Pain Train Leaves the Station
So, Adam is experimenting with a new ITS tournament format, the weekly tournament. Basically we’ll play a 3-round ITS tournament over 3 weeks. Adam sets up the pairings at the beginning of the week and everyone tries to make Monday nights at the Portland Game Store, but if life gets in the way we have a whole week to schedule a game with our opponent and report the results to Adam.
My opponent for this week was Than, who has been practicing his Kazaks (played out of vanilla Ariadna for now) as he assembles his Tohaa. This particular tournament called for a 12 exp SpecOps, so I brought along an infiltrating minelaying engineer to support my Brigada 5-man core, and Than brought some tricksyness! I rarely think about SpecOps and fell for it completely… but I managed to pull a fast one on Than too, so it all worked out in the end. The first mission of the tournament was Transmission Matrix, and I had spent the day leading up to the tournament agonizing over the vulnerability of my Brigada to the repeater matrix in the mission. I was so relieved to be playing against Ariadna that I didn’t stop to consider the consequences of it being a SpecOps tournament…
In any case, this game marks the first time I’ve brought a 5-man HI link to any game of Infinity, so the Pain Train has left the station! I hope you enjoy the battle report.
Overview
- Mission: Transmission Matrix
- Forces: Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor versus Ariadna (300)
- Deploy First: Corregidor
- First Turn: Corregidor
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_502.png[/img][b] Transmission Matrix[/b]
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_5.png[/img] [b]INTRUDER Lieutenant[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (0 | [b]35[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_6.png[/img] [b]MOBILE BRIGADA[/b] HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | [b]42[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_6.png[/img] [b]MOBILE BRIGADA[/b] Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (2 | [b]40[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_6.png[/img] [b]MOBILE BRIGADA[/b] Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]37[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_6.png[/img] [b]MOBILE BRIGADA[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]33[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_6.png[/img] [b]MOBILE BRIGADA Hacker (Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]43[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_10.png[/img] [b]MORAN (Forward Observer)[/b] Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_10.png[/img] [b]MORAN[/b] Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_1000.png[/img] [b]VORTEX Spec-Ops (12 XP)[/b] [i](Infiltration, Minelayer, Engineer)[/i] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]10[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_13.png[/img] [b]DAKTARI[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]14[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/502/logo_20.png[/img] [b]ZONDBOT[/b] Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]3[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]10 [b]| 6 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_301.png[/img][b] Ariadna[/b]
[b]GROUP 1 | [/b][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]9 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]1
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_1.png[/img] [b]LINE KAZAK (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]10[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_1.png[/img] [b]LINE KAZAK[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_1.png[/img] [b]LINE KAZAK[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_3.png[/img] [b]SPETSNAZ (CH: Ambush Camouflage)[/b] HMG / Pistol, CCW, Knife. (1.5 | [b]38[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_3.png[/img] [b]SPETSNAZ (CH: Ambush Camouflage)[/b] HMG / Pistol, CCW, Knife. (1.5 | [b]38[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_12.png[/img] [b]SCOUT (Forward Observer)[/b] Ojotnik, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]30[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_12.png[/img] [b]SCOUT[/b] Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]25[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_1000.png[/img] [b]INTEL Spec-Ops (12 XP)[/b] [i](WIP:15, Doctor, Holoprojector L1, Hacking Device)[/i] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_15.png[/img] [b]ASSAULT PACK[/b] . (0 | [b]25[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_15.png[/img] [b]HANDLER[/b] Rifle, Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (- | [b]10[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_15_2.png[/img] [b]x3 ANTIPODE[/b] AP CC Weapon. (- | [b]15[/b])[b]GROUP 2 | [/b][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]3 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]2 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_impetuosa.png[/img]2
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_50.png[/img] [b]COLONEL VORONIN Lieutenant[/b] Rifle / Assault Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_1.png[/img] [b]LINE KAZAK[/b] Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]16[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_1.png[/img] [b]LINE KAZAK[/b] Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]16[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_16.png[/img] [b]DOG-WARRIOR[/b] 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CCW. (0 | [b]27[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/301/logo_16.png[/img] [b]DOG-WARRIOR[/b] 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CCW. (0 | [b]27[/b])
[b] 4 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
I used my Morans to secure the near left and the middle Transmission Antennas, and the Daktari to secure the near right. My Intruder Lt tucked itself quietly into the back left corner, ready to sneak up to the left closest antenna if necessary. I covered the center objective with a mine from my minelayer SpecOps and tucked the SpecOps herself behind a box near the leftmost Moran, ready to make a dash towards the far left objective if necessary.
