Nomads & That Come Hither Look

Come here big boy.

Another Alguacil painted, and some revelations.

First off, I've finished another Alguacil. I decided to go with the over the top yellow hair, since I imagine Nomads as very individualized people, who declare their independence in any way possible- including dying their hair outrageous colors. I say this because I know how to paint "realistic" blonde hair, and wanted to make it clear that yes, this is intentional.

Now to the revelations. I am rusty on the rules to Infinity (if not downright ignorant), and I need to play a lot more small games in order to get my feet under me. I thought (from watching other people play at Huzzah Hobbies) that Zeros wouldn't reveal their presence if they laid mines or deployed repeaters and E/Maulers. I was rather wrong on that front. I am vindicated on one thing though- BTS is applied as a positive modifier on rolls, and a negative modifier to WIP rolls when being hacked. Why BTS isn't written as a positive number is a mystery- it must be a Spanish thing.

I have learned thet Viral weapons are ungodly powerful- two BTS rolls, and if a one wound miniature fails a single one it just plain falls to the ground dead. This makes Daktaris rather useless against the Tohaa, as pretty much everything they use is Viral.

I learned that yes, smoke is as much of a problem to my squad as I was told and as I feared. Demitra (yes, Demitra- the one who swore up and down he hated the art style of the game) pulled some serious smoke shenanigans on me, and I lost a miniature in close combat because of it. My answer to that issue is simple- suppressing fire. So what if I'm at -6 to hit when a mini moves through the corridor? They take the full Burst value of the weapon as an ARO, which will cause anybody to keep their head down. Who says "spray and pray" doesn't work?

A very bad man.

 I learned that I LOVE Sin Eaters. They dominate any section of the table they can see, and just need to be moved into position before they ARO their little metal hearts out at their weapon's full Burst value. This weapon should be an HMG- the volume of fire and the fact that it hits like a train (Damage 15) will bring the hurt to any enemy mini be it a single wound throw away mini, or a big stompy TAG. Since they're using an ARO they blaze away without orders, so they will be a great way to assign orders to the minis that need them. You have to approach them from behind or preferably in a simultaneous pincer movement to keep the mini from simply spinning around as its first ARO, and then (assuming it survives) gunning you down each time you order the sad little dude. He's not too great in melee either, so if you can sneak up on him and stab his face you should be able to end his reign of terror rather quickly. I have leaned rather heavily on this guy so far, so I'm pretty scared to find out what will happen when (not if) I lose him.

I learned that I still enjoy this game, despite all the "learning experiences" (read getting stuff just plain wrong) I've been through. The mechanics, while rewarding defensive play, are fun and different than just about anything else on the market. The reaction system is very different than Dust Warfare. Weather this is a good or bad thing to the new found gaming group (for me anyway) is going to be a mystery for a while, but I'm holding out hope for a decent run.

I need a table more like this.

Finally, I learned that I need more LOS (LOF in Infinity- Line Of Fire) blocking terrain. My ruined city just doesn't provide enough places to hide. I need to create some sort of industrial complex with things like machinery, chemical tanks, barrels, shipping containers, and all other manner of things to hide behind. I should also save up for some intact buildings from Armorcast (and quickly since their lines of resin scenery are rapidly dwindling and I don't want to buy GW's overpriced stuff) so that my cityscape is more hospitable to close combat miniatures. Right now melee stuff just gets shot dead while attempting to close the gap. I think I'll try having some forests as dense growth Zero Visibility Zones next time, as well as bringing all my scenery (or at least a more thought out box). I should probably look at getting a piece of felt that I can lay down as a gaming mat. They seem to be sparse at the store I went to on Wednesday, so I should at least help remedy that.

Now I'm awaiting a few miniatures I ordered through Demitra. More Alguaciles, a couple of Moderators, and a Mobile Brigada with HMG. They'll let me play some more varied configurations.

My last thought for today, I swear. I've been poking around and pondering a pure Bakunin force. That gives me four Reverend Moiras and a whole lot of Religious Troops. The list has also turned me on to the idea of Zonds. They look super nifty, at least on paper. A Repeater equipped Total Reaction HMG equipped model that can climb walls like they were normal horizontal terrain! Yummy.

Right now however I'll keep pondering wedding stuff. Thirty two days left until I'm officially a married man. Kind of surreal...