If there is one thing that I love when it comes to the units I use, it is when they have multiple uses. It just makes list building easier and it also makes having redundancy in a list easier. This is exemplified in dual specialists that some factions have (I am quite envious of Doctor Worm, the Sophotect and Kumotail Bioengineers. Haqqislam needs access to a Spec Ops to get the same versatility) but can be found in other places especially in Haqqislam when you have non-specialist Muyibs bringing D-charges to complete Classified Objectives without being Specialists. Even rarer though is a Specialist that can complete multiple Classified Objectives and can also be a dangerous killing machine as well. Enter the newest Dire Foe given to Haqqislam: Leila Sharif.
I can not express enough how much I love using Leila Sharif. She is a unit that can do so much for her 20 points and no SWC cost. I was actually quite surprised how much I liked her when I first used her. When she was first announced and we got a look at her stat line, I will admit it, I was hesitant about how much I would actually like her. This was before I have used the Shock Marksman Rifle (SMR) and before I got to really explore the uses of the Killer Hacking Device. I compared her to her Yu Jing counterpart and instantly thought that Yu Jing was the won who made it out with the better Dire Foe. After several games using her though, I actually think that Haqqislam made out like a bandit when it comes to the two Dire Foes. She is a diamond in the rough and she can do a lot if you know how to use her.
Leila's Stats
If you look at Leila's stats, at first she just seems like a standard Ghulam. She has one better BS skill than a Ghulam and actually has BTS 3 which is nice since she is a hacker and is under threat of hacking herself. Other than those to things though, she isn't much different than a standard Ghulam but that helps keep her cost at 20 points which puts her on par with the most expensive Ghulam. This makes it easy to fit her in a list whether in a vanilla or the Sectorials of Haqqislam. Since she is linkable in with both Ghulams and Muyibs, she helps to bring a lot to both links. For one thing, Hassassin Bahram players can rejoice because they can finally have a 5 man Core Link of Ghulams as well as cut costs in a Muyib link so it's a complete win for HB. Leila opens up a lot of possibilities within HB and might provide enough of a reason for HB players to maybe not always take Muyibs as their Core. Qapu Khalqi players still get an awesome unit to stick in their Ghulam links, something that will become clearer down below, but also, QK finally gets a named Haqqislam unit in their Sectorial (Scarface doesn't count! He's a merc and not a Haqqislam unit, despite QK being the original Sectorial that Scarface appeared in). One thing that I really love about Leila is that since she is a Ghulam, every army of Haqqislam benefited from her release. I like Yasbir, don't get me wrong but only vanilla Haqqislam and HB players get to use him. I am now really hoping that Ghulams show up in the Ramah Taskforce so I can continue to use her. The Halqa probably will prevent us from seeing Leila in the Khanate though since they are really the Ghulams of the Khanate.
Leila's Weapons
This is where Leila really distinguishes herself, her weapon selection. Her main weapon I have already sung praises for and it's part why she is so good. The Shock Marksman Rifle was a new weapon introduced in HSN3 and is a weapon only found in Haqqislam. It's actually such a unique weapon that only three units have one right now even in Haqqislam: Hassassin Ayyar, Djanbazan and Leila Sharif. It was a weapon I was skeptical of. You are basically trading in the 0 modifier from 0-8 inches for an extended +3 modifier allowing the rifle to have a +3 range band from 8 inches all the way out to 24 inches which is good but the damage is still 13 and even though it had shock ammo, I didn't think it would be that good. Yeah...I was proven wrong. First time I used it I was shocked, pun intended, about how good it was especially on the units that they gave it too. Each unit that has this weapon definitely can use it quite effectively and Leila is no exception to that. It gives her seriously killing power against other units especially when you consider the fact that a lot of other specialists are one wound models. She is able to assassinate other specialists while she is on her way to press buttons herself. I know a lot of Haqqislam players have a problem taking ALEPH, seriously, take Leila and a Djanbazan with SMR (for pesky ODD) to shut down ALEPH and their No Wound In-capitation. As much as I love the SMR, it isn't a universal solving problems weapon like a HMG is. It doesn't take on heavy armor that well and you lose the shock effect on multiple wound units, units with STR or stuff immune to shock so you don't want to be using Leila to just kill everything. Single out targets that it is useful against, and hunt them down. Smart use of the SMR will make your opponent hate the weapon.
