Shasvasti First Timer for Upcoming ITS

Hi All,

In a flurry of speed painting I've prepped a new army for an upcoming ITS. We ran an escalation league leading up to this, and it's been a great way to recruit new players. Anywho, we're going to be playing Highly Classified, Cryogenics, Looting and Sabotaging. I'll give you the rundown of my lists.

Mebbe tourney 2? Cryo
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GROUP 1 9
Q-DRONE Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 25)
VICTOR MESSER (Hacker, Hacking Device Plus) MULTI Rifle, Cybermines, Nanopulser(+1B), D-Charges ( ) / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 33)
CORAX HASHT Spitfire / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 33)
NOX (Paramedic) Combi Rifle, Zapper ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
SPECULO KILLER (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Shock Mines / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32)
CALIBAN (Engineer, Deactivator) Submachine Gun, Pulzar, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
CADMUS-SOLDIER Combi Rifle / Assault Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 21)
SHROUDED (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)

GROUP 2 2 2 2
TAIGHA Chain-colt / DA CC Weapon. (0 | 7)
TAIGHA Chain-colt / DA CC Weapon. (0 | 7)
MENTOR (Lieutenant) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
E-DRONE Combi Rifle / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 18)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army


This is the list I envisioned for Cryogenics.
-Messer, Hasht, and Nox will Haris up to challenge a near objective.
-The Shrouded will flip another near zone, and get reinforced by the buffed Q drone
-The Cadmus and Caliban will rendezvous in the best option far zone
-The other pieces are fairly self evident and will engage in wrote Shasvasti skullduggery.


Mebbe tourney? looting classified
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GROUP 1 9 1
Q-DRONE Plasma Rifle / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 24)
M-DRONE Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 16)
VICTOR MESSER (Hacker, Hacking Device Plus) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Cybermines ( ) / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 30)
AÏDA SWANSON FTO (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, Viral Mines / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 20)
CORAX HASHT Spitfire / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 33)
NOX (Paramedic) Combi Rifle, Zapper ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
SPECULO KILLER (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Shock Mines / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32)
CALIBAN (Engineer, Deactivator) Submachine Gun, Pulzar, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
CORSAIR BASHI BAZOUK Rifle, Light Shotgun, E/M Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)

GROUP 2 2 3 3
TAIGHA Chain-colt / DA CC Weapon. (0 | 7)
TAIGHA Chain-colt / DA CC Weapon. (0 | 7)
TAIGHA Chain-colt / DA CC Weapon. (0 | 7)
MENTOR (Lieutenant) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
SHROUDED (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun ( | Dazer) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

This is the list I was planning for Looting and Sabotaging and the list I might run for highly classified.

-My best play for the AC 2 is the Caliban under cover of the Speculo's smoke. Taigha can clear any mines

-Follow up is Messer getting dragged forward by the link, with potential to get a Taigha in too
-The shrouded will prioritize pulling from the panoplies immediately, and can serve as tier 3 attempt at popping the AC 2

My own AC 2 will be defended by a pair of Taigha, Viral mine, Q drone, and Noctifer


Highly classified is...a bit of a crap shoot. I think either list can do it, but I'd favor the first one as it actually has a paramedic.

I'll update on how the tourney goes after the weekend.

 

The camo spam meme is totally viable with Shas

 

Round 1. Cryogenics Vs. Druze. (my oldest regular opponent, Sbosko)

This thematic encounter took place on a reasonably open Alcazaba board set up in a way that allowed several lanes up and down the board. The Druze forces looked like this:

Core with HMG
Scarface
TR Bot
Pathfinder
Gromoz
Saito Togan

The changes to minelayer changed the way I use the speculo when I go first. There was a reasonable building overlooking objectives on the left flank, so my first model deployed was the speculo and mine, right on top of that building. This forced the Druze to turtle on my right flank. Hasht and his Haris as well as two Taigha reinforced my left, and were more or less uncontested as they swept up the board, securing both objectives.

My Caliban, Q Drone, E drone, and Shrouded got comfy overlooking my right flank, and the Noctifer hid in a position overwatching the right objectives.

The Druze more-or-less turtled on my right side, opting to brute force their way up the road, through my camo markers and TR bot.

