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Hey all,

I've been thinking of getting into Infinity for a while now, but it's a bit disorienting when you first step in. I may just get the Ice Storm box and find a friend, but I'd like to do something a little more original. Anyways, I've seen a lot of posts on the differing aesthetics and fluffs of the different factions and I have a basic understanding of all that, but I still don't really have a handle on how they all play differently.

Could someone give a quick rundown on the strengths and weaknesses of each faction so I have a better idea of where I want to start?

Ugh, this one is difficult, mainly because

1.A new edition is here (well, is still arriving to those who preordered, and we aren't supposed to start using it until the Infinity Tournament System 2015 arrives) so there are changes to many units that were "not quite as the creators intended"

2.Most factions can do most things (unless you dwell into sub-factions, those have more limited posibilities but are more specialized, themed and aestethically coherent), the most clear differentiation is the

PanOceania has Tactical Armored Gears (big robot guys) and Balistic Skill but lacks a bit in the Willpower department, but if someone can defend a position it is PanO

Yu Jing has Heavy Infantry and above average Close Combat, they are (in my opinion) an aggressive faction due to being average on the reactive, and hey, they have a master strategist that looks like Tony Stark!,

Ariadna is the low tech, Physical faction for people who A. wants to play Orcs and Goblins (many cheap troops, but you aren't forced into that, they have elites as well), B. don't like the Hi tech, sci fi, "manga" looks of other factions and C. random people who doesn't fit in these cathegories (see? I'm being inclusive, don't jump on me for talking in absolutes),

Haqqislam is the Light Infantry faction (some of which are like Light Heavy Infantries in terms of resistance), the Willpower faction, the super Doctors faction and has some biomodified units (a whole subfaction of biomodified units is in the works),

the Nomad Nation is the dirty tricks faction, the Hacker faction, the Medium Infantry faction but most of the time (there are some notable exceptions) lack a bit of staying power (lackluster Heavies),

the Combined Army is the alien menace, in this case they are a mix of races where each has it's own capabilities, Shasvastii are sneaky and don't like to stay dead unless you finish them, Morats are brrutal and killy and never retreat, the Ur (and their machines) are Hi tech and the Sygma are bitter survivors who awnt revenge (so I guess agresive, swift, kily and merciless)

Aleph is all Elite and the best of everything, and cool remotes, a problem some (read as "many") Aleph players face when branching into other factions is the "all is really bad" syndrome because of all the goodies they had in Aleph

Tohaa are weird, I don't know enough about them to tell which plaistyles are the ones they prefer, having many (read as "some" or as "a few") toolbox link teams but also some powerful solos

But If you say which kind of gameplay you find interesting we can point you to the factions best suited to do that

One thing about PanO is they eschew most low-tech options, unlike Yu Jing and Nomads, so I would say that Yu Jing and Nomads are the most 'all-round' factions. PanO doesn't have warbands or even regular camo guys, only having TO camo and some exotic gear.

Yet.

Yu Jing and Nomads represent a similar ethos. They are the well-rounded factions of the game, but they do it in different ways. Nomads peg more toward using dirty tricks and subterfuge to get their way (becoming even more true in N3 with the capabilities of the hacking device plus allowing them to pull some limited impersonation tricks and other interesting effects). Yu Jing does its thing by being aggressive and in your face. Part of that is a penchant for stuffing close combat abilties on things (this is none too useful in 2nd Edition, but may be a boon in 3rd considering that all martial artists get Courage and Stealth which has some definite uses outside of close combat), but mostly it comes through in minis with very aggressive armaments and rules and a preference for heavier units. So you get things like fast heavy infantry (some of it very fast), lots of options for heavy weaponry (especially in N3) or weapons that do their best work under 16", and a fair amount of well-priced and deadly advanced deployment units (Tiger Soldiers, Daofei, Guilang, etc.).

PanO are kind of a class of their own. Their paint scheme makes people want to think that they are the vanilla faction, but they are far from it. Unlike all the other human factions they use high-tech gear and rule variations almost exclusively and are in fact kind of hyper-specialized. When they make a unit for a task, it is made for that task and not much besides. Like Yu Jing, they have a preference toward tough, high tech units like heavy infantry and TAGs (lots of TAG options compared to everyone else, save possibly the Nomads). But by eschewing lower-tech, they actually tend to come up with far less dirty tricks than the others. You wont see a PanO force using an Aquila Guard to fire through smoke. They don't have cheap warbands armed with chain rifles to make suicide runs. Outside of some sectorial units, camo is a dirty word to them (and I don't think they have it on anything smaller than a light TAG currently), so no cheap camo infiltrators. But in return, they get access to things that only alien and post-human faction can even dream of (and usually for cheaper than those factions can imagine). I always found them an interesting faction simply because they look like Infinity's Ultramarines/Cygnar/Generic-blue-goodguys but are actually a very specialized faction that plays quite a bit differently than their peers.

Finally (for the human factions), you have the two "low-tech" factions of Haqqislam and Ariadna. Ariadna is one of the more unique human factions in that they go full low-tech and are largely unhackable (at least via direct means come 3rd Edition; hackers get some protocols that can make their lives difficult without ever trying to tap in to their archaic networks). In return they get excellent stats and tons of camo units (to the point where setting up an army largely made out of markers is a fairly common practice). Haqqislam is more of a high-tech/low-tech bridge faction with a twist. Their twist being that they have the best bio-tech in the game. This gives them access to the best doctors and super-soldiers with esoteric abilities like super jump, climbing plus, and even regeneration. Unlike Ariadna they have their fair share of hackable units, though, but can also use hackers. In general their low-tech shows itself in having more archaic general equipment (less heavies and TAGs, they use rifles instead of the more standard combi rifle and have fewer high-tech weapons in general, etc.). Both of these factions are characterized by giving up some top-end high-tech stuff in order to gain some kind of bonus that sets them apart from the other human factions in some way.

Aleph are basically the super-elite faction with access to all the best things. The price for this tends to be that their stuff is more expensive relative to what human factions can field. They have hacking on par with Nomads, weaponry and tech on par or better than PanO, and can usually do well playing a fairly aggressive game ala Yu Jing. But they will find it hard to do all things at once because their points will dwindle quickly if they overload on specialists.

I have little experience with Tohaa since no one plays them.

Combined are like the alien mirror of Aleph (well the other way around, since they came first). Their units are usually among the best at what they do, but they pay for it in having expensive costs for units above the baseline. This means that, like Aleph, they can be tough to play for new players because the reflex will be to buy all the awesome things and find yourself running a list with 6 orders at 300 points. I'd say they probably have one of the steepest learning curves in the game because of this and that list-building for them can be tough. But once you learn the ins and outs, they can be a really dangerous force to face down that has some of the scariest units in the whole game.

I am looking to get into Infinity as soon as my DZC stuff is finished and these write ups are very helpful. Thank you.

Some great write-ups there, Aldo and Ronin

Among my friends I've often stated that PanO are just too clean for their own good.

I've played few times against Tohaa. Besides Nomads they seem to be a faction that enjoys building around synergy, little fire teams that can be geared according to your preference. Wickedly good solo units to round up the army too.

Thanks guys these are great overviews!

I think I'm going to get the Ice Storm set if it's still available. It seems a great and cheap way for me to trick my wife into getting into wargaming as it gives you everything you need to even play at home.

Nomads seem the best fit for me, but I may end up doing Tohaa just for the heck of it because I'm a bit of a contrarian and they seem to be pretty rare.

Thanks again for all the food for thought!

So, let's say I am a fairly aggressive player in other games that I play. I like to get across the board fast and manhandle things for board control. Realizing that CC isn't a major thing here, I know better than to think I can buy a bunch of CC models and do well.

That being said, I noticed Yu Jing and Aleph were both listed as aggressive, and perhaps others have the ability as well. Are any of the factions particularly well-suited to being... perhaps a bit reckless... in playstyle?

This is not to say that you can be clumsy, non-tactical, or stupid, but I do like highly aggressive forces and you will probably never catch me playing a gunline or turtling in any game.

I am just looking for an army that is fast and relentless, because I simply find it fun to play

Well, as you pointed out, Yu Jing and Aleph can both pretty easily be played very aggressively. Even moreso since Yu Jing (especially Japanese sectorial) can have a pretty good amount of bikers and Aleph has the Assault Subsection (The Steel Phalanx).
However, there can be many more armies doing the same. Corregidor nomads have plenty of airdrop units, while Bakunin nomads have the furries and the morloks. Combined Army Morats are pretty aggressive and straightforward too. Haqqislam also have access to bikers, and so on...

In reality, most armies can field an aggressive force.

 Herr Hörn wrote:
Well, as you pointed out, Yu Jing and Aleph can both pretty easily be played very aggressively. Even moreso since Yu Jing (especially Japanese sectorial) can have a pretty good amount of bikers and Aleph has the Assault Subsection (The Steel Phalanx).
However, there can be many more armies doing the same. Corregidor nomads have plenty of airdrop units, while Bakunin nomads have the furries and the morloks. Combined Army Morats are pretty aggressive and straightforward too. Haqqislam also have access to bikers, and so on...

In reality, most armies can field an aggressive force.

Ah cool, I have been liking the Nomads' style, that might be a good direction to start looking.

As said, Tohaa are about efficiency and synergy, but also attack vectors. They have the ability to field multiple linked teams of 3 models, but have the ability to mix and match any combination of units within them. This means one link may include a Makaul for smoke grenades, a DTW and CC ability, a Sakiel with a big gun for firepower and resilience, and a Gao Rael for its added visibility and another special weapon. This gives their links a lot more flexibility and synergy than any other faction. These multiple links also make the force very order efficient.