The SMR isn't the only thing available to Leila either. She doesn't have the standard shotgun like a lot of units in Haqqislam but what she does have instead is a Breaker Pistol which helps her deal with multiple problems. I love Breaker ammo because it can be used to kill something without BTS and if they have BTS, it's halved so Breaker ammo is a problem solver so you can use it to take care of things that the SMR can't or if they get into 0-8 inch range, it gives you a nice solution to deal with close threats. Now it is just a pistol so it has a short range but Leila has tricks that can put you into this range if you want to use it. I wouldn't go hunting with the Breaker Pistol like I do with the SMR but it is nice to have in case Leila finds herself in a close quarters fire fight or even has the threat of CC.
The final weapon she has is D-charges. One complaint about the Killer Hacking Device, which Leila has as her hacking device, is that it takes away being able to do Telemetry and HVT: Designation and this takes away from the versatility that Hackers have. Besides being a specialist to press buttons their one purpose is to kill other hackers. Leila solves this by having D-charges and that may only replace one classified but let's be real, HVT: Designation is hard to complete with Spotlight. It's also useful to have on that off chance that you might get into close combat with someone, and even if the chance is low, it's fun to stick a D-charge on someone and blow it up in their face. When you finally get to do that and if it's on a close combat monster, like an Oniwaban, you will understand the satisfaction of it.
Leila's Killer Hacking Device (KHD)
I wanted this to have it's own section because it's an important aspect that helps to make Leila as an attractive unit that she is because it's the final piece of her profile that when put together with everything else she has makes her the dreaded tool box. It does more than make her a specialist because killer hacker's have an important program that can put Leila's weapons and specialist nature to good use. Now, she is a fine hacker to be used to go and kill all of your opponent's hackers but what if you are facing an army like Ariadna who doesn't have hackers or your opponent just didn't bring hackers? Well, that's when you take advantage of Cybermask. I wasn't a big fan of the KHD in Haqqislam. The other KHD in Haqqislam don't bring much to the table besides the device so they suffer from the one trick pony that is the KHD...except for the Barid who gets the Lightening Upgrade which just wrecks enemy hackers. Leila, on the other hand, stands out among the rest because she has something the others don't: The Shock Marksman Rifle which makes all the difference. She can still go around and use all the advantages of the KHD and with BTS 3, she's on par with all the defensive capabilities of the other KHD but she can make the best use of the Cybermask program. You can use that program to move up the field with anyone but since Leila is packing a SMR, she can make long range Surprise Shots up to 24 inches. Cybermask does take a roll to get off but it is worth if there is a unit that Leila can take off the board with her set of skills and weapons. It was the combo of Cybermask and SMR that cemented her in my lists and why she is the one KHD unit I make sure to take.
Leila Sharif, Husam Spec Ops badass, is what I want in an ideal unit. She is a specialist that can complete multiple classifieds and can also hunt and kill things. It makes her useful in most if not all missions for this reason. Direct Action, Joint Ops or Spec Ops, Leila Sharif is built to take it all on and I am quite glad we got her. Doesn't matter what army you play within Haqqislam, she is worth taking in a list and for me has become an auto-include. If you play Haqqislam and you haven't got her yet, it's the one unit that I would implore you to pick up. Find a Yu Jing player to split the box if you must because you don't want to miss out on her. She won't make or break games and she is still just a light infantry so she isn't invincible but you get her to do her job, she will do it well. Until next time, my friend, continue to seek knowledge.
