This past weekend was Florida's I-4 Invasion with roughly 30 players from all over FL and out of state! It was 5 rounds total spread across Saturday and Sunday and I was able to take 1st with 4 majors and a minor victory as Spiral Corps! I've had a lot of people ask about lists so I figured I'd post missions and lists here and include some mini bat reps so that I can easily share this post. Feel free to comment and question, I'd love to hear opinions! Missions (in order): 1. Countermeasures 2. Supremacy 3. Looting & Sabotaging 4. Acquisition 5. Firefight Spoiler: Alpha list (Supremacy & Acquisition) I4 Alpha ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 RASAIL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle + 1 Chaksa Peripheral / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 39) CHAKSA PERIPHERAL Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (- | 4) JAAN STAAR Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / 2 x Viral Pistol, CC Weapon, Knife. (1 | 31) DRAAL (Minelayer) AP Marksman Rifle, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 40) TAAGMA (Tri-Core) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21) KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21) TAAGMA (Multispectral Visor L2) Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) GROUP 2 4 1 CLIPSOS Minelayer Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25) KRIIGEL Breaker Combi Rifle + Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27) REEX Boarding Shotgun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 13) REEX Boarding Shotgun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 13) DIPLOMATIC DELEGATE (iKohl L1, Specialist Operative) Nanopulser, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Spoiler: Strategy behind Alpha List This list wants to go first pretty badly. The Draal, Viral Sniper and Jaan cover a lot of different ways to get a solid alpha strike in. I decided to play this list on missions where people were more likely to want to go 2nd. I was also planning on using this for Firefight but opted not to because I felt it wasn't as good going 2nd and I didn't feel confident I could cover my DZ adequately vs potential AD troops. The Rasail makes a great back-up rambo for turns 2 and 3 after all the big guns have been cleared out and he's a very resilient Data Tracker. The Clipsos Minelayer is a great surprise and also great for later turn surprises. Spoiler: Beta List (CM, L&S, FF) I4 Beta ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 NEEMA Lieutenant (Advanced Command) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Viral Pistol, Shock CCW. (1.5 | 48) DRAAL (Minelayer) AP Marksman Rifle, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 40) HATAIL AELIS KEESAN Viral Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30) KRIIGEL Submachine Gun, Phero-Booster / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) TAAGMA (Tri-Core) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21) KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor, Fireteam: Special Triad) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10) GROUP 2 3 3 KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12) KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) HELOT MILITIAMAN Submachine Gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 9) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Spoiler: Strategy Behind Beta List Most of this was covering Classifieds for CM. Hatail makes a great DT although I'd probably swap it to someone else vs better hacking armies. For L&S I decided to heavily rely on the Kriigel with Sixth Sense L2 in the Tri-Core and to play for going 2nd. I didn't want to bank on an Igao and figured my list could win by attrition and eventually get someone with D charges at the AC2. I ended up using this for Firefight which wasn't what I initially planned because the list played so well day 1 and I really liked how strong it felt even going 2nd. Spoiler: Round 1 - Countermeasures: Spiral vs Tohaa The first 3 classifieds that flipped were Data Scan, Mapping & Experimental Drug. I won initiative and choose first. I decide to toss Experimental Drug and get Extreme Prejudice. I'm feeling good because I see an angle where I can shoot his Neema in the back with my Draal and kill a Gao Rel to clear a path for Hatail to get both data scan and Mapping so I march the Tri-core linked Draal/Hatail/Taagma up the field killing a libertos who was visible. I end the turn with Mapping completed by Hatail but I left no bodies to Data Scan! The Tri-Core claimed his Neema, Gao Rel Sniper, Libertos, Makaul and a Kauri. Telemetry pops up as the next Classified and he tosses out Data Scan because it's too easy for me to complete and it's replaced by Kidnapping. He then walks a chaksa out to flame the entire team dropping Hatail unconscious and the Taagma Dead