After Action Review: Operation Nightsong Part 2: The ForCo Raid: An Infinity N4 Battle Report
We're back with yet another rousing game of Infinity N4! This time I was playing against my buddy Carlonius, our resident Military Orders and USARF player in our local gaming group. That said, he brought something I was not really expecting: Foreign Company! He did mention later on that the main reason he brought them was because he commissioned me to paint the Soldiers of Fortune box for him at the beginning of the year, and I don't know if they'd even seen the table since delivering them.
Instead of bringing the Merovingians back out, I am going to let them sit for a while and I broke out my trusty Kosmoflot. Ghost00 mentioned my inclusion of a Volkolak missile team (as you will see below) was likely because of me having to fight off his Riot GRRL pure core with a missile launcher last week. He is not totally wrong, but a Volk Missile Pure Core is relatively cheap to pull off, and it's a safety net I like to use.
The game we played was Infinity ITS 16 Frontline at 300 pts. The mission required 2x Quantum Anomaly Zones and 2x Defensive Turrets. Much like the last battle report here, the terrain and mat are all provided by the same companies and groups.
### PROLOGUE ###
The high altitude mountains of Dawn hold a multitude of research and test facilities, some being of civilian focus and other militarily focused. Camp Wattanobe, however, was neither such facility, but rather it was one of the logistical centers for the eastern cluster of the peaks in Tartary. The local security forces are usually provided by the Tartary Army Corps, but sometimes they are augmented by other forces from Ariadna.
Today, an element from the Kosmoflot was pulling security as a few of their dropships were passing through refueling while enroute to a nearby training facility. Some of the supply crates in the yard seemed strange, as in having markings outside of typical Ariadna script languages.
Facility alarms began to trigger as some sort of anomaly began to develop within the camp, the defensive turrets kicked online, but one of the tech-security monitors noted that that did not have control of all of the turrets, as though someone or something had taken control of a few.
The pict-feeds from around the camp showed the uniforms of Securitate, Nomad force under the Jurisdiction of Tunguska. But there were others with them, that did not have the same similar uniforms or fatigues. The office in charge of the Kosmoflot team, Lieutenant Sfaenssen, rallied his team to gather their equipment, group up outside the dropship depot, and prepare to repel these intruders and whatever they were trying to do.
### The Board ###
I am going to try and get some new terrain somewhat soon, albeit it's likely just going to be a few sets from Operation: Sandtrap whenever they release the scenic sets, and if I like the terrain as much as I am hoping I do.
### The Lists ###
Kosmoflot
Thankfully, I did not have to think about this one all that much. Frontline is not too hard of a mission, depending on your opponent, and I feel a lot more comfortable playing Kosmoflot that I do the Merovingians. I just wanted to try out two things with this list: not bringing the Polaris Team, OR SAS/Uxia McNeil. I feel as though I lean on them enough that for a non-"objective" mission I can at least leave the SAS at home. The Bear was a decision, and I am okay with how things turned out.
The one crutch I do clearly rely on is the Volkolak pure core fireteam with a Missile Launcher, supported by a menagerie of Rokots, one being my LT cause safety reasons. As I didn't know what I would expect to be facing (within reason), I figured I could try out my odd minelayers, them being the Mekhanik and Raveneye Officer. The mines never really came into play, but it was worth a shot. The Scots Guard are nice for the use of NCO, and with the Panzerfausts if I am fighting heavy armor.
The more pivotal part of my list (and also ending up running a whole flank on their own) was an inevitable Fireteam Haris of the Unknown Ranger, Kosmosoldat with Portable Autocannon, and an odd Frontovik. I don't normally care for using Frontoviks with my Kosmoflot for one reason or another, but I figured I had the points.
(Full Disclosure here: I THOUGHT I grabbed a frontovik profile with D-Charges. I didn't. This matters later on).
The rest of the list is Varangians (cheap 9-point profiles are amazing) and a WarCor, cause someone needs to document things, right?
Kosmoflot Code: gTIJa29zbW9mbG90Gk9wZXJhdGlvbiBOSUdIVFNPTkcgcGFydCAygSwCAQAKAYMJAQMAAoXxAQIAA4RwAQEABIXwAQQABYXuAQYABoXuAQcAB4XuAQoACIXuAQEACYY0AQEACoW1AQEAAgAFAYYuAQIAAoEFAQcAA4EFAQUABIW1AQEABTIBAgA%3D
Foreign Company "The B Team"
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| Soldiers of Fortune (commission painted by me!) |
Double CSUs had my concern as BTS is something still very new to Ariadna. Their meta-chemistry will also prove troublesome for one of them. One of them rolled up super jump, and the other rolled up Immunity (Total) and Dogged. 17 is a good number on that chart it seems! This CSU would go on to be pain in the back half of the game.
Foreign Company Code:
g4sPZm9yZWlnbi1jb21wYW55ClRoZSBCIFRlYW2BLAIBAAoBhUEBBAACBAEKAAOFQAEBAAQEAQYABYHOAQEABoU%2FAQEABxMBAQAIJgEBAAl6AQUACjIBAgACAAUBegEBAAKBsgEJAAOBsgEDAASBsgEHAAWBsgEFAA%3D%3D
### PreGame and Deployment ###
ForCo won the Lieutenant roll-off, opting to keep deployment. So ForCo ended up deploying first AD going first. ForCo picked the side of the board with the buildings on it.
Kosmoflot Classifieds:
HVT: Assassination: Designated Trooper must have an enemy HVT model inside their LoF and ZoC, spend a Short Skill of an Order, and make a successful Normal WIP Roll. If the roll is successful, remove the HVT from the game table/ Bonus: If the designated trooper is within Silhouette contact with the HVT, apply a +3 MOD to the WIP Roll. (This card was designated as my IntelComm Card).
Combat Support: Get an allied Trooper to recover one point of their Wounds/Structure attribute by using the Doctor/Engineer special skill, or by using a Medikit/Gizmokit.
Sabotage: Place a D-Charge on a piece of scenery. When the D-Charge detonates, no Saving Rolls are mode for the piece of Scenery. (Piece of scenery will be identified later).
Predator: During the Game, the player must put at least two enemy Troopers into Unconscious OR Dead state by performing CC Attack.
ForCo Classifieds:
Vigilance: A designated trooper must be insides the Zone of Control of an enemy trooper who is totally inside the enemy half of the table, spend a Short Skill of an Order and make a successful WIP Roll. (This card was designated as my IntelComm Card).
Data Scan: A Hacker mut spend on short skill of an order and make a successful WIP roll against an enemy Trooper inside their Zone of Control. This Roll is a Comms Attack, so can be avoided with a Reset.
Net-Undermine:
Combat Support: Get an allied Trooper to recover one point of their Wounds/Structure attribute by using the Doctor/Engineer special skill, or by using a Medikit/Gizmokit.
We placed out QAZ's down as described, and they both ended up in the ForCO side of the battlefield.
### Turn 1###
###
The security element spread out, taking positions where possible. The intruders had gotten further into the depot that they would have liked to see, with multiple assets at elevated positions looking for targets. Our Volkolak was able to get into a good firing position, while the rest of our special weapons set up near the observation tower.
We could see where some of their forward elements were, showing we were not as quick as we should have been.
###
Foreign Company
carefully up towards my right flank. Through the use of an eclipse grenade from Massacre, he was able to get closer to my lines that I would have hoped. That said, in the first exchange of the game, Massacre chose to pick a fight with the Volkolak and his crew, to which the Volkolak sprinkled the surrounding area with the shredded uniform of the Deadpool wannabe. Valkyrie, on the other hand, wasn't about that life, and proceeded to run into my right flank, dodging her way around into eventually melee to see my own Kosmosoldat ARO shoot into the melee and inevitably kill off both my paramedic AND forward observer rokots. The camouflaged Scots Guard managed to peel a wound off of Valkyrie, her going down to NWI instead of unconscious. Valkyrie would go down to what was eventually a CC attack from the Volkolak. A command token was used to turn the Warcor's Irregular Order regular for this turn.
The entirety of Group 2 spent their orders shuffling around their building. I believe a Securitate popped up and traded shots with their Feuerbach to my Missile Launcher, Defense Turret, and Warcor; only to get zapped by the WarCor's camera flash.
Kosmoflot
Neither Varangian used their impetuous, as there were no good options for their line straight towards to
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| Kosmosoldat vs Neoterran Bolt |
opposing Deployment zone. All lanes locked down by either a Multi-sniper OR Feuerbach. First activation was the Fireteam Haris, making the Kosmosoldat the fireteam leader. The Frontovik and Unknown Ranger moved forwards which the Kosmosoldat fired it's PAC into the Bolt with Multi-sniper, dropping it fairly quickly. Next target was the Kosmosoldat splitting it's fire and taking down the Defense Turret while also trying to unroot the Securitate with Feuerbach, to which it stayed alive. The Kosmosoldat took several hits, but lived through the Feuerbach shots thanks to cover and ARM 6.
Over to Group 2 for a moment, and the Scots Guard moved up a bit, eventually "spreading the news" all of the depot by blasting a WarCor with a panzerfaust (not a warcrime, that guy said so).
Back to Group 1 for the remainder of the turn, where the Volkolak traded shots with the Securitate again. After the Feuerbach eventually went down, the Haris team pushed forward to new cover and new firing lanes. This is where I made my mistake for the Frontovik; I THOUGHT I had the one with D-Charges present, so I figured that since he's touching the terrain, I will spend my order to plant the charge. Only after the game was done (and as I was writing this up) did I realize my mistake.
Not pictured below (cause I am scatterbrained and forgot to take the LAST picture of the turn), the left hand flank was up to the building on the left flank, not where they were by the observation tower.
### END OF TURN 1###
Going into Turn 2 I am concerned about the CSUs still, one is in a 4-man pure team, while the other one (with Immunity(Total) and Dogged) is still kicking around. The TI CSU is going to be a pain to remove thanks to, well, total immunity.
### Turn 2 ###
###
The forces of Kosmoflot pushed forwards on the left flank, using the observation tower and barricades as cover to eliminate hostile sharpshooters. The right flank had to deal with 2 melee specialists; which were dealt with, although we did have a friendly-fire incident while trying to eliminate one that seemed to carry a shield.
We did notice someone out of the local staff seemed to join in with our defensive effort. I don't recall seeing anyone from USARF being so far within Tartary territory, but they are fighting on our side, so I suppose it is not all bad.
###
Foreign Company
This was definitely a turn for Foreign Company. Several command tokens were spent moving two unit orders from Group 1 into Group 2. The Bolt that was moving up with Senor Massacre and Valkyrie tries to take a shot at the Volk, hoping to open up some sort of reprieve for the Securitate fireteam to get out and go do something. That is not how it goes, and the bolt is scattered around the alleyway.
Now is when things get a little frustrating for lil' ol' Kosmoflot. Remember that pesky Immunity(Total) and Dogged CSU? Well I sure did. This man walks across the board, avoiding the Volkolak, Turret, WarCor, etc. and eventually trades shots AND TAKES DOWN the Kosmosoldat. It was frustrating to see, but the Kosmosoldat had done his job well. Bigger issue is when I was reminded of the +1B Nanopulzar, which proceeds to nanopulze (?) by Frontovik and Unknown Ranger who both attempt a dodge. Neither manage to dodge, with the Ranger makes all his saves! But the Frontovik fails one and falls unconscious. At some point as well, the Varangian (being proxied using an unpainted Dema Connelly) was knocked to Dogged and then actually killed off by the CSU.
Group 1 sees Hanibal and one of the drones on the right side do some moving around, but it isnt much. Bouncing off of the Securitate repeater though, Laxmee is able to get a cheeky spotlight on Unknown Ranger.
Kosmoflot
SO this CSU is being a pain. I end up dumping several orders into the Volkolak, who EVENTUALLY takes him down. Even sitting at dogged, I could barely scratch him, but I believe it was the Volkolak who brought him down eventually. This allowed the Unknown Ranger to do some scooting around to engage the Securitate team. The rest of the orders for group 1 saw movement towards or on my right flank, slowly moving the Volkolak team and the Scots Guard in the backfield up the board to get some extra presence where needed for the endgame. I did foolishly leave the Unknown Ranger as a sitting duck out in the open at the end of the turn, where a stupid exchange (on my part) led to him going NWI cause I got greedy and introduced the Unknown Ranger to a boarding shotgun, whoopsies.
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| End of Turn 2 |
My Group 2 saw the Mekhanik get slung half-way up the board on the right flank, as I am unsure how this next turn will go for ForCo, so I might as well send everyone I can forward.
### END OF TURN 2 ###
Losing my Kosmosoldat was rough, but I am now getting into the closer-quarter combat the fits better
for a pistol, shotgun, or even a rifle. A portable autocannon ain't the best pick right now. Still sucks to lose it considering how scoring in Frontline is.
On the other hand, losing another Remote, Bolt, and CSU is less than ideal when ForCo is losing orders.
### Turn 3 ###
### The Kosmosoldat stopped reporting over the life monitor of the Lieutenant, alongside the Varangian; the Frontovik on that flank was flatlined, so still alive, slightly. Something's gone wrong, but he could not see it from his perspective. Him and the rest of the team needed to keep advancing, putting pressure on these interlopers and address these anomaly zones as soon as possible.
###
Foreign Company
This turn is quite quick, with most of the effort going into try and kill off the Unknown Ranger. Laxmee hits him with a white noise, Hannibal take a few shots on him, even Laxmee tries to shoot at him and Unknown Ranger's armor holds or the shots go wide. I have never seen a series of orders go like that for the unknown ranger while not being able to do anything due to White Noise. All orders are spent pretty quickly.
Kosmoflot
We call the game, as Kosmoflot holds all 3 zones easily as the Unknown Ranger is still within the far zone from my deployment. The board state is the same as the end of Turn 2 picture above essentially.
