Whack a Knight
Well, I did a big push on painting and assembly of terrain over the past few weeks. I’ve got enough done to finally playtest my space station table. The Cosmica Cubes from Warsen.al took the most time, as there were so many subassemblies to paint individually! The space station corridors are the Apollo Station set from Muse on Minis, and the floating crates were cobbled together from my ancient Antenocities workshop resin crates and a bunch of Tau Drone stands.
By the time Adam came over for a game, I was able to put together some of my Blotz crashed spaceship terrain too and paint it up to match the space station. Definitely still a work in progress, but I’m really liking it so far. The floating crates are different in that they grant cover if you’re in base to base with the clear flight stand base, but only if you’re standing! You don’t get cover if you’re prone, because the box is floating “above” you.
I have some stands for the Cosmica Cubes somewhere in a pile of boxes–they’re meant to be floating too. I’ll find them eventually. One of the big “problems” with the Apollo Station table is that there’s not a lot to block line of fire on the rooftops, so I wanted to have some elevated structures like floating crates. We’re in space, after all. It makes sense for some crates to be floating nearby with hazardous materials that shouldn’t be stored on station, or placed for pickup.
As far as rules for the table, we went with the following:
- The surface of the game mat is Zero-G terrain. This means that your movement skill is reduced by 1″, and that you have to stop when entering/exiting the terrain. Makes sense, like it’s an airlock.
- If you have the Terrain (Total) skill, you gain +1″ of movement, as normal.
- If you have the Terrain (Zero-G) skill, you gain Super-Jump when not inside the station corridors.
I organized the table to have a long deployment zone to deployment zone path inside the corridors, but I broke it up at angles to prevent ridiculous firelanes. The rest of the table is pretty open but there’s plenty of cover in floating form, you just can’t move to it safely.
Overview
- Mission: Looting and Sabotaging
- Forces: Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor versus Military Orders (300)
- Deploy First: Corregidor
- First Turn: Corregidor
I’m embarking on a journey to re-learn Corregidor, now that they’ve got a bunch of new toys and so many link options it’s confusing! I decided to try out the camo Morans, as I was making this list to cover both Unmasking and Looting and Sabotaging. I figured the Camo state would help get them where they needed to go for either mission. Not having a repeater is a pretty big penalty though.
Looting and Unmasking v2
GROUP 1
8
1
1
ALGUACIL (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1 | 10)
MOBILE BRIGADA Heavy Machine Gun / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 40)
EVADER (Engineer) AP Spitfire, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit, TinBot: Firewall [-3]) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 34)
JAZZ FTO undefined / undefined. (0.5 | 19)
JAGUAR Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 10)
GROUP 2
CARLOTA KOWALSKY Breaker Combi Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Adhesive Launcher(+1B), D-Charges / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 30)
SOMBRA (Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) MULTI Rifle, Light Shotgun ( ) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 41)
McMURROUGH Chain Rifle(+1B), Grenades, Smoke Grenades / AP + DA CC Weapon. (0 | 27)
TRANSDUCTOR ZOND Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
MORAN (Surprise Attack [-3], Camouflage [1 Use]) Combi Rifle, Flash Pulse, D-Charges, Crazykoala / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0.5 | 18)
BANDIT (Hacker, Hacking Device) Light Shotgun, Adhesive Launcher ( ) / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0.5 | 27)
6 SWC | 298 Points | Open in Infinity Army
I really detest the Lieutenant options available to Corregidor these days, especially since we lost the amazing Intruder Lt. The Alguacil was my tradeoff between points and SWC to make room for a very beefy 5-model link. I based it off of a Jaguar core, and threw in two big guns, the Brigada HMG and the Evader AP Spitfire. I don’t think I needed the Brigada HMG, but I wanted to play with their 6-2 MOV and their ARM 5.
A lot of this list is experimental for me, just trying to digest the new changes. McMurrough, Carlota, and the Bandit are all in there because they’re fantastic! No experimentation needed there. Adam took a Military Orders list–they’re his latest new shiny (literally) toy and he wants to play with them. He’s got a 3-model Knight of Justice core with a Paramedic to keep it going. He also brought a Peacemaker and Order Sergeant HRL to protect the AC2. The rest of his list is support for the Tikbalang, and a Knight of Santiago KHD airborne trooper to deal with the AC2.
