Black Ops: Octopod Escape



In a Black Ops battle featuring two newly painted forces, a small Octopod task force has been discovered operating deep inside Prang!* territory.  The 12 man group of conscripts including one leader (Ace) and one RPG toting heavy (for a total of 54 points) have regrouped inside a small park.  Meanwhile, a 9 man group of Prang! featuring a leader (Ace), two GPMG toting heavies, and six troopers (for a total of 73 points) have boxed them in, and look to wipe them out. 

 

Shortly after the start of hostilities, as evidenced by one octo down.

The octopod forces win by exiting half their number off board by the end of turn 5, if they fail to do so, the Prang! mission will succeed.

 

The Prang! drew the bulk of the early cards, giving them a chance to move into position and set up a few test shots.

The general flow of battle with the octopods sprinting northwest,
while the Prang! slowly work around to get some decent fire lanes open.

But the mid-deck cards come up all octopod, and with escape just four moves away, they waste no time running to the northwest.

A three man fire team tries to cut off escape with a long,
and mostly clear fire lane, but can't get their heavy guns
set up in time.

The Prang edges around, plinking away where they could, and inflicting a few casualties along the way.  They had really hoped to draw the cards that would give them held actions, but it wasn't meant to be.

Taking cover behind parked cars and advertisements.

Leading the way as a good leader does, the octopod Ace was the first octo off the board.  It might have been better to stay behind and issue orders to move the troopers along faster, but at 14 points, the leader model represented almost half the points needed for victory. 

Follow me!

The Prang! did manage to set up a few decent shots near the edge of the battlefield, but opted for kill shots instead of suppression shots.  The difficulty of firing on the move at figures behind cover proved too much for the Prang!, who were only able to knock out five of the low cost troopers.

Even setting up crossfire lanes doesn't do much good
when the cards don't give you a chance to
hold fire for effect.

In the end, the octopods managed to clear 34 points worth of models off board by the end of turn 2.

Winning like the British at Dunkirk

Take home lessons: 

1. When the game calls for no more than 50 points for one side, don't give that side an extra 4 thinking, "what difference does it make"?  It makes a difference.  Taking out the one extra trooper still gives the octopods 30 out of 50 points, but a lot of those fallen figures took a bullet for the big point leader and heavy.  If one of those models had fallen, the Prang! would have eked out a close victory.
2. The rule that turns a 7+ to hit into a 6+ at the cost of half the dice works really well.  This rule came up a lot in this game, and allowed for massive volleys at long range to have a limited effect.  You could still risk those shots, but the effects were lessened.
3. Overwatch and suppression are your best friends when trying to keep models from sprinting for the sideline.  In retrospect, the Prang! should have spent a lot more ammo on suppression fire.  The goal is to kill, but by slowing the octopods down - and forcing moves into cover and away from the goal line, the Prang! could have bought enough time to get everyprang into position, and that would have meant a lot more shooting with fewer penalties in the latter stages of the game.

 * I don't know why, there's something about the Prang! that just makes me want to add an exclamation point to the end of the word.  Maybe it's onomatopoeia-esque nature of the word.  Whatever, get used to seeing it written that way around these parts.