Back into the Taigha-cave (DBS vs. White Company)

The new edition also started in the TTS for me with the first game against my lovely opponent AssaultUnicorn. We have not played his second custom mission yet, so we concluded that this would be a nice thing to start with. Since QK is not available at the moment, he fielded his new love, White Company. The rules for the mission can be found here and in this post.

Since the mission requires D-charges and one combat group, the new additions and changes in fireteam-composion and points brought me back to the former struggle of not getting 300 points filled with 10 models. In the end, I mixed whatever seemed to be useful and is expensive. With his new DA CCW, Scarface could be useful in this mission, while a haris out of the HMG, KHD and Mr. Wolf should carry most of the action, guarded by a flexible core-team, where Arslan could take the lead as a back-up piece. Amadeus Wolf seems better in nearly every situation than Arslan, but since the points were free, both could show up.

We talked about his curious approaches for White Company before, but I was not expecting a Guujia here. The core-team with two Haidaos and Hawkwood delivers a great defensive brick and could switch to an aggressive role easily, once the MSR is down and the boss himself can carry things. Shona supported by a Varangian is a good tool to crack up the armory and the Guilangs are supposed to do the specialist-jobs.

In the need of a at least rule-wise fitting map, we came back to one designed for the Dire Foes mission "Viral Outbreak". Two quite high towers in the corners and opposing normal buildings surround the armory, which covers not much but enough room for some advancements. I know this map a bit and the problems potent snipers could cause in a good spot.

AssaultUnicorn wins the Lt-roll and goes first. I choose to deploy second in the south to secure a bit more flexibility in the shadow of the armory.

One camo-marker infiltrates in front of my DZ while a second one hides on the right behind a building. Shona and her buddy start on the right of the central building, in which the core-team starts. The normal Haidao starts on the left, while the MSR starts on the left roof.

I don't want to fight with the MSR, so I deploy my core-team scattered among all three levels of the building more on the right. MSR on the roof, HD Druze and normal Brawler in the middle and the HD together with Arslan down to cover the camo marker and the aproaching Taighas. Cordelia starts behind the building and the haris scatters as far as possible on the central left to be flexible and have all the tools needed by hand in my first turn.

A Guijia appears quite open on the left and Scarface deploys next to Cordelia behind my central building.

WC 1: The normal Haidao closes the left hole after the Taigha is shot directly. The Guijia then jumps onto the roof and startss shooting at my MSR, getting stunned directly. The Haidao MSR now takes over this task while the link shuffles in the building and takes down my MSR. Hawkwood clears the other Taigha. While the Guijia retreats behind the building, Shona and her Varangian smash the door of the armory and both getting targeted on the way.

DBS 1: With the left side uncovered but Shona next to the armory, I decide to kill the designated targets and close the Taigha holes later. The left Taigha is shot by Wolf, while the right one emerges without problems. My haris advances and my KHD gets killed by the Wardriver with his N3 Lightning-upgrade after frying the Guilang hacker. While Wolf advances to smash his door, the Taigha dodges closer and reaches him in CC. The HMG closes back to the link and is included to form a full core.

WC 2: While the Taigha is shot directly, the Varangian tanks a shotgun of the Wardriver and drops him in CC. The second camo-marker rushes into the center, syncing the Civvies and reteating them into the building, out of reach. The Guijia advances and crits down my HMG, then enters suppressive fire behind the armory.

DBS 2: Wolf drops the Taigha while recieving a wound. Since he is better in close ranges, I decide to take him instead of Scarface to try to get the Civvies down. Wolf needs two shots to drop the Haidao MSR prone, but fails to dodge the suppressive fire of the Guijia. A pitcher is shot next the the armory and Arslan clears a Taigha on my right. The left one is shot by Scarface, which enters suppressive fire.

WC 3: Shona clears the repeater and crashes the door of the armory on my side, which is used by the Varangian. Since Arslan now can shoot through smoke, he decides to advance in full cover over the right and shoots him down with his SMG. He advances further and drops Cordelia while getting shot by Scarface.

DBS 3: From one point far away, Scarface could maybe shoot down one or two designated targets. In LoL, this gets quite tight. Scarface fails to drop the new Taigha and forces the Guijia with two wounds into full cover. While further advancing, Shona stunns him with her flash pulse, ending my turn.

