Tuesday 30 August 2011

Infinity: Building an Army - Achilles and his Myrmidons

The Myrmidons...
I cant help it.
I just love to flit between projects.
A lot of the time this means that I do not get stuff finished…but hey ho.
My latest crush is on Infinity. Great game, incredible model range.
I started out with the Yu Jing – a great Asian mush, specialising in heavy infantry. I will still finish a force of them..but I have my eye on another race already.
Aleph.
AI and Myths.
Achilles and his Myrmidons are what truly dragged me over here, that and the cool link between AI and man..sort of blade runner crossed with …that game with the Norse techno-gods theme… I loved that…from a fluff perspective.
So anyway.. how do I go about building the Greeks?
This is the first Sons’ army building process with Infinity and hopefully will provide insights into the game system….

You can read the first 3 Infinity posts here:
Test Mini’s – DaoFei
What are Orders?
How does the D20 Mechanic work?

So we need a lieutenant, thematically this can only be Achilles.
The Man. Nuff said.
As a Lieutenant, there are several options available to Achilles, but I think it is probably best to keep him at his cheapest cost. This also includes minimises his spend on SWC (Special Weapons Cost, of which you only get 1 point to spend per 50 points spent on the army. In a 300 points army, you can only spend 6 SWC points then). So for Achilles this is the Heavy Shotgun option.
Even this option however costs 77 points! Almost a quarter of all total points!

Achilles would be nowhere without his crack veterans, the Myrmidons.
Your basic Myrmidon clocks in at 25 points with a Combi Rifle – this being the typical weapon of line infantrymen, but this is where the comparison ends. The Myrmidons have 2 points higher BS than most other basic troopers, double the armour (ARM2 as opposed to ARM 1) and a whopping CC value of 17! Combined with their AP CCW (Armour Penetrating Close Combat Weapon) which halves the value of the opponent’s armour…then through in that the Myrmidons have Martial Arts Level 3…we can see that these boys are on a par with Yu Jing Ninja’s in there CC lethality.

Not only do these guys have some great stats, but they also have 2 very useful pieces of equipment. Firstly is the Smoke Grenades. They can throw these things in front of them and use the cover to push forward without getting gunned down, Smoke in Infinity blocks LOF (think TLOS 40k’ers) and unless you have some rare equipment like MultiSpectral Visors then you aren’t shooting through smoke.

Next up we have Optical Disruptors. These are crazy. They make the enemy shooter -6BS…so the necessary roll on a D20 goes from, on an average line infantry dude from equal to or under 11…to rolling under a 5. Typically with only 1 or 2 shots, depending on weapon.

Combine Smoke, Optical Disruptors and ARM 2 then we have an excellent ranged defence.

It does get better as well. All Myrmidons are armed with a Nanopulsar as well, a small flamer template based weapon that requires the target to roll under their BTS characteristic or take a wound. BTS is Bio Tech Shield, the models resistance to chemical, viral, biological and nuclear weaponry…Heavy Infantry tend to have a very low BTS stat (the lower the better), whereas normal dudemen will have no BTS due to the open nature of their armour compared to the sealed environment of the Heavy Infantry suits.

OK, just from writing this I am so sold on these boys…so I look over the army list and discover…I can take a Myrmidon with a Chain Rifle (short range/flamer template automatic weapon) for just 16 points! Combine the anti-BS protection that we just discussed and the short ranged nature of the Chain Rifle…and I think that can work.
So lets add 4 Mymidons with Chain Rifles… they’ll be using Combined Orders to run upfield, only generating 1 ARO against them as they move and throw Smoke Grenades.

This sets us back 64 points.
Plus Achilles 77 and we are 141 points…from 300 we have 159 left!
I’d like to get in some Doctors or MediKit’s but screw it..lets just get in some big guns!!
I’ve not used any of my SWC as yet, so I have 6 points to spend..

