diff --git a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/playbook.yml b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/playbook.yml
index e1abad3..1ab6933 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/playbook.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/playbook.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 - hosts: 127.0.0.1
   connection: local
-  gather_facts: false
+  gather_facts: true
   vars_files:
     - metacluster.yml
   # become: true
diff --git a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/clusterapi.yml b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/clusterapi.yml
index 2f0ca32..3c228fc 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/clusterapi.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/clusterapi.yml
@@ -27,3 +27,8 @@
         publickey: "{{ vapp['guestinfo.rootsshkey'] }}"
         version: "{{ components.clusterapi.workload.version.k8s }}"
         vip: "{{ vapp['workloadcluster.vip'] }}"
+
+- name: Initialize Cluster API management cluster
+  ansible.builtin.shell:
+    cmd: clusterctl init -v5 -i vsphere:{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }} --config ./clusterctl.yaml
+    chdir: /opt/metacluster/manifests
diff --git a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/nodetemplates.yml b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/nodetemplates.yml
index 1c3b188..ef35a09 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/nodetemplates.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/firstboot/files/ansible_payload/roles/workloadcluster/tasks/nodetemplates.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@
         folder: "{{ vcenter_info.folder }}"
         name: "{{ item.instance.hw_name }}"
         state: present
-        snapshot_name: "{{ ansible_date_time..iso8601_basic_short }}-base"
+        snapshot_name: "{{ ansible_date_time.iso8601_basic_short }}-base"
+      when: ova_deploy.results[index] is not skipped
       loop: "{{ ova_deploy.results }}"
       loop_control:
         index_var: index
diff --git a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml
index 1c5ca75..b0198a3 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/metacluster/tasks/components.yml
@@ -51,24 +51,27 @@
       register: clusterapi_manifests
       loop:
         # This list is based on `clusterctl config repositories`
-        # Note: Each manifest also needs a metadata.yaml file stored in the respective folder
+        # Note: Each manifest also needs a `metadata.yaml` file stored in the respective folder
         - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/bootstrap-components.yaml
           dest: bootstrap-kubeadm/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/bootstrap-components.yaml
         - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/core-components.yaml
           dest: cluster-api/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/core-components.yaml
         - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/control-plane-components.yaml
           dest: control-plane-kubeadm/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/control-plane-components.yaml
-        - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/infrastructure-components.yaml
-          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/infrastructure-components.yaml
-        - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/metadata.yaml
-          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/metadata.yaml
-        # This downloads the same metadata.yaml file to three separate folders
+        # This downloads the same `metadata.yaml` file to three separate folders
         - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
           dest: bootstrap-kubeadm/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
         - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
           dest: cluster-api/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
         - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
           dest: control-plane-kubeadm/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.base }}/metadata.yaml
+        # The vsphere infrastructure provider requires multiple files (`cluster-template.yaml` and `metadata.yaml` on top of default files)
+        - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/infrastructure-components.yaml
+          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/infrastructure-components.yaml
+        - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/cluster-template.yaml
+          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/cluster-template.yaml
+        - url: https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-vsphere/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/metadata.yaml
+          dest: infrastructure-vsphere/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.infrastructure_vsphere }}/metadata.yaml
         # Additionally, cert-manager is a prerequisite
         - url: https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.cert_manager }}/cert-manager.yaml
           dest: cert-manager/{{ components.clusterapi.management.version.cert_manager }}/cert-manager.yaml