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Next Faction Advice

Discussion in 'Access Guide to the Human Sphere' started by 0rph3u5, Apr 24, 2019.

  1. 0rph3u5

    0rph3u5 TAG, you're it! :3

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    Dunno where to post this, but figured this was the best place since there were slightly similar threads.

    So, since I think I'm getting a job and, therefore, will have a stable income soon. As a result, I'm thinking about starting up a 3rd main faction to diversify a bit more and, well, for fun (always a choice, never a problem)! Currently playing Yu Jing with a focus on Invincible Army 'cause I love HI badasses and Combined Army focusing on vanilla, a touch of Onyx, and possibly some of the new Shas in the future when the models come out.

    As for the new factions I'm considering, I gotta say I don't like playing the absolute "best" factions out there. I know it doesn't apply as much in our game as others, but it's a pet-peeve of mine. I like playing sectorials/lists that are jank and/or unconventional but still workable.

    CANDIDATES:
    1. Steel Phalanx-Focused Aleph: Fireteam eat-no-more-tacos seems cool and I really like smaller lists of elite, high-tech, high-powered badasses. I'd probably run Hector a lot and the classical myrmidon + agema combo to snipe enemies ARO troops. Seems to have plenty of variety, too, with all sorts of enomotarchos leaders and whatnot. My forays into Vanilla would probably be rare, but I'm afraid Aleph will be too similar to my existing CA stuff.
    2. NCA or MO-Focused PanO: With the recent sectorial changes and upgrades, I'm kinda interested in the MO HI link teams and the NCA badasses like the Uhlans, Aquila, Locust, and Swiss Guard. Like Aleph, though, I'm kinda afraid these will be too similar to my IA and Yu Jing forces since I already focus heavily on units like the Hsien, Hac Tao, etc.
    3. Tunguska-Nomads: These guys seem cool, but I'm honestly only interested in the Tunguska stuff. Hollow men, kriza, and other elite troops, maybe Grenzers, Hecklers, the combat remotes, and the Zondnautica. Otherwise, not too into the Nomads and their models.
    Curious to know what you guys think and what words of advice you may have.

    As a small side-note, though. I'm not too into painting faces and would much prefer to be painting armor and helmets so bonus points for any forces that can be almost or completely helmeted.
     
  2. ChoTimberwolf

    ChoTimberwolf Artichoken Friend

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    So I have only played Tohaa and a bit of nomads so my opinion is a bit one sided but I would take Tunguska, Nomads are just crazy and fun.
     
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  3. Ben Kenobi

    Ben Kenobi Well-Known Member

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    Your choices seem very similar to your actual forces for me.
    MO and Tunguska have a similar concept to IA with their HI paintrain and you have overall the elite label on them.

    If I had to decide, I would go for NCA, cause it's the faction that is "different" from your current.

    If you want a suggestion, search for a very different one, e.g. Vanilla Nomads or Haqqislam.

    But in the end, play what you want.
     
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  4. Wolf

    Wolf https://youtube.com/@StudioWatchwolf

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    What I think about choosing a new army is that doing stuff in practice is a lot different to doing it in our heads. You can quote me.

    I think we're mostly guys, and make up Manly Reasons™ for doing hobby stuff in our heads. This is Good and Right of course, but I don't think it's also the reason we usually stick with our decisions.

    For myself, I know the reasons I chose particular factions were quite different from the reasons I actually enjoyed playing them.

    First, I took up with Pan O, because I told myself I really liked the Father Knight model (surely the quintessential Infinity model! :smile:) then I actually played Pan O and fell in love with the Father Knight profiles - in that order.

    Then I took up with Morats, because I told myself I wanted big chunky models that my middle-aged eyes could actually see to paint. Then I actually played them, and fell in love with the big chunky Sogarat (surely the most badass mini in Corvus Belli's range!) :smile: - in that order.

    Then I took up with ALEPH a while back, because friends that run a hobby shop (shout out to Fistful of Dice in Southsea!) had the Steel Phalanx 300 point army box. Then each time I actually played them, I found I loved the SP characters - in that order.

    So I put it to you all dear readers, that since our practical experience is far more persuasive than the reasons we make up in our heads (Manly™ though they may be), the best way to take up a new faction is probably to borrow the mini.s from a friend, and see how much you like playing them! :smile:

    (And for what it's worth, I think ALEPH is about as janky as you can get. I dont care about the ridiculous unit costs - you had me at 'ODD'!)
     
    #4 Wolf, Apr 24, 2019
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2019
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  5. Solar

    Solar Well-Known Member

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    Play Haqqislam because they're super cool and chill and have the best community
     
  6. Nenyx

    Nenyx Well-Known Member

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  7. 0rph3u5

    0rph3u5 TAG, you're it! :3

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    Lol, I do love the Haqq community, but our local Infinity community is really small and we already have 2 Haqq players. I'm a Californian so I gotta say things like "that's too mainstream for me" or "you've probably never heard of this faction/unit"
     
  8. Kiwi Steve

    Kiwi Steve Well-Known Member

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    I can't recommend Tunguska enough.

