NOVA Open Infinity Game Day

The Remote Presence gaming group assembled together for a day of Infinity gaming, for fun and to test out the missions for the NOVA Open Infinity Tournament. A number of our gang are helping to organize the event and we thought it would be prudent to run through the missions in a mini-3-round tournament of our own. Lo Pan, a regular poster here at RP, brought out his Imperial Service Sectorial Army and their dogs, the Kuang Shi. Lost Cateran, another RP author, decided to throw in his dice with the French and came to the table with a Merovingians. Another NOVA organizer, Kevin brought out his dirty Nomads and their tricks, while my buddy, Brian, came out with his Haqqislam force.  

Linked Teams are pretty popular in our group, though I've yet to use them. Lo Pan linked his Kuang Shi, Kevin his Alguacils, and Lost Cateran linked a strong Loup Garous regiment. 

Lo Pan's Kuang Shi are something more than just walking mines. They act as his hunting dogs, set loose to dig out the enemy for the rest of his force to attack. He arms his troopers only with Chain Rifles, relying on the V:Dogged skill to push them through to the enemy before exploding into bloody guts. He's learned the hard way not to bunch up these mind-controlled convicts, as one lucky shot set off an explosion that wipes out the team if they are too close together. 

Kevin's linked team of Alguacils packs some heavy fire power. He's included a heavy machine gun for pumping the enemy full of lead in his active turn, while his missile launcher sets up for 2 shots in ARO. He's quite fond of setting up a linked team firebase while his camoflagued intruders set about the knife's work.  

Lost Cateran's Loup Garous linked team follows in the vein of Kevin's, yet packs two sniper rifles instead of an HMG and Missile Launchers. In a linked team, sniper rifles become burst 3 in the active phase - something we've all learned is quite deadly. Lost Cateran's team is more active though, moving ahead to claim objectives and out flank the enemy. It's worth noting that some of the NOVA Infinity missions will require players to advance to either hold ground or collect info off dead/unconscious models. We're aiming to encourage tactical play and movement, rather than beat your enemy to a bloody pulp (at least for 2 of the 3 missions!)

The terrain you see here and in the all of the photos is being made for the tournament. So far there are two styles of table - a research facility and a third-world slum. We hope include a lot more elements to each of these landscapes, and develop other landscapes, including a rocky highland for all you Caledonian players and blasted cityscape. 

 

Lastly, I'd like to share some shots I got of Lost Cateran's Merovingians. He's done a great job in a relatively short span of time to get all these painted. His style adds a certain grittiness to the Rapid Response Force that I feel is quite fitting. Just check out those Zouaves!

We're all extremely excited at how things are shaping up. Our goal is to create a tournament format that is fair and rewards skilled gameplay, a set of tables that capture the imagination, and friendly atmosphere that will spring board Infinity into next year's NOVA Open and beyond. If this weekend's gaming is anything to show for it, we're all in for a spectacular Infinity Tournament at the NOVA Open. If you're interested in joining us, you can find out more by visiting the Infinity Tournament page on the NOVA open website or enter this into your browser's address bar: http://www.novaopen.com/?page_id=922

Questions and comments welcome.