Tuesday, July 31, 2012

My "New" Army

With Norcon behind us, and my work load now completely clear of terrain, it's time to start working on a new army. And my new army? My old army!

I've been painting my Qapu Khalqi army for years in traditional Haqqislam beige and green, and in all that time I've only finished 3 models. Embarrasingly my only fully painted Infinity armies are either demo armies or armies that I have sold. Haqqislam is by far my favorite force, and the one I play most often, yet I've never given them the attention they deserve.

That all changes now. I'm rebuilding my army from the ground up and finally painting them. The models will be mounted on resin bases, and will be on a magnetic display board (inspired by Seth's cool display for his JSA at Norcon.) I've been toying with different paint schemes and ended up with red and black as my final decision. To avoid ending up with an army that looks like Nomads I'll also be adding some yellow and purple accents to highlight certain models.

As I usually do, I'm slowly developing a story line in my mind for the army, as well as names for all of my fighters. All of the fighters in my army represent members of the crew of the Celestial Raven, a pirate ship that has become a privateer vessel "loyal" to the Haqqislam Sultinate. To start I'll be working on my Djanbazan link team, the backbone of my army. I'll start posting photos as my work progresses.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Norcon XII Recap



 Norcon XII is behind us, and it was a great time this year. The Apocalypse 40k game was bigger than ever, plenty of players got to try out new games like Dystopian Wars, and this year Norcon added a huge new Magic Card Game event.

Infinity had a solid turnout as well. Plenty of new players got to check out the game and we did several demo games to teach new players.

The Infinity Tournament had a good turnout as well, including a couple of new players competing in their first Infinity event. The winners were both new players, Jack and Jacob. Jack, the first place winner, won using a brutal defensive Bakunin list. Jacob came in second with a balanced Imperial Service army. Seth and Joel tied for the player's choice award, with Japanese Sectorial and Caledonian armies respectively.









Friday, July 27, 2012

Norcon XII Part 12- Finished Tables 3

Except for a few finishing touches on some of the smaller pieces and objective markers, I am done. The only major thing I really have left to do is to finish painting my Imperial Service demo army, which I have half a day left to do.

The final two tables for Norcon, not counting the beautiful Japanese Village table that Joel made, are the Apartment Complex and Spaceport Warehouse Offices.

I expect that the Apartment Complex will probably be the most popular table of the six for Norcon. Personally I am more excited about the Starship and Beach tables, but the Apartment complex features a lot of really great terrain pieces from Micro Art Studio. This polish studio makes the official terrain for the game of Infinity, and it fits the game perfectly. Complimenting these pieces are a few fantastic bits from Antenocitis Workshop, including the cars and phone booth I reviewed in an earlier post. Finally, the civilian objective marker is represented by a model from Reaper Miniatures.

I decided not to throw any pictures of the warehouse terrain up here because, frankly, that's the one table I am disappointed with. I saved it to last, and ended up doing almost no detailing on it. Compound that with a boring color scheme and the nicest thing I can say about it is: at least it will be fun to play on. Fortunately, David is painting half the terrain for the warehouse table. I haven't seen his efforts yet, but if they are up to his usual caliber it should manage to save the table.


Also pictured here is one more shot from the Beach table, showing off the completed jungle area.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Beach Table Difficult Terrain Rules

For anyone who was worried about their troop movement on the Beach table, here is the movement chart for difficult terrain that will be included in the scenario pack. As you can see, some troops won't even be affected by this terrain. Each area of the table will impose its own special effects as well, for example the jungle imposes a -3 penalty on all BS attacks and Discover rolls, while the deep water prevents some types of deployment completely.

Remember also, troops with a terrain skill consider that type of terrain to be one category lower. Therefore, a PanO Cutter TAG would be able to move through shallow water at half speed.


Area
Terrain Type
Class
No Penalty
Half Movement
No Movement
Combat Jump/Mechanized Deployment OK?
Visibility
Shallow Water
Aquatic
Very Difficult
SK
LI, MI, HI, WB
TAG, REM, Motorcycles/Vehicles
Yes
Clear
Deep Water
Aquatic
Impassable

LI, SK, WB
TAG, REM, MI, HI, Motorcycles/Vehicles
NO
Clear
Beach Dunes
Desert
Difficult
LI, SK, WB
TAG, REM, MI, HI, Motorcycles/Vehicles

Yes
Clear
Jungle
Jungle
Very Difficult
SK
LI, MI, HI, WB
TAG, REM, Motorcycles/Vehicles
Yes
Low Visibility
Boulders
Mountain
Very Difficult
SK
LI, MI, HI, WB
TAG, REM, Motorcycles/Vehicles
Yes
Clear
Docks
Open
Open
All Types


Yes
Clear

Norcon XII Part 11- Finished Tables 2

Today was another madcap day of terrain manufacture. After a quick break to go pick up some more paint I really buckled down and attacked my work load.

Things started out slow, since I had more construction work left to do on the beach table than I thought I did, but I managed to end the night just short of my goal of finishing 2 more tables.


First off, I finished the Starship interior table. I've been excited about this table for a long time, and it is definitely the table that I have put the most work and attention into. In the end I really wish I had done more detail work on it, since it turned out extremely plain. After Norcon I plan to go back and do more work on it, but for now it is table ready for Norcon and I don't have any more time available to dedicate to it.