Weird
GROUP 1
KNIGHT OF SANTIAGO (Combat Jump, Hacker, Killer Hacking Device) Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Shock Mines ( ) / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 45)
TRINITARIAN (Forward Observer) Submachine Gun, D-Charges, Flash Pulse, Shock Mines / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 23)
KNIGHT OF JUSTICE (Lieutenant) Spitfire / Heavy Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 47)
CROSIER (Paramedic) Combi Rifle ( | MediKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 13)
GROUP 2
TECH-BEE (Specialist Operative, Deactivator) Flash Pulse ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 5)
TEUTONIC KNIGHT Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust / Pistol, DA CC Weapon. (0 | 19)
MACHINIST Combi Rifle, D-Charges ( | GizmoKit) / Pistol, CC Weapon. (0 | 15)
PALBOT PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
TIKBALANG OF MONTESA (Religious Troop) AP Heavy Machine Gun, Heavy Flamethrower / DA CC Weapon. (1.5 | 68)
CRABBOT Flash Pulse / . (0 | 0)
FUGAZI DRONBOT Flash Pulse / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 7)
ESCORT SERGEANT Heavy Rocket Launcher / Assault Pistol, CC Weapon. (1.5 | 19)
AUXBOT Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)
PEACEMAKER Heavy Shotgun / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 20)
AUXBOT_3 Heavy Flamethrower / PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 4)
WARCOR (360ยบ Visor) Flash Pulse ( ) / Stun Pistol, PARA CC Weapon(-3). (0 | 3)
4.5 SWC | 300 Points | Open in Infinity Army
Deployment
I ended up deploying first, because Adam won the roll off, and stacked up my link in the corridors ready to proceed forward. The Morans hung out in the middle of the table, with the Sombra on the other side of the main corridor. I missed that it was FD +8″ and not Infiltration, but it wasn’t actually a big deal as I had a coordinated order in the middle of the game that I used on the Sombra which would have addressed the “free movement” issue. I had a pair of Transductors watching the approach to the center of the table. I tried to throw the Bandit over the centerline of the table, but failed and it ended up on my left table edge.
Adam set up his own link to oppose my own. Having learned the dangers of Carlota, he left a Machinist and Tech Bee facing backwards to protect against her, and then put a Trinitarian in the middle of the room connecting the corridors. The Warcor was left out to protect against a mad dash on the space station side, and he castled up his Teuton and Order Sgt ready to contest a straight run for his AC2.
To round out his defense, he used a Peacemaker and the Fugazi to cover his AC2. I put McMurrough down as my reserve, ready to go forward inside the corridors, and then Adam put down a Tikbalang.
Turn 1
Top of 1 – Corregidor
McMurrough made his way forward down the corridor. It wasn’t until I reached LoF of one of the Crosiers that Adam revealed a Trinitarian to take a shot at him with an SMG. Rather than face to face only one of them, I decided to just drop smoke at my feet. I rolled really well and canceled all of their shots.
I spec-fired some smoke to cover the Knight of Justice and Super-Jumped into base to base, knocking him out in one hit.
At this point, I decided to attempt a Intuitive Attack with the chain rifles, figuring I should drop the Crosiers. I beat their dodges but Adam passed both ARM rolls… and did so again for the next two orders until the Warcor dodged into base to base with McMurrough.
I tried to get rid of the Trinitarian, shooting it in the back with a Moran (I couldn’t throw a Koala out as I was covered by the Fugazi and the Teuton’s panzerfaust. The Fugazi discovered, but I didn’t want to risk giving Adam a free Panzerfaust shot. Even though I got the Trinitarian out of cover, it passed all its ARM saves. What is going on!
Well, the Warcor needed to go, because otherwise the Knight of Justice would be getting back up and then getting burst two on me, so I stabbed the Warcor and moved McMurrough’s body between the Paramedic and the Knight of Justice.
