Suave Zouave
I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately, which has left me with no time to put models on the table! I’ve had some time to paint though–all the travel has disrupted my sleep schedule so I’ve been putting brush to model while winding down before bed.
Adam, TheDiceAbide, has been in a similarly frustrating position of not being able to play for other reasons, but the outcome has been the same. Thankfully, we both found ourselves available at game night for a game. I’ve been running weekly Tigerlands–this one was focused on action timing and prioritization, in other words: “when do you do things during the game?”
I arrived late, and all the cool terrain was taken by our players, so Adam and I rifled through the remnants of the terrain bin to assemble this thing:
A tactically interesting but visually bland table, especially in comparison to our usual fare at tournaments. We treated the park as a low-vis/saturation zone, and all of the mountains and such as mountain terrain… I’m just now realizing I put my Briscard on the wrong side… but I really wanted to use his MSV1 in the low-vis zone… BAH.
Overview
- Mission: Power Pack
- Forces: Ariadna versus USAriadna Ranger Force (300)
- Deploy First: Ariadna
- First Turn: Arianda
Uggggh.
GROUP 1 |6
1
1
GROUP 2 |
KNAUF MULTI Sniper / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
PARA-COMMANDO Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 27)
DEVIL DOG Heavy Shotgun, Smoke Grenades + 1 K-9 Antipode / AP CCW. (0 | 41)
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)
FOXTROT (Forward Observer) Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)
VASSILY Lieutenant (Forward Observer) T2 Marksman Rifle, Akrylat-Kanone, D-Charges / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 35)
VOLUNTEER Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 6)
BRISCARD (Forward Observer) Marksman Rifle / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
GRUNT (Inferior Infiltration) Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 11)
ZOUAVE Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 20)
IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 8)
5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I don’t know what it is lately, but I’m having a devil of a time trying to get myself excited about list building, especially lists along “standard” lines of reasoning. I used to do it so much that my better half would (rightfully) scold me for staring at my phone and for scrolling endlessly through Army. Now, I can barely be bothered even if I’m trying to procrastinate at work… not that I do that, ever, of course.
I decided I wanted to get some profiles on the table that I’ve really wanted to try for awhile now. I’ve used Knauf before, but I’ve decided that when I can take Knauf, I will. MSV1 & DA+Shock is very useful against problems I’ve been seeing lately, namely TO/ODD V:NWI or V:Dogged troops like Proxy Mk2s and Noctifers.
I also wanted to take the Paracommando sniper, because that appeals to me on a deeply hipster level. I also think that it’s quite useful in a mission like Power Pack, where I’m definitely going to be coming onto the table in the gap on my opponent’s table edge and I want suitable rangebands to hit whatever I need to hit anywhere it might be on the board. The low-burst in comparison to the Paracommando HMG or Rifle may seem like an issue, but I anticipate splitting burst and shooting a bunch of stuff in the back. That, and shock is extremely relevant to me, as is the nebulous “hipster factor.”
I also wanted to take a Spetznaz AD troop, but the AD:1 limitations of everyone having to come on in the same place made this a non-starter once I had committed to the Paracommando sniper. Van Zant was too expensive given my other choices, and I decided I didn’t want a Cube Jager.
Also in the hipster category is the Heavy Shotgun-wielding Devil Dog. Widely panned on the Internet for “reasons,” most people don’t take it. Granted, it is a fair chunk of points, but being able to face to face something on a 16 is pretty damn good–the fact that it’s a burst 2 template that can be delivered via 6″ super jump is even better. You’ll note that it makes an appearance in Adam’s list below as well.
The rest of the list is mostly groupthink-good Ariadna stuff. Uxia, Chasseur Minelayer, Volunteer, Grunt Infiltrators, Irmandinbro, Foxtrot FO, Vassily. I agree with the groupthink here–they made the cut into my list, after all.
