Survival Guide - Hard and Soft Counters (Part Three)

~The Problem~

The problem for this week is the AD/Infiltration surprise attack.  Surprise attacks are the order of the day in Infinity. After all, how can you react to threats you don't see coming? You already have to deal with multiple possible attack vectors because of the order system, and things just get trickier when you have to deal with models that have actual surprise capability. That's right, we're talking about Infiltrators (chiefly TO and those kept in Reserve) and AD units.

Time for some unorthodox diplomacy...

~Why is it a problem?~

Simply put, these units combine the element of surprise with a drastically more efficient order-to-action ratio. Your opponent could spend three to four orders moving his attacker into position, or he could spend one to bring down an AD troop. Infiltrators start further up the board – in some cases, much further than normal – saving the orders required to move a normal model towards the enemy. Because these troop types save on orders for movement, they can now spend all those orders on killing – and that is what makes rushes so deadly. It's true that there's only so much you can do to stop these rushes, but when your opponent has a lot of orders and a perfectly-placed model, you'll want every advantage you can get.

~Hard Counters~

Infiltrators and AD troops are similar in their order efficiency, but the counters to deal with them are actually pretty different. What works as a hard counter to an Infiltrator rush may not work as a hard counter to an AD insertion, and vice versa. I initially hesitated to write on this topic because I don't think it's necessarily an issue of hard versus soft counters, but I think there's enough here to merit at least a few hints that'll help you survive these rapid assaults.

Total Reaction/Neurocinetics: These are hard counters against non-Camo surprises. Every ARO your opponent doesn't want you to have is a good one, and they get even better when you get full burst. It's true that your opponent can use the active turn to set up a confrontation that's beneficial to him, but it's taking him orders to do this, which means that he'll have fewer orders to do everything else.

It's especially fun to see a wayward AD3 unit scattering and landing in full view of a Total Reaction/Neurocinetics model, only to be ripped to pieces by a full unopposed burst.

Let's be honest, though: your opponent is not going to let this happen very often. To get the most use out of your units, you need to place them in such a way that they cover possible entry zones. This is something we'll talk about later in the Model Positioning section.

Mines: Mines serve as hard counters to Camouflage of all kinds. In a game where reactions are key, models that limit reactions – like Camo units - are super-powerful. More powerful, though, are the pieces that trump this ability. Because Mines can react to Camo tokens (whether they move or shoot), they rob most Infiltration rushes of the element of surprise in two ways: first, they utterly bypass the “first strike” ability of combat camo; second, they force your opponent to spend orders bypassing the problem, which means fewer orders for the attack. Mines are just as capable dealing with AD as they are Camo, too: just place a Mine in a potential drop zone, and render it off-limits to most surprise attacks.

~Soft Counters~

Camo/TO: Use your opponent's advantages against him with Camo and TO Infiltrators of your own. The more you muddle the battlefield, the harder a time your opponent will have with what was supposed to be a simple surprise murder-death-kill. As I mentioned in a previous article, Camo versus Camo matchups are awful affairs – and this is exactly the kind of defensive position what you want your opponent to run into.

TO is extra-fun because you can use your hidden positions to throw a wrench into your opponent's surprise attack plans. While it's true that you might not want to reveal your TO on your opponent's turn (to give your opponent full burst against it in a situation of your opponent's choosing), sometimes it comes down to the simple fact that your opponent has not spent nearly enough orders for your liking and you have to do something about that. For example, they might be about to claim an objective or within range to kill one of your key pieces, and making them spend one or two more orders on a new target is just enough to make them think twice about their original plans.

As an aside: even though non-Camo Infiltrators seem a lot less dangerous, they can also soak up the orders your opponent was planning to spend on something else. Simply by being in the way, your infiltrators can provide a screen that makes your opponent burn orders on targets that simply aren't his priority.

Model Positioning: Since every ARO counts, you have to make sure that you maximize your number of AROs at every turn. Even if your reacting model is facing a very certain future as thin red mist, it's worth it if you can keep your opponent's surprise model from stomping all over the rest of your minis. This can be achieved as easily as having your models cover corners and watch each other's backs, but there's a bit more nuance to putting up a real resistance to AD and Infiltration pushes.