while the Draal tanks it with his symbiomate. He dies later to a second chaksa. His Clipsos that previously made an infiltration roll miraculously fails a forward observer roll and dies to helots. He ends the turn with Extreme Prejudice. Capture pops up and I leave it because I've got a chance for all 3. Hatail fails to regenerate but I walk out my backup Triad of Neema/Kaeltar/Kriigel and manage to get Telemetry (thank you Phero Booster!), Capture & Kidnapping all in the same turn while gutting some more orders. Opponent gets Sabotage with his DT (A Kosuil) and positions for turn 3. I march my Neema up behind what he has left and knock out his LT Kaeltar, Makaul, Kumotail and WHD Kamael while grabbing In Extremis Recovery on the way just in case. Opponent can't complete what flips up and game 1 is over, 10 - 4 win for Spiral! Spoiler: Round 2 - Supremacy: Spiral vs Yu Jing I win initiative and claim first. I want to claim my 2 quadrants efficiently and hit hard so I can take turn 2 and 3. The Diplomatic Delegate flips a console and I coordinate chaksa up and move LT Rasail into position before smoking for the Viral Sniper. She takes down a flash bot and TR bot to clear the way for Jaan. Jaan then goes on a killing spree taking out a Kuang Shi, 2 Shaolin, a Libertos, Lei Gong and Tai Sheng without suffering a single wound! Jaan dies to Shaolin at the end of my opponents 1st turn and the Rui Shi claims the delegate's life as well as the MSV2 sniper but the damage is done, he's spread thin trying to keep 2 quadrants. Turn 2 starts and the Draal hits a console and kills the Celestial Guard with Control Device & the Rui Shi. The Kaeltar shotguns Miranda Ashcroft using the Tri-core bonus and the Clipsos kills the last 2 Shaolin and a Kuang shi before entering suppressive. At this point my opponent is forced to make a desperate move with John Hawkwood and he ends up dying along with the Dao Ying. I hit another console, secure HVT and the game ends with an 8-2 Spiral win! Spoiler: Round 3 - L&S: Spiral vs Tunguska Even the best laid plans go awry! Opponent wins initiative and immediately grabs first. Perseus is the only model in TJC worth a damn on this mission so I know he's coming. A zondnaut BSG tries to dislodge my Draal but eventually goes down taking a helot with him. Perseus then makes the moves to get real close in smoke. He has 4 orders left and no way to get to the Kriigel so he goes for it with a FtF reset. I win the roll and he tanks both Eraser saves with 0 BTS! He then moves in to hit the AC2 and I roll a whopping 20 and fail 2 saves. He goes again and I roll another 20 on the Eraser and fail another save! He then busts up the AC2 and tanks another 2 BTS saves! I activate Neema in the Tri-Core to viral pistol this Greek punk and lose the FtF vs his smoke dodge. At this point I decide he's not worth it and I march past him in smoke absolutely nuking him with Eraser (FINALLY) on the way to kill everything else he has. I park a group 2 kauri there with 2 helots just in case. Neema goes on a tear killing 2 securitate (combi & feur), his 2nd zondnaut and a TR bot and I set up in a position for her to continue wrecking in turn 2. Perseus doesn't accomplish anything with his 1 order and takes a wound. A securitate HMG tries desperately to pop the Taagma Tri-core but loses the FtF and dies. He moves his heckler up with Lunohkod & Koalas to make it tough for me to move around. I sacrifice a helot to the koalas and then break Neema out of the Tri-core to clear out the heckler as she has stealth. She gets with 8" and nails the discover with WIP 15. The heckler drops a fast panda and dies. I then move Neema to soak up a mine and Koala on the AC2 as she still has her mate. He gets a free shot with his puppet master and I end up failing 2 saves but live. With the last orders I run the Draal up to join the Tri-core and get ready for his turn 3 dash to plant his D-charges. A Kauri also grabs a motorcycle from the panoply My opponents Perseus FINALLY dies and then he spends what orders he has left to kill Neema and then go after the Draal. The Draal manages to win several FtF rolls (2 on 16s vs 3 on 11s) and kill his last 2 units with guns. After moving units around I've got a full 10 orders for the Draal but only 3 D charges that I need to hit on 12s. I miss the first and manage to hit the next 2 destroying the AC2! I grab the panoplies and manage to scrape out a win 6-5! Spoiler: Round 4 - Acquisition: Spiral vs O12 This was a hard fought game where the score doesn't accurately reflect how close it was! I win initiative and choose first hoping for a repeat of Jaan Staar's madness. The viral sniper clears out a warcor and a flash pulse bot and gets crit flashed. Jaan needs to dodge a madtrap to start his spree so I go for the dodge but get glued. I forgot that I could shed symbioarmor to get rid of Imm2 so I end up not