Some of the big plays

The speculo booted from his denied tower, leaving the objective guarded by a pair of Taigha, and moved into the rear of the Druze forces, mining the pathfinder.

The Noctifer revealed and surprised Scarface, wounding him and killing cordelia before being perforated by the Druze HMG in its turn.

The Q drone and F-13 turret managed to stall the armoured push up the road, killing Scarface, and Saito while Hasht and his team secured my entire left flank and an HVT. As the Druze were gunning their way up the alley, they failed to prepare for the rabid pair of Taigha that circled in behind them under cover of the speculo's smoke. The chain rifles killed the Druze Lt, and that was about it.

Shas Victory 8-5

 

Round 2. Highly Classified vs. Tohaa (Knights_Templar a recurrent Edmonton area player that I get to play for the first time)

The flop was. Test Run, Mapping, Net Undermine, HVT Kidnapping.

This was one of those 3rd party boards designed like the newer style boxed set cardboard terrain. Lots of height and catwalks. I took deployment to deny the best sniper tower, and drew HVT telemetry as my secondary classified.

The Tohaa deployed the Sukeul HMG triad on my left, backed up by a Gao Rael Triad. His center had a Sukeul and Kosuil duo, and his right had the Ol' Neema Sataar triad and a camo marker that turned out to be a Liberto.

I deployed the Shrouded with Dazer on my left to hold up the Sukeul, and gambled only backing him up with a Taigha and M drone. THe speculo took a tower looking for an easy Net Undermine, and the Core fire team deployed on my right with a Taigha, planning to square off against Neema in a fight for the HVT. The Q drone and Caliban stayed kinda Left-Center to stop my core from getting flanked.

Some of the big plays

The Tohaa offensive was largely foiled by great dice on my part. The Liberto scooted up the flank to template my core team, he dodged Aida's viral mine, but received a dodge engage from a Taigha, which tied him up for the rest of his short, fishy life.

Neema's Haris moved up, and managed to get caught by a Noctifer missile while they were out of cover. The blast killed the Sakiel, Makaul, and wounded Neema. The Gao Rael quickly exacted vengeance, but it was a proud trade for the Noctifer. Neema did manage to complete Net Undermine and symbiobomb Aida to death, but triggered a dodge from Hasht that gave him line of fire. His Breaker pistol AROs from that point were too much for her, and the flank crumpled.

The Speculo completed Net Undermine for me and gunned down a Kauri while Hassht and his crew moved up and scanned the HVT.

The Kosuil tried to counter attack as best she could, climbing down from her roof and unleashing a torrent of pheroware against Hassht and Messer. She could not get through their resets, and eventually got swarmed by a pair of Taigha and munched.

The Sukeul killed the Dazer Shrouded, and slogged their way through the dazer field the middle, gunning down the TR Bot.

Hassht securd his HVT, while the Caliban fixed the M drone giving me 3 completed objectives and one hidden.

All in all, it was a very tight game where I was very lucky. A few key dodges and resets really helped me come out on top. Almost perfect performance by Hassht and Messer with every order was also very nice.

Shas Victory 9-1

 

Round 3. Looting and Sabotaging vs. Tohaa ( played against Listen, a new guy in our meta who'd been honing his skills on TTS)

Top table against an opponent that I've had some razor sharp games against. This was fated to be a fun one. I won the roll, and opted to take the DZ with the most protected AC 2. It was snuggled into the crook of a MAS D-5 L building, and gave me lots of defensive options.

The Tohaa deployed La Muet on a commanding rooftop near the center of his DZ. (This was fated to be a tough ARO). A triad with Sukeul (I think?) was on my left flank, and a Sukeul Missile triad on my right. His AC 2 was guarded by a Chaksa and mystery camo marker. Right on the edge of my DZ sat Jan Starr and another impersonating grief operator.

My Core team posted up around my AC 2, with Aida and her mine holding the outer edge of the building. My M drone, Taigha, and Shrouded with Dazer set up to hit my left side panoply, while my Caliban and Q drone hovered near the right one with another Taigha. The 3rd Taigha camped my AC2, with the Mentor and Noctifer hiding near by. The plan was to weather the first turn, then surprise shot la muet through a white noise field with the Noctifer....pffff. Plans. The Speculo hid close to the enemy AC 2, anticipating some clutch smoke action later.

