Battle under Silvania [Infinity, 300 pts]

[Ravager Zero]

This BatRep is from a while back, but it was a very fun game of Infinity.



The Battlefield.
As you can probably guess, Infinity is a game which benefits from having a lot of cover around. A lot. Models in the open tend to die rather messily. Being in cover improves a model's survivability by about 30%, so it's generally a good idea to have quite a dense battlefield. Another important note is that long firelanes should have lots of cover, and that no firelalne should stretch from board edge to another, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The reason for this is that even the basic infantry rifle can reach out to 48" at maximum range. Heavy weapons like HMGs and Missile Launchers can hit up to 96". There are serious negative modifiers involved, but it's still possible, so cross map firelanes are bad.



My Army
This is a small 300 pt army. Small because every model is goddamn expensive. Unlike 40k however, points are based solely on a model's skills, equipment, and combat capabilities. There is an accurate formula behind every point (that is floating around somewhere on the Infinity forum). The most expensive single model is the TAG, the large battlesuit just left of centre, costing a massive 126 points. The Asura Lt costs 73. However, both models have extensive armour, multiple wounds, anti-camo abilities, and devastating weapons. You get what you pay for. I also have a PostHuman, a specialist troop capable of having up to 3 bodies on the field, and able to use one at any point in time.



Rob's Army
As you can see, this is a rather larger army than mine, with 14 models vs my 7 (and the Netrods don't count as combat models, more on that later). Due to this, Rob's army is split in to two combat groups. The maximum in any combat group is 10 models. As such, Rob placed the Pretas (Irregular, Impetuous models) in their own group, as the orders they generate can only be used on each of them as individuals. The rest of the army has a strong focus on camouflaged troops, which is the Shasvastii's hat in this game. (ALPEH's hat—my forces—is being super elite and super expensive.)



My Deployment & Objectives
(I went for doubles on kill the boffin after seeing Rob's MedTech out in the open)
YAMS stands for Yet Another Mission System. Each player has a deck of ~24 cards, each with different objectives. Normal procedure is to draw 6, and discard 2, leaving you with 4 objectives. At this point you can also decide whether or not to double on an objective, revealing it to your opponent (giving them a better chance of denying it), and granting you 2 VP for completing it, instead of just 1.



Rob's Shasvastii deployment
(He declined to double anything)

Rob, hilariously for the both of us, as we found out at the end of the game, had drawn 2 of the same objectives I had. His were more focused on moving forward, while mine were more focused on killing enemies in creative ways.



Nabbing that first VP at the top of the first.

Here, I used the PostHuman mark 2 Proxy, which has TO Camouflage, to make a surprise attack on Rob's MedTech droid after moving through the building. Two shotgun rounds put paid to the alien robot for good. Even though the MedTech is both a Doctor and an Engineer, it still only counts as 1 "Boffin" for the objective—but you only need to kill one anyway. The Vector Hacker, hiding in the corner of the building to the proxy's right, unloaded its shotgun as a deferred ARO, managing to wound the proxy.

In Infinity, whenever a model is attacked, or sees something happen in its line of sight, or has something happen close by, it gets an ARO, or Automatic Reaction Order. This tends to be either Shoot or Dodge. Camouflaged models, in the active turn, trump this with Combat Camo attacks, granting them a first strike ability. Their target can only fire back if it survives. This is why the MedTech went down so easily.

Camouflage also defensive bonuses, namely a -6 to enemy BS for TO Camo. However, the Vector Hacker has a Multispectral Visor Level 2 (MSV2) that allows it to ignore this modifier. Had I seen the alien beastie, I would have split fire between the MedTech and it, hopefully knocking both out. In the end it knocked my proxy out. Normally, 1 wound models that suffer a wound become unconscious, and can only be healed by a doctor or paramedic. ALEPH's troopers, being AI's in humanoid shells, have the special skill No Wound Incapacitation, or V:NWI, allowing them to act normally at 0 wounds. Taking another wound still kills them, as normal.

