Operation Nightsong Part 3: Encounter at Listening Post Wildcat

We're back with another Infinity N4 battle report; this game was played on November 30th, 2024. This time, we saw me take control of my Tartary Army Corps to take on a newer player (Connor) playing his Japanese Sectorial Army. We played the Direct Action mission Uplink Center at 200 points.

This is Connor's first game of Infinity in easily 6 months, so this was more of the learning/reminder game of how Infinity is played at the basic level. Hindsight being what it is, I should have approached this more like a demo series using one of the Operation books instead; as will be pointed out later on. That thought was more-so on my part, as I find the older Operation booklets to be a better framework for teaching the game instead of just running a small point game to teach, since they give the tier escalation approach to introducing new rules. Neither of us have a full painted force either, as Connor is preparing to repaint his collection, and I am just lazy and have not painted much Infinity (or anything for that matter) for myself this year,

There's a solid chance we will, as a local meta, have a learning day when Infinity N5 releases (whenever that happens, tell us Corvus Belli!). It would be better jumping in point for new prospective players and returning players of Infinity to see exactly what changed between N4 and N5; it will also function better when we have the full ruleset and army updates so the volunteers conducting the demonstration games will have a better handhold on certain rules interactions.

Note while editing: unlike the last report or two where I have the nice little annotated pictures for things like deployment or an approach path, I am over a week behind posting this, primarily due to just a busy schedule and other excuses I'm sure no one wants to hear about.

Anyway, onto the game!

###Prologue###

The day at FOB North Bay was particularly gloomy as ever. The FOB has seen a particularly nasty winter storm roll through, causing all sorts of havoc and logistical nightmares. Multiple outposts and other outer installations within the AO for North Bay had been calling out for supply runs after the week long storm. Little did they know that North Bay was also running low on logistical supplies, as the route up from Okolnir and other infrastructure was cut off by a small but significant landslide, causing the overland route to need to wait to be cleared, and air supply was not yet feasible due to the storm. All-in-all, the FOB would see a significant number of logistical runs once that overland route is reopened to allow for the heavier supplies to be delivered. After the storm had passed, a handful of higher-priority sorties were sent out to installations that had gone quiet, utilizing what little reserves FOB North Bay had left.

Walking into his office after visiting the cantina, Colonel Kraznitsky sat down at his desk and looked down to see the stack of dossiers and reports he's been assigned. These were some of the final documents he needed to review and sign off on before transitioning to a new unit, heading off into some new wormhole or something. Command was quite vague, as he was only considered due to his efforts on Concilium Prima while organizing local Kosmoflot and Tartary combat grounds in and around Okolnir. He would think about it more whenever Command notifies him further.

The first dossier he opened was of one of the handful of recent sorties out to one of the installations that cut contact during the storm; Listening Post Wildcat. What stood out to the Colonel was his old buddy Colonel Gretizky was sent out on the sortie.

"That old man needs to stop volunteering for things like this. It'll get him killed one of these days." cracked the Colonel as he opened the dossier.

The dossier started off more casual than usual. A very to the point document showing the usual command staff are under pressure to get everything back up as soon as possible. The dossier read:

----- ----- -----

Location: [REDACTED]

Time: [REDACTED]

Operational Parameters: Investigate the loss in communication with Listening Post Wildcat. Listening post has failed check-in communication call post winter storm +3 days. Dispatch a reconnaissance team and supply convoy to re-establish communications with the listening post. Following Combat Reconnaissance Assets are assigned this action.

 - Colonel Gretizky

 - Warrant Officer Savitov

 - Senior Sergeant Nureyev

 - Sergeant Gaziev

 - Sergeant Alis

 - Sergeant Qursawi

 - Private First Class Bragin

 - Private Abdullin

 - Private Tuleyev

 - Auxiliary Asset Safiin

Assets will be split between an assigned airborne asset (Callsign Sky Guardian) and ground transport from the Tartary Logistical Corp from FOB North Bay.

Logistical Convoy will follow established route to Listening Post Wildcat. Roadway conditions are acceptable for transit (confirmed usable per reconnaissance operatives from [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]). Convoy will hold 2km away from Listening Post Wildcat and will advance as per establish protocol.

----- ----- -----

Colonel Kraznitsky flipped through the next few pages, mainly topographical maps and existing charts that were likely (hopefully) provided to Gretizky. There were the manifests of supplies in the convoy, the crew details of the Sky Guardian Crew, the definitions of the acceptable parameters for the mission, and the provided operation times, conditions, etc.

