Pandemic Protocol 2: Round 2 (QK vs IA)

After my loss in round one, I was paired against a Greebo, a newer Infinity-player but experienced tabletop-gamer in general. We met each other a few years ago on a Malifaux-tournament, so it was quite nice to face him now on 'my' battlefield. The mission for the second round was Highly Classified.

This time I simply wanted to play something different and include as much new and flexible stuff, as possible. I ended up with a defense simply relying on REMs and one Hawwa sniper. To push forward, a haris is formed around the Djanbazan HMG. They should be able to shoot their way forward and do some classifieds there. The other flank should be secured by the Azrail, put somewhere in cover and suppressive fire and just wait.Some specialists to round everything and allow me to score as many classifieds as possible.Luckily there would be some REMs to repair...

I expected the usual Zuyong-paintrain, but obviously, Greebo wanted to try something fancy and build for some smart missiles, supported by the Lui Xing, landing somewhere unexpected and target the necessary stuff. Krit should do the maintance for the support-REMs, while the Zhencha and the HacTao do the rest.

For this round I chose one of the Dire Foes maps made by Cabaray. Originally we wanted to play Rescue, but since I could not find a suitable and working map for this and this one was quite nice, we switched to Highly Classified on this map. It is quite obstructed by elevated positions in the midfield. The left has a deeper corridor, while the right sees some forest-zones.

The drawn main-classifieds were Rescue, Telemetry, Mapping, Nanoespionage, my secondary objective was Sabotage.

Again, I lose the Lt-roll and deploy first in the south. I decide to go first, since I see some good chances to push my Hawwa hacker up on the right and score a row of classifieds.

My Lt, covered by a mine, hides on the left behind a crate and overwatched by the Hawwa sniper and the first TR-bot. The haris scatters around them, ready to clear the whole side with the HMG if needed. The center sees my doc and the Rafiq as back-up, as well as the Azrail. I forget about the dead spot behind the container on the right, while a Fanous and the engineer overwatch the rest there. My hacker starts right in the center on that side.

The Doc hides somewhere on the left. The REMs take the roof of the left building with the EVO behind this. One camo marker starts in the center of the table, an other one in the left corridor and one in the center of the deployment zone, clearly being the Lt. The EVO and the left space in the order group telegraph a Lui Xing and/or a Guijja, but I am not sure for the moment.

My second Shihab also takes the roof where the first is deployed and Krit appears also on the left, a bit forwarded. His helper starts on the roof with the REMs.

QK 1: My second group loses two orders. The Hawwa hacker starts on the right, scoring Sabotage on the container there. Now I realise the trap and remember the HacTao, but since I can't be sure where he is deployed, I push forward. In the next order the Hawwa is shot in the back by the HacTao, overwatching the right. The Azrail climbs up the building in front of him and starts shooting at the HacTao, inflicting one wound and forcing him into full cover. To recover my Hawwa, the doc advances a bit to the right side. My Lt and the Azrail enter suppressive fire.

IA 1: Controlled Jump is activated and the Lui Xing uses the only uncovered place in my DZ to land behind my Najjarun. He scores Mapping and Telemetry without any problems and a missile knocks my Fanous out. A second one is tanked by the engineer. The HacTao enters marker state.

QK 2: A Yuan Yuan drops behind the Lui Xing and engages him, only to lose the CC and die. So that problem won't be solved this turn. The second option is to clear the REMs on the left building. The Djanbazan advances a bit and discovers a Zhenca in the center. We are both shooting on 12s, since he has a panzerfaust. Now the crit-fest starts and the Djanbazan is evaporated directly. The only option left to get rid of the SML is the left Yuan Yuan, landing behind the drop-ship and smoking his way up to the roof. While engaging the missile-bot, I template all REMs and get shot. The missile-bot and the helper recieve a wound. My doc advances a bit further to revive the Hawwa in turn three.

IA 2: Krit climbs up the building, repairing the missile-bot and his helper. A new missile kills my engineer. With the remaining orders, the HacTao tries to kill the Azrail, only inflicting one wound with several crits on both sides.

QK 3: I dragg as many orders into group one as possible to have some ressources left for the revivied Hawwa. As backup, the Rafiq can use some orders and Azrail gets some to kill the HacTao. First Azrail dies to the HacTao, then the Doc revives the Hawwa, unseen due to the obstructed right side. The Hawwa dies again to the HacTao while scoring Mapping. I fail to score Telemetry in a coordinated order with both Shihabs and the Rafiq on the TR-bot, thanks to a crit on both sides.

IA 3: Krit switches the flanks and scores Nanoespionage on the unconscious Hawwa.

With that, I loose 7 to 2. It would have been an easy thing, if I would not have underestimated IA in general. Leaving the premium spot for an AD-hacker with this set of classifieds was a crucial mistake and rocketing up the right side without any cover only to be surprised by a HacTao, clearly telegraphed by the deployment, wasn't clever, too. As the Djanbazan was killed, things were done, since he was the last tool to use properly and get into a nice position to dominate the game. Greebo then played his game calm enough, focussing on the recovery of his elements and picking his targets carefully. It would have been a good option to redeploy the HacTao towards the left, attacking my units, instead of forcing things against my Azrail, but that would have opened the flank for my doc and the Hawwa again.