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Hello,
Just got into Infinity & picked up Yu Jing. Already looking into a second army & googled Aleph but found little help in tactics or tip to building an aleph army.
So I look for other fellow aleph players that could give me a rundown on aleph untis & what works best?
Thanks

I haven't had much experience with them yet. My buddy has just got some too. I know he got a bunch of myrmidons and them I know are tough to beat. The ODD and Smoke makes them hard to hit and when they get close they can pour it on. They are very elite and tougher than they look.

I haven't played a lot of games, yet, but I've spent a lot of time on CB's forums and the Infinity Wiki, so I can do my best to give you a little advice. Unfortunately, the CB website is down, and that's what I was going to use as a reference to make sure I didn't forget any units. I'll post later when their website comes back up.

Myrmidons popping loads of smoke are great from what i hear and a Sophotect can be very useful. Adding a Marut to that lot would be tasty i think. I'll try it out in the army builder...

GROUP 1 (Regs: 8/Irrs: 0):
MARUT Lieutenant MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower, Nanopulser / AP CCW (122 | 3)
MYRMIDON Spitfire, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW (32 | 1)
MYRMIDON Hacker Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW (37 | 0.5)
MYRMIDON Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW (25)
SOPHOTECT Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife (31)
2x NETROD Electric Pulse (4)
2x YUDBOT Electric Pulse (3)
NAGA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife (39 | 1.5)
300 Points | SWC: 6

That could be a good start but i'd get advice from someone who knows more.

The Dakini remotes make very good line troops. They're expensive, but get Mimetism and a 6-4 move, which is a lovely combination.

Garuda are similar but even nicer: +1 BS and that all-important airborne deployment. Nice cheap Heavy Machinegun behind enemy lines. Surprise!

Achilles is a demigod, literally and figuratively! Give him the Spitfire and treat him like a mini-T.A.G. He's hard to hit and kill, but very deadly when it comes to dishing out pain. Best used at reasonably short range, but even towards the maximum range of the Spitfire, with the -6 range penalty that entails, he'll outshoot most opponents during your Active turn, thanks to rate of fire, very high Ballistic skill, and your opponents' -6 penalty to hit him (Optical Disruptor).

Camo, infiltrating hackers and minelayers (Nagas and Dasyus) can be very effective.

The Deva option with a free Devabot is nifty.

If you're short of orders, grab a Netrod or two...

Ok, website's back up. It's also occurred to me that I could have - and will - use my Human Sphere pdf document thing as a better reference.

I'm gonna do my best here to give you my 2¢ here, but take it all with a grain of salt. I'm not very experienced - I just read a lot.

Dakini Tacbot

In my opinion, our basic Line Trooper suffers from being a Remote. The fact that it can't go prone, can't use Cautious Movement, and suffers penalties to dodge makes it a lot less adaptable than other faction's Line Troopers. On the other hand, Dakinis are also G: Remote Presence, which means that they are completely fearless. They also benefit from CH: Mimetism, which makes them remarkably hard to hit. In my opinion, Dakinis are cheap, make good cheerleaders, and are the closest thing to an expandable cannon-fodder we have. Need to slow your opponent down? Throw Dakinis at him. He'll have to either ignore them, and deal with their AROs, or use his orders killing them and give you more time to maneuver.

I don't think it's that Dakinis are bad, per say. It's that they are not what our faction is good at. ALEPH fields small, elite forces of incredibly hard, tough, adaptable, and above all, fearless models. Dakinis - as our Line Troops - can't be all those things, so they are just fearless. As remotes, they lose a lot of flexibility. By all means, use them to fill holes in your list and have them act as harassers and speedbumps. Don't expect them to do the heavy lifting, though - they just aren't up to the task.

Garuda Tacbot

I don't have a lot to say about the Garuda. I haven't used one yet and I haven't given it a lot of thought. Harder-hitting than the Dakini and (more importantly) capable of Airborne Deployment, the Garuda can fill a couple of roles. With an HMG, it's been described as a mini-TAG, and probably benefits from some of the same combos. With any loadout, it makes a good harassing unit, capable of dropping into an unexpected position and completely ruining your opponent's day.

Deva Functionaries


Devas are our cheapest Lieutenant option, so that's probably how you'll use them in your first few games. In a lot of ways, Devas embody ALEPH. They are hard to kill, thanks to V: No Wound Incapacitation. They can be fielded as Hackers - a role they do well in, thanks to their decent WIP - or you can give a Visor and a Spitfire, which makes them kind of a like a mini-Asura or mini-mini-TAG (see Asura and Tag for the old spitfire/visor/smoke grenade combo). Devabots make a neat trick for the Lieutenant, but I don't think they're powerful enough to make the plain-old ordinary Synchronized Deva worth fielding.

Basically, the Deva exists to fill holes in your list. The name - Functionary - is very apt. Need a hacker and don't want to pay for one with Camo or TO Camo? Use a Deva. Want a spitfire and don't want to pay for an Asura? Use a Deva. Want to get some more models on the table on the cheap? Field a Synchronized Deva and you get a flamethrower-wielding Devabot.

Asuras

Asuras are like miniature walking tanks. They pack a serious punch - especially the spitfire option - and have the ARM and V: No Wound Application to take a few hits. Best off, they've got a good BS and combo well with smoke grenades.

The trick goes like this: field an Asura and any kind of Myrmidon you like (I suggest combi-rifle). The Mymridon acts as the Asura's backup. He can throw a smoke grenade which the Asura can then waltz into, see through, and fire out of. Even though her shooting gives away her position, enemy models shoot at her with a -6 penalty. Even if they hit and wound... well, she's got two of them, she doesn't drop until she dies, and she's so ballsy that she'll stand there firing away anyway (no Guts rolls, thanks to Valor). It's a great way to shut down your opponent's AROs and take down - or at least seriously thin out - any enemy firebase. The trick also works with the Marut (who also has a visor).

The Asura can also be your hacker, which is a good option if you find that you're the kind of player who has a hard time protecting his hacker. Can't keep tech support out of danger? That's ok - just make one of our hardest, toughest models into your hacker. Your opponent will be hard-pressed to take her out, and you can continue to screw with his TAGs and AD troops with impunity. I bet the Asura makes a good Lieutenant for the same reason.

I like Asuras. They embody a lot of what's fun about ALEPH.

Maruts

I have it on good authority that if you're fielding a Marut, you're making her your Lieutenant. Strategos Level 3 is nothing to sneeze at.

Maruts are a great TAG. They're hard, fast, strong, and mobile. Because they have a visor, they can also do the smoke trick. While Ramboing is a dangerous tactic in Infinity, I'm told that Maruts are one of the few models that can pull it off.

Nagas

I like Nagas a lot. In my opinion, they make great Hackers, because Camo and Infiltrate mean that they can easily sneak around screwing with your opponent. They make good snipers for the same reason. They're also our only Minelayers, and Camo, Infiltrate, and minelaying are a good combination. Nagas are a solid support choice for our faction.

Dasyus

There's not a lot to say here - with TO Camo instead of ordinary Camo and V: No Wound Incapacitation instead of V: Dogged, these guys are basically the Naga's big siblings. If you're willing to pay the extra cost, they do everything Nagas do (except minelaying) but better. Dasyus have two additional options, both of which they excel at. A Dasyu Lieutenant is hard to find, let alone kill, and a Dasyu Forward Observer can start the game deep in enemy territory, invisibly marking enemy targets.

Myrmidons

Here's the deal: if you want to play ALEPH as a bunch of sneaky, spy-type specialists creeping around the battlefield, protected by various kinds of camouflage and stealth skills, what you want is Nagas and Dasyus supported by Dakini cheerleaders/walking ARO platforms. If you want to play ALEPH as a hard-as-nails balls-to-the-wall fighting force, one of the few factions with the speed and the durability to actually charge headlong into danger and sometimes win anyway, you want to use Myrmidons as your basic troops. On the plus side, Myrmidons are reasonably tough, beasts in close combat, are very hard to hit at range (thanks to ODD), and have smoke grenades (which they can use to cover their advance or perform smoke tricks with Devas, Asuras, and Maruts). On the minus side, Myrmidons occasionally go completely insane and stop listening when you give them orders like "retreat" or "advance cautiously." This can be a problem.

But what the heck - they look like they're tons of fun! Who doesn't love the idea of shoving a band of flying rodent gak fething crazy Greeks down his opponent's throat? I sure do!

I would pass on the Myrmidon Hacker. Maybe if we ever get a "Greek" sectorial it will be worth it. The thing is, it's just not what they're good at. Naga and Dasyu hackers are cheaper, better at their job, and harder to kill, and Deva hackers are even better at their job and even cheaper to boot. Myrmidons are for killing things.

