MuRm's Minis: July 2012

The Fiday spectacularly fails another WIP roll on the objective.

The first round was something of a warm up for the players, as some of them were not familiar with all the rules and abilities, including, in some cases, of their own units. Despite Doctors, Engineers, and Hackers automatically passing their WIP rolls against the objective, very few of them actually went for it. I did notice jean1951's Fiday fail multiple WIP rolls.

In other news, Lali managed to hack a Zayin Rebot, which caught my eye mostly because I'm so used to not seeing hacking happening at 200 points. Later in the day he also used hacking against a Su-Jian, so it was definitely something he was watching for.

Haqqislam snipers lining up their shots.

The second round mostly featured expensive, powerful models failing to actually cause damage. For example, Century's Multi Sniper Naga deployed on an elevated platform with great LoF, but was taken down by a Viral Sniper Lasiq before turn 1 even finished. Henshini's Su-Jian also missed both Panzerfaust shots on the objective, which probably ended up costing him the round.

Something interesting this round was seeing oni_dave's and Penemue's Vet Kazaks pairing off on opposite sides of the board, then stalemating each other for most of the game. Neither wanted to risk their valuable models against the other's Flamethrower.

Highlander Grey in the middle of his rampage.

Two reasonably similar models that are known for frequently dying before accomplishing anything went on rampages this round. Penemue's Highlander Grey took down a Naga, Zayin Rebot, and scored a wound on the Asura before being taken down. Henshini's Domaru Butai exploded three Naffatun in CC, and then cleanly got away with the objective.

For Penemue, all of the Aleph heavy hitters being dead or wounded meant he could safely protect the objective when he picked it up. For Henshini, the Domaru directly neutralized Haqqislam's defenses and then pulled the objective from their cold, dead hands.

Weekly cheerleader rally.

Overall, I think the scenarios were simple enough that the players didn't have to worry much about how they worked and could instead focus on just playing. In that regard, they were a success. However, I had not anticipated how often ties would be coming up, nor how low some of the scores would be.

In retrospect, it makes sense. Being new to the game, the players had different priorities than the people I tried the scenarios with. They preferred to attack the enemy forces instead of scoring the objectives, and games often closed out with players scrambling for VP as they realized how low they were.

I'd like to give special thanks to:
Penemue, who helped me out with the tournament in multiple ways, including driving over myself and a lot of terrain.
Boutique FDB, for having a large and cool playing area for us, as well as having a standing inventory so players could easily collect prizes.
All of the players, because without them there wouldn't have been much of a tournament.

And now, time for some more pictures.

Ariadna carefully checking out the dangerous intersection.

That smiley face means he likes you.

The Japanese forward guard loves Odalisque long time.

Yes, those are all Camo Markers.

Aleph sets up shop.

A Vet Kazak scopes out his next target, the Asura.

Haqqislam getting real comfy in their Deployment Zone.

Opposing Aleph forces face off. The Dasyu manages to survive.

The Asura and Deva have a nice chat while the Naga is murdered off-screen.

Fireman is ready to cut the first guy who comes around the corner.

This past weekend, we held an Infinity tournament at the Boutique FDB over in Hull. Infinity has picked up a lot of new players recently in Ottawa and especially Hull, so the tournament was aimed at beginners. No experienced players were allowed to enter, and the tournament itself was fairly casual. The rules were similar to the Newbie Tournament we ran earlier in the year.

200 Points
No TAGS
No Link Teams
Announce if you have Hidden Deployment or AD

We were supposed to have a solid turnout, but a combination of several last minute cancellations and others just not showing up left the numbers a little low. There were five players, plus Penemue who ended up joining to make it an even number but was not eligible for prizes. Aside from the fact that I counted as an experienced player, I was running the tournament so I did not enter.

The scenarios were the ones I posted up earlier:
Round 1: Let the Expert Handle It
Round 2: Destroy the Totem
Round 3: Find What Was Lost

Rival Nagas and Devas both attempt to secure the objective.

These were the army lists used:

Henshini - YU JING
CELESTIAL GUARD Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife (13)
2x KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife (29 | 1.5)
SU-JIAN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Pistol, CCW (56 | 2)
DOMARU Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW (29)
NINJA Combi Rifle / Pistol, EXP CCW (38)
TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife (14)
YAOZAO Electric Pulse (3)
200 Points | SWC: 3.5

oni_dave - ARIADNA
LINE KAZAK Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
2x LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP Rifle, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW (47)
VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP HMG, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW (61 | 2)
HIGHLANDER GREY Rifle, 2 Light Shotguns, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW (30)
CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (20 | 0.5)
112 Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW (12)
197 Points | SWC: 2.5

Penemue - ARIADNA
LINE KAZAK Lieutenant Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
2x LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife (9)
VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP Rifle, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW (47)
VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP HMG, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW (61 | 2)
HIGHLANDER GREY Rifle, 2 Light Shotguns, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW (30)
CHASSEUR (Minelayer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (20 | 0.5)
112 Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW (12)
197 Points | SWC: 2.5

jean1951 - HAQQISLAM
GHULAM Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife (13)
NAFFATUN Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife (10)
2x NAFFATUN Rifle + Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife (12)
ODALISQUE Spitfire, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (31 | 1)
DJANBAZAN Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW (33 | 1)
LASIQ Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife (29 | 1.5)
HUNZAKUT (Deployable Repeater) Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (25 | 0.5)
FIDAY Rifle + Light Shotgun, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW (34)
199 Points | SWC: 4

Century - ALEPH
ASURA Lieutenant MULTI Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW (73)
2x DAKINI Tacbot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse (13)
DEVA Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (35 | 0.5)
NAGA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife (39 | 1.5)
ZAYIN Rebot HMG / Electric Pulse (27 | 1)
200 Points | SWC: 3

Lali - ALEPH
DASYU Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (35 | 2)
2x DAKINI Tacbot Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse (13)
DEVA (Sensor) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife (26 | 1)
ASURA Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, AP CCW (77 | 0.5)
NAGA Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife (26)
2x NETROD Electric Pulse (4)
198 Points | SWC: 3.5

Final standings were:

1st - Lali (Aleph)
2nd - Henshini (Yu Jing)
3rd - oni_dave (Ariadna)
4th - Century (Aleph)
5th - jean1951 (Haqqislam)
xth - Penemue (Ariadna)

I didn't get a chance to really sit down and watch any particular games, so I don't have any specific battle reports. I did take pictures, but many of them were quite blurry. I am very much an amateur at photography, and am quite lost without a tripod.

These are the tables that were played on. I'll put up a second part later with some shots of games in progress, as well as thoughts on how things played out over the course of the day.