ITS Tournament List

[Xolair]

Hi everybody,

I will participate in an ITS tournament in Cologne this Sunday. And since I have only a little bit of play experience so far I would love to hear you opinion on my options there. Actually, I do not think or really intend to win the whole thing. I rather want to get a second view on the tactics here and see how it turns out

Missions:
Round 1: BiotechVore
Round 2: Beaconland
Round 3: Nimbus Zone

I can field 300 Points with a 12 XP SpecOps.

I have these units available:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9dw3xjq8djlvl ... r.txt?dl=0
Sadly, I have no Maghariba Guard because I wait for the new model to be released.

Here are my quick thoughts on the missions:
Biotech Vore: Here Classified Objectives come into play. So I might want to take a High Value Target with me, as far as I am aware I do not have one. But I think I might be able to take the Promo Figure from Icestorm for that? The CSU Mercenary? To cover all requirements I need: D-Charges, Doctor, Forward Observer/Spotlight Hacking Program, Engineer. Since in HVT: Retroengineering and HVT: Inoculation G:Servant models are allowed the Nasmat Remotes might come in handy. Can I use them also for the Experimental Drug objective? Troopers with Structure points are very vulnerable to the Biotech Area and might want to get out there fast.
Due to the Confused Deployment special rule Fidays and Ragiks loose in value.
Summarized: Classified Objectives are not that important VP wise, it is rather important to kill the enemy on the small not deadly area. Therefore I want to field a Fiday to take a shot at CC and additionally try to focus on close range weapons like Boarding Shotguns, Feuerbach, Heavy Flamethrower...
Beaconland: So here it is all about the beacons, a little about the consoles. Here a lot of specialist troops will come in handy, additionally I might want to take a Kameel with me to make use of the Baggage +3 bonus. As I see it I can still use the Ragiks Airborne Deployment to land into the Deployment Zone of the enemy, since it is only forbidden to use it in the central 16 inches. Might come handy in combination of the Hacker ability.
Nimbus Zone: So here I need to disable the Antennas, where Engineers do not suffer a -3 WIP Mod whereas Hackers do and disable the Consoles where it is the other way around. So it might be a good idea to field both. Again, Repeaters and Servants are of no use

So as far as I understood it I can bring two different army lists and on before each round I can choose which list to play. Since Beacon Land and Nimbus Zone look similar to me here the same list might come in handy, whereas Repeaters and Servants might be a good idea for the Biotech Vore Mission.

Biotech Vore List:
Haqqislam
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Group 1 9 0 0
AZRA'IL (X Visor) Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 41)
SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
FIDAY Boarding Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (29)
AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (35)
ASAWIRA Doctor Plus (MediKit) AP Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Shock CCW. (52)
JANISSARY Lieutenant AP Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0.5 | 36)
JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40)
NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (17)
HUSAM Rifle + Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges, Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25 / 12XP)
MOV:4-4 CC:15 BS:12 PH:11 WIP:14 ARM:2 BTS:0 W:1
Religious Troop, V: Dogged, Hacking Device, Inferior Infiltration

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open with Army 5

Beaconland & Nimbus Zone:
Haqqislam
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Group 1 11 0 0
JANISSARY Lieutenant AP Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0.5 | 36)
NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (17)
BARID Hacker (Hacking Device) (Forward Observer) Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 23)
ASAWIRA Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 50)
RAGIK Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0.5 | 32)
KAMEEL (Total Reaction) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (21)
GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
DJANBAZAN Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35)
SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
HUSAM Rifle + Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges, HMG / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25 / 12XP)
MOV:4-4 CC:15 BS:13 PH:11 WIP:14 ARM:2 BTS:0 W:1
Religious Troop, V: Dogged, Engineer
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (16)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open with Army 5




So, what are your opinions on the matter? Any suggestions to my lists?


Greetings

[Errhile]

Caveat - I'm no tournament player, and only very rarely I do try ITS missions.
However:

First of all, list #2 is illegal - it has one Combat Group, and 11 models in it.
I'd suggest relegating the Shihab to a separate combat group of its own - I guess you'll be using it primarily as a defensive piece, so 1 Order would be enough for it to reposition itself up to 6" and fire at a target of opportunity.

Second, list #1 is 9 Regular Orders, 2 of which are Fiday and al-Djabel. I guess your opponent will try to get rid of these two ASAP.
Also, while 4 of the other models are HI, 9 Orders is not much in a 300pts game, and will shrink even further once you start taking casaulties.

I'd suggest redesigning the lists to include some cheap, Order-generating models (Ghulam and Naffatun are excellent in that role) so you'd have enough orders to fuel your specialists, and to bolster the main combat group in case of casaulties (by swapping combat groups using Command Tokens).
While you'd be hard-pressed to keep any expensive models with 2 full combat groups, I think a small secondary group (3-5 models, with 1-2 of them being actually able of doing something - like Doctor or Engineer with Nasmats, or Hacker - the rest are for reactions and Order generation) could be a good solution.

