I should be practicing Nomads for the Emerald City Incursion Mk II that’s coming up, or our very own Nuclear November ITS the week before ECI2, but I’m having too much fun with Ariadna. I even managed to find time to put together my own Strelok, Spetznaz HMG, and Veteran Kazak AP HMG before game night. I had an opponent cancel due to a babysitter falling through, but it ended up being fine as Nate was available and chomping at the bit for a game after a bit of a dry spell for him. We’ve been bouncing back and forth a few limited insertion Tunguska lists, so I knew the horrors that awaited me as I drove up to the Portland Game Store. As you may suspect, given the title and the featured image of this post, this game was pretty chock full of impactful crits. Without further ado, let’s get right to it!

Overview

Mission : Supremacy

: Supremacy Forces : Ariadna versus Jurisdictional Command of Tunguska (300)

: versus (300) Deploy First : Tunguska

: First Turn: Tunguska

List A VETERAN KAZAK Lieutenant AP HMG / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 47)

VASSILY (Chain of Command) T2 Sniper, D-Charges / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (1 | 39)

UXÍA McNEILL (Covert Action) (CH: Limited Camouflage, Superior Infiltration, Specialist Operative) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Smoke Grenades / 2 Assault Pistols, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 27)

PAVEL McMANNUS Ojotnik, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, T2 CCW, Knife. (0 | 31)

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

ROSIE Light Rocket Launcher, Light Shotgun, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)

STRELOK K-9 Submachine Gun, Chain-colt, Antipersonnel Mines + 1 K-9 Antipode / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 24)

K-9 ANTIPODE Trench-hammer, AP CC Weapon. (8)

SCOUT (Minelayer) Ojotnik, D-Charges, E/Mauler / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30)

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

SPETSNAZ (CH: Ambush Camouflage) HMG / Pistol, CCW, Knife. (1.5 | 38) 10 | 5.5 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Jurisdictional Command of Tunguska KRIZA BORAC Lieutenant HMG / Heavy Pistol, CC Weapon. (2 | 54)

HOLLOW MEN Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Chain-colt + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 37) PERSEUS FTO (Fireteam: Haris) Breaker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / 2 Pistols, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 33)

GRENZER Spitfire / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 30)

GRENZER (Forward Observer, Sensor) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)

SECURITATE Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)

SECURITATE Feuerbach / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 22) SPEKTR Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Cybermines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 34)

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

ZONDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)

MARY PROBLEMS Hacker (Forward Deployment L1) Submachine Gun + Zapper, Pitcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 30) 10 | 5.5 SWC | 299 Points | Open in Infinity Army

Deployment

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen Nate in person, even though we talk shop almost daily. It was nice to catch up face to face as he finished his pre game dinner and I set up the table. There simply isn’t enough time to hang out with friends anymore… Anyway. Nate won the roll off, and elected to take the first turn, hoping to get in a good alpha strike on me. He set up his Securiate/Grenzer link on the right, with some amusing proxies due to the lack of SWC boxes for those units. He had a Grenzer MSR as the FO (typical proxy) and a kitbashed Grenzer ML as the Spitfire forward deployed on the stairs up to the Comanche Octagon on the right, backed up by Perseus and a Securitate Paramedic at the base of the stairs. The fifth fire team member, the Feuerbach Securitate, was proxied by none other than the Fat Yuan Yuan himself, juggling a giant gun and a take out box full of noodles. Unfortunately for Nate, the… big boned and hearty Securitate Feuerbach was deployed quite far back, making a mess of his link team’s coherency if he wanted to make one of the Grenzers fireteam leader on his first order. His next model down was the Daktari and her bot, covering both sides of the field. Mary anchored his left, tucking herself behind some terrain and shepherding his Xenotech. Finally, his Hollowman AHD and Kriza HMG (his reserve) formed his left flank along with Mary. My deployment was quite difficult. I had 13 camo tokens to tuck away somewhere. I put Vassily in the middle, with his ambush camo token left out to “ARO” the link team’s approach along the catwalk, and then tucked two Spetznaz HMG possibilities on the left, with the real one farther forward. Pavel was my left-side specialist, and I covered my near left objective with a Chasseur Minelayer and her mine. Similarly, I covered the right near objective with a Scout Minelayer and his E/Mauler, then set Rosie up with the Xenotech on my right flank.