The game ends with a solid 10-0 for AssaultUnicorn. My first turn was crucial here. Not only started the unability to win any FtF on my side, but also everything else failed. The Wardriver is included to slow things down and be a thread, but that he is able to kill my KHD with ease...It would have been a better option to shoot a pitcher and get the firewall-benefits here.A big deal in general is all the movement you can gain now with dodging. It can be interesting in active, with Wolf potentially dodging behind the Guijia, but is a terrible thing reactive with CC-units like Varangians, Shona and Taighas. This cut many paths and a lot of my potential. That martial arts isn't linked with stealth anymore contributes to this a lot, especially when it comes to cautious movements.

So in the end it is still a dice-game, but the new changes still feel good and the new toys, too.

Into the new era

After we all get our hands on the new rules and profiles of N4, there is only one big question: How does it turn out? The timing of our next game day couldn't be better, so I had the chance to make my first N4 game only one day after the new rules hit the floor. DBS got a bit gifted with the new edition, at least that is my view here. The new fireteam-options smooth things a lot, some new profiles and changes also solve some issues in the overall game and the new hacking-game is a big deal for DBS. Of course, some profiles stay behind their potential (I am looking at you, Arslan!), but that isn't such a big deal as it was in N3. The first game was against Bakunin in Quadrant Control.

To reduce the amount of new things a bit and get a better sense for the core rules, I started with my normal list-type. A core-team with some cheerleaders and the Brawler MSR, something as back-up weapon, two Hunzakuts, the Peacemaker to punch needed holes and the obligatory REMs. With that, I had enough points left to include Tao Wu for reasons. Since hacking is the major thing for me, I focussed on this. two hackers should target whatever I need and whatever possible, so that the two LGLs can use it in active and all my other weapons could benefit from this, too. The EVO is needed for assisted fire, but the loss of some of the old programms hurts a lot. In addition to this, I am quite salty about the loss of sat-locks and sniffers, what reduces the overall value of Pathfinders and Fugazis here a lot.

My opponent took the same approach as I did and recreated his current N3-list, using some of the new things (the Riot-link with the TM here and the quite flexible but not well defined Reverend-core). Three heavy hitters covered in bodies and supported by Morlocks and Zeros to sneak around potential problems seems to be the major plan here.

Since I have the feeling of changed favoured rangebands, what should be tested in reality, I tried to set up a map with a more open left side and a more obstructed right side. Initially the big wall in the center wasn't there, creating a nice firelane, but that seemed to be a bit too risky.

I won the Lt roll and decided to deploy second in the south, planning for going second in general.

Bakunin deploys the Reverend-link in the center together with the Moderator and one Morlock. The other one takes the left, while the right is covered with a camo-marker and the haris of TM and Riots.

Since I won't get any grenades or hacking-attacks through the tinbot on the Riots, I plan to gun them down and deploy my core and duo-link togehter on the right. A Pathfinder and a a Fugazi take care of the flanks. The FO Hunzakut is deployed in front of them. The LGL takes the left middle, backed up by the other Pathfinder.

A second camo-marker appears on the right and my Peacemaker takes the middle left to threaten the Reverends with the Auxbot. The MR-Riot gets datatracker, as well as my SMR Druze.

Bakunin 1: The central Morlock trades himself for the Auxbot and gets targeted on the way. On the right, one Zero tries to sneak towards my link, gets targeted and fails to wound my SMR. The Reverends advance in the center, shooting a pitcher next to my Peacemaker, but fail to hack him. The TM totally fails on my MSR and goes unconscious. In the end, the other Zero places a mine next to my FO Hunzakut.

Druze 1: I am in an unexpected good shape. Three grenades are needed to drop the Zero in front of my DZ. I fail to target the other trough a repeater from the FO Hunzakut and shoot him directly then with my LGL Druze. I try to free my Peacemaker and aproach the Reverends over the left side but get immobilized and fail several times to reset him. The right Pathfinder gets assisted fire and enters suppressive fire.

My datatracker is still in my DZ and we tie on quadrants: 1-2

Bakunin 2: The Riots in a reformed link advance and shoot down my MSR, followed by the Pathfinder. That frees the path for the Reverends, taking down my Peacemaker and the LGL Hunzakut and struggling with their position. While the healer closes up to the TM, the HMG gets targeted by my Brawler. 

