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The Good Guys Wear Orange - An RTF Blog

Discussion in 'Haqqislam' started by Grotnib, Oct 29, 2020.

  1. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    Hello everyone!

    I've finally taken the leap, and decided to scribble some of my thoughts and experiences about playing the Ramah Taskforce into a blog. I see myself as a middling Infinity player with more passion than experience, but I've put most of my gaming and thinking time in to the sectorial that drew me to Infinity - the RTF. My humble blog will hopefully give newer players some idea about the units and tactics I'm covering, and hopefully stir up some conversations among the veterans.

    All in all this blog isn't going to be focused on cutthroat tournament play, but rather it's going to be my passion project on a sectorial that I love.

    You can find the blog at https://thegoodguyswearorange.blogspot.com/, all tips and comments are welcome! Have a nice day everyone!

    LIST OF ARTICLES (and planned Articles)

    THE UNIT FOCUS SERIES
    In the Unit Focus series I take a look at the different units that make up the Ramah Taskforce, and try to answer why, not if, you should include them in your lists.

    Light Infantry:
    Ghulam Infantry
    Husam Operative Leila Sharif/(Yara Haddad, Intel Ops Mutafawiq Officer)
    Khawarijs
    Warcors, War Correspondets/Medical Specialist Rahman Rouhani
    Najjarun Engineers/Monstruckers
    Mukhtar Active Response Unit
    Naffatûn
    Nahab Aeromobile Team
    Namurr Experimental Operative Group

    Tarik Mansuri, Khawarij Amir
    Wild Bill, Legendary Gunslinger/(Carmen Johns, Mercenary Biker)

    Beasthunters
    (ITS Bike Recon) Motorized Bounty Hunters

    Medium Infantry
    Hakims, Special Medical Assistance Team
    (Husam Operative Leila Sharif)/Yara Haddad, Intel Ops Mutafawiq Officer
    Zhayedan Intervention Troops

    Heavy Infantry
    Al Fasid Regiment
    Hortlak Janissaries
    Janissaries

    TAGs
    Maghariba Guard
    Shakush Light Armored Unit


    REMs
    Fanous/Rafiq/Shaytaniyah/Shihab
    Kameel Remotes

    Skirmishers
    Murabids Tuareg

    Warbands

    (Wild Bill, Legendary Gunslinger)/Carmen Johns, Mercenary Biker

    OPERATIONS ROOM
    The Operations Room series sees me focus on ITS Scenarios from the viewpoint of Ramah Taskforce. Once I'm done discussing the mission, I'll build a list for it, and tell you how the list faired in an actual game.
    Biotechvore

    IN SEARCH OF WISDOM
    In this series I reflect on the game of Infinity, as well the place of Ramah Taskforce in it.
    Why Every Unit Has It's Place in RTF
    My RTF List Building Strategy Part 1 (the Basics)
    Hacking in RTF
    My First Thoughts on RTF and ITS13
    Q/A Part 1

    Exploring Your Options
    My First Thoughts on the N4 Fireteam Update and RTF
    My First Thoughts on RTF and ITS14
    Why Did I Choose to Play RTF?

    OFFICER TRAINING SCHOOL
    In this series I'll be focusing on subjects that are specially geared towards new players starting with Ramah Taskforce.
    A Welcome Letter to New Ramah Taskforce Commanders
    What to Expect from Playing RTF?
    What I'd Buy if I Were to Start RTF Now?
    RTF Fireteams 101
    Classified Objectives and RTF
    What Tips I'd Give Myself If I Were Starting Playing Now

    Basic Theory on the Stances of Play


    AFTER ACTION REPORTS
    In this series I join forces with my opponents in order to try and present play-by-play Battle Reports from both players' perspectives.
    #1 Operation Unrelenting Facade - Unmasking (Ramah Taskforce vs Tartary Army Corps)
    #2 Operation Dead Man's Hand - Countermeasures (Ramah Taskforce vs USAriadna Ranger Force)
    #3 Operation Astral Tears - [Durgama Takeover] Powerpack (Ramah Taskforce vs Operations Subsection of the SSS)

    COORDINATED COMMAND
    In this article series I turn to other members of the vibrant Infinity community to offer my blog as platform for them to showcase their thoughts - whether those thoughts be about Ramah Taskforce or something entirely else!
    PandaBeastMode's IGL Season 2 Report (1/2)
     
    #1 Grotnib, Oct 29, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2022
  2. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    My very first blog post is up, the first unit I'm covering is the Hakims.

    Edit. Link added.
     
    #2 Grotnib, Oct 29, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2020
  3. Freebootas

    Freebootas Well-Known Member

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    Nice man! Always glad to see more Ramah content. You've inspired me to try out the Hakim again, haven't used him in a list since he came out really. Any idea how often you will be making new posts?
     
