The worst day since yesterday (DBS vs. Combined Army)

Cordelia was still tightening the last screws on the TAG as the two explosions shook the freighter they were using to leave Paradiso. It took only a few seconds until the all alarms went on. Not only a hull breach was alerted, but also an atmospheric contamination of an unknown source. "Even while leaving this hell, the shit sticks to our boots..." Cordelia mumbled, as Arslans gathering call could be heared on the comlogs. The only luck they had this day was the placement of their cabins in the nearer sections to the emergency shuttles. On the hallway towards them, Cordelia and her brother met the survivors of the Shock Team around Arslan. Most of the other passengers and some of their teammates already go killed by the contamination, but for the moment they were a bit ahead. But by crossing the next gate, the shit hit the fan as the silhouette of an Avatar-TAG appeared in the flames...

 

After the two previous losses in the aftermath, I was paired against Narzil, who also had two rough games and was without any victory. So we should fight over the last place possibly. I already knew that he is a big fan of the Avatar and Nourkias and with Biotechvore as mission on the horizon, my bad mood about DBS was only increased. The Avatar itself is one of the most dangerous units in N4 and my experience with Nourkias, once he reaches his target, isn't any better. Biotechvore then forces you into certain list-types, which limits your potential solutions for this a lot. At least it was the last game for me in the aftermath and I already decided to pause a bit with DBS, so the outcome was not that important.

Biotechvore expects you to leave the danger-zone as quickly as possible, so you want fast units and a top-notch order efficiency. This is the only reason behind most choices here: A core-team to move half of the list at once and cause some struggles in reactive, a haris to be a bit more flexible and aggressive on the other side of the map and the duo of Scarface to shoot the breach if necessary. The core-team (MSR Brawler, Doc, Arslan, Lt, HD) is a bit miscomposed, since there is no option to shoot their way, once the MSR is shot. Arslan may be a good late-game piece and a slight protection against smoke-throwing Speculos, but that is it. Since I saw no big opportunities in CA for many visors, I took the MSR Druze as anchor for the small team, also containing the ABH with red fury, as needed mid-range gun. Scarface should simply gun everything down. The big benefit here is, that I have no problem to fulfill most of the classifieds.

 

As expected, Narzil focussed on the Avatar and his buddy, Nourkias. As a secondary thread, Messer made an appearance, utilizing the repeater of the M-drone for white noise. Dr. Wurm should be the toolbox for classifieds and keep all the important and expensive units running. The E-drone is arguable, since I see no reason for it here, while everything else grants some cheap orders.

The map I chose for this last round is made by Badlazzor and fits the theme of this mission perfectly. Even if it looks quite open, the walls block a lot of long fire lanes and also the containers and other scatter pieces are placed carefully to tune things down to closer ranges and enable moving.

I win the Lt-roll and decide to deploy second in the south, since I don't want to expose myself in the center towards the Avatar. Nazril decides to go first.

Messer and a Slave drone take the rooms on the left side, while two Nox-troops take the center. Everything else is grouped around the containers on the right side, with the Imetron thrown in front of the DZ.

My core-team, without the Brawler MSR for the moment, hides behind the containers on the right, Scarface and Cordelia take the center and the haris should go for the left to attack the center from the flank.

Nourkias accompanies Messer on the left and the Avatar is deployed in the center. I find a place for my MSR Brawler, filling the core-team, overwatching the path of the Avatar without being seen directly.

CA 1: Nourkias crosses the corridors on the left, tanking a hit from the ABH and then killing the whole haris-team. This scores Predator. Even several hits from the viral pistols could not stop him and his regeneration-abilities. But in the end this has consumed way too many orders, so that only two coordinated orders could be used to advance some stuff and retreat Nourkias out of my danger-zone. The Avatar and the M-drone end up in the center, while Messer also manages to leave the contaminated area. My Brawler manages to wound the Avatar, before he is dropped by a burst from the HRMC. The E-drone and one Nox survive the contamination, while everything else fails their saves.

DBS 1: Luckily, the Doc is lying next to the wounded sniper, which is revived and shoots down the Avatar in one order then. The Doc scores me Experimental Drug here. Now Scarface tries to wreck Nourkias without success and I have to advance the core-team into the open. Cordelia, Arslan, the Doc and my Lt are not able to leave the danger-zone, but only the Doc is killed here and Arslan recieves a wound.

CA 2: With only a few orders left, Nourkias continues with what he is known for: Murdering famous TAG-pilots. First Cordelia is consumed, then Scarface is cut in pieces. The left-over Nox fails to leave the zone and dies together with the E-drone.

DBS 2: Since Nourkias is out of range, I take care of the the M-drone in the center, shooting it with my Lt and coup-de-gracing him with the MSR, scoring Extreme Prejudice. With my Lt in suppressive fire and everything else scattered a bit, I pass turn.

CA 3: The two CA agents shuffle their positions a bit, failing to kill my MSR.

DBS 3: My Brawler has a free walk towards the enemy HVT, scoring Follow-up in one try. I skip the shot at Messer, since loosing my Brawler would probably switch the killed army points into Narzils favour.

