13th March - Infinity vs The Youngest

I know I'm bombarding you all with Infinity games at the moment and not a lot else but this Beast of War/Corvus Belli campaign has really got me fired up about the game :). That being said The Wife has been making some decent headway on her Relics models so I'm thinking I might try to get a game in to break it up a little.

This time I got a game in against The Youngest and her USAriadna. I have to say tactically she made very few mistakes, but I've never seen dice hate someone so consistently. Apart from maybe seven rolls (I'm not exaggerating) every single one of her rolls was against her, if she needed low she rolled high, when she needed high she rolled low. To her credit she didn't let it get to her and continued on and in the last turn of the game she managed two high point cost kills which lifted her spirits. Again a link to the "official" report here.

After a huge success at the Sagres tracking station we were redeployed yet again, this time due to an Ariadna strike force advancing on our limited Camp Antela holdings. We managed to come upon them while they were unprepared and while they quickly readied themselves to face us we moved moved swiftly to engage.

The Rachio stomped it’s way to the edge of the abandoned Medical centre opening up a clear firing line on the two Minutemen out on the flank quickly dropping both men unconscious. An Unidron pushes it’s way through the thick undergrowth and spotting a target at maximum carbine range through the foliage takes a shot. Despite the odds the 112 Emergency Service Volunteer is also dropped out for the count. A second batroid is advanced an while reactionary rifle fire from two distant Grunts and a Foxtrot Ranger whirs through the canopy it’s carefully tuned senses pick out the camouflaged Hardcase Frontiers man on the roof revealing the man to his allies. The Rachio sends a few bursts up toward the troopers on the distant roof and takes out a Grunt and the Foxtrot Ranger but the final Grunt dodges the heavy caliber fire moving into a more covered position. The Fraacta drops in and cautiously advances to the edge of the armoury to offer some covering fire on the right flank of the Combined Army attack. The Med-Tech Obsidon Medchanoid sensing a chance to achieve a classified objective during this engagement advance toward the centre of the field. Finally the Malignos decides that the distant Devil Dog is a nice opportunity for a shot but despite being surprised by the oncoming fire the halfbreeds heightened senses allow him to effortlessly avoid the attack.

The Devil Dog sniffs out the nearby Fraacta but before his smoke grenade can land the Umbra takes a shot wounding the beast. The Maverick biker races ahead xchanging fire with the Malignos. Despite moving at pace and through the terrain the human soldier lands a hit on the Shasvastii trooper but his armour holds. The rest of the fire is aimed toward the Fraacta who’s armour holds against the first shot but the second forces the jump trooper into survival mode. The Devil Dog drops more smoke and advances behind the newly created screen. The paramedic grunt begins moving toward the 112 Volunteer. The Marauder advances on the Combined Army TAG but is caught by an explosive round and is killed instantly, sending the Ariadna force into disarray as their Lieutenant hits the ground.

The Maakrap begins his advance through the med centre coming out the back door firing, though none of his shots hit their distant targets. The soldier then sets himself up to provide suppression across the field of engagement. The Rachio begins pushing through the jungle again taking out the Grunt atop the building with his first salvo, then while the Devil Dog manages to get smoke down to protect itself the Hardcase is not so lucky and the survivalist troop is taken out in a hail of bullets.

The Devil Dog and his Antipode charge catch the scent of the advancing Med-Tech Medchanoid and throw down smoke and begin to move on the Combined Army medic. Unfortunately for him the fire from the flanking Maakrap and a Unidron mortally wounding him from the flank. The Maverick carries on toward the Fraacta under smoke but the Maakrap’s Multi-spectral visor allows him to see the advancing solider and his suppression fire put the woman unconscious. The paramedic Grunt decides to continue on his mission to revive the fallen medic but ultimately it is too late for the wounded soldier and he is left lifeless despite the best efforts of the soldier. One of the remaining camo’d Foxtrot Rangers takes aim with his sniper rifle and takes a shot surprising the distant Unidron who’s reactive time just is not quick enough to avoid the oncoming rounds and it falls to the ground no longer operational. Finally the other camouflaged Foxtrot advance for a better position on the Fraacta, but doesn’t reveal himself yet.

The Umbra seeing the need to remove the covering sniper before the Combined medic advances any further begins a drive through the jungle to the nearby habitation module climbing to the roof. The distant HMG armed Grunt opens fire but the quick footed alien avoids the fire from him while his fire puts the paramedic down badly wounded. Deciding that further the objective of the EI is more important than his own safety he advances towards the edge ready to jump down and cut down the sniper below him but a round from the Grunt finds it’s mark this time and he crashes to the roof unconscious throwing the Combined Army team into disarray until some one can resume command of the field. As the Umbra falls the Medchanoid quickly assess that the opportunity is lost and heads back toward the cover of the buildings giving up his attempt of sabotage.

The final un-revealed Foxtrot slides into the corner of the nearby building and opens fire at the Fraacta with his boarding shotgun, but to no effect as the Fraacta avoids the heavy slugs. The freshly promoted Grunt full of adrenaline after his recent Umbra kill climbs the roof of a nearby building and rains fire down upon the aliens below attempting to sell his life dearly. The return fire from the Combined Army forces below is deadly with it’s accuracy but the Malignos falls to the ground activating it’s embryo as the lifeless human drops heavily to the rooftop. The Foxtrot sniper attempts one last shot at the Fraacta hitting the creature despite the range and covering terrain between them but it’s heavier survival form armour saves it and the last two Ariadna soldiers are forced to withdraw leaving the Combined Army force victorious.

The Youngest has had a bit of a look at her list and has thought of a few tricks for our next game. She's also got a bit of a wishlist now for some more variety in what she can field.

10th March - Infinity vs The Wife Flamestrike Campaign.

Well another game finished I think that's three down in six days, that's got to be some sort of record :).

This game took place in the Sagres zone which has the Seize the Antennas mission. Again if anyone reading is registered feel free to give me an official ranking here.

Another lightning transfer of operation zones and I find myself contesting against the PanOceania forces in the Sagres Orbital Tracking Station. The field lieutenant arriving at the zone of contention first wisely decides to choose his approach and force the PanO to come at him on his terms.

The Obisdon Medchanoid quickly slithered up the the closest antenna and effortlessly took control securing for the mighty EI. Supported by a Unidron Batroid the medic/engineer quickly moved toward the central antenna closing the distance carefully behind the screening cover. It was at this point the Malignos broke from it's hidden deployment surprising the opposed Nisse and a Fusilier, the rival sniper managed to avoid the shot but the PanO line trooper was quickly dispatched awaiting the attention on a medic. With the Fusilier down and no other covering fire to worry about the Medchanoid headed to the antenna securing a second objective for his allies.

The Akal Commando cautiously moved on the distant antenna, denying the waiting Unidron a chance to fire before taking cover behind the base of the transmitter. The Auxilia with it's remote leading the way began to advance firing down at the Rachio but while the shots seemed accurate the heavy armour plating rendered the rifle fire ineffective. The Jotums thumped around the corner of the armoury spraying bullets at a multitude of targets, even as it cut down the Malignos a distant Unidron managed to hit the immense TAG in a weak point weakening it's structure. The Nisse lines up the Rachio but the piloted machine is again saved by the heavy armour of it's framework while that same Unidron fires off a plasma blast sending another PanOceania troop into the blackness and bathing the Jotums in a stream of plasma. However the emerges unscathed safe behind it's massive armour plates and high tech fail safes. The Rachio finally allows common sense to rule and moves into the nearby cover.

A third Unidron moves up to put additional pressure on the Akal. The Rachio attempts to cause the Jotums some damage and manages to piece the plating on his target, though only some very minor damage results. The Umbra Legate on the other flank moves cautiously forward to open up a firing line on the advancing ORC trooper and his first wave of acurate K1 fire forces the man back bleeding. A second wave of fire sends the man flung back into a hastily assembled barricade finding a weak point in his body armour killing him in front of the Knight Hospitaller doctor. The Umbra pushes forward further sending rounds toward the heavily armoured doctor and the nearby Fusilier. The Knight's armour manages to hold despite the special rounds but the Fusilier falls to the ground unconscious and the resulting disarray of the opposing force reveals her to be their lieutenant. Giving up on managing to take down the military order Knight the Umbra revealing himself to be my lieutenant pulls out his Flash Pulse and blinds the PanO doctor giving the Kurgat engineer an open path to his Classified Objective Sabotage target barricade and the Fraacta drop trooper a chance to drop in behind the blinded human.

