Opinions on the Spektr MSR

I've only used it a little but I've use a decent amount of TO MSR and lots of infiltrating snipers. And I have TO MSR used on me a lot. The only problem is that if you don't want to use Infiltration there's some wasted points. I find having the freedom to use terrain outside my DZ to be very useful even if I don't always use it. Finally just the aspect of Hidden Deployment with the MSR is always powerful. Be careful not to spring it in ARO for no reason, getting 1 shot off only to be blasted the next order might not be worth it.

 

MSR Spektr is awesome. I enjoy using it a lot. Only real deal response against bunkered 5 man firetteam. Just gotta be carefull cause this one is squishy agaionst MSV or concentrated volley (like B4/B5 in positive range band). Correctly assessing the battlefield before reveal is the key. If you don;t want your Spektr Sniper to get blown into pieces in enemy Active Turn, just hide him. Once again - assessing the batttlefield. You want such a piece to perform exceptionally - use another piece to elliminate threats to Spektr. Once done Spektr will be unchallenged. This works both ways - sometimes another piece will be threatened by something, that Spektr might deal with easily. Infinity and especially Nomads is all about selecting a right tool for the right job. Also - do not keep your Assault pieces for ARO. Kriza is good ARO once you're sure there are no big threats to it, otherwise it is a denial unit at best and Assault unit 100%.

 

'If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles'. What I mean by that - you struggle with CC getting to Kriza? Crazy Koalas, Chimera & Pupniks - just build a wall of engage AROS around it and sometimes literally a wall of bodies.

Also Zeros Minelayers are great. You can deploy a mine or a Zero FO on top of a building, posing as an Intruder. Just put a cheap Smoke provider somewhere close and your opponent would be sure that is an Intruder standing out there - ready to ARO. Mines provide nice response against sneaky Camo as well. Warbands comming through smoke... Just remember not to go Rambo with Kriza - kill some, hide him, wait for another opportunity. Overinvesting orders into a single killer is bad.

 

There are a lot of ways to do it but Intruder is probably the simplest.

The best is that troops he is watching the back of can't be smoked/CCed without taking a free Intruder shot from through the smoke.

 

Nice list - this is more or less something I would be happy using. Main difference would be dumping Zoe and TRbot for Kriza HMG and Zero FO.
Also - would consider Bran Do castro - if you go first you can deal some pain across Tohaa's Order Pool.

 

Negating the enemy to the point where you don't take casualties is called domination. You just do what you can.

Jaguars are always decent because there's no clean way for enemy WB to kill it.

 

Just keep Infiltration in mind I find it especially useful in finding an angle to counter WB when you have deployment advantage.

edit: because they're moving to hide from your DZ already. If they need to hide from two directions they'll need a lot of Eclipse Grenades.

edit2: I suggest not watching too far in to their side of the board if you know they're coming to you you can keep your head down so DZ gunners can't clear you. Fortunately no one puts Gao Rael in WB style links for obvious reasons.

 

Nomads
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GROUP 1 8 1 1
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KRIZA BORAC HMG / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 54)
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)
MODERATOR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)

GROUP 2 7 1 1
INTRUDER HMG, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 42)
SPEKTR MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
MODERATOR Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Or more goodie goodie for one less order:

Nomads
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GROUP 1 7 1 1
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
KRIZA BORAC HMG / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 54)
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)

GROUP 2 7 1 1
INTRUDER HMG, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 42)
SPEKTR MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
ZERO Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

 

I often use it. It's really strong, so flexible and multicapable. Using it to infiltrate to a lateral fire position or hold back for long range means lots of tactical options.

 

As Dora would say 'Por que no los dos?' Why not have an Intruder HMG and set him up as a backup piece for when the Kriza bites the dust?

As for the Spektr, I see him as a scalpel. He's only going to kill one or two models, so I have to make sure they're important stuff no one else can get to. Since he's got such a huge range band, can start anywhere on my half of the table and in Hidden Deployment, I often have him moving in odd angles to try and get to those hard to reach models in rooftops or behind walls. Using diagonal attacks it's sort of easy to get the oponent with a -9 or even -15 with the help of surprise shot.