With this, the game ands in an 8 - 3 for me, since I have killed 20 army points more and have fulfilled each classified. It was a really close thing for the whole game. After he messed up half of his list in his first turn, I thought it would be an easy one for me, but I fucked up my turn equally, even things then. Nourkias was a problem I can't solve properly and I got lucky, that Narzils love for him let him focus on him and not advancing Messer to erase my core-team. This allowed me to clear the last resources, saving my units from further attacks. My luck with the classifieds in this round did the rest. But yeah, only with my own resources, I would have had no chance here.

Sweating and bleeding the remaining four members of the team were sitting in the emergency-shuttle. Only seconds after leaving the freighter, it collapsed completely.
Saladin was not proud of himself for the moment, but he could not argue the shiver of joy crossing his gut while watching the final explosion of the freighter from a covered shuttle. Revenge always is a thing, and Arslan needed to learn a lesson here.

Cursed by fate (DBS vs. Hassassin)

The great thing about the aftermath of the ENTE is the opportunity to finally play against those guys, you met during the Team-Event but were not able to play against. So I was really looking forward for my game against papu, the former spanish captain. Knowing his results from the event, I expected an experienced player, but maybe a bit easier to access than Minass, his team-mate and sparring-partner. But nevertheless, I was aware of the current strength of Hassassin Bahram and how tricky suppremacy can turn out.

My general feeling is, that DBS is a solid faction when it comes to controlling and holding certain areas. Once you have deployed your link somewhere, they are hard to remove and the irregular troops available also contribute to this capability. With that in mind, I took my standard-list with a defensive core-team around the MSV 2 Brawler, Wolfgang and a Bulleteer to do stuff and a Hunzakut to have some tools in the midfield. Since this leaves some points, I saw the opportunity to try out a haris with the MSR Druze and a Red Fury ABH as flexible link for the second flank. A Bashi Bazouk then is nearly an auto-include for such missions, especially with the SO-option to click the consoles. To have something already in a zone, I chose to give Swanson a try.

If I had to build a HB list for supremacy, I would have ended up with something similar, I guess. A defensive but flexible core-team as a back-up for some camo-troops in the midfield, fueling an Asawira and two Fidays. The Fidays probably interrupt the first turn, while the second turn is done by the Asawira or the camo-markers, leaving nothing behind.

The map is created by Cabaray fom the White Noise-Podcast, if I remember correctly and features the new Kokkyo pre-painted terrain from Micro Art Studios, with some pieces painted by Perzan. There were only few long fire lanes on the ground level, but once you manage to put something on the rooftops of the higher buildings, you could overwatch quite a lot. On the other hand, all the trucks obstructed the main-street quuite well. The more residental areas were placed slightly elevated, so that there were different levels to consider everywhere.

I win the Lt-roll and choose to deploy second on the south. Of course, papu goes first, spending one command token for a second reserve.

A lone Asawira is deployed on the left side, while the core-team is spread on the right side. One Muyib takes a centered rooftop, while the other one prepares his action on ground level, possibly overwatching the right edge. The camo markers are scattered equally  in front of the DZ.

The core-team is squeezed around the two buildings on the right side with the MSR on the rooftop. I use the building to seperate the rest of the link, preparing for a Fiday. On the left, the haris is deployed with the MSR overwatching and everyone else looking at the back. The support-REMs take the back and the Bulleteer is also deployed there, covered by ABHs. In front of my core-team, Swanson and Wolfgang are deployed, hoping to cross that flank and remove the core-link later.

Two Fidays are deployed in front of my DZ. One is looking for my haris, while the other one is in the center, ready to go after my Brawlers. I choose to deploy my Bashi Bazouk as SMG in the center, overwatching both Fidays, once they are advancing. I thought that I can't block one Fiday with the holos completely, so this was the better option.

HB 1: I remove two orders from group one. The central Fiday sneaks towards my core-team, managing to down both hackers, but getting shot by the Bashi Bazouk on the way. The other one uses several smoke-grenades to kill the Red Fury-ABH, the MSR Druze, the Bulleteer and my EVO in CC. The Asawira advances and shoots down Swanson.

DBS 1: Most things are already lost, but at least my Lt is still alive and Wolfgang is also there. The Hunzakuts takes a shot in the back of the remaining Fiday, dropping it. Then the Bashi Bazouk and the Hunzakut advance into my sectors, securing them.

HB 2: The Asawira takes a run, dropping the Hunzakut, the Bashi and my MSR. This frees the core-team, which advances and activates one console. A second one is activated by a Farzan CoC and a single camo-marker advances.

DBS 2: Everything remaining is gathered in group two. The remaining ABH may have an opportunity to shoot the Asawira with his found panzerfaust. For this he needs to cross a small corridor. I misjudge this one with a cautious move and loose him to the Muyib HRL. Now things are done.

We play out the last round roughly, just to talk through actions and plans. Papu manages to secure more quadrants two times, activates three consoles and make his classified, granting him a 8-0 victory.

