Thursday, September 30, 2021

Infinity Mission Focus: Organized Play At Home

With the end of the #OPATHOME contest issued by Corvus Belli, we can now read all the missions created by the community, which can be downloaded here.

Sadly I don't know Spanish, so I just read all the English-written missions and wrote a brief description for each one, trying to highlight what caught my interest. I didn't want to "rate" these creations full of passion, so I tried to remain objective, describing these mission with the help of pitches and commentaries written by the author themselves when available. 

If you, as the author, feel like your mission has been misrepresented by this post just let me know, I'd gladly have a chat and change my point of view.

My overall feeling is that the participating community went for mission with objective rooms, civilians or a mix of the two. 

The contest itself would maybe have benefited of a standard template (Author's note: my mission was among those with the worst graphics) and in hindsight I think a couple of lines pitching the mission and its objectives would have helped everyone putting their creations in frame for a casual reader.

๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿš Extraction by RedeenedRyan: reach the detention facility, open the gates and bring your HVT to safety!

๐Ÿ’ผ๐Ÿ’‰ Seize and Vaccinate by 1337Bolshevik: definetely a relatable mission these days. You have to reach the vaccine cache, pick up the vaccine and shot the enemy HVT with it. Docs and paramedics have, of course, a bonus.

๐Ÿฆพ⚙️ TAG-RAID by Abydog: There's a new TAG in the middle of the table and everyone wants it! By using Total Control, either via Hacking or Console, you can pilot it to your Deployment Zone. The TAG is initially unequipped, but the 4 consoles can be used to equip it with fancy gear.

๐Ÿƒ‍♀️⏰ WITHDRAW UNDER PRESSURE by AntipodeanBolt: everyone forward deploys! You have to take the HVTs and bring them to your behind-the-deployment-zone extraction zone. Friendly HVT is easy to sync, enemy HVT is not.

๐Ÿ’ฃ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿ”ฌ EVACuation by Archon: reach the lab, evacuate civilians and deactivate the bomb. Docs and paramedics have a bonus in civilian sync while hackers and engineers have a bonus in bomb deactivation. Troopers with Journalist skill may provide 1 additional Objective Point by reaching the whereabouts of the lab.

๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿš€๐Ÿ˜ฑ What happened to X5R-73 by Arrgh: flee to the center of the table while a poison gas creeps from the edges, but double your first MOV value because of low gravity! Also, suffer recoil when shooting and being hit. Reminds me of snakes and ladders game, where you advance fast but may also fall fast. The recoil mechanics have a great impact on the game, pushing you forward and out of cover.

↖️๐ŸŽ Extrication by Aspect Graviton: a diagonally symmetric map where you have to unlock vaults, pick up supply boxes and have them beamed out of the map from defined positions.

๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿญ๐ŸŽด EDX_Operations by Badlazzor: this is admittedly a variant/recreation of Engineering Deck from Season 10. Connect the consoles and secure the Objective Room but both players have the oppotunity to get "final turn" points.

๐Ÿคณ๐Ÿฉบ Sampling by Bardiel: probe your enemies with a PH roll and scan them to reveal their Private Information. Also, lots of troopers get an Adhesive Launcher. You score points by probing, scanning and immobilizing your enemies.

๐Ÿ’ฃ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿ’ป Bomb Squad by bordersen1313: defuse the bomb and pick it up, but be careful: an enemy hacker may arm it again! You also have panoplies, as in Supplies, for extra points.

๐ŸŒŒ☄️ SkyFall by butchee86: deploy 4 panoplies on the table at the end of the first game round by rolling 4 face to face rolls. The winner of the FtF decides the crash location, which works like Combat Jump (Explosion)! You can stack bonuses for the rolls by controlling comms antennas and protecting your Flight Controller Operative.

๐Ÿฐ๐Ÿค– Prison escape 3.0 by Cabaray: save civilians from the armory and get the REM guard to your side by hacking a console. 

๐Ÿง‘‍✈️๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍✈️Raid on TAGs by Cedwfox: every S2 specialist is also a pilot. Reach the three mining TAGs in the center of the table and pilot them to victory! 

