Hellcat Variety Pack
So, after getting dropped on by four hellcats, I had to try it. I decided to try different flavors of Hellcat though, for several reasons:
- I like playing WYSIWYG if possible, and I have all the different sculpts.
- Hellcat HMG/Spitfire is just so good.
- I think the Hellcat profiles are toolboxy enough that I can bring them in to solve different problems as needed, e.g. ADHL for TAGs, BSG for link teams/grouped units, etc.
Spoiler Alert: It kinda works?
Overview
- Mission: ITS Frontline
- Forces: 300 pts Nomads versus USAriadna Ranger Force
- Deploy First: Nomads
- First Turn: USAriadna Ranger Force
- Strikezone Wotan Report: WiseKensai versus sprocketgx
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_501.png[/img][b] Nomads[/b]
GROUP 1[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]8
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_16.png[/img] [b]INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus)[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]25[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_10.png[/img] [b]ZERO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]24[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_42.png[/img] [b]LUPE BALBOA[/b] Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Panzerfaust, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (0 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_13.png[/img] [b]JAGUAR[/b] Adhesive Launcher, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CCW. (0.5 | [b]13[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_13.png[/img] [b]JAGUAR[/b] Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | [b]10[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_30.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/501/logo_24.png[/img] [b]TOMCAT Doctor (MediKit)[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_24.png[/img] [b]TOMCAT Engineer[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]22[/b])GROUP 2[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]8
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] HMG, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | [b]31[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]28[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[b] 4.5 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_304.png[/img][b] USAriadna Ranger Force[/b]
GROUP 1[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]8 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_irregular.png[/img]1 [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_impetuosa.png[/img]1
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER Lieutenant[/b] Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_1.png[/img] [b]GRUNT (Marksmanship LX)[/b] Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]18[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_1.png[/img] [b]GRUNT (Marksmanship LX)[/b] Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]18[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_1.png[/img] [b]GRUNT (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]11[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_1.png[/img] [b]GRUNT Paramedic (MediKit)[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]12[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_1.png[/img] [b]GRUNT[/b] Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]10[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_3.png[/img] [b]FOXTROT (Forward Observer)[/b] Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]18[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_12.png[/img] [b]DEVIL DOG[/b] Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades + 1 K-9 Antipode / AP Heavy Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | [b]30[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_12.png[/img] [b]K-9 ANTIPODE[/b] AP CCW. ([b]7[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_5.png[/img] [b]VAN ZANT[/b] AP Rifle / Heavy Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | [b]38[/b])GROUP 2[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img][img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]4
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER (Fireteam: Haris)[/b] Rifle, Heavy Flamethrower / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER (Multispectral Visor L1)[/b] Sniper / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]29[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_11.png[/img] [b]MARAUDER (Multispectral Visor L1)[/b] Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | [b]26[/b])[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/304/logo_16.png[/img] [b]UNKNOWN RANGER (Specialist Operative)[/b] Molotok / Heavy Pistol, T2 CCW, Knife. (1.5 | [b]47[/b])
[b] 5.5 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
Wow. That is a blurry picture. I put the two hero Moderators of the game in a sniper tower on the left, both prone, peeking out through little gaps in the wall. The third is on top of the grey building on the right, prone, and the fourth is watching the right flank behind the green building. Lupe’s watching for Van Zant on the left with her sword drawn, and the Jaguars are as well. My Lieutenant is on top of the cream-colored building in the center, ready to walk into my closest zone in Frontline on Turn 3 with his Lt. order. A Tomcat each hangs out with the Interventor and the third Moderator, with a pair of Jaguars chilling nearby, watching for Van Zant.
Here’s a less blurry picture of my opponent starting his deployment. The head of my chain rifle Jag is barely visible bottom of frame.
His Grunt defensive link team sets up in an overwatch position. Units on the ground, front to back:
- Unknown Ranger
- Grunt Paramedic
- Marauder Lt.
Elevated units, front to back:
- FO grunt next to the ladder
- Sniper grunt (link team leader) in the tower
- Sniper grunt on the building adjacent
- Rifle grunt
Devil Dog team at bottom of frame, ready to run up the board, with Marauder Haris by the microphone building. What a weird building. Foxtrot is on the platform at right of frame, with the HVT hanging out below him.
Here’s a better shot of the Marauder link. Left to right is HRL, Sniper, Haris guy. That building with the silver pipes will become very important later…
And here’s a picture of his Grunt link, his Lt., and the Unknown Ranger again. The row of three on the ground, left to right: Unknown Ranger, Grunt Paramedic, Marauder Lt. The middle figure on the left is a Grunt FO, and then the remaining three are Grunt sniper, Grunt sniper, Grunt rifle.
