Infinity/N3 Tactics/Shock Army of Acontecimento

The unit overview and tactica for Shock Army of Acontecimento.

RIP Toni.

Why Play ASA

The Shock Army of Acontecimento (come on, it’s not that hard to pronounce) is the odd one out. It lacks most of the PanO staples while utilizing units vanilla players usually skip. What’s more it has a bunch of ALEPH stuff for good measure. With their higher WIP, more focus on lighter units and board control via hacking and mines, you’d swear you’re playing Nomads. Yet they still shoot like PanOceanians and utilize that hi-tech gear.

Acontecimento is getting more love from CB recently, so you may be looking at it now.

Faction features

Special Skills

Mimetism and Jungle Terrain: To drive home their theme of being more focused on guerilla tactics, Acontecimento troops often have Jungle Terrain and like using Mimetism. Terrain rules are not often used, but considering most of the action is taking place on the jungle planet Paradiso, it is bound to feature in official events.

Minelayer: Several units employ this skill. Placing multiple Camo tokens during deployment is not usual for PanO, yet here you are. Remember that ASA has no TO Camo troops.

Fireteam: Haris and Duo: On several units, allowing you greater order efficiency than say Military Orders.

Valor: Dogged and No Wound Incapacitation: Courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood ALEPH.

Weapons and Equipment

Mines: All types of mines! Even their TAG has mines! With them you are less exposed to short-range harass, mitigating PanO’s usual weakness in this area.

Lower ARM: Compared to the rest of PanO, ASA troops usually employ lower ARM values. They trade it for more skills or unusual gear.

Units

Light Infantry

Normally those are only cheerleaders, but Acontecimento offers a wide variety of light infantry specialists.

• Acontecimento Regulars: Your Line Infantry. Higher WIP than regular Fusiliers, at the cost of ARM and additional SWC. Fireteam: Core of course. Their gear and abilities are a bit unusual for a Line Infantry troop, with stuff like Sensor, Fast Pandas or Sapper on the Sniper option. For some reason FO costs 0.5 SWC. Unfortunately they have no Missile Launchers or HMGs. But if you get the soon to be replaced starter, you can field Lost cast as a link team.

• ALIVE Anti-Establishment Group: A small Hacking group for 50 pts and 1 SWC, including AHD, KHD and WHD. They have no lethal weapons (aside from the Killer Hacker Device and knives) and can be taken together or separately, in latter case being Irregular. That is a lot, but they provide a reasonable Repeater network all by themselves.

• Drakios, Steel Phalanx NCO: A Light Infantry Rambo, comes packed with Martial Arts, Red Fury and Devabots, all covered in Albedo to frustrate enemy MSV snipers. Drakios wants to get close, so keep in mind his low ARM. Remember that Devabots don’t benefit from Stealth and can’t be part of Coordinated Orders.

• Machinist : Basically a non-linkable Fusilier with Engineer and higher BTS. Not very good, but it's the only Engineer in entire PanOceania, so if you're heavy on Remotes or using a TAG, you'll be taking him anyway.

• Scylla, Steel Phalanx NCO: A dedicated Hacker unit, although with WIP 13. Does not have Martial Arts or Valor, so she’s a bit more vulnerable than Drakios – but you can hack through walls, so who cares? Comes equipped with one or two walking repeaters armed with heavy flamethrowers, technology even Nomads are envious of. Makes for a dangerous hack-bubble.

• Trauma-Doc: Your only Doctor option. Much like Machinist she's not very good, but she's also dirt-cheap. Take a Palbot with her.

• WarCor: A 3 pts Irregular 360 visor Flash Pulse ARO unit. Nothing really to tell about him.

• Indigo Spec-Ops: If your meta allows for one, you have a choice of a Fusilier, an Order Sergeant or an Acontecimento Regular. Since you’re playing ASA, Regular will be your choice. Good way to get a free MULTI Sniper Rifle or an HMG into your link or just to have a better Doc/Engi than the Support team.

Medium Infantry

There’s some interesting choices in here. Medium Infantry is the most versatile part of ASA.

• Akalis, Sikh Commandos: Rather basic AD trooper, but not a bad one. Has one specialist profile or can be used a straight up killy unit. Has E/M CCW for some inexplicable reason. Rather average Phys, meaning they could use Supportware if you're not walking them in. Just remember to not use more than two, unless you have a ridiculous order pool for them or plan to deploy them grounded.
  • Kirpal Singh, Akalis Sergeant: Chain of Command and Martial Arts 2, Kirpal can make quite a mess in enemy backline. CoC can be a little risky if used, since AD troops tend to be out on their own and Kirpal likes close range, but it does count as a Specialist Troop in ITS.
    • If you want to take advantage of Kirpal Singh's Chain of Command, he must be on the table BEFORE your lieutenant goes down. CoC will only kick in the moment the LT goes into Null state.

• Bagh-Mari Unit: Oh yes. Bagh-Mari links can be pretty brutal. A combination of Mimetism and MSV1 makes stacking odds pretty simple for them and they can take HMGs. Being Medium Infantry they’re a little slow, but you’d be pumping orders into them anyway. Alternatively a Bagh-Mari sniper makes for a cheap Nisse substitute.
  • Lieutenant Stephen Rao, Bagh-Mari Unit: Acontecimento’s BomJesus, Rao makes for a pretty obvious Lt. (I mean, it’s in the unit name). He packs everything a standard Bagh-Mari trooper does aside from a shotgun and has a whopping WIP 14. But without a specialist profile you’re not going to use it aside from the Initiative roll. Which makes him better for a Lieutenant decoy than actual Lt. Still, he’s sexy enough to warrant getting the model.

• Teucer, Agema Warrant Officer: That little eromenos is a beast of a long range fighter. With his K1 Sniper Rifle or Feuerbach he makes TAGs think twice about walking in his range, while BS 14 and MSV2 shut down everything else. Pretty much only way to get non-TAG mounted anti-tank weapons in ASA. Has no defensive mods, so keep him in cover. Nisse who?

Heavy Infantry

Acontecimento HI usually trade ARM for mobility. They’re still pretty elite, but not as essential as in other PanO armies.

• Guarda de Assaulto: 50 pts for an ARM 3 medium range unit might seem a bit much, but Guarda can get close thanks to his Auxbot’s Eclipse Grenade Launcher. Can also cover the advance of your lighter troops or go camo hunting with his flamethrower. Your only BS 15 HI. However ORCs have now made them a bit obsolete.

• Sacred Military Order of Knights of Montesa: Slightly lower armor in exchange for Mechanized Deployment, Duo on all profiles and Assault. Montesa make for a very aggressive secondary link option, able to get into optimal range very easily. Also not Impetuous in any way, meaning they can deliver Speculative Fire with no regret. An overlooked advantage of the Montesans is that they come ready to rock! They have Chain-Colts for any links or Camo troops that stray too close; LGL/LRL and Spitefire options and breaker pistols for armoured goons. Their load-outs and rules allow them a certain tactical flexibility: you can fly into CC with either Shock CCW or Breaker pistols or keep a safe distance and shoot 'em up. Play to their strengths for best results!

• ORC Troops: If there is one sectoral where ORCs can really shine, it’s Acontecimento. Still inexpensive, ARM 4, BS 14, with Fireteam Haris or Duo options. A HMG based ORC Duo costs exactly the same as a Tikbalang. Also gives you an excuse to paint them green and green is best.

Tactical Armoured Gear

• Dragões, Acontecimento Dragoons: Typical frontline TAG, Dragão’s main pull is the Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon. A rare and scary gun, it defines the unit. Just point at target and dakka it to bits.

• Tikbalangs, Armoured Chasseurs of Acontecimento: Tikbalang is a mobile TAG designed for fighting at all ranges. Cheap and light, but not weak at all, with Mimetism and BS 15 it will win firefights and the mines allow it to secure itself from warbands. His downside is no anti-TAG weapons. His buff was paid with Toni’s life, call your Tik ‘Eduardo’ in her honor.