The PanO in disarray due to their lack of field commander began an attempt to wrest control of the area with the Jotums concentrating all his fire on the distant silhouette of the Combined Army TAG hitting it despite the lack of light but only manages some minor damage. The Auxilia attempts a mad dash across the field to offer some support to the collapsing flank but the reflexes of the Rachio pilot bring the man to an explosive end.The Akal takes advantage of the confusion and manages to bring the antenna under his influence. The Knight Hospitaller decides to risk it all to bring the fallen officer back to her feet but fails to rescue the woman and she passes despite his best attempts. The only saving grace to the humans is the continued divine protection of their doctor as all three reactive shots of the Combined Army troops failing to hit let alone penetrate his heavy armour suit.

Yet another round of K1 rifle shells slams into the Hospitaller's amour and finally the shells penetrate and the man finally succumbs to the Umbras assault. With the pressure gone the Kurgat plants his D-Charges successfully completing it's classified objective and then heads to the streets, nimbly avoiding the oncoming fire of the few remaining PanO troops despite the giant Autocannon in his arms and fires two shots down the street, knocking the Akal Commando out and killing the last Fusilier. The Fraacta then sprints across the now empty field securing the final antenna for the glory of the Combined Army. Not to rest on it's laurels the alien moves up to the side of the armoury building pulling out it's hacking device and deftly hacks into the control systems of the Jotums with a Stop! program immobilising the only remaining PanO presence on the battlezone.

The Jotums manages to reset it's programming and reboots early but it's too late the Combined Army has absolutely crushed the PanOceania forces and taken another major step towards control of the facilities.

The Wife wasn't happy with the outcome but she enjoyed herself again, I think we'll be getting another game in soon. The Youngest is still keen for a match up with her USAriadna and The Eldest is now asking about maybe getting her Nomads on the table on Sunday so we'll see what happens over the weekend.

8 March - Infinity vs Toby [Beast of War Flamia Island Campaign]

Got another game of Infinity in today, this time against Toby and his Haqq-Islam. He's signed up for the Flamia Island Campaign as well so we stuck to the location mission again. This time it was in the Tianxian Astroport City with a Quadrant Control mission. Basically at the end of the third turn you had to dominate (have the most points value of troops) in each quarter with 1 Objective point for equal or 2 for having more than your opponent. We both went for the Intelcom option with our objective cards which meant we were giving up our chance at a bonus objective point in order to add the cards value as points to a quadrant at the end of the game. Again if anyone is registered and wants to though me a rating on the website the link is here.

Toby won initiative and chose to go first which gave me the deployment choices so I picked my side and set him to deploying first.

 After a victory in Camp Antela my Combined Army squad was rapidly redeployed and found themselves marching through the Astroport with orders to seize as much ground as possible and secure the area as a beachhead for further deployment on the Island. After some initial success they found themselves facing off across the battle torn city at a force of Haqq-Islam with similar orders and the battle began in earnest.

The humans Lasiq sniper claimed the first shot of the match sending one of the Unidrons backing into cover but it’s superior biotech handled the viral ammunition with barely a flutter. A Maghariba lumbered around the corner of a vacated TAG hanger and despite some admirable fire the recently attached Kurgat Engineer failed to damage the machine and was cut down in a hail of HMG fire. The Lasiq lined up a second Unidron this time managing to completely disable the bio-mechanical, but my faithful Malignos felt obliged to return fire but the Lasiq’s unnatural reflexes saved it from the shot. A nearby Ghulam feeling cocky with his HMG carefully poked his out around the corner but the lightning reactions of the elite shasvastii troop and is taken out, although the Lasiq taking advantage of the momentary advantage quickly fires his own round at the Combined Army trooper who proves to be just a second too slow and is left dead on the rooftop.

The Rachio advances into the Quadrant three and fires a burst at the distant Ghulam killing the man before he even has a chance to lift his sniper rifle in response. Meanwhile the Fraacta drops in on the left flank deep in Quadrant one and carefully moving up to the covering building edge kills the unaware Barid who proves to be the ranking officer of this Haqq-Islam group. The Combined Army commander feeling the pressure of the Maghariba locking down the approach of the left flank sends the Fraacta into the medical building using it’s hacking device to run successful Basilisk and Stop! programs in quick succession locking the TAG down for a moment in time and helping to ease the pressure from the flank.

