1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Learning to play QK

Discussion in 'Haqqislam' started by AssaultUnicorn, Sep 16, 2019.

  1. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    @colbrook thank you for the insight! I will try to limit my ARO pieces' LoF to my half of the table. That seems like the main thing I need to get right overall. Make the enemy come to me. If they see the piece right from the getgo, it takes fewer orders to shoot it.

    To other news: today I had a deliciously good game of Biotechvore against the good old IA fella. He switched the list up a bit, foregoing Daoying LT Hacker in favor of captain Qiang Gao in the Zuyong link with the Haidao Sniper, some Zhanshi filler-specialists, and a Haidao KHD ready to shuffle into the link team once the Sniper inevitably dies. The rest is the same old jazz: Zuyong Haris with HMG and a baggage bot, a couple of flashbots, and Mowang Red Fury/Akrylat.

    Here's what I got. And guess what model I had in reserve.

    Armor Storm
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    [​IMG]10
    JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40)
    ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 30)
    JANISSARY Akbar Doctor (MediKit) AP Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 41)
    LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
    WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
    IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
    [​IMG] IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
    HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
    GHULAM (Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
    GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    GHULAM Rifle + Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 15)

    6 SWC | 300 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    Oh. My. God. Iggy is the best boi. The area was having some pretty tall buildings, about twice as high as S7, so he had zero issues coming up to the link (that had lying Bill in their sights through a narrow corridor) and scorching the Haidao Sniper, the Mowang, and a Zhanshi. Before that, though, I made a pretty glaring mistake that cost me the E/mauler Ghulam and Hawwa AHD. I decided to do the shooty-shoot with the Mowang who was out of cover. Even with that in mind, he had the Akrylat-Kanone that hit the Iggy on each of the two orders I spent trying to out-shoot him. I just got lucky enough to roll below 10 on my PH, otherwise, it would have been the end of me since I had no Engineer. Had I gone straight for the DZ flamethrower blazing, those two orders would have been enough to get all models out of the Biotechvore zone. I thought I would have had the time to go with the Akbar Doctor and revive them all, but he got shot to death on the opponent's turn, along with the HMG and the Odalisque (who by the way also could have gone for some good total cover if they had those 2 orders). The situation forced me to use Ghulam's LT order to get out of the Biotechvore in total cover behind a large building on the flank where the Zuyong Haris was situated. The LT was covered by Doc and Bill.

    The latter managed to survive the first-turn onslaught, so at the start of the turn 2, I had him, Ghulam LT, Panzerfaust, Leila, and Iggy operator who burned Qiang Gao to a crisp in exchange for eating a crit and a wound from his breaker pistols. Luckily, the operator ejected without any issues into the position with good cover from which he coordinated with Panzerfaust and executed the Haidao KHD. Then my LT Ghulam peeked around the corner and LSG'ed the Haris Zuyong who wasn't seeing him but tried to change facing without success. Then the NWI'd Wild Bill slotted him and the HMG Zuyong for good, additionally completing the In Extremis Classified. And so with that, the opponent had no teeth to kill the remaining survivors and was also in the LoL which allowed me to finish off the remaining Zhanshis and score 7-0.

    Lessons learned:

    – don't get into a good range band of a unit you can otherwise have at a disadvantage;
    – orders attac, but they also protecc: make sure you have the resources to pull your guys out of the hot zone and consolidate your position before trying to rambo the crap out of enemy;
    – also, before setting up a durable linkteam model for AROing, make sure he's not the link leader so that if he dies, you wouldn't need to spend command tokens for reforming. This goes double for Biotechvore where you have to use them to shuffle the non-linked models;
    – Iggy is probably the best candidate for a "fire and forget" kind of trooper, as weird as it sounds. His heavy flamer is the only source of direct fire ammunition outside of Mobile Brigada in QK so make use of it and BURN THEM ALL MWUAHAHAHAHHA. Even if it dies, the operator is a tough two-wound bastard who has an HMG and knows how to shoot it straight. This Iggy operator didn't die in a single game he had been having, so I'm gonna give him to the best painter in the city and finally grant him the respect he deserves.
     
    #41 AssaultUnicorn, Jan 20, 2020
    Last edited: Jan 20, 2020
  2. loricus

    loricus Satellite Druid

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2017
    Messages:
    2,469
    Likes Received:
    2,613
    I see the Yuan Yuan as a basically free first wave. Low cost and especially low order usage. I'll usually only use their irregular after landing, take one shot/smoke, and leave them as chain rifles that need to be cleared if they live. I've had too many times where I waste orders positioning them just to have them get wasted and fail to an enemy armor roll.
    So I don't like to add the EVO for them unless I have another big use for it.

