For the Rescue! [Starmada vs. QK]

 

What is better than a good old rescue-mission? Right: Some solid demolition job! But as life is, sometimes you need to rescue something. This time, AssaultUnicorn hit me up to finally try out Rescue from ITS 12. While he heared that it is a quite shitty mission, I was really eager to finally try it out. I just remember how I thought about a few years ago that this is a difficult mission, since you need four HVT models...How things change.

Rescue
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GROUP 1  10  
 KAPPA Missile Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 17)
 KAPPA Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 KAPPA Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 BLUECOAT (Lieutenant) Submachine Gun, Heavy Riotstopper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 16)
 BLUECOAT Adhesive Launcher(+1B), Heavy Riotstopper / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 13)
 CRUSHER (Forward Deployment [+8"]) Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (1 | 35)
 CRUSHER (Forward Deployment [+8"]) Submachine Gun, Nanopulser, D-Charges / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon. (0 | 29)
 KYTTÄ Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 BETATROOPER Spitfire, Nanopulser(+1B) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 40)
 RAPTOR Spitfire, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 43)
   DEVABOT Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 5)

GROUP 25  / 2
 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)
 VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 FUZZBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater)  ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 8)
 FUZZBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater)  ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 8)

 5.5 SWC | 300 Points
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Even if the DBS-itch starts growing, I wanted to go with Starmada for this, just to give AssaultUnicorn a good match. From the previous experience, I changed my list to a 10/5 split. The second group was simply there to trade two Varangians against something valuable and to park the AD Crusher until I can dragg him in group one and into action. The core-team explains itself and is the major problem of the list: Once someone knows Starmada, your Lt is dead. Two Crushers should be able to get the HVTs, while the AD one should kill the opponent carriers. As major beatsticks the Beta and the Raptor are taken.

 
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GROUP 1  9  / 1  / 1
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 8)
 DJANBAZAN Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
 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 (Specialist Operative) AP Rifle, Chain-colt(+1B) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 24)
 HAFZA (Lieutenant) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 HAFZA Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 KAPLAN (Engineer, Deactivator) Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 27)
 KAPLAN Heavy Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 23)
 LEILA SHARIF  (Hacker) Shock Marksman Rifle, E/M Mines, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 20)

GROUP 21
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 8)
 SHIHAB REMOTE Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 24)
 SHIHAB REMOTE Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 24)
 NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle, Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)

 6 SWC | 299 Points
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No one can argue against a good DJanbazan-castle with two snipers and some fillers in the link, so AssaultUnicorn goes with it as well. To work a way forward towards the HVTs, a haris of Kaplans and Leila is screened by the HMG. One Yuan Yuan to support the Djanbazans where needed and one to cause some havoc where needed. To make absolutely shure nothing touches the HVTs, two Shihabs and a Najjarun are taken for additional defensive reasons.

The Ulusun Dislileri created a hostage situation in the office-area of an orbital to raise some pressure on a panoceanic company. Unfortunately, they took guard of the wrong officials here, so that the local Starmada-detachment had to interfer in this conflict. The ground level was quite obstructed but once you think about taking the upper level of the map, you really have to navigate through firelanes. Some billboards block the longest firelanes from side to side, but thats it. Each side has at least two HVTs on the elevated area.

I win the Lt-roll and go first.

The core-team is scattered in and around the right building in the south DZ with the ML on the roof. Everyone tries to look in a different direction and not be under the same template as his next buddy. Te Raptor is deployed in front of that building to have a 360° look into the unobscured center of my DZ. Each safe spot in the center of the zone is taken by a Varangian, a Fuzzbot and the Beta, while the other Fuzz and Varangian overwatch what is possible on the left. The LRL Crusher has a look on the far left flank.

QKs sniper-castle takes the building on the right with both snipers on the roof, overwatching the corridor on the right and where the HVTs are standing. The first Shihab is deployed inside the building, just for redundancy. A Najjarun on the central elevated area telegraphs something bad, having a great view on the center, while the haris takes the left behind the big building. The Djanbazan HMG also starts there.

My second Crusher is placed in the center of the map on the ground level, while a second Shihab appears next to the engineer.

Star 1: I probably loose two orders in group one. The central Varangian advances in the left corridor, setting up some smoke and dies to the Shihab. Under the smoke, the Beta can advance into the opponents half of the table, dropping the Shihab unconscious and out of LoF, then is stopped by both snipers overwatching a corridor too broad to move through. One sniper is shot prone but with that the Kaplan HRL dodges into LoF and I need to retreat. Back in the center, the Beta, both Crushers and the last Varangian enter suppressive fire.

QK 1: One Yuan Yuan joins the Djanbazan HMG, while the second one lands next to my core-team. This guy manages to pistol down my ML and a second Kappa before it gets stunned but still threatening my link.  The second one wrecks my Beta in CC and places a smoke grenade between the HMG and my LRL Crusher. The Djanbazan climbs up the tall building and takes out the LRL.

Star 2: If I won't slow things down now, I will get serious problems, so I throw the AD Crusher, now group one, behind the Djanbazan-core successfully. The boarding shotgun does its job, taking out the two Hafzas and the Sekban, as well as the Shihab in the building. Now the Raptor advances, forcing the other sniper prone. While the remaining Crusher shifts a bit towards the left to catch that Yuan Yuan, the third Kappa trades itself against the other Yuan Yuan.

QK 2: In LoL some CTs are burned to get the Yuan Yuan in CC with the Crusher. One sniper stands up, facing the panzerfaust of my AD Crusher and eats the inevitable crit, killing it directly. The remaining sniper shifts a bit to the center and the Najarun repairs the Shihab next to him.

Star 3:  All HVTs in range are still overwatched by the Shihab and the Najjarun, so the AD Crusher first scores net-undermine. The Raptor takes action again, killing the Shihab and the Najjarun, then synching one HVT but ends up with not enough orders to get it out of the exclusion zone.

QK 3:  AssaultUnicorns Yuan Yuans and my Crushers are no good combination in CC and it happens what always do: My Crusher shoves a d-charge into the booty-pockets of the Yuan Yuan, blowing it into pieces. Nevertheless, the left side is uncovered and the haris advances, synching two HVTs with the last orders.

Since AssaultUnicorn controls two HVTs in the exclusion zone and I have one and my classified, we tie 2-2. Withpout my AD Crusher in general and without his successful landing, I would have been totally screwed, since Starmada has no good options to deal with the ARO-castle AssautUnicorn deployed. As the Beta failed to crack a first serious wound into his force, the cheap attrition with his Yuan Yuans would have simpy  drained all my dynamic. With that, the haris would have been able to evacuate at least two HVTs with ease.
With this result, I will probably give the AD Crusher a closer look in the future. It feels a bit more versatile than the Santiago, since he also has parachutit, which I miss on the Santiago. Having more than 40 points falling somewhere into your DZ while there is an important job to be done somewhere else hurts too much. But with how Starmada is structured, the AD troops add the missing long-range coverage, since they telegraph a hard to predict thread and strike from new vectors.

Rescue itself of course turned out to be a tough but different mission. Once you got a bit bored from the usual ITS-stuff, one round of rescue may change it and give you new energy. In a tournament it is an interesting design-piece, since it requires some important list-decisions. AssaultUnicorn invested a bit too much in his defense, but that may be due to QK in general, since real forward-pieces are missing, while I had to push forward and distract from my weak defense.

Technical superiority [QK vs. NCA]

 

Next to some competitive games in the last weeks, some casual ones, just for fun and experience, came not to short. In a kind of regular training match, I faced Commoner1 again, this time fielding one of his strongest N3 NCA-lists now in N4. I wanted to try out something new around the order-efficiency in QK and also would like to bring back Scarface to the virtual table. The mission was Frontline.

