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I took Spiral Corps to a small ITS tournament in Tokyo

Discussion in 'Spiral Corps' started by meikyoushisui, Jan 29, 2020.

  1. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    Hey everyone!

    You may have noticed you have seen less of me arguing with people in the past few months, and that's because I moved! I took myself down to Tokyo for a small ITS tournament last week, here's a quick look at how it went. I took 2nd of 6.

    Mission 1: L&S vs. Bakunin

    I played this.

    L&S v2
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    GROUP 1[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]9 [​IMG]1
    IGAO Boarding Shotgun, Stun Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 25)
    DRAAL (Minelayer) AP Marksman Rifle, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 40)
    KAELTAR Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioBombs / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    KRIIGEL Breaker Combi Rifle + Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
    TAAGMA (Tri-Core) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21)
    TAAGMA (Multispectral Visor L2) Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25)
    CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
    CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
    KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12)
    HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9)

    GROUP 2[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]5 [​IMG]2
    JAAN STAAR Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / 2 x Viral Pistol, CC Weapon, Knife. (1 | 31)
    CLIPSOS (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
    TAAGMA Lieutenant Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
    CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
    HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9)
    WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

    6 SWC | 298 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    My opponent was a newer player playing Bakunin. I didn't know that he was newer and accidentally took out too many stops. He was playing a Moira link, some morlocks, a doctor, a Lunokhod, a Sin-Eater and some other stuff I don't remember.

    My opponent won the lt roll (a 14) and took deployment.

    I reserved Jaan Staar and dropped him right next to Kusanagi, who was given away by the 14 on the roll (though I don't think he had any other Lt choices in his list). I don't think he was ready for the Impersonator, because I put him in LoL on the first order of the game.

    I spent a few orders dealing with the Sin Eater (in retrospect I should have used Smoke + MSV2 from my Taagma because that would have been most efficient, but instead I was too far up the table before I realized that was the right play. I started chewing up all of his poor Moiras from behind and took some orders to panoply things (including D-charges on my Clipso).

    He had three orders on his turn, one of which he used to stand back up his Sin Eater. I used the rest of my orders to clear out his Sin Eater, d-charge his box, put him in retreat, and secure HVT for the 10-0.

    Game 2: Frontline vs. ISS

    This is a mission that Spiral Corps is very good at, but my list didn't have the right tools to deal with my opponent's list.

    I won the initiative roll and took first turn. I played the same list as above. My opponent brought a Wu Ming link, Rui Shi, hacker, Xi Zhuang and some filler in group 1, and CG+KS in group 2 (I've never seen it played like this.)

    I played too aggressively up the table, using Jaan to finally take down the Rui Shi. But my Draal + Kriigel + Taagma triad was left too far up the table with too little support. I spent the rest of the game trying to hold onto the middle of the table with the Auxiliar special triads, but nothing left in my list was punchy enough to slow my opponent down.

    I also let him play something that should have been f2f rolls as normal rolls because I couldn't find a decent rules citation (Eraser vs. BS Attack). I pointed out that hacking attack vs. BS attack was f2f, and so was jammer, but didn't want to argue it out, and opted to use a BS weapon instead. With the extra -3 that Eraser imposes, I might have actually survived the roll at least. I wanted to give everyone the benefit of the doubt since I last played in August, but I also had to pull up the FAQ to show him why Dodging takes a penalty on shots out of Low Vis, so I clearly can't be that rusty. Final score was 10-1 in favor of my opponent, iirc.

    Game 3: Decap vs. Ramah

    Frontline, Decap v3
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    GROUP 1[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]9 [​IMG]1
    JAAN STAAR Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / 2 x Viral Pistol, CC Weapon, Knife. (1 | 31)
    DRAAL (Minelayer) AP Marksman Rifle, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 40)
    TAAGMA (Tri-Core) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21)
    KAELTAR Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioBombs / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    KRIIGEL Breaker Combi Rifle + Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
    TAAGMA (Multispectral Visor L2) Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25)
    CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
    CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
    KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12)
    HELOT MILITIAMAN Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)

    GROUP 2[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]4 [​IMG]3
    CLIPSOS (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
    KRIIGEL Lieutenant Breaker Combi Rifle + Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
    REEX Boarding Shotgun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 13)
    REEX Boarding Shotgun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 13)
    HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9)
    WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
    DIPLOMATIC DELEGATE (iKohl L1, Journalist L1) Nanopulser, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)

    6 SWC | 299 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    Yes, I know the list title also says Frontline. I originally wanted it for Frontline but changed once I saw my opponent was ISS.

    This game was against the TO, who brought Ramah.

    He won the LT roll and chose to go first.

