First things first: Happy New Year, and all the best to you and your family! With the new year comes new Bromad Academy challenges. This month, I want to help refocus your attention during a game on the following concepts:

Positioning

Playing to the Objective

Infinity is a game of purposeful moves. I’d argue that the positioning of units is even more important than what kit they’re carrying. Be where your opponent doesn’t want you to be, threatening their pieces and moves, and then fade away before they can strike back.

Positioning ties directly into playing the objective as well. You have to be next to the button to push it, open the Tech-Coffin, accomplish the classified, whatever. You don’t need to shoot your way to the objective either.

So, how do we train ourselves to be better at positioning and playing to the objective? By introducing a forcing function to get yourself to prioritize those concepts. Remove those high-burst, long range weapons that you fall back on to do all your problem solving and force yourself to think about what you actually need to do with those precious orders.

You don’t need to HMG down the ARO piece, you just need to cautious move or smoke your way past it to get to the objectives. ARO pieces are also generally longer range weapons, so if you can get a camo combi rifle within 16″ the range bonuses generally go away as well. All factions are capable of doing this kind of work, some just generally encourage it more (I’m looking at you, Ariadna!).

Without further ado, here’s January’s mission. As always, keep reading for a little more discussion.

The Mission

Play a normal game, but with the following list-building restriction:

No weapons with burst greater than 3!

Allowed exceptions:

Link bonuses taking you to burst 4 is okay.

Dual-weapon bonus taking you to burst 4 is also alright.

Assault pistols are fine, just no primary weapon with burst 4 or greater.

Write in about how it went, and what lessons you learned about positioning and playing to the objective as a result of not having your usual high-burst, long range weapons to: report@bromadacademy.com!

If you’re writing a battle report, please use Google Docs and share the batrep with report@bromadacademy.com. Here’s a template for your convenience!

I’ll draw a winner from the list of respondents. You get a choice of a blister or a Bromad Academy patch! As always, all factions are welcome to participate!

Play Examples

I’m going to draw heavily from my recent Ariadna experiences, because they’re the most illustrative and the freshest in my memory. The lessons apply to all factions though. Let’s start by taking a look at the list I took to a recent 200 point tournament.

If you have the time, I would recommend reading the tournament report, it will show you exactly how I used the list in 4 different scenarios.

Kasbah MÉTRO Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)

MÉTRO HMG / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19)

ALGUACIL Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 18)

EQUIPE MIRAGE-5 . (2 | 71)

MARGOT AP Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (37)

DUROC 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CC Weapon. (34)

CHASSEUR (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)

CHASSEUR (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20)

CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)

CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)

WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

8 2 1 | 4 SWC | 199 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Yes, there is an HMG in the list. In all four games, I used it once, on the last turn of the last game. Not because I had to, but mostly because I was moving the link around and I hadn’t used it all tournament and I wanted to.

Let’s go back to the two key concepts of this Bromad Academy mission:

Positioning

6/10 models in my list can start outside my deployment zone, more or less exactly where I want them. They can be next to the objective, and in the case of Margot, can show up exactly when I want them too. See Adam’s excellent article on Airborne Deployment for more thoughts on AD.

Infinity is a spatiotemporal game, it’s not enough that the unit is where you need it, it has to be there when you need it as well. A simple example is in the third game of the tournament. I brought Margot on after my opponent’s Guija had advanced, letting me bring Margot on behind the TAG and giving me unopposed shots on 17s with an AP rifle in its back arc with it out of cover.

There’s a tendency in Infinity to want to alpha strike as hard as you can. Don’t let the <whatever> activate! Kill it immediately, spend all your orders and use all your tricks to get rid of it! Every game I’ve played against the Avatar I’ve attempted this, and while I do horrible things to the Avatar, it always ends in defeat for me. Patience is paramount.