    Plenty of options and more hacking and tricks focused (interventor, heckler Jammers, link teams with perseus and white noise to always impose big f2f penalties) as well as some good heavies like Kriza's and hollow men.

    The other choices look too similar to your existing factions.

    But what is your purpose for expanding? Do you like collecting models you like the look of, or do you collect to play factions you like the play style of
     
  9. 0rph3u5

    0rph3u5 TAG, you're it! :3

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    A bit of both, honestly. I like the look of the new JSA, for example, but I just can't get into the faction for whatever reason. I like gunning things down and I just couldn't do that with the new JSA. In the opposite direction, I really didn't like the look of the EI Aspects (I actually like the look of the resculpts except the charontid), but I friggin' love running around with a Charontid, Anathematic, or Avatar so I'd say playstyle is pretty important. 'Cause of this I was thinking about Steel Phalanx since they can both shoot from range with ODD spitfires and other guns while also getting up close to shank some models.
     
  10. Kiwi Steve

    Kiwi Steve Well-Known Member

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    Maybe other steel phalanx players will disagree with me on this, but I've always found them very restrictive to use: limited models and limited play styles.

    Nearly everything is in 3-4 man links and wants to get close to be effective aside from a couple of very fragile snipers

    Low model counts make the main decisions things like Thorakites link or another Myrmidon link, machaon or phoenix and while these choices have some impact, most lists I play feel very much the same.

    I feel like I have more variety in Tunguska so I can tailor very different lists depending on who I'm playing or what I want to play.

    I can't really say much on NCA/MO as I don't play them.
     
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  11. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    Given your preference to not paint faces, I'd lean towards NCA or MO. Just about all the Greek characters are bare-headed, and a lot of the Tunguska models are as well.
     
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  12. ZlaKhon

    ZlaKhon New scale enthusiast

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    If you want to play some underdogs (as far as that exists in infinity), I‘d consider Druze. Lots of helmets on the Druze and Brawlers and you get to say stuff like „Oh, cool Dashat bro. I‘m actually playing the original NA2 though“.
     
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  13. Wolf

    Wolf https://youtube.com/@StudioWatchwolf

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    A policy Corvus Belli could easily steal from Games Workshop, at least for their new sculptures going forward, would be to provide two heads for the miniatures - one with a face, and the other with a helmet for those of us who're artistically challenged. I'm aware that GW have changed their sculptures somewhat and are tending towards chunkier models (as we Semiotics graduates say :wink:) and I must say I hope it's a trend that CB follow.
     
    #13 Wolf, Apr 26, 2019
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2019
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  14. 0rph3u5

    0rph3u5 TAG, you're it! :3

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    I'll take that into account, thanks man!

    Oh, I did consider NA2. Gotta say, it is tempting to play with the living JANK-ness that is the Druze, but I was hoping to start a new vanilla faction since it'd give me more variety. I DO like the Druze, though, and I think they're a cool army, I just would prefer something with more variety.

    But that would require more work! /s
    Yeah. I really wish so too. Like, they had swappable heads for the Joan with tactical-sexual-harasser Umbra, but I wouldn't count on it.
     
  15. Wolf

    Wolf https://youtube.com/@StudioWatchwolf

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    Well, i have a lot of complaints abot Corvus Belli and even went to Cangas to make them in person; but I could never complain that CB dont do enough work. They've always been a miniatutres company first and foremost, and in that respect their output is quite prodigious!
     
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  16. Section9

    Section9 Well-Known Member

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    Quite true, they have released something like 10 models a month for more than 10 years straight. That's ~1200 sculpts!
     
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  17. xagroth

    xagroth Mournful Echo

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    So you have:
    • Invincible Army (elite, low group, high order count)
    • Vanilla CA, possibly going to Shasvastii later, and a dip of Onyx
    And you want to decide between:
    • Greeks: ton of heroes, most lists have reached a point of fossilization, and can be considered "closed"
    • NCA/MO: poster boys mostly, MO goes again for elite, single group, while NCA suffers the same fate as Tunguska
    • Tunguska: kinda like IA, with less orders and some more toys for indirect warfare
    Tunguska, and NCA, have few mechanical interesting reasons over Vanilla to be played. NCA just offers a Fireteam CORE for defensive purposes, with almost everything being done by their elite loners (Swiss, Aquila, etc...). Tunguska offers the Hollow men core, and the other assault ones... everything else can work better in vanilla.

    If you don't want a huge bodycount, and the chance to work easily between vanilla/sectorial, I would suggest OSS with a box of Myrmidons and another of thorakitai (or grab the greek's starte box, and use the character and the Myrm hacker as 16pts chain rifle ones, the thorakitai as basic 13pts ones, and the ML Agema). Most individual troops transition between the two (posthumans, Asura, Nagas/Dasyus, Dakinis, Devas, devabots...). The Ekdromoi blister might be an interesting addition, but you can play with the BSG Garuda easily.

    Also, I think only the Devas, Asuras and Posthumans go bare-faced :p
     
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