Bostria’s Challenge: Hassassin Bahram

Bostria challenged us to write an article following these guidelines:

I would like to read about 300pts army lists, ITS effective, with existing good looking miniatures, no proxys and no model from a box left over.

I think the premise is self-explanatory. Seeing how Haqqislam is my first and favourite army and my first purchase was the Hassassin Bahram starter pack, here’s my take on the challenge.

Unfortunately, we will not be using the Bahram Starter Pack – the only miniature in the list that we would use from it is the Fiday – also available separately. When designing the list I had to keep in mind the framework of the challenge provided – No proxies and no models left over meant I skipped some options (Haqqislam Support Pack would provide a Doctor to the link and another Specialist in the form of a Najjarun Engineer, but I couldn’t make the 2 Nasmats fit) or I had to chose options most players do not consider when making their lists (Boarding Shotgun Muttawi’ah, I’m looking at you).

We’re not buying this set, but it’s still a decent purchase for a Bahram player

However, the challenge was an interesting exercise in making lists. I have not played this list yet, but I will definitely give it a go in the nearest future. The list uses the Spec Ops rules.

Now, to the list itself:

Hassassin Bahram
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Group 1 9 1 1
GHULAM Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
MUTTAWI’AH Boarding Shotgun, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (10)
AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (35)
BARID Hacker (Hacking Device) Lieutenant Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22)
HUSAM Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (12 / 12XP)
MOV:4-4 CC:13 BS:11 PH:10 WIP:14 ARM:1 BTS:0 W:1
Hacking Device, Chain of Command, Doctor
GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
GHULAM HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 20)

Group 2 5 4 3
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (8)
RAFIQ REMOTE Rifle + Light Shotgun, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (16)
FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (32)
LASIQ Viral Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (26)
RAGIK Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0.5 | 32)
WARCOR (Sixth Sense L1) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (3)

5 SWC | 300 Points

Open with Army 5
The first thing you’ll notice is the defensive link team of Ghilim. It can be very unwise to put all your eggs in one basket, and this Link definitely has a lot of good, round eggs inside. However, this also means that it can act as a very potent and versatile defensive platform. You just have to be very careful when choosing who to set up for ARO (any one or more of these models: Sniper, Missile Launcher, HMG) and who to put in prone (Husam Doctor and Hacker).

Barid is a staple of any Bahram ITS list. A cheap, durable Specialist with either a Hacker or Forward Observer option. I usually take the Forward observer, because most of the time you just need a specialist, it does not really what type he is. The model is labeled as Hacker, however, and we are using no proxies/counts-as in this challenge. Having the Lieutenant Special Order on a  Specialist can sometimes save your skin, as it simply means one extra order to spend on a Specialist. Chain of Command on the Husam means that you don’t have to worry about losing your Lieutenant that much.

When the Govad get released, they will definitely see play in Hassassin Bahram

Hussein Al-Djabel is a very threatening model. He can be used to deal with that irritating Sniper or Total Reaction Drone that the enemy kept in reserve, or he can be used as a Suicide unit to try and take out an important element of the opponent’s list – if he is running an MSV + Smoke combo, you can take out the MSV unit, for example. If he has an obvious Lieutenant, you can try to kill him. If he is low on Specialists, you can take care of them. Martial Arts, level 4 means that you can choose to use 2 dice in Close Combat if the you want to have a higher chance of scoring a crit. If you are more worried about avoiding getting hit, you can always stack negative modifiers on the enemy – Surprise Attack, negative weapon range (HMG) and -3 from Martial Arts, level 3 may mean that the opposing model does not get to strike at all!

Ghazi Muttawi’ah are also an interesting unit. For only 5 points/model, they bring an amazing amount of versatility – you can use your Chain Rifle if you feel like just taking a model out, or you can play the long game by putting enemies in the Isolated state, either by using the E/Marat or the Jammer. V:Dogged means you will be around to annoy the opponent a little while longer. The Boarding Shotgun profile is usually overlooked, but since we’re playing WYSIWYG this time, it was also added to the list. Impetuous orders will be especially useful for this guy. The Ghazi in this list perform double duty of attacking models as well as flank/backfield protectors.

The Kameels and the Fanous are there to provide orders. The Kameels may come in handy in missions such as Supremacy or Frontline, too. The Rafiq is a cheap and mobile Specialist, and since we’re low on orders in Combat Group two, that’s where it will go.

No Bahram list will play without a Fiday

Rounding the list in the second Comat Group are the Lasiq Viral Rifle, Fiday Minelayer, and the the Ragik Hacker. The first two don’t require a lot of orders to work – Put the Lasiq into Suppressive Fire, overlooking an objective, and he can be very difficult to dislodge. The Fiday can put down mines and Re-cloak, so he is difficult to kill and still poses a threat. When deploying first, simply by putting him somewhere, for example on a balcony that looked ideal to the enemy’s snipers, you can make sure that that spot will remain empty from enemies, effectively denying them pieces of their Deployment Zone. The Ragik jumps down and scores objectives. The thing that these models have in common is their late-game potential. As casualties mount up, you’ll be able to transfer any of these models into the main Combat Group, keeping it at strong 9+ orders throughout the game.

The Warcor is there to make sure the Concilium Conventions are followed. No, just kidding. He’s there to ARO with his Flash Pulse and because we had 3 extra points to spend.

The numbers on this list come down to: 14 regular orders, 5 Irregular orders and 4 Impetuous orders. We have 5 Specialists, although limited in type (3 Hackers, an FO and a Doctor). We are not able to score Sabotage or Test Run. If you feel you can drop 1 Specialist, you have the SWC to change the Ragik Hacker in to Ragik Spitfire. A Dogged Airborne Deployment troop with a potent weapon can be the bane of an unsuspecting opponent.

Let us know what you think of Bostria’s Challenge in the comments below. If you have a different take on the topic or want to provide us with a list for a different sectorial, don’t hesitate to share that!