Operation Golden Ratio: episode 07 (season finale)

Intro 

Time passed. Despite working effortlessly on the remains of Patroclus, Nomads technicians got nothing but a glimpse of Laocoön and its meaning. However, back on Concilium, heads rolled for what had happened on Space Station Donacimiento. Aleph went paranoid at the idea of further Laocoön anomalies now that Nomads had case zero and issued a full scale update program on all Aspects and recreations to limitate and ward off any inconvenience. The damage in terms of delays and subsequent litigations was considerable, especially adding the fine paid to Varuna for what was later dubbed "The Donacimiento Incident". 

But after some time under apparently cold ashes, the flame of Project Laocoon started burning again. The OSS had been monitoring Batth'o Ubelin, the silk trader whose luxury ship's wreckage had been used by Tunguska as a base for infiltration on the Space Station. On his leisure world recreating the Old West, Ovestland, the attractions re-enacting Pat Garrett and his posse had started to malfunction, forcing extraordinary maintenance. The OSS figured out the malfunctioning was due to parts of Project Laocoön hidden into the attraction's software. Even if it meant to blow up Aleph's cover on Ovestland, the legacy of Project Laocoön had to be destroyed... 

Mission and lists 

This 300 point mission was Unmasking, from ITS season 13 supplement. 

Aleph went for a low hacking list, determined to exploit the high WIP of its specialists. Post humans had the place of honor in this list, tapping into 3.5 SWC and 62 points to bring a Heavy Rocket Launcher, a Multi Sniper Rifle and some forward deployment. 

Nomads went for a hacking heavy list. The plan was simple: 

• rely on Mary and the Hollow men Haris to go hack the midfield 
• Grenzer MSR, Lunokhod and Puppet Master protect the HVTs
• Puppetbots and Spector as expendables tricksters

Deployment 

Aleph wins the roll off and keeps deployment, taking the side of the table with more elevation than cover. Nomads deploy first and spreads the HVTs across the board: one in the center and one on each side. The Lunokhod REM holds the right flank with a deployed crazykoala, followed by the Hollowmen+Perseus Haris in line with the outer console while Puppetbots are aggressively placed in the middle of the board, backed by their master and a mine. On the left flank, exploiting the view over all the three consoles, takes place the Grenzer with his 3 men Core. Mary Problems is held for final deployment. 

Aleph positions the HVTs trying to spread them out as much as possible, accepting the trade with non-ideal covers, relaying on the elevated walkway that will be a good vantage point for a sniper. The Shukra consultant is placed on Aleph's left flank, followed by a yudbot (placed in advance to support the later deployed Mk4 posthuman). Three camo tokens (Naga FO, Dart and another Naga FO) are infiltrated ahead, close to the consoles. The three model core fireteam holds the central building, with a dakini HMG on ground level and MSV2 Deva on first level. The CSU completes the team, looking back for incoming threats near the second yudbot. The Danavas hacker is placed prone near the walkway and the Sophotect is placed prone on the right side of the central building. Mary Problems goes on Nomad's left flank and finally the three posthumans are deployed: Mk4 on the center left, near the yudbot and facing the Grenzer position; Mk2 camo prone near the walkway and the Danavas and Mk5 on the right. 

Turn 1 

Nomads start big despite the order removed by Command Token strategic use (thanks Puppet Master counterintelligence), sliding the Grenzer in cover until the Mk4 enters his scope and BAM! the proxy goes down without a chance of firing his HRL again. With less pressure on ground level, Mary advances activating the console with no trouble. After examinating the HVT on Nomad's far left, it turns out it was a decoy! On the other end of the table, the hollow men link gets to the console protected by smoke but the Deva with MSV2 is ready and a lucky shot of spitfire turns off one of the Hollowmen. The hacker Hollowmen has no trouble with the console and finds out that the HVT on his right is....also a decoy! Nomads have to turn on the console but with only a few orders left the puppetbot join their central HVT behind cover, getting closer to the console. 