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  4. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the feedback, I'm so glad you liked the article! Let ne know how it went with the Hakim! :) I've set a goal for myself to attempt to post at a pace of an article a week - I'm pretty far along the next one at the moment! This is assuming that real life complies with my wishes...

    EDIT. Corrected spelling mistakes.
     
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  5. infyrana

    infyrana Well-Known Member

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    Great little article, thank you! How did the Hakim go in your game mentioned at the end of the article? As a collector, I've begun to really appreciate the Hakim models (simple effective pose), but always put off by the box price (double nasmats never felt like a four-model box)
     
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  6. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for your comment! :) Alas, on the day in question the enemies of Haqqislam triumphed! We were playing the ITS11 scenario Firefight, and my first turn was an unmitigated disaster! I decided to try and go for a high risk play in order to regain the iniative, and so dropped the Hakim next to my opponents Brawler Engineer (who was also his datatracker). I knew I'd have to eat an ARO from the Brawler, but I calculated that I was likely to pass either my armor save or my regeneration roll, and thus end up impeding his ability to fix the multitude of his REMs I had already damaged or were about to damage... The Brawler proceeded to crit the poor Hakim and blow him straight off the board! I took solace in the fact that a more expensive Nahab would have suffered the same fate with those rolls, and the Hakim's sacrifice was not in vain, as I dropped his Nasmat A2 on the other side of the field to detonate a mine that was pinning my hidden deployed Tuareg in place! The Tuareg proceeded to go on an attack run of vengeace, which could have brought me back to the game, had he not been cut down by another crit!

    I hear you, the box is pricey, and if you already have the support pack, you'll end up wih more Nasmats than you really need... But the Hakim models are indeed gorgeous! As you said, simple effective poses, and I also love the details on the models! I can't recommend them enough!
     
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  7. infyrana

    infyrana Well-Known Member

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    That's very unlucky! I feel your pain, I was playing a different game earlier today and had the worst luck in some time - all swings and roundabouts from a roll of the die. Hopefully you'll get another chance to show what they can do :)
     
  8. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    The dice giveth and the dice taketh away, eh? ;) I musn't take anything away from my opponent though - he well and truly out played me during that first turn to put in that bad a spot! I'm sure I'll be returning to using the Hakim as soon as possible!
     
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  9. infyrana

    infyrana Well-Known Member

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    Oh, don't get me wrong, my opponent deserved the credit for putting together the wins, even if my luck was a lot better and hadn't set me on the back foot, I'm sure for the most part I still would have been outplayed :)

    Wishing you luck!
     
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  10. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    It's the magic of playing - there's almost always something we could do better, and even if there isn't, there's always the possibility that the dice just say no! :D

    All the best of luck to you too my friend!
     
  11. sololobo

    sololobo Well-Known Member

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    @OP

    I admire the grit. As for fielding options, all RTF bat reps that field Fanous Rems with Kameel Rem support have had nothing but positive responses. I feel that the F.Pulse is to RTF as the Panzerfaust is to HB. I had a paper list sporting 12 F.Pulses.

    On a request, I would like to hear how the improved R.Launcher Al Fasid does along with Carmen & Batard taking a flank. You could even combo there advance with a Wild Bill & Hortlok Haris.

    I strongly feel, RTF is mid tier, but there may be one or two lists that may help them push into that tier one and a half if enough effort is put into them.
     
  12. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    This week's blog post is out, this time I'm sharing my thoughts about the Ghulams!

    Edit. Link added.
     
    #12 Grotnib, Nov 4, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2020
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  13. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    My third article is out, this week I'm focusing on the Khawarijs!

    Edit. Link added.
     
    #13 Grotnib, Nov 11, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2020
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  14. QueensGambit

    QueensGambit Chickenbot herder

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    I'm gonna have to disagree with you that the Khawarij "can't match the Nahab in melee, but come as close seconds."

    Khawarij CC is really not very good. One die on 22 is super swingy, and nowhere near the level of a proper CC expert in Infinity.

    Whereas the Nahab is one of the best CC units in the game. One die on 26 is vastly better than 22, and giving the opponent a -3 is also very important. That puts the Nahab on the standard N4 CC expert level, but then she has NBW on top.

    Also, any decent CC expert needs a DA weapon, since you're only hitting on one die. The Kjawarij's weapon just doesn't cut it. The Nahab has a proper CC weapon.

    To illustrate: even against a lowly Fusilier, the Kawarij is only 52% to wound. The Nahab is 87%.

