Harlequins 2

Second event run by the Bolton Gnomes in the Harlequins store (my new favourite store because they sold me card board cut out of Avacyn from MTG). It was a very nice drive to Preston and only myself attended from Leeds. Other guys didn't have time or were down South of UK.

It was a very well run event and props to Ben for going around with time reminders each round. Think he came around every half an hour or so. From what I remember only table run into the lunch break. The turn out was also good, even though it was one less table than last time. I did meet bunch of new people and I am sure for the next one, more of us from Leeds will attend.Also you will notice from the photos that they did fill up tables with the Corvus Belli card board terrain and I thought it worked well enough.

Photos from the day by Ben Tyrer, the TO: http://infinity.boltonboardgames.org.uk/#!album-6

I came 5th (same as the first event) but had a good day of games and the price support was nice. Everyone got a set of Camo/S2 silhouette token with a small round template, both with engraved Harlequins. Which I thought was very neat. There also was a blind-pick of Customeeple baggies. I managed to get a set of Haqqislam tokens (very useful since I am starting Haqqislam).

Photo by Ben. I am in the middle-ish, red top and hat.

Army Lists

List A
List B

These lists might deserve a full breakdown article but if you read my event articles from last few months you will recognize them. My core tends to be the same, Wallace+Link, Uxia, Cateran and Warcor. The list is then based either around Scots Guard or Wulvers. I think the weakest part for both were the 5 pts Baggage bots, they did cause more damage to me than being useful by giving extra 20pts to my opponent. So definitely need to consider their usefulness for missions where you get points for killing more.

That said Urugan with (normal) Hacking Device is a pretty good combo and it helped me a lot. Another less useful unit was Scots Guard with SMGs in Camo. I forgot during one game he is not a Specialist anymore, but at the same time he did work well in one game so it really depends on the mission (as always). Overall I was mostly happy with both lists but especially for Biotechwore I could have tweaked it better. 

Game 1: Supremacy - Caledonia vs Morats
Won 8 to 2 (3 TPs)

It was almost draw of fate that I got to play Lawrence in the first game. Last time we played in Harlequins he won, so this was my chance to even the score. Previously he played Ariadna but this event he came with Morats. It is an army I play myself but have not faced them this year that I remember. Lawrence won the Lt Roll and decided to go first. I chose to deploy on the side with the highest vantage point, as I always try to do when I have to pick deployment. I was running a Wulver Link so my deployment was mainly hidden with troops able to ARO only if Lawrence was trying to get to the Wulvers.

The first turn wasn't very eventful for Lawrence, with only 8 Orders in one pool and 2 in the other (not sure on the second pool, but it wasn't big) he had to spend them all on moving his troops rather than getting something into my deployment zone to attack. My hiding did give him almost entirely free movement everywhere but at the same time it helped me. He was able to get close which would mean less orders for my troops to attack as they wouldn't have to walk far. On the other hand, it was a gamble to let Lawrence be in three quadrants as it meant I had to take at least two from him. In my turn I was able to take out his Total Reaction HMG with a Cateran which allowed my Wulvers to move out. The next speed bump was a Suryat with HMG in Suppression but I was able to get close by being behind a building. Then three Wulvers did Speculative Grenades fire, with Wallace throwing Smoke Grenade. I was only going for breaking the Supression but I landed three Grenades and Lawrence failed all three ARM saves, which was pretty lucky.

I followed it up by Wulvers running behind another building and then on top of it, with Heavy Shotgun Wulver going around the corner. Behind that building was Kornak, Slave Drone and Witch Doctor. At close range with full link support, not much can hold against D15 Heavy Shotgun, especially when I was hitting on BS21 from this range and getting them out of cover! But it did take all my Orders and in the second group nothing really happened. My Scots Guard tried to Surprise Shoot a Raktorak to reduce Lawrence's Link a little but got killed, think he might have been crited. At the end of the turn I held two quadrants as the Wulvers moved just far enough to the top left and I also held bottom left (from my perspective).

In the second turn Lawrence continued with the offensive on my right flank and I think everything got killed. It was mostly cheap Order support so it didn't hurt that much, but it meant I had to be more careful with Orders. The Raktorak Link had three to four Shotguns in it which wasn't great as I didn't have the Orders go take a long way around as getting close would give Lawrence the advantage. Instead I just took out the HMG I was able to see from distance and avoided them otherwise. Only later on I realized I could see another member of the Link from distance and took him out too. I was able to take the two top quadrants and still held the bottom left quadrant. Lawrence only had the bottom right one.