Even if I had planned a bit for a Fiday, I was not prepared for two of them. Followed by this, I made some mistakes with my placement, having not enough units by hand to discover the Fidays on their way towards my valuable units. The Fugazi in a better position would have been gold and a better placement of the haris would have been good, too. The next thing is the choice of deployment zone. Papu had a great spot for his HRL Muyib on one of the roofs, which would have been better used by my MSR. I really need to improve in reading the map and choosing the better deployment zone, since I made this mistake several times now with huge consequences.
Besides this, I am a bit disappointed by myself and DBS for the moment, since I deployed a good list for most of the tasks, but got no chance against the flexibility and combined strength of HB. At the same time I am bored of picking Wolfgang, a Bulleteer, Scarface or an Anaconda as the only reasonable units and beatsticks. I really don't want to play an army, where I can only play properly by fielding certain units. That is not what I expect from Infinity. So we will see, how things evolve.

But all of my mistakes and arguments shall not and can't overwrite papus disciplined and well planned play, really on the same level as Minass. His general results in this event really show his skill. And as all spanish guys I met via TTS now, he is a really nice opponent, allowing even such a game to be a good experience!

On the other side (DBS vs. Starmada)

While the European Team-Tournament ended a week after N4 was released, I decided to offer an individual aftermath to meet your favourite opponents again or to play against someone you have not faced yet. In three rounds with 300 points ITS 11 but now with N4-rules, we now clash against each other without the support of our teams. My first game here was Acquisition vs. Starmada, played by Al'Espagnol, a spanish guy now living in France.

Since I knew that the opponent would be Starmada with a ton of mimetism and quite fast and potent gunfighters on short ranges, I also shifted my list a bit towards these ranges and challenges. The alltime-favourite core is build around the LGL this time, since I needed one Druze and wanted to utilize my hacking game a bit more. The Bulleteer in group one is the main-beatstick. Everyone will take two orders from group one with him there, so Wolfgang showed up in group two, hoping to have a plan b alphastrike. There is an opportunity to build a haris, but this is only supposed as an option. Wolfgang should act on his own and the KHD with cybermask is also supposed to be a solo-piece. I made no big plans to play the mission, since the Hunzakuts are able to click the consoles easily and controlling them at the end of the game isn't that important. But the tech-coffin needed some more planning. For this, Arslan showed up in this list. He is more durable than most of the other stuff and he is able to gun down mimetism-datatrackers in turn three. From my experience, I should be able to pull enough orders together in my last turn and push him up in the center. Until that time, Wolfgang and the Bulleteer should have gunned down everything else.

We discussed Starmada before the game a little bit and the list in the end. As it appeared, I have done a few more games with Starmada for the moment than Al'Espagnol. He was still struggling with the limited long-range potential in that sectorial, so two Varangians and the Epsilon HMG showed up to compensate this and maybe that is the reason for the Kappa HMG. The added PsiCop is quite flexible and can shift the potential of the core a bit. The Cyberghost seems to be the needed specialist here and there, while the Raptor KHD with Devabot may be a great datatracker. And then there is Andromeda, simply to slow everything on the opponent side down.

Someone may recognize this table from the ENTE, since I simply threw together an interesting mix of maps. It is a quite open map in the center and on the left, while the right is obstructed by saturation and low visibility zones and some big rocks. The new terrain-rules made it a bit easier to play as it was in N3 and Arslan got even more value here, next to the Hunzakuts.

I win the Lt-roll and decide to go first, in fear of a hard alphastrike with a Zeta or whatever. So I am forced to deploy in the south.

My core is deployed around the left building with my Lt, the LGL and the MSR on the roof. One Fugazi reinforces that side, while the rest of group two is deployed on the left. Wolfgang hides in the grass there, to get more vectors to attack. Arslan is allone in the center, drawing some attention from the Brawler Lt and overwatching my back, if there is a Santiago Knight dropping. Hunzakut 1 starts in the center, while the second one hides around the left antenna.

The Kappa-core is deployed on the right but completely prone. The Raptor and his Deva take the center, together with one Varangian, while the rest is scattered on the right. For now, I only see the Kappas and the Epsilon as heavy guns.

The Bulleteer, knowing that I won't use him in turn one, is also deployed in the center and Andromeda appears on my right flank, pinning down the whole group two with her zapper. Arslan is my datatracker, while the Raptor gets to be the Starmada one.

DBS 1: As expected, I loose two orders in group one. This leaves the Hunzakut with enough orders to probably get Andromeda outside of 8" in her back. With my first shot I realize that I am standing in the woods, so not only my odds are terrible, but also I am loosing burst and allow her to dodge nearer to my group two. So I cancel this plan, parking the Hunzakut in front of the enemy DZ in the woods. Wolfgang climbs up the antenna in his forest-zone, from where he manages to gun down Andromeda. Some orders are spent to improve my position and to cybermask my KHD.

