Android Rebellion Final Call - AAR

[Burzmali]

I hadn't planned on writing any after-action reports for my latest team, the Stareblade Squadron, but I just ran through a pair of nail biters on the end of the Android Rebellion campaign. I play hard core for the most part, with the only back up restore being the time the team got jammed on the Neutron Device mission, and a rare restore from AutoSave if I set someone on the wrong wait and they get taken apart (I've had problems timing my flares correctly, and loaded an AutoSave because I had a AT waiting on reload when flare went out and they got lit up). First, an overview of my squad:

Jiro in an Instigator: (Veteran) Leader and center of the assault team, he rushes the enemy line and knocks prone the highest threat with his dual BRGs and hopes for engine and HR hits with the EMP.

Lina in a Longbow: (Regular) Manager and center of the support team, she splits her time between shelling long range opponents and igniting nearer ones.

Rosetint in a Slugger: (Regular) Mechanic and wingman on the assault team, he plays the duel role of smoke screen layer and hair cutter of prone opponents with his array of AC.

White Knight (WK) in a Cutthroat: (Novice) Backup leader and wingman on the support team, her dual gauss cannons quickly deal with anything smaller than a medium AT that rushes the assault team. Though her power axe seems to be getting a lot of use despite her poor training with it.

Crossfire in a customized Paladin: (Green) As the 2nd wingman in the assault team, she uses her duel NB to quickly eliminate any pilot downed by Jiro. However, since this is the Android Rebellion, I switched her to a custom Sparrowhawk sporting 3 EMPs.

Phoenix in a Unicorn: (Green) Most recent addition to the team and 2nd wingman on the support team, his job entails scouting out the enemy, then retreating to a defensible position and harassing them with his GC.


Android_Rebellion, M06 (Spoilers)
A.k.a. Why 60 seconds can change a battle
Terrain: Core
Opponents: 2 x Illuminators, 1 Catapult, 1 Crucible

The map looked pretty straightforward, a whole bunch of cover and mountaintops of the east and me on the west. The assault team begins to assemble, Phoenix charges forward to try to draw out a few enemies, and Lina begins targeting a very suspicious mountaintop. As the assault team converges, the squad spots (and quickly identifies) a Catapult quickly approaching from the east. Hoping for an easy kill (as cover will prevent the Catapult from utilizing its arsenal until it is only 4 hexes away) the assault team hunkers down and begins trying for yellow and green scans. Before long, Lina has locked on and begins shelling the mountaintop with her LRMs, after a few hits, out pops a Illuminator who immediately begins launching GMHs at Phoenix. Phoenix knows he can't weather such attacks for long and beats a hasty retreat. About this time, the Catapult enters range and opens fire on Jiro. Jiro and Crossfire return fire, but Jiro's BRG knocks the Catapult over and out of sight. Meanwhile, the Illuminator begins launching GMHs at Jiro. Jiro pops a flare forcing the Illuminator to retarget again. Rosetint (who has given up on the smoke) and Lina continue to shell the Illuminator, but can at such long range, they are barely able to keep up with that damage he is handing out. The Catapult resurfaces launching another full barrage at Jiro, before once again falling out of sight due to a BRG/ammo explosion (56 points!), however not before Crossfire managed an EMP hit on his HRs. The Crucible finally makes it appearance, and begins circling around to the south, Jiro and Crossfire move to engage. As the reach the bottom corner of cover, out pops the 2nd Illuminator who, like his friend, begins raining down unanswered damaged in the form on GMHs. Everyone is starting to get worried, a lot of yellows and reds are starting to show up of status panels, and not many of them are on the enemies. But, everything isn't going too badly, while White Knight and Phoenix are showing mostly red on their panels (WK took some nasty damage from her LMG ammo baking off), they manage to trim the 1st Illuminator's RT while firing at <35%. More good news, the 'blah' has started cooking off ammo, suggesting that he is going to pop soon. Just as the team starts thinking that they might actually pull this off, Jiro and Crossfire engage the Crucible. They foolishly assumed that he was kitted out for Ranged combat like his buddies and would easily fall to a 30-ton advantage and the BRGs. What followed was messy, very messy, within 60 sec of combat involving flame throwers, chainsaws and the near continuous rain of GMHs, Crossfire was left without a left leg and had started taking shock damage and Jiro had been heated to shutdown. Only through the grace of every able-bodied AT targeting the 'blah' did they manage to disable it. In the aftermath, Crossfire ejected, Jiro continued to take fire from the Illuminators but eventual restarted and escaped (he had lost a leg and cockpit was red). That left the two Illuminators, one heavily damaged and one lightly damaged, against my 4 ATs who had maybe 5 green locations left total. Under a heavy barrage, the 1st Illuminator finally gave in losing its LT and lot and the squad shifted its attention to the last Illuminator. Rosetint (who, so far, had taken the least damage) prepared for a charge as Lina advanced to take advantage of her NMs (having exhausted her LRM supply). What followed rivaled the 60 seconds from earlier. Rosetint missed the charge, fell, and ran out of ammo before he could drop the Illuminator. Lina was taken down by a GME to the HR disabling her before she even got in decent range. That left only Phoenix and WK, both of who are badly damaged and out of ammo, against the Illuminator. What else could they do but Charge! At a walking pace of course, as both have damaged HRs. The Illuminator starts lobbying GMs at WK, but quickly stops (out of ammo!) and the team’s hopes surge. They casually make their way to the hex in front of the Illuminator, when the Illuminator's pilot starts to succumb to the heat. It begins jumping up, and falling, systematically tearing apart its AT. Not to pass up an opportunity, Phoenix and WK rush the deranged pilot, quickly knock it to the ground and putting him out of his misery. Apparently, Androids have freshness dates [;)]

