Stalking With Swords

My trio of Witchling Stalkers. I could fake it with the Exorcist, but the Ortega theme kinda falls apart with these. I suppose the Guild sent a shipment over to the Ortega Ranch to assist with that tricky Neverborn Magic. Anyway, I picked them up because they're cheap and good in melee, both of which are traits my Ortegas lacked. Their melee aspect fell short of expectations, but I've found that they're a good overall package. They do way less damage than Francisco, but are much more likely to at least do something.

Aside from a one colour basecoat across the whole model, these three were painted entirely with washes. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, and the Witchlings made for a good opportunity, what with the many folds in their clothing. As I had hoped, it was pretty easy to do, was quick (aside from the drying times for all the washes), and produced decent results. I feel that this style only works on certain kinds of models though, so I don't know how often I'll be doing it.

Regarding the image, as I had feared, it was difficult to get a good shot of three models at once. The edges of the photo are clearly blurrier than the middle. I'm concerned about taking group shots in the future, especially regarding colour balance since it's pretty rare that every model has the exact same colours, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Experimentation With Photos - Penemue's Ariadna

Time for some more experimentation with photography. Like last time, these shots were taken in the basement of the LGS using automatic camera settings. Although this time it's Penemue's Ariadna instead of his Yu-Jing. The results were pretty varied, although they all fell on the lower end of the quality spectrum.

In retrospect, the reason is fairly obvious, and solves the mystery of how I was able to take decent shots of his Yu-Jing despite the very mediocre basement lights. Simply put, his Yu-Jing is painted in bright colours, and his Ariadna is not. What this means is that the yellow on his Yu-Jing caught the light really well and the camera was able to capture it. Even the gloss varnish may have been more help than hindrance, as it only had a minor impact on the yellow and black while grabbing even more light. On the other hand, the greys on his Ariadna got muted and blurred.

Penemue himself feels that his Ariadna is not painted as well as his Yu-Jing, but the real issue concerning these photographs is that I simply need better lighting to properly capture these darker paint jobs.

Veteran Kazak with T2 Rifle

Zouave Sapper with Sniper Rifle

Kazak Doktor with Fuzzy Hat

Chasseur a.k.a Autoinclude

William Wallace with Large Sword

Dog Warrior with Chain Rifle x2

Benedicamus Domino

The Ortegas are good, God fearing people, so it's only natural that they would consult with a priest for spiritual advice. The Exorcist is a model I picked up partially on a whim, mostly with the intent of replacing Papa Loco in certain matchups.

He's my latest attempt at painting black, and I am reasonably satisfied with it. There are a variety of mistakes I made, but I've identified them and should be able to avoid a repeat of them the next time. Though time consuming, it was surprisingly easy to paint the black; I just needed to not try to shortcut it. Instead, the shortcuts this time were in the overall colour scheme and in not picking out details in a separate colour.

I've barely played with him so far, but I've found that he isn't as radically hateful of certain demographics as I thought he would be. Which I suppose makes sense, given his reasonable cost. What's mostly letting me down are his ranged CBs of 5, which make it difficult to purge the unfaithful. He very much seems like a finesse unit compared to the Ortegas, so I'll see how it goes.

Dasyu Sniper Armswap

A Dasyu with Multi Sniper Rifle, a conversion I've been wanting to do for a while, especially after the Posthumans came out. I finally did it recently, by taking a Dasyu Hacker, slapping on the Posthuman Mk2's Sniper Rifle arm, and slightly repositioning the left hand. It fit pretty well, and I only had to do a little gap filling. I also replaced the thin barrel on the gun with a wire, but that was irrespective of the conversion itself.

I had actually expected a Dasyu Sniper to be out a long time ago since there's art of one in Human Sphere, but once the Dasyu Hacker came out, I figured it would be a very long wait. There's a joke that Corvus Belli releases a profile right after someone makes a conversion for it, and sure enough, less than a week after I put this together, a rumour went up that a Dasyu Sniper would be released soon.

Anyway, as indicated by my previous writeup, I'm a fan of the Dasyu with Multi Sniper; in fact I think it's the best TO Sniper in the game. As for the conversion, I'm reasonably satisfied with it, because at least I can stop proxying now.

Ranges in Infinity

I've always imagined combat in Infinity to break down into certain range brackets, and have referred to them in this way in conversations. I'm putting these up, along with brief definitions, to get my viewpoint out there. Keep in mind that these ranges are mutually exclusive. 

