Tuesday 24 June 2014

Infinity - Escalation League Round Two

ALEPH AND THE NOMAD NATION CLASH ONCE MORE


Following the return to Infinity and the refresher game last month, Winner Dave and myself have finally managed to run a second game. This time, following the Escalation League rules, we get to use 150pts worth of models, we add a Lieutenant to the ranks and also open the field for medics, hackers and other specialists. 

In the last game, Dave's soulless ALEPH forces sliced through the Wildcats of Corregidor, but their support troops - the Thorakitai and the Agema Marksman, were cut down by the Heavy Machine Gun-toting Hellcat, who had used his Aerial Deployment to land behind enemy lines. At the end of the match, the Nomads had taken out the greater value of enemy troops, while preserving more of their own in the mean time - SIX points to myself (George) and TWO points to Dave.

For the second scenario, we could both use slightly larger teams, but we both decided to go a different direction and focus on quality rather than quantity.

For the Nomad Nation, this involved...



Intruder Lieutenant with Combi Rifle
Hellcat with HMG
Wildcat with Spitfire
Wildcat with Combi Rifle and Light Flamethrower
Wildcat with Combi Rifle and Light Flamethrower
Alguacil with Combi Rifle
Alguacil with Combi Rifle

It is important to note that Dave was not aware who my Lieutenant was before and during the game.

The Intruder is a powerful Medium Infantryman with Camouflage, forcing the enemy to discover his position (or for him to reveal himself) before they can target him properly. The Wildcats are the backbone of my Corregidor force, with one packing a meaty Spitfire for this game. I had high hopes that this combined with the other two Wildcats and the Hellcat dropping behind the ALEPH forces would cause chaos. The two Alguaciles act as cheerleaders, basic grunts who will contribute an order, but I doubted would add anything else to the game.

A tight and compact force, I had some misgivings about the Intruder as he was a lot of points, and his Camouflage was of limited use without a powerful gun to utilise with it. The Hellcat is also a model I have limited success with - previous experience with drop troopers shows they need to be used carefully, and are better at picking off isolated targets than just running at the opposing team, especially with only one wound and limited armour.

In turn, ALEPH sent the following...



Eudoros - Myrmidon Officer with Mk.12 
Myrmidon with Boarding Shotgun
Myrmidon with Chain Rifle
Myrmidon with Combi Rifle
Naga with Combi Rifle and Monofilament Mines
Three Netrods

Eudoros and his Myrmidons were hard bastards but simple enough - the Naga was an infiltrator with Camouflage, and those Mines I had no idea about. The Netrods gave Dave an advantage in his active turn, granting an Order each that would bring his pool well above mine. Top priorities were the Myrmidons, of course, but any chance to take a pot-shot at a Netrod would be taken!

THE GAME



The board was set with a large concentration of storage crates and containers piled up at random, blocking lines of sight across the table and giving no side in the particular the advantage. A dividing wall to the cleaner part of the city cut across a third of the board, with two large gaps. The Nomads set up on the left side (looking at the photo) with the majority of the Wildcat force behind the crates, and the Intruder sat in a watchtower hoping to catch sight of the Myrmidons. In turn, the ALEPH strike force lurked around the large white container, which is also where the Netrods landed.

At the start of the game, the Wildcats moved forward through the crates and the Hellcat landed to the side of the Myrmidons, appearing from behind cover to open fire on their position. Unable to target properly due to the enemy's Optical Disruptors, the Hellcat failed to hit anything and was dealt with quickly, a massive blow for the Nomads in their opening turn.

One of the Myrmidons then moved up and caught sight of the advancing Wildcats, taking two out in a bold show of force, including the valuable Spitfire! At this point, the Nomad force was in tatters - three men down including two of their heavy weapon troopers.

Driven to desperation, the last remaining Wildcat saw an opportunity - the Myrmidon, Eudoros and the Naga had advanced close together behind a pile of crates, and their tight formation was ripe for a flamethrower! Throwing caution to the wind, the Wildcat advanced and set all three ablaze, taken them all out in one attack.

Revenge on the mind, the Wildcat continued his rampage and took out one of the Netrods before ALEPH took back the initiative, but they were forced to waste a turn electing a new Lieutenant. The Nomads moved further up the board, the Intruder descending from his watchtower to enter the game, and then ALEPH launched their counter-attack. They took out the last Wildcat, but another Myrmidon was lost attacking the Intruder and the game ended in the Nomad's favour.

A game of two halves, no doubt! Losing three models in the first turn was brutal, but to then take out three with one flamethrower attack was fantastic. Losing his Lieutenant stymied Dave and left him unable to achieve much before the end of the game.

With the Nomads taking out 117pts worth of ALEPH troops and only (!!!) losing 92pts in the process, the Campaign Points went in my favour once more. The scores now sat at TWELVE for myself and FIVE for Dave - he would have to do well in Round Three to catch up.

PAINTING 

It was promised that the both of us would make progress on our painting before the next round, so here we are... not much progress, true... but we're working on it!

The testing of the first basing scheme for the Nomads - rusted decking
The Wildcat was tested with a bold red armour
Chips were added to add some form of weathering and mark them apart from the pristine ALEPH
Lights along the arms, back and face will be painted a glowing blue
Work In Progress - once the first model is finished, the rest will be much quicker!
Dave has gone for a bold white scheme for his Myrmidons, a slight twist on the studio scheme
Eudoros, Myrmidon Officer. His face will be a nice focal point for the miniature
More Myrmidons - Dave has made more progress than me!
The next mission looks a bit more complicated - Classified Objectives - these will probably need some form of Hacker or Specialist to handle. Should be a lot of fun though, and I am looking forward to making some more progress on the miniatures painting-wise.

Today we were also discussing attending a local tournament - a bold move for someone so inexperienced with Infinity, but should be a great experience if we can get tickets in time. If we do decided to go, painting and gaming will have to step up a gear, as it is a 300pt tournament using the full ITS system. Exciting stuff!

Thanks for reading,

George

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