Mark's Warhammer Blog: CanCon Playtesting Tohaa

This is a log of all the playtesting I did for CanCon with my Tohaa. It starts from after War of the Worlds in the first week of October 2017, by which stage I feel like I had the basics of Tohaa down, and the Totally Crit Open the week after where I placed 3rd/14 running a Gorgos in a limited insertion setting (undefeated but I had a draw in a 3 round event).

That's me in the light blue shirt at CanCon 2018

Note that CanCon 2018 has the following missions in the following order: Capture and Protect, The Grid, Power Pack, Acquisition, Highly Classified. It is a spec-ops class tournament i.e. all the missions had to be drawn from the special operations variety of missions.

EDIT: I came 8/68 at CanCon (not so great), but I was on the top table for the last round (i.e. the winner wins the whole tournament), and I played Damien Stallard in round 1 (I reckon if there was a vote people would say Damien is the best player in Australia) so I like to think I know what I'm talking about.

If you want to read the whole back-log of my Tohaa testing starting around September 2017, the links are here:

http://emperorsghost.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/tohaa-listbuilding-for-one-day-tourney.html

http://emperorsghost.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/thoughts-on-how-to-play-tohaa.html

http://emperorsghost.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/tournament-report-war-of-worlds.html

http://emperorsghost.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/playtesting-stuff-from-tohaa.html

http://emperorsghost.blogspot.com.au/2017/10/totally-crit-open-tco-tournament-report.html

23/10/2017

My next game is against Merovingia in highly classified, my favourite mission but one that can be a little bit tricky for Tohaa as they don't have a hacker with spotlight and they only have a single unit with STR - the Kaauri sentinel. The sentinel doesn't have extra levels of unconscious to prevent the dreaded 'straight to dead', but it is LI so it can go prone, which is pretty cool I guess. The Kaauri also has a nullifier, which you could deploy to prevent your opponent using spotlight (data scan is not a hacking attack if I understand correctly, so you can't prevent it), though I think it would be pretty order intensive. The problem with the Kaauri is that the sniper profile is kind of expensive and bad compared to other options Tohaa have like the Clipsos and Nikoul, and the other profiles are unlikely to go unconscious unless your opponent is using a lot of AD or leaves mines out that you can run them into (shock doesn't effect STR units).

Given how hard this mission is on Tohaa listbuilding wise, I'm going to build a list very specifically for this mission and this game rather than thinking yet about how to build two lists for the CanCon mission selection. My intention will be to just try a bunch of shit that might work and see what happens.

Some other thoughts:

Kumotail's can complete all the classifieds for engineers and doctors using helpers, so I think having one running with two helpers is probably better than running one in a link team, but this is quite expensive.
A link team with a Sukuel FO (d-charges), Kamael paramedic and Makaul can complete every classified related to the HVT and sabotage and there isn't much your opponent can do about it thanks to eclipse. Sukuel FO is heaps lame though...K1 ugh.
I really want a clipsos FO for designation and to go into suppression down the approach to my HVT to make it really hard to get to him (I use an Aleph High Functionary).
I think it is advisable to run the white hacking Kamael even without the ability to spotlight in order to have some way to score datascan and HVT espionage. It's a shame symbiobombs can't do datascan.
The HVT kidnapping card makes it important to have staying power in Highly Classified in a way that really wasn't necessary in the old season with retro-engineering. Tohaa have loads of veterans, elites and chain of command units (Gao-Rael, Sakiel, Sukuel, Ectros, Taquel, Kaeltar), but having one in civ-evac with the HVT at the end of the game is a pretty tall order.
Running Kaauri means you will almost certainly be using the 3 link team + 4 chumps build, and it means you likely won't have space for Chaksa sensors, which is lame.
I don't know whether it is feasible to not have the ability to score data scan and test run (i.e. to not run Kaauri or the white hacker). There's a good chance that one of them will come up, and I've had many games of highly classified come down to a single card, especially the card in your hand (though you can swap that out for secure HVT, which I've found to be fairly straightforward for Tohaa).
If you are reliant on "secure HVT", then you really need to also have staying power into the late game and the associated hitting potential in the early game. I think it might be better to have a list that actually kills your opponent and denies them board position while scoring say 3/5 cards to your opponent's 2 (a win then would be 8-3 so long as you both score your secret card) rather than trying to rush all the cards turn 1 and then play hide and seek.
The Gao-Tarsos paramedic comes with D-charges and synergises with the white hacking device, so I'm going to give it a run even though I detest AD and the Tarsos especially (who needs an extra wound?)