    I love the Azrail Feuerbach but it is heavily reliant on good positioning, one of the more difficult skills to pick up. Like people say if he sees too much he won't be much use without luck. Your opponent will have a counter to it, so you want that counter to need to waste orders to position and kill.
     
    Errhile likes this.
  3. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    That's what I usually do unless there is an enemy model in view that absolutely has to die, like a puppet master or an obvious LT. Otherwise, they are effectively living mines AROing in the enemy DZ.
     
    loricus likes this.
  4. Doa

    Doa Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2017
    Messages:
    251
    Likes Received:
    114
    Sometimes(playing 20 models) I choose to use a regular order to cancel extremely impetuous order in 1st turn and keep one yuan yuan for 2nd turn. Sometimes it works and my opponent has painfully moments
     
  5. loricus

    loricus Satellite Druid

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2017
    Messages:
    2,469
    Likes Received:
    2,613
    15 is pretty much my max so I would never consider it.
     
  6. Barrogh

    Barrogh Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2017
    Messages:
    2,062
    Likes Received:
    1,791
    Well, in QK there are always other good uses for it, with AVA 3 flash bots and a number of other things. Although there are also decent uses for points, of course.
     
    Capo.Paint and loricus like this.
  7. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    Had a pretty close game of Highly Classified today against my good old IA fella. I was hoping to do a Decapitation mission to show off my freshly painted Iggy, but we had to switch to a different mission instead.

    [​IMG]

    Anyway, I decided to stick to what I know in terms of the list and also squeezed in a lone Djanbazan HMG. No more attempts to shove it into a link team: just him, his MSV2, and the smokescreen of her Yuan Yuan girlfriend.


    Chocolate and Djanbazans make you happy
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    GROUP 1[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]9 [​IMG]1
    LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
    GHULAM Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)
    GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
    GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
    KAPLAN Combi Rifle, Blitzen / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
    WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
    KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    BASHI BAZOUK Combi Rifle, E/Mauler / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17)

    GROUP 2[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]5 [​IMG]2 [​IMG]2
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
    DJANBAZAN HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35)
    HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
    YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)
    YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)

    5.5 SWC | 300 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    Depending on the situation and positioning, the main attack force is supposed to be either Kaplan Haris or Djan HMG. Given that my friend always brings an MSR Haidao to his lists, I had to somehow knock that ARO piece out of the game. Thankfully, I got an additional Yuan Yuan and a Bashi Bazouk just for that. The Ghulam Core has basically become a no-brainer for me after a couple of Dahshat games I had with them. They're cheap, disposable, and reliable. Having an Al Hawwa FO instead of AHD, while not leveraging the anti-HI potential to its fullest, is still a great deterrent for any IA player who does not know what is hidden under that camo marker and whether or not is it a hacker.

    The opponent's list was this, gathered from my memory:

    Invincible Army
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    [​IMG]10
    MÓWÁNG (NCO) Red Fury, Akrylat-Kanone / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 52)
    DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29)
    HÚLÁNG (Fireteam: Duo) 2 Submachine Gun, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 41)
    TAI SHENG Mk12, Chain-colt, Stun Grenades / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 45)
    HǍIDÀO (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 37)
    ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
    PANGGULING FTO (Repeater) Light Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 13)
    CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    ZÚYǑNG MULTI Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0 | 31)

    3.5 SWC | 298 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    The main addition here compared to previous games is a Hulang Shocktrooper. I've been having moderate success with him in Dahshat on some DataTracker-specific missions and even fielded him a couple of times against his IA lists. Among the highlights: he sliced his Mowang in two on the second turn (but eventually died). The dual SMG loadout is, in my opinion, inferior to the Combi+LFT one as when it comes to enemy DZ slaughter, fire templates do wonders in terms of order efficiency. Mowang, he had decent success with. It's very tanky, can take a lot of punishment and is a very reliable rambo piece. It's a very fun model to fight against in general as confronting him feels like a mini-boss fight. Still no cheeky tricks like a BSG Liu Xing or a Zhencha infiltrating on a 10 turn one.

    I lost the initiative, so the opponent chose to go first while I picked a better DZ.

