Infomercial: Knowing Is Half The Battle

One thing I've learned with Infinity over the years is you need to know what your opponent can do with his units, what they are good at, and what they aren't that good at. One reason I always suggest you should take a look at opposing faction units in the army builder. Look up their skills, equipment, and take note of their load outs. One thing I find with newer players and even vets is they can be caught off guard by a unit they've never seen put on the table before. This isn't the end of the game but one doesn't need to be caught off guard like that.

Now do you need to know all the other forces in the game like your own? Nope. It sure does help though. When I first started out one of the most common forces I would play against was the Nomads. My first couple of games I learned from experience who could what and how. It usually didn't end well for me. Eventually I started to look over the Nomad units. Taking note of load outs, how much things cost, and starting to see how a Nomad force could be built. After that it was coming to understand how my opponent preferred to play his Nomads. I wasn't caught off guard after I started to bring my knowledge and I even started to get good at locating LTs in my opponents forces (he's a big fan of Interventor and Custodier LTs).

Whenever I had the free time I would bring up the army builder and browse the other factions. Hop on the official forums and go to the faction sections. Those areas a chock full of knowledge about how a faction could use a unit or even specific tactics and strategies.

One must keep his opponent in mind though. One person can use a unit differently then someone else. This is where straight up playing experience comes in. To give you an example of this I recently started playing against an SP force. I've always struggled against SP since they were introduced. The combo of their ODD, CQB prowess, and link teams have always given me fits. I've never found a great way to combat that until recently (4 games against them later). I'll run it down for you.

SP want to get close to you. The weapons the majority of the units in SP have are for close to medium engagements. SP are designed to get close to you thanks to a judicious amount of ODD and smoke/eclipse grenades. Most SP players will have a firebase unit to provide over watch but not all the time.

You can start to use their common tactics against them. I found that mid-field units armed with mines or that have minelayer are a great way to dictate the path you want SP link teams to go or even box them in. This is common board control tactics.

With that in mind you can start to funnel SP into engagements that favor you thanks to long range bands. This is what I call keeping them at arms length. As noted SPs main range bands are close to medium. They have some long range weapons and we'll get to that in a moment. You can start to outrange their teams and start to pick off members from teams. It's even better if your long range weapons are impact template capable.

Before you can keep them at arms length though one must take out their long ranged unit. This usually comes in the form of Phoenix, Teucer, Atalanta, Agema, or a Feuerbach/HMG Thorakitai. These units can take out your long range threats and let the other forces of SP get into their optimal range bands. Best to keep that from happening.

It isn't the end though if SP get to the locations they want to. You must be prepared to counter-attack those positions. I'll tell you right now a counter-attack is going to involve casualties on your side especially when taking on a link team and especially a Myrmidon team in SP. My favorite counter-attack units are my template throw away units (Monks and Kuang Shi). The templates because they don't care about ODD and cover. Throw away because you want to make this attack an unfair trade for the SP player. The counter-attack unit will most defiantly fall but as long as he takes out around 2-4 of the team he's done his job. Other counter-attack methods I can suggest are mines. As long as you mine laying unit can do it without getting shot to bits dropping a mine around a corner which has LoF to a unit on the other corner is always great. It's part board control part counter-attack.

So in all if you can pin or bog down, keep at arms length, eliminate their overwatch, you'll find yourself in control over an SP in your game.

I think that's fine example of showing off ones knowledge of an opposing force. As for my opponent he runs SP with their usual fash smashers and an overwatch/long range threat. I kept those things in mind and planned accordingly.

Operation Red Veil aka Get Ready For Some Haqqislam and Yu Jing Awesomeness

This news is a little late as most of the Infinity community has known about Operation Red Veil since last week. Most of the info for it was supposed to drop this week during Beast of Wars Infinity Week but a little slip up saw the videos posted up ahead of time. Some people with quick hands snapped some screenshots before the videos were tucked away.

Now though the Beasts Of War Infinity week is in full swing. So lets see what Red Veil is giving us!

Yu Jing Vs Haqqislam

This is going to be another 2-player starter set. Operation Icestorm was the first that featured PanOceania vs Nomads. With Red Veil it's going to be Yu Jing vs Haqqislam.

