War of the World IX @IBuyWargames

Another great War of the Worlds tournament at IBuyWargames in Woking, Surrey. Despite the earlier snow, there were 18 players, with just a few dropouts.  Lots were from the IBuyWargames local gamers, but quite a few travellers as well!

Keith (Kurrelgyre) and Graham (GammaRay) took on the Fire Team Duo of TO duties – which avoided any bye. There were a couple of house rules to help speed up play and make tables easier.

House Rule 1 – All gaps in scenery which are smaller in width than 25 mm(S1/2) blocked LoF e.g. railings, and small wedges between scenery

House Rule 2 – LoF may not pass through buildings.  Units may draw LoF from outside a building to inside, and from inside to outside but not from outside/through an interior/and back to outside.

My Lists

WOTWIX List A
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GROUP 1 10
YURIKO ODA Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 24)
KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
KEISOTSU HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 17)
KEISOTSU Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 14)
KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9)
OYAMA Lieutenant Chain Rifle, E/M Grenades / Breaker Pistol, AP CCW, EXP CCW. (0 | 28)
RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 20)
SAITO TOGAN (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW, Knife. (0 | 40)

GROUP 2 4
PANGGULING Hacker (EVO Hacking Device) Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 25)
CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)
NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29)
KEISOTSU Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 17)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

WOTWIX List B
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GROUP 1 9 4
ARAGOTO Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 19)
ARAGOTO Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26)
ARAGOTO (Killer Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 25)
KUROSHI RIDER Lieutenant Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower / Breaker Pistol, AP + Shock CCW. (0 | 33)
RYŪKEN (Forward Deployment L2, ODD) Submachine Gun, Antipersonnel Mines, D-Charges / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
KEISOTSU Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 9)
TOKUSETSU EISEI Doctor (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 14)
CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8)

GROUP 2 6 1 1
KEISOTSU (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 10)
KEISOTSU HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 17)
KEISOTSU Missile Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 14)
KEMPEI (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (0 | 21)
KEMPEI (Multispectral Visor L2) Shock Marksman Rifle / Pistol, CCW, Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)
YURIKO ODA Combi Rifle, Panzerfaust, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, CCW. (0 | 24)
YOJIMBO Contender, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 21)

5 SWC | 300 Points

Open in Infinity Army

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The Tables

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Game 1

• Mission: PowerPack
• Opponent: Laina (Laina)
• Faction: Aleph
• List: A

Although I’d played in lots of Smackdown tournaments run by Laina, the last time we had payed was a couple of years ago at an earlier War of the Worlds.  Rather than playing Haqq, she was playing her newly painted Aleph – with some great looking Myrmidons with transparent bases (I like the transparent acrylic, but it’s a point of marmite style controversy amongst the hobbiests – love it or hate it).

Laina won initiative and chose deployment, and I decided to take the hard road and choose to go 2^ndin turn order.  Going second in PowerPack is a real advantage for console flipping.

We both deployed almost all our forces on the 12”x16” areas on the Western side of the table!  Laina managed to fail all three NetRods and two landed just outside my DZ! (Wishing I had a Minesweeper to capture them!)

I used my EVO Hacker to launch Gadget-Evo Overclock (using a command token) to give the Rui Shi and Chaiyi Flash Pulse REM’s Burst 2.

Turn 1 Aleph

Going straight for the consoles, Laina sent up her Proxy Mk V FO up towards it.  He crossed the LoF of my Chaiyi flash pulse REM but won the F2F exchange with his SMG, and the REM made its saves.  It then moved up at flipped the Western antenna.

Next up a Naga KHD emerged from camo and failed to flip the central console a couple of times before passing.

Laina moved up her Xenotech syned to a Myrmidon into the saturation zone and deployed the multiscanner first time!

Laina cautiously move her forces up.  A Myrmidon threw smoke down covering an Asura spitfire to move up and try and take on the Chaiyi but failed to land any damage.  She ended with the Asura on suppression.

Turn 1 JSA

My Ninja KHD was deployed in HD on the Eastern console – so I decided to go for the Naga.  I moved up and did a Surprise Attack (Hack) with Redrum to give a -6 mod in total.  The Naga used Skullbuster to get another +3.  The Naga won, and blew out the Ninjas brain… (afterwards I kicked myself as I forgot my EVO Hacker would allow me to use a command token to reroll!).

