Stuart is back with more Infinity Game Tips for all you Infinity beginners out there!

"She waited. Her heartbeat slow, her mind sharp, her body at rest. The PanOceania troops moved all around her, oblivious to her presence. The wafer-thin polymer fabric of her Thermoptic Camouflage cloak perfectly projected an image of the pasti-crete wall behind her, onto her body. The ground vibrated with the heavy footsteps of an Uhlan TAG. It strode forward, HMG roaring, lighting up the darkness, seeking targets in the distance. She allowed her body to sway, preparing her muscles to move.

The smell of the propellant from high calibre shells was thick in the air. The Uhlan paused, its mechanical head briefly turned, catching some shimmer in the air but turned back, intent on its target. Then she struck.  Moving into a sprint, she moved swiftly behind the Uhlan. The blade was in her hand. The proximity alarms on the Uhlan activated and it spun, raising its arm. With a single backhanded slash, she drew the monofilament blade across the Uhlan, using the momentum to continue running.

She didn’t need to look back. First the arm and them the Uhlan’s entire body fell into two pieces, sparks and hydraulic fluid fountaining into the air. Shinobu Kitsune disappeared once again into the night…"

On the covert battlefields of the 22nd Century, the art of concealment is still an essential tactic.

HaqqIslam Tuareg Sniper with Therm-Optic Camo waits in Hidden Deployment

From the low tech Foxtrot in his ghillie suit to the high-tech Therm-Optic camouflage of the Ninja. In this article, we are going to look at the types of camouflage and its uses in Infinity.

Levels Of Camoflague

There are five different types of Camouflage in Infinity, which are all detailed under the same skill – Camouflage. Remember that all Camo units (except CH Level 1) also gain the additional nested skills of Surprise Attack, Surprise Shot and Stealth.

• CH Level 1 – Mimetism: This ability can mean that the unit is employing some type of camouflage, but it’s often given to units that are fast moving and hard to hit like motorcycles.
  • Example Units: Yu-Jing Aragoto Bikers, Combine Army Umbra Legate
• CH Level 2 – Camouflage: This is the basic type of camouflage, which in the world of Infinity could range from low-tech ghillie suits (the walking bush) or the higher tech adaptive camouflage of colour changing fabrics.
  • Example Units: Arianda Foxtrot, Combined Army Shrouded
• CH Level 3 – Therm-Optic Camouflage: This is the ‘Ghost in the Shell’ style invisibility camouflage which projects an image of the surroundings onto the user.
  • Example Units: Yu Jing Ninja, PanOceania Hexa
• CH Level X – Ambush Camo: Remember that trick where the hero hands his coat on a stick to fool the bad guys? This is identical to level 2 except the user also gets a “decoy” Camouflage Marker which he can place in his Zone of Control.
  • Example Units: Ariadna Kazak Spetznazs
• Camouflage Level Y – Limited Camouflage: This ability is similar to level 2 below, but is one shot. Once you reveal from Camouflage State you no longer gain any benefits, and can’t return to the Camouflage State.
  • Example Units: Yu Jing Raiden, Mercenary Major Lunah – Ex Aristeia Sniper!

This should give you an easy way to look at the kinds of options available to you when you're looking at bringing camouflaged troops into battle.

Downgrading Levels

If your trooper has one level of Camouflage they also have access to all the levels below that. (Levels X and Y do not have access to other levels).

An Onyx Contact Force Fire Team with an Umbra Legate and four Rodoks all with Mimetism

CH Level 2 and 3 are fire sensitive, but if a trooper is placed in a Burnt state, they may still downgrade to Mimitism.

Uses Of Camouflage

The Sniper

Placing your camo unit with a long-range weapon (e.g. Multi-Sniper Rifle) on a high point gives good coverage of the battlefield to take ARO’s vs enemy troopers. Camo, of course, gives extra defensive benefits, but it also gives far more!
Here’s an example...

• Player A Moves his Onyx Contact Force Rodok with HMG around a corner to get a Line of Fire on a sniper who is in a Camo state.
• Player B Chooses to Idle, instead of taking the ARO and shooting the Rodok.
• Player A The only options for the Rodok now are to Discover or Idle. If he tries to Discover he is already at a -6 (-3 to for camo and -3 for cover) and possibly another -3 for range if over 32”. If he fails, he can’t make another Discover roll that turn. His choice then is to either try and discover with another unit or to move out of cover and carry on moving, which allows the sniper to shoot him out of cover.

Even better than the camo sniper, is a sniper with Thermoptic Camouflage. These troopers can be placed in Hidden Deployment. In secret the player makes a sketch or takes a picture of the troopers position. Your opponent won’t know you are there until you drill a double action sniper rifle round into their head!

A Camo marker in the perfect sniper's nest...

The ultimate sniper is a TO Camo trooper with an area of effect weapon like the Hac Tao Missile Launcher. In the right conditions, these can be devastating. The enemy moves their 5-man fire team out of cover and you shoot a missile at one unit. The Area of Effect (AoE) Blast Template will then catch, not only the troopers that are in the area of effect but all the troopers that pass through that point in their movement.

The greatest asset of a sniper is patience! Don’t take that shot as an ARO, wait until your active turn. Remember, in your active turn, then you get your full burst and get the additional skill of Surprise Shot, which you can’t use as an ARO.

