Interplanetary has just finished up, which means that we’ve got ourselves a new Infinity player for everybody to chase after: Kristoff won with his Qapu Khalqi force. Kristoff goes over how he’s improved, what makes him a good Infinity player and his opinion on a quickly growing area of controversy with Infinity. I asked for an Interview and he graciously agreed. He beat out tough competition for first place, including Infinity Forumites i0003, IJW and Ghost_from_the_warp. Kristoff QK managed to vanquish Japanese Sectorial Army, Ariadna and Aleph – three factions considered to have serious advantages in the tournament circuit.

1. What do you attribute to your success at Interplanetary?

Well, I’ve been playing this game almost every week for about 2 years. Still didn’t get bored with it.

I also put great emphasis on knowing and understanding the rules and game mechanics. Reading up “Rules of Engagement” subsection with some tea/coffee is a part of my daily routine. And as my friend once ironically said, “knowing the rules usually helps”.

Besides that I’ve been playing Qapu Khalqi with a Djanbazan/KTS link for over a year now. I know the capabilities of each unit and how to use them efficiently. That makes me sound a little smug. What I want to say is that there are no longer situations where at the beginning of my turn I’m wondering for 5-10 minutes on what to do. I can devise a plan and prioritize actions more quickly now. In the past my friend used to go for a smoke whenever my first turn started. That’s because it took me about 10-15 minutes to decide on deployment of my Yuan Yuans.

2. What were your list building decisions that paid off?

First of all, I had every possible specialist, so there were no problems with Classified Objectives and Highly Classified.

Second of all, I tried to compose my Combat Groups for biggest Order efficiency. For an example, if my Link was blocked by something or simply didn’t have anything to do, those Orders could always be used for my surviving Yuan Yuan or Al’Hawwa Hacker. Also Djanabzan link eats up Orders a lot. That’s why I had a Ghulam Doctor right next to it from the second Combat Group. She would fix them up without wasting precious Orders from the first Combat Group.

Maxed out Al’Hawwas worked great. Their main job was pressing buttons but they were also very useful on Supremacy and Transmission Matrix where I needed troops scoring in the field. Also Djan link was stationed in DZ most of the time, so having multiple models in the middle of the table was very important.

Yuan Yuan as always did their job. One or two died after dispersion, but overall they were whipping with Chain Rifles squishy units in enemy’s DZ pretty well. And they allowed me the pretty obvious Smoke + Djanbazan combo.

Djanbazans did excellent. While Yuan Yuan and Al’Hawwas were prancing around the table, these guys were sitting in my DZ looking scary. Djan Sniper was very good at soaking Orders in my reactive turn. Djan HMG was popping up his head only to clear opponents ARO one by one through Smoke.

Now when I look at it, having only single offensive model with HMG was a big gambit. Fortunately only in a game against Leirbag I’ve lost my Djan HMG very early due to Speculo. I’m going to experiment with having an Odalisque Spitfire as a backup. Also she’ll be able to go out into the table more freely, which you can’t do very much with a Link. Skilled opponent will dismantle a link in the middle of the table very easily.

And last but not the least, Shihab (that’s Total Reaction HMG for you infidels)! Very good at soaking Orders from the enemy. Four dice ARO is nothing to be scoffed at. Especially since in this game Criticals trump everything.

3. How do other hobbies or games help you get a deeper understanding of Infinity?

I can’t think of any. I’m that odd guy that didn’t touch any miniature game before Infinity. In a weird way it might have helped me. I wasn’t used already to the flow of games like Warhammer 40,000 so things like ARO or Face to Face rolls weren’t so weird to me.

4. “Intent-based” Infinity is quickly becoming the game’s most controversial topic. How do you feel about playing with or without Intent?

While in N2 it wasn’t clear, in N3 it is specified that players “can’t be dicks” when it comes to LoF checking. I’m referring to the Gaming Etiquette box on page 61.

So technically players can place an S2 template and ask how many minis can draw LoF to it ad infinitum. While some players might not like it, I think it is better to agree that it is possible to snipe a single guy and speed things up. I don’t find it to be so painful and I think that only people fielding two snipers huddled together are really upset by it.

In N2 I had people bark at me that they won’t tell me whether his figures can draw LoF to my active mini until I declare my movement. I much more prefer N3 approach to how unfriendly and aggressive movement declarations could get in N2.

5. What factor made you decide you were ready for a Tournament?

I knew the rules and had the miniatures? Honestly, I think everybody should try to frequent as many tournaments as possible. That’s were you actually test yourself and learn the most.

Thank you very much for taking the time to be interviewed Kristoff and congratulations on the win!