For those who aren't familiar with these two factions here's a brief rundown of them.

Yu Jing: The jack of all trades faction in Infinity. Does a lot of things good but they don't excel at one thing. They are known for having the largest variety and diversified selection of heavy infantry out of all of the factions. Need a big gun platform, a HI who can go invisible, maybe one that can start half way up the board, a cheap HI? Well Yu Jing has all of those.

Haqqislam: Biotech, medicine, and a lot of light infantry. Haqqislam has some of the best doctors in the game and posses some super soldier units that to their biotech. Opposite of Yu Jing they are known for their large variety and diversified selection of line infantry. On top all of that as well they boast the highest average of Willpower among the factions. Comes in handy for things like discovering camo units, doctoring, and accomplishing objectives.

Moving onto what's in the box.

Haqqislam

Haqqislam:

3x Ghulams w/ Rifles + LSGs
1x Khawaij w/ Rifle + LSG, Grenades
1x Zhayaden w/ Breaker Rifle + LSG
1x Taureg w/ Sniper Rifle
1x Ahl Fassed w/ HMG + LGL, Heavy Pistol (box exclusive)

Yu Jing

Yu Jing:

3x Zhanshi w/ Combi Rifles
1x Tiger Soldier Hacker w/ Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower
1x Zuyong Invincible w/ Multi Rifle
1x Hsien w/ HMG
1x Ninja w/ Tactical Bow (box exclusive)

If you pre-order the box set before August 4th you'll also receive the Yuan Yuan LTE model.

Red Veil boxes are going to be at Gen Con this coming August as well as some other goodies from Corvus Belli.

Mushasi is a pre-release. You'll be able to buy the set again during it's mass release later in the year. The Unknown Ranger is a Gen Con exclusive. Expect to see the model again in a different pose in the coming months though.

Learning Experiances: Yu Jing

*Clears out the cobwebs and dust*

Oh, hey, did ya think I would forget about this place? Hardly. I'm just sporadic when it comes to updating this damn thing (meaning many months at a time). I'm back for however long I think I am.

So let's talk about some learning experiences since I've started up Yu Jing.

1. Let's talk about some differences between the faction I used to play and the one I do now.

Aleph has some of the most elite units in the game. I mean elite of the elite. A lot of units come with NWI, a form of camo (mimetism, ODD, camo, TO), or an awesome combo of both. This makes Aleph a super resilient or just a pain to even hit force. Add on top of that that all Aleph units have higher then average stats. Yeah the majority of units are expensive but you get what you pay for.

Yu Jing on the other hand is the HI/Melee faction. Their HI units are the most varied and some of the best in the game. They have really scary melee units that have no problem cleaving TAGs or other HI in half. Outside of some select units Yu Jing's troops are pretty average.

There lies the biggest difference. Average with a few elites vs everyone elite.

It's been a slight learning curve getting used to most of my units are not elite. My lowly grunts don't have mimetism or ARM 3. My warbands don't pack ODD or BS 12.

I say it's taken me about 8-10 games to start to understand that Yu Jing has it's own style of play. Also in those 8-10 games I've learned to throw away what I learned with Aleph.

2. Hybrid Warfare

The thing I've noticed with Yu Jing is that it does what I call hybrid warfare. Basically meaning it combines low tech approaches with high tech ones. It's one the few forces who field high end elites backed up by cheap auxiliary like units (example: Hsien with monk support).

Yu Jing has no problem kicking your face in a firefight. Something Nomads have a problem doing without resorting to dirty tricks. Something PanO does without even blinking an eye.

They have no problem going old school employing camo skirmishers or warband units. Something PanO won't do but something Ariadna will happily do.

Yu Jing with this hybrid warfare is basically a jack of trades. Good in a lot of things but not excellent in one particular area.

My last game with Yu Jing I think I took advantage of this hybrid warfare the best. My warband units engaged the hostile warband units and even provided smoke cover for an MSV2 sniper. Zuyong bounded up the board with the majority of enemy warbands removed. A Bao sniper and a Yan Huo provided overwatch. It was a good example of what Yu Jing can bring to the table. This cool mix of cheap and elite.

