N3 First Game First Impressions

This is written after my first game of N3 Infinity.  For those just tuning in on this episode of DBZ, the full PDF of N3 rules and many profiles have been released on CB's website - which can be found here. If you're looking for a more readable breakdown, then I did cover as much of the changes as possible through this post here but I must warn you, I'm not sure how much of that is accurate. It was mostly done diving through the official Infinity forums and 4chan.

Might See the Outside of a Case

I faced Henshini with 200 points at dawn with the stipulation of no bizarre space magic (aka Hacking).

My List was:                                                    Henshini's List was:
Ghulam Lt. 12                                                  Zhanshi Lt. ? 11
Ghulam Rifle+LSG 12 x2                                Zhanshi Combi 11 x3
Ghulam Doctor+ 16                                         Zhanying Breaker Combi 26
Naffatun Heavy Flamer 13 x2                         Guilang MULTI-Sniper 33/1.5
Khawarij Spitfire 31/1                                     Daofei Spitfire 55/2
Janissary HMG 40/2                                        Ninja AP CCW 34
Hunzakut Light Grenade Launcher- 18/.5
Muradib Taureg Sniper - 33/.5

200/200 Points 4/4 SWC                                 192/200 Points 3.5/4 SWC

5. First Turn Command Token is Clutch
If you are the second player, you may on the first player's first turn spend a Command token to reduce your opponent's Order Pool by 2.  If they have multiple Order Pools, you must make a selection.  For a very long time, I know Endalyon and Penemue pushed for a slightly reduced Order Pool to counteract first turn advantage in Infinity.  Here is an option that let's you do that, I'd even argue do it all the time.

Those two Orders missing from my Order Pool were a large difference.  It made me decide to go for a more defensive position instead of just trying to purge my opponent's miniatures off of the table.  The choice was there, I could've taken a shot but I wouldn't have had enough Orders to safely secure the kill without repeatedly spending Orders. With those two Orders missing, I didn't have enough to safely go for a kill so I had to make a choice. In the previous edition of Infinity, these wouldn't be decisions and I'm liking the choices that are being forced.

4. Surprise Shot Makes You Think
"I will Shoot back if I survive" has got to be one of the most common Order declarations of N2 aside from "Move here" or "Shoot". I've got it ingrained in my skull is was the option that I spouted anytime Henshini used his Camouflage Markers.  With Surprise Shot, I frequently ended up having my BS score reduced to 0 (as -12 is the lowest a penalty could be applied). This would lead to a Normal Roll on Henshini's part and was a boneheaded maneuver.  I'm used to Camouflage Markers surprising a model to death, it was rare for them to survive so if they did - why not shoot back at the now helpless Camouflage Marker?

With N3, you've got to actually pause and think. Should you shoot? With Surprise, Range, Camouflage and Cover, you might actually want to Dodge - even if it is in place just to negate Surprise.  This is a welcome change and sort of a confirmation that I believe the change to Camouflage's ability to attack was buffed in N3 (my theory was you only Camouflaged things you'd kill but as models got tougher and tougher with each release, the targets for this became fewer and fewer).

Everybody's Doing This Now

3. Mobility is Ubiquitous
One of the reasons I really like the Batman Miniature Game is that the entire game is so mobile.  It is easy to cross the entire board with a single move with some models.  Infinity has bursts of mobility between Air Drop and Infiltration, but until changes for N3 there were odd spots.  Full Order Jumps and Climbs allows models to quickly scale across obstacles, the changes from being able to walk through chest-high obstacles to miniature height also adds an element of surprise.  Models can easily vault into unexpected firing positions.  Checking your lanes is going to be far more important because it is easier to get around the board.

The changes to specialized movement skills are also welcome. Essentially, any time a model is trying to do some strange Super-Jump or Climbing+ shenanigans, they do not benefit from a Cover bonus. This meant that while it was welcome to play with a Khawarij for the first time in years due to his previously prolific role as the most awesome looking proxy ever, it didn't mean that I could abuse the good will of my opponent with strange Jumps (or Climbs with other models).

The flat out improvement to Heavy Infantry movement is also great.  If a HI still has 4-2 MOV, then you know it's a real Heavy. This also means that the standard abusers of friendly matches still stand out, with abusive MSVs or AD being costly to use Order-wise to pay for their ability to readily solve problems.

2. Close Combat is Now a Thing
Something we've suspected, but seeing a Ninja get into Close Combat and kill a soldier brought a tear to my eyes.  In N2, Close Combat was a very bad option unless you were incredibly over-skilled.  Moderate skill was not enough to justify the risk of dying to take somebody out.  The Ninja in question has having a tough time handling a Hunzakut that had Cover and Mimetism with a gun, so having him move up to get a Close Combat kill brought a tear to my eye. The fact it worked was a nice tough, having a skill fail at the first opportunity in a new Edition really stains a perspective.

That wasn't even under ideal conditions. With Stealth being a major component of the game between Martial Arts and Camouflage, it's going to be easy to get close with Boarding Shotguns or Assault Pistols. The true beauty is going to see high levels of Martial Arts being able to switch between melee and ranged to handle threats. I think the move away from realism to a better game was a great decision by Corvus Belli. The best part is seeing our little pewter men claw at each other's face.

The Deadliest Model in the Game
Armed with a Gun for the Enemy and Medikit for the Friendly
This Pose Conveys How Successful the Last Heal was

1. Doctors Are Still Garbage
This train of thought comes from my original ideology with the Haqq Attack.  You've got to keep putting pressure on your opponent with each Order, time spent to heal your own guys is wasted. Spending 2-3 Orders to attempt to gain an Order back for the rest of the game was better spent on reducing your opponent's Order Pool.  With Command tokens allowing for Cubes to reroll and Doctor+ giving +3 WIP to Doctor checks, healing should be a frequent occurrence. So my first Doctor roll of my first game of the newest edition of Infinity had my Ghulam Doctor fail to heal my Janissary.  Janissaries also lack Cubes, so there was no rerolls in my future.

I'm just bitter.