Infinity AAR: 300 Points: MAF vs. ALEPH: ITS2014- Quadrant Control

ALEPH

Hello again!

It's been a long time since my last post as real life finally caught up with me.  I have, however, finally got my painting on and lined up a game at my local gaming club.  It was a friendly match to work out a few more rules issues and get more familiar with the ITS format.

Without any further ado....


ARMIES

ALEPH

ALEPH- 300 points.

Deva- Lieutenant
Deva- Hacker- combi-rifle
Deva (Chandra model proxy) with combi-rifle + Devabot

Sophotect
Yudbot

Garuda HMG
Netrod
Dakini Tacbot HMG

Asura Spitfire
Deva + MSV2+ Spitfire

Myrmidon

I'm fairly sure that was the construct of his army.  The individual load outs of the Devas I can't be too sure about as I didn't get to look at the list.

MORAT SECTORIAL: 217th Expeditionary Force

The MAF is back!

#1st Combat Group
Yaogat Lieutenant- Octavian- Combi rifle + Panzerfaust
Yaogat Spitfire- Caesar
Yaogat Shotgun- Crassus- Shotgun + Panzerfaust
Yaogat Rifle- Brutus- Combi rifle + grenades
Yagoat Sniper- Cicero- MSR

Medchanoid- Galen aka Dr. Worm
Slave Drone

Treitak- Anyat- K1 Combi rifle

Morat Vanguard Hacker- Seneca

Ikadron Baggage Remote- Steggles aka The Robot Chicken

#2nd Combat Group
Oznat- Lysistrata
Preta
Preta
Preta
Preta


TERRAIN

The township of Ursus and it's immediate surrounds.

Deployment Zone A is on the Left.  Deployment Zone B is on the Right.

The view of the battlefield taken by a recon drone.  The Left is the SOUTH.  The Right is the NORTH.  The foreground is the EAST.  The far ground (white tower building) is the WEST.

Key terrain features to note:

1. Bunker Hill- a large rocky hill dominated by a bunker on one end.
2. The Mesa- a large mesa in the south east corner
3. The White Tower block- a three storey structure with balconies
4. The Processor- a twin columned structure that processes the ore pumped from the Refinery
5. The Refinery- a golden coloured dome like building with a separate control room
6. The Slag Heap- a grey coloured pile of slag sitting between the grey administration buildings of Ursus

View from SOUTH EAST looking towards NORTH WEST

Opposite view:  view from NORTH WEST looking SOUTH EAST

And a special emphasis on the slag heap area as it proves crucial in the coming encounter.

View from NORTH looking towards the SOUTH.  Slag Heap provides good cover from Bunker Hill.

MISSION

Friendly forces must SEIZE Ursus Township No Later Than in 3 TURNS In Order To allow Friendly forces to continue their Norstralian offensive.

This was a game of Quadrant Control straight from the ITS2014 Scenario.

In this game points are scored at the end of every game turn.

If you Dominate the same number of Quadrants as your opponent- you earn 1 point.
If you Dominate more Quadrants than your opponent- you earn 3 points.

Each player also gets one Classified Objective- worth 1 point.

I rolled Experimental Drug for my Classified Objective.  I don't know what my opponent rolled as it never came up to be honest.


LIEUTENANT ROLL OFF

I failed my Lt WIP roll with a dismal 20, whilst my opponent scored a 14!

ALEPH chose to go first, so I decided to make him deploy first.

I also chose the side closest to me because I was a bit lazy and didn't want to move all my models to the other side!

MAF deploy on the LEFT.  ALEPH deploy on the RIGHT.

DEPLOYMENT

ALEPH

Pass!

The ALEPH Net-rod passes its PH roll and aerial deploys into place into the total cover of a building in his deployment zone.

He then puts his HMG tacbot on the building just in front of the Netrod.  In that position the HMG provides a commanding view over the slag heap and Bunker Hill (on the other side of the board).

Ready to advance!

Along this eastern flank, ALEPH puts down an Asura to help hold it.  Behind the Processor, is a Myrmidon and a Sophotect and her Yudbot.

ALEPH western flank

The ALEPH western flank turns into a Deva party.  The Deva- presumably the Lieutenant- is placed behind the green igloo.

