XCOM 2 - War of the Chosen

[Dreylin]

So this is a new mission type; apparently this Engineer and his minder were trotting through Lost territory and then <something> and now the minder is unconscious and the armoured car is holding off the Lost ... but with only 5t of ammo remaining!


Predictably we start quite a way away and are going to have to peg it:


It doesn't look worthwhile heading up, so we head straight through the building on the ground floor. We spot a few Lost:


No one can get an angle for a shot, so we keep advancing and bunch up:


Turn rolls and:


Yeah, I'm not entirely surprised to see her; I spotted the "Very Difficult" rating as the squad loaded into Firebrand and so yeah....

The trio of Lost advanced to surround the squad, but Jowy pistols them out of the way to allow us to advance:

(the two on the counter are shop dummies)

Kelly pushes on with Run & Gun to trigger the next pods:


Jowy clears out a bunch with the Sniper Rifle, then advances and gets some more with the Pistol. Kelly chips off a few and Mardoc & the rest clean up the remainder.

Not bothering much with cover at the moment nor with Overwatch; the Assassin ignores the latter and has enough movement & tricks to minimise the use of the former. In fact, I'm mostly not worrying about the Assassin until she shows her face and just concentrating on the Lost.

Speaking of:


Good thing they aren't paying any attention to the VIP yet!

Also, this guy makes me very glad to have "Between the Eyes" enabled:


Mardoc advances to be in range to hit the VIP next turn, lands his first shot to take out a Lost and...


Not sure of the mechanics here, but she's been revealed. That's more HP than I remember, but I can't call this anything but a stroke of luck since everyone still has actions!

Khan starts us off by Shredding that armour:


Yeah there'll be more Lost on the way, but we'll cross that bridge after we've burned it.

Jowy clears out all the Lost he can see and then misses his shot. Mardoc takes a couple of 85%+ shots and then nails his:


Kelly brough the Axes for their first outing:



And lands the follow-up:


Bringing her in range for Kaiser to land the final blow:

[Dreylin]

The Assassin has left the yard, but we've got Lost on the way:


Enthusiastic little beggers, aren't they! Mardoc takes a double hit for 4hp.

Next turn Jowy leads the effort to clear them out:


Khan lends a hand:


Mardoc breaks the circle and triggers the next phase:


The cannon's off now and now there's a new pod of Lost triggered each turn. shallow_thought takes position next to the unconscious guy ready to lift & carry next turn, and the VIP runs off to hide in a corner.



Khan misses the overwatch shot, but it's the shipping containers that hold the nasty surprise:


The VIP takes 3 damage and my heart skips a few beats.

shallow_thought keeps running:


while Kelly takes out the pair and Mardoc moves up to patch up the VIP:


The squad takes a "run & huddle" approach to the retreat, bunching to avoid exposing anyone (VIP especially) to potential Lost attack, but the pods are all coming out from the outer end and no-one else take a hit.

Closest is right next turn as this pair crawl out of the container as well:


But not enough move left to hit Kelly and she quickly deals with them.


Let's montage the retreat:







These guys are let swinging as the evacuation completes:







Lots of Promotions!


Suddenly I have a raft of Captains, but Tiredness seems to be becoming more common as well.



Of course one of these two is injured!

Here's another pair going up the ranks together:



(they'll wait on that Bond upgrade though)

And our zombie-slayer in chief comtinues down the Sniper's track:


I'd nickname him Ash, but that really needs to be a reskinned Ranger....


Oh, and we get a new Grenadier Captain:


Run out of thread volunteers, so I call in Molach from the failed Long War campaign...

[haphazard1]

Nice work on the mission -- it is always good to see one of the chosen get stomped. Some useful rewards and a whole bunch of promotions do not hurt, either.

[yuris125]

Very nice work on the assassin! she's had that coming

Nice handling on the lost as well. And thanks for keeping me on the covert mission and away from the lost. I'm sure I'll be able to put that hacking skill to good use!

When a chosen maxes out the knowledge bar

they can launch an attack on the Avenger and you will get an Avenger Defence mission. Pretty sure it's different from vanilla, but don't remember the details

[Dreylin]

Very nice work on the assassin! she's had that coming

For sure, but I definitely got lucky spotting her before she attacked anyone and with everyone still having actions. I'm also certain that she didn't show up before Mardoc took out that first Lost, so I don't know the mechanics involved in her becoming revealed at that point either. Anyway, we should only have to deal with her once more....

Nice handling on the lost as well.

A Sharpshooter + Between the Eyes really makes them easier by a difficulty level or two. Infinite high-accuracy shots from the Pistol can clear the streets on their own; the free reloads for the Sniper Rifle are icing on the cake.

