Batrep! New Paranoia: Corregidor vs. Haqqislam

Today we have guest Batrep, originally posted over on the Official Forums! Since it is an amazing battlereport, on one of the best tables we’ve ever seen, we’re happy to have permission from the players to post it here on Data Sphere as well! 🙂 The board shown is from CNC Workshop‘s new Paranoia Line (only click when you can catch your drool).

By Asher and FatDamien

Operation Melon Baller

 Area of Operations:

New Paranoia Settlement, Contested Territory, New Bourak.

///LEARN MORE!/// “Legal documentation was brought before 0-12 by Caliphate officials today in an attempt to curb the ‘illegal settlement of new Bourak in an act of brazen imperialism.’ CNC Constructions LLC refused to comment officially, though lead designer C. Clark issued the statement; “Balls!” before being escorted away by his lawyers.

• Al-Jazzera 247 – Your leading MAYA new source.

Briefing:

At 0637 a Haqqislamite military incursion was detected within the bound of the New Paranoia settlement, an neutral, independent prefab colony. 0645, Corregidor Security Assets under contract to CNC Constructions LLC board their dropship for New Paranoia. The mission, to secure the area by any means necessary.

“Alright Boys and Girls, time to earn your fat corporate paychecks! Haqqi elements were detected in the construction zone less than 15 minutes ago, our bosses have no idea what they’re after, but it’s our job to bloody their nose and send them running back. Surveillance equipment is not yet operational in the AO, so we’re going in blind. Yes Okeke, that is ‘sub optimal’, but look on the bright side, you’ll be able to afford a nice coffin!”

-Lieutenant Zuri Nwosu, Wildcat Polyvalent Tactical Unit. Corregidor Jurisdictional Command

Objectives:

ITS Annihilation (2.5 edition rules)

Classified Objectives

Nomads: Telemetry, Experimental Drug

Haqqislam: Extreme Prejudice, Test Run

Opposing Forces:

JURISDICTIONAL COMMAND OF CORREGIDOR
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GROUP 1 9 0 0
WILDCAT Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (19)
WILDCAT Engineer Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (23)
WILDCAT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31)
WILDCAT Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (19)
WILDCAT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (2 | 31)
GECKO Mk12, Chain-colt, Blitzen / . (1.5 | 55)
GECKO PILOT Pistol, Knife.
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
TOMCAT Engineer Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (22)
5 SWC | 248 Points

My Nomad force is pretty compact for 250, but I’ve used it a bit and I’m pretty happy with how it preforms. The Gecko is my principle “striker”, it is my go to go places and hurt people figure, but I also use it’s durability to trip mines and flush out camo markers. After all I’ve got a Tomcat in the wings who can swoop in to patch it up if I don’t have things I need her to burn or otherwise touch for victory.

The Link Team is pretty good at everything. I love the HRL for reaching out and touching people and with two specialists in the link, they can do objectives, hack HI and Tags, or fix the gecko if necessary. The downside is I’m essentially sacrificing the LT order.

The Maasi Hunters are there to clog up midfield and achieve objectives early game. I don’t have any chaff of my own, but the Koalas are great at stopping enemy warbands with weaponised hugs and generally forcing people to slow down.

HAQQISLAM
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GROUP 1 9 1 1
SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (37)
TARIK MANSURI AP Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (58)
GHULAM HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21)
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
GHULAM Panzerfaust, Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
GHULAM Doctor Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (17)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (3)
RAFIQ REMOTE Rifle + Light Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (22)
RAGIK HMG / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 38)
KUM Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Shock CCW. (11)
GROUP 2 0 1 1
MUTTAWI´AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
4 SWC | 271 Points

So, my opponent, the esteemed FatDamien, he of the many Kum Bikes is a little over in points. He’s one of those crazies who still writes lists by hand and our best guess is that he was tossing up the Doctor/hacker Ghulam and forgot to take one out. Oh well! Never tell me the odds!

Damien is an interestign opponent because he constantly mixes up his list, cycling models in and out. This list doesn’t surprise me too much because he’s been on a Ghulam kick lately and has also been loving Tarik “The Man”suri. Saladin is a little surprising. That Strategos Level 3 will be nasty as I can’t hold my Gecko in reserve. Better get my deployment right then!

