Had the opportunity to run my MO against @Errhile's RTF - basically vanilla Haqq restricted to units that will be in the RTF, but with links allowed. Mission - Frostbyte. My idea for that mission was to run a TAG list: Military Orders ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 SERAPH Spitfire, Nanopulser + AUXBOT_3 / EXP CCW. (2 | 82) AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4) FATHER-KNIGHT Lieutenant Spitfire / Breaker Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 50) FATHER-KNIGHT Missile Launcher / Breaker Pistol, DA CCW. (1.5 | 49) KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38) ORDER SERGEANT Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) TRAUMA-DOC (Father-Doctor) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Seraph was to run point, preferably reaching and destroying heaters on enemy side of the table on turn one, then being a nuisance and distraction. As it turned out my opponent had a similar idea when it comes to TAGs: Haqqislam ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 MAGHARIBA MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 78) MAGHARIBA PILOT Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. () TARIK MANSURI AP Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser, Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 53) TUAREG Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) TUAREG Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 33) ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31) GHULAM Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) GHULAM Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) 4.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Haqq forces won the initiative and chose the ball. They've deployed in a balanced way, with Ghulam link on one flank, Zhayedan and Tarik on the other one, Maghariba close to the center and Tuaregs hidden on both sides. I responded in kind, with Father-Knight/OS link holding one flank, Seraph on the other one, Remotes close to table edges to spread my Repeater coverage, Machinist in the middle and Doc on a rooftop with FK ML. First turn was maybe not disastrous, but certainly disheartening. As it turned out I misjudged my deployment; my FK ML wasn't covering possible Maghariba's approaches as well as I thought, and Seraph was much too exposed in its deployment spot. First order saw Maghariba moving into firing position and making three big holes in my TAG. Ghulams got into a shootout with my fireteam - a mistake on my opponent's part, I believe - which their ML 'dispersed' into a fine red mist. Maghariba moved closer, managing to hit FK ML and forcing him into hiding, before setting up Suppressive Fire in the middle of the map. Tuaregs activated one by one, approached their appointed consoles, and activated heaters on enemy half. Finally, Tarik moved forward and found a hiding spot in a building close to my position. With the situation becoming dire I decided to counterattack. My link team redeployed; Lieutenant took point, managed to find a good spot denying enemy TAG its cover, and actually managed to damage it beyond operating status with only two bursts. Next thing to do was to move Machinist to try and repair the damaged Seraph; I just had to deal with a Zhayedan overlooking the shortest path. FK ML proved to be good man for the job, even though he got wounded in return. My Engineer couldn't quite reach the TAG, though, and went prone close to it. But Haqq forces haven't finished their assault yet; Tarik himself went forward. First, he wounded FK ML a second time (damn that Fatality L2!). Then he approached the building destroying my Fugazi on his way in, jumped on the roof, and put my Doc and FK out of the fight with few LSG blasts. Then he turned his attention to my damaged TAG, destroying it and killing the Machinist to boot. By that point I was pretty much sure to lose the fight, but I decided to fight to the bitter end. My remaining Father-Knight jumped into the open, moved behind some cargo containers, and actually managed to put Tarik down with a well placed Spitfire burst. I moved with the punch, using some Coordinated Orders to move FK, Santiago and Pathfinder further up the field. Santiago activated the middle console, turning up the heater in my DZ. Then I moved Pathfinder to get enemy hacker in range, and successfully ran a Skullbuster software to neutralize him. I redeployed my HIs a bit as well, so that FK - my Datatracker - was securing the Exclusion Zone. With tables turned my opponent activated his remaining Tuareg. Infiltrator flanked my knights, reached the building with my remaining Order Sergeants, and killed both of them. He moved inside, but