As mentioned in my last battle report the current casual IGL has a tournament with the customary special rules - a list building restriction of 250 points and 5.5 SWC alongside the 'Space Magic' rule. This rule is simple, but absolutely has the potential to define a game. At the end of deployment in initiative order, each player will select two of their troopers on the table (including those in a camo state) - one with the STR attribute and one with the VITA attribute. For the STR trooper, they will roll three dice on the booty tables, re-roll any duplicate results and select one result to apply to the trooper. Ditto for the VITA trooper, but using the metachemistry table instead of the booty table.
In short, both players have a strong chance of getting potentially two troopers with a very strong buff - you could have mim-6 on a Hetkari, give dogged and immunity (enhanced) to a Shikami, and so on. The 250/5.5 format is intended to emphasize the focus of the game around the recipients of the Space Magic buffs. Obviously this format is not especially balanced due to it's high variance nature, but it is fun. In some ways it reminds of the Mercenaries homebrew format, which in my opinion is enjoyable in no small part because of the strange units and mechanical interactions that are endemic to it.
I've already discussed the specifics of the mission - Superiority - in my previous battle report, but to recap it is a very second turn favored zone control mission without the 'wildcards' of similar missions such as HVTs, classifieds or impactful special rules like the QAZ creature.
The map that my opponent I rolled is a curious one. It is rather dense in terms of cover, with very limited LoF from the ground level thanks to the containers and central blue wall that runs through the map. However, there are some strong ARO positions (circled in red) that can draw LoF to large portions of the map. The top deployment zone is in my opinion notably weaker than the bottom, with a more exposed DZ width wise, and with poorer access to cover that would let it break into the midfield. There are roughly three main firelanes on this map (the orange lines), but they are rather limited and linear in what they can see. The central firelane also has a ground level fence which is considered to be a saturation zone (indicated by the yellow line). The final feature of note is the gate (circled in pink), with it's two consoles on either side of it. An engineer or hacker in base contact with either console can spend a short skill to move the gate up or down, opening up that area's sight lines and allowing units to move through. However, while interesting conceptually, this mechanic did not prove especially relevant in at least this particular game.
The list I utilized for this game has two obvious targets for the space magic buffs - the Azra'il and the Sunduqbut. The former benefits massively from the durability and movement upgrades that the metachemistry table features, with the only poor potential results being +6 BTS, +3 PH, and to a lesser extent regeneration. The Sunduqbut on the other hand has less strong potential pulls from the booty table - with a lot more of the table being duds. However, the Sunduqbut has potential to high roll extremely well, with mim-6, movement 8-4, the HMG and to a lesser extent +4 arm and MSV1 all being potentially game changing.
I was surprised as to how much I was able to fit in this list while keeping to the 250 point limit. Obviously there are cuts in this list compared to what it would probably look like at 300 points - there is no Fiday, and no Mukhtar Red Fury. While the lack of MSV is apparent, this list is still able to fit in a wide plethora of threats - two solid gunfighters, three airborne troops and a guided missile package. The strong midfield presence of a Hawwa hacker and two viral minelayers is also worth pointing out.
My opponent's KCF list is similar in how it has two obvious targets for space magic. The Redeye and the Griffin have the potential to become absolute monsters from space magic. The Griffin especially benefits in my opinion from the mobility upgrades offered by the metachemistry table, while the Redeye gaining access to a weapon like a Multi Rifle or HMG make it a true terror.
While this list does also hit the full 15 troopers, I feel that in comparison to my vHaqq list that it does sacrifice quite a bit to do so. This list does not feature any AP gun fighting, and in general little answers to a TAG or even linked HI on ARO - and while this is a reasonable risk to take versus vHaqq, it is a potential limitation. This list is also highly reliant on Jackals in fireteams with Magistrates to keep it's order pool intact - trading into the Magistrates with units like a Beasthunter or Fiday, or having the Magistrates targeted by a GML play could be devastating. The large number of Jackals - especially in conjunction with the total reaction bots - does give this list a potentially frustrating level of control over it's DZ and close regions of the midfield with lots of DTWs overlapping with B3 TR thunderbolts, and linked panzerfausts.
To get into the game, I won the LT roll and chose to go first - hoping that a strong turn one alpha strike with a Sunduqbut wielding space magic could be crippling, and also hoping to deny my opponent the ability to use their own space magic units. My opponent chose to deploy second on the top half of the map, most likely hoping that they utilize the innate mobility of their key active pieces to deploy very defensively, and access to some of the more dominant ARO positions on the map.
With the Azra'il in reserve - who end up being deployed centrally by the cars - I had clustered most of my deployment on the left side of the table, reasoning that the Hawwa hacker by itself on the right would be decently capable of holding down that flank. The left side also gives access to the cluster of containers left of the large orange truck, which I felt was a potentially strong position to control my opponent's ability to move around the majority of their DZ.