Initiative:

Nomads win! A little suprising vs Saladin, with his 16 WiP, but he rolled low and got a 10 so the initiative was mine. I claimed moving first and after a a brief deliberation Damien selected the table sides and declared that I would deploy first.

Deployment:

I deploy the Wildcat link on my left flank where they have some good fields of fire with the HRL and are capable of bounding forward to cover more lanes but still have good cover.  Corporal Luisa Alvarez has point with her HRL.

The Gecko goes down on the right flank, ready to advance up t he stairs to the Plaza to get good crossfield fire.

One Moran scouts ahead of the Gecko deploying his Koalas to discourage any impetuous elements of the opposing force.

The other goes on the far left, Koalas tucked away and ready to surprise people.

GoGo Marlene on the scene ready to cover the upcoming battle with styyyyyle.  (We had intended to playtest an idea for a tournament scenario involving Civs, but promptly forgot as soon as the game started.  Whoops!)

Haqqislamite forces start to deploy

Ruh roh!  A Sniper and Panzerfaust wielding Ghulam go down on the top of a building.  They have eyes on one of my Wildcats (he’s the blur to the left)  This makes activating the link pretty dangerous.

Dr Ghulam PhD, MD. takes cover behind a hedge, covered by her HMG toting friend.

The Rafiq remote takes up a commanding perch on top of the tallest building in Damiens deployment zone, ready to flash pulse things since there aren’t any objectives to go after.

The Ghazi and Kum Biker deploy central ready to advance implacably.  The Ghulam hacker is just out of LOS to the Kums right, around the corner.

Tarik, Saladin and the helpful Nasmat take cover below the plaza, covered by watchful eyes.

Corregidor Turn 1

‘Time to kick some tyres and light some fires!’

-Corp. Luisa Alvarez, Wildcat Polyvalent Tactical Unit, 0716 hrs,

//Cross Ref// New Paranoia Incident.

Hmm, that Ghulam sniper tower is too dangerous to live.  They both outrange my gecko so they have to be dealt with in order for things to proceed.  I have I cunning plan.

It’s a risk, but the Link team and their HRL is the best shot I have of solving this problem.  So, they activate and move.  Luisa drags the HRL into position so she has clear LOS to both of them while the rest of the Wildcats tag along in her wake.  Damien declares Shoot as a response, both Ghulams firing back at Luisa.  I thought he might have put one on the chump Wildcat they also had LOS to, but the HRL is the real threat.  I split my burst, putting 2 shots on the Sniper who I though was more likely to be in range while the Panzerfaust and HRL were both out I guessed.

Boom Boom shake the room!  The Panzerfaust and HRL were both at -3 while the Sniper was at +3 (Though cover helped).  In the end I got one hit on each of them, while I beat the snipers shot and the Panzerfaust missed entirely.  That’s 2 Damage 14 Fire hits on each of them please!

To no ones surprise, they both burned to crisps going well into and beyond the dead state.  That was a hell of an opening shot!

Time to start removing other problems I guess.  The Kum Riders smoke grenades could ruin LOS for my Gecko as well, so time for him to go.  I move my left Maasi Hunter out to engage him and a couple of orders and a few fumbled smoke grenades later, he lies unconscious.

The brave Maasi Hunter in action.

He’s only unconscious and there’s a Doctor RIGHT THERE!  Not the best result, but far from the worst.

Alrighty, it’s Gecko Time!

Unit 0-5 “Gordon” Stomps forward, its operator eager to engage the enemy and generally blow some sh*t up.

“Multiple Targets Engaged!”  There’s a lot of sound and fury, signifying almost nothing.

Ghazi’s eye view of the distant Gecko, firing well outside its comfort zone.

The Gecko opens up on the Rafiq, the Ghazi and the Ghulam hacker skulking about.  Sadly after spending all my remaining orders the net result is the hacker lying on the ground.  Not even unconcious, he survived the MK 12 impact and sensibly hit the deck.

 After a flying start my turn had petered out.  Quite disappointing.  My Gecko usually does so well for me.  Somewhat apprehensively I handed the tape measure to FatDamien.

Haqqislam Turn 1

Impetuous is as impetuous does. The Ghazi charges right down the road towards the entrenched Wildcats.

He attempts to dodge,

but he can’t escape the burn.  Chalk another one up for Luisa.