Kraznitsky pinched his eyes and sighed as he read through the acceptable loss parameters; which were stricter than normal. Concilium Prima is still safer than Dawn, but this planets politics are different than on Dawn. Where on Dawn we have concern for Antipode raids, here we have to deal with other Human Sphere entities that are just looking to take something because they can, ulterior motives aside. The acceptable loses were 0. This mission cannot take any loses or else Command would have a fit.

Kraznitsky kept flipping through the dossier until the part he actually needed to review, the After Action Report...

### The Board ###

We played using a game mat I got from... somewhere? I think I picked this one up from a store in
Marquette Michigan while on vacation years ago. The terrain buildings are the usual Darpan Xeno-Station from Corvus Belli; the logistic crates, fuel stands, and scrap barricades (on top of the objective room) are from Wargames Tournament; the vehicles are the usual vehicles I had printed from nfeyma and Skull Forge Studios.

I'm working on some new terrain from Warsenal and even more of the Logistic Crates from Wargames Tournament to hopefully have some more board variety when we get into N5. Also got some additional Scrap Barricades I need to put together as well.

I'm also considering getting some more vehicles printed for use as terrain, there's some good nfeyma-adjacent vehicles from other creators out there that would work very well. Those MIGHT make an appearance whenever I get around to getting them printed, built, and in the terrain box.

### The Lists ###

Tartary Army Corps

Army Code: 

gTEHdGFydGFyeRBUQUsgUGF0cm9sICgyMDApgMgBAQAKAYDqAQgAAoRwAQcAA4RwAQYABIDuAQUABYRmAQIABoRuAZBTAAeA4wEIAAiA4wEGAAmA4wEBAAqBAQEBAA%3D%3D

My thoughts on this list were to try an not have a sea of camo tokens. I wasn't trying to keep track of all of that, and with my opponent being newer, I wasn't trying to go THAT hard. I was also not considering bringing any parachutist units, cause Spetsnaz are expensive in a 200pt game.

My game plan was essentially to run a 3-man core with the Line Kazaks and a Veteran Haris with the Vet Kazaks and the Frontoviks. Strelok and Scout will be midfield deployed to be a nuisance should I go second. Dynamo will run forward and the Mul will hang back and be a cheap little 5-pt order.

Japanese Sectorial Army

Army Code:

g4caamFwYW5lc2Utc2VjZXNzaW9uaXN0LWFybXkDU2FsgMgBAQAHAYCYAQgAAoCYAQMAA4MFAQIABIPnAQIABYb%2BAQEABoPnAQEAB4PnAQQA

After seeing his list, I figured I'd struggle to deal with it, just cause I do not have my usual AP or Explosive weapons I normally run around with in Kosmoflot; not to mention everything having 2 wounds. Thankfully I have T2 rifles, so if a wound sneaks through, it'll drop 'em. I'm surprised to not see ninjas or cheaper order offerings, but all that said, my opponent is newer as even I'll say that seeing 2 wound models is something I nearly fell to when I considered collecting JSA a while back; especially how cheap Tanko's can be.

### Pre-game Rolls &  Deployment ###

JSA won the LT roll-off; rolling a 13 to my 4. He chose to keep Initiative and go second; a very valid choice since Uplink Center scores at the end of the game. This meant I kept Deployment, causing me to have my opponent deploy first, cause I would like to know how to approach them pesky JSA forces.

No one spent Command Tokens during this deployment phase, cause we forgot about it.

JSA Deployment

JSA Deployment (Left to right Tanko, Domaru, Shikami,
Kyosho, Domaru, Tanko, Tanko (behind bridge))

Deployment was rather straightforward for the JSA, Tanko's spread around, Domaru and Shikami in the center with the hacker. There was a single fireteam, using two Domaru and a Tanko. I believe only the Tanko with a Missile Launcher (on the bridgeway on my left flank) was prone, which I thought was an odd choice for a ML, which could have been a solid ARO piece in this game.

Something I was reminded about during deployment was that his entire force has 2 Wounds other than the Kyosho. This would perplex me a bit while he went over his deployment, as I did not bring much that was able to handle medium/heavy armor, but good ol Teseum definitely has that kick that'll let you know where you need to check your armor plating at.

