Conflict at Archeo-Site X-01: An Infinity N5 Battle Report
It's finally here! The fifth edition of Infinity (known as Infinity N5) is finally here, and I was lucky enough to be able to get a game in before 2025 for it! Leading up to this game, I inevitably listened to a variety of videos and podcasts about it, such as the Tactical Awareness podcast's 3-episode launch for N5, the Loss of Lieutenant podcast's Faction Tier List, and a few other's than I am failing to recall properly.
But finally, earlier in the day on 26 December, 2024, I needed to decide on a faction to play, let alone a list! I had toiled with the idea of running a Haqqislam list, as I have a plethora of Haqq models that I should try to use for something someday, or I go into the edition using the Ariadna I started my dive into Infinity with. Ariadna won that hands down, cause I did not need to fully build the acrylic warsenal bases am using on the Haqq models.
As noted, this is my first game of Infinity in N5, along with my opponent (Ghost00) having this as his first game. Ghost00 came with 2 lists in mind and rolled off when he showed up for which list he would play, and I am thankful he rolled high. The other list he would have run was Nomads/Bakunin, which I have had the worst luck fighting within any of the Ariadna lists I've brought against it.
I will admit now, I did not take as many pictures as I probably should have been. I've been noticing more and more lightbulbs going out in my play space and I have been meaning to get more. Though the picture look somewhat dark, I swear it's brighter while playing.
Anyway, all other joking and bantering aside, let's get onto the game.
### Prologue ###
There was a knock on the door. Static from an aging monitor, sounds of a news reporter. A labored sigh. Steps on a creaking floor. Colonel Kraznitsky opened the door, a younger lieutenant standing there, holding a stack of papers.
"Your report, Colonel." The lieutenant handed him a bound blank dossier envelope.
A simple "Thank you Lieutenant" was all he could muster at the time, his mind otherwise preoccupied with the task at hand. He gently closed the door as the Lieutenant walk down the hall, clearly a glorified clerk delivering reports, documents, and sometimes food and drink.
Kraznitsky walked back to his desk, sat back into his quite uncomfortable desk chair, and turned to volume down on the new broadcast.
"Authorities are currently working to determine a motive behind the attack that left several dead at this archeo-site, with the site security detail from the barbaric Ariadnans being put into question. We will..."
He turned off the broadcast and swiveled his aging office chair back to his desk, where a rather thick dossier sat. The afternoon sun was streaming in through the window of his office, displaying the dustiness of his office in the sun beams.
Kraznitsky looked over to the corner of his new office, see his rifle and armor sitting on a makeshift armor rack. The Armory at FOB New Bay is still being renovated, meaning all equipment other than small-arms are typically taken to the soldiers barracks/lodging. He looked over the scratches and knicks on the olive green armor, his rifle sitting nearby as well. He had not had to don that armor in years, but current staffing issues at the FOB meant he actually had to participate in ground patrols and other duties expected from the men and women stationed here.
The first page of the dossier started like normal:
----- ----- -----
What followed was the usual brief of personnel files, for all of the group who went into the archeo-site, alongside that of the airborne crews and the irregular forces that accompanied us. The irregular personnel were not mentioned in the dossier, likely to keep Command clear of any sort of wrongdoing if one of them acted out of turn. There were a handful of irregulars present, a member of the Dozer field engineers and a member of the Irmandinhos, both known good engineers, served with them before. The other two, one being a reporter and another being a local beasthunter, were only at the FOB performing some irregular, and insisted the should come along.
The report continued on, being a compilation of the reports from the personnel sent to answer the distress signal...
### ### ###
### The Board and Mission###
This board used the usual mat I have handy for a 4x4 play space. A vast majority of the buildings belong to the Darpan Xeno-station set from Operation Blackwind by Corvus Belli, with a handful for the newer Akashi Archeosite buildings from the Operation Sandtrap box.
The vehicles are still from nfeyma, and the other MDF structures are from Wargames Tournament. Tokens are all either CB pop-out tokens or the ITS Droppod tokens from the last ITS season.
