To my surprise the enemy soldier that came into view wasn’t another PanO soldier, but actually a Nomad soldier!!

Apparently they had been busy fighting each other, which had tripped the security alarm, and now that we took our the PanO troops, they where wondering where their enemies had gone, and who had taken care of them.

With the same troops at my disposal as before, another Tiger Soldier on its way to replace the downed one, and the Invincible having temporarily healed his own wounds, I prepared my troops for the enemy advance as good as possible, taking cover behind the structures and crates of the cargo hold.

The Nomad forces apparently where just as numerous as the PanO forces before, not only consisting of a few Alguaciles, a Grenzer, and a Mobile Brigade, but also a Reverend Healer, who’s religious nonsense chanting was audible even to my position

They didn’t waste any time, advancing with a few of their Alguaciles followed by a Mobile Brigada which advances on their right side to flank my troops, but my Bodyguard Ninja “Kabuki Queen” had reacted even quicker and was already in position to ambush the Brigada, shooting an arrow in his back which stuck in the armour, but apparently didn’t really wound the Brigada.

Annoyed by the Ninja’s ambush the Mobile Brigada turned around and opened fire on Kabuki Queen, but the Ninja was too nimble and dodged all the bullets.

Using the fact that the Nomad’s attack had faltered I ordered my forced to advance on all fronts, and as the Brigada heard my troops yelling as they raced towards him, he decided that they where most likely a bigger thread than the Ninja, and turned around to face them.

Kabuki Queen however had only waited for an opportunity like that, shooting another arrow into the back of the Mobile Brigada, and as it once again seemed useless, she advanced within striking distance of her Katana, and cut down the foolish Brigada with it.

As I advanced alongside my troops, covering the right flank as my troops covered the center, the replacement Tiger Soldier arrived from another access hatch on the ceiling of the cargo bay, dropping right into the action only meters away from the Nomad Frontline.

Apparently not too fond of her own life this Tiger Soldier then advanced towards the Nomad Lines, opening up on them with her Flamethrower, dowsing two Fusiliers and the Grenzer in fire with it.

Apparently the Nomads where quite used to the heat though, as only one of them died from the fire, and the Tiger Soldier herself was taken out by the returning fire from the Nomads where she stood.

With the ambush failed I knew it was time to defend from the for sure coming counterattack, and myself and some of my troops went ahead and supressed the advance routes of the Nomads.

It seemed however like the Mobile Brigada that Kabuki Queen had taken out was actually the Nomad’s Lieutenant, and like the uncoordinated bunch of wannabe soldiers that the Nomads actually where, instead of advancing and launching an offensive, they broke into bickering, one of them dashing to savety, and the rest busy arguing with each other, barely able to supress the area in front of them as they did so.

Not one to let such an opportunity go easily, I decided to advance myself, but as I did so I was attacked by a Nomad Spektr, which had apparently waited just around the corner for my advance.

We exchanged a few rounds of bullets, but in the end the Spektr was no match for my Hsien Armour’s advanced Multispectral Visor and heavy machine gun, his lifeless body dropping to the floor while I was already on the move to flank the remaining Nomad troops on our right flank.

With their backs to me I opened up on them with my Nano Pulser, the Nanites eating away the Reverend Healer as the Grenzer dashed for cover, his coat saving him from the worst of the Nanites.

Not wanting to let the Grenzer get away, I advanced towards his new hiding position, opening up on him with my HMG, but it was hard hitting the guy at such close range with the disolving body of the Reverend Healer in the way, and so the Grenzer’s easy to handle pistol got the advantage, but bounced off my armour uselessly.

After another fire exchange where my bullets where stopped by the Grenzer’s armour, he dashed for cover once again, forcing me to take care of a Alguacile that was standing around the corner to avoid getting shot at by both.

Just as I took out the Alguacile though, another one of them suddenly appeared from a Cargo Container in front of me, opening fire on me at close range. I had nowhere to dodge to and frankly too surprised to react in time, and thus a hailstorm of bullets impacted on my armour, just as the container next to the Alguaciles was riddled with bullets from the Invincible which the Alguacile had apparently ignored but which was shooting at his back.

Luckily for me, my mastercrafted armour was more than a match for the puny Nomad bullets, and they all bounced off of it. Even the next salvo which also managed to hit me fell uselessly to the ground, but this time the Alguacile wasn’t as lucky as the Invincible found his mark and ripped the lowly Nomad trooper apart with his Combi Rifle.

Being the last man standing and in terrible reach for his weapons, the remaining Grenzer decided to go for a bold suicide attack, rushing at me with his Knife in hand, but just as his blade crossed with my Katana, the Nomad soldier dropped to the ground lifelessly, his back riddled with bullets from the Invincible who’s field of vision he had crossed during his advance.