3. Not Hybrid All The Time

With all forces in Infinity this hybrid warfare is what Yu Jing does best. Now they can build lists ranging from the spectrum of pure elite to cheap swarm.

So I can field an elite list that takes advantage of the awesome selection of HI. On the other hand I can forgo the elites and bring a 17-18 order list.

I've ran a HI heavy list before. I haven't tried a Yu Jing swarm list (they're not my cup of tea in general).

4. Playing with new units. Keep a rotating cast though.

Since starting with Yu Jing I've been playing with a different list every time expect once. Now with every new list I at least try to include a new unit I haven't used before just to feel them out.

Generally I keep a rotating cast of other units I use. I find doing this lets me learn them but not lean on them. I'm still trying to learn how to use the Daofei effectively and the same goes for the Guilangs. I think I've started to get a better handle on the Kuang Shi, Monks, Yan Huo, Bao, CG, and Rui Shi.

Some units I really need to work on are the Raiden and the Aragato. I like what the bring to the table I just can't seem to get them to work for me. I bet they will start to click me the more I use them.

I still haven't even played with the Crane, Pheasant (looking forward to using his way better HSN3 version), Su Jian, support remotes, Wu Ming, Karakuri, Ninjas, or even Kitsune.

5. It's a good time to be playing Yu Jing.

There's lots of awesome coming to Yu Jing with HSN3 (we have leaks from the early copies released at Adepticon) as well as it being the "Year of Yu Jing". We're getting a new starter for the Imperial Service:

Infinity the RPG

Hey, long time no see guys! I've been busy with college lately but I'm always on top of Infinity news as of late.

We haven't had any big new announcements (the October pre-orders should be showing up soon) but we do have the Kickstarter for the Infinity RPG!

I'm a big pen and paper rpg fan and with Infinity being one of my favorite things it was a dream come true when I first heard it was in the works. Now it's finally here and damn does it look good. I haven't backed it yet but I still have like 23/22 days to do so. If you're reading this later on in the future then I'll give you heads up that the Kickstarter campaign ends on October 18.

If your interested in backing or just want to take a look at what it's all about here the link to the Kickstarter:

Infinity RPG Kickstarter (Click on me)

Infomercial: Heavy Infantry Revisited

This post has been building up in my head for the past couple of days. I did an old Infomercial talking about Heavy Infantry a long time ago but that was during Infinity's second edition. Now we're in the third edition and we saw some major changes. The biggest being that all the 4-2 (expect one) MOV HI in the second edition all moved up to MOV 4-4. This was big. MOV 4-4 used to be reserved for the lightly armored HI and the more elite. Now almost every HI is fast.

This has kind of changed how I categorized HI. In the last edition I categorized them based off mostly speed and statistics. You had your light HI with ARM 3 and MOV 4-4, your more standard HI with ARM 4 and MOV 4-2 , then your special HI who had fancy toys and either had MOV 4-2 all the way up to MOV 6-4.

Now I break them down by simple point costs.

Cheap HI

Domaru

 Cheap HI: Zuyong, Haramaki, Domaru, Magister Knights, Proxy Mk3

The base of these cheap HI start in the low twenties and scale up into the high thirties with heavy weapon options.

Cheap HI have either Impetuous or Frenzy which drops their prices significantly. Also many of their loadouts are geared for close quarters fighting with some weapons for long range assistance (Panzerfausts, Blitzens, MLs). Also these cheap HI are capped at ARM 3 and BS 13. Also fancy equipment is not going to be found on these guys. They are lean, mean, fighting machines.

An oddity among the HI is the Zuyong from Yu Jing and the Proxy Mk3 from Aleph. These guys don't suffer from the Impetuous or Frenzy like the other 3. The Zuyong also posses specialist options from a paramedic to a FO.  They also have an HMG AND a ML loadout. The Zuyong do come out being the more expensive cheap HI but they are still cheap compared to other HI. Same goes for the Mk3 who even parred with a Mk2 of Mk1 comes out cheaper then some standard HI.

Pros: Cheap! Lack of high burst weapons. Good link options in there respective sectorials.

Cons: Either come with Frenzy or Impetuous expect in a few rare cases. No special skills or equipment.

