With new limits

 So, the latest Druze-game was a LI game against Invincible Army. We don't restrict ourselves with special rules normally, but since our Yu Ying-Player only fields 10 troopers and gets overwhelmed by our "spam-lists", I wanted to cut the factor of uneven order-counts in the last game. To build a proper LI-list in Druze was a quite hard task. I found it difficult in QK, but with the limited toolbox of Druze it felt like using the excel-solver to find out the only fitting combination of things (at least if you don't want to field the Anaconda). I ended up with Scarface and a lot of Druze, without anything else fancy:

Druze Bayram Security
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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)
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 HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
DRUZE (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
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)
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Since I needed point-fillers wherever possible, Scarface was set and the other gun-platform needed to be a Druze haris. Going without the MSV-Brawler would have been suicide, so he was the anchor of the core-link. Arslan found a place in this list, since he was the most expensive Lt-option and filled all the missing points. In the first version, I had him in the haris, but for safety-reasons and to utilize the KHD better, they switched positions. Nevermind that LoL would have been meaningless in this list. Scarface and the HMG should wreck whatever their guns would find and that was all the plan.
This is nothing I would ever play in a tournament, since there are so many situations and match-ups, where this list is dead from the beginning. Here I totally reached a point behind what I am willing to try (let's call it: point Anaconda).

Invincible Army
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10
Zhanshi YĪSHĒNG Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
ZHANSHI Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
ZHANSHI Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
ZHANSHI Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52)
YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52)
ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
KOKRAM FTO (Fireteam: Duo) Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, Chain-colt, E/Mauler / 2 Heavy Pistols, Knife. (0 | 39)
ZHĒNCHÁ (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, D.E.P., Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 34)
DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 (Minelayer) MULTI Sniper, Antipersonnel Mines / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

An other time an unusual IA-list, since nobody would expect the Yan Hou-Haris and only other solo-pieces around it. Nevertheless, this linked MLs were nothing to joke around with and there were enough camo-markers to make my Druze cautious. The lack of a big gun to deal with my MSR and maybe other ARO-pieces was the big draw-back here, as we discussed it after the game. A Mowang instead of a second Yan Huo would have been the right solution.

We played Safe Area and I won the Lt-roll. With my list as a big but unrefined hammer, I wanted to start. My opponent took the north DZ.

Scarface and Cordelia should engage over the right flank, while I deployed my haris as forwarded as possible, avoiding open positions on the left. The one big LoS in the center was contested by my MSR, while the LGL and the Panzerfaust tried to give some firesupport in the shorter corridors.

The Yan Huos counterdeployed Scarface, with one fatty having the center locked down. Some Zanshis were scattered in the backfield, Krit in the center and the left entry to the DZ denied by three camo-markers.

We both forgot about reserves.

Druze 1: With Scarfaces path denied by a linked ML in probably good range, my haris took action and started to eat up as many orders as possible on the left. Two Zanshis were shot and a mine was discovered, then they hid behind the boxes on the left. My core-link left the center and switched to the left, with the MSR backing up my haris.

IA 1: A Zanshi paramedic left the backfield and revived one of his colleagues, while everything else advanced a bit. Two Zanshis entered suppressing fire on the left, in the center the Doc and the Zencha started suppressive fire, too.

Druze 2: Since the right Yan Huo had advanced a bit, Scarface could finally approach him in good range. One order, two crits and an additional hit killed him directly. Scarface advanced further, dropped the Zuyong, but then getting killed in several attempts of getting the Doc and the Zencha out. Cordelia tried her best to keep him in battle, but it was not enough.

IA 2: The Doc revives the Zuyong, which takes revenge on Scarface by destroying him completly. In the center, the Zencha approached my HMG and killed it.