• • Crabbot Ancillary Remote Unit: Not a TAG, but a TAG brain that acts as a Pilot equivalent if your fancy mech gets fried. In true PanO fashion it has high BS and low WIP... Making it pretty useless, as it has no actual ballistic weapons.

• Scarface & Cordelia, Mercenary Armored Team: The cheapest TAG around is now available for hire in PanO as well. Scarface is a cheap, throwaway TAG with two Mk12 and Frenzy, good for some killing but not as good as regular PanO dudes (I mean, it's only BS13; by PanO standards he's half blind). But in Acontecimento ARM value above 3 is still a lot and Scarface comes with his own WIP13 + Mimetism Engineer.
  • Joe himself is now a Specialist Operative with a Light Shotgun. He still has Frenzy, but with WIP13 he can take an objective in a pinch. Making them both a bit more attractive for PanO.

Remotes

• Dronbots: Standard issue S3 Remotes, PanOceanian ones are not special in any way.
  • Clipper: The Smart Missile Launcher Remote. Usually PanO does not have good FOs or hackers, but ASA does, making it a more viable choice.
  • Fugazi: The Repeater/Flash Pulse Remote. Cheap Regular Order and a mobile Repeater, always good to have.
  • Pathfinder: The Forward Observer Remote. Mobile Repeater, armed, specialist, for 16 pts. Good, cheap, fast. And with Sensor on a Regular you could go for a minor combo.
  • Sierra: The HMG Total Reaction Remote. TR Remotes are often auto-include and ASA is no exception.

• Mulebots: Standard issue S4 Baggage Remotes. Come with Minesweeper, EVO Hacker and TR Combi profiles. EVO Hacker is the one to take if you plan on using a lot of AD. Minesweeper is a standard cheap Order and a way to dominate a quadrant.
  • Remember Devabots Charybdis, walking around with Scylla? You can Overclock those too.

• Armbots: PanO-specific combat Remotes, come in two flavors:
  • Bulleteer: ODD, BS 12, Spitfire, Repeater, 23 pts. Bulleteers are known cheap killers. With Marksmanship supportware a Bulleteer is a sure way to clear out enemy TR Remote and other ARO pieces in a straight up gunfight. A Bulleteer is a good way to run alongside an aggressive link or a TAG.
  • Peacemaker: Just like Bulleteer, comes with a Repeater and a Heavy Shotgun and Spitfire options. Loses ODD in favour of an Auxbot, making it a less straight-up aggressive bot, fit more for clearing out infiltrators. Much like Bulleteer, can be used to fill a blind spot, arguably better due to its two-in-one nature.

• Palbots: PanOceanian G: Servants. If you take Machinist or any of the Doctors, it's good to have one.

Skirmishers

• Nagas: A Dogged Camo infiltrator with a variety of Mines to choose. WIP 14 makes him a reliable and scary specialist, especially if you plan to use him as a combat hacker.

Building Your Army

Acontecimento miniatures are often pretty old, but they are slowly being replaced now. New starter is going to replace the Bagh-Mari with a Regular Sniper and the BS Sikh with a Hacker one and also give Montesa and another Regular a Spitfire. If you get both, you’ll get a nice base for an army, with a lot of Line Infantry and a Montesa Duo ready to go, although with some units shorter than the others. For a Bagh-Mari based army there is the Bagh-Mari box. With the one in the starter you already have a 5-man link. Other than that, the usual things that are good to place on a shopping list are Remotes, Support Pack and some of the ALEPH units you’re allowed. Consider a list frame:

• Regulars link w/Sniper and Paramedics
• Teucer with Feuerbach
• Nagas specialists
• Support Remotes (Sierra/Fugazi/Mulebots)
• Tikbalang

Hints and Strategies

Hug the cover. It’s true for all armies, but with lower armor and no Impetuous troops you’ve no reason to pop out in the open. That cover mod stacks up nicely with mimetism. Placing a mine or two can be a good way to secure objectives for yourself and discourage warbands from running into your Tikbalang. Minelayer Regular can protect your rear from some nasty AD troopers. Speaking of, remember that Akalis can also walk in from a table edge.

Acontecimento can be a bit harder to play than other PanO. But that also means it’s not as predictable.