    [​IMG]

    We drew a lot of HVT-specific classifieds: three to be precise. So it made sense that I gather my "hackers" near the HVT to deter any attempts to do classifieds on them. I cannot stress enough how important it can be to make your opponent think that you have more dangerous toys up your sleeve than you actually do. To that effect, I deployed the E/Mauler Bashi as a Ghulam Hacker near the HVT. To make matters more pressing, I added the prone Al Hawwa on the rooftop, my opponent knowing full-well that it may be the AHD profile. Flash bots still follow the general rule of covering only your table half and not some 1-kilometer fire lanes. I got the Kaplans and BIll into the house on the left and placed the Yuan Yuan to guard them with her chain rifle (she rolled up EXP CCW on her Booty, sweet). Unfortunately, this ended up being a double-edged sword since now I had to deploy the Djanbazan near the Yuan Yuan whereas in retrospect it would have been more beneficial to place him on the balcony near the EVO Kameel since he could see more firing vectors when his time to bash some heads in finally came. The scenario I ended up following ensured that Djanbazan couldn't poke his head out because of the Haidao, so we had to wait a bit.

    I placed the Sniper and the ML Ghulams watching over the enemy link team, their guns ready to blast the clustered fireteam to smithereens. Yeah yeah, dark magic and all that, I know. I was ready to lose these girls and then hoped that Kameel's placement near the link along with Al Hawwa and not-Ghulam Hacker would trick the opponent into not engaging the rest of the fireteam up close, allowing Leila to cybermask her way out and hopefully get some of the HVT classifieds done.

    Invincible Army

    The Mowang tries to clear the way for his fellow link team and attempts to shoot the ML Ghulam. She crits him right off the bat and cracks him open into NWI with AP+EXP ammo while he was out of cover. The ML Ghulam then dies to Red Fury's shock ammo. Without the 5-men bonuses, the sniper has less than stellar chances of winning the face to face, which she does not. She tanks the armor saves a couple of orders and then I decide to drop her prone, while the enemy knocks out a Fanous bot which had Overclock.

    The coast is clear and the Hulang rolls out. He carefully positions himself outside of Kameel's repeater range (that's when I knew he took the bait) and tried to speculative fire the link team. The range ended up being further than 8", so he fumbled one grenade roll with -9 and then started thinking. He moved his link team a bit into the midfield, behind the central grey building, many of them out of cover but overlapping their LoF in case any drop troops appear. Then, he decided to brute force the link team and gone for the remaining Ghulams. Then he noticed that I only tried using EVO Kameel's programs (of which there was not a single CLAW program, yikes) and that's when he gained some confidence.

    The Hulang entered the roof and drove my Lt. into total cover while failing to do anything to Kameel who kept dodging and tanking the saves. The shocktrooper then cut the corner and shot Leila to death, so that's one of my classifieds already out of the menu.

    [​IMG]

    He then went behind Kameel and shot my Lt straight into dead. He loves putting me into LoL when he gets the first turn.

    Qapu Khalqi

    With my Lt. dead and all my orders getting irregular, I had very little options of how to get myself out of this situation. I had one Yuan Yuan who could get the jump on either the enemy Lt. or the Mowang. I chose the latter, airborne-infiltrating behind him and then blasting him with the chain rifle in the back. He failed to change facing both times and then failed armor save, going straight into dead. The Yuan Yuan rolled up a panzerfaust. Meh.

    After some thinking, I decided to throw my Bashi Bazouk into the sacrificial pyre since noone could see him approaching to the link team. He rolled out using his irregular order, planting an E/Mauler to cover the HVT. I then converted Kaplans' orders into regular and fueled the Bashi with them, first surviving the encounter with the baggage bot who attempted to dodge (I decided to keep moving) and then planted another E/Mauler just around the corner to cover half the link team with its template.

    [​IMG]

    The Kameel then courageously engaged the Hulang in CC and tanked the armor save. This was made in order for the Ghulam Doc+ to go into suppressing fire without any AROs. Then, the Ghulam Sniper activated and sniped the baggage bot from afar – the only link member she could see. The bot elected to dodge.

    ZAP!!!

    [​IMG]

    The bot got knocked out, and the E/Mauler successfully bricked the nearby Zuyong. The turn ended with Bashi going into Holo2 and sliding 1" into the doorway, gaining LoF to the link team.

    [​IMG]

    Invincible Army

    The Hulang mopped up the remaining resistance pretty easily. He lightsaber'd the Kameel and then proceeded to kill both the Doc+ and the Sniper, catching two flash pulses without any effect.

    [​IMG]

    Now was the fun part: the link somehow had to pull out the Bashi's LoF. They spread out with their first order, the Bashi laid his last E/Mauler, and then the TacAware Zuyong knocked him out cold with his combi. They then had to somehow deal with this mine. The Daoying pulled out using her Lt. orders and then spent about three orders give-or-take trying to discover-shoot the mine from the 8-16". On her third attempt, the mine finally got destroyed, and the Boarding Shotgun template also wiped away Bashi's cold body.

    The 3-men link then finally freed up and moved to the left flank, Haidao covering the roof where the Djanbazan was chilling with Tai Sheng being close by but slightly more exposed. The Daoying didn't re-camo.

