Advice on 1st purchase

[Deadlift]

Hi guys, I've finally got the guys to give this game a go, now I'm looking to make my 1st purchase. Now I've got it down to a couple of choices. Pan O or Haqqislam. The problem I'm facing is I'm not super keen on either of the starter sets and I like Taqs which Haqqislam don't seem to have much off. I was thinking of getting the Kaplan box set instead of the starter set and then using mercs to give me access to their cool Taqs. This is all based purely on aesthetics. What say you guys ?

[Antox717]

I imagine for Taqs you intend TAGs. If I'm wrong skip my post! :) However Qapu Khalqi, a Haqquislam sectorial, has access to some really cool tags, and even it's starter is not bad ruleswise. In this sectorial you find also kaplans and druzes, so you are good to go with a kaplan pack without using mercenary rules.

[Quaade]

They are called T.A.G.s It's short for Tactical Armoured Gear :)

The Qapu Khalqi sectorial from Haqqislam have access to the Nomad Iguana Squadron as well as Scarface and Cordelia.

Taking tags as mercs in normal armies is almost impossible as any model with an availability of 1 is reduced to 0. Should you also plan to participate in official ITS tournaments, then it's only sectorials who are allowed to use mercs at all and only those that are in their army list naturally.

There's also no requirement to buy a starter pack. Sure they are nice and they give you a point of access to begin with, and there is a small saving, however, they are not mandatory.

If you get the aid of someone allready in the game to help you make an armylist, you can just as easily buy the miniatures you need for that as standalone purchuases. That way you only get what you want/need.

As a last thing, if you are all just starting, start it small and keep it simple, because diving in head first and with your eyes closed can easily become a massive information overload with rules all over the place.

Buy simple forces with simple rules, disregard all the advanced stuff and keep with the rules contained in the Quick Start Rules (http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/rules/[en]QSR-PF-A4.pdf) untill everyone is certain of what they are doing, then start adding the other layers to the game.

That approach gives by far the smoothest introduction to playing Infinity while starting out with everything is a massive information overload that have a good chance of leaving people confused and put off the game.

[Rattlernxt]

@ deadlift

The Kaplan box is a great purchase! They are one of the best light infantry in the game. Mimetism, BS 12, 2 ARM, doctors, engineers, ADHL adhesive launchers. Great first purchase.

Next buy the spitfire Hafza to be your LT.

KTS Engineer w/ ADHL
KTS MSR
KTS Doc
KTS blitzen
Hafza LT w/ Spitfire
Yuan Yuan
150 pts with 2.5 SWC

Its got 2 specialists, a weapon for all occasions and an AD: Combat Jump killer with Booty, which is just a fun rule. It is a bit order starved at only 5 but there s a lot of order efficiency there. Yes the LT is obvious but what are you gonna do for under 150 pts. You could use a regular Ghulam for the LT instead of the Yuan Yuan. You would have to drop the engineer but that's ok. Overall a great initial foray into infinity. Not too many unique rules but enough to get you going and you will use those KTS for awhile. They are just really good.

Welcome amigo!

[Rattlernxt]

@ deadlift

The Kaplan box is a great purchase! They are one of the best light infantry in the game. Mimetism, BS 12, 2 ARM, doctors, engineers, ADHL adhesive launchers. Great first purchase.

Next buy the spitfire Hafza to be your LT.

KTS Engineer w/ ADHL
KTS MSR
KTS Doc
KTS blitzen
Hafza LT w/ Spitfire
Yuan Yuan
150 pts with 2.5 SWC

Its got 2 specialists, a weapon for all occasions and an AD: Combat Jump killer with Booty, which is just a fun rule. It is a bit order starved at only 5 but there s a lot of order efficiency there. Yes the LT is obvious but what are you gonna do for under 150 pts. You could use a regular Ghulam for the LT instead of the Yuan Yuan. You would have to drop the engineer but that's ok. Overall a great initial foray into infinity. Not too many unique rules but enough to get you going and you will use those KTS for awhile. They are just really good.

Welcome amigo!

[energongoodie]

Great decision deadlift. Infinity is great.

If you don't have the books here is the excellent army builder to quickly see what troops do what.

http://infinitythegame.com/army/

I've started with Nomads and the Corregidor starter is excellent but the starter boxes are by no means must buys. You really can just buy the models that look pretty and still have a great game with them.

The Haq sectorial Qapu Khalqi has caught my eye and I intend to buy the brand new Sekban box and use it with my Iguana for some T.A.G action.

Other than the really good KTS models, what else has caught your eye?

[Deadlift]

Well I really like the Haqqislam models, especially the KTS. I also happen to be half Turkish so that swung it and they are a must. Sean Dooley gave me some good advice on the Qapu Khalqi starter set too. But I really like the Iquana too. The KTS is where I will begin :)
Janissaries look awesome as does the Fiday. Haqqislam is where its at for me but the lack of a big cool TAG bothered me until I realised I could use Mercs as well.

