Evader Climb Nachtmusik
Erik was free on the weekend again, as was I, so we played a game of Frostbyte to prep for Rose City Raid Lite. We decided to mix up the broken spaceship/space station terrain, specifically by adding in the three story bridge section. I think it would be far too strong if either of the open sides of the bridge section were exposed to the center of the table, so we elected to keep them aligned with the DZ-to-DZ axis.
Overview
- Mission: Frostbyte
- Forces: Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor versus Haqqislam (300)
- Deploy First: Haqqislam
- First Turn: Haqqislam
Okay, first off, I know the core link is illegal. I missed it during game time, but figured it out shortly after. If I had swapped the Jag and Massacre, nothing would have changed in the game, at all. Apologies to Erik, of course, but the learnings from the game are still valid! In any case, I really wanted to try out Wolfgang and the Gecko and keep pushing links around the table. I decided to cram a ton of heavy infantry and close combat monsters into the list. HI can ignore the effects of Frostbyte’s Killer Cold, and CC monsters (especially characters) are great for Panic Room.
Frostbyte & Panic Room
10
1
MOBILE BRIGADA (Lieutenant) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 32)
WILDCAT (NCO) Spitfire / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 31)
EVADER Feuerbach, D-Charges ( | TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 31)
JAZZ FTO undefined / undefined. (0.5 | 19)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
GECKO MULTI Marksman Rifle(+1B), Chain Rifle, Panzerfaust / CC Weapon. (1 | 56)
GECKO PILOT Combi Rifle / Assault Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0 | 0)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MULTI Rifle(+1B), Chain-colt / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 35)
SEÑOR MASSACRE Boarding Shotgun, Eclipse Grenades, E/M Grenades / Pistol, E/M CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 26)
6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I love Wildcats, but it’s been a struggle to get them into lists for me. I just forced the issue and dropped a Wildcat Spitfire into the core, and then stocked the rest of the core with my now common Brigada Lt, Jazz, and the Evader Feuerbach. It’s not an engineer, but it’s still a specialist operative. Bonkers. Evaders have done so much to change the faction–not as much as the introduction of Jaguars back in the day, but they’re a big deal. There really isn’t much to say about the list, I think it’s all pretty self-evident. I’m having some trouble figuring out who my DataTracker should be, and I decided to make it Wolfgang. Not sure if that’s the right call, and I’m leaning towards no, but there you have it. I do think the list is a bit under-gunned over 24″, but that’s not a problem on this table. It would be on other ones though, so that’s food for thought.
Erik was getting tired of vanilla PanO and having to solve all his problems with bullets, so he decided to solve his problem with MSV2 + Smoke and AP HMG with Continuous Damage bullets instead! I’m not a particularly huge fan of Saladin as a lieutenant if you don’t have stuff that synergizes with him. Sure, all of his stuff is great, but I’d almost rather take the Ghulam +1 command token Lt for the steep discount and pack in some Mutts or something. Saladin isn’t doing much in this list other than providing all his lieutenanty stuff. It’s good, but I think having a few extra models on the table would be more beneficial to Erik’s game plan.
RCR – FB PR 2.2
GROUP 12
GROUP 2
KRAKOT RENEGADE Chain Rifle(+1B), Grenades / DA CC Weapon, Heavy Pistol. (0 | 14)
SHIHAB REMOTE Heavy Machine Gun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 24)
KUM Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 5)
LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 8)
SALADIN (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token]) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser(+1B) / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 36)
GHULAM HUSAM (Infinity Spec-Ops) [i](Hacking Device(Hacker), Doctor(+3), Engineer)[/i] Rifle, Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
AZRA’IL AP Heavy Machine Gun / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 40)
MUKHTAR (Multispectral Visor L2) Red Fury, Nanopulser(+1B) ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 36)
ODALISQUE (Sixth Sense) Spitfire, Nanopulser / MULTI Pistol, PARA CC Weapon. (1 | 30)
FIDAY Rifle, Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 25)
ÁYYĀR Sniper Rifle / Viral Pistol(+1B), CC Weapon. (0.5 | 41)
FARZAN (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse, Shock Mines, D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
6 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army
At the very least a hacker and some way to punish like a missile bot to take advantage of Saladin’s repeater in Panic Room might be interesting. Nevertheless, the list is full of stuff that Erik likes and is familiar with, although I think the Odalisque is a bit on the newer side for him. I’ve seen that Farzan across the table more times that I’d hope, and I know how dangerous it can be. The Ayyar Sniper is new too. I think I’d rather take the Hortlak AP Sniper over the Ayyar, and then take the Rifle Ayyar. Having the ability to push with a Holoprojector unit, especially in a objective room mission where there will certainly be deployables is pretty good.
