Thoughts on Hassassins

If you’re reading this, you’re interested in a little analysis of the Hassassin sectorial of the Haqqislam army.

Bahram in Farsi, the Persian language, means Victory. The name is misleading, at least for beginners. Hassassins are an unforgiving army and are considered one of the more difficult sectorials to play. They do not have too many wargear options and they lack some of them altogether, such as access to MSV or TAGs.

Even their starter is not all that newbie friendly; consisting of a Fiday, which is an Impersonator unit with complex rules; and 2 irregular line infantry introducing more unnecessary rules to the new Commander. The Hassassin models also have a fair amount of special rules, but I guess that can be said about most of the models in the game.

Remember that I can comment on the things I played with and things I saw being played. I am by no means a know-it-all expert in Haqqislam or Bahram itself, but I have fought my share of battles. I know some other players play different stuff that I haven’t tried, such as the Lasiq link.

What do we get in general:

Resilience: A lot of our models are V:Dogged which means that they keep on fighting after receiving a wound, as long as you spend orders on them. While unremarkable on the Muyibs V:Dogged is a great skill on troops you want to be using aggressively, i.e Ragik – the AD troopers, and the overlooked Ghazi Muttawi’ah with Chain Rifles and E/Marats.

Link possibilities: Rather limited. Ghulam have AVA 4 so, if you’re not using the Husam, the Spec Ops, you will not get the full link bonus. Your regular Link will be the Muyyib, with interesting loadout options and good statistics. They come at a premium price of 25+ per model, though. You can also link Lasiq, interesting units with Viral weaponry and Climbing+ as well as the Asawira, which is the only heavy infantry model Bahram gets. In N3 the Bahram got the possibility of linking Govads, a new unit.  They compete for a spot with the Muyib but fill a different role, with access to an HMG. Having access to Sniper Rifles would also make them a decent defensive link, if the player so wanted.

Weaponry: A fair amount of Viral weapons, available to the Spec Ops and to the Lasiq. Good long range, with a Spitfire and a HRL on the Muyyib and some more weapon options on the Ghilim (plural of Ghulam). You only get MSV 1 on the Govads. You only have 1 unit in Camouflage – the Farzan.

Base Tactics: If you choose a sectorial, you have to capitalize on what you get in exchange for what you lose. In this case, you get more AVA on the Fidays as well as Muyibs, in exchange for a broader selection of Skirmishers and Light Infantry.  The way I’ve been playing is I either decide I want to go with a Muyib/Govad link or a Ghulam link. That selection decides what else I bring – the Muyib cost 150 points for a well-equipped link, which means I go 1 strong Combat Group. The Ghilim I use in lists where I want to have 2 average Combat Groups. I’d run them with the 8 point remotes for extra orders, as well as any cheap order-giving units I can find, which usually means means the Barid, the Najjarun, and Ghazi Muttawi’ah. We only have access to 3 order-generating remotes, in comparison to Qapu Khalqi, who have 5 of those. It’s not easy to make a spam list with Bahram.

A general overview:

First off, forget about cheap orders. The cheapest regular order in Bahram is the Ghulam with rifle. Often overlooked in the other variations of Haqqislam, these little guys are our bread and butter if we want to get as many orders on the table as possible. They have nice weapon selection and are fairly resilient. They have a Doctor and a Hacker option for ITS missions. A solid choice, especially if you are using the Husam Spec Ops based on a Ghulam to bring your link to 5 men. The Ghilim are only AVA 4 in Bahram.

You will always use the Barid.The Barid has FO and Hacker loadouts. Both can do double duty as your Lieutenant which means you can use the Lt. order on a Specialist, something that does not happen in many other armies. The Barid has awesome stats, great equipment and is a Specialist. An auto-include. I only take 1 because there’s only 1 sculpt and I don’t like clones. You should take take 2.

Najjarun: Unremarkable but decent, pretty much a Ghulam engineer. Take him for a cheap order. He also has D-Charges for ITS missions. A good, cheap Specialist choice.