Turn 1
Top of Turn 1 – USARF
First thing that happens is the Devil Dog and Antipode buddy smoke their way up the field towards my Zero AHD. My Moderator shoots at them as they advance. They sensor, revealing the Zero, and promptly eat him as a snack. However, as they’re super-jumping into B2B with the Zero, the Moderator manages to plink a wound off the Devil Dog in ARO. I actually rolled a 17 and a 20 on my Zero’s ARM rolls, just barely missing staying alive.
The Devil Dog continues his attack, pushing out of the smoke to try and chain rifle my Tomcat, who makes his dodge roll, and the Moderator gets super lucky again and finishes the Devil Dog off.
He spends an order on the Marauder Haris to shuffle them up a bit on the other side of the field, completely out of LoF of anything. To finish up his turn, he spends the rest of his orders in that group to move the Unknown Ranger in suppression fire, covering his Grunt link’s flank and my approach to his HVT.
Bottom of Turn 1 – Nomads
I spend a regular order on my Lt to activate Controlled Jump and start raining Hellcats on the USARF link teams. I land a Hellcat BSG right next to the link team, and open up. My first burst kills the Marauder Lt, and my second burst downs the Grunt FO. The Grunt Paramedic passes all of his ARM rolls and keeps on chugging. I rolled a bunch of 12’s, which after the FO goes down makes me only vulnerable to crits, which fortunately he didn’t roll. I’ve gotta save the other orders for the Hellcat HMG…
So I drop him in next to the building with the silver pipes that I mentioned earlier. My first burst takes out the Marauder HRL, and my second burst results in a bunch of passed ARM rolls.
I’ve done a lot of damage already with the Hellcats, leaving my first combat group pretty much a full pool of orders to get stuff done. I try to break the link team by taking out the Grunt sniper that’s currently the leader. My tool of choice: Lupe. I should’ve coordinated order with her and the Jaguar ADHL+Panzerfaust, but it was kinda awkward to get him there, and it would’ve exposed him to other AROs trying to do so. I trust in her Mimetism and cover, but he outguns me and she goes down to Shock ammo. I stop faffing about and play to the objectives by pushing a Tomcat and the Moran up to start dominating zones, throwing them into suppression as I do so. I made sure to put the Koalas into Standby mode as the Moran moved to ensure they remained a threat.
Turn 2
Top of Turn 2 – USARF
My opponent is in Loss of Lieutenant, so that limited his options a bunch. He starts by flipping some orders into regular orders, and then activating the link team with the Grunt Paramedic as leader to try to take out my Hellcat BSG. I win the FtF, but he passes arm and tries again. This time, I take out the Grunt Paramedic, breaking the link. His Marauder sniper takes a shot at my Hellcat HMG, but gets shot instead. A Grunt sniper takes out the Moderator that killed the Devil Dog, and the Grunt rifle goes into suppression, ending his turn.
Bottom of Turn 2 – Nomads
I figure I might as well start loading up points in the various zones, so I drop in a Hellcat AHD near the enemy HVT and attempt to Spotlight it (which was my classified), but fail twice. I don’t want to sink more orders into it, so I just HMG the last Marauder with the Hellcat HMG, run the Moran up the board to be in my farthest zone, and push my Interventor across the deployment zone line on top of his building to secure my closest zone.
Turn 3
Top of Turn 3 – USARF
My opponent spends all his command tokens to combine his remaining orders into one pool, and brings in Van Zant, basically where Lupe is looking in the above picture. He comes around the corner, shoots my Jaguar Chain Rifle, who goes Dogged and spins around. Van Zant shoots him again, killing him, but not before taking a Chain Rifle to the face and going Dogged himself.
Van Zant peeks up at my Moderator and takes a shot, killing her, but she declares Alert! and everyone spins around to face Van Zant. A few orders later, my ADHL Jaguar takes a wound, but between him and the Tomcat Doctor hanging out there, they manage to kill Van Zant and glue his corpse to the ground.
My Hellcat BSG finally goes down to a pistol crit from one of the Grunts. With the his last two orders, my opponent shifts the Unknown Ranger into a slightly different position and re-engages suppression fire, presumably to discourage my Hellcat AHD from coming around the corner and causing any mischief.
