Meeting the Yorkshire Renegades

The idea of taking a break from events did not last long at all. Its only like second week of January and I have been to my first event of the year. Me and James went to visit the Yorkshire Renegades, a neighbor gaming club from the God's Own Country. It was just a two games-six players mini-tournament, but it was still a good fun. Renegades have some cool looking tables too, some of which they bring to Northern Open tournaments.

Instead of my usual Caledonians, I took Morat Aggression for this event. It has been a while since I played them. I'd say Morats are my second favourite army to play, they have no Camo tricks but they don't care about Lt or Guts or Retreat, which I think is a neat thing.  

(Images with the Renegades logo were not taken by me.)

Game 1: Highly Classified - Morats vs Haqqislam
Won 9 to 4

For this mission we have drawn these Classified: Extreme Prejudice, Test Run, HVT: Designation and Sabotage. I also got Telemetry as my Secondary. My opponent was relatively new player so I helped him out a lot. The game actually came out quite close, I only won by a lot because the mission is built that way; if you achieve more Objectives you get 4 points and they don't get any for achieving less. I had the second turn and it came down to my last roll. I was trying to Forward Observer someone and instead of just FOing an Unconscious unit that was almost right in front of me, I went against someone shooting at me for no good reason. But I did luckily roll a Crit on my WIP with the last Order.

The table we played on from my side.

Another stupid thing I did, you know how they say no battle plan survives contact with the enemy? I think its more like, no battle plan survives the deployment phase. In the list for this mission I specifically took a second Hacker, a Morat Vanguard, so I'd have access to supportware for remotes. I even took a remote with a Repeater so is easier to give my HMG Total Reaction remote Marksmanship Lv2. Then I deployed the Vanguard Hacker and the Repeater on the other side of the board away from the HMG.

More of the table from my side.

What was quite funny, and frustrating for me a little, my opponent had some kind of heavy infantry with HMG on a roof. We were shooting at each another across the board, diagonally so we were always over 40". Even with his -6 BS, he managed to take out two of my three AROs, my HMG in a Link and my Yagoat Sniper. I put him unconscious, but then he had a Doctor Plus unit around the corner and brought him back. This happened like two more times.

The table from a different side, not during my game.

Overall it was a fun game and I hope I tough my opponent few things, we even had some hacking battles between his Hacker and my Zerat Hacker. If I failed that last roll, I think he'd either won or we'd tie. 

And this is me playing.

Game 2: Annihilation - Morats vs Nomads
Won 9 to 6

In the second game I was pretty stupid with my Classified. In this mission you have two worth 2 points each, which is pretty good so it is a good idea to actually do them. When I was selecting my Classified I kept thinking I do have a Zerat Hacker in my list because I almost always do when I play Morats. So I chose HVT: Designation and Sabotage, which is like a great combo for Infiltrating Hacker with D-Charges. I really should have remember I did NOT take that option and instead had a normal Zerat with a Combi-rifle. But I realized like mid way through deployment so I had to just live with it. In the end, my Engineer had to run across the board and get himself killed to get Sabotage done and in the end I had to change my second Classified to Secure HVT. I had the last turn and my opponent already done both of his Classified, so I also had to get both. 

The table from my opponent's side.

I was quite lucky though, overall I rolled like six to eight critical rolls during the game. Since the mission is about killing but also keeping your army alive, we both just shot at each another from safe distances of our deployment zone. There were plenty of funny moments, like when my opponent Airborne Deployed a Hellcat behind my Vanguard Link Team, but didn't realize one of my guys was facing backward so I did Alert! which made the whole Link Team turn around and then when he activated the Hellcat again, it was just shot to death.Without knowing it, I also did a full burst into his Lt at one point, I think either with Kornak or my HMG Remote but he survived. I found out it was the Lt only at the end of the game.

More of the table from enemy side.

My Link Team, HMG already dead.

I think the "worst" Crit I rolled was when my Tempest Regiment was advancing against his HMG Remote. I just couldn't kill it so we ended the turn in front of each another, and in my opponent's turn he had the advantage of Burst 4 over my Burst 1. We were within 8" so I decided to use a Pistol and rolled a Crit.

Tempest Regiment advancing....

... get some Nomad Remote.

In the end, I managed to outkill my enemy. Morats had 209 pts alive (229 with Baggage) and I killed 219 of my opponent's army. I have no doubt the luck on my part was a major help. If my opponent managed to kill Kornak and the Tempest Regiment,  I'd been down by 100 pts and he'd have more alive.

And I got a nice certificate for my Morats, so I am happy!

Ride or Die! (updated)

Corvus Belli has released videos and images of the new Desperadoes models and personally I think they look pretty badass. We have already seen concept art for these guys so the bikes look quite as expected, a stripped down version of the USAriadna military bike. I like how each bike looks different, its a nice touch. The riders are also very individual but they seem to fit the overall USAriadna theme very well. I am definitely gonna get a boxset when they are released for sale.

Same as last time (with the Airborne Ranger release), I wanna take a guess at their rules and profile!
Update; it was pointed out to me on Facebook Ariadna group that I have overlooked some available information! Thanks Nick and Casper.

Image from http://www.beastsofwar.com

So, what do we know so far? The models shown have Boarding Shotgun and a Heavy Pistol. The CB's 360 video says 2 Heavy Pistols so that might either be a standard equipment or an option to have two, I am guessing they will all come with one. The same model is also carrying what looks like SMG on his back, but it could be a Rifle. It is a SMG according to concept art. I would think most of their weapon options will be more close to mid-range, since the Maverick cover the bike option with long range firepower.

I will also guess the bikes will come with the standard Smoke Light Grenade Launcher. It might be a wishful thinking, but considering the availability of Light and Heavy Flamers in USAriadna, I think these guys might have the option to have them too. Which would be so cool! If not Flamers, they might get Chain Rifles at least. Chain Rifle does show up on the concept art and int he USA book, so flamers were likely really just wishful thinking! The art also shows normal Smoke Grenades which could be useful as they can Dodge with those and use them if they dismount the bike.

As far as special skills, they will likely have Extreme Impetuous. According to the USA book, they appear to have normal Impetuous but Irregular training.

Its hard to say what else they might have, maybe Berserk to help them in CC? I don't think they will have MSV Lv1 like the Maverick does. It would be cool if they had something like Booty Lv1, it would fit their fluff. Speaking of fluff though, they might have Forward Deployment or Mechanized Deployment. That would be super rad.

My guess at their profile:
MOV 8-4,  CC 16, BS 11, PH 13, WIP 13, ARM 3, BTS 0, W 1, S 4, AVA 2/5*

As far as cost, probably between 18 - 28 Points.
My guess for cost seems to be too high, the USA booklet sample armies show Chain Rifle option is 11pts and 13pts for SMG.

* 2 for Ariadna, 5 for USARF sectorial.
I am also wrong about the AVA for Sectorial, USA book says they will be AVA 6!

I am skeptical of them having a Specialist Option, but almost everything in USAriadna does so they might have Forward Observer or Paramedic option.

Army List Tactica 4: Phoenix Tournament Winner (Biotechvore)

This is one of the two lists that I have taken to an ITS event in Phoenix Games last year. It was the first tournament I have won and this list helped me to define how I want to play Caledonia in this new year of 2016. Though there is sure room for improvement as you'll find out, and its far from guaranteed to win you games (but that goes for every army in Infinity).   

 

Overview

One of the missions in the tournament was Biotechvore, so this list was pretty much tailored for that mission. Though it could also work for other killing-type missions. In basic, in this mission the goal is to have more Points alive than your enemy. Its made harder but the fact that 16" of each side of the table is "virus" zone that hits any units with Damage 14 hit against their BTS. So you end up with 16" strip in middle of the board where everyone wants to pile up their army. It can be a brutal mission and it can be very hard on Order Management. My plan was to have a tough, hard hitting Link Team, some units that have a chance to Infiltrate, some fast moving units and then few standard units to provide Orders and do Classified.