I'm not a fan of spammy lists, so if I were to face a 20 order tohaa list, I'd go for something like this:

Nomads
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GROUP 1 9 1
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
BANDIT Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Light Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 25)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
KRIZA BORAC HMG / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 54)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
SPEKTR MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
ZERO (Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

GROUP 2 1 3 3
TASKMASTER Red Fury, Pulzar, CrazyKoalas + TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Heavy Pistol, DA CCW. (1 | 53)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

I would try to go for first turn here, let the morlocks advance to secure the midfield then reveal the spektr to try to take out some of the key pieces, maybe a few of those Makaul so they can't advance with impunity later. I like the zero deployable repeater to give my Intruder a longer coverage, and I would try to save the bandit and taskmaster for turn 2 counterstrikes after the enemy advanced.

 

Honestly I think Nomads have one of the best defenses, maybe because direct F2F gun defense can be so unreliable/counterable and we have defences not based around that. I have a very aggressive style on Corregidor but it's still largely based around starting defensive and counter-attacking their failed attacks or trying to attack from where I'm unopposed.

 

I got a player to comment that them getting Suppression fire as well was too much lmao.
There are so many equal reasons to take them it's hard to believe they get them all at once. Also if they were made today no way would Vanilla get 2 so we're lucky they're old.
They aren't too bad to counter though.


As an aggressive player they're part of my turn 1 strat. First, Intruder MSR with a small order pool is held back to counter long range AROs set up for my attack peices. After that his job is usually done and remains to watch the backs of my attack guy(s) next turn instead of becoming an order generator. This is made especially to counter Warbands and other close range guys that try to get my exhausted attacker out of cover.

Then if indirect defenses (like the Moran) are present a Koala are sent to clear them, usually in 1 or 2 orders. With the remaining Koala(s) I set up (plus repeater) as yet another layer of defense for my now advanced attack unit.

Now that they have busywork for their turn they spending it clearing what I've already written off. This usually involves spending much of their tricks/resources such as hidden deployment or bringing SWC weapons out of the safety of their DZ. The results are usually limited casualties in numbers: Intruder is in CG2, Moran usually is "cleared" without actually dying, attack peice is often Irregular (Bandit, McMurrough) and is replaced using command tokens with an AD or cheerleader on my second group. I can end up with 8-10 orders (including AD) on CG 1.

Next turn I usually drop at least 1 AD to counter a now exposed guy. If there is a unit near the center my Gecko can take I send it so I can spend the orders on both fighting and approaching objectives instead of just one. The Gecko then doubles as yet more busywork and even if they die still only accounts for 1 order.

Choosing the right guys to expose really limits order loss (although not point loss). Obviously that's plan A and gets improvised: AD is really useful for that because you decide deployment on the fly.

 

I've moved away from using line troops for orders in Vanilla. I use a Wildcat because D-charges, higher BS, higher armor, and the LFT are more than worth loosing one order. I use a combi Moran, in addition to a BSG one, for the same reason. Even if I don't infiltrate it, BS 12, plus mimetism and the Koalas make it well worth the points. A Moran in SF is a hard target.

 

Okay, so yesterday I managed to get in three games with the following list, all against different players and all different missions too:

Nomads
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GROUP 1 9 1
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
ALGUACIL (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
BANDIT Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Light Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 25)
CLOCKMAKER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
KRIZA BORAC HMG / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 54)
SPEKTR MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
TSYKLON Feuerbach, Pitcher / Electric Pulse. (1 | 34)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)

GROUP 2 2 2 2
ZERO (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)
MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 6)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

The missions were: Quadrant Control Vs Ikari company; Unmasking Vs Caledonia and The Grid vs Nomads too.

In Quadrant control the Spektr was extremely useful. I started mine on the furthest edge of my left side of the board and left her there for the whole first turn. Second turn she moved a little bit forward and tagged a desperado out of the game, she would have secured me the enemy left quadrant too, but they moved in a fireteam and took it. This allowed me to first send in a bandit to bag the fireteam, then push the spektr forward and hit a linked clipper on the other side of the table. Now I had three quadrants of the board and my opponent only had one. Spektr was very useful.

In Unmasking I couldn't deploy the spektr very advanced on the table, and my oponent chose the best sniper nest in the table (I chose to go first). Spektr tried to snipe out a volunteer Grenade Launcher, failed, and got critted out of the table by a cateran. Spektr did nothing, but it was my bad choice of positioning and when to reveal it.

In The Grid I deployed the spektr agressively on the furtherst right side of the table, but my oponent hid all his models. This ended up allowing the spektr so shoot out two antennas and secure me a win. So again, spektr was great.

Moral of the story: I'm really enjoying the Spektr as a sniper and I really think it is a useful and worthy alternative to the intruder sniper, much like the Kriza feels like the only true alternative to the Intruder HMG to me.