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Picking up Infinity to fill int he void until Warmachine releases Mk3 in June. Will prolly keep it on as a second game if I find it enjoyable. So I picked up:

Caledonian Starter
Scot w/ Missile Launcher
Caledonian w/ T2 Sniper Rifle
William Wallace

Rounds out a 200 point list ( and something to paint since my painting table is bare). I have talked to a few people about general theory of the game, as I have never played the game myself bu it is growing in popularity in my area. Looking for some general list advice, purchase options and such. I do plan on moving into general Ariadna troops as well but not looking at dropping 300 dollars to do so.

Thanks

Probably the best starting addition to Caledonians is a box of Galwegians. These are cheap irregular/impetuous warband (ie close-combat and template oriented) models, easy to include in any list and with some powerful boosts from Wallace as a Lt. The box has recently been resculpted, if I were you I'd try and grab the older model as it's perfectly current in terms of sculpt quality/design, but won't be around forever. Galwegians are such a cheap and useful troop you may eventually want a further box of 4!

Thanks for the insight. I was looking at them when i saw initially buying models bit i did not want to go too deep to start off. I know I need hackers, docs, Fo's and such as well. Any suggestions in that area?

Right now, Caledonia's only Hacker option is Isobel McGregor with her Defensive Hacking Device.
Isobel comes from a Dire Foes pack; specifically "Mission Pack 3: Dark Mists"(Isobel v. Yuriko).
That's something you would want to split with a Yu Jing player.

As for your purchase suggestions?
-Uxia McNeill. There are two different versions.
One version(Covert Action) is a Specialist Troop allowing her to count for Objectives that need Specialists at the expense of her MSV, Limited Camouflage instead of Camouflage, and she has Superior Infiltration instead of just Infiltration--and she has Demolition Charges, which is always fun. Oh yeah--and she gets 2x Assault Pistols

The other version has a MSV, Camouflage, and Regular Infiltration with Grenades in place of D-Charges and a regular Pistol instead of 2x Assault Pistols.

-Scots Guard boxed set
This would go really well with your ML that you got, since Scots Guard 1st Battalion(not 2nd just first) are Linkable.


An example list that I've seen locally(modified slightly with the stuff that you have listed here) is this:
Caledonian Highlander Army
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

GROUP 1 8 1
WALLACE Combi Rifle + Light Flamethrower, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, EXP CCW. (0 | 35)
WULVER T2 Rifle, Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 33)
HIGHLANDER GREY AP HMG, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 34)
SCOT (1st Battalion) Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 27)
SCOT (1st Battalion) Molotok / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 26)
SCOT (1st Battalion) Lieutenant AP Marksman Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
SCOT (1st Battalion) 2 Submachine guns, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
SCOT (1st Battalion) 2 Submachine guns, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 18)
CATERAN T2 Sniper Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 21)

GROUP 2 4
S.A.S. (Forward Observer) Rifle / Pistol, AP CCW, Knife. (0 | 24)
VOLUNTEER Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)
VOLUNTEER Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)
VOLUNTEER Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 8)

5.5 SWC | 283 Points



Also it's worth mentioning right now, up front:
Starting with a Sectorial and expanding into Vanilla is viable for many armies--but with Ariadna it becomes kind of awkward because of the way the "Militias" are set up.
In most armies, something that is AVA: Total(Volunteers in your case) in a Sectorial would be AVA: 3 or 4 in Vanilla. That is not the case with Ariadna, as anything not Kazak gets reduced to AVA: 2 instead.

It might seem like a nonissue, but it can be very frustrating when you are building an army of 'all aroundness'.

Thanks for the lengthy bit of help. What is linking? I hear the term on youtube channels but it is unclear to me.

So I am looking at the Scots box and a box of Galwegians? Is that hacker option also a good get? what about a doctor?

You don't need a hacker. You're Ariadna, so that's not really a thing the faction does. It's fine though.

Uxia and/or SAS are fantastic units though.

Doctors vary--certain mission systems call for them specifically, and engineers and doctors can be really annoying when they get that guy you just painfully expensively slowly shot to death back up again, but Ariadna's lack of assistant-bots make theirs rather vulnerable, and often I find I'd rather be shooting the other guy more with what I have left than spending the 3-4 orders to get the doc where he needs to be and revive a guy.

Link teams are a rule from Human Sphere (or the infinity wiki), which basically lets you form 3-5 of your troopers together into a 'fireteam'. It trades flexibility (limited sets of orders and they all have to take the same one at one time) for order efficiency, some moderate bonuses and a much nastier ARO response.

 studderingdave wrote:
Thanks for the lengthy bit of help. What is linking? I hear the term on youtube channels but it is unclear to me.

"Linking" is something that is used to refer to a unit that has the "Linkable" trait.

Basically it's when a group of up to 5 models acts in concert and they receive bonuses for doing so. The caveat is that those bonuses apply to one model out of the Link Team.

