Sacrificial Spektr
Time to try my second Shitshow list. I was facing Nico (Nico), who was playing Military Orders. He’s been in our meta for a long time but life has conspired to keep us from playing each other for some time. I’m glad we finally got the chance.
Overview
- Mission: ITS14 Cryogenics
- Forces: Nomads versus Military Orders (300)
- Deploy First: Nomads
- First Turn: Nomads
11 orders and 3 Hellcats and a Spektr. What a list. Based on my experience with 11 model Steel lists with solo Ekdromoi in group 2, I decided to try that with the Hellcat Spitfire.
Shit Show B
GROUP 1
10
GROUP 2
GRENZER (Lieutenant, Discover [+3], Biometric Visor) Combi Rifle, Light Flamethrower(+1B) ( ) / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
ZOE FTO-2 (Hacker) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 25)
MODERATOR (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-6). (0 | 11)
AÏDA SWANSON (Minelayer) Submachine Gun(+1B), Viral Mines / Viral Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0.5 | 23)
HOLLOW MEN Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 28)
MOBILE BRIGADA Missile Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 37)
HELLCAT Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 25)
SPEKTR Combi Rifle, E/M Mines ( | Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 32)
6 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
This list is a significantly better match for my playstyle than the other random list.
I’m comfortable playing lists with lower order counts and reliable tools like the Grenzer. Also, this list is quite resilient to alpha strikes because much of it starts off the table! There are so many tools in this list as well beyond the Hellcats. I really want to tune it post tournament and start running this archetype out of vanilla Nomads in earnest.
I don’t think it works well outside of Nomads, because the fact that Hellcats land on 15s is so important. Anyway. Nico is running the crusade fireteam with Joan and DeFersen. He’s got a second link with some serious firepower as well, and Dart to round things out. To give his HI some hacking coverage, he’s got a EVO too.
Nico (Nico)
JOAN OF ARC (Lieutenant) MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, EXP CC Weapon. (+1 | 45)
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER (Doctor) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 33)
DE FERSEN Spitfire / Pistol, AP + Shock CC Weapon. (1.5 | 51)
ORDER SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 15)
CURATOR Combi Rifle, D-Charges, AP Mines ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17)
BULLETEER Spitfire / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (1 | 23)
DART Submachine Gun, Viral Tactical Bow, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 34)
MULEBOT (Hacker, EVO Hacking Device) ( ) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0.5 | 15)
Deployment
I lose the rolloff and end up going first. That’s really not what I want. I would prefer to go second, but we’ll make it work. I hold the Grenzer MSR in reserve. I probably should’ve held both the Brigada and the Grenzer in reserve, but I figure I’ll want to do a bunch of coordinated orders to move things into quadrants, so I don’t overthink it.
I put the Spektr in a pretty safe spot right on the midline, and push Aida and her mine as far as they’ll go. The mine covers one of the objectives. I’m concerned about Crusaders, so I put the turret watching the right side of the table. I tuck the Moderator into a safe pocket on the right side of my deployment zone mostly to protect the order. I wasn’t even counting specialists at this point or thinking about the mission.
I usually have a deployment plan when I build lists, but I was bereft of that there, so I was more learning the list through deployment than I was really thinking about the mission. I was just solving the first order problem of force projection and material conservation, and not the second order problem of ticking all the objective boxes.
One might say: “oh, but isn’t winning the game the point, so you should focus on the objectives first?” Well sure, that’s a reasonable statement. I’d counter that with at the time of deployment, I really don’t know what my opponent will bring to the table (I don’t even know their list at this point), so I need to “have a good shape” in my placement. If I start with a strong foundation of positioning and ability to project threat and board control in the right places, then I have a good basis from which to start with when trying to achieve the mission objectives. Ideally I’d do both, but Infinity is all about managing decision fatigue–I don’t need to stack the costs of guessing the future on top of learning a list.
Anyway. Some easy deployments–the Grenzer Lt hid in the back, as did Zoe. The Hollowman watched the left board edge for Crusaders, and then I put the Brigada in a spot to watch the right third or so of the table. I didn’t want to put it on the roof and just get gunned down by PanO firepower immediately–I need to preserve orders and I don’t know what Nico is going to do with his deployment.
Nico castles the Crusade link on the left behind a large building, then castles the other link on the right around the only other building in his deployment zone. Not much to say about that, seems pretty standard and reasonable. Nico cleverly puts the turret in a position that protects both links.