First, it's not just about covering angles. It's about covering angles in such a way that maximizes your bonuses while minimizing those of your opponent. If I have a very strong feeling that my opponent is going to drop an AD HMG unit somewhere, I want to position my defenders in such a way that they force a 0-8” confrontation – ideally with 0-8” +3 weapons of their own. CC ability comes into play here, because models with good PH may be making their Dodge FtF roll against a much higher target number than they would if they were shooting. Once your model gets into CC, the surprise rush suddenly needs to spend a lot more orders – and take a lot more risk – to be effective.

Second, you want to force bad firing positions. Most Infinity players will not be shooting at you from outside Cover unless they have no other choice, so your goal is to try to change this. Set up at angles that force your opponent to choose between firing without cover or taking multiple AROs. Make your opponent spend that extra order to turn the sharp corner to open fire, because it means a retreat (if your opponent is so inclined) will also take an extra order they may not be willing to spend. This obviously comes down to how cautious an opponent you are facing, but reading your opponent is all part of the game. If I know, for instance, that my opponent is going to go balls-out with his Infiltrator and not really care if it survives, I know that this particular order-drain tactic probably won't have much effect. If I know that my opponent is really careful about each model and wants them all to survive (ideally), then this tactic suddenly becomes more useful.

Third, you want to surround your biggest threats with layers of ablative armour. In other words, make it a pain in the ass to get to them. Maybe you've got Mines in the way. Maybe there's a sacrificial lamb that'll make your opponent's Infiltrator de-Camo before he wants to. Maybe it's something as simple as forcing your opponent to answer every ARO, no matter how trivial, so that it's just impossible to reach your key models with the orders he has left. In short, make your opponent spend so much time peeling the onion that by the time they get to the centre, the centre has readied its fully-automatic weapons and has developed a thirst for blood.

Fourth, you want to cover possible entry zones. Maybe there's an open area that looks like a juicy landing zone, or maybe a particular table edge looks like it might be really handy for launching surprise attacks. Hell, maybe there's even a conspicuously empty part of table that might just be the nest of a TO Infiltrator.

If you can learn to pick up on these clues, you can place your models in such a way that surprise attacks are either stopped altogether (though this is rare) or are forced to surprise your lookout model rather than the model they actually wanted to gank. Think of how you would wage a war of surprise, and look out for locations that your opponent could use to do the same.

Fifth - and I cannot stress this enough – don't let your opponent get the chance to surprise you. Many players are so concerned with initial deployment that they forget about maintaining the integrity of their line as the game progresses. Preventing surprise attacks is not just a measure of good deployment: it's also a measure of how well your minis play as a team throughout the game. Cover each other's backs. Be within 8” to allow a Change Facing if your friend get shot. Drop Mines to cover key angles of approach. And, most of all, punish your opponent by crippling his order pool more than he cripples yours. After all, an AD surprise attack with 3 orders backing it is a lot less scary than the same attack with 8 orders behind it.

Admittedly, the best way to stop a surprise attack is to cripple its fuel in your active turn. This isn't always possible, though, and even if you follow the ideas laid out above, there are many times where your line will crumple under the violent onslaught of a well-placed Infiltrator or AD unit. AROs are nice to have, but when it's 4 dice against your one in a situation your opponent (not you) has chosen, they are often foregone conclusions. Critical hits certainly help, but they're not something to rely on.

~Final Notes~

I don't want to leave off on a negative point though, so here's some parting advice on how I view defending in Infinity. My very first rule of defence is this: make your opponent pay for each and every inch of ground. If he wants to pull a surprise attack, make sure that you make him spend as many orders as possible performing it, because that'll leave him with few orders to do anything else. There have been times where I've felt the wrath of an AD troop, and it was only the sacrifice of my dodging line infantry that left my opponent with one too few orders to accomplish his actual objective in the end. The brutal truth is that Infinity is a game of losses, and one of the best places to hit your opponent is his order economy, even if you're not actually killing his models.

As always, I hope that there was at least something little in this article for everyone.  I apologize for the lack of visuals this time, but hopefully there will be more the next time around.  Stay tuned for the next article, coming in a week or two!  In the meanwhile, I'll be working on padding the previous articles with some suggestions from Infinity forumites. :)