FrontlineTAG
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GROUP 1  9  / 1  / 1
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 8)
 ALGUACIL Missile Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 15)
 GHULAM (Doctor [+3]) Rifle, Light Shotgun ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 GHULAM (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token]) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 HAFZA Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
 ODALISQUE (360º Visor) Submachine Gun, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse(+1B) ( ) / MULTI Pistol, PARA CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
 DJANBAZAN Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
 SEKBAN (Specialist Operative) AP Rifle, Chain-colt(+1B) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 24)
 HAWWA' (Hacker, Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 26)
 FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)

GROUP 21
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 8)
 HAWWA' (Minelayer) Sniper Rifle, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 23)
 FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 SCARFACE Loadout Gamma & CORDELIA TURNER undefined / undefined. (1.5 | 81)
   SCARFACE Loadout Gamma AP Spitfire(+1B), Panzerfaust / DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 64)
   SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (- | 0)
   CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17)

 5.5 SWC | 300 Points
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To free some points, the Djanbazan-castle needed to be switched to a defensive Ghulam-core, where an Odalisque should guard my back. A tuned down haris of the Djanbazan HMG and the Sekban SO screened by at least one pre-deployed Yuan Yuan is supposed to crack the first hole, which then can be used by Scarface to clean things up and be deployed as a defensive anchor in the midfield. Nothing very sophisticated, but pure gun-power seems to be a good plan, right?

 
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GROUP 1  9  
 FUSILIER (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
 FUSILIER Missile Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 15)
 FUSILIER (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
 CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 11)
 CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 11)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 AUXILIA Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
   AUXBOT_1 Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)
 SWISS GUARD Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 62)

GROUP 25  
 GARUDA Tacbot Spitfire / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1.5 | 25)
 HEXA (Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle ( ) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 26)
 SWISS GUARD Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (1.5 | 63)
 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
 AUXILIA Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
   AUXBOT_1 Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)

 6 SWC | 284 Points
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As always, my notes on the opponents lists are more than bad, so something is missing and the groups are not accurate. But all the important things are there: A defensive Fusilier-core, two Auxilias and Fugazis as corner-guards and tons of hidden threads. The ML-Swiss to tear appart the first attacking wave, the HMG to attack back and where this won't reach to, a Garuda can cause chaos. Once a hacking device comes close enough to threaten the Swiss Guards, a Hexa KHD is there to solve this issue and keep the Hyperpower running.

We met directly in an urban district of some panoceanic settllement with a long uncovered street on the left and a heavily obstructed right flank. On the ground level, the right side was quite dense but could be overwatched from the DZs easily enough.

I win the Lt-roll and decide to go first, simply to avoid a TO-alpha strike. I get the south deployment zone.

My core-team is deployed on and around the building on the right with the ML and the doc on the roof and everyone else on the ground to take some action if needed and cover my back for AD-troops. The Hafza is deployed as a second Odalisque. On my left the Hawwa sniper overwatches the street, where a Yuan Yuan and the Sekban hide behind the left building. The Fanous try to reinforce the left side around the central building, where Cordelia takes the other side. Scarface only finds a nearly safe spot directly in the center of my DZ.

A Fusilier-core is deployed around the central building with the ML on the highest point. Each sides sees an Auxilia and one Fugazi. The third one goes on the right to look out for Yuan Yuans. And that it is.

To build my small haris, the Djanbazan joins the Sekban on the left. No one follows on the NCA-side.

QK 1: The second group is reduced by two regular orders. The remaining ones are used by the Yuan Yuan on the left, advancing and setting up smoke for the Djanbazan on the left around the center line. The haris follows, gunning down the ML Fusilier from smoke and without any problems to this. There are not enough orders left for the Yuan Yuan to set up more smoke, so the haris needs to advance further uncovered. I make the mistake to move out of cover with the second short skill and trigger a Swiss ML, blasting my HMG. The now alone Sekban retreats and scores net-undermine in the second try. Since I have orders left and need to do some damage, I try to land my second Yuan Yuan next to the central building in the NCA deployment but scatter and cover Scarface in smoke. Together with the Hawwa hacker, he advances a bit.

NCA 1: After the Swiss ML advances into a better position and recamoes, the left Auxilia advances, burning down the Sekban and my Yuan Yuan on that side. Only the Auxbot dies in this action. A second Swiss Guard appears, this time on the right and guns down my ML with a HMG, then doing first damage on Scarface. 

QK 2: There are still some points and SWC left, so a second Swiss ML can wait for Scarface. The last Yuan Yuan sets up smoke to protect the TAG, then Scarface advances, dropping the second Auxbot and forcing the Swiss HMG into cover after it recieves a wound. My Hawwas advance a bit, where the hacker tries to pin down the HMG in front of the enemy deployment zone.

