Past few days of Infinity

No events last week and to be honest it was quite refreshing. I was still recovering after the awesomeness that was Salute. That being said I had heard through the grape vine that a club in Hemel called HHWC who normally meet on a Monday were putting on an all day event on a Saturday. Living in Leeds this was quite far but regardless I packed my Table, army and trusty camera into my car and got on the road to go check it out. Hemel is near to my home town of St. Albans and I remembered that a while back I was reading this blog https://redheadhobbies.wordpress.com/ and Toby who writes it was looking for some games in the area. We had not managed to arrange a game in the past as last time I challenged him he was selfish and went on holiday to Canada instead. but this Saturday it was on!

First mission we played was a D20 mission 'Save the scientists'. Basic overview, there are 4 scientists on the table who have been knocked out and you have to get them back to your deployment. Either by healing them and syncing with them or by tossing them over your shoulder and carrying them back to friendly territory. I was using vanilla Ariadna and Toby was using his QK Haq, so I expected Yuan Yuan's galore.

I tried to set the table up as even as I could. One side had more cover on high ground but the other had the tallest tower on the board, not to many open fire lanes and lots of sneaky routs to get about. I won the roll of and decided to go first. In a mission like this there is no point in going second as you don't need to hold any objectives or hold any ground. Just get the bodies and get the hell out out of there! I spread everything out as best I could and put a Cateran prone on the highest point I could get him into. On the other side I had my Grunt sniper watching over the entire board. I did kind of wonder if this was a good idea as I know Haq can take lots of cheap heavy weapons and would probably be able to out shoot me. Only other sneaky sneaky i had up my sleeve was a Chasseur who put a mine down next to one of the scientists and Uxia who I had kept in reserve. Toby then set up quite defensively, full link of kaplans hiding around the back of the board, 3 man Haris of Sekban and a total reaction remote on a roof with cover. I passed my Uxia roll on something like a 12 so instantly gave away what she was. Toby then put his Djanbazan on a roof looking right at her. I hate that model and people always take it :(

That is %100 not my Lieutenant hiding on that roof with his sniper bro.

These Hafza don't care about being hidden.

you cant see in this photograph but Uxia is right behind that wall ready to take out the Sekban. The term"Get in the sea" comes to mind.

My first turn went quite well for me. I had lots of big scary things to get rid of so basically spent an entire order pool hunting the enemy. That's OK for me though as I take roughly 1,000 orders in each game. My Cateran popped out of his rubbish camo and took on the Sekban unit. Should have probably asked what they were equipped with as one had a heavy rocket launcher at B2 in ARO. it took about 3 face to face rolls before I finally took the guy down. Second order of business was to get rid of that Djanbazan. Again this was a face to face roll of. I moved my Cateran around a little. he was worse of with his amour but if the grunt had shot he could have been blasted to bits by the Total reaction remote, but the main reason was the Djanbazan was on a roof so if i had of killed him with normal shock sniper he might have got back up next turn and also been out of sight for me to shoot him when unconscious. But the Cateran had a T2 sniper so any hit killed him outright. Again I won this roll of but it did take about 3 or 4 orders to do so. After this I spent a few orders on my Chasseur and marauder who both waled up to nearest scientist and dragged them back towards the deployment. No way in hell I was going to risk trying to heal them and have them run home.

In Toby's first turn things went to shit a bit. With most of his ARO units gone he decided to push forward with his Kaplan link. they are a bit nasty, cheap ( ish ) and well equipped. how ever they are not true Haq citizens so lacked the will power . . . and ended up killing the doctor they were trying to save. With his other pool two Yuan Yuans walked on the other side of the board. They did all they could but were order starved. one managed to smoke his way up the table then jump out and chain rifle a few units. she took out my Grunt sniper but got blasted to bits by a loup Garou, Marauder, Cateran and Line kazak.

I am jealous of this bot because I cant have one.

I don't like this guy.

My turn two was quick. I dragged the scientist back a little so she was definitely in my deployment. that only took a few orders. then i did the same with the scientist that the marauder was carrying. knowing I had two and Toby had killed one I decided to blast him away. And this was not an understatement. I have recently started using the Spetsnaz with HMG and I can not stress enough how much of a beast this unit is. Seriously take it no matter what what. long story short he wondered up the table and blasted away a total reaction remote and pretty much an en tire link team by himself. Each time I used him he popped his head out, shot and then went back into camo. This may seem a little order intensive but he was the only hard hitting unit in his order pool so had 10 orders all to himself to get this job done. After this we decided to call it a game. 