The Bulleteer, however, is visible from my deployment zone at an extreme angle, so I put the Grenzer MSR there watching it, and then Nico puts Dart on a roof, prone, in the midfield. The shotgun Hospitaller is Nico’s Master Breacher and I choose Aida as mine, mostly because I don’t have to spend orders to dominate a quadrant, which is really important, as we’ll see.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Nomads
I’ve got a whopping 5 orders in my pool after Nico docks me 2. Whoooo boooy. I cannot hope to get anything significant done this turn. What I have to do is protect my order pool so I can power the Hellcats on Turn 2. In order to achieve that, I’m going to have to create a bunch of pressing, immediate threats that cost multiple orders to deal with and hopefully leave Nico in a position where he has overextended or left something in a bad and exploitable position.
The easy things I can accomplish are taking out the Bulleteer with the Grenzer, and throwing the Spektr under the bus to get an E/M mine covering the Crusade link. I start off by taking out the Bulleteer, then I get the Spektr in position to deal with the link with a bunch of coordinated orders that also gets the Brigada onto the roof of a building and the Grenzer in a position covering Dart and the engineer.
The Grenzer clears the turret for the Spektr…
and then I put an E/Mauler covering all but one members of the Crusade link.
Bottom of 1 – Military Orders
Not the most damage I’ve ever caused, but I’ll take it. I was so laser focused on getting the mine down that I didn’t think about the EVO hacker. I should’ve left the Spektr in view of the link so I could’ve dropped another mine. The EVO throws itself under the bus to clear the mine. Unfortunately for Nico this is in view of the Brigada missile, so while the mine is gone, so is the EVO.
The Order Sgt goes after the Spetkr next, and I eyeball the range as just in 16″, so I decide to shoot instead of dodge. I’m right, and between the Grenzer, who is watching this, and the Spektr, the Order Sgt goes down.
Joan rolls around the corner and I throw the Spektr under the bus to drop a repeater.
DeFersen throws a Trinity at Zoe, but I successfully Isolate him. This was a bit of a mistake by me, because I wasn’t thinking clearly about DeFersen’s toolkit. It was also a bit of a mistake by Nico, because I could have had normal rolls on Joan to Isolate her, which is also very bad for him. In any case, DeFersen is shut down, and that’s great for me.
At this point, Nico just starts pushing, throwing the Hospitaller HMG at the Brigada. I try to Oblivion Joan as she walks by, but she passes BTS.
The Hospitaller Doctor pops the HVT out of the Cryo Pod, which isn’t great for me, and Joan somehow passes BTS on another Oblivion attempt.
The Knights are safe from the repeater, but Joan is still in range.
Turn 2
At the moment, only Nico has a dominant Master Breacher, so the score is 0-1, and Nico has opened one Cryo Pod thing.
Top of 2 – Nomads
Well my hopes have come true–Nico’s link is in a very precarious position with his HI Lieutenant covered by a repeater and everyone roughly in template formation. I decide to just be aggressive and take out as many of them as I can. This will give me some breathing room, and hopefully allow me to do the mission in the second half of the turn and in turn 3.
Aida sneaks up and drops a mine, then Zoe Oblivions Joan again. Nico elects to not break the link and hopes that his BTS will carry him through against the viral mine, and Joan resets. She fails the WIP roll and the BTS save (finally), and the mine goes off, hitting her, the Hospitaller Doctor, and the Hospitaller HMG.
Both Joan and the Hospitaller Doctor take a wound, but the HMG makes both saves. I drop in the Hellcat BSG, granting the Hospitaller HMG a dodge, so he dodges forward…
right into the sights of the Grenzer MSR. I drop the Hospitaller HMG easily, and then it’s back to harassing the rest of the link.
I coordinate an order on the Hellcat BSG and Aida to get shots on Joan and contest her inevitable dodge, but Nico surprises me and elects to shoot at Aida with Joan. The Hospitaller goes after the Hellcat. I’m only on Burst 1 with the template, but it’s enough to put down the Hospitaller Doctor and Aida finishes Joan off, taking her off the table.
I bring in the Hellcat Spitfire on a roof for the order, and pass turn.
Bottom of 2 – Military Orders
Nico is in loss of lieutenant with Joan gone, which is great.
He tries to clear the Hellcat BSG and Aida with the Hospitaller BSG. The Hellcat fires a slug and Aida dodges away, and no one takes a wound.
Dart stands up and then it’s back to me.
Turn 3
At this point, I’m dominating with my master breacher and Nico is not, so it’s a 1-1 tie so far.