I already mentioned the Muyib :– 12 BS, Dogged and solid weapon options including a Spitfire and a HRL. Additionally,  Minelayer and a Doctor options are  possible. Good link candidates. Can link with the Husam Muyib in case you wanted a linked Viral Sniper Rifle. Their only downside is their cost, as they cost more what Medium Infantry does in other factions. They make a good defensive link thanks to having a cheap, Dogged HRL – only 23 points! I don’t run them much anymore because the Ghilim perform a similar role in my army for less points. However, the Muyib Smoke LGL is a good choice usually – he can do double duty as a smoker and a LT, even outside of a link. I missed him sorely at the Interplanetary 2015.

The Muyib also have a special character – Yasbir. He has 2 versions – a linkable and a non-linkable one. The linkable one is rather unremarkable, but the non linkable shines. He has smoke grenades, is a Specialist and also has a Viral CCW. All that plus Holoprojector level 2. And infiltration. A great harasser for a deadly Alpha Strike. Costs the same as a Fiday, but can perform missions. Great for ITS.

The Govad are a nice addition to the the sectorial that many players were waiting for for 2 reasons. Firstly, they add MSV1 to the sectorial, which can make fighting with Steel Phalanx less of a pain in the neck. Secondly, they provide access to HMGs, MLs and SRs on a platform better than the Ghilim or the Daylami. A decent choice, although competing with the Muyibs in their price range. We’re not seeing too many of them because the miniatures will be released somewhere in the first quarter of 2016 – I run one because he’s a good Lieutenant choice and because he can make a good camo hunter.

Ghazi Muttawi’ah: 5 point Warband-wannabees with a Chain Rifle, an E/m Chain Rifle and a unique piece of equipment called a Jammer, which can make enemy models Isolated. A steal for 5 points. Great new sculpts released last year. A nice model for guarding your flanks against AD infiltrators, but remember to take their Impetuous into consideration when deploying them. Being Extremily Impetuous, we can’t just stop them from performing the Impetuous order. The fact that they are V: Dogged helps in leading them to where you want them to be, however.

Daylami: Why are they here? What do they do? Irregular-Rifle-wielding-orders? I considered them a waste of space, until I started using their Limited Camo/Inferior Infiltration profile. They are amazing shock troops, and if you have the SWC to spare, you can give them a Panzerfaust. Great for ARO, especially if the opponent is using a coordinated unit or is moving his Link Team. For 8 points per model, however, they’re awesome. You try infiltrating them as close to the enemy lines as possible, and either Alpha Strike with them if you begin the game (especially if you field the Rifle variants), or keep the Panzerfausts for AROs in your reactive turn. They create a type of threat the enemy has to deal with. Not a lot of people are prepared for 2-4 models in their part of the table on turn 1. It puts people off-balance. f you have been ignoring the mountain warriors, like most of us Bahram players do, give the Infiltrator option a try. You’ll not regret it.  Just go for good trades. N3 has dropped the points across the board on the Daylami and also given them some upgrades, most importantly bumped their BS to 11. The 5 points Light Shotgun profile is a great backfield sentry, even though he only provides an irregular order. Hey, when in a pinch you can always use a Command Token to change it into a regular one.  The HMG profile is remarkable because it only costs 0.5 SWC. An interesting choice for a spam army. Shame they’re only AVA 4 in Bahram vs AVA: Total in Haqqislam.

When it comes to Medium Infantry, we’re not spoiled for choice. You have 2 options – the Lasiq – Sniper or Viral Rifle version – and the Ragik – drop troops with interesting loadout and a hacker option for ITS.

The Lasiq have Climbing Plus so you can climb those Sniper Nests. Both loadout versions have the X-Visor, which for the Sniper doesn’t do much unless he’s shooting at point blank range, where it also reduces the – 3 BS penalty, but it is a nice addition to the Viral Rifle. The Lasiq also have Mimetism, which helps them with survival somewhat. In N2 my sniper usually died to Camo attacks, a fact that changed somewhat in N3, when the Camo unit no longer hits first. I run only one, because a full link is purely a defensive link with only 4 members – not my cup of tea, but I know some players who swear by their Lasiq – Ivan Ivanov, a fellow Bahram player from Russia plays them often, so I heard.

