Can you dig it?
Our group had decided to take a short break from practicing the Rose City Raid missions so we could play-test the Missions for our local “Humboldt Irregular” tournament happening in August. This was the first mission in the series and it’s basically frontline with a bunch of gangers on the table who are there to kill anything and anyone who’s in LoF. The general thought behind the tournament is straightforward missions with additional elements inspired from cult classic movies of the 80’s and 90’s, hence the name “The Warriors”. I would be battling against Clint, a longtime Tohaa player and someone who’s always ready for anything. Meanwhile it was my 3rd outing with Ikari and I changed a couple of features of my list from my first two games to see what other units would be like!
Overview
- Mission: The Warriors (Frontline)
- Forces: Ikari Company versus Tohaa
Something
GROUP 1 |8
2
5
KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9)
BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
TANKŌ Flammenspeer, Contender / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Shock CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
GROUP 2 |
YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21)
YUAN YUAN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 8)
FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53)
RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 20)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
PANGGULING Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
We rolled for the Intelcom card and Clint elected to use his for adding points to the zone while I decided to keep my objective. We then rolled for initiative and Clint won taking deployment and side and would be deploying second, while I took first turn and would deploy first!
Ganger Deployment
I put down my 3 angry guys facing walls just outside 16 inches figuring they would be easy kills. Clint instead opted to have his guys watch the midfield on his board half for possible Yuan Yuans.
James Deployment
I still have no idea what I’m really doing with Ikari so most of my list was clumped along the right side of the table with my haris in the middle area. The only units on my left were my EVO, Al Fasid (who was my reserve) and my Ru Shi. Everything else was stacked up on building or around corners on my right side, with Yo Jimbo up against the back edge in order to safely zoom forward (spoiler, forward was not safe for him).
Also I totally spaced pictures most of this game, I took 2x of each side post my 1st turn and none after that. Hopefully they are helpful at seeing the table and units though!
Clint Deployment
Basic Tohaa triads scattered throughout the DZ with not 1, not 2, but 3 Kamael snipers overlooking various firelanes and 2 TR HMG Chaksa guys on top of that (yeesh). Everything else was safely prone and tucked around corners. Everyone’s facing was looking just about every direction possible in order to prepare for Yuan Yuans. And the Gorgos TAG went on Clint’s right side. I can’t remember what his reserve was, I think the 3rd sniper but there were already so many ARO things I forgot. Also unbeknownst to me there was a Clipsos on Clint’s left side near the Ganger and the building it was up against.
Again sorry for bad/lack of pictures but this is Clint’s side post my first turn:
Round 1
Top of 1: Ikari
Impetuous phase! YoJimbo zoomed forward too far and was met with a sniper and a TR HMG. My smoke failed but I passed enough ARM to only take 1 wound. Yuan Yuans attempted to decend around the table, however with Clint preparing for their arrival and having gangers help cover so much of the board I was forced to deploy them in on small corner behind an orange building in his DZ. 2x Landed there safely while 1 went wild and died to the many sniper ARO’s. The last one walked on near my HVT because I wanted the smoke coverage for later turns.
I’m trying to remember the order of smoke throws that took place, I can’t remember if YoJimbo moved up and threw or the Yuan Yuan came in first to throw, either way I think it took about 3 order to pass on a 17 (the first 2 throws were 19’s) to get smoke down. YoJimbo moved up a bit, but wasn’t going to be safe at the end of the turn. Another 2-3 orders of spec firing allowed him to then be able to move safely and into b2b with a ganger and cut him down.
I’m pretty low on orders since I over committed to keeping YoJimbo safe and the many smoke attempts. I do use my EVO in group 2 though to throw up a quick “Teampro” before I use more orders from group 1. Luckily, my MSV2 Brawler sniper has a couple of targets through smoke and attempts to take out the HMG on the catwalk. To my surprise it was actually a Taagma holoprojecting as a Chaksa. I get 2 DA hits through but Clint rolls banana’s and passed all 4 Dmg 15 shots then drops prone. I switch to the sniper that’s also standing and managed to knock it down. (Thought I was shooting rubber bullets for a moment there)
My 2x Yuan Yuan’s in the back go separate ways in an attempt to cause more damage. One spins the corner and throws a Chain Rifle on a Sakiel and a Makaul knocking down the Makaul and getting rid of the Mate on the Sakiel who passes ARM. The pirate then gets pasted by the many ARO’s that ensued. The other turns the opposite corner and tries to use his ill-gotten AP rifle from his booty roll to shoot the ganger there, but gets crit for his effort. My Al Fasid is left in group 2 and moves around the corner to double crit Clint’s 2nd sniper off the board while the ganger nearby manages to make a change facing. I use my last order to heavy pistol the ganger but lose the FtF and the ARM (ouch!). With that I pass it off to Clint.
Bottom of 1: Tohaa
Clint has a Makaul break off with its impetuous order to throw an eclipse grenade. The ganger attempts a shot but misses and so does the Makaul. Eventually some Eclipse goes down safely in order for the Gorgos to make its attack run! As the TAG moves into the smoke and emerges out, my wounded Fasid tries to shoot smoke at it, but fails FtF and a couple of ARM saves as he is torn to pieces by the AP Spitfire. My consolidation prize however is the lone ganger standing nearby throws a crit at the Gorgos knocking off a wound! (These guys are dangerous)
The Gorgos continues moving forward making quick work of the ganger and getting closer to my prone haris of Tanko’s. Clint slices the pie to see the first Tanko he wants to shoot and asks “what is he armed with?” I smile and let him know he’s got a Flammenspear with all the fire damage, muhahahah! Clint looks terrified as he doesn’t want his Tohaa TAG to burn, but is true to committing to his actions and rolls the FtF against the Tanko. I win the FtF but Clint passes ARM (phew for Clint). He throws more orders at the Tanko who used up his fire ammo and it attempting Contender shots back. Much failing on my part, but I pass enough ARM saves that it takes Clint several orders to kill the Tanko.
Clint then kills both gangers in that area with this Gorgos and buddy. Clint settles in by using his last few orders to move his Gorgos and buddy up against the wall of the yellow building in the middle of the table looking towards my remaining force and goes into suppressive fire. Clint then reveals his Clipsos in the mid-right-zone of the table who activates YoJimbo’s Koala’s. Clint makes his dodge against their hugs and uses his last order to re-enter TO CAMO. With that it’s back to me.
Round 2
Top of 2: Ikari
Impetuous! My only Yuan Yuan moves up and throws smoke so YoJimbo won’t instantly die to the HMG, Sniper, and Clipsos fire. YoJimbo then moves safely into smoke and uses his irregular order to eat the Clipsos for breakfast. Quick note, when the Yuan Yuan placed the smoke, Clint elected to dodge with the Clipsos, which dropped TO CAMO. Which is the only reason YoJimbo went sword crazy.
I’m a bit trapped in my DZ b/c of the several ARO obstacles. There’s the Sniper/HMG on the right, and the big-ass TAG rampaging through the zone on my left. I have my EVO use TeamPro again and start shuffling the Core Firteam so my Sniper can get some work done. I plink off the Tag buddy with the first order and set up a shot on the Gorgos who I can barely see around the building. Clint’s 3x on 9’s and I’m 3x on 12’s, I fail the FtF and the Sniper goes down. I curse the heavens for not putting down smoke first since I do have a Yuan Yuan. I then spend a bunch of orders on my last Yuan Yuan who runs across the board and takes 2-3 orders trying to throw down smoke on 17’s (damn 19’s get out of here) so my Ru Shi can get some advantageous shots on the Gorgos. I was low on orders, but felt committed to the action since the Yuan Yuan covered so much of the board and I was running out of offensive options.
Smoke goes down and my Ru Shi moves up to shoot the Gorgos through smoke and the TAG is not cover from its angle. The Gorgos is on 5’s and Crits my Ru Shi! (AAAHHHHH). I’m not going to lie, at that moment I really wanted to call the game since I was doing my best to make smart tactical decisions or a least FtF rolls that would be in my favor and I was still failing to accomplish anything. I mustered my strength and looked at the board. I didn’t really have much available so I shuffled around what was left of my Core FT and passed turn.
Bottom of 2: Tohaa
Impetuous phase! I believe Clint breaks off the Makaul on my right who runs down the stairs to throw smoke. The Makaul on the left is running around and getting missed by the ganger again. Clint has the Gorgos move up on my last Yuan Yuan who is nearby. Clint asks: “What did he roll for booty again?” I smile and say: “A Panzerfaust” (I had actually forgotten to roll when he landed and somewhere on my 2nd turn Clint was kind and had me roll it while he was moving across the board). Clint looked nervous again, but the Tag is far superior at this shootout (I was super hoping for some miracle crit action though) and the pirate is pasted. The TAG then gets into an angle to see my other prone Tanko and spends a few orders murdering him away.
