So this whole pandemic thing definitely has its own pros as far as Infinity is concerned – the main one is being able to use armies you cannot otherwise afford. This made me go outside of my usual QK/Dahshat habitat and try out something I was on the fence about. The prime candidate for that role ended up being Ikari Company. It ticked most checkboxes for me: lone rambos, solid and cheap defensive links, incredible assault capabilities, S5 Heavy Infantry that actually doesn't suck, and an "eh, whatever" attitude towards button-pushing. I decided to start by playing a couple of games and I'm gonna do a batrep on the most recent one against Caledonia on the mission of Show of Force with the Tactical Window rule. Spoiler: Lists Caledonian Highlander Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 7 3 3 UXÍA McNEILL (Covert Action) (CH: Limited Camouflage, Superior Infiltration, Specialist Operative) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / 2 Assault Pistols, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 27) WALLACE Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW. (0 | 35) McMURROUGH 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Templar CCW (AP + DA). (0 | 32) VOLUNTEER Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6) VOLUNTEER Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6) VOLUNTEER Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6) VOLUNTEER Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6) VOLUNTEER Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6) CAMERONIAN 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CCW. (0 | 25) CAMERONIAN 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CCW. (0 | 25) GROUP 2 2 3 SCOT (2nd Battalion) CH: Camouflage Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 31) CATERAN T2 Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 24) CATERAN T2 Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 24) CATERAN T2 Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 24) S.A.S. Chain Rifle, Grenades / Assault Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 22) 4.5 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army People who think that Scots don't do well on TW or LI – take notes. AVA 3 Caterans are pretty annoying on the ARO duty, covering the entire game table with their presence along with the ML Scots Guard. SAS, Uxia, and Cameronians are the expected sight when playing against Caledonia, so no surprises otherwise. Maybe they could do better if they swapped a couple of Cameronians with a Grey Rifle or a Mormaer – this list's biggest issue is not having a high Burst weapon. Rapid Fire Thru Ur Skull ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 1 DAIYŌKAI MULTI Marksman Rifle, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CC Weapon, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 54) TANKŌ Missile Launcher / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 32) KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9) BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28) KEISOTSU Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 9) KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10) WÚ MÍNG HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 39) WÚ MÍNG (Fireteam: Haris) Chain Rifle, Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25) WÚ MÍNG (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) GROUP 2 5 5 DESPERADO Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / 2 Assault Pistols, CC Weapon. (0 | 13) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army My third attempt at Ikari. The initial one had Le Muet Minelayer, and believe it or not, he had managed to knock out Duroc in a game against a French player and was overall a terrifying ARO presence. Anyway, I currently am playing around with the warband spam purely because it is so satisfying to unleash them against the enemy. The Desperado is here mainly to provide some smoke for the MSV2 Brawler and then die, and Yuan Yuans are going to be combat jumping right on top of the enemy DZ to minimize their order usage. Hence the all-irregular combat group 2. Group 1 has a trusty Tanko/Brawler/Keisotsu link with the Wu Ming Haris and Daiyokai for active turn shooting and Eisei for situations where some big boy needs to be patched up. Mixing a Desperado with Yuan Yuans is also a good combo since you would first want to drop a YY right behind the enemy ARO piece so that if you land, they choose to change facing, increasing Desperado's chances of surviving his Impetuous phase. No ninja for this operation since nobody cares about specialists, so I added a couple of FOs just in case I encounter a classified objective (which I didn't, since it's Show of Force, silly me). Deployment We had a moderately