Druze 2: The link is refilled with the KHD. The SMR now advances into my near right quadrant and the LGL shoots down the spitfire-Riot and kills the HMG-Moira with a critical speculative grenade.On the left I do a bad trade with my Pathfinder against the Morlock. The Fugazi needs to advance into the left quadrant.

Both DTs are in a quadrant, but the Riot is too far advanced and stands in my quadrant, making it a 3-3 now.

Bakunin 3: A clever positioning of the Reverends on the left side could tie the game. The Healer revives the Taskmaster, which tries to gun down my LGL. A hit from my LGL drops the Healer and the next shot kills the TM again. The Fugazi manages to take cover against the Reverends and the Riot Dt goes back into the far right quadrant.

Druze 3: I only need to drop the datatracker, so I send my Hunzakut, causing the first wound with the template mode, then shooting the last one normally. 

Now I control more quadrants and one with my datatracker. By killing the last Riot, I secure the HVT, making it a 7-3 victory with only a few Reverends left.

Our first turns were quite bad on both ends but I ended up with a bit more luck and better positions. The new infowar in general and the availability of hackers and repeaters in DBS then tipped the game into my direction. On the other hand, the new crit-mechanic and the reduced pointcosts for armour make it really hard to drop units with multiple wounds and high arm in cover. The Riot-spitfire recieved a double-crit and one additional hit, doing three wounds. Otherwise it would have taken longer to drop her, causing major problems. The negative mods for resets out of different states are a real risk, while the new targeted state and interaction with speculative fire balance it out a bit. On the other hand we forgot about the +3 bonus on BS for all my speculative grenades. Nevertheless, the LGL-Druze now is a real blast! Normals grenades are a big thing for him, the x-visor also and the interaction with the complete list have sold him completly to me! In the start of the second turn, I felt a bit undergunned what would have been a big problem in N3. Now I could compensate this with the new link-flexibility and the support of the rest.

DBS finally plays and feels like it is supposed to be and will be a real opponent now!

Making an example on corporate interests

On our last regular game night before N4 finally drops, I agreed on one last Code One-teaching game against our newest member. She started somewhere in June and already had some N3 games with not so bad results, but to make a step back and focus a bit more on the general things, I was curious to get my O-12 minis out.The mission here was quadrant control with 25 points.

Since Army 7 has no good opportunity to share lists, here is a short description:

Delta Doc + Yudbot, 2x Razor (SO & Hacker), 2x Crusher SO, 2x Oko, Epsilon HMG, Gamma HMG Lt, Kappa Hacker

The plan was to dominate the board from the beginning and shut most of the dangerous PanO-things down with hacking. The Gamma is a simple throw away piece and the Delta is supposed to get him back if needed.

On the PanO-side was a mix of useful and not so useful things:

2x Fusi Paramedic, Fusi ML, Croc Hacker, Trauma Doc, Engineer, Swiss Guard Hacker, Aquila Lt SO, Orc HMG, Nisse Hacker

Hacking the consoles seems to be one of the main plans and the HIs should simply outgun and outpoint me in the quadrants.

We take a 4x4 map for all Code One games, since it seems to be more balanced and not so alpha-strike dominating as with smaller maps. It seems quite open but the center was well obstructed with quite open DZs.

I loose the Lt roll and go first in the south.

Besides my Epsilon, starting in the center, my whole deployment is mirrored. Each side sees a Crusher a bit advanced, a Razor next to the console, an Oko as back-up and the Kappa behind some containers.

The Orc starts together with the Doc and a Fusilier in the center, the left is covered by the other Fusilier and the ML on the tower but prone. Behind the building on the right, the Aqulia and the Engineer start. A TO-guy starts in front of them.

My Gamma starts on the right to take advantage of longer ranges. A TO-marker reinforces the left.

O-12 1: The right Razor advances into the furthest sector and hides behind the console, while the Gamma advances into the neares right sector to secure that. The last orders go into the left Razor, activating my left console and then hiding recamoed in the far left sector.

PanO 1: The Nisse advances a bit and the Swiss Guard activates the left console and fails many times to discover my Razor on the left.

Here I control three quadrants: 3-0

O-12 2: Now the Epsilon starts and guns down the Nisse and Swiss Guard, while the right Oko advances into the sector.

PanO 2: It is time for the Orc, gunning down the Gamma with ease, while the Aquila finishs the right Razor and takes a defensive position there. To overwatch the left, the ML Fusilier stands up. Finally the TO-marker on the right flips the console.

I have lost the far sectors and we tie on quadrants: 4-1

O-12 3: The Delta lands on the right but has to watch out for the Aquila. His Yudbot only manages to break Gammas neck, ending my aggressive potential on the right. On the left we have an other situation: The Epsilon takes aim on the Fusilier, dropping it without problems. My remaining Razor flips the far left console, guns down a paramedic and fails to shoot the Trauma Doc with his BSG.

PanO 3: Again the Orc saves the day by dropping the razor but then struggles to clear his path on the left. In addition to this, the Aquila fails to activate my right console.

Since I have managed to outpoint both PanO HIs somehow (my notes are not clear about this in detail), I score three additional points, making it a 9-2 in total.

What didn't work out for PanO here were the minor suboptimal things in list-building (ML Fusilier, too many points given for specialists and not for guns) and a hesitant first turn. Some aggressive play with the HIs and a nice back-up with strong AROs would be quite risky with my push in the first turn. I have to admit, that I relied too much on the Gammas durability and the ability of the Delta to revive him. Without CPs and rerolls, this is a gamble. Luckily the PanO WIP worked for me here. Besides that, the new crit-mechanic feels very different and enhances durability of many things and the changes in shotguns are difficult. Without the blast-template in the ranged mode, some old habits need to be changed.

The beast of the black lab (DBS vs. QK)

Since AssaultUnicorn created two custom missions, I took the chance to play the second one 'Praxis Outrage' against the author himself. To keep the rest as regular as possible, he played QK to give them his own good bye for now and I stuck with DBS. Even with all the games done and with the taste of some other factions, DBS still thrills me and feels like one of the best fitting and interesting sectorials for me. Not the best on the horizon, but a nicely designed one.

The mission is derived from Supplies but with additional points to score and a decompression zone in the center. After the first round a so called Praxis Abomination spawns on one side of the table and goes for whatever it can reach with his claws...And his flamer.

 Druze Bayram Security
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 7  / 1  
 HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
 PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
   AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
 TÁOWÙ (Counterintelligence) 2 Nanopulser, Flash Pulse / 2 Viral Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (0 | 26)
 VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
 DRUZE (CH: Mimetism) MULTI Sniper / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
 DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
 BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
 BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

GROUP 22  
 HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
 WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
 BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
 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)
 SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40)

 5 SWC | 300 Points
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The list was designed similar to any other Supplies-list I write with Druze: Two Hunzakuts and Saito as SO to grab the boxes or make a run to recover them. This time the link was a bit more diverse, since I expected a low MSV-coverage, wanted a back-up weapon and thought it would be a nice idea to slam a E/M-grenade on the Abomination. If that is not possible, the ABH should be the alternative solution for this.

 Qapu Khalqi
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

9  / 1  / 1
 IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
   IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
 AZRA'IL Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
 HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
 WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
 HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
 JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40)
 JANISSARY Akbar Doctor (MediKit) AP Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 41)
 LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
 KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

 6 SWC | 300 Points
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We had dicussed my current QK-list before and since AssaultUnicorn likes the Iguana in the same way as I do, he showed his version of my good-bye list. The Hawwa should grab a box and take his chance on the Abomination, while the Iguana, backed up by the Jannissary-core, goes on rampage. The Azra'il should give them some cover in reactive turn.

Whyrocknodie created a great map for this mission with some zero-g-terrain in the center. In the upper left was a higher building complex, as well as in the south right corner. Most other terrain consisted of containers, sometimes just floating through the space.

AssaultUnicorn wins the Lt-roll and decides to go first. So he deploys first in the north, since I estimated better defensive positions in the south.

The Hawwa starts on the left crate, overwatched by the Azra'il on the roof of the highest building on the left with a great view. The core-team scatteres behind some containers on the right.