    Qapu Khalqi

    I assigned my new Lt. to be Djanbazan HMG. The Impetuous phase saw one Yuan Yuan running up to the link and smoking the corner of the building where Djanbazan was lying, the second smelled the Hulang and ran into his direction, crossing eyes with the Daoying who was left exposed within roughly 24" away from the pirate. She elected to shoot with her BSG, I contemplated blowing her up with my panzerfaust – we'd both be hitting on 9s. In the end, though, I elected to smoke her LoF. The pirate succeeded and then moved up just at the very edge of the smoke could, barely covered from Haidao's vigil. Calculating that there was initially about 22" between us and that I spent my next order moving up 6" or so, I figured my chain rifle would reach her if I just dash towards her next order. So I did just that and my template barely managed to touch her. We exchanged shots, Daoying failed to dodge and gone unconscious, the Yuan Yuan got a headshot from the Zuyong Combi.

    I then spent my Lt. order to shuffle the Djanbazan to the right so that when he stands up he'd see only Tai Sheng. With only 3 people in the link, they no longer had SSL2. MSV2+Smoke ahoy!

    [​IMG]

    Only one shot connected and didn't do anything. Tai Sheng guts'd into total cover behind Haidao, so there is nothing else I could do. I did leave him standing though.

    I then moved my Al Hawwa on the roof to get ready to climb when Hulang attempted to discover him. The air marshal flashed him, successfully stunning the shocktrooper. He then climbed down, rolled through the window and accomplished the HVT FO classified. He then re-camoed, waiting for the link team to appear and catch a shotgun template.

    The opponent ended up in LoL (Tai Sheng was not having the CoC profile in this list), and without any way to accomplish his goals using the orders and CTs he had, he decided to call it there.

    Neither of us accomplished our secondary classifieds, but I managed to snatch a single Main Classified, and it was enough.

    5-0 Qapu Khalqi victory!

    Afterthoughts and lessons learned:

    – It was the first time I consciously wrapped my head around the "second turn killer" concept some of you may be familiar with. Basically, it is referring to a model that is not intended to do the first-turn heavy lifting but instead to remove the remaining opposition on Turn 2. Djanbazan appears to be perfect for this job, even though I literally only spent one order activating him this entire game lol. I feel like he can be very potent as long as he doesn't have to go anywhere all that much and can reach most of the enemies with his HMG. I need to exercise more efficient setups with my Djanbazan and Yuan Yuan, mixing safety with deadliness. Currently, the rooftops appear to be the obvious choice for those two.

    – I'll try picking a Ghulam E/Mauler next time in my link team to make the opponent think twice before trying to engage them in cramped spaces. He's only worth 2 extra points and I feel like he's going to do a better job eating away at the enemy orders than my current Core Ghulam setup. Maybe exclude Leila from the Core altogether and let her be the autonomous operative (Cybermask kinda implies that).

    – Bashis are actually great on the defensive if you go second. There are plenty of utilities where you can use them as a bait to lure your enemies towards a suspiciously cheap 12pts regular Ghulam who is not covered by anyone. This goes double in QK with all the Hafzas you can have in a link team. Chain Colt Bashis appear to be designed specifically with that role in mind so that you make sure to leave your enemy no room to maneuver outside of 8" and then do the direct template bang-bang stuff.
     
    #47 AssaultUnicorn, Feb 11, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  8. Capo.Paint

    Capo.Paint Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2018
    Messages:
    253
    Likes Received:
    327
    Nice report with a nice list and great result! I will copy your thoughts sometime, because your list has everything I want to play in QK and seems solid. To deploy the buddy-Yuan straight away is an interesting option, I have never taken into account! What are your main thoughts about this?

    Great job on the Iguana, but why is it red? :D
     
  9. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    Actually, someone on the forums suggested that strategy. Given that Djanbazans are the only MSV2 units in QK and that Yuan Yuans are the only cheap smoke providers (Ghulam NCO costs more, both in terms of points and SWC and also has a lower chance of landing the smoke), it seems obvious to pair those two. To be honest, I tried avoiding that at first since Smoke+MSV2 combo appears to be a very popular and "mainstream" way of dealing with any enemy model. But, popular things are popular for a reason.

    So I was thinking whether or not Iggy should get my army's black+orange color scheme, and then I started wondering why would a hired merc want to affiliate with QK for any other reason than money (KTS can be argued to work for their rep, but still). To me, if units have a common color scheme, it means they all stand for a common ideology so to speak. My QK Kaplans, Druze, Bashis, Yuan Yuans, and Iggy are not ideologically tied to Qapu Khalqi. They are their own men and women and they've got their own tastes in terms of armor paint jobs. So I decided to color Iguana in the vein of an old TAG that had been destroyed and repaired for years – hence the battle damage and right arm painted up as if it used to belong to a Guijia.
     
