Inaugural Fast Panda Throwdown - Game 3: Supplies vs Neilio

 

For my final game, I was up against Neilio, who was running Starmada. I've not played against Starmada, but I'm aware that they lack cheap support troops and specialise in super violent links. In Supplies, my hope was to utilise my massive number of mid field units to grab some boxes and avoid a straight fight.

My concerns of incoming extreme violence were deepened when my opponent took the first turn, and declared he was spending a command token to hold a model back, which would mean he was holding back three models. With the tiny number of models deployed on the table, I was expecting a TAG. When he placed his remaining models down, it turned up that it was Hector and Parvati in a link team.

This was not an improvement.

A lucky shot by one of my snipers on an Epsilon HMG made me think I might have a chance, but it wasn't to be. I'd misdeployed the snipers so one wasn't in much in the way of cover, so he was quickly picked off, and without the +3 BS bonus, the second shortly joined him. Hector then moved up into the mid field and did a solid murder on an innocent Hunzakut who'd been planning on grabbing a supply box and running away as much as possible.

With everything Hector could see dying, I decided to take an asymmetric approach. Hector would do a lot less with fewer orders, so I sent one of my Libertos after the Kappa fireteam. It was ridiculously effective. Four of the five link members ended up dead and off the board, with only the Kappa Missile Launcher left unconscious and bleeding out. The Libertos was sadly wounded in the exchange and died at the end of my turn, his duty done.

My Zhencha managed to get a box, but didn't have the orders to get far enough away from Hector, who killed him super dead. My opponent rightly identified Hector needed as many orders as possible so simply dropped every command token on moving models into Hector's group to replace the dead fireteam. Deciding that box was too far away, he instead pulled back and went for the box on the other side, his link team picking up the centre box on the way.

At this point, one of the many, many people Hector killed was my Lieutenant, who I'd moved up with the surviving link team members in the vain, vain hope of picking up a box in my following turn. I did manage to pick up a box and score a Classified with my Hacker, but with Starmada holding two boxes, the game ended 6-3 to the cops.

I think I did the right thing by going after the link, and Neilio in turn did the right thing of using Command Tokens to mitigate the damage. I need to be more careful with my deployment when trying to gain cover from height as it doesn't work if you don't end up significantly higher than your opponent. The list needed a better solution to an attack piece like Hector, and didn't really have one. Camo only goes so far, and people can just, you know, discover your models?

All said, I learned a bunch from the game and I've got a lot to think about in terms of how to build lists to cope with this sort of attack in future.