Fireside Chats: General tactics and list-building advice

Good evening, friends.

In this series of articles, we will explore the advanced topics that will make your game a more enjoyable experience. We will talk about things such as dirty tricks or underhanded tactics but also meta-game elements such as list building. We will try to evaluate certain plays and game-play elements, such as TAGs or HI in the ITS environment.

Preparing for the game should be done in stages. First and foremost, in Infinity, unlike in some other games, there is no list that you will buy and keep playing for the remainder of your Infinity career. You will have to tailor your list based on various factors, such as opponents you’ll be facing – you’ll be using a lot more MSVisors versus Ariadna and Steel Phalanx than you will versus Haqqislam, for example. You will need more orders and you will have to include Specialist Troops, such as Hackers and Engineers for ITS missions. You will also just feel like swapping elements from your list because you feel like it, trying out things such as Total Reaction drones, AD:Combat Jump or T/O camo.

There are various general strategies that you might want to base your list around.  Several examples are: order spam (15+ regular orders popular in various Ariadna flavors, in ISS or NCA) a combo, such as MSV+Smoke (a Djanbazan with HMG shooting enemies through smoke thrown from Kum bikers, for example) or camouflage shell game (something that Ariadna excels at, with their minelayers and ambush camouflage).

Mobile smoke-throwers is what they are

When designing a list, you should be thinking of the broader picture. Do you want to take models that synergise well together ? Or do you just plop down those you like the best on the table? In competitive play, you’d probably be taking those models that provide you with the best “value for money“. If you just need a specialist to complete objectives, is it better to take a lone Janissairy Doctor, or maybe a Ghulam Doctor , a Nasmat and another Ghulam Forward Observer for the same cost? In ITS, the answer is usually the latter. Orders are king, after all, and if all you want from your doctor is to push buttons, you don’t need him to be very durable. Plus, having two models that can perform objectives is usually better than having only one, however sturdy and efficient it could be.

Playing Haqqislam in an ITS mission, when choosing an infiltrating specialist, you can take an Al’Hawwa, a Hunzakut or a Farzan. Why would you take a Farzan CoC over the Al’Hawwa FO? It’s a more expensive piece that performs the same role within your list. In ITS, I would always take the Hawwa or Hunzakut over the Farzan.

A very valuable thing a Specialist needs is something that allows for saving orders. What that means is that it’s best if the Specialist does not have to walk from your Deployment Zone toward objectives, wherever they are located at (most ITS missions put them in the centre of the table). That’s why Inflitrating or Mechanized Deployed specialists are so valuable.  Something that increased the Specialists survivability, such as camouflage, is also a great addition.

Another valuable skill on a Specialist is AD: Combat Jump

One of the best models in the game is the humble Tohaa Diplomatic Delegate. Not only are you getting a Specialist for 5 points, you also get an armed model who can perform AROs – she carries a Nanopulser and a Flash Pulse, as well. She’s a staple of any ITS Tohaa list, in my experience. She is valuable both when it comes to objectives, as well as in general missions where you just want to have 1 more par of eyes covering an objective.

You should never be shy about including Irregular troopers in your list. Very often, you’d be using the order on the model anyway – A Hunzakut rarely stays inactive for many rounds, similarly to the Cateran, McMurrough or the Delegate. You activate those models anyway, and the points savings can be spent elsewhere. Having realised that, I started including a Daylami HMG in many of my lists – after all, it’s an HMG for 17 points and 0.5 SWC. It’s 4 points and 0.5 SWC cheaper  than its regular counterpart, the Ghulam HMG.

A HMG is a HMG, regardles of whether it’s carried by a TAG, HI or LI.

Remember that the winner will be the one who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. So do your homework and be the more prepared one at the table.

Have you got any other general suggestions? Tell us in the comments below!