My old buddy PJ, who got me into this game in the first place, came to visit. He’s prepping for a big tournament down in Houston that has Biotechvore, Deadly Dance, The Armory, and Engineering Deck. He’s never played Biotechvore or StarCo, so I pulled out an old StarCo list and my models and we threw down on the plane crash table.

Overview

Mission : Biotechvore

: Biotechvore Forces : Invincible Army versus StarCo, Free Company of the Star (300)

: versus (300) Deploy First : StarCo

: First Turn: StarCo

Biotechvore DĀOYĪNG Lieutenant L2 Hacker (Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 29)

GŪIJIĂ MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / AP CCW. (2 | 88)

GŪIJIĂ PILOT Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. () YĀN HUǑ (FTO) 2 Missile Launchers / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 52)

ZÚYŎNG (Fireteam: Haris, Tactical Awareness) Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 34)

HǍIDÀO Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28) ZHANSHI HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19)

ZHANSHI Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)

ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

ZHANSHI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)

PANGGULING FTO (Repeater) Light Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 13) 10 | 6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

I wanted to try out Invincible Army for fun, and put my LE Guija on the table, also for fun. I figured the Yan Huo 2xML profile would make for a reasonable Haris anchor in a Biotechvore list, and then the rest of the list basically wrote itself trying to fit in order efficiency in the tiny amount of points I had left.

Biotechvore MOBILE BRIGADA Lieutenant MULTI Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 39)

MOBILE BRIGADA HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 42)

MOBILE BRIGADA Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot B (Deflector L2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 37)

SEÑOR MASSACRE Boarding Shotgun, E/M Grenades, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, E/M CCW. (0 | 26)

DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) BRAWLER (Fireteam: Haris) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)

BRAWLER (Multispectral Visor L2) MULTI Sniper / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)

SPECTOR FTO (Regular) MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser, Drop Bears / Pistol, E/M2 CC Weapon. (0 | 36) UHAHU Hacker (Hacking Device Plus. UPGRADE: Icebreaker) Pitcher, D-Charges / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)

EMILY (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and E/M), Nanopulser / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) 10 | 5.5 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army

The StarCo list that I had is pretty fun and has some great order efficiency and staying power, which is great for Biotechvore.

Deployment

The tournament that PJ is prepping for isn’t Limited Insertion, but I’ve only played Biotechvore in the LI format. It did make for a really easy setup though, since we each only had 10 troopers on the table. The main part of the plane fuselage blocks a significant amount of LoF on the table so we both set up our core links on that side of the table.

PJ used the plane wing to set up his Brawler MSR in an overwatch position, just in case he needed to clear out some AROs. Uhahu hung out my left, and then it was my turn to deploy.

PJ had bunched up his Brigada core, prone, so to pin them further I placed the Yan Huo in view of them should they stand up, supported by the other Haris members prone nearby. The Zhanshi core went on the right, and the Daoying managed to deploy a few inches up. PJ put down Emily near Uhahu, and I put the Guija near my Haidao, just in case.

Turn 1

Top of 1 – StarCo

Massacre crawls around and throws some smoke for the Brigada core. They painstakingly make their way forward over a few orders, and then PJ turns his attention to the rest of his list.

Emily grenades both the Yan Huo and the Guija, critting the Yan Huo. The Guija manages to pass BTS though, so at least that works out.

The rest of PJ’s orders are spent running straight up the field. He manages to get the Haris upfield and tucked into a bit of fuselage along with Emily and Uhahu. Sadly, he ran out of orders for the core to spread out into cover and ended with them bunched up in the main part of the plane fuselage.

His hard work has paid off, and no one falls to the swarm of Biotechvore nanobees.

Bottom of 1 – IA

I start things off by trying to knock out Raoul with some shock rounds from the Guija. I barely manage to hit him once and he passes ARM.

The Guija does block LoF to the Haidao though, letting me get him use the Zuyong’s tactical awareness order to across a gap and then go prone to get into base to base with the Yan Huo, fixing the E/M damage in one roll.

I reform the Haris and advance the whole team, dragging the Yan Huo behind and splitting burst three ways–once against Raoul, once against Massacre, and once against the Brigada MULTI Rifle. Raou dodges but the link shoots back with Massacre throwing smoke and the Brigada HMG shooting the Haidao and doing a wound.