Starmada 1: The right Varangian advances a bit, followed by the Epsilon, gunning down my Hunzakut. Together with the Varangian, he advances on my right, killing the Fugazi and Arslan. Instead of placing the chain rifle of Wolfgang over the Epsilon and the Varangian, I dodge into CC with the Epsilon, only to be engaged by the Varangian then. Both die in combat.

DBS 2: My Brawler manages to gun down the Epsilon, while the left Hunzakut activates the left antenna and save it with a repeater and a mine, retreating back into safety. The Bulleteer advances a bit and enters suppressive fire.

Starmada 2: The core-team stands up. The PsiCop manages to down my MSR Brawler, freeing the Raptor. He manages to reach ZoC of my Bulleteer, frying my Brawler HD, while getting crushed by my KHD in return. Meanwhile the Warcor fails several times to score in extremis recovery on my Hunzakut. Obviously a pen can't solve every problem!

DBS 3: I drag everyone into group two and buff my Bulleteer. If I can shoot down the ML-Kappa, I can score my classified (extreme prejudice) on the Devabot and go into suppressife fire on the tech-coffin. So I first shoot the Devabot unconscious and then get two hits from the Kappa in the next order, blowing the remote completely. The left Fugazi tries a rush into the center but is also crushed by the Kappa. So the Hunzakut places an other mine and secures the left antenna.

Starmada 3: The left Varangian takes out the Hunzakut in CC, while the Lambda revives the Raptor. He then secures the tech-coffin with ease, other than the Warcor, failing one more time on the classified, but securing the right antenna. To finish the mission, the PsiCop re-activates the left antenna and secures it.

With that, the game ends as a 9-0 for Al'Espagnol. Loosing the Bulleteer against the Kappa was crucial for my loss, while the success of the PsiCop on my MSR was the only option to get the remaining Starmada-tools into the game. That the Raptor gets two wounds from my KHD was a bit of bad luck. I am still not sure if it was the right decision, to use him to reduce my hacking game. Of course, the Lambda was available to get him back with nice odds, what turned out very good, but it still was a heavy invest, just to kill my Brawler HD. On my side, Arslan was in the wrong position, not only on the table, but also being in the list in general. Besides this, I probably made the wrong decision in my first turn. If I have started with Wolfgang and the antenna, there were 6 orders in group one for the Hunzakut, which had a path to at least suicide-run to kill the Epsilon.But since that would have come down to the last order, maybe even one order short, I didn't want to take the risk and paid the price for this.

In general I felt quite comfortable with my list. Wolfgang does his job(s) and the Bulleteer gets scarier with each turn he is still alive. The Hunzakuts were useful as always, as well as the core-link. I had no opportunity to utilize my hacking game and the LGL here. Maybe I should have used an order to shoot a pitcher on the right flank. The importance of my KHD in this plan still needs to get deeper in my mind. What was a waste of space and points was Arslan. Of course, NWI, hyperdynamics and MSV1 is nice and more useful in N4, but in the end you can take better and more reliable options for whatever Arslan can be useful for in a better position or for less points. If he still would count as Druze for fireteam-composion, he could take the position of the LGL, freeing at least these points...But well, it was a try.

N4 Escalation League Part 1

With the release of N4, our local group started a small Escalation League with four participants and three rounds. For the three games, we gathered a force of Bakunin, one Shasvasti-team, our newbie with Winter Force and myself with Starmada, mostly to get in touch with the new sectorial and to avoid douple Winter Force, 

The following rounds were played:

• 100 points: Fontline
• 200 points: Hunting Party
• 300 points: Highly Classified

To create a little narrative frame, our Shasvasti-player wrote a short story, deriving from the Asteroid Blues-campaign:

Now that Novvy Bankok cooled down a little bit but a lot of troops are still deployed in Human Edge, the more unexplored asteroids around there get some attention from different powers. Covered by a more or less fictional Shasvasti-infiltration on one of this asteroids, a small O-12 party started the exploration, followed by panoceanian and nomad-ships. While those powers directly started fighting about their landing points, Bureau Aegis was more than surprised to really find some Shasvasti there and send out some Varangians. (brief description)

Round 1: Frontline

I really dislike those small games, since they are quite swingy and can be broken easily by some units or sectorials. We restricted ourself to not take any link-teams here. The first attempts for a nice list came down to a FO-bot and an EVO to boost it and simply gun things down on my way. The problem of hacking, the short rangebands and too obvious Lt-options in the end lead to a different list, even with a quite reduced order pool.

Since the mission is a little about killing stuff, I wanted to use the good old smoke-trick to extend, so the Epsilon and two Varangians were there, supported by a redfury Bluecoat as backup gun and toolbox with all the skills on him. Cho should be disguised as something nasty, since I was sure that my opponents won't see the problem of a missing Lt in my list.  

I had no clue what to expect from Shasvasti on 100 points, but four camo markers and two Nox were a quite good riddle. For Frontline, the Shrouded should make a good defense for the zones, while the Mentor can use his mimetism to shoot every target without bigger problems. Swanson with her FD saves valuable ressources in this small game.