Myrmidon Officer

Basically, a Myrmidon Lieutenant, so you can field nothing but Myrmidons if you feel like it. Also, she has Chain of Command, so she makes good backup for Achilles or any other likely-to-get-itself-killed Lieutenant, like a Marut.

Sophotects

It's neat that we can get a Doctor and Engineer in one. These gals are great. Yudbots are basically an auto-include with them, since it allows them to heal and repair from a safe position, far away from combat. With Yudbots, they make a great addition to the smoke trick, since their Yudbots can easily follow the Asura/Marut into combat and keep it healthy, its advance protected by smoke grenades. Basically, if you want a doctor or engineer, this lady is a great (and, our only) choice. Whether or not you want a doctor/engineer, though, is something I'm not really experienced enough to tell you, yet.

Rebots

Rebots are extremely versatile little buggers that can fill a wide variety of roles, from highly mobile repeaters, great for keeping a hacker out of danger, to mobile artillery platforms, to extremely mobile, wall-crawling 360°-seeing area-denying Total-Reaction monsters.

I haven't played with them yet, so I can't tell you a lot about how to use them. However, glancing at their stats and options, my quips above are pretty much it. LAMEDH is hard-to-hit (CH: Mimetism) multi-terrain repeater. Its job is to go places you don't want to send a squishy hacker (Deva or Naga, probably) so the Hacker can do his or her thing without risk. SAMEKH is basically a mobile artillery platform. It synergizes well with Naga Forward observers, who can Camo-Infiltrate and mark targets. The ZAYIN is a little beast, designed to deny huge chunks of the board to your opponent. Between its ability to see in all directions, easily climb atop buildings, and Total Reaction (which lets it fire its HMG's full burst in ARO), nobody wants to get anywhere near these little bastards. Have one follow your TAG around to deny your opponent the one area he most wants to occupy. Hilarity ensues. One ZAYIN build can even field monofilament mines, the ultimate in area denial.

The one Rebot I don't like much is the DALETH. It's a Forward Observer and a Repeater, which is a pretty good combination. The trouble is that in my opinion, we already have better tools for these jobs. A Dasyu Forward observer has TO Camo and Infiltrate, and a better BS and WIP. That said, she's also a ton more expensive, which might very well answer my own question right there.

Yudbots

They really just ought to have put these in a box with the Sophotect.

Netrods

This guy has two roles.

Firstly, he's an incredibly cheap cheerleader. He can't do anything himself - on account of he's an umbrella - but don't sneeze at an extra order for your Marut, or Asura... or Posthumans.

This brings us to number two: Netrods make your Posthuman extremely hard to kill permanently.

The latter is the real reason Netrods exist, which bring me to my final point: they really should have just boxed this guy with the Posthumans.

Shaekonnit will be here presently to remind us that he can package that up and send it to you - and at a good discount, too.

Probots

These guys are kind of like baby Rebots, I think. All are repeaters. One's also a minesweeper. That's useful in your opponent fields mines. One's an EVO repeater, which is useful if you field more than one Hacker. One's also a total reaction shooter with a Combi Rifle. The trouble with the last one is that, like all remotes, he's not a great shot, and unlike the ZAYIN Rebot, he isn't AROing with four shots, only three. On the plus side, all Probots are much cheaper than their Rebot siblings, which means that they can easily find a place in some lists under the right circumstances. Probots also have the Baggage special rule, which has an effect on victory points in some scenarios.


Posthumans

Posthumans are really interesting, and I want a box really badly, and I only barely understand how they work. Basically, it's one person in many bodies, which lets it leap around the battlefield in interesting ways. Combine with a Sophotect and a Netrod to bring dead bodies back from the brink, and you have a very tactically interesting, hard to put down soldier who can fill a variety of roles. However, the Posthuman is also very fiddly and, apparently, very hard to use. Get it, use it, and learn it, and you'll probably enjoy it. But don't expect to get it right away, and don't expect me to be able to explain it to you.

Achilles

I've heard this guy described as a man-sized TAG. Basically, he's a hard, tough, hard-to-hit, absolutely terrifying melon-fether. Team him up with some Myrmidons and watch him carve a bloody swath through everything. Be warned, though, that like his little buddies, he'll eventually go nuts. Achilles has a lot of interesting options - just pick the one you like the best.

Patroclus

Achilles's boyfriend is meant to keep Achilles alive long enough that Achilles can kill everything else. He's more stable and a little bit less scary. He also has this absolutely hilarious defensive gear that means shooting at him is like playing three-card monte. He makes a good "mini-Achilles" for smaller games, and good backup for the big A himself.