For game two we decided to go with some ITS so chose seize the antennas. simple enough mission three objectives laid out in a line and you have 3 VPs for each one you have in your control at the end of the game. this time I went with a more loose list and chose to run my Pan O. I knew Toby had a Pan O force and would know what most of my units were capable of as he probably has them as well.Toby went with his self titles "stomp list". He was still running QK but this list had Scar face and Cordelia in it. I took a Swiss Guard with HMG to dish out some paint and Croc man FO to get jobs done and my main ARO units were a total reaction HMG ( standard ) and Armand, who I don't really use that much as I think he is a little over priced on points for what he does.

Toby won the roll and decided he wanted to take second turn. This is normal what I want but It did mean he had to set up first so I could easily try and counter all his big stuff. This was all good with me as I wanted to go second and it also meant I did not have to set up first so win/win in my eyes. I kept my Swiss guard in reserve as he had no idea I was taking it and did not want to put it down and get spotted then out gunned in the first turn. Normally I would not care but the Dnjabazan sniper would have ruined his day. Toby put down a full link of Ghulams tooled to the nines. Missile launcher, HMG, doctor and FO all in one squad. They may be basic line troops but that scares me with all the link bonuses.

turn one I pushed forward. I don't feel as comfortable using Pan O as they way less orders as I am used to. First of  I stood Armand up for some retarded reason and he got shot by a Djanbazan, Scarface, Ghulam missile launcher, Ghulam HMG and total reaction HMG . . . And survived! This was a really stupid move by my though so I got my Swiss guard out and pumped shot after shot after shot into his tag. I took about 5 orders but he was gone quick. I don't like tags very much. My Croc man revealed himself ( not in a perverted way ) and nabbed the main objective in the middle of the table. He had to do a few cautious moves to not get taken down by MSV2 sniper. After this he ran behind cover dropped a mine on the way and went back into camo, the sneaky bastard! Then with my last 2 orders my engineer ran forward and grabbed the objective closes to me. I had run out of orders by this point and he was left standing up ready to be shot at.

Toby's turn was a little more straight forward but effective none the less. He pushed forward with him link team slowly and managed to get into the middle of the table unhurt. His Ghulam tanked a shot from a Swiss Guard and a mine. Risk paid off as he managed to take back the main objective in the middle of the table and my Croc man was not going to get back to it with all the shotguns now staring him down.

My turn two was very uneventful. I  moved my Sierra bot around the back of his link. It took a few orders as I needed to cautious move through doors to be able to fit into the buildings. All i did was take out one guy. Shooting him in the back made no difference as he has 6th sense but I had to try. After that my Swiss Guard took his reaction remote head on. This was way in my favor as I had surprise shot, TO and cover. I had the Croc man lay another mine then go into camo again just in case he wanted to push up the board. the mine would work as a slight speed bump and this might make a difference lat on in the game.

Toby's turn Two Went better. his Alguacil walked up to his nearest objective. he had left it un touched so he could grab it later on in the game with no stress. This worked well for him as nothing I had could stop it so that was all on him. At this point in the Game Toby had two of the three objectives. All he had to do was hunker down.

Mad love for the Croc man in this game. He absolutely bossed it in this round. One at a time he blasted the Ghulams away. the MSV2 sniper had move up the board to try lock down my Swiss guard. This gave my Croc man complete free reign to move about. with a bit of jiggery pokery he got right behind the enemy lines and nabbed both objectives. After this he put down two mines and went back into camo right on top of the objective. With him locking this down and the Swiss guard and Sierra total reaction bot having the main objective within line of site that was game over.

All in all a fun day was had. Toby challenged me again to a game on his table when he was less hung over. I wont be in S.t Albans for a while but when I am its on! Completely not Infinity related but someone at the club had a nice goblin force so took a couple of snaps.

More D20 fun.

