Recently, Corvus Belli released the initial 2015 Tournament
and Escalation League rules for Infinity
(you can Download them from the ITS page or Here).
The nice thing is that there are 3 levels of Tournament this
year: 200 points, 300 points and 400 points.
With the scenarios and special rules listed, a player now has an idea
what to expect and can plan their forces to maximize their play style and army
choices.
The Escalation rules in the PDF show an 8 round campaign
that starts with 120 points and works each player’s forces up to 300 Points. Good way to start people off with a smaller
army and working their way up to a regular 300 Point Force. You could also, conceivably, use the
Escalation Rules to do an Escalation Tournament.
Hopefully, I can get people here interested in at least an
un-official Escalation League…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Anyway, Graham’s Yu Jing decided to go against my
Nomads. I had 2 lists, one with a TAG
(the Iguana) and one without. I let
Graham decide which list to fight and we agreed to go TAG-less; Graham didn’t
feel ready to handle a TAG and I didn’t think it was fair to drop it on him
without warning.
So, using the Tournament Scenario lists, we started with Annihilation (Low Tier) mission.
Basically, this is a standard “Kill-or-be-Killed” mission. Players received Objective Points based on the value of enemy models KILLED – not
wounded. To increase the pressure – the game ends after 3 turns!
Both players were also required to deploy a “High Value Target” (HVT) – basically a “non-combatant” model that would cost us the game
if we killed one in error. I used a Tau Fire Warrior and a Pan Oceana model
(acting as Military Observers, I guess). Then both sides rolled for 2 random
Objectives from a table (This is to be replaced in the future by an “Objective
Deck” from Corvus Belli in the future). Some missions require interaction with
the HVTs, others require special actions by a “Specialist” (a Doctor, Hacker or
Engineer) and some require the player perform a specific action or condition.
My Nomads
were:
- 1 Grenzer with a Multii Sniper Rifle
- 1 Reverend Healer
- 1 Mobile Brigada
- 1 Spektr
- 2 Alguaciles with MediKit
- 1 Alguacile with Light Grenade Launcher
- 1 Interventor Lieutenant with a Fast Panda
- 3 Tiger Soldiers
- 1 Celestial Guard
- 1 Raiden with Heavy Rocket Launcher
- 1 Raiden with Spitfire
- 1 Guilang
- 1 Zhanshi with Heavy Machine Gun
We then spent a while setting up the table (4’ X 4’). Took
quite a while with all those Cargo Containers!
Neither of us wanted too many long fire lanes. We made the Store Buildings rear wall the
edge of the 4’ play area.
We made our WIP rolls and Nomads won the right to determine
initiative. Of course, Graham made the
Nomads deploy first…
Nomads deployed the Brigada, the Healer and the Grenzer on
the left half of the table with the 3 Alguaciles covering the right, two of
them watching the street between in between the buildings. I put the
Interventor roughly in the center of the Container Maze and my HVT near the
center of the maze. The Spektre was
deployed (hidden) about center of the table, behind the corner of the
containers and just over 8” away from the HVT.
Nomad Deployment
I took a picture of the Yu Jing’s deployment, but forgot to
note who was where and I can’t tell which was which, other than 2 Camo Markers
were on the Nomad’s Left. Grahams HVT
was also near table center, but closer to the apartment buildings.
Yu Jing Deployment
Turn 1:
I decided to give the Yu Jing the First turn for 2 reasons:
I would get last chance to shoot and kill any opponents with
minimal risk to my own crew.
I got to play a Command Token for the Strategic Use: I made the Yu Jing lose 2 Order Tokens for the first turn! Bwa-hahahahahah!
I got to play a Command Token for the Strategic Use: I made the Yu Jing lose 2 Order Tokens for the first turn! Bwa-hahahahahah!
Things started off
for the Yu Jing:
Used a Command Token and Order to move the 3 Tiger in a Coordinated
Order to move along the side of the Container Maze. The two Camo Markers moved
forward a couple times on the Nomad’s Left.
The loss of the two Lost Orders really impacted what the Yu Jing could
do…
Yu Jing Turn 1 (Tau Fire Warrior Is HVT)
Nomads:
The Interventor started things off: first, spent an entire
Order to use “Cybermask” to change himself into an Imposter-2 Counter –
rendering him safe from enemy fire. The spent 2 orders to run forward and get
within hacking range to one of the HVTs to attempt a “Hack” (which I promptly
failed)! The Hacking attempt made me lose my “Imposter” status, but I was
safely behind a Cargo Container by then. It took me 3 tries (and orders) before
I finally successfully hacked the HVT and completed one of my Random Objectives
– HVT: Espionage – worth 2 Objective
Points!
First I disguise myself..
Sneak up and successfully hack MY HVT!
I then attempted to drop a grenade from the Alguacile
Grenade launcher using Speculative Fire, but sadly, the distance and
Speculative Modifier made the penalty -12 – with only a Ballistic Skill of 11,
this was an Auto-miss.
Turn 2:
Yu Jing:
More movement all around the table. The two Camo Markers
moved way down into the Nomad’s table side, very near the HVT on my side. No
casualties on the Nomad’s or Yu Jing’s teams.
