Braving the Quagmire Killzone
Been playing a lot of Nomads and FRRM lately and my Haqq were feeling a little neglected. After my last game against Nate where he brought his Szalamandra and used it to great effect in Rescue, I figured I’d try with an Iguana since I haven’t put together my own Sally yet. I’ve been frantically assembling and painting models lately (built a whole new faction!), and thanks to Adam I was able to scrounge up the old Druze box. Since I had just put together an E/M LGL Druze (and I love E/M LGLs) and the KHD is a good support choice for the Iguana, I just threw them into the list as a duo. The rest of the list is just “good stuff” QK.
Overview
- Mission: Rescue
- Forces: Qapu Kalqi versus USAriadna Ranger Force (300)
- Deploy First: Qapu Kalqi
- First Turn: Qapu Kalqi
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_403.png[/img][b] Rescue[/b]
[b]GROUP 1 | [/b][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]9 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]1
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_16.png[/img] [b]IGUANA[/b] HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | [b]71[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_16.png[/img] [b]IGUANA OPERATOR[/b] HMG / Pistol, Knife. ([b][/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_6.png[/img] [b]SEKBAN[/b] Spitfire / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | [b]27[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_6.png[/img] [b]SEKBAN Lieutenant[/b] AP Rifle, Chain-colt / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_6.png[/img] [b]SEKBAN Doctor Plus (MediKit)[/b] Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]24[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_6.png[/img] [b]SEKBAN[/b] Heavy Rocket Launcher, Chain-colt / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_6.png[/img] [b]SEKBAN[/b] Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt / Pistol, Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]20[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_10.png[/img] [b]HAWWA’ Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]26[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_12.png[/img] [b]DRUZE (X Visor)[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (E/M and Nimbus) / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]27[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_12.png[/img] [b]DRUZE Hacker (Killer Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]25[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_3.png[/img] [b]BASHI BAZOUK[/b] Combi Rifle, E/Mauler / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | [b]17[/b])
[b]GROUP 2 | [/b][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]3 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_impetuosa.png[/img]2
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_24.png[/img] [b]WARCOR (Aerocam)[/b] Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]3[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_11.png[/img] [b]YUAN YUAN[/b] Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | [b]8[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/403/logo_11.png[/img] [b]YUAN YUAN[/b] Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | [b]8[/b])
[b] 6 SWC | 300 Points | [/b] Open in Infinity Army
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_304.png[/img][b] Rescue[/b]
[b]GROUP 1 | [/b][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]10 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_impetuosa.png[/img]1
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_2.png[/img] [b]MINUTEMAN Lieutenant[/b] AP HMG / Pistol, CCW. (1 | [b]34[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_2.png[/img] [b]MINUTEMAN (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle, 2 Light Flamethrowers / Pistol, CCW. (0 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_2.png[/img] [b]MINUTEMAN[/b] Boarding Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (0 | [b]24[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER (Fireteam: Haris)[/b] Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER Paramedic (MediKit)[/b] Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER[/b] Molotok / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | [b]28[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_3.png[/img] [b]FOXTROT (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]18[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_3.png[/img] [b]FOXTROT (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]18[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_16.png[/img] [b]UNKNOWN RANGER (Chain of Command)[/b] Rifle / Heavy Pistol, T2 CCW, Knife. (0 | [b]41[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_10.png[/img] [b]MAVERICK (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]19[/b])
[b]GROUP 2 | [/b][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]2 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]1
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_15.png[/img] [b]BLACKJACK[/b] T2 Sniper, Submachine Gun, Chest Mines / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | [b]36[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_1.png[/img] [b]GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration)[/b] Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]11[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_9.png[/img] [b]WARCOR (Aerocam)[/b] Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]3[/b])
[b] 5.5 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
I decided to go first, as has been the case lately. I think I should start taking deployment more often to challenge myself and to make myself think about positioning more. It was pretty clear that there was a better side to deployment, and Jordan took that one. Hey, at least it made my deployment easy! I put down my Sekban link on the left, with the HRL and Spitfire ready to advance to the front and fight their way up the field. My warcor commanded the whole table from a sniper tower, and I stuck the Druze duo at the base of her tower, covering the back edge of my table in case Van Zant made an appearance. I figured I might need to run the Bashi through the exclusion zone/difficult terrain, so instead of choosing AD:1 I went with Zero-G terrain and put him on the right as three holoprojector tokens. My Al’Hawwa AHD toed the dead zone line, eager to get up the field, and my Yuan Yuans started off the field.
Jordan put his BlackJack Sniper down in a commanding position, but prone. Thank goodness! I had actually written his list about a week earlier, with the intent of having a 3-man core and a 3-man haris, but I don’t think I communicated that effectively. Also, both of us were pretty fried by game night it seemed, so we just soldiered on and pushed our little metal soldiers around instead of overthinking it. His own Warcor went down in a a sniper tower, and his Marauder link hung out in the middle with his Minutemen spread out across his deployment zone, with the AP HMG and FO on his right and the remaining Minuteman on the left. A pair of Foxtrots secured his right flank, backed up by the Unknown Ranger. Thankfully, Jordan’s infiltrating Grunt fails his PH roll and ends up in his backfield.