So assuming Im going to base my army around the KTS box 1st where would you go from there ?

What Rattlernxt has written looked like something I could build on nicely but any extra sage advice would be great.

thanks to you guys for the replies so far.

[energongoodie]

If your basing it off them then they are your middle ground.

You need to get some cheap troops for some orders, which if your going sectorial is your Ghulam Infantry. Maybe one is a doctor.

You could get the expensive Iguana Tag cause I love it and it's cool and big :) Not great for a starting 200 pointer though :)

You also need a lieutenant. Maybe a Hafza with a spitfire? or a Jannissaries cause he's tough?

Here's my first go a t basic 200.

7463
http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=7463&d=1392975052

[Rattlernxt]

The 8 order rule of thumb is certainly a good one. At 150 and with a KTS core it will be really tough to get that many orders. You would really need to focus on ghulams or better yet naffatuns at about 17 pts a piece. The 5 orders in the list I recommended is a real exercise in order management and teaches some excellent skills. If you scale it up to 200, well then you can fill that extra 50 points with 13 point order monkeys and get up to about 9. That's some flexibility.

Want something else fun? Drop the one regular Kaplan and the Yuan yuan and add a Harris link team of odalisques. That's 7 orders and 2 link teams (you can only do this because of the Harris special ability with odalisques and Sekban). So you have 7 orders pushing 2 groups of models. Both of which are efficient and awesome. Order deficiency will make things tougher but the troop profiles are expensive. I don't think you will be disappointed in any of these models. Stick to what's awesome and you can't go wrong.

[scadugenga]

Hey DL-I know I'm late to this particular shindig---but here's the skinny (at least on my end):

Buy what you want to buy. I went for Nomads based off pure aesthetics, avoided the starter boxes and did just fine.

Also--I'm sorry, but I don't really buy the "order rule" hype. Yes, generally more orders is better, but if you aren't planning on playing ITS/competitively, and just want to have fun with mates, go play with what you want to paint up, etc.

Haqq and PanO are almost polar opposites: PanO has the cutting edge tech and best average ballistic skill (plus the new Bolts look nice). However, they have lower than after willpower, which means that they are at a disadvantage in the not running away/fulfilling mission objectives side of things. Haqq has higher than average willpower, so their specialists tend to shine. But they only have one TAG. And it's sorta fugly, imo. ;) Still, Haqq seem to excel with light infantry and skirmishers.

Ultimately, list-building is not where you win or lose a game. Everything can die to the basic bog-standard weapon in the game. The Infinity forums have a wealth of information (and sometimes very polarizing opinions) but it's usually a good place to do some research.

Edit: the only starter I *have* bought is the Corregidor one. Because it's simply phenomenal. Though I gave away the hellcat, because the new resculpt versions just don't do it for me the way the old (but effin' annoyingly hard to get the fins on) models do. :)


Cheers,

Scad

[DarkLink]

Coincidentally, I just started PanO, mostly vanilla/neoterra. PanO's TAGs are pretty beastly, and they've got some pretty sweet heavy infantry. 8 games in atm. You need order monkeys, though. That pretty much means you might as well get the starter pack, you'll get your basic dudes you can use to generate orders, and then grab the specific models you need from there, and you can be at 300pts for a minimal investment. Though I've found that, given the opportunity, even a random Fusilier can go on a murderous rampage if your opponent leaves an opening you can exploit. Even heavy infantry doesn't like it when a BS12 combi-rifle pops up behind them and starts unloading into them.

[scadugenga]

I almost went PanO (and I do have a small budding force, thanks mostly to tourney win prizes) but the stupid backwards banana mag on the combi-rifles really throws me off, for some reason.

They do have the coolest Remotes outside of the Nomads though. The Peacemaker looks amazing. Of course, I imagine it's just a major PITA to put together as the Sputniks.

[chromedog]

I've got 4 factions.
Started with PanO. Yes, they have pretty average willpower (Haqq has the GOOD willpower) but they do have almost godlike shooting abilities. :D They have the most TAGs - and although I dislike giantfightingrobo mecha - the TAGs of Infinity are more "heavy gear" size than "gundam".

Next up was my JSA - because ninja. You can run 4 'regular' ninja as well as 3 oniwaban (and shinobu kitsune) in that force if you want to (but you'll be north of 300pts to do so).
Next up was Aleph. Pure vanilla - I like the Asuras and Devas too much to go full greek (while the myrmidons are cool, and the officer, I don't like Ajax or most of the named characters (Eudoros, Machaon, etc) - Penny is an exception. Hot girl on bike is always going to go in my collection.
Last I got QK. I started with a blister of alguaciles (prize from a tourney) and then a blister of ghulams (another prize).
Then added Scarface and cordy, some Kaplans, some Druze, some yuan-yuan, and the Iguana.

Yes, I've used Scarface and Iggy in the same force. Didn't work out too well for my opponent, though.