Note that the 'Chandra' Deva and her Deva Bot are on the extreme western flank of the line, on the other side of that hill and thus out of view.

Deva party!

Blurred aerial shot of the centre of the ALEPH battle line.

MAF

I hate going second.  Infinity is one of those games that rewards the alpha strike- and getting the first turn really helps.

I decided I would try and make things as hard as possible and as time consuming as possible to come and get to me.  So I strung my models out along my back field- usually in total cover- but leaving a few key figures being able to give AROs.

MAF eastern flank- Yaogats on Bunker Hill.

My Yaogat link team I deployed on the rocks of Bunker Hill.  Cicero- with his trusty MSR covered the centre.  It was a good sniper's perch- elevated and in cover.

Octavian (link leader and Lieutenant) covered the eastern approaches, Crassus covered the west.  Brutus and Caesar- with his spitfire- covered the rear.

Pretas behind the Mesa.

The Pretas and their attendant Oznat were placed well away from the deadly HMG tacbot behind the big hill on my western flank.  I plonked the Ikadron there too, thinking he'd be some good flank protection with his twin flame throwers.

Prone hacker and Slave drone behind a rock.

Not really knowing what to do with my Hacker, I popped him prone behind a fence.

Dr Worm was tucked away behind the bunker providing some rear protection for the Yaogat link team.  His slave I put between the two combat groups- figuring it could dart between the two reviving miniatures knocked unconscious.

Dr Worm behind the bunker.

RESERVE PLACEMENT

Deva with Spitfire placed!

ALEPH placed their reserve model- the Deva Spitfire- next to the Asura.  A lot of fire power packed onto the ALEPH eastern flank.

Anyat- in total cover

Anyat, I held in reserve and eventually placed her in total cover around the Bunker.   I figured her B3 K1 ammo and Climbing Plus would be useful to help cover the Slag Heap area.


THE BATTLE BEGINS!

TURN 1- ALEPH

Deva advances with Deva bot!

On my western flank- the Deva with Deva Bot advances towards the tower building.  She is however, caught in open by Cicero.

I see you!

He AROs with his B2 +3BS MSR as the Deva tries o dodge.  The dodging is in vain as two sniper rounds hit home.  Being armour piercing and double action- the MSR proves deadly- killing the Deva outright.

Slice that pie.

Seeing the Yaogat link team as the biggest threat, the female Asura maneuvers around the town slag heap and attempts to "slice the pie" of the Yaogat link team.  She spies Octavian (my Lieutenant... Uh oh) and Cicero and opens up with her Spitfire.    

Asura spitfire is deadly!

Octavian AROs with his two panzerfaust landing two hits!  Surely... surely this will be the end of it!  Six armour rolls later, the Asura is down two wounds.  What?!  And with No Wound Incapacitation- she's still in the fight!

Cicero on the other hand- loses the face to face roll and cops a Spitfire round to the face.  Luckily his armour holds and so does his nerve!

AROs!

The Asura fires again!  Octavian tries to dodge this time and fails dismally- knocked unconscious.  Cicero, however, earns his keep- hitting the Asura once- the AP/DA round killing her.

Held off one- now another tries his luck!

Next, the Deva Spitfire mimics the moves of the Asura.

The male Deva saunters around the slag heap and trades fire with Cicero.  The Yaogat armour holds suprisingly well!  And the two figures fail to injure each other.

Myrmidon advances between the Processor and an admin building

Seeking to dominate the quadrant closest to the ALEPH eastern flank, the Myrmidon advances.

Deva with Spitfire moves to sandbag cover and fires on the Yaogats!

The Deva advances into cover behind the sandbag wall whilst Cicero fires back in the exchange.  A few rounds of fire pass between them, and Cicero even puts a wound on the Deva.  The overwhelming fire power of the Spitfire wins out eventually though  knocking Cicero unconscious.

Bodies are being peppered with Spitfire shots.

The Deva then attempts to add insult to injury and puts some shots into the fallen bodies of Cicero and Octavian.  Luckily the rounds either miss completely or bounce off the armour plates of the fallen Yaogat bodies!

The Deva isn't that unhappy, however, as he is sitting unopposed in a new Quadrant.


