Jhokalups – Operation Orders – 2
Jhokalups – Operation Orders – 2
For Rose City Raid there are five difficult scenarios to cover with a pair of list; Frostbyte, Highly Classified, Transmission Matrix, Power Pack, and Unmasking. For a game night we decided to practice covering three of them; Frostbyte, Power Pack, and Unmasking. Over my last few games, I have realized that in Infinity, more than any other game I have played, playing to scenario is extremely important. For that, I changed the way I approach list building, or at least my strategy going into how I want the list to perform. In this(link to OO1) I have talked about the method I will be using and how I settled on that method. Here I will apply that method to the three scenarios that we have selected for practice. And then I will create lists for each of my main factions (Bakunin, StarCo, ForCo) that are more tuned to accomplish the checklist.
Frostbyte:
- Kill More Army Points : 3 points
- Kill the enemy Data Tracker : 2 points
- Secured the Exclusion Zone at End of Game : 3
- Have 1 active heating unit : 1
- Classified : 1
- Special Considerations:
- ITS Retreat Rules
- Secure the Exclusion Zone means having the only DataTracker inside
- Killer Cold – Non TAG/HI/DT units not in a zone with an active heater die at end of game.
One of the most obvious things about Frostbyte is that TAGs and Heavy Infantry will not die if they are in an unheated zone. That makes these models more appealing since you won’t have to worry about what zone they are in. When I was first reading through this scenario, I assumed that Securing the exclusion zone meant Dominating the exclusion zone, that is, having more points than my opponent in it. However, securing the exclusion zone means having my data tracker and not my opponents in the zone. This changes my prioritization of points, since the data trackers are related to 5 points of the mission.
Frostbyte Priority Checklist:
- Kill the Enemy Data Tracker : +2 Points / -3 Points
- Secure the Exclusion Zone with my Data Tracker : +3 Points / -2 Points
- Kill lots of Points : +3 Points / -3 Points
If I accomplish Checklist items 1 and 2, the worst outcome from the mission is a tie. If I can accomplish item 3 in addition then I win with a Major victory.
Power Pack:
- Activated Same Amount of antennas at End of Game : 2 points
- Activate More antennas at end of game : 4 points
- Control the enemy console at end of game : 2 points
- Place the Multiscanner on the Saturation Zone : 2 points
- Prevent Enemy from Controlling your Console : 1 point
- Classified : 1
- Failure to place the Multiscanner : -1 point
- ITS Retreat
- Overload Prevention – A player can only have two active antennas
- There is a 16” saturation zone across the middle of the board
- Chain of Command Bonus to Xenotech
- Chain of Command Bonus to Activate Antenna
From playing some other missions with the Xenotech, I can say that the multiscanner can have a big impact on the end of game. It provides 2 points if placed, and takes a point away if not. From the 10 points available that’s a 3 point swing just for me. In this scenario, if both players have activated 1 antenna, protected their console and one placed a multi scanner while the other didn’t; the score would be 2 to 5 to the player who placed the multiscanner. Other interesting point swings come in holding 2 of the 3 antennas.
Power Pack Checklist:
- Place the multiscanner : +2 points (-1 if not placed)
- Capture and Protect Antenna(s) : +2/+4 points
- Capture Second Antenna : +4 points
- Protect My Console : +1 points / -2 points
If I don’t have the multiscanner at the top of my checklist I will forget it. After that I should focus on antennas, I need at least 1, preferably 2. Doing those 2 things I can get 6 points, if my opponent accomplishes every other scoring option they will also get 6; so again, the worst case with the first 2 accomplished is a tie. If I accomplish all 3 it would be 7 to 4.
Unmasking:
- Kill Designated Target: 3 points
- Kill Target Decoy: 1 point
- Kill Designated Target w/ Data Tracker: +2 points
- Same Amount of Active Consoles: 1
- More Active Console: 2
- Your Designated Target not Killed: 1
- Data Tracker not Killed: 1
- ITS Retreat
- Hacker Bonus for Consoles
Unmasking is one of my favorite missions, I love how different it is from other killy missions or zone control. The Subterfuge of the Designated Target and Target Decoys is great. Ok, this mission is fairly simple in terms of mental tasks.
Unmasking Checklist:
- Reveal the Designated Target: +1/+2 Points (Depending on Consoles)
- Kill Designated Target: +3 points / -1 points
- w/ Data Tracker: +2 points
- Maintain Console Control +2 points / -1 points
The simplicity of this checklist has complications on the table. Specifically you don’t know when you will pick the right target. And then you have to deliver a killer to the target, hopefully you have a piece properly positioned. In writing this, I can already see how I mis-spent orders on non-mission critical things the last time I played unmasking.
Foreign Company
StarCo
Bakunin
Part of my list considerations for all of these is who would be good data trackers. For Frostbyte I want a more survivable Data Tracker, like Senor Massacre or Kusanagi. For Unmasking I would want a mobile and strong killer, like Emily or Kusanagi. The Foreign Company and StarCo lists both bring models with Chain of Command for the Power Pack bonus. Unfortunately Chain of Command is an ability that doesn’t exist in Bakunin. For Bakunin and Star Co I tried to include models that could start or easily get deep into the opponent’s side of the field to make hunting key pieces easier. I think that any of these lists would do fine in an event consisting of Frostbyte, Power Pack and Unmasking.
Until next time, where I start to unpack our May the 4th Event.