I kept the paint scheme very simple, and was trying to model the appearance and color after the interior of the Death Star. I went with a simple grey color with a rough white drybrush to pick out some detail, but I plan to go back later and add some different shades of grey and some metal accents. The table itself is made out of 9 12"x12" tiles, made completely out of plaster cast pieces. Each individual 1"x1" tile was cast seperately using Hirst Arts molds, and the table consists of a total of nearly 2600 plaster bits. The plaster parts have been mounted on MDF board to hold them together so they can be moved around. Even though it ended up plain and plastic looking, I think it will make a fantastic back drop for some model photos at Norcon. I hope everyone is bringing painted armies!


The one element on the table not made of plaster are the two objective markers. These resin cast pieces are 'Weapons Consoles' from my new favorite terrain manufacturer, Antenocitis Workshop. Regular readers of this blog will remember that they also made the sci-fi cars and phone booths that will be on the Apartment complex table.




The second project I worked on today fell just short of completion. This is the Beach terrain table for the 'Search and Rescue' scenario. This is a semi-secret project that I've been working on for a while. The table is a fairly radical concept: I love the variety of difficult terrain types in Infinity so I wanted to make a table that showcased them. In the end I made a table that is almost completely difficult terrain, which features every type of difficult terrain from the Infinity game except for Zero-g.

The picture here was taken just after the last coat of airbrushing went on, and since this picture was taken I have added the water for the ocean. Unfortunately I did not use enough blue dye in my water resin, leaving the table looking more like a muddy lake than a beautiful ocean. I still need to do a little bit of painting and drybrushing on this table, but it is nearly done. Once the paint has been applied I will need to populate the jungle section of the table with flora.

After this I only have the apartment complex left to do, plus a couple of leftover buildings for the dockyard table. David from Light in the Grimdark is finishing up most of the terrain for the dockyard, while Joel from Brush Zealot makes the Japanese village table, so there is only a little left to do.

More photos tomorrow as I finish up my work!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Norcon XII Part 10- Finished Tables 1

Today was the first of my self-imposed non-stop painting and terrain making days. I only had a little bit of construction left to do, which I finished up pretty quickly, and then buckled down for some serious painting.

The fun really started just after I woke up when I set right to work on the last construction I needed to do on the Beach table. Like a genius, I managed to pull my back while holding up the table at a weird angle to get flock on it. For the rest of the day I have been in pain while working on terrain, and I can only imagine how I will feel tomorrow. However, looking at a pile of finished work is better than any pain reliever.

This is all of the terrain for the desert table for the 'Secure Area' scenario. I made a couple of the pieces myself, but most of this terrain is resin cast buildings from JR Miniarture Studio or Crescent Root Studio. All of the walls for the table were scratch built by Joel from Brush Zealot, for which I am extremely grateful.


I went for a monochrome color scheme to try and make the table look as dead as possible, the only real color to the piece are the turqoise domes on the tower and mosque, as well as a tiny bit of blue in the wells.

More finished terrain pictures will be posted tomorrow!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Boarding Action Scenario- Battle Report

Tonight at Matrix Cards and Games Joel and Seth got a chance to playtest the last scenario for Norcon. Every scenario has been tested at least once now, and all of the terrain has been constructed. All that's left is an intense week of nonstop painting to get all the terrain looking pretty for the event.

The battle between Joel and Seth was fantastic, I was worried about this scenario because it takes place on such a small table, but it ended up being one of the best games I've seen in a while. In honor of my recent invitation to be an author on a Light in the Grimdark I've decided to write a battle report about tonight as an introduction for new players.

First, a little background for the uninitiated: The game of Infinity takes place 175 years in the future, during a period of rapid technological development and insterstellar colonization by the human race. The universe that Infinity takes place in is much brighter than that of 40k, and is filled with the hope and ambition of a human race that is just beginning to realize its potential. However, age old disputes between rival human cultures have led to the human race breaking into numerous warring factions. At the same time, humanity has just made contact with the Combined, an immensely powerful alien empire made up of several different species who seek to conquer and subjugate the human race.

Tonight's battle took place between two human factions, the Caledonians of Ariadna and Japanese of the Yu-Jing Empire. These two groups are vastly different from each other culturally, but they are both among the most downtrodden and disrespected peoples of the Human Sphere.

The Caledonians are the descendants of a failed colonization mission that crash landed a century ago on the planet Dawn. Cut off from the rest of humanity, the people of Dawn had to start over from nothing and are now far behind other nations in the race for technology. Stranded on Dawn, the colonists created a new nation called Ariadna, and broke Ariadna down into several states that were made up exclusively of one of the 4 different ethnic groups that made up the original colonization mission. The nation-state of Caledonia was made up entirely of Scottish colonists, as well as a small handful of English and Irish colonists. The Caledonians are considered backwards even by other Ariadnans, and have resorted to a Clan system of government based on semi-nomadic extended families. As the people of Ariadna have been reunited with the rest of humanity, the Caledonians have made their mark as mercenaries working for the newly formed Ariadnan trade missions travelling to other human worlds.

On the other end of the battlefield are the brave warriors of the Japanese Sectorial Army. In the first half of the 21st century the nation of China rapidly expanded, quickly conquering most of Asia and forming a new nation: The Yu-Jing Empire. Japan was one of the last nations to fall, and the Japanese people were forced to the bottom of the Imperial food chain. Even though the Japanese still possess some of the most advanced computer and robotic technology in the Human Sphere, old ethnic rivalries led to the Chinese crushing the proud people of Japan into the dirt. Japanese people were forced to live in ghettos and concentration camps throughout Yu-Jing territory. Within the Yu-Jing military the Japanese are used as cannon fodder or sent to achieve impossible objectives.

