Adam and I managed to sneak in an hour for a game during toddler nap time this last Sunday. Good thing we play quickly! He’s a bit tired of Limited Insertion Combined Army, but I haven’t had my fill yet of 10-order lists. I wanted to get back to my JSA, and Adam and I built a Druze list for him on the way home from Emerald City Incursion, so that’s what we played. Adam joked that since we were playing Druze and JSA, this was really a Druze debt collection mission for costs incurred during the JSA Uprising, which we both found hilarious.

Overview

Mission : Quadrant Control

: Quadrant Control Forces : Japanese Secessionist Army versus Druze Beyram Security (300)

: versus (300) Deploy First : Druze

: First Turn: Druze

List A OYAMA Lieutenant Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Breaker Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0 | 28)

KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)

YURIKO ODA Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 24) MIYAMOTO MUSHASHI (Regular, Fireteam: Haris) Chain Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0.5 | 28)

TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32)

TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32) RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24)

RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24)

KARAKURI Mk12, Chain Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 40)

SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40) 10 2 | 5.5 SWC | 297 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Car Druze GROUP 1 | 9 1 BRAWLER Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

BRAWLER Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) BRAWLER Doctor (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)

BRAWLER Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17) VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device UPGRADE: Expel) Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)

DRUZE (X Visor) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)

DRUZE HMG, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)

DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)

DRUZE Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 28) HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18) GROUP 2 | 4 1 FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun + AUXBOT_3 / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)

AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)

SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40)

WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) 5 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Deployment

Adam deployed his pile of Druze and Brawlers pretty much entirely on his left, herded by Valerya and screened by a Peacemaker. He put a Fugazi on both flanks and a Hunzakut on the right side of the table to get some repeater coverage over there. I counter-deployed him, putting two Tanko ML (with Musashi) down watching his Druze HMG’s hiding spot and looking right at his Brawler AHD and Brawler HRL. I put a mine down to discourage the Hunzakut from walking up the board edge, and put the Ryuken-9 watching the backfield just in case a Bashi made an appearance. My other Ryuken-9 went prone on a roof, looking right at a Peacemaker. Sadly, I had thought it to be safe from the Auxbot, but that was not the case.

Yuriko was on a roof, ready to crawl into a quadrant, and Neko and the Kempetai finished the rest of my Keisotsu link (in which there were basically no actual Keisotsu), with the Kempetai watching the Hunzakut’s approach. Adam and I had both put Saito in reserve, and they (thankfully) came down on opposite table halves. We had a game to finish before a toddler woke up and demanded our attention, so we got right down to it.

Turn 1

Top of 1 – Druze

Adam started things off by advancing his Hunzakut towards the Tanko Haris, getting discovered on the way by the Kempetai that I put there just for that reason. Adam’s next order is to get into range and drop the repeater, sacrificing the Hunzakut to missile, chain rifle, and shock marksman rifle fire. It pays off though, as Adam advances his Druze link, splitting burst on Carbonite and getting both Tanko immobilized in one order. He had originally planned on using his Brawler AHD, but chose not to after I informed him that both Tankos could see the Brawler. With the Tankos temporarily out of commission, Adam pops his Druze HMG up from behind the concrete barrier it was hiding behind, and fires through the orange-colored Nimbus Zone generators at my topmost Tanko, who is just forced to reset and take the fire. The Nimbus Zone and the long range saves me, but the bottom Tanko fails his reset roll. Adam tries again with the HMG, and I break the Tanko Haris to let the bottom Tanko reset while the top Tanko fires back. The Nimbus Zone comes through for me again, and I smack the troublesome Druze upside the face with a missile while the HMG rounds pass harmlessly by. The Druze passes 2/3 of his ARM saves and only goes unconscious. This time, the bottom Tanko manages to fix his WiFi router and resets out of immobilized. Adam wants to advance his Druze, but I’ve got two missiles watching them through Nimbus Zones, so Adam reveals Saito (coverted from the Nadakai Outrage model) and spends two orders getting smoke down for them. With smoke down, Adam figures he might as well deal with my Ryuken-9, threatening a flamethrower from his Auxbot (which I had thought wouldn’t be able to see anything on the first order, even after climbing the ladder). I dodge the Ryuken-9 back, and Adam just gets some more movement. Probably should’ve fired at the Peacemaker as it was in the open instead of dodging… because then Adam then sacrificed the Auxbot to flamethrower the Ryuken-9 while simultaneously clearing her mine. The Auxbot tanked the mine, but my Tanko can see this, and thankfully both connect, blasting the Auxbot off the table. With the Ryuken-9 down, Adam keeps pushing the now-auxbot-less Peacemaker up the table to harass Yuriko, who rolls an E/Mitter crit. Adam tries to recover his Druze HMG with the Doctor under the watchful eye of my Tanko, but succeeds only in killing the Druze HMG with whatever combat stimulants are in a MediKit. After reforming the Druze link to the AHD, KHD, and LGL, then shuffling them around, Adam is done and passes the turn.