We had to improvise a bit on terrain this time, since the papercraft terrain is quite flexible but in the end is a bit too flexible if you take some floor-tiles with it. I loose the Lt roll and deploy second in the south to utilize the bottle-necks around the center with my Varangians.

Two camo markers go on each side of the deployment, while the two Nox sit somewhere back.

Cho, disguised as something uninteresting, and the Kytta take the left side, while the Varangians take the right side together with the Bluecoat.

Aida appears on the central left and I place the Epsilon in the center, too, to utilize the smoke in the close quarters.

Shas 1: Swanson advances a bit, placing a mine behind the central building. Everything except for one Nox advances and Swanson enters suppressive fire with the advanced Nox.

Starmada 1: The Varangians advance in the center and set up smoke. My Epsilon discovers a Shrouded and forces him into total cover, then fails to discover the next marker. Everything advances a bit and the Epsilon, as well as one Varangian enter suppressive fire.

 

Shas 2: The Shrouded places a mine next to the other Varangian. While everything else advances further, the Mentor takes down the Epsilon.

Starmada 2: The Varangian without the mine rushes through the Shasvasti markers, forgetting about the mine and the Shrouded and goes dogged. That boosts is concentration, enabling him to kill the Mentor in CC, dodging the viral mine and critting Swanson with his SMG before collapsing.

Shas 3: Whatever able to advance advances.

Starmada 3: Everything left advances after clearing the last mine. The Bluecoat shoots down one Nox.

While I win 5-1, our newbie crushes Bakunin with a 10-0 victory, taking the lead in the league.

For now I am quite satisfied and a bit surprised by the capabilities of the Varangian Guard, while I also doubt the Epsilon as an auto-include. The smoke here is more a tool to get the Ariadnan guys to their destination or to cover the approach of my other units. But in the end, such small games only give a distorted view of the game.

Sunday morning patrol (Starmada vs. White Company)

Sometimes a spontaneous timeslot appears to fit in a round of Infinity, which is supported quite well by the TTS and the current community. So it appears that I got a game in against Masloo, a polish player I already knew a bit from the ENTE. 

Since it was an additional game and I had already scheduled some future games with DBS, I took the chance to make some further tests with Starmada, while Masloo brought White Company to the field. We agreed on Unmasking, since it is always an interesting mission.

The Crusher is an amazing unit so far and I really like the concept of a AD HI KHD in form of the Santiago, so I wanted to push this to its limit by taking the Santiago and three Crushers to have the biggest possible mid field appearance. Even with just an okay-ish sculp on the horizon, the Zeta will be bought and since it makes the list more extreme and adds a new layer of defense, this was his premiere here. As it was planned by someone, a defensive core of Kappas also fit in and completed the list. 

In general this list should simply gun things down or slow them down as long as possible, while the Crushers and later the Santiago click the consoles, take some sectors or score whatever necessary. A careful deployment of the core-team is important here to secure the orders as long as possible.

This was finally a list using the possibility of PanO shooting and smoke, together with the flexibility of YuYing units. The defensive core team with the MSV2 Haidao works as backbone for the Bulleteer and the Nisse, supported by the Varangian. The Nokken together with the Guilang should do the objective-part here. As Masloo said, the double Peacemaker was something to try out here, what can be a massive problem on some maps and is a big failure on other ones. But with the new hacking, the combination of HSG, HFT on the Auxbot and the repeater to consider is a quite good package. Together with the Danavas, most of the threads can be addressed either by the Nisse or by the linked Fusilier HMG.

We shuffled a while through different maps and Masloo fianlly stayed with this one. I was fine with that, since there were some places to hide my Zeta, but on the other side there were some quite long firelanes, which needed to be taken into account. The consoles needed to be rearranged a bit to fit with the terrain.

I win the Lt-roll and choose to go first, since the DZs are not that different in cover and spots for link-teams. I should deploy first in the south.

I am struggeling a bit with the placement of my link, since the ML should cover as much space as possible, but everyone else should be as safe as possible. So I drop the ML in a open gate in the center and place everyone else in the nearby room. The multi-Crusher starts in a horrible place on the left, while the two LRL-Crushers take the center and the right, since I saw more potential for their LRL there. My designated target is stuck on the left in a dead end, where nobody can land behind it, while one decoy is placed in a similar place on the left. I forgot about the position of the other decoy.

The left sees a camo-marker, a Bulleteer, a Nokken KHD and a Nisse HMG supported by a Varangian together with a Danavas Hacker in the back, while the right is covered by a Fusilier-core with a Haidao MSV2 MSR overwatching the center. It is supported by a Fusilier HMG and protected by a HSG Peacemaker, guarding two HVTs, while the third one is on the central objective.

I place my Zeta covered by the cargo-truck on the right, while a second Peacemaker with HSG appeared next to the first one, hinting a trap or a valuable target there.

My right Crusher is nominated as datatracker, since he can reach each HVT, while the Nokken KHD gets the other datatracker.

I start with repositioning the Zeta, dragging him into the center and dropping the Haidao in one shot. He takes a position behind a wall he can see over and overwatches now nearly everything. The central and the right Crusher advance, fail on each console once and retreat. I take a second attempt on the right one and succeed, discovering a decoy among the guarded HVTs on the right. The Crushers and the Zeta enter suppressive fire.