๐Ÿ›ฐ️๐Ÿ’ฅ Breach by Chumadan: jam the gates or use the activation codes obtained by comms antenna activation to prevent decompression events dangerous to your troopers. TAGs have a bonus in jamming gates and REMs don't suffer decompression.

๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿ”„ Espionage by Crimsonwraith: a variant on Countermeasures but you can activate the antenna (no rolls if it's your Lieutenant!) to change one of your Classified Objectives.

๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿ’ป๐Ÿ“Ÿ Key captive by Dixi Mission: kill or take the rogue hacker hidden inside the armory. The armory can be reached by hacking if you activate consoles, which also provide Objective Points. For more fun, extract hacking device and programs from cyber panoplies! 

๐Ÿคผ๐Ÿ“ก Invasion by Dom: an asymmetrical mission! The winner of the Initiative rolls decides who attacks the communication array and who defends it. Defenders have +2 SWC while the attacker have +100 points of reinforcement that can be deployed by activating a console.

๐Ÿงจ๐Ÿš‚ Nitro express by EccentricOwl: another asymmetric mission! Player A is attacking and wants to sabotage Player B’s train. Meanwhile, Player B wants to dispatch their train. The longer they wait, the more cargo can be loaded, but also it increases the risk of sabotage.

❄️⛄ Frostbyte 2.0 by ers: a variant on Frostbyte with an objective room in the center providing a safe area from the cold.

๐Ÿ•ต️๐Ÿ’ฑ Prisoners exchange by Eustach: A tense exchange of POWs turns bloody as someone fires the first shot. Both sides scramble to make the best of it, secure a tactical victory and maybe even free their captured comrades. Neither side is willing to allow their own captives to slip away in the commotion and may resort to terminating them if necessary.

๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿ” The Heist by FKaos: enter the vault, pick up the supply box and panoplies but get out without leaving no trace behind! For additional fun, it gets more difficult to hack the vault console if you have failed to open its gates and you can plant evidence using enemies in null states.

๐ŸŽฏ๐Ÿ›‹️ Hole up and breech by GHOST00: dominate the objective room and take the enemy HVT inside. 

๐Ÿ”ช๐Ÿ’ฝ Data breach by Gyro88: extract data knives from tech coffins placed in the center of the table and use them to access enemy servers. Among them is the Data vault, which is more valuable and open information. 

๐Ÿ‘‘⛳ The Hill by Hartmann: dominate the central hill for Objective Points and hack the central console to make it an extension of your hacking area. Having your lieutenant provides additional points. The Hill is low visibility and difficult terrain but the map is a designated landing area. The whole map has a range restriction, neglecting shots over 32".

๐Ÿ‘‰๐Ÿš Dropship Evac AKA Get To Da Choppa! by HBomb: players deploy both close and far from the dropship, in a peculiar 4-quadrants diagonal deployment. The intent is to take off with the dropship using one of your specialists as a pilot, taking with you your civilian. 

๐ŸŽฎ๐Ÿ”š ENDGAME by Helsbecter: run to the objective room/safe zone and leave the table with everything inside by activating a console. Otherwise, destroy the consoles and share a terrible fate with your opponent.

๐Ÿƒ‍♀️๐Ÿ˜Ž Extraction by Infinity_Gamer: take the enemy civilian to your deployment zone while protecting yours. Elite troops have a bonus when syncing.

๐Ÿฉธ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️ Enemy Within by JGC: This mission was created using as reference and inspiration those fantastic space horror movies from 80’s and 90’s such as Aliens and Event Horizon. Sync with the civilians to bring them to safety but be prepared for the consequences if you don't make it...

๐Ÿ–ฅ️๐Ÿน Cyberhunt by journey: lock the rogueAI into a tech coffin to be controlled by activating consoles. Blow up the trapping tech coffin to start over.

๐Ÿค”☎️ Scrambled communications by KinglyMathorne: pick up 4 Classified Objectives, take two, tun one of these two up and give two tuned down to your opponent. You can only complete turned up COs but you can change either yours or your opponent's COs by activating comms arrays. Lieutenants have bonuses but may be killed for OPs. 

๐Ÿ—️๐Ÿ—️ Two keys by Kps: dominate an Objective Room that can only be accessed when activating and controlling both consoles. You may also blow up the doors, but you won't be able to score points by two-key entry. 

๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿš Hot Evac by Lambert_Simnel: another asymmetrical mission! One player deploys in the center and defines the Objectives. These are 4 civilians, and a variable number of consoles and tech coffins for a total of 4. The other player deploys in the four corners. Points are scored by hacking consoles and by controlling/evacuating civilians+supply boxes.

๐Ÿ“ค๐Ÿฅถ Escape by Ieldin Soecr: save three civilians by activating the pairs of consoles that are freezing each one of them in place. 

๐Ÿฆ๐Ÿ”ซ Vault Raid by lexeon: assault a vault guarded by two CSUs to extract up to three supply boxes. In order to extract the supply the boxes you have to hack one of two consoles, each guarded by a CSU. 

๐Ÿ“ธ๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿ‘ง‍๐Ÿ‘ฆ Humanitarian Grounds by Matt Bissel: save civilians and repair water pumps, but only if the press is looking your way! In the meantime, don't forget to shoot the enemy! 

๐Ÿ“ฆ๐ŸŽฏ Warehouse by MrTapir: a Supplies variant with no doc bonus and extra points for shooting down enemies carrying supply boxes. You also get points for controlling supply boxes with your Lieutenant at the end of the game. 

๐ŸŸฅ๐ŸƒDATA CUBE RUN by Nincoreween: steal 6 data cubes from the central objective room and bring them to your deployment zone to score points. 

๐ŸŒก️๐Ÿฅต Heatstroke by Obyiscus: sort of a variant take on Frostbyte. Make sure to reach a table quarter with an active cooling unit by the end of the game or face the killer heat! Interesting to note that localized decompressions grant safety to your troopers. 

๐Ÿ•ต️๐Ÿ’ฅ Destroy the evidence by PeetiePeetie: search unconscious guards, remove mechanical implants from the hostage held in the central objective room, interestingly positioned tuned 45° instead of the common "straight" position, and then destroy all evidence! 

๐Ÿง ๐Ÿ•ธ️ Neural Net by Perzan: inspired by the classic comms centre, but with more player agency since one terminal can be locked by each player, and less emphasis on end of game strength due to the ‘machine learning’ mechanics that makes rolls more difficult each turn.

๐Ÿ’ฅ๐ŸงŸ‍♂️ The Thing by pseudonymmstr: Unmasking variant with panoplies where HVTs are revealed by silhouette contact. Two are decoys but one is a Natural Born Warrior with CC 24 and 3 Wounds. 

๐ŸŒ™๐ŸŽญ A night at the opera by Puldin: Unmasking variant with fixed Classified Objectives and Infiltration bonus. One HVT is real while the others are a mine and a repeater in disguise. 

๐Ÿ“ก๐Ÿ’‰ Experimental Treatment by Reverend Clyia: activate one of two antennas to have a bonus for treating 3 enemy HVTs. 

๐Ÿ”ญ๐Ÿ’ฃ Seek and Destroy by RobertSheperd: Unmasking variant with 4 HVTs, all of them will eventually be revealed as Designated Targets. 

๐Ÿ’ช๐ŸŽŽ Forced Retrieval by Santyago: reach the HVT inside the side placed objective room and take him/her to the evacuation zone on the opposite corner. You can kill the enemy HVT when in civevac state and you can also score points via panoplies. 

๐Ÿ๐Ÿ Finish line by SkyKnight: take your datatracker to the other side of the table while killing the HVT and extracting items from panoplies. 

๐Ÿ“ถ๐Ÿ“ก Expunge by Snowball: upload your data pack to the enemy server. Controlling consoles provides a WIP bonus. 

☣️๐Ÿ“ก Hazmat Sweep and Clear by Spoggalator: activate antennas to activate or deactivate biotechvore in designated areas. Points are scored by controlling antennas, killing specialists and completing Classified Objectives. 

 ▶️๐ŸŒฉ️ Into the storm by Tabuk_kebab: escort the HVT to the central console with a guardian trooper while fighting your opponent. 

๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿ”ซ Fugitive by Thane75: in this asymmetrical map, the enemy HVT must be killed. By activating consoles, you remove buffs making the HVT difficult to hit. 

๐Ÿšช๐Ÿฆ THE VAULT by ThunderSquid: activate consoles to open doors to the objective room and dominate it to win! 

♻️๐Ÿ’ป System Reboot by Toasty and Arglebooster: hack consoles to win but it gets more difficult every turn and one console gets removed for assymetrical balancing. Note that your datatracker must be a REM. 

๐Ÿ’ฐ๐Ÿ’พ Fragmented Data Delivery by Torias: extract data packs and deliver them to a smuggler with an interesting repositioning mechanism via Command Token. Troopers with superior deployment have a malus for data extraction.

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿฆ THE ITALIAN JOB by Tox, Il Corinzio, mazzacheammazza and Arrapaho: reach the vault from corner deployment zones to dominate it and extract Classified Objectives. This mission is deadly so stay alert: every time you interact with the vault's features your opponent can mess you up with its security systems. 

๐Ÿ™Š๐Ÿ“ฅ Overload by Tristan228, Burp & ZlaKhon: each console has a Classified Objective assigned. You have to first activate the console to accomplish its corresponding CO. Each player also elects a Scout trooper for additional bonuses. The mission also have a difficult and extreme mode for extra fun. 

๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ•ด️Secure site by Triumph: escort your HVT to the Objective Room where only HTVs can enter and retrieve server data. By the end of the game the data must be in possession of your army troopers and you have to make sure the blame for the intrusion falls on your opponent. 

๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍⚕️๐Ÿš MedicalEvac by Upir Lihi: a top-secret facility has been the target of an outrageous nanotech attack, but some of the personnel have inexplicably managed to survive. Now the opposing special forces are competing to secure these unlikely survivors for further examination and salvage the surviving prototypes from the destroyed testing sites. All while avoiding the residual devastator swarms and trying to cripple each other. 

๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿ’จ Escort by Uthoroc: a Rescue variant where you have to take your 3 civilians to the opposite table edge while preventing your opponent from doing the same 

๐Ÿ”ฎ๐Ÿ’พ SEIZE, DECRYPT, & TRANSMIT by Vanderbane: as the title says, intercept the data cache from the enemy HVT, hack the enemy console which is also an enemy repeater and transmit the data via the center placed antenna. 

❌✖️ Multiple by W0rstC4se: activate the antennas and control the beacon each round for Objective Points. Additional OPs can be scored by completing 4 open information Classified Objectives. 

๐Ÿ›ฐ️☄️ Close Orbit by Yugie: activate consoles in the center of the table to reveal the enemy Lieutenant and shoot him/her from orbit. The more activated consoles you have the more effective is their activation. 

๐Ÿคœ๐Ÿค› Push and Pull by Zanpano: activate central consoles to move one of the loaders by 10 inches. Score points by taking loaders by your side of the table and extracting data from the enemy's loader.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Band of Brothers Mordheim Warband

 

Ciao!

I want to share the "Band of Brothers" Reikland warband I have been working on for a while and which I am planning to play on October 3rd 2021 at the "Warlords of the City" Mordheim Narrative Event in Pollenzo.



As required by the organizers I also wrote some background story for my brave mercenaries, hope you like it!

Concealing the discomfort coming from the injuries to the left arm and the forehead, the officer walked into the office of General Roald Sulzberger and stood to attention.

"Captain Hoffman report to Sir General." he spoke in a firm voice. The general slowly raised his gaze from the papers that cluttered his desk, stared at his subordinate with arrogance, and then, slumping noisily into his chair said:

“Captain welcome, better late than never… I'm really curious to know what happened. I hope you realize that due to your delay, my girls were unable to attend the prom. The fact is really unfortunate since they cared so much. They couldn't wait to wear the new dresses I had given them!"

Rutger Hoffman stiffened his jaw but managed to stay calm.

"Sir, according to the orders received, the Company was on time at the rendez-vous with the ferry to escort Miss Sulzbergers during the last leg of their journey to the Capital. Unloading operations took much longer than expected. The quantity and the size of the luggage exceeded any reasonable expectation. It also took the ladies a few hours to freshen up and choose what clothes to wear for the trip."

The General listened absently, cleaning his fingernails with a letter opener.

"The march then proceeded slowly, punctuated by countless breaks including snacks, refreshments, card games and even a game of badminton!"

Hoffman continued.