didn't have to orders to do more harm. I was down to three orders, plus Lt. and Datatracker ones, but I didn't have to do much on my last turn. I moved my FK to kill Ghulam Doc overlooking the field, advanced with Santiago to cripple the Maghariba for good, and tried to reach the heater in enemy Dead Zone - but didn't have enough orders to destroy it anyway, so that was it. Even with the bad opening I managed to win this game 9-1. MO resilience is really something now, though I consider my opponnent to be playing with one hand tied behind his back today. Some short analysis: I severely botched the deployment of both my Father-Knight and Seraph, with the latter being far too exposed in the spot I've chosen. I should've deployed it in some more secure position. Another mistake was the attempt to reach the damaged TAG with my Machinist. I could do something more productive with the orders, like trying to kill Tarik before he could reach my lines. On the other hand my opponent trying to outshoot F-K with his own missile launcher was not a good move to say the least. 2 dice on 14's against my 2 dice on 17's - yeah, no. It's not even a gamble, it was using his own orders to kill his own trooper. Another thing was my surprise at how undergunned Haqq list was. It really lacked a linked HMG or Spitfire. This is essential, I wouldn't be able to deal with that Maghariba myself without a proper assault weapon. Another surprise was my opponent's use of two Tuearegs. I was expecting a hidden Hakim (and I still think it'd be a better move; exchanging Zhayedan for a Hakim, and giving HMG to one of the Ghulams. Enemy AD emerging on one of my flanks would certainly ruin my day). New MO are much more resilient than I thought before. I'm really having fun with that sectorial now. There are still some rough spots, but I'm having no trouble coming up with a working list that is also fun to play. Not giving up today worked in my favour. I'm also lookign forward to seeing how RTF will turn out. We had some difficulty coming up with how its fireteams might work; it's hard to speculate on it without seeing some new units and nailing possible combinations. I'd also say that it could use some additional Engineer support, if it is to be the 'hi-tech' Haqq sectorial. On the other hand PanO manages with a humble Machinist, so who knows.
Well, the fate of the Ghulam ML was me counting on my luck somewhat: Burst 2 on 14-or-less for Ghilim vs. B2 17-or-less for Father Knight. Calculated risk, though it didn't paid off indeed. If it did, I think my chance of elliminating Father Knight weren't half bad. It didn't cost me much though - surely the ML overlooking the battlefield would've been useful to have down the road, but it wasn't something I really missed. I'd say it was more about Maghariba being knocked out in two Spitfire bursts from the other Father Knight - despite being set in Suppressive Fire itself - that was really dishearting. Still, Burst is the king there! I find the Military Orders very resilient with the new Fireteam combinations. Father Knights are damn beasts, and I sctill can't get used to the Santiago wildcard being present in the team (nb. do me a favour, man, and paint your miniatures already :P) and tend to assume he's another Order Sergeant...
Will do ;) I actually plan to convert my combi and BSG Santiagos into Magisters - they look like light HI anyway, those shotguns are tiny, and they're far more dynamic then the new Magisters - which suck big time. I also have a good idea for a KHD conversion, but need to check if I'll be able to find proper parts. On the whole, MO shapes up to be a sectorial for people who like conversions...
Thanks for the write up! These are the two factions that I play, so it's fun to see both at once. I think this was a nice demonstration of new MO and also a clear indicator of RTF's need for more firepower. Some questions for the two of you: 1) Why the auxbot Seraph instead of the HMG? I tend to assume that MO needs HMGs to help punch out of the deployment zone. 2) Similarly, did you miss the Hospitaller Haris? I find them in all of my lists. I realize the Seraph kind of serves the same role, but they're a lot mot durable. 3) Maggie's destruction was a bit unfortunate, but would you say the Suppressive Fire gambit was threatening enough? Or would it have been more stressful to play against a more cautious TAG? 4) RTF clearly needs bigger guns. Could you see the Khawarij HRL helping in this game? 5) Two Tuaregs surprised me. I always find myself a little disappointed in the unit, aside from late game objective grabbing. Could you speak a little about their role? They seemed useful, but would you try it again?