This is the list I'm going to run. It is bizarre, but at least it will allow me to try out a bunch of stuff, including stuff that I don't ever run, like the Tarsos and white hacking device:

Highly classified experiment

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GROUP 1

SUKEUL (Forward Observer) K1 Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)

KAMAEL Paramedic (Medikit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

KAMAEL Hacker (White Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)

KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12)

KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)

CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

GROUP 2

SUKEUL Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 36)

KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)

KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)

NIKOUL Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

GAO-TARSOS Paramedic (Medikit) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 30)

4 SWC | 300 Points

[url=http://army.infinitythegame.com/index.html?l=BwBgjAPgzCIQEgSwOYAsA2BPABAY3QIYDORiAZogKYAm2lAHgA6UBOiAtpQHYAuEATABYApAHYAnCGEwoANmEBCMMNmD5/fnMXAVAVijCNsnQv4rBow0JFLz6zTZ2z9V44rBTnuq6INLPut4avor83hLKMIJ+4noiwWZKys72ovJJeqnyAAJCYpLSIIJStqr2UN6mUqJgsUJQfmDesrJSGsB+Iqp1YQbZ2UA]Open in Infinity Army

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Such a bizarre list. 4 SWC! But it's got some things going on. I've gone with the Sukuel FO + Paramedic + Makaul team, which is capable of scoring all the downfield classifieds. I've got a backup team in the Sakiel + Kamael hacker + Makaul, which can kill stuff pretty good and score kidnapping and datascan. Then there's the obligatory sniper team with the Sukuel, a Kamael FO for long range designation on a late-game rush, and the Kaeltar (only 1!? WTF is this list!?). The Gao-tarsos is in group 2 for sneakiness. He can do inoculation and is often an easy 2 orders for sabotage after walking on. I've got the Nikoul in to give me another sniper line and generally be a d-bag. He's also my only MSV in this list. Finally, the kumotail is there with her two helpers and there's a Kaauri around to heal. Kaauri and chaksa's provide DZ defense and I will look to coordinated order them up to the proximity of my HVT to prevent any incursions. 15 orders is nice.

24/10/2017

Been thinking a lot about how to split the lists as I want to run Nikouls and Clipsos snipers in Power Pack and the Grid because they both have saturation zones, and because highly classified is so damn hard for Tohaa to play efficiently. I'm increasingly leaning towards a list for Highly Classified and The Grid, and a separate list for Power Pack, Acquisition and Capture and Protect, because the latter three have fairly similar objectives. I'll give a brief run-down of my thinking on the missions:

Capture and Protect:

Only a single classified means don't worry about a spread of specialists
This is a straightforward kill mission with the twist that eclipse grenades make stealing the button a synch.
What I need to be careful about is my opponent taking my button using smoke.

The Grid:

Requires a lot of specialists and anti-material weapons
You can either press the antennas with specialists or use the forward observer skill to do it at range with B2: big plus for forward observer I think, especially forward observer + missile launcher or K1 for long range pressing and detonating of the buttons in your opponent's side of the table.
FOs and Makaul's in link teams are very effective at designating and then detonating antennas.
The Sukuel FO with K1 combi is a one-man point scoring machine (good synergy with Highly Classified where d-charges + FO makes him excellent for scoring cards).
Don't forget the designated target points: going first can really help get this done.
Saturation zone encourages snipers outside of link teams

Power Pack:

Saturation zone encourages snipers outside of link teams
Deployment zone encourages infiltrating snipers (Clipsos sniper looking good)
Deployment zone makes bum rushing potentially very effective
But the deployment zone also makes refuse flank deployment quite effective, especially against aggressive link teams (as opposed to a Marut or Avatar)
Eclipse grenades mean that a 4-4MOV link team can take the pack without your opponent being able to do much about it.
Antenna activation check happens at the end of the game and you can't get more than 2, so having some sensors around to prevent TO units swinging the game on you is critical. Indeed, looking at scoring, this is more important than taking their console.
Only 1 classified objective

Acquisition:

Control checks happen at the end of the game and any number of points can be denied using a single model (so a shaolin can deny a cutter control).
This again implies that sensor is necessary to clear any lingering TO units
Alpha strike tactics are very effective here, but can be overcome by lingering TO units, even in the retreat condition if they have courage (i.e. martial arts, which many skirmishers have).
Having a sturdy datatracker is helpful for controlling the button, especially if you go first (2 extra points).
Only 1 classified

Highly Classified:

Need a spread of specialists to accomplish all objectives.
Very hard for Tohaa to score test run because we don't have STR units other than the Kaauri
Very lame for Tohaa to score data scan because our hackers are bad
A crippling alpha strike (targetting key specialists) while scoring only a couple of cards can be an effective strategy in this mission, but it's not really something Tohaa is capable of
Chain of command is *much* less useful here than in other missions.

So some thoughts:

Highly Classified and The Grid both reward the Sukuel FO with K1 combi rifle. Pairing it with a Makaul to get forward and a paramedic allows you to score many cards (HVT: designation, HVT: innoculation, kidnapping, sabotage) without your opponent really being able to stop you, and the Sukuel on her own is capable of designating and destroying antennas in the Grid from range quite reliably with her high burst and BS.
Power Pack and Acquisition both demand a couple of sensor units to flush out TO camo specialists lurking around the buttons.

And on to some lists. First, my Capture&Protect/Power Pack/Acquisition list, which is very close to my default "take-all-comers" tohaa list:

C&P, Power Pack, Acquisition

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GROUP 1

SUKEUL Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 36)

SAKIEL Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 33)

KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)

GROUP 2

KAMAEL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)

GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 31)

CLIPSOS Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26)

CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)

6 SWC | 300 Points

[url=http://army.infinitythegame.com/index.html?l=BwBgjAPgzCIQwgMgAoBoAEyD2B3ApgE6YCGAxgNYYCCpAjgK4CWAzowC6NYB2EATACwBSAOwBOEIJj8JAQl6CAbP2GDeAsIJnBFAViireC7TP1Lta/sd4ThYUav5R9W3frVHN8pSotCZGpQUDKB1NbQU9Aw9/CQjQtWF9AAEA/iC1GE8bOwcnTVNLA2VNFQj5d1CY3XjeRMEkpKA]Open in Infinity Army

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The only difference from my current default list is that I have dropped the Kerail Preceptor and replaced it with the two Chaksas. I lose smoke (but the preceptor is a very expensive source of a rather unreliable smoke to be honest) and gain an order, 2 flamethrower guards and their sensors. Ideally, I would have the Chaksa's in group 2 together for coordinated orders, but then the Clipsos would be more obvious and I would often only have 9 orders (and -2) on turn 1. I think the Chaksa are pretty handy in all of these missions for flushing out TO specialists, guarding my DZ button with their flamers and providing cheap orders.

The rest of the list is pretty standard Tohaa.

I start with my best attempt at an alpha strike unit in the Sakiel with viral combi + Sukuel ML + Makaul triad. This team can eclipse forward and then reliably end things with the Sakiel (I find viral combi to actually be the most lethal thing in Tohaa)to open a breach before turning a corner and letting fly either missiles down the length of the DZ or B3 mimetic BS13 shotgun templates on clustered units (or B2 heavy flamer if they are a bit more spread out). You can then ARO BS-attack, firing with the viral and shotgun or ML while throwing eclipse with the Makaul to leave you relatively unassailable in an eclipse cloud with a tough, Kinematica lvl2 CC unit hanging around.

Next up is the slower but in some ways more reliable sweeper team with the Gao Rael spitfire triad (with the Preceptor he also becomes my main response to TR bots, but the Clipsos is more than enough, especially with the other snipers). The Kamael FO is there to press buttons and the Makaul provides defense and tasty templates against Phalanx and other annoyances. I think it might be better to use something else here that can go into suppression as the Gao Rael is appropriate for killing most of the things you need the Makaul for - something to ponder. I think any replacement would be worse even with the suppression option because B2 flamer is just so broken and CC potential can be a real problem solver against TAGs and other annoyances.

Final triad in group 1 is my defensive triad with the Sakiel lieutenant, chain of command kaeltar and another Makaul. These guys are typically on guard duty in my deployment zone, but can easily push forward to press buttons and kill stuff thanks to viral combi, a specialist and eclipse. Chaksa floats around providing orders.

In group 2 I've got the defensive link with Gao Rael that I often use to kill TR bots and TO snipers, ably supported by the chain of command Kaeltar for late-game buttons and DZ defence, and the chump lineman kamael for further defensive highjinks. Another chaksa provides orders and can often absorb them on turn 1 moving forward to sensor, while the sneaky clipsos hangs around for sniper traps and killing TR bots (revealing a second shock sniper when your opponent is coming at the Gao Rael with pheonix or some such is savage). I am tempted to replace the clipsos with an FO for final turn swing antics, but I want to make use of the saturation zone on my defence (this would also require turning the Makaul in the spitfire team into a chump Kamael), and I don't think I need more specialists for any of these missions. Suppression will likely also be met by a lot of chain rifles through the middle and generally be less effective in a saturation zone than it would be otherwise. Finally, terrain prepared for power pack will hopefully reward an infiltrating sniper in other missions.

Basic plan in most missions will be to bomb forward with the alpha strike team and kill stuff including the HVT and press a few objectives, then leave my opponent to deal with my snipers. Hopefully their turn will be ineffectual and I can then eclipse-steal the button and run home. Going second, I basically lure my opponent in under the ML's range band and then counter strike with all my viral units.

On to the much more dubious list for Highly Classified and The Grid, but one that I am much more happy with than the mash-up of crap list I have at the top of this document:

Highly Classified/The Grid
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GROUP 1
SUKEUL (Forward Observer) K1 Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
KAMAEL Paramedic (Medikit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 13)
SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 13)
GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 33)
KAMAEL Hacker (White Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 13)
NIKOUL Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

GROUP 2
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)
GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 31)
KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

[url=http://army.infinitythegame.com/index.html?l=BwBgjAPgzCIQEgSwOYAsA2BPABAYXQIYDORiAZogKYAmA9ACqqXYDiATotRAEwAsApAHYAnCH4woANn4BCMP0m9p3blNnAFAVij8Vk4bO4Leg3XwFzjy1ZvVadegzJ2KNK3hsuLrUCxsnaZvqyYLaSkmIqwDoAAtxigmAGfFA6MvFCSbq8qbIuHmYmsgYBAiqCRnLyAdaC0lVatdIxMUA===]Open in Infinity Army
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Only 2 snipers, which is a bit of a low count for my recent lists, but I think you want to be going first in both of these missions, especially as the Sukuel can designate and detonate your opponent's buttons, which then makes it expensive for them to do anything on their first turn. I've got the Nikoul because he is just as effective as any other sniper in this mission because of the saturation zone. I will hopefully be able to deploy the Gao Rael into a cross-fire lane so that he can occasionally still make use of the B bonus, and he can always clear TR bots and the like even with B2 because of his range advantage.

The link teams are designed to score points and still being able to kill things rather than the other way around, which is more typical. The first triad is my classified objective toolbox with the Sukuel FO packing d-charges, the paramedic and the Makaul to get them forward. In the Grid I intend to get the Sukuel to just beyond the saturation zone with eclipse and then start forward observing and K1 detonating all my opponent's buttons. I hate the K1 but at least she can kill any target with it. The second link team is mostly for The Grid - the Kamael designates on the way in and then the Makaul chops it up. These guys will be sweeping the midfield buttons on turn 2. The final triad is my slow team with the almost compulsory MSV2 Gao Rael spitfire - a very reliable late-game sweeper - the hacker to press buttons before the Makaul chops them and score data scan on advanced enemies late game (earlier than that it is too slow because the Gao Rael is only 4-2). The triad in group 2 is the guard team with the chain of command shotguns and the sniper. They can press buttons in The Grid but are mostly useless in Highly Classified (though note that every triad has a veteran capable of scoring Kidnapping, and these guys have 3 veterans). They are there because I never leave home without symbiomates.

The final unit is the Kumotail with 2 helpers to score experimental drug, inoculation, d-charges and generally heal my dudes/snipers. The only classified this list can't complete is test run, which I can live with. It is quite efficient at the others. It's not great that I don't have any sensor, but I can just blow up buttons so I don't fear the late-game TO swing much here. 5.5/300 is icing on the cake.

29/10/2017

Had my game against Merovingia. Got up 10-5 in the end but only because my opponent failed to datascan twice on his last 2 orders, otherwise it would have been 6-6 with both of us scoring all the classifieds.

We both had designation in hand, and the joint missions were data scan, telemetry, sabotage and coup de grace. He chose deployment and took first turn.

I didn't play very well. I've got a lot on my mind at the moment and I tend to zone out pretty hard when I'm not in tournament mode. This resulted in a Makaul eating a mine on my 2nd or 3rd order that I thought he was out of range of. I then couldn't smoke past a sniper to get to the HVT with my Sukuel + paramedic combo to score cards, so I instead spent the rest of my orders on a gao rael team murdering stuff. His first turn he does what the French are known to do and rushed around scoring points with infiltrators. My HVT wasn't particularly well placed but there honestly weren't many good spots for him, especially going first. I think he got designation, Sabotage and telemetry. Second turn I did basically the same on some exposed/dead units and by rushing his HVT now that my spitfire Gao had killed everyone standing in the way. His second turn involved a run with a Chasseur against a Sakiel to get coup de grace. My third turn I had to score data scan, which was the only card with didn't both have yet, and then do something to prevent his hacker, tucked far away in a corner, from scoring data scan. I got data scan with the first order, then butchered a bunch of stuff with my Gao Rael before going into suppression with a bunch of guys to lock down his hacker at >12", giving me a 1-order buffer. He did some smart stuff. He sacrificed his lieutenant to shoot dead a Kamael in suppression. He then used cautious move to avoid my snipers and get his hacker round the back to where he could have 2 unmolested goes at data-scanning that dead kamael. He rolled a 15 and a 20 with his alguacile. Boo-urns.

Overall I was pretty happy with the list. It can score classifieds real good with plenty of redundancy. It hits reasonable hard, but I obviously couldn't stop him scoring classifieds, so maybe I need to think about hitting harder. The Nikoul performed admirably, and the Sukuel scored HVT: Designation, telemetry and sabotage before soaking 4 orders on suppression, so I think she's earned her spot.

01/11/2017

I'm playtesting some missions for the narrative event that I'm organising for January with the club here in London. I've got a game lined up for Sunday. The mission objectives are secret, but of course I know what they are because I designed them. The clues most people get are the following:
- 200 points and only 1.5 SWC

- Soldiers of fortune
- 16 XP spec ops
- This is a covert operations mission: units capable of surprise shot, surprise attack and long-range engagement with the enemy will be very useful, as will units able to move unseen.
- Expect a heavy presence of security personnel
- Expect booby traps
- You do not need specialists to complete this mission

I'm planning to use this opportunity to experiment some Tohaa stuff that I rarely use, so the following:

Narrative mission 1
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CLIPSOS Minelayer Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
IGAO Boarding Shotgun, Stun Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 25)
CLIPSOS Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26)
KOTAIL Combi Rifle, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
HATAIL Spec-Ops (16 XP) (BS:12, WIP:14, CH: Mimetism, Doctor) Combi Rifle, Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
KERAIL PRECEPTOR Submachine Gun, Smoke Grenades + 1 Surda SymbioBeast / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 20)
SURDA SYMBIOBEAST Pulzar / Viral CCW. (0 | 8)
KAELTAR Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioBombs / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
GAO-RAEL Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 28)
KAMAEL Paramedic (Medikit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

1.5 SWC | 200 Points

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Bit weird with only 9 orders, but I wanted to have everything here more than I wanted that last order. I'm going to be very light on orders with 2 TO in there as well. This is probably the only time I will ever use a kotail. So expensive. I'm also trying to symbiobombs and the Igao. I've got 1 triad to smoke shoot with the Preceptor, my spec ops BS12 mimetic spitfire bro as a lone-wolf with the Kotail, and then a bunch of skirmishers - the minelayer to provide some cover for the Igao, and then the sniper clipsos, a model that intrigues me greatly. I'm a bit weak to booby traps, but hopefully the Surda symbiobeast and holoechoes can help me with that.

02/11/2017

I want to do a bit of theorycrafting to think about about my Tohaa lists would fair against what I consider to be the top generic builds in Infinity. These include:

Military Orders hospitaller + Magister's link
Qapu Khalki Janissary link
Riot grrls link (are you sensing a pattern here with these undercosted HI links?)
Steel Phalanx with Myrmidon Enomotarchos link (definitely a pattern)
Marut
Avatar
CHA horde

There are some other powerful builds but they are either pretty straightforward albeit tough games (e.g. SAA), not so strong in a special-operations format (e.g. Onyx Rodok link), or pretty straightforward for Tohaa (e.g. Hassassins).

Let's work down that order.

Military Orders

I don't have a lot of hitting power to knock over the defensive link, the BS17 HMG will make light work of my Gao Rael and Nikoul Snipers and can shrug off a surprise shot from my clipsos, and is on 14s to hit my Sukuel ML on 5 while I am on 13s to hit him on 2. Not great. With the new single combat group rule, I suspect most people will be running only 10 orders as well, which means that the rest of the list is also going to be mostly 2W dickheads like Montessa with LGL (quite effective against Tohaa), Joan etc, so the alpha strike is mostly off the cards. With everyone's massive PH, using B2 heavy flamers to clear people out is going to be difficult.

My first thought is that if you've got the opportunity and the Magisters are all out on ARO, get your Sukuel ML to engage them from >32". You will be 13s on 2 against their 6s on 2 (or 17s on 1 if they dodge) and you have unlimited ammunition. Once they've all unloaded their panzers you can take them out fairly effectively with closer range weapons. If you can kill even 1 of them it makes the HMG much less effective, especially from <16" where you can start to attack with a B4 Sakiel. You might be able to accomplish something similar with a Clipsos sniper, in part because the knights are religious and so can't go prone after unloading a panzerfaust at you over bad range.

The other obvious thought is just to focus on objectives. If they are only running 10 orders, you can do quite well just running around beeping boops with eclipse and not really bothering with the link team. If they venture forth and leave home base unguarded, you can head on in and stomp face with one of your viral combi triads.

Qapu Khalki & Riot grrls

Pretty much the same as above. Throw eclipse and press buttons, then stall while hunting their specialists. These builds don't usually have heaps of specialists, so it isn't too hard to hunt them down. B2 flamethrowers are quite effective on ARO, because your opponent does not want to dodge in that situation. QK is going to use a TR bot with marksmanship to kill your snipers. That's fine - it will take them a whole turn's worth of orders. The riot grrls will actually have trouble knocking you over because their missile launchers won't be any more accurate than your snipers, and their spitfire will struggle to make range band on you.

Got to say, I think HI is the hardest matchup for Tohaa. TAGs you can try to weather the storm on turn 1 and then get in their with a Makaul for Cc carnage, but against HI there are just too many of the bastards and you really don't hit that hard. My lists are always crafted to murder small guys. One thought is to use more K1, but that's gross. Missiles would be good, but I find myself removing them from lists going into Power Pack and The Grid because the saturation zone makes them much less useful.

04/11/2017

I playtested a round of a narrative event today, which gave me a chance to try out some whacky stuff. I had a kotail in there, the Kerail Preceptor and the Igao, as well as 2 clipsos.

The clipsos were pretty good, though BS11 does make it hard to hit sometimes. Both the combi and sniper loadouts are for absorbing orders late game as people struggle to reach objectives, rather than for doing anything early on.

The Kotail is shite, as I suspected. Holoprojector is much better now that it reboots automatically at the end of turn if you are hidden, but it's basically super expensive camouflage, and people can tell which one is the real dude. The Kotail FO I feel could be okay in some circumstances, like supremacy (spend the game pretending to be 3 chaksa flamers, zip off on the last turn to beep boops and then contest a far quadrant), but it's pretty situational and too expensive for that. I'd rather than just spam triads (god link teams are broken).

I'm really cold on the Preceptors as well. I basically always just spend 1 order on them to throw smoke and then they sit idle the rest of the game. I think I'd rather have 2 chaksas or even 2 Makaul's just roaming free with an impetuous order. The handler is so crap. Maybe if I played against TAGs more often I would value them.

The igao was...interesting. They stack an almost unavoidable -12 MOD the turn they strike, with -6 for surprise attack, -3 for i-Kohl and -3 from martial arts lvl 3, and they crit on a 25 with a DA weapon and PH13. Pretty savage. They could easily tie up a TAG the whole game with the continuous -6 MOD and CC25. Their weakness is that Tohaa don't have a shell game. They are also frenzied, which means they can't recamo after a kill. You can use a clipsos minelayer for a bit of distraction, but it's not much. Fortunately the Igao is cheap as chips and comes with a boarding shotgun, so I basically advise using him like a bandit: hunt soft targets on turn 2 in camo once the board has opened up a bit.