Next up I launched Assisted Fire of the Rui Shi with my hacker and send it up the table.  It was quite a dense table so I managed to get quite far up, taking out a Netrod (from CG1) on the way.  He then popped around a corner and took on a WarCor and Lamedh Rebot Flash pulse REM and managed to get stunned!

I then switched up to my Ryuken ODD/SMG and came down from the high perch she was hiding.  She engaged the Proxy MKII and killed him shock dead, but got stunned by yet another Lamedh Rebot.

With my last order I placed the Rui Shi and the Ryuken on Suppression Fire (they both took Flash Pulses but that didn’t matter as it was the turn end).

RULES NOTE – It turns out you can’t go into Suppression Fire if you are in the stunned state.  The Entire Order skill Suppression Fire has the Attack label, and while you don’t make an attack while going into the Suppression Fire State, it’s still an attack label skill.  Stunned states – you may not make attacks (Which I guess means you can’t use skills with the attack label).  Mind you the Rui Shi could still have been placed on Overclock instead.

Turn 2 Aleph

This became a turn of utter frustration for Laina!  The Myrmidon threw down some smoke and the Asura stepped up and took on the Ryuken using her MSV 3 to see through her ODD, she kept landing hits but the Ryuken kept making ARM saves!  After about 4 orders the Ryuken finally went down…

The Proxy Mk. IV with HMG went up against my Rui Shi but the same happened again.  Time after time he would land a hit and I’d make my ARM save or he’d get hit.  By the end of the turn my Rui Shi was still up and the Proxy had taken a wound.

Turn 2 JSA

Time to get back the Antenna!  Saito Togan, Ninja for Hire, emerged from HD and threw a smoke grenade over the Naga KHD. He then moved up for the kill, and tripped over and fell on his sword… CRIT.

In a state of shock from Saito’s death…time for plan B.  My Keisotsu, synced with my Xenotech, moved her up into the saturation zone and FAILED two rolls to place the multiscanner (on 14’s with my CoC)!  Giving up on spending anymore orders on that, I loaded up the Rui Shi with assisted fire and went after the Proxy Mk IV and took him down. The Rui Shi then moved to take on the Asura and managed to get a wound on her but she dropped prone behind cover.

Lacking orders in CG1, I used the EVO Hacker to Launch Overclock again to give the Rui Shi Burst 2.

Turn 3 Aleph

Determined to put the Rui Shi out of the picture, Laina used her WarCor and managed to stun it, and then ran a Lamdah Rebot into it and Electric Pulsed it to IMM-2!

She then bought on a Proxy Mk II TO Camo Assault Hacker and moved him down the field as a TO camo marker and then moved into B2B contact with my console (using a dodge to reveal) to control the console.

Time was the called! DICE DOWN!

Final Score

Laina. Complete Victory. 10 OP (More Antenna, Controlled Console, Placed Multiscanner, Classified). VP 265.

Stuart.  Defeat.  0 OP. VP 207 .

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Game 2

• Mission: Transmission Matrix
• Opponent: Nick (Earl of Potato)
• Faction: TAK
• List: A

I had designed my list A especially for this mission for Hacker supremacy so it was typical that I would face TAK…  The table was very open, in some ways, with one building, a few coral-like structures, and lots of Jungle (low visibility saturation zones).  I won initiative and chose deployment side to get more cover. Nick chose to go second.

Nick deployed a single combat group list with a 3 Frontovik and 2 Vet Kazak Core Fire Team in a skirmish line in the jungle, a 112, and a scattering of camo tokens.

Turn 1 JSA

I launched Assisted Fire on the Rui Shi.  I started with LoF on a Camo marker, and did a discover/shoot but it was Ambush Camo.

Saito Togan, starting on the 24” line, made a dash as a marker to get behind some cover near the Kazak/Frontovik Fireteam.  He threw smoke over one of the team, a Frontovik (while staying out of LoF) and moved in for a swift kill.  Because of the position of the smoke he could quite get to the Vetern Kazak.

Using cover from the large building I managed to move the Rui Shi up the table before engaging the Kazak/Frontovik Fire Team.  I managed to slice the pie and take out a Frontovik paramedic first, using its MSV2 to see through the jungle (so not getting the -3 but still getting -1B).

My Ryuken data tracker, on the roof of a building crawled up behind the Designated target and took it down with one burst of SMG fire.

