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So, I've been looking for a new miniatures game to start up, and I've heard glowing reviews for Infinity from nearly every corner of the internet, so I'm looking into it. I have a couple of questions, and a list.

1) Ariadna appeals to me aesthetically, what is the faction's playstyle?
2) I've picked up that Ariadna, as a lower-tech faction, doesn't have hackers like other factions. Does this detract significantly from their ability to hold their own in ordinary games? Does it detract from enjoyment in playing the faction?

Also, I build a 150pt list, going off the amazing, flawless wisdom of taking the models I thought looked cool and/or sounded useful and putting them all together. Cheers!

Caledonian Mormaer Lieutenant (X-visor), T2 Rifle
S.A.S., Boarding Shotgun
Moblot, Panzerfaust
Cateran, Sniper Rifle
Kazak Doktor
Volunteer, Rifle
Volunteer, Rifle
150 points

(Is posting points values for models allowed, since the rules are free online?)

I've read that having a lot of models is good because you get more activations, so the idea was to mix a couple elite soldiers with some bonny brave cannon fodder. Does this work?

Thank you, one and all!

Playstyle: Each and every faction can do a whole bunch of playstyles. Ariadna tends to be a able to horde more than others, but it's not necessary that they do. They could go sneaky wiith a lot of camo-markers. They coulds go brutal with a William Wallace lieutenant and some other scottish dudes... the only way Ariadna can't go is tech-focused. Naturally, it can go elite too.
That you don't have hackers is no problem. Hackers aren't a must in Infinity. And the opponent's hackers are as good as worthless against you since, because all of Ariadna's tech is so low, they're unhackable. It does not detract from enjoyment at all, and I frequently play without hackers despite playing Nomads and Aliens.
As for the list, going with the cool models is perfectly reasonable thing to do. As long as you're within the AVA, points and SWC restrictions, all is fine and dandy. And even so, I have to say that the list looks really good. I'm not too familiar with the stats of each option, but it seems that you've got a mighty lieutenant along with a balanced list of crew (sneaky guy, doctor and so on....) just beware, if you're lieutenant dies you're in deep trouble! It's worth considering changing the lt to someone not as likely to see as much combat.
Also you can post the points, stats and whatever you'd like, since the rules are free
Oh, and I recommend you to use the army builder. It's a great, helpful tool. Just go to Infinity's homepage, and scroll down. There are a bunch of links, and one of them says "army builder".
Hope this helped!

Nice list.

I play Ariadna and I don't ever recall saying to myself 'Man, I really wish I had a hacker.'

Welcome to Infinity!!!!

I play against insidius from time to time. He plays ariadna scotsmen. The low tech does not seem to hamper their ability to get a job done.

Nice job taking a doc in your list.

Looks like a pretty decent list, and with the X-Visor you can afford to keep your Lt a bit further out of the action to utilise his T2 Rifle. I agree that having a less aggressive Lt could help, but then again it depends on playstyle...Youve got some good aggressive units, some cheerleaders (units almost solely bought for the order they produce) and some redundancy which is all good...You may want to look into getting an HMG in there at some point (maybe when/if you escalate, or just to try out a new list), and i hear that the Chain Rifle volunteers are very good as cheerleaders/rear-guard support as well as intuitive attacks against camo markers (at 6pts and with an auto-hit template weapon no less!)

Yes, its fine posting stats/points/whatever, using the Army Builder you can even build a list and then paste it on to a Forum (such as Dakka). It is very[i] useful for playing around with an army's compostion as well. NOte that it hasnt been updated for Campaign: Paradiso yet, so some of the profiles/points arent correct and there are units missing, buts its still an excellent resource.

I have a personal gripe about Ariadna not having hackers (apart from Mercs, and the ever trusty 2-handed sword - you dont stab with a 2-handed sword, therefore they are 'hackers' ) as it [i]could end up as a problem during the new missions (in a lot of which having a hacker is useful, and in some, essential). But even saying that, in a normal battle, no, it wont be a factor IMO, and for the campaign you can always get Mercs to join you...(whether that be straight up Mercs, or just the units form other forces that have AVA in Ariadna).

ANyway, hope that helps some, welcome to Infinity!

Again, thanks to everyone for responding.

Curious, I've only skimmed the rules, what makes a model a good lieutenant? Is it just that the model should be survivable?

Well, keeping a Lieutenant alive is certainly important.

You can either do that by making your LT a really tough sumbitch so whoever comes after him has to hit him really hard to bring him down.

Or you can make your LT one of your standard guys, and hide him in a group of standard guys so the enemy doesn't know who is important and who is an order monkey.

A question: Has anyone got a good fluff reason to make a standard unit a Lieutenant? I won't d it because it kills the realism for me.

I guess instead of being an actual Lieutenant i could anything of it as someone who has been given the job of giving out orders because the boss is too busy but it sounds like a weak excuse.

I better say, i've got no problem with other people doing it. But i'm a hobbyist, not a gamer.

Edit: Sorry about the aggressive thread hijacking.

 Revenent Reiko wrote:


I have a personal gripe about Ariadna not having hackers as it could end up as a problem during the new missions (in a lot of which having a hacker is useful, and in some, essential)

This isn't an issue in the campaign that I'm aware of. Anything a hacker can do in the campaign, an engineer can usually do better. So don't worry about hackers in terms of the campaign.

 Casey's Law wrote:
A question: Has anyone got a good fluff reason to make a standard unit a Lieutenant? I won't d it because it kills the realism for me.

I guess instead of being an actual Lieutenant i could anything of it as someone who has been given the job of giving out orders because the boss is too busy but it sounds like a weak excuse.

I better say, i've got no problem with other people doing it. But i'm a hobbyist, not a gamer.

Edit: Sorry about the aggressive thread hijacking.

I think using a standard unit makes perfect sense in terms of the Infinity universe, at least for certain forces. It doesn't necessarily mean that Private Pile has just pulled his name out of a hat and got order duty for that day, but just that a unit with skills/effectiveness level (in combat) of that unit might be quite limited and only comparable to a normal infantry man if he is shooting, being shot at etc. Also, think of our own combat units in modern warfare - often the commanding officers are a short ways back from the direct conflict, and wouldn't do anything that would draw unnecessary attention to themselves and make themselves a target - something essential since the advent of the rifle and the ability to kill at range. King Henry the 5th strutting around in his golden crown with his standard bearer wouldn't have lasted very long if the French men-at-arms had thermo camo and a viral sniper rifle!

The opposite of course to this is to make your Lieutenant a hard-ass, so even if your opponent knows who he is, killing him is not easy! A friend of mine uses an Aleph Marut TAG for his lieutenant - there's absolutely nothing I can do about it! Again, I think it suits the Aleph background in that situation - the TAG, with it's advanced and powerful processing capabilities carries the AI order-routines with it, instantly networking and acting as a hub to the other forces around it.

Really I think the Lieutenant/order giving element of Infinity adds a wonderful bit of depth to the game - a really nice bit of guessing and misdirection you can play with your opponent, and also the ability to bring a game back from what looks to be like a certain loss if you take out the right guy on the opposing team.

Anyway just my thoughts on it, sorry about the highjacking also! I can perfectly imagine an Ariadna commander being line-trooper-ish though; a guy in woolen hat and wind breaker, rifle over his shoulder and the only way to distinguish him as an officer being the binoculars around his neck and the walkie-talkie attached to his belt!

Ain't that the truth.

I twist my fluff around a lot and have fun with it. My Haqqislam is a force under the command of a rogue Silk Trader. The guy has a lot of pull, so he has access to some pretty impressive troops. This means I can have a lot of fun with the Qapu and their background... to protect the merchandise. Or maybe he's using that power, influence, and cash to field a standard Haqq force and bring out the big guns. Where'd that Maghariba come from?! Or maybe he needs to send a message, and he drops his real scary enforcers to clean up a mess... and that's where the Hassassin's come in.

But this means the LT at the time can be anyone really. More often than not it falls onto a Muyib, Because these guys are the Hassassins that work through breaking ****, when stealth and fancy killings aren't enough and you just need some semtex and rocket launchers. But I almost employ a Farzan with Chain of Command as well... the guy camoflaged... somewhere on the board, making sure that younger Lieutenant doesn't screw something up and get himself killed. Then the 'Old Man' has to step in and show them how it's done.

Or maybe it's the Asawira strutting through the battlefield with the Shihab remote following him around. Yeah... that might be it.

Haha, good points guys, thanks for taking the time to help me out with my quandary.

I think i'll be sticking with my Rev for now as i'd have trouble taking my moderator with lollipop seriously as Lieutenant. I could see how the position might be moved around now though and once my fluff is nailed down a bit more maybe it'll make even more sense to change up now and again.

Thanks again.

/hijack

insidius wrote:

 Revenent Reiko wrote:


I have a personal gripe about Ariadna not having hackers as it could end up as a problem during the new missions (in a lot of which having a hacker is useful, and in some, essential)

This isn't an issue in the campaign that I'm aware of. Anything a hacker can do in the campaign, an engineer can usually do better. So don't worry about hackers in terms of the campaign.

True. and ive also recently noticed that the Spec Ops can get a hacking device anyway....

Heh, no problem on the threadjack, interesting to read. Having read through the rules further, what I've seen is that the only differentiation between how well any given unit performs as a Lieutenant is the odds of winning the FtF roll-off to go first, and a couple special rules. Is this correct?

Also, going through the miniature line and rules, Nomads and PanO have also struck me as interesting. It seems like both of them can do small (relatively, not shooting myself in the foot small) and elite forces well, with PanO having slightly better ranged firepower, but Nomads having better tech and more deployment options. Is this an on-base assessment, or not? (I'm assuming not )

One final question, then I'll be quiet: at what points level are the larger mechs viable? It seems like taking one at a beginner points level of 150 or so would leave one critically low on orders, but beyond that, when do they come into their own?

I would say the T.A.G.s become viable around 250-300ish points...depending on the Sectorial/list.