The mission we are playing today is Vestige Recovery from the N5 Lore Book. We will NOT be using the narrative rules for this mission, as my opponent has no desire to play PanOceania.
I'm thankful we were only doing a 200pt game, as I misplaced one of the terrain boxes I normally use, so the table would have been a bit more sparse than I would have liked it to be at 300pts.
The mission has the following for scoring:
- At the end of the game, Control a Vestige (1 Objective Point for each Controlled Vestige)
- At the end of the game, Control more Vestiges than your adversary (2 Objective Points)
- At the end of the game, have at least one Controlled Vestige in your own Deployment Zone (2 Objective Points)
- At the end of the game, have an Activated Ancient Terminal (1 Objective Point for each Activated Terminal)
### The Lists ###
Tartary Army Corps
Army Code: gTEHdGFydGFyeRBUQUsgUGF0cm9sICgyMDApgMgCAQEACgCEcAEHAACEcAEGAACA6gEFAACA7gEHAACEbgGQUwAAgOMBCAAAgQABBQAAgOMBAQAAgQEBAQAAhzUBBAACAQADAIYiAQMAAIDwAQIAADIBAgA%3D
The logic behind my list is mainly as such:
- Vet Kazak and Frontoviks are a vet haris team, the go to button pusher group as they are all specialists.
- Dozer and Line Kazaks form a Line Kazak 3-man Core, just giving the dozer and LT a friend to help them move around the table.
- Scout, and Beasthunter are the usual midfield speedbumps/delays, seeing how many orders I can get my opponent to spend to address them.
- The Dynamo will do Dynamo things, Mine Dispensers are pretty good in my opinion
- The Barsuk and Irmandinho are the wildcards for me, they at least have template weapons to corner-guard.
- Warcor on permanent overwatch with his aggressively green laser pointer
- MUL being the usual baggage bot
There were some comments about my list, but I dont think they were mentioned in our after game chatting.
Dahshat Company
Army Code: g4wHZGFoc2hhdAQxMjI2gMgBAQEACgCBLQETAACBLQEIAAAxAQMAADEBBAAAgMYBAgAAg9sBBgAAg9sBBwAAg9sBAgAAgUQBBAAAMwEDAA%3D%3D
We ended up both expending a singular Command Token to get a Speedball set sent in. I figure Ariadna has them loaded up in some form of M777 delivery system; the typical big-boom delivery.
So the picture I have for the Dahshat deployment is quite blurry. From the perspective of my side of the table:
- Far left blank was a 5-man core team with a purity lv 2. It had the two authorized bounty hunters, two ghulams, and Fiddler (secretly Sforza)
- The center was held by the duo of an Odalisque and Miranda Ashcroft
- The right flank was held by a 3-man Brawler team, purity level 3.
The bounty hunter with Sniper rolled up a 19 on the booty chart, Mimetism -6! The bounty hunter with Spitfire rolled up a +4 ARM! Easily the best rolls possible for those two for this mission and in the fireteam theyre in.
All units deployed on the ground level except for the Sniper Bounty Hunter, who started on top of a building.
TAK Deployment
On the left flank, I have my 3-man core of the two line kazaks and the dozer being supported by the irmandinho, who rolled up a measily +1 ARM for his booty chart, which is funny cause i normally roll +1 ARM or Grenades for them.
Far Left in the midfield is my Scout, watching over one of the Ancient Terminals.
My center is held up by the Barsuk (in camo), the Dynamo, and the leader of the Veteran fireteam, the Vet Kazak. I forgot that the Barsuk I brough had a decoy marker, but oh well. The warcor in center-left on top of one of the Akashi buildings, pulling overwatch.
My right flank is held by the 2 Frontoviks, the MUL, and then in the midfield is the Beasthunter, overlooking the Terminal on that side. His flamethrower will be a fun surprise to encounter over there.
I set almost everyone to prone that I wanted to be prone. Obvious ARO options of the Beasthunter, Warcor, and Scout are standing tall. The Dynamo is standing as well since it's a little hard to be tactically prone with a motorcycle.
### ### ###
After the personnel files and some other environmental documents provided about the sortie, there was a data pad slid between the pages in what could only be considered a zip-loc evidence bag, just without any official markings on the bag, guess it was wrapped up due to the rain squall and this still being a ramshackle affair of a FOB?
The data pad contained the digitized files presented, alongside the video files from the combat cameras a few of the personnel, such as Colonel Kraznitsky himself, were wearing. There were also the camera views from the Rapid Response Vessels, and some surveillance videos from the archeo-site.
Under the data pad was the roster of video evidence that was authorized as safe to send to the public per other officers at the FOB/local command structure. Kraznitsky started up the first video file present on the data pad, which happened to be his own...
### ### ###
### Turn 1 ###
Turn 1: Dahshat Company
First order out the gate was the Bounty Hunter shooting my WarCor, which failed a dodge and it's save. I swear every WarCor I being usually does off turn 1, which means this time was different as he only went unconscious instead to straight to dead. The next order(s) were moving up the large 5-man core, to eventually have my Scout and the Bounty Hunter with Spitfire trade some shots, only to have my Scout make their save and stand out with his Ohotnik to try and keep the team down. What I did not expect was the Fiddler to suddenly become a Sforza! Sforza proceeded to plug my poor Scout full of funky viral holes.
After the Scout was removed, the Duo of the Odalisque and Miranda began their march up the table, aiming to active the Ancient Terminal on my right flank. Though they were able to activate the terminal, it cost me my beasthunter, which was put down by I think the Odalisque's Spitfire at some point.
The few final orders were the Brawlers team moving to collect only of the Vestige boxes, and then a Ghulam (the Doctor one) opening the other Vestige box.
Turn 1: TAK
Start of my turn 1 and I'm definitely on the back foot scoring-wise, but it's only turn 1, and I figured I had some new tools I do not normally use/have access to to try out. But first, the usual stuff: impetuous.; and before that, it's me spending 1 command token to move my Irmandinho to Group 1 so he is not so lonely.
First up is the Irmandinho, who walks up, tries to drop smoke, fails, and gets show with an E/Mitter. Incredibly lame. I wouldve crit succeeded if we still had the positive range-band for smoke grenades, but alas, someone broke my Irmandinho's earbuds. Next up is the dynamo, who drive up her 8" and fires off her mine dispenser, with only 1 mine hitting properly. I then go off and use the irmandinho to try throwing another smoke grenade which sticks, blocking the Miranda/Oda duo from seeing my left flank easily down that alleyway.
First regular order is on my veteran team, who moves. I then remember to drop in my Speedball, one being a vita-pack and then the rolled-speedball is a Switch-On, neat. My Vita-Speedball lands on the building next to the MUL, while the other lands in the middle of the board, as I am not likely to need Switch-On.
Next few orders are spent repositioning my Veteran team for their approach into the terminal; Frontoviks are stacked up on the corner to the Terminal, while the Vet Kazak is on the steps looking down at the scene. The Barsuk gets an order and walks up the center and is, unfortunately, discovered immediately by Miranda.
My last orders are on the Kazak/Dozer team, which sees them move up to nearby where the Scout went down and the Dozer tosses out a Armed Turret (Rifle). It's not much, but a TR turret overlooking a deployment zone is an annoying prospect to deal with. The Dynamo also goes back in Zone of Control of the MUL for the inevitable free reload during the States phase.
### Turn 2 ###
Turn 2: Dahshat
Start of the turn, Speedballs come down for Dahshat. A Vitapack and a Nanoshield. Vitapack makes a perfect landing right behind Miranda and the Oda, while the Nanoshield failed the combat-jump roll and is thus sent to the deployment edge.
First Order(s) go to the core team on the left, who use the Bounty Hunter with Spitfire to take out that TR Turret. There's also some shifting to get the sniper to a position to trade shots with the Dynamo, who was actually covered by my own S5 Vestige, which I had not recovered a box from yet.
The next order sees the Odalisque try to move and take the Vitapack, but she ultimately fails her dodge and dies to the Vet Kazaks T2 rifle. This at least ate the shock mine that was sitting right next to them.
I believe this is when the Brawler team does some re-arranging to get the Heavy Rocket Launcher up to the corner to try and dislodge the Vet Kazak on the stairs. While the Brawler hits, the Vet Kazak does not care, his armor or cover keeping him alive and healthy. The Vet eventually dodges down the stairs out of line of sight of the brawler at some point.
For whatever reason, im not remembering the exact order thing occur on the right flank after this point. I do recall that Miranda moves out and tries to shoot (I THINK) the vet kazak, and both shoot wide, and I am able to get one of the Frontoviks to dodge away as Miranda gets closer. Miranda eventually gets into CC combat, I do not shoot her on her way into the melee (Mim -6 is good, right?), and yet I manage to save against her monofilament CCW with a Frontovik.
The Dynamo also gets excited when she see's Miranda come around the corner, as she fires off her Mine Dispenser in ARO and manages to get another mine dropped down behind her.
Dynamo reloads from the MUL at states phase again.
Turn 2: TAK
Impetuous Phase: Irmandinho waives. Dynamo moves up, and uses her Mine Dispenser again, getting a Shock Mine up to see the Brawler HRL should it eventually come up.
Regular orders are devoted 100% to the right flank. The Dynamo starts with shooting her Smoke Grenade Launcher to block off the main alleyway in the middle of the board. The Vet Kazak and Frontovik Engineer break down into a Duo, and take the scenic route to get to the Ancient Terminal, dispatching a Brawler HRL along the way; either the T2 Rifle did it, or it was the Shock Mine, but he only got 1 shot off anyway in ARO.
The Engineer goes over and takes the Terminal. The Duo then hoofs it back to the Vestiges, where they are each able to "eventually" get box supply boxes, and then get out of easy line of sight of other teams.
Last order does to the Frontovik Paramedic playing with Miranda, who failed his CC Attack and his save, going down on the last order of the turn.
### Turn 3 ###
Turn 3: Dahshat
Seeing as I stole his button, Dahshat proceeds to go and transfer the supply box off the doc ghulam to the LT ghulam. LT ghulam drops the link team, and then the doctor activates the terminal on my left flank. The fireteam takes up a better fighting position between the two smaller Akashi nodes by where I had smoked, effectively blocking me from a valid approach through that thoroughfare.
The ghulam doc then break out of the team and runs off to get the other terminal; which she is able to do at the cost of her life as the Barsuk manages to land a hit with a light shotgun slug from 15" away! The Vet Kazak had missed his shot, but it is what it is on that.
Turn ends with Miranda and the Dynamo still engaged in CC, just staring at each-other admiring the unfinished paintjob on the bike and maybe someone's tattoos?
Turn 3: TAK
 |
| In the end, the Dynamo killed Miranda, albeit with a mine |
Frontovik. That's when the plan hit me and we see what it goes.
Order 1 & 2: Barsuk comes down off his steps (barely hidden from the sniper bounty hunter) and takes the supply box from the Vet Kazak. Barsuk runs off into the deployment zone for scoring.
Rest of the Orders (a total of 6) go to the Vet Kazak. Sees him move up and then Cautious Move across the alleyway, then he runs over to go hit the button, which he is able to, as Miranda fails to dodge the entire time as she hears this massive sounds of a tungsten block clanging in a steel alleyway. She eventually does dodge, but I'm able to get the Vet Kazak to take ownership of the terminal, and in the same order Miranda tries to dodge to contest the terminal, fails, and eats the mine that the Dynamo dropped in Turn 2. Justice.
 |
| The final order: POV from the Dahshat Ghulam before he was shot from downtown by the Veteran Kazak |
I draw down on the Ghulam, who tries to dodge, he fails and I hit 1 time. Ghulam fails with a 12, needed an 11 to pass. There was much rejoicing (from the TAK).
### End of Game ###
TAK defeats Dahshat Company 7 to 4.
TAK managed to hold on to 2 vestiges (2 points), more Vestiges than my opponent (2 points), a Vestige in my Deployment Zone (2 points), and then control 1 Ancient Terminal (1 Point).
Dahshat Company managed to hold 1 Vestige (1 Point), a Vestige in their Deployment Zone (2 points), and then control 1 Ancient Terminal (1 Point).
### ### ###
Kraznitsky sat silently, watching the video file from his own combat camera. The intruders were an odd bunch, from what he saw, there were traces of uniforms styles from Haqqislamite fighters, possibly from the Qapu Khalqi privateers. There were some irregular looking troopers who were clearly specialists, very proficient at their job; and there were some troops resembling the Brawler Mercenary Enforcers. They only stood out as he'd seen them in the distance while on patrols from FOB New Bay.
He found himself impressed as he got to the end of the combat camera recording. When he managed to get a snap-shot on a trooper trying to run off with something from the archeo-site; he was as surprised now as he was on the recording. Of course the adrenaline in his system caught up with him, as before someone cut the recording off, he slumped over next to one of the storage buildings, that had a hole blown in the side of it, threw off his helmet, and vomited.
He thumbed through the next set of papers, mostly declassification papers, eventually getting to the public release statement regarding the intrusion at the Archeo-site. It read like a watered-down version of a grade school play where we were the heroes who came in to save the day. It made him sick. He knew why so much was redacted from the maya-cast approved release, but it was still unnerving that the only reason this maya-cast happened was because the WarCor that jumped on the ship was a friend of some prominent persons kid.
"Yet another report being pushed through by Command; trying to further the same sort of goals of the Ariadnan Workers Union. Could be worse though, could've just shown the video of me shooting that poor trooper at the end before they ran off."
Kraznitsky signed his release and stamped his approval forms for the dossier. Even if he denied it, it would've moved forward, would have been more likely to place the blame on him instead of the intruders.
His desk chair squeaked once again as he stood, grunting as his body neared exhaustion again. He grabbed his rifle from the makeshift stand, slung it over his shoulder, grabbed the dossier, and left his office, to go deliver it to Gretizky for final approval.
He swung by the canteen first though, grabbed a couple beers, as he knew that old Gretz would want to tell sea stories again.
### ### ###
### Post Game ###
So this was definitely a game where I was more reactive than proactive with my approach, but that's mainly because I have been going first for the most part recently and i dont normally sit around waiting for things. If I had to changed anything out, I wouldve considered the trade off of the Scout (Forward Observer) to the Minelayer scout, and swap the Beasthunter and Irmandinho out for a Strelok with T2 Marksmen Rifle. Essentially just run the same list I ran before in this batrep. Downside with that idea is it has fewer specialists, which in this list I had 5, with 4 of which getting the mission bonus to objectives.
### Coming Up ###
Got another game day happening soon, and another Infinity game setup early next week!
This was also a recorded game for a FLGS local Infinity N5 League (Fast Fire League). 1 game down, with however many I want to play left to go. I'm thinking about staying within Ariadna to keep my focus on one faction for the league; especially as it's more just a casual league and nothing with prize support relating to the league. Main focus is to just learn how to play this new edition and how the factions have changed. I SHOULD have another game before the end of the year, and then ANOTHER game of infinity the first weekend of the year.
I am considering actually working on painting the TAK now since I like how they came out of the edition change more than Kosmoflot. From a reading perspective, Kosmoflot is still usable, but with the changes to Immunity(Total) and the change to Unknown Ranger (losing MSV profile in Kosmoflot), it just means I have to actually think about how to play them instead of relying on the castle-core around a Missile Launcher Volkolak, Polaris Team, or Unknown Ranger.
Also, as mentioned before, I need to start taking more photos after I fix the lighting situation for my play space. I took 10 pictures for the entire game, and only a handful of them made sense or were in focus enough to be used.
At this point, im just bantering a bit, so I will see (via the metrics) all y'all next time!
It was the contender that the Oda used on the beast hunter, as we noted during play no spitfire, and she never used her SMG, cause they lame now
ReplyDeleteI figured I was forgetting something about that Odalisque, clearly it was the use of a Contender. I clearly didn't remember who was even the one who took the Beasthunter down!
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