So I am looking at the Scots box and a box of Galwegians?

Honestly, it's up to you. I'm partial to the Scots just because they look a bit cooler. There's also some options for blisters that might be good--like the Caledonian Mormaer with HMG.

Basically a Scotsman in layers of Teseum platemail with a gun firing Teseum bullets.

Is that hacker option also a good get?

I would say so--but only if you can find a Yu Jing player willing to split the price with you.

Isobel McGregor is what's called a "SpecOps" model, a kind of minicharacter which is created from a 'basic' Troop Profile(in your case, she's created from the Caledonian Volunteers) and who can be part of a Link Team with the basic Troop profile.
Do understand that she has a very specific Hacking Device; the Defensive Hacking Device(DHD for short). The list of Hacking programs she has are basically those which 'protect' her and her compatriots.

what about a doctor?

That's up to you if I'm gonna be honest. I've not had good luck with Doctors.

This is a pretty good read for Caledonians.

http://www.thediceabide.com/2016/04/infinity-hsn3-caledonia-review/

so i was talking to local player and he told me i HAD TO have a FO, Specialist and a hacker to be able to interact with objectives. What are my options with that?

Go check this out: http://www.data-sphere.net/how-to-start-with-the-caledonian-highlander-army/

Isobel has a Defensive Hacker device, S.A.S. have FO, 112 is a Doctor, Dozers for Engineer, and that's about it.

Caledonians kill well, so just murder everything on the board.

is that a good plan? just forgo the fancy stuff for more guns? Im torn between running more SCOTS guard and getting the Galwegians. I want an FO because I like the model and I like the Mormear also (T2 variety).

To be fair, just killing everything doesn't get you a win in a lot of scenarios. Like it or not, you need specialists to push buttons and interact with the HVT now. You generally want one of each Doctor, Hacker, Engineer, Forward Observer and a model with D-charges so you can do all of the possible classified scenarios. Some people bring as many specialists as possible, some bring the bare minimum.

In general, more bodies means more guns means more shooting. Even basic rifles are going to kill things dead. Some people like to bring all cheap stuff for lots and lots of average guns, some people like more expensive stuff for a few better guns. Though some people also like only regular orders while some like to mix in irregular/impetuous orders (they are cheap for what they do because of those traits).

Build the list with the models you like and figure your playstyle out after playing some games.

Personally, I swing between single combat group with 8-10 regular orders and two combat groups with a good mix of Regular and of Irregular/Impetuous orders depending on my mood. But I always pack one of each specialist, and usually 2-3 FO's. Pushing buttons wins you games.

i played my first game today. it was against combined army. we played 150 points and just killed each other. I had:

Wallace
Galwegian - Chain Rifle
Galwegian - Chain Rifle
Volunteer - Chain Rifle
Volunteer - Rifle
Volunteer - Rifle
Cateran - T2 Sniper Rifle
Grey - AP HMG
Caledonian - 2x Chain Rifle

I have no idea what he was playing. He had a camo guy that I killed early (killed my sniper) and a decent melee leader and a healer bot. Despite my bend on melee I actually ended up winning the game by hunkering down in a building and slowly chewing my opponent apart with ARO's. My Caledonian was the MVP though, he killed the enemy leader and 2 other grunts on a suicide run that was pretty impressive.

I enjoyed the game for that it was. very fast and a lot of back and forth.

Nice! Glad you had fun with it. I like the easiness of "just kill stuff" scenarios, but I will admit they do tend to favor turtling up, especially before people get the hang of smoke bombing (I don't have the hang of it).

Caledonians are in fact awesome, from my experience--pick a good corridor, and just set them loose in a blaze of smoke and shrapnel. That said, yeah, melee is kinda more a "Do you REALLY want to get within assualt range of me?" thing that a way to actually score kills, but it does give you lots of AP options when he pulls a HI.

So i feel the initial inclination on my part is to get another Caledonian. I see I can also take McMurrough, who has similar equipment, a few more skills and better stats for a few more points. Is he a good grab instead of the second Caledonian?

I'd grab him and just run him as either, that way if you do go 2 cameronians they both wont look the same, thats my plan at least.

Caledonians are really good for YAMS. Their specialist options may be a little bit light but between Uxia and the SAS FO, at least most of your Specialist options are infiltrating camo markers...

Ok so i keep seeing people comment on how Wallace can make my irregular troops into normal order troops. Also where can i read up on link teams and other teams like Haris and Duo?

Inspiring Leadership is Wallace's rule. Sorry, I only have a Spanish book in hand so no page numer.
Re. Fireteams, in the Infinity Website, Donwloads section, Profiles pdf, scroll down the AVAilability tables for each faction/sectorial, it's there.

excellent thanks. so the general bonuses for link teams are:

3 models +1 B to the link leader
4 models Sixth Sense
5 models +3 BS to link leader

correct?