What might be surprising is that I took the ADHL Chassseur, which I think is a bit of a downgrade. I took it mosstly because I suspected that I might face a totally immune Karakuri or Devil Dog, based on my conversations with Adam over the past few weeks, and I wanted to cover Sabotage as a classified.
I’m also a huge fan of the Briscards. If you take the FO and the Paramedic, you cover 14/20 classifieds. My meta also has a lot of low-vis zones and mountain terrain, so their passive skills and equipment are really really relevant for me.
The final “oddball” choice is the Zouave LGL. Some might argue that a Foxtrot LGL is better because of the camo state for the exact same price, and I don’t disagree. I took it because of the +1 BS +2 ARM, the fact that I made a sweet conversion for it, and that IMHO FRRM >> USARF.
I was hoping that I could go first, do some damage with the Zouave, Devil Dog, and maybe the Grunts. I intended to keep Uxia near Adam’s console in the back to help clear the way for the Paracommando.
USAriadna Ranger Force
GROUP 1 |
FOXTROT Rifle, Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 20)
ROSIE Light Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
MARAUDER (Fireteam: Haris) Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
GROUP 2 |
DEVIL DOG Heavy Shotgun, Smoke Grenades + 1 K-9 Antipode / AP CCW. (0 | 41)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
MINUTEMAN Lieutenant AP HMG / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 34)
GRUNT (Marksmanship LX) Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)
AIRBORNE RANGER Rifle / Assault Pistol, AP CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 25)
5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Adam had been waffling between Ikari and USARF all day and showed up to the game store with more Ariadnans. He also took a midfield LGL as well as some button pushing Foxtrots. The rest of his choices are also fairly standard USARF: utility Grunt and Marauder teams (the latter with Rosie) and an Airborne ranger. He took the Devil Dog with shotgun for the same reasons I did (in fact it’s his fault I took mine at all, so he only has himself to blame).
Deployment
Adam won the roll-off and immediately gave me the worst side. He later commented that it would have been the worst side if only I had actually used my deployment zone. I decided I wanted to try and deploy both Grunt Infiltrators and Uxia first, as their success/failure would help me decide how the rest of my deployment would go. Thankfully, I stuck the landing for both Grunts–one prone on a sniper tower that I knew Adam would want to use, and another covering a wide swath of Adam’s left deployment zone with its flamethrower.
Uxia failed her roll, so I stuck her on the right side of the board. I screened access to her with my Chasseur Minelayer and put the mine in the low-vis zone covering the rightmost objective and protecting my nearby Briscard FO.
There wasn’t a good place on my right for Knauf, so he went on my left to cover the left and middle objectives. I stuck the Foxtrot FO really close to the central objective behind a low wall, and then feigned another Chasseur minelayer with Vassily and his Ambush Camo token. FD1 on MI is really useful in Power Pack for this reason.
I needed a safe spot for the Irmandinho to go, so I stuck him behind the large rock formation. I figured he wouldn’t get wrecked by anything on his first impetuous move. I used the Volunteer to cover the left side of the table from AD troops, and then dropped my Zouave on the left to back up my Grunt on the roof.
Adam deployed his Devil Dog on the left, figuring that it was the most likely to straight up stop my Grunt Infiltrator by the crystals, then put his Foxtrot LGL there to rain grenades on my Briscard and Uxia from safety.
He then leveraged the effective FD2 of the Marauders and put them on the central building–that’s a really neat trick that USARF can do in Power Pack. They can just start an entire core fireteam literally in the center of the table with some serious firepower. Gross.
Adam knows that I’m going to bring something in on the back table edge, so he put his Warcor there watching the gap, and then had a bit of trouble deciding what to do about my infiltrating Grunt on the roof. He had hoped to put his snipers up there, and decided to put a FO and Sniper up there to fight my Grunt, then tucked everyone else nearby with the Minuteman AP HMG Lt as the link leader. Pretty much everyone was prone.
