I-4 invasion Round 2

My second game was outside, I'm not saying that as an excuse or anything. Gaming outside sucks. It was hot and humid. The sun was in my eyes, ok that part I'm lieing about. 

My second round opponent was David, a vanilla Panoceania player. We played the mission supremacy. I chose turn order and that was a mistake. The board has virtually no cover on my side. I figured going second was a good idea for the mission. 

After barely making it out of the first turn of pano shooting I tried my tried and true tactic of using the dogs to kill as much as possible. Yeah, that didn't work. Bad dice and msv3 with an HMG in an elevated position make for a bad day. I had a Cameronian immobilized by a electric pulse from a baggage bot WTF! Did I mention it was hot. 

I did manage to keep David on his side of the table and keep the quadrants tied until the end of the game. David was able to hack only one console.  I ended up losing 4-1. 

Then it was lunch time. We had some pretty good BBQ. 

Up next Round 3 and as you probably guessed more Pan-o

ROUND ONE, FIGHT!

My found one opponent was Mike C. he played a NeoTerra force. The mission was Cold Sleep. I started this round of with a stout, I think.  Something Floridian. In a can, definetly in a can. Anyways I ended up with deployment and I had turn order. So first turn I ran my Cameronians and Mcmurrough up my right flank. One ended up tied up in cc with a total reaction baggage bot. Second Cameronian took cover in a building right of center only to be taken out later in the turn my a sniper hexa. Mcmurrough and the third Cammeronian pressed the far right flank battling it out with an Aguila Guard, man I hate them. Both of them fell to the Aquila, but not before getting him into a more favorable position for me. With the Aquila out of the way Uxia was able to grab the three objectives on the right and get back into hiding. 

Mike attempted to pick apart my left flank with a Spitfire Deva, not doing much damage. I believe only a volunteer fell. Mike pressed his Auxilia up towards the objectives on my left flank, Mr. Cateran was having none of that and dropped them both. 

At this point we were running out of time so the second round was shortened. I brought back McMurrough and the Cammeronian nearest him with a Volunteer Paramedic and attempted to take out his fusilier link with the Cateran on my left but to no avail. Mike attempted to secure the HVT but was unable to pull it off. The game ended in a 5-1 win for me. 

Round 1 table I deployed on the near side. 

Part 3 of stories of an I-4 invasion

After approximately 2 hours if sleep and hearty-ish hotel breakfast the misses carts me off to the Invasion. 

We arrive at beautiful Bill Fredrick Park, only 15 minutes from the hotel nice hotel choice wifey, and are greeted by a gate guard that seem bewildered by all the pop culture tshirt wearing fellas streaming through the entrance so early. 

A short drive through the wooded park we arrive at the venue. Side note, palm trees plus regular trees equals a weird forest.  Anywho the venue was a cabin with a covered eating area. There were tables set up for play both inside and out. Here's some pics. 

After going through the pics it looks like I missed a few that weren't finished being set up. 

Up next Round 1 FIGHT!

I-4 invasion continued.

So we finally board and to my surprise the entire back of the plane is empty. All children are seated up front, which means I'm prolly not going to get kicked. Yeah. The misses and I take our row and attempt to go to sleep.  That ain't happening. Even plied with alcohol I wasn't going down. 

We land in Orlando at 1am local time. With extremely un popped ears. Shuttle to the rental car and low and behold they didn't have the car we rented. Instead;

Mmmm mopar muscle and empty roads. 

The trip to the hotel was quick, of course, and luckily ticket free. 

To be continued.....

The I-4 Invasion

My journey to the I-4 invasion has been frought with peril. It started Friday evening at Midway Airport where I faced my first trial of this quest. 3 jumbo char dogs and two orders of fries. Challenge Accepted. Now there wasn't really anything on the menu of Gold Coast Dogs really challenging me per se but if they offer such a meal on said menu I must eat it, right? 

After devouring the dogs and companion spuds it was time to board. I don't get to travel much, so my knowledge of such things is limited. What I do know is I hate Southwest. So when the misses planned the flight I was reluctant. The lines and cramped seats are a nightmare. With our boarding numbers in hand we wait to be called   We felt pretty good about b-11, thinking we'd get on with a reasonable choice of seating. I didn't know that 60+ people were ahead of us. 

To be continued...

