Well, I guess I’m planning on taking JSA to the Humboldt Irregular so I should practice with them. Or something. Erik and I have been getting in a lot of games versus one another lately, which I definitely see as a positive. He always presents a tough problem to solve on the table.

I broke out my Muse on Minis Strompost Alpha table, mostly because it’s been awhile and we both enjoy it.

Overview

Mission : Rescue

: Rescue Forces : Japanese Secessionist Army versus Haqqislam (300)

: versus (300) Deploy First : Haqqislam

: First Turn: Haqqislam

Rescue A GROUP 1 | 10 1 YURIKO ODA Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 23)

KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)

KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) DAIYŌKAI Red Fury, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CC Weapon, AP CC Weapon. (1 | 49)

OYAMA Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Breaker Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0 | 28) ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26)

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)

SAITO TOGAN Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 39)

TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) GROUP 2 | 3 1 KEISOTSU Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 9)

KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9)

TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Rescue is a really weird scenario. It forces a myriad of constraints onto your list for several reasons:

Specialists — Specialists aren’t really required because anything that can legally Synchronize Civilian can grab one of the civvies. Specialists can grab two, but this rarely happens.

— Specialists aren’t really required because anything that can legally Synchronize Civilian can grab one of the civvies. Specialists can grab two, but this rarely happens. Exclusion Zone — The exclusion zone makes deployment skills less attractive, because you don’t have nearly as much space to deploy. It does, however, make Superior Infiltration (of which JSA has plenty) more attractive.

— The exclusion zone makes deployment skills less attractive, because you don’t have nearly as much space to deploy. It does, however, make Superior Infiltration (of which JSA has plenty) more attractive. Difficult Terrain — For things without multiterrain, this makes the board a bit of a slog fest. Stopping at the boundary doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it can seriously disrupt your flow of order expediture if you’re not actively thinking about it. Also, it penalizes 4-2 MOV medium infantry and makes 6-4 MOV guys less valuable in the zone.

— For things without multiterrain, this makes the board a bit of a slog fest. Stopping at the boundary doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it can seriously disrupt your flow of order expediture if you’re not actively thinking about it. Also, it penalizes 4-2 MOV medium infantry and makes 6-4 MOV guys less valuable in the zone. Saturation Zone — This is the weird one. Missions with Saturation Zones change the relative value of weapon types, making missiles much stronger, for example, but making link teams weaker. It also penalizes burst 3 and burst 2 guns in the active turn.

So with all of these considerations, I decided to forgo a link-heavy list composition and instead go with some different list ideas. I knew I wanted a Daiyokai with Red Fury as my Datatracker. Barring the usual anti-HI toolkit, he’s very difficult to kill, which meant I could rely on him getting stuff done even though he’d have to slog it through the difficult terrain zone. He also has that all important burst 4 gun, which basically puts me at burst 3 for pretty much every interaction. Shock is also super relevant thanks to the matchup against Haqq and their Mutts.

I figured I might want to drag a second model along with me, so I took advantage of the Daiyokai + Domaru Duo and snagged Neko as a swim buddy for the Daiyokai. Ryuken-9 to get more shock on the table for Mutts and to throw mines down to delay Erik, and then an Aragoto Spitfire because I’ve never run one before and wanted to try it out.

I grabbed Yuriko, a Doctor, and a few Keisotsu just to be guns and orders, and in case something bad happened to the Daiyokai. I had a lot of difficulty choosing between the TO guys. Do I take an Oniwaban and/or Kitsune to be right next to the civilians and grab one? I didn’t think it would be reliable enough thanks to all the Mutts and the fact that I know Erik has a new love affair with MSV2 models. I elected instead to take Saito and respond accordingly to the table. I didn’t want to telegraph too hard that I had a TO ninja on the table and rolling for over-infiltration would tip my hand.

It’s probably a much better value proposition to throw Kitsune over the centerline, or even “just” an Oniwaban, and after this game I’ll probably swap Saito to an Oniwaban if I need to do this again. Still grumpy about Saito losing specialist operative in JSA.