So before I get into the proper post, just some information on where I want to take this blog. In addition to doing tactics and strategy as well as the occasional battle report, I am going to include some historical background on Haqqislam, where the units get their names from and the history behind that as well as how Corvus Belli has incorporated them into Infinity. The historical inspiration for the behind Haqqislam is why I have stayed in love with this faction and haven't started another one. I came for the Dune references and stayed for the history, it's inspired me to do a lot of reading into actual history so I thought I would share my scholarly research with everyone. It's something to say when a table top inspires you to do real world research to enjoy it better. I hope you find it as fascinating as I do but without further delay, to the actual post!
The Case for the Khawarij
The Khawarij is sort of an enigma within vanilla Haqqislam. It's not a bad unit but it's hard to find where they belong within a vanilla Haqqislam list. They are the definition of elite light infantry but unlike Tohaa, don't get extra wounds so you have to make sure that you get the most out of the unit despite having an expensive point cost, the cheapest Khawarij is 27 points which a lot people can't justify paying for a light infantry unit despite everything that a Khawarij can do, they are super soldiers after all.
It's quite clear that the Khawarij will be a big unit once the Ramah Taskforce goes live either when the new book drops or maybe...hopefully will do an USAriadna and be released before the book. I mean, they just came out with it's starter so it's possibility right? One can hope, anyway, the Khawarij are definitely lined up to be one of the possible links in RTF (Ramah Taskforce) which would take away a lot of the head scratching people do when they look at the Khawarij especially when/if they allow them to be linked with Tarik, super jumping scholar warriors of death fireteam with Captain Haqqislam leading them...oh yeah, I can't wait. We are also still waiting on a new profile to be released. Based on the dossier for the Khawarij, they are suppose to get a heavy rocket launcher because we know how much Haqqislam love their heavy rocket launchers so it's only fitting the Khawarij get one too, right? I think the Khawarij will become more attractive once the rocket launcher profile is released as well, the chance to surprise people with super jump and rockets is way too appealing.
That doesn't solve how they fit in vanilla right now so let's unpack what the Khawarij bring to the table:
Khawarij Stats
They have standard 4-4 movement; CC 20 which is quite interesting but no Martial Arts (Except for Tarik); BS 13 quite good for an army who mainly dwells in BS 11 or 12 except for elite units especially a light infantry unit; PH 13 so if they hit you, it is going to hurt a bit especially with that CC stat; WIP 14, standard Haqqislam so nothing special there; ARM 1 is to be expected on a light infantry unit; BTS 3 which is something uncommon to see on Haqqislam unit adding to it's ability to survive but still only one wound with a Silhouette of 2. That's the base stat line, additional perks are Bioimmunity, so Shock and Viral become normal ammo as well as being able to use that BTS to tank both of them; Super-jump which I will get into later; Religious Troop so they stay regular during Retreat and always pass their Guts Roll; and finally Poison which means that a unit with wounds needs to take an extra BTS roll in addition to the ARM roll for every successful CC hit.
With this quick run down, the Khawarij can do a lot especially since every single one brings an AP CCW with their pistol. Without even going through the different load outs available to the Khawarij, the job that it does is quite clear: The Khawarij is a hunter. With responsible uses of super jump, you have a mobile unit that can get to what he needs to kill and efficiently dispatch their target either through shooting it or if you want, through close combat since the Khawarij can't fail it's CC roll, although, you might have a harder time with units that actually have CC skills like Martial Arts or Berserk since they can negatively affect the Khawarij's CC but they can't do anything back. Besides that, a Khawarij is equipped to dispatch a lot since it has an array of weaponry to kill things, the Khawarij has a tool of box of death. To use one effectively, it will need to be an active unit using super jump effectively to get your opponent caught at vulnerable angles to shoot at or perhaps engaging a sniper in their nest. Heck, one way to deal with mimetism, camo or ODD is to use the Khawarij to get up close and personal in order to make those modifiers useless in CC...as long as the Camo unit isn't a Ninja/Oniwaban, those I would still engage with a Djanbazan HMG for reasons detailed above.
