NOVA 2013 Prize Support

So, to my surprise, I actually won the Renaissance Man for both the ITS Tournament on Saturday and the Team Tournament (along with my brother) on Sunday. The Renaissance Man is the best combined score for painting and objectives over the tournament. I don't believe I actually got the best score, but the person with the best score already got 1st place, so I subsequently got Ren Man. My Ariadnan force that I played is displayed below.

 

 

The prize support that Corvus Belli gave was, in a word, tremendous. All players got a free mini (I got a Gui Feng Spec-Ops), and as winner, I got all the rest of the stuff pictured below.

 



I technically did not win the Cutter, but I got $25 off a Warstore purchase, with the restriction
that it must be used that night. They had a Cutter available and I've always liked the model.

The rulebook, while I already own a rulebook, was super neat, since it was signed by Corvus Belli staff, along with sketches and drawing. I especially like the doodle of our favorite Fusilier, Angus (at least I think it's Angus), at the bottom left.

Huge amount of respect for Corvus Belli for not only appreciating the tournament circuit, but actively enhancing it with prize support.

I'll hopefully be putting up a post in the next few days regarding constructing those Bandua Cubes.

ITS @ NOVA Open 2013: Game 5 (Annihilation) vs. JSA

I was actually feeling rather good about this scenario. My forces tend to be very good at killing, and maybe not as good as doing other objectives. Nonetheless, I lost this round, but not from a lack of trying. My opponent, SirNicholas, was playing JSA. He was a very good opponent, and I enjoyed playing against him, even though (rather, especially because) he beat me soundly.

SirNicholas' List:

 JAPANESE SECTORIAL ARMY
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):
 OYAMA Lieutenant Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (34)
 TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (14)
 YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (3)
 YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (3)
 ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
 ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
 HARAMAKI Missile Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (1.5 | 47)
 HARAMAKI Blitzen, Combi Rifle / Pistol, DA CCW. (33)
 HARAMAKI Blitzen, Contender / Pistol, DA CCW. (28)
 HARAMAKI Blitzen, Contender / Pistol, DA CCW. (28)
 HARAMAKI Blitzen, Contender / Pistol, DA CCW. (28)
 KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (24)
 4.5 SWC | 300 Points
ARMY CODE: eNozMlZVNTYwUDXRM1U1NFIzUjOsMTRQMwRSRobIlDFYCkKaqZmASWMwaYRGGoHEVctMAF9XE6w=

He deployed very smart, setting up his linked team of Haramakis on the top of the building, prone. He won first turn, and he spent the entire first turn cleaning up my backfield with his Aragotos. I admit, I panicked and, against my better judgement, brought my Tankhunters and Cateran out of camo to deal with the Aragotos. They subsequently died, which should serve as a lesson to all you Ariadna players –DON’T reveal camo markers in ARO! I panicked and paid the price.

My only hope was Van Zant and HMG coming in the back field and laying down some fire on the Haramakis. Now, this is where linked teams are especially useful, in the defensive. His Sixth Sense L2 allowed him to immediately react to my HMG. It is fortunate that my HMG survived as long as he did, but ultimately he only caused one wound, which was not enough to stem the tide of battle.

What was useful was Uxia running up the flank and placing a D-Charge, thus giving me one of my objectives. I was also able to bring my Tankhunter with AP HMG back from unconscious. This secured me my two secret objectives (Sabotage and Experimental Drug).

Over the course of the next turn, my opponent spent a lot of time on my lieutenant, eventually sending him into unconscious (but not dead). Eventually, he took out the rest of my force fairly handily, and he ended up winning 7-5. He was not able to claim one of his secret objectives, which was to send the lieutenant into Dead. That’s always a tough one to finish.

For the record, SirNicholas had a beautiful JSA army painted up, and he righteously earned Best Painted on Saturday. He and Bloodgod also won 1st Place at the Team Tournament on Sunday. So, congrats to him - he was a top-notch player and painter.

ITS @ NOVA Open 2013: Game 4 (Seize the Beacons) vs. Nomads

Out of all my games, this one was the closest, against a very good Nomad player. It all came down to the very last turn, and this was a case where going second was an advantage to me. At the beginning though, I lost the Initiative (again) and ended up going second.

 NOMADS
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):
 INTRUDER (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (36)
 TOMCAT Engineer Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges + 1 Zondcat / Pistol, Knife. (28)
 ZONDCAT Electric Pulse.
 TOMCAT Doctor Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower + 1 Zondcat / Pistol, Knife. (28)
 ZONDCAT Electric Pulse.
 WILDCAT Engineer Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (23)
 WILDCAT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (2 | 31)
 ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (21)
 LUNOKHOD Boarding Shotgun, Heavy Flamethrower, CrazyKoalas (2) / Electric Pulse. (29)
 TSYKLON Spitfire, Marker / Electric Pulse. (1 | 37)
 REAKTION ZOND HMG, Antipersonnel Mines / Electric Pulse. (1 | 28)
 REVEREND CUSTODIER Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 38)
 4.5 SWC | 299 Points
ARMY CODE: eNolysENACAIQ9FpytEEBJTFPDm8gJf/0qTGgERAh8HJiO8k766q/+E0E7Y+SKbQz2p2PXD0AbPrEYs=




Deployment, IIRC. I admit, I do not know Nomads as well as I should.

He started out claiming his beacon and setting up to prevent me from claiming the center objective.

One thing I’ve learned against playing Nomads – when faced with CrazyKoalas, just throw cheap troops at it, since the only way to deal with them is for one of your guys to die. I threw my Galwegians at him and they died, against both the CrazyKoalas and the Lunokhod, but it paved the way for my Chasseurs to claim the center objective. My Tankhunter lieutenant on top of the building seized the beacon on top (while prone) before climbing down. My Para-Commandos came in on a coordinated order, Forward Observed (for my Secret Objective), and shot his Wildcat in the back.

In his second turn, his Tomcat came out and shot at my Para-Commandos. My Forward Observer died, but my HMG survived and killed the Tomcat. My HMG actually survived for quite a while, considering all the attention being paid to it. My opponent threw his Tsyklon at the HMG and eventually killed him, but it prevented him from spending orders on the rest of my army. I spent my second turn trying to deal with his Tsyklon and eventually killed him. I spent the remainder of my orders consolidating my forces.

His last turn was to grab the center objective, thus grabbing the win. My only hope was to grab the center beacon, which he had placed a number of mines around. I tried to disable his mines with my Tankhunter Autocannon, who ultimately failed. In a last gamble, my Tankhunter committed suicide on the mines, allowing my Chasseur to run up and, on the last order, claim the center beacon and the win.

I won the game 7-2. I eventually played (and lost to) my opponent again in the team tournament, but he was overall a fantastic opponent. This probably ended up being my favorite game of the day, as it was so close and nail-biting to the end.

ITS @ NOVA Open 2013: Game 3 (Emergency Transmission) vs. ALEPH

Ahh, the infamous Emergency Transmission. I played against Tamrielo's ALEPH, and while I technically lost the scenario (pretty handily), I claim a moral victory. He won first turn, which was really all that he needed.

Tamrielo's List

 ALEPH
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):
 MARUT Lieutenant (Strategos L3) MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower, Nanopulser / AP CCW. (3 | 122)
 MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (16)
 MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (16)
 MYRMIDON Chain Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (16)
 DALETH Rebot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (21)
 ZAYIN Rebot HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 27)
 DASYU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (37)
 SOPHOTECT Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (31)
 NETROD Electric Pulse. (4)
 NETROD Electric Pulse. (4)
 YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (3)
 YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (3)
 4 SWC | 300 Points
ARMY CODE: eNozN1RVNTYwUDVRNVUzUjOssVAzRiMNDdUMQZQRmDJXMwVxDCBiZiiUKRKlWmYCAIG2E+4=

Sorry, I can't remember where most of his models were.
My Para-Commandos again came in on the right flank.

My opponent made the smart move, running around with his Daleth, Sophotect and Marut claiming all the objectives. By the end of his turn, he had claimed three of the six beacons and the central antenna. However, I was in a good place for a counter-strike – my Galwegians were within either charging distance of his Sophotect, or Chain Rifle distance of his Marut.

One Galwegian charged his Sophotect, took her down a wound, but ended up dying afterwards. Two Galwegians chain rifled the Marut and (surprisingly) got a wound on him. My last Galwegian charged the Marut, went Berserk, with his last breath caused another wound. My Galwegians died gloriously against a four-armed giant death robot. Finally, my Tankhunter emerged from camo and shot the Marut in the face, killing it outright.

My Tankhunter cleaned up the Sophotect in my half of the board. Uxia exposed a Daysus in TO camo, who killed her. My Chasseur flamed him and killed him, which was fortunate. Then my Chasseur proceeded to be a constant disappointment. He finally claimed one beacon after three failed WIP rolls (on a 10), and did not have enough orders to get to the next beacon.

His Daleth ran to claim a fourth objective, which essentially ended his turn. My Chasseur ran to the second beacon on my side of the board and failed to activate that after three failed WIP rolls. I did manage to kill his Daleth with my Tankhunter.

His last turn was simply consolidating what he had left. My last turn, my Para-Commandos came in and killed a few Myrmidons hiding out in the backfield. I tried a few more times to claim the beacon, but to no avail. After four attempts for my Chasseur to claim the beacon on a 10, he failed every single one.

I lost 6-2 (the two being from killing more than 150 points of his than he killed of me), but the Victory points were 270-49 in my favor, if I recall correctly. Had I read the scenario rules more carefully, I would’ve spent one order to get my Chasseur into base contact with the antenna at the end, since you do not need to connect with the antenna in order to control it. I would’ve still lost 6-4, but it would’ve made all the difference in the standings.

Oh well, it was a bloody, bloody game, and my opponent played smart, where I undoubtedly did not.

ITS @ NOVA Open 2013: Game 2 (Frontline) vs. Military Orders

I played the ringer in this game. He was playing Military Orders, which is a list I know well, since Morgrim Dark also plays this sectorial. I brought my Van Zant list this time and it made all the difference.

His list (going off of memory, since he only had one copy):

 GROUP 1 (Regular: 9/Irregular: 0):

 TEUTONIC KNIGHT Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 42)

 TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (14)
 SPEC. SERGEANT (CH: TO Camouflage, Infiltration) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 39)
 PALBOT Electric Pulse. (3)
 PALBOT Electric Pulse. (3)
 MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust / Pistol, EXP CCW. (29)
 MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust / Pistol, EXP CCW. (29)
 MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust / Pistol, EXP CCW. (29)
 MAGISTER KNIGHT Missile Launcher / Pistol, AP CCW. (1.5 | 49)
 MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, DA CCW. (31)
 MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, DA CCW. (31)

4 SWC | 299 Points

ARMY CODE: eNozNFZVNbK0VDVRNVczUTOsMTJUMwRRahZA0tASzIFSFmpGGKQpmDSBkaplJgDJ9xH5

He won the initiative, and decided to go second (the only game in the tournament where I am going first). My Van Zant lands in first turn behind cover with one of my HMGs, shoots his Teutonic Knight in the back, and proceeds to travel down the back field, killing his Magister Knights and his Doctor. I also sent one of my Chasseurs to Forward Observe a Magister Knight before dying to a Panzerfaust round.

He emerged from my turn with one Magister Knight left, which my Cateran killed. He was left with a single guy in TO, so I cautiously moved the remainder of my guys around to claim the three sections of the board, per the scenario. His TO camo sniper emerged, and he and my Chasseur went at it, doing a whole fat nothing to each other.

In the end, I was able to claim all objectives and, with the secret objective (Telemetry), I won 10-0. Military Orders are an awesome army, but very hard to play to these ITS scenarios, especially considering their lack of specialist troops.

ITS @ NOVA Open 2013: Game 1 (Supply Run) vs. Qapu Khalki

For my first game, I played against Todd, a delightful chap from North Carolina who subsequently bashed my teeth in on first turn. He brought Qapu Khalqi, while I brought my two combat group list.

Todd's list:

 QAPU KHALQI
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 GROUP 1 (Regular: 9/Irregular: 1):
 DJANBAZAN HMG / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 36)
 DJANBAZAN Doctor Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (32)
 HAFZA Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (17)
 HAFZA Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (17)
 HAWWA' (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (24)
 HAWWA' Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 33)
 ODALISQUE Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (25)
 ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 31)
 ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 31)
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (11)
 GROUP 2 (Regular: 1/Irregular: 1):
 REMOTO SHIHAB HMG, Antipersonnel Mines / Electric Pulse. (1 | 28)
 YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (11)
 5 SWC | 296 Points
ARMY CODE: eNoli8ERACEMAquBfzC5ORvzZfFG/CzDMuQAND8UimLsYjWTYXbun8O8q+xl8zhtok+Ui7DyABceEt4=

My Para-Commandos came in on the right flank, but there was really nothing I could do after
his Odalisques got done with my Chasseur.

 

Todd got first turn, which was all he needed. He deployed his linked team of Djanbazans in the center, his Haris Fireteam of Odalisques on the flank, and his Shihab Remote on the building for some really nice ground cover. I deployed my Tankhunters and infiltrators in cover, with the hope of taking out his remote from combat camo. Unfortunately, that did not occur.

His Yuan Yuans landed in my back field. While I was able to take out one of them that scattered, the other one came behind me and demolished both of my doctors and my Autocannon (in trying to shoot, I rolled misses on 15, 18, and 20). After that, his Odalisque Fireteam came out, smoked out my Chasseur and grabbed one of the crates.

My turn was fairly ineffectual, trying to maneuver my remaining Tankhunter to take out his Remote without signaling to the Odalisques (who have Sixth Sense L2, which really hampered my options). My Para-Commando HMG came in, and died in a firefight with the Remote.

The remainder of the game was Todd really cleaning house with his Odalisques, claiming objectives. I had a hard time with countering him, and since my secret objective was Experimental Drug and he killed my two doctors in turn one, I lost 0-9. All in all, it was a dispiriting game, but Todd was a really cool guy to play against, and he played smart.

Odalisques are pretty awesome.

NOVA Open 2013: Friday Night Hunger Games

So, Friday night I played in Hunger Games. I wanted to bring a thematic fun list, and my first love in Infinity has always been for Caledonians. So the list I brought, while not "optimized" was certainly a lot of fun.

 CALEDONIAN HIGHLANDER ARMY
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 GROUP 1 (Regular: 1/Irregular: 2):
 CATERAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (0.5 | 25)
 HIGHLANDER GREY Boarding Shotgun T2, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (28)
 CAMERONIAN 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CCW. (22)
 0.5 SWC | 75 Points
ARMY CODE: eNozNlJVNTdVNdAzVTVSM1IzrDFWMwGSFmqGaoaqZSYAYJMGaw==

The group of us 13 players was split across two tables, which I think made the game go a heck of a lot faster. Knowing Roboute from my local game store (Victory Comics) and as he an I were both playing Scots, we decided on a temporary alliance.

I'd say the most memorable action was when, as the Yu Jing players on my side of the board were circling each other on turn one, my Cameronian came around the crates and Chain Rifled every last one of them. That made up the majority of my 168 point count by the end of the night.

It was beautiful!
 

Some player brought Cordelia and Scarface with him, and shot at me unprovoked, so I had to make a point and shoot Cordelia in the face with my Cateran, while Roboute took care of Scarface.

It was only a matter of time before Roboute would betray me, so I began to maneuver my Cateran and Grey to counter him. Unfortunately, he got off first shot, and knocked out my Cateran and, after squaring off for a few rounds, my Grey as well.

The Scots square off (the Scots Guard is on the stairs, my Grey in the foreground)

Roboute made it to the final round, against the guy who eventually won both 1st place in Hunger Games as well as Bloody Handed (most points killed, not sent unconscious). I was a little upset, hoping that I would win Bloody Handed having killed 168 points, but apparently he had a total reaction remote and a great spot from which to pick everyone else on his table, so he picked up a whopping 228 points.

Overall, I think Hunger Games ran really well on Friday night. Definitely something I would do again, with minor changes.

Paradiso Impressions: Scenario 201

I again played against Lo Pan's Imperial Service, and I managed to eek out a win at the bitter end. This was quite a surprise for me, as I had lost nearly everything by turn 2, including my Doktor that I was relying on. In the end though, I was able to immobilize his remote and get it onto the "dropship".