The scenario for this battle is Boarding Action, one of the scenarios for the upcoming tournament at Norcon. In this scenario the two opposing armies are on board starships owned by the factions they serve, and are involved in a desperate boarding action trying to capture the enemy's ship. Joel's army is a clan of Caledonian mercenaries working for an Ariadnan trade mission, while Seth's army is a team of Japanese soldiers sent on a suicide mission to try to capture the Ariadnan trade vessel.

In the first rounds of the battle the Japanese deployed aggressively, sneaking a team of Ninja operatives into the airlocks connecting the ships. This team of expert assassins was led by the renegade Ninja Saito Togan, as well as a Ninja with a sniper rifle, and a Ninja Hacker whose goal was to override the security systems on the Ariadnan ship. Ignorant of the help they were getting from the Ninjas, the rest of the Japanese force was made up of low ranking soldiers whose lives were being thrown away by their Yu-Jing commanders. The force consisted of 5 Keisotsu Butai, including a Keisotsu Lieutenant and two heavy weapons specialists with a Missile Launcher and Heavy Machine Gun. A Kempeitai accompanied them into battle; these troops belong to a secret faction within the Japanese army who seek to rebel against Yu-Jing, and also act as valuable seconds in command to Japanese leaders. Finally, Seth's army was rounded out by a Tokusetsu Doctor, his army's combat medic.

Joel responded with an army made up of two seperate combat groups. His first group was made up entirely of Caledonian volunteer militia, the lowest ranking members of the Caledonian army, and the most inexperienced fighters in his Clan. This group was deployed to defend the ship's security systems, while Joel's veteran fighters rushed to meet the Japanese head on. The veteran group was made of 3 'Grey Rifle' Highlanders equipped with a variety of heavy weapons; these expert warriors are among the toughest and most experienced warriors in Joel's Clan. Accompanying them was a Cateran, a Wulver, and a expert inflitrator from Caledonia's SAS military school. Caterans are exiled criminals from Caledonian Clans who either end up as mercenaries working for another Clan, or as bandits in the wilderness. Wulvers are genetic anomallys unique to the Ariadnan homeworld who take on wolf-like features, and are famed for both their ferocity and tenacity. Finally, the SAS are specially trained soldiers who leave Caledonia to serve in the Ariadnan military, but often return later to join Caledonian mercenary companies.

The fight began when Joel's SAS attempted to infiltrate into the Japanese ship, but was ambushed by Saito Togan and another Ninja inside of the central airlock. The Ninja made short work of the poor SAS, but in the process they revealed their presence to Joel.

Joel immediately reacted by sending his Wulver to secure the airlock door, while his Cateran and Grey Rifles set up a defensive perimeter around the door. However, Seth had more Ninja tricks up his sleeve, and he sent his Ninja sniper around to one of the other airlock doors to flank the Wulver and take it out at long range.

Joel tried to stop the sniper with fire from his Grey Rifles' heavy weapons, but the Ninja's camouflage and expertise made it untouchable. One of Joel's Grey Rifles fell to the Ninja sniper as well, and Joel was forced to pull his defensive line back to avoid any more casualties from the flanking fire.

Seizing the advantage, Seth pushed forward with all of his Keisotsu, leaving only his Kempeitai behind to defend his own ship. With the Cateran and the remaining Grey Rifles pushed back, the Keisotsu were free to come pouring through the airlock. Unaware of the help they were receiving from the Ninjas, the Keisotsu were surprised to find that the enemy forces had already been badly bloodied and were in no position to stop them!

Seth pushed forward with his Ninja Hacker, hoping to take control of Joel's security terminal and claim an early victory, but the Caledonians got their first stroke of luck and managed to take the Ninja down before she got to far.

Joel reacted to his good fortune by taking the opportunity to counter attack, sending his Cateran and Grey Rifles against Seth's Keisotsu in a carefully coordinated strike.

What followed was one of the most bloody and tragic slaughters I have ever witnessed in a game of Infinity. The Grey Rifles poured shotgun shells and machinegun rounds into the Keisotsu, while the Keisotsu responded with storm of heavy ordnance from their own machine gun and missile launcher. At the same time Joel's Cateran fired some quick shots into the Keisotsu from a flanking position, while weathering multiple machine gun and rifle shots. In the end almost all of the Keisotsu lay on the deck of the ship bleeding to death, while both Grey Rifles had been blown away by well placed missiles. Only the Cateran and the Keisotsu with the missile launcher remained, miraculously untouched by the hail of hot lead.

With half his force wounded and on the ground, Seth's medic rushed into action, sending his remote-controlled Yaozao to the front of the battle to administer some desperately needed healing. The little robot managed to get the Ninja hacker back on her feet, but before he could rush to the aid of injured Keisotsu Joel launched another counter attack.

In a desperate gamble, Joel rushed all of his volunteer militia away from the terminal they were defending, and finished off the Ninja hacker for good before she could get back into the fight. As an added bonus, Joel managed to knock out the medic's Yaozao, meaning that Seth could not get any more healing unless the Doctor came to front line himself.

Despite the success of Joel's counter attacks, Seth still had the clear advantage. Joel had lost his army's lieutenant, and was also now in retreat condition. Other than his Cateran, all of Joel's remaining troops were green and poorly equipped, while Seth still had Saito Togan and his Ninja sniper.

