I need to make a list for The Grid for a tournament. The problem is, it seems so utterly obvious that Maggie would shine in this mission, but I'm hesitant to make a list with suck a points sink (because taking Maggie necessitates investment in an engineer and a hacker, and the engineer then necessitates investment in a Total Reaction remote, etc), so I'd like to explore other options. To start with, here's why I think Maggie could do well: - Her Multi HMG is anti-materiel, and she's hard to remove, and with high BS, so she seems great at destroying those antennas. - With her high burst in active turn and her explosive ammo ARO, she's good in missions with Saturation zones. Saturation zones, I feel, hurts B2-B3 weapons the most. A saturation zone will make her hard to beat, as the bane against TAGs is often crits, and critting her gets harder with less dice. Do you agree with my assesment that Maggie would be great in The Grid? If not, why? Do you have any lists that you've run, or suggestions of lists, or general ideas, regarding how to go about The Grid as Haqqislam? I if get to be first player, I am commited to trying Mayacast's idea with running a Fiday, forgoing the Impersonation state to make her the Datatracker, and then going for the enemy HVT immediately.
I suddenly realized that double action close combat weapons have the anti-materiel trait, so taking a Fiday with that could be an option, or Tarik Mansuri. Ghulam with missile launcher and Daylamis with panzerfaust are other cheap anti-materiel options.
caveat: this list is all just theorycraft for me at the moment, but I like this opportunity for discussion! My main considerations: - V. Haqq's infiltrating specialists speciality seem perfectly built for this mission. So the FO versions of Hunza, Farzan and Al'hawwa go in immediately. The Hunza and Farzan can be deployed in hard to reach 2nd floor areas just to peek out and FO antennas, while i'd deploy and use the Al'hawwa more aggressively as he has d-charges to blow up an antenna after he physically flips it. - DA Krakots seem awesome. Flip antennas with any of your 4 FOs from afar, then destroy them with berserk DA CCWs. Krakots are just annoying to the enemy too. Also datatracker potential if you can place one in a convenient position that can threaten the enemy HVT. Especially if you are taking 2nd turn and have much less incentive to do the suicidal datatracker Fiday HVT dive. - I went with Leila instead of a normal Barid Hacker whom I usually take, because in theory she can d-charge an antenna near your deployment zone after flipping it. - Backed up by my personal favourite trio of the Djanbazan HMG, Lasiq Sniper, and a doc to keep them alive in the backline. Djan HMG on active turn to help clear the way for your specialists, Lasiq sniper who is even stronger in this scenario with deep saturation zones, plus standard 4x Mutts with a bunch of regular orders fuelling them too. - Natsymir, I like your option of the suicidal datatracker Fiday just to kill the opposing HVT. Worked that in here and gave her mines just so she can be even more annoying after she accomplishes her mission. Without the protection of impersonation state, her survivability is just like a Ghulam with a premium paid for smoke grenades. Another option if I manage to take first turn is to have a centrally placed Krakot as a datatracker, then use the Fiday as reserve to murder the opposing datatracker so you completely shut them out of 2 points. Might be bit hard to do though as the datatracker is only declared at the end of deployment after reserve models have been placed, so the opponent has the option to declare a model that is least threatened by Bob the accountant. General thoughts: - I expect not much of this list will survive to the end of the game since I went without mobile strong offensive rambos such as Maggie and Tarik. Just flip and destroy as many switches as possible, kill the enemy HVT, and hopefully slow down the opponent enough on their active turn with your Krakots, Mutts, camo states and AROs from Lasiq. Other than Djan HMG clearing opposing AROs under smoke cover, I would try to spend the rest of my active orders flipping/destroying antennas, manoeuvring Mutts into hard to reach places, and placing mines with the Hunza or Fiday. - Infiltrating specialists from other factions tend to be camo state FOs too. I wouldnt mind trading up my Krakots and/or Mutts for them, and there's also the option of the Rafiq/Fanous combo to help too. GRID Djan + FOs ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 2 DJANBAZAN HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35) KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14) KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14) LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) RAFIQ REMOTE Rifle + Light Shotgun, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) NAFFATÛN Lieutenant Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) NAFFATÛN Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) NAFFATÛN Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 31) GROUP 2 4 5 4 LASIQ Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 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) MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) FARZAN (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) 3 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army
if I want Maggie in there: GRID Mag + FOs ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 9 1 1 MAGHARIBA MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 78) MAGHARIBA PILOT Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. () KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14) RAFIQ REMOTE Rifle + Light Shotgun, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) BARID Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Lightning) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17) NAFFATÛN Lieutenant Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) NAFFATÛN Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) FARZAN (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) GROUP 2 3 4 4 LASIQ Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25) GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20) FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 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) MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) 4 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army - Not certain about the grouping yet. Probably can tweak further. - I would try to resist to use Maggie as an active hunting piece though, and more of an annoying arm 8 piece to slow down the enemy on their active turn. Save the active orders to flip and blow up antennas. Maggie will probably be the datatracker and the one to hunt down the enemy HVT first, then just be a giant turret around the midfield. - Hunza can also lay repeaters to provide a hacking network for the Barid KHD and normal Ghulam Hacker.
I’ve played this mission only once (I ran an elite ISS list against vanilla Ariadna), and in my experience it is extremely turn order and table set-up dependant. Going first is more than half of success. Also if the table is opened so players can see antennas from their DZ’s it may very well prove to be game winning situation. That being said, with my limited experience in that particular mission I’d go with something like that (in vanilla): Haqqislam ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 8 2 3 KASYM BEG Chain Rifle, Panzerfaust, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW. (0 | 16) KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14) AZRA'IL Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) MUTTAWI'AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) GROUP 2 4 6 4 AZRA'IL Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39) KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14) FARZAN (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23) 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) DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8) 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) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) GROUP 3 1 DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8) 5 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army Downside of this list is that it is pretty blunt, and it doesn’t have any hacker should your opponent try to go against your heavy units, on the other hand you’re close to 30 orders, so opponent should have plenty to deal with even without hackers. With so many different options you’re flexible in choosing your data tracker (Kasym, Al-Hawwa, Farzan, one of the Krakots, even Azrail should your opponent leave the HVT in the open ?as a bait?). There is also more than plenty anti-materiel options (11 if I counted correctly: CCWs on Kasym and Krakots, DA/EXP on Azrails, PzFs on Kasym and Daylami, d-charges on Al-Hawwa). The list may seam somewhat weaker on ARO side of things but I guess Ghazis and Azrail(s) should do. And in the end, whoever destroys 5 antennas wins the game (6:4 at worst).