• • •

I hope this was useful. Please feel free to comment and help me refine this into an actually useful tactica.

Thanks for posting this - very helpful, especially as I begin to collect and try to understand the Aleph faction!

ElectricPaladin wrote:Posthumans

Posthumans are really interesting, and I want a box really badly, and I only barely understand how they work. Basically, it's one person in many bodies, which lets it leap around the battlefield in interesting ways. Combine with a Sophotect and a Netrod to bring dead bodies back from the brink, and you have a very tactically interesting, hard to put down soldier who can fill a variety of roles. However, the Posthuman is also very fiddly and, apparently, very hard to use. Get it, use it, and learn it, and you'll probably enjoy it. But don't expect to get it right away, and don't expect me to be able to explain it to you.
.

Actually with exception of the Mk3, the resting models Mk1 and Mk2 have No Wound Incapacitation, an ability incompatible with medic skills. Miniatures with NWI usually can take another wound instead of fallling unconscious because they ignore the unconscious state (shock and monofilamente ammo prevent this). But the next wound will pass them directly to the dead state. Dead models can't be healed, only unconscious models. A NWI wounded model standing on the table thanks to that ability can be tried to be healed, but if it fails the model will die. So NWI and medics don't make a good deal.

I've only fought them once, and what posed the biggest threat was the Asura. A very, very tough unit to damage let alone kill, and she massacred my ghulams. Only my odalisque was able to stand up to this monster.

So, yeah get an Asura would be my suggestion!

Incidentally has anyone got any ideas about killing Myrmidons? I realise that this is an Aleph tactica thread, but I was hoping people who play them might know what is effective against them!

As Haqqislam I'll be using a couple of Djanbazans (who can utilise their MSV2), but any hints on what I can try and do tactically? I'm guessing those guys are going to be really aggressive, and going for close range attack?

I play Nomads and I haven't yet played against Aleph but if I should fight myrmidons, I think I will try to take out their ODD first by either hacking it, or hitting it with an e/m weapon. An e/m grenade launcher comes to mind as it could possibly take out the ODDs on several myrmidons at once. Once an ODD or any other device vulnerable to e/m or hack attempts is shut down, it will require an engineer to fix it for them.

Flames! that will burn off the ODD (reducing it to mimetism) but unless you have gotten into the back arc of a myrmidon, if you are in with your template, hes in range to give you the 'Double Rainbow'

Parabolic/Spec. fire also helps - from Grenade Launchers rather than thrown to off-set some of the range penalties associated with them.

Thankfully, they don't have NWI so one good hit will finish them off.

Having just decided to start an ALEPH army, I found this thread incredibly insightful in deciding which models to buy. ElectricPaladin, thanks a lot for the detailed tactica.

Does anyone have a solid understanding of Posthumans? I like the idea of them, but I really don't understand how they function in the game.

I have played with Posthumans since I started Aleph. I waited to play infinity until the models were available.

Basically Post Humans work like this.

You are required to have 2 Post Humans in your list. 2 Post humans provide 1 order. 3 Post Humans provide a total of 1 order. Etc.

It really is several bodies, sharing a soul, which basically inserts itself via wifi networking to do something.

Only 1 post human can be active at any one time. This is where the net rods come in.

You declare activating Post Human A: and do a thing. PH: A is now where your soul is. If PH: A survives the activation, you can then activate Post Human B. PH: B now becomes the active one where the soul resides. If PH: B dies, the soul tries to escape to safety. Enter the Netrod.

The netrod will automatically store the Post Human soul until your turn begins again. At which time you can jump into your remaining PH: A body.

Post Human Pro

Cool Models, with good above average abilities.

Post Human Con

Only provide 1 order to the pool no matter how many you field, causing order starvation.

I suggest you end your Post Human soul in a body with TO. Then as your last couple orders, duck into cover and go invisible. It eats up orders, but it keeps them kicking around to frazzle the enemy longer.

Repeating myself here, Netrods are your friends. take at least two of them. Yes they can combat jump deploy. but there is no reason. You are allowed to deploy them in your deployment zone, so you get the orders from them right away.

No no, you can't avoid combat jumping netrods. Read the AI beacon rule, you deploy them in the deployment phase with CJ and you're not allowed to do anything else. So you still get your order straight away, but you can scatter.

oh my bad. I had read that wrong. Yes deploy them in your deployment phase. you get the orders sooner.