Super-Jump
The signature move of a Khawarij and it's what makes the Khawarij a reason to be feared. A lot of people have looked down upon this skill because if done in the open it will be a shooting gallery for your opponent and most likely a dead Khawarij but the key here is to not super-jump in the open. Effective uses of super-jump can turn a situation in your favor and actually make your opponent hate the skill. So what can you do in order to make the best uses of super jump?
One way of creating ideal situations to use super jump is by applying smoke in the right place and vanilla Haqqislam has tons of access to smoke from cheap sources to expensive sources, there are tons of places to get it. I won't go into every unit that can partner up with the Khawarij but there are a few preferred sources. The most common source of it for most people at the current moment are the Muttawi'ah aka Mutts since they are an auto-include in most vanilla and HB players since they are 5 points a piece. The only problem is that they are quite squishy so the smoke might not be there by the end of the match plus they are smoke grenades so you are taking more of a risk if you need to extend beyond 8 inches. This is why I like using a smoke grenade launcher to help the Khawarij out. Allows more to help cover the Khawarij better as the Khawarij moves forward. Cheapest source would be the Kum Bikers who actually do double duty providing both smoke grenades and smoke grenade launchers but just like the Mutts, they are still squishy and still impetuous so still a bit erratic depending on how the game goes on. My favorite partner for the Khawarij when it comes to smoke? That lovable power armored badass that comes with him in the Red Veil, the Al Fasid with HMG and light smoke grenade launcher. A durable unit that can do a lot. I know, I know, it's expensive too but that investment will go far. The Al Fasid is the Anvil that your Khawarij hammer strikes against. If you want a cheaper unit to do it, there is the Muyib with light grenade launcher but it can't do as much as the Al Fasid can.
Laying down smoke on the Khawarij's path will let it super-jump to it's heart content without drawing AROs which is good if there is a place you want to take your Khawarij that your opponent has heavily defended. It's a good way to get a Khawarij on a roof top and into suppression so that you can lock down a midfield position.
The other way to use super jump takes mostly practice in getting the Khawarij into proper placement for super jump. Making super jump work without smoke requires making sure that you are limiting your AROs because you won't always get the ideal shot set up to shoot someone in the back but with enough practice and experience it comes. Unfortunately, to detail this part of super-jump is harder to put it into text than setting up on the table top and showing someone the ideal times to super-jump. Taking advantage of height is important aspect because you can put your opponent's units off guard, as long as you slice the pie and avoid being caught with your pants down. The Khawarij isn't a unit that you bum rush your opponent like you do Scarface but with careful movement, the Khawarij can have the same effect.
The Khawarij is an expensive unit so deciding which profiled to take is important. This will be different once the Khawarij get their Heavy Rocket Launcher profile but for now we have these to work with:
Rifle + Light shotgun, grenades:
This is the base profile for the Khawarij, their standard load out and the only one available to purchase model wise. There isn't much to say about this one because it is standard Haqqislam except for the grenades and at a PH 13, it is something that the Khawarij can effectively take advantage of even when using speculative fire to lob grenades where the Khawarij can't see and do it within 8 inches, you will only be taking a -3 mod so you need to make 10s or below, which isn't bad especially if you have a cluster of enemy troops that throwing the grenade would really mess with like pesky fireteams or a sneaky camo marker trying to get in close. Honestly, I think the grenades make this profile worth taking because it gives more options despite having just a Rifle + light shotgun. Given the Khawarij's mobility, you can also bet that it will get the most out of that light shotgun too. Also, you can get on a roof top midfield and lock down certain parts of the board using suppression fire. It is certainly not a bad choice especially if you don't have the SWC or trying to squeeze something else in to take this profile at 27 points.
