1. The E/M LGL with x-visor and fatality level 1 for damage 14. This is it. Number 1 thing about Druze. I saw a post recently analysing Druze that didn't even mention this (all HMGs?!) and I was like WTF?! You can spec-fire up to 48" on 9s with this chick in a full-size link team. That is savage. If you go first Tohaa and Phalanx basically lose straightaway as all their link teams pop. Anyone with an obvious lieutenant, especially an obvious LI lieutenant, is starting next turn in loss of lieutenant and down an order. The face to face roll is fine: 9 for you against their PH-3 for a dodge, and then they've got a DAM14 save to make on BTS, which for many units is 0. This is before you factor in the blast. The chick's combi rifle is also decent in a 3 man team because she has x-visor and fatality.
Note that the nimbus mode synergises well with the auxbots on the peacemakers. You drop a nimbus template and then flame through it - the target is on -6 to dodge. This is the main way Tohaa kills HI link teams and you can repeat the tactic here.
2. Scarface and Cordelia as a Duo. Cordelia is one of the best engineers in the game because she is cheap and mimetic. Scarface sucks because he doesn't have a MOD stack, but at least he's quick and can alpha strike in a pinch. Putting them together so that Scarface drags his own engineer makes for a really effective unit. The only problem is that then Cordelia can't have a bot and this is a REM heavy faction, so you will probably want a second engineer (the Brawler is cheap).
3. Cheap assault hackers (17 points!) and the ability to set up an enormous repeater web on the cheap with peacemakers, Hanzakuts with deployable repeater and 6-6 Fugazis. This synergises with...
4. A clipper in a link team. Smart missiles suck these days. That changes with B2 and BS15, especially when you have an enormous repeater web for spotlight and a trio of FOs (2 Hunzakuts and a speedy pathfinder) rolling around ready to throw the targeted state on fools. I wouldn't use the clipper as a defensive piece on turn 1, but once you've got a bit of board control it can easily play that role, especially with an engineer nearby, and it is very cheap for that at only 18 points.
5. Lots of duos. Now duos suck, so I don't think of this as a bit deal. It would be fine if you could pair a decent attack piece with the plethora of decent specialists in Druze, but there aren't any decent attack pieces to speak of (maybe the shock marksman rifle).
This leads into Druze weaknesses:
a) My kingdom for a MOD stack! There is nary a mimetism or MSV or be found in Druze, especially not on something with a support weapon. The snipers are crushingly expensive for BS12 and only 1 wound. Arslan is a really poor man's Gao Rael (but I suspect I will use him anyway). The Hunzakuts are funky with the rifle+light shotgun combo, but they won't be knocking much over. Same goes for Cordelia - cute in a firefight with another LI unit or in suppression, but about as powerful as a water pistol. You're basically left with supportware on a REM, but there I say again "My kingdom for a bulleteer!" You can chuck it on a TR bot, but that's pretty lame.
b) The Druze themselves are very expensive. You are paying for a viral pistol you will never use and a veteran rule that is redundant when your lieutenant is in the link team itself.
c) The Druze game plan - targetting for smart missiles, hacking bubbles, E/M isolations, picking off isolated targets with Hanzakuts and Bazouks etc. - is finessy and lacks the ability to really curb-stomp someone, though Scarface can help. You will often spend quite a few orders to neuter a unit without actually killing it.
d) Druze rely on hackers for efficiency (by taking orders away from the opponent). If your opponent is unhackable, you've basically just wasted a bunch of points. I think Caledonia or Tohaa are OK matchups for Druze because isolation really hurts those factions, but Vanilla Ariadna is a nightmare, even with 3 fast sensors.
On to some preliminary lists!