Bottom of 1 – JSA

I need to clear out the repeater and the Peacemaker, so I break Yuriko out of the core (since the Kempetai is too far from Yuriko to be the link leader), blow up the repeater with the Kempetai, and then spend entirely too long taking out the Peacemaker, which passes a save against Neko’s chain rifle and 2/3 saves against the Kempetai’s SMR. I do get a shot on the Brawler Doctor with the Kempetai, but whiff against the Brawler’s dodge. I don’t have enough orders to catch Saito out of camo with the Kempetai, and do the dumbest possible thing and second short skill move into view of Saito with my last order.

I’m relying on Saito’s relatively crappy BS and am rewarded with a miss. The Kempetai and probably Neko, who is trailing behind, are both probably dead, but hopefully Adam will sink some orders into them before I lose them.

Turn 2

We’ve each got two quadrants with DataTrackers in them, so it’s a 2-2 tie at the top of 2.

Top of 2 – Druze

Adam sends the Druze KHD after my Kempetai and blasts her off the table without much trouble. The Druze LGL takes her out on the next order, and then the Druze AHD fires a pair of pitchers next to Neko, Carbonite-ing him. The KHD Druze comes around and empties her Viral Pistol into Neko, but BTS9 in cover is hard to crack and I make 5/6 saves. Another order pushes the KHD around the corner and she manages to combi-rifle down Neko without much additional trouble. I attempted to dodge into chain rifle view of everything, but failed. Yuriko stops the rampage with another crit against the KHD Druze, and Adam retreats the remaining Druze to safety. Adam lights one of my Tanko ML on fire with his Brawler HRL, then passes the turn.

Bottom of 2 – JSA

With Neko dead, I’m in loss of lieutenant, and just set about shoving units around by themselves. I take a shot at the Brawler HRL with my remaining Tanko ML, but the Brawler dodges prone (I imagine that probably looks like a good missile hit though…). Both my Ryuken and my Karakuri try to take out Adam’s Fugazi on the left, but they both fail. Yuriko crawls her way into my near right quadrant, and then I move Saito into the far left quadrant, where Adam’s DataTracker is. I secretly nominate my Karakuri as Lt, and pass turn.

Turn 3

I’ve got the two left quadrants, and Adam’s got the two right quadrants, but only I’ve got my DataTracker dominating one, since Saito beats out Fugazi + Brawler for points. This makes the score 4-3 me.

Top of 3 – Druze

Adam and I have agreed to play hard mode classifieds whenever we play each other, so he’s forced to crawl his Druze all the way into my deployment zone, to avoid LoF to my Tanko ML, to get Net Undermine. The Brawler HRL activates again, using the Duo movement to get the Brawler Lt to the far right quadrant (away from my Saito). The HRL finally goes down to my Tanko’s missile, which makes my next turn much easier. With his last few orders, Adam takes a parting, cross-map shot with the Druze LGL against my Ryuken-9, whiffing all the shots, before crawling them to safety in the near right quadrant. Adam’s last order is scurrying Saito into the far left quadrant to beat out my Saito’s points with some Fugazi support.

Bottom of 3 – JSA

I do some point counting and thinking, and decide my best option is to secure Adam’s HVT (there’s not enough orders to get my Karakuri all the way to Adam’s DZ and get Mapping) and get my Tanko ML to the near right quadrant along with Yuriko. To beat Adam’s Saito I’ll need to get my Karakuri into the far left quadrant too. My Saito fails to take out the Fugazi, even with surprise shot. Ugh. My Karakuri’s Lt order gets the job done though. I coordinate an order to get the Tanko off the roof and start walking him towards the near right quadrant. Adam reveals his own Saito out of marker state to take a shot, and I fire back in response. We both whiff. My second to last order gets the Tanko out of LoF of Saito, taking wound from his combi rifle on the way though, and then I coordinate an order to throw Yuriko and Musashi forward, just to be safe. We do some measuring and point counting, and Yuriko + the Tanko come out to 56 points, with the Druze LGL and AHD coming out to 55. This gives me three quadrants, as Saito + Karakuri beats Saito in points, but Adam’s got a classified and a DataTracker dominated quadrant. With my Tanko securing the HVT, it’s an

8-5 Japanese Secessionist Army Victory!

Notes

Notes for Me

Classic example of tunnel vision and over-extension with Neko and the Kempetai on turn 1.

Double Tanko ML is a thing!

A pretty static game for me. I just presented Adam with some very order-intensive puzzles to solve. He got them solved, but didn’t cause enough damage to take it from me.

TO in area control missions is amazing.

I am really liking the 3-model core + Haris style.

Got really lucky with Yuriko this game. In pretty much every game she’s been in she delivers. Is she the JSA Bandit? Never fails me, but I fail her?

Ryuken-9 didn’t really do much this game. They really struggle to remove Mimetism models.

I didn’t have anything that hit out to 32″. Had the board been more open, I would’ve been stuck with Saito as a problem solver for smoke or just shooting things with his combi.

My list would’ve been much less effective on an really open table… worth thinking about for travel tournaments.

Funnily enough, your taking out of the Tanko ML on the roof prevented me from having to spend its impetuous order. Worth remembering in the future.

Notes for Adam