NCA 2: It takes the Auxilia on the right just one try to discover my hacker, then the Hawwa is fried by an appearing Hexa KHD. This frees the Swiss HMG, which takes out Scarface. An entering Garuda spitfire coup de graces the TAG and enters suppressive fire on the right flank. Over the course, my Yuan Yuan is shot unconscious.

QK 3: Whatever is alive needs to be placed in the center now. With just one order remaining, the Hawwa sniper fails to kill the left Auxilia. My core-team is more succesful on the right, first gunning down the Swiss HMG, then getting the Yuan Yuan back to work and trying to get a better position.

NCA 3: It takes the Garuda only some effort to wipe out my core-team, since the real Odalisque was sacrificed before and the Auxilia on the left continues its path of blood by shooting down my Hawwa sniper.

With this, the game ends 8-1 for NCA. With my MSV 2 HMG as the only reliable tool against TO HIs lost in a bad move of mine, it became a matter of burst in most cases. A landed Yuan Yuan would have been able to kill the Lt-Fusilier maybe, giving me some more space to act. But nevertheless it is difficult to fight an enemy you can't see. Even if there would have been only one HD ML waiting somewhere - and there were several very suitable spots for it - every stept would have been dangerous. But with that high amount of hidden troops and hidden points, even after the first reveal I could not be safe for a second one. Especially with the bad experiences I have made in my last games against Noctifers...Commoner1 fielded a quite strong list in my opinion, which is quite difficult to play against, equal of your list-type. I would have had to try and engage the HIs, slicing them in CC, but for this not only my pace was not set up, but also the wrong weapons were on the field.

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...

Pandemic Protocol 2: Round 2 (QK vs IA)

After my loss in round one, I was paired against a Greebo, a newer Infinity-player but experienced tabletop-gamer in general. We met each other a few years ago on a Malifaux-tournament, so it was quite nice to face him now on 'my' battlefield. The mission for the second round was Highly Classified.

This time I simply wanted to play something different and include as much new and flexible stuff, as possible. I ended up with a defense simply relying on REMs and one Hawwa sniper. To push forward, a haris is formed around the Djanbazan HMG. They should be able to shoot their way forward and do some classifieds there. The other flank should be secured by the Azrail, put somewhere in cover and suppressive fire and just wait.Some specialists to round everything and allow me to score as many classifieds as possible.Luckily there would be some REMs to repair...

I expected the usual Zuyong-paintrain, but obviously, Greebo wanted to try something fancy and build for some smart missiles, supported by the Lui Xing, landing somewhere unexpected and target the necessary stuff. Krit should do the maintance for the support-REMs, while the Zhencha and the HacTao do the rest.

For this round I chose one of the Dire Foes maps made by Cabaray. Originally we wanted to play Rescue, but since I could not find a suitable and working map for this and this one was quite nice, we switched to Highly Classified on this map. It is quite obstructed by elevated positions in the midfield. The left has a deeper corridor, while the right sees some forest-zones.

The drawn main-classifieds were Rescue, Telemetry, Mapping, Nanoespionage, my secondary objective was Sabotage.

Again, I lose the Lt-roll and deploy first in the south. I decide to go first, since I see some good chances to push my Hawwa hacker up on the right and score a row of classifieds.

My Lt, covered by a mine, hides on the left behind a crate and overwatched by the Hawwa sniper and the first TR-bot. The haris scatters around them, ready to clear the whole side with the HMG if needed. The center sees my doc and the Rafiq as back-up, as well as the Azrail. I forget about the dead spot behind the container on the right, while a Fanous and the engineer overwatch the rest there. My hacker starts right in the center on that side.

The Doc hides somewhere on the left. The REMs take the roof of the left building with the EVO behind this. One camo marker starts in the center of the table, an other one in the left corridor and one in the center of the deployment zone, clearly being the Lt. The EVO and the left space in the order group telegraph a Lui Xing and/or a Guijja, but I am not sure for the moment.