Tartary Army Corps Deployment

My deployment was simple to me. Line Kazak 3-man core on the center rear building, prone to stay safe; Traktor MUL hanging out nearby to be the cheap order that it is. Strelok with his Decoy on the front center building deployed outside of the deployment zone, Scout on the stairs to the sniper tower with his mine deployed right around the objective nearby, also outside of the deployment zone placed to anything approaching would trigger it. The Veteran Haris team was on the stairs of the building leading up to where the Strelok was. My Dynamo deployed on the left side, as it was the only portion of the board (that I set up mind you) that it could go through with no issue.

There is a very specific note I need to make in the specific time spot in the battle report. After getting the board setup and our lists deployed, I had to make an emergency trip to the vet to have a family pet put down. This cut into our time at the play space more than even I realized, so the rest of the game will have been played out within a hour or two.

### ### ###

Col Kraznitsky read over some of the personnel reports about the mission, some were more detailed than others. Col. Gretizky's report was bland, alongside that of the privates accompanying him. Warrant Officer Savitov though had a rather active report, and the report from Sergeant Gaziev corroborates the Warrant Officer's.

There was also a datapad provided, marked as video recovered from PFC Bragin's motorcycle, thankfully his office had one of the operational computers that would view the video.

Col. Kraznitsky cracked the window slightly, the sound of freezing rain tapping on the window glass was now accompanied by the muffled sounds of camp life with the rain. He lit a cigarette and kept reviewing the dossier...

### ### ###

Turn 1: Tartary Army Corps

Dynamo vs Tanko
(Also SMG Trading)

Dyanmo vs Domaru
(SMG Trading)

To start the turn off, my Dynamo absolutely used her Impetuous phase to ride forward to get line of sight on the Domaru across no-mans-land. First have was to move, second half was to loose a panzerfaust shot while the target dodged. While I missed, the Domaru was taken by surprise and failed the dodge. First regular order saw the Dynamo move back and try to hit with the second Panzerfaust shot, while the Domaru tried another dodge. While the Domaru succeeded with a low roll, by Panzerfaust hit home with a higher number. The Domaru proceeded to succeed in 2 of the 3 saves, taking a wound, but chose to fail guts and break line of sight. Second Order was moving forward, and trying to engage with the SMG, which worked out well for me, with 2 of my shot hitting and inevitably killing the Domaru, but I did take a shotgun template to the face, putting me down to Dogged on the Dynamo. With this, the Dynamo was now going to do what she could to get the most mileage out of that bike. She moved around the truck to get eyes on the Tanko on the ground, and we proceeded to spend a few orders playing games of shooting and dodging around, but the Dynamo ended up taking down the Tanko as well after about 3 more regular Orders being spent. The Tanko w/ Missile Launcher eventually
managed to stand up with a finally successful Dodge ARO, a shame my Dynamo was done at that point.

Strelok v Tanko
(Boom, headshot)

The next order after that saw my Strelok reveal and take aim with his T2 Marksman Rifle at the Missile
Launcher Tanko, which managed to take it down in 1 shoot action, with the Tanko firing back at me. The missile bounced my lowest dice, but the Tanko also failed a single save, which is enough to go down thanks to T2 ammo.

The last order(s) were given to the Vet Haris team, having them advance forward and turn one of the antenna to me and get positioned with the Vet Kazak's flamethrower for when anything else decides to come up the center to play games.

Turn 1: Japanese Sectorial Army

Domaru picking a fight with the
team waiting someone to F.A.F.O.

Turn 1 can be described in the simple phrase of "fuck it, we ball." The original Domaru Haris was now down to a Duo with the loss of the other Domaru. Said Duo decided they wanted to approach the cluster of shenanigans known as the center of the table, where I had a Frontovik, Veteran Kazak, and the Strelok hanging out watching the alleyway. The Domaru with Spitfire approached first with a LT order, splitting his fire against the Vet Kazak (1 dice), the Frontovik (2 dice) and the Strelok (1 dice). I don't remember what exactly hit it, I think it was the vet Kazak's T2 Rifle, but the Domaru was shot at with enough T2 that it did not make it through the ARO.

Hindsight being what it is, there was likely a possibility to get the Domaru to slice it where he could have gotten singular face-to-face rolls, but I do not remember, as my Strelok and Vet Kazak were essentially in the same spot for coverage for where the Domaru was approaching from.

