In Search of Wisdom - My First Thoughts on RTF and ITS14

IN SEARCH OF WISDOM - My First Thoughts on the RTF and ITS14

In this series I reflect on the game of Infinity, as well the place of Ramah Taskforce in it.

 

I wrote an article like this one a year ago, so you should know what to expect - a combination of hot'n'cold takes on how the newest Organized Play Season of Infinity will effect our beloved Good Guys and Gals wearing Orange shoulder patches! Here we go!

 

Thunderclapping It 

The ITS14 Season is named "Thunderclap" - the Combined Army's armada has dealt the Cerberus Blockade above Consilium Prima a thunderous blow, and now it's time for the Factions of the Human Sphere to mount a lightning counter attack!

The beginning of a new year of ITS not only means changes in the list of Missions available for competitive play and the shift of the global (and maybe to a lesser extend, the local) meta due to the new Special Rules introduced by the story, but it also marks the passing of some of the things that made the last Season special. The meta defining change that we are now laying to rest is the Tactical Ride rule, which for the past year has meant that Motorbike equipped troopers could not only choose whether they wanted to be Impetuous or shed the skill at the beginning of the battle, but they also categorically enjoyed from the benefits of Mimetism (-3) as well as Terrain (Total)! While Tactical Ride may have... Well.. Ridden off to the sunset, it would seem that the Mimetism part of the deal is here to stay - Carmen (like apparently most of the bikers) received the rule permantently for a very slight point increase! I always knew the day would come when our murderous femme fatale's days of claiming Cover would be over, but I'm also rather excited to get to experiment with her Impetuous trait some more, and getting to keep Mimetism is just great, which means that I doubt we'll be seeing that much less of her in the future!

At a cursory glance the basic ITS rules haven't changed too much between the current Season and the last, though the CivEvac -skill seems to have lost the part where the Civillian becomes hostile after a failed evacuation attempt!

Highway to the Danger Zone

I'm not going to lie, I'm a tad surprised that we're introduced to another Space themed ITS Season so quickly after ITS12, but I'm not complaining in the least! To me this signals that Corvus Belli is willing to go where the story of their world takes them, without feeling the need to cram in thematic variance just for the sake it, which is something that I can respect!

The special nature of operations taking place in space ship and -station environments is reflected in the No Gravity Zone (+1 to the first MOV of Troopers with either Terrain (Total), Terrain (Zero-G) or Super-Jump), Low Gravity Area (Troopers with Terrain (Total) or Terrain (Zero-G) gain Super-Jump) and the returning Decompression [Zones], though these rules are only in effect in some of the Missions. While the Saturation inducing Decompression areas can turn out to be a bit troublesome for our defensive Fireteams and they may slow down some of our attacking pieces, I still feel that Ramah Taskforce isn't going to be too adversely affected by these changes - we have several excellent models capable of making use of the Terrain (Total) skill, and we can even pick yet another soldier to gain Terrain (Zero-G) via the Master Breacher rule available in some Missions (although the D-Charges that the nomination also provide are largely wasted as close combat weapons on most units I'd be happy to choose for the role).

When it comes to Mission spesific "free units", the ITS Bike Recon Motorized Bounty Hunters are gone, but in their stead some Missions will provide you with the opportunity to use a Bashi Bazouk (via the Corsair) or a CSU (via the SecDet). The latter probably doesn't excite most RTF players greatly - gaining access to an Irregular BS 12 model with low powered, short ranged weapontry isn't too exciting, even when you throw in MetaChemistry and Specialist Operative! Then again I can foresee the Bashi filling much the same role as his/her Bounty Hunter predecessor has done for the past year - advancing through a gap in the enemy squad's defences (punched by our heavy weapons if one isn't naturally occuring), and then trading up against valuable targets, assassinating key support units and/or wreaking havoc among the Opponent's "cheerleaders"! The Bashi Bazouk can even perform an opposed landing thanks to their Holoprojector - your Opponent not only has to hit them and they must fail their save to get stopped, but the enemy trooper doing the AROing also has to pick the right target from the three choices available to them! It goes without saying that in Missions involving the Corsair the RTF squad's own defensive formation must be carefully managed (especially in ITS14 Firefight!), but the access to so many Direct Template Weapons makes our Sectorial one of the ones less threatened by a rampaging space pirate! It would seem that F13 Turrets are also here to stay!

The Mission lineup itself seems to be intact from the previous Season (I will have to study them in detail to spot any important changes to Deployment and/or Scoring conditions), as the new scenario Cryogenics is just added to the list for a nice even number of 21 Missions. At a first glance Cryogenetics seems to reward high mobility and capable Specialists (medical Specialists even get a bonus), so the new Mission seems to play into the strengths of the Ramah Taskforce quite nicely!

With the smaller stuff out of the way, let's get to the part you really came here for...

Cerberus Blockade Provided Targeting Data Engaged - Remote Units Working at 140% Capacity!

The ITS14 Season's "big" Special Rule is called Tachimotos. In short, it means that REM units that incorporate both the Repeater piece of gear and the Forward Observer ability (that is, the so called "Toolbox Bots") gain Tactical Awareness, Marksmanship and ECM Hacker (-3) for absolutely free! Oh boy, imagine having access to AVA 2 Forward Observer Remotes with either Rifles and Light Shotguns or Redfurys, with the latter one being able to form a Duo with some excellent units... Wait a minute, I don't have imagine; that's RTF for you!

As far I can tell, Rafiq is the most heavily armed FO Bot out there, and Ramah Taskforce is the only Faction that can both bring two of them and benefit from the ability to Fireteam them with a selection of other strong pieces at the same time! This means that for mere 20 points a pop, we can now make use of effectively two Order providing pseudo BS14/WIP16 units that can munch light targets with their guns, mark targets for Guided Missile strikes, push buttons, Sensor for Hidden/Camouflaged threats, extend the threat area of our Hackers AND bring along a friend to join in on the fun - now that's what I'd call economical right there!

What does the Tachimotos mean for our list construction then? Beyond a couple of autoinclude units, it probably means that the stocks of units capable of forming Duos with Rafiqs are on rise, as are the requests for Engineer support to keep the increased number of robotic units operational. The inclusion of double Rafiqs in many lists also helps our infowar Specialists project their cyber combat power through Repeaters - an ability that's lack has been keenly felt in the past by RTF commanders. In theory this should also help Ramah Taskforce Hackers make their presense ever more felt on the battlefield, which could warrant including more of them in our lists for the next year or so, but therein lies the danger...

While I doubt that any other Faction can rival the outright combat power that the Tachimotos era Rafiqs will lend Ramah striketeams this Season, it's doubtless other Factions will still be wielding their (lesser) Forward Observer Remotes in large quantities, which in turn will no doubt lead to increased inclusion of Hackers in their forces. This puts the brave RTF cyberwar operatives at increased risk; while the Rafiqs' Repeaters do offer more chances to say Spotlight enemy units moving about, the fact that the battlefields are about to be saturated by Hacking Area increasing pieces of equipment will also expose our soldiers to more Hacking attacks themselves - there are after all quite terrifying things out there roaming the digital landscape... As a result I don't foresee a large increase in the amount of Hackers I'm going to be bringing this season, although such considerations are subject to change depending on whether I'm about to engage in a pre-agreed upon game of Mindwipe against a Tartary Army Corps player, or whether I'm about to attend a 2 list, 50 player, 5-round tournament!

During some of this Season's Missions EVO Hackers also provide their forces with an extra Regular Order, though strike teams are capped at an extra Order of this type per list. At face value this bonus doesn't seem to help out RTF that much - with our Rafiqs already effectively getting to enjoy Assisted Fire and Fairydust and our Faction totally lacking Combat Jump troops, you really have to go out of your way to build a Ramah squad capable of making good use of the Kameel in the Missions involving the extra Order. Same, ofcource, can't be said about our enemies...

Thunder! La-la-la-laa-la-la-laa-la... Thunder! La-la-la-laa-la-la-laa-la...

Now this is the part where I cover the evolutions I expect to see in the Infinity meta due to the changes brought about by ITS14. I should write my predictions down using careful words and I should hedge my bets to avoid looking like a fool, but where's the fun in that? So how about we play a game? I'm going to write down a number of predictions regarding the next year of the global meta, and we can revisit my guess- I mean highly scientific projections a year from now to see how I did! Ready?

1. We're going to see way more Forward Observer Bots and to a lesser extend some more EVO Hackers. Hello there Captain Obvious! While it's likely that the multirole toolbox REMs make it to most lists (and often in pairs in Factions that are capable of fielding two), I'm doubtful that EVO Hackers are going to be fielded THAT much more often than before - partly due to the fact the FO Bots are themselves advancing Repeaters closer to enemy Hackers and Killer Hackers that can then in their turn take out the EVO at their leisure...
2. We're going to see less Motorbikes, but not that much less. It would seem that the better Bikes got played the most during ITS13 and the less seen ones were still seen quite rarely. This coupled with the fact that many motorized units got Mimetism and/or other changes means that Bikes shouldn't be much rarer sights now than they were in the past season!
3. There's going to be way more Hackers and Guided attacks early on, but the amount of infowar will diminish as the Season matures. The increased access to aggressive Repeaters and the situational extra Order for the EVOs will probably entice many players to increase their Hacking presence, but I expect this to mean that the apex Hacking Factions (like the Combined Army and Aleph) can then flex their binary muscles, which in turn will thin the herd as the year proceeds. The increased amounts of Forward Observers will surely also mean more Guided strikes in the following months, but as people become more proficient at defending against them, they too should offer diminishing returns.
4. There's going to be more Engineers and Combat Jumpers around. The increased amount of REM units will probably mean increased efforts to keep such units operational, while the small buff to the EVO Hackers may well push more people into bringing out their Combat Jumpers.
5. Factions with heavy emphasis on Direct Template Weapons and other close range defensive/offensive solutions will gain a small competitive edge over their closest competitors. The increased amounts of FO Bots, Bashi Bazouks and Combat Jumpers will probably mean that pieces that can reliably trade with them and/or deny them board space are going to be in high demand!
6. Crippling Alpha Strikes will become more common. The fact it's now possible to cram more Orders to a single Combat Group than it has ever been in N4 so far should mean that (atleast in the early months of the Season) there are going to be quite a few strike teams that are going to find themselves effectively torn to tatters during the top of the first turn! On the other hand, people will probably learn to defend against such attacks more as the Season proceeds.
   

 

And that's it! All in all Ramah Taskforce seems to be very well poised to take on the challenges of ITS14 Thunderclap - the Seasonal Special Rules offer us many perks to take advantage of, and our forces should be well positioned to counter most of the nuisances and threats that are about to emerge! The Human Sphere is in peril, and the Haqqislam's finest are ready to answer the call!

Until the next time - I wish you the very best in leading the Swift and Deadly Spear of the Haqqislamite Army to Victory!