TAG-date with Mr. Tinder [QK vs. PanO]

The last week of my days off during the holiday season included a casual game against TJE, one of the organizers of the German Masters in southern Germany, newly called 'Mr. Tinder' for some podcast-reasons. We 'met' each other during the ENTE and my following tournaments and had a little chat about TTS events after that. So a game was overdue. The mission was frontline and I wanted to try out a new QK list with a modified game-approach. TJE decided for vanilla PanO. German speakers can watch the game here:

Smoketrick
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GROUP 1  9  / 1  / 1
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 8)
 DJANBAZAN (BS Attack ) AP Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 31)
 DJANBAZAN (BS Attack ) AP Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 31)
 SEKBAN Heavy Rocket Launcher, Chain-colt(+1B) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 21)
 HAFZA (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse ( | Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17)
 HAFZA (Lieutenant) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 DJANBAZAN Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
 FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)

GROUP 21
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 8)
 AZRA'IL AP Heavy Machine Gun / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 40)
 SEKBAN (Doctor [+3]) Boarding Shotgun ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
 HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
 HAWWA' (Minelayer) Sniper Rifle, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 23)

 6 SWC | 299 Points

[url=https://infinitytheuniverse.com/army/list/gZMLcWFwdS1raGFscWkKU21va2V0cmlja4EsAgEKAIF6AQMAAIEyAQMAAIEyAQMAAIFTAQMAAIFGAQMAAIFGAQQAAIEyAQIAAIE+AQEAAIE+AQEAAIE+AQEAAgUAgXoBAwAAgUoBAQAAgVMBBQAAgUsBAwAAgUsBAgA=]Open in Infinity Army

The quite expensive defensive core around two Djanbazan AP snipers served me quite well in the last games, so it should be the anchor for a single Djanbazan HMG, exploiting smoke-interactions. The back-up is foreseen in the Azrail together with the Sekban Doc. The Doc here is crucial, since he increases the order-efficiency, can revive Azzie and is able to click consoles on the way. If needed, the core-link can take actions, too. One Yuan Yuan should be deployed directly to smoke out the Djanbazans in place, while the second one should take the flexible part.

 
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 7  / 5  
 DRÃGAO Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon, Heavy Flamethrower / AP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 73)
   CRABBOT Flash Pulse / CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
 SERAPH Spitfire, Nanopulser / EXP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 74)
   CRABBOT Flash Pulse / CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
   AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)
 TIKBALANG Heavy Machine Gun, Heavy Flamethrower, Shock Mines / AP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 68)
   CRABBOT Flash Pulse / . (0 | 0)
 MONSTRUCKER Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Drop Bears / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 PALBOT PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
 REGULAR (Triangulated Fire, Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13)
 REGULAR (Triangulated Fire, Minelayer, Sensor) Combi Rifle, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13)
 HELOT MILITIAMAN (Camouflage [1 Use]) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 17)
 FUSILIER (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
 AUXILIA (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse ( | Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
   AUXBOT_1 Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)

 6 SWC | 298 Points

[url=https://infinitytheuniverse.com/army/list/ZQpwYW5vY2VhbmlhASCBLAEBCgALAQEAAIU1AQIAABUBBgAAFQEGAAAlAQEAACIBAQAAIQEBAACExgEGAAABAQoAABYBAgA=]Open in Infinity Army

There may be something different in the squishy part of the list, but what matters is there: Three (!) TAGs, none of them like the Anaconda, but real TAGs. Three of them. To avoid silly assassination-runs on the order pool or Lt, Auxbots and Regulars with mines set up as many obstacles as possible. If one TAG goes down, there is a hired engineer to repair it.

The map is from Cabaray, found in the White Noise-collection, designed for frontline. The center sees a watery channel with some boats on it, while the other scoring zones consists of elevated areas with symmetric obstacles and a second level under them, which you can enter from ladders or from doors out of the DZs. The billboards guarantee closed firelanes.

TJE wins his first LT rolls in ages and decides to go first. The DZs are the same for each side, so I simply deploy second.

The Seraph starts behind the elevated area on the left, the Dragao also on the left, next to the staircase. One camo-marker overwatches the field from the right building, while markers, Auxbots and cheerleaders are scattered in and around the buildings.

It seems like a good idea to pin down the Dragao directly, placing my link on the right with one sniper on each building and the rest on the ground. Azrail and Sekban go behind the left building, together with a Fanous. This combination seems solid, so Azrail and the Fanous are out to ARO on the left flank. The other two Fanous go on the building. The Hawwa sniper supports the core-team on the elevated space and the FO Hawwa memes a hacker, taking a bath behind the left boat. Yuan 2 starts next to the staircase.