Hoping to reclaim the numerical advantage, as well as the strategic advantage, Seth sent his Doctor forward to try and recover some of the fallen members of the Keisotsu unit. Joel was waiting for him though, and as soon as the Doctor stuck his head through the airlock Joel's Cateran took it off with a well placed sniper round.

Things were truly in the endgame now. Seth's Ninjas had dominated the game, and even though most of his force was now out of action, he had a clear path to get to Joel's security terminal. All of Joel's volunteers fled from the table, and he was left with just his lone Cateran.

The Cateran managed to take out the one remaining Keisotsu on the next turn, but this appeared to be cold comfort as Saito Togan himself strode towards Joel's security terminal. In one last desperate effort, Joel ran his Cateran towards the terminal in the hopes of stalling Saito until the time ran out on the scenario.

Seth was faced with an interesting choice. If he sent Saito to kill the Cateran he would secure a minor victory: Joel's entire army would be dead, but Seth would have failed to hack into the security system of the Ariadnan ship. On the other hand, Seth could send Saito to hack the terminal and claim a major victory, but if Saito failed and Joel got a lucky shot then Seth would be forced into a draw.

Seth chose the conservative route, killing the Cateran and claiming an easy victory. All Seth had to do was roll an 18 or lower on a 20-sided die and Saito would easily dispatch the Cateran and end the game. However, this was when fate decided to put a stop to Seth's unstoppable Ninja assault force. The close combat attack result came up 19, and Joel followed up with a nearly impossible point-blank sniper rifle shot. Saito Togan fell to the ground, putting Seth into retreat condition with no other models anywhere near Joel's security terminal.

With both forces in retreat, and neither force in any position to attempt to assault the enemy ship, the game ended in a sudden and stunning draw.

For a game with no clear winner this ended up being one of the best games I've ever seen, and it was the perfect final playtest before Norcon! Thank you Joel and Seth for such a great game, I can't wait to see this scenario played out next weekend!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Norcon news, and beyond...

Just a quick post today since I am buried nose deep in terrain. I picked up the prizes for Norcon today, so here are the rewards for the Infinity tournament: 1st place gets a $20 gift card to Matrix Cards and Games and 1250 ITS points, 2nd place gets a $10 gift card and 750 ITS points, and Player's Choice (combination of best painted and best sportsman, voted by participants) gets a $10 gift card to Matrix Cards and Games. Some more exciting news today: Corvus Belli revealed that the new Infinity book will be a campaign guide, complete with new storylines (and stats) for some of the existing characters from the first two books, new sectorial armies (congrats Seth, here comes the Aleph Assault Subsection of S3!), and a new core army. I'm extremely excited, and I will be pushing back the launch of our next campaign to coincide with the launch of the new book, whenever that is.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

New Book! New Army?

Some exciting news today, but also a little sad. It appears that Corvus Belli will be launching a new army on August 3rd, and I'd be surprised if this doesn't coincide with the launch of their next book. There are lots of rumors flying around the web about what the new army will be and what the new book will contain. If I was a betting man my money would be on a new non-combined alien race and a book of mission scenarios and campaign rules.

The sad part of the news is that I'm going to put the Infinity campaign on hold until I know more about the upcoming book. Whether this means I'll completely replace the rules I've been working on or just incorporate them, the campaign will still be happening, but not until some time in August.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

NorCon XII Tournament Rules!

The rules are finished and edited. Thanks to DDestroyer of Light in the Grimdark for helping me edit them and playtest them, as well as my other playtesters: Seth, Sky, and Kayla. I can't wait to see you all at NorCon!

Please feel free to contact me by posting a comment below if you want to reserve a seat at the tournament early.


NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Welcome to the NorCon XII official Infinity Tournament!

This tournament is an official Corvus Belli event, and winners will gain points towards their place on the Infinity International ranking boards. For more information on the Global Infinity Tournament System (ITS), or to check rankings, visit www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/its/.

The tournament is a standard Swiss-system tournament with a twist. Like other Swiss-system tournaments, each round players will be paired off with each other at random, and assigned a random table to play on. Players will earn victory points based on their performance, and the player with the most victory points will be declared the winner. As in other Swiss-system tournaments, not every player will face every other opponent because of the limits of time.

The twist is that each table has been pre-setup by the tournament organizers to represent a different combat scenario. Each table has a different combat objective based on the terrain used, and each table favors widely different combat tactics.

The tournament organizers will make an effort each round to make sure that players do not face the same opponent more than once, or play on the same table more than once. Depending on the number of players the tournament will run for either 3 or 4 rounds, with each round lasting approximately 60 minutes. Between each round there will be a 15 minute break while players adjust their armies and are assigned new opponents and tables.

Player’s earn victory points for each battle as described in the individual scenario rules. If there is an odd number of players, one player will be randomly selected each round to get a bye. The player with the bye will automatically earn 2 victory points, and then advance to the next round. No player will be allowed to get a bye more than once during the tournament, so that each player can participate in the maximum number of battles.

Because each round of the tournament is limited to 60 minutes, players must complete their moves quickly. Players only have 10 minutes to complete each active phase, if they take longer than this then their active phase immediately ends at the end of their current order, and control is passed to the other player.

Battles will last for the allotted 60 minutes, or until each player has had 6 active phases, whichever comes first.

ARMY LISTS

Armies for the tournament must be 250 points with 5 SWC, and players must use the same army list throughout the tournament. However, because of the widely varying combat scenarios, players will also have access to a 50 point sidebar. This sidebar can contain an unlimited SWC, and can contain any models that a player can legally use in his army. Between tournament rounds a player can swap models from his main army list with models from his sidebar to change his army’s tactics in preparation for different scenarios. However a player decides to change his list the force that he creates must still be within the 250 point and 5 SWC limits.

DECEPTION

All players must have a copy of their army list, at minimum a hand written list of their models and points costs, which they can turn into the tournament organizers before the start of the event. Players must be willing to show their army list to their opponent at the end of each battle, if asked. Preferably, the organizers would like an army list printed out using the free Army Builder from the infinitythegame.com website.

Players must be willing to tell their opponent exactly what a model on the table represents, and how they are equipped. Secret information, such as hidden deployment and lieutenants, does not need to be revealed until a player chooses to.

CONVERSIONS

Conversions and proxies are welcome in Infinity, especially considering how many models have not been released yet. Any model can be used for a conversion, but models must be WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), meaning they must be modeled with proper weapons and equipment. Players must tell their opponents what their models represent if they are a conversion or proxy before the start of each game. Maghariba Guard models must be mounted on a 60mm or larger round base.

PLAYER’S CHOICE

At the end of the tournament players will get a chance to vote for their favorite army. Voting should be based on the best painted army, with the best converted and most WYSIWYG models, as well as the most sportsmanlike player. There will be a special prize for the player who wins the most votes.

NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenarios

Table 1- Hostile Extraction

Theater- Seaview Apartments, Quezon City, Phillipine Islands, Pan Oceanian Territory, Earth

Capture and extract civilian dissident.

4’ x 4’ modern apartment complex. Moderate fields of fire and cover, several large buildings, multiple elevations.

Table 2- Boarding Action

Theater- Space Battle, near the wreckage of Orbital Haigui-9, Human Edge System

Board and capture enemy starship by hacking into enemy security terminal.

3’ x 3’ starship interior. Extremely tight quarters and narrow lanes of fire, dense cover, zero-g zones.

Table 3- Secure Area

Theater- Abandoned Town, Taba Region, Bourak

Repel enemy forces and provide security before the arrival of friendly science team.

4’ x 4’ desert ghost town. Wide open fields of fire, sparse cover, small buildings and walls, light ruins.

Table 4- Secure LZ

Theater- Matr Spaceport Warehouse Offices, Matr City, Ariadna, Dawn

Seize control of landing zone for friendly extraction force.

4’ x 4’ industrial shipping yard. Night fighting, interior and exterior areas, plentiful cover, close quarters.

Table 5- Defend Area

Theater- Yomoto Concentration Town, Japanese Territory, Shentang, Yu Jing

Defend civilian territory against enemy incursion.

4’ x 4’ rural Japanese town. Moderate cover, some difficult terrain, minimal complications.

Table 6- Search and Rescue

Theater- Beach near Grand Mahayma Resort, Streisau, Paradiso

Locate and secure vital intelligence from crash site.

4’ x 4’ tropical beach. Table-wide areas of difficult terrain, open firing lanes, sparse cover.

NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenario: Hostile Extraction

Story:  The Philippine islands on Earth have changed hands many times throughout human history, but have always remained fiercely proud and independent throughout. Even today, as a Pan Oceania protectorate, they still maintain their own language and culture as well as an independent government.

                Among these people a hacker of rare talent has emerged who has launched successful attacks against several of the major powers of the Human Sphere. Despite the potential damage and chaos this hacker has inflicted, he has impressed the super-powers with his talent. Two armies have rushed covert teams to the islands to track and retrieve this Hacker.

Objective: This scenario uses the Civilian rules on page 148 of the Human Sphere rulebook. There will be a civilian marker placed on the top floor of one apartment building near the center of the table. The objective of the battle is to synchronize one of your fighters with the civilian counter, and then lead the civilian off the table.

Special Rules:

Civilian- It is unknown whether the civilian will come along peacefully or attempt to fight back when a soldier tries to apprehend him. Each time a soldier attempts to synchronize the civilian, make a new roll on the random Civvies Encounter Chart. The civilian may switch from being Hostile to Neutral at any time, but once he is synchronized to a model he will remain that way until the model he is following is killed.

No soldier on either side can deliberately target the civilian with any attacks that might kill him. This includes template attacks that might accidentally hit the civilian. Effectively this allows an unscrupulous soldier to use the civilian as a human shield against template attacks.

Deployment- All deployment rules work as normal, with one exception. No models can be deployed on or inside of the building that contains the objective civilian.

Doors & Windows- All doors start out closed and all windows start out open. A model can open or close any door or window by using the Open/Close short movement skill, as normal. Models with the Engineer skill can lock or jam any door or window (or unlock and unjam), as described in the Engineer skill. All of the doors and windows on this table are considered simple mechanical locks, and cannot be affected by Hackers.

Breeching- Doors and windows can all be breeched on this table. Doors and windows on this table have an ARM of 3 and 1 STR point, and, as normal, can only be damaged by EXP or DA attacks.

Trap Doors- the doors leading between floors for this scenario are only used on the top floor to access the roof of each building. The trap doors between floors cannot be opened or used in any way. The rooftop trap doors follow the same rules as all other doors.

Destroying Terrain- No buildings or the parts of any buildings are allowed to be destroyed on this table, because the risk of collateral damage and accidental harm to the objective is too great.

Victory Conditions:

The battle can end one of several ways:

If a model leads the civilian off of any table edge his army is declared the victor, even if they were already in Retreat condition. This is a complete victory, and the winner earns 4 victory points. The loser gets 1 victory point.