But adding to that, their have some very, very nicely costed solos that can add some very different attack vectors. TO Camo Clipsos, aerial dropping Gao Rael, sapper symbiont Nikaul viral snipers, super jumping Kotails, the polarising Gorgos, and more.

However, they have an absurdly big weakness to Fire.

And you know, if one wants to just run at someone screaming, there are the Caledonians.

They're about the closest one gets to a horde that I've seen, but have a high propensity of AP weapons, both in their warbands, and in their shooting units; their Mormaers are actually some of the toughest and killiest units in the Ariadnan roster, and can use their own unique Dog-Warrior unit (Werewolves in kilts, oh my!); superjump gives CC units an incredibly ability to both close and avoid threatening units such as snipers and HMGs.

I can't attest to their effectiveness, as the only person I've seen playing them isn't known for his tactical insight or focus, so they tend to end up being gunned down as he just runs straight at people, but with a little more consideration to firelanes and support units, they could become quite nasty, particularly against forces which rely on smaller numbers of well armoured units; a TAG focused list would probably die screaming.

So, are TAGs essentially models to be ignored? I don't ever see anything good written about them.

 Moktor wrote:
So, are TAGs essentially models to be ignored? I don't ever see anything good written about them.

Well, I think they're still value for the points. I meant, they're very good at what they're supposed to do (read: shooting stuff dead). However, many missions requires you to do other things that shooting stuff dead, and so people like having those points invested in specialist and manouverable units.

It's sort of a matter of taste, I guess.
(note, I haven't tried TAGs out in N3 yet, so I might be mistaken, but that's my take on them).

Tags have a fair number of vulnerabilities; they're dead killy, and can laugh off most normal weapons, but hackers, adhesive weapons and AP weapons do so like to make them cry. You kind of have to build a list around them, having the capacity to counter their main threats while the TAG goes off and kills the normal forces, or have them cheap enough you can just use them like a big, angry HI, though only a few factions have "budget" TAGs.

 Moktor wrote:
So, are TAGs essentially models to be ignored? I don't ever see anything good written about them.

Absolutely not!

Because of the points cost (for a lot of them) they tend to be an 'eggs in one basket' kind of thing. i.e. they will be successful and win you the game, or will meet the business end of an autocannon early on and then you are immediately struggling for the rest of the game.

But, some of the most beautiful miniatures in the range are TAGs. I think every true Infinity player should have at least one of them in their collection, even if you don't bring it to the tabletop every time!

 Pacific wrote:

 Moktor wrote:
So, are TAGs essentially models to be ignored? I don't ever see anything good written about them.

Absolutely not!

Because of the points cost (for a lot of them) they tend to be an 'eggs in one basket' kind of thing. i.e. they will be successful and win you the game, or will meet the business end of an autocannon early on and then you are immediately struggling for the rest of the game.

But, some of the most beautiful miniatures in the range are TAGs. I think every true Infinity player should have at least one of them in their collection, even if you don't bring it to the tabletop every time!

There is no doubt I will buy/paint some, I just didn't know if that should be a priority while learning. I prefer going in and winning or losing based on my play, meaning my lists should be consistent and not so much a "one trick pony." If I learned anything from my other games it is to avoid gimmicks that might win or lose me a game based on luck. It sounds like TAGs are great and all, but it may detract from a well rounded list.

I say get 1 for the faction(s) you play and see how you like it.

I have three experiences thus far.

Nomad Iguana Tag - Looks sweet, but I dont plan on taking it again for awhile. Only 6 armor, and 2 wounds is meh. It does eject a HI guy with a HMG and 2 wounds which is cool, but it doesent have much staying power on its own. Its plus is its a Repeter that is far mroe durable then most, so it hels.

Pano Joutom - Hes a big beast. There is a lot of AP, but in cover a 13 damage weapon normal wont even hurt him if its not AP. He is also packing a 9 BTS so very hard to hack him up. For his 103 pts, id say he is very worth it. I havent used him as much as the Iguana, but I plan to use him more. 10 Armor base is super tanky.

Aleph Marut (N2) I had this lady back in N2 and look forward to see how N3 changes her (please less points!!!) Having MSV Lvl 3, with a Multi HMG and Strategos lvl 3 is pretty gross. You pretty much have to take Netrods with her so you can get cheap orders. She is the elite of the elite so this is the all eggs in a basket army if you use her, as youll want to be spending most orders on her to clear the way for your specialists. (To make back her 123pt cost)

str00dles1 wrote:

Pano Joutom - Hes a big beast. There is a lot of AP, but in cover a 13 damage weapon normal wont even hurt him if its not AP. He is also packing a 9 BTS so very hard to hack him up. For his 103 pts, id say he is very worth it. I havent used him as much as the Iguana, but I plan to use him more. 10 Armor base is super tanky.

Remember, if you roll a crit you bypass armor, so that DAM13 weapon with normal ammo still has a 5% chance of damaging the Mighty Jotums, even when in cover.