Infinity: NeoTerra at the War of NorCal Aggression
Hello everyone, my name is Michael, aka Barakiel on the Infinity forums, and I'm going to start writing some Battle Reports for TheDiceAbide! To get us started, I recently went to a tournament and thought I'd share my experiences with you. I had a great time at the War of NorCal Aggression, the biggest tournament in California and our first Dire States tourney thanks to some great participation from out of state. The missions were:
- Supplies
- Antennae Field
- Supremacy
- Transmission Matrix
I had originally heard the event would be the first three missions, and decided to take the Merovingian Rapid Response Force. MRRF has all the tools necessary for Supplies, Antennae Field and Supremacy, and can provide a lot of flexibility and control due to solid troops, deep Order pools and good board control. However, when participation hit the 20+ player mark, Transmission Matrix was added to prevent any possibility of a tie. At that point I decided to take my trusty NeoTerra instead, simply because I believe good organization and a relaxed brain is very helpful for consistent tournament play in challenging scenarios. NeoTerra is very straightforward compared to the 16+ Orders and many Camo Tokens of my MRRF builds, and I could play them even through four long rounds in a competitive environment.
With that in mind, I took two radically different approaches for my NeoTerra lists. The first one is appreciably straightforward, with me having used variants of it before. It is especially good for Supremacy, with the two Heavy Infantry able to basically march up the field, killing as they go, and able to hold hostile Quadrants due to their great gunfighting capability and durability. This list is also good in Transmission Matrix versus low-tech opponents who can't capitalize on Hacking, since trying to repel or eliminate a Swiss Guard Hacker is one of the more difficult things to do in the game. The Aquila/Swiss Guard one-two punch has amazing potency, and they're supported by a good roster of backup troops:
Neoterran Capitaline Army --------------------------------------------------
Group 1
10
0
0
AQUILA HMG / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 62)
SWISS GUARD Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) MULTI Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (0.5 | 70)
AUXILIA (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle + AUXBOT_1 / Pistol, Knife. (15)
AUXBOT_1 Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse. (4)
FUSILIER HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 18)
PATHFINDER DRONBOT Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (16)
Group 2
MULEBOT (Minesweeper) Electric Pulse. (8)
MACHINIST Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (15)
TRAUMA-DOC Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (14)
5 SWC | 300 Points
This second list was my backup option in case I did come across a Hacking heavy opponent in Tranmission Matrix, just because my practice games showed me how screwed Heavy Infantry can be if they come across someone who is superior at Infowar. In general though, this is a good flexible back up list simply because having a good number of Auxilia for defense is great if you are forced to take first turn in Antennae Field. It also let me get Bipandra and Bulleteers on the table, two units I very specifically wanted to use in an ITS tournament for the first time:
Group 1
BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
BIPANDRA Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
GARUDA Tacbot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (22)
Group 2
PALBOT Electric Pulse. (3)
HEXA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 32)
6 SWC | 300 Points
Round 1: Supplies versus Matt's Tohaa
Matt's a great opponent, and this was a very fun note with which to start the event. His Tohaa were built something like the following (I'm doing all these lists from memory, so bear with me):
Tohaa --------------------------------------------------
Group 1
CLIPSOS (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (25)
SAKIEL Viral Combi Rifle, Swarm Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (26)
NEEMA Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Light Rocket Launcher, Nanopulser / Pistol, CCW. (42)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Zero-V Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (13)
KAMAEL Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 16)
HATAIL AELIS KEESAN Viral Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 33)
Group 2
GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 33)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (10)
3.5 SWC | 299 Points
I chose to use the spam list, primarily because it was better at sprinting the length of the table in case the Tohaa grabbed some boxes and turtled, but also because it had good defense with the Bulleteers and Hexa. I won the roll off and went first (the only Lieutenant roll off I would win this tournament!) First turn basically consisted of pushing Auxilia and the Pathfinders up to be near the boxes. I had some good angles where I could get Line of Fire to overwatch models and Makaul, so I put the Fusilier link to work and made Matt pull some bodies first turn. I was happy to focus on depleting the Tohaa pool rather than grabbing boxes, since I knew Matt would have to work hard to grab those boxes if he couldn't rely on smoke and Orders.
This plan worked fairly well. Matt revealed his Clipsos and burned most of his Command tokens to have them grab two boxes and hightail it away, but I revealed the Hexa Sniper to pick off one (a lucky shot, hitting on 9 versus that TO in the open) while a lucky Suppressive Fire Crit from my Pathfinder bagged the other.
The Hexa and shotgun Bulleteer, locking it down with mutual support:
My defenses on the right, with the Hexa and Bulleteer watching the lane while the Pathfinder sets up to grab the blue box:
My left side setup, with the Fusilier link covering the long lane:
Since I had the Auxilia close to the boxes already, I was able to retrieve both Supply Boxes from the fallen Clipsos, plus open the third box, before scoring my Classified and tipping Matt got tipped into retreat. I hope to catch him down in LA some time for a rematch.
Round 2: Antennae Field versus Eliot's Nomads
This was funny... Eliot's been my closest friend for nearly twenty years and he actually taught me tabletop gaming many years ago, and now we're both playing Infinity. He has been growing Infinity in San Luis Obispo, and I was thrilled that he got to take a break from running demo games and come out for some good competition. He and I were the only two players to walk away with a 10-point win after Round 1, and I knew this wouldn't be easy. Thankfully I've had a lot of practice versus Nomads due to their popularity after the release of Operation: Icestorm, so I had a good idea of what to expect. Eliot's list was something like:
Nomads --------------------------------------------------
Group 1
INTRUDER (X-Visor) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 43)
ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (19)
MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
RIOT GRRL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 35)
INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
TOMCAT Doctor Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower + 1 Zondcat / Pistol, Knife. (26)
ZONDCAT Electric Pulse. (4)
JAGUAR Adhesive Launcher, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CCW. (0.5 | 13)
STEMPLER ZOND Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (17)
Group 2
HELLCAT Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (22)
SALYUT (EVO Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 13)
6 SWC | 299 Points
Eliot won the LT roll-off (the beginning of a trend for my opponents) and boldly let me go first. I took the side with the sniper tower, which I thought would be important since I know he has a fondness for both Airborne troops and panzerfaust overwatch Jaguars. The Hexa sniper would be a good option against both of these, allowing him to use the MULTI Sniper Rifle's extreme long range plus having a clear field of fire. I took my spam list, then loaded up the smaller combat group to run up the left flank. The plan for them was to sit on the left-hand Antennae inside a Kum garage, and use the narrow doorways there as a bottleneck. The flamethrower, ODD heavy shotgun and suppressive fire, all staggered so one template wielder couldn't take them all out, was a nice little defensive formation that would hold that objective all game.
The middle and right objectives were far more open, so I opted to commit to defending the middle, while rushing one Auxilia up to grab the right and force Eliot to burn Orders trying to retake all three. The Fusilier Hacker comfortably sat on the home beacon in my DZ, where he was content to sit all game.
Long story short, the Hexa did her usual fantastic job of clearing the Panzerfaust Jaguars and allowing my troops to start out with holding 4 beacons, shortly before she was easily dispatched by the Intruder Sniper. The Nomads annihilated the token Auxilia I had holding the middle and right objectives, but no longer had enough Orders to reach the objectives and hold them (the exclusion zone was big for me here.)
I counter-attacked by charging up the midfield with the Fusilier link (led by Bipandra) and the bulleteers, whose close-range weapons were fantastic on this very dense board. Bipandra personally sat on the middle objective with the Fusiliers around her, holding off counterattacks by a Riot Grrrl and Jaguar thanks to that excellent BS21 light shotgun. She clinched the game by sprinting to my opponent's DZ in the final turn, once again using the shotgun in ARO to hold off the Interventor's last-ditch attempt to scrape her off the objective. Eliot came close to soldiering back with that Intruder Sniper causing problems, but the HMG Fusilier was up to the task and put that Burst 5 to work. This one ended with a good 10-point win.
The two sacrificial Auxilia, who won this for me by letting me sit on 4 objectives on Turn 1 and forced the Nomads to have to burn excessive Orders scraping them off:
Bipandra and company, ready to roll up towards the middle Antennae where my Auxilia is holding on for dear life:
The troublemaker of the game:
Round 3: Supremacy versus Martin's Nomads
Martin is a standup guy and has done amazing things to grow Infinity in Los Angeles County. I very much hope to see him in the Warcor program when it opens back up. I was thrilled to finally get a game against him, something that's been long overdue. Once again I was throwing down versus Vanilla Nomads:
Group 1
ALGUACIL (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (12)
Group 2
VERTIGO ZOND Smart Missile Launcher / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 18)
DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (14)
ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (3)
6 SWC | 300 Points
He won the roll-off, took the side he liked, and I found myself going first yet again. I saw his Intruders in great vantage points, and the center of our table was relatively open, so I decided to just go aggressive, get the Aquila far up the table to make him fight for one of his near quadrants, and try to pile some bodies first turn. The Aquila did this beautifully, marching up the table to pick off a Zero, zap a couple of Jaguars, and eventually get a bead on his Interventor to put him in Loss of Lieutenant. The support Combat Group ran up and d-charged the ice cream truck, my Classified Objective. I had my Fusilier link team stick their head up for AROs.
This just wasn't Martin's game where the dice were concerned. He started out by opening up on my Aquila with his Intruder HMG, flanking it at close range, and then ate a pistol shot to the face and went Unconscious. He used the available Irregular Orders to shuffle his lines and pick off my Machinist who (although woefully overextended and unprotected) had done his job.
I don't think anyone expected this firefight to go the Aquila's way:
Die, Ice Cream Truck. The Machinist d-charges for it a Classified:
In my turn, I brought out the Pathfinder and Swiss and I pingponged around grabbing objectives. His Intruder Sniper dropped my Swiss in one shot, but at this point I had enough troops up the table to have him mostly boxed into a corner. He made some downright courageous attempts to break out again, but the Aquila sitting hard on his flank, owning one of his own near Quadrants, was just a tough situation to be in. I walked away from this one with 9 points.
Round 4: Transmission Matrix versus Reuben's Combined Army
This was the scenario I had been dreading with NeoTerra, and was the real reason I was tempted to bring MRRF. Reuben put some good thought into his list, and despite some unusual units, his CA roster was incredibly well suited for this mission:
Combined Army --------------------------------------------------
Group 1
CHARONTID Lieutenant (Multispectral Visor L3) Plasma Rifle, Nanopulser / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (78)
MORAT Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)
ZERAT Hacker (EI Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
HAIDUK Smart MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 23)
MAAKREP TRACKER HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 33)
Q-DRONE HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 26)
M-DRONE Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (17)
SHROUDED (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (25)
DATURAZI Chain Rifle, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (14)
KURGAT Mk12, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (23)
SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (3)
Group 2
PRETA Chain Rifle / AP CCW. (7)
ÍMETRON Electric Pulse. (4)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points
Ooh. This was a tough one. Reuben won the roll, picked the good side, and set up a strong shooting gallery with some niceARO pieces. Even more importantly, his side had enough cover that he could drop and maneuver his Charontid and REMs without entering any hacking zones. I wasn't so lucky on my side, where my HI and REMs all had to cluster around hostile repeaters. He made great use of his AROs to jam up my movement, and while my Fusiliers and Aquila pulled serious weight to thin his pools and clear his overwatch models, I struggled massively to get out of my DZ since the major avenues forward all forced me to slog through Hacking AROs. The Swiss was the key here, and I revealed him to hack the Charontid in CA's second-to-last Order on Turn 1, and that Morat Vanguard Hacker (rapidly becoming the game's MVP) promptly used that last Order to suckerpunch the Swiss to death in one Order (I figured it would take at least 2 or 3, even assuming back luck, but was proved sadly wrong.) This was possibly the single most impactful Order of the game, and really had me scrambling to compose a new game plan after watching the Swiss get clobbered in a single Order.
It was pretty clear that without the Swiss, I needed to shift over to damage control mode. The Classifieds in this one are worth a lot, and I spent my entire second turn focusing on getting them done while completely ignoring the objectives themselves.
Thankfully this paid off, and I got enough points to maintain the overall lead shortly before the Morat Vanguard Hacker Spotlighted and then bombarded the hell out of me with that Smart MULTI Sniper system.
He played a solid game, making great use of his LT roll to pick a side that forced me close to the Antennas, then made great use of Hacking and overwatch AROs to box me in. Thankfully though, I went into the game with an 8-point lead, and floated myself enough with points from Classifieds to score the overall win.
This was a great lesson, simply because a player should always recognize when he/she should play for a draw or minor loss rather than attempting the win. It's very rare that an army in Infinity has to fight such a lopsided battle, but in hindsight I would have been far happier if I had abandoned the middle and simply crowded my Heavy Infantry into the far right flank. That flank had significant cover that would have allowed them to aggressively advance, and was also far from the Repeater zones that were causing them such problems. With an 8 point lead I could have afforded to not charge full-bore towards a 10-point win, but taken my time instead.
One of my Fusilier FOs, shortly before eating guided Sniper Rifle shots:
Conclusion
Overall, a great event. It was a privilege (and no small amount of luck) to walk away with first place from such a strong field of players. My opponents played tight games, especially Reuben making great use of table side and scenario requirements, and Eliot who fought tenaciously for all three turns. It's nice to see California partner with Vegas to bring some great clubs and communities together for an event like this one. It really bodes well for Infinity as a game that we can pull off this kind of tourney. Major props to Joel/Rattlernxt for his amazing work as a TO.
I'll be moving away from NeoTerra for a stretch, focusing on my Vanilla Yu Jing and USAriadna for a while. I've had great results with my three staples so far this year: MRRF, JSA and NCA, so it will be nice to work with two completely fresh projects.