With the last Nomad trooper down I gave the order to cancel the alarm as the Cargo Deck was now clear, and called for a cleaning crew to take care of this mess. Most likely it’d be easiest to throw the corpses out the nearby airlock, for scum like that didn’t deserve a proper burial….their cubes would obviously be stored and prepared fór the next Cube exchange cycle between the the factions…

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Game 2 of my games with my colleague and his friend that started Infinity a while ago with Operation Icestorm. Once again sorry for the lower table quality than usual, we where playing at my colleagues house with his Icestorm terrain, which actually was quite the fun change for once ^^ I hope you enjoy reading the report just as much as we enjoyed playing it!

(Note this battle report was part of the Global Online Campaign Strikezone Wotan. During the campaign I barely had time reporting the battles on the official tool and didn’t get around to post it here on my Blog, I now finally have time to do so, so I hope those of you who haven’t read them yet will enjoy them! ^^ )

(Sorry guys, this one will have a long Fluff part at the beginning, if you don’t care much for my story but rather just want to see the action, please scroll down until the part where you will see the army lists and pictures, that’s where the action will begin…)

After the events on Sygtir 2 we returned to the „Dancing Panda“ for some R&R to lick our uncalled for wounds. I know why I’m not a fan of secret diplomatic missions, something always goes wrong, and then suddenly you are at the other end of some scandal or firefight or worse.

Luckily this time it seemed like the overall chaos going on in the Wotan Blockade masked events like these quite effectively, and both parties had apparently continued on as if nothing had happened, which was all good for me…

Most likely that was because we had bigger problems to face anyways, the continued operations on La Forja to cleanse the sepsitorized Nomad troops apparently caused so much stress to the station’s structural integrity that it eventually broke apart and collapsed, causing heavy damage to all of the stations areas, making it not only no longer inhabitable, but basically destroying it for all intents and purposes of the Blockade.

Now obviously destroying a station in the Blockade wasn’t exactly what the intention of these operations had been, but since the Nomads had no longer shown any intent of cooperating with the other factions anyways, and even high ranking commanders of them had indeed been corrupted and joined the Combined Army, it might have been the best result in the end.

Sadly this wasn’t the end of our struggle in the sector though, as not only did the Nomads get reinforcements in form of some obscenely named wannabe spaceship, basically a crappy old freighter that they stuck some guns unto and called it a job done, typical sloppy Nomad work really, but due to the increase of war refugees and trade requests from foreign nations for military and aid goods in the sector, we also had to open up our Embassy Station Baijing to the public to show our good will….which as expected some of the other factions promptly took as an opportunity to send armed troops in instead of refugees and traders.

Luckily it really didn’t matter, the station has no real worth for the Blockade or Huangdi, we can easily build another one or force them to seize control of it later on, so I say let them have it if this is how they pretend to defend humanity in these dark times.

Now as for them Tohaas invading our Shanqiang, that’s a different matter entirely….in fact I was just about to ready a strike team to cleanse some of these filthy Artichokes off our Frigate, when another complication hit our command channels.

It seems that there has been some sort of drama going on in one of the recent O12 meetings, with Ariadna representatives apparently refusing to share the results of their investigation with the other members, and since Yu Jing and Aleph had fought side by side with them and agreed to share information afterwards before the operation even started, our representatives understandably weren’t exactly happy about this breach of contract.

And as representatives of O12 are wont to….they didn’t exactly care about our current situation in the Blockade, and simply decided that it was “time for a little accident” to happen to the Ariadna stronghold…..and our troops in the sector where supposed to “see to it”….

Now previously I would have most likely avoided such a shady mission such as this, but if my time in the ISS has told me anything, it’s that sometimes subterfuge and covert operations matter more than brute force, and that the concept of “Face” was an important one…

It also didn’t help that for some reason I had recently been promoted to the Rank of Field Marshal, or to name it by the JSA counterpart, Shogun……

Me becoming a Shogun of the Yu Jing army was something I had never even dared to dream about…and for most of my life wouldn’t have cared to aspire to either, but recent events have shown that there is more at stake than just honour for my family, or some personal sense of achievement, humanity was under serious threat from an alien menace, trying not only to defeat us, but also to occupy us, brainwash us, and turn us into fuel for their giant E.I. controlled war machine…and if for some strange twist of fate this Law student dropout, ex biker gang member, and shame to his family human that I am should turn out to make a difference by becoming not only a General, but even a Shogun, then I it was indeed my duty to comply, and give my best for my Empire and its people.

