded sniper, which is revived and shoots down the Avatar in one order then. The Doc scores me Experimental Drug here. Now Scarface tries to wreck Nourkias without success and I have to advance the core-team into the open. Cordelia, Arslan, the Doc and my Lt are not able to leave the danger-zone, but only the Doc is killed here and Arslan recieves a wound.

CA 2: With only a few orders left, Nourkias continues with what he is known for: Murdering famous TAG-pilots. First Cordelia is consumed, then Scarface is cut in pieces. The left-over Nox fails to leave the zone and dies together with the E-drone.

DBS 2: Since Nourkias is out of range, I take care of the the M-drone in the center, shooting it with my Lt and coup-de-gracing him with the MSR, scoring Extreme Prejudice. With my Lt in suppressive fire and everything else scattered a bit, I pass turn.

CA 3: The two CA agents shuffle their positions a bit, failing to kill my MSR.

DBS 3: My Brawler has a free walk towards the enemy HVT, scoring Follow-up in one try. I skip the shot at Messer, since loosing my Brawler would probably switch the killed army points into Narzils favour.

With this, the game ands in an 8 - 3 for me, since I have killed 20 army points more and have fulfilled each classified. It was a really close thing for the whole game. After he messed up half of his list in his first turn, I thought it would be an easy one for me, but I fucked up my turn equally, even things then. Nourkias was a problem I can't solve properly and I got lucky, that Narzils love for him let him focus on him and not advancing Messer to erase my core-team. This allowed me to clear the last resources, saving my units from further attacks. My luck with the classifieds in this round did the rest. But yeah, only with my own resources, I would have had no chance here.

Sweating and bleeding the remaining four members of the team were sitting in the emergency-shuttle. Only seconds after leaving the freighter, it collapsed completely.
Saladin was not proud of himself for the moment, but he could not argue the shiver of joy crossing his gut while watching the final explosion of the freighter from a covered shuttle. Revenge always is a thing, and Arslan needed to learn a lesson here.