As tends to happen in the last turn, Lawrence had only few Orders to do something with the last three Raktoraks in a Link and one or two other troops. He did managed to kill one of my Wulvers and then fortified his position on both right quadrants. I didn't have the Orders to take the bottom right one so the only way for me to win the third round as to take the top right quadrant where Lawrence had most of his points. I had a choice of attacking to reduce the opponent's point or hold back and just put in more. I decided to go with the safer option and kept out of sight as I moved the remaining Wulvers into the quadrant. Even three of them were over 100pts which was more than Lawrence had. Not spending the Orders on attacking also allowed Uxia, who was doing nothing till now, to get one objective and then move up over the middle line to do Sabotage.

Afterwards we had a good talk about the game and how it could have gone differently. I think the advantage I had was him not knowing how hard hitting the Wulver Link can be and I had the second turn so I knew where to put my points. The way I seen it after the game, he could have either attack them directly in his first turn (basically going for Alpha Strike) or avoid them by taking out my cheap Orders and being very defensive. Though the later option would be more about going for a draw each turn, and the first option is risky as it might have cost him the attacking troops and lots of Orders getting all the way to my DZ.  

Game 2: Biotechwore - Caledonia vs ALEPH
Won 7 to 4 (2 TPs)

I don't believe I played Al before and we did not get a great table for Biotechwore. The table it self was fine, very dense and very few fire lines on the ground level but it was going to be a slaughterhouse in the middle strip outside of the virus zone. As Al was playing ALEPH I was expecting lots of ODD and overall did not fancy my chances. I know from experience my army can bounce off ODD, so it didn't help Al was playing both Achilles and Hector! Al won the Lt Roll and decided to go first. The table had only one high tower and I seen it as my only option for defensive position so I took the side closest to it. After Al deployed and I realized he would struggle to have more than 10-11 Orders, I went for deploying out of sight and only had Camo Marker (Cateran) standing up, everything else would get ARO only if Al came close.

In retrospect I probably should have deny Al use of more than one Command Token but I went with removing two Orders. I figured he'd move everyone out, get closer to me, and burn through his Command Tokens quickly. Which is what happened. What was very lucky for me in Al's turn was criting his Total Reaction Remote with the Cateran. The place where it was going would have given me a world of trouble trying to move anything out of my DZ. I think I also managed to kill some cheap trooper with Chain Rifle that moved too far and my Wulvers saw him. Al ended with Achilles and Hector in defensive positions which gave me only one safe path for the Wulvers to get to the tower. Start of the turn I knew I couldn't get everyone out of the virus zone so I decided to focus on keeping the Wulvers alive and sacrifice everyone else.

It was a gamble but the Link is worth almost 2/3 of my army. I spent the first turn getting to the tower and then getting all the way to the top. I had to spend two Orders for Wallace to climb and realized the top level had no access point to it, which would help me a lot to defend it. The only other unit to make it out of the virus zone was Scots Guard in Camo. Everyone else but Uxia (she failed to infiltrate at the deployment) died in it at the end of the game round. The three Highlanders died earlier in the turn by attacking with their Chain Rifles. Al didn't have much to attack so Achilles and Hector went into Supressive fire to hold back any of my attacks. He also tried to kill the Scots Guard but I was pretty lucky with him, believe I got a Crit against something.

I spent the whole second turn just killing Achilles. I figured he cost the most points and if I can take him out I'd swing the game in my favour. It took five rounds of shooting from the roof (20 dice!) before I managed to kill him by two crits. We were over 16" and he was in Supression but I got him out of cover while he was shooting at me in cover, so we were both at BS12. My only advantage was having extra Burst because I was in full Link. In retrospect probably not the smartest choice but I didn't see other options at the time. Since we were rolling for the same number, I figured I'd try my luck at rolling better.

Al's only option in the last turn was to try take out some Wulvers with Hector but he couldn't just Climb up as it would give me free round of shooting when he got to the top. He tried to Stun me with Stun Grenades but they failed to do anything, twice. In the end Al went into defensive position. In my last turn I used one Wulver to get down from the building to Coup De Grace someone for one of my Classified Objectives.

In the end I won only by a small margin, I had more points alive than Al but also managed to kill more. Which was very close because with both of my Baggage units being dead, Al had those extra 40pts. It was a good lesson at not taking Baggage on mission like this, or at least being more careful with it.

Looking back I think instead of hiding up on the building, I could have take my chances at attacking Hector with the full Link. It would been riskier but I would be able to get close thanks to Smoke and then Heavy Shotgun would have had decent chance at taking him out. Or even more balls out, I could have Smoke the path all the way to him and then take him down in CC with Wallace (or Wulver could be better choice). But considering Hector has EXP CCW, probably not the best idea as we'd likely trade models. If I managed to kill Hector in some way, Al would be in Loss of Lt in his second turn, making it harder for him to retaliate and giving me the time to fortify defenses. The main reason I went with hiding instead of not wanting to get stuck shooting someone while I was on the ground and in the first turn. It doesn't help both Achilles and Hector have three Wounds and high ARM.