Top of 3 – Nomads
I discover-shoot Dart with the Grenzer MSR but fail to do both wounds.
Another try sorts it out.
Zoe opens the Cryo-Pod near me to find an HVT and grabs the Spotlight someone classified off of DeFersen, who fails his reset.
I drop in the last Hellcat to try and secure Nico’s HVT and then try and take out the Hospitaller BSG with my Hellcat BSG, but I only do one wound.
I’m not in range of Nico’s HVT with the Hellcat ADHL, so I take a shot at the Hospitaller BSG while getting 4″ of movement.
At this point, I’m out of orders. Things aren’t looking terribly good for me.
Bottom of 3 – Military Orders
DeFersen is an expensive boy, so Nico’s not in loss.
DeFersen is also just isolated, so he’s more than capable of taking out my Hellcat BSG, which he does. I decide to shoot instead of dodge since the numbers are the same. No need to hack, because DeFersen has no more orders after this.
The Hospitaller BSG takes out my other Hellcat, unfortunately, but this does pull him away from Aida, which means I’ve got that quadrant.
This puts us at 2-2 for Dominant Master breachers. We’re both dominating quadrants with HVTs, putting us at 4-4, but my one classified makes it a
5-4, 180-97 Nomad Victory!
Post Game Analysis
Well I really like the list. It’s way more fun than the other Shitshow list that I was saddled with. I think I made a mistake in not taking out Nico’s Master Breacher? I made a priority call and targeted the Hospitaller Doctor instead, because that can bring Hospitallers back, and that’s a big no-thank-you from me. I think Nico played unnecessarily aggressively with the Crusade link. I was going to make a comment that he gave me unopposed hacking attempts on Joan, but what’s interesting is that only the MULTI Rifle version has stealth, so me taking Oblivons on her in ARO wasn’t legal–good thing she passed BTS!
I asked if she had stealth during the game, and Nico must have been looking at the mobility version when he was answering me, assuming (reasonably) that they would have the same special skills. In any case, not shooting the repeater with something was wildly risky, especially when Joan was still in range at the end of his turn.
I gotta say my first turn plan worked out amazingly. I just wished I was a little further forward with the Spektr to be able to place another E/M mine and/or repeater when the EVO Bot detonated the first mine. That was pretty disappointing. I think Nico did an excellent job keeping the score so close–it was the one classified that put me over at the end. In a mission where you just need to be somewhere with points, being aggressive like that when the only negative outcome is getting isolated or immobilized is pretty okay.
One thing that I absolutely loved about the list was its ability to respond to threats with the exact tool I need in the exact right spot. I kinda want to run a 2 Hellcat BSG package and make use of both sculpts. What a great archetype. Of course, in a constructed list, basically I can have the right tools to support the Hellcats with orders and board control, which this list lacks a little.
I’m really enjoying Aida as well, she brings a lot to the table, and viral mines are just so filthy! I think my comfort came from using her in my Druze lists recently, which gave me the confidence to try some things out with her.
Regarding the mission, I’ve never really been a huge fan of Cryogenics. It does provide some novelty to Quadrant Control and Supremacy, but does so by adding randomness. While this can be fun, it’s not for me–I’d rather plan my turns out and know what risks I’m taking. You can still get that same effect with Cryogenics, it just often asks a lot of your order pool to get to all the objectives, which mine couldn’t really do. I’ve played it only a handful of times now, and I’m never really quite sure if I’m winning–the scoring is quite difficult to parse. It is pretty friendly to newer or returning players (it’s been awhile since Nico has played regularly, so this is extra pertinent in this case).
The mission encourages you to just walk forward and push buttons, which is generally a good thing in Infinity–it also rewards big risks like putting all your points in a quadrant like Nico did. There’s a lot of potential downside to that, as we saw with my dismantling of the Crusade link, but players initial instincts to just “go do the thing” and “park in the zone” are rewarded. I don’t think either of us really thought too carefully about the scoring during the game–I was too busy trying to learn my list, for example. It wasn’t until the end of the game that we realized that I had won–we had a good five minute discussion trying to rewind board state and figure out who scored what when. It was a bit of a mess. For a bit we thought Nico had won, in fact!
In any case, I really enjoyed piloting the list–it was liberating in a lot of ways because I just had to make things work and Hellcats are just so much fun. They are the sculpts that got me to start Nomads over a decade ago, so getting to put three of them on the table was incredibly rewarding. I’m really looking forward to exploring this list archetype more and playing this specific list more! Thanks for reading.