open map in terms of fire lanes, with no huge buildings that could be used as midfield sniper nests. Unfortunately, I didn't capture any screenshots in TTS which will be fixed in the upcoming batreps. We rolled off, and the opponent chose to deploy second while I decided to take the first turn. I deployed my core link with Brawler and Tanko at the front edge of our DZ, prone on the rooftop with the total cover from a container. The Keisotsus deployed a little bit behind, stretching their coherency as much as they could. The linked Lt. and FO were on the rooftop closer to my edge of the table. The Desperado deployed not far from the Brawler, ready to gun the engine and launch smoke on his position. Wu Ming Haris covered the left flank, the Doctor laid on another rooftop with his Yaozao ready to revive somebody who would get knocked out. The reserved Daiyokai deployed prone on the rooftop at the far center of the DZ. The enemy deployed a Wallace link in total cover on the left flank deep inside the DZ, a couple of Cameronians on their starting positions, ready to smoke up the midfield. Big Mac covered the Wallace link. SAS near the Antenna, Uxia reserve-infiltrating one shipping container away from Wu Ming Haris. All the ARO models were placed one per each rooftop available in the DZ, so they covered the entire board and had to be dealt with first. Turn One Ikari Yuan Yuans are off the leash, one drops next to the Wallace link, the other two are landing on a Cateran-occupied rooftop each, one of them gets shot to death, the other survives. The fourth one scattered a little bit in the back of a Cameronian and is shot too. The two survivors rolled for an X-Visor and E/M Grenades. The one near the Wallace link obliterates two volunteers while knocking Wallace into NWI before dying to the storm of chain rifle AROs. The one on the rooftop goes towards the not-discovered Cateran and gets ready for him to reveal himself, but instead eats an ARO from the Scots Guard and dies while failing to do any damage to the Cateran. The Desperado guns his engine and covers Brawler's position with smoke before getting pulverized by the T2 sniper rifles. Brawler stands up and aims his MSR at the revealed Cateran, slotting him in one go. He then climbs on top of the container to see the other two Caterans and discover the one who is still in the camo state. That Cateran decides to shoot through the smoke and rolls a 4 while my Brawler rolls 1, 2, and 20, following the failed ARM roll. The link is shattered, so the Tanko will become Impetuous next turn. I then activate Wu Mings and riddle the Scots Guard with bullets. The Chain Rifle/SMG Wu Ming then peeks around the corner and discover-shoots Uxia to death. The Daiyokai stands up and tries shooting the Cateran from long range with panzerfaust, fails the FTF roll, but succeeds the ARM save. This completes my Turn 1. Caledonia Cameronians go out and throw some smoke, one of them failing both PH and ARM rolls as a result of FTF roll against Daiyokai's MULTI Marksman Rifle. McM burns his Impetuous order down and decides to hold still. The Cateran tries to kill Daiyokai but gets incredibly unlucky and is blasted away by the panzerfaust. The wounded Cameronian holds still, the other one crosses the midsection of the table and goes towards my DZ, smoking the LoS of Wu Mings and speculative firing on my Keisotsu, downing everyone except the FO. The Cameronian then goes around the building to flank Wu Ming Haris. He wounds the HMG and the FO while taking a hit from the Boarding Shotgun. He retreats behind the building on top of which Tanko laid. The SAS pulls over to that Cameronian in an attempt to assist his speculative fire shenanigans against Tanko who successfully dodges. The SAS then lies prone to hide from Daiyokai's rapid-fire wrath. Turn 2 Ikari LoL. Impetuous phase. Tanko decides to rush towards the Cameronian under the roof and takes a close-range shot with his ML. Against all odds, the template shot connects and eliminates both the dog warrior and the SAS nearby. The other remaining Cameronian sees it and smokes his position unopposed. I can do very little this turn, so I just use my Eisei's servant bot to revive one of the regular Keisotsus and then reposition the Tanko so that he sees both McM and Cameronian in case they choose to impetuously move. The Daiyokai uses his order to move down from the rooftop, making ready for the final push towards the central antenna. Caledonia Cameronian rushes towards the Daiyokai and dodges Tanko's missile. McM carefully smokes Tanko's fire lanes and parks himself near the antenna – presumably to berserk Daiyokai on turn three. I'll never know that since for some reason, the dog warrior decides to move up on the highest rooftop right into line of