I arrived at game night thoroughly overcaffinated and ready to put my Nomads on the table again. Doug (DoodleKing), one of our newer players, and his beautifully painted Combined Army were my opponent. Isaac (xammy) is the owner of this amazing paint job, and the builder of our table for the evening.





We were trying out the new Countermeasures mission, which was pretty exciting! It’s quite complicated and adds a new minigame to the whole affair, and a new source of randomness. Let’s see how we got on!

Overview

Mission : Countermeasures

: Countermeasures Forces : Nomads versus Combined Army

: versus Deploy First : Combined Army

: First Turn: Combined Army

Nomads GROUP 1 | 10 2 REVEREND CUSTODIER Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34)

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)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

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

ZONDCAT Electric Pulse. (4)

KNAUF MULTI Sniper / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)

GECKO Mk12, Chain-colt, Blitzen / . (0.5 | 58)

GECKO PILOT 2 Assault Pistols, Knife. ()

PROWLER Spitfire, D-Charges / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 36)

KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14)

KRAKOT RENEGADE 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 14)

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

GROUP 2 | 4 3 LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10)

MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)

MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)

MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, E/M CCW. (0 | 6)

5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

I built this list primarily to put a Gecko, Prowler Spitfire, and Knauf on the table. I’ve faced Knauf a few times now, thanks to Erik’s (Zelaponeepus) experimentation and have really liked the performance that Erik got out of him. Also, I promised more different Erik (Teelskire), who painted up the Uhahu and Jethro that I won at Humboldt, that I would make sure to use them in as many battle reports as I could!

Combined Army AVATAR Lieutenant (Strategos L3) MULTI HMG, Sepsitor Plus / DA CCW. (3.5 | 137)

STALDRON Flash Pulse / Knife. (0 | 0)

Bit Hacker (UPGRADE: Expel) Submachine Gun + Pitcher, Deployable Repeater + KISS! / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19)

KISS! Adhesive Launcher / Electric Pulse. (- | 4)

NEXUS Hacker (EI Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nullifier / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)

MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)

ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)

ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)

MAAKREP TRACKER Boarding Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26)

UNIDRON Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)

UNIDRON Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 14)

SPECULO KILLER Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Monofilament CCW, Knife. (1 | 35)

10 | 5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Doug’s got an Avatar list for me today. Small wonder. It’s a sick model, and Isaac did a great job painting it up! He’s missing the usual Q-Drone I see out of Adam, but the list itself is pretty fun. I like the Unidrons instead of the Ikadrons. More expensive, but they’re much harder to remove in my active turn!

Deployment

Doug wins the roll and chooses to go first. There’s definitely a table side with less cover, so I give him that one. He informs me that Strategos L3 is in effect, which I knew from the giant Avatar on his model tray, but I pretend to be surprised.

Not much to say about his deployment. Unidrons watching his flanks, Imetrons scattered into random spots, Bit and Kiss on the left, with Dr. Worm in the middle. Maakrep on the left to guard one of his HVTs, with the other two largely undefended on the right.

I stick the Prowler on top of a tall building where it can see into his deployment zone if I need to pick something off–the exclusion zone SUUCKS in this mission. Krakots on both sides and a Libertos protecting all three of my HVTs along with a Transductor. I put Zoe and the Custodier down on the catwalk system and protect them against Speculos with a Morlock.

My Gecko goes behind the only thing big enough to cover all of it and has a Morlock buddy to protect it as well. Pi Well goes on the left, also guarded by a Morlock and backed up by a Zondbot. I look around for a good spot for Knauf, and find a DZ-to-DZ firelane where anything on Doug’s side of the table will have to be out of cover before shooting at me, and decide to put Knauf there.

Doug decides to play it safe and put down his Speculo in his dead zone, on a roof. What confused me was that he deployed it as a camo token, and told me it was a camo token, so I didn’t know to tell him that he could’ve deployed it in my deployment zone or in my dead zone even with the exclusion zone. Ah well. The Avatar went down in the spot I guessed it might, where it would have to deal with Knauf straight away.

Doug decided that having 2 extra orders from the DataTracker order and the Tactical Awareness order was going to be the thing to do, so he nominated his Avatar as his DataTracker. I wanted some more free hacking, so I nominated Zoe.

Turn 1

Top of 1 – Combined Army

Current Classifieds:

HVT: Designate

HVT: Inoculation

Net Undermine

Predator

Doug starts off by cycling Predator into Net Undermine. I placed Knauf correctly, so Doug is forced bring the Avatar out of cover to shoot at Knauf from outside 32″. Not the best odds, but I’ll take a net -9 to the Avatar versus my one on 13’s.

24.08 39.66 36.26

On Doug’s first order, he hits once but I pass ARM.

On his second order, I crit-stun the Avatar, basically knocking it out for the first turn. I’ll take that! Doug spends the rest of his turn setting things up. He runs his Maakrep forward, into the open, intending to better cover the table edge, I suppose, and then climbs his Nexus up to where his “camo” Speculo is before going prone. He then delivers Bit & Kiss to near one of my HVTs, and starts trying to Spotlight my HVT for HVT: Designation with his Nexus.

Doug blows the rest of his order pool into doing this, sadly failing. This also means the Maakrep is sitting out in the open.

Bottom of 1 – Nomads

Current Classifieds:

HVT: Designate

HVT: Inoculation

Net Undermine

I’m fine with the current list of objectives. I want to deal with the Avatar this turn, but don’t really have a great way of doing so other than getting a Morlock all the way over there… so the one that rolled Super Jump makes his way off the catwalk to start that process.

I cancel the Krakot on the right’s movement so he’s not glued by Kiss on his way in, and then everyone else makes it forward with their impetuous order without problems. The Krakot on the right rolled 6-4 Climbing+, which lets me get him into view of Bit and Kiss. They both shoot at him, so I double-chain rifle Bit into unconsciousness, but Kiss manages to glue the Krakot. Sigh. One more move would’ve let me deal with Maakrep that’s right around the corner of the building in the picture below.

The Prowler doesn’t have a shot, so I decide to send in Pi Well. The first shot is at -6, but both Doug and I whiff our shots and dodge, respectively.

39.45 27.84 32.70

After three more orders of triagulated fire at the above odds, the Maakrep finally dodges or fail guts out of LoF from anything.

This opens a window for my Morlock. I dump three command tokens into flipping irregular orders in my second pool to get smoke on the Avatar and E/M CCW in the face, isolating it and even doing a wound!

I have a few more orders, but not enough to get a classified, so I go for the double kill with my Krakot on the left, assuming the camo token is actually a camo token. I climb the Krakot up and declare I’m double chain-rifling the Nexus and catching the camo token in the blast.

Doug reveals a Speculo to dodge. This is supposed to be a teaching game of sorts, so I let him put it back in impersonation state and settle for just chain rifling the Nexus into unconsciousness.

Turn 2

Top of 2 – Combined Army

Current Classifieds:

Extreme Prejudice

HVT: Designate

HVT: Inoculation

Net Undermine

Doug cycles Net Undermine out for Extreme Prejudice. He’s in loss of lieutenant, but he starts by fixing The Avatar with Dr. Worm, and then tries to CC my Morlock. I win and the Avatar is E/Med again.

Doug starts spending command tokens and Dr. Worm fixes the Avatar again, then Doug tries CCing again. This time, he passes both saves. I suggest he try shooting the Morlock with something. After explaining that mechanic, Doug decides to use the nearby Unidron and gets exactly the dice he needs, putting the Morlock unconscious.

The Avatar grabs Extreme Prejudice….

then finally beats Knauf.

The Speculo still has an order, so it dives into close combat with my Krakot. I Berserk, neither of us crit, and I fail my save against Mono while Doug makes two against DA CCW. Sigh. I missed an ARO here from Pi Well, who had been buffed for Burst 2 by Zoe with her DataTracker order from the last turn.

Bottom of 2 – Nomads

Current Classifieds:

HVT: Designate

HVT: Inoculation

Nanoespionage

Nanoesponiage rotates in after Extreme Prejudice. I spend the first few orders trying to shoot the Speculo while it dodges with Pi Well.

39.06 23.96 36.99

Nothing’s working, so I smoke out the Speculo and go for the classifieds, which I should’ve done in the first place. Or just shot the Speculo with the Prowler, who, in my disgust at the dice this game I’ve entirely forgotten about.

84.39 9.66 5.96

The Gecko’s tactical awareness order would’ve worked too:

53.18 16.95 29.87

In any case, I bring on the Tomcat on the left, grab HVT: Inoculation, and then go through the smoke to try and get HVT: Designation with Pi Well. I fail miserably at Forward Observing the HVT and am forced to pass turn with everything out of position.

Had I been smarter and used the correct tool, I wouldn’t have had this problem. Bah! This time I remember about my Gecko’s Tactical Awareness order and try to Blitzen the Avatar but fail.