Aleph starts by activating the Danavas hacker, who covers the walkway in white noise. Shrouded by the zero visibility zone, the Mk2 advances and shoots the Grenzer, but the dice are not on her side and she is sent to NWI. Before things get ugly, a yudbot is sent to revive her so she can try again and this time the Grenzer goes down. On Aleph's right flank, the Mk5 comes toward Mary but flees toward the enemy lines after a firefight that sends him to NWI. It is now time for the Naga to come out of his position and activate the console which was just activated by Mary. After a couple of attempts it is revealed that the HVT on the far right, behind the tower, is...the objective! The last two orders are spent again on the Mk5 who is in a perfect position to reach the HVT and take it down. 

Turn 2 

The puppetbots advance, activating the console and revealing the last HVT as their objective. The puppetbot with boarding shotgun exchange blows with both the Naga anche the main HVT, which goes down. Raoul Spector looks for the perfect position to enter the table and ultimately reaches the whereabouts of the Mk5, mauling it to death with no issues. With another order, Raoul also shoots down the HVT by the dropship. In a last attempt to reach the remaining HVT, Perseus sprints forward but it taken down by Aleph's snipers. 

 Aleph activates Dart to remove the puppetbot now controlling the center of the table. Her exploit is quite short as she's blown away by the bot. The Naga has to take it from here and finally takes it to unconscious. On the other side, the last camo token reaches the left console and reveals the HVT on the same side. Their fight leaves no body on the floor and the HVT manages to reach total cover. It is now time for the Sophotect to shine: with the last three orders she reaches the console, activates it and reaches an advanced position useful to shoot both HVTs. The center one goes but the other one proves to be a tough guy. 

Turn 3 

Raoul tries to thin down the enemy order pool, taking down the Naga but falls when facing the Mk2. Mary tries the same and is shot dead. On the other side, the Hollowmen hacker is stunned in the fight against Naga by the console and the Lunokhod is shot to pieces by Mk2. Nomad's turn ends with one of the enemy HVT still standing. Aleph goes all in with the Shukra consultant who was held back on the left corner and takes down the last HVT using four orders. OSS wind the match 8 to 6 Objective Points. 

Debriefing 

Aleph - OSS 

I am surprised by how effective the Nagas and their flash pulses proved to be. This 10+1 order list is very order resilient and I never went short. The 3 proxy combination is quite odd to me and I'm not sure I'd bring them all if my opponent was another faction. I absolutely love the Danavas/Mk2 combo: despite my poor position of the hacker who kept her distant from the objectives I am very happy with how that worked. 

Nomads - Tunguska

I have been a little surprised by the lack of hackable targets in the Aleph list, I had hoped Mary to be more of an offensive hacking tool. I probably made sub-optimal decisions with the Hollow men haris, but they soaked some fire and have been a fast moving threat to deal with for my opponent. I had some bad luck with designated target identification and had to throw more resources I would have wanted to hack all consoles in hurry or maybe not with the timing I would have preferred.

MVP the Puppetbots FO, they saved the day and kept me in the game until the end! Spector also did well as usual.  

 

Outro 

Ykka Casino, Human Edge, three days later. 

Gina entered the lounge, scanning the perimeter for her contact with a poorly disguised look on her face that showed her opinion of the various humanity that flod the place, drinking and gambling. Boris was sitting on a stool, sipping Vodka. 

"Gina, you came. Take a seat."
The woman didn't reply and stood in front of him, keeping her hands in the coat's pocket.
"The cold type uh? I get it, no need to take a sit if you don't want."
Boris pulled out a small case from his backpack, handing it to the Danavas.
"I know it's difficult for you to believe me, but I am a man of honor: here's the other part of the cube we recovered on Rodne. Setting up our little fight on Ovestland payed out: Batth'o lost his temper and called himself out."
Gina examined the case, before putting it away.
"So, you're telling me everyone's happy with how things turned out."
Boris nod: "Da. That's it: sometimes things go like this." She looked around, checking the position of her support and of Boris's henchmen around the lounge.
"There's still something that's very odd and I still can't make a reason of it. I thought this cube was an inestimable asset for you, why should you let it slip away now?" 

Boris finished his vodka and stood up, putting the backpack around his shoulders.
"That's how it works: you sit on every table and you never go all in. There's not such things as inestimable assets when you have to keep the wheel turning. See you around madam, it was a pleasure making business with you."