Nokk ’em Out
Clint (psuedonymmster) asked me for a practice game for the VaulSC league he’s in. They’re playing Supremacy on a very flat map with a lots of keyholes and rocks and such. There’s even a low-vis + saturation zone! His opponent is reportedly playing White Company, so Clint asked me if I would mind playing them to be his sparring partner. I was only too happy to oblige! Here’s the map:
It is dark and brooding, and offered some visually impressive screenshots, but it is not particularly pleasant to play on. We missed a few AROs and it’s really hard to gauge line of fire, especially when trying to deal with the big aqueduct/arched wall things, so we fudged it a few times for the sake of just getting on with things. This map was a real challenge to play on in Tabletop Simulator and is kind of asking to break some models in meatspace when someone inevitably knocks over one of those big walls or towers. Still, Clint and I were up for the challenge! If you want to follow us along as we fight each other (but mostly the map), here’s the YouTube recording:
Overview
- Mission: Supremacy
- Forces: White Company versus Haqqislam (300)
- Deploy First: Haqqislam
- First Turn: Haqqislam
Supremacy, in my mind, demands the Spotlight + missile list archetype if your faction can pull it off well. Guilang Minelayers are definitely the way to project hacking threat, and you can back it up some with deadly gunfighter hackers in the form of Nokken. I was entirely ready to not have any links in my list, but I had some trouble with picking a good Lieutenant. A Jujak seemed affordable and survivable against a Fiday attack, so I threw in some Kaplan to round things out.
Supremacy
GROUP 1
10
JUJAK (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 26)
KAPLAN Heavy Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 23)
GROUP 2
GŬILÁNG (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Shock Mines ( | Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 27)
NØKK (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Light Shotgun ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 30)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 20)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)
1
2
VARANGIAN Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Heavy Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
TIGER SOLDIER Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
CLIPPER DRONBOT Missile Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1.5 | 16)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse ( ) / Stun Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I’m really enjoying Spitfire-armed drop troops, so I took one, and having 34 points show up to dominate a quadrant seems pretty good. The rest of the list is just area control and templates to make things difficult on this very short-ranged, flat map. I really really like this list. I think I might try to find room for the Spitfire Peacemaker in a future iteration by downgrading the Tiger to a Paramedic or something, but I’m pretty happy with the way things were.
Clint’s list, on the other hand, I have some concerns about. We talk about it at length at the end of the YouTube recording. I’ll include a fast-forwarded link at the end of this battle report for that. The list itself is mostly okay, but I think it relies too heavily on the Daylami to hold the midfield. They might piece trade, but there’s just so much monstrous stuff in Infinity nowadays that they’re not going to be much more than bugs on windshield in the reactive turn. I also think the Kum are a bit starved for orders. If I’m not ready, a biker can really get into my backfield and tear things up if properly fed with orders.
Supremacy
GROUP 1GROUP 2
SALADIN (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token]) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser(+1B) / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 36)
DJANBAZAN (BS Attack [Shock]) AP Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 31)
GHULAM (Hacker, Hacking Device) Rifle, Light Shotgun ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 16)
ROUHANI Submachine Gun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 21)
AZRA’IL AP Heavy Machine Gun / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 40)
RAFIQ REMOTE FTO Red Fury, Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 20)
FARZAN (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
HUNZAKUT (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Shock Mines ( | Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 18)
RAGIK Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 33)
DAYLAMI (Camouflage [1 Use], Infiltration) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 9)
KUM Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 5)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I’ll include some more discussion of the list in the Post Game Analysis section, as I think the game itself will do a lot of the commentary on its weaknesses for me. I will say that the Djanbazan Sniper is an excellent choice by Clint, as there is a very enticing edge-to-edge shot across the middle of the table that I was unaware of until Clint started abusing it by parking his MSV2 sniper in a low-vis/saturation zone!
Deployment
Saladin rolled a 1 to get the party started, and thankfully my Jujak didn’t fail his WIP, so I got to choose how things went. I took deployment, not because there was a better side–honestly the sides were pretty even in my mind. I wanted to encourage Clint to choose to go first, which he did. I think that was a good idea–otherwise I would’ve pushed the Nokken into the midfield, dumped a bunch of repeaters everywhere, and then landed a Tiger Soldier to snipe Saladin and hope I got the Farzan too…. but I’m also very happy to go second these days. I tend to play against pretty aggressive, experienced players like Adam (TheDiceAbide) and now Tim (Chainsaw), so I’m pretty comfortable holding back an Alpha Strike, I’d like to think.
