This is good because the mission selection is quite unusual (more in a moment). Complicating matters is that the organisers have decided to incentivise elite lists by giving commanders who only bring 10 order count lists an extra command token each game and 1 extra battle point for the entire tournament. To be frank, I'm happy about this, because 10 orders is hard to win with and the help isn't much, and it means I get to play against more lists I can swamp and run over.
What makes MOAB hard is the mission selection: front line, engineering deck, biotechvore, nimbus zone, tic-tac-toe and rescue. Some of my most hated missions are in there: rescue, nimbus zone and biotechvore. Each of these really needs its own, tailor-made list, as does tic-tac-toe and frontline because they are extreme cases of kill everything and press all the buttons.
I playtested Japanese Sectorial Army for a few weeks because I figured they were good at Tic-Tac-Toe, biotechvore and nimbus zone and half decent at rescue, frontline and engineering deck. But honestly I just don't think JSA is any good. I know, sacrilege. Maybe they just don't fit my playstyle or perhaps there is something I am missing, but Japan just can't win a face-to-face roll to save its life. JSA is phenomenal, perhaps unbeatable in missions with exclusion zones and a lot of buttons (like Antenna Field), especially if you go first because you can force your opponent to put you into retreat and still function with V: courage, denying them a turn while pushing all the buttons. But in other missions you lack the ability to knock over anything that stacks MODs, especially if you can't take ninjas because there are exclusion zones everywhere or penalties to infiltrate (biotechvore). Bikes are cute, but they only really wreck face if you opponent hides on their first turn and you can run amok. Good players don't do that.
So I was at a bit of a loss and about to ask my mate whether I could borrow his Qapu Khalki when I stumbled on a list for the Onyx contact force that I thought was actually pretty perfect. Here it is:
Frontline, Engineering Deck, Nimbus Zone, Biotechvore, Tic-Tac-Toe
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GROUP 1
NEXUS Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
RODOK HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 27)
RODOK Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
RODOK Paramedic (MediKit) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
RODOK Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
MAAKREP TRACKER Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)
ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)
MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
GROUP 2
Q-DRONE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)
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)
NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
6 SWC | 300 Points
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This list is basically a standard combined army list but with the Anathematic/Charontid swapped out for the Rodok team. A typical CA list, like the one piloted to 2nd at the 2016 Interplanetario, has one of those two primary attack pieces, a noctifer ML, Haiduk sniper and HMG Q-drone providing sniper support, and quality mid-field saturation units like unidron FOs and Daturazi's with chain rifles, sprinkled with a few specialists, notably doctor worm (whose slave drone can hide behind the Q-drone's bulk and repair it). The basic idea is that your snipers slow your opponent down and allow your saturation to make it to midfield (all that witch smoke helps). Once you have the midfield peppered with dogged plasma and ARO smoke dickheads your remaining snipers become even more powerful because your opponent has so many different vectors to worry about. Meanwhile, the heavy lifters make occasional forays to objectives with their TO camo and plasma rifles, killing stuff and pressing buttons before retreating to safety.
The above list doesn't have the same CC-smoke potential (which is a big deal, especially against the HI link teams that Australians seem to love), but everything else is there. You have the sniper set up, though a Rodok replaces the Haiduk. 7 points extra but much more effective thanks to higher BS (especially while still part of the 5-man team). You have the core bruiser, in this case the Rodok HMG. This guy isn't as phenomenal as the Charontid/Anathematic, but he is cheaper, granting you more orders. He is also surrounded by shotguns and minelayers, allowing you to push into the midfield. The team is the key bit - lists without link teams really struggle in biotechvore. This list can get out of the virus with a few orders.The Q-drone has to play a bit more aggressive than usual and the noctifer needs to time his appearance even more than usual, but the link team moving forward into the virus isn't as compromising as pushing an 80 point HI forward would be. After that you've got the Unidron combined-order team which can saturate the midfield with dogged plasma carbines and score objectives in tic-tac-toe, some useful and/or cheap cheerleaders, and the Maakrep. We still aren't sure whether he is necessary. He brings a lot to the party, but not having any sort of forward deployment option really limits his ability to get where he needs to be. The Maakrep has a hacking device for marksmanship on your Q-drone and B2 AROs for your unidrons and Ikadrons. It also has oblivion, which is very handy for breaking HI link teams, and suckerpunch, which makes you effective against infiltrating hackers. Speaking of which, the Maakrep really helps in the midfield if he gets there, with MSV2, a shotgun and sucker punch, he is a nightmare for most infiltrators. His absolute number 1 selling point though is grenades. These are so powerful in Engineering deck for clearing the room without costing you lives.
