Starting QK- how to begin?

@Errhile , I believe it's right up your alley ;)

I'd advise starting with your core teams (Ghulam box is mandatory, I'd get Djanbazan as well). Support box (Doc, Engineer, two Nasmat drones) is also almost mandatory.

After that you can move to filling in other fireteam choices, probably starting with Jannisaries to get some heavy units, and your choice of support units - remotes, AD troops, Azrail, etc.

 

Yup!

I'd say, don't bother with "holo stand-ins" for a while.And don't start with the 300pts format. I'd defintieyl suggest some time with 150pts games, then gradually increase it in 50pts steps until you get ot 300pts. Infinity has a steep learning curve, and throiwng all the bells and whistles into a game is often enough to make the game absolutely no fun for a new player.
And yes, I'm talking from experience.

Now, between QK Starter and vanilla (or, actually, RTF) starter, you have 3 Ghilim, 3 Hafzas, an Odalisque, a Djanbazan Sniper, an al'Hawwa shotgunner and 3 models (Touareg, Khawarij and Zhayedan) you can (and absolutely should!) use for proxies.
Beyond what Stiopa said, i.e. getting your Ghulam a SWC box for the heavy weapons, and Support Box (the Doc is a Ghulam anyways, and Najjarun can always proxy as one!), I'd recommend the following:

1. Get yourself a Djanbazan box. Djan are tough sons of a gun, and their MSV L2 is very useful.
2. Get yourself an Odalisque box. The girls are an excellent light assault troop, complete with the Haris Firetream option.
3. Procure a Yuan Yuan (the problem is - while there is a blister pack of those, it is downright ancient, and not to everyone's liking) or a Bashi Bazouk (there are two current, and two older - but not as antique as Yuan yuan - sculpts available). Proxy one for the other as needed.
4. REMs are rather expensive (money-to-point cost), but pretty useful. I'd however get these a bit later.

Now, this would give you a pool to mix'n'match oyur lists for quite a while.

Also, remeber that Infinity communineis tend to be proxy-friendly, perhaps outside of the official tournament scene. So don't be afraid to proxy whatever you don't have with whatever you do have, if just to test a given unit and/or configuration. No-one should have any problem should you come to a table and say "Those Ghilim are going to proxy as my Janissaries today. I want to check how the Jansdo, y'know". Naturally, make them easily told from your ordinary Ghilim in the same game (a trick - get yourself a block of Post-It indexing tabs - you know, those narrow colourful ones - at a stationery store, and glue one under a base of a model every time you want to show it is something special - or different than it seems to be. Say, "all the models with green stickers are Janissaries, those with red are Odalisques, and the rest is what they seem". Also, a note can be made on that strip of paper if the model has some non-evident piece of weaponary or equipment).

 

You want to go QK? Here are my thoughts:

• You already have the Haqq starter (3 Ghulams, Tuareg can proxy a 3rd Al Hawwa) and the QK Starter (Odalisque, 3 Hafzas, Al Hawwa, Djanbazan sniper).
• Yuan Yuan blister. They are not useful for anything else, but they are insane. Pick one blister, the third one try to grab one of the promotionals (I got the Red Veil one), or pick 2 blisters to have 4 for the Mercs extra in other factions. You will use these as smoke sources (the only one in the sectorial) or AD chaos units.
• Al Hawwa blister (so you have the 2 models)
• Warcor

Do NOT buy the Support Pack unless you have no other source of servitors and need an engineer other than Cordelia: the Ghulam models from the Haqquislam starter box will be your medics (16 points, heal at 17...).
Now we enter the "choice" options:

• 2 Bashi Bazouks. Another insane troop, these are "drop and rambo until they die".
• IF you want to "double" with the Druze sectorial,
  • Druze Box and a Druze blister (spitfire OR KHD if you get your hands on one, right now it's a promotional figure). Right now the Army says they can only go Duo, but the Profiles PDF say they can make Core and Duo Fireteams; I would hold my breath here unless you know you want to go to the Druze Bayran (where you can use the Ghulam as proxies for the Brawlers, since they don't have an official miniature, but I love the Fusiliers models for Brawlers).
  • Scarface & Cordelia
• Khameel Remotes
• I suggest you to avoid the S3 haqquislam remotes (Shaitany, Rafiq...) and buy instead the PanO or Aleph S3 remotes, they are sturdier.
• Fireteam Core choice:
  • Ghulam box for cheap terrace defensive group
  • Djanbazan box for maximal flexibility (HMG after the Yuan Yuan for rambo, Core with a Hafza or two for terrace defense).
  • Kaplan box + kaplan blister for Hunting Party OPness, it's a lot of money for a single game advantage, though.
• Fireteam Haris choices:
  • Odalisque box (also can be used as a Fireteam, and coupled with 3 Hafzas, as a Core and Haris for maximun flexibility and cheapest investment)
  • Can't speak for the Sekban, I'm not really using them.

