Another great Smackdown tournament in St Albans, UK. Really nice venue, at a scout hall with lots of space to move around.  We set up 12 folding tables and 4×4 MDF table toppers for the tournament. The folding tables were nice as they were about 6’ long, so enough space to put all your tokens and junk on the side of the game table!

The tournament was 300 Points with the added fun of a 12XP Spec Ops! The missions were:

• FrostByte
• PowerPack
• Supplies

Laina once again was an excellent host and TO, with cakes, Tea/Coffee service to our tables, and even sparklers at the end of the night!

There were 24 players in attendance from across the south-east, from the local club, HATE and even a group all the way from Shrewsbury (Severn Criticals).   Although a couple of players dropped out, they were quickly replaced.  I’m sure that the venue could even hold a few more tables, but then it would get a bit too crowded, and require bringing more folding tables and table tops, so setting the number at 24 was a good call! (less people to share the cakes with!)

This was my 3^rd Smackdown (I missed one) and this time I had my car, so Chris “MeekRebel” and I, road tripped up from Kent, and bought up a couple of tables of terrain.  My NeoTokyo table as well as my older scratch-built balsa wood scenery, the Tao Nightclub and Industrial Outpost, to which I’ve added some TT Combat catwalks.  To set up we got their earlier than normal at 9:30, so it was an early start, but we had both tables sorted by 10 and were ready for dice to roll at 10:30.

Specing out your Spec Ops

The Spec Ops rule (not to be confused with the Specialist Operative Skill) is a tournament add on which allows you to take one customizable Spec Ops character in your army list.  Spec Ops are based on a template of Line Infantry.  Non-Sectorial forces get access to multiple template options based on the line infantry in their faction, but Sectorial force only tend to get access to one template.  The templates have the same basic stats as the line infantry, and may also count as that line infantry for the purposes of Fire Team composition.

After selecting the basic template, you then get to spend XP to upgrade!  The basic tournament format is to have 12 XP, but some tournaments may allow more or less. Spec Ops in special non-ITS narrative tournaments can also gain XP after each mission, unless of course they die! The of course having taken the Cube upgrade can be a good idea, as you could make a CubEvac roll (under the old Campaign Paridiso rules).

Spec Ops get four main types of upgrade.  First off, they can upgrade their stats on an cumulative scale, from 2 XP for the first attribute point, 3 more for the second, 5 more for the third, up to +3/15 max (BS, WP, or PH) or +10 CC.  Armour costs 5 XP for +1 Point and then 10 XP for +3 Points. BTS goes up in 3’s and costs 2/5/10 for +3/+6/+9.  Wounds costs 10 points to raise by 1. MOV and Silhouette value can’t change.

The second choice is in terms of weapons.  All spec ops have the basic weapons of their template e.g. Zhanshi (Combi Rifle), Ghulam (Rifle + Light Shotgun), some templates have a remarkable loadout such as the Muyib in HaqqIslam/Hassasin Bahram (Rifle + Light Shotgun, PanzerFaust, and D-Charges!).  There are a range of weapons including DA and EXP CCW’s (useful for missions such as Looting and Sabotage).  One big missing weapon is Smoke Grenades, although you can get regular grenades.  Not all Spec Ops have the same weapons, for instance Combined Army have Plasma, Ariadna have T2 and HaqqIslam have Viral.

Skills are the third choice, and you can take up to three of these.  The skills options are the same for all of the factions.

Last up you can select upto three piece of special equipment.  Although the Cube option is not that useful for ITS (other than allowing you to reroll Doctor rolls to heal your Spec Ops), it is very useful in the campaign where your Spec Ops can be CubEvac’d and put into a new body for the next scenario!

What are good builds for a Spec Ops?  As with all things Infinity it depends on the mission and how you want to use it.  Below I’ve compiled some ideas of what you can do with a Spec-Ops build. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but some great example of what I’ve seen.

The Multi-Tool Specialist

This guy is the real Swiss Army knife of Spec Ops. He can do almost all your classified and can pack a big WP of possible 15!  The mine is great to defend your DZ, and the cheap Hacking Device is a great points saver.