If I pick up 3 Myrmidons with Spitfires I can pump out a massive amount of firepower, have more orders available and more smoke…CC threat too.
Each Spitfire pumps out 4 shots at Damage 14, the second highest amount of damage next to 15.. but at a shorter range than the HMG, which is its big brother…the close range nature of the Myrmidons and the use of their smoke should counteract this..
These 3 Spitfire Myrmidons are only 32 points each with SWC:1..so I still have enough to buy 2 more if I really wanted to spam Spitfires..

But I think I want to play around a bit with Achilles…I’ve not spent a lot of SWC so lets upgrade our lieutenant Achilles to wielding a Spitfire too..capitalise on his BS15.
This leaves us 59/1 to spend…

If I grab another Myrmidon with Chain Rifle (as above) and a Myrmidon Hacker…that leaves me with 6/0.5 to spend…so I’ll leave the list as it is..primarily because I want to keep the army in ONE Combat Group, so that, if needed, every model has access to maximum Order Reserve to escape or exploit any situation they find themselves in.

Achilles – Lieutenant, Spitfire
5 x Myrmidons with Chain Rifles
3 x Myrmidons with Spitfires
Myrmidon Hacker with CombiRifle
294/5.5

The idea is that with Cover, Smoke and Optical Disruption the boys will close the distance swiftly and then overrun the enemy models, either using the wrecking ball that is Achilles or to use the excellent CC potential of the Myrmidons to wreck face.

However, how do I take on entrenched snipers? If the enemy has left a good killing ground around his sniper position, then I would need to swamp the sniper will all the boys, otherwise they’d get gunned down as they cross killing grounds individually..

OK, so any thoughts from Aleph players? Infinity players that are familiar with taking on the crack Greeks?
Spam tastic?
Not enough mixed range? The plan of cover/smoke/ODD not viable?

11 comments:

  1. Yikes, that list would be mince meat against any Pan-O force with the amount of visors and ranged weapons they have!!! You have zero range at all. Also the myrmidon officer with the zero vis smoke grenades is a must if you want to get Achilles into combat. Those Chain rifle guys will get minced, you only need 1 or 2 to clear out rooms or dissuade the odd Oniwaban or other CC beast from getting too close. Honestly you need more range than you've got. Also with this sort of list a Sophotect is a must. Some lucky plasma shots, E/M and you'd be looking at an army of statues with no way of getting back into the fight. You need a damn fine engineer just to be on the safe side. Those are just my thoughts, I've seen similar armies get spanked by massed fire well placed mines and so on. I'd seriously consider a Mymidon Officer to ensure Achilles gets to where he needs to go and a Sophotect as back up and support.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i have been looking into this game for ages, and i have to say, while it looks great, the model range does not appeal to me at all! i cant quite work out why, but i just don't like it :(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Took the words right out of my mouth...

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Atreides & GDMNW what is it you don't like? I remember when I first saw the Infinity models years ago I struggled to tell the difference between the factions and I felt the miniatures weren't 'characterful' enough... that is until I got some in my hand. I'm still amazed by the level of detail on the Infinity miniatures and many of them exceed the quality achieved with the supposedly better at picking out fine detail resin pieces of other companies. I'd say don't write them off until you've seen them in the flesh like I did. I missed out on about 8 months of great mini's and gaming because of it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmm, looks like a list that could kick ass! My list only has 1 MSVL2 so it would be tough but doable. I say do it! Achilles is a beast and nanopulsers are killer.