###
After the brief yet decisive defense, the intruders fled from the scene, barely even having time to gather their dead or critically wounded. After some time, we can see a small aircraft traveling away from the depot, likely hidden within a clearing in the forest outside of our local security zones. One of the remaining corpses was wear the usual uniform of a Securitate, which are known to travel among other circles of operation should the end justify the means. There was another corpse dressed in "plain clothes," but wearing was we soon saw as a War Correspondent identifier on their arm, concealed by their outerwear considering the location of the depot. Using data gathered from the Securitate's data-pad alongside the datapad from the War Correspondent, we had potentially a good base to theorize what they were after, if anything.
At first, facility security could not make heads or tails of the information presented to them, which was valid as this was merely a logistic depot/stopover. The gist was these intruders were hired by some unknown corporation called K.U.M. Corp to retrieve some "supplies", this company likely a shell company to cover for someone else. After review of security monitors and reviewing the corpses left behind, we have reason to believe the intruders were either from the known Foreign Company, or some other mercenary group that tends to play nicely with PanOceania and Nomad forces.
Continuing on, it was discovered that this intrusion was being conducted to attempt to steal several smaller containers from the depot, held within the HVAC controlled buildings on the far side of the depot nearer to the cliff face, opposite of where we engaged the intruders. The contents being sought after was of significant interest to the facility scientists who were present, but was nonsensical to the rest of us. Not because of any sort of classified nature, but there's no easy way to describe a bunch of intruders (likely from the Nomad Bakunin Jurisdiction or Black Labs considering the nature of the "prize") wanting to collect "harvested" Antipodean... "samples"... to a commanding officer in a professional manner. That matter has been elevated up to someone who's job it is to present this information in briefings, or at least sent the communique about it.
As most of the security side of the debriefing room left, the remaining scientists and local security were devising how to address these Quantum Anomaly Zone that sparked up. The door hissed shut as they discussed.
A few hours later the facility medical staff eventually got the Frontovik stable; when we told him why the intruders were here, he almost put himself under again laughing, like those full-body laughs that hurt, but show he was deeply amused by the outcome.
"Really? They came all this way, for some Tartar sauce!?" he exclaimed between gasps of air.
"It would seem they did, only to be caught with their pants down, and the sauce running down their leg it seems." I really did fumble that response, but my mind was elsewhere, still thinking about how I am supposed to even get this sent up the chain in anything akin to a professional manner.
The occurrence of this happening in this depot is very coincidental; we heard tell of a Merovingian group two peaks down dealing with an intruder group at a logistical camp that was there to seemingly just steal rations or something a day prior to this intrusion. Were they the part of the same group? Who knows.
My concern shifted to needing to get the official casualty report written up. Although I don't have to hand-deliver the letters to the families, it's never easy writing the casualty report from something that was supposed to be a simple stopover at a logistical depot in the heart of the Tartary region. Especially considering this wasn't the cause of an Antipode ambush.
_____
The group would disembark the logistical center with a new heading, off to a different settlement or center with more advanced medical facilities to deliver their Frontovik squad-mate to for further recovery.
_____
###
### Game in review ###
So this game is how the majority of my lists end up playing when I run Kosmoflot. The list is a common one holding many staple options; namely the Volkolak Core fireteam, Unknown Ranger, and Varangians.
The missile launcher in a pure core fireteam is still a wicked anchor for a flank. The pure core fireteam with Feuerbach I faced would've been a lot more painful if he was not targeting someone with Immunity (Total) such as the Volkolak. I am surprised the Kosmosoldat with PAC was able to handle what he did, I normally leave them behind OR run a fireteam Haris with 2 and the Unknown Ranger, essentially half of my list in one small basket.
I've faced off against a handful of hacking units in the past, but I can say I've never been hit with a white noise, as normally Ariadna doesn't have to worry about having fancy tech that would be affected by it.
I am sure if my opponent would've picked either of his other two factions (USAriadna OR PanOcenaia Military Orders) this game would have gone a very different way.
### Coming Up ###
I now have the PanOceania Kestrel Colonial Force in hand and being worked on, alongside the pre-order special Korsan model. The PanOcenania models are easy to assemble, only concerns being the rear helmet portion of the Giffin and Black A.I.R. models, and the backpack fins for the Banshee. My due-date for these are October 19th, to which I will likely have another few battle reports up later on relating to the missions within Operation: Sandtrap and possibly the missions within the new Lore book for N5. I will likely have a post up with some pictures of the painted models, either mixed in with a Battle Report, or as a separate article on it's own. If you want to see more of the painting process or Work In Progress photos of the models, check out my Instragam here.
There's also the chance of a Fallout Factions or Bushido battle report coming soon, depending on if a friend and I end up playing a game over the holiday weekend.
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