And as the proxy attempted to duck back inside, Rob's Vector promptly inflicted another automatic wound by scoring a Critical hit with its shotgun. Criticals are nasty, because they beat every other roll made (except a higher critical) and when shooting, inflict an automatic wound with that ammo type, no armour save allowed.



Speculative shot from a HGL takes out an Aswang with ADHL, but barely scratches a Gwailo.

Spec shots allow parabolic fire weapons (namely grenade launchers and Markers—which fire deployable repeaters for hacking) to fire over obstacles, provided both the firer and the target are outside the shadow zone. The shadow zone is an area equal to the terrain's height, extending away from the terrain piece in all directions. This shot was actually particularly lucky, managing to hit two models at the target point.

It was also lucky because the dead model carried an Adhesive Launcher. Think of it as a giant glue gun. If a model fails a PH (strength) test with a -6 modifier, that model is immobilized for the rest of the game, and can't do anything. Against large, dangerous models like TAGs, that weapon is worth its weight in gold. Unfortunately for Rob, it was killed in the first turn, before doing anything.



Setting up suppressing fire down a decent corridor.

Suppressing Fire is a special attack available to any model in Infinity. It creates a cylindrical corridor 2" in diameter out to the Long range of the weapon. In the active turn it allows for the firing of a full Burst, but takes Long Skill to set up. Orders are normally composed of two short move skills, a short move skill and a short skill (ie: shoot/hack/dodge/etc), or a single long skill. The usefulness of Suppressing Fire is in the reactive turn, when instead of firing only at B1, the suppressing model can fire its full burst at every enemy that moves through the corridor, or starts/ends an order in the corridor.

The disadvantage is it leaves a model vulnerable to being flanked, and only covers a narrow lane, so with the right angles it can be countered. In addition, if the suppressing model declares any ARO other than to use the suppression effect, the SF corridor is lifted, and cannot be replaced until laid down with a new long skill—which can only be done in an active turn.



Asura moving into flanking position.

Movement in Infinity is simple, though all models have two move values given as 4-4, or 4-2, or 6-4, etc. The first movement skill a model performs uses the first value. The second skill used in the same order uses the second value. This means that the second value is normally only used when performing a move-move order. Most models are 4-4, meaning that with a full order, they can move 8". This tends to be unwise if enemies can see you though, as it's always good to be able to shoot back.



A skiavoros suffers the wrath of a multi-HMG with BS15 & MSV2. TAG took a wound from the Gwailo using a coordinated order to fire at the same time.

Weapons with the MULTI prefix are capable of firing different types of ammo, deciding at the start of a burst which kind to fire, usually at a reduced rate of fire. MULTI HMGs can fire normal ammunition at B4; AP (halves armour) or Explosive (forces 3 saves) at B2; or Integrated (AP+EXP effects) at B1. In the reactive turn, as here, you cannot use Integrated ammo. This shot was performed with normal ammo.

The Skiavoros, for performing a coordinated order, had to halve the burst of its Spitfire, from B4 to B2. The Gwailo it was working with had to do the same. However, as they are working together, the TAG performing suppressing fire could only ARO one of them. Of course I elected to ARO the one in the SF corridor to get all 4 shots out. In the ensuing dice melee of 8 D20's, I scored 4 hits, 1 of which was canceled by the only hit the Skiavoros made. The Gwailo, making normal rolls, scored 2 hits.

After the dice were rolled for armour, the Skiavoros (with effective ARM 6—ARM 3, +3 for cover) was a bullet riddled ruin. The TAG (with effective arm 11—ARM 8, +3 for cover) suffered 1 wound. The Gwailo fired fired again, and with my SF having done its work, the TAG responded with 1 EXP round. The round hit, then the Gwailo made all 3 saves, and decided discretion was the better part of valour, falling back behind the central building, out of LoF.

In order to pass an ARM roll/make a save, you must roll higher than the weapon's Damage value, less your effective ARM rating. Thus, the Skiavoros, with effective ARM 6 vs an HMG of Damage 15, had to roll 10 or more on each dice to survive.