    He deployed his fireteam (Tarik/Khawarij/Defiance Doctor Guy/Leila/Ghulam NCO) as far up the table as he could, and I got a cheeky angle pinning Tarik down with my Taagma sniper due to the longer deployment zones. He also had other Ramah things, but no Mukhtars in this list. He spent orders on a Naamur and some other stuff but couldn't get around the Taagma's position. Eventually he had to start moving the link and I got a couple members of it down.

    At that point the damage was done, I spent the next two turns clearing up the back and finally got Tarik and his HVT, for another 10-0.


    Here are some general observations of mine from playing Spiral Corps again after a long break.

    Observation 1: We are so short on punchy shooters. Damn. That's the biggest impression of mine. My list had almost nothing it could do to a Wu Ming train without some cheeky plays. I couldn't make myself an opponent for my Igao even though it was on that side of the table. If I was a better player, I definitely could have taken advantage of that, but as a now worse player I just wished I had a big gun besides the AP Marksman Rifle, especially after turn 1, which brings me to observation 2:

    Observation 2: Spiral Corps power over time chart looks like someone riding down a hill, which is the opposite of other armies I've played like for example ISS. The longer a game goes on, the weaker Spiral Corps starts to feel. Our big shooter relies on Stratuscloud to have any shooting power on turn one, and while Spiral's reactive game is strong, it feels like every game I play as Spiral Corps involves taking as much control as I can of the middle of the table and trying to hold onto it for dear life for 2 more turns.

    Observation 3: I need to take more advantage of smoke. I didn't have to deal with almost any Active Turn MSV2 and the Kriigel can smoke across the table with LoF on 9s in a Tricore, which I definitely should be doing more.


    I definitely would attend another event, the Tokyo group is great, but I think were I to do so again I might pack my Shock Army instead, depending on the mission setup.
     
  2. Káosz Brigodéros

    Káosz Brigodéros Vanguard, Inc.

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    Great batrep, thanks for sharing!
    In case you would like to bring a big gun number one to the table I recommend fielding Neema Saatar with TriCore and Kriigel. Thanks to smoke you quickly get in range and once you get upfields, Neema will make short work of most opposing troopers...
     
  3. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

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    I'm not a Spiral Corps player myself, but for a couple of times I played against Spiral players, a Rasail pretty much always kicked my ass and he is pretty resilient, especially with a symbiomate. Is there any particular reason you'd prefer not using him aside from the pts/swc tax?
     
  4. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    The Draal ends up being a better shooter in Spiral due to link bonuses and Stratuscloud, is the big one. BS16, B4, equal damage to Rasail against anything ARM2+, and then Mimetism + Saturation to start with on top makes the Draal a much more efficient shooter. I think the Viral Combi Rasail is pretty good and it's nice he packs his own defense, and I always consider the Rasail at 200 points, but I find him tough to justify vs. all the bonuses the Draal gets.
     
    AssaultUnicorn likes this.
  5. clever handle

    clever handle Well-Known Member

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    Obviously misplaying some f2f as normal rolls there could have been a huge deal. I think that your first list had some good options for dealing with the wu Ming link. I think the Igao would have been your best bet - stun grenades can be killer since they force TWO BTS saves! And once failed a wu Ming can’t declare attacks - step one trhrow grenades. Step two CC blender (or shotgun) against a model that can only declare dodge at huge penalties (stunned state + martial arts + ikhol)

    I’ve been playing spiral for about 6 months and unless my dice completely fail me, or I’m playing countermeasures or highly classified, I find them too tier. My regular opponents play IA, TAK and phalanx. I think spiral has all the tools they need to do damage, maneuver and hold zones.

    I honestly prefer to take second turn and deploy with my head down. I force my opponents to spend orders crossing into my half of the table, where they need to walk through neurocineticed rockets, linked heavy flamers and finally get passed the Kriigel agent (singular) tossing oblivion at them before they can touch my non-chaff order pool full of gun fighters and specialists.
     
  6. meikyoushisui

    meikyoushisui Competitor for Most Ignored User

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    I apologize that this isn't clear, but despite the list names I did run list 1 for Frontline. I deployed my Igao poorly -- I should have used the Tricore Kriigel to toss him some smoke from an insane distance, but instead he ended up pinned and useless (at least actively -- his presence did slow my opponent down reactively). CC wasn't going to be an option due to how my opponent deployed -- seeing one Wu Ming would mean seeing 4 units total, but you're right that I could have spent a turn doing some clever stuff to get rid of at least his pair of HRLs.

    I didn't realize stun was so powerful though! I always assumed one save at BTS13, but it's really two at 15. (If anything, I learned I should spend some more time with the rules.)
     
  7. clever handle

    clever handle Well-Known Member

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    Stun grenades are amazing at hunting party as they maintain the same damage profile but cause IMM instead!
     
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