I’ve hung out with Mike a bunch now, but never had a chance to play a game of Infinity with him. He’s the GM of our little Infinity RPG group, and you can read all about that here, courtesy of Mike’s site:

Mission 1 – Paradiso

Mission 2 – Paradiso Train Job

After finding out that I was playing my French, Mike took it as an excuse to play his Military Orders for a friendly practice game before the tournament this coming Saturday. His Space Catholics were after my Space Calvinists! Oh noes!

This was also an opportunity to test drive my new Strompost Alpha table! My better half helped me put it together. I must say, I totally understand why they charge $100 to put it together for you. After a solid two seasons of Silicon Valley binging later, we had finally filed down all the rough bits and assembled everything with PVA glue. I broke everything down and took it to the game store, and Mike was kind enough to help me assemble it into some semblance of an Infinity table.

Overview

Mission : Transmission Matrix

: Transmission Matrix Forces : Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingienne versus Military Orders (300)

: versus (300) Deploy First : Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingienne

: First Turn: Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingie nne

Transmission Matrix GROUP 1 | 9 1 1 LOUP-GAROU Viral Rifle, Flash Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)

LOUP-GAROU Viral Rifle, Flash Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21)

LOUP-GAROU Boarding Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher, Flash Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

LOUP-GAROU Boarding Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher, Flash Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)

LOUP-GAROU Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21) ZOUAVE Rifle, D.E.P., E/Mauler / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1 | 21) MOBLOT (Infiltration) Rifle, Light Shotgun E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 26)

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

EQUIPE MIRAGE-5 . (2 | 69)

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

DUROC 2 Chain Rifles, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP CC Weapon. (32) GROUP 2 | 4 1 MÉTRO Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)

INTEL Spec-Ops (12 XP) (AD: Inferior Combat Jump) Rifle, Molotok / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)

BRISCARD Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 23)

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

WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) 6 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Military Orders JOAN OF ARC Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (+1 | 50) KNIGHT HOSPITALLER Doctor (MediKit) MULTI Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 41)

KNIGHT HOSPITALLER MULTI Rifle / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 38)

MAGISTER KNIGHT Missile Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 32)

MAGISTER KNIGHT Missile Launcher / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 32)

MAGISTER KNIGHT Panzerfaust, Light Shotgun / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 23) MULEBOT Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)

BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23)

BULLETEER Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 23)

INDIGO Spec-Ops (12 XP) (WIP:15, BTS:6, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) 10 3 | 6.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Deployment

I won the roll off and elected to go first. I had seen a pretty nice keyhole from one section of catwalk to another, basically giving me a shot across the table, so I hoped Mike would give me the side I wanted. After some peering about, Mike gave me the side I wished for, unbeknownst to him.

After taking advantage of the keyhole with a lone Briscard HRL, I plunked my Metro Lt in the eagle’s nest nearby, prone. Ostensibly both could protect my HVT who was a little bit outside my deployment zone on my right. I was a little worried about a Crusader Brethren, but if one walked on at least it wouldn’t be a DataTracker. I set up the Loup Garou at the base of a building on my left, with the sniper at the top of the building, prone, to give me options. The table is full of catwalks, so I figured if the sniper survived I could get him up field if necessary, shooting as I went. My Moblot went on the left with my Chasseurs and their mines strung out across the midfield, both mines guarding the central and right approaches. The right Chasseur lay prone on a catwalk, preparing to advance along the raised walkway into Mike’s DZ. I held my Zoauve in reserve to respond to Mike’s HVT placement. Mike doesn’t own any Mulebots yet, so he asked if he could substitute a Nikoul sniper as a proxy for his EVO. It’s the wrong silhouette, but it’s not like it was going to be moving anywhere, so I readily agreed. He guarded the Mulebot with a Bulleteer, covering against any AD:3 coming into his DZ. The Magister/Hospitaller link hung out on a V shaped section of catwalk in the center of Mike’s deployment zone, the Doctor prone, the missiles up to ARO, and the shotgun/panzerfaust Magister watching the Bulleteer’s back. A second Bulleteer hid behind some cover underneath the link.