I eyeballed his Warcor warily and put my Iguana down out of view before forming my link and declaring my Iguana my DataTracker. Jordan isn’t really fond of holding a model in reserve so declined to do it this game as well, and pointed to the Unknown Ranger as his DataTracker. A firm handshake later and we were off!
Turn 1
Top of Turn 1 – QK
Well, the top of the building where his Blackjack was has enough space for a template, so I dropped in a Yuan Yuan with AutoMediKit right behind his T2 sniper! The Warcor flash pulse me successfully, but I pass BTS and elect to go prone as the Blackjack notices the commotion and whips around. My second Yuan Yuan walks on just in front of the Sekban link team to provide smoke, should they need it.
I stayed focused and just left the Yuan Yuan there to be annoying, instead choosing to activate my Iguana, pushing it up the field to attack Jordan’s Marauder with Molotok. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get into cover before seeing the USARF soldier, and he beats my rolls! Uh oh. I’ve got a wound on my TAG now. Stupid Molotoks!
I get a little gun shy with the Iguana, unwilling to lose it on basically the second order of the game. I figure I should develop my link team a little bit and use the Sekban HRL to force the Marauder Haris guy into cover. Man, USARF’s ARM is no joke! Then my turn starts falling apart because I get it in my head that my Al’Hawwa AHD has mines. Spoiler Alert: he doesn’t. I have this tendency to use coordinated orders too much and push my Al’Hawwa and the Iguana forward together. The Iguana finally downs the Molotok Marauder and the Maverick kindly provides smoke for my Al’Hawwa to advance into. I miss an opportunity to split burst and get 2 dice on the Molotok Marauder and 1 on the Maverick, just letting the Maverick land the smoke on the normal roll. I guess I was too excited about free smoke.
I excitedly get the Al’Hawwa in position, but… mines, and now he’s discovered and sitting there like an idiot. I don’t have much left in the way of orders and try to do too much. I advance the Bashi, still covered by smoke, but then realize that my Sekban are in a stupid position and out of cover, so I have to leave him hanging there as I fix their positioning with an order.
Well, now I’ve strung out my Bashi and my Al’Hawwa (no longer protected by camo) but at least my Iguana and my Sekban are in cover. I move the remaining Yuan Yuan (with +1 ARM) into the middle of the Sekban to provide smoke in ARO, then pass the turn, feeling decidedly unhappy about how overextended everything is.
Bottom of Turn 1 – USARF
At the very last, I’ve got Jordan in an uncomfortable position too, with a boarding shotgun covering his link and his Maverick and a Yuan Yuan next to his Blackjack. Hopefully the next few rolls go my way, right?
Jordan wisely cancels the Maverick’s impetuous order, then turns his attention to the Blackjack situation. He tries to SMG down the Yuan Yuan, but I roll a crit on my engage! Phew! Exactly what I needed. He unloads a chest mine into my Yuan Yuans’s face, but even with the +3 to CC my sword-wielding space pirate prevails, cutting into the heavy ranger with his AP CCW, battle ravaging Jordan’s Blackjack.
Out of orders in that pool, Jordan switches his attention to the Al’Hawwa. His Maverick’s heavy pistol rounds bounce off my Al’Hawwa’s flimsy armor, but this lets me dart my poor hacker around the corner. Unfortunately for Jordan, his Maverick forgets to pull out his MediKit and instead shoots the Molotok Maverick with his heavy pistol. Oof. Not a great time to fail a MediKit roll.
Jordan doesn’t want to deal with my Iguana so he uses his Maverick to smoke it out successfully, but my last order repositioning of my Sekban lets me see the Maverick as it moves and the Sekban HRL knocks out the bike trooper. The Marauder Paramedic can’t pick up the poor Maverick either, which isn’t great for Jordan. I comment that he usually has such great luck with PH rolls for MediKits, but he reminds me that “it’s only with my Grunts!”
The Paramedic comes around the corner and tries to shoot my Iguana with a pistol, unable to flamethrower the bash and the Iguana simultaneously due to the presence of the civilian. How convenient! I don’t react with the Bashi, as the real one is out of flamethrower range, and the Iguana tanks the pistol hit, roasting the poor Marauder with its heavy flamethrower.
Jordan’s AP HMG Minuteman tries to take out my Sekban HRL and my other Yuan Yuan. The Yuan Yuan gets knocked out, but I manage to plant a heavy rocket right into the AP HMG Minuteman, who just basks in the flames as they lick at his armor. With his last orders, Jordan repositions his Unknown Ranger and his rightmost Foxtrot.
Turn 2
Top of Turn 2 – QK
Well, I’m obligated to try and punch the Blackjack with my Yuan Yuan. I beat his chest mine but fail to take off the last wound, and I get crit down by a heavy pistol in CC when I spend the Yuan Yuan’s irregular order.
I spend the Warcor’s irregular order trying to flash pulse Jordan’s Warcor, but he rolls better and my Warcor drops prone, rubbing her eyes. Stupid lasers! I try something a little more lethal and gun down the Warcor with my Iguana. I manage to take out the Minuteman FO with my Iguana too, but I miss that my latest movement has put me into LoF of Jordan’s AP HMG. I take a stray HMG round, forcing me to eject the Operator. I land it next to the nearest civilian in a cloud of smoke so that ends up working out for me.