5 models is a +3 BS for shooting and a +3 to WIP for discovering.
Also, remember that the +3BS also applies to WIP and to PHY in case you are using a Technical or a Throwable Weapon like a Flash Pulse or a Grenade.

Are there any other bonuses to these specific teams? Also are there limitations. I see I can have one active haris team at a time. Is that the only link team I can run then?

You can run a Haris with a Core team. All the new link team rules are here, BTW. http://assets.infinitythegame.net/downloads/hsn3rules/en/v1.0/hsn3rules.pdf You may want to get the profiles and the weapon chart, and look under the markers section, and get those to. Or just bookmark the page, http://infinitythegame.com/archive.php , for further reference.

You're in Eastern PA? How close to Baltimore/Glen Burnie. There is a great Infinity crowd at Games n Stuff, http://gamesandstuffonline.com/ And I hear there is a group at Titan Games, which is closer to the ol' Mason Dixon line. http://titangamesandhobbies.com/

Edit: and you can download the ITS rules and missions to get a good understanding of why people say you need a FO and othe specialists. Grab the FAQ too. Don't forget the Army builder https://army.infinitythegame.com/ free to use.

 Red Harvest wrote:
You can run a Haris with a Core team. All the new link team rules are here, BTW. http://assets.infinitythegame.net/downloads/hsn3rules/en/v1.0/hsn3rules.pdf You may want to get the profiles and the weapon chart, and look under the markers section, and get those to. Or just bookmark the page, http://infinitythegame.com/archive.php , for further reference.

You're in Eastern PA? How close to Baltimore/Glen Burnie. There is a great Infinity crowd at Games n Stuff, http://gamesandstuffonline.com/ And I hear there is a group at Titan Games, which is closer to the ol' Mason Dixon line. http://titangamesandhobbies.com/

Edit: and you can download the ITS rules and missions to get a good understanding of why people say you need a FO and othe specialists. Grab the FAQ too. Don't forget the Army builder https://army.infinitythegame.com/ free to use.

I play at Titan and am always happy to get a game in / run demos, as are the other guys.

There's a little group at Bel Air Games but it's kind of hard to line up games there. Also Red Cap's Corner in Philly does Infinity. I've never played there but I understand it's the place to go in SE PA.

So i played another game this past Friday. a Full 300 point game where I feel I learned a lot. I played against combined army and I have no idea what I faced besides his heavy hitting "Umbra" in a link team, a total reaction HMG, a "doc bot" and some troops. I ran This:

Group 1

Dozer
Mul Full Reaction Uragan MRL
Mormear AP HMG
McMorrough
Caledonian
Cateran T2 Sniper Rifle
SAS FO Rifle
SAS Uxia
Scot Missle Launcher

Group 2

Wallace
Galwegian
Galwegian
Volunteer
Volunteer

So We played a scenario where I had to link some computer terminals. In the end i lost by scenario but put my opponent into retreat. I got Wallace into combat with my opponent's Umbra but I feel I was outclassed by him greatly. he was criting me on 13+ where I was 19+ and I eventually died. Later in the game I gunned down most of his army with the Scot taking more ARo's then my opponent cared for.

So, question time:

1. Can I not use additional orders on the Caledonian and McMorrough? In this game my opponent said that I get my impetious and then my irregular order and that is it.

2. Related question. Since Wallace is my LT does that turn all of my IRR orders into normal orders because of inspiring leadership? Furthermore does that mean i can give the werewolves more orders as long as wallace is alive?

3. I figured out the "rolling smoke" tactic with the wallace link team. My opponent showed me a neat trick where I could break the link so my Galwegian instantly gain their impetuous for the order and then I can reform the link. That was interesting.

4. How do I use speculative fire with the Mul? Is that kinda like indirect fire?

5. In the future what is the best way to utilize HMG carriers? I was looking at a "Haris" team with 2 Mormears and a grey rifle. Having more than one HMG in a link team seems bad since only one model is leader for each order. Unless I am missing something.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

1. You can pump as many orders into those models as you want, provided that they're coming from the same combat group and are otherwise allowed.

2. Wallace turns all of your irregular orders into regular orders. You could give them to the Werewolves anyway, but now the Werewolves generate their own regular orders which can be used by others.

4. Speculative fire is a full order. You don't need LOS but you take a -6 mod. http://wiki.infinitythegame.com/en/Speculative_Fire

5. You will run out of SWC fast if you're running multiple MGs in a link team. You might want to take two if they're being carried by really squishy scrubs though (Volunteers, for example) because those guys are more likely to bite it, and their MGs are probably cheaper in terms of points / SWC. The Mormaer / Grey Haris is cool but I think it's a bit pointsy for a linked MG. If you're going to do it, IMO do it for the smoke and T2 rifles so you can suppress the center of the table hard.