My second Shihab also takes the roof where the first is deployed and Krit appears also on the left, a bit forwarded. His helper starts on the roof with the REMs.

QK 1: My second group loses two orders. The Hawwa hacker starts on the right, scoring Sabotage on the container there. Now I realise the trap and remember the HacTao, but since I can't be sure where he is deployed, I push forward. In the next order the Hawwa is shot in the back by the HacTao, overwatching the right. The Azrail climbs up the building in front of him and starts shooting at the HacTao, inflicting one wound and forcing him into full cover. To recover my Hawwa, the doc advances a bit to the right side. My Lt and the Azrail enter suppressive fire.

IA 1: Controlled Jump is activated and the Lui Xing uses the only uncovered place in my DZ to land behind my Najjarun. He scores Mapping and Telemetry without any problems and a missile knocks my Fanous out. A second one is tanked by the engineer. The HacTao enters marker state.

QK 2: A Yuan Yuan drops behind the Lui Xing and engages him, only to lose the CC and die. So that problem won't be solved this turn. The second option is to clear the REMs on the left building. The Djanbazan advances a bit and discovers a Zhenca in the center. We are both shooting on 12s, since he has a panzerfaust. Now the crit-fest starts and the Djanbazan is evaporated directly. The only option left to get rid of the SML is the left Yuan Yuan, landing behind the drop-ship and smoking his way up to the roof. While engaging the missile-bot, I template all REMs and get shot. The missile-bot and the helper recieve a wound. My doc advances a bit further to revive the Hawwa in turn three.

IA 2: Krit climbs up the building, repairing the missile-bot and his helper. A new missile kills my engineer. With the remaining orders, the HacTao tries to kill the Azrail, only inflicting one wound with several crits on both sides.

QK 3: I dragg as many orders into group one as possible to have some ressources left for the revivied Hawwa. As backup, the Rafiq can use some orders and Azrail gets some to kill the HacTao. First Azrail dies to the HacTao, then the Doc revives the Hawwa, unseen due to the obstructed right side. The Hawwa dies again to the HacTao while scoring Mapping. I fail to score Telemetry in a coordinated order with both Shihabs and the Rafiq on the TR-bot, thanks to a crit on both sides.

IA 3: Krit switches the flanks and scores Nanoespionage on the unconscious Hawwa.

With that, I loose 7 to 2. It would have been an easy thing, if I would not have underestimated IA in general. Leaving the premium spot for an AD-hacker with this set of classifieds was a crucial mistake and rocketing up the right side without any cover only to be surprised by a HacTao, clearly telegraphed by the deployment, wasn't clever, too. As the Djanbazan was killed, things were done, since he was the last tool to use properly and get into a nice position to dominate the game. Greebo then played his game calm enough, focussing on the recovery of his elements and picking his targets carefully. It would have been a good option to redeploy the HacTao towards the left, attacking my units, instead of forcing things against my Azrail, but that would have opened the flank for my doc and the Hawwa again.

Pandemic Protocol 2: Round 1 (QK vs. CA)

After all the european events, it was time to get a bit back to the locals. So I started orgaizing the 2. Pandemic Protocol. With 16 players from Germany, we started right after ITS 12 was released, all happy to have new tournament-rules and all sectorials available. For that reason, I listed myself in the crowd with Qapu Khalqi and their new wildcard-links.

The first round of the tournament was Capture & Protect and I had the 'luck' to play against the number three of the last ITS season, WorstC4se. Instead of his beloved Nomads, he is playing vanilla CA in this event. I have to admit that some of his battlereports, focussing on odds and decision making, really influenced my way of playing and may have inspired me to write my own battlereports. So I was really curious how this may turn out!