Icestorm 1st impressions

Operation Icestorm First Look!

Hello Infinity players,

            This blog post will cover our initial opening and review of Operation Ice Storm. This is the Infinity starter box set. It contains two factions (Pan O and Nomads) a few new models, a new quickstart rulebook, new cardboard terrain and a set of template and counters.

            The miniatures come in the standard infinity brown boxes that are now actually really useful as supports for the new terrain. (more on that in a minute) There are several new miniatures including the new Mobile Brigada sculpt  and a unit called the Reverend Healer. There is also a Father Knight and a Grenzer. The pre-order set comes with a Grenz Security Team model which is a mini-skirt clad business exec. with a suitcase gun. I was really taken back by the style and sculpt of the new models, especially the Mobile Brigada, which is a vast improvement. (just my opinion). I have included the complete list of components in the box.

 -PanOceania: 3 x Fusiliers; 1 x Svalarheima Nisses; 1 x ORC Troop; 1 x Akalis Sikh Commando; 1 x Military Order Father-Knight; / -Nomads: 3 x Alguaciles; 1 x Grenzer, Grenz Security Team; 1 x Mobile Brigada; 1 x Spektr; 1 x Reverend Healer; / 1 x CSU, Corporate Security Unit (EXCLUSIVE FOR PRE-ORDERS); Game Mat; 3 PanO Dice, 3 Nomads Dice; Scenery; Ruler; Markers

The game mat and terrain are interesting and I found myself liking the terrain way more than I thought I would and the game mat way less than I had hoped. The terrain is essentially fold-out cardboard buildings that can be reinforced by sticking any infinity box-set box inside of it. This works well because it encourages you to buy more box sets or it rewards your purchases by giving you sturdy buildings. The buildings and containers have ladders printed on them so the roofs are accessible. The buildings are also designed to give your troops cover when they are on top. Assembly was a breeze (after some initial confusion) and the buildings seemed very sturdy considering they are made of card stock. I was thoroughly pleased with the terrain.

Except for the game mat.

The game mat seemed too brightly colored and more like the deck of a ship and less like something people would erect buildings on top of. I really feel like CB could have made the mat look more like a sidewalk and made it less bright and shiny overall. The game mat seemed to distract the eye from the terrain and the miniatures. It is a good start but I wouldn't use it in a tournament or even a friendly game.

The templates and counters seem like they are a good start for a beginner but if you wanted to play a larger game you should reinforce them or use a more durable style of counter.

The book was well written and had some teaser information. I will not give away new rules but there were a few oddities and surprises. (two units are equipped with something called a breaker pistol which I guess will be in the new edition.)

Lastly, the box set comes with six faction specific dice. (3 Pan-O, 3 Nomad) These dice are really nice and have the faction symbol cut into the "1" place on the die. I hope CB decides to release these types of dice for each faction. I think they would sell a ton of them.

Overall the box set was very nice and I think it would be a good starting point for new Infinity players. I hope CB decides to release other box sets with different armies. That may just be wishful thinking on my part though.

Cameronian Attack @ Leisure Hour Hobbies

On Saturday July 26th a group of eight Spec Ops embarked on a secret O-12 mission. They were tasked with breaching a secret underground laboratory beneath an abandoned military base. The mission was frought  with danger as the area surrounding the base had a large population of Dog Warrior rebels that were drawn to the base for unexplained reasons. The labratory was also rumored to hold several captured Combined troops that were no doubt unhappy to be experimented on. 

We had a better than expected turnout for this event. The rules for which can be found:

http://chicagolandinfinity.proboards.com/thread/214

There were eight players that pretty much stomped their way through the two maps. Every player took the die rolls for XP and the lowest score was 55 I believe. There were some beefy Spec ops running around. 

Looking back,next time we do something like this we will be capping the amount of XP that a player can get. Probably using 25 +1D6 as starting Xp. That should give everyone a more even playing field. The more powerful characters were able to do the missions far too easily and left nothing but scraps for the others. We will also be instituting another method of determining activation order. Players will roll a WIP test at the beginning of the game and will activate starting with the best roll. 

Thanks to everyone that came out. It was awesome to meet some new Infinity players. 

Not enough pics were taken as I was too enthralled in the game. 1 vs. 8 is a lot if AROs to keep track of :)