My link team scattered about on the right, with the BSG on the far right and the HMG ready to contest a firelane. I held the ML Brigada in reserve just in case I needed to contest a different firelane and deployment flopped over to Than.
Than moseyed over to my side of the table and asked what my possible Brigada Lt options were, so I pointed out the new BSG option. With that, Than walked back around to his side and started plopping waaaay too many dogs onto the table. A Dog Warrior for each flank and an antipode pack behind the largest building, with its controller atop it. He deployed his two Kazak snipers to cover one of the main diagonal firelanes (basically to contest the advance of my Brigadas).
Voronin covered his near right objective, and “Le Meut” (his SpecOps) and a Kazak held down Than’s left objective. The rest of his Kazaks were prone across his backfield. One Spetsnaz HMG hung out atop the big blue building and the other hung out near Voronin’s building. My BSG Brigada was covered by one of the Kazak snipers, so I backed him up with my ML Brigada and then Than brought something that I don’t remember out of reserve.
I nominated my hacker as my DataTracker… for no particular reason… probably should’ve done the TinBot guy, and then Than nominated one of his Kazaks as his DataTracker. Both of our HVTs were near the pair of carboard shipping containers on Than’s right (my left), where my SpecOps was.
Turn 1
Top of Turn 1 – Corregidor
Well, there’s a Kazak pinning down my BSG Brigada, and I’ve got a ML in LoF. I figure I’ll force bad decisions and give Than a “free shot” at my “lieutenant.” I swap link leader to the ML and move everyone up the board, hugging cover with the ML on the way. Than plays ball and fires at the ML, and I shoot back, blowing the Kazak sniper out of its boots. I swap the link leader to the HMG and gun down the other Kazak sniper as I race the link team up the board. My intent is to try and get the BSG in range of the antipodes and blast away, using the nearby Kazak to generate a template.
I skirt around some cover and gun down the Kazak datatracker with the HMG, knocking him unconscious. Three Kazaks down… not too many orders left. I figure if I can gum up the board with the Mobile Brigadas, I can hold the center objective, so I decide to go for broke and try to take out his HVT with my DataTracker. I scoot my hacker to the point where I can see Than’s HVT and he reveals that Le Muet is really a SpecOps with hacking device and he wants to BLAST MY BRAIN! OH NOES!
I elect to tank the stun pistol shot and try to Brain Blast him back, but Than’s hacker passes BTS. I pass my BTS rolls as well, and I’m forced to try again with my second to last order. I scoot my hacker out of repeater range and give than a free Brain Blast on me, but fail to gun down Than’s HVT, who passes two ARM rolls! UGH.
With my last order, I break the link team and throw the HMG and the two combi-carriers into suppression, along with the SpecOps. In retrospect, I’m not sure this was the best idea, but I can’t say that I was disappointed with the results. It’s a little more durable than the link, because taking out just the link leader won’t drop my burst, and the suppression penalty does a lot for me.
Bottom of Turn 1 – Ariadna
Than activates the Dog Warrior on the left and attempts to smoke me out. Thankfully, he fails his roll and the link riddles him with combi rifle bullets and manages to do enough wounds to remove him from the table before he shifts into crinos form. The other Dog Warrior advances towards the link team but I miss my rolls (and he misses smoke) so nothing happens.
Than commits to taking out my Mobile Brigada BSG, assuming that my obvious Lt is actually my Lt. His tool of choice is the antipode pack, which super-jumps to the top of the building and then pounces!
Some serious heavy metal music starts blasting as it rains angry antipodes with machetes. The BSG Brigada attempts to blast them out of the air, but without the link bonuses he can’t make the roll. The other Brigada suppression fire, but all it takes is the ML Brigada catching all the antipodes mid-air with a blast template, blowing the antipodes to pieces but not before they do two wounds to the BSG Brigada. The third Antipode wouldn’t fit in B2B, so Than opts to try and tie up the HMG Brigada in close combat and let me get some normal rolls on it, but the fine mist of antipode that lands next to the HMG Brigada doesn’t do much of anything.