Achieving the mission

As you can see, more than half my army points were in 5 models, Wulvers with Wallace in a Link. Since they are fast and Wulvers have Climbing Plus, in theory I would be able to move them outside of the virus zone in 2 Orders, saving me 3 Orders for other units. Cameronian with the Highlanders would have it easiest, since they generate two Orders each they can use on themselves. Up to three of my other units, Uxia, SAS and Volunteer had a chance to Infiltrate (you have to pass a -3 PH roll first in this mission to do it), which would leave only two more units (Dozer and 112) needing to move.

I think the theory was sound, but as it often happens, it didn't live up to the expectations. In my game only SAS was able to Infiltrate and my opponent made me burn lots of Orders on the Link as I didn't have easy direct routes, he had lots of AROs in my available paths. That said, with Smoke and shooting some enemies with the Link, they did get where they needed to go; albeit sacrificing some other troops in the process as I run out of Orders to move everyone.

Having an expensive Link Team also worked in my favour in this mission. With 2 Wounds each and ARM 3, they were hard to take down for my opponent.

Units purpose and performance

William Wallace with Wulver Link Team - This Link Team is my new favourite thing in Caledonia. They are very tough, hard to kill and able to deal lots of damage. They have only three weapon options, Mk12, T2 Rifle and Heavy Shotgun but all of those are very useful in a Link. Best of all, all of them are 0 SWC! I think they also have lots of tricks on how to overcome enemies, since they have Grenades, Climbing Plus, Berserk and Natural Born Warrior. As expensive as they are, 32pts cheapest, they are well worth the points. I am certain they were key to my victory in the mission, since only three of them surviving was over 100pts.

I'd say the whole mission almost favours Link team like these. Everyone has to get within 16" of each another to avoid the virus zone, this limits powerful weapons like sniper rifles and HMGs, but gives advantage to mid range weapons. Spitfires are expensive so often you'll face combi-rifles or multi-rifles, but if you have this Link in cover, they are able to shrug off D13 weapons with their ARM6 (with the cover bonus).

As far as Wallce, I think if I didn't have to take him to make it a full Link Team, I probably wouldn't have. I would prefer to have 5 Wulvers, but their AVA is only 4. That said, especially for this mission Inspiring Leadership is quite invaluable for Order management. Plus he can prove Smoke for the Link Team, so he is helpful. Just have to be careful about where you leave him because he will have big target on his face from the start of the game.

Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war. (image from Corvus Belli store)

Uxia and S.A.S. - In this missions, its a 50/50 for them to be able to Infiltrate (better for Uxia), so they can either be very helpful or not so much. In my game SAS was able to do it, while Uxia had to deploy normal. She did die trying to pull off a desperate action, but I was in a desperate position at that time. The SAS did nothing the whole game but hide, which in this mission was good enough.

In retrospect I could have taken two SAS FOs or just two Chain Rifle SAS (or one FO and one chain rifle). This would have save me few points, and either help to double my chance of getting any FO related Classified Objective or provide good attack options with the Chain Rifles since the enemy troops would go towards them. Between Chain Rifle with Grenades or Shotgun, I'd go for Grenades in this mission so you could do Speculative Fire from roofs and such.

Dozer and 112 Emergency Service - These guys were mainly taken to cover Specialists slots but I think I would been better off with one better unit or fewer cheaper units; for example Volunteer HMG and Chain Rifle. Though the glue gun on the Dozer could have been useful to keep the enemy in the virus zone, so maybe just drop the Doctor. Looking back I think the best option would have been to drop them down for another SAS and Warcor. This would still give me two Regular Orders thanks to Wallace but have potential for better tactical options. 

Volunteer - I didn't want to have too many models, so I had the Points and even with Inferior Infiltration he still has a chance to deploy forward and in this mission, if he fails he can deploy normally, so to me it was worth it. However, looking back I feel about him the same way I do about the Dozer and 112, might have been better to have a more useful unit. The D-Charges are nice but have little use if he can't pull of the Infiltration.  

Cameronian and Highlanders - I think these are great options for this mission. Any troops that can generate extra Orders greatly helps to move out of the virus zone. I specifically took four and placed them in the same Combat Group so I could do Coordinated Orders with all of them. Maybe two Cameronians could have been more useful because they can move faster and are tougher, but I like using the Highlanders.