Under the cover of smoke, my Iguana Operator syncs the civvie and sneaks away, cautious moving through the gap that the AP HMG Minuteman can see. I keep running away. When Jordan pops a Foxtrot out of camo to take a shot at me, I gun it down as I book it back to my deployment zone. I push my Bashi further up the field to get ready to grab the rightmost civilian. Thankfully he’s now out of LoF of anything and I can leave him there until next turn. I move my Sekban team around again to prepare for the Blackjack and simultaneously pick up the downed Yuan Yuan with my Sekban doctor. Man, I love linked Doctors in QK.
Bottom of Turn 2 – USARF
After spending command tokens to shuffle everyone into the same combat group, The Blackjack tries to take out my Iguana Operator and and Sekban Spitfire. Thankfully I pass ARM on the Operator, ducking him into total cover immediately. My Sekban out shoots the Blackjack but the bullets bounce off its armor. My Yuan Yuan rolls a smoke grenade into position and prevents any further Blackjack sniping. Jordan seizes this opportunity and dashes his remaining Foxtrot straight towards his rightmost civilian, which is right in the middle of my Sekban link! I open up with everything I’ve got, but he crit-dodges and ignores all my fire. Safely in the smoke, the Foxtrot grabs the civilian and makes a quick getaway. Thankfully, Jordan doesn’t have the orders to make a mad dash towards his deployment zone and manages only to get the civilian around the corner. He spends his Lieutenant order on the Minuteman AP HMG to cover my Sekban’s approach, trying to buy his Foxtrot time.
Turn 3
Top of Turn 3 – QK
Uh oh. I thought I was recovering okay from my overextension on my first turn, but I’ve definitely got to get rid of Jordan’s Foxtrot. The AP HMG misses my Yuan Yuan on its impetuous order, and then it’s time to deal with the Foxtrot. Thankfully, all it takes is running the Iguana operator around the corner and two orders of shooting. I shuffle the Operator back into my deployment zone, civilian in tow, making sure to stay in the Blackjack’s blind spot. I lose the Warcor to the Blackjack, trying to flash pulse it as I stand her up. My Bashi tries to take on Jordan’s remaining Minuteman, but even with surprise shot fails to drop the pesky trooper. It takes three orders for Jordan’s Marauder to finally crit my Bashi. UGH. This saturation zone sucks!
I use the Sekban Spitfire to drop Jordan’s AP HMG Minuteman, now that I’m sure it’s his Lieutenant. With the Minuteman down, this lets me push my remaining Yuan Yuan directly in the path the Unknown Ranger will have to take to the downed Foxtrot’s civilian. With that, I’m out of orders and I pass the turn.
Bottom of Turn 3 – USARF
The Unknown Ranger makes a break for it, tanking two out of three chain rifle hits from my Yuan Yuan and going into NWI. As he walks by he shield bashes my poor Yuan Yuan off the table.
Jordan’s dice luck goes sour here though, and he fails both rolls to sync the civilian and my Sekban gun him down. With a civilian synced to my DataTracker in my deployment zone, it’s a
5-0 Qapu Kalpi Victory!
Jordan had some pretty bad dice luck this game, but he kept his game face on and fought to the very end! Kudos to him for almost being able to tie it up! It’s not over till it’s over!
Notes
- Wow, I need to stop overextending units!
- I think I need to be more comfortable with throwing away irregular orders if there isn’t a clear use for them.
- I also needed to use my Iguana with a little more confidence and finesse. That will come with time. I should’ve just kept on shooting the Marauder.
- Good gravy, read my stupid unit profiles. I wasted a perfectly good Al’Hawwa because I thought it had mines. Stupid of me! I recovered reasonably well though.
- Sekban are pretty awesome. I like their kit a lot, especially the ability to take a Doctor in the link. After so long playing Nomads that’s still pretty new to me.
- I was pretty happy with how I used the Sekban, but I need to be more careful with their positioning so I don’t have to come back and fix it later.
- I think this really comes down to doing the “move out, move back” as my first short skill. That’s something I rarely do and should do much more often.
- Great use of Yuan Yuans this game. Tied up the Blackjack for basically two turns and the other one provided smoke and helped stop the Unknown Ranger.
- I think I could’ve walked the Bashi on. That would’ve been better. AD is better in this scenario, especially with Holoprojector after I’ve cleared out some AROs.
- I didn’t activate the Druze. At all. I guess I just didn’t need the KHD at all against Ariadna, and there weren’t any juicy E/M LGL targets that I needed to hit (Blackjack was too far).
- Pretty expensive cheerleaders, but I think they’ll be a lot more valuable in other matchups.
- I think the nimbus launcher is more relevant in non-saturation-zone scenarios.
- Iguana continues to impress in objective scenarios when I can use the Operator to get points. Will have to think about using it more both in QK and Nomads.
- Rescue doesn’t seem so bad the second time around, especially when you bring guys with terrain skills!