In any case, the deployment itself isn’t very interesting. Clint tucked his Farzan into a safe spot, screened by a Daylami all the way on his left, and then he scattered three Ghulam hackers across the table. The two Kum hung out on his back table edge to give them as much movement as possible before getting seen, and then he put the rest of his stuff down in the middle of the table behind cover. Nothing particularly groundbreaking. A very solid, utilitarian deployment. I think it was fine. He held the Azrail and Saladin in reserve. I forgot to label a Hunzakut in the picture below. It’s at the intersection of the line that bisects the table into my half and Clint’s half and the line segment defined by my Peacemaker and his Rafiq.
My deployment was pretty boring too. I had doubles of most things, so I put them on either side. I didn’t have a great spot to put the Nokken on the left that I thought was safe and outside of my deployment zone, so I didn’t worry about it. I saw a reasonably long firelane to Clint’s side of the table on my right. It roughly follows the line described by the two objectives (statues) on the right, so I put the Kaplan HRL there. I figured I might see a Fiday or two, given that there were two reserves, so I tried to defend my Clipper with a Fugazi on the right with the Kaplan Engineer nearby. The Clipper was my reserve, as it was such a integral piece of my plan.
The two Guilang were a bit bothersome to deploy. I briefly considered putting down a deployable repeater, but decided a mine on the left to tie up the Hunzakut and the Daylami there was better. I balanced the deployment with the Guilang FO on the right.
To my surprise, Clint put down Saladin and the Azrail out of reserve. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by Saladin, but I was at the time. I’ll chalk that up to being tired after my game versus Tim earlier that day. Here it is if you’re interested:
I responded by placing my Clipper in its little hidey hole, now that I was safe from Fidays.
Edit: Clint has corrected me that his reserves were the Djanbazan and the Azrail. Ah well.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Haqqislam
Clint starts off by burning my Fugazi on the right off the table with the Azrael. It takes a few orders, so I’m okay with this.
We realize he’s forgotten to spend his Kum’s impetuous orders, so he does so now, and setting up smoke for the Djanbazan. The Rafiq scoots around the corner (and I miss a Warcor flash pulse on this) to take out my Auxbot. Sigh. This is actually a pretty big loss for me, I was hoping to use that to threaten the nearby camo tokens.
The Djanbazan makes use of the smoke and takes a shot at my Warcor, who tanks the shot and goes safely prone.
The Djanbazan continues its push, trying to take out my remaining Fugazi but is stymied by the saturation zone and can’t seem to make it happen.
After throwing a few things into suppression with a coordinated order (Clint is real worried about AD troops as some of those things are facing backwards in his deployment zone), he passes turn.
Bottom of 1 – White Company
I cancel the Varangian’s order on the left, as the Djanbazan is watching, and move the second one on the right. Clint reveals a Panzerfaust Daylami and takes a shot but I smoke him out.
I then try to break the Rafiq’s suppression with a cheeky flash pulse from my Warcor, but nothing happens.
I stop messing around and use a real gun, this time on a Mimetism -6 Nokk, and take out the Rafiq.
Some smoke later, the Varangian moves into a position where it can see both the revealed Daylami and the Farzan’s camo token. I hit them both but hte Farzan passes its ARM. Unfortunately for me, this is the lane that the Djanbazan can see through (and he ignores smoke) so I lose the Varangian. Drat.
Still, I see an opportunity to take a 3rd quadrant and push the Guilang FO forward. I have to do some stutter stepping to get past the Djanbazan but I make it happen. I get behind a Kum biker and start firing away…
and firing away… eventually I get in range of Saladin’s repeater and I get spotlit the ‘F up, but I don’t care.
On my last order, the Kum goes down. Finally indeed.
Turn 2
I’ve got three quadrants to Clint’s one, so that’s 2 points for me.
Top of 2 – Haqqislam
Clint starts bullying again with his Azrael, this time challenging my Kaplan HRL. I land a crit and a hit, which the Azrael shrugs off with some good ARM saves. BUT WHY!?
The Djanbazan tries to take out my Fugazi on the left again, but that Saturation Zone really hurts snipers and I flash pulse him out of the fight.
Clint decides the Guilang FO has to go, so he sends in the Hunzakut. I don’t want to deal with the neg mods and I’m targeted, so I just drop a mine. Amazingly, I pass both ARM saves…
but I lose the next exchange with the Hunzakut as she retreats to her starting position and then recamos.
Clint motors the Azrael forward like the angel of death its name references, and starts shooting stuff up. He finds a spot to see the Clipper and dumps a full burst at it, but we both whiff within 16″.
He grabs cover, still within 16″, and much to his dismay, I roll a 9, critting him unconscious.
With that, it’s back to me.