Under 10" - Point Blank Range
This is where Chain Rifles starting hitting, and is close enough that melee becomes a real possibility. Many guns are +0 at around this range, which also means the ones that aren't are usually best here.

Under 16" - Close Range
Where Rifles shine. Theoretically where most of the fighting should happen, but since the active player wants to avoid giving the defender +3 range, is actually avoided like the plague.

Under 24" - Mid Range
Where Rifles are bad and things like Spitfires are good. The most common range for models with heavy weapons or X-Visors, because their BS and Burst advantage make many models easy pickings.

Over 24" - Long Range
The extreme range, which will be scarce on a table. HMGs and Sniper Rifles dominate here and will actively seek fights at this range, making it appear common. Nearly any other gun is worthless here.

I realize that these categories are rather broad, but I prefer that over making them too specific. To me, there's not much difference between 10" and 8", or 32" and 36", even though those few inches make a big difference depending on the weapons used. I feel that on the battlefield as a whole, they are similar enough in concept and execution. Obviously, not everyone will share my views on this, and I'm always eager to see other approaches to Infinity.

Ottawa Hacker Bonanza Tournament - Part 2

First Marker to blink loses

Unfortunately, I don't have a variety of pictures like I had for the last tournament a couple months ago. Part of the reason for this is that the camera's batteries died partway through the second round. In fact, the shots of the armies were taken with an iPhone. Regardless, here we go.


In the first round, Hot Potato, I faced Penemue's Ariadna on the wilderness board. He was fielding stuff like Valerya Gromoz and William Wallace.

It started off pretty poorly for me, with Wallace and a Chasseur nailing my Netrod and Naga, and pinning in my Dasyu with Combi on the right side. My Dasyu Multi Sniper was the only thing stopping them from just running on in. The left side had Penemue's Moblot engaging my Posthuman Doctor, and in an attempt to shake it loose, the Posthuman jumped into her Mk2 body. Sadly, her shots killed not only the Moblot, but also her Mk1 body.

Despite my poor start, Penemue couldn't make much of a run for the room in the middle because I had a TO Multi Sniper watching each doorway. This evened out the momentum, and all he could squeeze in was Valerya, who wasn't able to reach the Terminal. I then moved my Dasyu Sniper into the room, but his Paracommando took her out. On the final turn, my Deva with Spitfire ran into the room and killed Valerya, giving me 3 VP for conquering the Terminal Room.


The second round, Environmental Consciousness, had me against endalyon's Aleph on the desert board. He had his double Hackers and Zayin Rebot.

My first roll of the game had my Netrod scatter way out into the open. My opponent's Netrod, of course, did not. =\ Endalyon deployed the Druze Hacker about 8" outside my Deployment Zone, so I had to kill it if I wanted to do anything. It must've had some neo-titanium armour, because it took forever to die. I then lost several units when endalyon's Naga Minelayer went on a Dogged rampage, somehow ducking every shot except for the very first one which triggered the Dogged.

The centre room was cleared out by endalyon's Asura, who saved against the Monofilament Mine that was then destroyed by his Zayin's E/M Launcher. I killed the Asura with shots to the back, then Annexed a Control Panel, but it was too little too late. An opposing Naga and Dasyu ran up and Annexed two Panels, leaving endalyon with 2 VP to my 1.


For the third round, Yojimbo Cage Match, I faced JAD's Ariadna on the wilderness board. He brought his Loup Garou and Tankhunters.

I got Deployment, which meant that I got Musashi. JAD's Loup Garou blitzed up the board, taking out my Dasyu Multi Sniper, but a long shot Crit from my Posthuman Doctor stopped him. I ran Musashi right at a pair of Camo Markers, knowing that one of them was a Mine. JAD wanted his Chasseur to live, so he detonated the Mine, killing Musashi and netting me 1 VP. My Posthuman Multi Sniper exchanged shots with his troops, killing the Moblot and wounding the Vet Kazak.

There was then a lull in the action, during which I Mined the hell out the centre room, to make it difficult for JAD to claim the Blue Prints. After destroying some of the Mines, he decided to instead just go after my guys, killing my Deva Lt and almost killing my Posthuman Mk2. However, this left my Dasyu, who was still in the centre room, free to pick up the Blue Prints. End result was 3 VP for me.


Final standings:
1st - endalyon (Aleph)
2nd - Penemue (Ariadna)
3rd - MuRm (Aleph)
4th - JAD (Ariadna)

After the tournament, we all talked about the scenarios, and it was generally agreed that although the scenarios were good in theme and concept, they would get some balance tweaking for next time. Regardless, thank you Tevesh for running a great event. I am thinking about running the next tournament, as it's about time that I did so.

