Survival Guide - Hard and Soft Counters (Part Two)

~The Problem~

The problem for this week is Camouflage, both normal and TO. Also included are the penalties to hit that arise from Camo and TO, and from the marker-less-but-still-deadly ODD.

~Why is it a problem?~

Camouflage is a constant source of agony for players because it breaks one of the fundamental promises of the Infinity system: the face-to-face roll. With Camo, you only ever get to react if you survive.

"I didn't even get to say ow..."

On top of this, Camo carries the added bonus of to-hit penalties, so even once the model is out of Camo, it's still a pain to gun down. It's even more of a pain when the penalty is TO or ODD's -6.

(As a brief aside: this article focuses chiefly on dealing with the marker kind of Camouflage, but I'll also touch on soft counters to the to-hit penalties of the above abilities.)

~Hard Counters~

The Multispectral Visor is, in many ways, a counter to Camo. The MSV3 can just plain see through markers, eliminating the need for any skill in dealing with the Camouflage mechanic. Sure, you have to maneuver the MSV3 around to hit models, but it usually isn't that hard. On top of this, each and every model with an MSV3 is a beast, meaning that they're great and terrible all on their own.

I don't usually engage in fair fights, but when I do...

The lower levels of the MSV are hard counters too, but not against Camouflage itself. Instead, these visors strip the Discover and to-hit penalty from the Camouflaged model, making it easy pickings as long as you can get out it out of its marker state. The MSV2 is the stronger choice here, as it negates all penalties to discover and to hit, full stop. The MSV1 does very little against anything higher than regular Camouflage and Mimetism, but it still acts as a hard counter against those skills. Overall, though, MSV2 and MSV1 are hard counters against the skills surrounding Camouflage, not Camouflage itself.

~Soft Counters~

Sometimes you just don't have a hard counter. Sometimes your hard counter has been killed, leaving you wondering how the hell you'll deal with that Camo horde. Sometimes your faction just doesn't have access to an MSV3, which will make other people wonder how exactly you get along without their most favourite toy ever – and why you would even bother to play a faction without it.

If any of these rings true for you, then don't worry: it's time to make those players eat their words. The MSV3 is the easiest way to deal with Camo, sure, but it's also the least skill-intensive. The more you learn to adapt to the battlefield – and the more you realize that you don't need certain toys to win – the better a player you will be.  So forget about the MSV3!  There are actually a number of ways to deal with oncoming Camo tokens, and they don't all involve high technology. These ways – your soft counters - include Direct Template weapons, the lower-level MSVs, the Sixth Sense and Mine blockade, and finally plain ol' tactical skill. Let's go through them one at a time, and then we'll put all the tricks together in the tactics section.

1) Direct Templates

Direct Template weapons are quite versatile when it comes to dealing with Camouflage. For starters, models carrying Direct Template weapons can make use of a very special order: Intuitive Fire. By declaring a long skill and passing an unmodified WIP roll, a direct template can target a marker. This isn't as easy to use as an MSV3 (you can't just point and shoot), but it offers you another tool for your kit.

Burninating the countryside...

Burninating the Ninjas!

Next, Direct Template weapons automatically hit their targets, forcing the enemy to Dodge if he wants to escape the damage roll. This directly bypasses all to-hit penalties that Camo, TO, and ODD bestow, making it a great weapon for hunting down those models that have dropped out of marker state. In short, direct templates don't discriminate: unless you dodge, you take an automatic hit. Most Camo models are not well-armoured, so even the humble Chain Rifle can be deadly.  Fire, of course, is even more deadly because it destroys Camo/TO/ODD, knocking the first two down to Mimetism.  And speaking of Mimetism...