Than wants to get rid of the HMG Brigada so he can get his remaining Dog Warrior into the fight, so he reveals the Spetsnaz HMG on the roof, leans out, and knocks out the HMG Brigada with a pair of crits! Scooting out a little more, he does a wound to the ML Brigada with the Spetsnaz and forces her back into cover. 
The Dog Warrior scoots up, converting the dead Dog Warrior’s irregular order to drop two chain rifle templates on the pair of unconscious Brigada, finishing them off.
Than tries to contest my left closest objective by scooting a Scout up the field, but before he can get anywhere I drop a mine with my SpecOps (man, Corregidor with infiltrating mines for 10 points is great!), breaking suppression.
This halts his advance, so Than settles for getting his other Spetsnaz HMG into position and throwing both Spetsnaz and some Kazaks into suppression. The Spetsnaz on the roof thankfully can’t see down below it, meaning that my Mobile Brigada are fine until they approach the center objective.
Turn 2
We measure distances to the objectives, and I’m holding 3, thanks to my two Morans and my Daktari. Than has 2, so I’m up 2 points.
Top of Turn 2 – Corregidor
The link is a little worse for wear, but I make the best of it, reforming the link and gunning down the HVT, shrugging off a Brain Blast from Than’s SpecOps hacker thanks to my TinBot. Now that I’ve secured 3 objective points, I’m free to Brain Blast the hacker back, and I crit, taking care of that problem.
I scoot the ML Brigada around the corner and anti-tank missile the Spetsnaz HMG in suppression in Than’s deployment zone, taking care of that threat. I need to remove the dog warrior, so I gun it down with the TinBot Brigada over the course of two orders as it attempts to grenade me in return.
With my last two orders, I attempt to Data Scan Than’s remaining Spetsnaz and fail. My link is hanging out near the central objective but not close enough to be scoring. How foolish!
Bottom of Turn 2 – Ariadna
Than plays to the objectives and cover the remaining Spetsnaz with smoke from his Antipode Controller. Unfortunately, the dice are unkind to him and it takes a few more order than he would’ve liked, but he climbs the Spetsnaz off the roof while in the smoke, recamos, then moves into scoring range of the central objective. Unfortunately for him, this brings him into range of the mine I deployed from the SpecOps minelayer, and it goes off, forcing a dodge out of the Spetsnaz. Fortunately for Than, his dodge beats most of my shots, and he manages to get in under the PH -3 ceiling against the mine as well, emerging unscathed after a passed ARM roll or two!
Than wants to unstick his poor Scout, who is frozen in place next to a mine. He attempts to discover/shoot my mine with a Kazak all the way in his deployment zone, but fails the WIP roll and nothing happens. With that, it’s back to me.
Turn 3
Than’s Spetsnaz gambit in the middle gets him 3 objectives to my two, so he’s got 2 points to my 5 now.
Top of Turn 3 – Corregidor
I finally spend my Intruder’s lieutenant order, and use it to gun down the Spetsnaz HMG all the way out at 24″. I attempt a discover on the Scout with my SpecOps, eliciting a dodge out of the Scout, but my SpecOps manages to gun him down all the same.
With the Spetsnaz finally out of the way, I pop my central Moran up and KO the Antipode Controller. I take out the Kazak that tried to discover the mine with my SpecOps at long range, and then try to Data Scan him twice, failing both times. That’s 4 WIP rolls now!
With my last order, I break the link again, throwing the combi-rifle holders into suppression along with my SpecOps and the now-standing Moran.
Bottom of Turn 3 – Ariadna
Than climbs the Kazak covering the far-right (from my perspective) objective off his building as part of a coordinated order. His remaining Kazak in the deployment zone manages to punch through my MB Hacker’s suppression fire, knocking her out, with my TinBot Brigada’s shots missing.
