The beginning with DBS

Since there is a lot of creativity around this sectorial force and some successfull reports of won tournaments, I decided to create a collection of battle reports playing Druze wherever I can with different lists and recomendations. Hopefully you can enjoy the reports or find advice for your own game.

Game 1 was against Invincible Army in a game of supplies (because it is christmas!)

List Druze:

 Pathfinder

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GROUP 1 9  / 1  

 PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)

   AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)

 PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)

 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

 BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

 CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)

 DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)

 DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)

 DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)

 PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)

 BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)

GROUP 21  

 HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

 PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)

 KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)

 BRAWLER Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)

 NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

 KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

 5 SWC | 298 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I followed the concept of three pathfinders, mentioned in other battlereports. Normally I am playing QK and tested Rafiqs and Fanous together in the last games, so it was a good start here in Druze. With all these FOs on the table, the Clipper and EM-LGL were autoincludes. Together with the KHD and a Druze Lt they formed the Core-link around the Brawler MSV. Bashi Bazouk should be a backup or a first turn killer, if there is a nice opportunity. Fugazis should be the ARO support around the sniper and with all these REMs out there, an engineer was needed. Peacemaker and Clipper should do heavy damage where needed.

 Invincible Army

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10  

 ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)

 ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)

 ZHANSHI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19)

 ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)

 HǍIDÀO (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 37)

 DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29)

 LIÚ XĪNG (Specialist Operative) MULTI Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 38)

 MÓWÁNG (NCO) Red Fury, Akrylat-Kanone / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 52)

 YĀN HUǑ Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 54)

 ZHĒNCHÁ (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 37)

 6 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Basically all the big guys together, forcing their way by force, not very sophisticated.

Table set-up

I lost the initiative-roll and was given the lower deployment zone, where I started the game. My classifieds were HVT Identity Check and Mapping.

There was no clear spot for the link-team, so I deployed them on the right, where the sniper and the clipper should see a lot, but they can't...On the left a lot of REMs hid behind a wall together with the engineer. Fugazis were scattered for ARO reasons and Pathfinders as back-up. The right crate was aimed by the Hunzakut, the middle one should be protected by the Peacemaker and the left one could be saved by the Bashi Bazouk (if it is needed).

My opponent deployed his Core-link on the left with the MSV-Sniper out for ARO. The Mowang was placed together with the Yan Hou in the middle, where the Mowang overlooked the left side and the Yan Hou the right. Between the middle and the right crate two markers were deployed.

Turn 1:

I noticed my bad deployment quite fast with the Auxbot in LOS of the MSV-sniper. To solve this, the EVOhacker boosted the Peacemaker, which shots the sniper imediatly (3 crits in the first roll...). On the right, the Hunzakut catched the first package of partie-presents, laied a mine near the console and retreated a bit, while a Pathfinder from group one stole an other package of interesting Yu Ying-stuff out of the left crate. Together with some shuffeling around, two boxes were near my DZ, but everything was in such bad positions, that I was sure to loose the game now.

IA started with a lot of thinking, than hacking controlled jump, continued by a lot of thinking again. Finally a Lui Xing fell out of the sky behind my link. The clipper survived the explode and the Kameel dodged successfully. Now the Lui Xing first shot the Clipper, followed by the Kameel and the Druze KHD. Then he decided to step around the right corner and start suppressive fire together with Yan Hou and the Mowang.

Turn 2:

Things went better than expected, so I needed to cover up my boxes and solve the Lui Xing. The classifieds could not be done with the HVT covered by the Mowang and no clear path into the other half of the table. So a Fugazi placed a Sniffer on the opposite side of the building with the link and after three attempts, a Pathfinder could lock the position of the Lui Xing. A few more orders and the EM-LGL immobilized him. The rest of my orders were spend by retreating the boxes and placing the Peacemaker and his Auxbot around the middle crate.

With the Lui Xing stuck, the Mowang started his way through the center. The Auxbot wasn't really an obstacle, but could burn him once. An advanced Fugazi should be the Mowangs nemesis here, taking four orders to be destroyed by the Red Fury. The Peacemaker quit directly after and after finishing the Brawler MSR, the Mowang retreated a little bit and started suppressing fire.

Turn 3:

Bad dice saved my day until now, so I just needed to play it safe. So it should be enough to get the Mowang down. Not that easy with all heavy weapons gone, but we still have the EM-LGL. So a Pathfinder advanced, but can't get closer than 9" so needed to FO him. After three orders, that was done. Sparing an order for the Bashi Bazouk, everything else went into the LGL, failing all attempts of shutting the Mowang down. As last action, the Bashi Bazouk entered on the left and started suppressing fire to hinder the approach towards the box parked on the left.

The Mowang had to do the job by his own and finish of both carriers - But got stunned with his first move. So we called it here.

6-3 Druze (He could do one of his classifieds with the Lui Xing somewhere)

Conclusion:

This one was nothing else than luck and few experience of my opponent. If he had dropped the Lui Xing behind the EVO turn 1, he could have blown up everything except for the link. They were in such a bad position, that they couldn't do anything then. I felt, that deployment is crucial for Druze, because you haven't so many options to repair mistakes here and one hole is enough to wreck all you have. Everything else worked quite well, if you are good coordinated, but you need to find solutions for the missing heavy weapons. Even with the Clipper surviving, you have to work for his kills. Everything you do is consuming a lot of orders, so a clear plan with three objetives maximum is necessary. In this game, two boxes were extracted, but orders for a save retreat and a defensive position were missing - This needs to be planned better next time.

Next game will be next week, so the next report is scheduled. Probably I will play a similar list next time, but with the Bashi Bazouk swapped with a Hunzakut.