The real departure from dogma though, was the solo Tanko in group two powered by a pair of Keisotsu. Solo missile launchers become more relevant with lots of Saturation Zones, and the single die roll makes the fact that I can’t gain cover less awful. It also means I have more freedom of movement to just stand the Tanko in the middle of a firelane just to be a jerk if I need to. The statline of the Tanko makes it way more likely to survive a shooting engagement than a Keisotsu ML, and I can use the Tanko very offensively in my active turn. A bit of a crazy idea, but I knew it would be fun.

Haqqislam GROUP 1 | 10 BARID Hacker (Killer Hacking Device UPGRADE: Lightning) Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

NAMURR Spitfire, E/Marat, D-Charges / Heavy Pistol, E/M CC Weapon, Knife. (1 | 44)

KNAUF MULTI Sniper / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)

RAFIQ REMOTE FTO (Fireteam: Duo) Red Fury, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 22)

FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

NASMAT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

HAFZA Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22)

DJANBAZAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31)

FIDAY Boarding Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 29)

FARZAN (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)

GROUP 2 | 1 6 4 HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)

LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10)

DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)

MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)

MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)

MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)

MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)

6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Erik’s list is well tuned and thought out. He’s got plenty of access to Mines and Mutts thanks to his two Minelayers, and he’s got a budding bromance with Knauf. Personally, I’d try a few different things with a vanilla Haqq list, but at this point I’m splitting hairs regarding playstyle.

He’s got some fun tricks in there, like the two Hafza, which he disguised as a Najjarun and a Asawira Doctor. He wasn’t fooling me, but it was still interesting.

Deployment

Erik’s been choosing to go first a lot, so I made him deploy first. He hid his two Hafza on roofs as a Najjarun and a Asawira Doctor. The positioning of both and the lack of a Nasmat for the Najjarun (with it on the roof) made me suspicious, but I decided it wasn’t a big deal. Unsurprisingly, the Minelayers protected the civilians, and then Erik pushed a Djanbazan sniper into his dead zone thanks to FD1, with a Ghulam Doctor to back it up.

He attempted to infiltrate a Daylami but failed, putting it in the backfield to just cover as much as possible, then put Knauf on the right to poke out and watch a different firelane. I missed him telling me about Knauf, so he became an unpleasant surprise later. Erik’s new BAE, the Namurr, hung out in the back covered by a Fanous, and the Rafiq went down on the left to do some utility work.

I didn’t have a particularly great deployment plan, but there were two nice spots for Ryuken-9 in my dead zone, so I put them down to cover the approach of Mutts and then put their mines covering the approach to the civilians. Yuriko and her two pals came down on a building in the middle of my deployment zone, mostly to make it annoying to put a Fiday there, and the Doctor hid in the back watching the back table edge for a Ragik or something.

The Daiyokai and Neko went down in the middle, also watching for AD troops and Fidays (and good luck CCing one of them with a Fiday). Neko will just Berserk and straight up kill the Fiday, and the Daiyokai isn’t a slouch either. The Fiday has an advantage on the first order thanks to surprise attack, but not as much after that.

I put Saito down on the left, just at the edge of the Exclusion Zone, mostly to avoid getting shot by the Djanbazan as he did his thing.

One funny thing I did was put a Keisotsu prone on a roof all the way on the left, hanging out with my Aragoto. Erik didn’t bite, so when he put down his Fiday he did it in a way where he could easily abscond with one of the civilians. I put my real Lieutenant down on a catwalk where she was as safe as she was going to get.

Turn 1

Top of 1 – Haqqislam

Erik starts off by setting up smoke on my right to protect his Mutts against the Daiyokai and the Tanko over there — I kept the Ryuken prone, since she’d just get shot by the Djanbazan immediately. His second Mutt hucks smoke 16″ across the backfield to cover his left Mutts, which is a very clever ploy that I hadn’t considered when I placed my Tanko to cover the two Mutts on the left.