The Varangian sets up some smoke on the left, which is used by the Nisse to gun down my datatracker and force my Zeta into better cover. The Fusilier-link is refilled, but the HMG also fails on the Zeta. Everything retreats a bit and the Nisse enters suppressive fire.

My Zeta manages to climb the high building on the left without any problems and starts blasting the Doc and the Varangian from this elevated position. To proof the designated target behind the Peacemakers, the mid Crusher activates the console and check the decoy next to it. Everyone retreats and goes back into suppressife fire.

Everything evolves around the Zeta, which finally gets his first wound from thy Nisse HMG. The Bulleteer advances, taking him down but is wrecked by my ML Kappa in the progress. Before this happens, a CSU and the Fusilier HMG are shot by the Zeta. Finally the Nisse takes revenge and drops my ML.

I am in good shape, but I need to score some points here. The mid Crusher finishs the Decoy in the center and reveals the designated target by clicking the left console. For this, he needs a ton of orders, so I am down to one regular order. The Santiago drops behind the Peacemakers, outside of hacking range and with the last order, I land one BSG shot on the designated target.

Quite uncovered, the Santiago is fried by the Nokken KHD, which also drops my central Crusher. He manages to activate the left console to discover the Decoy on the left. There is no way now to get everything valuable done, so the game ends.

With my datatracker off the table, Masloo scores one OP, while I score seven. Over the course I rolled some crits and got lucky with the saves of the Zeta, which shrugged of really a lot with his Arm 8. Here my position in the center, overwatching nearly everything, added up to a really tough spot for Masloo, from which he can't recover properly. 

My list-plan totally worked out and the Zeta performed outstanding. But also three Crushers are something to consider, since they will perform if they are deployed properly. If that point is done successful, there is not much what could be problematic for them. Even if something had managed to go for my link-team, the Bluecoats should have been able to reduce the damage by gunning it down. The KHD was a high paying risk here. If he would have failed his roll, the designated target would have been alive with how the rest of the turn turned out. Being a KHD is a bit of a downside here, since you not only have to look out for LoF, but also for hacking zones, which sometimes limits the available space a lot. Since he has no tinbot, it would be a real shame to have him pinned down by hacking directly. Generally I am a big fan of Santiagos and of AD troops, too. But maybe I need to reconsider his position as AD hacker here.

 Masloo was quite limited by the map here, since it had no places to deploy the second Peacemaker reasonable. A more dense one would have restricted my potential a lot and increased his tools, since his Varangian would have gained more use and the Peacemakers could simply sacrifice themselves for my Crushers in close quarters. Maybe the Guilang on the left could have gone for that Crusher and later eat through my order pool. But that only would have limited my actions by leaving him in a pinned position.

First competitive N4 experiences

This weekend we managed to run a small (really small) tournament to close ITS 11 for us and give the new N4 rules a first competitive test. Due to the current Covid-19 circumstances we ended up with five guys and a lot of space. As organizer, I took the first bye and then got the last three games.

The missions for that day were Show of Force to encourage the players fielding some heavy gear, Highly Classified to force some thinking out of the box and then concluding with Frostbyte from ITS 10, since it is an easy mission but not only killing stuff with the biggest gun available. Since I know that the tables I build can end up quite dense and a bit empty from time to time, depending on the box I grab, I decided to build my list with densitites in mind, able to do every mission.

The first list was more or less derived from what I am used to in N3, sprinkled with the new tools we got in the new edition. Since spitfires and multi-rifles don't like long ranges that much and I have no tools to deal with a linked MSV2 MSR overwatching nearly everything, this list is supposed for denser maps, where I can move freely and work on shorter ranges. The core-link is the base-line here to defend my homeground and deliver some hacking-support. Gromoz joined for her pitchers and to get something against TAGs, if I need this list in Show of Force. One KHD is a must in this list and besides this, the KHD is a great tool for Highly Classified, especially with the easy to get cybermask! Group two is mostly designed around a haris with Wolfgang to push forward and wreck havoc. Here I included an engineer for mission-reasons, but also to have at least a small chance to fix a broken REM on the way.

Since open maps can be dominated easily with sniper rifles, the two options DBS offers were set here. Again, the Brawler marked the anchor for my defense, while Armand offers more flexibility, also in the active turn. The hackers here are more or less there to defend my Anaconda a bit, which should be covered by repeaters or the KHD on its path. The HMG on her is a cheap option to deal with opposing long-range AROs and if it has not to engage a MSV2 MSR, the evac-system can be quite useful, too. But since there are no other great tools in this list, other then the red fury-ABH in a haris, the Bashi Bazouk, now quite flexible, showed up with rifle and LSG to clear what is left by my big guns. I opted to use this list better in show of force and not in highly classified.

As it turned out, I got the bye for Show of Force and joined the party for highly classified against White Banner.