With my Spetznaz HMG on the left, it was natural for the Vet Kazak to be on the right, so that’s where he went, tucked away behind some blocks, protected by a Chasseur FO in case Nate got aggressive. Nate was obliged to put his Kriza down near his Hollowman, and then it was my turn to really struggle to place the Strelok K9 unit. That 40mm camo token is a PAIN to place. I ended up putting the Strelok inside the Comanche Barracks second floor, with the Antipode on the ground floor, outside, but in hindsight it would’ve been much better to put the Antipode on the roof… because that’s where Nate’s Spektr KHD was lurking. Of course, I had no idea about this when we started, and even though I had suggested this list to Nate, I had forgotten about the Spektr and wasn’t counting models. I knew it was there, Nate had shooed me away from the table for a bit (which I turned into a sake buying expedition), but I just wasn’t thinking about it.

Almost forgot–perhaps the most relevant to the first few orders, I managed to stick Uxia’s landing right next to Nate’s FO Grenzer. She wasn’t going to survive, but I was going to sacrifice her to drain as many orders as possible from Nate’s first turn. With that, we shook hands, had a sip of our beverages, and got to rolling dice.

Turn 1

Top of 1 – Tunguska

Nate needed to discover Uxia, but didn’t want to give me a free shot on his fireteam with a boarding shotgun as he moved the Feuerbach Securitate (who was no doubt enjoying some Lo Pan’s noodles) into coherency. Note to other Tunguska players fielding a mixed Grenzer/Securitate fireteam, watch for this, especially in light of the ITS10 Bravery rule. Nate broke his fireteam, scooted the offending Feuerbach Securitate into position, and then reformed the fireteam, moving them forward before declaring discover as his second short skill. I elected to let him burn the order instead of revealing, since he auto discovers with all the mod stacking. Nate commented that this was a mistake and that he was a bit rusty from his long absence, then declared that he was idling with the Grenzer FO in Uxia’s face. Well, I couldn’t land a template on his fireteam, who was prone-crawling up the stairs, but I elected to take a boarding shotgun on 17s versus Nate’s burst four combi on 19s. It was at this point that I rolled my first crit of the game, knocking out the Grenzer FO. That’s not Nate, but it’s pretty much the face he made. Unwilling to throw more bodies at Uxia, he revealed his Spektr, conveniently on the roof behind Uxia, and gunned her down from outside of 8″. I need to be more careful about my facing when coming out of camo! With Uxia gone after 4 orders (I’ll take it!), Nate reformed his link and shuffled them forward, exposing the Spitfire Grenzer to Vassily’s ambush camo marker. I elected to make Nate spend the second short skill discovering, which he did, revealing… nothing.

Nate was pretty happy with his link’s positioning–the Securitate Feuerbach covering his backfield with the Grenzer Spitfire and Perseus out for ARO duty. It was now time to develop his left flank. He pushed the Kriza and the Hollowman forward, attempting a ton of discovers against my E/Mauler and failing. He eventually settled for a discover on my Antipode, which I let him have, and then dodged a full burst of Kriza HMG fire. With his order pool basically depleted (and after telegraphing his Lt by spending the Lt order), Nate retreated the Hollow Man and the Kriza to safety and then passed the turn.

Bottom of 1 – Ariadna

I started things off by spending my Lt order on my Vet Kazak and grabbing the second crit of the game against Nate’s Kriza, who wisely failed guts and scooted away. I wanted to keep picking away at Nate’s link, so I activated the Strelok to gun down the Grenzer Spitfire from within 8″. This was the third crit of the game. I attempted to get a Trench Hammer off on Nate’s Hollow Man from the Antipode at the same time, but ended up being outside of 8″ and went down to some combi rifle fire. Ah well. With the Grenzer down, the link was broken, freeing me to take on Perseus with Vassily. The Spetznaz HMG didn’t have a clear shot, or I would’ve used him instead. It didn’t matter, because I rolled the 4th crit of the game and pasted Perseus with a T2 sniper round. Poor Myrmidon didn’t even get a chance to pull the pin on his smoke grenade he was trying to throw. Now that the link was well and truly degaded, I figured I’d try to deal with the Spektr on the roof, revealing my Scout Minelayer to take a shot at it. The Spektr passed ARM and went prone, and I started walking towards the Kriza and Hollow Man with the intent of getting an E/Mauler down to cover them. The Fat Yuan Yuan–I mean Feuerbach Securitate–was in the way though, and crit EXP ammo’ed my poor Scout off the table. Five crits and it’s not even the end of the first turn yet! I pop Pavel up and take out the Feuerbach, and then I advance Rosie to take another shot at the Kriza, dropping off a Multiscanner with the Xenotech afterwards. I use it to tuck the Vet Kazak back into safety and push Pavel and my Chasseur Minelayer forward, and then pass the turn to Nate.

Turn 2

In spite of the damage, we’re both holding two quadrants, with our Xenotechs hanging out. At some point Nate had advanced his Xenotech synced to Mary, I just forget when exactly. It’s a 2-1 game with me up a point at the top of 2.