If one army completely eliminates the other army or drives them off the table, while synchronized with the civilian marker, this is also considered a complete victory. The winner earns 4 points, and the loser only gets 1 victory point.

If one army completely eliminates the other or drives them off the table, but neither army controls the civilian, this is considered a partial victory. As soon as the fighting stops the hacker escapes, but leaves behind all of his files and equipment. The victor gets 3 victory points, and the loser gains 1 point.

If one side accidentally kills the civilian in any way, such as with a template weapon that has scattered off target, they immediately lose. This only counts as a partial victory for the winner, who earns 3 victory points. The loser earns 1 point. Keep in mind that the civilian cannot be deliberately targeted in any way, this outcome can only be achieved accidentally.

If the time limit for the tournament round is reached, and one army is in retreat condition, they are considered the loser. If the time limit is reached this is only considered a partial victory for the winner, regardless of whether or not they control the civilian, and the winner earns 3 victory points. The loser gets 1 victory point.

If the time limit is reached, and neither army is in retreat condition (or both are), the battle is considered a draw. Regardless of whether one army controls the civilian, both armies gain 2 victory points.




NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenario: Boarding Action

Story: The Human Edge system lies at the extreme end of Human occupied space. This dead system is host to a massive field of asteroids rich with metal resources. This was also the site of the most intense space battles during the neo-colonial wars, resulting in many wrecked hulls filled with valuable salvage.

                The powers of the Galaxy now struggle to collect what resources they can from the asteroids of Human Edge, as well as salvage and technology from the remains of ruined ships. Two ships from different factions have engaged in battle while pursuing these resources, and are now locked in a deadly boarding action. Elite warriors from each crew are attempting to cross into the enemy ship to lock down their security and seize control.

Objective: In the center of each player’s deployment zone is a security terminal. The objective is to reach your opponent’s security terminal and lock down their ship, which will prevent them from moving their security forces around the ship and allow you to begin taking over. This objective can be taken in one of two ways: 1) If one of your Hackers, or a model with a Repeater, comes within 8” of the enemy security terminal, and has line of sight to it, your Hacker can override the security controls with a successful WIP roll. 2) If any other fighter in your army gets into base-to-base contact with the enemy’s security terminal he can override it with a successful WIP roll with a -3 modifier.

The other objective of the scenario is simple: force your enemy to retreat.

Special Rules:

Deployment: Because of the small size of this table, deployment zones are limited to 6 inches. All deployment skills work as normal, except that no model can start the battle inside of the enemy ship. Infiltrators, models with Mechanical Deployment, and any other models with special deployment rules, may start inside of the airlocks joining the two ships, but cannot deploy beyond that point.

Aerial Deployment: In this scenario no models can make use of Aerial Deployment (or any other skill that would allow them to enter from a table edge after the start of the battle), unless they have an AD/Zero-g skill. A model with any AD/Zero-g skill can use that skill as normal; this represents them breeching the hull of the enemy ship using Assault craft, EVA suits, or other advanced techniques.

Walls: The terrain on this table represents the interior of a starship. Above each wall there is an invisible ceiling keeping the atmosphere of the ship inside, so it is impossible to climb over any walls. It is equally impossible to make speculative attacks over these walls, leap over them using super jump, or any other such actions. It should be easy to determine what is or is not a wall, but if there is any confusion please ask a tournament organizer for clarification. In general, any terrain element that is 1/2“ thick and 2 inches high is a wall, and cannot be climbed over, while anything less than 2 inches high is not a wall.

Doors: There are two main types of doors on the table. Normal doors are one inch wide, while Cargo doors are two inches wide. Any model on a 25mm base can pass through normal doors, even if their base does not fit through the door, as long as there is enough room for the model on the other side of the door. TAGs and models on bases larger than 40mm cannot pass through normal doors.

                All doors start out open at the beginning of the battle, but can be closed at any time by using a normal Open/Close short movement skill. In addition, Engineers and Hackers can lock and jam (or unlock and unjam) doors by making a WIP roll as described in the rule book. These doors are considered complex, and apply a -3 modifier to anyone attempting to lock or unlock them.

                Mark closed doors with a counter so that both players know which doors are open or closed. Line of sight can no longer be drawn through closed doors.

Airlocks: There is a special type of door on the table that follows different rules than other doors. There are 5 sets of airlocks on the table, 3 of which connect the two ships, and two of which open into the empty space between the two ships. Airlock doors are always considered closed, and cannot be opened, locked, breeched, or altered in any way. To pass through an airlock a model must move into base contact with it and then perform a special Open/Close short movement skill. When a model performs this skill immediately move it from one side of the door directly to the other side.

Zero-g: Normally models cannot move anywhere outside or off of the tiles representing the table without being removed from the game. However, the two areas between the airlocks connecting the ships can be moved through, but are considered Zero-g areas. In addition, these areas are open to the empty vacuum of space, and any model entering this area without the correct skills is killed instantly. Models with Zero-g, Multiterrain, or AD/Zero-g can survive in this space, and can move through it as if it were difficult terrain. This allows models with these skills to use the exterior airlocks to travel between ships in ways that may catch the enemy unawares.

Breeching: The doors on this table are designed to double as reinforced bulkheads, and are difficult to breech. They are considered ARM 5 and have 2 STR points. As normal, only EXP and DA attacks can affect terrain. Airlock doors cannot be breeched, to attempt to do so would also breech the hull and kill everyone.

Destroying Terrain: No terrain elements on this ship can be destroyed, to do so would risk breeching the hull of the ship and killing everyone on board.

