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| Camilo Potocnjak-Oxman designed the event logo and Sam Benson free-hand painted it (whhaaaaaaat?!) onto the base of this CSU, which was the prize for best sport. |
CanCon missions were, in order: Capture and Protect, The Grid, Power Pack, Acquisition and Highly Classified. Damn hard mission mix to build for. If you want to see all my thinking of this front, see this blog post:
http://emperorsghost.blogspot.com.au/2018/01/cancon-playtesting-tohaa.html
First list below is for Capture and Protect and Acquisition:
CanCon - C&P, Acquisition
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GROUP 1
SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
SUKEUL Missile Launcher, Light Shotgun / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 36)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)
GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 33)
KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, Viral CCW. (0 | 13)
GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 31)
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)
KAMAEL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
GROUP 2
GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 31)
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)
KAMAEL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12)
KERAIL PRECEPTOR Submachine Gun, Smoke Grenades + 1 Surda SymbioBeast / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 20)
SURDA SYMBIOBEAST Pulzar / Viral CCW. (0 | 8)
CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 10)
6 SWC | 300 Points
[url=http://army.infinitythegame.com/index.html?l=BwBgjAPgzCIQwgQwHbwPbIAQFpPwGQAKANJgIIDGAjgK4CWAznQC50YQBMApAGwAsAdi4cOfPlwCEorgICcILjD4KJwXgFYowjjzUSt/NSL56wvPj21R1ktT03bdkgye2DJHBQLCzhfKFoSZvyWIjCSYAr2NiICWgACLkaiQlJePn4BEeahHOFS3ALqZhzq6r5BUWXacVzx8UA==]Open in Infinity Army
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Quick run-down of this list:
Group 1 is the attack triads and one sniper triad, group 2 is another sniper triad and a Kerail to throw smoke for the three MSV2 units and kill impersonators. I went with Gao Rael snipers in the links because they are better against light infantry lists than Sukuel Missiles (thanks to MSV2 against smoke and being cheaper) and I was expecting mostly light infantry lists (this turned out to be a correct prediction - there were only about 6 TAGs played in the whole tournament).
The main innovation in this list (copyright Mark Fabian i.e. me) is the top attack triad - the Sakiel with viral, Sukuel ML and Makaul. This is pretty much the only thing that can alpha strike in Tohaa. Having an alpha strike capable unit is critical in Infinity to prevent an opponent from turtling and neutering your turn 1. This triad can wreck someone who turtles. Your sniper in group 2 can kill any defensive pieces that are left out (or if there is some multi-wound thing like a Yan Huo or Blackjack then mess it's shit up with the Sukuel), and then you can burn 8 orders into this triad and gut an order pool. Deploy on a flank densely populated with terrain and look for cross-fire lanes. You can move up the board rapidly with 4-4 MOV and eclipse grenades, firing missiles in the tasty >32" range band at clumps of units along cross-fire lanes - even with B2, the mimetism and BS13 means you have great face-to-face rolls and you can kill multiple units in single volleys. Once you get to your opponent's DZ, you can turn the corner with any of the three units depending on what you need to get the job done - Sukuel light shotgun at B3 can clear congo lines, the Sakiel on B4 can clean light infantry efficiently with viral, and the Makaul can zip in and split burst through a nimbus grenades to destroy TAGs (-12 to dodge muwhahahahaahaha) and HI link teams with his flamers.
The second attack triad is my sweeper team with the Gao Rael Spitfire dragging a cheap LI specialist and a Makaul problem solver (never leave home without a Makaul). The Gao Rael is so slow but I find the 8-24" range band with an MSV2 to be way more important for Tohaa than the Sukuel HMG, which is a bit redundant when you have smoke-shoot capable snipers and missile launchers everywhere (good luck TR bots haha). You can also just eclipse forward, so that 16-32" range band is awkward. I find Tohaa have a bit of trouble with massed camo and the Gao Rael spitfire really helps with that (otherwise you have to do trades with your Makaul's, which isn't ideal).
The sniper teams are pretty standard - Kaeltar specialist (never leave home without 2 of these - Symbiomates are the most OP thing in Tohaa), Kamael chump line infantry to cheer and the Gao Rael to stand up on a sniper tower and cover the board.
I like Chaksa's for sensor in Acquisition, for corner guarding against Air Drop, and for cheerleading.
This list is for killing stuff. Game plan is to choose deployment (Tohaa really wants to go second because you are massively resilient to Alpha strikes and killing things in your opponent's turn with snipers is very order-efficient) and then bomb the alpha strike team up on turn 1 slaying stuff. Gao Rael spends turn 2 sweeping to cripple your opponent's order pool. Turn 3 you usually have most of your orders left and spend them all to score points. I find that Tohaa can really curb-stomp people and so you always need to play a tight turn 3 to get big wins.
CanCon - HC, PP, Grid
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GROUP 1
SUKEUL (Forward Observer) K1 Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 32)
KAMAEL Paramedic (Medikit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 13)
SAKIEL Lieutenant Viral Combi Rifle, Nimbus Plus Grenades / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 24)
KAMAEL (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 13)
GAO-RAEL Spitfire / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 33)
KAMAEL Hacker (White Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
MAKAUL Heavy Flamethrower, Eclipse Grenades / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 13)
NIKOUL Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 28)
GROUP 2
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)
KAELTAR (Chain of Command) Light Shotgun, Flash Pulse + 2 SymbioMates / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 21)
GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 31)
KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 22)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
CHAKSA SERVANT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
5.5 SWC | 300 Points
[url=http://army.infinitythegame.com/index.html?l=BwBgjAPgzCIQwgQwHbwPbIAQFpMAl4AaTABROIHEAnASwBMIAmAFgFIB2AThFZigDZWAQjCt+zQY0YDhwMQFYorKf07DGY5u2Us2IzZOnzZCpSrVCl4uVOZz94w1D1z+inauFhj/fjynASgACjDzsYGosUEpCoRwRyszRwlZ2OlrCam5sUuwaIqJuhuyCBQrFgkFBQA=]Open in Infinity Army
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An awkward list where I traded off a bit of effectiveness in all three of missions it plays in order to be good at all of them. Having to take a white hacking device for Highly Classified was so lame but it had to be done (2 cards).
Group 2 is just a sniper team that provides some orders for the Kumotail who can score a few classifieds and heal my snipers. I would often spend orders on the Servants in the early turns just to push them forward to where my triads would eventually be so they were proximate for healing. They can also score HVT innoculation and d-charges.
Group 1 has three attack triads and the Nikoul, who is sweet in power pack and the grid with their saturation zones. The Gao Rael sweeper team is there (hacker in highly classified, forward observer in everything else). Then the Sukuel + paramedic + Makaul team for highly classified and The Grid. This team can score every classified to do with the HVT in highly classified and there is nothing your opponent can really do about it because of the eclipse. It can also score sabotage, telemetry and experimental drug. Wow. In the grid you've got a B4 K1 combi on forward observer - the Sukuel Commando can single-handedly win the entire mission. The Sakiel triad is there for power pack, where it helps to have a bit of extra killing power and where the 4-4 is pretty handy for reaching the far button (though I sometimes make the Goa Rael spitfire the datatracker if I think I'm going to be needing the MSV a lot through the midfield and he'll be up the table anyway as a result).
Round 1: Damien Stallard playing Haqqislam
The Grudge Match! Damien has finished top 3 in pretty much every CanCon Infinity tournament ever. I had never played him and really wanted to so I decided to challenge him for the first round. He graciously accepted ("May Allah forgive your foolhardiness"), so we threw down.
Long story short, his first turn Al-Djabel slaughtered one of my sniper teams, but not until it had killed 2 of his Gazis. One Gazis then got an E-Marat off into my alpha team but they survived unharmed (the Kerail got isolated). I then Alpha Struck hard, killing Kazim, Tariq (his Lt. so he was in LoL on turn 2) the last Gazi, and a Daylami. The team ate counterattacks like champs before dying, leaving the table fairly empty for turn 3. Damien attempted an almost successful dash with Djabel to my button (Damien is the master of stealth move) before leaving me free to retrieve his own button with a Kamael to claim 10-0.
Damien was extremely gracious in defeat. Afterwards about 6 people came up to him and asked "how did you go". Went he told them he lost they were all wide-eyed and saying things like "What?! Really?!". So yep, I was definitely the underdog.
Round 2: The Grid against Steel Phalanx
I played Steel Phalanx at CanCon last year (to 5th) and have never touched the faction since because I hate it so much. I was so ready to kick it's arse this. This game my opponent brought an unusual Phalanx list with a lot of close combat weapons and eclipse grenade throwing Myrmidon officers. He was a top bloke, and got one of my votes for best sports.
Lost story short: Atalanta lost a 1 dice on 1 dice firefight against my Gao Rael through smoke on the 2nd order of the game and then shocked out. That was basically it, as my snipers held his warbands back and I think slaughtered his ODD order pool with my Gao Rael while designating buttons and blowing them up with my Sukuel. 10-0.
Round 3: Power Pack against Shock Army
Such a hard game! I honestly think I played this close to flawless and I still only managed to get up 6-5! My opponent also played damn good obviously.
I can't really remember much of the game. I won deployment and got a nice side where I could set up my snipers on top of eachother to prevent corner cutting, which is huge in a saturation zone mission. At the end, he had the buttons but I snuck my Sakiel datatracker past his very resilient and annoying suppression fire Naga to claim his console with my datatracker to get to 5-5. Then my classified objective got me over the line for 6-5!
Round 4: Acquisition against Vanilla Haqq
My opponent won the roll and chose to go first, which I thought was amazing for me. This mission is massively swingy on the final turn, so I wanted to go second, and I got to choose deployment on an open table and claim a tower so my snipers could sit on top of each other. I set up the missile launcher nearby to cover a long cross-fire lane.
What I had forgotten was that the table had a 16" deployment zone, so there were places where he could deploy such that I couldn't see his approach to the mid-table. Tariq promptly bombed forward and put 4 crits in 4 rolls (almost all 1s while I was rolling close to my target number) into all my snipers, killing every. single. one. That had never happened before, ever. He then went into suppression covering all the exits from my deployment zone. I was very concerned at this point.
I threw some smoke for my Gao Rael spitfire and managed to put Tariq unconscious without taking a crit. Last symbiomate intact! I spent the remainder of my orders running a Chaksa forward to sensor in all his camo tokens. I should have killed Tariq but he had no doctors visible.
His turn a Taureg doctor plus emerged from TO camo and got Tariq back up. Blurg. He killed my chaksa and they then retreated to the central button where they joined Djabel in suppression. Meanwhile some skirmishers came forward and dropped mines around the exit to my deployment zone.
The Gao Rael spitfire continued his MVP run. He took the mine on his symbiomate and killed the Farzan in a single volley (B5 is good yo), then I dropped some smoke and went around to kill the Taureg (he seemed to forget that I give 0 shits about TO) and Tariq again. His turn he brought a TR bot forward to the button, Djabel came through to bloke my exit and a Gazi (the last left alive as my snipers had killed the others before they died to Tariq) came through to Jam my link team if they tried to make a break for the button (the Gao Rael was my datatracker). My turn I jumped my symbiobeast to drop a template over the TR bot and Djabel while my preceptor went round to SMG the Gazi. Djabel and the TR bot survived while my beast did not, but my preceptor killed the Gazi and survived with both wounds in tact. He next killed the TR bot at close range, and then shot a volley into Djabel (who survived the bastard) before deliberately taking a mine to die. This left me with enough orders (thanks to shifting a few up from group 2) to bring my Gao Rael around unmolested by jammer to kill Djabel, claim the button and spread my Makaul and Kamael out to beep and control one of the buttons and claim secure HVT for an 8-1 win. Whew.
Round 5: Highly Classified against Tohaa on the top table
My opponent was Ben Addison, host of the white noise postcast, who I had played last year in a really tough match. I was interviewed on the pod-cast a few weeks back to talk about CanCon in general. You can find the interview here: http://benandmarty.libsyn.com/11-the-saraswati-affair
We talked about all sorts of stuff: mission selection, the intent etiquette system, terrain, the narrative event in the evenings (the main source of my sleep deprivation), grudge matches and other stuff. Ben is a super-nice guy (he won best sportsman last year) and I was really glad to be against him in the final because it meant we wouldn't have any awkward and annoying rules lawyering problems. Only problem was that we were both playing Tohaa - the mirror match up is the worst! It was doubly bad because we were playing highly classified, which Tohaa sucks at.
The game pretty boring to be honest. Neither of us made major mistakes and (I hate to say it) but I basically think it came down to dice. Ben had a few bits of luck on the bad side early, then on my turn 2 I had some situations not go my way that cost me the game. I ran a Makaul up on a suicide mission to drop a flame template into a Sukuel and a Makaul, taking shots from them and a Nikoul. I figured I'd at least go straight to dead, and best case he would kill the duo, leaving me free to grab my stranded hacker to move up field and score HVT espionage. It all went wrong - my Makaul took only a single wound, going unconscious and giving Ben an otherwise impossible Coup De Grace. Earlier, My Sukuel FO had taken absolutely forever to kill a Sakiel without a symbiomate (I think he passed 5 armour rolls against the K1), which meant that while I was able to kill his hacker I didn't have enough orders to get my Sukuel around to FO his HVT. Perhaps I miss-played this. I could have eclipsed forward and just focused on killing specialists and scoring cards. But I figured it wouldn't take so long as I could reduce his order pools a bit.
On my last turn I had to make a mad dash with a link team to score coup de grace against the Sakiel and try to get an FO off against his HVT, which was frustrating tucked behind a hairpin at a board-edged. One more order I would have gotten the designate (my card in hand) off for a draw, but as it was I lost 9-2 by one card. Well played Ben! Hope you go to Interplanetario.
While I'm here I want to thank everyone who came to CanCon and otherwise made it awesome event, especially those who brought terrain, the commission painters who contributed painted models as prizes (Tom Boele, Sam Benson, Adam Brignell and Simon Sihook - sorry if I've forgotten anyone), Gavin Bateman for contributing an entire painted army as a lucky draw prize (Cuddly Bear Painting), Camilo for designing the Saraswati group logo, my fellow TOs Konstantinos Lamprou and Tim Hall, Ben Wonnocot for designing Contention - the TO software we used, and all our incredibly generous sponsors: Corvus Belli, Toy Soldier Imports, Blacksheep Industries, GameMat.EU, UrbanMatz, Bandua Wargames, LOS Block, Micro Art Studios, Secret Weapon, Warsenal, Customeeple, Aetherworks, Miniature Scenery, Broken Egg Games, Battle Kiwi, Knights of Dice, Power Play Gaming, PlastCraft Games and Jackal Laser Designs.
I am retiring from wargaming at least for a while to concentrate on finishing my PhD and getting all my other career-related shit in order, but I reckon I'll at least be in town for CanCon next year. See you all then!
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