I dropped my own Devil Dog on the corner of my left deployment zone as close as it could get the center of the table, then Adam landed his own Grunt Infiltrator there, threatening to flamethrower my Foxtrot and Vassily if the Devil Dog moved. Gross.
Turn 1
I know how Adam plays this game, especially with his USARF. I need to defang them, or I’m going to lose basically everything I have at the bottom of one. Neither of us is going to go for the objectives until Turn 2, most likely Turn 3, so I know have time to worry about that.
The fact that I’m going first means I need to hit really hard to address the hugely disproportionate advantage of going second in Power Pack. Even though I’ve got two Grunt Infiltrators, Adam still has the advantage of tempo thanks to deployment knowledge. I know he’s going to dock me two orders from the Devil Dog, so that’s going to make me clawing my way back to the tempo advantage or at least parity very difficult. I hadn’t expected that his Grunt infiltrator would deploy right there, which makes the tempo disadvantage even worse for me.
Top of 1 – Ariadna
Adam docked effectively three orders from the Devil Dog’s group–two with a command token and a third because I had to cancel the impetuous order. The Irmandinho makes it forward without incident at least, thanks to the height of the rock formation.
I revealed my Chasseur ADHL to shoot the Grunt in the back–Adam couldn’t cover everything. Thankfully it only took one order, and even at burst two thanks to the Saturation Zone I shot the Grunt off the table. Okay. That was the least disruptive possible way for me to handle this. Good.
I have two orders left, and I know I have to disrupt the Marauders. The Grunts aren’t going anywhere, but the Marauders have a commanding position in the center of the table. I eyeball the range to the center building that they’ve set up camp on and decide I can get one super jumping Shotgun shot on them
I move and then jump the Devil Dog into view of the Marauder Molotok and Rosie. I split burst on them, since we were all in the saturation zone and managed to put Rosie Dogged. The Molotok passed its save, sadly. Unfortunately, the Devil Dog did take a wound from one of the Grunts that was on the ground.
I’m out of orders now though, so I can’t do anything to fix its positioning. Oh well. Now to return the favor and put wounds on Adam’s Devil Dog! I pop the Briscard out to have a peek at Adam’s Devil Dog. It beats my face to face roll with a smoke grenade… but this lets my Grunt Infiltrator go to work.
I intuitive attack his Foxtrot LGL, who pistols in return. I roll better and the Foxtrot gets burned off the table. I manage to intuitive attack the Devil Dog through the smoke too, but Adam passes ARM.
I had hoped to put a single wound on the Devil Dog which would dramatically change the calculus on Adam’s first turn with it–he can’t be as cavalier with it anymore if it’s an effectively single wound model. I don’t want to waste time on that though, I’ve got to do more damage than just take out Rosie and a Foxtrot.
I do a quick accounting of the visible forces on the table and decide that the AP HMG Minuteman is Adam’s Lieutenant and start raining grenades on it with the Zoauve. It takes four orders, but on the last order my persistence pays off and I knock it unconscious.
This would have been worth it even if it wasn’t Adam’s Lieutenant. It degrades the link and removes one of Adam’s “big guns,” buuuut…
Bottom of 1 – USARF
turns out I was right and it was Adam’s Lieutenant. All those reps against USARF and figuring out how to pick them apart are paying off! The Devil Dog fights my Grunt Infiltrator and loses the shotgun fight. Sadly, it passes ARM.
Adam throws my Intuitive Attack back in my face, forcing me to throw smoke against one of his Grunts with a Rifle.
His Marauder Haris comes around the corner and burns a Command Token to burn down the Devil Dog and the Antipode through the smoke. I rolled an 18 on the dodge, which was very unfortunate, as that would have let me dodge around the corner to safety.
Adam tries to take out my other Grunt infiltrator on the roof with one of Grunt FOs. I win the face to face, but Adam passes ARM. That legendary USARF armor is proving up to snuff!
It doesn’t seem to work for me though. When Adam retreats his Devil Dog with its irregular order, it manages to shotgun down my Grunt. The saturation zone is really helping me out here, bringing it to burst 1 for both of us, me on 17s and Adam on 16s. I think I should have flamethrowered though.
Adam burns the rest of his command tokens trying to take out my Grunt infiltrator, finally succeeding on the last one.
The Grunt sniper pops up to be a nuisance, and then the Molotok Maurader tries to take out Knauf. Thankfully, we’re just out of 24″ and I win the face to face roll with the Marauder on -9.
Buuuut, you guessed it, Adam passes ARM.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Ariadna
My Devil Dog is down, but I still have to move my Irmandinho. The Grunt sniper can see this, but we both flub our rolls. Phew! I decide to try and take out the Grunt sniper, which is pinning everything on my left. My Chasseur fails horribly to do so, but finally forces the Grunt sniper prone. Stupid USARF armor. Adam’s not even rolling low, he’s just dropping 16’s and 17’s on me.
I notice that his Grunt Sniper and FO Grunt on the roof are pretty close now… like template-able close. My Zoauve poonks a grenade onto them, but the sniper beats my roll with a dodge and the Grunt FO passes ARM.
I decide I want to try and get rid of the Marauder Haris that’s in the open by standing up my Zoauve, but if I stand up the Foxtrot next to the Zoauve can see me. Oh well. I decide to just go for it. Of course, I get crit by the Foxtrot and fail to wound the Marauder. Bah!!
The Marauder Molotok is close enough to the edge that I can barely see its base, even while it’s prone, so I send in the Briscard. I manage to eat a round even though the low-vis zone, but my Briscard’s armor stops it. I decide I want to advance my Irmandinho so I walk him up the board edge behind the mountain that’s there.
I’ve only got two orders left. I really need to get rid of Adam’s Devil Dog, that’s his way back into this game. I bank on Uxia, who is conveniently two orders away with her assault pistols.
I roll a crit and three hits against Adam’s smoke grenade, as he rolled a 1. I have a 13.77% chance of KOing the Devil Dog, but I manage to get the 2.75% chance option of straight up killing it. I’ll take it! With that, I’m out of orders.
Bottom of 2 – USARF
Adam’s new Grunt Lieutenant guns down my Irmandinho, even through is +4 ARM Booty L1 roll. Booooo.
Adam nabs In Extremis Recovery from my Grunt Infiltrator on the roof…
then brings on an Airborne Ranger for the turn 3 order. My Chasseur is watching most of the board edge, so he had to bring it in next to my Irmandinho.
Adam clears the Chasseur with his seemingly invincible Marauder Molotok.
To finish out the turn, the Foxtrot FO that crit my Zoauve drops a mine and the Airborne Ranger moves up to try and discover the “mine,” aka Vassily’s Ambush Camo.
Adam rolls low, successfully discovering “a mine!” as he put it. I just take the camo token off the table and do one of these:
Adam chuckles in frustration and amusement, the ruse revealed.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Ariadna
The jig is up, so I just push Vassily forward with his Lt order, splitting burst on the Foxtrot and the Airborne ranger, blasting them off the table like Terry Crews with his AA-12 in The Expendables.
Adam’s got a bunch of stuff watching the center objective, so I bring on my Paracommando sniper, hoping that I won’t get flash pulsed or stunned by the nearby Warcor. We debate briefly over whether the stun pistol or flash pulse is better. Adam decides to Stun Pistol at point blank range, which is the correct choice at 36.90% to stun versus the 34.25% of the Flash Pulse.
I had hoped to clear out the Warcor with either the Devil Dog or the Zouave, but it was not to be. Ah well. Had I not been stunned I would’ve had the opportunity to shoot a bunch of stuff in the back, namely Adam’s new Grunt lieutenant!