2) Speculative Fire

Parabolic weapons like Grenade Launchers come with an interesting firing mode of their own.  By spending a long skill, you can fire your weapon over Cover and tag models that are either partially or fully in Cover.  Speculative Fire particularly shines against models with Mimetism/TO/ODD because they'll probably force you to take a penalty to hit them anyway.  By placing the centre of your template in such a way that there is no Cover between it and your enemy, you actually deny them of Cover altogether - this may seem like a tradeoff (-6 for Speculative Fire VS -3 Mimetism/-3 Cover, for instance), but remember that while the modifiers are the same, your opponent gets no bonus to his ARM roll.  Just keep in mind that you can't actually use Speculative Fire to "accidentally" catch a Camo marker in the blast radius if there's nothing there: there was no reason for you to shoot in that direction, and the game rules account for that.

But hey, suddenly those sneaky jerks aren't as tough as they thought, are they.  This isn't the only thing that helps against Mimetism, though: we also have...

3) MSVs

Now that you're familiar with the potential of direct template weapons, let's talk about the lower-level MSVs. We already know that they aren't as easy to use against Camo markers as their higher-tech cousin, but that doesn't mean you should write them off. For example, the MSV2 helps you Discover any level of marker without penalty: if it's on the board, you're rolling at even WIP at worst to Discover it. The MSV1 only affects regular Camo, but there is an awful lot of that in the game, making even this piece of equipment worth its weight in gold.

So I hear you've got a problem...

In the end, Camouflage markers thrive on making their opponents burn through orders trying to reveal them: if you fail with one model, you have to move on to another, which will probably end up costing way more orders than you bargained for. As a result, every little edge on your first Discover attempt is worth noting.

Once the marker is revealed, your visors double as hard-counters to utterly negate the to-hit penalties of the enemy. And hey, now your Direct Template weapons have targets to automatically hit. Remember, you don't only need to use one model to solve your problems: your visor can discover, and your warband can template right after.

4) Sixth Sense and Mine Blockades

Camoflage tokens thrive on making you burn orders, and by slamming you with first-strike attacks that are tremendously hard to defend against. Let's turn the tables on them and make them blow all their orders to get even a single good shot off, shall we?

Mines are an obvious advantage to have when you're coming up against Camo tokens. They take some foresight to use properly, but a well-placed minefield can stop a Camo onslaught in its tracks. After all, every order your opponent is spending on avoiding your mines is an order he is not spending on killing your troops or achieving the objective.

If positioned correctly, troops with Sixth Sense can act like pseudo-mines. They don't go off when Camo markers move, but they force the marker to make a decision about whether to stop and deal with the Sixth Sense model in a face-to-face roll or to keep moving and risk reprisal later. While it's true that models with the burst advantage typically have the upper hand, a model with Sixth Sense (and especially a model with Sixth Sense and a Direct Template weapon) will make your opponent think hard about taking certain avenues up the board. And, just to stress the point again, the more cautiously your opponent is moving, the less he's Camo-blitzing through your lines or toward the objective.

5) Tactics

Now that we've looked at some of the tools at our disposal, let's put them together with tactical movements to really put the easy-mode MSV3 to shame.

Your Priority: To Force Reactions

The best way to deal with a Camo token is to force it to react on your terms. Most savvy opponents won't make this easy, though, so the next-best thing is to force them to make some hard choices. Typically, these choices amount to “do I react and break Camo, or do I not?” Here are some ways you could potentially force a reaction.

1) Key Piece Aggression

Use your key pieces (heavy weapons, etc.) aggressively. They can work to force Camo reactions because your opponent knows that otherwise they'll go on to wreck other enemy models. By forcing your opponent to use his marker as a speedbump, you are denying him the freedom to use his Camo offensively. Pull your key piece back to safety if you can, though.

What I Would Do: risk the Camo marker. Sacrifice it to keep that heavy weapon at bay.

2) Direct Templates and Mines

Use models with multiple ways to reveal Camo markers. Models with Direct Template weapons shine here, because you can always fall back on Intuitive Fire if you fail to discover the marker you're chasing. Knowing that you have multiple chances to succeed using only one model might scare your opponent into a Camo reaction. This tactic can be used by any model with Mines as well, making it far more common than you'd expect: if you fail to discover an enemy marker, you can always try to lay a Mine – and Mines can react to Camo markers. Again, this takes an Intuitive Fire order, so it always helps to have a higher WIP model attempt it.

