I have a small, local, 3 round tournament coming up in which i'll be playing NCA. 2 of the missions are quadrant control style missions (supremecy and Front line). Question is: What is better for these types of missions, small elite lists with heavy hitters or horde type lists? Or does it matter what kind of list you use? NCA can do both very well. What is your experience with these missions? Fill me with your knowledge!
I'd say go for the Swiss rambo advancing, with a Locust provinding protection and maybe another MSV visor around. Pick 2 Auxilias, of course, and remember that Front Line means you need to get to the enemy's side and he will try to get to yours, so AD/infiltrators/mechanized infrantry (you have a bot with a flamethrowing pal, don't you?) can both serve as deterrance and scorers. While Quadrant Control is less placement-focused, you still need to attack and defend, so the same applies. And try to use the card as Intelcom, if it's 20+ points in value.
I'd say a blend of pricey guys and multiple Orders is ideal. So rather than 20 Orders, or 10 Orders... Aim for ~15 Orders. I think this is applicable for both PanO Sectorial or Vanilla play. It lets you get a top-tier aggressive attack unit for breaking into and contesting your opponent's quadrants, some mid-cost units that can anchor your own quadrants, and plenty of cheap orders to solidify your backline. Since PanO will never have the template or mine saturation of some other factions, we need to strike a balance between elite units and flexible ARO options to help contest how the enemy moves.
The key for all those area control missions is the ratio between your orders and your points. You want to be able to move as many points per order as possible. So something like a Bolt link, which might get a bad rap, is actually really sweet for controlling zones. if you can get them into the middle of the table, in a good spot where their shotguns/drop bears/grenades can really play, you can dominate all 4 quadrants by moving that link. Swiss guard are also really good for this, as others have mentioned. Above all else though, you want to take the second turn so you can control the scoring. That will matter much, much more than your list composition in my experience.
Since switching to NCA from YJ I've taken an appreciation for the not-so-subtle threat a TAG can bring. I found if you can back that TAG up with some support and a hacker/engineer then it's as good as most link teams. ;) Plus that Heavy Grenade Launcher Squalo can really pound on low armor models like no one's business to reduce orders.
Yeah these missions are much tougher if you go first. I find in those situations, you basically need to settle for only contesting 2 Quadrants on Turn 1, poising your pieces for attack, and then switch to heavy attrition in Turn 2 and Turn 3 so that you can chew up and remove your opponent's best units. This often means a minor win rather than a big one, but trying to control majority quadrants when your opponent has the final say before scoring is very difficult if your opponent is a decent player.