Combat Group 1
Dozer w/ Akrylat-Kanone
Dozer w/ Traktor Mul CD
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Kazak Doktor
Warcor

Combat Group 2
Chasseur w/ ADHL
Chasseur w/ ADHL
Foxtrot w/ LGL
Intel (Cube, Specialist Troop)
Kempei w/ Boarding Shotgun
Tankhunter w/ ADHL
Tankhunter w/ ADHL (Lieutenant)
Tankhunter w/ Autocannon
S.A.S. w/ Chain Rifle, Light Shotgun
S.A.S. w/ Chain Rifle, Assault Pistol

This is the first scenario that I did not receive penalties for infiltrating, so I intended to make full use of it. It makes me realize how reliant I am on Infiltrating Troops in regular games.

I won initiative, so I chose to deploy second. He deployed mostly onto his right (my left), including his one Baggage carrier, so I deployed the majority of my ADHLs in his path. He moved his Hsien forward to get into cover, as well as his C Guard linked team and his Su Jian. His Hsien killed two of my Traktor Muls, so I was now down to two. He did not discover any of my guys, but he gave me plenty to worry about when I eventually did pop out of camo. I was halfway hoping he'd try to discover, roll high and get mauled by the Paradiso wildlife, but the only one to die from wildlife in this game was my own lieutenant.

I can go through the gory details, but pretty much every single one of my camo guys died on the heavy side of the board, as well as both of my engineers and my Doktor, while only killing a Su Jian in the process. There were two exceptions. My S.A.S. chain rifled the two Kaung Shi on the other side of the board, which was not necessary but gave me piece of mind, since now I controlled that board half. The second was my Kempai, who was now directly behind Lo Pan's Pheasant Rank and Hsien. Killed his Pheasant Rank, and got a wound on the Hsien before dying in a hail of ARO gunfire. Kempai, you made Japan proud.

Lo Pan's second turn consisted of him running his Baggage forward. On his last order, my lieutenant with ADHL popped out of camo and shot the bugger with some Adhesive gooeyness, leaving him immobilized. My second turn, I was down to 95 points, which thanks to Baggage was not quite enough to send me into retreat. My lieutenant spend all of his orders to shoot at the C Guard linked team and killed every last one of them. In the roll for his last kill, he rolled a 20 and failed his ARM check from the Hostile Environment. I imagine him going down a hero.

Final order from Combat Group 2 is to call down the Dropship with my Intel Specialist Troop, and I drive over with my closest Traktor Mul and pick up the Alien Info. At this point we are both in retreat and loss of lieutenant, but I allow everyone to head to the back of the board in order to save up enough orders to allow my Traktor Mul to safely get onto the dropship.

Helicoptor "Dropship" in the lower left corner.
The board is pretty much cleared, except my retreating S.A.S. agents.
Markers designate the Variable Hostile Environment.

Lost Cateran - 6 XP
Lo Pan - 0 XP

Scenario 204 was apparently ridden with failed ARM saves, if I gleaned anything correctly from the table ten feet away. The final scores were:

Aulleas - 6 XP
Morgrim Dark - 2 XP

Next will be Aulleas and I battling off in Scenario 203.

Paradiso Impressions: Scenario 103

So, this was by far the fastest game we've had so far in the campaign - over in one game turn. I played against Lo Pan, and he pulled out a pretty flawless victory (4-2 Lo Pan).

Setup: Combat Group 1 on left, Combat Group 2 on right.

Combat Group 1
Intel (Cube, Specialist Troop)
Irmandinho (+2 ARM)
Irmandinho (E/M Grenades)
Irmandinho (EXP CCW)
Line Kazak w/ Rifle
Line Kazak w/ Rifle
Line Kazak w/ ML
Line Kazak w/ HMG
Valerya Gromoz

Combat Group 2
Dozer w/ Rifle
Dozer w/ Akrylat-Kanone
Kazak Doktor
Tankhunter w/ Autocannon
Tankhunter w/ AP HMG
Tankhunter w/ ADHL (Lieutenant)
Warcor

I got first turn, ran my Irmandinhos forward, and two of them survived their impetuous movement. One (+2 ARM) ran for the RAS Console in the rocks, and died to a C Guard rifle, the other (EXP CCW) ran for the door. As she unlocked the door, the ARO from the linked team of C Guard took her out. With my two final orders from Combat Group 1, I shot a marker at the door from Gromoz, and tried to deactivate the security system through the marker (at WIP -9) without success.

My second Combat Group was slightly more successful. Lo Pan has deployed his guys prone, making it rather annoying for me to try and smoke him out. Ran forward my TH w/ Autocannon forward, got two clean shots off on his Hsien and killed him coming out of Camo. My Dozer w/ Akrylat-Kanone ran forward, unlocked the second door and ran up to the Console in the middle of the room before running out of orders.

Lo Pan's turn started with him running his Kuang Shi forward towards my Dozer in the Security Room, only to get killed by my Kazak ML with ARO. Shooting some smoke from his C Guard Linked Team, Lo Pan covered the entire approach into the Security Room, leaving him to shoot at my Dozer who was inside, shoot at my Tankhunter from the doorway (which I conveniently opened), deactivate the security console and place the tracking beacon, winning him the game.

Finish, with the C Guard Linked Team inside the Security Room

Couple of things I should've done differently in hindsight:
1. Should've shot through the smoke with my ML once he shot at the Dozer. -6 to hit, but that circular template would've ruined his day.
2. Should've counter-hacked with Valerya, since I had a marker there.

All in all, Lo Pan deserved the win, thus continuing his undefeated record. We immediately went into Scenario 201.

