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Hello all!

I've been a long time lurker here on dakka dakka but this is my first post.

I've been thinking for a long time about getting back into TT wargaming. I used to collect Tau for 40k wayyyyyy back when they first came out in 3rd Ed (my age was in single digits then, christ that's a depressing thought), and dabbled in in a few other armies a little bit before then. Anyway, I stopped collecting because it was too expensive. I'm a student at university now, and the release of 6th ed and a new Tau codex recently (I say recently, but hasn't it nearly been a year now) as well as my university gaming society hosting the Student Wargaming and Roleplaying National Championships here in the UK this year got me hankering for some wargaming again. Now, GW products have always been expensive but, like I said, I'm a student and looking at the prices of GW products (even on discount websites) makes me weep, and my collection of Tau from my youth barely breaks 1000pts. So I started to look for cheaper ways to get my fix.

A channel I'm subscribed to on Youtube has been putting out Infinity batreps over the past few months, so I decided to investigate it some more and I'm pretty happy with what I've seen so far. The idea of having a medium "army" for around £50 seems almost alien to me having only seen GW products for so long and having all the rules available for free is a godsend. I also like that the game seems to be terrain heavy. I want to get into building more terrain, especially urban terrain.

So I'm thinking about getting started in this game. A few members of my uni gamesoc play, and the soc should be able to provide some terrain. The two armies that appeal to me are Ariadna and Nomads. Both appeal to me in terms of aesthetics and play style.

Which is better for a beginner and for someone with relatively little money to spend on the hobby?
Could someone help me device a basic list, say 150-200 pts for such a starter army?

I'm not going to go as far as to recommend a list from the start, as the beauty of Infinity is the models, and you'll want to pick up stuff that -you- think is cool. So that is verymuch depending on your personal aesthetic.

This also lends itself to how you spend money on Infinity. The rules for it are free to download! So there's a start. If you focus initially on models you like, you can have a slow buildup to larger point games. If you're more of a Crunch guy, and like to learn rules and all that first and foremost, why not break out some of your Tau and proxy them as other stuff to learn the game and see what kind of units you like?

Both the Nomads and Ariadna are fun, and bring a lot of interesting stuff to the table... but are wildly different in their look and the way they perform. Ariadna is distinctly lacking in a lot of the futuristic high-tech stuff that makes the game appealing to a lot of players, so there's that too.

You will need a LOT of terrain. True LOS along with 40K habits means you need lots of things to scramble around. Scatter terrain, walls, barrels, cars, cans of soda... whatever you can use.

I'd say look at the 'Starter Boxes' for both Ariadna and Nomads. If you like the majority of the models in them, go ahead and pick one up. It'll be a good way to get a little force going and learn the rules, and it'll give you a good base to build from.

I'm sure you've dug through Infinity's website. Seen any models in particular that you can't live without?

 Chemical Cutthroat wrote:
Ariadna is distinctly lacking in a lot of the futuristic high-tech stuff that makes the game appealing to a lot of players, so there's that too.

This can actually be something like an advantage for you. Since they don't get any of the cool future tech, none of the countermeasures designed to work against the cool future tech does anything to them. As someone who is planning to start off with Combined Army (pretty much just think of the enemies from X-COM all thrown together and you won't be far wrong) I know I am worried about facing Ariadna since most of my dirtyist tricks don't actually work on them.

 Chemical Cutthroat wrote:


I'm sure you've dug through Infinity's website. Seen any models in particular that you can't live without?

It terms of Ariadna, the Starter Kit appeals. Most of the models are pleasing to me, but I don't like melee and the werewolves seem a bit silly to me. I was thinking about a list mostly composed of Scots and Russians, combining Veteran Kazaks, Line Kazaks, Tank Hunters, Mormaers, Catalans and Caledonians. It would certainly be the cheaper of the two armies I had in mind, I've worked out from looking at discount websites I can put together 300pts for around £50. The starter kit would contain lots of models for a 300pt list right away.

In terms of Nomads, I was thinking a TAG heavy list with 2 Geckos, an Iguana, some Wildcats, Tomcats and Intruders (with the infantry mostly being specialists). It would be more expensive (about £100 for nearly 400pts) to put together but as a Tau player I really like the idea of using mechs. The starter kit doesnt really hold any appealing models to me at all, but I love the TAGs.

BurningSky93 wrote:
but I don't like melee

You're in luck, Infinity isn't a melee game. it's all about controlled firefights. Units brandishing big swords also have guns, just not shown on the model sometimes. These units are generally better just using said gun than the sword they're waving around. Getting into melee is a risky tactic in Infinity, and will usually leave you with a nice bullet shaped hole in your forhead before you even get there.

There's a few exceptions, generally special characters, who have methods of getting there, either through sneakiness (like Katsune who just appears from nowhere you bisect someone with her lightsaber) or are just through and through tanks (like Achilles and Ajax) who don't give a gak about the bullets hitting them. But in general, a good melee ability is there as a defense against someone trying to fight you in melee - you don't actively try to get into melee unless you can control the circumstances.

 -Loki- wrote:


You're in luck, Infinity isn't a melee game. it's all about controlled firefights. Units brandishing big swords also have guns, just not shown on the model sometimes. These units are generally better just using said gun than the sword they're waving around. Getting into melee is a risky tactic in Infinity, and will usually leave you with a nice bullet shaped hole in your forhead before you even get there.

There's a few exceptions, generally special characters, who have methods of getting there, either through sneakiness (like Katsune who just appears from nowhere you bisect someone with her lightsaber) or are just through and through tanks (like Achilles and Ajax) who don't give a gak about the bullets hitting them. But in general, a good melee ability is there as a defense against someone trying to fight you in melee - you don't actively try to get into melee unless you can control the circumstances.

Yeh, I was aware melee wasnt a big part of the game, I just saw Scotsman brandishing claymores and assumed they were some of the rare melee units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So here's my 300pts list for Ariadna

ARIADNA
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 10 0 0

CALEDONIAN MORMAER Lieutenant (X Visor) T2 Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (38)
HIGHLANDER GREY Rifle, 2 Light Shotguns, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (30)
VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP Rifle, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (47)
VETERAN KAZAKS (CH: Mimetism) AP HMG, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 61)
TANKHUNTER Autocannon, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 40)
SCOUT AP Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 35)
LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (9)
LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (9)
LINE KAZAK Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (9)
CHASSEUR (Forward Observer) Rifle, Light Flamethrower, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (22)

4.5 SWC | 300 Points

Open with Army 4

And 300pts of Nomads

JURISDICTIONAL COMMAND OF CORREGIDOR
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 9 0 0

INTRUDER (Lieutenant) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (36)
INTRUDER (X Visor) MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 52)
IGUANA HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 73)
IGUANA OPERATOR HMG / Pistol, Knife.
WILDCAT Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 31)
WILDCAT Engineer Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (23)
WILDCAT Boarding Shotgun, Flash Grenades, Deployable Repeater / Pistol, Knife. (19)
TOMCAT Doctor Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower + 1 Zondcat / Pistol, Knife. (28)
ZONDCAT Electric Pulse.
TOMCAT Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19)
TOMCAT Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19)

6 SWC | 300 Points

Open with Army 4

Thoughts?