Last month was crazy busy for me. Work, family, partying at weekends…you know usual stuff… and because of that, I had absolutely minimum time that to spend to give some love to the blog. Shame on me, I’m aware of that.

…from now on – I say – enough! I have plenty of collected material to write, and I need to catch up with all this stuff. And it’s actually cool, because I really miss that:).

Today I have for you tiny battle report from my Infinity game I played few weeks ago in Warsaw’s wargaming Gentlemen’s Club. It was my second game of Infinty- so it’s full of my simple rookie mistakes. And my opponent – Zippy Lapdos was unmerciful tutor, he ground me like a road roller. I don’t complain though. I was prepared for that – the idea was to be beaten, but learn the rules and tricks will help me in next games. So, big thanks to Zippy for patience while playing with me.

I also would like to apologize for any ‘fluff’ errors in story arc. I’m rather new to Infinity and still lot’s of things are new and unclear for me. Big favour to ask then – if you have spotted any significant deviations, please let me know.

We played 200 points game.

Annihilation Scenario.

My Classified Objectives: Data Scan and HVT: Espionage

Background Story

Location: Abandoned Nomad Commercial Mission. Planet: Weeboo

Small operational force of Nomad Bakunin were designatd to secure evacuation of Commercial Mission from north continent of Weeboo. Whole planet became the zone of intense fight between Morat Agression Force and Yu Jing. As Nomads were not eager to involve into conflict, all Commercial Missions were ordered to evacuate.

The problem was, that Morats did not care what Nomads tacticians planned. Human was human. Dead or enslaved. There was no other alternative for them. When Kornak Gazarot’s Commandos approached the complex, Nomads were still far from completing their operation. Conflict were unavoidable.

Lieutenant, Ravened Custodier Azadia Neetown received additional orders. Confrontation against Morats were perfect opportunity to exact scan of their DNA, which may later used and added to the pool of Bakunin gene bank. Demand for alien genome was high, these days, and there were plenty of deviants ready to pay for this quite a sum.

So, with these secret instructions, Nomads faced vicious Morats. The stake was high – safe retreat of all civilian workers. There won’t be any margin for error.

Forces

Bakunin Nomads

Reverend Custodier Liutenant (Hacker)

Reverend Custodier (Hacker)

Sin-Eater Observant

Zero

Reverend Moira

Moderator (Combi Rifle) x 3

Moderator (Barding Shotgun)

Morats

Kornak Gazarot

Raktorak Sergeant Major

Treitak Anyat

Dataruzi Witch Soldier

The Hungrie Preta

Morat Vanguard Infantry x 3

Deployment

Morats came from the north. In far eastern corner (top left corner of the photo), Kornak Gazarot was lying on the top of the rooftop passageway. In the middle – one of The Hungries were on the loose, and in the western flank (low corner)- rest of the Morats.

Bakunin is defending eastern part of the complex.

On the eastern flank (top corner) – Lieutenant Reverend Custodier (on the top of the building), another Reverend Custodier (inside the same building) Reverend Moira. More in the centre – Sin Eater Observant (on the rooftop), and on western flank – linked group of Moderators. In the middle of the complex –  camouflaged Zero.

Round 1 (Bakunin)

“Morats! Let the Our Lady guide me hand. We put our prayers in you. All necessery to fight back those beasts…” Lieutenant Azadia Neetown whispered to herself. She was ordered to stop whoever may stop the evacuation. Fate decided that Morats arrived in the middle of all operation, so there was no other option than stop them by any means necessary.

Azadia sent her report to the HQ as soon as she became aware of Morats attack, and she got reply just few minutes later. Additional orders: scan at least one Morat soldier to obtain alien DNA, and hack Morat scouting probe (HVT). These were number one priorities. Nomads force will not fall back until all objectives are secured. Tough task, but manageable. Reverend Custodier Azadia Neetown will obey with humbleness and do her bidding with obedience.

…so when she spotted Morat probe silhouette hidden behind the building somewhere in the centre of the complex, she started to execute the orders. She fired the pitcher to grant her the zone of hacking control around the probe. And then she began to try to hack the probe to download needed data. Two tries and two failures. Anti-hacking programs built into the probe system were top notch, and it was hard to pass trough the firewall. Lucky for Azadia, third try was a success and the stream of data flew direct to her memory bank. Azadia hit the ground to hide form any enemy eyes. First objective secured.

Now, Nomad force could concentrate their efforts on establish proper defensive stance. Second Reverend Custodier and Reverend Moira moved forward and took more tactical positions. Sin-Eater Observant just simply watched over all complex from his rooftop hideout, and Moderators Link moved forward and found perfect cover and spot to open fire to Morat Vanguard Infantry. It was concentrated fire of all the link, so it was quite a luck that Morat solider was hit only once. His arm was pierced by the bullet, and he fell down with no conciousness bleeding heavily.

Round 1 (Morats)

To inexperienced soldier, Morats may seem as vicious and undisciplined fighters with no sense of strategy and no respect for their officers. This belief is as wrong as can it only be. Morats may look wild, but on the battlefield they stick to the tactical plan. To win the skirmish, is the primary goal, and only by tactical discipline it might be done.

And, of course during this attack, everything was planned.

First, one of the Witch Soldiers threw smoke grenade in the passage between two buildings. Whole area was covered with dark suffocating smoke blocking the view to all Moderators and Sin-Eater Observant on the roof. But what was the most important, Morats got necessary cover to move freely without being spotted by Nomads.

One solitary Hungrie Preta among ranks of Morats moved with incredible speed trough the smoke to flank Moderator link from the left. While it was jumping from one cover to another, Moderators opened fire to kill him instantly. However, Pretas are swift. Only The Lady of Mercy knew how fast they can be. A second before it was shot with the round of Moderators’ bullets, it jumped straight at Nomads and managed to burst the excrescences all over the Modorators. Three of four Moderators covered with unknown corrosive biological mass, fell on the ground in incredible agonal pain. Their skin were burning. Acidic substance were everywhere, going throughout the armours, weapons and cloths with equal ease. Only one Moderator managed to dodge the dangerous burst, keeping his position behind the cover.

After this suicidal, but very efficient attack, Morats moved forward. First, one of the paramedic injected the painkiller to unconscious Vanguard, and wounded Morat was back on his feet with no sign of injury, ready to fight again. Then, second smoke grenade landed near the first one, causing the smoke to spread on the much wider area with camouflaged Zero on it’s edge.

That was prefect opportunity for Witch Soldier to go straight to the action. He jumped into the smoke and ran direct at Zero. Of course, that was entirely intuitive action – there was no possibility, he could spot Zero in her camouflage. However, Morats are highly skilled warriors, and humans still know very little about this race. Maybe some kind of ‘sixth sense’ alarmed this Witch Soldier, that some danger lurks in the exact place where Zero was hiding. Who knows?

Anyway, Morat Dataruzi appeared right in front of Zero. She were quite surprised, still believing that her camouflage will provide her sufficient protection. Vanguard Soldier standing in the smoke area started to sniff around. And maybe he smelled Zero, or maybe he just sensed her somehow – he opened fire. Zero dropped her camo instantly and dodged back to the cover. Thankfully for her, enemy missed. Morat smiled – he just knew someone is here. He just followed his guts. Later, he will finish this human, but for now he ducked into the building, hiding before the smoke goes down.

Round 2 (Bakunin)

Loss of three Moderators was a huge blow for Nomads. Still, they had enough men to stand against Morats, but it seemed they enemy tactical advantage from now on. Especially, they use quite sneaky ‘smoke grenades’ tactics.  Something got to be done with that. Quickly. If the operation was about to succeed.

…but first things first – orders. There was still one more thing to be done. HQ wanted badly some sample of Morat tissue. And now, when one of Morat Witch Soldiers were close to Zero, it  was perfect opportunity to scan it and take the sample.

Zero set up Deployable Repeater and as soon as this hacking amplifier started to emit the signal, Reverend Custodier Azadia Neetown made the attempt to scan Daturazi Witch Soldier in zone of the repeater. This time program launched with no difficulties and whole body of Morat was scanned within matter of seconds. The second objective was obtained.

Now, it was all about waiting game. Morats will come eventually. Beside that, for now these clever alien beasts were hidden in several well covered sots. Only one Moderator managed to noticed slight movement between one of the buildings and fired intuitive shot. Morat Vanguard troop tried to dodged the salvo, but he failed. Bullets hit side of his torso and with cry of pain coming from his mouth, he went down.