Plus with some changes to the Combat Groups, you could have Wallace to Link with these guys, move them out, then re-Link with Wulvers. Making it even easier to manage your Order pool.

What worked

The Wulver-Wallace Link Team was definitely the main thing that worked for me. They were able to move fast, had their own Smoke cover, took lots of punishment and dealt it themselves. I was glad I had them with mid-range weapons over other hard hitting units with weapons like HMG or Missile Launcher. The Highlanders and Cameronian did good too, I was able to Chain Rifle a group of enemies more than once (although I was unlucky and mostly they all survived). Plus as I mentioned before, extra Orders were a good help.

I think if you break down the mission to the bare bones, I think Caledonia has great potential because they can move fast with lots of Smoke cover.

What didn't work

The cheap units were more or less useless, like my Dozer died straight away, but this was mainly because I used too many Orders on everything else. So in a way they did their job by proving Orders to others. I already said it few times, but I would have prefer to have more tactically versatile units like the SAS, or if I kept the cheaper ones, have more long range AROs to use.

You might have notice by now that my longest range weapon (good range that is) was only 24". This was for two reasons. Firstly I didn't want to leave anyone behind and snipers are always better being as far back as possible. Secondly, I challenged myself to use an army that had 0 SWC spent. Which, if I am honest, was a stupid unnecessary gamble. Cateran would have been very helpful in this mission, and with their Climbing Plus, they can be deployed in high places and still be able to move fast out of the virus zone.

Verdict

Overall I think this list has some good foundations but it does need some tweaking to improve. Its weak point are the cheap units that can't do much if your Link Team can't leave the virus zone quickly. The next time I'll have to play Biotechvore I think I would try to go with the Wulver-Wallace Link, Dozer, SAS FO, SAS Chain Rifle+Grenades, Cateran, Warcor and two Cameronians. 

List on Army 5

New Year, New Army... sort of

The holiday weeks are almost over and the New Year is upon us, time to get back to Infinity. 2016 should be a good year, the new ITS season is coming in February and in the UK we have an event like every month, so plenty opportunities to play. I thought I'd be taking a break until March but there is a tournament in Loughborough around end of January that we'll be going to. More importantly though, this year UK is having its first Masters Tournament, which should be great fun as it will be the biggest one I believe. This will happen in September and there are five or six qualifier tournaments before. I will be attending at least two of them but might go down South for a third if I don't qualify in Leeds or Birmingham. If I remember right about half the tickets to Masters will be open for sale but I would like to attend as qualified.

This brings me to the new army... sort of, part. I will continue to play Caledonia but I want to play it differently. Mainly by making use of Scots Guards which I have hardly played last year. Plus I will make use of the other units I have hardly played, like Mormaers. Basically I want to play the same faction, but differently.

Luckily, most of my Caledonia has at least basic colours but it still has long way to go before being finished. I just have too many models and I wanted to get them all done to the very basic level, so they look okay-ish on the table. I also have four other armies that I want to finish to at least table-top standard. Which is one thing that worries me, if I can do it all. I think I should be though, if I do at least some painting each week. To give you an idea, here is what I have to paint:

Caledonia - 45 models, 10 not painted and/or not based.

USAriadna - 19 models, none painted

Nomads - 25 models, none painted (includes my Bounty Hunters)

Morats - 37 models, 7 not painted

Military Orders - 23 models, none painted

Only my small Ju Ying army is fully painted, but I only have like 13 models for those. So, for only unpainted thats 84 models, 119 if I count that none of my Caledonia is fully finished. This doesn't include some of the stuff I want to buy. Its going to be challenging but I am sure it doable if I don't buy too many new things.

On top of that, I have my gaming board to do. I think I have all the buildings, just need to build them and the scatter. Most of it I will just spray with a single colour, grey, military green, black or brown. When everything has some colour, then I can go into details. My goal with the table is to have it ready for Northern Open in May.

In conclusion, my "Infinity Resolution" is pretty much just get on with painting and win a tournament in the new ITS season.