What I mean by all these fancy words is…..as a Shogun I basically couldn’t avoid following our O12 representatives wishes, as the inter faction diplomatic backlash of that would most likely hurt the whole Yu Jing command in the Blockade, and make it harder for myself to achieve my goals as well…and of course it never hurt to earn some favour with high ranking politicians, one never knew when it’d come in handy.

So instead of leading a strike team on our Shanqiang Frigate to roast some Artichokes, I instead found myself breaking through a sealed exterior airlock with the help of Shen Nung’s superior hacking skills.

It seems like at some point a PanO Spacecraft had made a not so gentle emergency landing in this area, causing several hull breaches which lead to certain landing airlocks being temporarily sealed and no access to the area being allowed. Since no one expected a bunch of idiots to try and enter such a hostile environment security in this part of the orbital has been decreased as well, at least that’s what our Intel has announced, and so it fell to my strike team to prove them wrong and show them that there ARE idiots foolish enough to try it…

The target was actually quite a good one I had to admit as there was supposedly a little armoury in the blocked off area, filled to the brim with Teseum ammunition and even whole sets of armour as replacement for the Caledonian Mormaer nobles, and that was worth quite the fortune even for Ariadna standards, so they’d feel it if that’d somehow get “accidentally vented into space”….

But of course things didn’t go quite as easy as we had hoped for as, the moment we breached the air lock and stormed into the place, we could already hear loud Caledonian voices shouting at each other.

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Voice Recording of Operation Dancefloor, 10 seconds after Airlock breach

“Goddamn it! Hurry up you fool, this area isn’t save and it sounds like it’s about to collapse completely!”

“All the more reason to get our gear out of here!”

“All the gear in the world isn’t worth it if you get vented into space while trying to retrieve it!”

“Oh come on, this place has been sealed for several days now, if it was going to collapse it would have already done so…”

“Didn’t you hear that just now? That hissing sound? Things are definitely falling apart!”

“That was just your imagination or maybe Mac Pea over there crapping his skirt…again…”

“Screw you Mac Duffins! If anyone here crapped himself it was you last frid….”

*a loud growling voice disrupts the conversation*

“Shut up, I smell intruders…”

“Yeah right, as if…”

*Conversation ends with the sound of heavy machine gun fire and a painful growl*

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Hearing that the Caledonians that for some reason where present in the area where obviously distracted, I decided to use this opportunity to lay a little ambush for them by placing the Husong Yaokong HMG Drone together with two Kuang Shi on the left flank, conveniently overlooking the Caledonian’s approach route to the Arsenal in the middle of the battlefield.

Since the main objective of this mission was the Arsenal, I decided that the center would need to be the strongest, and thus not only positioned there myself, but also posted another Celestial Guard, a whole team of Cranes and Celestial Guards, the remaining two Kuang Shi, and Father Anderson there, to ensure quick access to the Armoury.

Since the Caledonians weren’t exactly prepared to engage enemy troops at their home base at this time, their troops where basically just walking together in the center towards the Arsenal, the only exception being a Mormaer which had advanced along the flank, most likely tired of the other’s chatter or annoyed by the Cameronian’s smell..

The battle was started by an especially eager Cameronian that tried to advance straight for the Arsenal, but ran right into my little trap, the Husong Yaokong’s HMG ripping him right apart as he crossed it’s field of view.

Warned by his comrade’s demise the second Cameronian advanced more careful, and then began to cover the advance route of his comrades with smoke grenades, effectively rendering the HMG drone useless for the moment.

The moment the advance route was secure, a Caledonian Hacker, still a funny concept for me, quickly advanced towards the sealed Armoury doors and opened them with her access code.

(For those with high attention to details….we actually forgot that the Armoury doors where closed at the beginning *lol* so my wife sent in the hacker to open the doors a few turns after she actually should have…didn’t really change anything though, so it’s all good)

Promptly the Cameronian advanced through the now opened door, dodging my bullets as he did so, and proceeded to throw a smoke grenade into the entrance, apparently unaware that my armours highly advanced sensors could simply see through it.

One of the Caledonians apparently was aware of this fact though, as suddenly a Highlander Grey burst through the smoke screen on the left flank, and opened fire on the Husong Yaokong, taking it out in a storm of heavy Teseum bullets, most likely worth more than the Remote it destroyed…

With the route from the flank secured, a Caledonian Highlander team lead by what I assumed was their commander entered the Armoury from the side, preparing to defend it from all potential attackers, while simultaneously grabbing some gear from the boxes within.

Just as I was about to give the order to advance, the Mormaer on the enemy flank decided to try her luck as she opened fire on the Crane Agent covering a corner on my right side. At first the exchange ended in the Crane’s favour, but his bullets bounced off the heavily armoured Caledonian noblewoman without any effect, and with her second volley he Mormaer managed to wound the mighty Crane Agent with her armour piercing heavy machine gun.