Bottom of Turn 3 – Nomads
Not much to do in the final turn. I clean up all but one of the Grunts with my Hellcat HMG, and drop in my last Hellcat to add some points to the farthest zone. Unfortunately, she deviates deep into my opponent’s deployment zone. I didn’t have enough orders to run her into a scoring zone (4-2 MOV sucks sometimes), so I just waste an order shooting at the Unknown Ranger with her, with nothing of interest happening as a result.
I sp0end the rest of the turn pushing as many units from Combat Group 1 up into the various zones as possible, all out of LoF.
- Nearest Zone – Nomads + 1
- Interventor (25)
- Central Zone – USARF + 3
- AHD Hellcat, Tomcat Engineer (28+22)
- Unknown Ranger, Foxtrot FO (47+18)
- Farthest Zone – Nomads + 5
- Moran FO (22)
- Sniper Grunt (18)
Summary
Game ends, 7-3 Nomads (I got my classified), although it was down to 4 points in the farthest zone! I suppose it could’ve flipped had we used the INTELCOM points, which we totally forgot about.
This game was very close, in spite of the fact that all he had left on the table at game end was a Sniper Grunt, the Unknown Ranger, and the Foxtrot FO. It could easily have gone the other way if I hadn’t pushed the Moran all the way up and/or we had remembered the INTELCOM rules.
Next time I play Frontline, I will have to commit more orders to advancing troops into the far zone, because this really could’ve gone the other way. I didn’t need to use the Hellcat HMG to take out more Grunts, for example, I could’ve just walked him back towards the Farthest Zone to put another 31 points there. Ah well. Next time.
My opponent’s list had essentially two defensive links. The Grunt link has a lot of staying power due to ARM6 in cover with a Paramedic nearby. It also puts out 4 sniper shots in ARO. The Marauder Haris also seems to be designed for ARO pain bringing, with a Sniper and an HRL. In theory, you could use both links as active turn hunting pieces, but the way the combat groups are set up, it seems to me like the problem solvers are the Devil Dog team, the Unknown Ranger, and Van Zant. All are fantastic, but they really rely on having an order pool backing them up, which my Hellcats removed. Somewhat of a straw man argument against link teams and their weakness of having to be bunched up.
Also, I’ve heard some people malign cheerleaders, but in this game, aside from the Hellcat BSG and HMG, the two most valuable units were the Moderator that took out the Dogface and the one that called Alert on Van Zant. It’s all about good deployment and making the right call on AROs. Infinity is quite the rabbit hole…
Notes
- Need to watch my arcs still! Better than last time, and Van Zant had some trouble finding a good place to show up, but there’s still room for improvement. The Tomcat Doctor could’ve easily been covering that general area in suppression fire, instead of having to break out during Alert.
- I was very pleased with the result of Alert. Trading a 9 point Moderator to flip around a bunch of other units to stop Van Zant was more than worth it.
- Very happy with the HMG and BSG Hellcats. Very easy to use, very well defined usage pattern.
- The other Hellcats were kinda… meh? Sure, I got a classified objective done, but I had enough options to handle that with the Moran + Interventor, the AHD Zero, etc.
- The Interventor was pretty much useless this game except spending his Lt order providing Controlled Jump assistance for the Hellcats.
- Were I to redo this list, I would probably redo the combat groups so that there were two Hellcats and two Moderators in each combat group. Perhaps something like this:
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/logo_501.png[/img][b] Nomads[/b]
GROUP 1[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]8
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] Combi Rifle, Adhesive Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] HMG, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | [b]31[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_16.png[/img] [b]INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus)[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]25[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_10.png[/img] [b]ZERO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]24[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_13.png[/img] [b]JAGUAR[/b] Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | [b]10[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_24.png[/img] [b]TOMCAT Engineer[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])GROUP 2[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/sep.gif[/img] [img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/orden_regular.png[/img]8
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT[/b] Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]21[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_3.png[/img] [b]HELLCAT Hacker (Assault Hacking Device)[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | [b]28[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_42.png[/img] [b]LUPE BALBOA[/b] Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Panzerfaust, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (0 | [b]23[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_13.png[/img] [b]JAGUAR[/b] Adhesive Launcher, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CCW. (0.5 | [b]13[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_30.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/501/logo_24.png[/img] [b]TOMCAT Doctor (MediKit)[/b] Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (0 | [b]22[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[img]https://assets.infinitythegame.net/infinityarmy/img/_logosweb/501/logo_23.png[/img] [b]MODERATOR[/b] Combi Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | [b]9[/b])
[b] 4.5 SWC | 300 Points |[/b] Open in Infinity Army