Here's some more photos from the tournament day.

JAD's rather linear deployment

Amorphous black mass descends from the skies

My terrible deployment in Round 1

The Dasyu wants that Potato real bad

Ottawa Hacker Bonanza Tournament - Part 1

My Infiltrating agents, ready to kill

Ottawa had an Infinity tournament last weekend, held at Fandom II and run by Tevesh. The theme was that every scenario involved Hacking and the hunting of intel. The particular rules were as follows:

250 Points
1 Combat Group of 9 models max
Legal Mercs: Valerya Gromoz and Alguicil Hacker
Hacking Devices may be Looted by any model
Announce if you have AD or TO

Sadly, our turnout was quite low, with 4 regular players showing up. Generally speaking, the newer players were turned off by the more complex rules and scenarios, and the other experienced players couldn't make it for that day.

The tournament was 3 rounds, with a different scenario each round. The scenarios were an amalgamation of ones posted on the forums and original ones. Three different boards were set up.

Wilderness Board

Industrial Board

Desert Board

Round 1: Hot Potato
Important information is in an ancient terminal. Your objective is to secure the room for our team to reverse engineer the data. If securing the room is impossible, ensure to retrieve the data.

Scenario Rules:
- 4 Turn Limit
- Impersonators, Infiltration, Combat Jump and Mechanized Deployment cannot be used within 4" of the Terminal Room.
- The Data only provides Victory Points if carried by a conscious model with a Hacking Device. Repeaters would not be able to appropriately assess the information.

VP Objectives:
Conquer the Terminal Room (3 VP)
- The room is considered to be conquered when there is no enemy miniatures inside.
- If both sides are in the Terminal Room, the side with the most non-Syncronized or non-Servant models is considered to have control of the room, but only receives 1 VP. If both sides have the same number of contesting miniatures, the troops points will decide.

Extract and Keep the Data (2 VP)
- The Data has irregular behaviour which means it cannot be transmitted in the typical sense.
- The Data can be extracted from the Terminal only by a Hacker or Repeater in base contact with the Terminal, succeeding a Short Skill Normal WIP roll.
- The Data cannot be copied, it can only be “Cut and Paste.” Its behaviour is like the ball in a football match.
- The Data can only be transferred to another Hacker device or repeater if it is in a ZoC, always spending a short skill.
- The Data can be stolen from an enemy Hacker through a successful Anti-Hacking Protocols or enemy Repeater through a successful Immobilization


Round 2: Environmental Consciousness
An ambassador is staying in the station, we want to embarass the host. They've dispatched a security team to stop our disruption of the station's environmental controls. Convince them otherwise.

Scenario Rules:
- 4 Turn Limit
- Combat Jump is impossible in the station, Airborne Infiltration will have to do
- Units that may only enter the board through Combat Jump; such as a Netrod or AI Beacon, may still utilize Combat Jump as part of equipment previous agents left behind
- The Player who has chosen Deployment selects the placement of a Hostile Druze Hacker Mercenary anywhere on the board that is not in a Deployment Zone
- Placement of the Hostile Druze Hacker is done after both parties have completed Regular and Reserved Deployment
- The Reactive Player controls the Druze Hacker's AROs

VP Objectives:
Annex the Control Panels (1 VP per Panel)
- There are three Control Panels scattered in the combat zone.
- Models may only acquire Neutral Control Panels, all Control Panels start Neutral.
- To Acquire a Control Panel, a model must be in base contact and pass a Short Skill Normal WIP roll.
- Acquired Control Panels are no longer Neutral and would require a Reboot
- To Reboot a Control Panel to Neutral, a Hacker within ZoC must pass a Normal WIP as a Short Movement Skill. This Reboot may be performed through a Repeater's ZoC.
- Non-Hacking models may Reboot a Control Panel to Neutral by being in base contact and passing a Short Movement Skill Normal WIP roll.
- Hostile Hackers or Repeaters within ZoC of the Control Panel ensure that the panel cannot be Rebooted or Acquired, ensuring you need to disable the Druze Hacker if they are within ZoC of a Panel.
- The number of Control Panels a player may own is equal to the Game Turns; i.e. both players may have 1 Control Panel Turn 1, up to 2 Control Panels Turn 2, and all the Control Panels on Turn 3. 


Round 3: Yojimbo Cage Match
Possession is 9/10ths of the law. Delicate blueprints guarded with quantum protocols. A greedy mercenary holds the drop. Be holding those blueprints when our drop ship arrives.