Joan and the hacker SpecOps sat off to Mike’s right. Joan, surprisingly enough, was not part of the link. With that, it was back to me to deploy. Mike had placed his HVT on my right, away from my Moblot, so I had to drop the Zoauve on the right to get after it. I nominated the Zoauve as my DataTracker and Mike named Joan, primarily to give her a excuse to escape the fan-girling knights.

Turn 1

Top of Turn 1 – FRRM

It was Duroc time! Mike had done a pretty good job of buttoning up his HVT with overlapping AROs, so I brought Duroc in to throw some smoke for my Zoauve to do his wetwork. A few orders and a burst of rifle fire later and the HVT was down for the count. I needed to hit Mike’s order pool, and the EVO and the Bulleteer on my right were prime Duroc targets. After running him past the smoke, I was able to drop a chain rifle on both bots, taking them out of commission. The Bulleteer did attempt to shoot Duroc but the bullets bounce off his hide. I bring Margot on, on the left, then move her and one of the Chasseurs along with the Zoauve into position. The Chasseur gets discovered by the link, but not before he gets into cover above the downed HVT.

I attempt to spec fire a grenade onto the remaining Bulleteer under the link with Margot, but the bot dodges like a champ! I’ve got one order left in my main pool so I stand up the Loup Garou sniper to trade shots with one of the Magister MLs while the rest of the team moves up. Three dice versus two isn’t great odds, but I managed to put a wound on the Magister and now am watching part of the link.

I use the Chasseur in the other pool to attack Mike’s right flank (my left) where Joan is. I catch her out of cover and give Mike a net -6 thanks to cover, camo, and surprise shot. We roll off and I score three hits…and Mike rolls a 5 and two 1s on his ARM saves. Wow. I can’t drop the SpecOps with another burst of rifle fire but this is a perfect example of how lethal Infinity can be. I’m basically out of orders so I pass the turn.

Bottom of Turn 1 – Military Orders

Well, unsurprisingly, Mike’s in loss of lieutenant. He spends the SpecOps’s (say that three times fast) irregular order to get him into base to base with the antenna on his right, then scuttles the Bulleteer out from its hidey hole. With that one order, he exposes it to a Loup Garou viral rifle, my Moblot, the Briscard, and the Zoauve. Mike chooses to face to face the Zoauve and the Briscard, dropping the Zoauve but taking a hit from the HRL. Of course, he rolls an 18 on the save. At least the ODD is gone! Mike pushes the Bulleteer into a position to dominate the antenna on the his left, killing the Chasseur on the right. I survived two orders of shooting and flamethrowered the Bulleteer twice, but it just rolled two 15’s on ARM saves. SIGH. This robot. I can’t really complain about dice though, after all, I wiped out Joan in one order… With his last few orders, Mike moves the link team forward on the catwalk some. He MULTI Rifles down the Moblot and Loup Garou sniper, but I shot at other members of the link that were exposed instead, finally dropping the wounded Magister ML. I had a good shot that covered two knights with a HRL template, but my Briscard whiffed, as did my Loup Garou viral rifle. With that, it’s my turn.

Turn 2

Neither of us have the central objective, and we both are dominating our two, so it’s a tie, gaining us a point apiece.

Top of Turn 2 – FRRM

Duroc runs out in front of the Magister LSG/Panzerfaust, flubs his smoke grenade roll with a 1, and fails both ARM saves. Can’t complain! Joan dead in one order. I bring on my Grunt SpecOps with Molotok and try to gun down the troublesome knight. Instead I get Panzerfaust crit in the face. Joan dead in one order. Breathe. Breathe. Joan dead in one order. Can’t complain, right? Right? I reform the Loup Garou link and push them up the board, trading shots with one of the Hospitaller MULTI Rifle knights. Of course, I lose the Loup Garou too, and now I’m out of command tokens. I settle for just dumping the rest of my first order pool into moving one of the Loup Garou into place with a bunch of moves and cautious moves so at least I’m holding the center objective. The leftmost objective is held by the Warcor and the remnants of the link, so it’s pretty safe. I gun down the SpecOps hacker with my Chasseur and move her into range of Mike’s near right antenna, blow up the Bulleteer with the Briscard, then use my Lieutenant order to get my Metro Lieutenant into a position to dominate my near right antenna while not being under the same missile launcher template as my Briscard. I’m out of regular orders and I have no command tokens, so I have to pass the turn.

