So I ended up trading a lot of Cygnar that had been sitting on my shelf for a few years for a metric ton of YuJing. :) Now trying to wrap my head around these models and their lists. One thing, unlike other factons (I play PanO and Ariadna) the tactica section of this forum is a little sparse, with a sticky only on ISS, not on vanilla units. Is there a repository of all the units and some collective thoughts on them? (My searchfu failed me, I am very disappoint...)
I've been hoping for a vanilla tactica too. I'd do it myself, but I haven't even played any games above 150 pts heh. In the meantime, there was actually another thread about this here: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/request-to-the-yu-jing-community.24965/ And here are some of the links in that thread (though there's also some useful discussion about a few units in the thread as well): https://eternalrival.wordpress.com/ http://infinitytheforums.com/forum/topic/33538-the-golden-age-yu-jing-heavy-infantry-ovrelevant
I'm still learning vanilla so not really at the point to write a tactica but I think I've got some of the basics down. I got into yu Jing for the heavies and hoped they would be the heavy infantry faction. Which they are, but not in the way I'd hoped - bringing lots of heavies. Although IA looks to change that. Instead, yu jing has a great selection of heavies to specialise your list to deal with threats in a specific way. But you have to choose. The HI of yu Jing don't particular synergize with each other, or at least not as well as they synergize with other units in the list. As a beginner, I'd recommend the following units as a core; Yu Jing──────────────────────────────────────────────────8 4 CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) ZHANSHI Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19) RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 20) GŬILÁNG (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) 2 SWC | 99 Points Open in Infinity Army Maybe a couple zhanshi as your Lt. This brings the strengths of a vanilla yu Jing force. Cheap regular orders, and the marksmanship Rui Shi. It's not the only way to play vanilla yu Jing. But it provides flexibility to a newer player. From here you can fill out the list with a couple bruisy heavy infantry, some more specialists or ARO units as the mission demands. I'll follow up with a post about individual units next.
Ok fixed my list as well. So a brief follow up; To expand on the above core you might look at the following units; Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 HÙSÒNG Yaókòng HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25) This guy synergises well with having the hacker in the list already. Now, the husong fulfills an important role of ARO in yu jing who are notoriously weak at long range ARO. I say long range because our plethora of warbands and skirmishers are quite effective at shorter range engagements. What is often forgotten however is the husong is an excellent secondary attack piece. Given Marksmanship L2 by the hacker, this little fella is a quick and effective machine gun in later turns. So don't just throw it away. Deploy in a way that it covers approaches to your DZ, and then protect its flanks with warbands or skirmishers. Don't fear an opponent in the midfield. Thats where you want them. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2 WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) The ubiquitous FO sensor bot is useful in every faction that can take one. I include it here with a chaiyi as the messenger remote combos well as a both a source of cheap regular orders as well as providing your first counter to midfield TO (if shooting it dead with a marksmanship L2 Rui Shi isn't a good enough first choice). The 6-6 move mimitism bot can serve as an ARO deterrent to flanks, then spend a couple orders rushing up to plop a sniffer down, allowing the FO bot to sensor any hidden enemies on 19s. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 GŬILÁNG (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26) Yes a guilang. I'm including here as you're likely to want a second guilang, and if you have the SWC spare (rare) you might want a minelayer as further deterrent to an advancing enemy. Guilang are great skirmishers, with a host of tools. They will take some getting used to as the additional price tag means they are less forgiving of mistakes. Guilang combis + mines can wreck the midfield however. As the MSV1 plus camo for themselves provides favourable odds against other skirmishers within that 16" sweet spot. A guilang is also quite good a locking down an area with suppression fire, ideally covering your back with mines. So the units provide a sort of toolbox for problems which might appear in the midfield, as well as being your main source of forward specialists. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29) But in terms of forward specialists, you can't go wrong with a ninja. This unit is an excellent last turn objective grabber. Leave in hidden deployment near a tough objective and cap on turn 3. The KHD and dangerous CC skills means you can reveal a ninja to pull you out of tough situations (like an annoying hacker locking down your heavies or a TAG/heavy in suppression fire in the midfield). But patience and timing is absolutely critical to good ninja use. Try not to be tempted into ARO with a ninja, and use the hidden deployment to full effect. But you probably want to know more about the brawlers. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2 HAC TAO HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 68) HAC TAO (Executive Order) HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, DA CCW. (2 | 69) In simple terms, this is an attack piece or a sweeper depending on how your list is made up (and if you take exec order). The hac tao is a beast, much like the swiss guard and is made to win face to faces. The HMG is my preferred profile as it provides the option of being a sweeper (attacking ARO pieces or DZ units from your half of the table) or an attack unit. Like other attacking units, if you're going to try bum rush the opponent you need a second wave to support or see an opportunity to cripple their potential to counterattack. Executive order is great combined with another obvious Lt as you can deploy with long range vision on your obvious Lt and then try get an ARO out before their untimely death. Avoiding Loss of Lt. Alternatively, it can be used after making a rambo with another Lt to reveal the Hac Tao at the end of the turn to transfer the Lt from your now potentially over exposed rambo. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2 DÀOFĚI Spitfire / Pistol, Shock CCW. (2 | 55) DÀOFĚI Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0.5 | 59) The Dao Fei, a silent assassin. Unlike the Hac Tao the dao fei requires a surprising amount of nuance. Its forward deployment and camo (instead of hidden deployment) means a Dao fei lives a dangerous life and is very easy to over extend as camo usually doesn't offer enough of a defence against weight of die or large modifiers stacked against you. Think of a dao fei more like a stealthy predator. Try to open holes for it with other units and exploit them, or hunt troops which advance too far towards your lines. Expect a dao fei to die. So be careful about Lt or hacker profiles without the right kind of support. I normally prefer the spitfire or multi-rifle profiles. The HMG is overshadowed by the hac tao in my opinion. Yu Jing ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59) No Yu Jing tactica is complete without talking about the su jian. The battle cat is your ticket to your enemies deployment zone. A high BS, high ARM, 3 wound (using NWI) 8" moving beast. The su jian makes a great data tracker in missions which require the data tracker to kill, capture or score. Combo this with another competent attack piece/sweeper and you can open a hole the su jian can exploit quickly. A classic two prong yu jing list will field the rui shi and the su jian in two relatively large combat groups. The su jian will be good against most units which don't stack too many negative mods, it really shines at hunting down the soft squishies which might hide on roofs. When in a tough situation, climbing onto a roof can be an effective escape route. Be wary of CC and hackers however as they can bog the cat down. From this point, you pick one or two heavy hitters and then fill the list with supporting characters depending on the type of mission. An example of a list I'm experimenting with at the moment which leans into the anti-camo abilities of yu jing with a number of sniffers; Yang v7 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 9 4 CELESTIAL GUARD (Kuang Shi Control Device) Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 13) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) KUANG SHI Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 5) GŬILÁNG (Forward Observer, Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27) RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 20) KǍNRÈN Minelayer Boarding Shotgun, Chain-colt, Sniffer / Pistol, Monofilament CC Weapon, Knife. (0 | 27) SÙ-JIÀN Spitfire, Light Flamethrower, Panzerfaust / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 59) GROUP 2 5 2 1 YĀN HUǑ Lieutenant Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 54) ZHANSHI Hacker (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 19) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) SHAOLIN Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 5) WARCOR (Aerocam) Flash Pulse / Stun Pistol, Knife. (0 | 3) NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army
I'm going to disagree a little bit about 'needing' the Kuang Shi and their Controller in your list. You can make some really rude lists without them. This is a fairly typical list for me. Yu Jing Roulette ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 GŬILÁNG (Minelayer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26) GŬILÁNG MULTI Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 33) NINJA Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Tactical Bow / Pistol, DA CCW, Knife. (0 | 29) DÀOFĚI Hacker (Assault Hacking Device) MULTI Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0.5 | 59) YĀN HUǑ Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 54) ZÚYǑNG Lieutenant (AutomediKit) HMG / 2 Breaker Pistols, Knife. (1 | 39) Zhanshi YĪSHĒNG Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) MECH-ENGINEER Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) YÁOZĂO Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) WÈIBĪNG Yaókòng Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 16) CHAĪYÌ Yaókòng Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) 5.5 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army The Daofei, Guilang Sniper, Guilang Minelayer, and the laid Mine all deploy within 8" of each other, all as camo markers. Then you dare your opponent to figure out which one is which! The Ninja Hidden Deploys more or less on top of wherever you expect the Daofei to be revealed, to ARO-hack anyone trying to Killer Hack your Daofei. I typically deploy the Guilang sniper farthest back, just outside my deployment zone or sometimes inside it (especially if there's an exclusion zone in the mission), but the mine can be anywhere. Yan Huo tries to hide during reactive turn, but you do at least have a DA ARO if someone does get LOF to him. Burst 5 will shred things during your active turn, but try to keep your distance, you want to be shooting things at 16-32". HMG should also hide during the reactive turn, but that's because it's an obvious LT. With careful target selection, you should be able to crush most anything with 'only' a rifle (combi or multi). The Zuyong also wants to be shooting targets at 16-32", but you have a better close-in defense with the Zuyong's dual pistols than the Yan Huo does if someone does get with 8". The Daofei and the Weibing drone are your aggressive specialists. Try to set up so that at least one big gun covers them, or covers where they need to go. You could also have fun with a Daofei shottie, but that costs you a specialist for button-pushing missions. Sadly, not enough SWC to run a Daofei Spitfire, unless you are willing to give up one of the other big guns (HRMC, HMG, or MSR). If you do want to, I'd consider dropping the MSR for a Guilang FO (to keep a specialist up front and to keep 4 camo markers up front for mindgames).
Take this article with a grain of salt. This article is still under the impression that YJ is a close combat army: all the good close combat left YJ for the NA2. The traditional CC options that are left are just Monks + Ninja (and the crane agent if you're feeling cheeky), and those are pretty average as far as dedicated CC troops go. You can still CC people, but YJ isn't the best at it any more (thats the ASS and JSA).
