--- id: disposition-matchup/take-and-hold--vs--disruption kind: matchup-analysis lang: en title: "Take and Hold vs Disruption — Determined Acquisition / Death Trap" subjects: - gdm:disposition/take-and-hold - gdm:disposition/disruption - gdm:primary/take-and-hold/determined-acquisition - gdm:primary/disruption/death-trap sides: side0: disposition: take-and-hold card: gdm:primary/take-and-hold/determined-acquisition scoringCheckpoint: mixed holdWindow: 1 side1: disposition: disruption card: gdm:primary/disruption/death-trap scoringCheckpoint: mixed holdWindow: 0 ratings: - metric: edge value: 9 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Death Trap banks 9 VP a turn from its own half and the centre against 5, runs 15 VP past the cap while Determined Acquisition projects 5 SHORT of it, and its trap action completes immediately — the body that places it does not have to survive. Determined Acquisition doubles objectives in enemy territory, so the card that pays for pressure walks into the card that is paid for punishing it. Published readings disagree on this cell." - metric: ceiling side: 0 value: 16 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "3 VP per objective plus another 3 VP for each one in enemy territory, plus 2 VP per newly taken objective." - metric: ceiling side: 1 value: 14 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "5 VP per trapped objective area, largely independent of who holds what." - metric: floor side: 0 value: 12 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "The base 3 VP per objective is safe, but half the card value sits in enemy territory." - metric: floor side: 1 value: 13 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Trapping does not require winning fights, which makes the floor unusually stable." - metric: tempo side: 0 value: 12 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Newly taken objectives score at the end of your turn, the main engine at your Command phase." - metric: tempo side: 1 value: 11 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Traps are checked at the end of your turn." - metric: complexity side: 0 value: 9 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Simple engine, hard risk management." - metric: complexity side: 1 value: 14 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Trap placement, terrain-area boundaries and enemy movement all interact." - metric: exposure side: 0 value: 16 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Objectives in the opponent territory are worth double, so the card pays you to stand in the half of the board where their whole army can shoot you." - metric: activationCost side: 0 value: 13 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Rotating pressure between forward objectives ties up mobile units that would otherwise be fighting." - metric: exposure side: 1 value: 12 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Trapping is done to terrain areas rather than to contested objectives, so much of the card can be scored from your own half." - metric: activationCost side: 1 value: 13 confidence: medium basis: theory rationale: "Trap duty consumes activations that would otherwise shoot." claims: - type: engine-note side: 0 phase: whole-game text: "Determined Acquisition pays 3 VP per objective and another 3 VP for each objective in the opponent territory — a forward objective is worth exactly twice a home-side one." - type: engine-note side: 1 phase: whole-game text: "Death Trap scores off terrain areas rather than objectives, so the Disruption player can bank VP without ever winning the objective game — but 3 of the 5 VP per area come from trapped areas that hold objectives." - type: threat phase: whole-game text: "A Take and Hold player who refuses to push scores half rate — but a player who pushes into trapped areas donates 3 VP a turn." - type: cost side: 0 phase: whole-game text: "This card moves its checkpoint during the game, so the same grab costs a full enemy turn early and nothing late — price the grab accordingly before committing a unit to it." - type: cost side: 1 phase: whole-game text: "This card moves its checkpoint during the game, so the same grab costs a full enemy turn early and nothing late — price the grab accordingly before committing a unit to it." - type: terrain phase: deployment text: "Measured across all 45 transcribed layouts: a central objective can be held from a spot only 4.6% of the enemy deployment zone can see (best board 0%), while taking an enemy home objective means standing where a median of 47.7% of their deployment zone has line of sight, rising to 91.7% on the most exposed board. Cards that pay for enemy home objectives are charging you that difference, and the board decides the price." refs: - rule:13.08 - rule:14.02 - type: disruption side: 0 phase: whole-game text: "Their kill rider only fires on units that started the turn inside a trapped terrain area, so route around trapped ground and never end a turn parked in one. Their hold line is flat, so contesting their single objective is worth as much as taking three. And traps take time to set: pressure them early, before the board is prepared, because their card gives them no reason to come to you." - type: list-building side: 0 phase: list-building text: "Take and Hold needs: One deep target you can genuinely screen and keep — a forward