My link should stop the other core and pin down the Azra'il if needed, so it is deployed around the building on the left with Tao Wu as a second ABH in front of them. The LGL here is prone on the rooftop and quite open when it comes to a shoot out to the Azra'il. Here I estimate to scare any activation of him away with two MSRs and the LGL reacting on him. The left is overwatched by the real ABH, the Warcor and one Fugazi, taking care of all landing spots in my DZ, while the center sees the second Fugazi and the Pathfinder. Saito is deployed hidden on the left crate and the Hunzakuts start in cover next to the other crates each.

The Iguana is deployed in the center and my Peacemaker reinforces my left side as an option to get rid of the Azra'il in my turn.

QK 1: A Yuan Yuan lands on the left side and smokes the left crate, so that the Hawwa can grab the box without any problems. WIth that safe, the Iguana starts but gets stunned by my Brawler MSR and retreats. The Jannissary HMG then finishs my Brawler with a crit. Now my Peacemaker is engaged by the Yuan Yuan and dies to his chain rifle, while Saito pins him down in the decompression zone. The Azra'il takes a wound by shooting on my link, so that the Jannissary HMG has to climb up some crates and shoot down the LGL. Wild Bill is out of coherency here. At the end of the turn, the Yuan Yuan dies to the lethal environment.

DBS 1: I need to recover a bit to not get overrun in the next turn. First my MSR takes out the Azra'il, but to engage the HMG, I need to reposition Gromoz and the Lt on the building. This takes some orders and as the MSR is finally shooting on the HMG, some low rolls on my side end this option. Now the central Hunzakut forces Wild Bill into cover and grabs the central box to recover it in the DZ.

QK 2: The Abomination appears and stomps right towards the Hawwa. The Hawwa stops him with a carbonite-program and hands over the box to the Iguana. The link advances a bit, shooting down my Warcor and Leila grabs the last box.

DBS 2: The Abomination is still immobilized and fails to reset. Saito ends this with his sword, followed by the Hawwa. My orders are oddly distributed now and no CPs are there to fix this. So Saito needs to recamo in a bad spot while Tao Wu tries to take a better position against the core-team in the last turn.

QK 3: The Iguana tries to burn down Saito and after the first successfull dodge, switches to the HMG. This is repeated several times until Saito is finally hit by a bullet and goes down.

DBS 3: There is not much left to do, so I start a last attempt with the left over Hunzakut. He manages to shoot down Leila, but fails on the Jannissary.

With this, the game ends 7-3 for AssaultUnicorn with more boxes recovered and more points killed. We both made some dumb and inefficient decisions, punishing our restricted situations, but in the end my units were not sturdy enough to back this up and the terrain denied my last turn approach with a buffed Pathfinder. If Saito would have been able to engage the Iguana, things could have been interesting again. The major mistake was to stun him in turn one instead of going for the ejection directly. After holding the box, there was nothing to gain for me on this TAG: I would have had to chew through the flamethrower just to get the pilot, the box and the points ejected into a safe position somewhere on a rooftop.

The mission plays in a way similar to Supplies but the additions change it in a very interesting way. So it is not only about recovering turn one efforts and trying to hide the boxes the whole game, but also about a well though attack and a solution to a quite fast and scary beast from the black labs of Bakunin. The added terrain-rules read a bit difficult in the first run, but add a lot of flavour to the game. I am really looking forward to the new terrain rules in N4 to make such things more present!

Caving In (WinterFor vs. Bakunin)

While there were many things to do, it took some time to get a new game in. So close before N4 will drop, we planned to play some more irregular stuff. For this, AssaultUnicorn from the CB-forum has created two custom missions for the moment. To help a bit with playtesting here, we chose "Cave in", as it seemed quite funny to deal with Taigha Creatures emerging from everywhere. But before we go into the game, I have to admit, that the concept was a bit more complicated than a normal ITS-mission, so some things were played wrong and not read carefully.

Here is the mission-description:

 

My opponent for this was my local sparring partner. I expected some Aleph-stuff here, but since the mission requires a quite unique set-up, that did not matter that much:

 Cave in
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

10  
 VARG (Minelayer) K1 Marksman Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 30)
 VARG (Sensor) Combi Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower, WildParrot / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 26)
 ORC (Mountain Terrain, Climbing Plus) MULTI Rifle + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 44)
 MAQUINISTA (WinterFor) (CH: Mimetism, Multiterrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
 KNIGHT OF JUSTICE Lieutenant Spitfire / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 51)
 LOCUST Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Breaker Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Shock CCW, Knife. (0 | 35)
 SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
 BØYG Mk12 / Heavy Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 55)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

