Tough things

I could squeeze in two more games this week, further testing the previous lists (LI and "normal" against karolis and AssaultUnicorn.
Unfortunately, it is better not to speak about the results of both games, more about the lessons learned. But first things first!

I had some time, so I asked for a random match via discord and had the pleasure to face Karolis for this. Since he is quite new to TTS, we agreed on LI to reduce time and failure-potential. To smooth the game even more, annhilation was chosen as mission for this.

LIBest
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10
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 78)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 61)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
DRUZE (Fireteam: Haris, X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D.E.P. / Viral Pistol, CCW. (1 | 25)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
DRUZE (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, Panzerfaust / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

No changes were done on this list, since I was quite satisfied with the potential and resilience of all my units. Scarface as secondary attack-piece, while the core out of HMG, KHD and MSR Brawler should do the main work as long as possible.

Karolis MO
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7 2 3
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
TECH-BEE (Remote Assistant Level 1, Specialist Operative) Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER HMG / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 39)
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 35)
MAGISTER KNIGHT Missile Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 32)
MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 22)
MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 22)
JOAN OF ARC Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (+1 | 49)
TIKBALANG OF MONTESA (Religious Troop) AP HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / DA CCW. (2 | 92)
CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. ()

6 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I was really curious how I could perform against MO, since I tried that sector a lot in the past, but without major success and I had some interesting tools against those knights. For my bad, I could not remember all the costs well, so the missing 10th slot tricked me into thinking there is a TOFOOS hiding somewhere...The concept here seems quite cleas: Tikbalang as major atack-piece, while the Hospitaller HMG should strike second, after the ARO-potential of the Magisters is wrecked. Jeanne generates the orders for this.

I chose a quite basic, but interesting looking Icestorm-table for this match. There were some longer firelanes scattered, but S2 models could walk quite free most of the time, while the TAGs had to be caucious.

I don't remember who won the Lt-roll, but I had the chance to go first, deploying first in the south.

Scarface and Cordelia took the right side, since there was more TAG-cover, while my haris-team went on the left side. The HMG-core deployed in the center with Arslan and the LGL left to them. I had no better place to hide Arslan and forming a duo, so he had to stay on the ground, behind the building.

In return, a Magister/Hospitaller-core was deployed in the center with the ML on a building and the other two Magisters watching the sides of that building to give additional Panzerfaust-AROs. HMG behind, while the doc was prone next to the ML. Techbee and Warcor were hidden on the right, together with Jeanne on a roof.

My Bralwer MSR formed the core-link in the center, while a Tikbalang appeared well hidden on the right side. We forgot about datatrackers here.

Druze 1: While there was no direct path to access the Tikbalang as major thread, I had to go for the ML-Magister first. My core advanced carefully to react on TOFOOS if needed and my Brawler was pasted in the first shot. The HMG knocked the ML prone with one hit afterwards and retreated to form a defensive core-link. I deployed not good enough here, so I was only able to build a four-man-core here and shuffle the haris a bit to have the panzerfaust out to ARO. I wanted to replace Scarface somewhere better and oversaw a panzerfaust-LoF, what knocked him out directly.

MO 1: The Tikbalang started, crossing the right side. On his way he failed to wound my haris-team, but then killed Cordelia and took a wound on Arslan. Arslan survived several shots here and went into total cover. The core-team shuffled a bit to get the ML up again, while the Tikbalang retreated into a better position and entered suppressive fire.

Druze 2: The Tikbalang needed to be removed and the only reasonable way to do so was the LGL. I needed some orders to get a fith Druze next to him and after a first missed shot out of range, the whole link needed to shift to the right. With my last order, I missed a second shot on the Tikbalang.

MO 2: The Tikbalang starts and by climbing the buildings in my DZ taking out one member of my fireteam after another, without being harmed reasonable. The turn ended with two Druze alive, so we called it here.

With the Tikbalang being one of the scaries TAGs in the game, even in MO and me not adapting to this situation, I have to apologize for such a boring game. After turn one, only a lucky EM-shot could have rescued me in a way, but most things were lost with the missed opportunity of my core-team in turn one. Missed opportunity is well said here, since my MSR was shooting with something like 48% chance of success against 30% for the Magister, so no reliable odds here. Nevertheless, nothing else in my list had scored better against a full-linked ML here. Maybe I could have had a chance, if I had not thrown away Scarface and if I had not taken the safer path with my core-link in the fear of a mine-laying TOFOOS somewhere. In general, the bad FtF-potential here for my units sucked.

To not get caught in the LI-box with many Druze-tools not available, I had the chance to face AssaultUnicorn one more time. To spice things up and break up the permanent quadrant-control setup of many ITS-missions, we agreed on Highly Classified.

Smalllink
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GROUP 1 6 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
DRUZE (Fireteam: Haris, X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D.E.P. / Viral Pistol, CCW. (1 | 25)
DRUZE (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

GROUP 2 7 1
BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
DRUZE Paramedic (X Visor, MediKit) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)

5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I took my "small-link"-list without any changes, since I felt set up well for many classifieds and simply wanted to test the potential of this concept further. The plan was exactly the same as in the last game:
The HMG-core should be the first turn team of group two to open things up and do "major" damage, hopefully getting the MSV Brawler somewhere good for the reactive turn. In group one the Hunzakut should make use of other vectors and do damage on his own. During the following turns targets should be close enough to get rid of them via the SMR in group one and with the Bashi Bazouk in group two. Everyone needs as many orders as possible, but since the Bashi Bazouk is missing in turn one, a bit more is invested in that group.

