Literal Firefight
Well, Adam has been pretty sad about the whole state of Ariadna in N5, so we decided to give them a try on the Brutal Cities table.
Overview
- Mission: BAMS Sensor Field
- Forces: Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor versus Ariadna (300)
- Deploy First: Ariadna
- First Turn: Ariadna
I figure at some point we might do Late Night Wargames episodes on N5 factions, so I’m just going to march through the Nomad sectorials till I’m done, then pick a new faction to do the same with… We’ll see if there’s enough interest in that. I’ve been avoiding playing Corregidor for a long time, because they were my N2 army and I feel like I’ve had my fun and want to move on to other things. However, in N5 things are significantly cheaper than they were before, so you can just do something silly like cram three Intruders into a list. Which is exactly what I did.
The list starts with Lupe buffed by an Alguacil Lt, mostly to have a SD Panzerfaust and E/Mitter on tap. Jazz hangs out with them so I can get SD on her pitcher before I break the link. Triple Intruder, one of each flavor so I don’t have to choose. Tim (Chainsaw) and I had a long discussion debating the merits of HMG versus MSR, so I just followed the wisdom encapsulated in this gif:
I’m a big fan of the new Intruder profile. I’ve liked every non-big-gun Intruder profile, because it’s hipster and fun. This list was designed to cover Cloak and Dagger as well as Sensor Field, so that’s why there’s a big mix of specialist profiles.
Hot Takes 2
GROUP 1
7
1
ALGUACIL (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 10)
LUPE BALBOA Combi Rifle, E/Mitter, Panzerfaust, Smoke Grenades / Boarding Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 24)
JAZZ FTO undefined / undefined. (0.5 | 22)
GROUP 2
INTRUDER (X Visor) MULTI Sniper Rifle ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 36)
BANDIT (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, Shock Mine ( | Deployable Repeater) / Boarding Pistol, DA CC Weapon(PS=6). (0.5 | 28)
TOMCAT (Engineer) Combi Rifle, Light Flamethrower, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 22)
REAKTION ZOND Thunderbolt(+1B) / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 19)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
MORAN (Surprise Attack [-3], Camouflage [1 Use]) Boarding Shotgun, Flash Pulse(+1B), Crazykoala / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 16)
HELLCAT (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit, Deployable Repeater) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
The rest of the list is pretty self explanatory, but I do want to discuss the inclusion of the Bandit and the two Morans. In Corregidor at least, I think the repeater Moran is just dead to me. In my meta, they get targeted immediately for destruction, so unless the table supports some sort of deployment that makes it very difficult to get to them, they die immediately. And if the table does have that feature, then I can’t use the Moran to do anything relevant on the table because they can’t get off the roof, out of the room, or whatever it is. So I really value the camo state very highly.
That said, not having a repeater in the midfield does suck. Fortunately, to give us a solution, we have the Bandit with deployable repeater and minelayer. So now we have a burst 4 SMG close combat unit in the midfield and a repeater as well, which is great! With Morans (and everything else) having gotten so cheap–seriously, they’re cheaper than a Foxtrot and they’re minelaying specialists (sorry Ariadna, yet another dunk on you), we can easily fit the Bandit without much of a stretch.
Adam’s breaking out the Spetsnaz HMG, which hasn’t seen table time for him since N3. I refuse to play it, even though I own one. His plan is to make me deal with the Antipodes and all the camo tokens in the midfield while he secures his deployment zone with the Dozer and the Kibervolk.
Adam (TheDiceAbide)
GROUP 11
1
GROUP 2
SPETSNAZ (Surprise Attack [-3], Camouflage, Decoy [1]) Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, AP CC Weapon(PS=7). (1.5 | 39)
HANDLER Rifle, Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 26)
3X ANTIPODE AP CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 15)
S.A.S. (Forward Observer) Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Silenced Pistol, AP + Shock CC Weapon(PS=6). (0 | 21)
STRELOK (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, Shock Mine, Flash Pulse / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 17)
CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Shock Mine / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 20)
DOZER KVP Light Shotgun, D-Charges, Armed Turret (Rifle) ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
KIBERVOLK Chest Mine, Crazykoala / Trench-Hammer, Shock CC Weapon(PS=4). (0 | 12)
IRMANDINHO Chain Rifle, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon(PS=6). (0 | 8)
COLONEL VORONIN (Lieutenant [+1 Command Token], Strategos L1) Light Shotgun(+1B), Flash Pulse / Pistol, AP CC Weapon(PS=5). (0 | 22)
VASSILY (Chain of Command) T2 Sniper Rifle, D-Charges / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 37)
DYNAMO AP Spitfire, Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 25)
Grunt Infiltrator Heavy Flamethrower, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 12)
5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Army | Copy Code
The rest of his list is pretty self explanatory, I think. I really like the Dynamo duo he’s running, it’s something I’ve also considered in vanilla Ariadna.