    Florian Hanke, loricus and Capo.Paint like this.
  10. loricus

    loricus Satellite Druid

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2017
    Messages:
    2,469
    Likes Received:
    2,613
    If someone sets themselves up to be hit by smoke+msv2 it's their own fault. It's silly to not have that option available to you if possible because it leaves you open to not have a counter to a lot of things.
     
  11. sololobo

    sololobo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2018
    Messages:
    313
    Likes Received:
    174
    Hey QK players, I got a question that is burning a hole in me since I’m still collecting and not at the player stage yet. QK gets two HMG total reaction remotes, but is it worth fielding both of them? It seems like they could be decent attack and ARO pieces. Of course, the only problem is they have PH10, so once glance at them and they break. I’m trying to decide if they are better than HRL Hafzas.
     
    #51 sololobo, Feb 16, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 16, 2020
  12. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    Don't bother taking another TR bot unless you're playing Limited Insertion. Hafza HRL, on the other hand, is a lot of fun. Where Shihab did pretty much exactly what it's supposed to do, Hafza HRL surprised me on more than one occasion. It has less dice, but it trades them for something very few ARO pieces have in general: a surprise factor. Being a Holo1 model with a scary template weapon, you can easily set up a situation where your link team specialist is sticking out of total cover and the enemy tries removing them, expecting little to no opposition. Being lulled into a false sense of practically unopposed BS attack leads your opponent to mistakes like:
    – not sticking to cover;
    – clustering near other troops;
    – over-extending into the midfield only to realize they now have no way to back up (in case the HRL survives).

    TR bots are by no means bad, they're very reliable and can be buffed by Assisted Fire, but that supportware can only affect one target at a time, so only one of your TR bots would be having MML2. Also, it's an additional 25/1 pts that you could spend on something like Contender Wild Bill or Kaplan Spitfire (though he costs +3 pts in comparison). The only scenario I can imagine fielding more than 1 of those is on control-type missions with an engineer+nasmat in tow since they, like any remotes, are difficult to destroy, easy to repair, and can go places to secure and dominate parts of the map.
     
  13. sololobo

    sololobo Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2018
    Messages:
    313
    Likes Received:
    174
    Thank you for the full bodied reply! It is a solid argument and I’m glad I’ve gone the route for HRL over HMG Bots. Plus, it’s more unique to QK than HMG Bots. lol
     
  14. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    I had a game today against a new-ish RTF player. We played Annihilation for 200 pts, so we used the Low scoring system. I had played against this guy before with Dahshat. He is still building his Ramah, but I expected some Khawarijs, Ghulams, Naffatuns, and maybe Tarik.

    Punchy
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    [​IMG]8 [​IMG]2 [​IMG]1
    GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
    [​IMG] IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
    DJANBAZAN HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
    YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)
    WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
    ROUHANI Submachine Gun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
    NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

    3.5 SWC | 199 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    I wanted to do another test drive for my Iguana – he did very well on Biotechvore, so I wanted to give him another go. No link teams! That was a bit unusual, but all the units I had there were having solid advantages of not having to be in the link. For Djanbazan, you wouldn't have to go through the pain of parking the entire squad around him. For Leila, she could cybermask outside the link. And Rahman is already an incredible ARO piece with his flash pulse, so putting him the link may be overkill. Well, that and also the fact that Iggy took almost half the points and SWC. Yuan Yuan stays in DZ and covers the Djanbazan.

    Ramah Taskforce
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    [​IMG]9 [​IMG]1
    GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
    MONSTRUCKER Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
    NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
    KHAWARIJ (Fatality L1, Multispectral Visor L2) Mk12 / Pistol, AP CCW. (0.5 | 36)
    NAFFATÛN Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    NAFFATÛN Lieutenant Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    GHULAM (NCO) Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and Smoke Ammo.) / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 16)
    GHULAM Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    KHAWARIJ (Fatality L2) Spitfire / Pistol, AP CCW. (1.5 | 32)
    SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
    LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)

    4 SWC | 200 Points

    Open in Infinity Army

    Twin Leila experience, yay! The link consisted of Ghulams+Naffatuns+Khawarij with Mk12. Spitfire guy and Leila were on their own. Monstrucker to repair the TR bot, Doc+ to fix those who could be fixed. I'd personally try to swap the Shihab for something more interesting/exotic like Hortlak sniper, but TR bots are popular for a reason. The NCO is also a dubious choice, but hey, it provides the smoke for your link hitter. I'm just not a big fan that it costs 1 SWC in a roster where SWCs are scarce.

    I lost the initiative. My opponent elected to go first, I chose to deploy second in a more favorable DZ.

    Enemy deployment:

    [​IMG]

    My deployment:

    [​IMG]

    Djanbazan and Yuan Yuan hid prone inside the building, ready to be revived by Rahman in case things go south. Given that I had to go second, I needed to hide my Iggy in the most difficult spot where it would be nigh-impossible to dislodge. Nasmat would cover the operator in case he gets knocked out – it is absolutely vital to keep him alive.

    Naturally, I elected Iguana to be the DataTracker, the opponent gives this honor to Leila.

    [​IMG]

    Ramah Taskforce

    The opponent starts by moving his solo rambo Khawarij into my DZ. He goes along the left flank until he stumbles upon a Fanous (the one with the WarCor). He moves along the cover crits the Fanous twice, and the flash bot fails the remaining armor saves, so it is destroyed. The Khawarij then goes on top of the building where Rahman, Djanbazan, and Yuan Yuan were. He then realizes that aside from Rahman, my TAG also sees him. The red turban splits his burst evenly between the two. The Iggy shoots back, Rahman tries to flash him on 12.

    [​IMG]

    Rahman then crits him on 12.

    [DRAMATIC RE-ENACTMENT]

    [​IMG]

    The Khawarij also fails his face-to-face roll against Iguana and goes unconscious.

    The RTF doesn't do much after that, so the opponent spends the rest of his orders repositioning the link team a bit. At some point, TR bot tried shooting my Fanous, but he was at -9 for long-range, cover, and Mimetism, and so the flash bot stunned it.

    [​IMG]

    Qapu Khalqi

    The impetuous phase sees the Yuan Yuan throwing smoke to cover Djanbazan's advance. I then spend her irregular and one regular order trying to land the smoke at the position where the Djan would shoot the TR bot. About half of the order pool later, Djanbazan moves up the midfield and knocks out the enemy Shihab into the 2nd level of Unconscious. I then move him inside the grey building on the left flank of the midfield to hide him there, coordinated with Iggy moving into midfield and the Fanous taking position of his fallen brother. I then spend another CT to convert WarCor's irregular order into regular and fuel Iguana with it.

    [​IMG]

    The remaining orders go into the Iggy moving along the large pieces of terrain to flank the link team's Khawarij. We meet within 10", his two dice on 19s against my HFT.

    [​IMG]

    The Iggy tanks both armor saves from Dam.16 Mk12, and Khawarij goes Unconscious but doesn't burn to death.

    Iguana then peeks behind the wall where Leila is located and burns her to death while she skullbusts my Leila and knocks her out. Some of the Ghulams shoot Iggy in the back while he does this, managing to sneak in one wound.

    [​IMG]

    On his last order, Iggy moves closer to Naffatun and the unlinked Doc+. They choose to dodge, I decide to burn the remains of the TR bot so that it doesn't get back up. That decision is questionable given that both Naffatun and the Doc costed more than the TR bot and that I could easily burn it again in the reactive. Maybe I should have split my burst between the Doc and the Naffatun. The Iggy locked down the remaining link team, ready to burn the doctor or his servant bot in case they want to revive the Khawarij. I then spend my LT order to go into Suppression, just in case.

    Ramah Taskforce

    The opponent moves up his Monstrucker carefully, forcing my Iggy to change facing just a little bit to cover the power plant the engineer was hidden behind. The Monstrucker then climbs on top of the power plant and unloads into Iguana, I decided to shoot instead of flaming him simply because of the AP ammo that could mess up the operator. I still fail the FTF roll and lose two armor saves, so my operator is down to his last wound, but he rolls his PH successfully and lands on top of the left midfield building. I couldn't bring him into total cover since it was too close to the link team, and I had to watch over the Khawarij's body so that they don't revive him.

    [​IMG]

    The link gets reformed, and the Mostrucker tries to shoot Iggy operator while climbing down. The operator tries dodging, fails, takes one armor save, and stays alive, but decides to fail his guts check, so now he's in total cover.

    [​IMG]

    The 4-man link then tries speculative firing the operator on -9 and misses, I dodge and move back one inch. They don't revive the Khawarij.

    Qapu Khalqi

    The Yuan Yuan goes towards the Monstrucker through the grey building where the operator dug in and smokes the room underneath his position, granting him zero-vis cover. The operator then hops down onto the left side of the building. Rahman comes towards him while also moving his Nasmat to revive Leila. He covers the flank of the pilot. The Yuan Yuan then goes outside of the building, smokes her position at the center of the midfield and stands right where Iggy previously flamed the Khawarij, ready to shoot him in case he gets revived. I then coordinate-suppress Rahman, Operator, and Djanbazan. The remaining irregular order goes into WarCor to cover the right side of the grey building so that the enemy has to eat a flash pulse going inside it.