Bottom of 2 – White Company
That Farzan is still exposed, so a quick spotlight and missile later, it’s paste. I use the hacking order and missile order to get some movement too. BS Attack (Guided) is so good!
I throw the Guilang Minelayer at the Daylami on the left, trading shotgun slug fire with the Daylami as the Djanzaban behind it dodges. I eventually lose the Guilang Minelayer to a direct template from the Daylami while the Djanbazan passes its saves.
I move the Nokken Hacker on the right and secure an objective.
Then, I walk on the Tiger Soldier to dominate the quadrant that the Guilang FO was previously in. A few coordinated orders to get some better positions and ensure I have enough points in quadrants later, and I pass the turn.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Haqqislam
I did end up leaving the Kaplan Engineer out to dry, which turned out to be fine as his first opponent was a Kum biker. A Blitzen later and the Kum was defanged.
Clint threw a bunch of stuff into a series of coordinated orders and moved all of his forces forward. He even threw a Ghulam Hacker under the bus to get shot by a Nokken and take out the Tiger Soldier. That same Ghulam hacker got him an objective too.
Unfortunately for him, Saladin was Spotlit on the way in. Clint brought on a Ragik in my near left quadrant to try and contest it. I realize now that I should’ve spotlit it with the nearby Nokken, but oh well.
Bottom of 3 – White Company
I had shifted the other Varangian right to try and get it into the fight. I thought I could catch Saladin and Rouhani under a template, but it looks like I just missed that and got SMG’ed down by Rouhani.
No matter. I got rid of Saladin with a missile, dramatically dropping the points in that quadrant.
The Peacemaker manages to put the Ragik dogged, which is enough for me to hold the quadrant with just the Peacemaker after it dies.
So, this frees the Nokken there up to try and take out the Djanbazan and grab the nearby objective. I spend a few orders trading fire with it…
then just give up and split burst against the Djanbazan and the Ragik. I kill the Ragik, but another spent moving and shooting sees the Djanbazan finally get lucky and shock the Nokken off the table.
No matter. I send the Jujak in with its Lieutenant order and try to take out Rouhani, succeeding only in putting him into NWI. With the Jujak and the Clipper in the quadrant, I outpoint Rouhani, so I’m free to try and take the far right quadrant with the Nokken. I sprint the Nokken forward and Clint dodges Rouhani, thinking I’m going to try and shotgun template him and rely on my Mimetism -6, but I just keep going to hold the quadrant.
Rouhani and the Kum aren’t enough to out-point the Nokken, so I have 3 quadrants again and am close enough to Clint’s HVT that I secure it.
This makes it an
8-1 White Company Victory!
Post Game Analysis
I’m pretty happy with my performance this game. I kept my eye on the objectives the whole time. I didn’t strongly optimize for the most points–had I done that I probably should’ve flipped the deployment of the Guilang to get more specialists on my left, which would’ve been very helpful on Turn 3 to get another objective. I made a few minor misplays–missing AROs here and there, like the Warcor/Rafiq and the Nokken/Ragik.
I don’t think there were serious issues with my play though. I think going back into camo was probably best for the Guilang, but I really did want that Kum dead. I guess the mine would’ve helped to fend him off, and he didn’t have much in the way of orders. Still, bikes are horrendously dangerous, and that Nokken on my left was critical to holding that quadrant. I could’ve recovered but it would’ve been a pain. In any case, here’s the promised discussion that I had with Clint post-game.
After some thought, here’s a suggested list for Clint:
GROUP 1GROUP 2
NAHAB (Parachutist) Red Fury, Nanopulser / Pistol, Viral CC Weapon. (1 | 36)
SHAYTANIYAH REMOTE Missile Launcher / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1.5 | 16)
NASMAT PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
DRUZE (Hacker, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Pitcher, D-Charges ( ) / Viral Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 30)
TUAREG (Hacker, Hacking Device) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Shock Mines ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 34)
ZULEYKA Light Flamethrower(+1B), Smoke Grenades / Breaker Pistol(+2B), EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 11)
6 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I don’t think this is what I personally would take to Supremacy out of vanilla Haqq. You’d see A LOT more skimishers and Fiday out of my list, but I tried to stay true to what Clint was trying to do with his plan and playstyle. I’ve swapped the Ragik to a Nahab, gotten rid of the Farzan who is kind of a weird choice, and changed the two Kum to Zulekya, who is DUMB.
The key is now there’s a way to litter repeaters in the midfield without risking Saladin via the Druze, and then use Saladin to power the Daylami in the second group. So yeah. I like this a little more than what Clint brought, but I don’t think it works super well with his intended plan.
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