So: Djanbazan box is a solid investment, Yuan Yuan blister, Odalisque box. And then Bashi Bazouk blisters, khameel remotes, other remotes.

The Janissaries are interesting only for limited insertion, and as a fireteam with the AP rifles, but the Azrail is a better single rambo (AP HMG), and you would be using the Janissaries as Akbar doctor, it's a nearly 90 pts combo thought.

EDIT: changed Druze entry (they might or might not keep the Fireteam Core option).
Also, I suggest you stay clear from buying Mobile Brigadas, the Alguaciles can be used as cheap orders (10 pts each) but are not a required option, and the Iguana is a good option as a TAG, but I'd get Cordelia + Scarface to use her as engineer.

 

Yeah, but Haqqislam can't field PanO nor Aleph REMs.
Of course, if someone dislikes the "combat chicken REMs" that make the standard Haqq REM chassis, it is an ooption to buy different faction's REMs and use them to proxy Haqq ones. Fluffwise, the closest match for QK would be some Nomad Zonds (QK deoes employ a number of Nomad troops as mercenaries).
I agree the "combat chicken" are not everyone's thing aesthetically - it took me a few good years to warm up to them.

Keep in mind that you can't have more than 2 Hafzas in a Core Fireteam, and no more than 1 Hafza in a Haris Fireteam, and you can't use that trick with Kaplan or Druze.

 

I... don't really agree thought, Fatality HMG with x visors is a powerfull stuff i think. Plus EM/nimbus LGL can be a very usefull tools. The old ones are rather inflexible.

Rather than nerfed, they just change their game. I think that they're better reserved as support now rather than assault pieces, covering your main spearhead link. They+Kaplans can be a pretty nice combo.

 

Honestly, we don't know a thing yet. IJW insists that if it was the case and not an error in Army app, he would've known. Let's just wait.

 

3 odalisques + 2 hafzas => Core, 2 odalisques +1 hafza => Haris. He has 1 Odalisque and 3 hafzas from the QK Starter, add 4 Odalisques from the Odalisque box... as I said, cheapest way to field a Haris and a Core ;)
The Zonds suffer some of the same problems the Haqq-Chiocobo remotes do, they are hard to assemble (but they suffer better the use, I've seen too many "chocobos" with the legs and base in one side, the body at another, they suffer the same critical weakness the Sphinx has, namely a very narrow and small "hip" joint), and they are wheeled remotes (not very useful for the desert).
If you don't mind "converting" the remotes and want to use Nomad ones, then Tsyklons/lunokhod without the weapons are the better option (the "legs" are the same the Khameel uses). If you want to mount and play, the best remotes to use as "proxy" (I doubt anyone would say anything to you... it's not that you are going the cheap way or the models can be confused, after all!) would be Aleph's Rebots box or PanO Dronbot Remotes/Mulebot Remotes (the mulebots would require S3 bases, however, since they are the PanO baggage); mind you, this is a purely aesthetics/ease to assemblage suggestion.

I was going to say "they already changed the Profiles PDF", but I re-cheked (calmly) and you are right, they still list the Druze with both Core and Dúo option, so I'm editing my post.

 

That's mostly because it's still 3.8 PDF.

So technically Druze core is legal. Aaand new profiles are technically not

 

A Sputnik (Tsyklon or Lunokhod, also, baggage bot of the Salyut series) is kinda difficult to fit onto a 40mm base. You need to remove and reposition at least 3 of the 4 legs to do it - they were originally (back when there were only 25m and 40mm bases in Infinity) cast with extra slabs on their "fingertips" to stick to the outside of a 40mm base.