+1 WP (2), Doctor (2), Engineer (2), BTS +3 (2), Hacking Device (2), MineLayer (2).

The Surprise Sniper

I’ll activate my WarCor, and shoot you with my Viral Sniper – HaqqIslam Spec Ops!  The hidden sniper uses Holo Projector Level 1 to do a Hafza impression and pretend to be a non-threatening unit before blowing your head off!

+2 BS (5), HP1 (3), Sniper (6)

The Grenadier

Start just outside the opponents CZ and lob some Speculative Fire grenades!

+2 PH (5), Grenades (3), Inferior Infiltration (4)

The Heavy Weapons Specialist

Add this guy to a Fire Team and rock!

+1 BS (2), HMG (8), Hyperdynamics L1 (2)

The Mid-Range Gun Fighter

A solid midfield fighter, ideal for a Fireteam with the added bonus of Mimitism.

+1 BS (2), Spitfire (6), CH: Mimitism (4)

The CQB Fighter

Get up in people faces and punch them.  Another great fire team member.

+2 BS (5), Boarding Shotgun (2), CH: Mimitism (4), Specialist Operative (1)

The Secret Commander

Some factions don’t get access to chain of command, or its really expensive! But no one will know who it is…

Chain of Command (8), Specialist Operative (1), Holoprojector L1 (3)

Death from above

Dropping in or walking on to grab those objectives!

+2 PH (5), AD: Inferior Combat Jump (6), Specialist Operative (1)

The Extreme Hacker

Rule the electronic battlefield!

+2 WP (5), Hacking Device (2), +6 BTS (5)

Are Spec Ops good for tournaments?  Yes and no… Yes, they are great fun.  They can add a real surprise element to the game and allow factions access to cheap points and SWC upgrades allowing you to pack more into your army list. No, they make it too easy for factions to patch the gaps which should exists for balance for a fraction of the cost, e.g. allowing Tohaa to have ace hackers, Nomads to have Chain of Command, ISS to have an Engineer/Doctor for less than a 31 point Sophotect!

The Tables

 

My lists

I had decided to design lists to suit different missions (rather than against certain factions).  My List A was designed for FrostByte and was a hard-hitting list, led by a Wu Ming Fire Team: Core, but light on specialists.  My List B was a bit more experimental and revolved around a defensive Pheasant Agent/Bao Fire Team Core, with a few more specialist options, more suited to Supplies and PowerPack.

Smackdown IV List A
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9 1
WÚ MÍNG HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 39)
WÚ MÍNG Heavy Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 33)
WÚ MÍNG MULTI Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 39)
WÚ MÍNG (Fireteam: Duo) Chain Rifle, Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
ZHÀNYING (Sensor) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nimbus Grenades, MadTraps / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 28)
CSU (Specialist Operative) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
CELESTIAL GUARD Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
GUĬ FĒNG Spec-Ops (12 XP) (WIP:15, BTS:6, Engineer, Doctor, Minelayer, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
WARCOR (Sixth Sense L1) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

GROUP 2 9 6
CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
GARUDA Tacbot Boarding Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 20)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

Smackdown IV List B
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 7
BÀO TROOP (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
BÀO TROOP (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
BÀO TROOP (Multispectral Visor L2, Biometric Visor L2) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
BÀO TROOP (Biometric Visor L2) Boarding Shotgun, Contender / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
PHEASANT IMPERIAL AGENT (Chain of Command, Fireteam: Haris) Red Fury / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 36)
NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29)
GARUDA Tacbot Boarding Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)

GROUP 2 9 1 4
CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5)
GUĬ FĒNG Spec-Ops (12 XP) (WIP:15, BTS:6, Engineer, Minelayer, Doctor, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
KǍNRÈN Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 29)
CELESTIAL GUARD Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)
RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 20)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

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Game 1

• Mission: FrostByte
• Opponent: Mike “Reyzah”
• Faction: Morats
• List: A

This looked like a tough game.  Morats and ISS have a lot in common with tough hitting Fire Teams and not much fineness!  Mike win the initiative roll and chose deployment.  I was seriously tempted to choose to go second, but considering how aggressive Morats can be, I thought it would be best to get the first turn and try and slow them down.