Boarding shotgun, panzerfaust:
This is an interesting profile to say the least and this one I think would make more sense once the Khawarij is allowed to take a Fireteam in Ramah Taskforce. You get a panzerfaust instead of grenades which is a good ARO weapon if the Khawarij gets caught off guard but you can also use it actively to eliminate a heavy infantry unit. What I don't like about this profile is that it only gets a boarding shotgun. Don't get me wrong, I love boarding shotguns, when in good range they shred whatever you are shooting at but typically on units that either infiltrate or drop in because you don't have to spend as many orders to get them in but even on a unit like the Khawarij, you will have to spend more orders and put it in more risky situations to get the most out of it. Plus, unlike the base profile, you can't go into suppression to help take a more defensive posture. I would revisit this one though once the Khawarij get a link team because a panzerfaust as an ARO can make an opponent pay for trying to take a shot at them. The high dodge though gives the Khawarij some survivability to get into range with that shotgun though, still probably prefer the above profile to take though.
Spitfire:
Probably my favorite profile out of everything for vanilla Haqqislam. You don't get grenades but a spitfire in the hands of a Khawarij is just downright dangerous and I love using it. It has the best range out of all the profiles so finding fire solutions is a better than the others and with the BS 13, it is a good chance you will hit your target. This unit is what defines the Khawarij as a hunter and I am looking forward to finally getting the model for it. Leaping rooftops to rain bullets down on your enemy has not been as much fun and this is the profile I was mainly talking about when I talked about partnering the Al Fasid with the Khawarij. The Al Fasid protects the backfield as the Khawarij rushes forward to eliminate enemies. Once you get the handle on how to super jump, you will love this unit especially playing peek-a-boo spitfire with pesky roof top snipers. It's a good way to get into people's bad range bands and pop up taking shots at them.
Doctor Plus with Boarding Shotgun, grenades:
Right now this is the only specialist available to the Khawarij and one that you will be definitely taking once the fireteam is available but what about vanilla? While I would prefer to have the rifle + light shotgun on this guy, it's not a bad investment. It's a highly mobile specialist able to get to the objectives more directly than other specialists. The grenades provide a different way to solve problems like getting an enemy specialist or fireteam off of an objective without needing line of sight and the boarding shotgun can shred things should you want a fire fight. It is 30 points though which is the downfall of it and the reason why you don't see this unit more. For three more points, you can get a Tuareg Doctor Plus which seems like the better investment but the Khawarij Doctor is far from bad. The other thing I like about this doctor though is it can get to hard to reach places should one of your snipers go down or one of your advanced units on a building. The durability of the Khawarij Doctor in place of others is also a plus among the other doctors when facing things that hit against BTS so you might consider it for missions like Biotechvore. The Khawarij Doctor is certainly useful in missions with an exclusion zone that would hamstring your infiltrators and AD troops. Unlike other of the boarding shotgun doctors in Haqqislam, this one can get where it's going without trouble and I like this better than the panzerfaust profile because grenades in the hands of the Khawarij aren't wasted unless you don't throw them.
I wish that I would be discussing the Khawarij Rocket Launcher here but it's not released (I want it so bad!) because as much fun as I like peek-a-boo spitfire, I will love the thought of peek-a-boo rockets even more. The Khawarij does have LT options that come in the Rifle + light shotgun and spitfire profiles but unless a Farzan is on the board and I want to fake out my opponent, I typically don't take a high risk LT like the Khawarij. A Khawarij needs to be used in order to make those points worth it and being an LT sitting in the backfield isn't where the Khawarij wants to be but it's not a bad option if you want to shake things up. If you are taking a LT Khawarij though, you might as well shell out the points to take Captain Haqqislam himself, Tarik "the man" Mansuri. I was going to include him here but he is getting his own spotlight because I love using him that much and this post has already gotten too long.
Hopefully this inspires you to try the Khawarij out. The Khawarij may be a lot of points but when used right, those points are put to use in good ways. Also, if he doesn't pan out the first time, don't give up on him quite yet because there is definitely a learning curve to putting a Khawarij to work but once you get past that, they become totally worth it. Until next time, my friend, continue to seek knowledge.
