Reynal relays your order once again! Initiative is theirs but mooks open fire simultaneously, so there is a blistering race to kill each other as quickly as possible as your men hammer away at the barricaded platform and the Royalists fire across the train tracks.
The platform is cleared of opposition, but the militiamen in the store are finished and it is no longer providing cover to anyone within. The store has been totally shot to pieces and probably won't stay up much longer if it continues taking a beating. Parts of it are on fire.
Reynal lobs another shot at the train station, but he is rolling like crap. He succeeds in reducing their cover.
----
SECOND BATTLE OF MEJA'TSID (Fourth Skirmish), Start of Turn 4
Rebellion Lines- Store
Commandos (G7) x16 (1A)
Reynal (HW8): 1(1PR 2A)/0 [KB ES] (2F)
Dak (G7): 1/20 [BGu CL CH] [FwGu] (5F) (rifle)
Rebellion Lines- Apartments
Erapedi (C6) x20
Pade (G9): 1/0 [GS CC EE] (3F) (heavy pistol)
Militiamen (G5) x36
No Man's Land- Streets
Clear
No Man's Land- Bridges
Clear
Royal Lines- Platform
Clear
Royal Lines- Train Station
Troopers (G6) x11 (1A) (first floor)
Troopers (G6) x12 (1A) (second floor)
----
"More troops ahead!" shouts Pade, checking with macrobinoculars.
We won't wait for Wraith this time- he can play catch-up too.
Initiative goes to the Royalists again. You are glad that the frontline soldiers did not have better direction, Dak- they would have annihilated the store this turn for certain. As it is, they split their fire still.
Your commandos are busy moving and so don't shoot so well, but the militiamen wipe out the second story of the train station. It is starting to look less stable as well.
Pade throws in a Carnival of Carnage tap and Reynal... rolls like crap again.
Overall, you have left the Royalist forces in tatters! Which is why they are sending reinforcements up to the frontline in the first place. You have drawn them out.
Leading the contingent of reinforcements is their commander- Prince Basan, Third Eldest and Second Son of the Queen. Since you captured Prince Gremon, it is this Prince that now commands the Royal Army. He marches in, surrounded by members of the Royal Guard, armed with halberds and wearing light armor. Behind them marches in a troop of Arnian Royalists.
And behind them is an Arnian tank. Uh oh...
----
SECOND BATTLE OF MEJA'TSID (Fourth Skirmish), Start of Turn 5
Rebellion Lines- Store
ON FIRE!
Rebellion Lines- Apartments
Dak (G7): 1/20 [BGu CL CH] [FwGu] (5F) (rifle)
Commandos (G7) x11 (1A)
Reynal (HW8): 1(1PR 2A)/0 [KB ES] (2F)
Erapedi (C6) x20
Pade (G9): 1/0 [GS CC EE] (3F) (heavy pistol)
Militiamen (G5) x29
No Man's Land- Streets
Clear
No Man's Land- Bridges
Clear
Royal Lines- Platform
Basan (G13): 1(1PR)/0 [MM ES]
Royal Guard A (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard B (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard C (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard D (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard E (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard F (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Troopers (G6) x40 (1A)
Tank (HW7): 0
Royal Lines- Train Station
Troopers (G6) x7 (1A) (first floor)
----
"Prince Basan, you've come to join us!" Dak yells across the battlefield. "How quickly you march to your own funeral!"
Dak orders the group to spread out until that tank is down, to minimize casualties. Pade and Erapedi, move to cover in the Streets (perhaps Pade can let off a shot on one of the Royal Guard, too). I want seven militiamen to fire on the Troopers remaining in the Station, and the rest focus on the new Troopers on the platform. Reynal can fire into the Troopers too, his HW skill should help with that. Commandos fire on the Tank. Dak will fire at Royal Guard A as he moves into cover in the Streets.
Initiative is yours! And it is a Refresh.
Leading the hungry and angered Erapedi, you move out into the streets with your rifle. You take a shot at Royal Guard A. It is not a bad shot, but it certainly isn't your favorite weapon. 4 damage.