I wrote that list before I knew about my opponent and only made slight changes. The plan was to get the beacon secured with one Yuan Yuan, while the other one secures the path for him. Everything else should be distraction and defense. The double MSV-sniper in the core-team covers a lot of space and is able to damage a lot of things. In addition to this, two snipers allow me to have one on the ground and start moving to pick juicy targets actively. The Sekban is included to use the NCO. It was an advice of AssaultUnicorn here, who is a real fan of them in a core-link, so I gave it a try.
While the Hawwa FO should be a back-up for the Yuan Yuans, the two snipers should cause some headache on my weaker ARO-spots. One should team up with the Fanous, while the other one should have a look at the Azrail. The Azrail itself only was there to move up a bit and enter suppressive fire in cover, being as hard to remove as possible. With Rahman there, everything should be revived as often as possible.
As slight change towards CA as opponent, the Bashi was included. One Speculo would be there for sure and if I get the chance, the Bashi is a good tool to simply pin it down. For the case that it is clear that there won't be a Speculo, he can stay in reserve and maybe pick the beacon. Who would really rely on a Yuan Yuan?

Everyone would have expected the typical Avatar-list, but WorstC4se deployed the opposite: One hidden Sphinx to steal the beacon and a bunch of annoying terror-pieces to stop my attempt and secure the retreat of the Sphinx. Daturazis are a good secondary option to recover the beacon or to close narrow corners. The Haiduk may be included due to the map, which was quite dense, so that long-range AROs are not super efficient. Flash-bots are always a good thing to add some more cover to this. Since most of the important units have Terrain (Total), the Dazer of the Shrouded paid twice. On the one hand, my attack-potential was limited and on the other hand everything else gets faster by moving through the difficult terrain. Sounded like a good plan!

For this game, I chose a recent map from the White Noise-collection, made by Cabaray (thank you again for this, man!). It used the new Micro Arts terrain and had a lot of narrow and not so long corridors. Two longer firelanes were there - one on the right from one DZ to the other and one in the north half from the center to the right side. We agreed to not deploy on the rooftops with the solar panels.

I loose the Lt-roll and deploy first in the south. To not have to run my Yuan through things that advanced into the midfield, I chose to go first. My decompression zones go in front of the enemy-DZ to make the advance a bit more difficult, but leaving enough gaps for my Yuan Yuans to get the beacon out. This is done a bit too obvious, so the planned path is closed by an opposing zone. The last one blocks my major exit of the DZ.

My core-team starts on the right around the long street. Fanous and Hawwa overwatch the right edge, while the EVO hides in the back. The center is overwatched by Rahman and his flash pulse. I saw the left side to be better suitable for the Azrail in suppressive fire, so he and his Hawwa-buddy take the far left. My FO-Hawwa also takes the left but more centered to catch things in the close corners.

The beacon is overwatched by the Haiduk, both R-drones and two Daturazis. The Nexus hides behind them. Bit hides on a rooftop on the left, together with the sensor-drone, while Kiss is down in the streets. A third Daturazi securs the far left side and the right is quite uncovered. All camo-markers start in the center, so that the Dazer coveres the central left.

Since there is no Speculo deployed yet, I choose to not deploy my Bashi Bazouk. A Speculo is deployed in front of my core-team on the first storage of the building.

QK 1: I loose two orders in my first group and skip my impetous phase. The defense around the beacon is lined up quite nice, so I try to wipe them out with my Yuan Yuan. Controlled jump activated, Yuan 1 lands in the enemy-DZ with an HMG. Using some smoke, he places a template over Haiduk, both R-drones and the Daturazi, only to be engaged by the Haiduk and the Daturazi and everyone dodging the shot. This takes the whole first group. On the left, Azrail advances and enters suppressive fire, while the Bashi Bazouk enters the field in my DZ and advances towards the Speculo, blocking the ladder he would have to take to engage my link.

CA 1: The sensor-bot crawls into the center on the walkways and discovers my Hawwa FO. Since the hacking-thread is non existent now, the Spinx appears, burning him down and grabbing my beacon under smoke from the Speculo. Meanwhile the Daturazi shredds my Yuan Yuan. On her way back, the Sphinx engages my Hawwa and Azrail. One heavy pistol-crit causes two wounds on the TAG, while Azrail also takes a wound in the process. Under heavy fire, the Sphinx manages to retreat into a safe corner of the CA DZ.