Daaaanger Zooooone! A Ragik attempts to drop in behind my left flank to clear out the Koalas and Maasi lurking there, but scatters wildly! He deviates off my deployment zone and has to spend another order coming on.  Right in front of the Wildcats …

Due to the positioning, only the Hacker can see.  I have options, take a crack at the Ragik, but I need to hit and wound with both in order to kill it, or I can alert, and bring more guns to bare.  I choose the later and cross my fingers.

The Mexican stand off.

Gasp!  I’ve been played!  The HMG Ghulam moves off the starting blocks and descends a ladder.  Hmm, I start to regret some of my turning.

he Moves into a firing position …

And takes aim at the Wildcats.

SPLAT!  Despite firing back valiantly, the first Wildcat is gunned down in a burst of Damage 15 nastiness.  The Wildcat was killed instantly, though my lack of medic made it academic.

The other wildcat turns to face at the death of her friend and prepares to fight for her life!

Not well enough.  She’s rendered unconscious by HMG fire.

with 2 Wildcats down, the Ragik finally activates facing only the hacker.  He too is gunned down, making it impossible for me to reform the link.

Notice something missing?  The Doctor tried to heal the Kum Biker, failed and returned to her vantage point.

Well damn.  And I thought my first turn was good!  FatDamien tore my link apart like it was warm bread.  To make matters worse my Lt is bleeding on the floor and I have no way to revive her, so I’m going to be in LoL in my turn.  At least we decided to import the New LoL rules from Icestorm into the game so it’ won’t be as bad.

Corregidor Turn 2

Yep, I’m in Loss of Lieutenant. So that means I have a bunch of irregular orders to play with.  Fortunately for me we were also playing with the announced/rumoured Command Tokens.  So I promptly spent some to shift a couple of orders (from the Wildcat engineer and the out of position Moran) into my otherwise empty pool.

With the Ragik tucked in the corner and the HMG Ghulam watching proceedings, I was in a sticky situation.

Sadly we’ve reached a [SCENE MISSING] part of this report where I was so intent on trying to salvage this battle that I forgot to take photos.

The Moran Maasi launches out into the middle of the street to fight the Ragik, but fails to hit and is killed for his trouble. Bummer.

Luisa manages to hit the HMG Ghulam but he saves and fails his guts check, falling back out of LOS.  Double Bummer

My Tomcat enters the field behind the HMG Ghulam.  I miss estimate LOS and she gets shot by the Ragik, non fatally though!  She then shoots the HMG Ghulam and fails to kill him.  Triple Bummer.

The only silver lining on this turn is my Gecko manages to finally hit and this time kill the Ghulam hacker!

That was pretty painful.  I needed the Ragik and Ghulam gone this turn.  If Luisa had killed the Ghulam straight up, the Tomcat could have gone after the Ragik instead, but ideally the Moran would have killed him first anyway …

If wishes were horses we’d all be eating steak.  So time to remember I’m a Nomad and that when they’ve got you on the ground, it means it’s easier to kick em in the voonerables.

Haqqislam Turn 2

“LT is down, assuming command!  Some muscle bound freak is trying to ding my ride, time to show him he messed with the wrong gal.”

-Staff Sergeant Yelena Kozlov, 2nd Gecko Squadron Operator

Haqqislam turn 2 starts with Tarik Mansuri deciding to do some big game hunting.  that AP rifle really worries my Gecko and if it goes down, there’s not much I can do to salvage it or the game.

Fortunately I have some good luck!  He gets tagged by the Tomcat Engineer at extreme range (46″ or something silly like that) and takes a wound.  Then, the firefight with the Gecko goes my way.

Tarik hammers the Gecko with a full burst, but ever shot is deflected by the armour.  Declaring a second order on Tarik, he shoots first and after I declare Shoot back, he declares that Tarik is throwing himself (Super jumping ) off the balcony.

A sensible choice as it turns out as the Gecko has had enough of this business and crits him.  Sadly the Tomcat can’t make the extreme shot twice, so he merely fell unconscious.

 

Having had enough of Tomcat style heroics, the Ghulam Doctor violates her Hippocratic oath and guns the tomcat down to prevent any further trickshooting.

That problem safely dealt with friend Nasmat goes to revive Tarik.   Breaths are held, the die is cast …

He lives!  (Boooooo)

Feeling much better, he leaps into the air to take another crack at the Gecko and this time does 1 STR of damage.  Having satisfied his honour for now, Tarik rests.