Mike chose Kornak as his Data Tracker, and I selected my Spec Ops as my Data Tracker.

Turn 1 ISS

I started with my Kuang Shi/Celestial guard as a link, so only 2 of my 6 Kuang Shi, were Impetuous, but they moved without taking an ARO.

Mike has set of his Suryat (HMG/HRL/Vulcan Shotgun)/Kornak/Raktorak, heavy infantry fire team, in a building at the north west corner. He left is Suryat HRL standing up, with a good view, while everyone else was prone.  I knew that Kornak was going to be the Lieutenant, and I wanted to try take out at least one member of his fire team.

I had made my Spec Ops my Data tracker in the hopes of getting some use from his free irregular order – and started by using it to launch Assisted Jump.  I then Combat Jumped in my Garuda TacBot right behind the link teams building, needing 15’s I rolled a 19!  He scattered 16” south, about 10” in from of the Suryat HRL and took one hit, but made the ARM save!  With nothing to lose now, the Garuda charged towards the Suryat, with is Board Shotgun and got into 8”, but the Suyrat had a Light Shotgun as well.  The Garuda took another hit but kept going.  He ran towards the Suryat againt getting against the building wall so he could no longer be seen, and lost the face to face again, this time going down!

Plan B… The Spec Ops loaded Assisted Fire on the Rui Shi, and then the Celestial Guard managed to plant some smoke out.  This allowed the Rui Shi to move up into 24” and get a good shot off at the Suryal HRL, and then took one fire hit and was burned to ashes.  Not a great start.

The Wu Ming Fire Team set off down the east flank, led by the HMG.  With everyone staying well out of template range, the HMG engaged the Suyrat at 37”. At this point we realised how similar and well matched the two links were, both 2W HI with BS13!  I was rolling 5 dice vs 10’s and he was ARO 2 dice on 10’s.  After four rounds of firing, with both of us taking hits and making ARM saves, he finally took a wound and chose to fail guts to go prone!  My Wu Ming HMG has also taken a wound.

With no other viable targets, I moved up the Wu Ming to get the HRL and HMG able to ARO.  I also moved the Multi-Rifle, Light Grenade Launcher up to behind a wall on the center line and spec fired on his Q-Drone with Plasma Rifle, and managed to hit first time and put in down!

Turn 1 Morats

Mike’s Soyrat’s would now need to fight there was out of their corner, so he took a different approach.  He got his Teritak Spec Ops (with Engineer, Doctor, Minelayer) to move up and fix his Q-Drone.  His E-Drone then launched Assisted Fire on the Q- Drone, which then moved up and engaged my Wu Ming HRL in 8-16”.  We were pretty evenly matched, but I lost the first roll but managed to almost tank two plasma hits (ARM and BTS!) taking 1 wound.  He fired again and this time the Wu Ming hit and took him down, with fire, burning him to destroyed!

Mike now had to engage my Wu Ming with his Suyrats. He managed to crawl prone with his HMG and got it to only see the Wu Ming HRL and took a shot, but the Wu Ming made the saves and went prone, which allowed him to stand up his HRL again (And go prone with his HMG.)

Turn 2 ISS

With nothing useful in my second combat group I moved my CSU across into group 2.

My Kuang Shi ran off impetuous and one got hit by the Suryat HRL and burned to death.  The others remained out of LoF.  I spend a co-ordinated order to move 4 of the Kuang shi back into full cover so they didn’t all die to ARO’s next turn.

My CSU moved up to the central objective and after two attempts, flipped the heater in my DZ on.  With the last order in that group he then decided to be brave and move out enough to see the standing Raktorak, but took a hit and went V: Dogged.

My link team was hurt, but not out of the fight. The Wu Ming HRL went for the Suyrat HRL but lost and was burned to death (always the way when you have a doctor available).  My link team was now broken, and I was out of command tokens.

The Wu Ming HMG stepped up to the challenge and this time managed to put the Suryat HRL down unconscious.  I now had a free run of the table!

The Wu Ming Multi-Rifle LGL, decided to be the man of the hour, and ran down the east flank, by-passing a mine by climbing over a wall.  He took out the Teiktak spec ops Doctor/Engineer (which was great as he has a Nurse Worm right next to the unconscious Suyrat HRL) and also took out an Ikadron!

Turn 2 Morat

First up, Mike tried to kill my Wu Ming with his Q-Drone, but the Wu Ming managed to land a DA hit in ARO, which he saved.  With limited orders left, he then started to move out the now 4 Morat team. His HMG engaged mine and the Wu Ming took a hit and fell back into cover.  He then moved Karnak up to my unconscious Garuda and collected his In Extremis classified!

Unopposed he managed to move up to see my Chaiying Flash Pulse remote, who CRIT the HMG and blinded him!  He continued to move on and moved his Raktorak Specialist Operative to a console and activated it to turn on the heater in his dead zone. Last up he moved Korak (as his data tracker) up onto the central buildings and managed to take out my Flash Pulse REM.

Turn 3 ISS

With no ARO’s I was able to move my Spec Ops Data Tracker up into the middle zone and tucked him behind some cover.

With no other useful orders in my group 2 I decided to run up a Kuang shi across the table.  Using a cautious move to get past an ARO from the Suyrat HMG he managed to get all the way to the other side and killed the Raktorak with a pistol!  He then went after the Vulcan Shotgun Suryat with his last order, but got put down!

I tried to blind Kornak with my WarCor, thinking he would then be an easy target, but he passed the BTS roll (he has BTS9!!!) and dropped prone, becoming inaccessible.

With my Wu-Ming Multi Rifle, I was determined to kill as many army points as I could, so he continued around into Mikes DZ and took down the E-Drone.  He then moved up on another Ikadron and took that out, (taking a 1 wound from a flamethrower).  Finally, he crawled to get into the Suryat HMG’s back arc stood up, with his last order and then release I was about half an inch away from the place where I could see him! So, he just tucked prone behind cover.

Turn 3 Morals

Mike had only 3 units and 4 orders left (due to Strategos on Kornak).  He then AD: Combat Jumped on his Raysat (which I knew was coming….) and landed right next to my DZ heater! (It’s worth noting a forgot completely I had my Spec Ops hacker who could have Hacked Transport Aircraft!).  My WarCor failed to change face.  The Rasyat then did a CC attack on the heater with D-Charges, succeeded and the heater failed all 3 ARM saves and blew up.  With his last order he moved his HMG to try and get to my Wu Ming Multi Rifle but couldn’t get a LoF.

Final Result

With the heater gone I lost my Zanying (Sensor), Celestial Guard Lt, Celestial Guard Kuang Shi Control Device, 4 Kuang Shi and my Warcor!  I was left with 116 Points from my Spec Ops (who survived the cold as he was the data tracker), and 3 Wu Ming.

Mike’s Rasyat died from the cold, and so he was left with Kornak and 2 Suryats worth… 123 points! Giving Mike the win by 7 army points killed!

I also realised after the game (and got the score changed) that Mike has a Complete Victory, because my Heater had been destroyed I didn’t get that 1 OP for having an active heater!

(I also realised I’d completely forgot to deploy my MadTraps to go with my Zhanying)

Stuart – Defeat.  0 TP. 3 OP (Data Tracker in middle zone). 116 VP

Mike – Complete Victory.  8 OP (Heater Active.  Data Tracker in middle zone.  More Army Points Killed.  1 Classified).  123 VP

Game 2

• Mission: Power Pack
• Opponent: Dale “SaviourAnarchy”
• Faction: Military Orders
• List: B

Dale was a relatively new player who had come down with the Severn Criticals crew from Shrewsbury!  He won the Initiative roll and chose to go first, but I was quite happy to take deployment and go second.  My B list was designed for PowerPack and Supplies to be a defensive ARO list. Dale’s list actually was very similar in concept to mine!