Victory Conditions:

The battle ends immediately as soon as one army has overridden the enemy’s security terminal, AND put the enemy army into Retreat condition. The army that has achieved both of these conditions is considered the winner. The battle ends immediately after 6 full rounds or when the time limit for the tournament round is reached.

If one player achieves both of these conditions, and his opponent has achieved neither by the end of the battle, this is considered a complete victory. The winner gets 4 victory points and the loser gets 1.

If one player achieves both victory conditions, but his opponent has also achieved one of his objectives, this is only considered a partial victory. The winner gets 3 victory points and the loser gets 1.

If one player achieves only one victory objective, and his opponent has achieved neither, this is also considered a partial victory. The winner gets 3 victory points and the loser gets 1.

If both players achieve the same number of victory conditions, or none at all, the battle is considered a draw. Both players get 2 victory points.






NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenario: Secure Area

Story: The planet Bourak was settled by Haqqislamic colonists following a vision sent by their prophet. Although it is finally a world they can call their own, free from interference by infidels, it is a harsh world. In some regions, like Taba, it is a constant struggle to survive.

                Near the edge of the Taba region there is a small abandoned town that the desert has begun to reclaim. However, this town hides a secret. According to recent intelligence, there is a decommissioned Haqqislam research station in a cave somewhere beneath the town. Two different factions have both received this intelligence, and deployed small covert teams to secure the area in hopes of finding this research station and stealing any secrets left behind.

Objective: Take control of the table and make sure that no witnesses live to tell the tale.

Special Rules:

Deployment: All deployment rules are normal.

Doors: All of the doors on intact buildings start out open. A model can open or close any door by using the Open/Close short movement skill, as normal. Models with the Engineer skill can lock or jam any door (or unlock and unjam), as described in the Engineer skill. All of the doors and windows on this table are considered simple mechanical locks, and cannot be affected by Hackers. Mark closed doors with a counter so that both players know which doors are open or closed. Line of sight can no longer be drawn through closed doors.

Breeching: Any doors can be breeched. All doors have an ARM of 1 and 1 STR point. As always, terrain can only be damaged by EXP or DA attacks.

Destroying Terrain: Most of the terrain on this table can be destroyed. Buildings have an ARM of 8 and 4 STR points, while wall sections have an ARM of 8 and 3 STR points. Terrain can only be damaged by EXP or DA attacks. When a building is destroyed remove it from the table and replace it with any other flat terrain piece to represent an area of difficult “Stony Desert” terrain. When a section of wall is destroyed simply remove it from the table. Smaller terrain elements cannot be destroyed.

                If a model is inside of a building when it is destroyed they must immediately make an ARM roll against the DMG of the weapon that destroyed the building. This is a single ARM roll, and does not take into account any special ammunition effects used by the weapon that destroyed the building. If the model survives place it on top of the difficult terrain that replaces the building in the same spot where it had been positioned before the building came down. If the model was on top of a building that was destroyed it must make the same ARM roll, plus an additional ARM roll for falling damage depending on how high up the model was when the building was destroyed. If the model survives, it is placed prone on the difficult terrain directly below where it would have been before the building was destroyed.

Victory Conditions:

This scenario is determined by Victory Points. The battle ends when one side is forced into Retreat Condition and completely flees the table, or when one side is utterly destroyed. The battle also ends after 6 full rounds have been completed, or when the time limit for the tournament round is reached.

The winner is the player who has scored more victory points.

If the winner earns 30% more victory points than the loser, this is considered a complete victory. The winner gets 4 victory points, and the loser gets 1 victory point.

If the winner takes victory with a smaller margin then this is only considered a partial victory. The winner gets 3 victory points and the loser gets 1 victory point.

If both sides earn the exact same number of victory points, this is considered a draw. In this case both players earn 2 victory points.








NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenario: Secure LZ

Story: Most of the powers of the Human Sphere look down on the people of Ariadna, and consider them brutes and savages. Some of the super-powers, particularly Pan Oceania and Yu Jing, consider Ariadna to be little more than a rebellious colony and feel that they are within their rights to take whatever they want from Dawn whenever they want.

Such is the case with trade goods piling up at the star port of Matr. Within Matr cargo containers are gathered for transshipment to the rest of the Human Sphere, loaded with valuable commodities like Teseum ingots and rare organic materials. Two black ops teams have been sent by their governments to either secure a landing zone within the cargo yards of Matr for an extraction force, or prevent the same.

Objective: Take control of the table and make sure that no witnesses live to tell the tale.

Special Rules:

Deployment: All deployment rules are normal.

Night Fighting: This raid takes place at night. All exterior areas on the map are considered low visibility. Any BS skill attack whose line of sight crosses an exterior zone suffers a -3 penalty. Any skills or equipment that negates low visibility, such as Multispectral visors, negate this penalty as normal.

Spotlights: Several of the buildings on this table are outfitted with high intensity spotlights. Any model in base contact with one of these spotlights may activate it with a special Short Attack Skill. A spotlight can target any area in the spotlight’s front 180 degree facing that is within line of sight of the spotlight. Place a circular template at the point targeted by the spotlight. Any model that is both under the template, and has line of sight from the spotlight, is illuminated. BS Skill attacks that target an illuminated model do not suffer from any low visibility penalties.