Deployment
I won the rolloff and took deployment. I didn’t like going first in N4 and I don’t think that’s changed so far in N5. Adam really likes Moonstone, so he brought those vibes to Infinity. Instead of shaking up a bunch of d4’s and dropping them onto the table, he did the same with a bunch of camo tokens.
His big castle was on the left to protect Voronin, with the right being his attack stuff, i.e. the Dynamos and Irmandinho.
I assumed that Van Zant was a possibility, so I deployed accordingly. I put my (unmarked) Thunderbolt TR bot in the middle of my backfield, covering most of the table. Lupe faced backwards on a second story, with the Alguacil above her and Jazz below. The Transductors covered the sides, and the Morans helped out with their Koalas to cover some holes. I put my Intruder HMG on the left and the Bandit in a spot to screen for the Intruder SMG.
Adam’s reserve was Vasily, in a spot to cover Jazz’s approach, and I countered with my Intruder MSR.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Ariadna
I took orders from Adam’s smaller group, which I still think is the right call. He started off by walking the Irmaninbro forward. The Brutal Cities table is a pretty close quarters one with only one part that has long firelanes, so this is pretty possible.
Adam is concerned about Carlota, so he starts by putting down a Turret and a Koala with his Dozer and Kibervolk. He erroneously thought they were synced, and that you had to deploy the turret in base, so he buffed and nerfed himself at the same time.
The Irmandinbro deployed a scanner in his near right quadrant.
Then Adam started cleaning up some of my AROs. He started with revealing Vasily to take out my Transductor.
Then the Dozer put down a scanner after climbing down the ladder.
Adam decided to spend most of his remaining orders on getting the Antipodes into my face. With all the negativity surrounding the changes (or lack thereof) to Ariadna this edition, Adam’s way of dealing with the problems he’s seeing is to force me to deal with the Antipodes on my turn. I manage to discover one on the way in with my remaining Transductor.
This lets me blap it with the Thunderbolt TR bot on the way in.
I discover a second as they continue to approach.
Here I make a pretty big mistake, I think. I reveal the Moran to put down another Koala as the first gets dodged by the Antipodes. This is fine in the sense that I am further delaying them, but I also have revealed the Moran when I could have used it to solve the problem later.
With the Antipodes in base with my Transductor, Adam decides to force me to deal with it, and kills my TR bot with his Spetznaz HMG.
He’s got another order, so he kills the revealed Moran with a Chasseur and passes turn.
Adam doesn’t have a scanner in my half of the table yet, but he has both of his quadrants covered.
Bottom of 1 – Corregidor
Not a particularly great start to the game. I begin my turn by setting up smoke for my Intruder MSR with Lupe, then discover-shoot Vasily, who goes dogged.
I take on the Spetznaz next, and hit twice. Of course, Adam passes all four saves.
I still need to deal with the Antipodes, so I send in the Intruder HMG and split burst, succeeding only in killing my poor Transductor.
I manage to down one, but the other ties me with its dodge so I have to use my last order to deal with it.
I drop in my Hellcat and place a scanner, then try to take out one of Adam’s bikers but fail.
Not a great situation!
Turn 2
Adam has more quadrants than me, but I do have one point for a scanner in one of his quadrants so it’s 1-2 right now.
Top of 2 – Ariadna
I haven’t done nearly enough damage to Adam last turn, so here comes the hurt. The Irmandinho moves forward and gets spotlight, which is nice because it did roll Mimetism -6.
Adam decides to make things really annoying and repositions his Dynamos…
to fire mines at my Intruder HMG. Sadface.
He tries to set the Dynamo up for a run on the Intruder, but Lupe sticks him with a Panzerfaust from downtown and blows up the bike. Hooray!
Lupe’s still got a Panzerfaust because of the new special dice stuff and their interaction with disposables. I really like that, so the Irmandinho sets up smoke for his run.
Unfortunately for me, the Irmandinho easily takes down the Intruder with some help from a mine.