Scenario Rules:
- 4 Turn Limit
- Next to the package is a clone of Musashi, who is in the Battle Group and employ of the player who selected Deployment.
- The Musashi clone has all of his abilities, traits and equipment with two new abilities: Limited Camouflage and Sellsword.
- Musashi would be placed as a Camouflage Marker, and would lose his Camouflage status as regulated by Limited Camouflage rules.
- Sellsword allows non-Sync, non-Servant enemy models to recruit Musashi by spending a Long Order that does not provoke AROs within ZoC of Musashi.
- Musashi and the model make a FtF WIP roll. If Musashi wins, that model may no longer use Sellsword this turn. If the model wins, Musashi leaves his current Battle Group and joins the opponent's Battle Group.

VP Objectives:
Retrieve the Blue Prints (2 VP)
- The Blue Prints may not be interacted with in any way until Turn 2.
- The Blue Prints may not leave a designated area.
- A model may pick up the Blue Prints with a Short Skill. Picking up the Blue Prints in this manner prevents the Blue Prints from returning to the drop point. The model may pass the Blue Prints to another model in base contact with a Short Skill.
- If the carrier is knocked Unconscious or Killed, the Blue Prints returns to the original drop point unless a Hacker is within ZoC of the dropped Blue Prints.
- The Blue Prints drops in place and does not move unless the Hacker is no longer within ZoC of the Blue Prints, in which case it would snap back to the drop point.

Dead Mercenaries Collect No Cash (1 VP)
- If you are in Control of Musashi at the end of the game, you lose 1 VP.
- If Musashi died while under your control, you gain 1 VP. 


Here are the lists from the day. My list is the unpainted one.

ALEPH - 250 Points | SWC: 4
 DEVA Lieutenant (G: Synchronized) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser+Devabot / Pistol, Knife (26)
   DEVABOT Heavy Flamethrower / Electric Pulse
 DEVA (Multispectral Visor L2) Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (34 | 1)
 NAGA Combi Rifle, Monofilament Mines / Pistol, Knife (32)
 DASYU Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (35)
 DASYU MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (48 | 1.5)
 MYRMIDON Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW (25)
 NETROD Electric Pulse (4)
 PROXY Mk.1 Doctor Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (14)
 PROXY Mk.2 MULTI Sniper Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (29 | 1.5)
 YUDBOT Electric Pulse (3)

ALEPH - 250 Points | SWC: 4.5
  DASYU Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (35 | 2)
  NAGA Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife (37 | 0.5)
  NAGA (Minelayer) Boarding Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (27 | 0.5)
  DALETH Rebot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse (21)
  ZAYIN Rebot HMG + E/M Light Grenade Launcher / Electric Pulse (36 | 1)
  DAKINI Tacbot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse (13)
 NETROD Electric Pulse (4)
  ASURA Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW (77 | 0.5)

ARIADNA - 250 Points | SWC: 4.5
 VETERAN KAZAKS Lieutenant (CH: Mimetism) AP HMG, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW (61 | 1)
 MOBLOT Panzerfaust, Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW (31 | 1)
 TANKHUNTER AP Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife (27)
 TANKHUNTER AP HMG, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife (40 | 1.5)
 LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
 LOUP-GAROU Viral Rifle, Flash Grenades / Pistol, Knife (21)
 CHASSEUR Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (19)
 CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (20 | 0.5)
 ALGUACIL Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife (22 | 0.5)

ARIADNA - 250 Points | SWC: 4.5
 LINE KAZAK Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
 LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
 PARA-COMMANDO HMG / Pistol, Knife (32 | 1)
 VALERYA GROMOZ Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Knife (26 | 0.5)
 VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP HMG, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW (61 | 2)
 MOBLOT (Infiltration) Rifle, Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW (36)
 CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (20 | 0.5)
 CHASSEUR Rifle, Adhesive Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife (19 | 0.5)
 WALLACE Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW (38)


I ran Aleph and did not run any Hackers, not only because that's my preferred method of running Aleph, but also because the scenarios were meant to be winnable even without a Hacker, and that sounded like a challenge to me. The double Multi Snipers are because forum consensus says those profiles aren't worth it, and I strongly disagree with that. The Proxy Mk2 isn't on her base because I dropped her after Round 2 and she broke. :( I figure it only improved her TO Camo.

I faced Ariadna, Aleph, and Ariadna, in that order. I'll update later with Part 2 and a short report of how things went down for me.