As mentioned before, the other side of the MI-coin are the Ragik, and they are an awesome unit. The Spitfire version is a great Paratrooper. Remember you can downgrade from AD4 to AD2, so by coming in from either side,  you don’t risk failing your PH roll. They have decent Armour of 2, BS12 and are Dogged, which means they will keep on going after an unlucky crit. They also have a specialist option in the Ragik hacker, which in N3 finally is correctly priced. Not a bad model and you will probably be running a variant in most of your Bahram lists.

In the HI section we have the lonely Asawira with AVA 4. It’s a very expensive model and in the 300 Pts tournament I would never consider using a link of them. Although you do get a lot of skills on each model (Shock CCW, Ap Rifle, Nanopulser, Martial Arts 2 and Regeneration) you are paying 50 points per piece. And you only have ARM 3. Regeneration helps a little in keeping your guys on the board, but if you compare them to units such as Riot Girrrls or even Janissairies, the Asawira disappoint.

The Skirmisher section has 2 interesting units. Firstly, the Farzan, your only camo unit with either a Chain of Command or a Forward Observer. A nice specialist, if a little pricey. The Chain of Command helps if you run a Ghilim link or an aggressive Lieutenant, but usually the Forward Observer is what you take – he’s significantly cheaper.

Second, you have the Fiday and the Fiday Personality – Hussein Al-Djabeel. That means you can deploy up to 3 Fidays, but you’d pay around 100 points for that privilege.  The Fiday is an awesome unit if the enemy is not using Link Teams and doesn’t have Sixth Sense 2. If he does, or is an Alien, you have an overpriced Infiltrator on your hands. However, in N3 he can also do Close Combat more reliably than he used to, which raises his value a lot. The interesting load-outs are the Mines Fiday and the Boarding Shotgun Fiday. Both can wreck havoc among enemy lines in a different manner. Being Impersonators, they can deploy up to the enemy’s deployment zone with no roll, and even in his DZ with a WIP roll. Very handy units, especially in Alpha strikes and when you can easily Identify the enemy’s Lieutenant.

The trick with the Fidays is, you do not really use them to scare your enemy by spending orders on them. Their threat comes from the possibility that they can hurt your enemy. If your opponent spends his entire turn trying to Discover and dislodge your Fiday from cover, you should be happy. It means they’re ignoring the rest of your force. If he ignores your Fiday, use him for a second turn crippling strike. Remember that a Fiday can also deny enemy parts of his Deployment Zone – if you deploy first, simply just by placing him in the enem’s Sniper Nest might mean that the nest is off-limits to his sniper and the enemy won’t risk seting up there.  In N2 I never used Hussein, the Fiday Personality, because he was too expensive. Now in N3 he is only slightly more expensive than the regular Fidays. I always take him in my lists and if I only pick I take Hussein. His Martial Arts level 4 is my insurance policy vs Total Reaction drones or lone snipers.

The REMs are the same as in other Haqqi armies. I usually use 2 Kameel for 8 points and the Fanous , which gives me 3 orders for 24 points. The Rafiq is also a nice choice, he is our Forward Observer drone. The new edition changed the AVA for the drone to 1, but also made it cheaper. Do consider the Rafiq when making an ITS list. The Shihab is a decent Total Reaction unit. Good combo with the Barid Hacker who can give him Marksmanship make it a worthwhile choice.

In ITS, you have to rely on your Barid, Farzan and linked Doctors for objectives, especially in Supplies or Seize the Antennae. Sometimes Yasbir can help too. The Muyib link is a very good choice for Lifeblood, as many loadouts carry D.E.Ps or Panzerfausts making them able to destroy the crates. For Frontline or Quadrant Control, consider your Fidays and Infiltrators (yes, even the Daylami).

Hassassin Bahram are an interesting army. If you manage to master them, they will treat you well.