 3.5 SWC | 300 Points

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This time, DBS was no option. Since some D-charges are needed here and DBS have no great access to them, I switched to an other faction. I was not sure if I should play WinterFor or O-12 with some proxing, but in the end I went for Svalarheima, since I could field a fully painted list here. The core-team should be the multi-tool to close one hole, then stomping the cave and doing things with the civvies. To get some tools into this link, the Vargs are included. The Locust should rally for some more holes on his own and disable the Wardriver in the cave, so that it won't harrass my HIs on the way. The Boyg appeared as a nice back-up and strong hammer to change every problem into a nail.

 Cave In
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 6  
 MODERATOR Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 10)
 MODERATOR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
 MODERATOR Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
 MODERATOR Spitfire / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 15)
 MODERATOR Spitfire / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 15)
 TASKMASTER Boarding Shotgun, Pulzar, CrazyKoalas / Heavy Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 43)

GROUP 26  / 1  / 1
 ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
 PROWLER Boarding Shotgun, Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 31)
 PROWLER Spitfire, D-Charges / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 36)
 KUSANAGI Spitfire / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 43)
 REVEREND CUSTODIER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device UPGRADE: Icebreaker) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 32)
 REVEREND HEALER Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, EXP CCW. (0 | 32)
 MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)

 6 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

No LI as it was supposed for this, what is a small bummer. That gives a flexibility, I miss in my list. So there were some tools to deny any area to me and to push forward in the same place, like the core-team and the Taskmaster. Three camo-markers should be able to deal with the mission and avoid attacks by some wild Taighas. The haris of Reverends was the tool for the cave here, even with the Healer and her exp-ccw as only opening.

With not much mountain-terrain on my opponents site, we gathered the normal terrain. The two towers in the south were quite tempting for some snipers but the DZ in general had reduced room to deploy a full core-link. The emergence-holes are displayed as consoles here.

Bakunin wins the Lt-roll and chooses to go first. I wanted to deny the sniper-towers, not thinking enough about a good deployment of my link, so I choose the south DZ.

The Moderator-core is deployed in the center with the haris in front of them between the bus and the cave. One camo markers starts on the left, two on the right.

My core-team scatters behind the boxes on the right, quite open. The mine goes a bit advanced to cover the Taigha. The Boyg hides on the left with the Locust next to the emergence hole on the tower. That is reinforced by both Fugazis.

A Taskmaster overwatches the left hole and I place the Sierra on the right with the same purpose.

Bakunin 1: Two Taighas emerge on the holes in front of the Bakunin DZ. The Morlock sets up smoke on the left hole, while the core-team approaches and clears out the right Taigha. A Prowler on that side needs two attempts to seal that hole, while an other Prowler on the left one does the job in one try. The Moderators advance and take out one Fugazi. A pitcher is shot in front of my KoJ. The Custodier tries to hack my KoJ, which resets and due to bad placing, is fried by the Wardriver in return. The Healer picks it up in the second attempt. The Taskmaster bodyblocks the left Taigha.

WinterFor 1: The left over Taigha fails to berserk the Taskmaster and is wrecked in return, while two new ones ermerge near my DZ. The Sierra clears out the right one. Now the Engineer crosses some distance and deploys D-charges on the right hole and the cave-entry. On his way he tries some shots against the Taigha and the pitcher. The pitcher is more sturdy than the Taigha, so it takes one order too much to clear them both. The core is reformed.

Bakunin 2: Kusanagi shoots down the Sierra and the Healer does one wound to the cave-door. By shooting at my KoJ the Moderator spitfire inflicts one wound but dies in return. A new Pitcher is set up there and the left over Moderators as well as the left Prowler enter suppressive fire.

WinterFor 2: Since the holes on my side are not sealed, two new Taighas appear. The left is taken out by my Orc, taking a wound in return. The flamer-Varg leaves the link to clear out the pitcher and the other Taigha, surviving the chain rifle. With his flamethrower he burns out two more Moderators and dies in return. I reform the link and the Locust cybermasks himself after detonating all the D-charges and doing one wound on the cave-entry.

Bakunin 3: The Taskmaster finally opens the cave and shoots the Wardriver. The Healer with her combat-heels has some problems with the mountain-terrain but manages to recover all civvies and guide them deep into the DZ.

