Peace was never an option [Starmada vs. Shasvasti]

The only thing you are not get used to by experiencing it again and again is entering the last round of a tournament after a clear defeat and no points earned in the first rounds. ITS 12 with the frequent options to score tournament points even while loosing only increases this. So the felt pressure wasn't that low as I faced Celeb with Shasvasti for the last game of the Quadratekämpfe-tournament.

The mission we played was "Medical Extraction", designed by Tristan228 who organizes the tournament. In short you have to rescue one HVT and do this without killing stuff. to make this a bit easier, you can distribute five Stun-carbines among your troops and all your multi-weapons get the stun-mode back. The HVT you have to rescue starts on the edge of the enemies deployment and has a 8"-exclusion zone around it, which is carried over the place. Here are the actual winning conditions:

 Rauhnächte Mindwipe V2
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GROUP 1  10  
 ANDROMEDA (Infiltration [+6]) Submachine Gun, Zapper, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 33)
 HECTOR (Lieutenant [+1 Order]) Spitfire, Nanopulser, Grenades ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0.5 | 67)
 BLUECOAT Adhesive Launcher(+1B), Heavy Riotstopper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 13)
 BLUECOAT Adhesive Launcher(+1B), Heavy Riotstopper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 13)
 KAPPA Missile Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 17)
 KAPPA Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 KAPPA (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
 CRUSHER (Forward Deployment [+8"]) Submachine Gun, Nanopulser, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
 FUZZBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater)  ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 8)
 KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)

GROUP 25  / 2
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 CHO (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 20)
 FUZZBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater)  ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 8)
 CRUSHER (Forward Deployment [+8"]) Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (1 | 35)

 3 SWC | 300 Points
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Originally, I planned the Highly Classified-list for this mission, but since I reviewed the Hector-list again before the tournament, it quickly became interesting for this mission, too. Hector shall ran into the enemy deployment in each case, Andromeda also starts as close as possible to that and if things go south, there are two Crushers on the rescue. One could say, that I brought not enough riot stoppers to this party. They may be right, since O-12 and Starmada seem to be the best factions when it comes to equipment for not killing stuff, but in the end there is some DBS-spirit always around me.

 
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GROUP 1  10  
 SPECULO KILLER Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (1 | 32)
 SEED-SOLDIER Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
 SEED-SOLDIER Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
 HAIDUK MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 26)
 HAIDUK MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 26)
 HAIDUK MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 26)
 VICTOR MESSER (Hacker, Hacking Device Plus) MULTI Rifle, Cybermines, Nanopulser(+1B), D-Charges ( ) / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 33)
 SHESKIIN (Lieutenant) MULTI Rifle, Pulzar, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 51)
 SARGOSH MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 37)
 NOX (Paramedic) Combi Rifle, Zapper ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)

GROUP 21  
 NOX (Paramedic) Combi Rifle, Zapper ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)

 6 SWC | 295 Points
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This list may seem a bit weird and a slight inacurrancy may be there (my memory, you know), but if you read it with the mission and special rules in mind, it may fit. The Haiduks get the stun-mode back and can stop everything approaching, while the Speculo can rescue the HVT. Plan b may be the Seed Soldiers or the character-haris, which can shut down everything with theit stun-modes. Two back-up Nox to get the downed Haiduks in Casevac at the end of the game round things up.

It was only a matter of time during the tournament until Tristan228s D-Day map would show up. So it was the last round on it. The left is blocked by the buildings which are more or less completely closed (this clarification came after my game) and blocked LoF on that side. The right has the aquatic terrain with some landing-ships on the beach and some containers. All over the place some patches of vegetation were added, played as low visibility and saturation zone, but without the difficult terrain. The north deployment has two higher buildings, while the south one has two obvious ARO-positions.

I win the Lt-roll and decide to go first. With this, I got the south deployment.

My link is deployed around the small building on the right, the Kytta takes the left building. In the mid storey both Fuzzbots are deployed, on the ground level "Hector" and one Varangian start, covered by the building. The LRL Crusher is deployed behind the central building, the other one starts on the far left as a reserve. My second Varangian starts on the beach.

One Haiduk on the left building, one on the central and one behind the right container. Two camo markers are deployed on each flank and the characters start Sheskin in the center behind the round bar. One Nox is laying behind the central Haiduk, the other one a bit behind in the center.

Hector starts next to the right Varangian, Andromeda should be the back-up and starts in the center, behind the building. Now I realize, I have totally forgotten about the Speculo-thing. To my fortune, my opponent has other plans than murdering my order-pool and deploys it on the top of the right building in my half, prone.

Starmada 1: No Haiduk is overwatching the beach and I probably get each of them in 24" and cover. The plan stays the same: Shooting my way through things and grab the HVT. Varangians advance and Hector storms the beach. The Seed Soldier dies directly but wounds him with his chest mine. A speculative grenade lets the right Haiduk dodge into LoF and die to the heavy pistol, the central one falls unconscious to the spitfire. A bit out of cover but with his job done, Hector enters suppressive fire. The left Varangian follows his hero and drops Sargosh and Messer with his chain rifle, while tanking the Haiduks shots.

Shasvasti 1: With severe losses and a Varangian in the own DZ, options are slightly limited. The Speculo climbs of the building and starts throwing smoke in a unfortunate position, so that my ML blasts it directly. Sheskin in her despair kills the Varangian and enters suppressive fire.

Starmada 2: First I have to read the mission again and calculate my points, only to realize that I will lose, if I kill the last Haiduk and Sheskin this turn, since I would only score one point on the HVT and have no one in casevac, while Celeb would have killed less army points and can casevac more troopers than me and end the game thanks to retreat. Luckily, Hector can reach the HVT without dealing with Sheskin. The dice again are hating Celeb and Hector drops the last Haiduk, then synchronizing the HVT and get it back into my DZ on the beach. The HVT there touches the right edge. The last Varangian engages the second camo marker and drops it without problems.

Shasvasti 2: Both Nox take one trooper in front of them in casevac and Sheskin kills the last Varangian.

Starmada 3: There is nothing to change at this moment, so I skip my turn.

Shasvasti 3: Celeb won't improve his situation, too, so he skips this turn, too.

With this, I win 5-4 with 276 to 100 victory points. This was one of the rare occasions, where my plan a worked from start to end. Celebs list-build piled up with the deployment mistake of an unwatched beach. His horrible dice then broke his neck totally. Either his Haiduks rolled something below 5 or above 15 all the time. One successful stun-shot would have changed a lot here. Focussing on not killing stuff isn't something what works properly in Infinity. But on the other hand, the mission character nearly got me and made the second round a little gamble. In my calculation, I would only loose three points by ignoring the casevac and the killing-points, which was obviously wrong. Especially by not scoring in the first round, Things got close then. Celeb may have had the chance to rescue some points for him and with this win the game, if he would have gone for Hector in the first two turns and not trying to commit to my HVT, but the odds for both may have been terrible.

Even a close win ended the tournament for me a bit better than the last one and slightly improved my mood about it. But on the other hand I know how it is on the recieving end for my opponent to lose the last game this way, what let it keep a slightly bitter flavour. Hopefully the future events finally will go in a way, where I can avoid the battle for red lantern in the last round...