Operation Bone-Rustler Part 2: Bravo Team: An Infinity N5 Battle Report

 If you somehow found this blog post before reading part 1, you can read that here.

This time, we are on the next step of the "Operation" series of games between the forces of the Tartary Army Corps and the JSA Shindenbutai forces.

### ### ### Prologue ### ### ###

The Pelican for Bravo Team came in screaming, taking more small arms and MANPAD fire than the other Pelicans on approach. While the Pelican was peppered with fire, Bravo Team was able to deploy from the dropship to their fire zone.

Taking up firing positions, Bravo Team came under immediate fire from a more aggressive defense force.

### ### ###

### The Board ###

The board did not change one bit from the board in Part 1. All terrain and the mat are from Corvus Belli and their Operation Sandtrap box set.

### The Mission ###

Just like in Part 1, this is essentially playing Annihilation. This time though, we're exploring the wonders of more Advance Deployment skills, such as Forward Deployment and Infiltration. I know there was a source of Forward Deployment last time, but this time it actually matters a little bit.

We also get into the details for Loss of Lieutenant and the use of Command Tokens during play.

### The Lists ###

Ariadna (Tartary Army Corps)

Still retaining the Veteran Kazak, Scout, and trio of Line Kazaks, I do make a mistake with how the list should be if I was properly following Operation Coldfront's escalation, I would have brought in a Tankhunter with a AP Rifle, but I forgot what the escalation steps were.

JSA (Shindenbutai)

The Hatamoto returns with his trio of Senku and a Raiden, but there's a new friend this time in the form of a Nokizaru. While the Raiden is an interesting option with his Heavy Rocket Launcher and a Breaker Pistol, the Hidden Deployment can easily distract you with other plans, at least for a small game such as this. 

### Pre-Game Roles and Deployment ###

Shindenbutai won the Lieutenant roll, and opted to go keep Initiative and go first; which was a decision easily made considering how the first game went. Meaning I got deployment, we used the same deployment zones, and JSA deployed first.

## Turn 1 ###

Vet Kazak and Hatamoto
trade shots!

Turn 1: Shindenbutai

The JSA start is very strong. The Hatamoto begins by using his two Lieutenant orders and some other
orders, moving forward and gunfighting with the Veteran Kazak, who drops to NWI on the first order, but then hits the Hatamoto with no wounds being caused with the second. The Hatamoto moves and dodges into cover as the Veteran Kazak keeps trying to tag him. The Nokizaru stands up and walks around the corner and takes out the Veteran Kazak with his shotgun.

The remaining orders from the turn sees my more forward Line Kazak go down, and then the Hatamoto standing there looking down at my prone Line Kazaks in the backline.

It's Senku Season!

Turn 1: Tartary Army Corps

I begin the turn in Loss of Lieutenant, which is always fun. I have a single regular order, as the
Frontovik has Warhorse. I begin with the Scout; I spend a command token to take one of the line kazak orders and make it regular. The Scout uses said order to advance forward while ending outside of Line of Sight of known units. He uses his irregular order to move up and reveal, shooting the nearest Senku trooper with his shotgun, while the Senku tries to hit the dirt. The dirt did nothing to save him, and he failed his saves. The Scout goes to retreat back, to get prepared for the Hatamoto coming up on my left flank from the back and I trigger the Raiden, who tries and fails to hit the Scout due to his sneaky dodge. 

The Frontovik moves forward using yet another converted irregular order from the Line Kazaks in the back, running from the Hatamoto. My mistake was not leaving him in a way that he could possibly fight when the Hatamoto comes around the corner.

I declare my Frontovik as my new Lieutenant.

End of Turn 1

### ### ###

Bravo Team hit their firing positions and were immediately engaged by the zone defenders, with one of the few Imperial Guards running headlong into their position. Bravo team was not expecting to see resistance like this at a supposed civilian outpost.

### ### ###

### Turn 2 ###

Turn 2: Shindenbutai

The Hatamoto begins using his Lieutenant Orders to address the 2 Line Kazaks he's standing in front of him with shooting and then circling back to my left flank. The remaining orders being spent are used for the Hatamoto to move up and defeat the Frontovik and Scout in CC.

Hatamoto vs the Line Kazak backbone

The game ends here, as the Tartary Army Corps has been removed from the table.

### ### ###

The radio crackles in Col. Kraznitsky's headset. "Gamma team this is Pelican Bravo, fireteam has been engaged and eliminated, lost contact with Fireteam Leader shortly after lift-off. Requesting to loitering for medevac.

"Acknowledged. Proceed to loiter perimeter." Kraznitsky replied. Thankfully there were a few emergency landing zones scouted out nearby before the operation began. They may need to hunker down for a bit if the wounds are grievous enough.

He returned to watching the other fireteams handle their zones as his Pelican loitered at the perimeter preparing for their approach on the facility.

### ### ###

### ### ### Post-game ### ### ###

This game continued to show how power-pieces work in games under 300pts. While units like the Hatamoto and Veteran Kazak can be efficient at their work when on the active turn, they're a resource hog, and investing in these units without a proper defensive support piece, such as a Neurocinetic or Total Reaction unit, your going to have a rough time handling gunfights in your reactive turn.

This mission went about as well as I thought it would going second. The Hatamoto is the biggest concern I have for the entire JSA half of the Operation Sandtrap box, as he functions as the heavy hitter AND the Lieutenant, with the extra LT order as well.

### ### ### Wrap-up ### ### ###

At time of writing, it's been nearly 3 weeks since this game was played (being played on January 4, 2025). Between writing these battle reports, life, and running my annual Warhammer 40k Highlander tournament (see that post here if you want to read about that), I haven't had much time for things. Which is unfortunate, as I am planning on attending an ITS event up in Westminster Maryland on February 1, and I would love to be ablet o have my list(s) fully painted by then.

As for upcoming blog posts, I still need to type up one or two for some commission painting stuff I have been working on, I still need to finish the next 2 part of this Operation series, and then I have the batrep for the game I played while being a T/O for Highlander.