After the game we talked about Al choices and he also could have gone into full hiding. Which might have given me more freedom of movement if I got down from the roof, and probably would have make the game very different as I would have to be the one finding a way of attack.

Game 3: Decapitation - Caledonia vs Imperial Service
Lost 2 to 7 (0 TPs)

This was the first time I played Nigel and it was way more fun than I expected it be, mainly because I did not expect my army to work that well against his Remote heavy IS army but we also joked a lot during the game. Overall the game was very back and forward with neither of us having a big advantage and even when I thought I did, he pulled it back and in the end I lost because I made a stupid choice of trying something very risky instead of taking a minute to think about how many points I had alive. The worse thing is, I think I would have won if I simply didn't spend any Orders and kept everyone alive! Definitely a good lesson for the future.

The table itself did look dense but it was actually quite open thanks to no high LoF blocks in the middle. Nigel won the Lt Roll and decided to go first, which pretty much ended my plans of Alpha Strike so I have chosen the side with the best defensible position. I did consider using Uxia to deploy close to enemy lines but Nigel did have the Remote with Sat-Lock and Sniffer, which would kill her fast so I didn't bother and instead positioned her over the middle line to take out some HMG Rems.Wallace and Scots Guard deployed in a two stories building with Wallace all the way on the top so if Nigel wanted to attack him, he'd have to go through the whole Link and some other units. He didn't have Missile Launchers or Grenade Launchers, so I wasn't bothered being bunched up on the top roof.

The first turn didn't start out so well. Nigel started with the changing Rem, Su-Jian, and it proved to be pretty deadly. I believe he got a crit or I might have just roll bad, but my Missile Launcher was first to drop unconscious. This was followed up by shooting my Cateran who died outright and then more fighting with the Scots but Molotok prevailed. The Su-Jian went into suppression near my Deployment Zone. Nigel then moved up his other Remotes to my surprise, he had two HMG Rems deployed on a roof with his Lt. My first turn was about trying to reduce the number of Rems. My one plan of attack was using Cameronian to get to the Lt but the board was way too open and he'd take tons of AROs, so I had to bide my time. My 112 healed the Missile Launcher but he couldn't stand up without being shot to pieces so I used Uxia on suicide mission to take out one HMG Rem, unfortunately for me it didn't die fully though but at least it was out of the way for now.

Then I went to deal with the Su-Jian. First thing was to get it out of suppression fire. I was bit stupid and run out with a Volunteer who Chain Rifled it. I needed to move him due to having a Hacker nearby who needed to move where he was. I could have saved the Order for later by simply moving him away. I think he might have took a Wound off the Su-Jian, so there was that. The Hacker then tried to hack the Su-Jian and while it didn't work, it did force him to do Reset and break suppression. Which then allowed my Molotok to take it out with Burst 5 vs Burst 1. The other target I could safely see was a unit with Holoprojector Lv2. I shot one and it was fake. Then I gave Urugan Marksmanship Lv2 and it blasted the other two markers, managing to target the right one and killing it for good. Don't think I done much more besides getting my Highlanders killed. Nigel had the board locked down.

However, it turned out Nigel's plan of attack was gone. The Holoprojector unit was his plan. He also tried heal his Remote with his Engineer/Doctor ALEPH unit but managed to kill it and he was all out of Command Tokens. I believe he then advanced with a Link Team full of cheap Chain Rifles and flanked with one HMG Remote which I did manage to take out but not before it killed something of mine, I think it was Marksman Rifle Scots Guard (my memory of these last two turns is getting blurred). Half way through my second turn I realized my worst mistake. I believed his third S3 Remote was also HMG, not realizing like a moron it was just some Combi Rifle cheap Rem. The other S5 Rem also only had Spitfire so I was able to outshoot and kill them both with my Scots Guards. But it was too late to do anything else that turn.

To my desperation Nigel managed to fix his Rems in his last turn. He also attacked with one trooper in the Link and while I did manage to kill it and break the Link for good, he also managed to kill my Urugan because apparently I can't save Chain Rifle hits. So we are at the start of my last turn and I am almost certain I have more units alive, at least more expensive ones. But I also think I might have a shot at taking out his Lt with Cameronian which would win me the game. So I risk it and jump out. I figured I could tank two Rems. Problem was, it turned out I was also just in range for two Chain Rifle and again, failed both saves. I still had the choice of going for Classified and healing my unconscious Dozer. Instead I got this idea if my 112 hits Cameronian with Medikit, I still have a shot at taking out the Lt. So he stands up, takes the shot, misses and dies. Then I also managed to get my Hacker killed by going for Classified she failed to do anyway. With last orders my Molotok goes to the top of the roof and takes out the Rems again.

