Jump to content

Infinity ITS Tournament at Super Salty Gaming

George

By George
in Infinity

 Share

Recommended Posts

NakedPanda Newbie

NakedPanda

Posted
Posted

Someday, SOMEDAY! I will lay a scratch on Erik! Hahaha I call him out as much as he can suffer!

 

All three were great games, finally got to play J. Allen (and got more exposure to those tricky ass aliens), erik manhandled me again! (love our games, i learn so much and am forced to play so different than i am used to!), and Garrett for the final round (very strong player, i just got super lucky).

 

You guys host a great ITS, and it is you that make the game great!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
indytims Newbie

indytims

Posted
Posted

Tournament Synopsis By Me:

Well, my first Infinity tournament in the books, and right off the bat I can say that it was one of the most fun tournaments I've ever been apart of. I actually stopped going to most tournaments of any kind about 4-5 years ago, as I am not -overly- competitive anymore, and I don't normally enjoy games with strict time-limits. I am definitely the 'sit back, chat, roll some dice, take 2 hours for a game' kinda guy. Not to mention, being a noob, I am slow anyway. But, the guys who have been teaching me the game have been so friendly and welcoming, I figured this tournament would be worth giving a shot, and I am very glad I did!

The event was held at Super Salty, on the east side of Vancouver, WA (USA). Salty is really a Magic the Gathering shop, to be honest, but Greg has been super-awesome-friendly-awesome welcoming minis games of all kinds there to play. I've seen plenty of 40K, Flames of War, and of course Infinity being played. Greg himself has an Eldar army and a pack of squirrels. Great guy. The place was pretty spacious, and we had 6 nicely arranged tables ready to go for our 12 players. One of the long tables had 3 games going on it at once, and the middle game was very tight, but otherwise there didn't seem to be any other space issues. I think we did use just about all of the terrain we had on hand, though.

We began the tournament with match-ups pitting us against people we didn't normally face all the time. That was a nice twist, and allowed most of us to play folks that were new to us. After that, it was Swiss-style I believe, and George did a great job making sure we didn't double up and play anyone twice, at least that I am aware of.

Round 1 – Safe Area
Opponent: Nate (dont panic), playing #(*@& Aleph

I first met Nate just this past June during my first visit to WOW in Portland. He met me and Savion there when we played Blood Bowl, and bought one of my Blood Bowl teams. This was the first time we had a chance to play against each other, and I was really glad we had that chance.

He played Aleph and it sure seemed like everything had NWI and required me to shoot it like 100 times before it would die. For me, the most memorable moment was all this effort I wasted trying to kill one of his little drop-bot dudes (and failing miserably at it), but then I got super-lucky and capped Asura before she could really get fired up.

Nate had the table side with the super-tall tower-of-sniper-doom, and of course he plopped down a total-reaction bot there. I love those things! Well, I mean, I WOULD love them if it was on MY side. I had to devote quite a bit to kill that damned thing, because it was scary. With that removed, it kinda gave my sniper/HMG/autocannon trio command of the board from elevation, and that's how I got my lucky shots on Asura-the-nearly-unkillable-without-luck.

I brought Van Zant on behind him, and did pretty decently – but his TO sniper parked up on the tower next to his total-reaction bot punked him pretty easily before the end of the game to steal back that quadrant.

At the end of the game, we each had the exact same number of objectives, AND our victory points were like 106 to 103 in his favor. So, TECHNICALLY, a marginal win for ALEPH @)#$*!.

I did actually remember, for the first time ever, to complete my classified objective. Yay! One day I'll remember this better! :)

I do feel bad because Asura died during a time we were trying to pick up the pace. I blame myself for that, for overthinking things sometimes, and Nate was very patient. But when we heard the time-warning, we started rushing and I think we missed Asura getting some cover bonuses on some of her saves. I'll be happy to give Nate a rematch anytime we meet up!

After the first game, we broke for lunch, then returned a bit later for round 2.


