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INFINITY: 2nd Edition’s Strongest Units

10 Minute Read
Dec 9 2014

Infinity N2 is coming to a close. Time to look back at some units that dominated the edition…and what the new N3 meta holds for them!

With the  impending arrival of N3, the game  is due for quite a shake-up. The way  smoke, surprise attacks, Loss  of Lieutenant, direct templates, hacking and so much more are being reworked, and that’s  just the stuff that got  leaked so far.

Now, Infinity is a very decently  balanced  game. Yes, there are builds that are ruinous to play against, and some  units  perform better than others at a given role despite having the same or  lower  price.  But those fearsome  lists tend to be  one-trick ponies that will not dominate three games  in a row after  people tweak their  own lists to account for the abuse  of  camo, smoke, GMLs or whatever. The factions have  obviously been built to be  unique and  interesting without making the  metagame competitively lopsided. Almost everyone can do almost anything. It’s  impressive, when you think about  it.

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But yes, some  units will shine  more and  more  often than others at their assigned roles. The Neoterra Bolts are a good example: Cool fluff,  neat  new  models, but as link-team material, they end up being somewhat  lackluster, with special rules that  rarely see  relevance  on the table. Stuff like Zero-G training, Aquatic Terrain and such may or  may not  cost  points, but they occupy ability ‘slots’ that  other, similar  models from the same faction or another one put to better  use.

So here  is a  list  of those  “premium” units who rose above and beyond the call in the current edition. And a  bit  of speculation of where they will fall on the spectrum in the coming edition, based  on what  has  been revealed up to now.

Making No Wound Incapacitation and Shasvasti rules pointless since 2011.

12- Lasiq Sniper. This  model brought the first  kiss  of Viral Ammo to many opponents, who soon learned to dread  it. Affordable, a fine shot, and causing double-wounds that  ignore  normal armor  on anything with a  pulse?  Oh, and Climbing+ to help it reach safe, intimidating  positions  on the board. Plus Religious to boot, meaning hat even when her army  in  in retreat she’ll still be a threat  plugging away at your guys. The mimetism is  just an added bonus to help make fair firefights  unfair in her favor. I’ve seen  people start fielding  more remotes just so they can put something forward that she won’t  melt with her future Ebola rounds.
Status in N3: Likely holding steady. She doesn’t rely  on gimmicks, just a great weapon and a nice combination of  skills.

Stop. JSA time.

11- O-Yoroi. Point for  point, this  may be the best TAG in the game. Others may shoot slightly better with bigger guns, or pack  heavier armor,  but the Japanese walking  ‘bot is an amazing  package for a low  price that still lets you bring a  link team onto the able, making for a  lot  of threat. It  has heavy armor for a ‘light’ TAG, just enough to round up to a 4 instead of 3 when hit by AP ammo (same as  happens to the  average ARM 8 TAGs), and  it  is durable enough to just power through enemy  lines to deliver a  lethal heavy flamethrower surprise to enemy fireteams and  warbands. The dual KrazyKoala escort is a  lot of  fun and adds surprising  utility; they can be  left  in key  spots to activate when the enemy comes close, or kept close to offer  protection against snaky types with monofilament weapons, heavy flamethrowers and such.
Status in N3: Likely  improved.  The O-Yoroi’s status as the  one TAG that rocks at  close combat was usually  forgotten, since  it was so much safer and  more reliable to just hose everything with its HMG or  flamer. But now that  CC specialists can become crit  machines, its EXP weapon and  martial arts  make a  lot  of difference.  Why watch your bullets bounce from a Jotum’s armor when you can demolish it with a couple  of swings from a  katana the size of a kayak?

10- Naffatun. Oh, these guys. So cheap, so deadly. They  may not  be quite the best cheerleaders  in the game, but they come close. Cheap  as dirt and rocking  heavy flamethrowers that can burn camo and ODDs, and every now and then roast an enemy heavy to death in a single hit  if  it  keeps  failing saves. Great for scaring  link-teams, guarding  backfields and  chokepoints against  drop troops, or  advance along a flank for a devastating suicide template assault.
Status in N3: Taken down a  peg  or two. Templates are not going to be as nightmarish to dodge  this time around, so enemies will have better defensive options (as in, more than zero).

9-Achilles. ALEPH’s golden child has it all: a Ballistics skill bumping the ceiling, physical power and speed  on  par with TAGs, very nice armor and BTS protection, the ever-annoying ODD to tilt  80% of all firefights even more  in his favor, a  nanopulser to clear  packs  of rabble, an EXP sword that  makes each hit  crash into the target  like three hits from a sniper rifle  on crack. He  might as well be wearing a snobby fraternity sweater and telling your guys that he owns this campus, nerds. There are more than few ways around him, but the amount  of hurt he can bring is…intimidating. Good things that given his  cost, lists that  include him are a bit…hollowed  out.
Status in N3: His ODD gets a bit worse, as now even a  lowly  MSV1 can  reduce the  BS penalty it  inflicts. On the  other  hand, he can no longer be ambushed without reaction by camo models, and  will be dodging those flamer templates  meant to fry his ODD a lot  more  often  now that he use his full PHYS of 16 instead  of a 10. His  heavy shotgun version might as well use d10s for the FTF roll and still win firefights from up close, and  in CC, he can now swing twice for a total of SIX Strength 16 saves  if both attacks connect, or  just once for  three Strength 17 saves. That’s  hard enough to make your birth certificate catch fire, all the way back in your home system.

“Pffft. These infidels are no challenge.”

8-Hafza. In a vanilla  list, the Hafza  is a solid, fun choice. It  can impersonate  other troops of yours, so you can either disguise him as something  harmless, or  bluff and make the  enemy waste  tons  of orders trying to get to a  17-point  model tucked away that really  looks  like something  a  lot  more dangerous.  In the sectorial, though, this guy shines, being able to hop onto other  links to boost them cheaply. It  has a very cool cheap 14-WIP Lt  option, but  where  it does  his  best work is in ITS  missions, where the Forward Observer specialist can  pretend to be someone else to get close to objectives without attracting as much attention as  open FOs, engineers and  hackers.
Status in N3: Hard to gauge, as  we  have  heard  precious  little about  link teams and/or discovering holoprojector  models.  The FO version gains added  utility now that he can  toss a  neat +3 BS to his  buddies against a  marked target.

“Old units don’t die. We just get better  models.”


7-Intruder. This guy has  it all, except for a pair of  healthy knees to make him move faster than the average snail. Camouflage AND MSV2 to help him ventilate enemy sneaky units? And the  godly HMG to dominate at  pretty much every range on the board, combined with a very high Ballistic stat. His armor  is good enough to soak a few  hits  if  he’s  in cover, adding to his durability. The Intruder  makes Ninjas and Myrmidons feel like Keisotsu Butai and Netrods, respectively.  This guy wins games with a little bit of clever placing and  overwhelming force.
Status in N3: Dropping fast! The HMG is  not the  auto-pick it  once was, and  his combat-camo ambush has been  nerfed. We’ll have to see if he gets anything  in return.

6- Order Sergeants. They may not be as flashy as the  other knights  in the MO, but they make this ride move. I have three words for you: Invisible. Infiltrating. Specialist. For a  pittance. These linkable jacks of all trades can bring FO, offer a TO MULTI-sniper lieutenant for no extra  SWC charge, an auxbot to roast enemies, pack an MSV and a Spitfire for  midrange  camo hunting and  piercing smoke and ODDs.  What  can’t they do? Well, they are rather  mediocre hackers, but  as far as PanO goes, they are actually  ahead  of the  curve. The Religious rule  gives you a strong core  or  orders that will not  suddenly vanish should you  lose your  leader  or enter Retreat.
Status in N3: Likely around the same. Their camo options get weaker losing ambush and being countered  more easily, their  hacking and FO grows stronger.

   One of my favorite Infinity images. I love the Zerat up there going “I can shoot them from here!                                        You don’t  have to ju…oh, well, FINE.”

5-Myrmidons. The greek murdering ant-men just offer such a great combo of cool stuff. Like  most ALEPH troops, they get a complimentary ODD and a nanopulser right  after they sign their virtual souls away on the dotted  line.  But their  main ace  in the hole is smoke. Beautiful, infinite smoke grenades to let him or his  pals scoot up to claim objectives or avoid  AROs from missile  launchers and such. And, if you were that  kind of  jerk during 2nd edition, a wonderfully cheap way to  toss a  pillar of smoke around your Asura or Marut so they can aerate enemies without  visors with utter  impunity. All of this for a  measly 13  points, or  more if you actually want to  capitalize  on his good BS with longer-range weapons.
Status in N3: Brought back to earth somewhat. The smoke trick is getting nerfed fairly  hard, and the ODD is easier to mitigate. On the other  hand, their CC abilities are getting a nice boost. Once they go Impetuous, partial cover  is no longer an option for them, too.

4- Chasseurs. Many Ariadna  players  max these bastards  out  as soon as their army builder  finishes  loading, and for good reason. Infiltrating camo minelayers with flamethrowers, a a discount. They burn away enemy camo, claim objectives for you, turn the  midfield into an exploding deathzone, splatter TAGs with glue from ambush, blow stuff up with D-charges and have a FO choice as well. 20 points for a  minelayer, 22 for a specialist. Good thing  main Ariadna can only take 2  of them, or they’d  own half the Human Sphere by now. 
Status in N3: Again, camo ambushes are not as  murderous as before. And their flamers are easier to dodge. But with so much to  offer at  such a low  price, it’s  hard to see them going away.

They just  look so happy and eager.

3-Pretas. Who costed these things?  They are  (semi)guided organic  missiles, plain and simple. Faster than anything that’s not a  motorcycle, with good PHYS for  dodging on the way and stabbing stragglers  if they cross the  table. Their chainrifles mean that their BS stat is immaterial. But the main joy they bring? Mines.  If a  Preta  manages to drop even one  mine, hes already paid  for his  point cost in full, and they have three of these  babies. Each.  There’s no reason not to make a combat group of 3-4  of these; the havoc they will cause on the enemy, and the effort required to counter/avoid them, is  worth  it  in spades.
Status in N3: Improved Suppressive Fire  makes their approach a bit  harder, but their  mines and speed are still great. On the  other  hand, Impetuous  models no longer benefit from partial cover, which will require a bit  more finesse in placing and moving them.

This  pose  needs a John-Woo style flight of doves in the background.

2- Aquila Guard. When people say “Infinity  is a  shooting game, you  know”, they mean this guy. Basically, they mean  he  is going to shoot you, a  lot, never  missing, popping your best guys  like bubblewrap, and  making a  mockery  out  of camouflage. His  murderlust  is so great that he  once  sniped a Vindicare assassin from a 40K game going on  in another table at  our club, just because. In cover, it  has armor worthy of a  heavy TAG out  in the  open, and  it’s great BTS means that even if e enemy lands any hackers/repeaters  nearby to try to immobilize  it, it’s going to be a tall order.
Status in N3:  Not quite as hot. The much of this  model’s power came from the HMG being such a beast  of a weapon across all ranges. Now that  its  optimal range  is easier to avoid, it  loses a bit  of  impact.  It will also need to spend an order to auto-find camo markers  instead  of  just  point-and-click deleting them with direct firepower.

Still putting Ko Dali here due to the Tiger Soldier model being so ugly.

1- Tiger Soldiers. I was going to put Ko Dali here, but the devs  literally abducted her away from the Yu Jing  list and delivered a very different  model to the CA army. The basic Tiger Soldiers are still grand, though: Cheap, good Phys for  landing where required (even if  it was so much easier to just  pop them in from the sidelines), amazing BS 13, access to the fearsome HMG to drop even TAGs from behind. Oh, and  mimetism to make sure that even when the enemy turned around, he’ll still be facing an uphill battle.
Status in N3: Subdued. It seems that  nearly all drop units are  losing their heavy weapons  options  in favor  of  Spitfires and shotguns. Besides, missing the  jump now  makes you scatter a  punishing 16 inches away (talk about nerfing something that was weak and  underused to begin with!). Their high BS and  mimetism are still boss, but they will now require a  bit  of  preparation and finesse, instead  of  just  dropping and  having 2-3 orders  of  guiltless unchained destruction.

Which  units outclassed their  peers consistently in your games?  Share the  knowledge with us and  others!

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Author: Sephyr
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