I decided to invest in a new Infinity army for 2016, but I didn't want to go far from my Ariadna comfort zone, so a USAriadna force was my choice. I would keep all the camouflaged goodness of vanilla Ariadna but with the addition of a Fireteam. After work I took the one hour drive down to Tunbridge Wells to play Totally Crit Chris at his club.
USAriadna - 298 points - 6 SWC
Group One: (10 regular orders)
Grunt - Heavy Flamethrower
Grunt - HMG
Grunt - Paramedic with Rifle
Grunt - Forward Observer with Rifle
Foxtrot - Forward Observer
Foxtrot - Forward Observer
112 - Light Shotgun
Marauder - Heavy Rocket Launcher
Marauder - Boarding Shotgun
Airborne Ranger - Submachine Gun
Group Two: (6 regular, 2 irregular and 1 impetuous orders)
Dozer - Traktor Mul Control Device
Traktor Mul - Uragan MRL
Traktor Mul - Uragan MRL
Hardcase Frontiersman - Tactical Bow
Hardcase Frontiersman - Tactical Bow
Grunt - Lieutenant with Rifle
Maverick - Shotgun
Grunt - Sniper Rifle
Chris won the initiative and took turn choice. Chris was running a very small elite force, a Marut Tag, a Asura Hacker, two total reaction bots, an engineer with bot, a baggage bot and three Netrods. I apologise if I misname any of the Aleph figures. I have the Tractor Muls in my USAriadna force, but I wanted something different for this army, so they are conversions from some 40K Adeptus Mechanicus models and a ferret* in the bits box. The models will have a desert feel to their look once they are complete (I had got bored painting green).
*(No animals were harmed in the construction of these models).
Above: Chris surveys the battlefield. (See my review from the Birmingham Expo last year for a similar picture. To avoid bending down, he actually digs a three foot pit in the floor before each game to allow him this unique perspective).
Aleph turn one:
The Marut Tag decimates USAriadna right flank killing the Maurader with missile launcher, one of the Tractor Muls, the Grunt with the sniper rifle and a Foxtrot Ranger. Devastating. However, it did suffer a wound in all of this mayhem, and more importantly, wasn't able to get to total cover at the end of the turn.
USAriadna turn one:
The Grunt fire team position themselves with the HMG to get a line of sight on the Tag. The construct is a tough SoB, but five dice per shot, and a fair few critical hits finally brought it down. Even then, I had to shot it again due to the close proximity of the Engineer's Bot (no tinkering with spanners for you). My Hardcase killed one Netrod outright and carried on to kill a second and also complete the first of my classified objectives, Extreme Prejudice.
Aleph turn two:
The Tag, not surprisingly was the Aleph lieutenant, and so all their regular orders turned to Irregular. Chris was forced to use some Command Tokens to make them regular again. A Asura Hacker moved down centre of table to get within eight inches of HVT, and also removed the second Foxtrot. At some point the second Tractor Mul was also destroyed. One of the Aleph Total Reaction Bots took up a very central position and stopped me from approaching the Hacker with the fire team, unless I bravely crossed the Bot's kill zone.
USAriadna turn two:
The Parachutist arrived (but the very short range of the submachine gun, gave him little to do with the Total Reaction Bot near by). However, the Hardcase, with his hatred of all things electrical, went on to kill the baggage bot. The Grunt fire team tried to take down the dangerously place Total Reaction Bot but the HMG went unconscious, and the clumsy medic was not able to revive him. Following his Baggage Bot success the Hardcase then decided to go toe to toe with the Total Reaction Bot, and won! Against the odds the Aleph engineer bot had managed to survive a shot from the Hardcase at the same time.
The Maverick tried and failed to attack the Hacker (this was a big mistake, I should of spotted her instead so that I would get my second classified) and paid a heavy price with her life.
Aleph turn three:
A limited number of orders hampered the Aleph turn three. The Hardcase's earlier glee was cut short as the second Total Reaction Bot gained bloody vengeance for his brother's loss. The Hacker was able carry out Designation on my HVT, and the engineer bot, who had escaped the attentions of the Hardcase earlier played a pivotal role in determining the result of the game and completed Retroengineering. (Well played Chris).
USAriadna turn three:
The Engineer killed the final net rod, which he would have done earlier if he had stood up and noticed sooner. The 112 tried, and failed, to revive the second downed Foxtrot, so all hopes of achieving my second classified were lost. This brought the game to a very bloody end.
Both sides had lost 180 points or so, the Aleph Tag being 120 points on its own. But Chris' two classifieds to my one brought him the victory.
Above: A shy and retiring John B. throws some shapes.
Lessons:
1. If your opponent has a small order pool he will need to use each one very carefully. Don't place your models so close together so that your enemy can use the split fire rule to kill more than one model using only one order. Don't forget, like I did, when he decided to go first, to reduce your opponents order pool by two orders by using a command token. Only noticing that the engineer could shoot the third and last Netrod on my turn three was very silly. If I had done this earlier, the loss of the order would have been more keenly felt.
2. Never loss sight of the classified objectives. If I had used the Maverick appropriately, with her Forward Observer skill, I could have scored two points and may have drawn the game. Her first impetuous move of 8 inches makes her vulnerable to incoming fire, and the use of visors by the Aleph models makes smoke a pointless option to cover her speedy advance.
3. If you have a model to still to come onto the table, make sure you are not using its order before they arrive (oops! Sorry Chris).
4. Despite their total reaction ability, the Tractor Muls could not go toe to toe with the Marut Tag and his HMG. Next time either hide them away for the forward observers to target enemy models for them or put the close together so that anyone approaching will attract four shots instead of two.
Thanks to Chris and all at the club for a great evening. Next time Pootleflump, next time.
An aside.
And for those of you interested in the latest in model shipping containers, and subtle bases for your models, Chris would welcome your visit to his website:
Good wargaming to you all
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