Top of Turn 2 – Tunguska

Nate wastes no time in pushing with his Hollowman-Kriza Duo. Rosie dodges some combi-rifle fire from the Hollowman… who tanks a flamethrower from the nearby Chasseur. Nate breaks the Duo and guns down the Chasseur easily with the Kriza, then resumes attacking Rosie.

It takes quite a few orders, with me dodging repeatedly and Nate dancing his Hollowman around to try and get behind Rosie, but eventually… Nate manages to put a wound on her, and I put her into dogged state. Nate reforms the link and then uses the order efficiency to expose both the Kriza and the Hollowman to Rosie as he retreats the Kriza and advances the Hollowman.

I take a shot at the Hollowman with Rosie’s shotgun and the Chasseur Minelayer across the board. Rosie’s buckshot bounces off, but the Chasseur connects as Nate just move-moves towards my Veteran Kazak. The Hollowman makes a mad dash for it, but my Veteran Kazak denies him the Lt snipe by blasting the Hollowman in the face with some good old fashioned hand cannon (heavy pistol action). This is enough to knock out the Hollowman, but Vassily puts a T2 round through something important and the Hollowman gets taken off the table. Rightfully frustrated with this turn of events, Nate passes the turn.

Bottom of 2 – Ariadna

I have a comparatively boring turn of button pushing. There was a line of fire across the whole table from left flank to right flank where I could hit the Kriza, and I also need to get the Xenotech re-synced. I have nothing left on the right except for my Vet Kazak, thanks to the Hollowman/Kriza push, and my only two specialists left are Pavel and Vassily. I spend a bunch of coordinate orders moving the Vet Kazak up on the right and Pavel and Vassily up on the left, at one point cautious moving Pavel through the LoF to the Kriza, just in case. The Vet Kazak grabs the Xenotech with his Lt order, and Pavel and Vassily flip both left consoles for me. I have just enough movement to get Pavel tucked away in a building and for Vassily to take a pair of shots at the Kriza at just over 40″. Sadly, the Kriza passes ARM, and is still at one wound from the Vet Kazak’s earlier crit. Nate’s Daktari psychs herself up to go for broke on his turn.

Turn 3

I’m now dominating three quadrants to Nate’s one, but his one has his Xenotech. This brings us to a 6-2 game, in my favor.

Top of 3 – Tunguska

The Daktari wipes out Vassily over the course of two orders. Nate attempts to heavy pistol down my Vet Kazak, who didn’t have the orders to retreat. Thankfully, I roll a 12 and Nate rolls lower. While this isn’t a crit, it’s almost as good. Nate fails ARM and the Kriza is down. Nate manages to clear out Pavel as well with the Daktari, but I trade him for her by blasting her in the face with Pavel’s chain colt. Nate’s Spektr is still alive and he attempts to gun down the Chasseur that I’ve got on my left. Sadly, the Chasseur shoots better and the Spektr goes down.

Bottom of 3 – Ariadna

At this point, it’s a simple matter of moving the Chasseur up to secure my far left, the Spetznaz to secure the near left, and the Vet Kazak up to secure the quadrant where Mary and the Xenotech are, simultaneously getting him in range to secure the HVT. Some quick move moves later, and that’s game. I manage to get another Xenotech point, dominate more point, and secure the HVT. Thanks to the Multiscanner penalty, it’s a

9-1 Ariadna Victory!

Notes

Notes for Me

I really should’ve put the Antipode on the roof. Even without the Spetkr as a factor, it would’ve been a good option.

Ambush Camo and Minelayer are excellent order taxes.

Pavel continues to be fine. I think his kit fights itself a little… or maybe I just don’t know how to use him yet. I do like that he basically is a Scout plus a TON of stuff for basically no additional cost. I’m happy to lose Marksmanship L1 for his kit.

Vet Kazaks. Wow.

Vassily is a great piece as well! I’m really digging him paired with the Vet Kazak in limited insertion.

Well, this game is an existence proof that you don’t always need a Spetznaz HMG. He basically just parked himself in a quadrant at the end of the game, unopposed.

It’s important to remember that this game went overwhelmingly my way early on, thanks to that string of crits, so probably not terribly representative.

Uxia was quite useful as an order sink. In a non-relaxed game against Nate she probably would’ve drained two orders instead of 4, which is arguably worth it.

I definitely needed to be more careful with facing there. Might’ve survived the Spektr thanks to a smoke grenade or something, forcing Nate to use Perseus to remove her, and that’s not a guarantee.

My right flank was in shambles after the Kriza/Hollowman attack. Had Rosie not delayed them so much, I could’ve been in loss of lieuteant easily. She ate at least 3-4 orders before going dogged, so that was a big dice swing in my favor as well.

Notes for Nate