QK 2: Since controlled jump is still active, the second Yuan Yuan and his motorcycle jump in the back of the Sphinx and dropping it in melee. To avoid any camo-engineering, the TAG gets coup-de-graced, but then the Yuan Yuan is a bit overstrained and gets stunned on the way towards the beacon. In my DZ the Bashi finally pins down the Speculo, while my core-team advances into the center, gunning down one R-drone. The HRL uses the corpse as a target, but the Daturazi and Haiduk again manage to dodge the template. Azrail re-enters suppressive fire and the right Hawwa sniper advances on the rooftops to pin Bit down, if she tries to get the beacon.

CA 2: First a Liberto tries to engage my link and Azrail but dies in the progress. Of course the light shotgun manages to knock the Azrail out. Then the Shrouded followed his path but is gunned down by my link, followed by one Daturazi. This guy manages to take out one sniper and the normal Hafza before he dies. A smoke template covers Bit, who climbs down the building, but the beacon is taken by the far left Daturazi after killing the Yuan Yuan.

QK 3: I have no option to get to the beacon, so it is simply about denial now. The remainings of my link advance towards the left. A pointless shootout between my sniper and Kiss, followed by an R-drone, let my sniper advance unharmed on the far left side, so that he can gun down the Daturazi. Rahman uses his Nasmat to revive the Azrail, scoring Experimental Drug.

CA 3: The last Daturazi covers the center in smoke, so that Bit can easily grab the beacon.

With this, I loose 1-9. After my 'alpha-strike' failed completely, my pointless deployment closed the coffin. The Azrail did more than everyone would expect to stop the Sphinx, but in that moment things were already lost. WorstC4ses' plan was too good here. I failed to access my DZ right here and went with my snipers in the long but uninteresting firelane. If I would have placed them more on the left and maybe switched the Azrail to the right, I would have gained more flexibility and a better defense of my beacon. On the other hand that would have simply had a switched focus of the opposing attack...

Nevertheless I am quite satisfied with this list and QK in general. The added Sekban in the core-link increased the order-efficiency singnificantly. It may be not necessary in a purely defensive link, but once you want to use it more aggressively, you are happy to have this added order. To invest into a more expensive core-team of Djanbazans also was a good idea. Not only that two MSV 2-snipers are always great, but also the high arm and the regeneration on PH 13 makes decisions more easy. The mos present thread to such links are DTWs, but in this case this can't be a problem. If they get one wound, they simply stand up again on their own or are revivied by Rahman, so you can always shoot and kill the stuff attacking you.
This also was my second game with two Hawwa snipers, teamed with an other ARO-piece. If you manage to team them with something else, the sniper rifles becoma a real thread and gain good value in your advance, even with BS 11. But you have to place them in a way, that they see the opponents attackpieces in a spot they don't want to be seen by one additional unit. Unfortunately, this takes most of your space in the list, if you already have a full core-team and two Yuan Yuans. Maybe one here is enough then. That maybe would have allowed me to invest in a better offence in form of a Kaplan spitfire or maybe a cheap haris around a Sekban spitfire. This will be tested in the future.

In different hands II (QK vs. DBS)

Some of my current fails with DBS, especially the loss against papu, inspired Minass, a good buddy of papu, a srong player on his own and a former opponent of mine in the ENTE, to try out DBS by himself. So I was really interested in his approach, hoping to learn something new. Additional motivation came from the release of the missing sectorials, bringing back Qapu Khalqi to the game, my first love and the stepping stone towards the DBS-challenge. Due to a busy week and a spontaneous scheduling of the game, we went with 300 points Decapitation, ITS 12.

Since QK did not change a lot from N3.5, I could more or less take some old list and fill the gained points. Of course, some of the new stuff should be tested. First, this should be the Azrail AP HMG as hellbringer for everything in his way, paired with Rahman to keep him running. Second, the new flexibility in link-teams. A cheap Djanbazan-core around the MSV2 sniper and a Sekban-haris, also as cheap as possible. So where the Azrail can't shoot through, the Sekban should do the job. With the 15-trooper cap, Yuan Yuans are in a weird place. You want to take at least two, even since they gained an unknown flexibility, but you need to fill your points with reasonable troops...Since I have no MSV2 HMG here, I don't really need one in turn one, but if, he could be there. The second one should land when there is a hole to utilize.