So me and Oli decided to play another D20 mission as we have smashed out so much ITS recently. This time we rolled 'Collect Debris' on d20 V2.6, I can honestly say this is my favourite mission out of all the D20 missions we have played so far. I decided to use my Pan O as they don't get used much now as they are not ITS worthy. This time however Oli used my old Nomad faction as he wanted to test them out, as he is thinking of using them as his next faction. A few proxies in this game but we will have to just deal with it. So below are our lists and mission brief.

Collect Debris 3

A civilian space ship has crashed under dubious circumstances. Troopers from rivaling nations are picking up debris which could entail clues about the cause of the crash.

Deployment: Before the Initiative roll, 12 objective markers are being deployed. The players alternate in placing 6 markers each. Roll off to see who starts. The markers should have around 25 mm diameter. They count as being S0. The OM have to be placed:

- Within 8 inches of the central line

- At least 4 inches away from each other

Picking up debris: In order to pick up debris, a trooper must be in base contact with the marker and spend a short order skill, succeeding in an unmodified WIP check. Forward Observers get a +3 modifier to this roll. The OM is placed next to the model.

If a model carrying debris falls into a null state, leave the OMs on the board ready to be picked up A trooper can carry up to 3 OM. This limit does not apply to models with the baggage skill.When using troopers with the skills G: Synchronised or G: Servant , only one of the models activated with the order may be used to pick up debris. Victory conditions: At the end of the game, count the total of the debris marker in possession of the own troopers. Markers who went off the board with a trooper in a retreat situation still count as being in possession of that trooper.

1 OP for every two debris markers in possession of own troopers.

+1 OP for the player who has collected more debris.

As you can see lots and lots of stuff to grab. I much prefer this instead of focusing in on one objective and defending one small area of the table. It gave a lot to think about when deploying.

So, this was the table after we had set up all the markers. Having so many does not give much room for sneaky deployment; they all just have to sort of wiggle in whereever they can. This did mean we could choose our sides more on the high ground rather than objective deployment. Oli won the Initiative roll and decided to choose the table side with the massive building and make me deploy first. Here is my list:

Standard style of play for me, one big order pool, lots of tanks and a small order pool of defensive units to transfer over if things get a little hairy. I don't use ORC troops much as I feel for the same points you can have much much better units. But this was a friendly game and I wanted to get out some models I don't often use.

Oli wanted to go vanilla so he took a bit of everything. Having not used hackers before he went for two Custodiers. I did not like this. Slightly larger order pools than me but I was playing Pan O so was totally expecting this...

Turn 1

I set up first. No tricks or silliness just a lot of ORC troopers ready to get stuck in. First things first I gave my Sierra bot support ware (because if you don't you're silly and need to take a good look at your life). It then pumped 4 shots into his Reaktion bot on top of the roof. Managed to put it down but not for good as I only had one order to spend (Oli took two away knowing I would shoot everything in sight). As I had to set up first I didn't know what my enemy was going to deploy, so my ORC hacker found himself in the line of fire to a custodier. I ran forward hoping he would fluff his ARO with a shotgun. He did not and although I might have a mighty BS being that far away, in cover and having ODD I was not in for much of a chance either. The Hacker ORC took a wound then hid in a corner to lick his wounds. After that I spent all of my orders running my baggage bot up the table behind cover and grabbed up as much as I could like a greedy little bugger. With my last order I got my baggage bot to hunker down in the middle of the board, equipped with a combi rifle and total reaktion. I would have liked to have given him support ware as well but did not have enough orders.

Next it was Oliver's go. He managed to get his helper bot up to the top of the roof and get his Reaktion bot back on its feet. Next he dropped a repeater on the floor near by so he could give support ware. I had not even considered this move. Now all my hard effort was for nothing as he smashed me back. Both our bots had the same BS and support ware so it was down to a good old fashioned face to face in its rawest form. But I lost that and now I was down a reaction HMG and the tables had turned. This was quite order intensive for him so with his last few orders Oli use his hacking device to give both his ODD hackers Cyber Mask. Now I was starting to panic as they both had shotguns and my guys were none the wiser. The only redeeming factor was that he spent so much time blasting me away that he didn't get any loot, so it was not all bad.

