SCTS Infinity Escalation League - Opening Rounds

WITH GAME ONE AND TWO COMPLETE, WE LOOK TO THE FUTURE AND AN UPCOMING HIATUS

The past two Thursdays have seen the opening rounds of the South Coast Tournament System's Escalation League, with twelve players involved in a series of games that will follow the Infinity Tournament System's Escalation Campaign and culminate in a one-day Tournament, all held in our local gaming shop. As you may remember from my previous post preparing for the event, I am running my now veteran team - Nomads of the Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor. Below, I discuss my opening games and some thoughts on the League so far...

GAME ONE

Team One

The team for the first game was a 120pt small force featuring an expensive Intruder with HMG, three Alguaciles, a Moran Maasai Manhunter and a Wildcat Lieutenant. Built with a very basic Annihilation mission in mind, the team was based around the Intruder, with the Moran there as the back-up heavy hitter.

Against me was a fairly experienced player named John, who was also running Nomads. His force was drawn from the standard Nomad list with four Alguaciles, an Interventor and an Intruder with a Sniper Rifle - a very dangerous piece of kit that would no doubt cause me some trouble.

The game was a fairly fast affair, starting badly as my Intruder messed up his surprise attack on the opposing Intruder and was promptly gunned down. Against the odds, the Moran then scored a critical hit on the sniper and saved the game from being a complete mess. We had both lost our best models, but I still had the advantage of the Mimetism (a form of camouflage) on the Moran. John had spread his force out, and my team promptly rolled up the battlefield, taking them down one by one. The Moran was taken down in the process (another lucky critical hit) but I succeeded in wiping out the opposing side. Final Score: 6-3 to me.

GAME TWO

Team Two

This time I was faced with the Military Orders of PanOceania, a particularly vicious list with two drop troopers (Crusader Brethren, I believe they are named, one with an HMG), a Knight of Santiago with a Spitfire and three Fusiliers. For this 150pt match, I had dropped one of the Alguaciles and the Moran Maasai Manhunter for a extra pair of Wildcats and my own drop trooper, a Hellcat with HMG. 

My opponent Dan deployed with most of his force out of sight, aside from one of the Crusader Brethren who commanded a view of the battlefield with an HMG. Knowing this model had to be dealt with before I could really move across the board, my Intruder tried to take him out with a surprise attack, but with a string of excellent armour rolls the Crusader survived and gunned him down! Once again, my Intruder had fluffed his rolls and been taken down with the opening move of the game.

The Hellcat appeared on the flank and tried to take the Crusader down, but again the armour proved too tough. Dan promptly counter-attacked with his reserve drop trooper landing in the centre of the board. He was unfortunately gunned down quickly, but the Knight of Santiago made up for it and charged forward, taking out the Hellcat and leaving me with a handful of Wildcats and two cowering Alguaciles.

Playing the terrain to my advantage, the Wildcats made their move and took a gamble, gunning down the Crusader Brethren with a lucky critical hit before ambushing the Knight. Dan's incredible luck with his armour rolls failed him at a crucial point, and the Link Team brought down the Knight with their Combi-rifles. The playing field was now back in my favour, and the surviving Fusiliers were scattered across the board. In a brutal repeat of the previous week, my tightly organised team hunted them down one by one, and again scored maximum casualties. Final Score: 8-1 to me.

PAINTING PROGRESS 

This month's latest additions

The Hellcat was repainted from scratch, as I was distinctly unhappy with some poor spray varnish that had fouled the legs. I am much happier with the crispness of the detail on the legs, and the deep red that is no longer drowned under varnish

The quality of this picture is not the best, unfortunately

The Alguacil was a fun addition, and I am very pleased again with the result on the legs and the highlighting on the red. The skin-tone is also a success, as I usually paint very pale characters

The detail on the straps and pistol holster has held up well, and I am glad the scheme works as a whole, as I was worried the grey cloth would overwhelm the miniature

A pair of good, fast games, and a great opportunity for me to practise with moving Link Teams and not relying on the expensive gimmicks of things like the Intruder or Hellcats. Both of my opponents were gracious, and though probably less experienced than myself, gave good accounts of themselves as I lost all of my most expensive models. These two games have shown my the importance of every model in my team, even the "cheerleaders."

Unfortunately for the next two rounds of the League, I will be away on holiday, and have to miss out. Obviously I will score a zero for those two rounds, and be languishing somewhere close to the bottom of the table by the time I get back into the UK. This will be a perfect opportunity for me to  get some wins, climb the ranks and get a good placing in the fifth round and the Tournament finale!

Hopefully I won't miss out too much, and at least I have a couple of weeks to think about my 300pt list for the final rounds...

Thanks for reading,

George