“When we arrived in Kleindorf we were greeted with enthusiasm by the population. They thought we were the backup they had sent for. The village had been under attack by bands of Beastmen for days, and they had sent several relays for help. Needless to say, no messenger made it out of the woods around the village alive and we weren't their reinforcements. At that moment I made the decision to defend the village, without our help they would have had no escape. We fought for three days and three nights and finally managed to disperse the attackers. In this regard, I would like to point out some soldiers who have distinguished themselves in a part-"

The captain's report was abruptly interrupted by the general who, red with anger, had sprung to his feet and, banging his fat ringed hand on the desk with fury, began to yell at Hoffman:

“Captain, shut up, I've had enough! You have disobeyed specific orders and endangered the lives of my daughters who I was told they also had to take care of the wounded! I don't even want to think what horrors you exposed my little girls to!"

As Sulzerberg gasped, the Captain replied:

“Sir, the whims of your spoiled offspring had by now delayed us by more than half a day on the schedule. Continuing further, the darkness would have surprised us in the forest with far worse results. In addition, the lives of over a hundred families, including elderly and children, depended solely on us. I made the only decision I could have."

“And so you are guilty of treason and sedition! Captain, you are a deserter and an insolent! You are under arrest and suspended from command with immediate effect!”.

A heavy silence fell into the small room. Hoffman had realized he had passed the mark but could no longer bear the nonsense of his superiors, particularly that slimy and corrupt parasite of Sulzerberg. The general had not dismissed him and therefore he stood at attention waiting.
Sulzerberg, for his part, had recovered from the fit of anger and was now sitting thoughtfully rubbing his temples. Then he let out a grunt of satisfaction and, glaring at the captain, said to him:

“Captain, I could have you and your men executed today. And Sigmar knows how much I would like ... On the other hand, I cannot deny your qualities as a fighter and commander. By virtue of the latter, I want to offer you a way out. Collect what's left of your Company and go to Mordheim. Bring me a cart full of wyrdstone and you will be forgiven... And now get out of here, by tomorrow at dawn you have to be on the move!"

Captain Hoffman saluted and took the door.
Lieutenant Schott and Sergeant Major Lemberger met him as soon as they saw him.

“Gentlemen, recover the men who are still capable of fighting and let's get ready to leave. Schott, I saw that a Halfling Scout and a Dwarf Slayer are bivouacking by those campfires, ask them if they are interested in joining us for a fair pay. Let's go to Mordheim..."

Thursday, September 23, 2021

Armand de Chamillon, herald of Cups

The Mordheim Italia Facebook page issued another contest and this time I had to participate! The theme was Bretonnia so with the help of my brother I found an old knight and decided to put some paint on it.

You can go and search for #SeptemBret2021 to see all entries!


Lionel stopped under the portal, distracted by a distant, barely audible sound. While his zombies continued in pursuit of the last Tileans of Kemperbad, who had come to seek fortune and death in the city of the Damned, the necromancer retraced his steps, leaning on the parapet that overlooked market square, as if he wanted to find that noise with his gaze. When it finally found the young man's ears, the sound had become more distinct: Lionel recognized the hunting horns that had besieged his master's tower and decided to gather the band to leave that palace as soon as possible. Climbing over the bodies of the Tileans, he ran up the stairs to the main floor, dimly lit by a waning moon that could be seen from the gutted walls. In the center of the hall, a thin figure was drinking from the jugular of an unfortunate halberdier. 
"Genoveffa, the Hunters are approaching, we must go". 
The vampire dropped the body to the ground, getting closer to Lionel. Her long black hair swayed in the dark, as if weightless. 
"My young friend, you are as well versed in the dark arts as you are unfamiliar with the traditions of our old world. Can't you distinguish the sound of a Bretonnian trumpet?"
At that moment the sound returned, carried by the night breeze, as closer and clearer. It was a sweet and ringing call, evocative of noble deeds and lofty ideals, yet veiled by a shadow of sadness, as of melancholy for a golden age now past. 
"What you hear is the trumpet of Armand de Chamillon, a Bretonnian knight. His sire sent him to Mordheim in search of his eldest daughter, with whom the young man was secretly in love. Since then, he has traveled the length and breadth of the city trying to recall her with the sound of his trumpet ". 
Lionel grimaced, annoyed at his mistake but visibly captured by the tale. He strained his ears to hear the sound of Armand's trumpet once more as he trotted away among the rubble buildings. 
"Human tragedies are bizarre, I am very intrigued. I wonder if his is a vain hope or if he will ever be able to reunite with that girl and bring her back to her land".
"I doubt it" replied the vampire "I don't want to go home".