sight of my Wu Ming and Tanko, catching all shots and failing all ARM saves and dying. The Cameronian then gets closer to Daiyokai and tosses a grenade over the container that was dividing them, chipping one wound off. Turn 3 Ikari Tanko runs towards his roof's edge waving his Missile Launcher like a madman. The Cameronian successfully smokes his position, leaving Daiyokai with no opposition to prevent him from grabbing the antenna, save the remaining Cateran. The Wu Ming Haris rolls out to deal with that problem, additionally looting a panoply which I mistakenly thought to be giving me an objective point. Regardless, the Chain Rifle guy got himself an MSV1 out of the panoply. I peek my HMG around the corner while moving the Chain Rifle out in the open, forcing the enemy sniper to pick his target. The Cateran shoots and kills the Chain Rifle guy, and the HMG blasts him unopposed. I then spend two coordinated orders to move Daiyokai with Tanko, placing the former on the antenna while engaging the latter with the smoked up Cameronian so that he doesn't ruin my day the following turn. I don't have any orders left to move Daiyokai into the suppressive fire, so I am forced to make do with what I have. The Wu Mings are overwatching the building where the Wallace link dug in. Caledonia The Cameronian slices one wound off the Tanko but cannot do anything else. The Wallace link moves out and double-chain rifles the HMG. I should've gone for shooting Wallace since he was in NWI, but I decided to dodge instead, which I failed anyway and got the HMG killed. Wallace then goes out and first smokes the antenna and then engages the Daiyokai. He berserks my heavyweight model to death while dying to Daiyokai's blades himself. Unfortunately, this leaves him with two volunteers who successfully dominated the antenna at the end of the game. That said, I managed to kill more army points, leaving only three volunteers and a Cameronian alive while still having two Keisotsus, one Eisei, one Tanko, and a Wu Ming FO. So the game ended in a 3-3 draw. None of us made any glaring errors, safe for me not committing more than one Yuan Yuan to the Wallace link. Had I done that, he would have likely been in a loss of lieutenant on his turn one. I also should read through mission objectives more carefully and not open the panoplies on a whim. Again, sorry for the lack of screenshots. I hope my oh-definitely-so-native English language helped to fuel your imagination.
I got back to playing Qapu Khalqi for a while. Today a played a game of Biotechvore against a Spiral Corps player. I figured that with Biotechvore we both will be playing 1 combat group lists, so basically that was my excuse for bringing an Iguana. Spoiler: Lists Spiral Corps ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 NEEMA Lieutenant (Advanced Command) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Viral Pistol, Shock CCW. (1.5 | 48) TAAGMA (Tri-Core) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21) TAAGMA (Multispectral Visor L2) Viral Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 25) IGAO Boarding Shotgun, Stun Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 25) KIEL-SAAN (Special Fireteam: Triad) Mk12, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 53) DRAAL (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, Pulzar, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Viral Pistol, Knife. (1 | 31) DRAAL Submachine Gun, Pulzar, D-Charges, Dazer / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30) HATAIL AELIS KEESAN Viral Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30) KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21) TAAGMA Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Only Igao is outside of links. This is a pretty painful pain train with Neema and Kiel Saan, both of whom are backed up by symbio mates. Plenty of big guns, the only aro presence is Taagma Sniper. Qapu Khalqi ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 75) IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife. () JANISSARY HMG / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 40) JANISSARY Akbar Doctor (MediKit) AP Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 41) ODALISQUE Submachine gun, Contender, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22) HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) HAFZA (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17) KAPLAN (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24) WILD BILL Rifle / 2 MULTI Pistols, Knife. (0 | 27) LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army This list is similar to my other Biotechvore game, only that it does not have the Al Hawwa and unlinked Ghulams, swapping them for Kaplan Haris with Leila and Bill. Now, it's