A Tikbalang is deployed on the right and my Djanbazan HMG joins the Yuan Yuan.

PanO 1: The Dragao starts the shootout with my Djanbazan sniper, which takes some orders until it is removed completely. From there, the Dragao removes both Fanous on the building, giving quite free reign for the Seraph, which advances on the left. Meanwhile the Tikbalang drops the second sniper. The Seraph reaches my DZ with enough orders to kill my Djanbazan HMG and the Yuan Yuan, while the Auxbot pins down the last Fanous and the Azrail after he recieves one wound. The sniper regenerates.

QK 1: The second Yuan Yuan enters my DZ and smokes out my remaining sniper. He can see the Tikbalang and the Seraph and with some shoots, the Seraph is unconscious and the Tikbalang dodges into safety with one wound remaining. Azrail advances into the lower level in front of my DZ, while my core-team changes positions and take the far right building again.

PanO 2: Since the Dragao is still unharmed, he manages to gun down my Hawwa sniper, the Yuan Yuan, the Djanbazan sniper again and the Sekban HRL. This frees the path for the Monstrucker, reactivating the Seraph. My sniper regenerates again.

QK 2: The core-link is reformed with what is left. While the sniper fails to drop the Seraph again, I have misjudged the distance to the Dragao and the sniper goes down again to its HFT. The Sekban Doc has to drop the Auxbot to reach the Seraph but does nothing more than the Auxbot by reaching the elevated part. Azrail can't climb up since the Seraph is standing on the hold of his ladder. The sniper comes back a third time.

PanO 3: The Dragao finally kills the sniper. Now the Seraph goes wild, first slicing the Sekban in CC, then joining Azrail in his basement and also wrecking him in CC.

In retreat, I have no option to do anything (maybe the Hawwa FO is shot somewhere before). TJE sits in every zone, so it is a clear victory for him. For this mission, three solid TAGs with enough orders in the back are simply outstanding. Together with the fact that nobody expects such kind of list, his proper play made it very difficult to keep my head up.

Nevertheless, I was quite confident in the beginning, since there was no MSV in his list and I had taken all the things TAGs normally don't like. Unfortunately, I made a bad play with the Djanbazan HMG, deploying him to open and having the Azrail pinned by the Auxbot nailed the coffin. With at least one offensive weapon in position for turn one, Two dead TAGs wouldn't have been a problem and I would have gained a good position. What didn't disappoint me was the Djanbazan-core with two snipers. Having one regenerating three times is nothing usual, so two are a solid choice for not too many points. If at least three other guys in the link are alive, they then can be a real pain in the active, too. The only thing I missed was a hacker in the midfield. Upgrading the Hawwa from a bluff to a thread would be nice, but would force some unpleasant decisions in list-building...

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.

Upgrade for Pano: The new messenger-REMs

Since I am reworking my PanO-troops for the moment and integrate some Svalarheima-forces there, not less than three boxes of the new messenger-REMs landed on my table. If you have read some of my battle-reports, you may have noticed that I am a big fan of Fugazis and Pathfinders. Svalarheima with AVA 3 on Fugazis and AVA 2 on Pathfinders and Sierras fits there quite well.

Building the old sculpts was not that funny most of the time, since pieces did not fitted together and the antennas were quite fragile. So there is a good hope for the new sculpts to solve these issues. After unpacking and cleaning the content of all three boxes, the following picture appeared:

The body still is separated from the rear antennas and the legs still are made from two crossing parts. If you already have build some REM-boxes, you will find well known arrows on the legs so that you know what fits together and in which direction the body should go. Then you simply glue the body on top of that and finish things with the antennas. You need to be a bit careful here and while taking them from the sprue, since you can bend them a bit to easy and alter the position of the sticking-points. Nevertheless that can be corrected without any problems. The pins there are well made, so that they fit perfectly into the body and stay them without any force! Just make sure you put them there the right way round! The weapons are seperated as seen before and have a sticking point on the side of the body with a good fit. I build three Fugazis, since that is a solid choice most of the time, one Sierra and one Pathfinder, since that should be the set-up used together most of the time. One REM was magnetized so that it can be played as Clipper, Sierra and Pathfinder, if needed. I used small rare earth magnets here and drilled a round and deeper hole into the body part and replaced the sticking point of the weapon with the magnet. That system is already tested on my Haqqislam-REMs.

Just to be complete, here is a comparision between old and new sculpts.

After building them, the fun part of painting them was done. I batch-paint a lot recently and decided to put all REMs together to make sure they are looking familiar. So you can also see a Bulleteer, three Auxbots and an EVO Mulebot.Now only some snow needs to be added on the bases to fit in the look of the other Svalarheima-forces.