August is over and so is our first mission! Thank you to everyone who wrote in with their thoughts. If you’re just joining us, here’s all that’s happened so far. We’ve asked you all to try out the new Tunguska Zondnautica on the table and give us some feedback on how it went:

We got some table time in with the profiles ourselves and shared our thoughts with you, along with some tips and tricks to use on the tabletop:

And you all responded! A big thank you to all who wrote in, and to all those who thought about it but ran out of time. Your heart’s in the right place, just get those fingers on a keyboard next time!

Feedback Summary

The general summary of the feedback we got is that the Zondnautica needs to be carefully used–it’s not a fire and forget missile that can charge its way up a flank unsupported on the first turn and eat someone’s deployment zone. It represents a fairly sizable point investment and is high threat enough that it can become a priority target for our opponents.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the AHD profile was found to be an excellent specialist, as it comes with smoke and a hacking device, where the other profiles offered some good flanking power with the BSG profile doing a great job of breaking links.

Here’s a few highlights, tricks, and lessons that we picked out:

When dismounted, you can pair the Zondmate and Zondnaut (positioned correctly) to get a “poor man’s 360 visor.”

Deploying dismounted lets you cover two approaches with different rangebands, depending on the profile.

Be careful of your Zondnaut’s positioning when dismounted and trying to land a chain rifle–you don’t want to block your own template.

Looking forward to seeing what you Bromads cook up for Mission 002!

–WiseKensai

A big congratulations to Viktor who was randomly chosen as this month’s recipient of some sweet Micro Art Studios swag! Viktor will be receiving a Tournament Tray Deluxe! – WiseKensai

Raw Feedback

We’ve included the full text of all the emails we got below, edited only to remove people’s last names, email addresses, that sort of thing.

Dave

Hey, first of all, I love what you’re doing with the academy, great idea and I’m excited to participate!

I haven’t played Infinity for almost a year, but I’ve kept up with the news and whatnot, so I was stoked to try the Zondnautica in my first game back, playing Frontline.

I proxied with a tsyklon, mostly just because it was the right size, but I plan to convert something more accurate soon, as that proxy caused me a few problems.

My opponent was playing Combined, which was new for me, and had a really good ARO setup, with a TR bot in cover and two Rodok missile launchers who were part of a full link. I therefore decided to hold the Zondnautica back and cancel his impetuous move for the first turn.

This ended up being very useful, as he was able to hang out in total cover and be safe. Because he wasn’t zooming up the board right away, he could actually use his assault hacking device against some remotes thanks to the repeater coverage we Nomads do so well.

Sadly, mine died to a Fraacta in the bottom of turn 1, but if it had survived, I could have sent it up the board to take an objective or threaten an enemy from an unexpected angle.

Speaking of unexpected angles, keeping the zondnautica back also allowed me to experiment with using it to cover ground. I realized that it can disembark and go back to back to get a poor-man’s 360 visor, with the zondmate facing one way and the zondnaut facing the other. Great way to avoid getting surprised by something (my dice were against me in practice, but I still think the theory is sound).

Last thing to my fellow Bromads: don’t forget the frikkin’ smoke grenade launcher! If I’d remembered that it existed, my Intruder would have lived longer and I wouldn’t have had to worry about my opponent’s TR bot at all. A smoke lgl is your best friend, especially on something this mobile.

Hope there are a couple of useful tidbits amongst my ramblings, and I can’t wait for next month’s mission!

Go Go Bromads!

– Dave, aka J4bberw0ck

Jason

I proxied a Zondnautica in my vanilla Nomads list this week against Steel Phalanx. I used the Boarding Shotgun profile. I struggled to make good use out of it. I moved up aggressively and got a few shots off, but it died with little success. I’m going to give it some more tries, but my first use of a bike in Nomads didn’t go great.

Joe

Hey Bromads,

New Tunguska convert here. Let me start off with this- I’m thrilled with the blog; I’ve really been wanting some regularly updated Infinity resource on the internet, and it just so happens that I find this fine website after I won the Tunguska starter in a local ITS event.

So, in keeping with the fine spirit of the Bromad Academy, I threw the Zondnautica spitfire profile into a trial limited insertion list with my Tunguska. My opponent, playing HB and taking second turn/second deployment while playing Firefight, counterdeployed my Zondnaut with his second Fiday. In short, the Fiday kept the Zondnaut locked down tight- despite having the burst advantage, a good shotgun shot knocked the Zondnaut out.

