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Hey guys,

Just played a game the other day where my force was more or less wiped out entirely by an AD: Combat Jump Garuda Tacbot, which came in with an HMG, ramboed and wiped out 4 of my guys over the space of 2 turns and essentially finished the game.

Now I made some rather noobish mistakes (my excuse is that I hadn't faced an AD unit before! )
- Some of my guys were just facing forward into solid terrain. It's kind of funny thinking about it now why anyone would just be stood there facing directly into the wall (like they have been done something naughty), but I guess its not something that has ever come up in a game before after years of playing other games, shovelling the units forward and it not really mattering. When the AD unit came behind them, they didn't get to ARO other than 'turn facing', and the only difference that made was them for turn around and face the bot as it machine-gunned them So, setting up like the pic below is bad:

"Where are you going my desert flower? I will just stare at the side of this crate, and contemplate the words of the Uluman Komenoni as written in the 14th century"

And then this happened:

"What's that noise... ?!?! " *DAKKADAKKADAKKA*

- I had a hacker, but she was too busy staring at the side of the crate. I have since found out I could 'defensive hack' the incoming AD unit. Looking at the rules, have I got these straight?
1) I make a WIP roll at -9, during my own turn (I presume I can only make 1 attempt per turn?). So, with my WIP of 14 for a Djanbazan, I would need to roll a 5 or less to successfully hack?
2) If this is successful, the AD unit must come down immediately. The player who owns the AD unit must choose where each AD unit will land, then roll for them immediately. They have to apply a -9 modifier to their dispersion rolls.

So, if I'm reading this right, the original airborne deployment hack is pretty unlikely to be pulled off, but if it does is rather useful as it means my opponent's AD units must come down immediately and during my own turn, and they most likely will fly all over the place. And, the situation where the unit comes down and my people are lined up, shooting squad-style against the wall, is avoided. Although of course the order spent is wasted if my opponent doesn't have the Airborne unit in their list.

Are there any other ideas of how else to defend, other than just the obvious of having a couple of guys at the rear covering any unwelcome visitors? I use a Haqqislam list, with a mix of Ghulam, Janissary with HMG and some Djanbazans. Although now I am seriously considering getting an AD unit just because I've seen how horribly effective they are, despite not really like the Ragik model.

As I'm reading the rules your interpetation is correct, although as I understand it you can try to had AD as many times as you'd like given that you spend one order for each attempt. So a WIP-9 role to succeed and then the AD troopers drop and must role a PH-9 to avoid dispersion.

As for defending against AD I've had no personal experience and can't really think of anything except deploying defensively, although I'm itching to try out some AD Tiger Soldiers of my own!

Note that Hacking Aircraft only works against AD3. The Garuda can always choose (and often does) to use AD2 instead and then there's no aircraft in the combat space for you to hack.

One of the classic AD defenses is the Total Reaction HMG remote that everybody gets. Very deadly to sudden arrivals. Failing that, you should place your minis at deployment such that they're watching each other's backs, like real soldiers would. Don't clump them up and don't spread them out too far either. Link Teams can also be very difficult for AD troopers to crack.

My favorite approach to dealing with AD troopers is mines. A simple camo marker on one side of your deployment or the other can make your opponent very skittish about where he places his AD troops. If he doesn't see the mine coming the first time, he will after that game

As you've already figured, your models should always be positioned as if an enemy model is going to appear behind your lines.

So overlapping fields of fire (as always in Infinity), also reaction remotes as Loch describes, Mines, Crazy Koalas, direct template weapons and models with Sixth Sense 2 are good counters.

Resist the urge to set up terrain that denies all AD though, cuz that's BS, but keep open areas manageable.They shouldn't have a football field to land in.

Melvin McSnatch wrote:Resist the urge to set up terrain that denies all AD though, cuz that's BS, but keep open areas manageable.They shouldn't have a football field to land in.

The only way you can realistically set up terrain to deny ALL AD is to completely wall off both deployment zones and fill every open space with woods. Probably not a good idea if you want to get anything done during a game. If you only wall off one side, your opponent can chuckle as he takes that side for deployment and leaves you out in the cold for when the tigers come in...

As IJW said, TR remotes (especially with HMG or template), CK and SS lvl2 in combination with overlapping fields of fire.

That was a pretty bad thing to do with your deployment. Those guys looking for graffiti on the wall would have been better served facing the other way.

Garudas may be AD3 but they CAN use (as noted, often do) use AD2 instead (so you can't hack the aircraft). It's also a FULL order to deploy at the edge (and it must be OUTSIDE YOUR DZ). So if he does it inside your LoF arc, that's one ARO you can shoot him with (with as many guns as you have models that can see him) with no return fire.
If he survives, then the next order (gunning you down with hmg) he spends generates another ARO so you get to shoot him again (f2f this time).

Thanks very much for the comments guys!

I think hopefully with all of that in mind that should be the first and last time the Garuda has a shooting gallery, and the final scene from 'Commando' is played out on the tabletop

I've always liked the 'chicken leg' style Haqqislam remote models, and if they are that effective might well be worthwhile squeezing one into my force.

Now to think of some other horrible trick to play on my opponent now that the gloves are off.. we have done the whole 'TO sniper' thing already, so I'm thinking of the large 6-legged robot...

Technically you still win cause your men are painted!

What he said.


I have to agree with everyone else. Mines are great but a camo maker has 360 view until they are revealed.

Be warned.
The chicken remotes ("death chickens" as one of my mates calls them - he's not kidding) have a lot of parts for their respective size.

More than the other "standard" remotes for the other factions.
PanO and Yu-jing (Dronbots and Yaokongs) have legs in two parts that form an X, the torso fits onto this, then little guns and gubbins go on. The chickens have separate toes, legs and little bits everywhere.

I concur with the rest. As an avid Tiger Soldier user the things that screw me the most are Total Reaction remotes, camo troops and well-placed fields of fire. The power of an AD trooper comes from his ability to drop in and backstab you if you overextend yourself. So make sure you always have a unit in your deployment zone (which limits attacks to the more rarely used AD3 method of deployment) with eyes on the back of your advancing lines. Because the second you leave their six open a canny player has an AD trooper deployed behind them, outside of ZoC and has likely already ruined their day.

Of course you can use this to trap the other guy using TO hidden deployment. If you are worried about such a strike then using a juicy target with an exposed six to lure out drop troops is a great way to control the damage that could be done. I often have a Hac Tao or Ninja deployed to cover an area that looks like a weak point in my line. This causes most opponents to target this area for AD insertion or impersonation troops. And then I punish them for being too predictable.