Mission 1 - First Contact
Interception Team 5 has successfully made a first contact with the alien forces. Time to meet this new threat face to face.
Enforcer Strike Team, led by Sergeant SK-RF-79. Support is given by Sniper SK-MJ-90 and Missile Launcher user SK-HI-90. CQC is handled by Assault Enforcer SK-AS-47 and suppression fire by Tactical Enforcers SK-TH-56 and SK-HA-60.
Strike Team has been assigned with assassination mission, they are to cut down and if possible, capture the enemy leaders.
Alien Strike Team (uses Plague rules). Orange caped ones are Ethereals (Plague Commanders), green-purple ones are Mutons (Stage 3A and Stage 3A machine gunner), purple thing on larger base is Celatid (Plague Swarm) and there are also some Mutant dogs (Stage 3D dogs). Their mission was Quietly Does It, which means that they tried to stay alive and escape from the battlefield through opponents deployment zone.
Situation around the end of turn 1. Both forces had advanced to better positions. I can't remember if there were any casualties yet, but Celatid had been suppressed by Blaze Away fire from other Tactical Enforcer.
On turn 2 the situation went quite interesting. SK-MJ-90 managed to move into position indicated by arrow and use pistol to shoot down nearby Ethereal that happened to be the Commander of Plague Strike team. Victory Points jumped up to 8 by that action, 2 more for victory.
SK-HI-90 on the other hand went to Overwatch and rolled 2 or 3 triples on his overwatch tests as Celatid closed in, shooting it multiple times and managing to injure it. His Overwatch frenzy was finally ended by successful Blaze Away from a Muton.
Vengeful Mutant dog rushed towards exposed SK-MJ-90 and sunk it's acidic teeth into his leg. No damage was dealt, but SK-MJ-90 wasn't able to shoot because of it.
Situation somewhere on round 2. Celatid had managed to engage the Enforcers around the center area and more Mutons were closing in.
SK-HA-60 tried to get Mutant dog away from SK-MJ-90 by throwing a grenade at it, trusting that his comrades armor would protect him. Plan went wrong as the dog kept it's hold of SK-MJ-90's leg as they both were pinned by the explosion.
On the other end of the battlefield, SK-HI-90 had been attacked by a Muton. Doge must have given a good fortune, as he survived this encounter without a scratch.
After his... Unorthodox and failed method of help, SK-HA-60 redeemed himself by jumping on higher level of a building and sniping out other Ethereal, taking Victory points into 12 and winning the game.
Mission 2 - Escape from planet
After tremendous success on their first mission against aliens, Interception Team 5 was eager to meet their foes again. Their wishes were answered in only 2 days when a landing Alien vessel was spotted on the radars. Enforcers quickly arrived at the location and engaged Aliens in a fight.
For this mission SK-RF-79 and SK-HI-90 were not available, but Engineer SK-HK-89 and Recon Drone SK-REC-01 replaced them. SK-HK-89 did also bring 2 Sentry Guns on the battlefield (they needed to be deployed during the game).
Mission was Dominate, which meant that Enforcers were trying to reclaim the area by controlling each of the 3 objectives on the battlefield.
Alien forces were mostly unchanged. Mutation of one injured Mutant dog had went haywire and it had been turned into that blob on the foreground.
Their mission was Swarm, which meant that they were only trying to escape from the battlefield through opponents deployment zone. Background wise Enforcers had cut them away from their space craft and their only real option was to breakthrough. Failure would mean that they'd become stranded on the planet and that Corporate forces could study their technology by stealing their ship.
First turn started okay for the Enforcers, until Celatid managed to rush with command actions and move card into their positions, engaging SK-HK-89 and injuring SK-AS-47.
With the sacrifice of SK-AS-47, SK-HK-89 managed to escape from the Celatid into nearby cube (SK-AS-47 recovered after the battle). SK-MJ-90 moved down to get a good clear shot at the Celatid, only managing to injure it.
I'm not entirely sure if that Mutant dog is trying to rip SK-HK-89 apart or being taught to give paw.
In the end our Tactical Enforcers saved the day again. A muton picked up an item from the ground, but it was booby trapped and ended in a fiery explosion. SK-HA-60 didn't let the opportunity slip away and fiercely Blazed Away at the survivors.
SK-TH-56 jumped on the roof and took a well placed shot at the Celatid, finally killing it (IIRC it actually recovered, but blood effect looked just too good in there).
This was too much for the Alien forces and they decided to concede the battle and flee from the battlefield and go hiding on the planet. Enforcers managed to find their intact ship and claim it for study.
Aftermath: These two games were pleasant to play (not least because I managed to decimate my opponent). It was pleasure to see that my Skull Corps Enforcers are worth their name :)
Although I managed to win both games, my opponent still gave a good fight and especially 2nd mission made me worry. Had that booby trap been a dud, or Aliens pressed on regardless of their casualties, the VP (and Reputation) situation at the end could have been very different.
I think that Infiltration missions are the harder ones and it sucks that my opponent drew 2 of those in a row. We decided to draw our next missions for next session already and by the way he acted, I don't think it is a 3rd Infiltration in a row.
This campaign is only at it's beginning anyway and both sides have attained experience and new ranks for their troops. I'm interested to see how this situation turns out.
Oh yeah, this might become my first DZ campaign in which all models are painted. Although Zombies might break that streak (damned Zombies!)
My opponent keeps his own blog about games that he has played. Link to his side of view is here