Paradiso Impressions: Scenario 102

First off, sorry for the lack of pictures. I will resolve to take pictures of the games from here-on out, promise.

Lost Cateran's List

Group 1
Cateran w/ T2 Sniper Rifle
Dozer with Traktor Mul Control Device
Tankhunter with AP HMG
Tankhunter with Autocannon
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Warcor
Veteran Kazak with AP HMG

Group 2
Dozer with Akrylat-Kanone
Intel (with Cube, 2 XP)
Irmandinho with Chain Rifle (Booty: +4 ARM)
Irmandinho with Chain Rifle (Booty: ADHL)
Irmandinho with Chain Rifle (Booty: AP Rifle)
Kazak Doktor
Line Kazak with Rifle
Line Kazak with Rifle
Line Kazak with Rifle (Lieutenant)

Morgrim Dark's List (Best I can tell)
Gabriel de Fersen (Lieutenant)
Teutonic Knight with Spitfire
Teutonic Knight
Teutonic Knight
Magister Knight
Specialist Sergeant with MSV2 and Spitfire
Specialist Sergeant (Hacker)
Bulleteer
Palbot

Turn 1 (Morgrim)

Morgrim ran his Magister Knight up my left hand side. Similarly, he used de Fersen to discover the activation sequence ([2, 1, 3, 5]) and activated the first marker. Finally, he moved his Teutonic Knights up to cover the center of the board.

Turn 1 (Lost Cateran)

Moved Irmandinhos up, discovered the activation sequence ([2, 1, 3, 5], same sequence coincidentally enough), and activated the first marker. Shot at a Teutonic Knight from my other Irmandinho’s Booty-ed ADHL, ended up killing my Irmandinho (do to vastly underestimating the distance between the two). Ran towards the second marker, failed his WIP and had to get into cover before orders ran out in that combat group. Other group shot at Teutonic Knights with my AP HMG Tankhunter, AP HMG Veteran Kazak and Cateran, with some pretty spectacular results.

Turn 2 (Morgrim)

De Fersen shot at my HMG Tankhunter and Cateran, killed the Tankhunter and sent the Cateran into hiding. Similarly shot at my Vet Kazak, which I chose to fail his guts check. Grabbed the data from the center objective, and had to book it around the corner to stay out of LoF of my guys.

Turn 2 (Lost Cateran)

Two Irmandinhos ran towards the Magister Knight, threw smoke in his face and attempted an Intuitive Attack. Succeeded the WIP roll, but failed to wound. Magister Knight manages to hit with a speculative shot with his pistol at my Irmandinho not carrying the data, who also has a +4 ARM from Booty. She rolls a 1 and dies. My last Irmandinho uses all the regular orders in that combat group to get up to the middle, activate the center objective, run towards the final objective and grab the data, while still avoiding getting hit by the Bulleteer and MSV2 Order Sergeant standing watch.

All I could do with my other combat group was to set up suppressive fire lanes across the board with my Cateran and Veteran Kazak, and run my dozer across the board to hopefully grab all the data necessary to triangulate (since I figured my Irmandinho was dead next turn). Had I known that I can triangulate with a different engineer than the one doing the activation scheme, that would’ve ended the game right there. This seems to be a point of discussion in the boards.

Turn 3 (Morgrim)

His Magister Knight runs towards my last Irmandinho, who now has all the objectives activated. In the process, he runs into my Cateran’s Suppressive Fire, which finally kills that SOB. His Bulleteer and MSV2 Order Sergeant make short work of my Irmandinho. His last Teutonic Knight spends an order to discover my last camo marker on the board is a Tankhunter with Autocannon, which I had no need to use until now, since he was blocking the avenue to Morgrim’s last objective. In a heroic charge, his Teutonic Knight charges forward to die gloriously, followed subsequently by de Fersen himself.

Turn 3 (Lost Cateran)

Knowing that Morgrim is probably now in Retreat (which doesn’t mean much for a fully Religious army); I run my Dozer up the board and into the LoF of his Bulleteer and Order Sergeant. This last Dozer shoots his humble rifle at the two, kills the Sergeant and in the very next order, crits (on a 2!) the Bulleteer. The Dozer retrieves the data, and in his last order successfully manages to triangulate on a 12.
 

Lost Cateran: 8 XP

Morgrim: 4 XP

The results of the other game:

Lo-Pan: 8 XP

Aulleas: 2 XP

Guess I'm playing against Lo-Pan once more for the final mission of Chapter 1. I will post my views afterwards. Have to figure out a good way of dealing with those Kuang Shi...

Paradiso Impressions: Scenario 101

First of all, I apologize for the lack of photos. I will be sure to take photos of the next scenario.

For the first game, I was paired up against Lo Pan’s Yu Jing, specifically his ISA. I wanted to try something out, only using Russian troops (i.e. no troops from Sectorial Lists), as well as some troops I had never played before - Dog-Warriors, Irmandinhos and Minesweepers. My army consisted of the following:

Group 1 (6 Regular, 3 Irregular, 3 Impetuous)

Intel Spec-Ops
Irmandinho (Chain Rifle) (KIA)
Irmandinho (Chain Rifle) (KIA)
Irmandinho (Chain Rifle) (KIA)
Line Kazak (Rifle, Lieutenant)
Line Kazak (Rifle) (KIA)
Line Kazak (Rifle) (KIA)
Tankhunter (AP HMG) (KIA)
Tankhunter (Autocannon)

Group 2 (5 Regular, 3 Irregular, 1 Impetuous)

Antipode Pack with Controller (Antipodes KIA, Controller survived)
Dog-Warrior (KIA)
Dozer (Traktor Mul Controller) (KIA)
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper) (KIA)
Traktor Mul (Minesweeper)
Veteran Kazak (AP HMG)
Warcor

I ended up losing the initiative roll, and was relegated to going second. Lo Pan sent his linked team of Kuang Shi up the flank to throw smoke grenades and give me a threat I had to deal with. I sent my Antipodes after him, which ended up not being such a good idea, as they simply got chain rifled to death. The real problem, however, was his Hsien with HMG and MSV2, who could shoot at my guys through the smoke with impunity. Lost my HMG Tankhunter, two Irmandinhos and two of my Line Kazaks from that. There go two of my Engineers.