WinterFor 3: Things are nearly done here, since I have to kill all the civvies far away to change the game. The Locust is not equipped for longer ranges and the right is denied by Kusanagi, so I choose the Boyg for a last try. He manages to shoot his way through the remaining Moderators, tanking several shots from the Prowler. Nearly in the enemy DZ, he forces the Taskmaster into cover and shoots the first civvie. With my last order I fail to shoot Kusanagi in the back and finally get shot in return by the spitfire Prowler.

With all holes sealed and one civvie killed, I loose 4-8. I wasted too many orders on the Taighas and the pitchers in special, which took me the opportunity to fry the Wardriver and maybe breach into the cave on my own. Together with the limited combat-group, that broke my neck here. Nevertheless the sturdyness of most of my units equaled for a nearly non-existing defensive play and the performance of the Boyg was outstanding. His shooting-abilities paired with hyper-dynamics is really useful to start some unexpeted rambo-runs. Maybe a Nisse-haris would have been a better choice here, backed up by a defensive core, a Locust and maybe a Nokken, since then I would have been able to deal with the Reverends more easily.

Regarding the mission, it was not really clear who owns which Taighas and how they should react. We concluded that everyone controls the Taighas emerging on the opposite side and that they only follow enemy models but ARO on everyone. Besides that it felt a bit imbalanced to close the holes nearly for free, while you need to take great efforts to crack the cave. With 3 STR and ARM 6, the doors are really sturdy. Maybe some reduction of ARM (to 4 maybe) would be great here. Nevertheless it was a nice experience and an very interesting game!

Good bye Qapu Khalqi I

Since N4 is coming closer on the horizon and the rumor spread that actually discontinued factions won'T get day one rules, I decided to take the chance of the last physical N3 games to play what got me into heavy gaming last year: Qapu Khalqi.

While most of my lists were build around some Yuan Yuans, the Djanbazan HMG and a defnsive Ghulam-core, I used my favourite units only a few times. So I wanted to create a list especially with such units now to give the sectorial a good break. Those units are the Kaplans as quite interesting mercenary troops but a bit overshadowed in QK and the Iguana as the heaviest hitter you can find in QK besides the Janissary HMG. Of course, it looks a bit squishy with his 2 STR and his costs, but if you stop using him as a center piece in your list and simply waste him in your alpha-strike, you can make great use of him. 

 

The list I first came up with was designed to fit our current group, playing mostly around 10 troopers. So I wanted to go with this.

 Qapu Khalqi
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

9  / 1  / 1
 WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
 KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
 KAPLAN Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 28)
 DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
 DJANBAZAN Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 27)
 KAPLAN Engineer Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
 NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
 SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
 IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
   IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)

 6 SWC | 298 Points
Open in Infinity Army
 

The Iguana here should simply go on rampage as early as possible and collect enough damage in the process to fire the pilot somewhere in relative safety. After this, the Kaplans can take action to finish the job. The main weakness here is the Lt and the low number of specialists. If there are more buttons to be pushed, things get difficult. The Druze KHD starts a bit advanced and is simply there to get some use of the Iguanas repeater. As there is nothing really build for defense in the other units, two Shihabs should raise some pressure and deny some paths. The Kaplan engineer is not supposed to repair the Iguana, but mainly should keep the Shihabs shooting.

After a first test-game, I switched the Lt and the Druze to get a bit more flexibility into the list:

 Abschied
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

9  / 1  / 1
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)
 SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
 SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
 IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
   IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
 KAPLAN Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle, Blitzen / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
 KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
 WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
 KAPLAN Engineer Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
 NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
 MOBILE BRIGADA Lieutenant Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 33)

 5.5 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army
 

Leila seems to be a good replacement to the Druze, since she offers me more flexibility in the Kaplan-team, has more WIP and is cheaper. The Brigada is there mostly because I needed a Lt and had many points left but not enough for the Janissary. At least he is sturdy enough to have a look at his deployment zone.

