I'm building a purpose-build list for Power Pack and Highly Classified for an ITS tournament. Power Pack is the one with three Antennas in the middle of the board and one console near each deployment zone, and a 8" band of saturation zone through the middle of the board. Deployment zones are just a square in each corner. Philosophy: - I would like a single combat group, both to prevent losing two orders from command tokens as well as a personal preference (we're not actually playing limited insertion) - The saturation zone means that high burst weapons are less valuable - Split deployment zones means that I should have a minelayer in each zone, since they may not be able to fully defend each other from a turn 1 blitz. The first list below is what I've been running, and I like it, but I do see some weaknesses. Limitations I see: - I'm nowhere close to max SWC, so I'm missing out on a lot of heavy weapons - No AP, so I could get rolled by a TAG - No MSV: I've come to the radical conclusion that Zhayadens are better than Djans. Ignoring cover is about equal to ignoring camo, and in a good range band he'll hit TO on 9's, which isn't terrible. I could see struggles with anti-smoke duties, but I think opponents will typically attack with smoke + camo on whatever side of the board the Djan isn't, so the Zhayeden is a better generalist choice. I only play locally against a JSA player, which means I don't really get the variety of opponents to tell me if I have major gaps. The second list is my attempt at shoring up my weaknesses: swapping out the Fiday for a Djanbazan, essentially. Any comments would be appreciated! Vanilla Power Pack ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 1 ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 36) HAFZA Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22) TUAREG Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) MUYIB Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) MUYIB (Minelayer) Rifle + Light Shotgun, D.E.P. Antipersonnel Mines, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 31) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) 3.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Option with a Djan and more SWC used Vanilla Power Pack ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 36) TUAREG Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) MUYIB (Minelayer) Rifle + Light Shotgun, D.E.P. Antipersonnel Mines, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) DJANBAZAN HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35) FARZAN (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26) HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) 5.5 SWC | 297 Points Open in Infinity Army
Phew. you are making this quite hard with the limitation on one CG, especially for Highly Classified, because you mostly have squishy Specialists with almost no redundancy, but lets see.... Definitely like your second list more, but you need more Specialists and more ARO presence woulnd hurt. What profiles from that list, would you not want to change?
I'd like to keep Saladin and his Hafza body double, and the Zhayedan (mostly because I love the model to death). I can be convinced otherwise, though.
Really hard... what do you think about this for Highly Classified? Vanilla Power Pack ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 36) TUAREG Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 33) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) DJANBAZAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31) FARZAN (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26) HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) BARID Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Lightning) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) TUAREG Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) 4.5 SWC | 298 Points Open in Infinity Army While the Djan Sniper doesnt pack so much Punch, he gives you an additional ARO piece and something to outrange HMGs. The Tuareg Doc comes in pretty handy for Inoculation and you dont have to fear HD KHDs. The Sekban Doc is mostly in there because the points were left and I wouldnt replace your backline Doc. But he is more surviveable and a good guard with BS13, ARM3 and 360 Visor. The Hawwa is obviously for your Hacking and Marking Classifieds and has D-Charges for the other one. Leila got replaced with a Barid, because he has a great Upgrade Programm and Pitchers. You lose a good gun, but with the Fasid and Zhayedan, you should have enough Firepower. I would have liked to get an FO into the List and leave the Muyib in, because that E-Mauler can really hamper those damn Rambos, but with only ten Models and the other restrictions its not possible to not leave holes in the list. Speaking of holes...you only have BSGs and Hacking against TAGs. Thats not a big hole, but it could be a problem. A possible solution would be to change the Djan to a Azrail. The points for that you would heave, if you change back the Sekban to a Ghulam.