Druze 1 - Scarface
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GROUP 1
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
SCARFACE & CORDELIA TURNER . (1.5 | 74)
SCARFACE 2 Mk12, Heavy Rocket Launcher / AP CCW. (1.5 | 57)
SCARFACE Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. ()
CORDELIA TURNER Combi Rifle, Chain-colt, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)
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)
GROUP 2
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points
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Druze 2
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GROUP 1
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
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)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
GROUP 2
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
BRAWLER Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
4.5 SWC | 299 Points
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This is more of a list for specialist-oriented missions. Lots of specialists and lots of hackers working in with the Hunzakuts. Your ability to use guided ammo in this list is immense, but you're a little bit light on things with which to kill big targets because it's only 4.5 SWC. I think you basically want to play hide and seek, working principally on objectives and leaving nasty repeater + mine booby traps behind after you've booped. With 3 hackers, anyone venturing into your repeaters is going to get snapped. It should really bog HI and TAG lists down, and then you've got the tools to take out LI lists with midfield shotguns, the LGL, Arslan and the Sierra. This list brings in the extra brawler duo, which gives you an additional hacker and an engineer that can heal your REMs and isn't wedded to Scarface. These guys will stay back for the most part, but can do a late dash if necessary. Druze are a very turtling faction (typical mercenaries).
A word on my fireteam composition. I think you definitely want to have the LGL. I think Valerya sucks, but an EVO sucks more and you really want supportware and brain blast to be operable through your repeater web. She also has a pitcher on BS14 and B2 in the link team, which can be incidentally helpful. If you're to take one brawler in the link it should either be the engineer or the hacker. The engineer can heal the clipper, but I think most of the time you just wanted to be spamming that 17 point assault hacker, even if it's just WIP12. The clipper is the 4th model, and the fifth model basically has to be a lieutenant. I think Arslan is better here than the generic guy, because he can do late-game sweeper duty. He's got ARM3 and effectively 2 wounds for some redundancy, and he's packing a B4, DAM14 AP/Shock rifle with an MSV1 when he's rolling in a 3 man link. That's pretty good for clearing things out in the midfield. You definitely pay out the nose for things you don't need, but having played a Gao Rael spitfire for a year to great effect, I can vouch for this guy's usefulness.
First playtest: supremacy versus Bakunin (05/03/2018)
Played against the following list last night (not sure about the combat group splits):
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GROUP 1 10
TASKMASTER Boarding Shotgun, Pulzar, CrazyKoalas / Heavy Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 43)
TASKMASTER HMG / Heavy Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 49)
ZOE & PI-WELL . (0 | 47)
ZOE (Hacking Device. UPGRADE: Stop!) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28)
PI-WELL Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 19)
VERTIGO ZOND Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
ZERO (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19)
ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
REAKTION ZOND HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)
MODERATOR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
MODERATOR Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
GROUP 23 / 2 / 2
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)
ZERO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
5 SWC | 300 Points
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Kind of a weird game with lots of unlikely dice rolls on both sides. I'm trying to remember my main observations:
1. A modest repeater net on a dense table will cripple HI if you have 3 hackers. The Taskmasters did not get far. It's a massive tarpit to reset through and if you just try to MOV-MOV odds are that you will get frozen and sent into oblivion. From there, it's fairly easy to target and guided, though note that:
2. Guided sucks. I don't understand why people rate this tactic. If it was EXP rather than DA or the clipper got the +3BS and +1B bonus from being in the link when firing guided then maybe, but without this it's just so order intensive. You have to get the enemy targetted for a start, then they get to go 1 dice on 1 dice against you at 18 to hit versus say 10 to dodge (if it's a half decent target worth shooting with a guided missile). And then even if you hit they can still tank the DAM14 relatively easily (nearly 50% of the time per dice with HI). You're looking at 3 orders at least to kill something, and that's assuming that you got targeted off easily, which is far from guaranteed. More likely you're looking at 5 or 6 orders for a kill. This is before you consider U-turn and ECM. Seems shit to me, but I'll play around with it for a bit longer before swapping to the ML, because it does open up synergies with the pathfinders, Hunzakuts and all those repeaters throwing spotlight (3 hackers in a coordinated order? Yes please).
3. Getting the repeater web set-up is going to be a priority against a lot of factions, but you don't want to expose your fugazi's to do it. I did that in this game, using a few coordinated orders because I really want to sensor some camo tokens. My Fugazi's then died and I didn't really have the orders to do things effectively on turn 1 anyway. There was no need. Lay repeaters with the Hunzakuts and save your fugazi's until later (use them to protect long fire lanes across your DZ from AD in the meantime).