Thankfully, the smoke grenade wasn’t placed far enough to block the Ryuken, who took a shot at those Mutts, but was smoked out by the first. Ah well.

The Mutts got snarled up in the traffic jam of the difficult terrain zone, so Erik just tucked them into cover with their irregular orders.

The Rafiq comes out and makes use of its +6 WIP to discover, clearing the mine pinning the Fiday.

The Fiday lands smoke, syncs a civilian, and boogies all the way back to Erik’s deployment zone.

With his last few orders, Erik stands up the Djanbazan and moves Knauf out to contest a firelane, which exposes him to the Ryuken. I fail a dodge and Knauf whiffs. Seems fine.

Bottom of 1 – JSA

Knauf can see the Aragoto’s approach path, so I don’t use his impetuous ordrer. I do use the Tanko’s impetuous order to get him off his perch, and then start shooting. Knauf eats a missile to the face and fails one ARM roll, dropping him.

32.03 19.75 48.22

Not the best odds, but not the worst!

I throw two orders of missile at the Djanbazan, with no results.

31.01 36.04 32.95

The odds are much closer there. But now I’ve got a Tanko just parked there.

It’s time to send in the Daiyokai. After taking out the Daylami, I force the Djanbazan prone, and the Rafiq fails guts around the corner. This reduced burst is really cramping my style.

I retreat the Daiyokai, using its DataTracker order to retreat, leaving Neko out on a limb by himself screening the Tanko. I try to take out one of the Mutts on the right with a Ryuken, but roll terribly and it throws smoke.

Having done basically nothing this turn, I throw the Daiyokai, the Ryuken-9, and the Aragoto into suppression.

Turn 2

Top of 2 – Haqqislam

The two Mutts on the right survive the Ryuken’s suppression…

but the third…

and the fourth on the left don’t survive the other Ryuken’s suppression. Huzzah!

The Mutts on the right have set up smoke for the Djanbazan though, and I immediately lose the Ryuken on the right to a single sniper shot.

36.00 40.00 24.00

With only one die each, the odds are actually in my favor, but I lose the Ryuken anyway. Ah well.

One of the surviving Mutts sets up smoke for the Namurr, who starts her attack run.

Erik didn’t math everything out on the Ryuken before trying this, so even though he forces me to break suppression to take the shot, I zero him out with ODD, range, and cover, putting a wound on the Namurr.

Erik picks Knauf back up then takes a shot with Knauf at the Ryuken. I dodge successfully and make it around the corner of the… building… wall.. thingy? This frees the Namurr to keep rolling up to grab another civilian.

By doing some fancy footwork to avoid getting hit by a mine, the Namurr enters LoF of the Keisotsu on the roof that was a fake Lt. Nothing happens in the exchange of fire, but I’ve put more pressure on Erik’s order pool.

He uses the civilian as a human shield against my mine and then retreats to a small pocket of cover behind a wall, avoiding more fire from the Keisotsu.

Bottom of 2 – JSA

I cancel both impetuous orders, since Knauf is watching the Tanko and the Aragoto. The Tanko is also watched by a Djanbazan and is within a Mutt’s Jammer bubble.

I do have some freedom of movement with the Daiyokai though, who vaults his way to the top of a building and starts shooting Mutts. I crit the first one…

and the second one in the back.

I don’t really want to try and fight the Namurr with the Daiyokai, even though the civilian with cancel templates for me, so I send in the Keisotsu by shifting it forward on the roof 2″.

A quick double-crit later and the Namurr is handled. I activate the Tanko next, face to facing Knauf and taking him off the table. The Ghulam Doctor, who had crawled off the roof, dodges so the Nasmat can also dodge, but I take the Nasmat out too in the blast. The Djanbazan does put a wound on the Tanko though, which is fine.

With Knauf out of the way I can start moving stuff around. The Daiyokai finally drops the Rafiq, and then I struggle with what to do about the Djanbazan.