I intend to throw the Zondnautica in more lists, but I fear that the this unit will be very much like Aragatos in JSA. These units were always one trick ponies- sometimes they do well in a firefight, but they generally last for 1-ish major firefights. In short, I feel like the Zondnautica is a more expensive version of the Aragato. It’s nice that they have smoke, but I feel like I’d much rather take Perseus for the same role.

I will keep testing and hopefully find some uses. Thanks for the hard work on the site. Keep it up!

Hello again, Bromad council-

I am reporting back after giving my second serious attempt at running the Zondnautica. Much like my previous attempt, my opponent went first and was able to neutralize my Zondnautica in the first turn.

In this attempt, I was playing against a pseudo-TAK (Ariadna playing mainly TAK units). Knowing the amount of forward pressure TAK could play, I deployed the Zondnaut (w/ spitfire) in heavy cover, covering one very isolated firelane. I left the bike to cover another potential lane that an antipode pack or other infiltrators may attempt to use to put pressure on my line first turn. Despite deploying the Zondnaut dismounted and covering a very isolated firelane, a vet kazakh was still able to work forward and take the Zondnaut out.

An argument can be made that the Zondnautica played a role in distracting the enemy offense (the only model I lost in the first turn), but the Zondnatuica again suffered the same fate as many other bikes I have tried. Despite deploying in heavy cover and attempting to cover multiple lanes, the Zondnautica under-performed for me again.

While a sample size of two games isn’t great, but I feel that the Zondnautica continues to suffer from the bike problems I’ve had in other factions. Add on top of this the bike’s added cost and the opportunity cost for the Zondnautica feels just a little too extreme. I feel the Zondnautica occupies too expensive a spot to keep taking in the already expensive slots of TJC. While I will likely keep trying it, I doubt the Zondnautica will be a continued inclusion.

Jorge

First of all, thank you for the initiative! It helps a lot of players to have a deeper, analytical insight in their paying and that will make us become better.

As for this mission, lets see what I got from this new unit:

All three profiles are useful, but I would set apart the AHD from the other two, I see it as a fast mission accomplisher on top of the offensive capabilities that can use smoke himself to cover approach, objective and retreat and cover a side of the board from advancing REMs or TAGs if there is enough cover.

Spitfire: clearly aggressive, good profile. Maybe too fast for a spitfire as an impetuous order can take you too close to the enemy. Gimmick of firing with both zond and pilot very feasible in spitfire’s +3 band, but be careful not pacing the bike too far ahead or it may get away with the impetuous order

BSG: cheaper and considering than in 2 or 3 orders you can already be in the good shooting band, having sprayed smoke along the way, it might be better aggressive option than the spitfire. Dismounting and shooting is a bit trickier with this loadout as not to caught the pilot under the template

Overall, very good harassing piece against softer targets: use smoke and mobility to strike where they don’t expect you too. Useful gimmick, mounting to move faster and dismounting to push enemies not to shoot back or getting a free hit. Maybe fastest specialist around?

I played two battles against my brother’s Tohaa with them but I won’t include the first one because the only Zondnautica I deployed got a silly crit in it’s second order without doing anything remarkable. We played safe ground next and I wish the report’s good enough – we have no photos because the lighting we have here is terrible

As for proxy, I dont have many minis so I just used Sputniks that are same base size.

I clip my list, his, and the Battle Report.

Here’s Jorge’s battle report! –WiseKensai

Viktor

Hi WiseKensai!

I played two Zondnautica lists in my most recent tournament on Sunday. It was the local replacement tournament for the guys not going to the Interplanetario, so we made it Frontline/Highly Classified/Supremacy with Limited Insertion and Soldiers of Fortune.

You can find the lists below:

In Frontline I played against a JSA player. During his first turn, he lost his deep infiltrated Kitsune to a set of Koalas and the Boarding Shotgun of a Puppetbot, and proceeded to push up with a Tanko/Musashi Haris. My turn began be canceling the Impetuous Movement, to prevent running into a missile launcher, I smoked the Tanko and moved , dismounting in smoke to hit the non-ML Tanko with both Chain Rifle and Boarding Shotgun. While the Zondnautica and his Zondmate both died, I was able to use the Smoke to follow up on the ML Tanko with my Intruder HMG. Consequently I pushed my Kriza LT midfield, killing a Domaru Duo and the CoC Kempetai that pushed up to hold his close sector. With him in Loss of Lieutenant (Kitsune was the LT), he could not stop me from taking a 5-0. (I lacked the orders to take his far sector without risking loosing the center to Musashi and a Tanko)

In Highly Classified i played against Tohaa who pushed up with a Rasail to kill 4 Units including my Zondnaut before my first turn. My Tomcat could not deploy unseen due to the table being extremely open and was crit when it came in. In the end I was able to solve 2 Objectives to his 1 (+his Secondary), before being shot into retreat and taking a bruised and battered 6-3 win. I was really salty because three of the Main Objectives (Experimental Drug, Telemetry, Espionage and Data Scan) could have been solved by the Zondnatutica AHD, with Smoke allowing me free access to anything I need. I deployed my Zond on the left, with his MSV2 Triad on the right, giving me access to both HVT and easy troopers in total cover to hack.

