A Life Less Interesting

Points ahoy!

I've played Milarky a few times before and its always been a fun game. He is a profilic mapmaker, and lives by the rule of always losing on his own maps.

I'm not sure if Barracks is one of this, though I hope it is.

This game starts off with me standing to win 7 points, lose 13 or lose 3 for a draw. I'd better concentrate on this map.

Its a 20 FP game, with me deploying on the green side. That gives me a nice bunker to hole up in in the top right.

I think I'll take Greys on this map, as a regen in both locations gives a lot of mobility, and Warpers will cause a lot of problems.

I've gone with 3 sentries, 2 warpers, 2 psychers 1 guardian and 2 regens. The regen area in the left is a bit tight, so I want to use the Guardian to open the walls up a bit first.

I'd like to strike towards his bunker, see whats in there and then teleport out to strike at the other deployment zone also.

Most plans dont stand up to meeting your enemy, so lets see what happens with this one...

Half my time has gone already...

and its only turn 1.

I've been so busy that my LSN games have taken a back seat. Good job this is a 60 day game!

No sign of anything on the first turn, so I'm widening the deployment zone walls, and just trying to see what race he is and his location.

I'm moving one of the sentries in the top left over to the lower deployment zone for scouting ahead, and have the other two set to Halt On Sighting before sending them off for an explore.

The other troops are all moving inwards towards his own Bunker. I'm hoping the Psyckers and Warpers will be put to good use.

If he is Spawn I have already lost...

Nothing so far...

No contact yet, so the plan proceeds as expected.

A bit of a cockup though, as my Guardian still cannot get past the regen location. I'm having to clear more walls out which is leaving my forweard troops waiting for the guardian shield.

I've timed a Warp to fire at the end of the turn heading towards his bunker. I'm hoping that it will catch him off guard next turn.

I'm conscious that I'm not covering the left hand side of the map, but with the small number of troops I have I cant be everywhere.

My sentries at th etop of the map are waiting to see if anyone comes at them. If nothig happens this turn I'll think about teleporting one down to the other regen to take a look up the left.

I'm in trouble

He is spawn.

I psycked a Splatter in the lower left, which is now low on health but close enough to my troops to cause some damage.

My sentries in the top right have been overrun with Buzzers. I can retreat one, but I'm sure one is going to get killed.

I can finally get my Guardian nearby but I dont think it'll be in time to shield my chaps form the Splatter explosion.

I need to start clearing out some terrain. I think I'll try to head back to the regen and start warping the walls around me to clear some space.

Where is he?

Ok, so one of my Sentries got away, but the other got eaten by the buzzers. The regen in that corner is also pretty damaged, and I have no hope of keeping it. I only hope that it does him lots of damage when it goes up!

I'm pulling back to the regen, and am going to start clearing walls using alternate Warpers. I want to keep one in energy for when the attack comes.

My main problem is that I have no idea where he is coming from. I ned intel, badly. By the time he comes to me his troops wil be too close to use my warpers and I'll easily be overun.

Going nowhere

No further casualties last turn, other than the regen which I had expected. I've pulled back into the base and sent a few Warps out, but so far I havent caught anything.

I did spot some Spiker force fires coming down the left of the map, and also managed to get a lucky psych on a drone on that flank. I wasnt able to gather any more intel though. I'm going to try to finish off the drone and send a few more psyches out to see if I can ensnare anything else.

Incoming!

The psyches found a target, a splatter coming in from the right. Another psych should take care of it, and I'm putting up the guardian shield, and moving a Sentry to intercept in case the psyches miss their target.

On the left side I can see one of the spikers that has been firing at me. Its a bit further away that I had expected so my warps are falling short. I think I'd like to more a warper a bit further into the building to get a shot off towards where I think the spikers are.

I'm wary that there are lots on Buzzers around somewhere, so I'm still trying to clear some walls to spot them incoming.....

Oh dear

All hell has broken loose. I didnt manage to kill the Splatter, the psyche that hit it hardle did any damage. I'm hoping to get it this turn.

However, I can see a few spikers up close, a very close buzzer with a few of its chums not far behind it and a Goo Spitter inside the building.

I'm in panic mode now, sending warps out to detonate outside the guardian shiled, psyches out trying to catch what I can and sentry shots out trying to fend off the attack. My units are really bunched up, movement is practically impossible. I dont think I'm going to come out of this with a smile on my face.....

Oh dear

The good news is I'm ahead on points 10-8.

The bad news is that a few buzzers got a bit too close and managed to chew on my regen till it burst.... It took out the buzzers, but also took out most my my energy.

I'm left with 1 sentry, 2 warpers and a guardian, all bingo on energy.

I'm doing a quick spot of running away, hoping to claw back some energy but I think this one is pretty much over.