    Ramah Taskforce

    The NCO carefully smokes Yuan Yuan's position so that she doesn't see the doctor going in to revive the Khawarij. They then successfully get him up and add him to the link. I point out that if he shoots the Yuan Yuan from his current position, she would be able to respond with Chain Rifle, and since it doesn't have any BS rolls to make, it would be an auto-hit. So the Khawarij first moves out of the Chain Rifle's range and then spends the next order shooting her. She tries to dodge but fails, getting knocked out into Unconscious.

    [​IMG]

    They do nothing after that.

    Qapu Khalqi

    I was ahead in terms of objective points, but I thought about what else I could sacrifice safely and decided to do the blitzkrieg with my Ghulam LT. I moved him up a bit and then realized that there was a linked Naffatun watching over me at a long-range. We exchanged shots, I tanked the armor save and stayed up. I then moved Leila tried shooting the Naffatun with her. Still nothing. I moved Leila in cover and asked for AROs, and Naffatun decided to dodge, successfully weaving around the corner in total cover.

    With the coast being clear, I moved out the Lieutenant behind the corner of the building where the enemy link was clustered. The last order went into dashing right into the open, seeing the NCO with another Ghulam and Khawarij all standing in one line. The Lt. unloaded his light shotgun against NCO's pistol and Naffatun's light flamer. I failed the face-to-face, and the Lieutenant burned to death without killing anyone, but, seeing as it was merely a 12-points model, it didn't affect my score in the slightest.

    I had 170 points remaining, the enemy had 123 minus his DataTracker, so we scored 7-3, Qapu Khalqi is victorious.

    Afterthoughts:

    – I might have over-extended into the enemy DZ with my Iguana, trying to do way too many tasks all at once: killing the link team, the DataTracker, the TR bot. The damage that was done by the Iggy also didn't feel as impactful as it should be due to this fact. I tried to at least position Iguana in a way that it would burn the link if it tries moving. The enemy Monstrucker was a good problem solver in this regard (he also killed off McMurrough in my Dahshat game). Not having enough orders in these kinds of games is very stressful.

    – Do your math, it is important in point-based games like Annihilation. Always asses what models' death would cripple the enemy roster more. I should have gone for the Ghulam and Naffatun instead of burning the already disabled TR bot. Even though I was not in the good range bands for Iggy's HMG, hitting one of them on 14s and the other on 11s is still an above-50% chance either way.

    – If possible, try cybermasking your KHD before moving your repeater-equipped models so that the enemy has fewer targets to hack. Having a repeater on your TAG is a double-edged sword and makes Iguana slightly less favorable when engaging the enemy with Heavy Flamer.
     
    loricus and Capo.Paint like this.
  15. Capo.Paint

    Capo.Paint Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2018
    Messages:
    253
    Likes Received:
    327
    Don't be so doubtful about Iggys performance! That was a great example of how to use him! You crippled two turns with him and still had orders and save routes to deal the damage with your Djanbazan. Imagine you could have dropped the operator back to the mid in total cover and starting a new attack in the following turn!

    It would be interesting to see, how QK can work with all-in aggressive play. So it seemed like two Fanous were not that enough, but otherwise a Ghulam-link was not missing?
     
    loricus and AssaultUnicorn like this.
  16. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    In my mind, QK always had all-in aggressive options, AVA 3 Yuan Yuans being the most obvious one, albeit they are more of a surgical tool now that I think about it. Iguana is the most straightforward attack piece in all of QK, on par with Janissary pain train. Ghulam Core would still be nice, but the points format didn't allow including it, Iggy, and Djanbazan in one 200pts roster. I had the option to replace Djanbazan and some Fanous bots with a Ghulam Core. Something like this:


    Qapu Khalqi
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    [​IMG]8 [​IMG]1 [​IMG]1
    GHULAM (NCO) Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and Smoke Ammo.) / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 16)
    GHULAM (Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
    ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 30)
    GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
    GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
    IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
    [​IMG] IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)

    4 SWC | 200 Points

    Open in Infinity Army


    That mixed Core has some solid midfield potential, packing a spitfire in case you need to shoot anything and an E/Mauler in case you want to protect your objective or an important model. Also, we have NCO to smoke the most open fire lanes. And this also allows us to use some drop troops if going first, or deploy them in the DZ if going second.
     
    Florian Hanke likes this.
  17. Capo.Paint

    Capo.Paint Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 2018
    Messages:
    253
    Likes Received:
    327
    Yeah, could work. But seems quite squishy. Iggy explodes turn one and the Ghulams need to survive two turns... For this, I like the previous version more. But I am not a fan of 200 points.