In the meantime the Highlander Grey dashed back into cover, knowing fully well that the smokescreen was about to dissipate, most likely through the slight hull breach inside of the armoury which had been sealed by the closed armoury gates before.

With the Kuang Shi stumbling forward, no longer able to suppress their righteous zeal for the Yu Jing Empire, I finally gave the order to storm the Armoury.

It started with the Crane’s team advancing in the center, his Spitfire supported by his comrade’s covering fire easily ripping apart the Mormaer that had wounded him before.

Knowing that the Armoury was full of enemies, but also aware that means lots of easy targets, the second Crane Agent in the group sneaked towards the entrance of the Armoury, and opened up fire on the Highlander Team within with her Nano Pulsars, in exchange receiving several rounds of Chainrifle fire from the defenders.

Once everything was said and done, the Crane herself lay on the floor heavily wounded, but every highlander besides one was dead, and the one highlander was heavily wounded and about to bleed out as well.

Aware that there was still at least one Cameronian alive inside of the room, hiding behind the other corner of the room, the remaining Crane Agent thus decided to advance more careful, positioning himself just outside of the reach of the Cameronian’s Chainrifle, but well within his own Spitfire’s reach as he took position to fire though the door, and sure enough, his Spitfire riddled the Cameronian with countless holes while the creatures Chainrifle’s load sprayed the area without any real effect.

Knowing that we had to secure the Armoury before the Caledonians plundered it dry or called for reinforcements, the Crane’s team thus advanced into the room, the Crane’s armour easily deflecting the chainrifle shoot from the bleeding out Highlander as he disintegrated the fool with his double Nanopulsers.

With the rest of his team securing the room, the Crane Agent then proceeded through the door that to the Caledonian side of the battlefield, surprising the Highlander Grey and the Caledonian Hacker that had taken cover there with his Nanopulsers. The Highlander Grey was quick enough to dodge out of the deadly weapon’s arc, but the Hacker wasn’t quick enough and got taken out by the cruel weapon.

Meanwhile a little further back on the battlefield Father Anderson decided to leave his cover to bait a Cateran Sniper that he suspected was hiding on the far end of the battlefield, and true enough the Mercenary Sniper revealed his position by firing at one of Father Anderson’s Holoechos the moment they rose from cover. The first salvo from Father Anderson wasn’t quite enough to take out the Sniper, but as Father Anderson repositioned himself just in case his next salvo would fail as well, his bullets hit the Cateran straight in the head, reducing him to a puddle of sludge dripping from the Container he had been standing on.

With their Commander dead on the ground the Caledonians were in disarray, the Highlander Grey managed to live through another Nano Pulser attack from the Crane Agent, riddling him with her Teseum bullets in return, downing the agent, and it seemed like a bunch of camouflaged units where moving towards the Armoury. A Caledonian doctor tried to advance as well and heal the Caledonian Hacker with his Stim Pistol from his Medipack, but since he couldn’t get any closer without getting fired at from inside the Armoury, he was just out of good reach for the little pistol, and kept missing his patient.

Determined to exploit the enemy’s temporary lack of coordination I ordered Celestial Guard Shen Jing in the Armoury to provide a Smokescreen on the side of the room, and advanced to flank the Highlander Grey’s new position. Since the primitive Caledonian lacked any way to see me through the smokescreen she barely managed to fight back as my heavy machinegun rounds ripped through her primitive armour, downing her where she stood.

Since I was the best option to press the attack further, I quickly advanced into the armoury, shooting down the Caledonian doctor from inside, and then advancing through the door like the Crane Agent before.

As I exited the room through the doorframe I was instantly ambushed by a S.A.S Agent that had been hiding next to it, but while the S.A.S.’s Chainrifle managed to actually wound me, my HMG downed both him and the Volunteer that had been hiding behind the Caledonian Doctor.

With only herself and a 112 Emergency unit left on the field, the remaining S.A.S Agent decided that the Armoury simply wasn’t worth dying for, and instead decided to flee, most likely intent on calling for backup.

By the time the Caledonian reinforcements arrived, my squad and the content of the Armoury was already on our way back to the “Dancing Panda”, undetected by the Caledonian’s primitive systems easily overcome by Shen Nung’s hacking skills. Any evidence of our little insertion besides the meaningless opinions of the two two surviving Caledonians had been erased by a “accidental” detonation of a nearby fuel tank, ripping most of the sealed off area completely into space, the Caledonian Corpses vanishing into the void alongside most of the battlefield we had been fighting on just now.

I hoped this little “accident” would be enough to appease our O12 representatives, as I feared that another such venture would most likely not be as easy…