Graham was getting worried at this point – he only had one more turn to
gain any Points!
Nomads:
The Mobile Brigada used 3 Orders to move forward and use the
flamer to make an Intuitive Attack on one Camo Marker, then moved forward and
performed a Coup de Grace on the wounded model whose camo was Burnt away, and
killed the Raiden with the Spitfire, which gained the first Kill for the Nomads.
(Checking the rules later, I discovered I missed making a
Willpower Roll which I needed to pass before I could have flamed the Marker.)
The Genzer then was able to use his Visor to discover the 2nd
Camo Marker – the Guilang Skirmisher. As
Genzer had a Sniper Rifle and the range was too close and the Guilang would
have cover, the Reverend Healer moved forward and sprayed the Guilang with her
Nanopulser. However, the Guilang used
his ARO to shoot back and in the end – BOTH the Reverend and the Guilang were
wounded and rendered unconscious!
Genzer Discovers the Guilang...
Rev. Healer and Guilang knock each other out!
Finally, the Interventor took a shot at the Celestial Guard,
but missed as the Guard ducked out of sight and into cover. With no one able to spot him, the Interventor
took a risk and used the Lieutenant’s Order, exposing his rank, to once more
turn into Imposter-2!
End of Turn 2!
Turn 3:
Yu Jing:
Graham was desperate to score now – this was the last turn
and he still hadn’t gotten any points!
From the back of the Deployment Zone, the Raiden with the
Rocket Launcher revealed himself on top of some Cargo Containers and drew
Line-of-Sight to the Mobile Brigada. The
Brigada dove for cover just in time as the missile passed harmlessly over his
head (both of us failed our Face-to-Face rolls). The Raiden used a second Order
to take a shot at the unconscious Reverend Healer, this time successfully hit
the target and killed the Reverend Healer!
Raiden makes Brigada duck for cover & Kills the Rev. Healer!
The Zhanshi poked his head around the corner of the
Apartment Building on his side of the table and fired an HMG burst at the
Alguacile on opposite Apartment building, knocking her unconscious before she
could duck behind cover!
Zhanshi Knocks out an Alguacile!
Nomads:
The Brigada spent two Orders to move around the crates and
perform another Coup de Grace on the wounded Guilang Skirmisher. I then was greedy and did something
stupid. Taking a chance, the Genzer
stepped out from cover and took 2 shots at the Raiden with the Rocket Launcher. The Raiden reacted by shooting back. When the smoke cleared, the Genzer was
wounded and unconscious while the Raiden was untouched. Sadly, for Graham, he knocked two figures
unconscious but didn’t Kill them, so they earned him no points!
End Of Game:
Nomad’s Objectives:
HVT: Espionage –
a Hacker with the Enemy HVT in his
Zone Of Control must make a successful Short Skill WIP-3 roll. FAILED! I had misread the order and hacked MY HVT – it didn’t count!
Data Scan –
Hacker must make a successful Short Skill WIP-3 roll with an Enemy Model within
the Hacker’s Zone of Control. FAILED!
The Interventor never got close enough to do a second hack on an Enemy Trooper.
Killing Enemy Troops
– Per Graham’s evaluation, I managed to kill just over 50 Points of models: 1 Objective Point
Between 101 & 150
Points Surviving – 2 Objective
Points
Total: 3 Objective
Points
Yu Jing’s Objectives:
Extreme Prejudice
– Perform a Coup de Grace against an unconscious model – FAILED! While he killed the
unconscious Reverend Healer, it was a ranged attack, not base-to-base.
Kill All Enemy??? – this
objective doesn’t actually exist – not sure what he meant but it’s what was
written down.
Killing Enemy Troops
– While he killed the Reverend Healer, she wasn’t worth enough to gain any Objective
Points. However, I forgot my Spektre had
never been exposed and was using hidden deployment the entire game. Per the rules, Hidden Deployment counts as
not being ON the table and as the Spektre he was NOT on the table – thus, he was not Deployed! The way the scenario was written, troops not
deployed count as casualties! That
bumped the “Kill” value to over 50 points and counted as 1 Objective Point!
Between 101 & 150
Points Surviving – 2 Objective
Points
Total: 3 Objective
Points
A Draw!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ah well, so much for my strategy of hacking the High Value
Target – I picked the wrong HVT! READ THE MISSION!!!
After drawing the missions I received, I decided to play a
defensive game, counting on the Interventor to gain all the Objective Points I
would need to win. Unfortunately, this meant playing a stagnant defensive game
and in the end, I almost lost because I wasn’t out to cause casualties. I kept the Spektre in Hiding because I didn’t
“need” him and basically forgot about him.
As a result, Graham got his 2nd “Kill” and enough points to
get the Draw.
The Limited Game turns really did affect the game play as it
forced Graham to race forward and be too aggressive with his Camo Markers. That put me in position to hit them with
template weapons which he couldn’t avoid.
Sadly, it cost me my Reverend Healer when he decided to “tough it out”
and shoot back. The rest of his army was
moved too slowly forward (with the exception of the Machine Gunner) to make a
difference in the game.
Next time – we’ll both have to be more aggressive!
When did you want to get in a game?? Its been a while.
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