    ReplyDelete
  6. @frontline gamer,

    basically, i dont like the general aesthetic of MOST of the model range. they are a little too anime for my liking and some of them are almost halo-esque. the quality is clearly superb, so that isn't an issue.

    i do like some of the models for sure. the Scottish inspired stuff is very well imagined (if i were to get a small force, it would have to be these), and some of the haqqislam is very nice as well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Atreides that's fair enough, its just that most people I know who say they don't like the range say so because they haven't seen them in the flesh and think they're something they're not. If its the anime aesthetic I can understand that, although a lot of that will be down to the studio paint jobs more than anything else. The Infinity miniatures are perfectly proportioned so they're not deformed like most anime or the 'heroic' scale miniatures of the GW and PP. However there is no denying that the look and vibe is predominantly anime based.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Venerable Brother's cold, calculating AI30 August 2011 at 15:52

    @Frontline...there is very little in the way of MSVL2 or equivalent in my massive gaming group for Infinity...2 people. So, whilst I can appreciate that for a balanced list..well, it simply isn't lol! But for fun local play, it will do nicely as it allows us to try out 2 more elements of the game:
    1) CC
    2) Smoke + Dispersion
    @OSH..Nice! I'm going to run it tonight! Nanopulsars all round!

    @Atreides and GDMNW - Don't like anime-inspired ranges? Play with 40k figures! Just don't miss out on playing this...it's wicked fun!

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Ven good luck with it and I hope you enjoy using it. The Myrmidons and Achilles are a really fun force to take gaming with friends. I'd still worry about not taking a decent engineer like the Sophotect... but I guess I never really used to take them at first!!! Once you've seen your opponents create a few expensive statues you might view things differently. Until they cotton on though go brutalise them with the extra Myrmidons!!! Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Venerable Brother31 August 2011 at 10:08

    Hey FG...Ran this:
    Achilles - Hvy Shotgun, Lieutenant
    Sophotect
    4 x Chain Rifle Myrmidons
    4 x Spitfire Myrmidons

    He ran Ariadna. Full of CC 19 (!) Highlander Greys or something, SAS, 2 Camerians/Dog Face things, Cateran Sniper, AP HMG dude, regular joes...like 18 models to my 10!
    All impetuous and irregular!
    Grouped the irregs together for a swarm bum-rush approach, regs in slightly smaller group (7 orders) for OR manipulation when needed..

    Essentially it came down to a lot of smoke being thrown on both sides, a lot of jiggling positions on tabletop then BANG Achilles got forward into friendly smoke, used the Nanopulsar for speculative shots out of it and toasted a BIG group of his dudes hiding out of LOF to traditional weaponry, Achilles only generating 'Turn Facing' ARO's due to being in Smoke and no LOF to him..
    Think we played that right?
    From there Achilles cleaned house, relying on his 3 wounds and V:NWI, ARM6 and ODD to stay alive, whilst he lay down return fire ARO's with his Heavy Shotgun.. the AP HMG had no LOF and was trying to move for it, the Sniper eventually put him down, but Sophotect healed him in the cover of advancing smoke..

    Was pretty one sided, with no ALEPH blood lost.
    Couple of dudes went down, but Sophotect healed them and smoke protected the rest.

    Questions:
    1) Can you shoot out of Smoke with a Speculative Shot, granted by weapons like Nanopulsar?
    2) Does each model have more than one smoke grenade? We both used smoke a couple of times per model.. didn't see anywhere limiting that..

    Overall, once opponents clock the need for MSV etc, then it won't work..but it's fun now! Although last night was weird because we both just ran forward under smoke then jiggled for that first effective strike..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Glad to hear you took the Sophotect and that it proved so useful... I don't leave home without mine. One of the best mini's in the game for points but so many Aleph players over look them trying to squeeze in one more toy... but with her WIP she'll happily keep your other toys alive and kicking ass!!!

    As to your questions:

    1) We're not too sure around these parts. We know it is speculative fire, but being a tear drop template kinda defeats the object of the -6 to BS and also its not really 'speculative' as you know exactly where you're placing the template and you know your going to hit. Its a tricky one, is it legal? Yeah I think so but I'm not too sure its in the spirit of the rules tbh. Would I personally use it? Depended on how much I liked my opponent ;)
    2) Yep all grenades and ammo are considered unlimited unless otherwise stated. In the future smoke grenades are the size of a microchip and twice as effective. Hurray for progress!!!

    ReplyDelete