Raoul escapes with only one wound, but I manage to stack at least one missile hit on every member of the Brigada link thanks to some lucky rolling and their bunched up position. Only the Brigada Tinbot survives.

I’m not out of the zone yet, and the Zhanshi haven’t even activated yet. I start pushing them up the field, gunning down the Brawler MSR in one order.

I keep pushing up and I’m eventually forced to give Emily a grenade shot on the team–she grenades the Panguling out of the link but my Zuyong HMG passes BTS and then guns her down on the next order.

I coordinate an order to get the Haris members (breaking the link) and the Guija further forward. I reform the Haris again and gun down Uhahu with the Zuyong’s combi, but lose the Haidao to a long range shot from the Brigada Tinbot.

The Daoying blows both of its Lieutenant orders getting out of the zone and then I lose the Panguling and a trailing Zhanshi FO to the Biotechvore zone.

Turn 2

Top of 2 – StarCo

PJ’s got three models left, the Brawler, Raoul in NWI, and the Brigada Tinbot, who is miraculously unscathed after eating a missile to the face. He pushes all three towards the central of the table despite being in loss of lieutenant. Their proximity, if nothing else, will let them mutually support one another.

Bottom of 2 – IA

The turn passes back to me, so I quickly nab Data Scan with my Daoying before recamoing it.

The Zuyong starts moving up to secure the HVT since I won’t be getting Test Run now. This also lets me get close to having LoF to the Brawler.

I put a wound on the Brigada Tinbot with the Guija, and then get greedy and try to flamethrower Raoul and the Brigada, who dropped prone. I wasn’t really considering dodge engage from Raoul, so I ended up splitting burst on the HMG between all of PJ’s remaining models instead, which did absolutely nothing to anyone and let Raoul engage.

I assuage my guilt at my stupidity by gunning down the Brawler with the Zuyong Haris.

The Zuyong loses a wound the biotechvore zone on PJ’s side of the table. Whoops.

Turn 3

Top of 3 – StarCo

PJ, in a characteristically ballsy move, had made Raoul his lieutenant and started swinging at the Guija in close combat. I managed to win the first face to face because PJ rolled a 1, but he rolled a 20 on ARM, eliciting a high five moment!

The rest of his orders go into successfully critting the TAG and E/Ming it. I pass ARM, so he scoots Raoul to safety, shooting the Guija with Raoul’s MULTI Rifle and doing a wound on the way.

Bottom of 3 – IA

The Zuyong guns down Raoul and moves out of the biotechvore zone, then I send in the Daoying to shotgun the Brigada in the back.

My last orders are spent getting one of my Zhanshi CASEVAC’ed for my last classified, including securing the HVT instead of Test Run.

PJ had killed enough stuff to keep me from the full 10-0, making it a

9-0 Invincible Army Victory!

Post Game Analysis

Fun game, if a bit brutal introduction to Biotechvore. I talked with PJ afterwards and we agreed that the best course of action would’ve been to E/M the Yan Huo as he did first instead of second. This would’ve allowed him to advance the Brigada core safely, while shooting the Yan Huo with an HMG the entire way, removing it as a threat entirely.

On my end of things, the Yan Huo 2x ML is quite powerful on a saturation zone heavy table if the enemy leaves multiple things bunched up. I don’t think I’ll get this opportunity again, but it’s worth remembering for the future. Burst 3 ML is pretty effin’ GROSS.

I do think that I made a big mistake with the Guija. No need to advance so far, and even if I made that mistake, I should’ve dumped all 4 shots into Raoul instead of splitting burst. No need to split whatsoever, the Brigada Tinbot cannot 1 hit KO me and the Brawler was facing the Zuyong and thus I was in its back arc. Ah well. Silly mistakes. I like the list quite a bit. It’s fun and actually plays pretty well to IA’s strengths. It’s also well-suited for Biotechvore without being those LI 17-order 5-man Zuyong lists.

Not a terribly representative game for StarCo, but a fun exercise overall. I’m enjoying working TAGs into my playstyle some more. They’re going to be really fun to paint!