And thanks for keeping me on the covert mission and away from the lost.

So about that....

[yuris125]

So about that....  

[Dreylin]

All about the Covert Ops:


Seems very like the last one; run across the map and extract:


Here's a bit of get-along:




They still have a bad habit of hiding behind cars though:



Lightning Hands deals with the other:


Oh well, prices to be paid and suchlike:


We head up through the next building:


Dragunova spots a Trooper on the balcony ahead. Yuris poses for the camera and then takes him out with his Pistol:



The handful of Lost are still camped out on the ground floor:


Yuris can't reach the top of the truck with movement left, but DP101 can and takes out those he can see. Then Yuris drops down with an angle through the window and takes out all but one:


He has to settle for Overwatch:


Taking the low road, Dragunova sneaks up on another Trooper:


We'll take the stay in Stealth shot and score some loot:



The others take the high route again and close on the extraction point:


A pod of Lost and a Trooper bar the way:


We clear a few more out of the way before making the dash across & up:



It seems this chap is too distracted to spot them. (taking a leak against the pillar?)




Dragunova scores a promotion not from the mission, but from the Op:


I took the extra Claymore, but the other two options look good too for later.

6days to upgrade the Bond, but seems to be worthwhile:


Here's our new mission available:


I'll be waiting for a while before heading out on that one, but I do dial up the next Covert Op:


It seems that Jowy & Molach will make a good pair, so they get the nod for a trip to pick up some loot. Shen needs some Cores!

[haphazard1]

Another good outing, a promotion, and progress against the assassin. Very nice.

[yuris125]

Heh those lost... not as scary as I thought, are they? especially when I hit them between the eyes

[Dreylin]

Time to tune up the Avenger a bit; I start by juggling Engineers to up the power and then I can afford:


And then find someone to stuff in the tube:


Welcome Old Harry!

5days left to the Supply drop and the new facility is still "Imminent"; not knowing how the instant contact works, I start to worry about transit times and such and decide to make the first contact:



It seems I didn't have a good look at these bonuses, that one could be pretty useful.

That contact happened without moving the Avenger, so I can wait for the Facility to complete and still fill the Contacts before the Supply Drop.

Next up the excavation completes and we make a start on the Shadow Chamber:



Here's the layout now:


Looking at this now, I realise that I seem to have forgotten to start excavating the final slot, but it's nice to have speeded up the Psi training and the Proving Ground for a while!

Oh, I'd forgotten this was in the wind:


Seems old Warlock isn't as infallible as he claims to be!

Frost Bomb is in and still no Cores, so it's the Bolt Caster next:


And finally the Facility completes in Mexico, and with a protector:


OK, so what does North America have to offer:


Intriguing.



That fills out my current contacts, so I go back into the Avenger to build a second Comm station:


I start towards Western US before realising that I need 2 Relays on this continent to get the bonus, so there's no rush to finish the contacts. Instead I contact Eastern US and find this guy waiting:


Well I suppose that since I'm on the verge of getting rid of one, I can get a replacement.

Before the Supply drop I get my Improved Sniper Rifles:


But no Inspiration, so it's the long slog to Plasma Rifles.

Oh, and the Avatar Project ticks down:


Supply Drop:



Bald Guy is surprisingly down on me considering all the blue text - guess he thinks I'm taking too much time to deal with the Chosen?

Dark Events:


3wks until the Retaliation should give me a comfortable enough space to take out the Assassin. Just need to wait for a few to regain their Will.

I switch out the instant contact card for extra turns on timed missions; I'll switch it back in after the next drop:


Covert Operatives bring back some Cores:


Kelly leads out the next Op (Mardoc in the Infirmary again) to bring back a much-needed Scientist:


So now I'm waiting for Dragunova & Fenn's Bond upgrade to finish, and for Yuris & DP101 to reach full Will before hitting the Assassin.

Meanwhile, Psi Training completes for both:



As soon as I get a non Lost-only mission, Alhambram will be in the field.

A full suite of unique weapons now available:



Time for BSOD, I think.

POI finishes quickly, then on to the Supply Drop:


And there's the Bond upgrade complete, but still a while on Yuris' Will.

Khan & Kaiser work on their upgrade:


And just as I'm thinking to gear up for the Assassin:


Time to roll out the B-Team...


Alhambram ready for his first outing with shallow_thought; RefSteel goes for max Crit, while Dreylin gears up with the Shadowkeeper & a Rocket as well as the "Lost" Rifle. Adrien & Mox round out the squad.

Mox also takes a moment to pick up a couple of upgrades:



Should be spoiled for choice of actions now.