The loss of their Lieutenant send the opposing human force into disarray, leaving them scrambling to adapt to the pressure of the Combined Army assault.

Feeling relatively secure in their control of quadrants three and four, the Combined Army soldiers move to cover any advances from their Haqq-Islamic foes, while the Fraacta after having his successful launched Overlord program fail once again runs a saving Stop! locking the multi-legged vehicle down again.

The Haqq-Islamic commander sensing his back against the wall begins a series of seemingly suicidal attacks on the well dug in alien forces. The Lasiq moving across the rooftops attempts a rushed shot at the Umbra Legates but his Flash Pulse blinds the man and an extremely well placed explosive round from the Raicho’s HMG leaves the sniper in pieces across the rooftop. The Unidron’s manage to uncover the approaching camouflaged Tuareg but the combat doctor takes out one of them though it’s programming refuses to let it drop for the moment. Continuing his suicide run the doctor charges around the corner taking a shot at the Unidron with his shotgun and while the Med-tech Obsidon Medchanoid manages to slither out of the blast the last fully functional Unidron is left leaking fluid waiting for it’s programming to allow it to fall. Somehow the doctor manages to soak the plasma blast from the second Unidron and wisely drops back around the corner. The Hawwa meanwhile tries to flit across the back of the battle field but the eagle eyes of the Umbra uncover the camo’d trooper and the accurate fire of the Raicho takes out any potential threat. Finally the programming of the Unidron’s allows them to fall and they crash lifeless to the ground.

Sensing that the Haqq-Islamic push has shaken the control of the sector the Fraacta quickly runs a Carbonite program on the Maghariba again immobilising the machine. the Rachio charges into the first Quadrant taking a shot the engineer across from it but the shot catches his armour and the man survives. The Obsidon Medchanoid quickly moves back into Quadrant four in an attempt to secure the area.

Both force draw on Intelcom but it’s not enough for either with the Haqq-Islam retaining control of Quadrant one and two and the Combined Army dominating both three and four. Both sides are called to pull back and regroup and that particular area of the besieged city again falls quiet.

I'm really enjoying Infinity at the moment and have almost finished the new Kurgat for my force, I've just got to finish off the basing and he's done. I'd say the unfinished state is whey he had so much trouble hitting that damn TAG during the game so Toby best look out once he's finished ;).

5th March - Infinity vs The Wife [Beasts of War Flamia Island Campaign]

So The Wife and I had our opening match as part of the Beast of War Infinity Campaign : Operation Flamestrike for control of Flamia Island.

This was our second full size game of Infinity and we both found the we were remembering the various rules of our respective forces a lot quicker this time and even taking notes it was a much quicker game.

You can read the official report here and I think if you vote on the site it'll help out my personal xp and the score for the currently out numbered Combined Army generals; but I've copied a version here as well with a few extra photos. I apologise for the quality of the photos I didn't check the focus properly on a few some I've got some really detailed shots of the higher terrain points :).

We choose Camp Antela as our place of battle which gave us an Annihilation mission.

The Combined Army force in all it's power lined up across from the hard pressed PanO defenders. The next few minutes would help turn the tide for the EI and help achieve control of Flamia Island.

The Gakis surged ahead headless of any sort of tactical advance, but luckily the dense jungle terrain served to help keep them safe from and fire. The Malignos took careful aim and opened the engagement taking out the opposing Akalis before the man could even react killing him instantly. The Orc troopers return fire impacted harmlessly on the covering plate of the tower, but as the sniper lined him up the man quickly ducked around the corner and out of sight leaving the shot to go wide. On the other side of the  battle torn camp the Rachio began it's lumbering advance through the dense terrain eventually coming to the corner of the building and taking a shot at the Auxilia taking cover behind some cargo containers but the man's return fire is enough that both units are unable to land a decent shot. Not letting simple combi-rifle fire keep him down the Rachio again takes opens fire and this time the shots fly true and tear through the mans pitiful excuse for armour leaving the remote vainly await orders for the corpse lying at it's feet.