not a well-optimized Haris, but I picked it because of the fact that I won't have to spend so many command tokens moving them out on Turn 1. And Wild Bill, provided that he's in a good range, can ruin people's day with his rifle and pistols. Spoiler: Deployment Only Igao failed his PH roll to deploy in the midfield, both Draals did manage to get on top of the rocky terrain. Core vs. TriCore, Haris vs. two triads, it didn't look well for me. We rolled off, and the opponent picked the table side, so I had to go first. Maybe going second was the better option given that I wanted my HRL to start AROing as soon as possible to free up the spot for my Hafza FO. So that might be the first error on my part. I would love to hear from you guys what is your strategy for Biotechvore. Turn 1 Qapu Khalqi Basically, everyone moved out of the hazard zone. The Haris occupied the left building in the midfield, Bill ready to shoot a Taagma if he gets up, with Kaplan and Leila at the back. The Core dug in on top of the central rock formation, the HRL watching the approaches to the Haris link. Hafza and Iguana coordinate-moved out into the midfield, and Iggy enters suppressive fire on the right flank near the enemy DZ. Nobody dies to Biotechvore since they were outside of the danger zone. Spiral Corps Igao moves out, and instead of discovering him, Iguana delays because I totally forgot about what skirmishers Spiral has. That's the second error on my part that cost me Iguana's wound. This allows Igao to close in and blast him with the BSG. Neema rolls out without the cover and tries shooting Iggy, but fails, her symbio mate absorbs the damage. She then destroys Iguana, and the operator gets catapulted back to his DZ. Kiel Saan faces Wild Bill and crits him off the table, being just a little bit outside of the 16" range band. Aelis moves towards the Haris, but Hafza HRL sees her and tries to shoot her, but she tanks the armor roll. Draals shuffle a little bit, but nothing happens outside of that. Kiel Saan eats a wound from the Biotechvore, Aelis' triad tanks the BTS saves. Turn 2 Qapu Khalqi My Haris was on the back foot, so I had to whittle down their triad. HRL Hafza activates and blasts Aelis out of the sky. The link then, lead by the HMG Janissary, shifts to the right flank, spotted by the Tri-Core Bioengineer who ended up being the Taagma Sniper. The HMG perforates him with bullets. Then the Odalisque SMG goes towards the Igao and a couple of orders later kills him. She also sneaks in one wound on Neema who had no Tri-Core bonuses. Then, somehow, the Odalisque fails to shoot Neema close range and gets a headshot from her viral pistol. I move up my Iggy operator to the edge of the danger zone. Then, Leila sees the opening with the Kaeltar and Taagma in her line of sight and tries shooting them, but nobody is killed. I add my Hafza FO to the link for full bonuses, and then I do nothing. The Iggy operator tanks the Biotechvore save. Spiral Corps Draal/Kiel Saan triad moves out and crits the Kaplan off the table. They then go a bit further into the midfield. The opponent coordinates Neema, Taagma, and Kaeltar to move out, with Taagma being a spearhead. Leila tries shooting him but fails, tanks a save and rolls into total cover. Neema carefully slices the corner and spots Hafza FO out in the open, shooting and killing him. She then tries shooting my Lt. who crits her and disables her symbio armor. Neema sneaks up on my HRL Hafza and also shoots him. The next coordinated order sees Kaeltar, Taagma, the Tri-Core Taagma, and Neema entering the suppressive fire. Turn 3 Qapu Khalqi I try moving out my Iggy operator onto Neema, but I misjudge the distance and shoot her 4 dice on 6 against her 3 dice on 9. We fail to kill each other, and I try breaking her line of sight to engage her in a favorable position, but while moving out and doing another FtF roll, I get a crit and a failed armor save. I had the opportunity to get my Akbar Doc there and accomplish my classified objective, but I decided to shoot Neema with the Light Shotgun instead. Naturally, I fail, and then again, and then again, even when trying to get in the open and clip her and Taagma, they all succeeded and kill my Akbar Doc. Had he been able to kill her, I would then shoot the Kaeltar with Leila and try getting the opponent into the LoL, so that he fails to do any damage to my guys on Turn 3, but that would still be a victory for him since he would have had more army points than me. Spiral Corps Neema and Taagma mop up the remaining opposition and also accomplish a couple of classified objectives, with only Leila being alive. So that's a 0-10 loss for me. Essentially, the map was my enemy. I needed a Spitfire platform with that type of terrain, and the closest thing to that was Leila's Shock Marksman Rifle. Playing without Yuan Yuans and Djanbazans is painful. The turn order and the Igao's discovery were probably the most glaring errors on my part. I guess I also should have stuck Wild Bill into total cover. He is not an ARO model in the slightest. I'll need some time for the taste of salt to wear off.
