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.

Remote Presence at the NOVA Open

The Remote Presence guys will be all over the NOVA Open this year. Lost Cateran and Spicy Irish will be running the Infinity tournament on Sunday. Lost Cateran will be doing Infinity demos most of the day Saturday. Lo Pan will be doing paint judging across all systems and tournaments. Tim W will be bopping around looking to help out and maybe get a game of Infinity in with someone. Morgrim Dark is the head 40k judge and will be generally making a nuisance of himself.

Here's at least a pic of me (Morgrim aka Austin) if you want to track me down (and no, those aren't NOVA volunteers):

Lo Pan aka Kevin:

Tim aka Tim:

Spicy Irish aka Josh:

Terrain on a Budget

This weekend we managed to pump out a bit more terrain for the NOVA Open.  Since budget is a huge consideration, the challenge was to come up with something that was both inexpensive and visually appealing.  The two solutions: Shanty Town and Chemical Refinery.

The Shanty Town was built based on Tim's instructions from earlier sessions.  Though the man himself had to leave early, we were able to knock out almost an entire table's worth of buildings in one afternoon.  These are ready to paint.  The pink foam blocks were mostly leftover from larger projects.  The cardboard came from boxes and Starbucks thermal sleeves.  The wooden parts were from popsicle sticks and stirrers.  Dirt cheap and effective.

We took a radically different approach for the refinery pieces.  Rather than a mismatch of leftovers, we used nothing more complicated than empty (and cleaned!) soda and energy drink cans, bendy-straws, bottle caps, and wooden discs (from Michael's Crafts store) mounted on textured MDF board.  Each piece had a total cost of no more than $2.  I was able to build all 5 of these in one afternoon.

Though not yet finished, you can see how simple bits and pieces and a dose of creativity can produce some really nice gaming terrain that won't break your budget.

Terrain- the Basics

In a few weeks we'll be hosting an Infinity tournament at the NOVA open.  It's the first time the NOVA will have Infinity and the Remote Presence guys are going to work hard to make it fun.  We're also going to work hard at making terrain.  Since NOVA depends on volunteers, we're hoping to have a day or two dedicated to Infinity terrain.  This kind of terrain is a radical departure from what has been used for 40k, so in order to help things along, I created a pair of documents to help guide the good people who show up and donate their time.

Basic Infinity Table
Shanty Town Construction Guide

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.