Unfortunately, due to taking the unnecessary risk, I lose 50+ pts and did not even attempt to bring back my Dozer which could have give me extra 14 pts. In the end the difference between our Points killed wasn't that big. I think Nigel managed to get one of his Classified. The big lesson from the game would be to take a minor victory instead of risking a loss to have a chance at major victory, or in other words if you have more alive than your opponent in the last turn and the mission is about who kills more, don't throw away your units. Especially if you are at the top table in the last game!!!

DIY Tokens

This is not something new but I met some people at the last event I been to who were looking to make cheap tokens so figured I'd do an article about it to share. This is the best way I know of as you can easily make hundreds of good looking tokens in minutes and it'll cost you only around £10.

To do this you will need 1" Circle Puncher, Clear 1" Round Stickers (they can be found as epoxy domes or bottle cap protectors on Amazon/eBay) and printed Infinity tokens. For tokens I recommend the Infinity Marker Sheet Creator, it has all the options and super easy to use. Or you can download them on the Infinity website. Plus you get some tokens on every Infinity box.

It is worth "investing" a little into the puncher. I use the one in the link above and it works like a charm. The first one I bought barely worked properly. For any UK people, I bought the puncher in Range store, but any story with crafts section should have it.

After you have everything, just get your tokens ready. Usually I print out mine in a local library because they have a colour laser printer so it comes out in good quality and costs only 20 Pence per sheet. The ones I am using here are from Haqqislam Remotes box.

The puncher is super easy to use. Just slide the paper in and then, well, punch it! It does help if you keep some paper around the token when you cut them out, it makes it lot easier to position them inside the slot of the puncher.

The clear round stickers already come with some kind of glue on them, so you don't need anything extra. Whatever glue it is, it really strong. I use my tokens a lot and I never had one get lose or anything. I bought them last year (over 7 months ago from posting this) and they still work perfect.

This part is also very easy to do, just stick the sticker onto the token and then press it hard between your palms (or against a surface). I thought it might be tricky to get them fit perfect, but its not.

Even if you need to make 100+ tokens, it should not take you long at all. Soon you'll have all the tokens you need. Even for statuses and equipment your army can't use! I do love these tokens, you get exactly what you need and on the table they look just as good as anything you can buy.

Just Play Games - July

This will be shorter post than my usual event articles. Mostly because I forgot to start this sooner and now it has been too long for me to remember all the details. Plus it was a really small event. Which we didn't realize until we got there, but it was still a fun day out. Though I still think the Liverpool local players are just mythical creatures that we'll never see!

https://justplaygames.uk/

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs Hassassin Bahram
Won: 3 TPs

My first game was against Christian, who is one of my mates and we hang out often but we actually didn't play each another much. My day didn't start well with losing the Lt Roll (as I would throughout the whole day) and when he said he will play Hassassins, I was expecting all the Fidays. But strangely, out of the last three times I played Hassassins, I only seen one Al Djabel!It left me wondering what to expect and Christian ended up fielding a Core Link Team (Ghulams I think), some HI Harris Link and bunch of the really annoying Jammer guys.

I deployed very defensively and I don't think much, if anything, of mine died. Staying true to the mission Christian advanced forward with most things and I spent my turn killing most of his link. But I made the mistake of forgetting I played against Haqq and didn't finish them off, so he just healed them all back in his turn. My Scots Guard Link didn't do much the whole game but everything else was very good, Uxia, Highlanders and Urugan killed lots of things.

I was able to overwhelm Christian's units and by the end of the game I think I wiped out most of his army. What really helped was taking out his Jammers early and taking my time killing them, instead of running out sacrificing.

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs ALEPH
Won: 2 TPs

The second game was against Mark, and I knew it will be tough. His ALEPH is deadly against Caledonia with all that ODD. Plus he added a second ODD Spitfire! One was deadly enough. My plan for the mission was simply, Alpha Strike his Lt, hide an protect Wallace at all cost. My plan failed before the game started because I lost the Lt roll again and Mark chose to go first as he often does when we play. After I looked over the table, and keeping in mind the 16" Deployment Zone for this mission, the best option I seen to counter Mark's first turn was taking the side with the highest building in the DZ.

The tower landing platform was almost half in my DZ so I deployed my Link Team, with Wallace and 112, on top of it. There was no direct access to the top and climbing would take forever, plus Mark didn't have any speculative fire Grenades (as far as I know, he didn't use any). It also gave my Scots a full view of most of the board. It made the game very difficult for Mark and I wouldn't want to be in his position but tournament is a tournament and it was my best chance at holding against his army.

