Biotechvore, the most interesting of missions :D How would you go about building a list if you’re using Vanilla Haqq? Assuming no mods such as LI or Spec Ops involved. I would like to hear your thoughts. These were my broad ideas and considerations: Got to prepare for if I’m forced to take first turn and will suffer from the penalty of using only one coordinated order. Com Log really dissects this mission very well: https://thecomlog.com/2017/03/13/officer-training-biotechvore/, especially the part on weighing your troops as either Angels or Corpses. Probably will be biased to take troops that can deploy upfield and take the PH-3 roll. For every one that passes, it’s an additional order that can be spent on moving other troops out of deployment. I expect battles to happen more in the midfield, but might still need some long range capability just in case. Have to remember that initial deployment is only 8”, which might limit things like HMGs. Which led to the list below: Haqqislam - BTVR Asa Doc[/B] (300/300 | 2/6) Group #1 | 10 Models | 10 0 2 Asawira Shotgun Doctor | Doctor Plus, MediKit, Nanopulser, Boarding Shotgun, Pistol / Shock CCW (39) Nasmat Servant | Electric Pulse (3) Nasmat Servant | Electric Pulse (3) Krakot Dual Chain Rifle | Chain Rifle (2), Grenades, Pistol / DA CCW (14) Krakot Dual Chain Rifle | Chain Rifle (2), Grenades, Pistol / DA CCW (14) Lasiq Viral Sniper Rifle | Viral Sniper Rifle, Pistol / Knife (25) Naffatun LFT | Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Grenades, Pistol / Knife (12) Naffatun LFT | Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Grenades, Pistol / Knife (12) Saladin Lieutenant | Lieutenant, Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Pistol / CCW (36) Farzan Observer | Forward Observer, Rifle, Light Shotgun, Pistol / Knife (23) Hawwa' Hacker | Assault Hacking Device, Boarding Shotgun, Pistol, D-Charges / Knife (26) Al-Djabel Viral CCW | Rifle, Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades, Pistol / Viral CCW, Knife (35) Group #2 | 7 Models | 2 5 5 Zuleyka LFT | Smoke Grenades, Light Flamethrower (2), Breaker Pistol (2), Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / DA CCW (14) Rafiq Rifle | Light Shotgun, Rifle / Electric Pulse (16) Fanous Repeater | Flash Pulse / Electric Pulse (8) Muttawi'ah Chain Rifle | E/Marat, Jammer, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Pistol / Knife (5) Muttawi'ah Chain Rifle | E/Marat, Jammer, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Pistol / Knife (5) Muttawi'ah Chain Rifle | E/Marat, Jammer, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Pistol / Knife (5) Muttawi'ah Chain Rifle | E/Marat, Jammer, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Pistol / Knife (5) Open in MayaNet My thought process: 4 Mutts definitely first in. Can sacrifice to provide smoke coverage to move other units out. Bikes seem especially useful in this mission with their high move speed and preference for close range fights. I don’t like to take more than 1 though, I usually find difficulty finding places to deploy them with lists containing more than 1 combat group, especially more so in a 8” deployment zone. Taking more bikes might be an option though, since if you are going 2nd, the opponent may be busy trying to get their stuff out of their own deployment zone rather than shooting the bikes. Took Zul as her double light flames can really help against midfield camos. Double Krakots are really appropriate for Biotechvore. 50% chance of Forward Deployment along with the option to use impetuous movement is a good deal. Metachemistry might even afford 6” movement. Dual Chain Rifles might also come into play more with the higher chances of closer engagement distances. Farzan and ‘Hawwa to try to deploy upfield. Good classified mission doers, both have about a 50% chance to succeed. If they do make the roll, their order is good insurance to move other troops out. Decided against my usual crutch of a Djan HMG. I do not anticipate much in the way of spending orders to shoot things with the Djan HMG, plus his slow movement and BTS 0 really makes him a Corpse in this mission. Djabel. Without a Djan, would need something else to deal with obvious problematic AROs. Picked Djab over a standard Fiday as I want something that can really latch onto something and kill it dead ASAP rather than being tricksy with mines or something. Also has one more PH to make the the PH-3 roll. Also great as area denial if I’m going second. Opponent is unlikely to have the orders to dislodge it in their first turn. Djab naturally led to Saladin. Saladin may seem like a Corpse with just 4-4 movement, but he can be a real Angel with Strategos and the fact that he can forfeit his own movement in your first turn to take a BTS hit (hooray for NWI). Goes very well with Djab/Fiday too. Double Naffs. Corpses, but if things are somehow really going well, can move out with a coordinated order with other troops. Somehow has BTS 3 which gives them a better shot at surviving the BTS hit too. Lasiq Sniper for the cheap annoying disposable ARO that can’t be ignored. If things are going exceptionally well, she can even move from or to a sniper perch with Climbing+. Asawira Doc. The wildcard ‘just want to try” model in this list. The idea is that his weapon will fare well in the mid field, and doctor+ can help accomplish missions or heal stuff like the Krakots and infiltrators. If things are desperate, his BTS 9 can tank a Biotechvore hit if a regular order is needed elsewhere. Rafiq + Fanous. Can save themselves, decent Flash Pulse AROs in this mission, opponent might just elect to take the Pulse ARO instead of stopping to shoot it. Can feed regular orders to Zuleyka or the mutts if needed since the bots aren’t an integral part of the army and can be sacrificed. Thought of going a TR bot, 6-4 movement can get itself out of the deployment zone, and an annoying ARO which the enemy has to deal with if they are going first. Decided against it as I don’t have any good normal Hacker options (considering Biotechvore) to give it MML2. After playing a game where I went up against MAF and took second turn, this is what I would change: Why oh why did I take the Asa Doc with Nasmats?? This excluded him from any coordinated orders. A spitfire or even the normal rifle/LSG loadout would have been more useful. Didn’t really have the orders to go try to heal anything either. I think I would try to jam a TR bot in there, even if I don’t bring a hacker to give it MML2. It’s just petty good value with being able to save itself with 6-4 move and yet still be an annoying roadblock that would slow down the opponent from moving out of their 8”. Can benefit well from Strategos. Kraks, Mutts and Zul fulfilled their jobs exactly as expected. Would continue using them if I were to play Biotechvore again. Might consider a second biker. Not sure about the Rafiq + Fanous combo. I sacrificed them to feed Zul in her successful ape burning mission. Might be a problem with the grouping though. Could be better to place Zul in the primary group. Phew that was a long post. Do share your vanilla Haqq Biotechvore lists! I’m looking to learn from alternative points of views.