The HMG Ghulam strides out into the open, ready to settle this Heavy Weapons duel once and for all.

Bullets and Rockets are fired and at the end of FatDamiens order pool, both combatants are still standing!  

Maybe I can salvage this after all …

Corregidor Turn 3

Right, last turn, time to dig deep, though with only 4 models left combat ready, it was going to be fast.  I still have a classified Objective to try to complete and as far as I can tell, FatDamien hasn’t  completed any of his.  The surviving Moran Maasi peeks out and paints the Rafiq, winning the laser pointer duel.

That sorted, time to end end it.  I decide to take a risk and use the B1 Blitzen rather than the B3 MK12 due to the better range bands.

Nailed it!  The Rafiq fails both its E/M saves and becomes super disabled.

Luisa lines up her sexy nemesis for round 3.  Both of us were on the edges of our seats.  These two have been hammering eachother with the 2 heaviest weapons on the battlefield for 3 straight player turns and they’re still alive.  Truly worthy foes.

Boom!  It takes two orders, but Luisa finally achieves victory.  Don’t mention the fact that He was 10 points and 1 SWC cheaper.

Well, that’s me done.  I achieved the Classified Objective I could and have eliminated the last 2 enemy pieces that I could realistically kill (That damn Ragik was too well hidden, as were Saladin, Tarik and the Doctor).  Time to see what FatDamiens last throw of the dice would yield.

Haqqislam Turn 3

The Ragik flexes his muscles and hefts his HMG.  Now is *his* time to shine!  He blitzes down the back of the board, moving into a good position with his first order.

With his second he mercilessly guns down Luisa in a cowardly sneak attack.

Then he closes on the Gecko which is facing away from the Hassassin threat.

The Ragik lights it up with HMG fire on the way in.  It’s only armour 5, no cover from this angle and has already taken 1 STR.

I save every hit.  I squee a little.

The Gecko turns to face and Operator Kozlov prepares to die with a curse on her lips and her finger on the trigger.

 

The Ragik closes again with his last order, holding down the trigger.  Surely the Gecko’s luck has to give.  FatDamien rolls the dice.

4 Hits! I pick up my one die.

CRIT!!!

I may have let out some kind of a cheer at this point.  FatDamien let out a pained sigh and mumbled something rude about Geckos. All that was left to do was count up points killed and surviving and determine who actually won this bloodbath.

Primary Objectives:

Nomads – 2

Haqqislam – 2

We’d both killed huge swathes of each others forces but had some high value models surviving putting us in the same brackets. it was a tie on primary.

Classified Objectives:

Nomads – 1 (Telemetry)

Haqqislam – 0

Final Score:

Nomads – 3

Haqqislam – 2

VICTORY TO CORREGIDOR!

Phew that was a hard fought game!  I bloody draw that I managed to turn into a win through the Classified Objective.  FatDamien is one of the best players I know so I’ll consider myself lucky to come away with a win.  After the game FatDamien told me he had Extreme Prejudice and considered ganking my unconscious LT for the point, but he said he was so sure that the Ragik would kill the Gecko he thought that was a better use of orders and more likely to secure the win.

​The game was an interesting one because we’re still getting used to the table and the centre ended up a bit of a deathzone.  The fact that I then clogged the area up with Koalas meant that all engagements took place at long range, or down board edges or both.  FatDamien’s Ghulam and Tarik both had to skirt the edge pretty closely to avoid the Koala Death Zone.

Overall I’m happy with how my list went and how I played it.  I’m a little sad I fell into the Ragik/Ghulam pincer  trap, I really need to watch my positioning more.  Still the Wildcats did OK, Luisa in particular.  The Gecko was amazing of course.  it was in no mood for shenanigans and took everything that was thrown at it and dished it out in turn.

I’d say my biggest mistake was the Tomcat.  I was considering bringing her in at the end of turn one and using a pool order or two to burn out the HMG Ghulam and maybe the doctor as well.  Instead I used those orders to move the Wildcats into what I perceived were better positions.  The subsequent Ghulam rampage made me regret my decision.  That said, that probably would have forced FatDamien to move Tarik a turn earlier and who knows how that would have turned out.

Still and amazing, close game against a great friend and great player on a great table with fully painted armies.  This is living the Infinity Dream

Hope you enjoyed this!  We might be persuaded to do more …