My opponent took a well known Tunguska list:

  Jurisdictional Command of Tunguska
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9  
 INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle, 1 FastPanda / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
 HOLLOW MEN Spitfire, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (2 | 36)
 HOLLOW MEN MULTI Rifle + Pitcher, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 35)
 STEMPLER ZOND FTO (Super-Jump) Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 18)
 REAKTION ZOND HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)
 TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
 SPEKTR (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
 SECURITATE Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
 VERTIGO ZOND Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)

GROUP 24  / 1  
 SECURITATE Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
 SECURITATE Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
 CLOCKMAKER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
 MARY PROBLEMS Hacker (Forward Deployment L1) Submachine Gun + Zapper, Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)
 ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

 5.5 SWC | 296 Points
Open in Infinity Army

The main plan here is to spotlight things and grenade them to death and if that won't work, shoot everything with the Hollow Men and the Spektr. 

Initially I wanted to test some other terrain-elements, like special clouds with low-vis and saturation zones, but since it was one of few games at the moment, we reduced it to the basics.

 

The mission was frontline and I won the Lt-roll. Since I had no reasonable options to avoid spotlights and smart missiles, I went first and got the south DZ, where I had a good view on the midfield.

The Kaplan-team took the left, together with one Shihab, the rest took the right side, since I saw better vectors for the Iguana on that side.

The Hollow Man started on the right behind the building. On top of it the Interventor hid. The center was overwatched by the Missile-REM and the FP-bot. One Securitate and the Warcor had a look from the left building. On the far left, Mary Problems started.

The Hollow Men were grouped nicely on the right, so I calculated good odds for my heavy flamethrower and deployed the Iguana on the right,

A TO-marker went on the left behind the silos. 

QK 1: The Warcor and the Missile-REM disturb my path towards the Hollow Men, so I drop the Yuan Yuan in the right center. The plan is to force the spitfire in cover, smoke the center and let the Iguana burn down the enemy-DZ. Unfortunately, the spitfire could not be wounded, why I switched to the Yuan Yuan. He fails to set up smoke and gets flashpulsed. The Iguana recieves one crit-wound from the Hollow Man, while it drops the missile-REM unconscious 2 and retreats.

Tunguska 1: The Clockmaker repairs the TR-bot in the second try. Now the Hollow Men roll out, dropping the Yuan Yuan and deploying a pitcher in front of my Iguana. All resets fail, then the dodges, so that the pilot drops wounded in safety. A second pitcher changes that and he is grenaded unconscious. Mary Problems advances a bit and one of my Shihabs is shot by the the spitfire.

QK 2:  The Shihab is repaired and the haris tries its luck on the left. The Spektr surprises the Doc while he revives the Iguana pilot. With some coordinated shots from the rest of the link, everyone tries to get into good positions and shoot down the Spektr. To avoid new spotlights without further investment, the engineer shoots the existing pitchers.

Tunguska 2: Without Leila in an advanced position, Mary Problems easily deploys two new pitchers on the left . The spotlights are set up without any problems and a crit ends the life of the Iguana pilot, followed by the Kaplan spitfire. On the right, the Hollow Men approach a little bit.

QK 3: The most important thing now is to get as many points into the center as possible. With most of the pitchers shot, only the FO-bot on the right is a real threat...Besides the spitfire on the Hollow Man. The Engineer sneeks up as far as possible and survives a shot by the Hollow Man. Unfortunately the Brigada is shot while climbing down the building. The right Shihab advances to cover the Hollow Man spitfire and fails to wound it. Wild Bill fails to drop Mary Problems but secures the center.

Tunguska 3: The Clockmaker advances into the center, Mary secures the nearest sector and the Hollow Men critting through the Kaplan and the Shihab, also securing the center.

With this unlucky third turn I loose 1 to 4. I clearly played my first turn totally inefficient and opted for quite swingy stuff with the Yuan Yuan. Of course, some wounds on the spitfire would have been nice. Forgetting about the TO-marker on the left costed the whole link and having Leila stuck on the roof of a building gave free reign over the infowar and for the missiles. That the Iguana was killed completly by crits was okay, but the crit on the PH-6 roll for the Hollow Man facing my ADHL hurt. 

Missing visors here was a real disadvantage, since it even was to risky to go for the FP-bot with my Kaplan spitfire, so the aproach on the left was blocked and the right path was gone with the Iguana. Some more investment into infowar, only to slow down the smart missiles would have been nice, but especially against Tunguska this may be not the best way to deal with such a list-type. Nevertheless it was a fun game and some better game with the Iguana and the Yuan in turn one would have changed a lot.