Preta takedown. It's like bowling...

Back to my turn, and after a little repair work thanks to my Sophotect (a Doctor/Engineer like the MedTech) operating through a servant bot (Yudbot), the TAG headed to the left flank, ready to gun down the Pretas that had advanced impetuously the previous turn. With 2 explosive rounds in each burst, the TAG easily nailed the first two of the aliens. The second closest was hidden by the model directly in front of him, so instead of being riddled with high explosive rounds, it was covered in alien giblets.



Except this guy. Grenade to the face, rolls a 20 for ARM. Everything else around him dies.

This was the furthest Preta, amid a pile of biomines its erstwhile companions had laid to protect the crate earlier in the game. Everything around this Preta died horribly due to a heavy grenade detonating on top of him. The alien gribbly survived thanks to a very unlikely ARM roll. The TAG then falls back to cover amongst the low crates.



Sneaky Gwailo searches the crate for alien goodies.

Here we're back in Rob's turn, and having had the TAG move out of that lethal corridor, he moves his Gwailo up to search the crate, passing his WIP check to find the goodies inside.



Not sneaky enough to avoid another grenade. To the face. This time it gets the Preta too.

Before the Gwailo had moved (but I forgot to take pictures) the Pretas were forced to move because of their Impetuous special rule. In short, they're so bloodthirsty they get a free order to move before everything else, but must end this order closer to the enemy than they started, and must move at least the full distance of their first move value. The Pretas in this case advanced around the building, getting closer to my TAG, which was the closest model to them.

The TAG fired at the Gwailo as it attempted to advance. The first shot missed, as did the Gwailo's full burst of Spitfire rounds (about as likely as it passing 3 ARM rolls vs damage 15). The Gwailo, trusting to its Nanoscreen (a fancy piece of kit that means it always counts as being in cover), advanced further, hoping to land a lucky shot on the TAG. With B4 that was a good possibility. Unfortunately for Rob, his dice once more betrayed him, rolling nothing higher than a 5. I rolled a 6, and having elected to ARO with the grenade launcher, placed the template over the Gwailo, to merrily find out it also hit the Preta. Both promptly failed their ARM rolls.



TAG makes a dash for the Shasvastii DZ. Maps it. Requires 2 attempts to do so. I blame ALEPH's reliance on Apple Maps.

TAGs can move fast, with MOV 6-4, meaning they can cover 10" with a move-move. After a handful of orders (3, to cover a full 30" movement path), I had to make a WIP roll at -3 to map Rob's Deployment Zone to get another VP. With WIP 15 at -3, I needed a 12 or less. Yes, I rolled a 20. It was past due. Second attempt rolled a 12. Another VP to me.



And we go bowling again. With a TAG. Ripped the flag apart as it went past, but failed to quite reach the downed Ikadron. I must be the only guy to actually use Overrun...

Overrun is a special move available only to TAGs and vehicles (Bikes currently), allowing them to move-move and slam into a target, using their bulk as a weapon. It's not often seen, as it's rare to find a 10" or so corridor to safely charge through, but it's effective when used right. In this case, to slam into Rob's flag—a special objective piece used with YAMS (1 Flag per player, 1 Crate, 1 Civilian are the objective pieces).



The final tally. Doubling up on the Boffin objective clinched the win for me.

A good game was had by all, handshakes all round, etc. Afterwards we broke for lunch, and a discussion of what we did right, wrong, and rules we need to look up later. I love a good game of Infinity, there's just nothing like it.

[Lord Sotek]

Count me quite impressed! Infinity might bear more looking into.

[Ravager Zero]

Count me quite impressed! Infinity might bear more looking into.

Considering all the rules and stat profiles are available for free from here, definitely worth a look.
The models are gorgeous as well, especially the latest releases. Some of the oldest models are a little less stellar, but they're slowly getting re-sculpts.

[Lord Sotek]

..Yeah, I am now seriously impressed.

This might just be the system Wargamer and I have been looking for to ouserule the armies from our science-fiction setting...