This years one and only real ITS 12 tournament

Our local group again used the better Covid-situation during summer to run a small real life tournament. With all the vaccination going on and a great, private location, we were able to invite some of our friends and not only get some real life experience, but also different players. Of course, what counted most: Meeting each other and moving your lovely metal-miniatures along the board!

Since I am looking for ways to change and improve my post-game writings, this tournament-report will also be a first trial for some competetive analysis. The goal is to look what plan existed before the game, how it could be implemented during the game and which circumstances lead to success or failure.

The missions for the tournament were Supplies, Firefight and Mindwipe (in that order, since I like to torture my attendees from time to time). Depending on what you like to play, you can easily build a list for Supplies and Mindwipe, since you need fast specialists in both cases and AD troops are viable, too. But also Mindwipe and Firefight match quite well, if you want to focus on a more aggressive style. This also leads to a situation, where players could take one list they are familiar with after this long break.
I missed to stay up-to-date with the latest TTS-meta and what factions are played most, but I expected some O-12, Hassassins and Nomads as most chosen factions among the 10 participants. Nevertheless, Haqqislam wasn't chosen once, Nomads were very popular and heavy armour in form of Invincible Army and PanO seemed to be appealing, too. I was the only O-12 player there with the following lists:

 Firefight
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GROUP 1  10  / 1  / 1
 CRUSHER (Combat Jump, Parachutist) Boarding Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0 | 36)
 ANDROMEDA (Infiltration [+6]) Submachine Gun, Zapper, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 33)
 ZETA (NCO) Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon, Heavy Riotstopper / AP CC Weapon. (2 | 81)
   ZETBOT Flash Pulse / CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
 CHO (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 FUZZBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater)  ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 8)
 KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 EPSILON Heavy Machine Gun, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 BLUECOAT Submachine Gun, Heavy Riotstopper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 16)
 BLUECOAT Submachine Gun, Heavy Riotstopper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 16)

GROUP 21
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 GANGBUSTER (Minelayer, Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, Madtraps ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
 KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)

 3.5 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army

I wanted to create a single list for Firefight with the lowest specialist-count possible without loosing much safety in it. While I more and more tend to a defensive play with O-12 and Varangians as well as Crushers don't use SWC, I often don't fully use them. The whole plan with this list is to present big threads, each with unique specifications. Ideally the opponent gets puzzled with that, loosing his threads to my pieces they are not suited for. And while Andromeda and the Zeta draw as much attention as possible, the Epsilon and the Crusher shall catch juicy targets off guard and score the points. To not get alpha-striked, a deployment which only makes you visible in your own half of the table, Andromeda as first roadblock and the Gangbuster as a second one are key. Only the classified-situation may turn out a bit difficult, since there is no doc and no engineer. This should be compensated mostly by the Crusher, but also the Gangbuster, Andromeda and Epsilon should be able to cover most of the classifieds I can't dismiss in the beginning.

Supplies Solo
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GROUP 1  10  / 1
 CRUSHER (Combat Jump, Parachutist) Boarding Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0 | 36)
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 EPSILON Heavy Machine Gun, Nanopulser / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
 RAPTOR Spitfire, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 43)
   DEVABOT Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 5)
 DAKINI Tacbot (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 15)
 GANGBUSTER (Minelayer, Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, Madtraps ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
 ALPHA (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token], Strategos L1]) Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 24)
 LAMBDA (Engineer, Deactivator) Combi Rifle, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
 YUDBOT PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
 LAMBDA (Doctor) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
 YUDBOT PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
 OKO Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 16)

GROUP 21
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 RAZOR (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 32)

 3.5 SWC | 298 Points
Open in Infinity Army

While the backbone and defensive plan is the same as in list one, I traded the redundant attack-section for more specialists. The Raptor as well as the Epsilon are reliable door openers to guarantee that I will be able to grab at least two boxes early in the game, supported by the opportunities Alpha's Strategos may offer. To grab the boxes there are three fast specialists available (Gangbuster, Dakini, Oko), which also have a second role by themselfes. The Oko should be able to get me around camo-markers on the crates, the Dakini may deliver a medikit on the Raptor or the Epsilon in the midfield and the Gangbuster may scare some hackers away or glue someone on the crate with the madtrap. A backup are the Lambdas. Most of the time they should keep my defense and attack running, but if needed, they could clear some mines or grab a box. If I would go second, first the Razor should block one box away with his mine, then the Crusher should kill whoever secured a box in the enemy half.

But how did it turn out?