With my last orders I placed some units on suppression on the back line to protect against AD troopers.

Turn 1 TAC

With Saito right next door the Vetern Kazak went for him with a light flame thrower.  The first attack hit, but Saito ARM saved (but lost his TO camo).  Saito managed to dodge the next shot and used Kinematic to close the gap towards the Kazak. With Saito now dangerously close and ready for an Engage, Nick didn’t risk attacking again.

Using AD: Parachutist a Spetsnaz dropped in and managed to kill my Hacker on my Easter antenna but got a missile to the face in return from the Keisotsu Fireteam.

He then activated a camo token and moved it to take a shot at my Rui Shi and revealed as Vassily Plushenko with T2 Sniper.  He managed to put the Rui Shi down on unconscious, and moved back into cover.

First turn scoring: 1-1 Nick NE and NW Antenna.  Stuart Central (due to a Ninja KHD) and SW antenna.

Turn 2 JSA

I moved up my Keisotsu link team and used Yuriko Oda to bring the Rui Shi back online.  It once again engaged the link team and managed to take down another link team member.  My Keisotsu ML managed to land a hit one Frontovic catching the other Kazak in the blast.

Turn 2 TAC

Down to 4 orders. Vassilly managed to again put the Rui Shi down, and then took out the Keisotsu ML on a roof top.  A Strelock moved up in camo and contested the central antenna. A second strelok moved up and took out my Chaiyi but got an ARI from the Rui Shi.

Second turn scoring: 1-3 Nick NE Antenna.  Stuart NW (Saito), Central (Ninja KHD) and SW antenna.

Turn 3 JSA

My Ryuken SMG/ODD tried to discover Shoot the Strelock, but got shot back and taken down!  Once again Yuriko repaired the Rui Shi and it managed to gun down the Strelock and Vassily.  Saito finished a 112 in melee, and the Rui Shi finished by doing a discover shoot on a last remaining camo marker/Tankhunter killing it.  Yuriko then moved into B2B with the unconscious Strelok to complete Captured.

Turn 3 TAC

In retreat and with no units on the table, the game ended there.

Third turn scoring: 1-5 Nick none.  Stuart NW (Saito), Central (Ninja KHD) and SW antenna.

Final Score

Stuart – Complete Victory. 9 OP (Tie/More/More Antennas, Classified – Captured, Killed Designated target with data tracker). 237 VP.

Nick – Loss.  1 OP.  0 VP.

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Game 3

• Mission: Capture and Protect
• Opponent: Nic (Jedkar Mifune)
• Faction: Military Orders
• List: B

Time for the bikers! Akira style! 3 Aragoto, the Kurioshi Rider and Yo Jimbo!

I thought this might be some JSA on JSA action but Nic has betrayed the JSA cause and decided to play MO instead!

We ended up on my NeoTokyo table, although I did offer to change table, as it could be thought that playing on your own table might give you an advantage (e.g. knowing distances, size of buildings etc).

I won initiative and took turn order to go first.  Nic deployed his 1 CG with only 8 orders on the table.  A full link of De Fersen, and four knight Hospitalliers, 2 Order sergeants, and a War Cor.  He set up the fire teams in partial cover, around the beacon, ready to defend it.

Turn 1 JSA

Yo Jimbo led off and got to use a move-move with his ex. impetuous order.  The Aragoto all spend their regular impetuous orders to do a single move, still staying behind a building.

The bikers then used their first co-ordinated order and all moved out, the Spitfire taking the Spearhead. Out pops an Order Sargent TO Camo Sniper and puts a DA round into the spitfire, but he makes both ARM saves.

Yo Jimbo throws smoke to block the snipers LoF and the Kempeitai Shock Marksman Rifle in a 5 Core Fire team moves up and managed to gun down the sniper, shock dead!

The bikers spend another co-ordinated order but the WarCor  lands a Flash Pulse on the Spitfire who manages to save.

The FDL2 Ryuken on the eastern flank moves out enough to get a 24” shot on De Ferson (at BS12, -3 for cover thanks to the X-Visor), but bounces off his armour.  I change direction and move the Spitfire around to the east and take a another shot at De Ferson but again he saves.  Thinking the Ryuken has a better balance for the F2F, the Ryuken again goes for De Ferson and after another 3 attempts he gets hit three times and fails all three!

