Full Spectrum Dominance: Infinity League

A NEW GENERATION OF PLAYERS, AND A NEW ESCALATION LEAGUE BEGINS

Since taking up Dropzone Commander over the summer and a recent refocus back on Dystopian Wars, my dedication to Infinity has somewhat fallen by the wayside. I have painted a couple of miniatures and built my Mobile Brigada team, but not played any games for a couple of months and missed the most recent SCTS Tournament (but to be fair, I was celebrating my birthday rather hard that day).

A lot of this was influenced by my own sense of Infinity fatigue. It had been my "Main Game" for a long time, and I had spent too many hours building my team, practising with them and painting several boards' worth of terrain. Having played over sixty games with the Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor and attended a good number of tournaments, I experienced a bit of burn out and needed a break.

Goal-wise, I briefly made it into the Top Ten players in the country (according to the ITS rankings, at least) and, for a time, I was the highest-ranked Corregidor player in the country. This had been my goal from the beginning of my tournament career, and now I had achieved it! Without the impetus to drive me and not wanting to start another faction when I could spend time learning a whole new game, malaise set in and it was not difficult to take a step back.

Another reason was the loss of our local Infinity aficionado Simon, who gave up Infinity (for various, fine reasons) and moved to become a Talon for Hawk Wargames and Dropzone Commander. I began playing Dropzone with him, but as the games night for this was different to Infinity, it soon dropped off my radar.

In the months since Simon and myself stepped away from Infinity, a new group of players has formed in the local club, led by two very good players from the "first generation," Daniel and Sean. After spending some time teaching the new players the basics and building a new Infinity community, they have decided to start a new Escalation League - five games over the next ten weeks, with prizes and rewards to encourage painting.

THE GAME
My opponent for the first week was Marcus, a very new player running Military Orders. His list consisted of a three-man Magister Knight Link Team and a Hospitaller with HMG. Not the biggest list, but a nasty amount of Heavy Infantry that could pose a problem for my lighter force. I was worried about the Hyperdynamics of the Magister Knights, as there incredible skills at Dodging would make my attacks difficult.

My own force consisted of an Intruder with MULTI Sniper Rifle, Jaguar with Chain Rifle, Daktari Doctor, a Hellcat with Boarding Shotgun, two Alguaciles and an Alguacil Paramedic.

The 120pt team assembled

The opened with the Magister Knights advancing down one flank through cover while the Hospitaller drew a bead on a basic Alguacil and quickly took him out. My Hellcat then entered the combat from the board edge and attacked the Magisters. His Boarding Shotgun performed well, wounding one and knocking out another, then ducking behind cover and finishing the second Knight with two more Orders. Two Knights down!

Marcus went on the offensive with the Knights in retaliation, and the Impetuous Magister Knight brought down the Hellcat. The Hospitaller appeared from hiding and opened fire on the Jaguar and Intruder, but with some poor rolling suffered two wounds from the MULTI Sniper Rifle and was removed!

Three Knights down, the Nomads spent the rest of the game trying to take down the last one, but only succeeded in losing another Alguacil. Out of range to Heal him, the game ended with the Nomads scoring 91 Victory Points while the Military Orders scored 41 Victory Points. 8 - 1 VICTORY FOR THE NOMAD NATION.

Marcus played as well as he could, but the dice were not in his favour. Such a small team did not reward bad dice rolls, and the Knights fell to the firepower of the Intruder and the Hellcat.

The next round of the League will be 150pts, and to achieve "Hobby Points" we need to have something new painted for the team. Difficult as my Corregidor collection is almost complete! I think I will have to crack on with my last few Jaguars (Jaguar Link Team?) or some of the new Mobile Brigada, and then fit them into a list that remains competent. I believe my next opponent will be Sean and his new Hassassin force - something I have not played before. Interesting times ahead!