The one big mistake I made was with Uxia, I thought I'd put her on a high building so she could attack the Lt in my turn but I didn't know ALEPH Remotes have Climbing Plus, which caused her to get killed quickly by HMGs. As expected Mark managed to wipe out almost everything I had on the ground, and in turn I killed all his long rage AROs units (Total Reaction REMs and a Marksman). In my last turn I had a shot at killing Mark's Lt. My 112 jumped from the tower to a roof below, thankfully within jumping distance. Then jumped down again and healed unconscious Cameronian. Who then jumped across the board to hit Mark's Lt with my last Order. I chose two Chain Rifles over CC but Mark passed both rolls and I think I won only by killing more of his army, and maybe having more Classified.

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs Ariadna
Lost: 0 TPs

The last game was lost even before it started. I went against James and the results this year have always been the same when I play my ITS Caledonia against his ITS Ariadna. We both use similar strategies but vanilla has the advantage of more camo and I can't overwhelm a swarm army with a swarm army. It might have been different if I managed to kill his HMG Spetsnaz, which was his main hitter but when he went against my Scots Missile Launcher he scored a Crit, and then Crit again against Molotok.

To make it worse then his Hardcase killed Urugan and Cameronian with one round of shooting and wiped out the rest of my right flank. I could barely pass a single roll. That pretty much sums up the game. Not to mention Uxia who was on a high roof, killed like two troops and then got glued in place by a Dozer! But in that same Order I moved her back so she ended up in middle of the roof unable to see anything.

The coolest thing for me was in my last turn and last turn of the game, Wallace jumped from a roof to roof and split his Combi Rifle Burst against Uxia and Dozer, both on objectives, killing them both. Still wasn't enough to give me control over quadrants because most of my army was gone.

My Review of Operation Red Veil

Being a WarCor has its perks, such as early access to some releases! This week I have received my copy of the Red Veil and will be showing it around for the next couple of weeks. Today I finally had the time to open it up and build the miniatures, so I thought I would write down my thoughts about it.

The first thing I noticed after opening the box was that Corvus Belli moved from the usual card board boxes to hold the minis. I don't have a copy of Icestorm myself so not sure if this is actually new, but I remember the USARF Army Boxset minis came in the card board boxes. But the plastic tray worked just as well. My WarCor copy also came with a poster and bunch of Quick Start Rules featuring the Red Veil.

The intro book is actually quite nice, it has some new artwork and as with Icestorm, I love the mission progression. It takes people from the very basics and introduces something new each time. The Quick Start mini book is very similar, but its more compact with only the basics covered. Another thing I love is the tokens sheet. Would be great if this was something we could buy on its own, with more options for token types. You don't get the flamer templates in this though, like you did with the USARF Army Boxset, which is bit surprising considering most Haqqislam units have Light Shotguns.Though it might not be covered in the Intro Rules so it might not matter.

As you might expect from Corvus Belli, all minis came in baggies. The D20s are really nice, I am glad they went with good colours to contrast with black numbers. Hard to read dice are annoying! I will be trying them out soon, see if how well (or badly) they will roll. At first glance the minis looked great, but I will get to them later.

Since it came out I always thought the card board terrain was a great idea. It makes starting with Infinity so much easier and they are not bad for tournaments either (or home boards). We played on a board full of them before and it worked well. Design wise I think this new set is amazing. It has lots of cool details and it really fits with what you'd expect from the Infinity universe. Putting them together, however, wasn't that easy. The instructions were not very helpful and they missed out the bridge completely. Its not that hard to figure out though. The bridges are a neat touch to add something to the terrain and the square boxes are actually pretty sturdy once they are built. You can still put card board boxes into the building for extra weight.

Last but not least, the best part of the set, the minis of course. Lets start with Haqqislam.

There is a nice selection of units for Haqq and as someone who started collecting the factions, I was very happy with the new sculpts for some units. Like all the new releases, these minis have lots of nice details. Unfortunately putting them together was bit of a pain and some needed lots of cleaning up. The biggest problem I found were the minis who are holding guns with both hands. On both Ghulams and the Tuareg the arms do not connect properly, leaving space around shoulders. Its not a new issue for any mini like this, but it was surprising because it wasn't an issue with other recent releases, the USARF especially. Its not something bit of greenstuff won't fix and I don't think it reduces the overall quality. It just might be frustrating to new people. But it also might be my fault for missing something when cleaning the minis.

Also my other issue was with the Zhayedan. The mini itself went together nicely, but you couldn't put him on the base like everything else. If you put his leg with the slot to the middle of the base, his other leg will go over the base. So I had to cut it off and just glue him by his feet. I am guessing it might be an overlooked mistake, because if the slot was the other way around, it would have fit fine into a slot with both feet on the base. (I am realzing only now this would have been easier to explain with pictures, my bad.)