Game 1, Supplies vs. Corregidor

Corregidor seems to be the new hacking-monster with Jazz and Morans and so it came that I faced Jazz in a full link, several camo-markers, one in a nasty ARO-position and a smart missile launcher. Since I haven't played against Corregidor for a long time, I promptly forgot that there will be McMurder. I went second and got my deployment of the Raptor and the Alpha messed up by two repeaters out of my LoF, even if no missile was shot and my Alpha dodged like a king against an overwatching Intruder HMG. Nevertheless I was quite locked and turtled myself up, just killing stuff crossing the centerline. My opponent grabbed one box, handing it to an EVO-drone in his deployment and denied the other two. With a coinflip of landing my Crusher next to the EVO, I turned the game in the last round and won it with one to no boxes.
There was no glory for me in this game, just defending as long as possible and abusing one massive mistake made. If there would have been a second box grabbed by a Bandit or something else, I would have been screwed. I pretty much know how the guided-missile-game is played, but Corregidor is able to add so much other stuff as support or distraction, that it is really hard to counter it or give the pressure back. Morans are really strong...

Game 2, Firefight vs. JSA

Ah yes, JSA. Nothing good to trade up in Firefight, since everything is damn cheap and even more annoying. I got the second turn and saw Yoyimbo and an O-Yoroi deployed, while I messed up my choice of side again. I too often forget to consider cover for my TAGs, even if I only have lists featuring one. So the Zeta stood in LoF to the O-Yoroi directly. Andromeda couldn't counter him due to the coalas and the high CC. It took far to less orders to get the Zeta down, but at least Yoyimbo died fast. Everything I threw on the TAG bounced off until turn three, while I could smoke up the left flank for cheap with a Varangian. With a last push the TAG went down, scoring me not only the victory points itself, but also a killed Lt. This came down to surviving points, where I had three more, so again a really close game which was turned accidently by me to a win.
If there are AP-weapons on the field, your high-arm units will still die directly and you now really have to consider CC, since the new dodging gets everything close to everything else. And if you don't have AP weapons or have them only for CC, your plan was bad. If you have a look on the played TAGs and HIs now, most of them have at least a decent CC, if not MA2-3, so that your D-charges are no safe solution. For everything else a Varangian with chainrifle will solve most of your problems, since it cuts through many defensive strategies (at least if viable targets are around) and most of the time gets two orders to kill stuff thanks to dogged.

Game 3, Mindwipe vs. Nomads

And all of the sudden, I played the top-table. From the previous games I knew that there again will be a TAG, but for vanilla Nomads, that does not seem to exclude any other tools or strategies, so that I faced an extremely flexible list with Puppetbots, an Überfallkommando, hackers, Morans and camo-markers. I had to dig my way through Pi-well, Szally, Pupniks and a Moran, which lead to horrible losses in my active turn and an expensive activation of the console with my Dakini. Thanks to the Raptor and the Kyttas, I was able to defend my servers a bit, even with nothing to push further. But with the time running, the Raptor went down and the Pupniks finally smoked the server up, while Szally cut through everything else. My opponent here played quite clever, since a Liberto and some other combirifles were used to defend the own AI-server. This time my hail-mary failed with the Crusher eating two mines without tanking anything on his way to blow up the server.
This is something, I would call a bad match-up. Nomads are the flexibility per-se, where there is everything quite cheap and well equipped, while O-12 is specialised to the top. While my defined soultions for single situations may cut through one or two problems, they are cleared by the hundred other things not prepared for. Of course it needs a good piloting on the nomad-side, since everything may die easily if sent into the wrong target or positioned not in the best way, but then this really is a top-tier player.

So, what are the conclusions? First, the tournament showed, what we all already know: Armour now has a real value and CC is more frequent than before. From what I have recognized, even 10-order lists are performing not that bad, as you may expect from the changes to "limited insertion"-lists. An other point to consider is the thread of pitchers and hacking in general. Since this equipment bypasses LoF, even in a non-lethal way, hacking areas and places to deploy repeaters may something to take into account while setting up some tables. But far more important here is the amount of scatter terrain. Our tables tend to be slightly overfilled with small crates and similar stuff, where you can stand behind and get cover, but also have LoF. This created the situation, that especially heavy targets became even more annoying to be removed. Even with AP, each spitfire-hit becomes a coin-flip against Arm 3-targets in cover, so it may be a term of balancing to don't have cover everywhere.

Regarding my games and list-performance, I should be quite satisfied but am not directly. The two wins were last-minute actions, where mistakes, luck and only the skill of managing losses piled up. I still suck at alpha-striking and developing my board-position still is a bit difficult, but the defensive style did not turn out that bad as expected or experienced in N3. After the last game, I got the idea of a 'blob' list, which soaks up attacks turn one and two and plays the best card in the late game, where there are holes and the opponent isn't that focussed anymore. This needs several roadblocks, something to keep the orders alive, one or two gun-fighters to remove important threads and two fast and flexible winners, like the Crusher in the recent lists. So that will be something I will elaborate further, hoping to get over the paradigm of alpha-striking everything in N4 as the only win-condition.

Nevertheless, I scored the 4th place, overtaken by Shasvasti due to 6 more OPs. From what I read between the lines and had overheard during and after the tournament, everyone had a great day and it was a real pleasure to be back at the table and meet all the great guys from Lower Saxony again, even if it was only a small circle. Probably the first bigger event will be organized in spring 2022, if things won't escalate during winter, so we are looking forward to ITS 13.