Empire! It's Great to Infiltrate

[Mad Cat 2,250]

I was thinking of buying a second ISF box to do a maximum infiltration list.  8 Units, 797 points

Commander - Darth Vader, Sabre Throw, Force Push, Force Reflexes 215
Commander - Iden Versio, Seeker Droid, TL-50 Repeater, Target Scopes, Offensive Push 138 

Special Forces - Inferno Squad, Hask, Meeko 110
Special Forces - Imperial Special Forces, T-21, Offensive Push 101
Special Forces - Imperial Special Forces, T-21, Offensive Push 101

Core - Stormtroopers 44
Core - Stormtroopers 44
Core - Stormtroopers 44

Commands - 1. Pulse Scan & Implacable. 2. Concussive Blast & Fear and Dead Men. 3. Darkness Descends & Tactical Strike. 4. Standing Orders

Iden Versio deploys as an operative to gain infiltrate. Darth Vader uses the command Darkness Descends during deployment & turn one to infiltrate along with all the other units wearing black ceramics. Meanwhile the stormtroopers deploy normally, grab some cover and look after homefield objectives. 

Could this work? Is 8 units too few? With all the infiltrate I was thinking that lots of units to delay may not be needed as much as usual as everything starts so close.

I could drop Sabre throw and most of Versio's kit to squeeze in another unit of stormtroopers to get to 9 activations. Alternatively drop fewer upgrades to get 1-2 Shore troopers and a mortar in place of the compulsory core units. 

Edited October 6 by Mad Cat

[Mace Windu 1,173]

I like the concept though I wonder if you are paying a lot for an effect that has somewhat diminishing returns or that the value you get from it highly variable based on the mission and board deployment zones.

 

Sometimes with certain deployment layouts you are so close to your opponent that infiltrate barely gets you more than a scout move outside of your deployment zone anyway.

 

You could definitely catch someone out with it but I would think with infiltrate you really want those units deploying at the last possible chance to take advantage of your opponents positioning. Having 5 out of 8 units with infiltrate you are deploying infiltrate units from your 4th unit deployment onwards at the latest at which point the value of infiltrate is diminished due to your opponent being more able to counter-deploy knowing where your infiltrating units are starting.

 

I would be interested to see how your results go though.

[Shadowhawk252 135]

5 hours ago, Mad Cat said:

Could this work? Is 8 units too few? With all the infiltrate I was thinking that lots of units to delay may not be needed as much as usual as everything starts so close.

I could drop Sabre throw and most of Versio's kit to squeeze in another unit of stormtroopers to get to 9 activations. Alternatively drop fewer upgrades to get 1-2 Shore troopers and a mortar in place of the compulsory core units. 

Running an infiltrate heavy list you are going to want to be blue player. This would allow you to control the objective deck to maximize the effectiveness of infiltrate. I would recommend dropping the scopes off iden and either saber throw or force push off Vader to give yourself a 12 or 17 point bid. 

[Khobai 371]

whats the advantage to infiltrating ISF over just taking deathtroopers?

the deathtroopers can shoot from the deployment zone with their range 4 guns anyway. and they can move to the objectives fast enough to capture them.

infiltrating too many units is likely to screw you in a lot of scenarios anyway. I dont think you need that much infiltrate.

ISF have consistently failed to impress me when deathtroopers are only a few points more.

Edited October 6 by Khobai

[Shadowhawk252 135]

4 hours ago, Khobai said:

whats the advantage to infiltrating ISF over just taking deathtroopers?

the deathtroopers can shoot from the deployment zone with their range 4 guns anyway. and they can move to the objectives fast enough to capture them.

infiltrating too many units is likely to screw you in a lot of scenarios anyway. I dont think you need that much infiltrate.

ISF have consistently failed to impress me when deathtroopers are only a few points more.

Early objective and board control. With sabotage the moisture evaporators, recover the supplies, and intercept the transmission you can grab an early advantage and put your opponent on the back foot. Key position, breakthrough and hostage exchange, they won’t give you as good of an early advantage but they can still help. With payload and bombing run infiltrate does not help with those objectives at all and the death troopers would be better. 
They really are a different play style than the gun line. That doesn’t make them bad per say, but maybe they just don’t click well with you. I personally like them.

Edited October 6 by Shadowhawk252

[Khobai 371]

im not saying dont use infiltrate at all

im saying I dont see the point in going overboard with the infiltrate

since getting an objective where infiltrate is useful isnt 100% guaranteed, it seems more prudent not to go all in on the infiltrate to me

because any objective that comes up where infiltrate isnt useful wouldve been better served by taking deathtroopers instead. at least until the point cost on ISF is reduced to something approaching reasonable.

I mean if its just for funsies thats fine. But I dont think id try to spam infiltration units if I was actually trying to win.

Edited October 7 by Khobai

[evo454 432]

I've been wanting to build an infiltration list for a while. I need to pick up another box of ISF before I can go all in.

I really like the idea of just super infiltrating and making the enemy play hide and seek with a bunch of units while corps come in and take objectives. I'm personally a big fan of the ISF, I think they work very well as Gum units to break up an opposing line and draw attention away from other areas of the battlefield.

[Khobai 371]

Fair enough. But Id like to see ISF come down in cost by about 10 points before id feel comfortable spamming them.