A HCPS patrol has encountered a strong SLA presence near the failed mining centre of Sagatay and in moving in to clear out the insurgent forces. Unbeknownst to the HCPS they have happened across a major stronghold of the rebellion…
Art by KaanaMoonShadow
A brief recap of the setup can be found here.
The Human Co-Prosperity Sphere make their first moves on their right flank, but the first squad over the top takes some serious return fire as they make it to the top of the ridge
A combination of their fire with the APC backing them up destroys the main gun of the sentry bot on this side of the Sakhan defences
The Sakhans in the bunker begin to get a bit worried as they see the strength of the HCPS' other flank
But accurate fire from the outer defences put the first HCPS fireteam to ground
The rest of the assault on that flank begines to take shape as the scout squad hits the ridgeline
The Sakhan gunbots trundle into action, going past the disarmed pillbox
The technicians on their coffee break! Right before they head inside the bunker to begin sanitising the data
The armoured car on the ridgeline overlooking the base takes a long-range missile shot at the APC. Meanwhile on the Sakhan right the outlying team discover that their position behind some mining spoil is actually useless, and they withdraw to find more useful cover.
#The shot hits true - brewing up the APC, the crew bails out - one is dead but the other two are only lightly wounded and they run. It would seem that most of the patrol's spare ammo was kept in the APC [The HCPS now counts as poorly supplied, costing its squadss two firepower dice!]
Return fire from the AT team knocks out the armoured car's drive system, leaving it perched on the ridgeline
The Sakhan sniper team, hidden in the brush choose their target wisely
Taking down the HCPS team no the extreme flank
Another team get a bird's eye view of the complex
The first of the Power Armour pairs gets into action, advancing through cover making a beeline for the second sentry bot
As this happens though an intense dust storm messes with sensors and makes long-range gunfire all but impossible - though vehicles and emplacements with high-end thermal sensors are able to cope. At the extreme end of their range the power armour pair and the gunbots trade fire, one gunbot is knocked out but one power armoured trooper also goes down
The light tank comes down off the ridge, firing at the sentry bot, but with only partial damage
#It would seem that the HCPS equipment is made by the lowest bidder, as its machine gun conks out, it take a long-range missile shot from the immobile armoured car on the ridge and the tank explodes
The power armour shows how its done, taking out the second turret without too much trouble
The cover of the sandstorm, which seems to be slowing down the advance, now is recognised as a serious problem - the defensive fire will be ineffective and the attackers will be close-in before they can be stopped!
The second armoured car turns the corner and trains its autocannon on the rear-most squad
The Sakhan heavy infantry have withdrawn into the bunker proper and are nervously looking for targets
The second line of defence is realiging itself near a likely gap the attackers will have to cross
The defensive fire forces one of the HCPS teams back up the ridge into cover
The attack is blunted, and as the initiative passes to the Sakhan defenders they take the offensive
An aggressive move by the armoured car near the bunker sees him advance to seek out the enemy over the ridge. It has some success, though at the cost of some destroyed wheels, cutting it speed and manoeuvrability down significantly
As the tide turns, there is a break in the clouds and the battlefield clears. The defenders find the HCPS forces in open ground and a deadly concentration of fire proves the power armour all too vulnerable!
Holding the left flank, this lone fireteam hunkers down
Things are too hot for these guys, as they withdraw from the fight, even if the armoured car is backing away it's 30mm autocannon is out of their league. Back in the centre of the battlefield, the power armour duo are in the zone, and they begin to inflict some serious casualties on the Sakhans, including wiping out the sniper team. It's too little and too late though
The attack has been turned back and the database has been sanitised. Before pulling back the defenders even have the time to set demolition charges on the bunker to deny other, less vital information to the HCPS
Overlooking the battlefield, Commander Li berates himself. Using the power armour in pairs may be good for intimidating miners or overawing militia, but against serious opposition they amount to penny packets. The attack will be fatal to the career of Lieutenant Chen, but he was not liked back in the Prefecture HQ in any case...