Dale deployed an Order Sargent Fireteam: Core on building in the North West corner in one combat group, and then in his second combat group deployed Joan and some knights with a WarCor and TechBee of course!

Rather than face off against his link team, I deployed my Bao sniper team on the opposite corner, well out of LoF of his team, and covering the fire lane that Joan would approach on.  I chose a great building that allowed me to get one Bao MSV2 Multi-Sniper on the roof and another one in a room directly under looking out a window, which gave me an excellent ARO position.  I dropped my Ninja in Hidden Deployment right next to the center antenna.

Dale’s holdback was a hidden deployment, and mine was my “Hsein” synced to my Xenotech which of course was a Kanren killer hacker. Having it appear as a Hsein, does give opponents pause about leaving pieces out on ARO!

Turn 1 Military Orders

Joan led the charge, and ran out of cover towards my Bao Snipers, taking 2 sniper shots (reduced from 4 due to the saturation zone) and a WarCor FlashPulse.  She tried to dodge but took 2 DA hits and saved two AR rolls but took 2 wounds, going onto NWI.

Going to plan B he started to move out Knight Hospitaller doctor but got hit by a barrage of sniper shots but tanked them!

Dale then activated his Indigo Spec ops who was synchronized with his Xenotech and moved the xenotech up, and tried to place the Multiscanner, but to stay in 8” he had to reveal his Spec Ops who was killed by sniper fire.  Turned out that the Xenotech was on the 20” line but not over it, so he couldn’t place the beacon.

With his other combat group, he rearranged his Order Sergeants into good ARO positions, but then didn’t use the rest of the orders. That of course is the issue with having a defensive fire team in its own combat group, you really need something in that group to spend the orders on.

Turn 1 ISS

I changed my Fire Team over to the Kuang Shi to keep them running out, then fired a couple of smoke grenades out to cover the Bao.

I then launched Assisted Jump with my Spec Ops, and dropped in the Garurda TacBot behind his Knight Hospitaller with Multi Rifle. He failed to change face.  .

Next order I put two AP shotgun slugs into him, but he CRITs the Change Face roll!  Next order… I put two more slugs into him and he takes 1 wound.  Another order, but this time the Knight’s ARO puts him down with a DA shot in ARO

The Bao Sniper easily got a kill shot through smoke on Joan.  Then managed to hit a Knight Hospitaller Doctor, who took a wound and dropped back into cover

With the coast clear, the Rui Shi went into action, and rolled up the table to take out the Doctor Knight but got hit by a CRIT and went down.  With only a couple of orders left, I ran up my Spec Ops and Engineered it back up as my last order.

Turn 2 Military Orders

Determined to get his Xenotech back, Dale moved his Knight with Multi Rifle across the table (out of LoF of the snipers) and crawled up behind the Xenotech.  Before he could get to him, he had to take on my Rui Shi, who got a CRIT and put him down (as he was wounded).

Dale had a backup plan and bought his Doctor Knight into LoF and shot him with a MedPack and managed to make his PH-3 roll on an 11! With the Multi-Rifle knight back up, he took on the Rui Shi and this time put it down!

Again, with no real targets, he couldn’t do anything with his Order Sargent Fireteam.

Turn 2 ISS

My Kuang Shi ran out and one got put down by a shot from the Multi-Rifle.  The Celestial Guard fired smoke up the field over the Rui Shi, and allowed my Spec Ops to get across and repair it.  The Rui Shi then backed off to get into 8”+ range and put down the Multi-Rifle Knight.  It then moved up further and killed the Pathfinder and the Doctor Knight.  It then tried to engage the Order Sergeants but wasn’t in good range.  It did manage to kill one Combi Rifle on the roof, but then when up against the Missile Launcher and was blown to bits!

In my other combat group, I had my Ninja KHD (Being proxied by Miranda Ashcroft as I forgot the miniature).  He grabbed the central console, and then went back into camo. At this point the only specialist he had left out was his TechBee, so the Ninja re-camo’d and moved off, getting up to the TechBee and gutting her with a surprise attack!  Even better, the Ninja made his BTS save vs a WarCor’s Flash Pulse. Next action he put a Tac Bow shot through the WarCor!  As his last action he ducked into cover.