I also toyed with the idea of making it possible to see this character in action so I wrote, but didn't test, the rules for his Dramatis Personae profile.

Friday, September 17, 2021

Painting Infinity: Ko Dali

Finally, my Ko Dali from Betrayal is complete! I really tried to push myself, painting the best I could. Therefore I didn't use inks, painting shadows by mixing complementary colors. I hope you'll enjoy the final result as much as I do.


I also tried to sculpt some additional roots in the base, following Marco Frisoni's milliput tips


In fact, Marco's videos were really inspiring and, even if spending so much time on a single miniature does not match with my ideal hobby schedule, I'm glad to have had this adventure out of my comfort zone.


Ko Dali will only play as a proxy/HVT for my second Sectorial, Shasvastii, which I will start painting from now on. Anyway, I think her profiles are very well balanced and versatile so I will definitely play her as soon as I have enough models to run a vanilla Combined Army list.


If you haven't already, make sure to check out the Betrayal graphic novel: it's a graceful mix of action and complex topics, accessible and enjoyable both to the casual reader and to the Infinity long-time enthusiast!

Thursday, September 9, 2021

Infinity Mission Focus: Biotechvore

Welcome to another episode of this series focusing on Infinity Missions. After the delicate extraction operation of Rescue, we now face a legendary mission which will stress both players and troopers: Biotechvore.


In this mission, players compete to accomplish more Classified Objectives and killing more enemies while a deadly plague invades the map from all sides.

Skills, weapons and equipment 

๐ŸŽฏ Marksmanship: your opponent will likely use every short skill order to make their trooper march forward, away from the dangers of the biotechvore. Terrain won't always be by their side but when cover will be available, make sure to bring some aces up your sleeve. REM snipers like the MULTI Sniper Rifle Dakini or the Plasma sniper rifle Unidron Batdroid are always scary, but here they really make the best out of their EVO hacking device combo. 

Picture by @InglebyJim: Blue Wolf and Yรกoxiรจ Rui Shi make a great duo for this mission: for 2,5 SWC and 94 points you get a fast TAG killer who'll bring flamethrowers to the center in the blink of an eye and a MSV L2 hugging the antenna for the sake of its comrades.

๐ŸงŠ Albedo: since the map gets smaller and smaller, everyone with a smoke granade will show up in this mission, increasing the number of troopers with Multispectral Visor invited to the party. Since you can't really afford to waste orders throwing eclipse grandes or running white noises around, I strongly recommend bringing your albedo-covered troopers. 

☀️ Plasma rifle: make every hit count...twice! Plasma weapons are really Double Actions in disguise. Moreover, the impact template and the possibility of going in suppressive fire mode really pose a threat to those swarming fireteams. 

Picture by Cristian Il Corinzio. The Charontid is Combined Army's breakthrough ram. This beast has a number of different profiles including a WIP 16 (!) hacker born for Classified Objectives.

Behaviours and tactics

๐Ÿค— Hug the antenna & quickscope: not much to say here. Since it's not that difficult to wipe out the antenna it's better to pick expendable snipers like a Helot or a Ghoulam. 

Picture by Cristian Il CorinzioCheap, fishy and irregular. Helots are the perfect piece for antenna hugging. 

๐Ÿ—ฃ️ To glory! Got an obvious, beefy, big and scary lieutenant you never pick because it's a magnet for enemy fire? It's time to use it! With no retreat and the desperate need of moving everyone to safety, it's not that important if you loose your commander in the process. 

Like, really big and scary lieutenants.

๐Ÿฅ  Counterespionage: there are 3 "crosshair" Classified Objectives that can cancel 4 "white cross" CO. The crossair Objectives all require presence in the enemy half of the table and one of them specifically requires base contact with the HVT so it's no use to go for secure HVT if you've got one of the "white cross" ones. Since you've got 3 COs, my suggestion to manage this variable is to prioritize their execution: "crosshair" first, then normal COs and "white cross" last. 