Round 2 – Cold Sleep
Opponent: Eric (Raindog), playing Nomads

The first time I met Eric was also in the June/July time-frame, when we met near PDX to split an Infinity Operation Icestorm boxed-set. We chatted for a bit and I knew he'd be fun to game with, and I finally got my chance to play with him at the tournament in round 2!

I was immediately struck by deja-vu, as he set-up across from me with a total-reaction bot up on the highest point on the table. And, just like with Nate, I had to devote some resources to take it out and got lucky doing so.

My Camaronian swung around on the right flnk impetuously and fell JUST short of his mine-layer dude, but was able to chainrifle the mines that the guy dropped. Kinda wacky how that happened – and Eric promptly put the big dog down.

I was able to cap an HMG guy on a rooftop, but Eric brought a doc over, shot him, and then passed his WIP test to raise the HMG guy from the dead. Quite impressive set of rolls there!

Van Zant came on the side of the board and killed a guy and did nothing else. At least he didn't die like a little baby this game.

At the end, once again, we each had exactly the same amount of objectives, and both had a good number of points left over.

Like Nate, Eric was a blast to play with. He always seems so animated, whether things are going good or bad. Like Nate, I'd love to play with him again sometime soon!


Round 3 – Seize the Antennas.
Opponent – Brian (Not sure if he has an Ordo handle or not, he's one of the Seattle crew), playing Pan-O

Ok, so this game was a 'rude awakening' in a lot of ways.

Brian showed up and set-up, and had like 4 guys on the table. Right away, that made me a wee bit nervous to begin with. And it didn't take long to find out why, as Brian brought out Mr. Cutter and gave me the rude intro to a TO-TAG. Not only had I never faced a TAG before, but this one seems to be a pretty good one!

He also -expertly- maneuvered to lure my Camaronian (Impetuous) guy out to where he would get slaughtered. It was nicely executed, with zero risk to him, and I was definitely impressed.

Brian also very patiently corrected many things I was doing wrong. I think at first, I got the feeling he thought I was trying to pull the wool over his eyes, but I explained that our game was like my 7th game I've ever played, and the lightbulb went off over his head: he was playing against a noob! SO he patiently covered a few things I was doing wrong, including how mines worked.

To make matters worse... not only was his Cutter pretty much curb-stomping whatever it wanted to do, but my two main counters were effectively neutralized...

1) I dropped Van Zant in behind his lines, hoping to kill a few Fusiliers. The one area I thought I could exploit – cutting down on Brian's orders – was something I felt I could pull off. Well, Van Zant came on – and little did I know, he decided to bring the nerf-bullets with him that day. I spent half my orders unloading on two helpless Fusiliers who kinda laughed and pointed at Van Zant, shouting, “You were in a terrible movie!” (even though I liked it). Then, when they were done laughing after I wasted 4 orders – they finally put him out of his misery and went back to watching the Cutter lay waste.

It was mind-boggling. One of the Fusiliers was even in the open, and I don't even think I -hit- but once (And he saved).

2) When the Cutter final moved such that I could reveal my Autocannon, I felt that I had a good chance to take it out. Brian even admitted he was a bit nervous, as he was quite aware what an Autocannon could do. So, how did that turn out?

Well, 3 orders later – and 6 shots, needing a 9 or less... I rolled all 6 dice above a 9. I just got -incredibly- lucky that the Cutter's AROs didn't cut me down. But, Brian took care of that for me on his last turn, where he shot at me with the Cutter, and I ARO'd – still needing a 9... and of course rolled above a 9. My dice were hating me, and it actually felt -good- removing that near-sighted AC from the board!

The -only- thing saving me at all by this point was the one thing Brian just couldn't do: he couldn't pass a WIP test to Discover to save his life. I honestly don't recall if he succeeded on a single one... I think there was -one- (my Chasseur), but he spent many attempts trying to Discover, and failing, which was the -only- thing that kept me in the game. He was rolling well to hit, and making armor saves like they were freebies (that freakin' ORC, man... making all those saves, and THEN he taunts me by revealing it as his lieutenant! ARGH!). But Discover rolls? Thanks for letting me stay in the game, Brian!

I went last of course, and at that point, he had the two antennae nearest him, while I had mine. The center board was occupied by one of his guys, and then just off to the left, keeping a watchful eye on the center antenna, was Mr. Cutter.

I had my cammod' Hardcase nearby, and decided right away the only chance I really had at getting the objective in the center was to somehow deal with the Cutter. So, my first instinct was to throw the Hardcase at him, HOPE he survived a round of combat to keep him engaged so he couldn't shoot me. Not very good odds. But Brian then explained to me how Stealth worked, and we proceeded to walk through it – and Mr. Hardcase leaped on the back of the Cutter, and wrapped his hands around the Cutter's eyes and covered them so he couldn't see!

This allowed my Cammod' Spetznaz to come out with his HMG and turn the guy in the center of the board to paste... and then Ms. Uxia cartwheeled to the objective with 4 orders left... and converted it to my cause, giving me the 6-3 win.

I think I literally had 4 models left. The Cutter had not suffered a single Structure point of damage. I think I killed ONE GUY. I chatted with Brian for quite awhile, making sure we played things out correctly, because I was literally stunned at how it happened.

Of course, if Brian hadn't -told- me how to do it, I likely would have been wiping bits and pieces of my Hardcase off my shirt for awhile, and he would have had the 6-3 win. But Brian was a gentleman and good guy and explained to me what my best chance was to win – and in the process, I learned a very valuable lesson.

Between Van Zant's diaper, the Autocannon's blindness, and being completely befuddled by the Cutter, I was sure that I was headed toward being tabled. Of course, one more turn, and I would have been. This was also the only game that I have played to a full complete three turns. I was just rolling my four attempts at stealing the middle antenna when time was called.

I thanked Brian for being such a good sport, and learned even more. In fact, I learned many things in -each- of my games, which is something that has made this game system a lot different than others I have played.


George did a great job keeping us on track and taking care of the score keeping. He was also a super-good guy about terrain and tables, and took care of the prizes at the end. A big thanks to him for all his work running the show.

Big shout out to Greg at Salty for hosting us, too.

A big thanks to folks who came down from Seattle and who came up from Portland. Whether your drive was 30 min or 3 hours, we all appreciate your support and good sportsmanship.

Thanks to Chris (NakedPanda) for making a trade with me last-second, I appreciate it and hope one day I'll get to face off against him.

A big congrats to everyone who placed – very impressive win for Erik (Vancouver Erik) with 27 out of 30 possible points. The next nearest people were at 16 points. A big grats to Rudra (Evan) for being 'one of the noobs' and finishing third!

I believe Erik (Vancouver Erik) also won Best Painted, as well. There were some VERY nicely painted armies out there! Nice job, folks! But please do not bother asking him to paint stuff for you. I hear he is 'booked up' through the end of 2017.

Some random stats I -think- are accurate or pretty close to being accurate:

Total players: 12

Armies represented:

ALEPH: 1
Ariadna: 3
Haqqislam: 2
Nomad: 1
Pan-O: 3
Tohaa: 1

Yu Jing: 1


Order of finish by faction:

1 – Haqqislam
2 – Yu-Jing
3 – Pan-O
4 – Pan-O
5 – Ariadna
6 - Ariadna
7 – Tohaa
8 – Ariadna
9 – Nomad
10 – Pan-O
11 – ALEPH
12 – Haqqislam


Interesting Notes:  

There were two Haqqislam forces in the tournament. One finished first, the other finished last.

Me and the 3 guys I played all finished right together: 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th.

 

Only two regrets: 1) I did not get to properly greet Rudra. For some reason I thought he had to bail - I think I got him and Peanut mixed-up. Oh well, there will be a next time I am sure! And 2) I totally spaced taking ANY PICTURES. ARGH. This REALLY bummed me out. :(  Again - maybe next time.

I think there were mumblings about another tournament in the November/December timeframe, though I definitely didn't hear a date. Stay tuned! :)

Thanks again, all, for making this event a great success!

-Tim

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...