Round 2 (Morats)

It was final point for Morats Operation. Kornak Gazarot himself, made the call for attack. He stood up on his feet and performed incredible run between obstacles and buildings. His plan was to get Reverend Moira, the nearest of Nomads. Moira tried to fire at him at least three times, but every bloody shot – he just dodged, and continue to engage. At the very last moment, Moira facing Kornak – he was just few meters away from her – she shot last time. That was direct hit. Unfortunately, the bullet bounced off heavy armoured chest of Kornak Gazarot and did absolutely no harm to him. With wide smile exposing his white, sharp teeth – Kornak Gazarot swung his blade and dealt his final blow. Reverend Moira’s last cry was heard all around the battle to freeze frightened Nomads for a slight moment.

From now on, Morats have all inclinations to believe that they will win this. No matter what. Treitak Anyat threw another smoke grenade and narrow passage between buildings on the west were covered with smoke once again, blocking the line of sight of almost all Bakunin troops. Morats were free to engage, with no worries of being spotted.

First, The Witch Soldier that failed to kill Zero few moments ago, decided to finish the job. He jumped out the building and charged at Zero with fury. This time she decided to fight back – however fighting enraged charging Morat is like standing on the way of the running car. Zero stood no chance – she was decapitated in one killing blade slash.

The rest of Morats proceed forward. Smoke provided perfect cover, so they were quite confident no Nomad will caught them by surprise. They ran from cover to cover to secure the best position. Raktorak jumped to to the edge of smoke area and blasted the shotgun at the Sin-Eater Observant on the roof. Nomad was pushed back by the enormous blast and fell down without movement.

The rest of Morats concentrated their fire on one of two remaining Moderators. He was pierced trough by several bullets and he died instantly.

Round 3 (Bakunin)

The battle seemed to be lost. Nomads were decimated. Almost all troops were dead or unconscious. Only two Reverend Custodiers and one Moderator were left on the battlefield, and that was definitely too few to stop Morats.

The only thing Nomads could achieve was to mitigate further losses and kill as many Morats as possible.

Azadia Neetown stood up on her feet and took aim at incoming Morats. Smoke started to going off and blurred silhouettes of linked groups of Vanguard infantry and Witch Soldiers. Two series of shots and Morats were forced to scatter around. They felt too confident, that for sure. They did not expect any further resistance. Two of Vanguard were badly wounded by the salvo, and the rest were trying to find good place to hide. Standing here in open space like sitting ducks – that was unwise.

Second Reverend Custodier, by far were hiding in one of the buildings in Nomads deployment zone, leaned out the window and carefully aimed at Kornak Gazarot. And he was one big lucky SOB! Several shots hit him in the chest, left arm and left side, but he was still standing on his feet. Armour plates stopped all bullets, and this shots only enraged Kornak even more!

Round 3 (Morats)

…and nobody would like to stand against enraged Kornak Gazarot. And actually one of Reverend Custodier was forced to do it. Kornak Gazarot ran evading every incoming Custodier’s shot. Eventually, after long run, he was just few meters away, coming from the rear. When Custodier turned around, trying to shot him from the short distance, it was too late. Kornak’s blade pierced her heart with high deadly precision.

Meantime, whole western Morats flank concentrated their fire at Azadia Neetown. No chance for her, as well. Too many enemies shooting at the same time, and nowhere to hide. What a mess… She was killed instantly…

At the very end, only one Moderator was left alive, probably spared by victorious Morats, so he would tell everyone else about their glorious battle.

Summary

Uff, that was my first game and first battle report. Seriously, had the nice time playing, and almost the same figuring out how to write proper battle report. Did I managed to get it? Not sure. I did my best …and I want more:).

Long road ahead me. Infinity seems to be really complex game with amazing number of special rules and possible combinations. I believe, if I would devote myself to Infinity only, I would master the gameplay (of course after necessary numbers of battles played:), but since I have other games and miniatures on my head, it is not going to be that easy (did I write ‘easy’? No, impossible – Infinity is never easy;). Many games, many projects – perfect for casual gaming, not for true competitive play.

…but who needs competitiveness, right? It’s all about fun. Infinity is long run for me, but I’m sure someday I’ll get it, and play it right;). Some day…

…but for now, I have just few days until my road trip holidays across Europe. Germany, France, maybe Spain. Two weeks without any miniatures fuss. Yay;P

Just kidding – I will have my portable painting station with me. Everywhere, always.

Until next time!