A few things. I’m feeling pretty rusty at Infinity as of late, with all the brain splitting between Infinity, Heavy Gear, and helping to run Late Night Wargames, so I missed a lot of really easy options. Here’s how I think I should’ve played things:
- Smoke into killing the KoJ – good call there, no change.
- Coup de Grace the KoJ, and move towards engaging the Machinist.
- Kill the Machinist by moving into B2B and doing the appropriate thing
- Super jump and kill the Fugazi outside with double chain rifles or something.
- Leave McMurrough outside the space station, and make people come dig him out.
Same number of orders, but way more impactful. I need to really practice more with McMurrough, in preparation for the horrible things I will do to people with Duroc…
Bottom of 1 – Military Orders
Anyway, since I forgot about Coup de Grace, I was just body-blocking the Knight of Justice. Adam’s in Loss of Lieutenant, so anything that happens that drains his resources further is good. The Teutonic Knight starts things off by firing a Panzerfaust at me. I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not, but I just normal dodge instead of throwing smoke at my feet. Throwing smoke would probably have made thing slightly more awkward for Adam, and I probably should’ve done it. I figure throwing smoke to cover the Paramedic probably wouldn’t help much… dodging closer to the Paramedic isn’t great either. I just dodged in place and did just fine.
The second Panzerfaust from the Teuton as it returns to its starting place, followed by an HRL shot from the Order Sergeant, does manage to do a wound to McMurrough. The Machinist has to spend two orders on it,but managed to take him out finally when I whiff a grenade through horribly.
The Paramedic takes two orders to get the KoJ up as well, so at least I’ve eaten Adam’s first turn without any real damage…
or so I think. The Tikbalang clambers onto a roof and guns down both Transductor Zonds. Sigh.
And I lose the Moran to the Trinitarian. Very annoying.
Turn 2
Top of 2 – Corregidor
I start pushing my link op, and have to contend with a mine. I forgot that Trinitarians also have mines, so I waste an opportunity for a double chain rifle to retreat everyone to out of blast radius.
I trigger the mine, losing the Jaguar, and of course the Trinitarian survives the chain rifle. The mine bounces right off the Brigada’s armor, which is great! I bring up my second Jaguar, get smoke on the Trinitarian, and knock the Knight of Justice back down with a burst of HMG fire. Whack a Knight! They just keep popping up!
I’m really low on orders now. That mine really threw me. I castle up a little bit and leave the Brigada out to ARO. The Jaguar attempts to kill the Trinitarian in close combat, but it passes its saves too! What is going on!?
I correct my link’s positioning with a coordinated order, breaking the link, and this also lets me shuffle the Sombra forward.
Bottom of 2 – Military Orders
Adam drops in a Knight of Santiago and makes a play for my AC2. I stop him with a flash pulse from my remaining Moran. Phew!
Adam them dumps what seems like 1000 orders into the Tikbalang, chasing the Moran around while it dodges until I finally make a bad roll. That -9 overall (cover, mimetism, bad range) on the HMG realy helped out!
Adam picks up his poor Knight of Justice again, and then passes turn after settling the Knight of Santiago and the Tikbalang into safe places.
Turn 3
Top of 3 – Corregidor
I spend the Bandit’s order and long-bomb an Adhesive shot onto it successfully! Now the Knight can’t do anything! Knight successfully whacked… or at least glued.
I use the Sombra’s climbing plus and crit the Fugazi and the Peacemaker down, which is pretty freaking great. It was really nice getting a free roll against the Fugazi, which discovered.
The Evader goes to work, taking out the Teutonic Knight easily before slapping a D-charge onto the AC2 and doing two wounds. Carlota comes on and hits with three breaker rifle shots on the Knight of Santiago. I sadly wasn’t thinking about using the ADHL, which is a far superior choice in this case, and only do one wound, which isn’t enough. My Lieuteant sneaks forward to get LoF to the AC2.
Bottom of 3 – Military Orders
Adam goes on a rampage with the Tikbalang, trying to clear the way for the Knight. He kills Jazz, who just throws a pitcher out for the Sombra. The repeater is next to go…
followed shortly after by Carlota. I do manage to get a wound on the Tikbalang with the Sombra’s MULTI Rifle though, which is nice.
The Evader is still watching the console, so Adam tries to clear it with the nearby Order Sergeant’s Assault Pistol. I headshot the Sergeant with the Evader’s pistol…
and even manage to put another wound on the Tikbalang in ARO with the AP Spitfire!
Adam uses the super-jump feature of our modified terrain ruleset and gets the Knight of Santiago behind the AC2 and starts slapping D-Charges on it.
It takes him all three D-Charges and a hit with his DA-CCW, and he gets three wounds to my two. We totally forgot about the Panoplies for this mission, and neither of us achieved our classified, so it was a
4-2 Military Orders Victory!
Post Game Analysis
I definitely didn’t structure my defense of the AC2 very well, that’s definitely something that I could have improved. The two Transductors weren’t enough, and they were far more exposed than I had really intended. I suppose that what I get for literally putting down the paintbrush from painting the crashed ship when Adam rang the doorbell!
Adam pulled two orders from my second pool, which was really bad, as it meant I couldn’t effectively deal with the Trinitarian on Turn 1. As I push through learning Corregidor again (it is a vastly different faction from the last time I seriously played them), I’m going to have to pay more attention to my combat group organization.
I’m so used to relying heavily on midfield skirmishers and fast units like the Zondnautica, which don’t really exist in Corregidor. I need to work on maneuvering 5-model links. I’ve consistently hated piloting them, as I find them to be very cumbersome and awkward, but I think Corregidor offers enough stuff to make me care about them. I think I need to think much more carefully about where the link will end up at the end of activating them. As of late it seems like every time I push a link forward and it gets shattered I’m always happy, because then I’m free from the constraints of having to move them all around as this clumsy blob of units.
Anyway. I think my mishandling of McMurrough this game resulted in enough of a tempo swing to cost me things. At the top of 3 I was faced with a difficult choice, either hit the AC2 again with a D-charge, or bring Carlota on and try to take down the Knight. I opted for the latter, and I think that would’ve been the right call if and only if I had used the ADHL on the Knight. The mine at the top of 2 really made things quite difficult for me, and that stalled out the link. The Evader was my only real option at that point to do anything useful.
I’ve used the Sombra twice now. They’re pretty great! The link itself did fine, and aside from my absolute mishandling of the mine situation, I think it went fine. I do think that having a Brigada BSG would have been useful, perhaps even over the the HMG. I could even do something ridiculous like take the Lieutenant profile and just be aggressive with it. I’m always saying how Loss of Lieutenant isn’t a huge deal, and honestly the Alguacil isn’t doing much for me.
As for how I could have improved things, I think my discussion of what I could’ve done better with McMurrough is clear enough. I should also have just thrown a Koala out with the Moran and then maneuvered the Bandit to a better position. I think putting it on the left was a mistake, as my right was pretty weak. Even covering things in my deployment zone by deploying her on the back table edge would have been appropriate. So a lot of things to be done better on the first turn. If the Knight of Justice was down, I could’ve pushed the Brigada outside of the corridor system to deal with the Teuton, and then had a much safer run with my Evader on Turn 3. I think I could’ve also spent some orders on Carlota on my second turn too, even to just defend my AC2 better. That would have been a good move as well. Really this could’ve gone much further in Adam’s favor, were it not for some boss ARM rolls on my AC2.
So, I think I had some pacing issues with this game, and an absolutely disastrous first turn that accomplished nothing. This was effectively a 2 turn game, as the first turn for us both of us was meaningless. I didn’t develop my position or even do all that much damage. I think McMurrough is a very complex tool and I need more practice with him. I recovered well enough, but due to the bad tempo on Turn 1 and the really bad tempo loss on Turn 2, I lost the game.
The table itself is quite challenging to play on, and will require some more thought… more games to come! Thanks for reading.
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