[Batreps] How to run a big business

Last week only the regular game for the current tournament was scheduled. It went against vanilla CA, piloted by a nice opponent I already knew from our regional tournaments. The mission was 'Overload', a custum mission mixing Highly Classified and The Grid to some extend. You really have to work for your OPs here.

Spoiler: List Druze

REMtasy
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GROUP 1 8
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 78)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 61)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)

GROUP 2 6
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)

4.5 SWC | 299 Points

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There is a exclusion zone, so I want to rely on fast units rather then on infiltrators in bad places. My Pathfinders should give me the needed speed to activate the consoles, while Scarface should open the path for Valeria then to score the needed classifieds. Except for the Peacemaker, everything else is more or less dedicated to keep them alive. The Peacemaker should be used to get rid of single targets in bad places.

Spoiler: List CA

Combined Army
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10 2
ANATHEMATIC Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0.5 | 88)
CHARONTID Lieutenant (Multispectral Visor L3) HMG, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 79)
Bit Hacker (UPGRADE: Expel) Submachine Gun + Pitcher, Deployable Repeater + KISS! / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19)
KISS! Adhesive Launcher / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
Q-DRONE Plasma Rifle / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)
KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
SHROUDED Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
DĀTURAZI Chain Rifle, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 14)

4 SWC | 298 Points

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With vanilla CA I feared something like Sheskin or a TAG, but we discussed before, that he was playing a not so well prepared LI-list without such nasty things. That made calculations quite easy, eventhough I was not aware of the Charontid and was wondering where all the other points may be gone into. Of course, those two hard-hitters should do most of the work with the Anathematics as beta-piece, while Krakot and Daturazi should cause trouble in the midfield. With Anathematics in hidden deployment and one camo-troop on the table, you may expect a lot of different things, opening the place for some mindgames.

Spoiler: Table

Everything of this table was well known now, except for the fact that there are no places to hide a TAG properly. But I forgot about this by picking the south DZ after loosing the Lt-roll. The south DZ seemed better to defend and harder to access. My support units could be hidden easily in the backfield, while there were forwarded positions for all of my REMs. Only Scarface had some trouble.

CA went first and deployed first. The Daturazi and the Ikadron took the right side, while a camo marker, the Imetron and Dr. Worm got the center of the DZ. Q-drone, Bit and Kiss had the left with the Q-drone in a suboptimal position. The Krakot was placed in front of them there and something went in hidden deployment (could have been anything at this stage).

Scarface started as well hidden as possible on the left side of the salt-factory, Valeria a bit more advanced. One Fugazi and one Pathfinder supported them, while everything else went on the right to avoid the Q-drone. I deployed the Peacemaker behind the right silo, a Fugazi and a Pathfinder behind the vehicle and the support-stuff hidden behind the walls. The Druze KHD as potential scorer is placed in the center.

As expected, a MSV-unit was deployed on the right in shape of a Charontid HMG, while I delpoyed my Sierra on the left to cover that firelane and have an eye over the center. The Krakot was the CA-scout, I nominated Valeria.

CA 1: My REMs get overclock. The Daturazi sets up smoke and the Charontid shoots down the right Fugazi. The Sierra follows after doing one wound on him. Bit advances and activates the far left console (Test run), shoots a repeater between my two hackers and fails to hack one of them. The Charontid retreats a bit.

Druze 1: The Peacemaker shoots down the pitcher and Scarface blasts the exposed Krakot away. Now the Pathfinder on the left activates the near left console, while one Pathfinder on the right gets assisted fire and shoots down the Charontid and activates the mid right console (In Extremis Recovery). I shoot Kiss unconscious and overclock my REMs.

CA 2: The Daturazi sets up some smoke on the right and Dr. Worm, Ikadron, camo and Q-drone advance a bit. The camo tries to shoot my Pathfinder but gets critted. The Anathematics appears and shoots him unc L2, then scores IER on him after flipping the mid right console. Then he recamoes.

Druze 2: The Pathfinder on the left flips the mid console (HVT Designation), while the Peacemaker takes one wound from Anathematics and has to deal with the Q-drone now. He shoots the Q-drone unconscious and I make the big mistake of trying to shoot Anathematics now instead of wrecking the Q-drone with Dr. Worm next to it. In the course the Peacemaker is wrecked one time but gets repaired. Overclock on my REMs.

CA 3: Dr. Worm recovers the Q-drone, scoring Test run, while Anathematics activates the far right console (Follow up), scoring the classified on my HVT nearby. Dr. Worm, Anathematics and Bit entering suppressive fire.

Druze 3: I am back in everything for the moment, so I need to flip more consoles and everyone in the center to get a tie. No hope here to get more classifieds done this turn. To do this, I need to chew trhough a lot of AROs in the center, costing many orders. Scarface takes the first run, using the Daturazi standing next to Anathematics as target for the HRL. It took some tries before the Anathematics is burned, but the Daturazi is still alive. My Pathfinders manage to grab three consoles, while Scarface and Valeria advance in the midfield. Scarface clears out the Ikadron and the Daturazi is shot by the right Pathfinder. That is all I can do with my orders.

In the end it is a 6-3 loss for me. The classifieds give more points than more consoles in this case. 70 points survived on CA-side, while I have 274 points remaining. This may show quite clear, that I forgot to play the mission here, what may be true to some extend. But with two really strong units on the field, capable of killing my orders and flipping back my efforts, I saw no other chance than killing them first and score the classifieds later. The big mistake here was to keep the Q-drone unconscious while having an order left to change this. Not only it was an easy job now to score Test run, but also the Q-drone was covering the whole center again as a really nasty ARO-piece. Maybe a console in the center would have given me a better classified, instead of flipping empty consoles. My first doubts about the chosen list and the list at all when it gets against CA got proven wrong, as my defense is not deadly but strong and the Pathfinders are that much flexible, that there is no task to big, if the range is good. That is the only problem here: If I have no chance to get close, I need to trust in 3STR of Scarface to remove the thread and open the path. Here an exclusion zone limits the flexibility of the Peacemaker a lot in most cases, so that I can't reach snipers in good ranges in most cases.

Regarding the announced analysis and theoretical write-ups, they are still in progress. Currently I am reading through all the reports, trying to note the most important points for victory or defeat, just to point out the strength and weakness of Druze. From that point I want to build some strategical writings to overcome the problems and use the strong points better.

 

Meanwhile the Quadrantenterror-tournament came to an end and the European Team-Event is prepared, so that there are at least two games to report.

Spoiler: Test for Europe: Decapitation vs. Haqqislam

We finally decided to continue real games in our small group, so I used the chance to have a first test-game for my lists for the European Team-TTS-Event I am hosting at the moment. One of my locals also attends this, so that was the perfect chance for both of us.

Spoiler: List Druze

Druze Bayram Security
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GROUP 1 8 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
DRUZE (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)

GROUP 2 5 1
HUNZAKUT (Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)

6 SWC | 298 Points

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The list was designed for Decapitation and Transmission Matrix, so I wanted to have a safe killing potential with the Clipper and the LGL (and the Peacemaker), but also some units to secure some zones in form of the Pathfinders and Fugazis, which also fill the role of the needed utilities. I wanted to provide the targeted-states via sat-locks and FOs here, since that were the main sources recently and the fireteam composition made it difficult to squeeze in an AHD. The KHD and the EVO together showed a good hacking-potential and with the team-mode in the event, we should be able to keep hacking-factions away from my throat in Transmission Matrix.

I only took my notes after the game, so I can't remember the list properly. The main things to have in mind were:
Maghriba Guard, Mukhtar MSV 2, 4 Ghazis, Liberto minelayer, Farzan minelayer, Naffatun Lt and many cheerleaders.

Spoiler: Table

To note here is, that it is a strange feeling from the TTS back to the real life and your set terrain-boxes. With all the terrain available in digital, tables tend to be quite dense, far away from what we have in some cases in our group. So the table became a bit open and the change really big. But besides that, it is so much more fun to have the miniatures on the table and roll real dice! Hopefully everyone will be able to return to this safely as soon as possible!

I won the Lt-roll and chose the DZ with better potential to shoot the Ghazis on their way. Haqq takes first turn. The mission is Decapitation.

There are two Ghazis on each side, Maghriba Guard in the center, barely covered by a small building. Some cheerleaders are on the left side, as well as a Lasiq viral rifle prone on the tower, waiting for his chance. The Lt is hiding on the right, guarded by a Rafiq. Four camo markers are deployed in the center, tending to the right side. The Mukhtar is deployed behind the building on the right flank.

With the Mukhtar on the table, there will be a Fiday as reserve, so everyone needs some overwatching guy. With all my remotes, that is not that difficult. The Peacemaker should strike over the left side, with the LGL prone on the building. My core-link took the right side to have a chance against the Mukhtar with my MSR. I was expecting to loose the MSR right away, so I spread him out a bit more, stretching the ZoC of my link to maximum. The REMs supported where needed all over the DZ and the Hunzakut FO was deployed advanced on the right.

An impersonator is placed next to my Hunzakut FO on the right and I place my Sierra right away to make it as hard as possible for him to snack my link. The Mukhtar is Haqq-datatracker and I nominate my SMR out of tradition. My designated target is placed in the center (there were no good spots available) and the other designated target is placed behind the building on the left.

Haqqislam 1: Overclock activated. The Ghazis advance unharmed but the Fiday looses his mustache on his path towards my Sierra and gets discovered. I take the risk and place a mine with my Hunzakut FO, which blows the Fiday in the next order. My designated target stuns the approaching Ghazi, while the Sierra saves all shots from Maghriba Guard. The TAG enters suppressive fire.

Druze 1: If I only had an AHD, I could have placed a repeater next to the building where the Mukhtar stands and grenade him without any problems. But without that, I need to pass the camo markers and the Maghriba Guard. My link advances carefully, only to get the MSR shot directly by the TAG. Some more orders and the rest of the link is back in safety. Meanwhile group two and the Peacemaker burn several orders to get two Ghazis on the left dogged. But now the REMs are safe.

Haqqislam 2: Now the Mukhtar starts and shoots down nearly all my REMs step by step and kills the designated target on his way. The Maghriba Guard takes out the last Pathfinder.

Druze 2: The Peacemaker tries to engage Maghriba Guard via the center but gets shot in the second try. The LGL fails to grenade the designated target.

With this, the game ends, since I have nothing left to threaten the Mukhtar or the TAG, not speaking from the Libertos somewhere. Haqqislam wins 10-0 or something like that. The TAG locking down my whole approach on the right side was the biggest problem here, followed by the hard to counter Mukhtar in active turn. The best chances against the TAG had the Brawler with 50% for one wound, while the Peacemaker was out of chances from the start on. My list relied to much on the speculative fire-things and on easy targets for my Peacemaker, so that the layered defense with open firelanes on the right blocked my tools to deal with the camo markers and the Mukhtar, while my Peacemaker can't make any impact on the left side. Even if my MSR had wrecked the TAG, that would have consumed my whole turn one and left them exposed to the Mukhtar as easy targets. But we talked enough about missing reliable gunfighters to deal with such situations, right? (Just imagine this before RTF was released: There would have been a Djanbazan HMG instead of the Mukhtar. It is slow, easy to kill and expensive. After the Fiday failed, the Maghriba Guard would have been the only real problem here, since a Djanbazan couldn't reach all the positions the Mukhtar reached easily here...But well...I don't want to discuss this again.)

Spoiler: Quadrantenterror vs. Spiral Corp

I have only played once against Tohaa and had only an rough overview about the Spiral Corp units. What I had in mind was the thread of a linked Tagmaa-sniper, many impersonators to look for and many tools to deal in medium rangebands. Summed up that was everything I didn't want for Druze, since I can't get any benefits on my own with a good midfield-presence, my limited long-range options could be erased by the Tagmaa and More than one impersonator is always difficult to handle.
The mission here was firefight, making all this problems worse, since I expected both forces to wait for someone advancing and getting shot. With my limited mobility, I definitly did not want to advance here.

Spoiler: List Druze

QTohneEZ
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GROUP 1 7 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)

GROUP 2 5 2
BASHI BAZOUK Submachine Gun, Chain-colt / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
HUNZAKUT (Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
ARMAND Minelayer MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser, Antipersonel Mines / 2 Breaker Pistols, Shock CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 42)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

6 SWC | 299 Points

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I probably made my first mistake here with my list. Somehow I planned for a mission with an exclusion zone, so I planned with my REMtasy-list without checking the other list further. While I noticed there is no exclusion zone in firefight, I switched to the other list without further looks. So I consequently forgot about the Bashi Bazouk here - I am sure this would have been the game for him to shine...
Besides that, I had my sniper and the Sierra to lock down things in the midfield, backed up by some flash pulses. I really had no plan to advance somewhere, so the Peacemaker should be more for area denial this time - Impersonators with E/Maulers are a big thing here!

Spoiler: List SPiral Corp

Spiral Corps
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10
DRAAL (Minelayer) AP Marksman Rifle, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 40)
DRAAL Submachine Gun, Pulzar, D-Charges, Dazer / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30)
KIEL-SAAN (Special Fireteam: Triad) Red Fury, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1 | 53)
NEEMA Lieutenant (Advanced Command) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Viral Pistol, Shock CCW. (1.5 | 48)
JAAN STAAR Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / 2 x Viral Pistol, CC Weapon, Knife. (1 | 31)
KIIUTAN Submachine Gun + E/Mitter, E/Mauler / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 28)
KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)

6 SWC | 299 Points

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As always, it is created from memory and I am not very sure about the Kaeltar and the remaining points. The Draal should be the main carrier for thze Kiel San, after the impersonators had done their job. Probably Neema should be plan c if everything went south and the Chaksas to secure the DZ.

Spoiler: Table

The table was the problem why I tended to not use the REM-list initially, since I was a bit afraight of the climbing abilities of them on this table. The two rock-formations denied so much space, that it became very important to control them somehow and this ability would have been reduced with too many REMs, I guess.

I won the Lt-roll and let my opponent deploy first in the north. He decided to play first, what I really appreciated.

One impersonator showed up in the right building in my DZ, the Draals with the Kiel San forward deployed on the right with the Marksmanrifle on the rocks with active stratus cloud. A camo marker showed up next to the building on that side. Neema and a Auxilia hide behind the containers, while the other Auxilia guarded the Bioengineer and the Kaeltar (or whatever) in the fenced area. Neema and the Draal Marksman got a Pokemon from somewhere I don't know.
Since there were no Auxilias left in positions to form an additional triad, I was expecting an additional impersonator or an infiltrator instead of a Tagma.

The impersonator in my DZ denied the place for my core-team overwatching the Draal-triad. I did'nt want to place my Lt that near towards him. So Armand took that position instead, backed up by an ABH and a Fugazi. Peacemaker, ABH and EVO went on the left side in the 'inner area' overwatching their backs. My Pathfinder took the center and the second Fugazi took care of the left corridor. Hunzakut FO advanced on the center line on the left and the LGL prone on the highest point near the center line on the right to grenade the triad if necessary. I needed to control the Kiel San somehow, so I deployed my core-team on the rocks, with the MSR overwatching the center and the Kiel San, the KHD looking for his back and my Lt down on the ground hidden in a niche. I wished for a Bahi Bazouk here to simply block the entrance of the right building for the impersonator. I should have better looked on my list here...

A second impersonator deployed on the rocks near to my core-team and I placed my Sierra in the left corridor with good view over my whole DZ if needed. The Bioengineer was SPiral Datatracker and I chose my left ABH. The Kiel San rolls super-jump on metachemistry (of course...), while my ABHs got semi-useful stuff.

Spiral 1: Overclock on my REMs. To free the Kiel San and the triad, the impersonator on the rocks alias Jan Staar crits my MSR-Brawler and needs some tries to get my KHD down. Now the Draal shoots down the right Fugazi with Armand not able to wound him. The second impersonator shoots the left ABH and together with the Draal all orders are burned by trying to get rid of Armand. The only success here was the EMauler, isolating him.

Druze 1: If I could disable both Impersonators and the Draal, things could be interesting again. The Pathfinder advances, sat-locking Jan Staar. Now my LGL lands four grenades on him, finally killing him. Armand finishs the second impersonator by surviving a shot from the Draal, but I am out of orders now, so I overclock my remotes and advance my Hunzakut FO a bit, to cross some space for the next turn.

Spiral 2: THe Kiel San takes the action by jumping up to the LGL, knocking him out in CC and taking a covered position overwatching my DZ on the rocks. In the center the second Draal loots the panoplies, grabbing a MSR somewhere.

Druze 2: With marksmanship the SIerra gets shot by the Kiel Sans panzerfaust, followed by Armand, trying the same. My Hunzakut advances into the enemy DZ and fails to forward observe a servant several times for my classified. A mine is placed next to the Auxilia and the Bioengineer and I need to retreat him a bit.

Spiral 3: Now the Kiel Saan erases my DZ, while the MSR Draal snacks away the Hunzakut.

Druze 3: Only my ABH is alive and I forget again about my Bashi, so nothing is done.

I loose 7-0 with 280 to 12 points remaining. I won't complain about bad luck here with some rolls. The bigger problem simply was the additional wound on everything important on the opposite side. Jan Staar took forever to die, the second impersonator, too, and then there were no ressources to deal with the Draals and the Kiel San. I maybe could have been able to deal with that if he had not rolled super jump on this map. Armand made a good job, besides getting isolated. If I would have been able to use him with more orders each turn, he could have changed some things into my favour. But with all what went not as planned, the LGL and my Pathfinder did and excellent job and made exactly what they are for: Surprise the opponent with an unexpected attack and kill. Of course, it was countered to 75% by the symbiont armor, but at least it was an option available.
All in all, Spiral appeared as the worst faction to play against (combined with Tohaa) with Druze. It may change, if someone finds a way around the limited thread-potential per turn. If the peacemaker or a linked HMG could have get some shots on the important targets, they could have gone down quite quick, but even then only three targets could be erased per turn, exposing the valuable guns. The Hunzakuts or sniper rifles available simply would not be able to sneak through enough hits, I guess.

With that result, I end up on the 17th place from 20, if I remember right. Not what I had planned for, but at least one game was won and some OPs could be scored over the course.

I debated some time with me, if I really want to play Druze until N4 kicks in, of if I want to try some other things meanwhile. But everytime I start creating lists for other factions, I am missing the flavour or the uniqueness. Many factions got some simple, stupid good units recently, so that you have to take them and use them in most cases, making every game quite similar to each other. This problem, or that other sectors have their own problems like MO or QK, bring me back to Druze every time, even with not so good results recently. Maybe the Team-Event will create some nice games for this and after that, we will see what N4 delivers for this sectorial.

 

There are some reasons why I take them not very often, but first: I like them a lot and many profiles are really great and useful in Druze.

• Brawler MSV 2: Well, nothing to say about this, since he is a really great ARO-piece and the only MSV 2 we have.
• Brawler Lt: Cheap and has a shotgun to defend himself. Whenever I can't field a normal Druze Lt, he is the Lt to go with.
• Brawler AHD: I was never disappointed with him and it is cheap enough to wait somewhere until turn two or three to clear things with his SMG.
• Brawler HRL: Great back-up weapon and if you could use him linked actively, he becomes a real thread. Fire ammonition is a nice thing here, too.

The other profiles are...expensive for what they add. I discussed the pros and cons of the Doc in Druze somewhere in the first third of this thread, so 20 points for WIP 12 is a bad ratio in my eyses for this sectorial. The engineer has the same problem.

But besides the simple profiles, it depends on the following reasons why they are not played that much in the last games:

• Linkteam options: Only two of them can join a core-link (most often the Lt and the MSV2 as described above, sometimes the HRL). If I want to use them aggressively, I need to take the haris-guy, need one Brawler to fill the link and have the HRL as attack piece. That consumes a lot of SWC and isn't that cheap in the end. Plus I can only choose one additional Brawler in the core-team. The next thing here is, that I tend to reduce my core-team to three guys, which means I am only allowed to take one Brawler, since I have to include two Druze.
• List composition: This works together with the linkteam composition, since Brawlers shine best in linkteams and there they have to deal with the restriction of core-links and the haris-option you sometimes want to field. Of course, the haris is much cheaper here, but you can only have the HRL as attackpiece and if I want to invest into a haris-team, I want B4. Since I can only wildacrd Gromoz into them, there is no option for this. With no great defensive stats, it is too risky for me, to push three regular orders that much forward and rely on the HRL alone. In addition to this. most events had TW or LI 'restrictions' recently, what limits your slots. You can easily put together a list with high order counts if you take Brawlers and Pathfinders, what may be great, but I need some expensive stuff for TW and especially for LI. So I want to spend some more points for the extra benefits of my Druze in most cases, just to spend all the points I have.
  
• Competition to other units: This may be the most important point besides the arguments of linkteam composition. I get a Pathfinder for the same costs as a standard Brawler, but get a better movement and a bigger interaction with the rest of my units. And he is a specialist. Pathfinders are so important for Druze and highly flexible, that they simply outperform most Brawler-profiles out of my links.

If you look at the last reports before corona started for us (should be around page 4, I guess), I used Brawlers more often and with okay results. But then I started cutting down my links and pushing the Peacemaker more, what simply consumed the SWC and slots I needed for them. I went all-in with my REMs most of the time then, what got an extra boost for the Pathfinders. Other list-types may change this and other players make them work better, of course. But for my situation, the Pathfinder is way better in Druze then a Brawler, besides the situations and profiles discussed above.
But if you have other experiences and suggestions, I am really curious to discuss that!

 

I would not recommend that, since patience is rarely rewarded in this game. In most cases, I foud better solutions than triangulated fire, but maybe I underestimate the value of this a bit.

How often do you use the normal Rifle+Lsg profile and in which situations? For me, the LSG and ARM 3 are the selling points in defensive situations, maybe the better PH if there comes a template. But this is mostly relevant for cheerleaders, for what ABHs are a cheaper and more flexible in most cases...With overclock, I can decide between flash pulse and combi rifle, which covers a broader rangeband then rifle+lsg.

 

This time there is only little Druze-content, but two other reports, where I used vanilla Haqqislam, just to break things up a bit and get another taste.

Spoiler: Code One: Druze vs Bakunin

Yes, you read it right: This report is from a Code One game with Druze vs. Bakunin. We took the custom-rules for all the sectorials and just put them down for a bit of fun. The mission here was supplies with 20 points on each side. I have to admit, that I am not that satisfied with the transition for Druze in general, but nevertheless, there is a good work done for everyone wanting to play some Code One with the existing miniatures. What makes it really interesting is, that everything is distilled to the real essentials, so every problem you may feel in a normal N3-game, will pop up directly in Code One, if it exists.

Since the custom-armybuilder has no nice forum-export, I will simply sum up what was on the field:

Druze:
Bashi Bazouk SO, 2x Hunzakut SO, Druze HMG, Druze SMR, Druze Hacker, Arslan, Brawler MSV2, Pathfinder, Sierra

Bakunin:
Kusanagi, Custodier, 2x Moderator, Riot ML, Riot MR, FP-Bot, 2x Zero, Prowler

Spoiler: Table

Just some randomly thrown together stuff. The south DZ with some clear LoS to overwatch incoming camo-markers and a more obstructed north DZ.

I loose the Lt-roll and have to got second, but can choose the south DZ.

On the left, a Moderator, one camo-marker and the Custodier are deployed, Kusanagi and a second camo-marker in the center and the Riots together with what is missing on the right.

I hope for closer engagements on the left side, so that the Pathfinder, Brawler, Arslan and the SMR take that side, the HMG goes right in the center and the Hacker should try to grab the right box after the HMG had cleared the road. Hunzakuts a bit advanced left and right.

The Riot-ML takes the right side and the Sierra overwatches the center.

Bakunin 1: A Zero approaches on the left, plants a mine next to the MSR and tries to engage the Pathfinder. The next shoot-outs drop the Pathfinder and the Zero dead.

Druze 1: My Sierra fails to wound Kusanagi in long range, while the HMG fails to discover the camo-marker on the right. The SMR finally drops the Moderator on the left, after forcing the Custodier into cover.

Bakunin 2: Kusanagi drops the Sierra and takes the mid box. A second Zero takes the right one and the last camo appears to be a Prowler, frying my SMR.

Druze 2: There are many things to kill and no easy targets, since everything has some visual mods or multiple wounds plus hyperdynamics. The Bashi Bazouk enters on the left side and takes down the Prowler and the HMG wounds the Riot ML. One mine from the left Hunzakut should secure the remaining box.

Bakunin 3: Kusanagi and the right Zero retreat as far as possible, while the Riots and the Custodier advance a bit into better ARO-positions.

Druze 3: I have to grab the last box and kill one carrier with the remaining orders. But I am one or two orders short to realize it and have to gamble a bit. My Hunzakut advances through the center, gets discovered by the Custodier and has to deal with two Riots now. He shoots the ML and wounds the MR, but this one drops him finally. Now the Bashi grabs the last box.

4-1 for Bakunin here. The take-away experience is, that Druze got the wrong equipment converted into Code One: Viral pistols instead of X-visors, for example. X-visors would have been really nice here, since rangebands become more important in Code One. The lack of MSV or own visual mods was a really big deal here, even more as in N3, since everything is about winning FtF-rolls. The lack of a HI-hitter places the cherry on the cake, while quite cheap Riots decorates it really sweet.

Just for fun, it was nice and okay and I don't want to argue about the transition, just thank for the great work. Nevertheless, Druze can't compete in the shooting and moving-game with one wound, BS 12 and nothing else. 4-4 MOV and an improved hacking-game eventhough may be really cool changes for N4, so I am really looking forward to the new edition.

Spoiler: Haqqislam vs. ForCo

Since my local group now feeled something of Infinity-fatigue, but Code One should not be the solution everytime, I grabbed Daedalus Fall and suggested to test some campaign missions to expand that maybe in the next games. As a first test, we chose "Data recovery", the first Paradiso-mission. Spontanously I felt tempted to play a LI Haqqilsam list, just for fun again.

The mission here is to find and download some information from the central consoles (you need to roll, if you have activated the right one and may click another one to download the info), then upload it on the console in front of your DZ in turn two or three. Two OPs are given for more killed army points.

Spoiler: List Haqqislam

AUFasidLI
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

10
FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53)
ÁYYĀR (Surprise Shot L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / 2 Viral Pistols, CCW, Knife. (0 | 39)
MUKHTAR (Multispectral Visor L2) Red Fury, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 37)
NAHAB Red Fury, Nanopulser / Pistol, Viral CC Weapon, Knife. (1 | 36)
FARZAN (Marksmanship L1, Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 31)
SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
BARID Hacker (Assault Hacking Device UPGRADE: Icebreaker) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
HAFZA (Infinity Spec-Ops) (13 XP) (Hyper-Dynamics L1, Doctor Plus, Engineer) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Since it is a campaign-mission and there are some SpecOp-bonusses, we agreed to have a 13XP SpecOp. So why not take a Hafza multi-specialist to keep the whole list alive and give him a jammer, just in case? To deal with the promised minelaying camo infiltrator, hyperdynamics was a nice gift, too. Everything else is simply there because it can do everything on its own or support some other unit when needed. Yes, there is the Mukhtar MSV 2 in the list, here as the main attack-piece, but why not take it, if you can? At least there are no Ghazis! The second wave should the the Nahab and the Ayyar, while the Fasid should be the major toolbox for everything else and the Farzan should act as a surgical knife.
To spice things up, the SpecOp is deployed as Jannissary Akhbar-Doc and the Lt and the Ayyar project some more Mukhtar MSV2s. Just for reasons.

Spoiler: List ForCo

Foreign Company
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

10
BOLT (Fireteam: Haris) Boarding Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
BOLT Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
BOLT Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23)
KRIZA BORAC HMG / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 54)
ORC Lieutenant HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 44)
ORC Boarding Shotgun + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 36)
AVICENNA Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
VALKYRIE Heavy Shotgun, Grenades / Heavy Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 35)
ZERO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
BRAWLER (Infinity Spec-Ops) (13 XP) (CH: Mimetism) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Spitfire, Chain-colt / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)

6 SWC | 298 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Two links to do the work and where the HMG and the spitfire are not enough, a Kriza to eleminate what is needed. Avicienna as back-up specialist and Valkyrie to fill the link, I guess. The missed opportunity to build a really cool Brawler specialist hurts a lot and I was waiting for 16s on WIP rolls all the time. But there is a lack of heavy weapons, so an additional spitfire is needed, I guess?
Interestingly we are both interested in ForCo, but end up with completly different lists all the time...

Spoiler: Table

Recently I am experimenting a bit with more defined maps and create firelanes more thoughtful by trying to keep tables not too dense. It is a bit low on small scatter, but besides that, it felt quite nice.

I loose the Lt-roll and go second in the south DZ.

The Orc-link is deployed on the left, the Kriza takes the center together with the SpecOp and the Bolts take the right side, as far advanced as possible.

I am quite blockend by the exclusion zone, so everything is deployed in my DZ or a bit advanced. Barid and Farzan take the left side behind the building and the fence, while all Mukhtars are scattered on the right. The Ayyar takes the right building for this. My SpecOp is deployed in the center with the Nasmat behind the small building left from that. The Fiday should cover the Mukhtar with smoke and hides advanced on the right.

A camo-marker infiltrates directly in the center in front of my DZ and I place the Shihab in front of the marker.

ForCo 1: The camo-marker advances and gets discovered by my SpecOp. The Orc HMG crits down the Shihab, while the Zero drops a mine and the Bolts advance and shoot one holoecho.The Kriza advances and fails to wound my Fasid.

Haqq 1: The Fiday sets up some smoke, so that the Mukhtar easily can drop the Zero and the Bolt spitfire. He is even able to wound the Kriza. My SpecOp activates, triggering the mine, which only kills my Lt (argh...) and repairing the Shihab.

ForCo 2: The Bolts throw some drop bears around their position, while the Brawler locates and downloads the info on the central console. The Orc-link advances further, dropping the Shihab again. Avicienna retreats towards the upload-console, while the HMG enters suppressive fire in front of my DZ.

Haqq 2: LoL but with one regular order due to my Fasid. The Nahab enters the field on the left in the back of everyone. I burn several orders and CPs into this, but in the end both Orcs and Avicienna are dead (the Orc HMG getting double-critted) and the Nahab covers the upload-console with suppressive fire.My SpecOp repairs the Shihab again and the Mukhtar fails to drop the Kriza. To get one more order next turn to play the mission, the Farzan is nominated as new Lt.

ForCo 3: Now in LoL but with enough CPs, the Kriza puts the Nahab into NWI and the Brawler uploads the data with the last order.

Haqq 3: I am not short on orders but I have to download the info in the center and upload them on my console by crossing LoF of Valkyrie. The Fasid succeeds to smoke the central console but fails to smoke the path towards it, so the Farzan needs to shoot Valkyrie on the way, doing the first wound. SInce the Fasid failed with smoke, the SpecOp can't access the upload-console, so th Farzan retreats, killing Valkyrie and uploading the data with the last order.

SInce I have killed more army points, I win 6-4 in the most fun game in ages. It was that close, that balanced and so much fun, what we could not imagine before. The restricted list of missions in ITS 11 limits the fun a lot, I guess and the urge to perform as good as possible and always make the right decisions seem to kill the fun in most games. This was completly consumed by the spirit of the mission and the possible campaign-play. You are playing for fun and for the story, so it is okay to make a suboptimal decision to ease things a bit. Of course, my list was somehow failproof for this, since all the tools could compensate many suboptimal situations. With Druze that would have been different, since each suboptimal decision adds up to failure and you need a clear mind all the time playing.
We will do more of this in the future!

Spoiler: Haqqislam vs. Tunguska

With some more anti-COVID measures lowered here, the first game-day of our club could be done. SInce it was a bit spontanous for me to join, I had not prepared a different list and by browsing through the missions, we stuck again with Data recovery from Daedalus Fall. ITS is burned for me and the other campaign-missions are a bit too complex to make a smooth start after a long brake for my opponent. Since he had not prepared a list with a SpecOp, I dropped the Hafza SpecOp and included a Ghulam Doc.

My list is the same here with the same general 'plan'.

Spoiler: List Tunguska

Jurisdictional Command of Tunguska
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10
MARY PROBLEMS Hacker (Forward Deployment L1) Submachine Gun + Zapper, Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)
SECURITATE Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
SECURITATE Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
SECURITATE Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle, 1 FastPanda / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
HOLLOW MEN Spitfire, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (2 | 36)
HOLLOW MEN MULTI Rifle + Pitcher, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 35)
STEMPLER ZOND FTO (Super-Jump) Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 18)
SPEKTR (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
VERTIGO ZOND Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)

GROUP 2 3 1
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
CLOCKMAKER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
REAKTION ZOND HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)

5.5 SWC | 296 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Nothing new on this side. Some hackers and the Hollow-Men with the FTO-FO bot to distribute targeted states, used by the smart-missile-bot. The whole lists evolves around this plan, with all its weaknesses and strengths. I am not the fan of this list, since it needs many orders to be set up, but with the repeater-coverage, mobility and hacking-abilities of Tunguska, it seems reasonable. Maybe they add the few missing things, making the plan to expensive for Druze.

Spoiler: Table

The good old icestorm-terrain and all my lovely planters - finally back on the table! I build some additional walls to break up LoF more efficient.

I win the Lt-roll and take the first turn to download the infos without any trouble.

Barid and Farzan take the left side, the Ghulam Doc the center and the Mukhtars are on the right again. This time, the Ayyar and his echoes are a bit more centered. I don't want my Fiday stuck in the Hollow Men, so he is in my half, in front of the Mukhtar. The Shihab overwatches the long lane on the right from behind the container.

The Hollow Men-haris take the left, together with Clockmaker and Interventor behind the building. The TR-bot on top of it overwatched the same lane as my. The Securitates are scattered on the roofs, while the flash-bot and Mary Problems take the right side. A Warcor lays on a container in the center of the DZ.

My Fasid supports the left side, since I need some smoke to protect my run on the objectives. A TO-marker appears on the right.

Haqq 1: WIth smoke from the Fasid, the Farzan activates the central console, only to locate the info in the right console. With some coordinated orders the Barid places a pitcher on the estimated route of the Hollow Men and the Fiday provides smoke on the right console. The Mukhtar fails to discover the TO-marker and retreats. The Farzan recamoes.

Tunguska 1: The Specter on the right downloads the info and places some mines. Mary Problem advances towards him and spotlights a holoecho and the real Mukhtar. Two missiles later, Mukthar and Ayyar are down.

Haqq 2: The Fasid takes down the Warcor to free the space for the Nahab on the right. I forget about the flashbot, but the flaspulse fails. My Nahab takes down the flashbot and Mary Problems, after the Farzan fails on Mary. The Doc revives the Ayyar, burning my last CP and let the Nasmat trigger the mines.

Tunguska 2: The Hollow Men advance in the center, dropping the Farzan and wounding my Fasid, while the Clockmaker repairs the flashbot and uploads the info.

Haqq 3: With some smoke in the center and on the right, I have just enough orders to let the Ayyar download the information and the Barid or my Doc upload them on my console. The Fasid fails to set up the smoke and the Fiday needs two tries. It is set up poorly, so that the Ayyar crosses LoF of the TR-bot and dies on the way. The Nahab assaults and kills the Specter, while the Barid imm-1s the Hollow Men spitfire, which takes a wound from my Fasid then.

Tunguska 3: The FO-bot activates the central console, while the MR-Hollow Men fires a pitcher next to my Shihab and dies on it. This is followed by a spotlight and a missile, dropping the Shihab.

This time, I loose 8-1. The limited ARO-potential with an exclusion zone let my opponent approach me easily and grenade my key-pieces. The Nahab performed great again and carries the list a lot, while my constantly too high rolls for my smoke-grenades maybe costed me the game or at least some OPs. Nevertheless, it was a great game and a lot of fun. The versatile but easy to overlook LI-list with all the potent tools does a great job and only needs a bit of practice to make the right defensive decisions. I am curios to have a LI game with Druze in the next weeks to have a better comparision. But the last two games felt more relaxed than most of my Druze games in the past...

 

Only some weeks left until N4 drops and you could feel the exitement for it everywhere. Nevertheless, I am not stopping playing for the moment. Unfortunately, most of the games are for the European Team Event and I don't want to spoil tournament-lists of my opponents. That limits things to report for now to some casual games.

The last one was a game of Hunting Party against Invincible Army. I played my tournament-list since it performed okay in the actual game and I wanted to test it again, just in case.

Spoiler: List Druze

HPLSLI
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

9 1
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
SAITO TOGAN Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 39)
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 78)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 61)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

This list served me quite well in a previous TTS-event, where the potent tools without any glamour around work good with classifieds and can deal with a broad variety of threats. The reduced core-team is just enough to slow down some rambos with Arslan as great toolbox for turn two and three. Scarface does most of the hard work after the Peacemaker is destroyed and Saito solves unforseen problems. Here, the list should also serve for Looting & Sabotaging, where Saito is the only reliable option for DBS to score some points. In Hunting Party the number of characters save a good number of glue-guns, while unnecessary specialists are avoided.

Spoiler: List IA

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

10
ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)
ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)
ZHANSHI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)
ZHANSHI Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 16)
HǍIDÀO (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 37)
DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
HAC TAO (Executive Order) HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 69)
MÓWÁNG (NCO) Red Fury, Akrylat-Kanone / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 52)
ZHĒNCHÁ (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, D.E.P., Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 34)
LIÚ XĪNG (Specialist Operative) MULTI Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 38)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

The core-team explains itself, while everything left is simplay a great collection of pieces to win Hunting Party. The Lui Xing clears things not that easy to reach, while the Mowang and Hac Tao shoot things down and glue some points together. The Lt is well hidden under a marker.

Spoiler: The table

The table turned out to be quite symmetric with one firelane from one edge to the other and the left side more open then the right one.

I loose the Lt roll and should deploy first in the south. I decided to go second, since I did not want to advance and be surprised then.

The Peacemaker took a spot on the left flank with Scarface and Gromoz behind, leaving a place for the Sierra. The center is left empty and the core-team took the right side with the MSR a bit behind and the Druze watching the back. Cordelia overwatched the left blind spots in my DZ, just in case. Saito is deployed in HD on the right flank to catch attackers there and maybe access the DZ from that side. The first push there should be done by the Hunzakut.

The Zhanshi-core took the high building on the left with ML and Haidao on overwatch. The Mowang is deployed on the right and two camo markers went on each flank.

My Sierra now better takes the center, reinforcing my Brawler, since the initial spot now is covered by the Haidao and wasn't that nice as thought, too.

IA 1: A TO-marker appears in the center and advances towards my Sierra. The Hac Tao reveals, dropping the Sierra. Now a Lui Xing drops behind my Brawler. He survives the explode and the Lui Xing survives the starting gunfight. In the end Cordelia and the Brawler are unconscious but the KHD manages to glue the Lui Xing. The Mowang advances but takes the route towrds the center.

Druze 1: To engage the Mowang with Saito, I need to get through the right camo-marker. Arslan discovers the Zhencha, which drops a mine. Some shots are traded, but the Zhencha and the mine are killed by the Chef. Saito starts and takes out the Mowang completly in one order, then recamoes.

IA 2: The Hac Tao enters my DZ after forcing Arslan in cover. His ADHL then glues down Cordelia and the KHD.

Druze 2: The Peacemaker wounds the Hac Tao once, which falls back into full cover. Arslan has to cross the table and manages to kill the Hac Tao with the last order.

IA3: The last camo marker retreats behind the link, while the rest decides not to move or expose more.

Druze 3: I can't do my classifieds since everything is dying straight, I can only activate one console and can't glue down anything now. So a tie is the best result here. First the Hunzakut fails to activate the right console, then the Peacemaker cuts through the core-team to force its way towards the HVT and secures it.

With more specialists glued, I loose 2-1. While there were many games decided by dice, this one was quite even for both sides with only two crits in total. The drop of the Lui Xing behind my core-team in LoF to my KHD was a risky action which paid out quite well. I had hoped to glue him before he manages to drop Cordelia, so that I won't get into the bad situation without an engineer and immobilized specialists. In addition to this, the Zhencha and his mine slowed Saito down to much, so that it was not possible to also engage the Hac Tao. So this tough soaked up my complete second turn, limiting my potential for engaging the Lt. or to do other objectives in turn three.
Maybe one word to Scarface here: In some games, he is quite valuable since he can take a wound and keep going while killing stuff. But whenever there is a full linked heavy weapon crossing his path, his potential is limited. If he can attack from less than 24", things are okay with no further vis-mods. But with mimetism or longer ranges, his journey ends. Nevertheless he can hide a turn and wait for things to come close and break through then. This role as back-up big gun was very valuable in some games now.


For the moment, that will be all to report. I want to make some games with QK in the last weeks of N3, just to enjoy the Iguana and the sectorial a bit before it leaves for a few months. Meanwhile there are two games left for me in the Team event. After that is finished, I will report all the games here and maybe have some discussion about the general performance. For the moment, I feel more limited by my unability to build lists without shooting myself in the foot than by the sectorial itself. Things are turning out quite well with close losses and some wins for the moment, so we will see, where the team will end. Unfortunately the event started before Tao Wu was added, so I will test him first in N4, I guess.

 

Since @AssaultUnicorn created two custom missions, I took the chance to play the second one 'Praxis Outrage' against the author himself. To keep the rest as regular as possible, he played QK to give them his own good bye for now and I stuck with DBS. Even with all the games done and with the taste of some other factions, DBS still thrills me and feels like one of the best fitting and interesting sectorials for me. Not the best on the horizon, but a nicely designed one.

The mission is derived from Supplies but with additional points to score and a decompression zone in the center. After the first round a so called Praxis Abomination spawns on one side of the table and goes for whatever it can reach with his claws...And his flamer.


Druze Bayram Security
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 7 / 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
TÁOWÙ (Counterintelligence) 2 Nanopulser, Flash Pulse / 2 Viral Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon. (0 | 26)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
DRUZE (CH: Mimetism) MULTI Sniper / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

GROUP 22
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
BOUNTY HUNTER Submachine Gun, Akrylat-Kanone / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40)

5 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

The list was designed similar to any other Supplies-list I write with Druze: Two Hunzakuts and Saito as SO to grab the boxes or make a run to recover them. This time the link was a bit more diverse, since I expected a low MSV-coverage, wanted a back-up weapon and thought it would be a nice idea to slam a E/M-grenade on the Abomination. If that is not possible, the ABH should be the alternative solution for this.

Qapu Khalqi
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9 / 1 / 1
IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75)
IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. ()
AZRA'IL Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27)
HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40)
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)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

We had dicussed my current QK-list before and since AssaultUnicorn likes the Iguana in the same way as I do, he showed his version of my good-bye list. The Hawwa should grab a box and take his chance on the Abomination, while the Iguana, backed up by the Jannissary-core, goes on rampage. The Azra'il should give them some cover in reactive turn.



Whyrocknodie created a great map for this mission with some zero-g-terrain in the center. In the upper left was a higher building complex, as well as in the south right corner. Most other terrain consisted of containers, sometimes just floating through the space.

AssaultUnicorn wins the Lt-roll and decides to go first. So he deploys first in the north, since I estimated better defensive positions in the south.

The Hawwa starts on the left crate, overwatched by the Azra'il on the roof of the highest building on the left with a great view. The core-team scatteres behind some containers on the right.

My link should stop the other core and pin down the Azra'il if needed, so it is deployed around the building on the left with Tao Wu as a second ABH in front of them. The LGL here is prone on the rooftop and quite open when it comes to a shoot out to the Azra'il. Here I estimate to scare any activation of him away with two MSRs and the LGL reacting on him. The left is overwatched by the real ABH, the Warcor and one Fugazi, taking care of all landing spots in my DZ, while the center sees the second Fugazi and the Pathfinder. Saito is deployed hidden on the left crate and the Hunzakuts start in cover next to the other crates each.

The Iguana is deployed in the center and my Peacemaker reinforces my left side as an option to get rid of the Azra'il in my turn.

QK 1: A Yuan Yuan lands on the left side and smokes the left crate, so that the Hawwa can grab the box without any problems. WIth that safe, the Iguana starts but gets stunned by my Brawler MSR and retreats. The Jannissary HMG then finishs my Brawler with a crit. Now my Peacemaker is engaged by the Yuan Yuan and dies to his chain rifle, while Saito pins him down in the decompression zone. The Azra'il takes a wound by shooting on my link, so that the Jannissary HMG has to climb up some crates and shoot down the LGL. Wild Bill is out of coherency here. At the end of the turn, the Yuan Yuan dies to the lethal environment.

DBS 1: I need to recover a bit to not get overrun in the next turn. First my MSR takes out the Azra'il, but to engage the HMG, I need to reposition Gromoz and the Lt on the building. This takes some orders and as the MSR is finally shooting on the HMG, some low rolls on my side end this option. Now the central Hunzakut forces Wild Bill into cover and grabs the central box to recover it in the DZ.

QK 2: The Abomination appears and stomps right towards the Hawwa. The Hawwa stops him with a carbonite-program and hands over the box to the Iguana. The link advances a bit, shooting down my Warcor and Leila grabs the last box.

DBS 2: The Abomination is still immobilized and fails to reset. Saito ends this with his sword, followed by the Hawwa. My orders are oddly distributed now and no CPs are there to fix this. So Saito needs to recamo in a bad spot while Tao Wu tries to take a better position against the core-team in the last turn.

QK 3: The Iguana tries to burn down Saito and after the first successfull dodge, switches to the HMG. This is repeated several times until Saito is finally hit by a bullet and goes down.

DBS 3: There is not much left to do, so I start a last attempt with the left over Hunzakut. He manages to shoot down Leila, but fails on the Jannissary.

With this, the game ends 7-3 for AssaultUnicorn with more boxes recovered and more points killed. We both made some dumb and inefficient decisions, punishing our restricted situations, but in the end my units were not sturdy enough to back this up and the terrain denied my last turn approach with a buffed Pathfinder. If Saito would have been able to engage the Iguana, things could have been interesting again. The major mistake was to stun him in turn one instead of going for the ejection directly. After holding the box, there was nothing to gain for me on this TAG: I would have had to chew through the flamethrower just to get the pilot, the box and the points ejected into a safe position somewhere on a rooftop.

The mission plays in a way similar to Supplies but the additions change it in a very interesting way. So it is not only about recovering turn one efforts and trying to hide the boxes the whole game, but also about a well though attack and a solution to a quite fast and scary beast from the black labs of Bakunin. The added terrain-rules read a bit difficult in the first run, but add a lot of flavour to the game. I am really looking forward to the new terrain rules in N4 to make such things more present!

 

After we all get our hands on the new rules and profiles of N4, there is only one big question: How does it turn out? The timing of our next game day couldn't be better, so I had the chance to make my first N4 game only one day after the new rules hit the floor. DBS got a bit gifted with the new edition, at least that is my view here. The new fireteam-options smooth things a lot, some new profiles and changes also solve some issues in the overall game and the new hacking-game is a big deal for DBS. Of course, some profiles stay behind their potential (I am looking at you, Arslan!), but that isn't such a big deal as it was in N3. The first game was against Bakunin in Quadrant Control.




To reduce the amount of new things a bit and get a better sense for the core rules, I started with my normal list-type. A core-team with some cheerleaders and the Brawler MSR, something as back-up weapon, two Hunzakuts, the Peacemaker to punch needed holes and the obligatory REMs. With that, I had enough points left to include Tao Wu for reasons. Since hacking is the major thing for me, I focussed on this. two hackers should target whatever I need and whatever possible, so that the two LGLs can use it in active and all my other weapons could benefit from this, too. The EVO is needed for assisted fire, but the loss of some of the old programms hurts a lot. In addition to this, I am quite salty about the loss of sat-locks and sniffers, what reduces the overall value of Pathfinders and Fugazis here a lot.




My opponent took the same approach as I did and recreated his current N3-list, using some of the new things (the Riot-link with the TM here and the quite flexible but not well defined Reverend-core). Three heavy hitters covered in bodies and supported by Morlocks and Zeros to sneak around potential problems seems to be the major plan here.



Since I have the feeling of changed favoured rangebands, what should be tested in reality, I tried to set up a map with a more open left side and a more obstructed right side. Initially the big wall in the center wasn't there, creating a nice firelane, but that seemed to be a bit too risky.

I won the Lt roll and decided to deploy second in the south, planning for going second in general.

Bakunin deploys the Reverend-link in the center together with the Moderator and one Morlock. The other one takes the left, while the right is covered with a camo-marker and the haris of TM and Riots.

Since I won't get any grenades or hacking-attacks through the tinbot on the Riots, I plan to gun them down and deploy my core and duo-link togehter on the right. A Pathfinder and a a Fugazi take care of the flanks. The FO Hunzakut is deployed in front of them. The LGL takes the left middle, backed up by the other Pathfinder.

A second camo-marker appears on the right and my Peacemaker takes the middle left to threaten the Reverends with the Auxbot. The MR-Riot gets datatracker, as well as my SMR Druze.

Bakunin 1: The central Morlock trades himself for the Auxbot and gets targeted on the way. On the right, one Zero tries to sneak towards my link, gets targeted and fails to wound my SMR. The Reverends advance in the center, shooting a pitcher next to my Peacemaker, but fail to hack him. The TM totally fails on my MSR and goes unconscious. In the end, the other Zero places a mine next to my FO Hunzakut.

Druze 1: I am in an unexpected good shape. Three grenades are needed to drop the Zero in front of my DZ. I fail to target the other trough a repeater from the FO Hunzakut and shoot him directly then with my LGL Druze. I try to free my Peacemaker and aproach the Reverends over the left side but get immobilized and fail several times to reset him. The right Pathfinder gets assisted fire and enters suppressive fire.

My datatracker is still in my DZ and we tie on quadrants: 1-2

Bakunin 2: The Riots in a reformed link advance and shoot down my MSR, followed by the Pathfinder. That frees the path for the Reverends, taking down my Peacemaker and the LGL Hunzakut and struggling with their position. While the healer closes up to the TM, the HMG gets targeted by my Brawler.

Druze 2: The link is refilled with the KHD. The SMR now advances into my near right quadrant and the LGL shoots down the spitfire-Riot and kills the HMG-Moira with a critical speculative grenade.On the left I do a bad trade with my Pathfinder against the Morlock. The Fugazi needs to advance into the left quadrant.

Both DTs are in a quadrant, but the Riot is too far advanced and stands in my quadrant, making it a 3-3 now.

Bakunin 3: A clever positioning of the Reverends on the left side could tie the game. The Healer revives the Taskmaster, which tries to gun down my LGL. A hit from my LGL drops the Healer and the next shot kills the TM again. The Fugazi manages to take cover against the Reverends and the Riot Dt goes back into the far right quadrant.

Druze 3: I only need to drop the datatracker, so I send my Hunzakut, causing the first wound with the template mode, then shooting the last one normally.

Now I control more quadrants and one with my datatracker. By killing the last Riot, I secure the HVT, making it a 7-3 victory with only a few Reverends left.

Our first turns were quite bad on both ends but I ended up with a bit more luck and better positions. The new infowar in general and the availability of hackers and repeaters in DBS then tipped the game into my direction. On the other hand, the new crit-mechanic and the reduced pointcosts for armour make it really hard to drop units with multiple wounds and high arm in cover. The Riot-spitfire recieved a double-crit and one additional hit, doing three wounds. Otherwise it would have taken longer to drop her, causing major problems. The negative mods for resets out of different states are a real risk, while the new targeted state and interaction with speculative fire balance it out a bit. On the other hand we forgot about the +3 bonus on BS for all my speculative grenades. Nevertheless, the LGL-Druze now is a real blast! Normals grenades are a big thing for him, the x-visor also and the interaction with the complete list have sold him completly to me! In the start of the second turn, I felt a bit undergunned what would have been a big problem in N3. Now I could compensate this with the new link-flexibility and the support of the rest.

DBS finally plays and feels like it is supposed to be and will be a real opponent now!

 

The new edition also started in the TTS for me with the first game against my lovely opponent AssaultUnicorn. We have not played his second custom mission yet, so we concluded that this would be a nice thing to start with. Since QK is not available at the moment, he fielded his new love, White Company. The rules for the mission can be found here and in this post.





Since the mission requires D-charges and one combat group, the new additions and changes in fireteam-composion and points brought me back to the former struggle of not getting 300 points filled with 10 models. In the end, I mixed whatever seemed to be useful and is expensive. With his new DA CCW, Scarface could be useful in this mission, while a haris out of the HMG, KHD and Mr. Wolf should carry most of the action, guarded by a flexible core-team, where Arslan could take the lead as a back-up piece. Amadeus Wolf seems better in nearly every situation than Arslan, but since the points were free, both could show up.



We talked about his curious approaches for White Company before, but I was not expecting a Guujia here. The core-team with two Haidaos and Hawkwood delivers a great defensive brick and could switch to an aggressive role easily, once the MSR is down and the boss himself can carry things. Shona supported by a Varangian is a good tool to crack up the armory and the Guilangs are supposed to do the specialist-jobs.



In the need of a at least rule-wise fitting map, we came back to one designed for the Dire Foes mission "Viral Outbreak". Two quite high towers in the corners and opposing normal buildings surround the armory, which covers not much but enough room for some advancements. I know this map a bit and the problems potent snipers could cause in a good spot.

AssaultUnicorn wins the Lt-roll and goes first. I choose to deploy second in the south to secure a bit more flexibility in the shadow of the armory.

One camo-marker infiltrates in front of my DZ while a second one hides on the right behind a building. Shona and her buddy start on the right of the central building, in which the core-team starts. The normal Haidao starts on the left, while the MSR starts on the left roof.

I don't want to fight with the MSR, so I deploy my core-team scattered among all three levels of the building more on the right. MSR on the roof, HD Druze and normal Brawler in the middle and the HD together with Arslan down to cover the camo marker and the aproaching Taighas. Cordelia starts behind the building and the haris scatters as far as possible on the central left to be flexible and have all the tools needed by hand in my first turn.

A Guijia appears quite open on the left and Scarface deploys next to Cordelia behind my central building.

WC 1: The normal Haidao closes the left hole after the Taigha is shot directly. The Guijia then jumps onto the roof and startss shooting at my MSR, getting stunned directly. The Haidao MSR now takes over this task while the link shuffles in the building and takes down my MSR. Hawkwood clears the other Taigha. While the Guijia retreats behind the building, Shona and her Varangian smash the door of the armory and both getting targeted on the way.

DBS 1: With the left side uncovered but Shona next to the armory, I decide to kill the designated targets and close the Taigha holes later. The left Taigha is shot by Wolf, while the right one emerges without problems. My haris advances and my KHD gets killed by the Wardriver with his N3 Lightning-upgrade after frying the Guilang hacker. While Wolf advances to smash his door, the Taigha dodges closer and reaches him in CC. The HMG closes back to the link and is included to form a full core.

WC 2: While the Taigha is shot directly, the Varangian tanks a shotgun of the Wardriver and drops him in CC. The second camo-marker rushes into the center, syncing the Civvies and reteating them into the building, out of reach. The Guijia advances and crits down my HMG, then enters suppressive fire behind the armory.

DBS 2: Wolf drops the Taigha while recieving a wound. Since he is better in close ranges, I decide to take him instead of Scarface to try to get the Civvies down. Wolf needs two shots to drop the Haidao MSR prone, but fails to dodge the suppressive fire of the Guijia. A pitcher is shot next the the armory and Arslan clears a Taigha on my right. The left one is shot by Scarface, which enters suppressive fire.

WC 3: Shona clears the repeater and crashes the door of the armory on my side, which is used by the Varangian. Since Arslan now can shoot through smoke, he decides to advance in full cover over the right and shoots him down with his SMG. He advances further and drops Cordelia while getting shot by Scarface.

DBS 3: From one point far away, Scarface could maybe shoot down one or two designated targets. In LoL, this gets quite tight. Scarface fails to drop the new Taigha and forces the Guijia with two wounds into full cover. While further advancing, Shona stunns him with her flash pulse, ending my turn.

The game ends with a solid 10-0 for AssaultUnicorn. My first turn was crucial here. Not only started the unability to win any FtF on my side, but also everything else failed. The Wardriver is included to slow things down and be a thread, but that he is able to kill my KHD with ease...It would have been a better option to shoot a pitcher and get the firewall-benefits here.A big deal in general is all the movement you can gain now with dodging. It can be interesting in active, with Wolf potentially dodging behind the Guijia, but is a terrible thing reactive with CC-units like Varangians, Shona and Taighas. This cut many paths and a lot of my potential. That martial arts isn't linked with stealth anymore contributes to this a lot, especially when it comes to cautious movements.

So in the end it is still a dice-game, but the new changes still feel good and the new toys, too.

 

With the 1st European Narrative Team-TTS-Event (ENTE) over, lists are no longer secret and the efforts of the DBS-group of the Gokudo Intervention Group (GIG), consisting of detachments of the DBS, Ariadna and Spiral Corp, can be reported.

Round one saw us against Europeans Finest Rumpling Troop, a newbie-team from my region. I managed to got matched with one of my local players, fielding vanilla Haqqislam in this event. I designed a list for Decapitation and Transmission Matrix, since things fitted better for Hunting Party and Looting and Sabotaging. Transmission Matrix favours infowar, so an AHD sounds reasonable and a Clipper, too. The plan also works for Decapitation, where you only need to be careful with your Pathfinders. This is the result:

DecapTM
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GROUP 1 8 / 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

GROUP 21
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)

6 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army

Since this list is quite straight forward, there is no big discussion needed, I guess. Peacemaker shoots things, Pathfinder discover, target and shoot things and everything else keeps their back safe.

Vanilla Prototype 2 No Hacking
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GROUP 1 9 / 1 / 2
FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 31)
MUKHTAR (Multispectral Visor L2) Red Fury, 2 Nanopulsers / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 37)
MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
FARZAN (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
ROUHANI Submachine Gun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 36)
AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (0 | 35)
HASSASSIN HUSAM YASBIR (Infiltration, Holoprojector L2) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (0 | 34)
HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18)
KRAKOT RENEGADE Submachine Gun, Chest Mine / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 15)

GROUP 23
MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10)
DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)
DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)

4.5 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army


The list has some serious threads, especially the combination of two Fidays and Saladin. A similar one had caused real troubles some weeks ago. The amount of irregular guys to chew through, while the Mukhtar and the Fidays harass your hitters and keep you away from the valuable things is nothing you want with DBS.



I win the Lt-roll and decide to go first to avoid a Fiday-assassination. My opponent deploys second in the north.

The left is covered by the Sierra and a Hunzakut inside the forwarded building, while the core-team is scattered in the central building. The MSR is out to ARO on the roof, together with the Lt. The right sees a Fugazi and two Pathfinders, as well as the EVO Kameel. The other Hunzakut starts a bit advanced on the right.

An impersonator starts in front of my DZ on the right, overwatched by my REMs and one Dayalami ifiltrates on the building in front of my DZ. Knauf and the Mukhtar start in the center around the building. Saladin hides in the left building, guarded by a Krakot, a Dayalami, two camo markers, Rouhani and an other impersonator. Four Ghazis are scattered over the DZ.

The Peacemaker starts in front of my Sierra, ready to burn down the Mukhtar and two camo markers start in the central corridor.

Druze 1: The Brawler takes some orders to remove both Dayalamis on the roofs. The left Hunzakut tries to bait out some Ghazis and the Krakot and starts suppressive fire while the other one engages a Farzan in the middle, killing it but gets a mine in front of his feet. Someone discovers it but can't destroy it. The Pathfinders lock down the impersonator.

Haqq 1: One Ghazi jamms the Hunzakut in the center, while an other one is shot by the Brawler. Now the Mukhtar rolls out, killing the Hunzakut and one Fugazi, then getting into suppressive fire. Nothing more wants to move.

Druze 2: One Pathfinder shoots down the Krakot with triangulated fire, so that the Peacemaker can advance. The Mukhtar is burned down by the Auxbot after the AHD fails to spotlight him through the Peacemaker. An additional Ghazi is shot in the center and the left Hunzakut retreats after dropping a mine and recamoes.

Haqq 2: Knauf engages my link and appears to be a Hafza HRL. The Clipper dies while the Brawler drops him multiple times after a Nasmat keeps him standing. The advanced impersonator gets nervous and is discovered the first time.

Druze 3: One Pathfinder is moved into group one. The leftover Pathfinder in group two discover-shoots Al Djabel. With assisted fire the moved Pathfinder advances over the right flank, crit-killing the designated target, Yasbir and a lone Ghulam.

Haqq 3: The last Ghazi is shot by the Brawler. With advanced medicine the Hafza recovers again but is shot by the Pathfinder. The last order revives him one more time (I may have reactivated overclock, so no shock on the Pathfinder).

In the end I win 5-0 with 251 to 119 points. The most important thing in this game was an ineffiient use of Al Djabel. If he started cutting through my remotes, my mobility would have been limited a lot and the Haqqislam-tools may have outplayed me. In the end, my opponent was not aggressive enough with all the stuff he had and an overperforming Pathfinder in turn three hammered the nails in the coffin with each shot of his combirifle.

With that result my team scored three victories in round one, looking forward for some strong opponents in the future rounds and in good hope.

 

After round one turned out quite successful for us as one of two teams with three victories, the PanO-Aleph Team "Bisounours" from France was our next opponent. Eventhough I build all three maps for that round, I managed to draw Varuna on the most open table.

For Hunting Party, I wanted to have as many ADHLs as possible, on good profiles in the best case and some tricks to disable enemy glue-guns. With two classifieds in this mission, this is something to be considered, too. One of my previous LI-lists turned out to have most of the things I need and also fields the only considerable units for Looting and Sabotaging. So I simply dropped that one.

HPLSLI
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9 / 1
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
SAITO TOGAN Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 39)
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 78)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 61)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

The reduced link with Arslan and the KHD is a real risk in Hunting Party, but leaves enough space for all the other tools and is quite resilient over the whole game. The Peacemaker should open the path for the link or Scarface, while Cordelia should keep things running and deny points. Against Varuna most of the plan could simply be denied by the linked Kamau, so a plan for this was needed. In the best case, I am able to attack the link with Saito or pick some other members with Saito or the Brawler. If that is not possible, my best chances against the Kamau MSR are under 16" with Arslan. Everything else has odds below 40% with 35% or recieving wounds in return...

Varuna S1
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9
SQUALO (Armored Cav.) MULTI HMG, Heavy Grenade Launcher / AP Heavy Pistol. (2.5 | 95)
CRABBOT Flash Pulse / Knife. ()
FUSILIER Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
FUSILIER Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
BIPANDRA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
KAMAU (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
KAMAU Heavy Rocket Launcher, Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23)
ZULU-COBRA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Breaker Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28)
ZULU-COBRA (Forward Observer) Breaker Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26)
MACHINIST Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

GROUP 2 / 3
HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9)
HELOT MILITIAMAN Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
HELOT MILITIAMAN Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)

6 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

The link is what you expect, while the Zulus and the Helots form the nebula where everything dangerous can hide. The Squalo is hard to predict with all the camo-tokens and the possibility of Echo Bravos in that list.


Lucky as I am from time to time, I won the Lt roll and chose the south DZ. That side had at least three positions from where the Kamau could see the most important paths. The other side had the obvious spot on the left building, where I could approach in close ranges on the left. In return, I got the first turn.

I calculated bad odds for Scarface in the open if I could kill the Kamau, so he went on the left together with Gromoz. To engage things in the most flexible way, the core-team took the right side with the KHD safe on the rocks. The Sierra and my Peacemaker should just secure my half of the table and engage if the Kamau is shot.

The link took the building on the left with the Kamau on the big building, blind towards the far left path. This way is covered by the HRL and the Fusiliers scattered in the inside. Two camo markers in front of that. The Machinist is deployed in the center and the other camo-markers took the right side.

Saito is deployed in the building on the left side to approach the link unseen. Something else is placed in hidden deployment.

Druze 1: I am restricted to one CP in this turn. THe most important thing is to limit the potential of the link, so the MSR advances a bit and fails to discover a camo-marker. Since the marker doesn't aro, I choose to ignore him and advance further. A Cutter appears and I split burst between the Kamau HRL and the Cutter. The HRL goes down and the Cutter recieves a crit and retreats out of LoF. Scarface fails to discover the camos on the left. I try to outdice the Kamau MSR with the Sierra but go down and Cordelia totally wrecks it.

Varuna 1: The Cutter approaches the Brawler and drops him. The mechanig repairs the Cutter and a camo marker advances on the left. By passing Saito, the ninja reveals his presence and the marker stops his advance.

Druze 2: Scarface tries to discover something on the left but fails again. Saito advances on that side and tricks both markers to reveal themself. Now Scarface shoots down a Helot, which is used by Saito to score In Extremis Recovery. The revealed Zulu is scanned by Gromoz for Datascan. Out of LoF, Saito recamoes.

Varuna 2: The Zulu on the left targets my HVT twice for Designation and shoots down a Nasmat and the Peacemaker. Finally he manage to glue down Scarface.

Druze 3: Arslan crosses the edge and fails multiple times to glue the Zulu, even with several hits on 6.

Varuna 3: Since Arslan ended his action in a bad position, the already engaged Zulu, supported by an other one on the right, glues Arslan first, then Cordelia and finally the KHD on the stones.

With more Lts and specialists glued, I loose 8-2. My first thought was, that this loss was mainly caused by Arslans missing ability to hunt down the Zulu on the left. Otherwise I would have hunted down more specialists and with more classifieds done, I would have won this impossible match-up. But as Shas'O'Kassad mentioned later, I should have simply engaged the Zulu with Saito and hunt him down, so I would have had a really good position to sustain his third turn. But even with this game lost, I am really satisfied with my performance a) vs. Varuna, b) on such an open map and c) vs. such an experienced and skilled player. In the end, games with DBS are not decided by your list (except for some rare cases and lists) but with your ability to deploy the right solution on the right place. The major problem here is that all these solutions are mounted on different units, so that each plan needs a specific set-up. Other factions don't have this problem just because of a biggere reliabality of single stron units and the availability of multi-purpose units. So here, each mistake does real damage to your whole game.

 

Thanks man! I will fix this as soon as possible.

Here are the reports for the third round of the ENTE.

Spoiler: Test Round 3 vs Ayadan

With three weeks per round, there is some time in between to have some games around and since I had some good discussions with the french team and @Ayadan contributed a great map for the next round, we took the chance and tested this one. I was really glad here to have a game vs. one of the best PanO-players around for the moment and have the opportunity to show him what DBS can do. The mission here was Transmission Matrix.

List DBS:

DecapTM
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 8 / 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

GROUP 21
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)

6 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army


As mentioned before, the list was designed to fulfill the requirements of Decapitation and Transmission Matrix. With the existing repeater-network and three hackers on the table, I am sure to dominate the infowar against most other factions, except for Nomads. So I should be able to target the key units and drop missiles on them without any problems. A strong defensive core-team and a Peacemaker should solve every other problem deployed against that.

List MO:

Santiago Deployment
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9 / 1
ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
ORDER SERGEANT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 15)
KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Spitfire, Nanopulser, E/M Grenades, D-Charges / Pistol, DA CCW. (1 | 43)
KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, D-Charges + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38)
TECH-BEE (Remote Assistant Level 1, Specialist Operative) Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23)
TRAUMA-DOC (Father-Doctor) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
SPEC. SERGEANT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)

GROUP 21
MACHINIST (Father-Engineer) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
SPEC. SERGEANT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23)
MULEBOT Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

6 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army

My estimation, even from my own experience, would have been a minimal infowar-approach to simply gun everything down. Ayadan planned for this estimation against MO in this mission and took a completly different and from my point of view unexpected approach: Go all-in into the infowar. Not only that a 2W KHD is a scary thing to deal with, but also the EVO to support that with Kaleidoscope (something I totally forgot about) and two other hackers to harrass mine are a real staple here. The needed guns are brought by the Peacemaker and two Bulleteers, kept alive by a Machinist. So everything moving across the table is shot down with ease and everything trying to click something on his comlog is shut down.



The map was something different from what was used on TTS over the last weeks.I set the theme for the whole round as a hidden base in the jungle, so the left side had some jungle-terrain with forest on it. The base here was in the center with a REM-maintance-system in the center (tunnels made for S4 units to move freely under it with some hoists to reach the elevated center), a landing-area in the north and an assistance-system next to the building in the north.

I can't remember who won the Lt-roll but I go first and take the south DZ.

My link deploys around the elevated position on the left with the KHD and the MSR around the antenna and the Clipper down overwatching the inner area there. One Fugazi, two Pathfinders and the EVO take the center and the other REMs are deployed on the right with the Sierra overwatching the inner area and a Fugazi taking care about the right flank. One Hunzakut starts in the forest on the left and the other one starts in the right building.

A core team with a Santiago KHD and a Santiago spitfire deploys inside the right building. The OS HRL is on the roof to overwatch things. While one spitfire-Bulleteer starts in the center, a second one starts on the right flank. A Machinist and an EVO Mulebot hide on the left behind the fence and a Techbee together with a Doc hide behind the right building. One OS hacker secures the left antenna, a second one supports on the right.

To cut through the REMs, my Peacemaker starts behind the right building near my Hunzakut. It is counterdeployed by an other Peacemaker.

Druze 1: As always, I loose two orders from group one. My Hunzakuts sneaks through the building and takes out the Peacemaker and the Techbee with his shotgun. My EVO is dazzled by the hacking-interactions and is fried while trying to buff my Peacemaker. Without support, the Peacemaker takes out the Bulleteer and needs several attempts to ground both REMs completly. My Sierra and the right Pathfinder advance a bit into the antenna-area.

MO 1: The core-team breaks and the KHD Santiago takes out both hackers on my side and starts a shoot-out with my Peacemaker. He recieves one wound bit finishs him in the progress.

MO controls more antennas.

Druze 2: My left Hunzakut sneaks up on the left flank and fails to shoot the OS hacker on the antenna but manages to clear a Warcor. Meanwhile my Lt as datatracker takes the maintance-tunnel in the center to crawl into the center and shoot down a Palbot.

MO 2: The Santiago spitfire advances and fails to shoot my left Hunzakut. After the OS hacker clears my Lt, the Santiago advances and takes out my Clipper, then secures the center.

MO controls more antennas.

Druze 3: The Hunzakut finally takes out the OS hacker and I reposition the left over REMs.

MO 3: My designated target gets spotlighted and the KHD rushes into my DZ and secures my right antenna.

Again MO controls more antennas and I loose 8-0. After I realised that my hacking-plan was completly destroyed by a MO infowar (!!!), my options in general and my movement-options with nearly only hackable units were limited a lot. That forced me into risking my Lt. Would my Hunzakut has been able to drop the OS hacker in turn two, things would have been open again, but that failure together with my Lt in LoF made the Loss clear.

Besides some dice and decisions in the game, the most remarkable thing here was Ayadans list. Of course, nobody expects MO in Transmission Matrix to approach over the info-war strategy, so I calculated my whole plan over the Clipper. This conclusion and planning was used by Ayadan to lure his opponent into a well thought trap. Not only this, but his list-concept was something completly new for MO. I knew him as one of the stronges MO-players and know his discussions with offbeat list-ideas and game plans. To get this deployed against me and executed that good, I would definitely say that his game is a new level of playing MO.

Spoiler: Real game vs. Minass (TAK)

After the test game vs. Ayadan, I managed to get my game on the same map. I calculated a good use of the maintenance-tunnels with my REM-heavy list. The cherry on the cake was the match-up vs. TAK. TAK is a kind of trauma-opponent for me, but in this mission with my list and the other available opponents, this should be a solvable problem.

List Druze:

DecapTM
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 8 / 1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
DRUZE Lieutenant (X Visor) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

GROUP 21
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)

6 SWC | 299 Points
Open in Infinity Army

The plan and everything is exactly the same as in the previous game against MO. This time I knew that there were no obstacles on my info-war approach, so I calculated good odds for my Clipper, while my REMs clear everything what was not accessable with a smart missile.

List TAK:

European 2.0
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9 / 1
VETERAN KAZAK AP HMG / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 47)
LINE KAZAK (Forward Observer) Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9)
LINE KAZAK Paramedic (MediKit) Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 11)
FRONTOVIK (Multiespectral Visor L1) AP Sniper / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1 | 31)
LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9)
STRELOK (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
STRELOK (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
ASSAULT PACK . (0 | 25)
HANDLER Rifle, Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (- | 10)
x3 ANTIPODE AP CC Weapon. (- | 15)

GROUP 21 / 1
SPETSNAZ (CH: Ambush Camouflage) HMG / Pistol, CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
STRELOK (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
STRELOK (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
SCOUT Lieutenant Ojotnik, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 29)
IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

Whenever I have bad dreams about TAK, I am dreaming of this list: A core-team with a good defensive weapon and a Vet-Kazak HMG, supported by way too many camo-markers, leaving no clue what could be what. The Assault Pack then is only the minor thread.




Minass chooses to take the second turn after winning the Lt-roll, so I let him deploy first in the north.

His core-team is deployed around the right building with two replacement-Kazaks. The Antipode-handler takes the inside of the building and tons of camo markers are scattered everywhere else. I can only see S2 camos, so at least there is no K-9 waiting and for the moment no Assault Pack. Four camos are securing the center and four are scattered on the right around the designated target.

I mirror my deployment from the last game, placing the link and a Hunzakut on the left, some REMs in the center and the Sierra, a Fugazi and a Pathfinder on the right.

The Assault Pack appears on the left in the forest and my Peacemaker starts on the building on the right, ready to sacrifice the Auxbot and clear some mines and everything else there.

Druze 1: To lure out the camo markers on the right, my Peacemaker starts, sacrificing the Auxbot by burning the markers and the designated target. The dodge is successful and one mine triggers, but the Auxbot tanks the mine and two hits from the Frontovik. I want to get rid of the Frontovik, so my AHD tries to spotlight him without success. Since I had misjudged LoF between the Frontovik and my Brawler, it takes a shot but tanks it. With bad odds for spotlight in general, I switch to my Peacemaker. It gets assisted fire and advances further. I get greedy and try to burn the designated target again before getting both REMs in good range against the Frontovik. Now my Auxbot is destroyed and the designated target dodges again. The Peacemaker advances a bit and gets a crit from the Frontovik. With that front down, I try to sneak up the central Fugazi through the maintenance tunnels but one marker, expected as ambush, turns out to be a mine, killing the Fugazi.

TAK 1: The core-team is formed without the Frontovik but including the Vet. Kazak. He tries to engage my Sierra and recieves two crits in a row. A Spetznas HMG engages my Clipper, wrecking it and getting stunned by a flash pulse from somewhere. Out of LoF it recamoes. Now a Strelok approaches my left side, dropping everything except for my EVO with his BSG, after the designated target is killed.

More quadrats for TAK.

Druze 2: With not many ressources left, I try to consolidate things a bit. The right Fugazi is dragged into the center, while the central Hunzakut kills the Strelok near my DZ. The Sierra fails to drop the Frontovik.

TAK 2: The Frontovik is included in the link again, killing the Sierra and my Brawler. The Spetznaz drops the last Pathfinder, while a Strelok is stunned on its way.

More quadrants for TAK.

Since there is nothing left to threaten the center or get me back in the game otherwise, we stop here with an 8-0 for Minass. The number of bad decisions around the Frontovik in turn one drained ressources to develop a presence in the center. I should have gone with the Peacemaker from the beginning, going for the order pool of the link and snacking the designated target on the way. Spotlighting something is a dangerous thing with WIP 13 in N3, since targets reset better most of the time. But besides this mistakes, Minass deployed a serious thread against nearly everything. Even if I would have been able to sensor the center, not more than a mine and some ambush-markers would have been revealed, gaining nothing for me. Nevertheless we concluded that I had everything on the field to solve all the issues and to win the game. The difficulty is to know what is the right tool for the current problem and that the tools are scattered on single units. This leads to two problems:

• Is this specific unit already dead, the solution is no longer available.
• The single tool needs to be deployed where the problem occurs. With 4-2 MOV and no good defensive equipment, this is a really tricky problem.

Most other factions avoid this by having multi-purpose units, fulfilling different roles at the same time or at least having the tools equipped with something that helps them to get where they are needed. Maybe DBS gets a change here in N4, but for now, I need to try to work more with my Hunzakuts and Pathfinders, since they are able to develop paths so that a Druze or something else can give the final solution to the problem. But without these two units, you are not flexible enough to deal with all the different situations.

