Lost Cateran Game 1 vs. Ariadna

So, Game #1 was against Ariadna, and it was essentially Control the Terminals. As it was against Ariadna, neither of us had hackers, which put us on roughly a similar playing field. I would say, out of the three games, this was the most cerebrally challenging game. My opponent was a skilled player, and both of us knew the capabilities of the other’s list. My opponent was also a great guy, and I had a lot of fun playing him.

The starting lineup, to the best of my recollection

My opponent had first turn, so he moved his Galwegian into base-to-base with Marker #1 and claimed the first Marker. I made a tactical error in popping Uxia out of camo to try to shoot at the Galwegian, but he had his Loup-Garou there for backup and shot her to pieces before she could do a thing.

My first turn consisted of my pushing my Galwegians up the side of the board in a linked team, and breaking the team after three orders. Throwing some smoke grenades, I pushed on Galwegian into the fray. He took a wound in the process, so I continued to spend orders on him until the very end. He went berserk on the Tankhunter with ADHL and finally Chain Rifled the Line Kazak behind him before the turn ended.

At this point, my opponent was in Loss of Lieutenant, so he nominated a new lieutenant.

I proceeded to push my now unlinked Galwegians into the fray, aiming to take out that Viral Rifle that concerned me so much. My two remaining Galwegians died, one to a viral shot to the face, and one to a Tankhunter shot from above with an Autocannon (yeah, messy). The one up-shot to this gamble was that it revealed the second Tankhunter, allowing me to take him out with my Cateran #1.

My opponent proceeded to push up the middle with his Dog Warrior, which concerned me. My Caterans would not stand a chance against a dog warrior. After roughly five orders and him transforming into a dogface form, I finally took him out with Cateran #2 and #3. He also pushed his Loup Garou with Viral Rifle forward, threatening my Wallace, who was still behind cover.

Attempting to climb up the wall to get to Marker #3, Wallace failed to do so (a theme that would continue to repeat itself throughout the tournament, despite PH 14). However, I was able to take out his Veteran Kazak with two T2 Cateran shots from Cateran #3 and #4.



Caterans #3 and #4, with Cateran #1 in the distance (#2 is under the catwalk)

At this point, my opponent was in Retreat mode, with 2 Loup Garous and a Galwegian left. Wallace threw a smoke grenade, climbed up, claimed Marker #3 and got back down before the smoke went away, as he still had his viral rifle trained on Wallace.

After this final turn, my opponent and I called it. We had both claimed one marker, but I only lost 46 points, where he had lost 154. Still, it was a Minor Victory for me and a Minor Loss for him. I decided against trying to go for the middle marker, as it would have been risky to get Wallace in and out of there effectively. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve taken the chance?

All in all, great game against a great player! On to Game #2.