TOMCATS, Engineer and a ZondCat

TOMCATS are specialist Nomad troops that hail from the starship Corregidor.  The more highly skilled TOMCATS are doctors and engineers.  The TOMCATS enter the battle field by parachute drop in planetary environments, but also have training in Zero-G.  They can also be accompanied by a ZondCat.  ZondCat are robot remotes that can perform all the skills as the doctor or engineer they accompany.

TOMCATS - Engineer

ZondCat

Well, they sound pretty neat.  BUT, how do they work in the game you ask?  At the beginning of the game you can either start them on the board in your deployment area... OR you split the board up into sectors and determine which sector they will enter the board (as long as it's not your opponents deployment area).  The opponent doesn't get to know where they will come in... or even that you have one.  Seriously, they don't even get included on the courtesy list if you provide one.  One of the great things about Infinity is how the players have to trust each other and work together to make the game work.  As a courtesy you could take a picture of the location the unit will enter... or just write it down.  Most players will just trust you though.

So, on your turn you spend an order to bring the TOMCATS specialist (and their ZondCat, if you added one to your list) onto the table in your pre-planned drop sector.  If you pass the skill roll then they are placed on the edge of the table anywhere in that sector.  If you fail the roll, then they have to be placed in your deployment area.  What is nice is if you wait until the second turn you might be able to drop in behind some enemies in cover and catch them clustered together behind cover.  The engineers and doctors come equipped with Lt. Flamethrowers which can really be nasty in the right situation!!

(Pictures taken by my wife Alla)

Doctors are important for reviving unconscious figures on your team.  Engineers are for useful for fixing damaged equipment and repairing damaged robots.  So both are valuable skills, but also as specialist they have the ability to capture specific objectives on the game board depending on the scenario.

Hope you are having a good week friends!
Rod