I've been trying to get in a lot of biotechvore on TTS, mostly because it's thematic. It's a weird mission, it's almost like playing a different game than Infinity. I've far from figured out how to play it, but I'll share my thoughts anyway. Since there's nothing else to do while the real-life biotechvore keeps us all home! I think TAGs, especially HMG TAGS, are wrong for btv. They're terribly vulnerable in the midfield and really want to live in your backline, which they can't do if your backline is a plague zone. Maybe you made a mistake responding to the Igao, but I suspect your opponent would have found a way to take down the Iguana regardless. If you like Djanbazans, I don't think you needed to eschew them in btv. They're only 4-2, but a core link gives you so much order efficiency that you shouldn't have any trouble getting them out of the zone anyway. A Sekban link would also be worth considering; their DTWs and 360 visors would both be useful when everyone is crammed together in the midfield. I can see the logic to a one-combat-group list, but again I don't think it's necessary since you get so much order efficiency from your link teams. Maybe one of those 7/8 regular order splits, with a core in one and a harris in the other, would work well. That would also let you bring in Yuan Yuans, which I suspect would still be good in btv. On 8's, they're landing outside the plague zone ready to chain rifle your opponent as he tries to escape. But assuming they fail their rolls, you can still put them exactly where you need them in your DZ, use their orders for smoke to get the rest of your troops out safely, and leave the Yuan Yuans to die.
Very nice reports, I am curious for the future ones. That map seems to be a big problem in biotechvore, since you have to face each other in those empty corridors, or is it only from the point of view? I took LI lists in every game of biotechvore for now and would have taken a similar approach than you did. But for the same reasons as you discussed, Scarface is my man here. The MK12s and a nice specialist are real selling points here. Together with a solid Janissary-link, you can reduce your think-load a lot and have good mid-range fighters available.
Preparing for @Vaulsc 's upcoming TTS tournament, I had a great game of Field Testing against an Invincible Army player who was also preparing for it. Rules for Vaul's custom missions can be found here. I decided to represent QK on the tournament, so that's the army I was fielding. Spoiler: Lists I also tried to prove my theory that Druze are better suited for Duo/Solo action instead of composing Core fireteams. Making sense of Druze ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 9 1 1 GHULAM (Deployable Repeater) Rifle + Light Shotgun, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16) GHULAM Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16) GHULAM Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 17) HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) HAFZA Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 18) ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 30) HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 9) GROUP 2 5 2 2 KAMEEL Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25) DRUZE (X Visor) Shock Marksman Rifle, Chain-colt / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) LEILA SHARIF Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Shock Marksman Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) DJANBAZAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8) YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8) FANOUS REMOTE Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Everything is the same old jazz here, except for the Druze Marksman. Long story short: Druze are bad as a Core team. Question is: are they performing better in smaller links? QK does not feature the Haris Druze option, so the alternative was to feature them in Duos to cover the bare essentials: firepower and button-pushing. See how it turned out. Invincible Army ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 HAC TAO (Executive Order) HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 69) DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29) LÉI GŌNG (Chain of Command) Submachine Gun, Nanopulser, Blitzen / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32) HǍIDÀO (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 37) ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) PANGGULING FTO (Repeater) Light Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 13) MÓWÁNG (NCO) Spitfire, Flammenspeer / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 54) LÙ DUĀN Mk12, Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) Zhanshi YĪSHĒNG Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army A rock-solid Limited Insertion list. I had played an extensive amount of time against IA in the past, so the only units new to me here are Le Duan and Hac Tao. Personally, it is a bit fragile for an LI list since there are a lot of Zhanshis, but you do need a lot of specialists there to accomplish Field Testing objectives. I lost the Lt. roll. My opponent decided to deploy second on the blue side of the table, I decided to go second since I intended to delay my Yuan Yuan alpha strike until some of the units dedicated themselves to the midfield (actually, not a great idea, considering the Exclusion Zone rule). That and also the fact that I wasn't going to move my link anywhere outside of the DZ. Once again, I forgot to take a screenshot of the map The link deployed in the central building at the edge of the deployment zone, with Ghulam Sniper and hidden Hafza facing the Haidao link team. A Missile Launcher occupied a building on the left, at the very edge of the link leader's (prone Odalisque Spitfire in the center of the building) ZoC. Another Sniper was overwatching the right flank of our side of the table. The ML's building was also occupied by unlinked Doctor, E/Mauler, EVO Kameel, and Hafza Lt who was cosplaying Odalisque SMG. The right side of the table was also overwatched by Fanous, while my Druze/Leila Duo advanced as far as possible while remaining in total cover. My Hawwa occupied the right flank console A in a building filled with low visibility digital pillars. Haidao deployed at the edge of the DZ in the opposite central building with all the remaining link members, plus the Zhanshi doctor and the Lieutenant. Two Yaozaos deployed on opposite sides of the DZ to cover more consoles. Hac Tao HMG hidden deployed behind the link team's building. Le Duan deployed at a max distance without cover with his holo echoes. I delayed the deployment of my Djanbazan sniper because my monkey brain thought I was going first. I probably should have reserved my Al Hawwa instead, but that did not hurt me as much. Djanbazan just hanged around inside a building in total cover. The opponent counter-deployed his Mowang on Hawwa's and Druze's flank. The map itself was having buildings with infinite height, and we agreed that we do not shoot through buildings, and this made it one of the more cramped maps in my experience. My DataTracker was Leila, the opponents was Zhanshi FO. Turn 1 Invincible Army We pulled out random objectives on Sabotage and HVT Hacking, and Console A objectives. Haidao MSR goes out and guns down the Hafza HRL in one burst. He then follows it up with the Ghulam Sniper who was close by. After that, Le Duan advanced on the left flank and ate a missile from the Ghulam ML. Due to Le Duan's large S value, it was really easy to catch one of the holoechoes being in the base to base contact at some point in their movement outside of the cover. The ML still only lucked out thanks to a crit though. After that, someone wastes the ML Ghulam, probably the Mowang who was advancing to the Console C on the left and stayed there, overwatching my Odalisque's position in case she and the remaining Sniper try to re-link with other Ghulams. Qapu Khalqi Yuan Yuans all successfully drop down, Daoying decides not to hack them to retain her camo state. The DA pirate deploys in the back of the building at the mercy of hidden Hac Tao who also does not reveal himself. The other two deployed in the sweet spot between the exclusion zone and the link team's DZ. I first coordinate those two Yuan Yuan to throw smoke in synch and advance towards the Mowang in the midfield building. The Haidao was laying prone in the building, so he wasn't able to see them. I decided to sacrifice one of the Yuans to try and kill the Haidao, but he tanks the chain rifle and guns down the pirate. The DA Yuan Yuan smokes his position and catches a Daoying, Lei Gong, and a Zhanshi FO with his chain rifle. I should have just focused on the Daoying instead because the link was able to shoot without penalties and gunned down the Yuan Yuan. The Lt. tanked the armor save, and Lei Gong went into NWI. The remaining Yuan moved out towards the Mowang, covered by smoke, and pulled the "change-facing-or-do-nothing" trick to put himself into the base to base contact with him. Meanwhile, the Hawwa hacks Console A, plants and detonates D-Charges, and then re-camos while the Druze Duo move into the same building