The Hunter

Using camo can allow you to move in close to the enemy for the kill. Enemy snipers and Total Reaction Remotes (REMs) with HMG’s can be tough to shift but with a camo trooper you can move up close to the enemy, into their bad range band, and take a Surprise Shot while in cover. With TO camo that can apply a massive -12 modified (-3 Surprise Shot, -3 Cover, -6 TO Camo) making many units completely unable to hit you.

Camo units can also be deadly effective when they go hunting for enemy units. As a camo marker, they have the ability to move across an open area or move behind an enemy. Here’s an example:

• Player A Move towards an enemy trooper with your first Short Skill
• Player B Delay’s as an ARO
• Player A Moves past the enemy and out of their fire arc.
• Player A can then on the next order shoot them in the back. All they can then do is Change Face.

Using this tactic, I’ve seen a simple FoxTrot move round a Heavy infantry and then gun them down from behind! Check out the move in action below...

...does this give you a better idea of how this would work on the tabletop?

The Specialist

In some missions, you need to get to consoles, flip switches or picking up supplies. Camo, along with Infiltration allows you to deploy in close and secure your objectives quickly. Examples include Yu Jing Guilang Forward Observers and Ariadna FoxTrot Forward Observers.

Ninja Killer Hacker securing supplies...

Even more effective is the TO Camo Specialist with Infiltration, such as the HaqqIslam Tuareg Doctor and Nomad Zero Forward Observer. They can start in Hidden Deployment right next to the objective. But should you reveal your specialist and go straight for the objective, or wait? Even if the enemy is guarding an objective, the TO camo Specialist can still get to the objective:

• Player A TO Camo Specialist in Camo State Moves 4” towards the objective
• Player B Discovers.
• Player A Moves again.
• Resolution - Player B rolls the discover roll and passes
• Player A Moves another 4” into contact with the objective
• Player B ARO shoots with a BS Attack.
• Player A completes the objective, even while being gunned down!

It always pays to have a few specialists on han, therefore,e to focus your attention towards objectives.

The Assassin

One of the most powerful types of camo units in the game is the Close Combat Specialist with TO Camo trooper and Infiltration or Infiltration Plus. This allows your unit to get in close to the enemy and make a Surprise Attack in the first turn knocking out your opponent’s key troopers – and maybe even their Lieutenant!

The most deadly assassin in Infinity is Shinobu Kitsune (Yu Jing/JSA), with her Monofilament CCW she can kill any unit she hits in one strike!

Rather than attacking in the first turn, you can position your deadly assassins at key points on the battlefield, by a key objective or at a choke point where the enemy will come through. Allow the enemy to pass right by you and then strike from behind.

Using Stealth the Ninja moves on on Tarik Mansuri

First short skill he moves in to an Engaged state

Second Short Skill, the Ninja strikes using Surprise Attack

The Midfield Blocker

Having camo your tokens on the 24” line can really give your opponent pause for thought. What is it? What weapons does it have? Is it a mine? Is it a Hacker?

Hacker camo troopers can act as a wall to block against enemy Heavy Infantry, REM’s or TAG’s. Placing them in buildings or on rooftops make them very hard to dig out, while still covering a 16” diameter bubble of control. In their active turn, camo Hackers can Surprise Attack to give opponents -3 to Reset.

Mine’d Games

Some camo units are also minelayers (e.g. Raiden Heavy Rocket Launcher) – so it’s impossible to know which is the mine and which is the camo trooper! If you then place that mine (in a Camouflage State) on a rooftop, your opponent will be thinking “Is that a mine or a sniper”. They may spend valuable orders trying to discover a mine (which is Silhouette 2 when it is in a marker state) or ignore it, move out of cover and find it is really a sniper!

Combatting Camo

Multispectral Visor

MSV’s allow you to offset the modifiers to camo. The best version MSV3 which only a couple of units have in the game (e.g. the PanO Aquila) can automatically discover units.

Imperial State Service Link Team Haris searching for targets. Hsein with MSV2 and Zhanying with Sensor

Sensors & Sniffers

From the high-tech Yu Jing Zhanying and Imperial Agent Crank Rank to the noses of the Antipode pack, sensor is the ultimate way to combat camo. You can use it to discover ALL Camo tokens in an 8” radius or your Sensor and any deployed Sniffers on the table on a WP +6 roll. You can also directly Discover a Camouflage State enemy in LoF on a WP +6 roll. This is useful for long range Discover/Shoot attacks.

Some units like the Kanren are able to infiltrate to the centre of the table and use their Minelayer skill to deploy a Sniffer during deployment. In the first turn you can then spend one order on your trooper with Sensor and ping several enemies at once, and even discover units in Hidden Deployment!

Mines

Camo may fool people, but mines (but not perimeter weapons like Crazy Koalas) will still detonate when a camo marker moves into their range. Laying a mine, which has an enemy Camouflage State trooper in its range does however require an Intuitive Attack.

Shinobu hunts a Shavasti

Next game when you are using camo, be one with the trees, and move as silently as a panther, then strike!

Stuart Marsh (@sam2064) ‘in the day’ was an avid Role Player of old-school D&D, BattleTech and later Shadowrun 3rd Ed. In 2013 he discovered miniatures gaming in the shape of Star Trek Attack Wing and the X-Wing Miniatures game.

In September 2014 while at his local gaming club he saw some people playing a futuristic/cyberpunk manga like tabletop game and soon became hooked on Infinity and has been playing ever since! In between being a High School Science Teacher and looking after two kids, he writes his blog, mainly because he is obsessed with taking lots of photos!