StarCo at the MEROVINGIAN TOURNAMENT 3: LE RETOUR DU LYON

Sooo, like @ZlaKhon did in the O-12 subform I’d like to share with you what I’m able to remember after roughly two weeks have passed - so don’t expect too detailed reports. And I forgot to take pictures :/

The decision was made rather spontaneous thanks to Germany’s National Holiday (so Zlakhon and I were able to not only attend the tournament but also do some sightseeing in Lyon). Further the Tournament was played with Limited Insertion (which is/was the Extra I’m not good at) and I had not many opportunities to play at all (only Asteroid Blues games and one tournament “on my way” to Lyon). Thus my mind-set was rather to be there, meet new people, have a good time and not get stomped too hard - in hindsight still the best motivation to attend any tournament irrespective whether it’s a Satellite Tournament or not.


In the hours before the list submission deadline I cobbled the following two Lists together:

This is basically one of my Asteroid Blues Lists knocked up from 200 points to 300. So far there was no real in depth thought process what should be in the List one factor was all miniatures had to be fully painted and I wanted all weapon ranges to be catered and an infiltrating Specialist wouldn’t be wrong at all. Then I still then I had the thought “E/M Grenades wouldn’t be bad and maybe I could make ‘use’ of the ChOC thanks to Lt. obvious” so Emily was part of the Gang. Oh yeah she should also do that liaison thing!

Yeah, Grrls! Well… I had this list in mind for Firefight and any list with mimetism /odd in the midfield leaving their Lt. exposed. And just for fun (rather the points per order coefficient) I added the Anaconda.


1st Game:

Spoiler: Operations Subsection of the S.S.S.

Operations Subsection of the S.S.S.
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10
APSARA (G: Jumper Level Z) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
ASURA Lieutenant L2 Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (2 | 72)
DAKINI Tacbot MULTI Sniper Rifle / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 21)
DAKINI Tacbot HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 21)
DAKINI Tacbot Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
DAKINI Tacbot Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
DEVA (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
PROXY Mk.1 Engineer Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
PROXY Mk.2 Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
PROXY Mk.5 (Forward Observer) 2 Submachine Guns, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
SHAKTI Hacker (Killer Hacking Device. UPGRADE: Sucker Punch) Mk12, E/Marat / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 40)
YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
ZAYIN Rebot HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)

6 SWC | 300 Points

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I think opponent opted for the second turn so could start the game. Since he packed most of his army Fireteam, Asura, Proxy Engi quite dense I had the idea to walk Emily as far up as possible and then to let rain E/M grenades on the Dakinis and the Proxy Engi and maybe even his Asura Lt. Actually the only one able to see Emily was the Proxy FO who instantly Shock-critted in his ARO. Just a normal 75% chance vs. 4.9% situation… Following this I was able to bring Raoul right in front of the opponent’s DZ killing the Proxy Mk. 5 on his way. Further I knocked the HMG Dakini unconscious and blocked the engineer’s way with a Drop Bear. In his turn my opponent mainly used his Asura killing the MSG Brawler, Raoul and the Al’Hawwa and he finally positioned her close to the table’s center. His MSG dakini got knocked unconscious while trying to to clear the Drop Bear for the Engineer Then the usual servo fluid shedding followed I was able to kill the Asura and shoot the TR-Bot unconscious. His turn in LOL was quite shorthe tried to heal the TR-Bot and did some movements. In my last turn I moved the whole Fireteam with the BSG Brigada DataTracker in contact with the Tach-Coffin further I was able to Isolate Shakti with Sr. Massacre and Kill another Dakini. Last his turn was mainly him trying to do stuff against my DataTracker with his Proxy Hacker but too many Brigadas were able to see that thing and it got killed. Further I was able to Secure the HVT thus the game ended 6:0 in my Favour.


2nd Game:

Spoiler: Ariadna

Ariadna
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9 1 1
CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
DOG-WARRIOR 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CCW. (0 | 29)
SCOUT (Minelayer) Ojotnik, D-Charges, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)
SPETSNAZ (CH: Ambush Camouflage) HMG / Pistol, CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
SPETSNAZ (CH: Ambush Camouflage) HMG / Pistol, CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
STRELOK K-9 Submachine Gun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines + 1 K-9 Antipode / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 24)
K-9 ANTIPODE Trench-hammer, AP CC Weapon. (8)
UXÍA McNEILL (S.A.S. CP) (CH: Camouflage, Infiltration, Multispectral Visor L1) Boarding Shotgun, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 28)
VASSILY Lieutenant (Forward Observer) T2 Marksman Rifle, Akrylat-Kanone, D-Charges / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 35)
VETERAN KAZAK (X Visor) T2 Rifle, Light Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 38)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