What I Would Do: If the opponent has already declared a first half (Move, for instance), I would stay put on the first order. If he has not, then I am expecting a Discover + Shoot, so if he sees me, I'm dead anyway – I'll shoot back with a Direct Template/lay a Mine, or try to Dodge out of sight to make things harder for him. I would stay put in the first situation because if I can force an Intuitive Attack, it means the opponent is using an extra order to kill my Camo marker. Any way you look at it, two chances to deprive me of Camo on your terms are two chances too many, so I am going to try to avoid that in every instance.

3) MSVs and High WIP Models

Moving an MSV or high WIP model into LoF of a Camo marker might also force a Camo reaction. Camo markers rely on the odds, hoping that the discover roll will fail and that you'll run out of discover vectors, or burn orders, or both. Models with lower-level MSVs can help to tip the odds in your favour, whether or not you actually intend to deal with the marker using that model.

What I Would Do: if the model is close enough, I will lay down a direct template or a Mine, if I have one. If not, I will get the hell out of sight, because the MSV model is well-equipped to both see me and see through my secondary defences.

4) Proximity

Your opponent wants to dictate engagements on his own terms, and Camo exemplifies this philosophy. The best way to deal with this is to put the opponent off-balance, and this often requires ballsy moves that your opponent isn't expecting. I'm not talking about dancing your models around in an open field without cover, having them scream “shoot me, shoot me!” as the second half of their order. No, I'm talking about pushing into your opponent's comfort zone. I'm talking about proximity.

One of the often-underestimated tactics that can force a Camo reaction is the proximity of your models to your opponent's. This tactic is related to Key Piece Aggression, but is far more circumstantial: your line infantry may not be packing a Spitfire, but if you could potentially use it to kill the AD troop your opponent just pulled back to safety behind a Camo position, you can bet they'll be thinking about a Camo reaction if they value that piece. The same goes for Infiltrators you have pushing towards the enemy's cheerleading line: he'll likely risk a Camo reaction if it means potentially saving his order pool. Punish him for it.

This tactic gets even better when your model potentially threatens both a Camo piece and another model, because now your opponent has to wonder if he should break Camo and gain ARO superiority or trust in his other model's single roll. This works best if you're using a relatively expendable model, of course, because someone stuck in this position probably isn't going to last longer than the encounter. A situation with two visible Camo markers is extra-interesting because now your opponent is forced to decide if he wants to break one to react (in which case you shoot it full of holes), break both to react (in which case you use other pieces to clean up the mess if/when your initial attacker bites the dust), or neither (in which case you get a free unopposed Discover roll, and your next order's first half can be “I Discover the other token...”, potentially making both enemy models eligible targets for your second half).

Proximity is one of those tactics that can really freak out newer players who rely too heavy on their toys. Experienced players deal better with being off-balance because they know how to use the tools at their disposal, but there are times where the best thing a mouse can do is admit that the cat has cornered it. Just remember: when using proximity to force a Camo reaction, always beware of potential Mines.

~Final Notes~

As a final note, I think it's really important to say that Camo markers generally suck at dealing with Camo markers. Because of the way Combat Camo works, your Discover roll will reveal you, and if you've already declared your first half (Move, for instance), then I now have an unopposed roll on your no-longer-marker. The situation changes slightly if you've finished your previous order and have started a new one, because now I'm reacting to your Discover...and if I reveal my marker, you will still have your shots. Basically, if you're using your Camo marker to deal with mine, you're not gaining the advantage of having a Camo model – and that's something you're paying for. Still, Infinity is about flexibility, so if you can clear a path to the objective or otherwise remove a pesky defender, sometimes you just have to use that Camo model, even though you might really not want to.

Anyway, I hope there was something in this article for everyone.  Next time, I'll talk about hard and soft counters to AD and Infiltration rushes.  Catch this article on November 23rd!