Standard HI

ORC Troop

Standard HI: ORC Troops, Teutonic Knights, Hospitaller Knights, Shang Ji, Karakuri, Domaru 'Neko, Wu Ming, Janissaries, Azra'il, Ahl Fassad, Mobile Brigada, Riot Grrls, Suryats, Ajax

Standard HI range from the mid thirties to the mid forties with their profile options. These HI have quiet a large range with their armor going from ARM 3 all the way up to ARM 5. Their BS also ranges from BS 13 to BS 14 across some these units. The majority of standard HI are bare bones HI with no special skills or equipment. Some are oddities like the Riot Grrls with the MSV1 or the Teutonic Knights, Ajax, and Neko with their berserk, or the Hospitallers and MA2. Standard HI though are very solid thanks to either higher ARM or BS then the cheaper HI. They also have more high burst weapon options like an HMG or a Spitfire compared to their cousins.

Pros: High burst long range weapons. Relatively cheap. Good link options in there respective sectorials. Bumped stats. Overall very solid

Cons: Nothing really special or as cheap as the cheap HI.

Elite HI

Ectros

Elite HI: Father-Knights, Knights of Montesa, Knights of Santiago, Ectros, Neema

What I call elite HI fall in an odd range bracket for HI. They start in the mid fourties and range up into the fifties depending on the weapon profile. Most of this group is dominated by some of PanO's knights.

Elite HI are a step above the standard HI. They mostly have the same ARM and BS values but they branch out from the standard HI by having special skills and/or equipment. For example the Knights of Montesa have the Mechanized Deployment special skill which lets it start half way up the board. None of the standard HI have that. The Ectros have the equipment symbiont which is basically a third wound for them unless hit by a fire weapon. None of the standard HI have that. One thing to note though is these special skills or equipment is not top of the line. That's reserved for the uber HI.

Pros: Interesting special skills and/or equipment.

Cons: A little on the pricey side.

Uber HI

Charontid

Uber HI: Daofei, Hac Tao, Yan Huo, Su-Jian, Hsien, Crane, Sun Tze, Aquila Guard, Guarda de Assalto, Swiss Guard,  Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, Joan of Arc, Asawira, Asura, Achilles, Sogarat, Charontid, Anathematic

The Uber (I had to find something better then elite) HI are the cream of the crop when it comes to HI. The cheapest starting points you'll find on uber HI is in the high forties but that's only on a couple units. A good chunk have their starting prices ranging up into the fifties, sixties, seventies, and even eighties.

What makes the uber HI uber is that they posses some of the best equipment, weapons, and skills in the game. You got the likes of the Aquila Guard who with his MSV3 is the bane of any camo marker on the field. The Asawira can heal himself back from unconsciousness. The Sogarat has the highest ARM of any HI in the game. Those are but a few examples.

These HI are going to be center pieces for your force and you'll rarely see more then one uber HI in a force. They are designed to do a lot of damage and take a lot of damage. Just remember like anything in Infinity they can be killed so good support from your other units is paramount to keeping them alive through turn 1.

Pros: Have the best weapons, equipment, and skills you can find in the game. Can take and dish out punishment.

Cons: Expensive! Bound to be first person on your opponent's kill list.

To the land of the Dragon I go!

Well I've made the next step into playing a second faction in Infinity. Today I bought 8 models to kick off my Yu Jing collection. Now you might be asking what happened to MAF? Well I just got started with collecting them and was looking forward to expanding them but then the resculpts hit. I like the resculpts but I wasn't looking forward to getting a new Sogarat who didn't match mine which meant I would have to get the resculpted HMG. Basically all the models I have for MAF have all been resculpted expect for the Rasyat. With that my enthusiasm for them wained as did my time commit for the game. I started college last year which meant I wasn't able to participate all that much in the Denver gaming meta.

Then when N3 came out I got to see the the new Yu Jing HI like the Yan Huo and the Zuyong. These guys were the first solid look of what the Invincible Army sectorial of Yu Jing was going to look like. Oh boy does it have me excited about fielding an almost HI exclusive army. Also it helps I like vanilla, JSA, and IS for Yu Jing. With Aleph I've stayed clear of SP and sticked to a Vedic heavy vanilla with some SP units sprinkled in. Not with YJ though these guys I could go full tilt with but that's jumping the gun to soon.

One other reasons I've joined the ranks of the Emperor's great army is the fact Yu Jing is underrepresented in the Denver metro meta. I used to have a gaming buddy who played YJ and he was the only YJ player I saw or played at a tourney. He doesn't play anymore. I've seen two other YJ players since then and one only played once in a tourney as selected by his friends. I started Aleph for almost the same reason four years ago. No one really played them and now everyone and their mother plays Aleph (I blame SP). I don't dislike that fact but it was also time to move on.

So I'm here to try and inject some Yu Jing goodness into those other players and show them what real HI looks like. PanO has the TAGs and tried to gloat about there HI but YJ doesn't even need to tell them otherwise they just show them. HI isn't the only thing that drew me to Yu Jing either. I like all their units for the screaming glory of the Aragoto to the well rounded Celestial Guard.

Enough blabbering though and lets show you what I got.

Yan Huo

I'm a sucker for the big guns and the Yan Huo is like my dream unit. He's the only non-TAG unit in the game to have the option to take a Muti HMG and a HRMC. Also he's the first unit with dual missile launchers. I got the one with dual missile launchers as the HRMC wasn't available for purchase from the retailer.

This guy doesn't disappoint having BS 14 and ARM 5 with two missile launchers for 52 points and 2 SWC! Now the downside is he's slow being MOV 4-2 and his his BTS is only 3 which leaves him susceptible to hacking and weapons that cause BTS rolls. He's still a very good firing platform though for how much your paying for him. I plan on adding the HRMC very soon to my collection.

Hac Tao

Another HI (this is going to be the theme with this list of purchases). This is the Hac Tao who is the only HI after the Swiss Guard to have TO camo. These guys in N2 just used to be a worse Swiss Guard but N3 they've given them some options to differentiate them. First the Hac Tao has better options for close range firefights like a boarding shotgun or a nanopulsar which comes standard on all profiles. Also the new skill introduced in N3 known as Executive Order can be found on two of the Hac Tao's profiles. This skill means when the model in question with the ability enters the table he becomes the Lt. You don't have to tell your opponent this happened. Also it's good to remember this does not work in LoL. You need a unit for CoC for that.

I also got the Hac Tao because he would make for a great Daofei proxy. I hope to see a Daofei resculpt in the future but the Hac Tao can serve as a great stand in for now.

Zuyong aka Terracota Soldier

The Zuyong are the backbone of the Invincible Army and the largest heavy infantry corp in the human sphere. They are basically the line infantry of the Invincible Army and they are impressive. The cheapest HI in the game without some effect like impetuous or frenzy. The lowest cost is the 26 point boarding shotgun and the highest is the 39 point HMG with automedikit. If the future is to be believed this guys will be able to link in the Invincible Army and become the bread and butter team of that sectorial.

I got the HMG Zuyong for that exact future but the Zuyong do good work just by themselves. They are really effective troops for their price and I can't complain about a BS of 13. They only have ARM 3, BTS 3, and no other cool skills, but for the price you shouldn't expect more.

Imperial Agent Crane Rank

The red headed step-child of YJs HI in N2 and now an absolute baller in N3. The Crane was to say the least one of those units in Infinity that was sub-par which is a rare occurrence. That was fixed though when N3 came around and they gave the Crane some uniqueness to him. He has become the bane of camo with most of his profiles come with a sensor. Also all his profiles come with 2 nanopulsars which is nasty against the likes of Ariadna as they lack BTS on the majority of their units. CB did the right thing as well as dropping the mono CCW and making it a DA CCW which has dropped him in points. They also bumped his ARM from 3 to 4 as well as his CC skill. He has the best CC stats and Martial Arts out of all the Imperial Agents. Getting into a fist fight with the Crane is ill advised.

I've always been a big fan of the Crane model like many others have. In N2 you would grab up the model as an awesome proxy just like the Pheasant. Now thanks to N3 you gets to represent himself like the badass he always was. I have hope that N3HS will give the Pheasant a similar makeover so he's a viable option on the table instead of a waste of points.