The Spitfire Aragoto now floors it and goes straight for the Hospitallier Paramedic and puts a wound on him, but with only a single order left he revs back and parks in full cover in the handy bus stop.

The Kuroshi rider uses her LT order and kills off the WarCor, before entering the smoke and taking up a good ARO position.  (I ran out of orders to put her in suppression!)

The Keisotsu fire team moved and organised into good ARO positions.

Turn 1 Military Orders

Turns out De Ferson was Nic’s LT!  So in Loss of Lieutenant, he trades a couple of Command tokens for regular orders and moves out his Hospitallier HMG, managing to take out the Kuroshi rider and my Kempeitai SMMR.  He left the rest of his orders unspent as he couldn’t spend them without breaking the Fire Team.

Turn 2 JSA

Impetuous Orders!  Yo Jimbo floors it towards the Hosp HMG, fails his smoke and takes two HMG rounds and goes down dead!  The Aragoto Spitfire revs up tried to put all his shots on the Hosp HMG, but he tanks them, and the Hops Paramedic takes him out!

Time for a heroic doctor run.  The Tokusetsu doctor climbs over a wall and spends two move orders to get to my Kempeitai SMMR and heals her up.  The Kempeitai and link team them moves up towards the central area, and get a shot off on the Hops HMG but don’t manage to take him down.

Desperate to take down the knights I throw the Aragoto KHD with Combi and Light Shotgun into the fray and get critted.  Last chance the Boarding Shotgun Aragoto revs into the frey, jumping over a can bonnet and lining up a shotgun blast on the Hosp HMG and Hosp Doctor, but only manages to get a wound on the Doctor.  Last order he goes again and gets shot down!

Turn 2 Military Orders

Down to a three-man link of Knights and 5 orders.  Nic walks in a Crusader Brethren BSG who engages my Ryuken, out of cover, but she manages to beat him and put him down, shock dead!

The Hosp HMG goes on overdrive and ignoring the fact his not in his good range guns down the Kempeitai (breaking the link), Yuriko and the Ryuken!

He co-ordinates with his last command token and stands both order sergeants up to provide more ARO cover for the beacon.

[We now need to have a moments silence of one of the Order Sergeants, who was pitched off the rooftop by an act of god and fell to his death off the table.  We only hope that the Military Orders Holy Super Glue can restore him to health!]

Turn 3 JSA

Things are looking grim. Down to my Keisotsu HMG, Keisotsu FO and a Kempeitai BSG (CoC) in CG1 and a Tokusetu Doctor, 2 Keisotsu and my Chaiyai Flashpulse REM in CG2.

In a crazy, crazy a desperate move, the Chaiyi REM flash pulses and stuns one order sergeant and bounces a combi rifle from the other (at 32”) and then stuns the other one!

The Doctor, in another act of bravery, attacks the Knight Hosp HMG and puts a wound on him!  She goes again and gets put down!

It was all on the Kempeitai now.  With his BSG, he moves out, taking down the Hosp Doctor and then manages to take down another Hosp, leaving only the Hosp HMG and with 1 order left plus a LT order.  He sprints out, hitting the Hosp HMG, who takes one wound, but not going down!  With his last order he runs up and grabs the beacon, as the Hosp HMG shoots him down with his pistol!  The beacon, stained in the blood of the courageous Kempeitai, remained unclaimed.

Turn 3 Military Orders

With only three orders left, the Hosp HMG goes on a killing spree, takes out the HMG Keisotsu and finished by driving his sword through the throat of my Keisotsu FO.

Final Score

Stuart.  Draw.  3 OP (Beacon not captured). 27 VP

Nic.  Draw.  3 OP (Beacon not captured). 75 VP

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Final Standings

After a couple of very tense and tough games I finished 11/18 on 4 TP 9 OP and 495 VP.  After the tournament results were done, I realised that I should have has 12 OP as our last game had been reported as 0-0 and not 3-3, goes to show you should always read through the scoring before submitting! Saying that – Nick Earl of Potato should have got 1 OP in the 2^ndgame 9-1 not 9-0.

In the last game rather than pushing for the objective I should have tried for my classified (Mapping) with my FO, but hind sight is always 20/20!

As always, a great crowd of players!  Lots of cinematic moments, and lucky/unlucky dice rolls, followed by much cursing and head shaking (Sorry Laina)!  Look forward to the next one!