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Sooo, after the first game’s “mediocre” points result I was quite surprised to meet @Marduck as my opponent. Meeting with a Interplanetario Winner is nothing new to me neither is winning against one. Assuming I’d have to play against a bunch of camo markers, smoke, mines and stuff, I kept playing the Brigada list. Further the second best option after a Lt. in a Marker state is a Lt. with more than one wound in a Core Link. I won the Lt. roll and therefore chose deployment, he took the first turn. the game itself is told quite quickly: his dog warrior went towards my link, got hit by the Brawler Sniper further advanced towards the Fireteam Emily botched her grenade shot with which she could’ve hit Uxia together with the Dog Warrior triggering the ARO. Emily died. Further he used one of his Spetsnaz’ to crit kill my Brawler Sniper. Further carnage followed. In my turn I was able to fulfil my classified by healing Sr. Massacre further I was able to kill the Murderous Spetsnaz and the Dog Warrior. Then more stuff followed with Uxia killing the HMG Brigada and Sr. Massacre, I was able to get one Item from the Panoplies, Marduck got more (partly due to the inability to roll proper numbers) and his really surprising E/Mauler placed by his Scout Minelayer where I had assumed a Chasseur Minelayer immobilizing one of my Brigadas on the way to the second panoply grab. The game ended with a 1:6 loss for me.


3rdGame:

Spoiler: O-12

O-12
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9 1 2
ALPHA (Chain of Command) 2 Light Shotguns, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
BETATROOPER Doctor (MediKit) Boarding Shotgun, 2 Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37)
EPSILON HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 30)
GANGBUSTER Combi Rifle + Light Riotstopper, MadTrap / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
HIPPOLYTA Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 38)
MONSTRUCKER Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
OMEGA HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 48)
OMEGA Lieutenant MULTI Rifle + Heavy Riotstopper + 1 TinBot A / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 47)
SIRIUS Boarding Shotgun + 1 SiriusBot / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
SIRIUSBOT Heavy Riotstopper / Electric Pulse. (0 | 5)
VARANGIAN Light Shotgun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)

3.5 SWC | 300 Points

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Yeah, another game against the fully new faction riddled with glue! So far I see O-12’s possible glue screen as insanely effective in LI situations. But on the other hand the Lt. is quite easy to deduce - a perfect match for the Riot Grrls! My opponent had the First turn and opened the game with the classical Smoke + MSV2 trick but the smoke spending Varangian Guard was too close to the Epsilon which killed the Varangian. A second attack knocked then the ML Grrl unconscious. More unsuccessful attacks did follow and then my turn did start. Avicenna was able to heal the ML Grrl the Fireteam was reformed and together with Raoul coming from the opposite flank the Grrls were able to get rid of the Epsilon, the HMG Omega whilst Raoul killed the Sirius and threatened Hippolyta, the Beta Trooper and the second Omega with his Drop Bear. The drop bear was then cleared by the Beta and another unsuccessful gunfight emerged. Further Hippolyta died through another of Raoul’s Drop Bears. In my turn then I was able to kill the Gangbuster and to clear the standby MadTraps as well as the Alpha who I had mistaken for the Lt. - and Raoul died for this mistake Also I further advanced with the Grrls to secure all three sections. This time a way more successful gunfight bloomed and my opponent was able to knock two Grrls unconscious with his Omega Lt. but in my last turn I was able to heal them as well. then I used the Anacond to shoot at things but wasn’t successful so the game ended with 9:0 for me.


4th Game:

Spoiler: Aleph

ALEPH
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9 1
ACHILLES Lieutenant Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, EXP CCW. (2.5 | 75)
AGÊMA Marksman MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 30)
DANAVAS Hacker (Hacking Device Plus. UPGRADE: Maestro) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
PROXY Mk.1 Engineer Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
PROXY Mk.2 MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 24)
PROXY Mk.5 (Forward Observer) 2 Submachine Guns, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
LAMEDH Rebot Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
LAMEDH Rebot Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
LIBERTO Submachine Gun, Chain-colt, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)
RUDRA K1 Marksman Rifle, Mine Dispenser / Electric Pulse. (0 | 42)
SHUKRA (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
SOPHOTECT Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31)
YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