In the aftermath, amazingly no one was killed, and though the repair bill topped $300k, the squad took only a ~$80k loss on the contract. Much props where given to WK for her sound use of her AT's Power Axe, despite her lack of training. Crossfire gives serious thought to trading back the 'blah' for her old custom Paladin despite that they are facing Androids, but decides against it. She figures that if she just doesn't close to CC, she should be able to manage a cockpit or LS hit to justify the choice. XP is spent, ATs are repaired, and the team is shipped off to the final mission in the campaign.

Android_Rebellion, M07 (Spoilers)
A.k.a. Revenge of the NB
Terrain: Biochem
Opponents: 1 Pariah, 1 Piranaha, 1 Efreet, 1 Starfire

Once again, the Starblade Squadron rushes into the breach, determined not to repeat the mistakes of their prior encounter. They find themselves on the west side of the map, overlooking a valley that is nearly bisected by an acid and rock river. Hoping to seize the high ground for themselves, the support team beings spreading out over the ridge as the assault team lines up the fastest path down the sides of the valley. Phoenix is the first to spot an enemy AT, a Pariah, coming out of the NE. Phoenix quickly circles around a bit further south and settling into some cover on a promising looking cliff. WK and Crossfire circle around the cliff to the north, and Lina, Jiro and Rosetint move to the western edge of the valley. Meanwhile, both a Piranaha and a Efreet have come into sight, charging across the valley. Great, thinks the squad, it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel. Unfortunately, by the time the team has locked targets and opened fire, the Piranaha and Efreet are already most of the way across the valley. Even worse, the have been joined by a Starfire who isn't shy about using his PGs, and the Pariah comes into view on the opposite side of the valley. Team discipline beings to break down as Jiro and Crossfire rush the Piranaha and spectacularly replay the 60 second Tango of the prior battle. Despite 2 green scans on the Piranaha nobody noticed that it was kitted out for CC until Crossfire closed and begun getting taken apart. Of course, both WK and Jiro had the Piranaha targeted but the low rate of fire of WK's GCs and a pair of stunning NBs from the Efreet to Jiro limited their effectiveness. The Piranaha goes down, but not before effectively crippling Crossfire (she ejected). Meanwhile, Phoenix and Lina have been doing their best to cripple the Efreet while Rosetint attempts to keep smoke screens in front of the Starfire and Pariah. The Efreet quickly revels the true terror of the NB by rendering both Jiro and Lina unconscious in quick succession, before falling to the combined might of Rosetint, WK and Phoenix. Of course, with Rosetint occupied, the smoke screens quickly fade and both the Starfire and the Pariah begin tearing into any available target. Lina eventually recovers only to find herself quickly crippled by the Pariah, though the Starfire is still in range of her NMs. Jiro recovers and joins Rosetint in rushing the Starfire, with support from WK's and Phoenix's GCs. After a bitter battle, the Starfire is disabled, but without the smoke screens, the Pariah has immobilized Jiro. The Pariah quickly follows up by knocking one of Phoenix's legs off forcing him to eject. That left WK, undamaged but out of GC ammo, and Rosetint, moderately damaged and low on ammo, against the mildly damaged Pariah. Thinking quickly, Rosetint began laying down smoke screen after smoke screen as WK began making her way around from the north. As she neared, Rosetint rushed successfully charged and knocked down the Pariah, 20 seconds later he was joined by WK, and together they made sure the Pariah never got back up. Victory!

While not quite as close as the prior bout, it still had some nail biters. Lina's AT took quite a lot of hits while she was unconscious, including some head hits putting her quite low on HP. When she came to, I had to continuously pump out the flares to keep the Pariah away from her (I had to load the AutoSave when I failed to notice her flares go out and she took a few too many GMHs to the CT, is there a way to 'wait on flares'?) Also, Jiro was nearly scrambled several times by the Efreet's NB, I think it was revenge for all the poor pilots Crossfire had scrambled.

That ended the Android Rebellion campaign. Having to root out entrenched LR ATs was a pain, but the missions were still fun. I even beat most of them was a team that did not exceed the suggested level. Those last two matches were some of the closest I've ever had, competing only with a matched that ended with my recon getting chased around the map by a light that only had CC weapons left [;)]

[Sleeping_Dragon]

ORIGINAL: Burzmali
Instigator: knocks prone the highest threat with his dual BRGs and hopes for engine and HR hits with the EMP.

EMP is very effective once you have the enemy down... If the target is trying to stand, any hit on an actuator or gyro will send them to the ground... agian. Just long enough for a BRG to recycle... rinse, repeat. [;)]

is there a way to 'wait on flares'

Keep an eye on flare duration on the right side of the attack menu, you can use wait on time to bring the attack or move menu back active right before your flares run out.


Very nice AAR! Sounds like you had some real nailbitters! Good to hear the Crucible is up to it's ol' tricks [;)]