Destroying Terrain: Most of the terrain on the table cannot be destroyed since it would risk destroying valuable cargo. Chain link fences and Spotlights can be destroyed, however. Fences have an ARM of 10 and 1 STR point, and can only be damaged by DA and EXP ammo. When a fence is destroyed it is removed from the table. Spotlights have an ARM of 1 and 1 STR point, but are made of tough materials that deflect small arms fire; like most terrain elements, Spotlights can only be destroyed by DA and EXP ammo. Place a counter next to destroyed spotlights to mark them.

Victory Conditions:

This scenario is determined by Victory Points. The battle ends when one side is forced into Retreat Condition and completely flees the table, or when one side is utterly destroyed. The battle also ends after 6 full rounds have been completed, or when the time limit for the tournament round is reached.

The winner is the player who has scored more victory points.

If the winner earns 30% more victory points than the loser, this is considered a complete victory. The winner gets 4 victory points, and the loser gets 1 victory point.

If the winner takes victory with a smaller margin then this is only considered a partial victory. The winner gets 3 victory points and the loser gets 1 victory point.

If both sides earn the exact same number of victory points, this is considered a draw. In this case both players earn 2 victory points.




NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenario: Defend Area

Story: The Japanese people have always been belittled and exploited by their Yu Jing conquerors, and their people have been forced to learn to live without the aid of the government. In the small and isolated town of Yomoto, on the Yu Jing colony world of Yutang, a clan of Japanese laborers have been forced together and ignored by the StateEmpire.

                But now, a foreign power has moved into the town and intends to steal the town’s resources for their own purposes. Out of desperation, and ignored by the StateEmpire, the downtrodden Japanese must find allies anywhere they can. They townsfolk have sent out a desperate messenger to hire any mercenary company or foreign power they can find to defend their village, and now those two forces are about to come into direct conflict.



Objective: The objectives for both armies are to secure the town and force the enemy to withdraw.



Special Rules:

Deployment- All deployment rules work as normal, with one exception: No models can be deployed on top of or within 4 inches of the granary.

Rice Fields- The townsfolk are farmers, and maintain large fields of rice patties, some of which are quite close to the town. These fields are considered very difficult swamp Aquatic terrain.

Doors & Windows- All doors start out closed and all windows start out open. A model can open or close any door or window by using the Open/Close short movement skill, as normal. All of the doors and windows in the village are simple sliding panels made of thin wood and paper, and cannot be locked or jammed.

Victory Conditions:

This scenario is determined by Victory Points. The battle ends when one side is forced into Retreat Condition and completely flees the table, or when one side is utterly destroyed. The battle also ends after 6 full rounds have been completed, or when the time limit for the tournament round is reached.

The winner is the player who has scored more victory points.

If the winner earns 30% more victory points than the loser, this is considered a complete victory. The winner gets 4 victory points, and the loser gets 1 victory point.

If the winner takes victory with a smaller margin then this is only considered a partial victory. The winner gets 3 victory points and the loser gets 1 victory point.

If both sides earn the exact same number of victory points, this is considered a draw. In this case both players earn 2 victory points.

NorCon XII Infinity Tournament

Scenario: Search and Rescue

Story: The greatest fighting of the modern age takes place on the jungle world of Paradiso. Originally this was intended to be a paradise for humanity, filled with lush jungles and beautiful beach resorts. But the Combined laid an intricate trap for the people of the Human Sphere, which has led to incessant fighting between all of the factions of the Human Sphere.

                An aircraft carrying vital military intelligence was shot down by Combined anti-air emplacements and crashed on a beach near a resort that was under construction. Two different factions nearby have sensed the opportunity to gain an advantage, and have mobilized Special Forces teams to retrieve the crashed ship’s vital cargo.



Objective: Both armies need to secure the main three pieces of wreckage and force the enemy to withdraw.



Special Rules:

Deployment- All deployment rules work as normal, with one exception: No models can be deployed within 4 inches of the three objective markers.

Ocean- the Ocean waves washing up on the shore are divided into two parts. The dark blue area near the edge of the table is considered impassable Aquatic terrain. The lighter blue area near the shore line is considered difficult Aquatic terrain.

Beach- The yellow center portion of the table is considered difficult Desert terrain.

Jungle- The green part of the table is considered very difficult Jungle terrain. This area is also considered low visibility, and imposes a -3 penalty to any BS Skill attacks that cross it, unless a model has a skill or equipment that negates this penalty. The jungle area also contains several trees, large bushes, and boulders that can be used as cover. These terrain elements do not represent all of the plants in the jungle, just the plants that are large enough to be used as cover. If all of the plants were properly represented there would be no place to put any models.

Wreckage and Boulders- Near the middle of the table are several spots made up of large boulders and wreckage from the crashed aircraft. It is in among these boulders that the objective markers can be found. These areas are considered difficult Mountain terrain, and any boulders large enough to partially block line of sight can also be used as cover.

Victory Conditions:

The battle ends immediately as soon as one army has been put in Retreat Condition and forced to flee the table or after one army is completely destroyed. The battle also ends immediately after 6 full rounds or when the time limit for the tournament round is reached. If the battle ends and neither side has been completely destroyed or forced off the table, then the victor is determined by the army that holds the greater number of objectives. Even if one army is in Retreat Condition and the other is not, the victor is still determined solely by objective markers.

At the end of the battle, if the winning army has a model within 2 inches of all three objective markers, this is considered a complete victory. The winner gets 4 victory points and the loser gets 1.

At the end of the battle, if the winner does not hold all three objectives, this is only considered a partial victory. The winner gets 3 victory points and the loser gets 1.

At the end of the battle, if both players hold the same number of objectives, or no objectives, the battle is considered a draw. Both players get 2 victory points.