6 SWC | 299 Points

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This time vanilla Aleph: so, with a very high probability, Proxies again… and maybe Achilles. Thus I chose the Brigada list again. I won the roll, chose deployment, he went first. and my opponent’s alpha strike really went into the gutter quite fast: his proxy Mk. 2 Sniper ate two crits, his Agema Marksman another. On the other flank his Rudra tried to gun down Emily but surprisingly failed twice but therefore got E/Med whilst shooting Sr. Massacre unconscious. My turn was dominated by my effort to heal Sr. Massacre with the Daktari (successfully) and to make use of some deployment mistakes by my opponent (Sophotect, Proxy Mk. 5 and Lamedh died) as well as to get rid of the Rudra. The unconscious Rudra was then killed with a coup de grâce by Emily who also hacked the console. My further attempt to score points with Emily was then again crossed by her inability to win face to face interactions including dice. Now his attack with Achilles followed but again not much luck for him so he was only able to kill Sr. Massacre and to knock the Brawler sniper unconscious. But thanks to the unconscious Emily he could score his classified objective as well with the Danavas. In my turn I could then heal the Brawler and the Brawler mercilessly killed Achilles whilst advancing FTO Raoul. With Raoul now closer to the middle I was able to get the Shukra and the second Lamedh killed and to advance into his sector. Now his last turn started in retreat but he was able to scrape all his remaining orders together and to let the Proxy Engineer advance into my sector and to hack the consoles there. Thus the game ended with a 6 : 4 win for me due to still holding more sectors and his extra point for his classified.


5th Game:

Spoiler: Yu Jing

Yu Jing
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9 1
DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
KOKRAM (Forward Deployment L1, Minelayer) Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, Chain-colt, E/Mauler / 2 Heavy Pistols, Knife. (0 | 42)
LIBERTO Submachine Gun, Chain-colt, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)
MAJOR LUNAH Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
MÓWÁNG (NCO) Red Fury, Akrylat-Kanone / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 52)
NINJA Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0.5 | 40)
WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
YĀN HUǑ 2 Missile Launchers + TinBot C (Neurocinetics) / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 56)
XI ZHUANG Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, MadTraps / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
Zhanshi YĪSHĒNG Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)

5 SWC | 299 Points

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The final game and I decided to keep my list. Never change a running system, you know. Again my opponent had to deploy first and surprisingly he took the second turn. So I started the game with Emily but again things went sub-par with her: instead of isolating (and for the HIs: immobilizing) four of the ten Yu Jing troops plus the stuff I killed I was only able to kill the Weibing Yaokong and the Helot Liberto and to drive the Yan Huo into total cover. Thus I was only able to obtain one Supply Box and further Emily had to stand in partial cover right in the Yan Huo’s designated LOF. My opponent’s turn started with Major Lunah’s hit against my Brawler Sniper who was able to save both BTS saves and at Lunah’s second try she couldn’t save the Brawler’s DA hits. Then the Yan Huo shot at Emily and again, you might’ve already guessed, did not even hit the opponent. Again a dead Intel Agent. So my right flank was now open and my opponent advanced his Mowang (the one who wasn’t turned into a statue by Emily) towards the supply box Emily had left killing the Brawler Sniper on his way (the receipt for another mistake I made before: not using Stun Ammo as my opponent messed up his cautious movement). In my turn I threw my remaining Haris against the Mowang, killing it. But the Yan Huo still blocked any movement towards the now free box - but so did my Brawler and Raoul from an angle the Yan Huo couldn’t see. Now my opponent did something but I can’t remember what, propably an advance with Gui Feng Sezchuan. In my final turn then I was able to get the middle Supply Box with the Al’Hawwa Hacker without getting hacked by the Ninja Assault Hacker further I was able to smack Krit and the DaoYing with Massacre’s E/M grenades and to obtain the lefthand Box. In LOL now my opponent scraped together his any order he could get and was able, thanks to his hail Mary run and another missed shot by me, to grab the right-hand supply box. Further he was able to perform one of his classifieds on the HVT. The game ended with a tight 5 : 2 win for me.


Conclusion

After two days on a nice Convention with five games against five without exception friendly, fair and fun players I scored 10TP and 27OP so I did expect to be placed somewhere around the 16th place. Still ok but not in the top ten - at least I won more games than I lost. But to my big surprise I was placed 6th!

 

Oh yeah, the food was very good, especially in the Brasserie Georges!
Yeah, dice are dice... nothing one can do against that. The game was still fun though.