Than activates the remaining Scout, and splits his pistol burst between the ML Brigada and my Moran. Surprisingly, we all survive and he tries again on a new order. This time, the Moran guns down the Scout. With his last order, he shoots my ML Brigada in the back with the Kazak that took out my MB Hacker, doing a final wound, but my TinBot Brigada ends his rampage. And that’s it. I’ve got three objectives to Than’s 2, getting me 2 more points. I’m down to 142 points remaining and Than has 30 on the table with just a Line Kazak and Voronin up.
7-2 Corregidor Victory!
Big thanks to Than for a great game, as always, and for bearing with me as I try out some new list ideas. It was a bit of a bloodbath, this game, but we both stayed positive and light throughout and I’m very appreciative of that.
Notes
- Well, Mobile Brigada have no tricks. They just walk up to you and punch you in the face. Hard.
- SpecOps are interesting. I really like infiltrating minelayers but never want to pay for them, especially since you can’t get that in Corregidor. Having one that’s also an engineer to unglue or otherwise fix up my Brigada was just the icing on the cake.
- Than covered a similar hole in his faction by taking a SpecOps with hacking device, and then hid it with HoloProjector L1. Pretty clever. I think had I been paying attention I would’ve assumed HoloProjector L1, but not a hacking device.
- I felt much more in control of the game than my last 10 order game, probably because I was very aggressive with the link and everything else in the list didn’t require many orders (if any) to use.
- I’m not sure if breaking the 5-man link to throw 3 of the members into suppression was a good idea. I lose SSL2, which would’ve helped against the antipodes, and I lose the BS bonus. I think in this case it probably played a factor in enticing Than to sink so many resources into taking out my “obvious Lt,” but in general it’s probably better to keep the link intact.
- That said, suppression doesn’t break if the link leader goes down, so you retain your burst… I dunno. I think suppression was definitely worth it once I hit the 3 man link, but at 5 it’s probably worth retaining all the link bonuses…
- The Brigada link ultimately was completely throwaway this game. Once I had used my DataTracker to kill the HVT, it didn’t matter if they lived or died, I just needed them to suck down as many of Than’s orders as humanly possible. I think that’s something I’ve learned over the past few games as I’ve been playing more with link teams. Leverage your support pieces to accomplish objectives efficiently (in this case I had control of three objectives simply with deployment), and then disrupt the enemy with your link team and force them to deal with your link.
- Supporting a 5-man Brigada Link
- The less orders you have to spend to generate/project threat/board control with your support, the better.
- Minelayer SpecOps and Morans generate threat and board control at deployment for no order cost, so they are ideal for supporting a Brigada link.
- Morans are also pretty decent gunfighters by themselves if you need to spot-remove a threat, due to their mimetism, and are very difficult to dislodge when in suppression.
- The Daktari is cheap enough to be a cheerleader, and can help you recover members of your link if necessary. She also forces your opponent to spend orders to take your Brigada off the table, as Than did. Had he not done that I might have considered popping the Daktari up to shoot at stuff while advancing her bot. In all likelihood probably not, but it does force some tough decisions on your opponent.
- I’m liking the Intruder Lt as well. He’s dangerous and efficient enough to remove threats unsupported, and has oodles of tools to do so. He doesn’t require any orders generally, and you can use the Lt order to clean out your DZ if you have to.
- 5-man Brigada Link
- I think the HMG is a must in a 5-man link. The burst 5 and +3 BS is way too strong to pass on.
- The ML is a maybe. It’s quite strong, but I can see a case where you can pass on it.
- TinBot profile is really good, especially when paired with the hacker. Don’t be afraid to shoot stuff with the combi rifle either, it works just fine.
- The hacker is… debatable. I think in the list that I took I needed/wanted a specialist in the link, and it worked out for me.
- BSG profile very strong as well, but you need to put it in total cover at the beginning so you aren’t forced to F2F with it as you move up the board.
- I didn’t miss the MULTI Rifle profile this game (although I would’ve appreciated the stun ammo). It’s much stronger in a link because you can have burst 2 stun or burst 2 DA ammo. I think I would’ve appreciated the flamethrower template as well.
- Definitely take at least one obvious Lt profile in the link. It’s worth forcing your opponent to sacrifice pieces or overcommit to take them out.