 

To close N3 here, here are the last two reports of the ENTE:

Spoiler: ENTE Round 4 vs. Dashat

The luck of the draw led to facing @AssaultUnicorn , the author of the ENTE-narrative and my regular TTS-opponent in the final round of the event. Our team planned for something different here, since I know that AssaultUnicorn is around my level, maybe a bit better and it will come down to individual choices in the game. If I would have drawn an other opponent, this maybe could have been mixed up in favour for our team. But in the end I am glad to have this last game scheduled in this way. The last mission for the event was Looting & Sabotaging with three really beautiful and interesting maps, made by Badlazzor and Cabaray.



If someone likes to watch the record of the game, made by AssaultUnicorn, you can find it here:




HPLSLI
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

9 / 1
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
SAITO TOGAN Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 39)
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 78)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 61)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

Meanwhile I am quite confident with this list and had a good plan for this mission. Since only Saito Togan is able to destroy the AC2 properly, this was the main aggressor and should reach the AC2 unharmed. This is the task for the Peacemaker, shooting things out of the way and then be a speed-bump for later. Scarfaces acts as pure distraction from this, while the small core-team and the Sierra should secure my AC2 as long as possible. I don't plan to use the panoplies, since it is too order-intesive for this list and there are no units on the way to to it properly. But the AC2 and the classified, scored by Gromoz, should be enough here.

TM
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 8 / 2 / 1
GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
MIRANDA ASHCROFT Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 24)
BOUNTY HUNTER Red Fury / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
McMURROUGH 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Templar CCW (AP + DA). (0 | 32)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

GROUP 21
ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 20)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
DOZER Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
LIBERTO (CH: Mimetism, Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 11)

6 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

Besides the Ghulam-core, AssaultUnicorn brought the best Dashat has, I guess. While group one acts as defence for the AC2 with the core-team, the Hunzakut as plan b for the AC2 with some D-charges and McMurder as plan a, group two is an additional back-up for everything. The Rui SHi can deal with most of the threats thrown at the AC2 and the link is mobile enough to reach the panoplies on their own.



After a long hunt for the source of the mysterious sepsitor-signal, we finally reached some underground-facilities, run by the CA, where it is necessary to destroy/analyze/rearrange the power-sources for the signal. We had the game on a 50/50-map with one half of difficult mountain terrain and low-visibility (nobody takes some flashlights these days!) and a hidden base on the other side with some doors and corridors wide enough to fit a TAG in there.

I lost the Lt-roll and AssaultUnicorn deployed second on the red side. I choose to go first.

Backed up by Cordelia, the Sierra overwatches the left outdoor-area, whith the Brawler looking at the rest and Arslan having a slight look at my AC2. Scarface and Gromoz start in the base to use the mobility a bit better. My AC2 is guarded by my Hunzakut, since it is quite easy to reach and hard to defend on the other way. Saito starts next to the central room outdoors in hidden deployment.

A Ghulam-core overwatched the outdoor-area from the left corner and a camo-marker starts a bit forwarded there. Behind some rocks in the center, the Rui Shi-haris starts and McMurder together with two Ghulams hide on the right.

Since there is no need for the Peacemaker to clear a path for Saito, it is deployed inside to set up a trap for McMurder. That is denied directly with two camo-markers in front of McMurder inside the base.

Druze 1: Saito starts, sets up smoke to avoid engagements of the Ghulams and the camo-marker and attacks the AC2. It takes way too many orders, but finally the AC2 is destroyed and I recamo Saito.

Dashat 1: The Rui Shi gets buffed by Gromoz and takes out Saito without problems. While McMurder advances into the base, the camo-marker on the left grabs some D-charges and the one on the right turns out to be a Liberto, sacrificing himself to take out the Peacemaker. The Dashat-Hunzakut approaches my AC2, takes out my Hunzakut and blow two holes into my AC2.

Druze 2: The KHD enters the room and shoots the Hunzakut down, while Cordelia lets her Nasmat repair the Peacemaker, which takes a defensive position to finally take out McMurder, if he approaches.

Dashat 2: The Rui Shi-team enters the base and grabs some goodies out of the panoply. One shot of the Rui Shi is enough to disable Scarface. McMurder smokes out the Auxbot and wrecks it in CC, then shoots the Peacemaker down and finally destroys my AC2.

Druze 3: Scarface gets repaired and takes out the Rui Shi, which is completly destroyd by my Gromoz. She shoots a pitcher next to the link. To get the KHD free, Arslan engages McMorrough and takes him down in one shot, but the KHD dies to the chain rifle. My Gromoz takes care of my HVT and fries the other one, while Scarface advances towards the enemy HVT.

Dashat 3: The remaining Zuyong takes out Gromoz but is shot by Scarface in the process. Now the core-team moves to get LoF to Scarface and finally drop the TAG. The Dozer lets his Nasmat advance and secure my HVT.

With this, the game ends 7-5 for AssaultUnicorn. Maybe the thing breaking my neck was the amount of orders Saito needed in turn one. If I had two more orders left for the Peacemaker or for Scarface to set up better ARO-positions, I could have stopped McMorrough a bit earlier. A switch between Arslan and my KHD would also have been an option, since Arslan can dodge quite good and is a good threat for things like Hunzakuts. All in all it was a great and interesting game and a fitting end for me in this event.

Spoiler: ENTE Round 4: One last time vs. Shasvasti

Even with all my games done, one of the more unexperienced players in the event asked for a test-game and since I had a free afternoon, I took the chance. To stay with the level of the event, I took the same list as in my real game and was curious how it would perform against Shasvasti.



HPLSLI
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9 / 1
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
SAITO TOGAN Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 39)
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 78)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 61)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
PEACEMAKER Spitfire + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

In general, my plan for this mission turned out quite good the last time, so I planned for the same game here. The amount of difficult terrain needs to be considered and normally nothing except for my camo-guys should really take a walk there to save ressources

Shasvastii Expeditionary Force
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10
SPECULO KILLER (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Monofilament CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
SPECULO KILLER (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Monofilament CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
SPHINX Spitfire, 2 Heavy Flamethrowers / EXP CCW. (2 | 106)
SCINDRON Flash Pulse / Knife. (0 | 0)
IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
NOX Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, Zapper / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
NOX Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, Zapper / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
NOX Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Zapper / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
SHROUDED (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Dazer / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

6 SWC | 300 Points
Open in Infinity Army

One of the most reasonable tools for Shasvasti to destroy the AC2 is the Avatar, so I kind of expected it, what does not really help to solve this problem with Druze. My opponent thought that even monofilamt-ccws could destroy the AC2, so there are two Speculos and some more or less reasonable support for them. The Shrouded definitvly can slow down things on their way to the own AC2, but once it is reached, only the Ikadrons can defend it somehow.



My opponent chose the same map as in my real game, so I was not that sad here. I win the Lt-roll this time and choose to deploy second on the red side, since I experienced that side to be easier to defend, especially against an Avatar. My opponent takes the first turn.
Dr. Wurm and one Ikadron start in the base in the closed chamber, a Nox, a Ikadron and the Slave drone take the center and one Nox hides behind the rocks inside the DZ. One camo-marker appears in the central room One impersonator and a camo-marker start outside in front of my DZ, a second pair starts in the base, blocking the wide entrance.

First I am glad to have no Speculo in reserve, since I totally forgot about them in my planning. But the way they are positioned, I really need to look for good positions to start the run with Saito and the get my Peacemaker into the game. The Sierra overwatches the outside from the far right corner, Scarface and Gromoz start in the outside hidden behind the central rocks, too and my core-team overwatches the center and the left. The MSV-Brawler can overwatch the whole path towrds my AC2, since I assumed the outside-way to be the chosen one for the Avatar. My Hunzakut starts inside the base but not that far advanced and Cordelia takes a position near that door.

The Avatar appeared in marker state inside and I puzzle my Peacemaker out of the trigger area of the mine outside with the Auxbot overwatching the wide door of the base.

Shasvasti 1: The Shrouded places his Dazer in the center, covering my Peacemaker. The inside-Speculo grabs some armour out of the panoply, places a mine to cover my Hunzakut and re-impersonates. Now the Avatar advances, grabbing a combirifle out of the panoply and tries to engage my Hunzakut. He places a repeater in the first contact and manages to dodge the flamethrower, while my overlord-hacking fizzles.

Druze 1: The Hunzakut places an other repeater to pin the Avatar a bit longer. Saito Togan takes a cautious walk and manages to reach the AC2. This time two orders are enough to destroy it. With the last orders, he shoots down the Shrouded and clears an Ikadron in CC, then recamos.

Shasvasti 2: The inside-Speculo takes some orders to ground the Hunzakut and the repeater. In the own DZ a Nox discovers Saito and the other Ikadron burns him down. The Avatar uses the small door on my left to shoot at my core-team. The Brawler goes down while everyone else survives.

Druze 2: Gromoz fails to place a pitcher to protect my AC2 while she and Scarface advance to bait out the other Speculo and secure the HVT.

Shasvasti 3: The Avatar tries to burn down my last link-members. Cordelia manages to engage it and while burning down, Arslan stunns the Avatar. This cuts the chances for him to damage my AC2. An Ikadron advances and a Nox hacker tries to spotlight my HVT without success.

Druze 3: Cordelia blows up the Avatar with one D-charge and Scarface manages to discover and shoot the outside-Speculo. Cordelia then fails to take out the other Speculo and is shot in return.

Since my HVT is blocked by the other Speculo, I can't secure the HVT. I also grabbed nothing from the panoplies, so I win this game 8-1. I got a bit lucky with Arslans stun-shot, but on the other hand, the chances to block the Avatar somewhere on the way in that turn, were not that bad. We discussed later, that a Speculo as reserve would have brought more options to him, since I have had to plan for a second one with my DZ and he could have searched for a whole in my deployment and crack the path for the Avatar.

In the end, I came out 30th from 42 players with only one win. But while looking back at all the games, I am satisfied. Two games could have ended differently, what would have changes the general outcome a lot and the game vs. TAK was incredible difficult. The funny side-note here is that most of my lists are designed with camo-spam in mind. Most of the time, that is the reason for investing that much in Pathfinders and Fugazis. But even if they would have come to their designated places in that game, it would have gained nothing, since the decoys were placed very clever.
DBS was no easy sectorial in N3, but with enough experience, you can cause serious problems even for high ranked players. The missing resiliant tools lead to a high potential of failure and the existing tools took many ressources to get the wished outcome, but we would all agree that the style of this sectorial pays for all of that. Now, with N4 out, these issues are solved to a big extend, so that you don't have to invest that much into your DBS-game to get some serious results.

 

Of course, I totally have mistaken that in the report. This mainly comes due to the small difference it makes in the solutions I try for this. I see a TAG with TO/ODD and a heavy gun. The marker-state is just the icing on the cake, but it does not matter much. If the MSV2 Brawler won't solve it, you need to pray for such lucky stun-shots, regardless if it is an Avatar, Sphinx or Cutter.

It is quite sad, that this heroic stun-shot from Arslan seems to be the last one for a long time, since Multi-weapons lost their stun-modes...