I play to the objective, tagging the rightmost objective with my Briscard and setting up a line of fire on the central objective since the leftmost one is covered by a mine.
I back Vassily up out of flamethrower range and split burst on the Marauders guarding the central objective. I take out the Marauder Haris with the flamethrower, but that darn Molotok puts a wound on Vassily, who goes dogged. I try to take it out with burst 2, but it beats my roll by one and Vassily dies.
I get my Foxtrot to the central objective and pass my WIP roll, surviving the shot from the Marauder. Adam wisely decides to not reveal his Foxtrot to get a “free shot” on my Foxtrot to preserve his camo state.
I waffled a bit here, deciding whether or not I should try to gun down the Marauder on the way in, but decide that two on 11s versus one on 9s isn’t worth the risk:
| 32.75 | 52.24 | 15.01 |
Bottom of 3 – USARF
Adam doesn’t have much in the way of orders, so after securing the leftmost objective (the one covered by his Foxtrot’s mine), he goes after the central objective with his Foxtrot. It all comes down to this–this roll is for all the marbles. Adam rolls a 19 for the Foxtrot’s WIP roll, and Knauf plants a DA round right in the Foxtrot’s face.
When Adam and I play, we always play as if we’re at a tournament trying to maximize our points and minimize our opponent’s. My Paracommando is securing Adam’s HVT so it has to go. Adam’s stupid Marauder Molotok has a go of it, and even though he hits my Paracommando three times, I pass all three saves!
I’ve got two antennas to his one and we both have 1 classified, making it a
7-3 Ariadna Victory!
Post Game Analysis
Well, since this is a Tigerlands about pacing your play, I’m going to frame the discussion from this standpoint. I’ll start with some base observations:
- Power Pack heavily favors going second because of the ability to flip objectives without any recovery from your opponent. Getting the console on the Bottom of 3 is also very strong.
- My list and Adam’s list both favor punching the opponent super hard in the face with shotguns and flamethrowers.
- Controlling the enemy’s console is difficult–you have to dedicate both list slots and orders for this.
- Majoring Power Pack is hard. You basically need to get more antennas activated, deny your opponent classifieds/your console, and get classifieds/their console yourself.
Adam and I regularly play each other with red deck classifieds, because we’re of the opinion that we should train like we fight. If we end up at a green deck tournament, so much the better. I ended up with Predator and HVT: Designation for my classifieds (the other ones I drew weren’t really doable). Adam had In Extremis Recovery and Net Undermine, both of which are way easier than my two.
My only serious path to get Predator is Uxia, the Irmandibro, and the Devil Dog, all of whom were not in good positions to get that, and it would take a frajillion orders. Even though I have the ability to get HVT: Designation with all the forward observers I have on the table, we’ve both put our HVTs in really obnoxious places so that’s not likely either.
I’m therefore committed to a) getting Predator organically through the game if things go super well with the Devil Dogs and the Marauders in the middle and b) getting Secure the HVT if I want both classified points. I decide that the best way to get to a major victory is to take Adam’s console at the end of the game, which is a 4 point swing (+2 for me, -2 for him, effectively).
Okay, so my overall plan, in priority order, is:
- Flip 2 antennas to me – Briscard, Foxtrot, Vassily, Irmandinbro.
- Secure Adam’s console – Paracommando.
- Deny Adam my console – Knauf
- Get Secure the HVT, and Predator if possible – Paracommando
How do I accomplish the above goals, especially with the extreme disadvantage of going second? Well, I need to pace things out very carefully. I decide the following:
- There’s no point in getting the antennas or console early. I’ll tip my hand and Adam has too much nonsense that will just kill my overextended unit. I’ll make my antenna/console play at the top of turn 3.
- I need to protect my order pool so I can make this play, so I need to be very careful about overextending.
- I need to degrade Adam’s ability to damage my order pool, and I need to remove his ability to do the mission.
- Remove Adam’s orders, turn 1 and 2.