In Supremacy I played against Steel Phalanx, and this is where the Zondnautica really shined. In his first turn he pushed his Enomotarchos (Phoenix, Machaon, Myrmidon, Myrmidon Officer) all the way up, taking down two of my orders, and getting into CC with my intruder., after taking Grenade AROs that required him to use Machaon for healing. I proceeded to flank that Team with Smoke, Chain Rifle and a Boarding Shotgun, taking out the entire team (except for the split off Officer engaged with my Intruder). However I got greedy and pushed the bike all the way over to the other side to take out a Thorakitai FO, who promtly Chainrifled the Zondnaut, while going down. My opponent proceeded to rule unfettered over the domain with Achilles and a Thorakitai Link. While trying to challenge the Feuerbach in the Open with my Kriza Boracs LT, I took a crit to go unconscious (already took a wound from the Myrmidon Link), and was basically out of options. In my last turn I lucked out killing Achilles with my Puppetbot Red Fury, but came in late, finishing 3-6 (even Zone Domination, he got two consoles and his Classified).

Overall, I really love the Zondnautica, and I will for sure get a proper Bike proxy to represent him instead of an unpainted S4 Drone and an Alguacil. I feel like he is an exceptional tool for Highly Classified, where the AHD can fulfill 6/10 Classifieds (Data Scan, Telemetry, Espionage, Designation, Extreme Prejudice AND Kidnapping), and spending your first turn driving him across the field can put you ahead fast. Only Zoe & PI-Well solve more Objectives at 7/10.

Editor’s Note: The Zondnautica cannot do HVT: Kidnapping, as Synchronize Civilian requires that the declaring model not be impetuous, so it’s really 5/10 not 6/10 as Viktor states above.

The Boarding Shotgun Profile is also great. It massively punishes Links that push up carelessly, and can Alphastrike deep, by abusing smoke cover. However it also demands broad streets and at least some cover, and may be forced to do awkward movements if the passages from your DZ are too tight. Canceling the Impetuous is very important if your opponent deploys strong ARO pieces. Remember to Dismount before any fighting and remount to traverse great distances. Putting two templates down in one order is exceptionally powerful.

Following are the two lists I played.

Best Regards,

ViktorMKa

Frontline/Supremacy PUPPET MASTERS Submachine Gun / PistolKnife. (0 | 12)

PUPPETBOT Red Fury / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 16)

PUPPETBOT (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 11)

PUPPETBOT (Marksmanship L1) AP Marksman Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)

INTERVENTOR Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)

ZONDNAUT Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)

ZONDMATE Chain Rifle, Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Electric Pulse. (5)

INTRUDER HMG, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 42)

KRIZA BORAC Lieutenant (360º Visor) Mk12, Submachine Gun / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 64)

SALYUT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)

HECKLER Boarding Shotgun, E/Marat / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)

EMILY (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and E/M), Nanopulser / Assault Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35) 10 1 | 5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Highly classified PUPPETBOT Red Fury / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 16)

PUPPETBOT (Marksmanship L1) AP Marksman Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)

PUPPETBOT (Forward Observer) Boarding Shotgun / Electric Pulse. (0 | 11)

PUPPET MASTERS (Minelayer) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines / PistolKnife. (0.5 | 14)

ZONDNAUT Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31)

ZONDMATE Chain Rifle, Smoke Light Grenade Launcher / Electric Pulse. (5)

ZOE & PI-WELL . (0 | 47)

ZOE (Hacking Device. UPGRADE: Stop!) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 28)

PI-WELL Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0 | 19)

MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)

TSYKLON Spitfire, Pitcher / Electric Pulse. (1 | 31)

INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)

INTRUDER HMG, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 42)

ZERO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)

TOMCAT Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower + 1 Zondcat / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26)

ZONDCAT Electric Pulse. (4) 10 1 | 6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Omoikane x8