Infinity Unit Review: Kurgat Regiment of Assault Engineers

Back to covering my precious Morats! The Kurgat Regiment aren’t your typical Infinity engineers. While they’re theoretically capable of repairing, they often find themselves blowing things up instead! They’re armed to the teeth for demolition, perhaps unsurprising from a Morat.

 

Stats and Special Rules

Off the cuff, there is nothing terribly impressive or surprising about the Kurgats profile. They have a pretty standard BS11, ARM1, with a weak CC13, but a solid PH12. You’re clearly not taking them because they are power houses on their profile. All Kurgats are Morats (duh) as well as Engineers (it’s in their name), which means they’re all Veteran L1, Religious, specialists.

 

Profiles

Autocannon, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines. The Autocannon is perhaps the most exciting, and certainly least subtle profile. Kurgats are one of 3 units in the game capable of carrying this formidable weapon. On it’s own, it’s a low burst, HMG-range weapon, which delivers an utterly devastating DAM 15 AP+EXP hit when it lands. Despite its low burst, and low BS firing platform, I’ve had luck fielding this profile in a few different ways. On its own is probably the least effective option, but it is helpful in one huge, very specific way… Coordinated Orders. Tying one in to a coordinated order lowers its burst, but is going to make your opponent crap their pants. If you want to spend a few more points, try giving the Kurgat a Slave Drone. Doing so means it cannot take part in the Coordinated Orders we just talked about, but it does mean while it’s attempting to take shots across the board, it can simultaneously move its Slave Drone up the board into a position to fix things. Finally, in a Haris you give the Kurgats an incredibly effective long-range weapon, at a much more respectable Burst 3. The downside of this profile is that while sitting in the backfield taking pot shots, it’s probably not getting into position to take advantage of it’s D-charges or mines.

Boarding Shotgun, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines. The budget profile, and probably the one most often taken, the boarding shotgun backs up the other short-ranged weapons the Kurgats carry to the table. I usually take one in vanilla Combined as an alternative to the Med-Tech Obsidian Mechanoid (aka Dr. Worm), it’s significantly cheaper, and if you’re only really going to be engineering things (like the Avatar), then you’re saving a lot of points for only 1 less WIP. As a mid-field fighter, they can be effective dropping mines around corners, before peeking out with the shotgun, causing mayhem to enemy link teams. Generally though, using this Kurgat for area denial with the mines, and fixing things along the way is the right job, using the boarding shotgun only as-needed. Since this profile is possibly most likely to get up close to the enemy, it’s worth talking a little more about D-Charges. If you move into base contact with the enemy with a Slave Drone and this Kurgat, you can put your opponent into an awkward spot. If they ARO against the Kurgat, they’re going to automatically get hit by the Electric Pulse, automatically making them IMM-2 for two turns, if the enemy AROs against the Slave Drone, then they’re going to get smacked in the face by a B2 D-Charge.

MK12, D-Charges, Antipersonnel Mines (optionally: Haris). If you need a bigger gun than the shotgun, but find the autocannon unwieldy, this is your guy. The decent burst and solid range bands of the MK12 actually give the Kurgat a bit of a fighting chance to move up the board. Most importantly however is that this profile allows Haris fireteams in MAF armies. Generally, I’m taking a Kurgat to be an engineer, place mines, use the occasional D-Charge, rarely to go engage the enemy directly. This profile can however move up the board, placing mines and drop into suppressive fire if needed, but for the points I’d rather use someone more dedicated to that role.

 

On The Table

I’ve talked a bit about how I use the profiles in vanilla, but they really stand out in the MAF army. A full Haris team of specialists, carrying mines and d-charges can do some serious work. A B3 Autocannon will demolish anything it can hit, plus a pile of mines, d-charges, and 3 specialists wherever you need them, are all great reasons to take Kurgats. For their points they can become a fantastic area denial unit, with 9 mines between them. Since they’re all specialists, you don’t need to focus on keeping a specific one alive.

In any mission with destructible terrain, Kurgats reign supreme. They can easily blast apart consoles, doors, and any other pieces of destructible terrain. The picture below shows the last time I took the Haris, we were playing The Armory. I blew open the door with the Autocannon, advanced into the room under the cover of smoke, planted mines, and led the way for more of my troops to fill the room and enter suppressive fire. Needless to say, I really do love me a Kurgat Haris.