    I will think about an approach for 300p.
     
    AssaultUnicorn likes this.
  18. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    I mean, Djanbazan also only has one wound, the only difference here is the fact that he can outshoot almost anyone without MSV2/SSL2 through smoke. The initial list is also backed up by flash bots with mimetism, and you don't miss them in case they get destroyed. Ghulam Core also can work here if we're talking defensive links, but you need to know your way around the terrain in your DZ to squeeze the most out of your linked snipers in terms of range and cover. But yeah, the entire 200 list of the Ghulam+Odalisque core consists of the expendable models, no true heavy hitters that are also meant to last throughout the entire game.

    On the note of Iguana and fire template weapons: I wish Mobile Brigada was a wildcard that could slide into any fireteam in QK while still being AVA1. Right now, I cannot picture any instance where I'd take him in QK. The ability to slot him into a cheap link of line infantry would make people consider using him. Or, you know what, forget about being the wildcard, just create an additional special core fireteam consisting of 4 Alguaciles and 1 Mobile Brigada, their AVA is perfect for this composition already.
     
    Capo.Paint and loricus like this.
  19. loricus

    loricus Satellite Druid

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2017
    Messages:
    2,469
    Likes Received:
    2,613
    There's already two factions with different link formations for Brigada, I think it would be cool to see another. It would give them a lot of character imo, training differently under different factions. I'd like it to be slightly more unique than Brigada+Alguacil, maybe just not counting them as mercs so they can use all the Qapu wildcards would work.
     
  20. AssaultUnicorn

    AssaultUnicorn KTS is the best unit

    Joined:
    Mar 8, 2019
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    401
    I've just had a game of Supplies against IA. It's not worth an entire batrep, but there is one important point that I need to write down.

    Yuan Yuans are INCREDIBLY order-hungry. Airborne Infiltrating even one of them may burn you through five orders to get to the target with all the smoke coverage and careful positioning. Geez. Only infiltrate if there is an enemy model within one or two orders reach, or if there are no enemy AROs covering your approaches. Also try spreading them throughout two combat groups and don't cluster them all into one. In QK, you will most likely be having a link sharing the combat group with Yuan Yuans. I spent five orders out of 6-order group (technically 8, but they were cut by the enemy CT) to move the yuan to the enemy mowang and engage him, which left me with only one order to reposition my Sekban core. The game was effectively lost on my first turn. The best part is that the enemy deployed his zuyong pain train rather poorly and I had all the tools to eliminate them with the linked Sekban spitfire or HRL.

    So yeah, maybe landing anywhere on 11s is not so bad after all. I need to master the art of combat groups composition. Here is the list in case you're wondering:

    Supplies
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    GROUP 1[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]8 [​IMG]2 [​IMG]2
    SEKBAN Heavy Rocket Launcher, Chain-colt / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23)
    HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18)
    HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    SEKBAN Spitfire / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 27)
    SEKBAN Doctor Plus (MediKit) Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
    LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9)
    YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

    GROUP 2[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]6 [​IMG]1
    DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)
    KAPLAN Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 28)
    KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
    WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
    HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
    FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
    WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

    6 SWC | 300 Points

    Open in Infinity Army



    The main takeaway here is: don't pair your warbands with the core link that is meant to do the first-turn killing. I had to move out my Kaplan spitfire to face against the Haidao sniper, and even with the good range band, he got knocked out right on the first order of shooting. As for the other units, I don't think they fared poorly. Kaplans are yet again proving to be nice aro pieces which seems to be the running theme in my games thanks to their mimetism. The Sekban core didn't stand a chance against the Tai Sheng in a full link, but their demise is my fault entirely since I didn't try dealing with it even though I had a Yuan Yuan right next to it (again, five orders went into the other yuan so this one couldn't do much).

    Also, when facing off against IA, you tend to look at the chain rifles as being not-so-effective considering they need to punch through a two-wound HI. If only these Yuan Yuans could have flamethrowers instead! I feel like having a Druze AHD in list is a good start. Maybe I should also add the Hawwa AHD into the mix. Fielding a full Druze LGL core also seems like fun. Once these boys are painted up, I may try using them.
     
    #60 AssaultUnicorn, Feb 28, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2020
    Errhile, Space Ranger and loricus like this.
  • About Us

    We are a company founded in 2001 in Cangas (Spain), and devoted to design and manufacture games and figures. Our main product, Infinity the Game, was born with the ambition to satisfy the most demanding audience, offering the best quality.

     

    Why are we here?

     

    Because we are, first and foremost, players.

  • Quick Navigation

    Open the Quick Navigation