Funny thing I noticed, the Al Fasid's HMG is smaller than the Azrail. Which is amusing because they are both wearing the same suit of armour, more or less. Maybe its like a snub-nose HMG, more killing power (thanks to the attached Light Grenade Launcher).

To my own surprise I preferred the Yu Jing models. The two Heavy Infantry guys went together really well and look proper beefy. The Ninja and Tiger Solider designs are also super cool; very much in-action looking poses. Probably my favourite thing though, is the fact that two of the three line infantry are female soldiers. I am pretty sure they are the first faction starter set that has two female line troops, usually its two guys.

The male Zhanshi has the same problem as I mentioned previously, it was hard to glue the arms holding the gun and will need some greenstuff to fill the gaps. The one female Zhanshi was fine though, maybe because she isn't aiming. All of the other models were no problem to put together. Even the Hsien Warrior spikes on the back slotted really well.

Overall I would say the Hsien Warrior is my favourite model from this set, and likely the sole reason I will be playing Yu Jing. Even next to the Al Fasid, he just looks so much more boss; in my opinion anyway.

That said, I am definitely looking forward to painting and playing all of the minis!

Warzone Summer Smackdown

This event had two milestones for me, I have finally ranked in the top three on a Warzone event and it was the furthest I have driven by myself (I love driving, just not long distances but getting over it). The venue for this event was great, it had a bar open from the morning (so I could start my games refresh with gin and tonic) and it was right next to a shopping center, so it was really easy and fast to get some lunch. I believe there only was 20 people, but I think there also was more tables set up than needed so could have probably be up to 22 or 24 next time.

After my loosing streak I was happy I was able to prove myself I still got it. It sure helped to read the missions and ahead and have a plan! It was a bit of a gable in all three games as I always went first but thanks to an advise of one of my mates, I was prepared for it. It worked out and I ended up on the second place. I don't have the rankings but from what I recall it was really close with the first place.

All my opponent were really sound too, it was fun to play against them even when I kept them in their deployment zone, which I know from experience can be frustrating.
I went home with a boxset of Govads, an objective room by TT Combat and a Haqq Spec Ops Dog-tags. I also won the painted armies raffle and got an Umbra Samaritan. So my ticket and fuel almost paid for itself, which is always nice.

My Army Lists

List A
List B

After Games Expo I grew bit more fond of Urugans so these lists were based off my older lists but making use of the Traktor Mules. I also went down in numbers of SAS and Caterans, which I thought might not pay off but it worked. I love the Caterans but since we have access to normal Hacking Device now, Urugans are pretty useful to hold off enemy troops.

Also these lists do have 12XP Spec-Ops as it was allowed on this event, but usually we play non-Spec-Ops events so will have to tweak these lists again for other events.

Game 1: Transmission Matrix - Caledonia vs PanO
Won 8 to 4 (2 TPs)

My first game was against Kris and we ended up playing on my table, which I always enjoy. I believe Kris won the Lt Roll and decided to go second. There was not much difference in table sides as far as objective placement so I have decided to take the side with the highest building, which I didn't end up using but it meant Kris wouldn't have it. Last time I played this mission I won by going for three objectives each turn and making it difficult for my opponent to retaliate, so I planned to try do the same.

I have deployed Urugan on each side objective with small support and my Scots Guard Link on the middle. Kris had Sniper Nisses as the only visible ARO piece, which worried me, and the Nisses has also deployed on the opposite flank from my Cameronian. I would have preferred to take on the Nisses with B5 Molotok but I couldn't get close enough so my Missile Launcher had to do the job, which he did and Nisses was blown to bits. Since Uxia failed to infiltrate I wanted to use Cameronian to take out the Fusilier I thought was the Lt (there was a choice of three) and I was about two moves away from getting there when Kris revealed Swiss Guard with HMG. This of course changed priorities.

I tried to Chain Rifle her (and managed to kill Konstantinos by hitting them both) and took 1 Wound off I believe, I tried to finish her in CC but died in the process. I knew the Swiss would be a problem in Kris' active turn, even the Scots Link would have trouble because she'd pick them off one by one. So I decided to go balls to the wall and attack it with Scots Guard and Wallace. Since the Swiss couldn't kill Wallace in CC with one hit, I smoked made a Smoke path and spread the Scots, leaving the Missile and Molotok around the middle objective. The idea was to get Wallace and at least one other into CC for bonuses but only Wallace could make it. He went Berserk and killed the Swiss. I ended my turn with Coup de Gracing the Swiss to make sure its dead and then putting my Scots into defensive positions, with Wallace going to hiding.