Adam pushes a Strelok forward in view of my Intruder MSR. We’re outside of 16″, so I’m wondering if I should give him three shots on 2s and decide I’d rather just keep the Intruder alive and delay instead of discovering.
I remind him that there’s a Koala behind a bus, so he deletes it with the Spetznaz.
His last order is spent putting down a scanner, and then he passes turn. I think he got confused as to whether or not the Chasseur was a specialist or not, but it’s fine, there was a Strelok nearby that could have done this and it’s not a big deal in terms of order count.
This brings him to a 1-3 lead, since he’s got a scanner in both of my quadrants now.
Bottom of 2 – Corregidor
Well, I’d like to open the board up, so I start by shooting the Spetznaz with the Intruder MSR. The Spetznaz crit dodges prone…
…then the Chasseur crit dodges prone. Awesome.
I take out my frustrations on the Irmandinho by shooting it in the back with the Hellcat Paramedic, then I drop another scanner in my near left quadrant.
I get a scanner down in my near right quadrant, which means that at this point, Adam has 4 quadrants, and I have 3. I need to get rid of one of his scanners to tie it up, so I bring on my Tomcat and on my last order show it to the Chasseur. Adam declares flamethrower. I can see both the Chasseur and the scanner, and I debate dropping three combi shots on the scanner to seal the deal… but I could just whiff… or I could template with my own flamethrower. I’m feeling pretty down on my dice at the moment and have an irrational moment where I’m just not sure what to do. I decide to just throw a template down and hope Adam fails his ARM saves.
He does! Hooray! I lose the Tomcat, but that’s acceptable.
Turn 3
We tie on quadrants, pushing the score to 2-4 in Adam’s favor.
Top of 3 – Ariadna
Adam’s concerned that I will remember that the Hellcat has super jump now, so he lays a mine and then a scanner to claim another quadrant.
The Dynamo puts down another scanner to really lock down a quadrant.
Then Adam kills my Intruder MSR with the Strelok…
then takes out Jazz. Jazz has a boarding pistol now, so I template in return and take out the Strelok as well. This is quite annoying, mostly because I’m very low on orders now.
Bottom of 3 – Corregidor
I need to get both my classifieds and somehow delete a bunch of Adam’s scanners to win this game. I can force a tie if I get both classifieds and delete one scanner, so we’ll start with that. The Intruder KHD reveals and gets Vigilance.
Then the Hellcat snags Net Undermine.
Now I just have to delete one of his scanners, and I manage it, but this costs me my Intruder, as the deployed turret takes it out, and that was my last really active piece.
I’ll have to settle for a
5-5, 73-193 Tie!
Post Game Analysis
Well, this would have been a very different game if I had remembered that the Hellcat had super jump! I guess that’s what you get at the start of a new edition. I had some real trouble digging myself out of an order hole–the Spetznaz surviving so many ARM saves and crit dodging really helped Adam lock down the table preventing me from moving around for a bit. I also had no real ARO presence, which felt pretty bad, especially on a table this tight.
I like the list a lot, and I think I just need to find a tuning that gives me some more guns that I can risk in the reactive turn. Perhaps leaning on my old pals the Jaguar Panzerfausts is the way to go, with the way link teams work now. I think Sensor Field is a good mission overall, but it’s quite difficult to explain to people and to score properly. I’ve played it twice now and it was a bit difficult to keep everything straight.
If you’ve been listening to Late Night Wargames, you know that I’m generally down on N5 as a whole. The game is still fun with the right opponents, and it’s generally fine, just going in a direction that I don’t agree with. That said, I do really like that the costs of the things I care about in Corregidor has dropped, in spite of several of my models being useless now, like the multiple Alguacil MSRs I have… but hey I can get 3 Intruders now? It’s certainly fun!
Something still feels off about this edition. Maybe it’s just that I’m playing games way more infrequently and have developed a patina of rust. Maybe it’s the chronic sleep deprivation from being a parent. Maybe it’s because I’ve moved onto other games being in the forefront of my mind. The symptom is that I feel like I have less control over events on the table. Is it a run of bad dice luck? Is it the subtle changes to the game that I haven’t fully internalized yet? I’m not sure.
In any case, Infinity’s still fun. There’s lots to explore in the new edition, even with the missing armies and the fact that a large part of my collection isn’t in the game anymore. Given life, etc. I’ll still be around, but less active in the Infinity space, I think. Thanks for reading. See you in the next batrep.