[Xolair]

First of all, list #2 is illegal - it has one Combat Group, and 11 models in it.
I'd suggest relegating the Shihab to a separate combat group of its own - I guess you'll be using it primarily as a defensive piece, so 1 Order would be enough for it to reposition itself up to 6" and fire at a target of opportunity.

Ah, I forget to change that. Good point. So the hacker must not be in the same combat group as the Remote?

Second, list #1 is 9 Regular Orders, 2 of which are Fiday and al-Djabel. I guess your opponent will try to get rid of these two ASAP.

Well, I thought the Fidays were a good idea since they are quite useful in CC and the mission will probably end up in killing each other in a 16 inch wide stripe of the gaming table centered around the middle. Additionally, the Fiday has a Boarding Shotgun which is useful to make quite some damage in the shorter ranges.

Also, while 4 of the other models are HI, 9 Orders is not much in a 300pts game, and will shrink even further once you start taking casaulties. I'd suggest redesigning the lists to include some cheap, Order-generating models (Ghulam and Naffatun are excellent in that role) so you'd have enough orders to fuel your specialists, and to bolster the main combat group in case of casaulties (by swapping combat groups using Command Tokens).

Well, question probably is: How much do I need those Specialists in this mission? There is only 1 VP which can be won during the extra Objectives and all other VPs are about killing each other and staying alive.
I have bad memories of having too many useless ~20 point troops which get shot down quite easily. Of course you are right about the small order pool of course.

So I took the Assawira Doctor out and replaced it with a Naffatun Heavy Flamethrower and two Ghulam Doctors, how about that?
Haqqislam
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Group 1 100 0
AZRA'IL (X Visor) Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 41)
FIDAY Boarding Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (29)
NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (17)
JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40)
JANISSARY Lieutenant AP Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0.5 | 36)
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (16)
AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (35)
NAFFATÛN Rifle + Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (13)
SHIHAB REMOTE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
HUSAM Rifle + Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges, Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25 / 12XP)
MOV:4-4 CC:15 BS:12 PH:11 WIP:14 ARM:2 BTS:0 W:1
Religious Troop, V: Dogged, Hacking Device, CH: Mimetism

Group 2 100
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (16)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (3)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (3)

6 SWC | 299 Points

For some reasons the forum export of the Army Builder shows way more units than I actually added, also the link to the army. So I deleted the link and manually edited the list.

[Errhile]

You do need a Hacker (or a TAG) in your list to legally field Remotes.
They may be part of the same Combat Group, or belong to different Combat Groups - you can deal with it however you see fit

Now, the Ghulam Doc all on her own (remember, Nasmat REM do not generate Orders) in the Group #2 makes little sense.

Why?

Because she has only one Order (her own) at her disposal. So - she can move herself up to 4", one of her Nasmats up to 6", and attempt to heal a model that she and / or Nasmat reached.
If she had 2 more Orders at her disposal, you vcould expect she'd be able to reach casaulties with her Nasmat more reliably.

As for specialists - I wrote you befroe that I'm not an ITS player, and definitely not a tournament player.
That being said, when my group tried ITS scenarios in the 2014 season, I considered 3 specialists in a list to be about the right amount. True, at least 1 of them was usually an al'Hawwa. Also, they were appropriately supported by good Order count.

Also - I'd leave the Janissary Lt out. He's costly, and you're Order-starved. Let me kitbash a list, based on your general framework (sorry, can't use Army5 at work - and Aleph Toolbox doesn't manage SpecOps any longer, plus it can't deal with multiple Groups).

Group #1
AZRA'IL Feuerbach 2 41 nota bene, I'd proxy him for the HMG variant. 3 pts less, and IMO a better gun.
FIDAY BS 0 30
NAJJARUN Engineer 0 17
JANISSARY HMG 2 40
GHULAM Doctor 0 16
AL-DJABEL 0 35
NAFFATÛN HFT 0 13
MUYIB Rifle 0.5 24 this is the Husam SpecOp, just couldn't add the extra stuff.
SHIHAB REMOTE HMG 1 25
GHULAM FO 0 13 or another Naffatun HFT.

Group #2
GHULAM Doctor 0 16
NASMAT 0 3
NASMAT 0 3
GHULAM Rifle 0 12
GHULAM Lieutenant 0 12

Alternatively, you may prefer to swap the last 2 Ghulam for LFT Naffatun (one of them a Lt).

[chunky04]

The problem Errhile brings up with the lone Doctor could also be dealt with unchanged by simply swapping across the Shihab remote for the doc. As Errhile said previously, the Shihab doesn't really need orders to work effectively.

I think ultimately though it won't matter that much what you take. As long as you go in with a plan, it will allow you to evaluate that plan afterwards and learn from the experience, so I suspect you'll get achieve that no matter what.

Some lessons are better learnt in the harsh cauldron of combat than in the relatively peaceful confines of the theoryfinity dojo - you know, as long as said combat is between little pewter guys and no-one gets hurt

I am looking forward to doing this type of thing myself.

[Errhile]

Yes, if a model is to be on it's own in a separate combat group, a TR REM like Shihab is the best possible candidate IMO.

It will have one Order (its own) so it could adjust position and fire in your Active turn, but its main job will be providing devastating ARO fire.