12/11/2017

Playtested another narrative mission yesterday and got to try and some more weird stuff. Had a Kotail again, Taqueil, 2 sets of symbiobombs (no mates) and a guided HRL. All garbage.

The Taqueil couldn't fight its way out of a paper bag and died horribly, leaving me in loss of lieutenant because I didn't have any chain of command symbiomate lads. The Kotail couldn't kill a mimetic guy in suppression with his spitfire for so many orders, but did do a bit of other damage against some light infantry. I'm not feeling it. Symbiobombs are, like hacking, too order intensive in a faction that is otherwise very efficient. I think mates are just superior, especially while bombs don't have chain of command.

Viral combi Sakiel was once again the most devastating beat stick on the table, killing things at all range bands.

15/11/2017

Had my first game of power pack last night. Quite illuminating. I took in the list from above:

C&P, Power Pack, Acquisition

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GROUP 1

SUKEUL Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 36)

SAKIEL Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 33)

KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)

MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)

CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)

GROUP 2

KAMAEL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)

GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 31)

CLIPSOS Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26)

CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)

6 SWC | 300 Points

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I was playing against Vanilla Yu Jing. Pretty standard list, TR bot, rui shi, hacker for marksmanship, celestial guard lieutenant, Su Jian, 4 kuang shi + controller, 2 shaolin, engineer with bot, ninja hacker, guilang FO, pheasant with red fury. He had first turn, I took deployment because of a nice building in one back corner that I could sit a missile launcher on. I planned to refuse flank and deploy my clipsos sniper in the tower (just outside the DZ) with good crossfire lanes. I perhaps should have chosen the other side, because it was denser and so getting forward would have been more straightforward. I also always forget that Yu Jing has no offence, so going first and doing an alpha strike is typically very effective, especially with viral combis.

It was a really lame game in the sense that the saturation zone just saps the offence in a big way. Nothing was dying. I made a couple of mistakes early on. As usual, I revealed the clipsos too early because I couldn't resist the TR bot moving out of cover at >32", but then I died to the Rui Shi (his only MSV) and his TR then got brought back up by an engineer. I definitely should have waited for the Rui Shi to be dead before the reveal, which would have given me scope to lock down the other side of the board. On my first turn, I spent too many orders firing my Sukuel at the Su Jian in cover because I wanted to press my alpha strike team forward (mostly because it was 4-4) but this was really a waste of orders. I could have left my Sukuel there to burn another order off him. I should instead have just thrown eclipse to protect the Gao Rael and charged forward to kill the Rui Shi and some other bits and bobs before dropping into suppression. I could then reveal my (not dead) clipsos and own the table, notably the Su Jian, which would be somewhat held in place by the clipsos (though 8" cautious move...yikes). My first turn ended up being quite ineffectual and I was then left exposed to a counterattack. His killed some stuff in his second turn, I killed some stuff in mine, and he was left with enough orders to press a button and stand next to my console. On my last turn his ninja survived a flamethrower and 2 volleys from a Gao Rael to hold my button, giving him a big win.

Listbuilding and mission lessons:

The Saturation zone is brutally helpful for defence, especially for big tough things sitting in cover. A Hac Tao with missile launcher would be a nightmare to unseat. Tohaa are generally bad at handling armour. You need to use melee and B2 flamers, but if your flamer is only B1, it loses a lot of its effectiveness, especially against high PH heavy infantry. The viral combi is still effective at B3, but not when you are trying to kill something with ARM5 in cover. I am really worried about heavy infantry, especially as I keep finding myself going for Gao Rael's rather than Sukuel's in list building.
The saturation zone makes lone snipers much better value for money and worth spamming, but necessitates link teams on offence so that you hit with some oomph. It also makes getting past the saturation zone when attacking critical. Rather than spending points on getting a B5 Sukuel HMG in there, I think you instead want to go for more nimble link teams, run through the sat zone using eclipse and then start killing things close up and efficiently with the viral combi rifle. The Gao Rael spitfire remains more useful than the HMG because it can hunt things through the saturation zone at close range.
You need specialists in the zone, but I'm not sold on infiltrators because with only b2, even an active turn BS11 combi rifle is going to hit like a wet fish. I'm more inclined to revisit my link team set ups so that everyone has a specialist with them.

Here is the updated list I'm working with:

C&P/Power Pack/Acquisition mk2

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GROUP 1