Classified
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GROUP 1 7 3 3
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8)
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18)
GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
GHULAM (Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 30)

GROUP 2 7
SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
KAPLAN Engineer Combi Rifle, Blitzen / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
ALGUACIL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

AssaultUnicorn sticked to QK this time and set up a defensive Ghulam-link. Easier to predict, but with more space for other tools. This time, many different Ghulams made it hard to predict, which one could be the Hafza - Or even if there is one hiding. The Odalisque should reform the link, if the sniper goes down, so that the hunt is on and in group two everything is set up to score the classifieds with the haris and the Hawwa, while shooting things down if necessary.

The table appeared quite open, what was proven wrong during the game. The forest-areas were defined as djungle-terrain and saturation-zones, while all see-through fences were also defined as saturation-zones.
I won the Lt-roll and wanted to choose turns, while AssaultUnicorn chose to deploy first. I went first then in the south.
Main classifieds were: Rescue, HVT Kidnapping, Predator and Nanoespionage. We both were not happy with this, since there was nothing really easy to score. As my secondary objective I drew HVT Espionage

The Ghulam-core went on the central building with the sniper overwatching the left side and everyone else well hidden. The Kaplan-haris took the left side, screened by a camo marker, while a Ghulam, the Kameel and an Alguacil were placed on the right. The HVT went on the left, as narrow to the DZ as possible.

I had again to scatter as good as possible to prevent an airstrike in turn one, so my back was covered by Kameel, Fugazi and AHD on the left, Lt, Path and Fugazi on the right. My haris-team took the more dense right side, where also my HVT went, while the core deployed on the right. The Bashi should enter on the far right, my Hunzakut started in the center.

A Shihab TR-REM was deployed on the right, overwatching my access on that side, while I brought up my Brawler on the left side.

Druze 1: Two orders were taken from the first group. The core-team advanced on the left and the MSR Brawler was instantly shot by the Ghulam sniper. On the right the TR-Bot finishs off my SMR and the Bashi Bazouk could not disable it either.

QK 1: Two Yuans scatter, while one drops succcessfully on the building near my DZ. With some smoke he can reach my Druze paramedic, but gets shot by his viralpistol in CC. The camo-marker advances on the left, just to be shot by the Peacemaker when he reveals. The remaining Yuan Yuans and the haris advance. The Odalisque advances a bit and enters suppressive fire.

Druze 2: The HMG tries to shoot the Odalisque, forcing her prone with one wound. The AHD tries to sneak onto the left side but gets stucked, so he enters suppressive fire in a safe position. The KHD does this, too, on the right.

QK 2: One Yuan Yuan catches the KHD and kills it in CC, but gets stunned by the near by Fugazi. On the left, the other Yuan Yuan grabbed the unconscious al Hawwa and drags him back into safety.

Druze 3: The Fugazi on the right stuns the Yuan Yuan again, but the remaining DEP-Druze needs three attempts to kill him in CC, scoring me predator. The HMG dies while trying to shoot the sniper, which leaves me without further opportunities, since I am out of orders to catch the ambulance-Yuan with my Auxbot or advance the Peacemaker for my secondary classified.

QK 3: Ambulance Yuan drops his patient and tries to attack my Peacemaker in CC. The electric pulse is enough to stop him. The Hawwa is now taken by the Odalisque, while the haris advances on the right, shooting my left over units. Ignoring my HVT, Leila blew up an obstacle in my DZ for Sabotage with the last roll.

We tie on main-classifieds, but since AssaultUnicorn could score his secondary objective, he won 5 - 3. Since I had no opportunities to advance on the left, the right side was played not clever enough by myself. What rescued me were the not very CC-experienced Yuan Yuans. To "loose" three of them in CC in the same game really is bad luck and without this, I would have had to completly rely on the left side to score anything. Here the Ghulam-sniper was gold, since his shock-ammonition denies me rescue, his LoF denied kidnapping and espionage and he locked down my paramedic to get the downed Hawwa.
It could have been an even safer win for AssaultUnicorn, if he had gone for my uncovered HVT in turn three and had not taken the risk and investment to score predator by himself, but after all it was played very well. Especially the positioning of the TR-bot and the Ghulam-sniper were perfect and the haris as driving force in this mission did his job pretty good.

One option to enter the game from my side would have been a smarter way on the right side. Instead of forcing it through a saturation zone with my SMR, it would have taken me only four orders without greater risk to blow up the TR-bot: Pitcher from my KHD on the fence, my AHD immobilizing the TR-Bot and the SMR advancing and dropping it. One order as back-up. That would have enabled me to fight other things on the right with the Bashi Bazouk and the haris-link, so that I could left the left-side by his own. There was nothing to gain, since I overestimated my HMG and my MSR again. Like in the previous game, my odds were below 50% for both units, so the result is not that surprising.

The lessons learned here are quite clear:
1. Think about smart solutions, if there is no obvious good opportunity to gun things down. There are enough tools available to enter the game via hacking or via other equipment (sniffers for example) and there are too few units acting as a reliable hammer in turn one. Things change in turn two, but turn one is too important to clear out yourself by stupid decisions.
2. A BS12 weapon, equal if it is B3 or B5, can't solve a linked thread reliable, if there are no other opportunities to change the mods (out-ranging with a 4-2 MOV in turn one? For sure...). While searching for new ideas to solve this, I got back to the basics and visited Q.A.I.s primer again. Sometimes the obvious things are nearer than you think they are. Not very hidden, he wrote about the Druze MSR as one of our better hammer-units. I checked this in the calculator for all the critical situations I lost my HMG or MSR-Brawler in the last games and he is right: No other unit can score odds of 60% in standard-situations.
So I will rebuild my lists to fit in the Druze MSR, but also to keep the toolbox alive or even better supported. But if there are other suggestions or thoughts, don't hold back! Sometimes I get the feeling of being stuck in my own hole and not seeing the obvious things.