The PanO advanced cautiously after taking such quick casualties. A Fusilier crept up to the edge of his covering building but the range proved to be too much for both him and the Unidron that spotted him. The Nisse edged up and stuck his head out and began to exchange fire with the Maakrep Tracker. Eventually the Combined warrior landed a hit on the human sniper but his armour held and the man stood firm.

The almost mindless Gakis rushed forward again, disregarding cover and the Nisse took aim and took them both out despite the creatures best attempts to avoid the shots directed their way. One of the Unidrons was directed to flank the Nisse but after a few more deflected shots the Maakrep finally found a weak point in it's armour and the human fell to the ground unconscious.



In a bold move the Jotums broke from cover and the Undiron opened fire but neither the plasma bursts or large caliber shells found their marks, but as the remotely controlled machine carried on with it's forward momentum the Undiron was ripped apart by several direct hits. The Father Knight chose this moment to begin his advance across the field easily evading a shot from the Malignos but the second shot brought the heavily armoured elite trooper to a stop though his unbreakable resolve kept him from dropping back toward his vacated cover.

In a misjudged move the Rachio headed toward the Orc trooper it's heavy machine gun firing on the way, but a mix of the range and the dense jungle meant not a single shell came near it's target though after an intense exchange of fire the Rachio was left with a rather large hole in it's structure. On the opposite flank the reverse match up was happening but again after quite a bit of fire the Maakrep was still on it's feet and despite it's incredibly heavy armour plates the Jotums was rocked to it's core with penetrating HMG fire.

The PanO Lieutenant sensed the day lost with several of his men either down or in a precarious position decided it was do or die and launched a heavy attack of the advancing Combined force. The Jotums sent more fire at the Maakrep but again the deadly return fire left the machine teetering. In an attempt to dig out the offending alien the remaining Auxilia moved to burn it out with it's remote but the Malignos again proved his worth with his covering fire leaving another PanO member knocked out. The Orc trooper began to fire again but the shots went wild, though again none of the return fire managed to hit the lucky soldier. Finally with the last shot before the PanO leader was forced to withdraw the Jotums finally managed to put the Maakrep down, leaving the way clear for the PanO to fall back and regroup for another day.


We both really enjoyed the game and if not for The Wife's gamble at a win it would have ended in a draw. I'm really looking forward to getting in a fair bit on Infinity while this campaign is running with The Youngest looking to challenge me tomorrow (but that will depend on when I get home from work) and both The Brother and Toby hoping to get games in as well.

1st March - Infinity vs The Wife and Finished Nomad Iguana

After a couple of attempts to get a full size game of Infinity in against The Brother foiled by various acts of god, The Wife decided that we'd get a game in on Monday. A quick scale down of the army list to compensate for not having the Auxilia painted up for the Pan O yet. It's the first game I've got in outside the Operation Icestorm box and with my Combined Army.

I don't have a write up as such as I was having to double check a few rules here and there, but it was quite a good game with a few long shots paying off for each of us. The Wife taking out my Med-Tech Obsidon Medchanoid with her Orc Trooper needing a 2 or less and rolling a 2 taking him out with a critical hit. I returned the favour a few turns later with my Unidron Batroid needing a 3 and putting her Akalis Sikh Commando in a similar fashion. The true workhorse of the game was my Raicho taking out almost half The Wife's force. It was a great game and I'm looking forward to the next one. The Youngest is hard at work on her USAriadna so we can get a game in and hopefully The Brother and I can reschedule our game sometime soon.

I also finished off the Nomad Iguana for The Eldest to use. I haven't quite finished off the pilot yet but I've almost finished off my current Infinity collection.

Got a few things that might hit the table next but I'm not sure what I'll start up next. I'm thinking I might try to knock over the Infinity stuff but I do have some Britanan Highlanders that are primed and our Relics order did arrive a few days ago....

18th February - 15th Feb Dropzone Commander vs The Wife

The Wife and I got a game in of Dropzone Commander in on Monday. I have to admit I got a little over-zealous with the size of the table I set up. Once we both catch up on our Dropzone painting a 6' x 4' will be great but for this game we played in the middle 4' x 4' (I'll also need a few more buildings for a larger game to fill the edges of the table). We just went for an objective capture mission with four objectives in the central buildings.