Erik took the super specialist Spec-Ops. It’s fine, but I find it so very boring. I don’t mean to shit on Erik’s list, and I think he definitely played the list very very well. I’m just trying to make the point that I think there are more efficient lists for the plan he was trying to enact on the table, and that’s one area for improvement for him to consider. I certainly have thoughts about my list as well, which I’ll go over at the end of this battle report.
Deployment
Erik won the rolloff and elected to go first, so I gave him the side opposite the one he played last time, mostly because I wanted to try it out. He castled up Saladin outside the space station, protected by a Kum and a Shihab and flanked by a SpecOps. The other Kum was on the other side of the table, right behind the Krakot. His midfield was his Muhktar and Farzan, with a Libertos in the corridor approaching his deployment zone. The Ayyar sat in the back pretending to contest some firelanes–the real one was in total cover. Reasonable.
I wasn’t too enthused at the prospect of fighting the Ayyar with my Feuerbach Evader, so I didn’t. I made sure to put him on a part of the roof that was blocked from all three Ayyar tokens, which in turn dictated my link placement. The Wildcat hung out behind the station, figuring that was pretty safe and it would serve as a backup gun. The other link team members were inside the station. My Wolfgang/Evader AP Spitfire/Massacre haris was on the left, with the Evader watching some of the approach paths for the Kum and the Krakot. I deployed Wolfgang a little forward, figuring he stood a reasonable chance of fighting anything that was coming his way, and I put Massacre facing behind in case I faced something silly like a Ragik.
Erik’s two holdbacks were the Azra’il and a Fiday. The Fiday was just outside my deployment zone and both it and the Azra’il were looking right at my Evader. I had briefly considered putting the Gecko outside of the station, but with the Fiday up there I elected not to. And put it inside facing off against a potential approach by the Odalisque. My DataTracker was Wolfgang, and Erik’s was the Muhktar.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Haqqislam
I took two orders from Erik’s second group, leaving him only with two irregulars and two impetuous. That seemed the most reasonable decision. Erik decided to try and get the Fiday behind my Evader Feuerbach so he started walking. I figured that the Evader would die pretty quickly to the AP HMG Azra’il, and I didn’t have a particularly good chance of fending off the Fiday. My objective for the first turn is limit the damage, so I decided to dodge the Evader down the rooftop using Climbing+, getting him out of LoF of the Azra’il. I used a spare crate to prop him up where he was supposed to be, just for the purposes of state tracking.
With my primary ARO off the roof, Erik felt emboldened to start moving pieces around, having already canceled his impetuous orders on the Kum because of the Evader Feuerbach. The way clear, the Farzan made her way up to the leftmost console and attempted to activate it–sadly Erik rolled poorly and was forced to try again, eventually activating his deployment zone heater.
There was an unexpected line of fire from the Evader to the Azra’il on the rooftop, so Erik used it, firing a full burst at my Evader from basically the opposite corner of the table. I figured I’d try shooting back, an was rewarded by only taking one hit, passing ARM and going prone.
With no targets left for Erik to shoot at, he advanced the Azra’il even further and threw it, the Farzan, the Muhktar, and the Odalisque (who was watching the rightmost side of the table) into suppressive fire with a coordinated order. The Farzan was a reasonable choice, but with Jazz so close to the Azra’il I questioned the return on investment from pushing the Azra’il so far forward. We discussed this point after the game, and Erik had simply forgotten about Jazz. He figured that the Azrail in suppression would make it hard for my Gecko to advance. Not incorrect!
The Libertos advanced further up the corridor with its irregular order, and then Erik passed turn.
Bottom of 1 – Corregidor
Well, mission accomplished. Zero wounds taken on the first turn, and only one console activated. Can’t really complain about that! As a reminder, on this table, the entire outdoors area is considered Zero-G, and units with Zero-G gain super jump while in Zero-G in the Rose City Raid rules. I abused this by jumping my AP Spitfire Evader up to see the Azra’il from well outside 24″, managing to do a wound and forcing it prone.
I pushed my 5-model core forward, trying to bait a shot out of the Fiday, which Erik did not take. Wise. The Jaguar eventually reached visual range of the Libertos which placed a mine inside the corridor. I double chain rifled (Massacre could have triple-shotgunned in a legal link) and managed to do only one wound. Thankfully, there was some terrain in the corridor that only exposed the Jaguar briefly, allowing me to activate the link without him eating a mine.