While the table was not very dense and had some quite scary firelanes, I wanted two Hunzakuts and Wolfgang here, so I went with the narrow-list. Mainclassifieds were mapping, HVT: retroengineering, sabotage and in extremis recovery, my personal one was follow up. To avoid getting crushed by Guilangs or a linked Shangji HMG, I opted for a restricted deployment, only leaving the Clipper and the MSR out to ARO and trying setting one Hunzakut in SF in front of them. Unfortunately that did not deliver the wanted effect and the HMG crushed all of them with ease and without any losses. Even the second Hunzakut, templating the Zhanshis of the core-link, only managed to kill one of them. So the path was free for my opponent to score the first two classifieds.A bit under pressure, Wolfang and the Bulleteer made a great comeback, dropping the Shangji HMG and some other stuff to prepare an objective run with my KHD in the following turns. A dangerous situation appeared as Wolfgang engaged a Guilang from behind, which had layed a mine next to my link-remainings. I opted for my chain-colt, but the Guilang and the mine made the saves. Luckily I shredded the Guilang in CC then and tanking the mine after a failed dodge then... By putting my opponent in LoL, I gained some more freedom and survived a shot by chance of a Long Ya-REM on my Lt. Wolfgang and the Bulleteer then finished the remaining stuff, utilizing the repeater and my KHD, so that Wolfgang could score in extremis recovery and prevent the Mechanic from scoring HVT:retroengineering in the last round, while my KHD sneaked around several mines and a monk, scoring my own classified and sabotage, ending up with a reliant armor but one order short for mapping. In the end it was a narrow loss in a very intense and joyful game.

The last round went against Cosmoflot, fielded by a very experienced Ariadna-player and ended up in a personal mission to kill Wolfgang as bloody as possible. The list was build around a Varangian-core with a Voltolak ML and the Unknown Ranger, some camo-troops (SAS) and the Polaris-team, supported by Wiliam Wallace. I wanted some more guns on the table and opted again for the narrow-list. I got the second turn and got lucky that Uxia failed her infiltration roll. That was balanced by a Volkolak ML dropping my MSR, while the link advanced on my unprotected left flank. The SASs activated two heaters, but got stuck in LoF of the Bulleteer and the Clipper. The Unknown Ranger dropped both of them and finally the Bearpode rushed into my DZ, killing Gromoz and threatening my LT, as well as my engineer. The KHD failed against his smoke-dodge, while Wolfgang was pasted by a Voltolak missile-crit on 15", leaving me without any good chances for the rest of the game. But my Lt managed to crit the Bearpode with his viral-pistol, killing it instantly. A bit of repairing and a landed Gizmokit got me both REMs back and one Hunzakut could activate my heating unit. Nevertheless it was just a matter of time, until the SAS and the core-team managed to wreck the rest of my crew and warm themselves up in my DZ, so that the second turn ended with me in retreat.

Thanks to the OPs I scored in highly classified, I ended up on the fourth place of five, but without any glorious moment. Most of that I would track back to not that optimal list-designs. Wrapping Wolfgang into a haris, just because he is a wildcard, is a waste of points and resources, since he works totally fine on his own. The freed space there could have been used better for a Peacemaker, securing the side where the Brawler won't overwatch. Or maybe a Sierra could be squeezed in, if the Clipper is dismissed. Here things have not changed - I can't get a proper use of this REM and would prefer the LGL-Druze or none of that. But this needs to be tested better.

N4 plays more killy than N3, that is fact and many defensive strategies may be thought through now. DBS in special is missing a good mid-field defense, since we have no minelayers. Of course, we have Hunzakuts, Peacemakers and Swanson now, but they are quite easy to dismantle with a dtw, which is quite frequent for attack-pieces. I really felt the need of something to shoot from 11" to not have the autoloss against a chainrilfe. Maybe a better deployment can solve this, but for such nasty things like the Bearpodes, that would not be enough. Besides that, DBS is a more solid sectorial now and can recover quite good, even with a stronger turn one now. If that keeps valid if you don't include Wolfgang, a Bulleteer and or a TAG, needs to be tested further.

Handing an explosive bill [Starmada vs. White Company]

N4 is out, Starmada is out and White Company as well - the perfect reason to wrap everything together. While AssaultUnicorn pushed the White Company in a messy cargo bay, it was my task to hand the latest speeding ticket to Mr. Hawkwood in a game of domination from the new rulebook.

I have already played two smaller games with Starmada with quite mixed results (the reports will follow soon) and since the sector feels quite aggressive in general, I wanted to smooth the transition and buid something similar to my DBS lists. For that reason, a defensive core-link was build with Bluecoats as cornerguards, filled with the great MSV 1 Psi Cop. To have something in a second lane, a TR-bot was necessary. The Peacemaker here is displayed by the mixture of Crusher and Lawkeeper, while the rest is simply there for reasons. I love Santiago Knights and I love the surprise of AD troops, so the new BSG KHD is a big deal, forcing the EVO. To be not totally unarmed in the infowar until he arrives, a Cyberghost should support the gang. And two Varangians for reasons - I have no experience with warbands and far less with a good smoke-support...