Starting this blog actually came at a good time because I have recently made the decision to return back to the roots of Haqqislam to play vanilla after playing Qapu Khalqi for about a year now. I sing the praises of QK as loud as I can, it is my favorite Sectorial, my bread and butter that I can go back to whenever I need to for some comfort but I knew if I wanted to master Haqqislam in it's entirety that it was time to move on so I return back to the roots of the faction, it's time to tackle vanilla Haqqislam!
Which is why for the first post on this blog, I wanted to cover my experience of switching from playing a Sectorial for so long and what's it like to return to vanilla after relying so long on those awesome mechanics that playing a Sectorial provides. Honestly, when I first decided this I was actually a bit nervous when I made this decision because the thought of losing the benefits of Sectorials; being able to move multiple models with a single order, and all the bonuses that fireteams get, was a bit intimidating. I will admit that in the year that I played QK that I became a little too dependent on those mechanics that make Sectorials worth taking that I wanted to challenge myself which is why I chose to go back to vanilla instead of moving onto Hassassin Bahram right away. It felt almost like a return to basics. Also, Red Veil hit this year which contains a lot of units only available in vanilla. They will be available eventually in the Ramah Taskforce but we don't know when that will be released so for now, you want to rock an Al Fasid or Zhayeden, you will be playing vanilla Haqqislam.
My anxiety turned to excitement as I re-discovered why it is worth taking vanilla over a Sectorial. I have been having a lot of fun playing vanilla lists lately and any anxiety I have had, completely gone. I think the benefits of vanilla are sometimes overlooked because of the obvious benefits that the Sectorials have. Here are just a few things that I have enjoyed over the past 2 months of playing vanilla.
Toolbox of Choices:
The first thing I noticed when I went back to vanilla was the choices and this is the most obvious benefit but I didn't realize how much I missed having access to all the units in Haqqislam. It has been really refreshing, there are so many units I missed using. List building has been more fun and interesting as I have all my toys to play with than just a certain selection of them, one of these toys being my favorite model in the whole entire game: the indomitable Maghariba Guard, liked the old model but I am completely in love with the new one but more on him later. Here is just a sampling of things that I love having access to in vanilla.
The most striking thing that hit me was the camouflage infiltrators that Haqqislam gets which is a lot more than you might expect. Haqqislam may only have a few but they are ones that will make your list consistently. Other factions may have Forward Observer and Hacker ones but Haqqislam is the only one with a Chain of Command Infilitrator in the Hassassin Farzan, helpful in Capture and Protect but also has a WIP 15 Doctor Plus Infilitrator in the Tuareg, a model I use quite frequently to not only press buttons but to get units that have been taken down midfield. Not only does it save on orders but it also helps to have TO when trying to heal soliders. Also, the Tuaregs have mines which means, after pressing that button, lay down a little surprise to discourage your opponent from going after that objective. The Al Hawwa was already a frequent flyer in my lists, a specialist plus D-charges that can start close to what you want blown up is a huge advantage for Classifieds and QK does have the advantage of being able to take three but with all the other camo infilitrators that can come join the party, I don't actually notice. The last camo infilitrator which ends up in my lists a lot is the Hunzakut and I know a lot of people hesitate with this unit because it may come cheap at 18 points but that Irregular order sometimes scares people off. The thing is as long as you are using the unit every turn, that Irregular order doesn't matter and the Hunzakut is a unit you will be using especially the Forward Observer one because of not only being a specialist but the ability to drop mines and deployable repeaters to help have board control either dealing with light infantry (mines) or heavy infantry (deployable repeaters), the Hunzakut can take on a lot of jobs for just being 18 points along with the other profiles. You might not have the vast amount of camo infiltrators that Ariadna does but the ones you do have are quite useful and should be taken.
Saladin is the another unit that can only be taken in vanilla and even though he is planned to show up in Ramah Taskforce, he really shines in vanilla because the amount of unit combinations that compliment the use of Saladin that can only really be done in vanilla. When you take Saladin, you are going to take him as your LT, the unfortunate side effect of this is that your opponent will know who your LT is at that point because of Strategos Level 3 because you will have an extra regular order in the pool he is in but more importantly, you will force your opponent to put down all their units and you get to hold back 2 in the deployment phase. This is already a power effect when partnered with units like the Fiday and Al Djabel allowing you to put those units where they can do the most damage but now your opponent knows who the kill to put you into loss of lieutenant. Fortunately, there are ways in vanilla to help discourage and prevent this from happening. The first one is the double Saladin trick because vanilla has access to a unit from my favored Sectorial of QK: the Hafza. With the power of Holoprojector Level 1, the Hafza can disguise himself as Saladin and force your opponent to play the shell game about which the right Saladin is if they want to go LT hunting which will force them to waste orders into this endeavor which might be enough to discourage them from doing it at all. The other way of protecting against this is the use of our friend the Hassassin Farzan, that lovely camo infilitrator mentioned above. If used in conjunction with the Hafza even if your opponent does guess correctly, they will be lamenting it once they realize that you aren't going into LoL after all. Saladin is well worth his 36 point price tag and the ways to protect him that actually don't cost that many additional points but can only be done in vanilla since the Hafza is QK and the Farzan is HB.
For our third and final highlight for this article is as you might have guessed the Maghariba Guard. It is another unit that will be in the Ramah Taskforce but is currently exclusive to vanilla. Not only do I like the new re-design of this unit but honestly, to me it's one of the best for it's cost TAGs in Infinity which is saying a lot when we are in an ITS season that is promoting the use of TAGs. I have never used the 360 visor version of the Maghariba Guard, I will admit. To me paying 20 points for access to it is a little steep so I keep mostly to the 78 point version. The only downside to the unit really is the size, it has the biggest silhouette in the game since it is the only S8 unit currently available but that is something that you can mitigate through proper placement of the unit which comes with practice. Other than that for 78 points, you get a ARM 8 BTS 6 STR6 with BS 14 firing a MULTI HMG, to call the Maghariba Guard a tank is an under statement. It's a pain to try and take it down but at the same time, your opponent will pay if they ignore it. The Maghariba Guard is a unit that would make me start playing Haqqislam if I wasn't already so there might be a little bias there. Still, a solid unit and well worth taking a vanilla list for even before ITS switched to try and get people to play TAGs. I could understand why people didn't take TAGs except for a hand full of ones that were cheap and effective, the Maghariba Guard being one of these.
Adaptability, Versatility and Splitting Up Your Power Base
An often overlooked advantage of vanilla is the ability to make more versatile and adatable lists. Now every faction has strengths and weaknesses otherwise there wouldn't be a reason to take to take different factions but these strengths and weaknesses are more prominent in Sectorials because Sectorials are a specialized part of that faction. QK and HB both might be Haqqislam but their strengths and weaknesses are lessened or heightened in certain aspects of the spectrum within the faction to make them differ and be unique. When playing Sectorials you have to be more conscious of how to use the strenghts of the Sectorial while making up with more glaring weaknesses. Taking vanilla might mean that you don't have certain strengths accentuated but it gives you a lot more tools to help cover your weaknesses more effectively. This allows for a more diverse list selection and it also means that if you constantly play the same people, it will allow you to change things up on them a lot easier than when playing a Sectorial since you are so limited on the units you can take in a Sectorial. Preparing for certain missions won't pigeon hole you into a certain strategy and you can try multiple ways to solve a problem. One thing I absolutely love about vanilla lists is that I can effectively prepare for certain ITS missions but make lists to take on certain armies. For example, I might make two lists that are great for Direct Action missions but one list might be for armies that like to take camo, or have mimetism/ODD while another list would be better for a more heavy infantry army. The tools are there and I will get more into vanilla list building with future articles because there are many different ways you can use vanilla Haqqislam that would make this a lot longer in an already long blog post.