Up in his DZ he stars moving units towards YoJimbo. The biker throws smoke and beats out some sniper fire to keep him safe. Clint uses this opportunity to safely finish off the gangers in his area of the board before moving in on YoJimbo. I felt safe in the smoke, but Clint is always prepared and had a Symbiomb attached to his Sukiel, which makes short work of the swordsman. (Dang ZoC weapons). Clint moves some units up the board to start claiming zones and drops the Gorgos into suppressive fire again. He then passes it back to me.
Round 3
Top of Turn 3: Ikari
Impetuous phase…dead. I have 3x Keisotsu, 1x Tanko, 1x Fugazi, 1x Brawler Lt, and 1x EVO hacker alive. I spend some command tokens and put everyone into Group 1. I need some miracles if I’m going to pull anything off and move up the board. I spend my Lt order on my brawler and get up to the corner to shoot the Gorgos who’s in the open in SP. I can’t really do anything about my numbers here, but luckily I have a small advantage, Clint’s 3x on 11’s and I’m 3x on 12’s. However I lose the FtF and fail ARM…
I turn to what’s left of my core fireteam and start moving them across the bridge with the Tanko in the lead. I have my EVO use Teampro for safety cause it’s not doing anything else and has been helpful. I’m running out of orders and am getting reckless but I’m remaining hopeful. The Tanko gets a beat on the last Sniper and HMG Chaksa. I’ve got 2x Flammenspeer rounds and am in good range bands. I split burst and fire 1 at each target, sadly I lose both FtF rolls and die horribly. (Morale was running extremely low but I pressed on). Since Teampro was up the fireteam is still intact and I have the lead Keisotsu slice the pie and shoot just the sniper this time instead of being entirely reckless, and I am rewarded with a dead sniper! I try my luck again on the HMG but die in response. I let the link break and use my last command token to shuffle my last 4 units around a bit. I have the Fugazi get a line on the HMG from far away because I want to get my Keisotsu up just a bit more safely. The Fugazi gets crit from downtown and I just shrug and throw a Keisotsu in suppressive fire and pass turn.
Bottom of 3: Tohaa
With nothing threatening his units Clint is able to move into each zone and dominate it safely making it a:
9 – 0 Tohaa Victory
Notes
Notes for Clint
- Great job on covering so much of the board with Snipers and gangers, made it really hard to move up safely
- Also good call on the Gorgos attack pieces going on my weaker flank, I only had a couple answers and once they were gone, you were pretty much safe
- Make sure to ask what weapons a unit has before you even think about moving up to shoot them. If I had gotten lucky with my Flammenspear or Panzerfaust Yuan Yuan that would have been rough
- I wouldn’t have dodged with the Clipsos when the smoke hit it since it would have been harder to deal with a TO marker in smoke then anything. But I do like seeing the Clipsos more in your lists, it’s an incredible unit!
- Thanks for keeping things fun even though you were crushing me, always a pleasure
Notes for Me
- Spent too many orders on YoJimbo’s safety, I should have let fate handle him and moved on toward the rest of my faction
- Should walk on Yuan Yuan’s when so much of the board is being watched
- Need to spread out my in my deployment, Ikari has enough bodies might as well use them all over the DZ
- Good job not calling the game even though all seemed lost!
Post Game Discussion
I love Infinity and I know that there’s always a chance to succeed as much as there is to fail, and I hate blaming dice on a game where you’re literally using dice for everything. With that being said, it was very crippling to attempt situations with correct/tactical superior choices only to continue to fail and fail and fail. Between the 4-6 times it took to throw smoke to losing a majority of FtF rolls regardless of modifiers, I was having a hard time enjoying myself. Luckily Clint was very chipper and our buddy Erik was also there and it helped chatting with them after the game to remind myself that it is about having fun and sometimes things are going to go sideways.
I also have to remind myself this is my 3rd game with Ikari and I still have so much to learn in terms of how to leverage them and their abilities. I’ve been spoiled by my ALEPH, where it seems every unit is good at everything. While in Ikaari everyone is usually good at 1 thing. So when I start losing important units it can seem harder to come back from that.
Overall it was a learning game to find out more about myself as a player then about my army. It was dealing with my emotions and keeping things moving forward despite what was happening on the table before me. For those that have known me long enough I used to have a terrible time with my anger in my 20’s when it came to gaming. However I’d like to think I’ve grown up a lot and have become a better person and a better gamer because of it. We all have times where things can be rough, but it’s about pausing, taking a breath, and pushing through to the other side!