4. The clipper is actually a remarkably effective killing machine, even with the SML instead of the ML. With BS15 and marksmanship, you fuck shit up, especially when you're in the good range band at 24>40 (18s to hit? Yes please). It's nice that things really go splat against DA+AP, and the template can sometimes be sexual (making people economise on movement with your ML and LGL templates is a bit part of druze I think; it is compounded by moving through the repeater webs).
5. Having shotguns on LI is amazing. The brawlers and the hunzakuts can really do quite good work in the late game and always have a decent hail-Mary ARO.
6. You don't have an obvious attack piece (besides scarface) and Druze are clearly meant to turtle. My feeling is that you need to be playing several long games simultaneously. First, laying traps: setting up mines and repeaters, getting Hunzakuts behind people for targetted, and baiting your opponent into wasting orders to kill something small, like a peacemaker, getting a bashi in the back to shotgun the shit out of someone. Second, picking off exposed units: finding a few choice targets each turn for your TR bot or clipper to kill with marksmanship, getting a Hunzakut to surprise shot a fool with her light shotgun or repeater + spotlight + targetted + guided, rushing a congo line with your peacemaker's heavy shotgun, that sort of thing. Third, scoring mission points: you can make straightforward moves with pathfinders, Hunzakuts, the bashi specialist and Saito to tag buttons, and you've got enough skirmisher game to be able to annoy your opponent in things like supremacy. Fourth, setting up an unexpected rambo strike: if your opponent stretches out, a peacemaker with marksmanship can really go to town through the back line, as can scarface or even a TR bot. Finally, making small movements with the Druze team to prepare them for a big sweep on turn 3 with Arslan, your specialists tagging buttons along the way. Arslan and the LGL with x-visor and fatality are really quite effective killers on turn 3 with the link team bonus for being in a 3-man team.
7. Turtling with Druze is an art form. You get a lot of economy on your opponent's turn by having them waste time with repeaters, mines and your defensive pieces (the clipper and the TR bot). What you're hoping to do I think is have them miscalculate how many orders something is going to take and consequently leave units extended and exposed to cheap retaliation by say a pathfinder with marksmanship or Arslan (my God do Druze need some half-decent. cheap attack piece like a bulleteer).
You never want to be offensive-hacking on your active turn because your hackers just aren't good enough (spotlight with Valerya being the only exception). on ARO you've got 3 burst from different targets, so you have a better shot, and in any case it is your opponent who is spending the orders.
8. Your active turn is spent killing exposed stuff and preparing for your reactive turn by isolating people with E/M, laying mines, laying repeaters and positioning ARO pieces. I imagine there is bacon to be made placing a TR bot such that attacking it involves exposing yourself to a hacking ARO. You can then knock the TR bot unconscious but not kill it outright, and you are left frozen and ready to be counterstruck.
Druze definitely relies on your opponent making mistakes.
I made a few minor alterations to my primary list off the back of yesterday's game and because I discovered that peacemakers are only AVA1 in Druze (WTF!?). Here is the new TAC list:
Druze 2 - TAC
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GROUP 1 9 / 1
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
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 Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
GROUP 2 4 / 2
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
BRAWLER Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
BASHI BAZOUK Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
4.5 SWC | 300 Points
JwBgTAPgzCIQIgJwK4C8CmACMmC0mAxAeUwGcAHAQwFsIwBSYADgDZ6oWwn6BCARgCsjJgw59gvPgBZhAdnYsoUSSEazuY5fzWqoA4A3581EsTKMmF03t2Cy2Y4z3l2hHENx5s7M9/IAC3rK+LCDyPBJ28mKG1szRilpxTAlQ5nwMzLosgpKZTNm5/MrMxmJsPDJ2ovrc/v5AA
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Basically, the peacemaker I dropped made room for a Bashi and some nasmats for the engineer. I'm tempted to put an ML on the clipper so that the Bashi can be a specialist, but I think you want the guided option for taking out TO units using spotlight (without a BTS role spotlight is actually reasonably efficient in this case). The nasmats are important, and with two they can stand next to the bots while the engineer goes and does other things, like standing guard in my DZ. The bashi is neat - it's another thing your opponent has to worry about. I'm not sure whether a boarding shotgun would be more useful than the rifle+LS. I'll find out. I'm going to use this guy mostly to hunt opposing hackers I think. The other thing I want to try is a bulleteer with spitfire, just to give myself another attack piece. I think I want the shotgun for congo-line killing antics though. Hmmm. I had a lot of trouble getting the points right. I kept being 2 points over.
