Today we are looking at the ITS mission: Annihilation. In previous years this mission was more about Classified Objectives than killing- let’s see if that’s still the case. For more articles like this check out the Tactics Corner.
Situation
As the Shakespeare of our time declared “I’m all out of bubblegum.” An aptly named mission, Annihilation, your goal is to beat as much face as possible while avoiding getting the same done to you. This mission comes in three tiers that represent what point level you are playing at:
200 = Low
300=Mid
400=Top
The rules are the same for each tier, only the points awarded for how much you kill/preserve are different. There are
no special objectives that need to be set up for this mission and just the usual 12” deployment zone. As would be expected “No Quarter” is in effect, so no worrying about sending/going into retreat. As always “killing means in a null state (or off the board) at the end of the game, and you only have 3 turns to sow as much destruction as possible.
Mission
The following points break downs are for all three tiers (low/mid/top)
Low Mid Top
Kill: 50-100 / 75-150 / 100-200 = 1 pt
Kill: 101-150 / 151-250 / 201-300 = 3 pts
Kill: 150+ /250+ /300+ = 4 pts
Have the following surviving army points:
50-100 / 75-150 / 100-200 = 1pt
101-150 / 151-250 / 201-300 = 3pts
150+ / 250+ / 300+ = 4pts
Regardless of tier, you have 1 Classified Objective worth 2 pts.
The biggest change to note is that Classified Objectives have been reduced from 40% of your max possible score to 20%- Finally a game that is really (mostly) about making stuff dead! Also that keeping your stuff alive is worth just as many points as making the other person’s stuff dead.
Another thing worth noting is the amount of points you need to kill in order to score points. You need to kill over 50% their army to score 3 points. This is slightly odd since you need over 75% to score a single point more; so not all killing is equal. This diminishing return means you need to ask yourself if scoring that single extra point is actually worth it instead of focusing on better preserving your own army or getting your Classified Objective- both of which are worth more points after you’ve hit the sweet spot.
Execution
- For the love of Gogo Marlene, you want to go first in this mission. Expect your opponent to reduce your order pool by 2. However by going first you will reduce their order by much more.
- When building your list, find ways to stack the odds in your favor, like TO camo, smoke, visors, etc. A good gun and stat line is nice, but you need to be able to consistently win gun fights- not just trade models if you want to score well. Ultra-cheap throw away models with template weapons (looking at you Morlocks) are also not a horrible idea since it should be fairly easy to kill more than they are worth… if you can control them.
- Careful observation of your opponent and his army will dictate how you set up. Do they have first turn and an aggressive army? Expect them to come across the board and be ready with overlapping AROs. Nasty defensive link and they have castled up? Get your smoke grenades ready and set yourself up to capitalize on them handing you the board.
Sustainment
With so many objective based missions Infinity players have been more or less trained not to go on whole sale killing sprees. Annihilation is one of the few missions that let’s the bullets fly freely. However keep in mind the diminishing returns of the points system. Try to bleed your opponents order pool down to a low level early on then attempt to keep your models alive and in the late game. Also while your Classified Objective isn’t worth as much as the primaries, it can be worth more than trying to push a bad situation that ends with you trading models and reducing your points preserved score.
What are your thoughts and feelings on Annihilation? Have you played it and have some experience you would like to share? Comment below, and remember; Frontline Games sells Infinity products at up to 25% of every day!