My experience of Biotechvore is that: Troops that can get out of the Biotechvore zone in a long movement order (that is, move more than 4-4!) are great This means Medium Infantry suffer if not linked! They need a long movement order and a short one to get out, so unless they have smoke coverage they are quite badly equipped to get out. Going first if you aren't using a LI format means suffering the loss of coordinated orders in the first turn is almost assuredly. Impetuous troops are great here You cannot trust infiltrators, or in fact any troop that can be deployed outside of your deployment zone Sectorials are great, and cobbling a group with a Core and another with a Haris is a great way to optimize orders to get them out. You need long-range troops for the opening movements... but also short range troops for the next 2 turns. Tarik is a troop that says "Biotechvore" heavily to me. He can get out in a single long order, has 2 wounds and is not hackable. The flamethrowing Nazarova Twin is a good investment, as are the Muttas, since they can help in the "get out of here fast" part of things and can go and do a move + special dodge easily. The Warcor is a good idea as a sacrifiable ARO piece, we might move him or not, but we won't care much. Daylami... they can do a great deal of damage if they manage to get there, and if they fail they are still cheap irregulars with Panzerfaust! On the same vein, the Halqa are a good bet on the "let's try and deploy in the middle of the table" for 17 points or so.
My thoughts on the Halqa were that they need a roll of 7 to deploy out of 16”. Too risky for 15-17 pts I find. Daylami will have to do it for a % chance of 20 and will most likely be dead weight if you go first, I rather spend a bit more to get a Kum rider. Hm definitely will try building a Tarik list for Biotech, will share what I can cook up. I think even if you are in the LI format, the opponent will still likely limit you to only use 1 coordinated order. The ITS S9 ruling on strategic command token usage against LI lists only applies to the “nullifying 2 orders” use.
Not 100% true. If the Limited Insertion is an extra, then the Strategic use of command tokens is locked out: Spoiler LIMITED INSERTION This Extra means the scenarios have a narrow window of insertion, allowing for only small teams to be inserted into the zone of operations. So, players are not allowed to use Army Lists with more than one Combat Group. This Extra does not allow the Strategic Use of Command Tokens. However, if the extra does not exist, but you use a single group option: Spoiler REDUCED COMBAT GROUPS In all Season 9 tournament modes, any Army List pos- sessing only one Combat Group will not be affected by the Strategic Use of the Command Tokens which nullifies two Orders from the Order Pool. Yeah, only the "lose 2 orders" is out of the game. So yeah, regardless of options, if you play Biotechvore you better have impetuous regulars and/or fireteams, or you will be quite...
I played a vanilla Haqq list in Biotechvore relying on lots of infiltrators to make the ph-3 roll. None of them did. Totally screwed with my turn 1 plan and led to a lot of unavoidable casualties. While statistically unlikely for every single one to fail their roll (something like 6 of them), it made me think that I'd rather not have to gamble and go with krakots and Kaysm Beg Lt. (conspicuously missing from your list - he has impetuous to get him self out, and a regular order to get someone else out). That said, I did have Tarik and he was worth his weight in gold, in the midfield. Grenades and nanopulser were a BIG headache to the opponent's fireteams. Think I killed 3 janissaries with him (it was QK). I would also swap your Lasiq sniper for a hafza heavy rocket launcher. Expecting fireteams, the template is a bit better, in my mind, to the sniper. In the aforementioned game, a single rocket shot in ARO, though failing the ftf against the target, still killed two others under the blast (haris fire team which had conveniently passed by another model which I could catch with the template). The hafza is holo-ed as a model without a template weapon to persuade the opponent to chance it.
Oh shoot I totally forgot LI totally locks you out of Strategic Token use completely. You’re right. Yeah sectorials really do get an advantage for this, but I’m curious as to see how people build vanilla for this mission.
Heh can’t bring myself to play Kasym LT, especially without a reliable Farzan COC for biotech. Ohh nice idea about the Hafza HRL, I will probably project him as a harmless Warcor...
I would also suggest a Fiday (Normal BSG). They make the infiltration roll into Enemy deployment on a 12(WIP-3). He can eliminate individuals preventing your advancament with only a couple orders, so thte rest of your orders are purely for your movement. Further he can position himself to knock out enemy impetous units on their turn, or units tyring to move it. It will make the opponent use their orders to uproot him.
I thought it was whatever your usual roll was -3? Its been a long time since Biotechvore though. So if its Phys then no thats terrible.