Following N3 and introduction of 55mm bases, the legs were re-done without those slabs - however, my two Kameels and one of the Lunokhods predate that change. And trust me, doing that "fit 'em to 40mm bases" thing was PITA. And didn't came out that very much durable, either.

 

The new profiles are legal because the Druze were updated in a different PDF, the supplemental one that was released with the new box which is found here: https://assets.infinitythegame.net/...es/en/v1.2/druze_bayram_security_profiles.pdf

This makes the new profiles legal for both vanilla Haqqislam and QK with the asterisk designating which profiles are just in DSB, there isn't one for Fireteam: Core which would then let us further conclude that Fireteam: Core is indeed staying for the Druze. Once the New Year is upon us, I expect for Army to update to reflect this. This always happens to Haqqislam, always last to get updated in Army.

Honestly, Errile covered things pretty well. Where he recommended Odalisques, though, I recommend Sekban but I am biased. Sekban are one of my favorite units in all of Infinity and I love their Haris, I use it a lot in QK. They are a great defensive Haris and can fire rockets like no other plus the Doctor helps keep the link up. Only thing that sucks is the Sekban HRL is separate from the box.

 

QK is spoiled for Fireteam choices, and honestly most of them are worth having.
Given Dogpool is just beginning, I decided to set a border somewhere. As he has the Vanilla and QK starters, I suggested fireteams to compliment models he already has: hence the Odalisques and Djanbazan.

I agree, for rear area security & long range support fire, there's nothing in QK like Sekban Haris with a HRL :)

 

I too started QK recently, and had to be enormously economical about it as I was doing it as part of a charity venture.

Beyond the starters, definitely the Yuan Yuans first. I went for the 2x fat Yuan Yuans (still easy enough to get online). A second Al'Hawwa is a great "early blister" buy, as infiltrating specialists are always amazing choices in this game (I also really like the sniper model haha). Bashis make solid blister purchases too.

As others have said, don't bother with the support box initially (run the Ghulam from the starter as the doc, I honestly have never used the engineer!). Instead, gradually expand your link choices as you see fit. Djanbazans and Odalisques are both easy choices because you already have 1x each from the starter, so you'll have a 5 member link right away. The nice thing about QK is that links are very much the foundation, so each one you add expands your choices significantly.

I would eventually spring for the REMs though as your "second wave". I personally went down the Nomad REMs+Haqq bases and they look fantastic alongside my force, so that's a flavorful option if you aren't digging the look of Haqq REMs.

There's nothing really to avoid, although certainly some choices like the tags are pretty pricey and far from the "essential" end of the spectrum.

PS - God i love this sectorial...

 

I agree the nomad remotes are hard to assemble (mine have endured the addition of a pair of magnets to separate the remote's body from the legs), however I had no trouble whatsoever with the "endurance" of all remotes regarding their glueing to the bases. My "method" is just to drill a little on the scenic base (be it because I added some textured plastcard, or Milliput textured with a rolling pin... or even just the base I will cover with small stones later), without going through it, then using some Gel-based superglue to hold it together.

 

@xagroth I'm sure of that, I'd however love to see how you managed to put them on 40mm bases without repostioning their legs.

 

I did not, I use the Tsyklon as Tsyklons (I also play Nomads). My S3 remotes are Aleph's Rebots (and they are on the pipeline for scrub & repaint, I must confess. Consequences from being the very first miniatures I assembled and... "smudged over" back in 2015).

EDIT:
I bought the Kameel a few months ago, with 55mm base, same as the Tsyklons, and no problem was suffered when it came to placing the models on the base.
I got the CA remotes a few weeks ago (and I plan to paint them before glueing to the base) and they are a tight fit on S3 bases.
And I have a S4 nomad baggage I bought secondhand, again no problem with the base (55mm).

Of course, the other option is to make a scenic base with elevation that allows us to fit the remote in diagonal, but yeah, not the best solution.

 

I did, that's why I'm talking about difficulties. I"m afraid I have no pics of my Kameels back on 40mm bases, but I did the same to m Corregidor's first Lunokhod back in 2ed:


And putting them on 40mm bases for use as Haqq REM stand-ins was the reason why I kept talking about that problem. As you can see, all the legs that touch the base had to be broken off at uppermost joint and repositioned to make them meet a 40mm base. I left out one front legat its original length & postion, that's why it seems outstretched.

Yup, I've re-based them to proper 55mm once those became available (and N3 made it a thing).