Some of the big plays

Jan Starr got pretty busy phero bombing my core team. He killed Hasht, my medic, and Messer before being felled by the ARO zapper. He moved his Sukeul missile up to guard the long center-line road, and dropped a Bashi in on my right flank, but the dodge triggered an ARO from a Taigha, who could now see the merc. His triad then moved up my right flank and nuked the Taigha, leaving my right only guarded by a Q drone and caliban.

Blunder number 1

My caliban moved up to an objective marker, then realized it was not the panoply, but just a piece of scatter. This effectively neutralized his forward deployment. He then re-positioned to get at the panoply, hoping for that "go ahead" first pull, got spotted by a diplomatic delgate, and killed in ARO by a Makaul's contender. Huge blunder. The Q drone crept up and deleted the Bashi.

My Taigha at mid field scrambled forward, discovered, then murdered the grief operator, importantly stopping any immediate threat to my AC 2, while Aida went into suppression overlooking the approach to my defensive L building. The M Drone completed 1 forward observer attack on the HVT, and gunned down the pesky delegate. All in all, turn 1 was huge losses for me, but the AC 2 was at least clear.

The second Tohaa turn had one of his triads move up and pull D charges from the right flank panoply, while the left triad abandoned the left flank, and moved to the center of the board, attempting to discover the Speculo without success.

The Noctifer, Q drone, and M drone all coordinated an attack against La Muet, discovering that he was actually a Taegma Schemer. Fortunately, the Q drone found the mark and dropped him. This opened up my left flank, allowing my shrouded to pull some d charges from the panoply, and the M drone to finish forward observing the HVT for my classified.

My final play of the turn was to drop my Bashi right behind the right flank triad and deploying an E/mine, which effectively froze that fire team for the rest of the game.

The central Triad pushed up, gathering a d charge and giving the Tohaa the "go ahead point" (we're tied 1-1 at this point) and tried to push my AC 2. The ARO threat from Aida, the Q drone, and the Noctifer was too much to overcome, and the Triad was not able to close the distance to the AC 2, despite their eclipse smoke and pheroware attacks.

My final turn had the Speculo smoke the enemy AC 2, and my camo'd Shrouded ran forward. He made base to base with the target, giving me that order and one additional one. Somehow, my tired brain decided that rolling FTF vs the AC 2 made sense. I don't know how, but I made the decision and stuck by it. The Shrouded tanked the mine, but rolled a 5 vs the AC 2, immobilizing him. This was Blunder number 2 and effectively snatched a draw from the jaws of victory.

Nevertheless, it was a great game against a very savvy, fun opponent.

Shas /Tohaa Draw 4-4

 

When all was said and done in our 14 player tournament, Looting and Sabotage proved to be a confounding factor for both top tables. Both managed to fight out a draw, which allowed ITS veteran Brokenforest to slingshot into first place. My 12 TP and 21 OP were enough for a 3rd place finish, but this may always be the tourney that got away thanks to those two blunders, which could both have won me the game otherwise.

I'm proud to say that our meta has matured very well. 4 players finished with 12 TP, with only 4 OP differentiating the top 4 spots. Similarly, the 6 TP spot had to get split by VP, as it was all so close. Naturally, it was a great day for the OTM be be out of service, forcing me to manually pair each round.

This was my first outing with the Shas. I think my lists worked pretty well. I definitely feel like the fire team needs to be better protected with mines, especially against Tohaa pheroware deliverers. The Caliban never really got to strut his stuff, but that was a feature of a misplay on my part. I think the engineer version will be a staple for some time.

Thanks for reading!

 

3 of 14 played Tohaa. Man, I'm sick of pheroware! Great players too.

 

They Almost finished appropriately too. If I hadn't fouled up the last round, I think they may have come in 6, 9, 12th in the rankings. Obviously a multi variate problem. The point is that my d charge may have screwed up a cosmic balance.

 

It looks workable. I’m curious as to how sell the smart missiles work in Shas. Did it fare well?