Infinity Battle Report - A Few Good Men Part 2

Welcome to the second part of Ariadna vs Nomads battle report. In case you missed it, you can the first part by clicking this link.

Onward to the game...

ARIADNA TURN 1

TankHunter trying to take
down Sin-Eater

I started the game. I had 6 regular, 1 irregular and 1 lieutenant orders.

My first move was to reveal one of the camo markers to shoot down the Sin-Eater. Revealed model was the TankHunter with Autocannon. This model is one of the few options the Ariadnians have against the heavily armored enemies.

Sin-Eater opted to shoot back as his ARO. The Morlocks who had LoF to the TankHunter decided to move towards my lines. Normally, if the actions affect each other like exchanging gunfires, the dice rolls would be face to face rolls. However, since TankHunter was coming out of camouflage here, he had a chance to surprise the enemy and make a normal roll to hit instead of FtF. Sin-Eater would only be able to return fire if he would survive...

TankHunter managed to hit with one of his two shots. Due to the explosive ammunition of Autocannon, Sin-Eater would have to make 3 armor saves now instead of 1. He needed 12+ to save the wounds and he managed to make all three of them, surviving TankHunter's attack. Since he survived, he was able to return fire. Although he needed 10- to hit TankHunter, he managed to score hits with both of his bursts. It was TankHunter's turn to roll for armor saves; but he only managed to make one of them and was knocked unconscious.

First order, first dead: The game was on...

Burak: What an unlucky start! The TankHunter had the surprise advantage and did his part, scoring a hit on the enemy. Too bad that Alkım managed to make all 3 rolls. To add insult to the injury, I lost TankHunter to return fire... I am at a huge disadvantage now. I am behind in points, I lost one of mt heavy hitters and also, I have no option to save Veteran Kazak from the wrath of Sin-Eater

With my second order, I ordered Antipode Controller to move to the right hand side of the building. Moderator link leader BS ARO'ed that but missed both his shots. Since the Morlocks also had LoF to her, they ARO-moved towards me again. With her second short skill she fired her Smoke Grenade Launcher to cover Veteran Kazak's advance. She failed to land the smoke grenade where she wanted but I spent another order to make it happen.

Burak: The only option I had left to move Veteran Kazak without him getting shot to bits by Sin-Eater was to block his vision with smoke grenade. Even though I succeeded in this attempt, I already spent too many orders with no gain. To make the matters worse, my actions gave many ARO chances to Morlocks and they used those chances to move towards my deployment zone.

I used my fourth order to move the Veteran Kazak among the smoke and take cover behind the silo nearby. With the next order, I tried my chances with Veteran Kazak this time to take down Sin-Eater. After the FtF roll, Sin-Eater scored a hit on Veteran Kazak; but I managed to make the ARM save.

Veteran Kazak decided to use up yet another order to shoot Sin-Eater and this time he managed to score a critical hit, knocking him unconsious. If you managed to roll exactly the same number you need to succeed at an action, it is considered a critical success. A critical success nullifies enemy's non-critical rolls when making FtF rolls. In case of an attack, a critical hit denies the enemy from making the ARM roll to save the wound.

Burak: Just in time! Even though it was pure luck, I got rid of Sin-Eater who has been pinning all my models to their spots. Now, I can advance from my right hand side with Veteran Kazak and Antipodes.

Alkım: Damn critical!

I used Antipodes' irregular order to move them inside the obscured area. With my last order, I tried to take down the Morlock on my right hand side, who had already advanced too much with AROs. Even though he failed to dodge Antipode Controller's shot, he managed to make the ARM roll and took cover.

In my turn, both sides had important casualties. One of the Morlocks was dangerously close to my Veteran Kazak and Antipodes.

NOMAD TURN 1

Alkım had more orders than me: 6 regular, 2 impetuous, 2 irregular, 1 lieutenant orders.

The models with Impetuous rule (like Morlocks) must move towards the closest enemy model at the start of player turn. They may shoot or use any other short skill after this; but the first short skill must always be move.

Morlock on Alkım's left moved forward and shoot his Chain Rifle. The template affected 2 camo markers as well as Veteran Kazak. I had many AROs to declare now. Veteran Kazak returned fire with, well, actual fire: Flame Thrower... Antipodes tried to scurry around to dodge Morlock's shot whereas Antipode Controller also tried to shoot down the Morlock from a safe distance.

Normally, you cannot shoot a camo marker without discovering it first; but since Veteran Kazak is a valid target for the Morlock to shoot, Alkım placed the template in a fashion that it would also affect the camo markers. As a result of this, all 3 Antipodes were revealed and they were to make a dodge roll with -6 penalty (template weapon rule). Unbelievably, all 3 Antipodes succeeded their dodges and Veteran Kazak effortlessly made his ARM save. Morlock was not as lucky though. He was scorched by Veteran Kazak's flamer and dropped dead. Had I lost an Antipode to this attack, the game could have developed very differently.

The other Morlock moved to the center of the table with his impetuous order and took cover there.

Burak: Advancing with the Antipodes like that turned out to be a rookie mistake from my side. I misinterpreted the camouflage rules and assumed that the Morlock would need to perform an Intuitive Shot in order to target the Antipodes with the Chain Rifle blast. In that case, I might be able to take him down with Veteran Kazak and Antipode Controller's AROs. However, since Alkım placed the template in a way that would affect the Veteran Kazak, who was a valid target, allowing him to keep the Antipodes under the blast effect. Thankfully, my luck saved me once again while I managed to succeed all 3 dodge rolls despite the -6 template weapon penalty. It was unbelievable

Alkım: Damn those 3 dodges!

Suppression Fire zone

With the first regular order, Reverend Moira moved to shoot down Veteran Kazak, who was posing
the biggest threat to Nomads. Even though he failed to dodge the shots, he passed the ARM rolls unscathed.

Surviving Morlock decided to perform two Cautious Moves to get close to the Veteran Kazak.

To prevent Veteran Kazak and Antipodes from advancing, Moderator link leader declared a Suppression Fire order. This order would allow the link leader to fire all of his bursts in his reactive turn should this zone be breached.

With his last couple of orders, Alkım tried his chances to bring Veteran Kazak down with Reverend Moira. In her shots, Moira used Armor Piercing ammo (halves the ARM value) followed by a Double Action (forces 2 ARM saves per hit) salvo. Veteran Kazak failed to dodge them too; but since he managed to pass most of the ARM rolls, he only suffered 1 wound and stayed alive thanks to his No Wound Incapacitation ability.

Burak: If nobody's dead from my team in the reactive turn, it must be good. I was extremely lucky in this turn. Actually, Alkım did his best to punish the mistakes I had made during my turn; but Lady Luck was on my side. I managed to pass all rolls I made save one. The most important thing for me was not losing any of the Antipodes until now.

Alkım: Have I said damn!? Jokes aside, I had a bad turn. Losing Sin-Eater the previous turn was not a big deal since he played his part. But failing to kill the important models of Burak's forces and losing a Morlock on top of this cost me the advantage I gained the previous turn.

First turn is over now. You can read the rest of the battle in the next post. Thanks for reading.