Here are my two lists that I used at the Interplanetary Tournament in Vigo in 2015. Both are variations on a similar theme, being spam lists with 14 regular orders and 20 orders in total – one has 2 Fidays and the other one has only 1 but also fields a Farzan.

 List with 1 Fiday
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Group 1 10 0 0
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (35)
FARZAN (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (24)
GOVAD Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (21)
RAGIK Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 32)
NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (17)
NASMAT Electric Pulse. (3)
HUSAM Rifle + Light Shotgun, Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (12 / 12XP)
MOV:4-4 CC:13 BS:11 PH:10 WIP:14 ARM:1 BTS:0 W:1
Hacking Device, CH: Mimetism
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (16)
GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (13)
GHULAM Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)

Group 2 4 6 2
KAMEEL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
RAFIQ REMOTE Rifle + Light Shotgun, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (16)
DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)
DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)
DAYLAMI Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (5)
DAYLAMI Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (5)
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
LASIQ Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)

6 SWC | 300 Points

 List with 2 Fidays
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

Group 1 10 0 0
HUSAM Rifle + Light Shotgun, Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (12 / 12XP)
MOV:4-4 CC:13 BS:11 PH:10 WIP:14 ARM:1 BTS:0 W:1
Hacking Device, CH: Mimetism
RAGIK Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 32)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
KAMEEL (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
BARID Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
AL-DJABEL Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW, Knife. (35)
GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (13)
GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (16)
GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
GHULAM Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17)

Group 2 4 6 2
GOVAD Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (21)
NAJJARUN Engineer Rifle + Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (17)
RAFIQ REMOTE Rifle + Light Shotgun, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (16)
DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)
DAYLAMI (CH: Limited Camouflage, Inferior Infiltration) Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 8)
DAYLAMI Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (5)
DAYLAMI Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (5)
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
MUTTAWI’AH Chain Rifle, E/Marat, Jammer / Pistol, Knife. (5)
FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (31)

5 SWC | 300 Points

Below are two lists that I used at the Interplanetary Tournament in Vigo in 2014. With some tweaks they could be considered decent N3 lists, but you’d be better of trying one of the former lists from 2015. One of them is a Ghulam/Daylami spam list I used in Frontline, Antennae Field and Annihilation missions:

Combat Group #1

Fiday BS (34|0)
Ghulam HMG (21|1)
Ghulam Sniper (18|0.5)
Husam Rifle (-0 bs, Viral Sniper Rifle, Hacker (Hacking Device), Doctor, Minelayer) (13|0|12xp)
Ghulam Lieutenant (13|0)
Ghulam Doctor (17|0)
Ragik HMG (38|1.5)
Barid FO (17|0)
Najjarun Engineer (17|0)
Kameel Minesweeper (8|0)

Combat Group #2
 Fanous Repeater (8|0)
 Kameel Minesweeper (8|0)
 Rafiq Rifle (22|0)
 Muttawi’ah Chain (5|0)
 Muttawi’ah Chain (5|0)
 Muttawi’ah Chain (5|0)
 Daylami Camo (11|0)
 Daylami Camo (11|0)
 Daylami Camo+Rocket (14|1)
 Daylami Camo+Rocket (14|1)

299/300 points | 5/6 swc
open with Aleph Toolbox  : http://goo.gl/c1Q7ss

Second one is a Muyyib link I used in Supplies and Seize the Antennae:

Combat Group #1

Muyib HRL (34|1)
Husam Panzerfaust (Viral Sniper Rifle, Hacker (Hacking Device), Doctor, Minelayer) (25|0.5|12xp)
Muyib Viral (25|0)
Muyib Medic (27|0)
Muyib LGL (23|1)
Barid FO+Lt (17|0)
Farzan BS (32|0)
Ragik HMG (38|1.5)
Lasiq Sniper (29|1.5)
Yasbir Inf (35|0)

Combat Group #2
 Muttawi’ah Chain (5|0)
 Muttawi’ah Chain (5|0)
 Muttawi’ah Chain (5|0)

300/300 points | 5.5/6 swc
open with Aleph Toolbox  : http://goo.gl/3Z5bFD