- Hunt Adam’s specialists.
Okay, the first two points are pretty straightforward, but how do I go about doing the last point? I see three camo tokens on the field, all of whom are within 2 orders of each antenna. I suspect all three are Foxtrot FOs (one was an LGL, as you know), so I know I have to kill them or mine the approach.
I also need to disable the Devil Dog and tie up both links. Adam is not going to be shy about shoving a Marauder or Grunt in my face, and I suspect at least one AD trooper is stomping around in the bushes off-map somewhere. Knauf’s covering my back table edge, so Van Zant will have a very disappointing entrance if it’s him, and I’ve got an Irmandinbro covering Knauf’s back with his Chain Rifle.
Let’s go back to Turn 1 to see what I did:
- Disrupt the Marauder link by killing Rosie with the Devil Dog.
- Attempt to put a wound on the Devil Dog, took out a Foxtrot with the Grunt Infiltrator on my right.
- Kill the AP HMG Minuteman to disrupt the Grunt link.
So, I didn’t kill any of Adam’s specialists, but I had no way of knowing that was a Foxtrot LGL and not an FO, so my prioritization was good. I also really messed up his first turn by forcing him to deal with two Grunt Infiltrators and a Devil Dog on his first turn, which basically sucked all of his orders even though I lost all three of those pieces.
Let’s go to Turn 2:
- Attempt to kill a Grunt sniper and Grunt FO- Fail.
- Attempt to kill Marauders – Fail… but I revealed a Foxtrot FO.
- Kill the Devil Dog with Uxia. – Success!
A decidedly less good turn. I almost lost my Briscard, and I lost my Zoauve. I stuck very doggedly to my plan, more or less splitting my attention equally between the Grunts, Marauders, and Devil Dog. I get a big win by removing Adam’s key tool, the Devil Dog, and he can’t recover his order pool by combining them with command tokens since he was in loss of lieutenant Turn 1 and used them all. So I’ve accomplished my other goal of continuing to degrade his order pool through Turns 1 and 2.
Adam does some damage to me on the bottom of 2, but I’m basically keeping him boxed in. He’s content to let me do this, since he knows he has the final say at the bottom of 3. I really need to kill his specialists now that I’ve done general damage to his order pool. The first thing I do at the top of three is ask him to point at all his specialists. He indicates the Foxtrot FO, the two Grunt FOs, and I of course notice the camo token in the midfield near the central antenna.
Let’s go to Turn 3:
- I kill the visible Foxtrot FO.
- Flip the rightmost antenna with my Briscard.
- I bring on the Paracommando to at least Secure the HVT if not get the console. Ideally it would also let me clear the way for Vassily or the Foxtrot.
- Degrade Adam’s orders further with Vassily, and flip the central antenna with my Foxtrot.
Now, let’s watch Adam illustrate the sheer power of going second in Power Pack. All Adam has to do in order to win 7-2 is:
- Flip the left antenna (my perspective). He does this easily with the Grunt FO he made his Lt.
- Flip the central antenna with his Foxtrot. I CANNOT deny him the ability to do this. I attempted on multiple occasions to bait the central Foxtrot out of camo (Zouave, Vassily, Foxtrot), but Adam kept it in camo. He’s only 1 order away from the central objective, which means he gets a single, unstoppable WIP roll on the console thanks to his camo state. If I don’t kill this Foxtrot, which I thankfully do with Knauf, he gets a second chance.
- Kill my Paracommando to deny me Secure the HVT.
Thankfully the dice are with me for points 2 and 3, and I take the minor victory. All Adam had to do in order to win was pass one WIP roll. To turn that into a major, he just had to hope I would fail one of 3 ARM rolls. That’s the fragility of going first in Power Pack, it basically turns into a coin toss.
Hopefully this has illustrated the planning and general thought process I had hoped to get our players to unpack during their games of Power Pack at this Tigerlands.