13/03/2018 - Game Against Morat Aggression Force
Had another playtest on the weekend. Learnt me some stuff. First, x-visor only reduces the penalty by -3, not to 0, so you really need to be within 24" of the target for spec-firing grenades to be worth it. This dramatically limits your effectiveness against Phalanx, not so big a problem against Tohaa. Second, warbands are quite effective against Druze because nothing you have can dodge for shit (the old problem of ISS). This problem is compounded by the fact that you have very little that can see through smoke. I am beginning to see the logic of the Brawler with MSV2 and sniper, even though it seems like a lot of points for a 1W model. My final lesson was that Druze aren't very good at supremacy (or ground control in general) because you want to turtle. I killed a lot of stuff, but didn't really score many points. I also felt the pain of having 3 hackers against a faction that basically doesn't have anything that is hackable, so I'm thinking I might go down to 2 hackers. That might free up some points for say, the Brawler sniper. So this is my new TAC list:
Druze 2 - FO spam
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GROUP 1 9/1
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
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)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
GROUP 2 5/1
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
BRAWLER Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points
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| The only thing suckier than the Druze rules are the models themselves |
19/03/2018
Got in a pair of games yesterday against JSA and Onyx; played supremacy again both times (I figure that supremacy is the fastest mission to learn a faction with because it requires buttons, ground control and killing).
JSA was up first. He was running a somewhat odd list with Shinobu, Saito, A haramaki link with 1 missile launcher, a domaru and neko, a keisotsu hacker, 2 raidens with HRLs and a kempetei. He had first turn, I had deployment. I definitely chose the wrong side but it didn't matter. I counter-deployed the SMART bot to see his link team if they moved. First order he came at me and most of them ate missile. Did 4 wounds maybe. Survived the hit from his missile launcher, which was amazing. He then tried to take me out with a raiden, which I thought was odd because I had the edge in the face to face with sixth sense. In any case, we shot at each other a lot but not much happened. His other raiden killed my TR bot and was flash-pulsed in reply. I think you have to hide your TR bot if you are going first with Druze. It is just too important as an attack piece. He didn't have any bikes. Saito threw some smoke and killed an auxbot.
Then it was my turn. I realised that I couldn't move my link team because it would trigger a bunch of hard hitting AROs. I thought maybe I could immobilise the Haramaki and then shoot them, so I planted a repeater with my Hanzakut and tried to use carbonite (the +3 MOD, DAM13 IMM-1 program from the AHD), 5 orders later the haramaki was still hanging out. This is why Druze suck. My peacemaker killed Saito. My other Hunzakut killed the raiden in vengeance for my TR bo, then pressed 2 buttons and recamoed.
His second turn saw more orders piled into his raiden to try and kill my smart bot to now avail. Then he used a coordinated order to fire a bunch of blitzens at me. Seeing that my time was up, I opted to kill haramaki with pie plate and eat missile. I killed 2 guys but my bot gibbed. He didn't have many orders left so that was about turn.
I spent a bunch of orders sweeping my line for Shinobu to no avail. She was out on a flank near Arslan. I then killed the Raiden with my brawler sniper and moved my baggage bots into scoring positions.
His third turn was basically shinobu killing all my Druze. My third turn was me killing Shinobu with an MSV2 viral pistol (haha, viral pistol!) and then claiming three quadrants thanks to baggage and getting the win 6-3 or something like that.
Next game was against Onyx with a Unidron Link, the new dire goes guy, a noctifer ML, a q-drone, EVO, ikadrons and a Malignos. I got the win again mostly thanks to my baggage bots and his very turtling-oriented list. First order of the game his noctifer nuked my SMART bot, so I didn't have much opportunity to practice using FO and spotlight, which is something I want to do. The Brawler sniper commended himself again by killing the noctifer and then the Q-drone. My Hunzakut failed to kill his Nexus lieutenant during a turn 1 attack run, which sucked (crit dodge). TR bot then did some good work flanking before dying to a surprise shot from the Malignos. Basically won the game because he was deterred from advancing by some repeaters and I got my baggage up early. Arslan commended himself with a late-game sweep, killing two unidrons and the Malignos, which is basically what he's in the list for. Major lesson from this game came when he was pitching repeaters into my lines and killing my hackers and link leaders with KHD and the EVO. I don't know if the EVO shennanigan is worth it but it's certainly cute. My vulnerability to KHD is high.