My opponent reserved their Redeye and Griffin using strategos. I was surprised by the number of AROs posted by my opponent - with the two TR bots taking rather aggressive positions (the second one is on the right side of the map, obscured by the angle of this image), and a great deal of the Jackals and Beasthunters in aggressive positions as well. The Redeye was deployed extremely safely in the middle of the table, with it's mobility making it more than capable of quickly repositioning, while the the Griffin was clustered with a Fennec and Dr. Harper on the leftmost building, hoping to exploit the elevation to take definitive control of that flank of the table.
Now for the space magic rolls - my Sunduqbut would grab a Multi Rifle - a mostly superfluous pickup that only might have been relevant vs the Redeye, while my Azra'il would gain movement 8-4, which is obviously very strong. My opponent's Redeye gained +4 arm, bringing it up to arm 10, while the Griffin gained super-jump which has strong synergy given that the unit already has the jump (8") skill.
Both my opponent and I chose to call in a speedball, and my opponent decided to strip two orders from my first group as we went into the first round of the game.
The start of my first turn was a little difficult. While the Azra'il was easily able to put down the TR bot on the opposite side of the table, unopposed combi rifle turret shots at long range managed to put the Azra'il unconscious. This forced the use of my speedball, Yuan Yuan and all of my group two orders to recover the Azra'il.
While this was order intensive, this play achieved everything I hoped for and more. The Bashi's B3 Contender was more than capable of tearing through the Griffin, before it closed to DTW range and cleaned up Dr. Harper and the Fennec - with a lucky save versus Harper's nanopulser meaning the Bashi did not even need to trade out.
With only a few orders left, I repositioned my Azra'il further back in order to try and keep it safe from the Redeye, and passed the turn.
My opponent moved out with the Redeye, taking out the Bashi and pushing hard down that flank - hoping to recover their position in the game with a powerful deep attack.
The Redeye did end up running into the Hawwa hacker - but was able to successfully reset against the first hacking attempt and was then able to move to directly engage and kill the Hawwa.
Moving into the second turn, I attempted to make a play utilizing the Korsan to engage my opponent's other flank and hopefully fully cripple my opponent's order pool - but unfortunately the Korsan beefed it's shots and fell unconscious.
The Sunduqbut now activated, and pushed forward taking out the Beasthunter and Jackal, before placing a mine and taking position in the containers.
As the final action of my turn two, the Yuan Yuan moved forward to try and contest the left quadrant.
Outside of that, my opponent pushed their final TR bot to the tower, hoping to impede my turn three movement enough to limit scoring.
The Yuan Yuan started off my third turn by trading into the Magistrate in a sequence that was probably a bit too complicated for it's own good. I attempted to place a missile from my GML bot into the remaining TR bot, but instead lost the GML bot.
The Barid was then pushed to press a button, and took and opportunistic rifle fight versus my opponent's Jackal, killing it.
Finally, the Shakush pilot moved up the table to press another button and capture the quadrant.
I think the main takeway I have from this game is the power of vHaqq's airborne deployment options. Aside from the Korsan, all of my parachutist/CJ troops had significant impact on the game. The Yuan Yuan's reliable smoke throwing with it's PH of 14 and innate mobility with super-jump allowed it to be relevant in the midfield even despite the fact that I was forced to utilize it in a reactive manner. While the Korsan was unfortunately unable to achieve anything, if it was able to win that fight (which statistically is very likely) it would have been able to most likely effectively end the game right then and there.
The star of the show was obviously the Bashi Bazouk. The B3 Contender is such a frightening weapon with it's ability to punch up against even HI, while it's access to surprise attack and the ability to clear out mines with holoprojector further increases it's abilities. Finally, the +B boarding pistol of the Bashi Bazouk is a tremendous tool if the unit is able to get within zone of control. This unit feels like it has more offensive potential than the Fiday, and comes at an extremely affordable price.
I was also surprised by how reasonable my order pool felt despite the large amount of airborne deployment. This list archetype might struggle more in that regard if it is forced to go second or if the map is less favorable for parachutists.
I will elaborate this point more in a future battle report, but I think this game also illustrated the extremely second turn favored nature of this mission. I think the overall momentum was in my favor for the majority of this game, without my opponent ever really being able to find moments where they were not forced to respond to my position. Despite this, I was unable to secure any points until the final round, after putting my opponent in retreat. I think I could have probably been a bit more proactive in terms of putting units on ARO (especially my guided missile bot) in turns two and three to constrain my opponent's movement. I also think that this list archetype - or at least this specific permutation of it - is not especially suited to going first in this mission.
This was an interesting and informative game, despite the rather snowballish nature of it. I also think the space magic ruleset is a fun one - there is something very entertaining about zipping an 8-4 Azra'il around.
Thanks to my opponent for the game, and thank you for reading this! Please comment below if you have any feedback or general responses.
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