In other words, it’s not just enough to infiltrate your camo specialist next to the button. When are you going to push the button? On your first turn? Wouldn’t it be better to put the camo specialist an order or two away from the button and let your opponent fight through your AROs, spending orders and material to push the button, and then have you negate all their effort by waltzing your camo specialist in on the last turn and flipping the objective to you?

Positioning can also be about having a gun in the right place. Doesn’t matter what the gun actually is, you just need to be in the wrong place for your opponent. Rifles happen to be on a majority of the units in this game that have deployment skills, so learn to love them! They’re also quite deadly, especially when you can get something out of cover. I’ve one shot plenty of multi wound models with the humble rifle.

Yes, that’s statistically aberrant, but Infinity is a lethal game and the odds of dropping multi-wound models over the course of 2-3 orders are quite reasonable. In the course of the 200 point tournament my Chasseurs cleaned house every game, doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of killing power. Of course, Margot is also a monster.

So, in summary: Be where your opponent doesn’t want you to be, when they least want you to be there.

Playing to the Objective

This concept is pretty straightforward when you’re not standing at the game table, but very difficult to remember when you are. The primary issue is we can get overwhelmed by the threat projected by our opponent’s models and we start problem solving how to remove those pieces.

The point of this mission it to present you with a higher activation energy wall to shooting your opponent’s models off the table. You can still do it, but it takes more mental effort and possibly effort on the table as well. By making you pause, hopefully that will give you a brief moment of clarity at the table to rethink your priorities for that turn.

Instead of shooting that sniper with your HMG, maybe just put smoke down and push the button. Instead of thinking about how to go on a rampage with that airborne deployment spitfire, drop in a single boarding shotgun to remove the missile launcher watching that firelane and get your link to safety. Take a breather, think carefully about what you need to do, and play to the objective!

Example Lists

Here’s some example lists to get you thinking!

Nomads GROUP 1 | 6 1 1 INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)

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

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

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

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

HELLCAT Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)

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

GECKO PILOT 2 Assault Pistols, Knife. ()

LIBERTO (Minelayer) Light Shotgun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 10) GROUP 2 | 4 2 2 ZERO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)

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

DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

REVEREND MOIRA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (1.5 | 34)

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

Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor GROUP 1 | 6 1 SEÑOR MASSACRE (Fireteam: Haris) Breaker Combi Rifle, E/M Grenades, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW, E/M CCW. (0.5 | 30)

JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 10)

DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14) MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 22)

MORAN Boarding Shotgun, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20)

INTRUDER (X-Visor) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 43)

BANDIT (Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 28) GROUP 2 | 6 INTRUDER Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 35) WILDCAT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (2 | 20)

WILDCAT Boarding Shotgun, Stun Grenades, Deployable Repeater / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 17)

LUPE BALBOA Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Panzerfaust, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 23) JAZZ FTO . (0.5 | 18)

JAZZ Hacker Submachine Gun, Pitcher, Cybermine / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

TOMCAT Combi Rifle + E/Mitter, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Jurisdictional Command of Bakunin GROUP 1 | 7 ZERO Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)

ZERO Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)

ZERO (Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)

METEOR ZOND Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (1 | 21)

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

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

BRAN DO CASTRO Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 33) GROUP 2 | 5 1 REVEREND CUSTODIER Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34) RIOT GRRL (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Blitzen, Stun Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30)

RIOT GRRL Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 33)

RIOT GRRL Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 33) AVICENNA Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) 6 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Jurisdictional Command of Tunguska GROUP 1 | 7 HOLLOW MEN Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 37)

HOLLOW MEN Missile Launcher, Chain-colt / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (2 | 35)

STEMPLER ZOND FTO (Super-Jump) Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 18)

METEOR ZOND Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (1 | 21)

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

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

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

GROUP 2 | 6 1 INTERVENTOR Hacker Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)

GRENZER (Fireteam: Haris) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)

GRENZER Missile Launcher / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)

CLOCKMAKER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

DAKTARI Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

SPEKTR (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)

WARCOR (360º Visor) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3)

6 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Good hunting, Bromads!