ENTE Round 3 test: Transmission Matrix vs. Military Orders

With three weeks per round, there is some time in between to have some games around and since I had some good discussions with the french team and Ayadan contributed a great map for the next round, we took the chance and tested this one. I was really glad here to have a game vs. one of the best PanO-players around for the moment and have the opportunity to show him what DBS can do. The mission here was Transmission Matrix.

 List DBS:

 DecapTM
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GROUP 1 8  / 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)
 PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
 DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
 DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
 CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
 DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)
 BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

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)
 PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
 KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
 SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)

 6 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army
 

As mentioned before, the list was designed to fulfill the requirements of Decapitation and Transmission Matrix. With the existing repeater-network and three hackers on the table, I am sure to dominate the infowar against most other factions, except for Nomads. So I should be able to target the key units and drop missiles on them without any problems. A strong defensive core-team and a Peacemaker should solve every other problem deployed against that.

List MO:

 Santiago Deployment
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GROUP 1 9  / 1  
 ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
 ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
 ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15)
 KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW. (1 | 43)
 KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38)
 TECH-BEE (Remote Assistant Level 1, Specialist Operative) Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
 PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
   AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
 BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23)
 TRAUMA-DOC (Father-Doctor) Combi Rifle  / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
 SPEC. SERGEANT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)

GROUP 21  
 MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
 PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
 SPEC. SERGEANT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
 BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23)
 MULEBOT Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
 WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

 6 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army

 My estimation, even from my own experience, would have been a minimal infowar-approach to simply gun everything down. Ayadan planned for this estimation against MO in this mission and took a completly different and from my point of view unexpected approach: Go all-in into the infowar. Not only that a 2W KHD is a scary thing to deal with, but also the EVO to support that with Kaleidoscope (something I totally forgot about) and two other hackers to harrass mine are a real staple here. The needed guns are brought by the Peacemaker and two Bulleteers, kept alive by a Machinist. So everything moving across the table is shot down with ease and everything trying to click something on his comlog is shut down.

The map was something different from what was used on TTS over the last weeks.I set the theme for the whole round as a hidden base in the jungle, so the left side had some jungle-terrain with forest on it. The base here was in the center with a REM-maintance-system in the center (tunnels made for S4 units to move freely under it with some hoists to reach the elevated center), a landing-area in the north and an assistance-system next to the building in the north.

I can't remember who won the Lt-roll but I go first and take the south DZ.

My link deploys around the elevated position on the left with the KHD and the MSR around the antenna and the Clipper down overwatching the inner area there. One Fugazi, two Pathfinders and the EVO take the center and the other REMs are deployed on the right with the Sierra overwatching the inner area and a Fugazi taking care about the right flank. One Hunzakut starts in the forest on the left and the other one starts in the right building.

A core team with a Santiago KHD and a Santiago spitfire deploys inside the right building. The OS HRL is on the roof to overwatch things. While one spitfire-Bulleteer starts in the center, a second one starts on the right flank. A Machinist and an EVO Mulebot hide on the left behind the fence and a Techbee together with a Doc hide behind the right building. One OS hacker secures the left antenna, a second one  supports on the right.

To cut through the REMs, my Peacemaker starts behind the right building near my Hunzakut. It is counterdeployed by an other Peacemaker.

Druze 1: As always, I loose two orders from group one. My Hunzakuts sneaks through the building and takes out the Peacemaker and the Techbee with his shotgun. My EVO is dazzled by the hacking-interactions and is fried while trying to buff my Peacemaker. Without support, the Peacemaker takes out the Bulleteer and needs several attempts to ground both REMs completly. My Sierra and the right Pathfinder advance a bit into the antenna-area.

MO 1: The core-team breaks and the KHD Santiago takes out both hackers on my side and starts a shoot-out with my Peacemaker. He recieves one wound bit finishs him in the progress.

MO controls more antennas.

Druze 2: My left Hunzakut sneaks up on the left flank and fails to shoot the OS hacker on the antenna but manages to clear a Warcor. Meanwhile my Lt as datatracker takes the maintance-tunnel in the center to crawl into the center and shoot down a Palbot.

MO 2: The Santiago spitfire advances and fails to shoot my left Hunzakut. After the OS hacker clears my Lt, the Santiago advances and takes out my Clipper, then secures the center.

MO controls more antennas.

Druze 3: The Hunzakut finally takes out the OS hacker and I reposition the left over REMs.

MO 3: My designated target gets spotlighted and the KHD rushes into my DZ and secures my right antenna.

Again MO controls more antennas and I loose 8-0. After I realised that my hacking-plan was completly destroyed by a MO infowar (!!!), my options in general and my movement-options with nearly only hackable units were limited a lot. That forced me into risking my Lt. Would my Hunzakut has been able to drop the OS hacker in turn two, things would have been open again, but that failure together with my Lt in LoF made the Loss clear.

Besides some dice and decisions in the game, the most remarkable thing here was Ayadans list. Of course, nobody expects MO in Transmission Matrix to approach over the info-war strategy, so I calculated my whole plan over the Clipper. This conclusion and planning was used by Ayadan to lure his opponent into a well thought trap. Not only this, but his list-concept was something completly new for MO. I knew him as one of the stronges MO-players and know his discussions with offbeat list-ideas and game plans. To get this deployed against me and executed that good, I would definitely say that his game is a new level of playing MO.