objective is worth 6 VP a round, as much as two at home. Mobility to rotate pressure between two forward objectives for the flip bonus. Enough screening to hold that deep ground through an enemy turn. Avoid slow, expensive units. This card wants tempo, and trapped ground punishes standing still." - type: disruption side: 1 phase: whole-game text: "Their engine doubles for objectives in your territory, so a screen along your territory edge halves their scoring rate — the single most valuable thing you can do all game. Their hold checkpoint is their Command phase, which gives you a full turn of shooting to clear a marker they took on their turn; anything you remove before then never scores. And their 2 VP flip bonus rewards them for taking new ground, so holding ground firmly denies it twice." - type: list-building side: 1 phase: list-building text: "Disruption needs: Cheap screens along your own territory edge — they are worth 3 VP a round in denied doubling. Units that can operate in and around terrain areas, since that is where your card scores. One holder for the flat 4 VP, nothing more. Damage that can punish a unit sitting on a forward objective at their Command phase." - type: layout phase: deployment text: "All three boards for this pairing are transcribed and measured. Layout 1 (diagonal across the short axis) reads 3/20 for openness, Layout 2 (bands on the short edges) reads 5/20 for openness, Layout 3 (bands on the short edges) reads 6/20 for openness. Taking a home marker off the opponent costs 21.1% deployment-zone exposure on Layout 1 and 76.5% on Layout 3 — the same play, priced very differently. Central markers stay the safest ground on all three, bottoming out at 0% on Layout 3." listRequirements: - side: 0 role: "One deep target you can genuinely screen and keep" count: 1 trait: - screening phase: list-building why: "One deep target you can genuinely screen and keep — a forward objective is worth 6 VP a round, as much as two at home." - side: 0 role: "Mobility to rotate pressure between two forward objectives for the flip bonus" count: 2 trait: - objective-control phase: list-building why: "Mobility to rotate pressure between two forward objectives for the flip bonus." - side: 0 role: "Enough screening to hold that deep ground through an enemy turn" trait: - screening - durability - objective-control phase: list-building why: "Enough screening to hold that deep ground through an enemy turn." - side: 0 role: "This card wants tempo" trait: - damage phase: list-building why: "This card wants tempo, and trapped ground punishes standing still." - side: 0 role: "A reactive threat that makes the approach cost something" count: 1 trait: - reactive-deterrence phase: rounds-2-3 why: "This card checks its hold at the Command phase, so every grab has to live through a full enemy turn. Heroic Intervention, Fire Overwatch and Counter-Offensive make that survivable by taxing the commit instead of answering it after the fact — cheaper than buying enough wounds to tank it." - side: 0 role: "1 unit expensive to remove, and concealment for everything else" count: 1 trait: - concealment - durability phase: whole-game vpAtStake: 12 why: "Their kill clause names WHERE the victim has to be, which hands you target selection: present 1 unit that costs more to remove than it is worth, keep the rest Hidden or in cover, and the 3 VP a turn simply does not fire." - side: 1 role: "Cheap screens along your own territory edge" count: 3 trait: - screening - expendable-bodies phase: list-building why: "Cheap screens along your own territory edge — they are worth 3 VP a round in denied doubling." - side: 1 role: "Units that can operate in and around terrain areas" trait: - objective-control phase: list-building why: "Units that can operate in and around terrain areas, since that is where your card scores." - side: 1 role: "One holder for the flat 4 VP, nothing more" count: 1 trait: - objective-control phase: list-building why: "One holder for the flat 4 VP, nothing more." - side: 1 role: "Damage that can punish a unit sitting on a forward objective at their Command phase" trait: - damage phase: list-building why: "Damage that can punish a unit sitting on a forward objective at their Command phase." dependsOn: corpus: "2026-05-09 23:42:21" gdmPack: "GDM" status: draft sources: [] --- ## The matchup in a nutshell The most aggressive Take and Hold card meets the card built to punish aggression. Determined Acquisition doubles the value of objectives in enemy territory, so the holder is *paid to over-extend* — and over-extension is exactly what Death Trap taxes. Slight edge to Disruption, because the opponent's own card pushes them into the trap. | | Take and Hold | Disruption | |---|---|---| | Card | Determined Acquisition | Death Trap | | Scores at | mixed | mixed | | Hold window | 1 enemy turn | 0 enemy turns | | Exposure | 16/20 | 12/20 | | Activation cost | 13/20 | 13/20 | A hold window of 1 cuts both ways, and most players only think about one of them. It means your grab has to survive a full enemy turn before it pays — but it also means **you get a whole turn to shoot theirs off the marker before they bank it**. Denial is not a side quest on this card; it is half the card. ## Playing Take and Hold *Your card: Determined Acquisition. Scoring checkpoint: mixed. Hold window: 1 enemy turn.