Final thoughts 

Picture by @ponty_painter. Fast, heavily armored and you're too busy fleeing from the biotechvore to dedicate one of your hackers to it. There may be TAGs like this Szalamandra in this mission: be prepared!

Some players may risk big and go for a superior deploying list despite the negative effects of Confused deployment. To face such a threat, in case you don't have cc-oriented units to match your opponent, you should just take your time, advancing at the pace imposed by the plague. In any case, don't rush your advance but prioritize by weapon range bonuses: there's no need in reaching safety from the biotechvore if that trooper is going to be shot to pieces anyway.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Infinity Mission Focus: Rescue

Welcome to another episode of this series focusing on Infinity Missions. After the trickeries of Unmasking, we now examine the delicate dynamics of a mission where helpless civilians are involved: Rescue.


In this mission, each player must reach and escort to safety four civilians. Points are scored at the end of the game and take into account who has rescued the most.

Skills, weapons and equipment 

Minelayer: despite being pretty useful in every mission where your opponent has to reach stuff on your side of the table, this skill here goes the extra mile since you've got a lot of road to cover to score points so you want to save as many orders as you can. 

๐Ÿค– Tinbot: high infantries are indubitably well suited for this mission since their high armor and wound/structure values but they will have to get their hands dirty to reach civilians and bring them back so make sure to cover them with tinbots if you have the chance. 

Picture by @ponty_painter. Tinbots can help you in various ways but the most common configuration is firewall, boosting your defences against comms attacks. Pretty useful even when you're a Mobile Brigada with BTS 3.  

๐Ÿ”ซ Shotgun: +6 within 8". Even a light shotgun unit can effectively make the difference when defending, resorting to impact template if it looks like their last ARO. 

Trinitarian by Cristian Il Corinzio. For 1 SWC and 28 points you get an unhackable specialist minelayer with boarding shotgun and various layers of superior deployment: what else?

Behaviours and tactics 

๐Ÿพ Building a bottleneck: since civilians are 8" from each other, you may consider useful to mine the space between two civilians in order to deter your opponent from reaching both. In fact, just one mine may be a risk they'd gladly take to have access to two civilians. So let's follow another logic: if we mine the external corridor between the end of the table and the external civilian our opponent would take a mine to have access to one side of one civilian and that's really unlikely. If we do the same on both sides we are reducing the table of our opponent, forcing them in a 24" board that we can control better. Chances to apply this tactic ultimately depend on the table elements, but in general putting low energy constraints to your opponents helps you steer the game where you want.

And when the bottleneck is ready, you just wait for your enemies to show up! Hidden/revealed Swiss Guard by @stefanodrei11

๐Ÿ“Š Fireteams: the mission specifies that units in a fireteam cannot sync with civilians. Should that turn you away from fireteams? On the contrary! In fact I suggest having as much as you can to save movement orders. If you have one duo, one haris and one 3-model core you can dedicate one entire fireteam to 3 of the 4 civilians. Since civilians are 8" from each other, it means you'll easily reform fireteams to hold the line while you escort them to safety as long as you have enough wildcards.

Kosmoflot troopers by @mikipaintstudio: Rokots can make an interesting, cheap and effective Rescue core fireteam with access to a set of bloodthirsty wildcards with either Superjump (Volkolak) or Climbing Plus (Cadin "Firststrike" and Wolfgang Amadeus Wolff).

๐Ÿง—‍♀️Climbing plus & superjump: these skills really cast a new light on maps and players unfamiliar with them may have a hard time chasing enemy troopers with rescued civilians. 

Final thoughts 

Despite all the minelaying tactics we've discussed above, I can guarantee you'll face hidden deployed snipers like this Hexa, a Knauf-based conversion made by Uopo.

To leave or not to leave no man behind?
This mission is somehow similar to Capture and Protect but forces you to spend a lot of orders on movement and each time one of your trooper goes down you must carefully evaluate if spending orders to put them back up or continue with the rescue of another civilian. Therefore, I believe linked paramedics can be as incisive than a doctor with peripherals here, since all armies kinda have linkable paramedic options. This is also a mission where big linkable bots like the Vostok Sputnik or the Rudra Gunbot can shine, despite their inability to sync with civilians.