Bottom of Turn 2 – Military Orders

Mike starts by trying to pick up the downed Magister ML with a MediKit at range. It goes about as one might expect. He then “breaks up the band” after much deliberation and moves his remaining Magister ML to attack my Chasseur. I hold with SSL1, and Mike dodges, expecting a flamethrower. I drop a mine instead. Mike then pushes the knight into base to base contact, deciding to tank the mine and the flamethrower. He lands a solid hit on my Chasseur with his DA CCW, and she’s dead. He passes the flamethrower ARM roll but not the mine ARM roll, and takes a wound. I was hoping to trade, but I’ll take a wound over nothing! With his last order, he runs the Magister LSG that’s given me so much trouble over to his left objective and hides it behind the Bulleteer.

Turn 3

I’ve got three antennas to Mike’s two, so it’s two points for me this turn.

Top of Turn 3 – FRRM

I try to take out that pesky Magister LSG with my Lieutenant and actually do a wound with my pitiful BS 10 Rifle outside of 16″! Huzzah! My Briscard tries a few times to finish him off but fails to crack the knight’s armor. I then spend the remainder of my orders on Margot, killing the Magister ML that took out my Chasseur (rudely, I might add) and then climb her up onto the same level as the rest of the link and throw her into suppression.

Bottom of Turn 3 – Military Orders

Mike makes a valiant effort at taking out Margot with his Hospitallier Doctor, but AP Rifles in suppression do work. I had a few potshots with my Briscard but he kept flubbing. After killing the Hospitallier, I’m dominating 4 to Mike’s 1 antenna, giving me an

8-1 Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingienne Victory!

We had actually incorrectly assumed that this mission did not have a classified, so our max possible score would’ve been a 9. In our local meta, MO Knights fangirling over Joan is definitely part of our head canon, so Mike had this to say post-game: Of course, she had her cheerleader squad…

Notes

Notes for Me

I deployed my Moblot kinda stupidly, just hanging out in the middle of nowhere, exposed to a long firelane. It did get some AROs, but it spent the whole time locked down in position. It could’ve easily been right next to the central antenna on turn one, which would’ve been amazing and saved me the trouble of moving the Loup Garou around. Alas.

The Loup Garou sound amazing on paper, but they don’t really have a lot of long range teeth it feels like. Maybe I’ve just been very unlucky with their dice as of late. Also, a X-Visor viral rifle, while very nice, still isn’t an HMG. I think I need to use them a little differently, i.e. push them into the midfield early. Maybe do a three-man viral rifle team in suppression, then switch to Briscards or Metros as an active link? I dunno. Clearly I need to play more FRRM.

I really liked how the table played. It was dense, had some pretty fun long-range keyholes that took work to find, and broke up the long catwalk sight lines effectively by putting a second level in the way with ladders. This also slowed movement some, to make it more of a tradeoff when deploying on the catwalks. Perhaps a little too dense though.

I was really happy with my Briscard this game. He didn’t roll great, but I had at least 2 AROs a turn with him it felt like, so I had placed him really well and the MSV1 came in very handy against the Bulleteer!

Also happy with my Metro Lieutenant. Not a superstar by any means, but she just did what I asked of her. For a mission where it’s important to be in particular place at a particular time, having a 4-4 MOV Lieutenant that doesn’t have anything better do is useful.

Three AD troops is pretty baller. Grunt didn’t really do anything, but the potential! The potential!

Linked HI are a pain in the butt. I really could’ve used the Moblot in the center to E/Mauler them. I miss the humble DepRep + E/Mauler Zero! The Zouave had too many things to do.

Margot continues to a monster. This is what playing PanO must feel like. Except I have smoke. =3

Chasseurs are great!

Notes for Mike

Mike and I chatted about the game for a bit as we broke down the table for transport, and we came up with a few things: