For several months now, my gaming team has been planning a match between our ALEPH and Tohaa players as part of our Situation: Infinity campaign. We finally got the opportunity to play a few weeks ago, and it turned out that we also got the opportunity to teach Infinity to Raine, the newest member of our team. Consequently, we tried to avoid using more advanced rules than we needed to, keeping in mind knowing that both Tohaa and ALEPH have more complicated playstyles than most other armies. Now after taking far too long to get around to the write-up, I can finally share the results with you.
The game was a standard 300 point game. The Tohaa’s primary objective was to make it to the crate at the center of the table and destroy its contents, which happened to be a live, angry antipode. Their secondary objective was to hack a pair of consoles. Meanwhile, OSS’s mission was to defend the antipode (keeping it stuffed in its crate was a bonus) and take prisoners from the Tohaa force. Unfortunately, due to a scheduling mishap, we were only able to play one round.
Lists
Eric’s list
Operations Subsection of the S.S.S.
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10
DEVA (Infinity Spec-Ops) (12 XP) (Hyper-Dynamics L2, Hacking Device, ODD: Optical Disruptor) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
DEVA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
DEVA (Multispectral Visor L2) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 33)
YADU Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, E/Marat, Drop Bears (Throwing Weapon) / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0 | 36)
YADU (Fireteam: Haris) MULTI Rifle, E/Marat, Drop Bears (Throwing Weapon) / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 37)
ASURA Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW. (2 | 70)
DAKINI Tacbot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 13)
DAKINI Tacbot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 13)
DAKINI Tacbot Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1 | 17)
DART Submachine Gun, Viral Tactical Bow, E/M Grenades / Pistol, Shock CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 34)
4.5 SWC | 300 Points
Eric’s created only a single combat group in his list, mostly because he took an Asura-Yadu harris team, which ate up almost half of his points. The rest of these points were spent on Dakinis, with 2 Devas included in the fireteam, and one additional Deva Spec-Ops. Dart was also present in the army.
I am only going to offer my opinion on Eric’s list with the caveat that I’m not familiar with the OSS playstyle, but I thought that his list was pretty strong for what he needed it to do. The only changes that I would have made would probably be to drop one of the Devas and then use the leftover points for another infiltrator. Having another infiltrator (like a Naga) on the table probably would have made Eric’s life a lot easier, as we will see later. The only thing that gives me pause is the cost of the Asura-Yadu wrecking ball, which used up 143 of his 300 point budget.
Daniel’s list
Tohaa
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GROUP 1 10 / 1
KAAURI Sentinel Boarding Shotgun, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
KAMAEL Hacker (White Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
KRIIGEL Submachine Gun, Phero-Booster / Viral Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14)
SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
KOSUIL Engineer K1 Combi Rifle, D-Charges, Nullifier / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 29)
KOSUIL Engineer Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Panzerfaust / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
KAELTAR Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioBombs / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
KOTAIL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 36)
GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 33)
GROUP 2 3 / 1
KAAURI Sentinel Submachine Gun, 2 Nanopulsers, Nullifier / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 12)
GREIF-OP (CH: Mimetism, Forward Deployment L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0 | 25)
LIBERTO Submachine Gun, Chain-colt, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)
CLIPSOS Minelayer Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
4.5 SWC | 300 Points
I gave Daniel some suggestions for creating his list, and this is the final result. Because most of this game’s engagements were going to happen at short range, he loaded out most of his troops with shotguns, and SMGs. I also added in some spitfires, and the K1 and viral flavors of the combi rifle just in case they were needed.
When we were done, I thought that the list was good enough to accomplish its mission, although Daniel built it differently than I would have if I was playing this mission. Personally, I would have taken a Kotail with a comi rifle or two and switched out the Krakot for a Makaul. I also would have placed both Kaauri in the second combat group, and probably put the Clipsos or Grief Operator in the first group and taken a CoC Kaeltar (which Daniel intended on taking, but picked the wrong profile by mistake). We also forgot to include a Hatail on the list, so for the campaign, we treated the Kamael hacker as Daniel’s Spec-Ops.
Initiative & Deployment
When we set up the table, we opted for making the table more thematic than balanced. We went for a semi-bifurcated field with a storage area on one side and an office complex on the other, connected with narrow corridors. The objective crate sat in the center, and there were two consoles deployed on a diagonal line going from one corner to the other. The result was an incredibly dense table, which made long-range weapons pretty much useless and created a playground for any minelaying skirmisher.
Before initiative was rolled, Daniel played his campaign special ability to automatically take the initiative, and he decided to take first turn, leaving Eric with choosing deployment. Eric deployed on the office side of the table, and forced Daniel to deploy first.
Daniel’s deployment
Moving from the left to right on Daniel’s deployment zone, he started with placing a Kaauri sentinel (I forget which loadout it was) and an unlinked K1 Kosuil in the green crates, with a triad consisting of the Kriigel, Kaeltar, and Kamael hacker positioned behind a building holding one of the consoles. Further back and towards the center of the board was the other Kaauri, the Liberto (not camouflaged), and the Grief Operator, which we used my Kiuutan as a proxy for. The Kotail was deployed almost dead center behind a wall with his holoechoes, and the Krakot (who rolled MOV 6-4 and Climbing Plus on his Metachemistry) grouped next to the Sakiel (which had both symbiobombs), Gao-Rael, and Boarding Shotgun Kosuil triad. Daniel deployed his Clipsos as a TO Camo marker overwatching the central crate.