    Against an enemy CC expert, both have NBW, but the Nahab makes much better use of it by still using her own MA. So against a Ninja, the Nahab is 68% to wound, and 20% to suffer a wound (actually slightly lower, because my algorithm doesn't account for Immunity(Critical)). Against that same Ninja, the Khawarij is 30%-43%. Sure the Khawarij can cancel the Ninja's MA, but the Ninja still has higher CC and a better weapon.

    Don't be fooled by the swords modeled on the Khawarij. They aren't a CC unit. They have a certain resistance to being attacked by CC experts (that ninja won't want to risk a fight in his active turn), but they aren't themselves CC experts by any stretch.

    Oh yeah and just as an added bonus, the Nahab has Berserk(+3), NWI, and Immunity(Critical) meaning that against most targets, she can basically choose to auto-kill and be guaranteed to survive herself.
     
  15. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    Thank for your comment! I agree that the Nahab is in a league of it's own when it comes to CC capability and your math seems solid - I can accept the criticism on the wording I used in my article! Then again, the point I was hoping the get across, was that while the Khawarijs aren't dedicated melee fighters, and I'd never rush them into melee with a Ninja as my first option, they are RTF's second best non-character option for dealing with a target in close combat!

    In my last game of Acquisition for example, I smoked an ORC holding the middle objective on the last turn of the game, and proceeded to kill him in melee with my Khawarij Haris. Yes, I might have found a way to shoot at him, and still might have found a way to reach the objective with my datatracher Khawarij Doctor while still somehow avoiding the several AROs watching the approach to the objective, but the ability of the Khawarijs to kill the ORC in melee meant that I was able to accomplish the task in a much more straight forward and order effective way. I was rolling two dice on +2 after all, while my opponent was rolling one dice at 15. I was still not endangering my datatacker and could have aborted the attack run should the heavy inftantryman have killed both of my Red Turbans in melee... I woundn't have dared to use any other non-character unit in RTF (beyond the Nahab obviously) to engage the ORC in question in melee!

    It would really be bad game design in my opinion, for the Khawarij to be able to match up to the Nahab in melee, while still doing all the things that it can otherwise. I was merely trying to bring up the opinion that the Red Turbans are good generalists who can find acceptable solutions on how to get out most situations!

    Thank you for reading my blog, I'll gladly hear any thoughts and criticisms in the future! :)

    EDIT. Corrected some misspelling...
     
    #15 Grotnib, Nov 11, 2020
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2020
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  16. QueensGambit

    QueensGambit Chickenbot herder

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    That's a good point - the Khawarij come in packs. A single Khawarij against the Orc would have only been 45% to wound, but two of them brings it up to 67%, and 27% to do two wounds. (Or if the Orc decides to trade by hitting the non-acting Khawarij, it goes up to 83%-38%).

    If you put all three of them on the Orc, you're 79%-48%, which is starting to look like excellent CC. You can protect the datatracker by making him the acting unit, so he only has a 4% chance to suffer a wound.

    I'll amend my position. A single Khawarij is not at all good in CC, but a fireteam of Khawarij is a solid CC attacker!

    My point isn't that the Khawa isn't as good as the Nahab. It's that they're very, very far apart. Nahab is an apex CC expert, one of the very best in the game. A non-fireteam Khawa is far below even a regular CC expert. Far from being a close second, they're like a distant fifth.
     
  17. Papa Bey

    Papa Bey Clueless Wonder. Still.

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  18. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    I must reiterate, the article isn't discussing the CC experts of Infinity - it's about the place that the Khawarijs occupy in RTF. As said before, after the Nahab, the Khawarij is objectively the second best non-character model in Ramah for attacking a model in close combat, should the situation call for it for any reason. The "close second" could thus me amended to "second" or even "rather distant second'', but then again we're deviating from what the post was about - a positive look on what good the Khawarijs can do in RTF.

    My outlook of the game isn't about finding a piece that does the one thing that I need it to do better than anyone and then leaning on it hard, but rather about creating a balanced and interesting list that challenges the opponent on as many levels as possible, and thus applies pressure on their decision making process. Having a gunfighter that can be dangerous to deal with in melee accomplishes this - the opponent not only has to worry about the shooting, but also respect the threat of close combat, even though that threat doensn't materialize into an actual sword fight most of the time. And while we are on the subject, I don't think we should dismiss AP(+Shock) CCW as inadequite, as the amount of armor on the field has increased and thus the stock of AP has gone up!

    Thanks again for you comment and for an interesting discussion!
     
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  19. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    My fourth text has seen the light of day, this week my mind was on the Murabid Tuaregs!

    Edit. Link added.
     
    #19 Grotnib, Nov 18, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2020
  20. Grotnib

    Grotnib Well-Known Member

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    This week's article, the fifth in total, sees me refocus on the supersoldiers and take a look at the Nahabs!

    Edit. Link added.
     
    #20 Grotnib, Nov 25, 2020
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2020
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