Even though I didn't kill the Lt, my gamble paid off. The Scots managed to end as a full Link and it helped a lot to keep Kris in his deployment zone. He tried to take on the Scots Guard with Hexa but didn't out roll me and then Wallace dropped smoke, so she couldn't do much. He also brought on an AD trooped but he got hit by Flash Pulse, as did two other units who went against the FO Scots. Which really halted Kris' ability to attack the objectives.

My second turn was mostly about fortifying defenses. I brought Sniper to the middle and aligned the Molotok, Missile Launcher and Cateran in such a way that anyone attacking them would have hard time getting only one ARO. I was bit stupid when I spend around 3-4 Orders going against Supressive Fire Fusilier with double SMG Scots Guard. I was in my good range bands but it didn't give me any advantage. I think I only killed the Hexa this turn, completely forgetting about the AD trooper with Spitfire.

At this point I believe Kris's only way to shift me off the middle objective was the AD trooper. We found a spot where he could only be AROed by the Missile Launcher but it was over 24", getting any closer meant more AROs. He was hitting me on at 7s while I was on flat BS 12, so even with his higher Burst he wasn't able to hit me though I couldn't hit either. This drove Kris to move out and attack in better range, but against all three of my AROs. Which didn't work out for him, all my guys survived and the AD trooped died.

This left Kris with no heavy weapons and I was able to in my last turn to run deeper into his DZ with Wallace and kill three troopers, two in CC and one was shot because it had Electric Pulse. I made a mistake of getting carried away with Wallace instead of focusing on my Classified. My hacker ended with only one attempt to Data Scan and it failed, so I didn't get full 10 for the mission.

In retrospect I think it might have been a mistake on Kris's part to reveal the Swiss so soon but at the same time if he didn't do it my Cameronian would kill lot more troops and likely his Lt (there were two Fusiliers I was going to kill and one of them was the Lt), so he wouldn't be able to do much in his first turn with the Swiss. It was definitely not an easy decision either way. Getting so far up the board with the Link could have been very bad for me and without knowing the range bands, it was a good play to attack them with the Spitfire.

Game 2: Decapitation - Caledonia vs Onyx Contact Force
Won 8 to 2 (3 TPs)

My second game was against the Wargaming Trader himself. Ian brought his awesome looking Onyx army which is very new and I never played against it so I wasn't sure what to expect. If I remember right I won the Lt Roll, but either case I went first. My plan for this mission was to attack the enemy Lt, kill it and protect my own for the rest of the game. I had only one Infiltrator but figured even if Uxia fails her roll like last game, I had enough to hammer the enemy force in the first turn. Ian deployed his Lt behind cover on a roof of a building that wasn't fully in his DZ. Which was a good spot as I'd have to go all the way around the building to see it, but it also allowed Uxia to Infiltrate on the roof. Thankfully she passed her roll.

It made my first turn strategy bit easier. After Super Impetuous troops run off, and half of them died, my first move was to attack Ian's Link of Batroides. I have dropped smoke with Highlander just enough so my Missile Launcher could only see one member of the Link with Carbine, blocking LoS of a Sniper. I won the face to face and when Ian checked, it also hit the Sniper. Which would have allowed him to shoot back through the Smoke but we both forgot about it till long after the game. Both of the Batroides died. Ian also revealed a TO camo token in attempt to ARO the Missile Launcher but when we checked there was no LoF, the table was quite deceiving!

Uxia then moved up the roof towards the enemy Lt. I couldn't keep her in cover against him as I needed full cover against the TO Marker I knew was waiting. But even without cover the B5 Assault Pistols done their job and Lt died. After that I realized Uxia was in a very good spot to take out Ikadron and EVO Hacker REM. My Cateran also revealed this turn, taking down another member of the Batroides Link, which left Ian with only two. I ended my turn with Scots Guard and everyone else protecting path towards Wallace, who was my Lt.

The table was less open than it looked, especially across the middle most line of fire were blocked, which didn't give much room to Ian to attack from distance. He still had two missile launchers on the board, one of which was in TO, but my Link was still on full strength, giving me the advantage in any shoot out. Ian spent his turn bringing back some units with Dr. Worm's slave drones and fortified his position around the building with Dr. Worm, who became his new Lt. My left flank was very open, it had good partial cover but I couldn't move without being shot. I risked my Cameronian to attack the TO unit but was too far from it with only one move and failed the face to face rolls. In retrospect I should have not done it as I later realized there was a LoF to the TO unit underneath the platform in the middle. Which allowed my Molotok Scots Guard to attack it in my good range and put it unconscious. After a Highlander Chain Rifled the EVO Hacker, Uxia went to kill it completely this time, and also done my Sabotage Classified.

