Reinforcements

The rules for Reinforcements were released a  while ago,  here are some of my thoughts on this new play mode from Corvus Belli. 

The reinforcement games are definitely faster than your average game of infinity.  With ⅓ less models to deploy than a regular game the first stages of a reinforcements match are quick.  The games were also faster in turn 1, because there were generally less orders to spend.  I think we have all experienced the feeling of a 2 or 3 game day, when the final dice are rolled and you are completely out of energy, but the tables still need to be packed up!  Having a lower number of starting units in reinforcements means less “Analysis Paralysis” and less “Brain Drain” or “Tournament Tiredness”, particularly on the big days.  

The new reinforcements mode sent up the value of good ARO pieces.  TR bots became very popular in my area, but zero visibility zones and maker state were picked up in response as the counters.  The meta was shaken up enough to make players reconsider their regular unit choices.  With fewer unit slots in a list and a new points ceiling I was reaching for pieces like the Sombra or Crushers, which I rarely used in normal games.  The economic and defensive core fire team of five line troopers are rarely seen in reinforcements and dirt cheap order generators like Fugazi don’t fit very well in the new format.  Even with the extra point of SWC the dreaded Guided Missile is also less common in reinforcements.  

My initial thoughts were that when the reinforcements arrived they would clear the table when they landed, but in practice the reinforcements usually complete one objective or maybe two, before they run out of orders.  There were some games that rewarded edging my opponent’s losses to less than 100 points, so that their reinforcements would not arrive until turn three, this was usually when I had the second turn.  If I had the first turn an Alpha-Strike to cause more than 100 points of damage was my best tactic.  This would force the enemy reinforcements to arrive on turn 2 and allowed me to counter strike when my reinforcements landed.

One obvious tactic is to use the deployment pod as cover.  In one game I was able to deploy a light shotgun Ment agent within template range of a Tyrok hunter, who failed both saves and missed his return shot due to the cover of the pod.  Deploying the reinforcements pod close to enemies like this can get you an easy lead.  The counter to this is using multiple AROs to cover any friendly units near the halfway line.  To do this I take 2x three man Harris teams because the bonus to shooting in your opponent’s turn is really strong and it will help prevent your opponent putting melee units or close range firepower near your midfield troopers.  This works well in missions that require players to hold the center, like B-pong