doing a lot. I kill another flash bot, flip a console with the delegate and sit on it and then kill 2 Sirius bots. My opponent smokes for his HMG epsilon who stands up to get immediately crit by my Taagma sniper. Cuervo comes on the side to wipe the grin off my face and kills her though. The Draal also goes down but does a wound to his Beta Trooper Data Tracker before dying. I wasn't sure we'd get the full 3 rounds due to time so the Rasail pops cuervo with some delicious viral goodness and then parks himself on the middle in suppressive fire. The clipsos moves up to plant a mine and does the same from cover. My opponent plants some good smoke and uses a varangian and gangbuster to eat the 2 mines I have in the middle (thankfully both do die). He then engages the Rasail in CC with another varangian and I miraculously tank a lot of saves (at least 4). He then has 2 Sirius teams and a gangbuster suppress all looking at the middle. I move the Kriigel team up to smoke the other console for my kaeltar and position them to defend the middle. The smoke is slightly off and the kaeltar dies hitting the 2nd console. I get a chaksa next to a sirius team to force it to break suppression and actually end up killing it with fire. The clipsos shoots at the varangian in CC with the Rasail and puts it dogged and somehow tanks a save and lives. Turn 3 starts with my Rasail out of CC on the middle with the Kriigel and 2 Reex standing out in the open looking at where the Beta needs to walk across. The clipsos failed guts and went prone next to the objective. He has a gangbuster, varangian and red fury Sirius team in good positions to make my life suck as well as his DT Beta Trooper with spitfire right around the corner. The varangian moves up impetuously and I'm able to shoot smoke at an angle that's FtF with the varangian but still big enough to completely cut off the red fury Sirius team from contributing anything. The Reex's contender silences the Varangian, stopping him from throwing smoke to do the same to that triad. The gangbuster comes around the corner and the Rasail gets an absolutely huge crit to knock him out. The beta trooper then has to make a heroic run across the middle. He ends up popping the Kriigel and wounding the Rasail before going down to the Reex's contender. A very close and hotly contested 9-0 win for Spiral! Spoiler: Round 5 - Firefight: Spiral vs Invincible Army My opponent wins initiative and I immediately thank the lord of lettuce that I changed lists to the more defensive one. My opponent has played Infinity for years and always plays an absolutely killer game regardless of faction and I have to deal with a 14 order alpha strike. I use a command token to limit his token use to 1. The helots do some work, splashing a rocket onto 2 Zu Yong and Tai Sheng. The ZY live but Tai Sheng gets burned off the board before being able to use any LT orders! My opponent reforms the link to add Krit and keep on trucking. He kills the other 2 helots and a Kauri before running into a chaksa. The chaksa burns Krit off the board and breaks the link before biting the dust. The last 4 orders are spent re positioning everyone and tapping the panoply. I replenish group 1 to 10 orders and know that this is my golden chance to seal the deal. The Draal runs out with Neema and the Tri-core to pop a smart missile bot and then sprints across the board to the team. When the dust clears the ZY HMG with TA is wounded and I've killed the Haidao KHD, Lei Gong and the ZY combi with TA. At this point I'm feeling good until I realize that I was overconfident and left the Taagma hanging high and dry for his ZY HMG to pummel into dust. He still has 4 orders + TA + 2 LT orders which is more then enough to kill Neema who no longer has her symbiomate. The first salvo is a wash with a tie. The second salvo we both crit! The third salvo I crit again and the deal is sealed, the ZY goes down! His Daoying tries to take out Neema solo but he's at 0 band with a shotgun vs her Tri-core spitfire and nothing else happens. Turn 2 begins and I get a bunch of equipment from panoplies and I deliver the killing blow killing the rest of what little IA remains. 8-0, Spiral wins!
Did you deploy the Helots in Limited Camo or Decoy for the missions you used them? I'm having difficulty figuring out when I actually want to use Decoy vs Limited Camo.
Almost always in limited camo. If they're a marker then it's a nearly always at least 2 orders to remove each helot because they'll have to move into position to discover and then shoot. I take helots because they really sap orders from Alpha strikes and make us strong even going 2nd. Also if they live to turn 2 or 3 they're a royal pain in the ass once big guns are dead. Decoy is meh to me because they can just split burst. A failed wip roll vs a helot makes it very hard to push forward to continue Alpha striking.
