XCOM 2 - War of the Chosen

[Dreylin]

We land and it seems we're crate-chasing:


We advance a short way and then Adrien triggers Scanning Protocol:


Nothing in range, but on the Alien turn these guys wander in:


We reposition for a turn and then:



Mox starts by Grabbing the Officer:



That allows shallow_thought to advance and take out the Lancer:


Alhambram gets all worked up:


But misses.

Adrien flanks the remaining Trooper:


Looking good, but then this guy shows his face:


I'd been hoping for the opportunity to finish off the Berserker Queen, but I guess we'll find out what makes this chap tick:



He takes a position at the back of the field; this mission stopped being about crate-chasing and became more about survival.

RefSteel advances in concealment and spots another pod:


We shuffle very carefully round and converge on the pod. Crates start to fly:


Continuing to shuffle and we stumble on a Hunter ability as RefSteel is spotted:


The pod can now see him and triggers.

Dreylin starts by setting two of them on fire:



Alhambram tries the Bolt Caster this time:


Same luck though.

shallow_thought takes out the burning Sectoid and Ref chunks the Archon:



When Ref triggered the pod they moved in that direction and now Adrien & Mox are stuck on the wrong side of the battlefield with the Flashbang and the Mimic beacon. Mox allows Adrien to move up and Disorient the remaining two:



The crates fly and we spot another enemy at the sight limit:


Going to have to be careful not to trigger that pod while still dealing with this one.

Not sure what the "Tactical Analysis" is, but if it impairs them all the better.


They mill about ineffectually, but the Hunter has something else in mind:



Hmmm, let's see how we can deal with this; OK, Dreylin can move out of the line of fire and still get a shot off at the Sectoid:


Adrien takes a shot at the Sectoid:


Ths Stock still gives a tick of damage, but popping out from behind the tree ends up triggering the Spectre:



And his Muton friend.

[Dreylin]

shallow_thought tries to take out the Archon:


RefSteel has more luck with the Sectoid:


But we're not going to take enough of them out with the remaining men so it's time for distraction & defense:



More crates fly and the mimic dies:



Re-reading as I'm posting, I realise that "Tactical Analysis" is the South America bonus I picked up that reduces them to a single move when discovered on XCOM turn. It's already proving valuable.

The Muton suppresses shallow_thought & the Hunter targets Alhambram:


Let's get Alhambram safe first; Mox moves up and Alhambram takes his place out of the line of fire:


The best odds Mox can get is on his Justice grab:



That will make life easier! 

Adrien moves for a shot:


The Hair Trigger grants an extra Action!


Things are feeling quite a bit more comfortable now.

Dreylin lines up:


Misses shallow_thought, but catches the Muton and breaks the suppression:


She advances and deals with the Muton:


Oh yeah, the Archon's still alive, isn't it:


That's 8, so I think it's just the Hunter left. In that case it's time to advance a bit faster and maybe detour for some loot along the way.


Here's our first live sighting:



shallow_thought takes one through full cover.

She picks up the Loot and hunkers:



A shuffle in cover and a few pot-shots is all we can manage this turn.



Ouch!

Time for some payback!

shallow_thought shreds and removes the cover:


Now exposed, the shots pour in:



Dreylin has no sightline, so Al patches him up before he moves to a better spot:


Still no shot, but he can Overwatch for when the Hunter moves to cover.

Er, OK:




Flaming Lancers, Batman!



Ugh, but at least he's still out of cover...

Adrien advances to deal with the Lancer:



RefSteel tags Mox just incase, then takes his shot:



Dreylin does the same for shallow_thought:


It almost seems unfair:


Revenge is mine!



Mission over:




Still a good haul for only 50% of the crates!

A promotion and a couple of Bond upgrades available:


And I /finally/ remember to re-nick shallow_thought!

[haphazard1]

Nice mission! Smashing a chosen is always good to see, even if this one is not gone for good. And some nice loot never hurts.

[yuris125]

I like how Mox isn't even good enough for the A team

Nice mission! Alhambram needs to work on his aim though

[RefSteel]

No wonder I'm on the B-Team: I'm still almost as lost as those zombie guys! Even I know that was a good mission though! Any mission is a good mission if I do something to a bad guy that makes the commander use "chunk" as a verb!

[shallow_thought]

I'm just damn glad it's not old style X-COM where your "teammates" were nearly as much risk to you as the aliens... that sight lined up through my avatar was interesting.

Good mission. Great to have put one of the chosen in their place for a while.

[Dreylin]

I like how Mox isn't even good enough for the A team

Well, maybe that's not entirely fair - or maybe it's that the "A" in A-Team currently stands for "Assassin" and he just didn't quite fit on it.

Current lineup is expected to be:
Yuris & DP101 - top Sharpshooter and shredder / suppression Gren
Dragunova & Fenn - Reaper for anti-Assassin shenanigans & scouting and big kaboom guy
haphazard1 & Storm - Medic! and partner

So really Mox isn't along because he's Bonded to the wrong Specialist - much as RefSteel is relegated to the "B-team" because she Bonded to the #2 Sniper.

Barring a Guerilla Op popping up, I'll likely launch the  mission against the Assassin in 2 (game) days once the Shadow Chamber completes and I can get a little preview of what we'll be facing.

Nice mission! Alhambram needs to work on his aim though

Well Archons are hard to hit at the best of times, but I think I might have been a bit too cautious with Alhambram this mission; he tended to stay at the back and really only got the one shot off. I think he failed a Domination that I didn't mention, but really didn't contribute much. I'll probably send him out with a Rifle next time instead of the Bolt Caster, and I need to check whether I upgraded the Psi Amps, since I have a feeling I forgot and his Psi attacks always seemed low odds.

It'll probably take me 2-3 missions to remember to do that, like it did to re-nick shallow_thought!

Oh, and it might be a little while before I can get another mission run and written up; I have family visiting for the next few weeks and there are a few important Baseball games this week that will distract me...

[haphazard1]

Taking on the Assassin should be big. And I get to be a part of it (most likely). Excellent news.

Thanks for running this campaign and posting it all, Dreylin! It has been very entertaining. Enjoy the family visit and baseball, we will still be around whenever you find time. Maybe I can even find time to finally wrap up my final mission for the Long War campaign....

[Alhambram]

Nice mission! Alhambram needs to work on his aim though

Well, seems that I need some aim training! 

[Dreylin]

That was a longer break than I had expected, but with the World Series over (go Astros!) & family departed; time to finish up preparations:


Key here is 2t to the Shadow Chamber to see what we're facing, and then maybe the extra 3t to Bluescreen Protocol if Mechs are on the menu.

Checked through the previous missions to remind me what was up and yep, I forgot the Psi Amp upgrade:


Shadow Chamber says:



Mechs.  We also need some more time before Yuris & Dragunova are back at full Will, so Bluescreen it is.

Meanwhile, let's start to hook up North America:


Gets me a first-range contact on Western Europe as well.

Kaiser & Khan finish Bonding; next up Mox & AdrienIer:


Psi team booth finish new skills:



And the Hunter sticks his oar in:


(Been taking lessons from the Warlock in targetting non-contacted regions though!) 

Bluscreen's in and I immediately purchase the pieces:



Still a few points of Will off, and about a day to finish the Relay, so we're not going quite yet...

Time for these guys to come back with help for Tygan:



Who Hunts the Hunter?

Relay comes in, so no more excuses:


Oh, so it's a one-off chance

Actually, one more thing before we go:


Haywire for hap, then we line up the crew:


The astute amongst you will note that I have once again forgotten the EXO suit ... yeah.

Fenn brings the Boom, with Dragunova adding punch with the Bluescreen Rounds. Yuris grabs the "Lost" Rifle & Shadowkeeper w/ Dragon Rounds, then fills the second slot with a spare medkit, while DP101 slaps a Crit upgrade on his cannon, loads up with Talon Rounds and brings the support grenades. Finally, haphazard1 kits up with a MedKit and the Skulljack, leaving Storm carrying the Mimic Beacon.

Gulp, here we go...