* ### How you score 3 VP per objective at your Command phase, plus another 3 VP for each of those inside their territory — a forward objective is worth exactly two safe ones. Plus 2 VP for every objective you take that you did not hold at the start of your turn, checked at the end of your turn, so late grabs still pay. ### What it costs you The doubling clause sends you into their half, where their army is, and your holds still have to survive a full enemy turn. This is the highest-exposure Take and Hold plan in the game and it is not optional — playing it safe halves your rate. Exposure 16/20, activation cost 13/20. ### How you break them Their kill rider only fires on units that **started the turn** inside a trapped terrain area, so route around trapped ground and never end a turn parked in one. Their hold line is flat, so contesting their single objective is worth as much as taking three. And traps take time to set: pressure them early, before the board is prepared, because their card gives them no reason to come to you. ### What your list needs - One deep target you can genuinely screen and keep — a forward objective is worth 6 VP a round, as much as two at home. - Mobility to rotate pressure between two forward objectives for the flip bonus. - Enough screening to hold that deep ground through an enemy turn. - Avoid slow, expensive units. This card wants tempo, and trapped ground punishes standing still. ## Playing Disruption *Your card: Death Trap. Scoring checkpoint: mixed. Hold window: 0 enemy turns.* ### How you score 2 VP per terrain area you trap, plus 3 VP more for each trapped area that holds an objective — 5 VP a piece. 3 VP when an enemy that started in a trapped area dies there. And 4 VP at your Command phase for holding any 1 objective. ### What it costs you Modest, and that is the point. Much of the card is scored from your own half, and trapping does not require winning a fight. Your exposure is chosen, not forced. Exposure 12/20, activation cost 13/20. ### How you break them Their engine doubles for objectives in **your** territory, so a screen along your territory edge halves their scoring rate — the single most valuable thing you can do all game. Their hold checkpoint is their Command phase, which gives you a full turn of shooting to clear a marker they took on their turn; anything you remove before then never scores. And their 2 VP flip bonus rewards them for taking new ground, so holding ground firmly denies it twice. ### What your list needs - Cheap screens along your own territory edge — they are worth 3 VP a round in denied doubling. - Units that can operate in and around terrain areas, since that is where your card scores. - One holder for the flat 4 VP, nothing more. - Damage that can punish a unit sitting on a forward objective at their Command phase. ## The three layouts Take and Hold vs Disruption is played on one of three boards, and they are not the same game. All three are transcribed and measured below. | Board | Deployment | Openness | Centre exposure | Cost to raid a home marker | No-man's-land | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Layout 1 | diagonal across the short axis | 3/20 | 0.4% | 21.1% | — | | Layout 2 | bands on the short edges | 5/20 | 3.3% | 42.4% | — | | Layout 3 | bands on the short edges | 6/20 | 0% | 76.5% | 5.9% | - **Layout 1** — diagonal across the short axis, openness **3/20**. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only **0.4%** of the enemy deployment zone can see. Raiding a home marker costs **21.1%** exposure — real, but payable with one screened unit. Almost anywhere you stand near a marker (94% of legal spots) can be put fully out of sight. - **Layout 2** — bands on the short edges, openness **5/20**. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only **3.3%** of the enemy deployment zone can see. Raiding a home marker costs **42.4%** exposure — real, but payable with one screened unit. Almost anywhere you stand near a marker (85% of legal spots) can be put fully out of sight. - **Layout 3** — bands on the short edges, openness **6/20**. The middle is free real estate: there is a legal spot within range of a central marker that only **0%** of the enemy deployment zone can see. Home markers are a fortress: taking one means standing in front of **76.5%** of their deployment zone. No-man's-land markers sit at **5.9%**. Almost anywhere you stand near a marker (88% of legal spots) can be put fully out of sight. If your plan needs enemy ground, **Layout 1** is where it is cheapest (21.1% exposure against 76.5% on Layout 3) — the same raid can be a bargain or a suicide depending on which board you drew. Take and Hold must survive a full enemy turn before banking a grab, so **Layout 1** (openness 3/20) is the board where that plan is cheapest, and **Layout 3** (6/20) the one where it bleeds. Numbers are measured on the transcribed sheets: every legal spot within control range of each marker is tested, and the best one is reported — the way a real player looks for the safest place to stand, not the middle of the marker. ## Decision points - Round 2 — Disruption traps objective-bearing areas first; they are worth 5 VP each. - Rounds 2-4 — Take and Hold picks one deep objective and screens it properly rather than skirmishing over several. - Round 5 — the flip bonus still pays on a last-turn grab even if it cannot be held.