With less Orders each turn, Ian had hard time moving anywhere near my Lt and used his turn to heal the unconscious TO unit and then attacked few of my units not in full cover, that he could see from his DZ. I was lucky to lose only one Uguran. In my last turn I was trying to get the second Classified but kept failing. I couldn't do the card I drew so I was trying to get close to Ian's HVT but he kept killing everything because I had to move through LoF of a Batdroid Missile Launcher that I couldn't see with my heavy weapons. My second Urugan with Marksmanship Lv2 had the best odds but I kept rolling bad with it. Before end of the turn I managed to kill the TO Missile Launcher. This left Ian with very little to do in his last turn. He couldn't take my HVT either as I had troops around it.

Ian said after the game he should have deployed differently but both deployment zones were very similar. I could have gone on each flank or through the middle so it would been hard to defend all access points. It was the same with my DZ if Ian had the first turn. Hard to say if his Lt could have been better off inside a building. I think it might have make it harder to kill him on the first turn but Uxia is good at getting wherever she needs, even if she dies in the process of the assassination.

Game 3: Supremacy - Caledonia vs Imperial Service
Won 8 to 0 (3 TPs)

I am not fan of Supremacy so I was bit worried in my last game, especially since I lost the final game one too many times already. It didn't help Andy was playing IS, which is an army I am not very familiar with. On top of that, when I won the Lt Roll I decided to take pick a side and Andy said he'll go second. I think I decided sides anyway, might have just pick go first. Which I regretted immediately after because going second helped me to win this mission plenty of times before! So I gambled everything on being able to Alpha Strike, but I didn't feel it was a good gable in this mission. As a fun fact, this was the same table I played on the last mission in Totally CRIT and won back there, though it was set up differently.

What decided my strategy for me was Andy's deployment (especially after Uxia failed her roll and so I couldn't hunt for Lt). He had a Link Team of HI with Hacker who had 1 Wound (I don't know these guys names), and deployed them in a line behind a building. Since they seemed like the strongest part of Andy's list, I deployed my Wulvers on the same flank and the plan was to hit them with Heavy Shotgun, take as many off as possible. I got close and then it took some maneuvering with Smoke, but I was able to pull it off. I think I took a Wound off all of them but the first guy and killed the Hacker, my Wulver done a good job surviving and ended in front of them all in cover. At the start of the turn one of my Highlanders run towards some Forward Deployment unit and they ended up killing each another in CC, which was funny. I also sniped a WarCor with my Cateran, I know how deadly they can be so I wasn't going to let him live! The biggest mistake I made this game was not Re-Linking my Wulvers properly. I had to break the Link at one point and then Linked 4 of them back but after I ended my turn I noticed if I made someone else the Link Leader, all 5 would have been in her ZoC, giving my Shotgun more shots and better BS for everyone.

My mistake was paid for in blood and three Wulvers died that turn. At least they did not go down easy. I managed to take down all but two of the HI troops. By the end of his turn Andy tried to push into the quadrants in front of his DZ in attempt to over-point my Wulvers (I didn't contest the other one) but with all my AROs available I was able to kill everything but one HI trooper which was not more points than Wallace and the lastWulver. In my second turn the surviving trooper was giving me lots of trouble. I was bit stupid because we were within 8" and I kept shooting with T2 Rifle. Eventually I run into CC and activated both Berserk and Natural Born Warrior (which pushed me to CC 30!) to kill the trooper, something I should have done from the start, or keep moving back to get outside of the 8".

There wasn't much else to shoot at so I then spent the rest of the turn destroying the objectives so Andy couldn't get them. Uxia did activate one before blowing it up. There wasn't much Andy could do in his second turn, all his hard hitters were dead and everything else was deployed at the back of his DZ. I think he was just consolidating defenses in the one quadrant he was holding. In my third turn I sent Uxia to get the last objective and also blow it up.

I think what helped me in this game was learning from the last game I had against Adam in Totally CRIT. In that game I didn't push with the Wulvers far enough even though I could have done similar thing I did this time, hit bunch of troops with Heavy Shotgun in a Link. Another lesson from the same event was from playing against JSA and having a very drawn out shoot out between Wulvers and another HI Link, its not something I would want to happen again if I can help it. It was risky to spend all my orders on the attack because it could have failed if I couldn't make it close enough but once again Wulvers proved their worth and came through for me. I really need to give them a good paint job!

 
In retrospect deploying the Link differently might have made it harder for me to hit them all but I get why Andy didn't put them on roofs for AROs. Going second you want your expensive things alive and having them exposed would have allowed me to shoot them from distance.

Bonus photos of Serenity Valley table set up: