SSSS Battle Report: Operation Whack-a-Hollowman

Disclaimer: This battle report was recorded on June 28, 2023 in Infinity: The Game ITS 14

Location: Helios System
Incident Site: Warm Site дистанційний
Incident Level: Moderate

On a typically weird weather day on the 27th of June, myself and another newer infinity player rolled up and got in our 250 point game of annihilation! It saw my Ariadna/Kosmoflot lead by William Wallace face off against his Nomad/Tunguska under the lead of an Interventor.

NOTE: I am putting all of the lore/transcript bits at the end of the batrep. I cant be bothered to add them in AFTER I typed up the whole thing, haha.

Kosmoflot Army Code: gTIJa29zbW9mbG90G0FubmloaWxhdGlvbiAtIDI1MCAtIExpc3QgMYEsAgEJAIXwAQQAAIYxAQEAAIYuAQIAAIXuAQEAAIXuAQEAAIXyAAEAAIEDAQIAAIW1AQEAAIW1AQEAAgMAhe8BAwAAhHABCAAAMgEBAA%3D%3D

So my initial thoughts were the same as my last game where I could bring a full 5-man core: get the volkolak a Missile launcher and see what happens. Had Wallace and his trusty Varangians in a Haris see what they could do with smoke, the Bear was being, well, the Bear it always wanted to be, and then the rest of the gang would sorta hang out and hope the OPFOR didn't bring any MSV.

Tunguska Army Code: gfgIdHVuZ3Vza2ENQW5uaWhpbGF0aW9uIID6AQELAYGXAQYAAoO6AQIAA4REAQgABIREAQIABYREAQMABoGWAQEAB4GpAQEACIGyAQQACYGyAQkACoGyAQEAC4GcAQEA

I was quite excited to not see Grenzers or Cheerkillers in the list, as some ideas were floating around for getting around that lovely MSV and melee murder machines. Hollowmen are interesting, definitely gonna need to work them more than I'd like also knowing about their friend Mr Engineer dude. The Kriza would be a problem, but if the bear or Wallace got into melee with it? it's gonna die from Berserk and either DA or the AP EXP weapons they have. Hacker was a concern for my Patcher, but considering that I only have the 1 HI, I figure spotlighting will be the big thing for that, and I wasn't wrong.

Pre-game:

So I Lost the WIP roll-off with a 10 to a 15, lovely. Opponent kept initiative, and I was lazy and picked the side of the board I was standing on for deployment. We placed our turrets on rooftops with some solid views (I was glad that my little WarCor drone got to see the table again!) Deployment saw (from my perspective) my Core Link of the Volkolak, Patcher, mekhanik, and two Rokots hold my left flank with the Frontovik and Warcor around as well. mekhanik was more in the middle of the board with the bearpode, it's Controller, and a … mine? Zenit-7 was prone in the backfield being my CoC safety net. Wallace and the Varangian Haris held my right flank with the turret.

OPFOR saw the Hollowmen Haris with the clock maker and his lil Zondbot hold his right flank. Securitate Core holding the center with his turret. Transduction Zond sat in the back line chilling. Kriza and Interventor held the left flank.

I used a Command Token to swipe away 2 orders on turn 1 as he is going first.

Left is my Kosmoflot deployment (the bear is obvious), right is Tunguska’s deployment.

Turn 1: Tunguska

Oh lordy what a kickoff! I did an oopsie and didn't make my Volkolak prone, and it would lead to him dropping like a sack of potatoes after nuking the Hollowman with a missile launcher, but not killing it because of remote presence (this was a theme for all 3 game rounds). However, ot wasn't the Hollowman that got him, the Kriza cross-mapped the Volkolak with the HMG, 3 shots, made 1 save, and down he goes! 40 points down the drain. Kriza also shot and whacked my Frontovik AND the Warcor too! Like 60-some odd points down, and im sweating already. Clockmaker sent his Zondbot out to revive the Hollowman I dropped unconscious, revived him, and then proceeded to destroy my poor turret. This got me the Pillars of Salt achievement actually, as with Total Reaction I got my full Burst 3, then proceeded to roll super low and get whacked by a Missile to the turret-face!

Last orders was having the Kriza super jump to the sniper tower (where anyone who could throw smoke did, and suddenly noone could be seen), and then repositioning to get ready for my rebutted.

Turn 1: Kosmoflot

With the Volklak plan gone, I NEEDED the bear to work his 23 point magic! I spent 1 Command Token to move my Zenit-7's order into group 1, since I had a sudden opening for a new hire. I spent more orders than I'm willing to admit to have my Wallace/Varangian Haris toke it up all the way to the sniper tower, smoke grenades for all my friends, and even more for Shooting Ranges overlooked by Hollowmen with missiles! Wallace inevitably got to the sniper tower, ran up the tower, and embedded the Kriza with his AP EXP CCW with Berserk (which was good, cause I would've failed if I hadn't had bezerk-ed). He made his save on the strike back, meaning only 1 person was alive at the top of the tower, and it was Wallace!

Next I sent the bear up and around to *ahem* address this alive Hollowman, which i proceeded to do with Smoke grenades cause I don't fancy missiles, even with Immunity(Total). Some smokey treats saw me avoid the Securitate with Multi-sniper watching the approach, to the building cluster, but I got there with only eating (and making the save) against a single Missile! I ended up ignoring Mr Missile McGee and going for a ground-floor Hollowman, where I proceeded to use all my trench-hammer uses wailing on him until he stopped moving, then squished his "neck" to find copper, or whatever else a bear could want. Bearpode did get wounded in the tussle from the Hollowman’s breaker pistol, but still having a wound and Dogged will keep me going…. Right? Maybe, let's find out. (This fight got me the Extreme Prejudice achievement, as I NEEDED to drop those hollowmen from his order pool). This is seen to the right here, as my bear removed it in melee.

My last order was my Lt. Order on Wallace's team, just a quick "reorganization" to get out of LoS of some things. If my WarCor would've been alive, I could've shown that Wallace was the Lt anyway, but oh well.

End of round pictures! Kosmo half on the left, Tunguska half on the right.

Turn 2: Tunguska

To start, there was the matter of dealing with the bearpode sitting in his DZ and snarling at the mouth like, well, a bearpode. Bearpode was dropped after a different Hollowman (this time with a boarding shotgun) kept slam-firing rounds into the bear until it was "bearly" (hah) noticeable; although the Bear spun up those servos on the chainrifle and managed to drop him as well, although just unconscious. The Missile Hollowman moved and shot a missile at my now visible Varangians, to which he rolled a 1 and my AROs were to throw smoke. Everywhere. So suddenly I had shut down the street again, nifty. The picture is right as I removed the bearpode as I took 2 hit-mode boarding shotgun hits to the chest, but knocked the Hollowman with the chainrifle.

Remaining orders were readjusting the Securitate team, getting a repeater thrown out to let the interventor "intervent." (Note: this may have been turn 1, I don't remember right now), and reviving the Hollowman with the boarding shotgun.. At some point a Command Token was used to reform the Hollowman link into a duo, but it wasn't super pivotal.

Turn 2: Kosmoflot

Welp, bearpode down! Wallace and the Patcher are my only remaining "good dudes," so let's ee how this goes. Spent Command Token to form up a new 3-man Core team with the Patcher and his Rokots nearby to go try and find out what happened to their bear. They scooted up using a few orders and the Patcher inevitably slam-fired his BURST 4 VULKAN SHOTGUN into the missile hollowmen, having it succumb to vulkans wrath (and continuous damage). A rebutted saw him get really bright as someone (that damn Hacker) turn his hazard lights on. (He was spotlighted). With the missile dude gone, Wallace and the boi ascended the tower carefully, slowly, and most importantly, firing on anything that didn't look Ariadna enough. Thus eventually saw 2/3rds of the Securitate link broken and the interventor (and the slimmest silhouette sliver being seen and confirmed by an intermediary) dispatched (This got me the [Settle the Score] achievement). There was still the Hollowman with a boarding shotgun, the multi-sniper Securitate, the transductor zond, clockmaker, and his Zondbot running around.

End of round pictures! Kosmo on the left, Tunguska on the right.

Turn 3: Tunguska

Guess I got the LT, cause he's in Loss of Lieutenant! Woo! Multirifle Securitate was fine with veteran. In a smart play, he used his last 2 command tokens to take the clockmaker and transductor zones irregular orders and made them regular. Guess the plans are riding on the Hollowman! And that's what happened.

Hollowman rolled up, used the spotlighted Patcher for target practice, and then rolled up and tried to take out the Rokots providing backup while splitfiring the shotgun as the best range with the final order. One Rokot made an out of LoS dodge, getting me the [What was that?] Achievement; the other rokot hitmode fired a light shotgun and CRIT! Hollowman failed two saves and went unconscious. Perfect timing for me going second!

Turn 3: Kosmoflot

So I needed/wanted to aim for a handful of achievements here, and I did get a *few*. Spent my last command token and a regular order to do a coordinated order with my 2 rokots, the mekhanik, and the Polaris Controller (the only painted model on the table with an offensive weapon). Misplaced a single rokot and ended up having him get shot down by the Securitate. Used an order on the Haris to fling a Smoke grenade to cover a single LoF shot the multi-sniper Securitate could get on the Polaris Controller, who proceeded to move up and Coup de Grace the Hollowman on the ground, giving me the [The Painted Ones Roll Better] achievement; could've tried for OK Coral, but didn't trust my dice enough for it.

Lt order on the Haris saw Wallace trade shot with the Securitate and win the shoot-out. Last 2 orders saw my lone Rokot run into the DZ where the bear had died (Getting me the [Gather Intelligence] achievement), and plug the Zondbot with a shotgun round. Last order was mistakenly spent gathering parts from the Hollowman, but I should have shot the OPFOR turret to get that other achievement, oh well.

ENDGAME

Kosmoflot had 119 points on table compared to 25. Kosmoflot LT (Wallace) was still alive and shouting obscenities I to the wind. Final score was 7 to 3, and 119 to 25.

So this was both a fun game and a reminder on my part to pay more attention to my units on deployment. I'm sure the game would've definitely gone slightly different if my Volkolak and Frontovik weren't standing turn 1 to get shot in the face. Frontovik has a chance at coming back, considering the next mission or two, alongside the larger board-size. My opponent did what I think was the right call and forced me to come to him, outranging most of my short/medium range weapons with scarier ran normal long-range weapons with the missile launcher, HMG, and MULTI-rifles. Smoke was pivotal. It was asked why smoke grenades aren't disposable, and it's because I probably would've used them all by the end of round 2 for more defensive/ARO use. This was also a display of how regardless of you you're fighting, try and sneak in a MSV unit just in case.

Next official game is a 300pt Looting and Sabotage, but there may be additional batreps/games in between as I help a player or two with makeup games.

Audio transcript recorded by Patrolman Kryznitz; transcript composed from CCV recordings and submitted documentation relating to the incursion.

--- BEGIN TRANSCRIPT ---

Extended perimeter and remote sensor alarms around a remote data warm-site were triggered in the early morning. Regional command formed a response team of nearby assets and sent them in to investigate. Response time was within tolerated norms. The response team was a hodgepodge of specializations, but command was okay with the selections for the response team. Teams were deployed via rotary-wing slicks and wheeled rapid response vehicles.

In the rotary-wing, the ground assault forces were deployed just outside the perimeter of the facility. The wheeled transport delivered a bearpode and it’s controller from a closer-proximity training ground. The strike team moved forward preparing to clear the facility.

Shots rang out just as the left-flank fire team got into position. For what his training was worth, SFC Stasov was a good deterrent to the OPFOR, was a solid magnet for incoming fire, just a shame he took so much. At least he was able to dispatch one of the OPFOR troopers before the OPFOR’s heavy trooper, through the use of sustained fire and a belt-fed machinegun, dispatched SFC Stasov and his cover. The same trooper dispatched Cpl Sych and Correspondent Bradson who somehow got onto one of the rotary craft. Our facility security turret that wasnt compromised was dispatched by the same missile trooper that Stasov hit. Security footage shows a small robot moving around reviving it. The heavy trooper jumped to the top of the sentry tower and took up a hunkered position.

After the first fusillade came through, Spc Slivinski activated the Bearpode asset and sent it running towards the intruders. Through the gratuitous use of smoke grenades and muscle, the Bearpode and Lt Wallace were able to dispatch some critical enemy assets. Wallace dispatched the heavy trooper with the HMG at the top of the sentry tower, and the Bearpode was able to get into melee combat in close proximity to multiple enemy troopers and was even able to dispatch a trooper as well. I don’t know if that engineering robot is able to reattach a head to their seemingly robotic troopers, but we’ll see in time.

The quick rebuttal saw the Bearpode get dispatched after a flurry of shots being dedicated to it, and then the missile-equipped enemy trooper firing and missing Wallace and his fire team, thanks to hastily throw smoke grenades. The enemy’s center team moved over to try and lock down wallace and his team on the right flank.

What little comms we got from the ground teams chatter was Wallace needing support to deal with the missile trooper, to which Sgt Wolin, Pvt Ganjic and Pfc Balmont responded. They move efficiently toward the missile trooper, within ideal range for Sgt Wolin’s Vulkan Shotgun; those patchers sure do have some interesting tech. Sgt Wolin eventually dispatched the missile trooper and put a couple shots in for good measure it seems. After he radio’d clear, Wallace and his team moved to start disassembling the OPFOR’s right. Wallace quickly dispatched multiple enemy troopers on that flank.

The enemy trooper with the shotgun then advanced towards Wolin and his team, killing Wolin and rounding the corner firing off shots at Ganjic and Balmont. Ganjic managed to miss the round by a layer of paint and Balmont fired her shotgun and disabled the bot.

There was some more coordination between the teams which allowed Spc Slivinski to check on the Bearpode asset. While moving that way, she ended up stepping on a critical part of the bot, disabling it even further. However, in an effort to provide cover, Ganjic was shot by the last remaining center-trooper. Wallace moved over and dispatched said trooper while avoiding fire from the compromised sentry turret. Spc Slivinski advanced and destroyed the engineer bot. At this point there were some footfalls that were clearly heard by the strike teams, but they did not see any of the remaining intruding troopers escape into the perimeter. Perimeter scans only show 2 meaningful breaches during the estimated retreat window.

Post-engagement investigating showed the intruders to possibly belong to the Tunguskan Jurisdictional Command of the Nomads. This has been reported up the chain, but no unclassified information is currently available. There was evidence of tampering and some data being compromised from within the facility, but short of a data transfer that was halted when the investigators arrived on scene, there’s no telling what was taken, and where it could currently be. Data investigators have not made mention of the data that was compromised.

Strike Force Status

Pvt Ganjic - KIA

Pfc Balmont - Active

Cpl Olegovich - Active
Cpl Ilyinisha - Active
Cpl Sych - KIA

Spc Lundgren - Active

Spc Forsberg - Active

Spc Slivinski - Active

Sgt Wolin - KIA

SFC Stasov - KIA
LT Wallace - Active

Bearpode Asset - KIA

War Correspondent - KIA