Another advantage that I didn't notice until my opponent said something was splitting up your power base, something that I did without intention in an attempt to cover fire lanes. When taking fireteams, you are putting your power base in one place to take advantage of every benefit that a fireteam gives (the exception being Steel Phalanx and Tohaa since they can take multiple fireteams but this is for Haqqislam so this argument stands for them at least) even if you take both a Core and Haris, you are still putting your two power bases for your opponent to attack in order to help dismantle your strategy essentially painting targets on their backs. This isn't something that vanilla has to worry about too much if you have deployed in an effective manner. You spread out your heavy hitters with your specialists which forces your opponent you make a choice about which they want to go after and you want to always make it the wrong choice. With an evenly spread power base, it make your opponent's job to dismantle your strategy that much harder because you have taken away their focus.
My One Dislike
Even with being head over heels for vanilla currently, there is one glaring thing I don't like: the tendency to use the same profile of a certain unit as well as some units getting overshadowed by other units thus making them unappealing to take in vanilla. The former is a little harder to mitigate than the latter because its sometimes the result of people overlooking the advantages of certain units. This is actually a subject I wish to cover in later posts, there are some who think what's the point of taking a Govad when you have Djanbazans or what's the point of the Azra'il when you have the Al Faid? Well, those units do have a lot of advantages over the ones that overshadow them but as I said, that's for another time, probably soon.
This leaves the fact that when I take a certain unit, I usually am only using that unit for a certain profile. Take the Djanbazan who has not only two kinds of specialists, a hacker and a doctor but also HMG, sniper rifle, and shock marksmanship rifle. If I am playing QK, I will more than likely use all those profiles in a Djanbazan fireteam but vanilla, not so much. In vanilla with orders needing to be used in a more efficient manner, I am not going to spend the points a Djanbazan Doctor or Hacker when I have a lot better choices for the same amount or even less points (Like Tuareg for example) but what I will take a Djanbazan in vanilla for is their HMG, sniper rifle or shock marksmanshipe rifle. With access to tons of smoke and the Djanbazan MSV 2, it makes the Djanbazan a hunter especially for problem units that are using camo or ODD. If I take a Kaplan in my vanilla list, it won't be for anything else except for the Kaplan Engineer and maybe the spitfire. With only having AVA 2 in vanilla, I am going to be more selective with which Kaplan I take and the Kaplan Engineer is one of the best Engineers in the game while the Kaplan MULTI Sniper isn't as attractive to use as say the Lasiq Sniper is. That isn't to say that you can't find uses for the other profiles but some units just have more attractive profiles for certain things than others, a better use for the points that you would spend on them. This is a minor chink in the vanilla armor but I thought it should be noted anyway. I mean, it's good that you are using the unit but it just won't show up in all the flavors like it would in a Sectorial.
The Final Say
I really could go on and on about this subject but that would make for quite a long article. I am going to break down more of the nuances of playing vanilla Haqqislam, this was just an overview of my experience so far, one that Haqqislam players and other faction players can take as a reason why to play vanilla if they haven't ever considered it. I do urge any new players to Infinity, whether they are a Haqqislamite citizen or not, to try vanilla of the faction that you want before delving into the Sectorials especially if you like a certain faction but don't know which Sectorial you would want. I started in vanilla Haqqislam when I first started and it helped me decide that QK was the Sectorial I wanted to try first before HB because it was the one that fit my play style the most right off the bat coming from 40k. This return back to vanilla does feel like a return home, one that has been really fun. I hope I have inspired others to try out vanilla Haqqislam but I don't think that many need much persuasion with Red Veil and the Maghariba Guard coming out this past year but for those stubborn QK and HB players or stubborn Sectorial players in general, it might be worth coming and party with the whole family. You might be surprised by how much fun you can have. Until next time, my friends, seek knowledge and wisdom on your path to happiness.
