updated role to use array of packages directly

tasks/main.yml

 ---
 - name: install basic packages
   apt:
-    pkg: "{{ item }}"
+    pkg:
+      - aptitude
+      - bsdtar
+      - curl
+      - dnsutils
+      - file
+      - git
+      - htop
+      - iftop
+      - iotop
+      - less
+      - ncurses-term
+      - nmap
+      - rsync
+      - screen
+      - sshfs
+      - tcpdump
+      - tmux
+      - tree
+      - vim
+      - vnstat
+      - xz-utils
+      - zsh
+      - mailutils
+      - members
+      - molly-guard
+      - mksh
+      - pciutils
+      - usbutils
+      - mosh
+      - mtr
+      - sysstat
+      - ncdu
+      - locales-all
+      - python3
+      - lsof
+      - pv
+      - net-tools
+      - sudo
+      - bzip2
     state: latest
     update_cache: yes
-  with_items:
-  - aptitude
-  - bsdtar
-  - curl
-  - dnsutils
-  - file
-  - git
-  - htop
-  - iftop
-  - iotop
-  - less
-  - ncurses-term
-  - nmap
-  - rsync
-  - screen
-  - sshfs
-  - tcpdump
-  - tmux
-  - tree
-  - vim
-  - vnstat
-  - xz-utils
-  - zsh
-  - mailutils
-  - members
-  - molly-guard
-  - mksh
-  - pciutils
-  - usbutils
-  - mosh
-  - mtr
-  - sysstat
-  - ncdu
-  - locales-all
-  - python3
-  - lsof
-  - pv
-  - net-tools
-  - sudo
-  - bzip2
 
 - name: copy environment
   copy: