Operation Edgelord - Head hunters - 300 pts - Tunguska Vs Operation Subsection of the SSS

 

Intro

Tara's eyes fluttered open, the hazy aftereffects of cryostasis making her sluggish as she stepped out of the immersion tank. The room was cold and sterile, its pale light illuminating faint disturbances that hinted someone else had been here recently, not to mention the Kiiutan imposter lying lifeless on the floor. The holodisk was missing: Erin. Tara’s mind flitted to her briefly, but she had no time to follow the thought. Suddenly, she became conscious of the blaring alarm, its shrill cadence cutting through her disorientation. Peeking outside the rooms curtain, she saw the hulking silhouette of the Steindrage tearing into the edges of Averroes.

The camp was under siege. Haqqislam forces were rushing in to intercept, supported by a Tunguskan Rapid Intervention Team but tactical chaos was evident even from her distant vantage. Instinct told her to run, to flee before the battle reached her. She reached for her gear, a practiced routine, but as she moved, a new thought took root. She wasn’t just a survivor; she was a strategist. If she played this right, she could turn the situation to her advantage.

Tara rapidly hacked her way to a live feed of the battlefield. Aleph forces were concentrated near the fusion reactor, fighting not just to repel the Steindrage but to protect the critical energy source. Without hesitation, Tara made her decision. She broadcasted her position to the Eye of Hipparchus, virtually raising her hand — a signal of truce. The Aleph operatives hesitated, but ultimately allowed her to approach.

"I can help you," Tara said, her voice steady despite the tension. "You’re fighting to protect the reactor, but you’ll need more than brute force to hold the site. I know the weaknesses of that beast. Let me assist you."

Uncle Pentium studied her, inscrutable thoughs chasing each other in the depth of its potassium tank. Little records were held about Tara O'Neil, and Uncle Pentium knew little records always ment big trouble. After a moment, it replied. "We accept. For now."

“We may have more in common than you think,” she hinted cryptically. "You want to secure our future. So do I."

Her thoughts abruptly returned to Erin. What she had entrusted to her was no game: its shadow loomed large in her mind as she rushed to the battlefield, her mind already focused on slaying the monster and secure Aleph's tentative trust.

Lists

Both players gets a free Beasthunter as per mission special rules.

🤖 Operation Subsection of the SSS

🕷 Tunguska Jurisdictional Command

Mission and Deployment

Mission is Head Hunter from Operation Edgelord. A crazy mission including a flying Megabeast sporting a large collection of special rules and very dangerous overall.

Aleph wins initiative and choose to deploy second, so Nomads decide to go first. Zellenkriegers and Securitates on the right side, Kriza and Szalamandra on the left, joined by Denma and an Extreme Zellenkrieger. The beasthunter goes roughly in the center, as close as possible (too close??!?) to the Megabeast.

Aleph puts the Dakini pure fireteam with two HMGs on the right side along with the Mk4 HMG, while the Probot, the Marut and the Dawon fireteam all go on the opposite side. Aleph's beasthunter, Tara O'Nealz, is placed in the center building, conveniently looking at the megabeast and not too far away from the Probot.

🕷 Tunguska Jurisdictional Command - Turn 1

Tunguska starts off with the impetuous Zellenkriegers advancing through smoke with little luck and a couple of effective AROs. Nomads have now to go strong with the Szalamandra, shaving a wound from the beast but strategy changes once Dakini bullets start raining from over 48": with a +3 BS bonus and two shots, the risk is deemed excessive. Activating combat jump supportware, Raoul Spector drops on the battlefield and despite countermeasures employed by Aleph with both the Probot and the Marut, he safely lands close to the fire team. Immediately opening fire, he destroys the two HMG and the paramedic dakini, landing a fatal blow to Aleph's assets. In the last orders, the Kriza has to leverage on its superior burst and advances engaging both the Marut and the Megabeast. Splitting fire ultimately goes to Aleph's advantage. The Marut and the Kriza both take damage but the Megabeast remains unscathed.

🤖 Operation Subsection of the SSS - Turn 1

The Marut is repaired and after taking care of Raoul Spector olso deals with the Kriza Borac, turning it into red mist. With the remaining orders, the Beasthunter engages with the Megabeast multiple times, firing repeatedly with her panzerfaust thanks to the Probot hanging out nearby with the trunk full of ammunitions. Three wounds are scored and the turn ends.

🕷 Tunguska Jurisdictional Command - Turn 2

The Zellenkriegers, Denma and the Beasthunter all rush to the megabeast dealing a total of three wounds in close combat and having two grizzly tokens drop. Was it too early? The monster is still healthy and Nomads heroes are really exposed... Low on resources, Szally has now to carry all the firefighting weight and engages the Marut: dice gods say "no" and more wounds are suffered then inflicted.

🤖 Operation Subsection of the SSS - Turn 2

Tara takes a deep breath and pulls the trigger: her fifth panzerfaust rocket removes the last three wounds from the monster. With a lucky shot, the Marut shuts the enemy TAG down and the way is now kind of clear for the Dawon retrieval team to reach its carcass. The Arjuna gets lucky with its boarding shotgun, removing one enemy and making the rest duck for cover, but he's ultimately flashed by the warcor's pulse and only the two dawon can pick up valuable tokens, including the head. The fireteam then starts running back to the deployment zone.

🕷 Tunguska Jurisdictional Command - Turn 3

With only one token secured and not many orders left, Nomads repair their TAG (not a trivial task for the Clockmaker!) and launch a final assault: the Marut is destroyed but the Arjuna holds the line enough and only falls as the enemy spends the last regular order.

🤖 Operation Subsection of the SSS - Turn 3

With the head and one grizzly trophy in control, there's no need to push Aleph's luck further. Moreover, the team is now in Loss of Lieutenant after the demise of the Marut. To minimize the loss of valuable assets the Marut is repaired and stands back up, with that the game comes to an end.

The game ends 6-3 for OSSSS! (7 - 4 factoring in the Edgelord Campaign secret objectives). 

Debriefing

The game was fun although the mission might have some balance issues. We played it giving 100% and trying hard to win as usual but we had a feeling it put us a little off, as if we had to embrace the craziness of the scenario with the insane Megabeast and the pivotal role of the Beasthunter. Worth the shot to have a fun game bidding farewell to N4.   

Outro

Puffing smoke rings from his duck shaped pipe, Batth'o Ubelin dwelled upon the lost battle. Calling in some of his business partners from Tunguska he had hoped to trade profit and intel with tactical superiority but the result was that the solution had turned worse than the prblem he intended to solve. So be it.

The good thing was that waters were muddier than ever and Aleph always got nervous with active Nomads operatives around. Also, Tara had revealed and was now acting independently from Erin. Were they still linked? Allies or enemies? Multiple sources confirmed something had been entrusted (or off loaded?) to Erin by Tara... Batth'o was tired, his head ached and he missed too many pieces. He headed over to the hammam to relax, something had to change... he could see new rules coming.

See you in N5 😎