Druze 3: With Scarface down, my board presence was quite limited and my mobility was nearly non-existant. I needed to get three things done to win this:
1. Cordelia needed to climb up the antenna on the far right, contesting the antenna and scoring secure HVT, if possible - checked.
2. My core needed to clear the Zencha as bigges thread and secure the near left sector - The MSR died by shooting the Zencha, everything else went into safety. Halfway done...
3. The left-over haris needed to clear the mine and the two suppressive fire Zanshis on the left and take the console - The mine was shot down and the chaincolt killed both Zanshis without dying himself. A coordinated order later, both Druze entered basecontact with the antenna.
Well, that was very lucky, but everyone stood in positions which were easy to clear out.

IA 3: Krokam approached Cordelia on the roof but could not kill her. With the orders left, the Zuyong ran into my free right sector and into ZoC of my HVT. The Daoying slept to deep to take his chance of winning the game in the far left sector.

With that, I won 3-2 more by luck than by good play. It was very refreshing to have such a fast LI-game with reduced options and thinking about things. But on the other hand, every choice of deployment and placement needed to be considered well, since each loss was a real loss and cuts a big hole in my force. If something would have been able to crack up my haris or take the oncontested side of my core-link, I would have been screwed.
From my point of view, nearly every other faction is able to build a LI list with fewer drawbacks then Druze can. Scarface was the only thing that could be brought back, but in most cases he isn't worth it, The loss of the HMG and the MSR left me with only combirifles in good positions, but on not the best platforms, which is a real pitty. But I found this haris-set up very interesting and able to deal with my previous problem of having two few big guns on the table. Of course you need to be cautious with them and retreat into proper safety after killing one or two units, but you can use 16" of deployment and have a B5 HMG somewhere. In addition to this, the core-link takes good defensive positions, but needs to be deployed with a clear mind. Here I really need some more routine to avoid open firelanes and vectors to be attacked in bad ranges. With the HMG out of this link, it becomes less risky in terms of deployment.

Now with Svalarheima out and someone needed for the Kaldstrom PanO-units, I was thinking along some WinterFor-lists and had the opportunity to test it against Aleph yesterday. To some extend, I would compare Svalarheima a bit to Druze, since there is no real selling point or unit that is a must have or a auto-win. You also need to think about what you do to win the game. But with the big difference of having the right equipment everywhere. I came up with this list:

Svalarheima’s Winter Force
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GROUP 1 9
FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
FUSILIER Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
FUSILIER Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15)
FUSILIER MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18)
MAQUINISTA (WinterFor) (CH: Mimetism, Multiterrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
QUINN Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
NISSE Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)

GROUP 2 7 1
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
NØKK Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 31)
NØKK Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 30)
NØKK (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 29)
VARG (Minelayer) K1 Marksman Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 30)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

5.5 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

It felt like building the Druze-list I ever wanted with a cheap defensive core, an interesting but not so great haris and some toolboxes in group two, backed up with a full REM-support. I expected this list to work similar to my Druze-lists but without the opportunities my Hunzakuts give. This should be done by the Nokken and maybe the Varg. I was mostly undergunned but overequipped, like ever. But this time, I had optimized profiles and tools to turn each FtF in my favour. And that is what happened: In turn one, I was gunned down by bad dice, but then I recovered by using the K1 Marksmenrifle of the Varg and the combirifles of my Nisse and the Nokken. Nothing else really shot, but this three units cleared everything. The Nisse is quite deadly with MSV 2 and mimetism and the Nokken combi does not need to worry about things shooting back, if they have no MSVs. In the end I lost a close game of transmission matrix due to taking the wrong guy to take the center. But it was never difficult to play. It was easy, nevertheless I have not played this faction before. And this annoys me - The gap between Druze and other factions is that wide and it gets wider with each new release. Visual modifiers become widespread, as well as MSVs and change the meta more and more, while Druze is forced to solve problems in the old way - gun everything down on your plane BS. And that is a calculated death in these times...

But enough of this salt. I will continue with my Druze since they are the cooles Merc-company of the Sphere and I will win a tournament with them. In the time between now and this tournament, I will discover other options and compare the opportunities other factions have, like having some more games with Svalarheima (I have some Briggs-theme from Fullmetal Alchemist in mind here...).