I won the initiative roll and choose to begin. The first turn saw us both advancing in relatively quickly with two of my Marauders (medium dropships) carrying my Hunters and Reavers rushing up my left flank to gain ground rather than disgorging their cargo. The Wife fell for my aggressive move and deployed all of her anti - air on that flank which left me clear to run my Reapers up the other side of the table and move into a position to harass her Tomahawks.


Another initiative win and I launch the first fire of the game raining gouts of plasma down on her Tomahawks who are (un)fortunately saved my their shielding systems and only one of the tanks is destroyed. The Wife begins to bring down her Birdeaters in response not quite getting in range but taking the opportunity to rain fire in to the nearby building my Warriors are searching but they managed to dodge the falling debris and the building was still relatively intact. I chose to mirror her attack but with my Slayers on the larger building she's currently got her Braves in. Her troops also avoid debris but my guns being more suited to demolition almost halve the buildings structural integrity. Seeing her Coyote sitting mostly exposed to a flank attack my Marauder lands and the Hunters scream around the corner managing to get past it's heavier shielding and do some serious damage to the Shaltari command vehicle.

Again I opened up the proceedings for the turn and began by demolishing The Wife's Coyote with my Hunters. Her Birdeaters finally made it across the table and took out one of the Reapers. The remaining ship opened fire at the Birdeaters but barely made it through the flickering Shaltari shields ever the bane of my existence. The Wife quickly utilised her gates sending the Kukri over to add more anti-air on the other flank while the Eden gate withdrew to a safe distance and the Tomahawks while arriving too late to save the downed Coyote proceeded to open fire but are unable to hit my rapidly moving skimmer tanks. My Slayers take a shot at the Kukri covering them in an incandescent stream of hot plasma but as the image cleared the Shaltari tanks remained completely unscathed again thanks to their overworking shielding.

The Wife managed to grab initiative finally in the fourth turn, beginning by firing another salvo off at the Hunters, this time obliterating two of my three tanks. The Kukri open fire at the remaining Reaper downing the aircraft before it has a chance to react. The Slayers again open fire at the Shaltari anti-air tanks this time managing to pierce the seemingly impenetrable shields taking one of them out. The remaining Hunter tries to avenge the smoking debris that was it's unit but it's fire is again deflected by shielding, so the Marauders are called in and finally another of the tanks is destroyed leaving but one of the nigh impossible to kill tanks to go. The Reavers also take advantage of a sudden opening in the Shaltari lines and skim to the rear opening fire on the large Gaia gate causing some not insignificant damage. Both of our infantry begin to pull out this turn as well in an attempt to secure our captured objectives.

The fifth and what would end up being final turn begins with my Commander in his Desolator firing a second round into the small building containing the remaining objective bringing the structure down in a impressive display of exploding glass and flying concrete shards, dashing The Wife's hopes of some sort of last minute resurrection of today's clash with the might of the Scourge. She lashes out one last time denying the Slayer's a chance to return to their Marauder taking the opportunity opened but the now collapsed building and clear line of fire to bring the transport ship crashing to the ground. My next move is to send my further Invader into the waiting maw of it's Marauder and fly it from the table with my second Invader close enough to leave on it's own power thanks to an early turn Underground Monorail getting my Warriors safely from building to building.

We both had a great time and are intending to get some more of our unpainted stuff finished off and on the table soon.

15th February - Finished Relics Britanan Troopers and Company Sergeant Major

Finished off these guys last weekend but haven't had a chance to get a decent photo until yesterday. I've got the Highlanders still to go from the starter box and have quite a few bits and pieces heading my way soon. I'm not sure if the Highlanders will be on the painting table next though as I do want to finish off the Nomads and Pan-O forces I have for Infinity in time for The Eldest and The Wife to be able to use them for the upcoming Beasts of War campaign.

Troopers

Company Sergeant Major

I also got in a game of Kings of War on Sunday morning with The Youngest. I didn't get any photos this time, but after a hard fought game she managed to grab two out of the three loot counters and took out the game. She was quite happy with her win and wants to get on with putting her army together, after her USAriadna are finished.

The other part of day was setting up a Dropzone table for Valentine game with The Wife though we ended up just watching a few shows and got the game in this morning. I remembered to take notes this time so I'll have a AAR up in the next day or so.