Eric’s deployment
Eric deployed his troops as far up the board as he could get them in small, tightly packed groups. On ALEPH’s left flank was the Asura-Yadu haris team, hiding inside a building, and the Deva-Dakini core on the right side. The Spec-Ops was hidden behind a corner near the crate, and Dart was deployed overlooking the crate but out of LoS of the TO marker.
Round 1
Turn 1 – Tohaa
Straight off the bat, Daniel went for his primary objective, maneuvering his Kamael-Kaeltar-Kriigel triad up to the crate and getting into base contact with it. Here, that Kamael tried to use his Lockpicker to hack the crate, but the attempt failed and the Kaeltar, who had been left exposed, was killed by Dart. The Kamael then tried to take Dart out to avoid the same fate, and Dart successfully dodged prone. This left the Kamael free to work on the crate, and one more order saw the antipode unleased upon the board.
Luckily for the Tohaa, the Kriigel was able to kill the antipode relatively cleanly, although it took two orders to do so. Unfortunately, their lucky streak ended there when Daniel tried to move the Kamael away from the crate, which resulted in it getting shot by Eric’s Spec-Ops. He spent the rest of his turn repositioning his troops, moving his Clipsos behind the white barrier near the place where the Kamael fell.
Turn 1 – O.S.S.
At this point, Eric launched a brutal counterattack with his haris team, which left their position and landed a drop bear right next to the Clipsos while also approaching the Kriigel with its back turned, forcing it to change facing. However, it was caught in a pincer between the Yadus and Dart, who took turns taking potshots at the Kriigel until it was knocked out with Stun ammo. The Yadu haris then rushed to the downed Kriigel to handcuff it, provoking a reaction from the Clipsos and setting off the drop bear.
This interaction only went partly in the Clipsos’ favor, as it survived the drop bear but missed the Yadu it was aiming for and the haris was now out of line of sight.
Now it was the Deva-Dakini fireteam’s turn to move up the board. They skirted around the right flank and entered the forest of green crates, where a Kaauri and Kosuil were still hiding. Here, the grenade launcher-toting Dakini left the fireteam and began raining grenades upon the unfortunate Tohaa, wounding the Kosuil’s symbiont and putting the Kaauri out of commission.
From here, Eric started cleaning house on the Tohaa. The Asura took point in maneuvering behind the Clipsos and taking her out with a nanopulser before entering the building adjacent to the Krakot and Daniel’s remaining triad. Meanwhile, the LGL Dakini took out the K1 Kosuil on the other side of the board with another grenade. Finally, a speculatively tossed drop bear pinned the triad and allowed the Asura to round the corner. The last move of the game was an exchange of template weapons between the Krakot and the Asura, which rendered the former unconscious while his teammates were unable to react without eating another template.
Reflection
I noticed a slight difference in the level of skill the players brought to the game, which I am attributing to how much time has passed since they played their last game. Starting with my observations about Daniel: as one of the original members of our group, he played well and kept his main goal in mind, but he made a two important mistakes. First, he deployed all of his troops in tight clusters that made them very vulnerable to template weapons, something that Eric exploited to great effect. I know that the layout of the terrain was going to make this problem inevitable to a degree, but there was still enough room that Daniel could have spread out his forces to somewhat mitigate that risk. Next, I also thought that he rushed to the objective too quickly and didn’t set up enough fire support for the triad attacking the crate. This caused him to overextend his troops, who were picked off in short order.
An additional few nitpicks that decreased his order efficiency were that in the first order he used to shoot the antipode, he decided to use AP instead of Shock ammo on the SMG. Because antipodes have only 1 wound and are ARM 0, Shock would have been the better choice for putting it down. As it turned out, the AP only put the antipode into Unconscious, necessitating another volley of gunfire to completely fulfill his primary objective. He also walked his hacker right past a console on his way to the crate, missing an opportunity to quickly and safely get a point on his secondary objective. Despite making these mistakes and having not played Infinity in a long time, I thought Daniel did a great job accomplishing his objectives, and the only suggestion that I would make to him would be to slow down and make sure he’s covering his forces so that he doesn’t overextend himself again.
I was also impressed by Eric’s gameplay because this was his first 300 point game and the first one-on-one that he had ever played. Ever since I introduced Eric to Infinity, he has been very passionate about the game, and it shows in his performance. His ability to retain and process information very good, and he consistently grasps the rules when they are explained to him, and on the occasions when he misunderstands something he is easy to correct (as long as you can provide him with the right information). He has proven to be a very shrewd player who knows how to take advantage of other people’s mistakes.
The only criticisms that I would offer to Eric are that he also deployed his fireteams much tighter than I would be comfortable with and he deployed them as far up as he could, even if it meant being out of cover. If Daniel had decided to go after his troops, he could have really punished him for it and taken out a large chunk of Eric’s army, paralyzing his forces. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier about his list, I think it would have made Eric’s life a lot easier is he had another infiltrator to watch the center of the board.
The final reflection I have is that we were using this game as an opportunity to teach Daniel’s girlfriend how to play Infinity as she watched. I frequently had both players pause during their orders so we could break down the process of what they were doing and how they were accomplishing it. I also was hoping that I could give her some hands-on learning by controlling the antipode, although it died before anything meaningful could happen. At the end of the game, I asked her if she was understanding the mechanics, and she gave me a confident “yes,” so I am pleased with the outcome of the day. I’m hoping that I can get her some actual play time next time she’s around, and then we’ll see what army suits her best.
Lonely Artichoke 