I decide that I’ve got three wounds, burst three, and ARM 5.

41.20 41.23 17.57

Should be fine, and it was. I even do two wounds to take the Djanbazan all the way off the table.

I don’t have the orders to grab a civilian and retreat safely, so I set up for next turn by moving up the Aragoto, now that the path is clear, and settling the Daiyokai into cover. I don’t have the movement to get him all the way into cover, so I’m forced to leave a little bit poking out.

Turn 3

Top of 3 – Haqqislam

All of Erik’s Mutts are down (hooray for shock) and he wants to kill my Daiyokai and set up some AROs. He starts by sneaking the Farzan forward to deal with my Aragoto, but remembers about the Keisotsu on the roof that took out the Namurr. The “Asawira Doctor” activates and guns the Keisotsu down with its spitfire, because it’s really a Hafza.

This opens the way for the Farzan to go after my Aragoto, but he rolls ARM like a champ and tanks two orders worth of boarding shotgun.

After putting a wound on the Daiyokai with the Hafza spitfire and forcing me into cover, Erik advances a Libertos, who Neko discovers. Then, Erik reveals his Najjarun as another Hafza, throwing both Hafza into suppression watching the Daiyokai’s approach.

Bottom of 3 – JSA

The Aragoto kills the Farzan with its Spitfire, but the Farzan’s unconscious body prevents me from making it around the corner without wasting a ton of orders, so I’m forced to get creative.

The Tanko doesn’t have a good shot on either of the Hafzas, so after repositioning him with his impetuous order, I stand up my Keisotsu lieutenant and start shooting.

The first order has Erik stay in suppression. I hit both of the Hafzas at just under 32″, he passes both ARM saves and guts rolls, and they stay in suppression.

I spend more orders on the Keisotsu lieutenant, and this time Erik’s Lieutenant breaks suppression to shoot back. The last order in that pool sees no improvement on the situation, so I’m forced to use other tools.

The Ryuken, thankfully, is in a position to zero out the Hafza spitfire in suppression, so I take it out easily.

The Daiyokai takes two orders to remove the Hafza Lt, then I nab a civilian and make it back to my dead zone.

Saito scoots into position to secure Erik’s HVT, and then it’s time for scoring.

I’ve got more things in my dead zone, Erik’s got more things in his deployment zone, so that’s three each, and I’ve got +1 for datatracker and +1 for Secure HVT, so it’s a

5-3 Japanese Secessionist Army Victory!

Post Game Analysis

Well, that was basically a reversal of the last game versus Erik. I think I made some silly mistakes… trading a Ryuken-9 on the right for the chance to get rid of some Mutts is… questionable.

I will say though, that I really did enjoy the experience of playing JSA again. Lots of fun tools, and I finally got to rambo the Daiyokai around. I’m not sure about the Daiyokai + Neko Duo, but I don’t want to overcorrect from this one game.

The Tanko outperformed expectations. Probably not going to be terribly consistent game to game, but man was it fun to just drive a Tanko around in my backfield taking missile pot shots at stuff. Very silly.

It’s been very difficult for me to leverage bikes in JSA as of late. I think people are doing a good job of boxing them in. I was pretty concerned about this matchup, and I think rightfully so. I spent a lot of time just shooting at Mutts and such in my active turn, which I really don’t want to be doing. The Ryuken helped, but not enough.

In any case, fun game, some minor mistakes on both sides. Erik didn’t need to go after the Aragoto with the Farzan, and I think I just got a little confused about what my overall plan was with the Daiyokai on Turn 1. I will say though, that this game was a great example of leveraging Keisotsu. Yes, I rolled well and got a double crit, but I think the key takeaway is that combi rifle rangebands are extremely flexible and even a BS10 chassis can be leveraged. Maybe I got a little extra utility out of my Keisotsu this game, but I will keep using them in the active turn to get work done! I hope this game inspires you to use Keisotsu, Metros, Moderators, and Volunteers!