Oniwaban

Moving on from the HI we have one of the most feared CC units in the game with the Oniwaban! Packing the dreaded monofilament CCW, a CC of 24, and MA4, he'll kill mostly anything you send him up against. He's not just a close combat machine either. With the changes to the boarding shotgun in N3 he'll hit you like a ton of bricks as you try to shot back at nothing. Depending on the target you can stack the modifiers in your favor with surprise shot, TO camo, and cover you'll be looking at a -12 the highest you can go in Infinity. In the meanwhile if you are 8" or closer you'll be looking at a +6 BS before any other modifiers take place. Got an opponent like a Myrmidon around a corner and that +6 BS might not do much for you thanks to the ODD and possibly cover (if they're in a link team or not frenzied) then light them up with a nanopulsar. He's a nightmare in close quarters firefight situations.

The Oniwaban also packs superior infiltration which means he can make a PH roll with no penalty when going past the center line. He just can't go in the enemy DZ but he can start literally on the doorstep. Makes him a potent alpha strike unit and possible headache if you keep him in HD for later use.

Raiden Seibutai

 The Raiden Seibutai are the long range support specialists of the JSA. The Raiden comes equipped with limited camouflage which means he'll start as a camo marker and get surprise shot but only once and he'll never be able to re-camo again. This makes him a unit where you need to pick your target as he'll only get one shot at 'em. Now you might say why would you want that. I say because units with limited camo don't cause nearly as much as their regular camo brethren. All the Raidens profiles are long to medium range weapon and they're cheap point wise. Those medium range weapons get enhanced by an X-Visor attached to those profiles effectively making them long range weapons.

I went with the HRL option which costs a whopping 19 points and 1.5 SWC. He's a steal really and if you pick the right target and time to attack he can end up killing more then double his points. Add on that the HRL is a very potent weapon platform with B2, fire ammunition, and can cause template damage. The Raiden is set and ready to ruin someone's day.

Rui Shi & Lu Duan

The last of my purchases.

The Yaoxie attack remotes known as the Rui Shi and Lu Duan are very unique among large sized remotes. Most factions have support remotes like one with total reaction and a HMG or one with a GML. There are remotes that fall outside these typical support remotes. PanO has the Bulleteer and Peacemaker, Nomads have the Lunokhood and Tysklon, Aleph with the Dakini and Garuda. Well Yu Jing has these two little beauts.  They are fast and mean with the Rui Shi coming packed with a MSV2 and Spitfire for a measly 21 points and 1 SWC. The Lu Duan comes with a MSV1 instead but packs a HFT and Mk12 with the added equipment of a holo projector L2 for 22 points and 0 SWC. They also help boost your hackers area of control thanks to their repeaters. Which also means you can give them supportware anywhere on the table. Both of them with assisted fire which grants Marksmen L2 can effectively ignore all modifiers (if you're the Rui Shi) or help out (in the Lu Duans case against TO or ODD). Also putting these guys in suppressive fire is a good way to lock down a section of the table.

When the fluff says these guys are attack remotes they mean it. They get in your face and ruin it. You got camo, TO, ODD, or mimetism? Well they don't care about that. Hackers help boost there abilities and wreck even more face.

I faced off against these guys a lot back in N2 when my regular gaming buddy brought them in his lists. They kicked ass back then and  I expect them to do the same and even more in N3.

I'll should be receiving this lot next week and get my modeling game on. Might even have to give pinning a try with the the Yan Huo and the Yaoxie remotes. If anyone has any tips on pinning please leave a comment below.

USAriadna!

Happy 4th of July to my American readers. Seems CB also wanted to get in on the celebration and drop this beauty of a bomb.

Freedom boner!

What we have here is the USAriadna Army Pack. Going from left to right we have a Foxtrot, Marauder (new unit), G: Sync Antipode with the Devil Dog, Minuteman, Devil Dog (the werewolf if anyone was confused. Also a new unit), Maverick (new unit), 3 Grunts, Pre-order dismounted Maverick (chicky without a gun).

I really like this set. All the model are fantastic. We'll have to see what the rules for the new units are (don't ask how I know the antipode is G: Synced to the Devil Dog though...). I can't wait to see some these guys lined up across from me so I can kill them.