No Just Cause
Had another opportunity to get a remote game of Infinity in, this time in the early morning while the better half was still sleeping! Dan (White_Lang) offered to be my opponent and help me work through all the kinks of the setup. For more details about how I did this, see the previous remote report here:
The big difference this time was that I put the tripod where Dan would be standing for our game, which seemed to help him a lot. Same table as the original remote game too.
Overview
- Mission: Frostbyte
- Forces: Svalarheima’s Winter Force versus Invincible Army (300)
- Deploy First: IA
- First Turn: IA
Frostbyte
KNIGHT OF JUSTICE Lieutenant Spitfire / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 51)
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 35)
KARHU 2 Feuerbach, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 38)
BØYG Mk12 / Heavy Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 55)
MAQUINISTA (WinterFor) (CH: Mimetism, Multiterrain) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
VARG (Forward Observer) Heavy Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 25)
LIANG KAI Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
9
1
1 | 4.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I built a weird Svalarheima list, mostly full of things I wanted to test out without a huge amount of synergies other than a bunch of “Duos.” I thought the Boyg could duo with the Machinist but found out later, courtesy of Erik (Zelaponeepus) reminding me… but as you’ll see I didn’t really use it.
I’m particularly excited by the Varg FO with HRL and of course the Karhu double Feuerbach. I decided to not try the Nokken or Locusts, mostly because I really liked the idea of so many utility Duos.
Invincible Army
DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)
TAI SHENG Breaker Combi Rifle, Chain-colt + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 45)
ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Duo, Tactical Awareness) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1.5 | 38)
KOKRAM FTO (Fireteam: Duo) Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, Chain-colt, E/Mauler / 2 Heavy Pistols, Knife. (0 | 39)
HǍIDÀO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26)
SON-BAE Yaókòng Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 17)
LIÚ XĪNG (Specialist Operative) MULTI Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 38)
HÙSÒNG Yaókòng HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
Dan took a IA list that he was familiar with. Triple TR bots, an all-star link, and a Liu Xing.
Deployment
I won the rolloff and chose deployment to make things simpler for Dan. It’s quite hard to really evaluate a deployment zone remotely, so I just picked one and we got on with it. Dan stacked up his link on the right and then anchored everything with his trio of TR bots.
I spread everything out, figuring that I wanted to limit the impact of a Liu Xing, and made sure I covered various approaches. The Knights hung out on the mountain, prone, as that would be the safest for them.
I figured Liang Kai would do well on the left by himself, so that’s where he went, to corner guard. My Warcor hung out on a roof to speedbump. Dan’s reserve was his Daoying, and I think mine was the Knight of Justice.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – IA
Well, things started off by going super well. For Dan. He had deployed such that his Son-Bae had to be the link team leader until he got everyone else sorted, so he used it to take down the Warcor, blasting her straight off the table.
Then it was time to land the Liu Xing, which started things off by taking out the Karhu Paramedic…
then the Karhu double Feuerbach…
then the Liu Xing took on the Boyg.
I managed to sneak a wound through, but…
a crit and a failed save sent the Boyg unconscious.
The Hospitaller was just visible, even prone, so the Liu Xing took him on too, thankfully only doing a wound and letting me fail guts to safety.
The Liu Xing then went on to fight it out with the Varg on the other side of the table. It’s a little hard to see from this angle, but there’s definitely a pie-sliceable angle where you can hit the Sensor Varg before you see the HRL Varg, so that’s what Dan did.
I responded by sending out a WildParrot and passed ARM against the first round of shooting, and even managed to pass the second round of ARM saves while the Wild Parrot took down the Liu Xing.
At this point, Dan’s still got a healthy amount of orders thanks to Tactical Awareness and NCO, so his link moves up to take the objective in the Comanche Barracks. He doesn’t have quite the movement to get in there, so he settles for setting up a defensive position.
Bottom of 1 – Svalarheima
After all that, I’ve lost 4 orders, which is a pretty big hit in a limited insertion list. The Son Bae is watching the mountain along with at least one of the TR bots, so I need to get rid of some AROs to be able to make forward progress.
Thankfully, due to the advanced positioning of the link, Liang Kai can make it forward and fight it out with the Son Bae with one order after his impetuous order, so that’s exactly what I do. I throw the light shotgun at it, figuring that’s the most likely way to get the job done.
| 63.61 | 20.06 | 16.32 |
Now that I see them, they’re not the best odds but at least they’re in my favor…
and of course I get hit by a missile. I pass 2/3 saves, letting me try again, and I get pasted the second time. I guess Liang Kai didn’t find my cause just enough. Sigh.
I go for the more even odds of using the Varg HRL…
| 41.34 | 22.12 | 36.54 |
and get blown up immediately. I sink the rest of my orders getting the Sensor Varg into place and finally take out the Son Bae, which really isn’t all that helpful at this point.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – IA
The fact the Sensor Varg is pushed up pretty close to Dan’s stuff is no good for him, so he decides to take it out with Tai Sheng. It costs her a wound, but that’s fine by him, and I’m down another order.
The rest of the turn is spent driving the link around and activating the heater by turning on the generator in the barracks. To pile on to my problems, Dan also snags an easy Net Undermine by walking to my side of the table with Tai Sheng.
The last few orders of his turn are spent tidying up his link and getting them into a better position with the Zuyong HMG facing off against my Knight of Justice Spitfire.
Bottom of 2 – Svalarheima
Well, my only real hope now is to try and get a tie. That means I have to kill Tai Sheng, secure the center with my Knight of Justice DataTracker, and get my classified. First, I need to kill the Zuyong. I’m doing it from just outside of 24″, which is infuriating, as advancing any further forward will let a TR bot shoot at me as well while the Zuyong gets me out of cover. Fantastic.
I manage to knock out the Knight of Justice by repeatedly smashing his face against some HMG rounds (don’t try that at home, kids), and sacrifice my Hospitaller to pick the KoJ back up. Finally, I end the turn prone with a dead Zuyong.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – IA
Dan spends his entire turn getting a TR bot up onto the mountain to cover my Knight of Justice’s approach…
Bottom of 3 – Svalarheima
but what he hadn’t counted on was me climbing up and over the missile turret thingy!
Which is exactly what I do to deny Dan domination of the exclusion zone with his DataTracker, making it a
7-0 Invincible Army Victory!
Post Game Analysis
Whelp, not the best game I’ve ever played! I think I could’ve handled things even after that stellar Liu Xing run on the first turn, if and only if Liang Kai had come through for me and done some work on Dan’s link. Losing it to the missile bot at point blank range, with me on 17s and it on 9s suuucked. This goes without saying but I think that Liang Kai works much better with smoke in the faction, something that all PanO players would agree with, I’m sure.
I had a pretty decent change of at least killing Tai Sheng after taking out the ‘bot, which would’ve significantly helped things for me. I think all things considered I probably could’ve prioritized things a little differently, but I don’t see a clear point of failure in my decision making.
Not a huge amount in terms of learning for my game play this time around. Some interesting things regarding the table which I’m still digesting and don’t have clearly formed thoughts about. I think there’s definitely something to be said for my deployment needing to be better as well.
I will say though that the Varg Sensor with Wild Parrot is rad. What a great toolkit, and it can hang out with the equally rad HRL FO. I think I should just play the list again to really get a feel for things. Not a really clean or representative data point for Svalarheima, if that makes any sense.
My most pressing goal is to solve the remote play problem. I think I’m one step closer with the deployment zone cam, and have been slowly iterating on my setup as I learn more about streaming. Once I get the remote play problem sorted I can continue working on my table as well as staying sharp as a tactician. I look forward to the next remote game! Stay safe, stay sane, and thanks for reading!
You should give Tabletop simulator a try. There is a large community of players already playing this way infinity during this epidemic.
I’m aware of TTS, this silly exercise is part of the fun for me though. I’m sure I’ll play TTS at some point.