The alien info was discovered (by Lo Pan) to be in the center of the table. My last Irmandinho was lost trying to deal with the Kuang Shi on my flank, and my Veteran Kazak got into a shooting match with his Hsien. After killing his Hsien, I sent my Dog-Warrior up the other flank to deal with his Su-Jian Remote. Ultimately, both died in a blaze of glory, shooting at each other.

Lo Pan rearranged his Celestial Guard for his turn. With only one Engineer left, I start shooting some smoke grenads with my Antipode Controller and my Dozer ran up and acquired the data. Unfortunately, I attempted to transmit and my attempt was hacked and I did not have enough orders to get the dozer back to safety. Lo Pan ran forward his Celestial Guard linked team, acquired the data and killed my dozer. As a final act of retribution, I shot his entire Celestial Guard squad with my Veteran Kazak, thus leaving both of us with no Engineers or Hackers.

While Lo Pan was in retreat whereas I had 158 points left, he technically had more Objective Points than I did, so he won this match.

Lo Pan: 4 XP
Lost Cateran: 2 XP

The other game went as follows:

Morgrim (PanO/Military Orders): 2 XP
Aulleas (Haqqislam/Hassassin Bahram): 4 XP

Next week I will be playing against Morgrim and his nasty PanO Military Orders . By that time, I may have named my troops by that point.

Everybody was Kuang-Shi Fighting!

 Another post celebrating a awesome time at Adepticon.  First- a photo of (some of) the players and organizers.  John, the TO, is second from the far left, with his back to the camera.  Two of our regular crew are also pictured here.  Sure, we didn't get the giant conference hall / ball-room, but we also didn't get gamer stank.

Next batch of armies-  This is Tim's Yu Jing force.  Sadly, the vivid green boxtop made it rather difficult to get a good photo.  Bad Tim! Bad Tim!  Doesn't make much difference, since his Su Jian has already been featured on the blog.  He just needs to post pics of his more recently completed figures...

Lost Cateran brought his Aleph army... no, just kidding, it's his Ariadne force.  Check a few posts back to read his battle reports.

Kevin G brought his Nomads.  Good natured to the end, G took the far opposite of first place and walked away with an Inquisitor Sketchbook and Warhammer Fantasy paperback for his pain.  He seemed quite pleased, though on the Infinity Forum he posted a photo of a baby seal...

Adepticon Infinity Armies

First and foremost, I have to say the Infinity tournament at Adepticon was great fun.  Kudos and thanks to John and Co. for running it so well.  I won't bore anybody with battle reports (yet), but will go ahead and post some photos of the armies that showed up to play.

My first opponent, Andre, brought his Nomad army all the way in from Germany.  Andre teaches demo games back home and was helpful in setting me straight with some of the rules that I had been fuzzy on.  I had to apologize several times for being so slow in round 1.

In round 2, I faced off against Milan's Kazaks.  I learned the hard way how tough Dog Soldiers can be, and how chain guns can burn Kuang Shi out of trees with relative ease.  See that hot medic in the middle of the photo?  Sexy, but deadly- to her own troops.  Apparently Milan lost not one, but two of his own troops to her failed medical rolls.

Final opponent was Brian, the younger and more devious brother of Lost Cateran.  I played this game a bit more aggressively, but wound up losing due to a crap close combat roll by my Ninja and really awful deployment of my Yaokong.  Oops.

This was the army I took.  Their performance was middling, but apparently their livery was well received.

Lost Cateran Game 3 vs Corregidor

Game #3 was Holding the Prisoner, against Nomads. The goal was to rescue your own hostage being held by your opponent, while still holding on to your own hostage. The Hostage was Impetuous, Irregular, and belonged to their own Combat Group.

Game #3 Setup, with Hostages on either side

He had first turn, which he spent moving his Alguacile Linked team forward and discovering my Uxia McNeil. While she attempted to dodge, and get into cover, the Alguaciles finally took her out, as well as two of my Caterans (#2 and #3). He also pushed forward his Sputnik to back up his Alguaciles (I assume it was a Sputnik, since I never received a list from him).

I spent pretty much my entire turn picking off his Alguacile Linked team with my two remaining Caterans. I was also able to pull off a shot against his Sputnik, which killed him. I’m quite amazed as to how well my Caterans take out TAGs and Remotes. They’ve got quite the body count in that regard.

On his turn 2, he pushed his Tomcat onto the board, and proceeded to lay three mines right around the corner from my Galwegian #1, effectively hemming him in. He also put down suppressive fire with his Moran, and one Alguacile moved to my left flank.

My Wallace climbed up the platform with the helicopter on it (yes, that’s a helicopter) and shot at the Alguacile on the flank, killing her. The Moran’s suppressive fire hemmed my Cateran #1 in, so he moved forward to try to pick off the Tomcat. Instead, the Tomcat’s mine blew up, and killed the Cateran. Wallace pushed forward and proceeded to try to climb down from the roof of the platform. Rolled a 20 on his Physique roll, and he took a wound. He attacked the Tomcat in close combat and killed him.

My opponent sent his sole remaining Alguacile to kill Wallace, which wasn’t difficult as he had already taken a wound. This of course made all my troops impetuous, which proved to be a problem for holding the prisoner. The guard holding the prisoner is only allowed to make short movement skills- anything more and the prisoner/hostage is allowed to escape. Therefore, this allowed for my hostage to escape.

Well, I wasn’t going to have any of this. With my last turn, I allowed my Galwegian #3 to retreat, and shot at the hostage with a Chain Rifle from my Galwegian #2, killing the hostage. There was no way I was going to recapture the hostage with Irregular Impetuous troops, so I decided to gain the +25 points by killing the hostage, and deprive my opponent of his +50 points for having the hostage return to his deployment zone.

It was a tactically challenging game, and it was my only loss during the tournament. My opponent played a good game, and clearly knew what he was doing.

Lost Cateran Game 2 vs PanO

Game #2 against PanO was based on quarters, similar to the spearhead deployment of 40K. The obejctive was to capture quarters. My opponent was very good, and he knew what he was doing. He had some nice tools that made my life difficult, primary of which being TO Camo. In the end, however, it came down to my own stupidity that brought the game to a draw.

Game #2 Setup, with quarters superimposed

My opponent’s first turn was spent trying to shoot at my Galwegians, which I had foolishly left in the open. One Galweigan dodged successfully, but Wallace did have to take one wound. Thank goodness for No Wound Incapacitation. I was not going to risk his life again. He also tried to discover my Caterans #1 and #2, to no avail.

In my turn, I popped Caterans #1 and #2 out of camo and gunned down the ORC Trooper and forced the Fusilier to stay prone behind the rim of the building roof. My Uxia McNeill started just rampaging up his right flank, taking out the Fusilier at the bottom and his Fusilier on the roof in prone. My goal was to go around and start taking out his Fusiliers from behind. However, his Swiss Guard showed up out of TO Camo and proceeded to gun Uxia down. She earned her points back, I’ll give her that.

The next round was frustrating for both of us. My opponent and I proceeded to keep on trying to shoot one another from across the board with some severe negative modifiers. My Cateran had mimetism and cover, his Swiss Guard had TO Camo.

I was able to move Cateran #1 forward, in an attempt to try to grab some of the Fusiliers my Uxia missed. That’s when he revealed his Croc Man in TO Camo. With all the bad luck I had from shooting at the Swiss Guard, I got one lucky shot off with my Cateran, and the Croc Man fell in an order.

The Swiss Guard finally succeeded in killing Cateran #2, and moved his Fusilier into the top right quarter to claim that quarter for him.

My Galwegians with Wallace

Now, my last turn I completely flubbed up. I really wanted to kill that Swiss Guard, since I knew that he was making up ~80 points of his force. I sent my Galwegians on a futile mission to take out the Swiss Guard, but they were just not getting close enough to the Swiss Guard. Eventually, I had to give up. I also wanted to move Cateran #3 and #4 off the rooftop (still in Camo, thanks to Climbing Plus) and move them into the top right quarter, thus claiming that quarter for me. Afterwards, I realized mistakenly that I did not have enough orders left to get my Caterans into that quarter, so the top right quarter was left for him and his fusilier.

All in all, I killed all but his Swiss Guard and a Fusilier, but that was enough for him to take two quarters and bring the game to a draw. The last turn was sheer stupidity for me. I should have split up the Caterans and sent one into the top right quarter. I was frustrated, but my opponent played a good game. And he ended up coming in at 2^nd place in the overall tournament, so I should not feel too bad.

On to Game #3…

Lost Cateran Game 1 vs. Ariadna

So, Game #1 was against Ariadna, and it was essentially Control the Terminals. As it was against Ariadna, neither of us had hackers, which put us on roughly a similar playing field. I would say, out of the three games, this was the most cerebrally challenging game. My opponent was a skilled player, and both of us knew the capabilities of the other’s list. My opponent was also a great guy, and I had a lot of fun playing him.

The starting lineup, to the best of my recollection

My opponent had first turn, so he moved his Galwegian into base-to-base with Marker #1 and claimed the first Marker. I made a tactical error in popping Uxia out of camo to try to shoot at the Galwegian, but he had his Loup-Garou there for backup and shot her to pieces before she could do a thing.

My first turn consisted of my pushing my Galwegians up the side of the board in a linked team, and breaking the team after three orders. Throwing some smoke grenades, I pushed on Galwegian into the fray. He took a wound in the process, so I continued to spend orders on him until the very end. He went berserk on the Tankhunter with ADHL and finally Chain Rifled the Line Kazak behind him before the turn ended.

At this point, my opponent was in Loss of Lieutenant, so he nominated a new lieutenant.

I proceeded to push my now unlinked Galwegians into the fray, aiming to take out that Viral Rifle that concerned me so much. My two remaining Galwegians died, one to a viral shot to the face, and one to a Tankhunter shot from above with an Autocannon (yeah, messy). The one up-shot to this gamble was that it revealed the second Tankhunter, allowing me to take him out with my Cateran #1.

My opponent proceeded to push up the middle with his Dog Warrior, which concerned me. My Caterans would not stand a chance against a dog warrior. After roughly five orders and him transforming into a dogface form, I finally took him out with Cateran #2 and #3. He also pushed his Loup Garou with Viral Rifle forward, threatening my Wallace, who was still behind cover.

Attempting to climb up the wall to get to Marker #3, Wallace failed to do so (a theme that would continue to repeat itself throughout the tournament, despite PH 14). However, I was able to take out his Veteran Kazak with two T2 Cateran shots from Cateran #3 and #4.



Caterans #3 and #4, with Cateran #1 in the distance (#2 is under the catwalk)

At this point, my opponent was in Retreat mode, with 2 Loup Garous and a Galwegian left. Wallace threw a smoke grenade, climbed up, claimed Marker #3 and got back down before the smoke went away, as he still had his viral rifle trained on Wallace.

After this final turn, my opponent and I called it. We had both claimed one marker, but I only lost 46 points, where he had lost 154. Still, it was a Minor Victory for me and a Minor Loss for him. I decided against trying to go for the middle marker, as it would have been risky to get Wallace in and out of there effectively. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve taken the chance?

All in all, great game against a great player! On to Game #2.

Game Gallery

Same night as the epic Battle for District 8, the much shorter and toastier "Recon at Outpost Zulu".
Yaokong lies in wait, projecting the Yu Jing presence forward into the enemy lines

Ariadne soldiers prepare to assault...

...but quickly find the Chain Rifle to be deadly in close quarters.

Play-Testing Ariadna Lists

There are a number of people who own a couple of minis from multiple factions. Not me. I’m solidly an Ariadna guy. I just love the look and feel of it (not to mention the storyline). That being said, I have a full army with both vanilla Ariadna and the two sectorial lists (Caledonia and Merovingia). I am slowly making my way through painting all of them.

Now, why do I bring this up? I will be attending the BattleFoam Wild West Shootout 2 GT (website found here). I am going there expecting to play Infinity, Malifaux and 40K. Probably should say, “I’m bringing minis to play Infinity, Malifaux and 40K” since what I expect and what actually happens doesn’t always pan out. You know how tournaments go…

And thus begins play-testing! I have a couple of lists that I will be running through, obviously tweaking as needed. It still has yet to be released what points value the Infinity tournament will be held at, but for now I will be testing at 250, since it’s likely to be either 250 or 300.

Caledonian List #1:
• Cateran with T2 Sniper Rifle
• Cateran with T2 Sniper Rifle
• Wulver with Mk12
• Cameronian
• Highlander Grey with T2 Rifle
• Highlander Grey with AP HMG
• William Wallace Lieutenant
• Galwegian with Chain Rifle
• Galwegian with Chain Rifle
• Galwegian with Chain Rifle

Pros: Solid 10 models, linked Galwegians + William Wallace allowing them to move up the board quickly, enough long range to cover the advance. Lots of T2 ammo which, while nice, is not as useful as one might think (not a huge amount of two wound models, and those will likely be heavily armored or out of LoS). Also, I have a lot of experience with Caledonia, so that a plus.

Cons: No infiltration, not a lot of ranged firepower, and William Wallace Lieutenant. Some might wonder about the last point. A linked team with Wallace and Galwegians is a clear giveaway of who my Lieutenant is. Not only that, but my lieutenant only tends to shine in melee, which means I spend all that time getting him up the board that they can pick him off. Not fun. On the other hand, means that most of my army will be not impetuous for a turn or two, due to Inspiring Leadership.

Caledonian List #2:

Combat Group #1
o Cateran with T2 Sniper Rifle
o Cateran with T2 Sniper Rifle
o Wulver with T2 Rifle
o S.A.S. with Chain Rifle, Assault Pistol
o Mormaer with AP HMG
o Highlander Grey with Boarding Shotgun

Combat Group #2
o 3x Volunteer with Rifle
o Volunteer Lieutenant (w/ Rifle)
o 4x Galwegians with Chain Rifle

Pros: Easily hidden lieutenant, good balance of ranged firepower and melee.

Cons: The fact that I have two combat groups is a big red flag. Even worse, the first combat group, the one with all the heavy hitters, has six orders. I could shuffle it around, but the alternatives are even worse, in my opinion.

Merovingian List:
• Margot + Durac
• Zouave Sapper (HMG)
• Zouave Sapper (Sniper Rifle)
• Loup-Garou with Viral Rifle
• Chasseur (Minelayer)
• Moblot (Infiltration) w/ AP Rifle, D.E.P.
• Metro w/ Limited Camo, Inferior infiltration, Rifle, D.E.P.
• Metro Lieutenant
• Metro Paramedic

Pros: Lots of infiltration, lots of firepower to cover their advance, and AD2 units (Ariadna’s only AD2 unit, by the way). Plus, I’m hoping to pull some neat tricks with the Chasseur. Definitely has the tools to take down most lists. And a solid 10 models for a nice solid order pool.

Cons: No linked teams, which is one main reason to take a sectorial. Also, not a lot of anti-TAG capability (with the exception of the one shot DEPs). I’m sure I will find out more as I start play-testing.

Ariadna List #1:
• Cateran with T2 Sniper Rifle
• Kazak Doktor
• Line Kazak with Rifle
• Line Kazak with Rifle
• Tankhunter with Autocannon
• Tankhunter with AP HMG
• Veteran Kazak with T2 Rifle, X Visor
• Veteran Kazak Lieutenant with AP HMG, Mimitism

Pros: Has a Doctor to take care of the wounded, and three fantastic guns for taking out TAGs. Three models with camo, allowing for a nice shell game.

Cons: Only 8 orders, which is low for Ariadna at 250. Also, very one sided (long range firepower). No melee troops, no infiltrators, no AD. Just blasting the crap out of the other army.


I’m hoping to play test with all of these in the coming months, and I’m hoping to post some games using these armies and variations during that time. Meanwhile, comments and suggestions are welcome.