Turn 3 Military Orders

Turns out the Order Sargent on the roof I killed was the Lieutenant, and his dead Indigo Spec Ops was his CoC, so Dale was in Loss of Lieutenant.

He revealed a TO Camo Order Sargent specialist and flipped a console.  Then using a command token, activated his link team and the Missile Launcher got a lucky shot (needing a 3 or less) and blew up the Ninja!  With no more orders or easy targets, he could bring his HMG Hositaller Knight into play, and ended his turn.

Turn 3 ISS

First job was to move my “Hsein” up the table with the Xenotech and planted the Multiscanner on the first go (with the CoC bonus).  Now tied on consoles, I moved the Pheasant Agent up with two Bao Shotguns, leaving behind the snipers and moved to the Eastern console, getting the CoC bonus to roll twice with +3 and nailed it.  The Pheasants team them moved towards the center and secured HVT.

With the Order Sargent Missile Launcher and the Hospitaller HMG still up on overwatch of the console to capture, I called it a day there.

Final Score

Stuart – Complete Victory.  3 TP.  8 OP (More Consoles, Multiscanner placed, Secured HVT, own console not captured). 230 VP

Dale – Defeat.  0 TO.  0 OP (own console not captured, -1 for not placing Multi Scanner).  124 VP.

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Game 3

• Mission: Supplies
• Opponent: James “Murkage”
• Faction: HaqqIslam
• List: B

James is infamous for his camo spam Ariadna list, so I was a little concerned when paired with him!  He has decided to take a break from Ariadna and bought Haqq, Mutts galore!

James one the initiate and decided to go first, which meant there were going to be Fidays coming after me!  He deployed very spread out, trying to place his Mutts with good cover when they ran out.

I placed my Bao link team in a sniper nest in the south eastern corner, getting a LoF on one Mutt and covering the main fire lanes! I placed my Celestial Guard LT in the building under the Bao team.

James holdback was his Impersonation Marker, and he nailed the WP roll and placed in right next to my LT… so counter deployed my three “Hesin” (Kanren and two holocechos) placing one so its base was stopping his IMP marker getting to my Lt.

Turn 1 HaqqIslam

The Mutts ran out and one got his head blown clean off by a sniper.

James then activated his IMP marker and idled, so I delayed, and he put two shotgun blasts into my Lt with Al-Djabel.  The Lt went down, but Al-Djabel took a Chain Colt to the back from my Kanren KHD and went down!

James launched Assisted Fire and moved out his Shihab TR HMG REM taking a shot at one of the Bao.  To do so he had to move out of cover to get inside 32” and got shot down by the Bao.

James then did a co-ordinated order between a WarCor on a roof and a Gullam Forward observer, running out to see my two snipers. One sniper ARO’d against the WarCor and one against the Gullam.  The WarCor then revealed as his Spec Ops with Viral Sniper, and his Gullam was a Hafza with HRL!  They both shot at the Bao who was targeting his Spec Ops/War Cor.  One Bao sniper gunned down the Hafza, and the other Bao beat the Spec Ops Sniper and killed him, but then got vapourised by the Hafza’s HRL.

He then activated his Engineer and repaired the Shihab, and moved it up to engage my last Bao Sniper killing it, shock dead!

With his last orders he moved his Mutts into safefy.

Turn 1 ISS

My main ARO pieces were down!  Things were not looking good!  I launcher Assisted Jump and dropped in my Garuda right behind his Djanbazan HMG, and failed the roll, scattering off the table.  As James put it, he’s now just an order…

Next up my Spec Ops loaded Assisted Fire on the Rui Shi. It moved up and engaged the Shihab, and put it down, and ten put another 4 rounds of Spit Fire into it, to destroy it!

The Rui Shi then began to move to the center to get a shot on the Djanbazan HMG but before it could get there, a TO Camo Taureg AHD popped out and hit it with Carbonite placing it in IMM-1 for 1 turn.  With my last order in that group I used my Kanren KHD and hit the Taureg AHD through the Rui Shi’s repeater with Red Rum, blowing his brains out!

