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I'm doing a research whether should I start playing Infinity or not. I've actually never played any wargames, but would like to. I did some research and Infinity appeals more then other games to me. I like the setting of this game, I like miniatures, I got a little familiar with the rules, and I like them too, also it's not so $$$ to get into the game. But this sectorial thing upsets me. It sucks if I'd be on disadvantage just because I'd like to use some units that don't belong to that sectorial army. Could somebody explain that sectorial thing to me?

P.S. sorry for my English.

I've used vanilla factions, I've used sectorial factions.

I've won games with both types, I've lost games with both types - against vanilla lists and sectorials.

Other than the different availability of different troop types, the difference is that sectorials are allowed to use Fireteams, which basically act as small squads (3-5 troops) acting together.

Fireteams have their advantages and disadvantages, but it's worthwhile taking them if you can.

Nearly everyone will say "pick a faction that you like the look of and get playing" - they're not wrong!

I've been playing for about 8 years. Start of 2nd ed Infinity days.

The differences between them.

With a vanilla faction, you have more flexibility from more available units to choose from.

Sectorials trade greater availability of particular units (unit AVA increases) in return for access to fewer overall unit choices.

In addition, Vanilla armies have greater access to certain mercenary troops (that are ONLY available to vanilla armies) whereas sectorials gain restricted access to those mercs and get specific other mercenaries not normally allowed (and certain cross-faction units).

Neoterra for PanO gains access to Deva units from Aleph.
Corregidor for Nomads gains access to Senor Massacre.
JSA for Yu-jing gains access to Musashi, Saito Togan and Yojimbo.

I've been playing for about 4 years and I still prefer vanilla Haqqislam to Hassassins or Qapu Khalki. I find sectorials run to run, but I prefer the overall more flexible approach to list construction that vanilla offers.

For example, we did a league recently and my last list contained an Al Fasid (upcoming Ramah Taskforce), Azra'il (Qapu Khalki), Tuareg Hacker (upcoming Ramah Taskforce), Al Hawwa Hacker (Qapu Khalki), a Hassassin Barid and a couple of Muyibs (Hassassin Bahram), plus some Kum bikers (upcoming Gabqar Khanate). I played generic Haqqislam for the month long league and won it.

The next time I played I did two games on the day, one running Qapu Khalki because I wanted to use Scarface and Druze and another with Hassassin Bahram because I wanted to try something, but both times I felt I wanted things that were not available. I always seem to miss certain models when I play sectorials.

Thank you, guys.

I started playing with Vanilla Haqqislam and then settled on a Qapu Khalki list (Haqqislam Sectoral) mostly so that I could work on the rules and not worry about using new profiles every game (and also so I could focus on getting just that list painted).

Link teams are powerful, especially at lower points games if you're playing your first few games you might find them overwhelming. That changes a bit as you get a feel for the game and they certainly have weaknesses.

The part I like at least is that shifting from one to the other is often a difference of a few models and not necessarily burning your list to the ground. That's a shift from Vanilla to a Sectoral. Sectoral to Sectoral, even within the same faction is likely to be almost as dramatic a change in terms of miniatures as changing factions entirely.

The thought is that vanilla is the most flexible you get and that most sectorials will have "holes" or gaps in their playstyle.

Some sectorials are missing AD, some are light on HI, some have unit cost limitations making it hard to build lists in certain ways.

In return for the limitations, sectorials get to run fireteams.

In general this works out pretty well right now. There are some units you simply can't take in a sectorial and several combinations of units that would never grace the table otherwise.

That said, this is one of those areas where CB will need to self-police the flexibility of sectorials as well as the number of sectorials available. Too many and/or too flexible and the point of vanilla will start to get eroded. So we'll have to see how the new sectorials go, but at this point in time, things are pretty consistently balanced.

As a Yu Jing player I still hit up vanilla quite a bit since it is the only way I can field things like Daofei and Tiger Soldiers at all right now while still having access to cheap Keisotsu and Kuang Shi for order generation. Even once we get the Invincible Army and White Banner (which contain basically a greatest hits of units previously only available to vanilla factions) they will likely lose the cheap order generators that allow vanilla Yu Jing to go really heavy on the fancy toys and specialists.

Vanilla and Sectorials are well balanced so there is no general adantage of the sectorials over vanilla.
The biggest difference I encoutered was that Surprise Shot is a thing in vanilla due to the lack of a link's Sixth Sense L2

I played Qapu Khalqi as they allow a lot of different units for a Sectorial. In general though they are more restrictive and might restrict how you will play (more of an issue if you play in ITS or against a very experienced player perhaps)