Minass took a similar approach to Al'Espagnol, building around a core-link with MSV2 Brawler and Scarface in the other group. But he added the Clipper here, together with Saito Togan. The core-link was streamlined around the task of setting up pitchers (the only tasks Druze actually perform better than everyone else thanks to their X-visors) and spotlighting targets. Scarface, guarded by a ton of flash pulses and the Sierra, should shoot whatever there is left then. Saito adds smoke as an additional tool and can eleminate units walking by.

What map could have been better than this cursed one, where I got some serious defeats, but also some victories? The south side gives better positions to deploy your link-teams and has good spots to overwatch the exits of the other DZ. 

Minass critted on the Lt-roll and chose to go first. I took the south DZ.

His core-team is deployed behind the central building with the MSR slightly orientated towards the left corridor. This one is also watched by Scarface, both Fugazis and the Warcor. They are also protecting one designated target behind the wall there. Cordelia is hidden behind the crate on that side, with one Nasmat nearby and one on the central crate, next to the Sierra. The Kameels hide behind those crates.

My haris is deployed as a back-up on the left. The core goes in the small central building with the sniper overwatching Scarface. Both remotes cover the right corridor, where Rahman is deployed, too.

The Clipper is set behind the core-team in the center, the Azrail closes up to Rahman, building a duo-team.

DBS 1: With one command point, I reduce group one by two orders. The KHD climbs up the building, shooting a pitcher in front of my core-team. My Lt then keeps resetting against the spotlights, after the Druze has fried Leila. Scarface takes a run towards the right, shooting down the Djanbazan sniper completely. He advances further, killing both designated targets.

QK 1: The Azrail and Rahman are taken into group two and advance through the right building. The Sierra burns to the second level of unconsciousness, then Scarface takes two wounds. He guts into cover and crits Azzie with his panzerfaust in the next order. Rahman is able to get him back to his feet with the last order and the last CP.

DBS 2: Now Scarface finishs off Azzie again, together with Rahman. While Cordelia repairs the Sierra, a new pitcher is shot between both links. This time all resets fail and every missile lands, killing nearly everything.

QK 2: One Yuan Yuan lands behind Scarface, while the second one scatters. Through smoke the landed one engages Scarface, but is cut in halfes directly. Now there is nothing more to do, so we end the game.

A major victory for Minass with DBS here. He played this list at least two times against papu with Kosmoflot before, winning both games in the same way as this. If you go first, you will land a pitcher and then land some missiles easily. This should win the game, if you guess the Lt right. If not, Scarface is there, always covered by the Sierra or the Fugazi. Or Saito, just in case.
Minass simply is a good player. He does not joke around with his game, since every unit is there for a reason, but mostly just for this reason. Scarface does the heavy shooting, the KHD does the pitcher-job, Gromoz does the spotlight. Thats it. With this, the plan is always clear and the risk is minimized, since the right guys are there for the job. If you have no good guys available, the job should not be done.
Besides the personal skills, his list may be one of the best DBS-lists actually. DBS may be one of the best factions to set up the smart-missile-strategy or any other pitcher-oriented approach. Not only that this approach is quite strong in N4, it is also very hard to counterplay for most factions, if you go first. And it is not that complex and difficult to set up. But you need to want such a game. For me, this one is totally boring and I am quite salty, that success seems to be bound to such list-type for DBS. I wished for more flexibility and variation here, since there are the units for this. But they are not good enough in combination, compared to the winning things at the moment.

Some words to QK: The link options are great but various. You really need to think about the different compositions to choose the right one for your plan. Here I holoed all Hafzas as Odalisques, since they have good ARO-profiles, being unattrative to attack. But the Hafzas themselves are not that strong, so I will think about including real Odalisques more often. The Azrail in combination with Rahman is great, at least when it goes against targets without visual modifiers. The continous damage here is just a little add-on, while the AP on the HMG delivers the main benefit. And of course, the rule of cool. The Yuan Yuans could have changed the game after the Sierra was down. But then there were the Fugazis and the Warcor. You need to land somewhere and while you try to avoid spots where you get shot, getting flashed there is even worse. This is something I need to elaborate more in the future.

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
Open in Infinity Army

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
Open in Infinity Army

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!

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
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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
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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
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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.