TURN 1- MORAT

OK, my turn 1 and I'm in Loss of Lieutenant.  But hey, that's a regular occurence with me, so....
I quickly elect new Lieutenant and then reform the link team of Yaogats.

(Having a quick re-read of the Infinity wiki- this isn't allowed!  I would have got the Lt. Special Order in my Turn 2).

Spitfire to Spitfire!

Caesar steps forward, up onto the hill, with his Religious Order and blasts the Deva behind the sandbags with his own Spitfire.  Caesar hits twice, but the dastardly Deva armour, coupled with partial cover- save the ALEPH model from harm.

Worried about more enemy attention, the Deva drops prone behind the sandbags.

At this point I remember that my Impetuous orders need to come first!  Luckily all my Impetuous models are all over on the other side of the battlefield and would have had no impact on the firefight that just happened.  Phew!  Would've hated to have to replay that.

The Pretas and Oznat advance into cover.

One Preta- luckily- is missed by the ARO from the HMG tacbot.

Caution rules the roost....  Except for that one Preta that races into the open.

Some of Pretas (unwilling to use their second short skill to advance out of cover) lay mines instead of moving their second 4" move.

A Preta advances up the western flank.

Utilizing their irregular orders- the Pretas advance again.

(Another rules error:  when in LoL- Impetuous models get their Impetuous order- but not their Irregular order).

Another Preta moves up to the tower and puts down a mine- wary of HMG AROs.

A Preta moves towards the Processor.  The nearby Myrmidon pops smoke as his ARO.

(I don't think the Myrmidon had line of fire actually).

Crassus takes aim at the Myrmidon.

Using his Religious ability, Crassus uses his order to sneak around a rock and spy the Myrmidon behind the smoke with his multi-spectral visor.

He launches a panzerfaust at the Myrmidon that streaks through the smoke with deadly effect.

2 failed armour rolls later... dead Myrmidon.

My remaining Religious Morats manoeuvre to cover the Deva that will surely pop his head up and cause trouble.

Brutus- the Yaogat armed with a Combi rifle- moves to cover the Deva (prone).

Anyat comes around the corner of the rocks to cover the Deva's position with her first short skill.

The Tacbot HMG spots Anyat and AROs.  It misses!  And then in my excitement- I forget to perform my second short skill (which probably would have been to dodge anyway).


VICTORY POINTS- TURN 1:
With one quadrant each- the game is tied!

ALEPH: 1
MORAT: 1


TURN 2- ALEPH

Would the real Slim Shady please stand up?  Please stand up?  Please stand up?

The Deva stands up and opens up with his Spitfire.  If you want to win big, you have to roll for big wins right?

Two dice on Caesar- spitfire to spitfire- and then one die each to Brutus and Anyat.

Caesar fails his guts roll, Brutus comes out swinging!

Caesar fails miserably with his ARO and is hit.  Luckily his armour holds- he fails his guts roll- and he drops prone.

This was the last bit of luck the Deva had- as he misses Brutus and Anyat.

Combi-rifle proves useful.  Brutus finally kills something!

Brutus nails the Deva twice with his combi-rifle and the cyborg unluckily fails both armour rolls and is killed.

(We didn't bother rolling Anyat's shot as the Deva missed her totally in their face to face roll.)

With the eastern flank sorted out... a nasty little surprise walked onto the western flank!

Catch me if you can!

The Garuda walks onto the western flank with AD level 2.  Spotting the HMG beasty, the nearest Preta dodges back into total cover behind the tower.  

The Garuda wasn't deterred and raced over to line up a HMG burst onto the critter.  Luckily, in his eagerness to engage- the Garuda walks into chain rifle range!

Yeah buddy!

In the first exchange, the Garuda hits with two HMG rounds.  And the Preta passes both its armour checks!  No way!

It's not all my way, as the Garuda shrugs off the Preta's chain rifle shot and has another shot!

Deja-vu...

The Garuda fires again.  The Preta chain rifles back.  The HMG hits once- I roll my armour check....

.... and pass again!

The Garuda passes his armour roll too!

Sensing he was consuming too many orders on this 5 point critter, the Garuda moves on...

To hunt more Pretas!

The Garuda moves around the White Tower block and sees a Preta in the open.  The Preta tries to dodge- rolling a 3- but is pummelled by the HMG rounds and killed instantly.

Splat!

The robot rampage continues!

Climbing onto the nearby hill, the Garuda spies another Morat!

... The Oznat!

The Oznat tries to dodge- in vain- and she is gunned down mercilessly.

The Garuda shifts position and draws a bead on....

... Steggles the Ikadron!

I feel like chicken tonight!

The Ikadron drops a flash pulse (not a bad chance actually- requiring a 13 or less)- but the dice gods have abandoned me by this point and the Ikadron is blown to scrap.

...fried robot chicken!

TURN 2- MORAT

Right... having killed an Asura, the Deva spitfire, a Myrmidon and a Deva + Devabot- they must be close to the Retreat threshold now.  If I can nail a few more figures, this will be the last turn.

With that in mind, Impetuous Orders go first!

Chain rifle time!

The Preta skulking behind the White Tower block charges towards the Garuda who misses with it's HMG ARO.   The Sophotect is a better shot- hitting and wounding the Preta.

Chain rifle kill!

But it's too late as the Preta chain rifles the Garuda who fails his armour check and is knocked out of the fight.

Run and dodge!

The western most Preta is clearly feeling lucky after surviving two rounds of fire with the Garuda and Impetuously advances towards the nearest Deva.

The Preta passes his Dodge roll but it's not needed as the Deva's  ARO shot misses.  (Clearly panicked by the thought of a 5 point model chain rifling him to death!)

Dodge!

My remaining Preta advances towards the HMG tacbot and the dodges.  The HMG shot goes wide- by a lot (18!)- and the Preta hunkers down by the sandbags.

Time to use the Experimental Drug!

Dr. Worm's Slave drone moves-moves towards Cicero.  With his next order, he rolls to heal... and gets a 14!  Critical!

Back in the fight! (Ignore that TO marker- it's a Link leader marker proxy).

Revived and invigorated, Cicero grabs his multi-sniper rifle and stands up.

Who can I shoot at?

You!  You want some!

That HMG tacbot is still covering the two eastern Quadrants.

The round of fire is brief...

Cicero takes shoots at the HMG bot.. and misses with both his shots.

Both!  Aren't you supposed to be a sniper or something?!

To add insult to injury, the HMG bot's return fire knocks Cicero unconscious.

Some things just aren't meant to be.

If not by strength, then maybe by guile...

Anyat uses a bit of spec-ops lateral thinking and throws smoke in front of her position.  It lands in the nearest quadrant and conveniently blocks the line of sight of the HMG tacbot.

Advance under cover of smoke!

Anyat, cleverly concealed, now runs forward into the smoke and claims a Quadrant!

I considered pushing my Pretas forward and chain rifling the nearby enemies- the Morat is strong in me.  But the mission was Quadrant control- not smash the enemy in the face.

With ALEPH in Retreat, this would be the last turn.  I flipped my last couple of orders over.


VICTORY POINTS- TURN 2:
I now had 3 quadrants- whilst the remaining ALEPH forces were in their deployment zone.  I had also completed my Classified objective.

ALEPH: 1
MAF: 5

Morat Victory!


CONCLUSION

It was a fun game and a big thanks to my opponent who was a great sport (and who also brought along a big bag of chips to share!)

Those rules errors I made and only picked up when writing this batrep I'll hopefully not make again.  The good thing is that I've picked it up now and not a few months down the track in the middle of a more competitive game.

Apart from the rules I got wrong- I was impressed with the Yaogat Link team.   It's very expensive but also very effective.

The downside is that the panzerfaust toting Lieutenant- despite costing ZERO SWC- is vulnerable as he is leading from the front.  It seemed that he was fated to die- even if the first Asura succumbed to the twin panzerfausts- the second one would have been able to take him out.

Having a cheap hide able Lieutenant option continues to be an elusive goal for the MAF.

Being able to go second actually worked out OK in Quadrant Control- but it still feels uncomfortable.   I don't like being reactive and as my Yaogat link team found out- they don't much enjoy it either!

I hope you enjoyed reading this batrep and got something out of it!

Until next time, happy wargaming!