I thought the new version of the list was a noticeable improvement over the old one. The shotgun peacemaker is much better. It always dies, but it's cheap and cheerful and if you have turn 1 you just go nuke something with the flamer and then sit around generating an order. Having the sniper gives you a reasonable additional attack piece. Neither it nor the guided bot really want to do ARO duty though, which means you're pretty light on defence. You really want to go first and get marksmanship up on something. Having 16 orders is solid, especially as you can always spend a command token turn 1 to make a Hunzakut order regular if you really need to press something.
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| My mate Chris' Saito conversion |
09/04/2018
Got in a few more games with losers...I mean the Druzers, yesterday. I lost both, but the first one was at least close. My opponent was playing Onyx, but not the hardest lists. Both had unidron links. The first also had 2 noctifer missile launchers. The second only 1 but with a Q-drone. I was running my now standard TAC list:
Druze 2 - FO spam
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GROUP 1
ARSLAN Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
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)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)
GROUP 2
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
SIERRA DRONBOT HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)
BRAWLER Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points
[url=http://army.infinitythegame.com/index.html?l=JwBgTAPgzCIQIgJwK4C8CmACMmC0mAxAeUwGcAHAQwFsIwBSYADgDZ6oWwn6BCARgCsjJgw59gvPgBZhAdnYsofSSEazuYqJLWqoA4A37LgsiWJlG1ZltN7cTbMcp5sTMjiHk95JoR+4AAq6y7iyevBIm8mKGtszRilr8MvEKUBZ8DMy6NkL8WszKYmz5wkU2bAEBQA=]Open in Infinity Army
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The MSV2 sniper is critical I'm afraid - without it you just have no way to kill things like Noctifers and Proxy snipers, and it's one of the best attack pieces available to the faction, even if it isn't crit proof. Weird thing about Druze is that you use neither the sniper nor the clipper on defence. Your defence is a tarpit of mines and repeaters, which doesn't work when your opponent has killer hackers. God Druze are bad. The link team is so critical to you winning and yet it is ridiculously easy to take apart via at least a half dozen vectors - infiltrating shotguns, killer hackers, impersonators, AD (flash and baggage bots don't really stop this, unlike DZ guards with guns), superior infiltration, an alpha strike, bikes, just so much hate.
Anyway, this list basically runs tricks and hopes for the best. One of tricks worked well in game 1. Both games were power pack. I keep the peacemaker in reserve and try to deploy it where it can make a run at some cheerleaders. Boy did it make a run. I killed 2 imetrons, an Ikadron, a sensor bot and a flash pulse bot, all with only about 4 orders. My peacemaker then sat within range of his HVT for the whole game generating an order merrily and letting me score HVT: espionage. Other tricks did not work so well. My Hunzakut failed to forward observe Kernau on the last turn. If he had died to guided fire I might actually have won a narrow victory because there weren't any other specialists around. I placed repeaters and they maybe slowed him down a bit, but they also allowed him to KHD my hackers, so that's bad.
Game 2 was real bad. I saw an opportunity first turn to do a bit of damage to a big cluster of Unidrons and other bots in a building. I moved my hunzakut up in a building and pooped a repeater. I then spent a huge number of orders spotlighting a WIP12 Unidron with my WIP12 Brawler. It worked eventually, maybe after 5 orders. I then spent another maybe 3 orders to fire guided rockets surprisingly ineffectually into uindrons to break the link. This then freed up my peacemaker to kill a unidron and an ikadron. It then died to a counter-assault by the reformed link, and Kernau proceeded to bomb it down a flank and just kill heaps of shit. We called it in part because he had a noctifer in a sweet spot to just wipe my link team out with a shot in the butt that I would never have expected because it was from a forward deployed position (16" DZs in power pack).
I think I'm done with Druze. I understand the faction. It's cute. It will be good for teaching new players the finer points of the game. Otherwise I'm moving to STARCO and Ikari.
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