With my three remaining Bao Orders, I moved the Pheasant and two shotgun Bao up to cover, hoping to catch a Mutt next turn!

Turn 2 HaqqIslam

To stop his Mutts running into ARO’s from my Rui Shi and Bao, he spent two regular Orders to cancel the Extremely Impetuous Orders.

James them moved on Mutt and got a LoF onto my Rui Shi. Knowing the least worst option was to shoot, the Rui Shi hit the Mutt in ARO and killed it, shock dead, but took a E-Morat back and passed the BTS roll!

James then activated his Djanbazan HMG and gunned down my Bao Shotgun.  He then continued to move up, and I realized I’d made a terrible mistake.  From my point of view my Pheasant looked like she was fine in cover in a doorway, but I didn’t see that the building was open on the other side!  My Pheasant Chain of Command took 4 rounds of HMG and went down!  Not good!

Turn 2 ISS

In loss of Lieutenant, with only two command tokens left.

My Kuang Shi ran up the table.  One got isolated by a Mutt but didn’t care and just ran up to stand next to him.

I tried to move my Rui Shi out enough to get the Djanbazan, but even after using a command token to get another order, came up 1 inch short!!!

I could have stood up with my Spec Ops and got a shot on his Djanbazan but didn’t want to risk it out of 16” combi range.

Lastly I moved my remaining Bao Shotgun up to cover one of the supplies.

Turn 3 HaqqIslam

Again, James restrained his two remaining Mutts by spending regular orders on them.

He then activated one of his Naffantun Engineers up towards the crates, and one of the Kuang Shi shot him in the head!

Running out of options, he stood up his Lt and tried to kill my Bao Shotgun with another Naffantun, but got taken down.  His last option was to move his Gullam Doctor from the roof, all the way down to the ground floor and then try to get to the supplies.  He managed twice to get a hit on the Bao, but both times he tanked the ARM saves!

Turn 3 ISS

I moved my Ninja KHD into my larger combat group 2 to have 9 orders.

My Kuang Shi ran straight in base contact with a Mutt (who was on ZoC of my Ninja) and got a hit on him with a pistol, putting the Mutt Dogged.  Now the Mutt was in an Engaged State it could no longer use its Jammer!

My Spec Ops was now my Lt, so used his Lt order to Data Scan Al-Djabel and made the roll!

The Ninja revealed, and grabbed the first supplies crate, then moved up to a Kuang Shi and handed it over.  She then moved to the next crate and grabbed that one.  She moved up to the Rui Shi and handed that crate over, and then went for the last one.  She took down the Gullam Doctor with his Tac Bow, and with her final order made a dash for the last crate, making her WP roll, but getting hit by a Pistol shot form the Djambazan and failed her ARM save!  Almost a perfect run!

Final Score

Stuart – Complete Victory.  3 TP. 8 OP (2 Crates, More than Opponent, Opponent had none, 1 classified). 132 VP

James – Defeat.  0 TP. 0 OP.  131 VP

A very close game on victory points, but keeping that Ninja back until the end really won the game!  An epic finish to a great day

Final Standings

I finished the day with 6 TP, 19 OP and 478 VP, narrowly coming top of the 5 other players on 6 TP, and finishing a respectable 4^thout of 24!  Bagged a £20 Goblin Games voucher as loot!

Really kicked myself about the mistakes from the 1^stgame, and should had won that one, but that’s Infinity for you. Lots of moving parts, and you really need to have 100% focus to not forget something! (or several somethings!)

A very enjoyable, and exhausting day, with some tough opponents who all showed great sportsmanship.  Thoroughly enjoyed every game!

Spec Ops certainly made the game a little more interesting, but also a bit easier in terms of list building, getting high WP specialists for super low cost and 0 SWC!

Looking forward to the next Smackdown!

Painting Competition

In the players vote painting competition Ziggy_UK won with his excellent Authorised Bounty Hunter!  My CSU was number 15.