I'm not sure what I would replace him with. More unidrons seems overkill, Malignos aren't much chop in exclusion zone missions (i.e. half of them) and are another hidden order off the board, and a non SWC Sogarat wouldn't bring much utility to the party. The Fraacta seems the only option. An AD specialist would be useful in tic-tac-toe, frontline and engineering deck, but I would lose the grenades for engineering deck and he probably would probably be off the board when I need him to use gadgets.
This list is plenty strong against most of the top builds, except for maybe Qapu Khalki. Janissaries and Sekbans I can sink with well-timed rocket shots, but Djanbazans are tougher because I am so reliant on mimetism. I'm also a bit weak against MSV2 smoke-shooting tactics, but most of the factions that take this approach are vanilla and will be weak in biotechvore and the exclusion zone missions. I don't have much MSV2 for phalanx, but I have fast, twin flamerthrowers and a link team that can go toe-to-toe while it is 5-man (+3BS and Mimetism versus ODD). One thing against SP will be setting up the noctifer to be able to take a shot at the not ODD units as they leave the DZ, hopefully catching the ODD units. I'm a little sloppy against mines because nobody has multiple wounds, but doc-worm can fix people and I have cheap dogged dudes to throw at the blighters if necessary. The exclusion zones and all my snipers will also make minelaying difficult.
One thing I like about this list is that it is good at all the missions. You can get forward in biotechvore and are strong in the middle while also being able to stop your opponent from bunkering in the midfield on turn 1, potentially even stopping them from getting out of the virus, thanks to your ARO pieces (I will often place these, especially the noctifer, to make it hard to extricate cheerleaders rather than hard to get your primary dudes out). You can play an extremely lame, long-range game in frontline before making a late dash to the front with a Rodok or unidron link team. You've got baggage bots that don't suck and can guard against AD troops in rescue, tic-tac-toe and nimbus zone. In Engineering deck, you have the requisite link team to occupy the bunker, and they happen to have 3 shotguns and mines. The Ikadrons also do a great job flaming their way in. You've got lots of specialists for Tic-Tac-Toe, Engineering deck and Nimbus zone. Finally, in Nimbus zone, you've got a bunch of camouflaged ARO pieces that love the extra -3 and -1B to shoot through the middle. You still want to go first, but you have enough to stop people disconnecting 2 antennas on turn 1 (especially as the unidrons can range the buttons with their ARO effective carbines).
The one mission where you are a bit weak is Rescue. The unidrons are fast but shit, and the Rodoks don't have multiterrain, so they struggle to reach the civilians and can't possibly get back in time. Again, a Fracta would help, but I think a list change might be more helpful; ergo:
Rescue
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GROUP 1
NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
SPHINX Spitfire, 2 Heavy Flamethrowers / EXP CCW. (2 | 106)
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)
IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)
Q-DRONE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)
ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)
SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
GROUP 2
NEXUS Lieutenant Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nullifier / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
UNIDRON Spitfire / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1 | 18)
UNIDRON Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)
UNIDRON Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)
UNIDRON Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)
6 SWC | 300 Points
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You don't have a Fraacta here because you already have two hidden deployments and you need the orders to fuel the...Sphinx! One of the weaker TAGs in the game (106 points for 6 ARM?!) suddenly becomes amazing in rescue with multiterrain and MOV6-6. Rescue makes moving after opponents hold AROs on a TO unit really deadly. The Sphinx can move into range of a target and ask for AROs, if they discover, you shoot back and fuck them up, then recamo and proceed. If they hold, you just keep moving towards those civilians. The Sphinx is almost purpose built to get in, grab a civilian and get out, and meanwhile you've got all the defence you need to hold the fort at home with the Q-drone, noctifer and your short range ARO pieces (Ikadron and Unidron with B2 gadgets) ringing the civilians. The unidron team gives you a backup means of rescuing the civilians as they are 4-4, have a specialist and a support weapon. That said, I think the game plan is get the Sphinx over the line without dying or go full defence, and I might even look into replacing the Nexus and spitfire unidron with a Rodok HMG or ML. This would lose you your hacker but give you more defense and long range killing power. You don't need a hacker to field the bots because you have the TAG, but they are helpful for gadget programs. The problem with this option is that you no longer have a lieutenant.
Playtesting commences tomorrow night.
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