Pade decides that softening up A sounds good as well. He can ignore the Guard's Armor with Eagle Eye and gives a good hit.
Reynal finally gets a decent roll and shows six successes! That is five troopers caught in the blast of his cannon, throwing them about. He chose to fire into the train station, and now it is on fire. That should take care of that...
Pade and Reynal follow you into the streets as well.
Basan's troopers start exchanging fire with your own while taking cover. Reynal's excellent roll frees up your men to all fire at Basan's troops. Basan directs his soldiers to split their fire three ways- the militiamen, the commandos, and the Erapedi.
You lose some Erapedi, so their handlers resort to blaster carbines to defend themselves now that they don't have ferocious mauling tigers to hide behind.
Basan's Guard begins to advance over the bridges, while Basan himself takes a potshot at you. Five successes is 6 damage to you as you just barely manage to duck behind something as his shot comes in. He smirks.
"The pleasure is all mine, General!" Basan shouts back in greeting. "We meet at last!"
And finally, the Tank! Apparently the firing coordination in this thing is off this turn; it misses entirely and its shot goes into the empty store. The store promptly collapses inward on itself in a flaming mess.
----
SECOND BATTLE OF MEJA'TSID (Fourth Skirmish), Start of Turn 6
Rebellion Lines- Apartments
Commandos (G7) x5 (1A)
Militiamen (G5) x22
No Man's Land- Streets
Dak (G7): 1/27 [BGu CL CH] [FwGu] (5F) (rifle)
Reynal (HW8): 1(1PR 2A)/0 [KB ES] (2F)
Erapedi (C6) x15
Militiamen (C5) x5
Pade (G9): 1/0 [GS MA EE] [CC] (3F) (heavy pistol)
No Man's Land- Bridges
Royal Guard A (C8): 2(2A)/10 [WS DW]
Royal Guard B (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard C (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard D (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard E (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Guard F (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW]
Royal Lines- Platform
Basan (G13): 1(1PR)/0 [MM ES TW] (barricades)
Troopers (G6) x25 (1A) (barricades)
Tank (HW7): 0
Royal Lines- Train Station
ON FIRE!
Royal Lines- Rear
Royal Guard G (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW] (mobile shield)
Troopers (G6) x5 (1A) (mobile shield)
Royal Guard H (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW] (mobile shield)
Troopers (G6) x5 (1A) (mobile shield)
----
Reinforcements are continuing to come from the rear for the Royalists, though this set is coming in carrying some sort of dense portable barricade with them...
Initiative is theirs!
The Guards descend on your men, targeting the handlers that have already lost their Erapedi. They roll pretty viciously, with on showing six successes and fully decapitating the handler he attacks with a sweep of his halberd.
Another attacks an Erapedi, catching it under the belly with the point of its pike and hefting it over its shoulder. The handler goes for its gun.
Basan takes full advantage of initiative and taps Marksman just as you draw your lightsabers. Not a great roll, but it is 6 damage to you after reduction by Balanced Guard.
The tank fires again! This time it takes a chunk out of the apartment building and takes two militiamen with it. The Royalist troops focus their firepower on the apartments, too, not wanting to accidentally blast the Prince's guardians. You lose the last of your commandos in the process, though your men roll well and take down quite a few troopers.
Your turn!
Reynal's awful rolling returns and only skims the tank. Pade, on the other hand, picks out something that looks vulnerable and puts a laser into it, for 8 damage to the tank.
The Erapedi descend on the Guards! They take two attacks each, with an extra on A (since he's injured) and F (since he attacked one). Lot of chewing and clawing there!
A is busy defending himself from rabid tiger-things when you jump and drive a lightsaber into his flank for 12 damage! He's still standing though.
----
SECOND BATTLE OF MEJA'TSID (Fourth Skirmish), Start of Turn 7
Rebellion Lines- Apartments
Militiamen (G5) x15
No Man's Land- Streets
Dak (LS11): 1(2A)/33 [BGu CL CH] [FwGu] (5F) (rifle)
Reynal (HW8): 1(1PR 2A)/0 [KB ES] (2F)
Erapedi (C6) x14
Militiamen (G5) x1
Pade (G9): 1/0 [GS MA EE] [CC] (3F) (heavy pistol)
Royal Guard A (C8): 2(2A)/28 [WS DW]
Royal Guard B (C8): 2(2A)/5 [WS DW]
Royal Guard C (C8): 2(2A)/7 [WS DW]
Royal Guard D (C8): 2(2A)/3 [WS DW]
Royal Guard E (C8): 2(2A)/4 [WS DW]
Royal Guard F (C8): 2(2A)/7 [WS DW]
No Man's Land- Bridges
Clear
Royal Lines- Platform
Basan (G13): 1(1PR)/0 [MM ES TW] (barricades)
Troopers (G6) x15 (1A) (barricades)
Tank (HW7): 11
Royal Lines- Train Station
ON FIRE!
Royal Lines- Rear
Royal Guard G (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW] (mobile shield)
Troopers (G6) x5 (1A) (mobile shield)
Royal Guard H (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW] (mobile shield)
Troopers (G6) x5 (1A) (mobile shield)
----
Basan puts away his pistol and is drawing a pair of wicked Arnian claw-knives, which he twirls around.
5-1, Initiative is yours!
Reynal and Pade continue to hammer away at the tank, with Reynal hitting it dead-on with a bolt that shears away some of its armor. It is starting to wobble on its repulsors a little.
Dak attacks C! His Flurry spend reduces him to four dice, but that's okay because he still shows three successes. Dak somersaults past the Guard and splits open his side before flipping onto the bridges.
The Erapedi are still viciously swarming around the Guards. A's throat is torn out by the first Erapedi on him, while C was taken off-guard by your attack and, in turning to face you, instead gets eaten.
It is coming down to the last of your militiamen, but they are fighting valiantly. Thankfully, your charge onto the bridge spares them some retaliation!
Their turn!
Dak takes only 3 damage when a handful of the troopers open up on him. However, Basan does indeed come out to meet him, twirling his knives.
"I'll make this quick, General," Basan snarls before coming at you. He makes one swift jab at your chest and draws blood for 8 damage, slicing you roughly. Those knives have all sorts of jagged edges and are meant to tear. That hurt!
The Guards butcher up the handler and three of the Erapedi with those halberds, mainly rolling 4s but still counting them with Whirling Strike.
Last, the tank! This time it actually targets Reynal. The hulking dinosaur taps Eye of the Storm for it to miss, and the cannon merely blows away some other piece of scenery.
The mobile barricades have been installed on the platform! It will take the troopers and Guards there a turn to draw their weapons after.
----
SECOND BATTLE OF MEJA'TSID (Fourth Skirmish), Start of Turn 8
Rebellion Lines- Apartments
Militiamen (G5) x9
No Man's Land- Streets
Reynal (HW8): 1(1PR 2A)/0 [KB ES] (2F)
Erapedi (C6) x11
Militiamen (G5) x3
Pade (G9): 1/0 [GS MA EE] [CC] (3F) (heavy pistol)
Royal Guard B (C8): 2(2A)/12 [WS DW]
Royal Guard D (C8): 2(2A)/9 [WS DW]
Royal Guard E (C8): 2(2A)/9 [WS DW]
Royal Guard F (C8): 2(2A)/11 [WS DW]
No Man's Land- Bridges
Dak (LS11): 1(2A)/44 [BGu CL CH] [FwGu] (3F)
Basan (C10): 3/0 [PA ES TW]
Royal Lines- Platform
Troopers (G6) x10 (1A) (barricades)
Tank (HW7): 26
Royal Guard G (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW] (mobile shield)
Troopers (G6) x5 (1A) (mobile shield)
Royal Guard H (C8): 2(2A)/0 [WS DW] (mobile shield)
Troopers (G6) x5 (1A) (mobile shield)
Royal Lines- Train Station
ON FIRE!
Royal Lines- Rear
Clear
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