Thanks so much for the help! I hope I'm not being too difficult with the one combat group restriction: I like playing tighter lists, and I really don't like the standard 4x mutts strategy. So thanks! It looks like the list you posted doesn't quite match your descriptions: is this closer to what you were thinking? What I'm wondering is if I need both the Hafza HRL & a Farzan CoC. I like the Hafza for a surprise ARO and insurance against AD assasinations - but the the CoC is good for Power Pack. Do you think I should take both? Or maybe that's how the Muyib minelayer slots in, or swapping the Farzan for the FO version. Haqqislam ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 36) HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) TUAREG Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 33) SEKBAN Doctor Plus (MediKit) Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) DJANBAZAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31) FARZAN (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26) HAWWA' Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26) BARID Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Lightning) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) 4.5 SWC | 297 Points Open in Infinity Army
Just an iteration of your lists, keeping your Fasid and Zhayedan core. IMO, a Fiday is great in these missions. In Highly Classified, target removal of enemy specialists can result in an almost guaranteed win in your first turn. For Power Pack, the limited deployment zone can work to your Fiday's Light Shotgun advantage. I like taking Djab over a normal Fiday, but you can always downgrade him to a normal Fiday with mines too. Can use the extra points to upgrade your Hawwa to a Farzan COC if you prefer some security. The list is lacking in AROs, as I don't really like leaving the Djanbazan Sniper out as an ARO piece. MSV2 in my active turn is something I would like in these missions, considering there might be lots of camo specialists around. As such, I went for the HMG version instead. Option is also there for the Fasid and Djab to provide smoke to clear troublesome pieces if needed too. Hunzakut + Tuareg Hacker + Barid Killer Hacker can do a lot of work, in terms of both area denial and accomplishing missions. Haqqislam ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 9 1 DJANBAZAN HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 35) ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) BARID Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Lightning) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) SALADIN Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 36) HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) TUAREG Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (0 | 35) 4 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army
Last time i played Power Pack i was pretty succesful with Azrail AP HMG and Asa Doc, so i would build my list with them, 2 Ghazis and Fiday or Al Djabel. Additional Al Hawwa for midfield specialist and backdoor specialist for the console like Muyib Doc who packs DEP could be the way.
No problem, you asked for a 10 order list, you get one;) Yeah, that list I posted, was the first one I made, before I relized, there are no D-Charges in it. Army must have had a little hickup, because I didnt save that list when I changed it to the one I described. With Saladin, Id rather keep the CoC, because that works always, compared to the 50/50 Chance with the Hafza. The thing is, if you change the Hafza for a Muyib Minelayer, you have only one ARO piece left. That can be enough, but a savy opponent will dispose of it quickly, when it hampers his plans to much. On the other hand, a E-Mauler can save Saladin against first turn strikes. Those Su Jian dont like E-Maulers^^
Thanks for all the input! I'm noticing a commonality of the Barid hacker - I've never run him before, so I'll slot him in and see what he does. I want to agree, but 8/10 times their specialists are either camo markers, AD, hidden deployment, or are in a 5 man link with Six Sense, which really cuts down on what the Fiday can accomplish. I may just be using him wrong, but people tend to a good job of protecting their specialists from a turn 1 blitz. Any suggestions?
Doctors and Engineers are the vulnerable specialists you can go for if the opportunity presents itself. HIghly Classified just gives more juicy targets for the Fiday. They can’t protect everything which encompasses the LT to cheerleaders, key pieces, and now essential specialists too. Especially when you have Saladin..
Additionally, when your opponents have gotten used to your Fiday Alpha Strikes and everything appears to be too well guarded, (you aren’t feeling ballsy), the AP mine Fiday is fantastic for holding zones and draining your opponent’s order pool. They will be terrified of him and try to hunt down a strong impersonator, wasting orders doing so, or they will avoid it like the plague, granting you even more impressive board control. This may allow your Fiday to hunt with impunity if you feel so inclined.
Update: I played emperorsaistone's suggested list, and I'm now thoroughly convinced of the Barid's utility - that pitcher is amazing! Thanks for the suggestions!