AssaultUnicorn must have thought the same and build someting similar to my DBS-lists, too. A defensive core-link, Hawkwood and a Varangian as second beatstick, once the Bulleteer is shot and the Peacemaker is disabled, too. He saw the potential of boosted REMs some time against me and White Co can totally support that game. Assisted Fire is enough reason for a EVO, so the Tiger Soldier is well hidden in that list, to be a last surprise.

The chosen map was heavily obstructed in the midfield with a lot of walls of infinite height, but also with a lot of breakable windows and doors to be opened. Each quadrant is easy to access and has some sweet spots to hide well, while the north has a better spot for linked ARO-pieces.

I lost the Lt-roll and should go first in the south.

The only reasonable spot for a MSR was the far right lane, so the core-team goes there. I misplaced the Psi Cop a bit more centered, recognizing it in my first turn. The TR-bot starts on a window on the right center with a Varangian nearby to smash the window directly. The hackers take the left side of my DZ with the Cyberghost a bit more advanced and the Kytta as support. To prepare a raid with the Lawkeeper, the second Varangian starts on the far left and the Crusher sits prone behind the left console.

The left sees the EVO-Mule, two camo markers and Hawkwood with his Guard, while the core-team goes on the right side. The Haidao overwatches both sides from a container in the back. The Danavas hides behind some crates on which a Warcor tries to shoot some questionable pictures. A third camo-marker and the Bulleteer ae also on that side.

My Lawkeeper sees a nice ride towards Hawkwood, so starts on the left and is counterdeployed by the Peacemaker, which is set in suppressive fire.

Starmada 1: The Varangians advance, while the Lawkeeper waits (just to secure him from ending up in a bad position). While the right one clears the sight for my Peeler and advances into the center, the left one discovers a door in front of the Peacemaker. The Bot can't react to the SMG-volley and goes down, but the nearby Fusilier crits the Varangian down in return. The Crusher activates the console and closes up to the position the Varangian cleared. Together with the other Varangian, he enters suppressive fire. My Cyberghost forgets to place a pitcher next to my Peeler and advances cybermasked. The Kappa MSR gets stunned by the Warcor.

White Co 1: The Bulleteer gets buffed and takes out my MSR and a Bluecoat without any problems. Now Hawkwood tries to clear the Crusher and is blown away by a D-charge. The Varangian griefing for revenge berserks a wound on the Crusher but can't throw an other D-charge out of his pocket and is blown into pieces, too.

I control three quadrants here, scoring the first two points.

Starmada 2: I want to clear the whole left flank, so the Lawkeeper sacrifices his sidebot, triggering a mine. To bait out the Guilang, the Crusher leaves his safe corner and instead of dying, he drops a Fusilier and the Guilang. Unfortunately, the Warcor manages to stun him. The Lawkeeper now crosses the far left flank and fails several times to drop the Warcor. In the last order I fail to wound the Haidao but at least survive. On the right my Psi Cop is directly shot by the Bulleteer.

White Co 2: The divided order-pool now starts to get empty, so the last surprise has to drop in form of the Tiger Soldier. It takes some time, but in the end the Crusher and Lawkeeper are shot. The Bulleteer now only needs to get rid of the Peeler to clear my DZ, but as it happens, a HMG-crit pins him in place. The core-team advances a bit to hold some positions in the last turn.

We tie on quadrants this round.

Starmada 3: It is time for the Santiago, even if I failed to clear the opposing EVO in the previous turns. He tries to land behind the Mulebot and fails the roll, scattering on my left flank. He approaches the Tiger Soldier but is too noisy by planting a mine, so that the target dodges around the next corner. Two orders more need to be spend to shred the Tiger with a D-charge in CC (he tried to dodge away, but since my second move reached his original position, we ruled the dodge to be canceled -> correct me if that is 'wrong'!). With the last order the Santiago knocks out the EVO and hides behind a crate.

White Co 3: Barely out of retreat, the link approaches the Santiago, wounding him ones, while the single Guilang flips both consoles on the left and stealing my near right sector.

With two sectors controled now and two consoles flipped, AssaultUnicorn wins 5-4 in a more than close game. The Crusher was a real monster to deal with and was a real surprise for me. The Peacemaker was a little gift for me, since AssaultUnicorn forgot about the door in front of him. On the other hand, the Bulleteer really hit my right flank, disabling me from dropping the Warcor, which caused major trouble in the second turn. Without the orders I sunk in him, I could have caused more damage on valuable pieces. Starmada seems to  be really devastating with alpha-strikes but may have problems to keep the race in the following turns. Here White Company could secure some resources long enough to outpoint me in turn three, while I had nothing reliable left to scare him away. Nevertheless, it was one of our bloodiest games so far and his unlucky CC-streak continued (several electric pulsed Yuan Yuans and such things). It feels a bit strange that D-charges are such a valuable CC-weapon now.

I really liked the taste of Starmada in this game and the different approach this sector shows, so I will dedicate some time to this in the future. Besides that, I want to field all the new miniatures I painted recently.