Next order saw the other Tanko approach, where after it's first move the Strelok caught line of sight of it, the Tanko dropped a light shotgun template, took a bullet, failed the safe, and took a nap. The Frontovik fireteam leader and the strelok were both hit and failed their saves, thankfully that frontovik was not the paramedic one for this situation. The Vet Kazak survived with no wounds taken.

Flamethrower vs Shikami

The next 2 orders were from the Shikami, which walked up and picked a fight with the Vet Kazak. First
face-to-face was stupid of me, cause I chose to use my T2 rifle, failing the roll and taking a wound. The second face-to-face saw me use the Light Flamethrower (which i clearly forgot he had), roasting the Shikami with 3 failed armor saves. The vet kazak did not take any damage from the Shikami;s Combi-Rifle.

The last order was moving the Kyosho up forward towards my left flank. My Scout was outside of zone of control at the end of that move; nor did the Kyosho end close enough to trigger the mine.

Turn 2: Tartary Army Corps

First order was to the Paramedic Frontovik, which proceeded to medikit the downed Frontovik engineer, bringing him back up again. An order or two were spent with the Scout revealing and trying to shoot the Kyosho, but failing due to finally good rolls on the JSA side of things. That worked well enough until the Vet Kazak rounded the corner with the flamethrower and the Kyosho failed a dodge a burned to death.

### END OF GAME ###

### ### ###

The reports the Colonel read through made it seem like the opposing forces in LP Wildcat were taken by surprise, and that they wore the colors and markings of the Japanese Secessionist Army; which was more-so odd why they were all the way over on this side of Concilium Prima. But considering no one was taken as a prisoner, there's no way to know what's going on with that; at least from what's been provided in his dossier.

PFC Bragin performed well for being recently assigned to FOB North Bay. She's recovering in the medbay from copious burns and damage from the shotgun blast she was hit with. Senior Sergeant Nureyev and Sergeant Qursawi are also in medbay with less lethal wounds, just for a checkup after they were medevac'd down the mountain.

Kraznitsky stamped the dossier with the appropriate markings showing it's been properly reviewed and is acceptable within mission parameters to him as one of the senior officers at North Bay. As he lit another cigarette and closed his window, there was a knock on his door. Colonel Gretizky opened the door, two unmarked dull brown bottles in his hands.

"Care for a drink, old friend?"

### ### ###

### Post Game ###

We ended up talking out the rest of the 2 turns, mainly to see if the paramedic ended up killing the Strelok by accident, which is not what happened. With the Strelok back up, my only casualty (somehow) was only the Dynamo.

Once again hindsight being what it is, my opponent had absolutely abhorred dice rolls. Maybe his dice were hoping he was playing an RPG? He kept rolling super high when he didnt need it, and then super low when he needed to roll high. Some locals mentioned that he wasnt running with the usual sneakiness of JSA, as a single Oniwaban Ninja would made mincemeat of my list, which it absolutely would have. But as his first game back in several months, I understand playing with what's fun and what you want to field. That's typically how I play my infinity games anyway, albeit my Kosmoflot lists dont normally change all that much in comparison to my TAK, MRRF, and even Haqq lists.

This was a game that i was actually very thankful to have, even with my unfortunate appointment right in the middle of it. It was a very welcome distraction from a rather rough few weeks with one of our cats; winning the match was just a little extra flare to keep me distracted a bit longer.

### Coming Up ###

At the time of writing this (December 9, 2024), we have seen a variety of releases and teases from Corvus Belli, to include the (still not in my hands) Operation Sandtrap, Beyond Sandtrap, Kestrel and JSA Expansion Alpha's, and numerous other releases. The main ones for Ariadna that have my attention are the Kibervolk Patrol for the Ariadna version of crazykoalas/BOOM-bas, and the new Ratnik model. After years of waiting, we finally found a spare Spitfire to strap to its back!

Seeing the profiles for the new Ariadna units is nice (Kibervolk, Vystrel, and Barsuk so far), but I am hoping to see a tease or two of the existing staples, such as the Veteran Kazak, Volkolak, Unknown Ranger, or anything larger like the Ratnik, Blackjack, and even the Chernobog. The tease for the Minutemen has given me mixed emotions about them, but at least they can keep pace with Unknown Ranger now I suppose?

I'm considering a very off-the-cuff article for when N5 finally comes out to get my takes on the changes for Ariadna, as I have a variety of models from the range and I might be acquiring some USAriadna soon enough since that sectorial made the cut for N5.

Until next time!