I shuffled the link around some, thoroughly annoyed by the inefficiency of it all. I misjudged 8″ on Jazz’s hacking radius and was 0.25″ short, wasting an order when trying to Oblivion the Azra’il. I couldn’t advance further because of the Libertos, so I was forced to use the Feuerbach to bring it down.
Jazz Oblivions the Azra’il and the Brigada clears the mine.
The Evader climbs the wall outside and takes down the Azra’il, but is left in an awkward position…
because I foolishly try to challenge the Farzan in suppression with Wolfgang. I have to spend an order throwing smoke to block the Ayyar (which wasn’t real, but I couldn’t risk my DataTracker to a second ARO), and then I make the attempt on 5 dice versus the Farzan’s three.
| 52.08 | 29.95 | 17.97 |
It goes poorly for me, and Erik chortles in victory as I put a wound marker next to Wolfgang and pass turn dejectedly. Not because I lost the roll, but because I think I could have been far more effective in this turn. I could have walked the Evader off the roof as I did before with one order, then fired a pair of pitchers around the corner with Jazz to deal with the Azrael. I move the Evader through the same door while using Carbonite, then gun down the Azrael. The Muhktar was visible from the rooftop, and I’m likely to be able to take out the Ayyar if it becomes a problem, and then I can set up White Noise for the Muhktar and gun it down with the Feuerbach on the roof. If the Fiday reveals, I deal with the Fiday. This seems quite reasonable, and I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t see it at game time. I was too busy trying to deal with the camo token in the corridor and I shouldn’t have worried so much.
The Libertos is quite dangerous, but I could have screened its approach with the Jaguar if it really came down to that, and probably used the Wildcat to Discover Shoot it if it really became a problem. To improve my response, I think I should have just taken a beat to really prioritize my turn better:
- Kill the Azra’il. You can’t have that.
- Kill the Muhktar.
- Kill other targets of opportunity and set up to defend Wolfgang.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Haqqislam
That last point would turn out to be quite important, because I had nothing really protecting Wolfgang other than the Evader AP Spitfire. The Kum and Muhktar come rolling up, setting up smoke for the Muhktar as well. Erik’s got that MSV the HVT classified, so he does that…
and then guns down the Evader in one burst. Brutal.
The Kum come rushing in. I lose Massacre to a chain rifle while Wolfgang makes use of his stupendous dodging skills.
The Kum wraps around the terrain to try to get Wolfgang again, but I dodge away. Massacre’s unconscious body goes down, meaning no regeneration for me! So yeah. A Jaguar would’ve been just as dead here–although I could have chain-rifled back because of Dogged. Ah well. No big deal.
Erik’s other Kum comes rocketing back up, and I dodge into close combat with it. To ensure the Muhktar can’t shoot me, I use the Para CCW to glue the unfortunate biker.
In true Erik fashion, he plays to the objective and tucks his DataTracker on the third story of the damaged bridge terrain and passes turn.
Bottom of 2 – Corregidor
Well, I have nothing on the left, so I fix that by stomping the Gecko over. I paste the Farzan easily…
then wipe out the Krakot.
I try to take out the un-engaged Kum, but Erik crits on his smoke.
No matter. I try to take out the Ayyar, and manage to do a wound while my Evader BSG makes it way towards a console, eventually successfully activating my dead zone heater.
I use the Wildcat NCO order to settle my core link into better positions to defend against a push by the Odalisque, and then push the Gecko towards the remaining Kum biker that’s in smoke. I get one more shot on him but Erik crit smokes again, and I’m forced to just move the Gecko into position to see the Kum on Erik’s next turn.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Haqqislam
Erik makes a big mistake and moves the Shihab out of group two, leaving the unengaged Kum with only its orders. Because I’m still engaged, he doesn’t want to roll the Kum forward and eat a DAM 16 chain rifle from the Gecko, so he cancels the impetuous order. The engaged Kum can only dodge, so Erik attempts to get it out of close combat. I oblige him and dodge out as well. He does unstick himself, but when he tries to chain rifle me again I take him out with the Gecko and a shot from the Evader BSG.
The other Kum uses its irregular order to go after the Evader, who dodges successfully. It goes dogged thanks to the Gecko’s chain rifle, but Erik’s out of orders to try again!
He’s still got a Fiday though, so after climbing it down from the rooftop and getting spotlit, it tries to shoot the Evader from outside of 16″. I dodge vault off the terrain and use the Gecko to body-block the Fiday’s shot.
Erik tries to remove the Gecko with his Ayyar, but can’t crack the armor.
He tries again by declaring a coordinated order with the Shihab in the mix, moving the Shihab to a better spot, while the Fiday throws a shot in for good measure as well. I dodge and manage to shrug off all the fire.
Hooray for TAGs in cover!
Bottom of 3 – Corregidor
I just need to get Wolfgang into the center and then my non-HI units into my dead zone, so I send in the Brigada to clear the Libertos’ original mine without incident.
The Gecko pastes the Fiday and shrugs off another hit from the Ayyar.
This all lets me get the Jaguar into position to set up smoke for Wolfgang, who just books it into the exclusion zone while the rest of my units roll back to the Dead Zone.
I’ve definitely killed more stuff, having only lost Massacre and an Evader, both of us have a console, and Erik has a classified, making it a
4-2 Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor Victory!
Post Game Analysis
Well, my gaff with the illegal core aside, the list was okay. I think Erik did a phenomenal job going after Wolfgang–the dice were just on my side. Potential improvements would have been to smoke + intuitive attack or pistol Wolfgang to take him down, or going after him with the Muhktar through smoke. I really question the value of pushing the Azra’il forward though, I think that was a mistake. If you want to tie the Gecko up there are other ways, like getting the Fiday into close combat. That’s a very dead Fiday, but it’s going to take orders for me to deal with it, and that Fiday is dead anyway due to killer cold. So it takes me a similar amount of orders (assuming I did the smart thing with Jazz like I described), and Erik could have killed the Evader and the Wildcat on the way in, which I think would have been pretty great.
I am a little disappointed with my choice of Wolfgang as Datatracker. There’s definitely something to be said for making the Brigada the DataTracker–that’s 3 orders just all by himself on Turn 3 to make it into the exclusion zone. It’s putting all my eggs in one Brigada-shaped basket, but I think that might be okay. I can always change it up if I think there’s a danger of him being assassinated. I really want to be able to take risks with Wolfgang, especially with his Berserk +3 and Climbing+! That makes him an excellent DataTracker hunter. So, in summary, I think this game probably should have gone to Erik. He was able to get a positional advantage on me because I over-concentrated my hitting power in the corridors on the right side. It was only due to the dodging prowess of Wolfgang that I made it out at all.
As a learning tool for myself, I think I will try to come up with only two goals for my link in a turn, and try to tie them closely to what the mission objectives are. I also am quite out of practice against factions that Adam doesn’t play regularly thanks to COVID, so my deployment was a little vulnerable to things like Fiday. I do think that my recovery was good, but I had a good opportunity to be far more aggressive on the first turn and get a lot more done. Using the Gecko to “discover” the fact that the Ayyar was fake would have been good. I am very pleased with the Gecko’s performance and am looking to more games with it. I think I will modify this list as follows:
SOMBRA (Specialist Operative) Breaker Combi Rifle, Light Shotgun, AP Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 39)
While the link situation is worse, I think there are enough options there to get some work done. I lose Massacre, which is a bummer, but gain a Sombra as a potential DataTracker option. Worth trying out for sure. The links are a bit cumbersome, but I do like the addition of the Wildcat HRL even though I lose the use of the NCO order. It’s probably a better tool for dealing with smoke throwing warbands than the Wildcat Spitfire.
Erik’s list I think might look better like this:
GROUP 1GROUP 2
ARMAND (Multispectral Visor L1) MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser ( ) / Breaker Pistol(+1B), Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 39)
HAFZA HUSAM (Infinity Spec-Ops) [i](Holoprojector, Doctor(MediKit), E/Marat)[/i] Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 16)
BARID (Hacker, Hacking Device) Rifle, Pitcher ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 17)
MUTTAWI’AH Boarding Shotgun, E/Marat, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 9)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I like the option to really muck with people by putting down multiple Armands. Also, getting some more hacking presence on the table is also good to deal with TAGs and the like. Having it be a Barid lets you sort of opt in or out by choosing to deploy pitchers if you want. Ideally it would be a Druze Hacker, but we can’t have everything we want. I like the Hafza with Holoprojector, Doctor, and E/Marat for Panic Room. That seems pretty rude as I imagine many people will pair Frostbyte with Panic Room given similar requirements.
In any case, thanks to Erik for a great game! Things haven’t quite clicked yet with Corregidor but I can feel the dominoes ready to tip on the horizon.
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