Turn 2

Now it was time for revenge. I decided to use my trump card and brought on my Commando. I gave him a spit fire as I feel it would be rude not to when he has such a good BS. He walked on the board as close as I could get to Oli's deployment and went on a bit of a mad one. I decided to be cautious and take on one enemy at a time. Normally I would split my burst as I was gunning down line troops but I wanted this guy to live as long as he could. Long story short I pumped loads of orders into him and he took out 2 Alguacils, 1 Moderator and two Krazy Koalas. Then he hunkered down in between a box and a wall went into suppression behind enemy lines and shouted "Come at me bro!"

The ORC then moved into position in the storage building ready to nab some loot next turn. In the small order pool I just put what I had left into suppression . . . except the Warcor as he is rubbish and only carries a camera and sun pistol as everything else has been banned by the Concilium Convention. At least one person has to play by the rules right?

Oliver's turn two was played out slightly more aggressive. His Reverend was now looking rather PanOish so was able to just wander up the board as he pleased. Sad times for me as my force has the WIP of a rock and didn't manage to pass one roll to see what was going on. This let him blast my baggage bot carrying all the loot at close range and took it out sharpish. He then used cyber mask again, spent one order to move a tiny bit further and smashed my ORC brandishing a HMG. He decided to take him on right in the open so I didn't get cover. Having BS14 is great but not when someone pops out of  impersonation within 8 and has ODD. Seriously Nomads wind me up some times :) To put the Icing on the cake he then repaired his Lunkohod that I took down on the sly on the first turn. Now I had no loot and was down a baggage bot and HMG ORC.

Turn 3

Now it was time for redemption. I was on the war path and out for revenge. I decided to get my Commando going again as he knocked a nice chunk out of Oliver's force the first turn he came into action and I wanted to keep the momentum up. First off I spent an order to move him out of his hidey hole and look right down the back of the board. I got a nice shot at his clock maker at long range, was basically a free kill. I spent another order to start advancing up and at the last second realised he had a camo marker right around the corner of the building I was trying to sneak past. I knew it would either be an Intruder or Zero and did not want to risk that X Visor sniper at close range. This made me crawl back into the hole I came out of and re-think my battle plan. Not wanting to have my other models feel left out, I put a few orders into my ORC hacker. He jumped forward to take a shot at his Lunkohod Remote. All good in theory, it had a shotgun at long range and I was an ORC with nice BS. But then suddenly out of nowhere a wild Spekter appeared! I tried to take it on but I was no match for him and he blasted the ORC to the ground. I then spent a few orders: I ran my med bot for 3 orders around the side of the table, over some bins and through the storage room. Rolled a 20 but no worries I have a cube and a command token. WRONG. I rolled an 18 and killed him dead for good. I had two orders left and no chance of  getting anything else, so I thought I would just make it as hard as possible for Oli to grab anything himself. He had spent all of his efforts smashing my force in. So with my last few orders I put my commando in the open looking right down his lines and shot the Spekter in the back. With my last order I put him into suppression. If I could stop him from getting anything I would win with 1 point.

Oliver had not many orders left at this point but did not need to do much to win, just grab two objectives and he had his ODD hackers right up the board. But first he had to deal with my Commando. He ran his camo marker up so it was within 16 and popped out to reveal a Zero with a combi. Both of us standing in the open shooting right at each other it took him 3 full orders and he ended up losing. It felt good watching that many orders get wasted on nothing, especially at this point in the game where order efficiency was crucial. At this point I think Oli had had enough of my Spitfire and decided to deal with him using his Intruder. He moved with one order to pop out and blast him with a multi-sniper at close range. At this point my luck had run dry and and he exploded into red mist. It was sad to see him go but he did so much damage it was completely worth it. The Intruder then moved forward and picked up two objectives. With the last few orders both of his Custodiers scooped up a few each completely unopposed, and that was that.

So that was the end, a solid victory to the Nomad Scum but well deserved. The final score ended up at 6 - 1 to Oliver.

This guy gets my man of the match for the amount of kills he got.

The ORC hacker gets the wooden spoon award for being completely useless and getting killed by two AROs.

Oliver's wooden spoon goes to the Zero as he wasted 3 orders in face to face rolls with a commando and ended up getting killed for nothing.

Finally Oliver's MVP goes to this Reverend who killed all of the things and grabbed a little space loot.