Resistance is futile....?

I managed to run away without taking any further casualties, and must have bagged a couple of enemies with my warps as the score is now 12-8. Either that or the force firing Spikers have exhausted themselves.

Either way both my Warpers have enough energy for a shot each. I'm launching the first towards the Goo spitter as I really don't want to get goo-ed down. The other warper is moving upwards behind the trees hopefully able to get some damaging shots off towards the Spikers next turn.

Lets see what happens.....

Still alive

Running away seems to have paid off, I'm still breathing anyway (or whatever it is that Greys do)

My forward Warper is nice and close to the attacking Spikers so hopefully I can zap a few this turn. That will leave me totally out of energy though.

My other Warper only has 2 energy so cannot shoot until the 5 second regen mark. The warp he fired off missed its target at the Goo spitter moved out of the way. That means it is still around and I cant really fend off its attack. My forward warper is sending its second warp down to a likely Gooing areas, and also to take out the corpses that are by the exploded regen. I doubt its going to last much longer but just in case I want to destroy the corspes to keep them away from his Queen.

Firefighting

My advance warper managed to get his shots off ok. No casualties however, which is a bit annoying.....

I have discovered a major weakpoint with the greys though. Their feet. My warper got shot in the foot by a spiker and it killed him.

I guess Greys really do have an Achilles heel.

The Goo spitter has fired off a few shots towards me, one of which is about to land right in the middle of my grouping.

Time to get the guardian back into the swing of things. With a bit of fiddly timing I'm able to advance the guardian out, flick on the shield and push away the goo ball.

I don't think I'll be doing that again though, and I don't have enough energy left to keep the shield up the whole turn. I'll have to take my chances ... I suppose I could try throwing the shield up at around the 7 second mark, hoping to deflect any other Goo balls heading my way...

My remaining warper is trying to zap the Spitter.

I'm a bit worried about his Queen. He most likely has one somewhere. I managed to destroy a lot of my corpses, but the spiker corpses are too far for my warper to damage. Maybe next turn I'll send a warp up that way to scare him out of that areas egg-wise.

Saved!

Whoa, sign that Guardian up for the Aliens United Football Club. Wonderful save! He pushed the Goo ball far enough away to stop my chaps from getting stuck down. They are now clearing out of the area by moving up behind the trees, getting closer to the spikers. The thing is, I have absolutely no intel. No idea what's around me at all, so I need to get closer to see more.

If I stay where I am I'm definitely dead as I wont be able to react quick enough to any incoming enemies.

If I move upwards I'm probably dead, as I'm likely to get shot by that blasted spiker again.

I'll take 'probably' over 'definitely' though.

He withdrew the Goo Spitter, which means he must have a queen up there to recycle it with. I'm sending a last second warp up towards the area with the doorway, which is roughly where the Spitter was heading to, and would make a good spot for a queen to be resting.

Running out of time

I'm running out of Game time, and running out of luck in game.

The goo spitter doubled back in an attempt to stick me down, but since I had moved from the area I'm safe, for the moment. My Waqrper has got a shot off towards where I thought the spitter was going, but I'm not sure what thats going to hit.

I'm running the Sentry over towards where I last saw the spitter in the hope that it can get close enough to finish it off. I'm also moving the guardian and Warper that way. The warper is going to pause to get an end-of-turn warp off towards the attacking Spikers.

I want to try to get away from him if at all possible, maybe I can stretch the single point lead out for long enough, but I really dont see that happening. At this moment its as good a choice as any...

Not long now

The goo spitter got off a final shot before dropping dead of its own accord. that shot went wide of the mark so I'm goo free at the moment.

That is good.

The sentry I advanced spooted another full health Spiker and a Drone approaching.

That is bad.

The warper managed to catch something with its shot, but the Spiker it was aiming at this turn exhausted its ammo and alo dropped dead.

That is good.

The spikers final shot managed to hit my energy depleted Warper, finishing it off.

That is bad.

Now I only have 1 sentry and a guardian left to face a replenishing spawn horde.

That is very bad indeed.

There is no way the 4 second shottime of the Guardian will be of any use agsint the incoming Drone, and I dont think that lone sentry is up to the job. This could be the last turn....

Game over

Ok, its not quite game over, but my sentry got eaten by the drone, and the last remaining unin, a Guardian has 0 energy with a drone sat right next t it.

I'd say thats game over....

When will I get round to blogging a winning game?

Final Score

I think my plan was fairly sound, but ultimately I didnt have enough attacking units to fend off spawn. Its a difficul choice when deploying Greys, take lots of smaller hitting units, or a few big hitters.

With a little more luck on my side I think I might have swung the game....

Score 16 - 20

Rank: 45 (down 17 places)
Rating: 1000 (-13)
Division: Veteran

Get the wholegame here