and hack the enemy HVT, netting me three random objectives. Turn 2 Invincible Army Random Objectives are to kill the HVT, do the Mapping, and then hack Console C. Mowang spends one of the Lt. Orders in an attempt to CC the Yuan Yuan but gets punctured by the AP CCW instead. The Haidao link moves outside of the building and towards the Console C and hacks it, while mapping a piece of terrain and gunning down one of my HVTs. While doing so, they occupy the same building with Mowang and Yuan Yuan. The Mowang then tries disengaging but fails to do that, tanking the hit. The link members became vulnerable from different attack angles by overextending into the midfield. Qapu Khalqi I pull out another Mapping objective along with the Medical card. The Yuan Yuan deals another wound to Mowang while in his Impetuous Phase and then spends his Irregular Order skewering the superheavy infantry into Dead. He then goes berserk and jumps onto the two FO Zhanshis, one of which is the DataTracker, killing them both and dying in the process himself. The Zhanshi link breaks. The Druze Marksman crosses the midsection of the map and snipes the FTO Pangguling in the back. The Hawwa maps the same building he previously blew up with D-Charges and then goes back inside in a coordinated order with the Ghulam E/Mauler, Ghulam Doctor, and a prone Odalisque that is still being watched by Haidao. The remaining orders are spent on accomplishing the Medical objective, placing the Djanbazan Sniper on overwatch for the right flank of the map, and re-camoing the Hawwa, with the Druze covering his position in case any hidden deployment model decides to appear *wink-wink*. Turn 3 Invincible Army We pull another kill-HVT card, and some other cards. The Haidao snipes the HVT, and some other objective is also accomplished, so we both have 5 objectives completed. Now it's all down to decimating each other's army roster. The Hac Tao HMG appears and takes a long walk to my Hawwa and the DataTracker Leila. Djanbazan Sniper tried discovering him but failed miserably. He gets close to our building and attempts surprise shooting Leila and Druze Marksman, but both of us accomplish nothing. The Hawwa gets a free shotgun attack which is successfully tanked. The remaining orders spent attempting to utilize HMG in a close-quarters range band without success. Qapu Khalqi The Hawwa re-camos and scrapes a wound off Hac Tao with his surprise attack. He then re-camos again and attempts the same, but the Hac Tao engages him successfully into the CC. Odalisque unloads her Spitfire right in Haidao's back who was occupied by killing the HVT, killing him instantly. I spend orders in Group 2. Time for my Druze to shine. She closes in and chain colts Hac Tao with Hawwa, disregarding his life like a true cold-blooded merc. Hac Tao tanks the armor save, and Hawwa is knocked out. The Hac Tao then decides to disengage the corpse and fails his guts roll behind a pillar in the building. They exchange some more chain colt/nanopulser shots without anyone dying, and then the Druze flanks him in the close range band. Hac Tao fires his nanopulser, and the Druze shoots her Viral Pistol, getting a crit on the Hac Tao while still tanking the BTS save. We count up our points: both of us accomplished the maximum of 5 objectives, both accomplished some of them with our DataTrackers. The tie breaks when it comes to killing the enemy DataTracker and killing more army points. With my DataTracker alive and a dead Hac Tao, I win 9-6. A couple of takeaways: – The map was skewed towards close-quarters fighting, which did Hac Tao no good on Turn 3. On the other hand, Hac Tao has the same CC as Yuan Yuan plus Surprise Attack, so he could probably make use of it when trying to kill Leila. – Druze are indeed excelling in small groups. Although, she had to face a model which was costing way more than she is, which is why I was willing to trade chain colt shots with Hac Tao. I am nevertheless pretty happy with her results. I need to do a couple more games with her to map out a more objective statistic. – This particular mission definitely feels better than Countermeasures. The only feedback that I have regarding it is that the Mapping and Medical objectives seem to be a little bit harsh in terms of the specifics you need to do to accomplish them. Specifically, the part where you need to spend an entire order to interact with the HVT and then go back to the DZ, and the fact that Mapping should be done outside of the Exclusion Zone. I did not have any issues with those during the game, it's just that they seem to be rather risky in terms of how many orders you need to dedicate. I would also appreciate it if the wording on Medical and Engineering objectives would specify if you can use G: Servant troops.
