So, we played another game of
SST on the first day of the year. Our biggest game yet, 2000 points. This time I brought along a new Plasma Bug (gift from Dan) and Dan brought a Pathfinder army from the new Pathfinders army book for
MI, complete with a K-9 corps!
2000 points
<ins>Bugs PL2</ins>
35 Warrior Bugs
5 Tiger Bugs
3 Hopper Bugs (minus wings, they're being repaired)
1 Plasma Bug
1 Tanker Bug
1 Brain Bug w/ Shield,
Id Sending, Ego War
4 Tunnel Markers
3 Tunnel Entrances <ins>
Pathfinder
MI PL2</ins>
LT with trenchsweeper laser, shock stick, fire king, WASP pack
CHASbot
NCO w/ Trenchsweeper laser, fast mover, dirty fighter, protagonist, WASP pack
NCO w/ Trenchsweeper laser, shock stick, protagonist, heroic surge, WASP pack
2 x Sgt w/ Shock Stick, Fast mover, rallying cry, WASP pack
2 x Medic w/ shockstick, missile launcher, WASP pack
6 Troopers w/ morita x2, flamer x2, sniper rifle x2, WASP packs
Corporal w/ morita, WASP pack
5 Neodogs
8 Drop caps
Since we were both PL2, the rulebook states we are both playing a "Hold" scenerio, which is essentially full victory points for every enemy squad reduced below half, full points for every surviving squad you have above half, and minus the point cost of any units above half in your deployment zone at the end of the game. Roll-offs determined that Dan chose table edge and he set up and went first. Since half his army was dropping in off the Rodger Young in orbit, he only set up his Pathfinders with K-9s as far back at the edge as he possibly could (learned a lesson about the 'arachnid rush') as well as the CHASbot in the corner edge. I set up on the table most of my warriors on the front line, my plasma bug in the back near some trees, my Brain bug behind a building with a contingent of warriors and a tunnel entrance, and my hoppers behind the middle alter stones. My tiger bugs, tanker, and one squad of warriors were set up underground at the front lines, marked with tunnel markers.
First turn the pathfinders cautiously moved ahead, using their K-9s to sniff out any camoflagued tunnel entrances that may have been about (I took none this game, though he didn't know that). The Chasbot artillery-shot his trip hammer mortar at the hoppers but missed.
On my turn, I immediately went for my first plasma blast with this model and the plasma bug did not disappoint. My artillery dice only deviated one inch and nearly all of the pathfinders were caught in the plasma explosion, killing most of the squad and dogs. This split up the remaining squad members who were now taken over by the NCO and LT.
The rest of my bugs moved forward and the tunnelers tunneled their way toward the surviving
MI. The hoppers flew over behind some ruins to get into a position to snatch the LT in a later turn. Then in the first air phase, the rest of the
MI showed up. Dan took drop caps this game which can come in on the first air phase and screamed into the battlefield, carefully landing behind enemy lines without being shot out of the sky by the plasma bug.
Drop caps are extremely cool, allowing the
MI to establish a foothold in my deployment zone by the second turn! The drop caps allowed Dan to have squads on both sides of my bug lines and I had to now decide which way to turn and who to go after first! However that ability is a mixed blessing, as the drop caps put a whole squad behind enemy lines and surrounded by bugs so they had little chance of survival this mission.
Clearly Dan's goal was to cut the probiscus off my brain bug.
A single arachnid noticed the drop of the
MI out of the sky and was able to 'alarm screech' the information to four other bugs, who moved forward to block the path of the
MI to the brain. On the second turn those
MI then opened fire on those bugs while the NCO used his WASP pack to jump over to get a clear line of sight to the big fat brain bug, and opened fire with his morita. The Brain bug however had gotten its shield up the previous turn and deflected the bullets with the power of its mind! It then was subsequently lifted up by its chariot bugs and slithered into the open tunnel entrance.
The other troopers moved forward and the LT and CHASbot fired but missed the front line bugs. On the bugs second turn the plasma bug fired another shot and roasted some more pathfinder troopers and K-9 core (my artillery fire was extremely accurate!). The NCO however dodged out of the way of the lethal blast (Pathfinders all have dodge saves, and the NCOs have a dodge save of 5+! That's really huge).
A tanker then tunneled backward toward the drop troops and with the help of the brain bug up and out of the hole. It was unable to reach them but wanted to let them know they weren't welcome on that side of the board. The remaining arachnid near the brain bug quickly sealed the tunnel the brain bug fled into, as the brain bug knew that the pathfinders were extremely effective in bug tunnels compared to regular
MI. The Hopper bugs then swarmed out of the ruins and sliced the head off of the LT.
On the third
MI turn, the CHasbot and remaining K-9 Sgt both fired at the hoppers, and missed. For his effort, the Sgt was gobbled up by the crawling hopper bugs. The drop cap squad then all jumped with thier WASP packs toward the plasma bug, as their primary objective had gone to ground. If they could seriously wound the plasma bug they may clear a landing area and still make it home.
They shot down all the guardian arachnid warriors and wounded the plasma bug 4 times, putting it at 6 out of 10 wounds. Two wounds (below half) short of claiming the victory points! Unfortunately, the
MI didn't get a chance to get those last wounds, as their jump into the middle of the swarm resulted in a great cascade of bugs swarming toward them. On the bug turn the tanker bug quickly fired its acidic venom into the squad burning half of the members into sludge. The arachnids that surrounded the troopers then swarmed in to cut them to pieces. Many arachnids were shot down as the
MI made a defensive circle and fired into the horde, but eventually the troopers all ran out of ammo and were torn limb from limb.
Thier fellows on the other side of the battlefield weren't doing much better, as after the LT and SGt were cut to pieces by the hoppers the arachnids swarmed together into a great mass (2 squads swarmed into one big squad) and chased down the last NCO and trooper, dragging them into the tunnels to be mind-sucked by the brain bug.
At this point the Hoppers tried to take down the CHASbot but were unable to scratch its hide, and it fought back but was unable to hit a hopper out of the sky. The tunneling tiger bugs and arachnids continued to move toward the CHASbot and ready themselves to emerge next turn. The lonely NCO who hunted the brain bug was now alone on the side of the board crawling with arachnid warrior bugs and a tanker, and knew his time was short.
At this point, we called the game, as the
MI were all but wiped out. We didn't calculate victory points. Final result: "Sir, this place crawls!! Aaaaaaaagh!" Analysis: The pathfinders have lots of nifty abilities for their point value, dodge saves, K-9 core that can react to tunnels, reaction ranges of 12" standard. They have a few downsides however, first, they cost more, which means fewer moritas on the table, second you can't put a CHASbot or K-9s into drop caps (that we could find), which makes the K-9s a little less useful, third, they don't set off alarm status reactions on the first turn, but what trooper wants to be within 10" of an arachnid on turn 1?! Finally, they have a lot of nifty options which can encourage you to put fancy traits on the officers, making it even more painful when they die in a torrent of plasma burst before they have a chance to use their skills. I think Pathfinders have a lot of potential, and Dan had the right idea with drop podding
MI. Even though in this game the drop podding
MI got eaten, I seriously think drop capsules are a good way to go for the
MI, and I will probably see them a lot more.