Turn 3

Top of 3 – Combined Army

Current Classifieds:

Experimental Drug

HVT: Designate

In Extremis Recovery

Nanoespionage

Experimental Drug rotates in off of HVT: Inoculation, and Doug wisely cycles HVT: Designate into In Extremis Recovery. After picking Bit up with Dr. Worm to get Experimental Drug, Doug starts marching the Avatar around, trying to sepsitor my Tomcat. Pi Well’s repeater lets me hack away, but I can’t make a WIP roll this game it seems.

He gets the Avatar into view of the Tomcat for a few orders, blasting everything with a Sepsitor. The Zondcat and Tomcat dodge away while Pi Well keeps flubbing flash pulses and the Morlock dodges closer. Zoe and the Custodier furiously stab at their smartphones, trying to hack the Avatar, but absolutely nothing is landing.

Thankfully, I keep dodging with the Tomcat and finally get an engage off with the Morlock, stopping the Avatar.

Bottom of 3 – Nomads

Current Classifieds:

In Extremis Recovery

Nanoespionage

Mapping

Sabotage

Sabotage rotates in off of Experimental Drug, and I cycle it immediately to get Mapping. My Morlock dies to to the Avatar on its impetuous order. Great. I spend my Datatracker and Lieutenant order on trying to IMM-1 the Avatar, and finally something sticks.

I roll the Zondcat into base to base and electric pulse it for good measure, and then I send in the Tomcat. It double-crits the Speculo off the table, and then I climb it up into base to base with the Nexus.

I can get Nanoespionage and In Extremis Recovery off of the Nexus, so I start by failing my Nanoespionage roll. Great. Another order, and I’ve got it. I go for In Extremis Recovery on a 16, and fail on a 17. I start looking around for a hail mary, and notice an order token off to the side… We replay the turn, and it turns out I forgot to count the Prowler’s order! I take a deep breath, throw a die into my dice cup, rattle it around, and upend it to reveal… another 17.

We’re tied on objectives, but Doug did Extreme Prejudice with his Avatar, giving him two more points.

6-4 Combined Army Victory!

Post Game Analysis

Well, Doug did a good job recovering from loss of lieutenant in turn two. The Avatar is a pain in the ass to deal with, and I just didn’t have the resources to really put it down for good. I’m pretty pleased with the low tech solution of just punching it in the face though.

I placed the Prowler pretty stupidly. I even considered over-infiltrating it, but the exclusion zone really messed with my plan. All the more reason to read the mission before making a list!

I do think that using Pi Well to try and problem solve a gunfight was the wrong call. I basically had both of my gunfighters, the Gecko and the Prowler, out of the fight all game. I think that I had a deficit of guns on the right, and putting the Prowler on the ground over there would’ve done wonders to get me what I needed.

In any case, I also felt pretty light on AROs, and actually missed a few. Pi Well could’ve easily shot at the Speculo when it went to kill my Krakot, which would’ve saved me some orders later. Really what happened this game is the following:

I over-used Pi Well as a gunfighter in bad ranges, even with the correct tools (Triangulated Fire) This caused me to spend too many orders, which meant I had fewer orders to handle a bunch of failed WIP rolls.

In other words, yes, my dice screwed me this game, but I could’ve chosen better odds on a few key repeated rolls to give me more chances to roll better. I was pretty pleased with my soft control of the Avatar though. It might’ve been worth it to disengage from the Avatar at the bottom of one to chain rifle Dr. Worm when he came in… but the Unidron could’ve shot the Morlock, or the Speculo (although in that case my Krakot would’ve chain rifled it). In retrospect, I think this was the right call. Ah well. Not often that I practice having a Morlock in close combat with an Avatar.

As for the list, I don’t think there are any huge issues with it. I’m not sure the Prowler is worth it due the exclusion zone in this mission though. I was very pleased with the Zondcat. I took it specifically to electric pulse something, and electric pulsing the Avatar is about the best outcome there. It was even a good tactical decision because it was an unopposed “roll” and I needed to make sure that the Avatar didn’t shoot up my Tomcat as it was wandering around. It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a Tomcat, and man, they’re just as awesome as I remember. It’s really hard not to take max AVA of Hellcats and Tomcats…

In any case, congratulations to Doug on his first win at 300 points! I think the mission itself was pretty great–it adds an entire minigame on top of the game, and there’s real risk in cycling an objective or completing one too early–you could give your opponent something trivial to complete like happened in this game with Extreme Prejudice. Definitely want to play the mission again, but so far, I’m a huge fan.