Just Play Games - July

This will be shorter post than my usual event articles. Mostly because I forgot to start this sooner and now it has been too long for me to remember all the details. Plus it was a really small event. Which we didn't realize until we got there, but it was still a fun day out. Though I still think the Liverpool local players are just mythical creatures that we'll never see!

https://justplaygames.uk/

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs Hassassin Bahram
Won: 3 TPs

My first game was against Christian, who is one of my mates and we hang out often but we actually didn't play each another much. My day didn't start well with losing the Lt Roll (as I would throughout the whole day) and when he said he will play Hassassins, I was expecting all the Fidays. But strangely, out of the last three times I played Hassassins, I only seen one Al Djabel!It left me wondering what to expect and Christian ended up fielding a Core Link Team (Ghulams I think), some HI Harris Link and bunch of the really annoying Jammer guys.

I deployed very defensively and I don't think much, if anything, of mine died. Staying true to the mission Christian advanced forward with most things and I spent my turn killing most of his link. But I made the mistake of forgetting I played against Haqq and didn't finish them off, so he just healed them all back in his turn. My Scots Guard Link didn't do much the whole game but everything else was very good, Uxia, Highlanders and Urugan killed lots of things.

I was able to overwhelm Christian's units and by the end of the game I think I wiped out most of his army. What really helped was taking out his Jammers early and taking my time killing them, instead of running out sacrificing.

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs ALEPH
Won: 2 TPs

The second game was against Mark, and I knew it will be tough. His ALEPH is deadly against Caledonia with all that ODD. Plus he added a second ODD Spitfire! One was deadly enough. My plan for the mission was simply, Alpha Strike his Lt, hide an protect Wallace at all cost. My plan failed before the game started because I lost the Lt roll again and Mark chose to go first as he often does when we play. After I looked over the table, and keeping in mind the 16" Deployment Zone for this mission, the best option I seen to counter Mark's first turn was taking the side with the highest building in the DZ.

The tower landing platform was almost half in my DZ so I deployed my Link Team, with Wallace and 112, on top of it. There was no direct access to the top and climbing would take forever, plus Mark didn't have any speculative fire Grenades (as far as I know, he didn't use any). It also gave my Scots a full view of most of the board. It made the game very difficult for Mark and I wouldn't want to be in his position but tournament is a tournament and it was my best chance at holding against his army.

The one big mistake I made was with Uxia, I thought I'd put her on a high building so she could attack the Lt in my turn but I didn't know ALEPH Remotes have Climbing Plus, which caused her to get killed quickly by HMGs. As expected Mark managed to wipe out almost everything I had on the ground, and in turn I killed all his long rage AROs units (Total Reaction REMs and a Marksman). In my last turn I had a shot at killing Mark's Lt. My 112 jumped from the tower to a roof below, thankfully within jumping distance. Then jumped down again and healed unconscious Cameronian. Who then jumped across the board to hit Mark's Lt with my last Order. I chose two Chain Rifles over CC but Mark passed both rolls and I think I won only by killing more of his army, and maybe having more Classified.

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs Ariadna
Lost: 0 TPs

The last game was lost even before it started. I went against James and the results this year have always been the same when I play my ITS Caledonia against his ITS Ariadna. We both use similar strategies but vanilla has the advantage of more camo and I can't overwhelm a swarm army with a swarm army. It might have been different if I managed to kill his HMG Spetsnaz, which was his main hitter but when he went against my Scots Missile Launcher he scored a Crit, and then Crit again against Molotok.

To make it worse then his Hardcase killed Urugan and Cameronian with one round of shooting and wiped out the rest of my right flank. I could barely pass a single roll. That pretty much sums up the game. Not to mention Uxia who was on a high roof, killed like two troops and then got glued in place by a Dozer! But in that same Order I moved her back so she ended up in middle of the roof unable to see anything.

The coolest thing for me was in my last turn and last turn of the game, Wallace jumped from a roof to roof and split his Combi Rifle Burst against Uxia and Dozer, both on objectives, killing them both. Still wasn't enough to give me control over quadrants because most of my army was gone.