Practicing airborne deployment

Things discussed on Wednesday between @AssaultUnicorn and me directly evolved in a game of Supremacy on Thursday. As it was discussed, I added a Bashi Bazouk to my list, dropping the Druze-haris to a Duo (HMG + KHD). AssaultUnicorn chose a quite interesting QK-list for this.

Druze Bayram Security
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GROUP 1 7 2
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

GROUP 2 5 2
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

There were enough SWC to get two HMGs, so why not take them? There would have been the choice to upgrade the Peacemaker HSG to the spitfire, but since it only should take part as a roadblock, I opted for the second HMG. Missing big guns scattered on the table was one problem in the past, which should be addressed by this. The Bashi Bazouk should clear things up, which try to lock down my Druze or my Hunzakuts.

Semper Fi
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GROUP 1 8 1 1
GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)
LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40)
HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18)
HAFZA Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
ODALISQUE Submachine gun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
HAFZA (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)

GROUP 2 6 2 2
KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
KAPLAN Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle, Blitzen / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
WILD BILL Contender / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 25)
FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I faced a wall of flashpulses and the dangerous Wild Bill-Kaplan haris. For myself, I didn't find him that cool in the past, but that was only theory. For Supremacy, this is a rounded package, including points, specialists and durable firepower. Everything you need. The real deal was the core-link. With two Hafzas in it, a Jannissary and an Odalisque, everybody could have been everyone and it was quite impossible to count out, how many points could have been left over for Yuan Yuans. In the end, it was a trickbox which really did his job!

AssaultUnicorn chose a quite interesting table with some long firelanes, but also a lot of scatter and other terrain-pieces, breaking things up and allowing a lot of movement. We took the consoles as solid objects this time, which added some more scatter.

I lost the Lt-roll and had to go first.

My core-link went around the building on the left, with both Druze a bit advanced to directly get some points in that sector. MSR out to ARO, and my AHD Brawler watching the backfield for incoming pirates. A Fugazi should back him up. On the crates in the central right, my Warcor went on overwatch, together with the Kameel and the Pathfinder. As last line of defence, a Fugazi overwatched that sector. The Druze-duo took an advanced position on the right, together with the Peacemaker, everybody looking at every spot possible. To get him out of trouble if my Auxbot needs to use the flamethrower, my Hunzakut went a bit back on the right, while the other one guarded the Druze HMG on the left.

The Holo-core went on the right with some LoS to my right side, together with two Fanous and a "Najarun". The link looked like Leila, Odalisque SMG, Odalisque Spitfire, Jannissary HMG and Akhbar Doc. Only the Doc was watching the corridor, so that trap was set up nicely, but too obvious if you know QK. The Kaplan haris took the left side by his own. One camo-marker hid on the roof of a building on the right side.

Druze 1: Group one was reduced by two orders. My main-goal was to secure my two sectors as good as possible and deny as many good spots for Yuan Yuans as possible. So my Hunzakut on the left hacked the console, layed a mine and entered the far left-sector back in camo and cover. The right Hunzakut did the same but shot down a Fanous on its way. Overclock was activated and that was it.

QK 1: There was one place left behind the left Fugazi, where the Yuans should drop. The first two scattered away and entered the field on the right inside the DZ, while the last one hit the ground and killed the Fugazi. Under smoke, he advanced and climbed the building towards my link. My MSR engaged him, while my Lt miscalculated the engage-range and died to the chain rifle. The Kaplan-haris advances a bit.

Druze 2: My left Hunzakut tried to shoot Wild Bill but failed and died in return. My AHD tries to take out the Yuan in my DZ in CC but gets killed instead. Nothing else happens.

QK 2: The Yuan now takes out the MSR and the nearby Druze LGL, while his buddy on the right side wrecks the Peacemaker. The Kaplan-haris advances and activates the far left console, while the camo-marker on the right leaves his roof and activates the far right console (Hawwa AHD). With a long shot, Wild Bill clears out the second Hunzakut.

Druze 3: Only a few orders left and much space to cover, my duo-HMG advances and after failing to kill even one Yuan, dropping the Kaplan spitfire unconscious. My Bashi Bazouk enters the game in the far right quadrant and enters suppressive fire.

QK 3: On each side a Yuan Yuan takes out the neares HMG with ease. The Kaplan Doc revives the spitfire and the link advances further. The Hawwa advances on the right and gets his brain melted by my KHD while he activates the console.

So I lost 5-2 against AssaultUnicorn in an again great game. The core-link laying a big shadow over everything possibly being on the field or not, was a great idea and really suprised me, as he sent me the actual list. That the Akbar-Doc was the HRL-Hafza was obvious, but with the Odalisques and the HMG Jannissary, everything was possible, so nothing was easy to approach without a strong gunfighter. The Yuan Yuans played the game of their life, even after two of them scattered in the first attempt. They were a great order-sink but got their points out several times, not speaking from all the trouble they caused me during deployment and turn one. On the one hand I had several tools to control them, but with their chain-rifles and my REMs and close-up 1W link-teams, mistakes were paid in blood. The entry-point used by AssaultUnicorn was initially covered by my AHD, but to secure link-coherency, I placed him differently and have not checked my position again...In the end, it would have been better to take the Peacemaker on the left, since it was overdone on the right and he could have fought the haris better than the Hunzakut, since a mine can't stop Wild Bill properly.

Since I had to go first in a lot of recent games, that is something I would call out as a reason for the bad results (paired with bad dice sometimes). Games where I can go second are not that problematic, since Druze can consume a lot of firepower in turn one and than fight its way out of this in close corners. But going first, you need to deal the damage somewhere. This time, I tried to do this with my Hunzakuts and the HMGs as back-up, what worked good for the Hunzakuts, but not for the HMGs. They are the wrong weapon to take, if you face your opponents in the center from turn two on. I'd had better taken my lovely SMR instead of the HMG in the duo-team here. If two Hunzakuts are necessary when there is a Bashi Bazouk there, too, needs to be proved in the future.

With an other loss on my list, I gambled a bit with Druze in other factions and could write some interesting lists but without any Druze-flavour in them. Wether in Ikari or in QK, you have to leave so many good things at home, if you want to take more than one Druze, that it is a real pain sometimes. In most cases, I see only the SMR and the KHD as good additions to normal lists of these sectors, but I want the SMR in a haris, what is not available there (or just to quite high costs). So I will stick with Druze further and try some new things in the future. One thing to deal with the bad potential when going first is to reduce the dependency of my core-team. Here I want to test two small links (3 man core with HMG and MSR Brawler + Druze haris with SMR and KHD). Together with the available skirmishers, many problems of the last games can be addressed, with the problem that I am out of SSL2 and the +3BS for my Brawler...But we will see.