I played Ariadna 8 or 9 years ago, but I had a kid since then and mostly abandoned the war gaming hobby. I was deep into all the games:40k, Fantasy, Infinity, Malifaux, Warmachine, etc. However, Infinity was always my favorite due to great models and interesting game play. The low model count also helps with my lack of desire to paint hundreds of figs, but that’s another story. My son is into Star Wars and Chess, so I figure we could both enjoy this hobby together on rainy and cold days. I also have a friend who played Haqqislam and another who played Pan O still in the area, and they still have their forces. With that being said, I figure I will buy my son the PanO starter he liked while looking over my shoulder, a single Kamau hacker, and a TAG, which makes sense as a PanO starter. I’m curious on what I should do with Yu Jing. I want to play with neat tech toys that my Ariadna did not have, and for aesthetics, my tastes run along the lines of Tiger Soldiers and heavy infantry, with Zhanshi cheerleaders. I was thinking of picking up the Yu Jing starter, a Guijia, and a Kanren Hacker to start. I also keep hearing of an Invincible sectorial that sounds to my taste but most of it is speculation. Any other suggestions? I also like the Ninja and Motorcycle troops, but should I stay away from them for now?
No no no, avoid TAGs for starting gameplay, since they block the "let's work with what we have" mentality that helps win missions even if you are defeated in surviving points. Sorry if it sounds too harsh, I'm just alarmed ^^U The motorcycles style is 100% JSA, which is now confirmed as "outside Yu Jing" without words about what will happen to current profiles atm, so wait on that front. Invincible Sectorial is "confirmed" (so, we can assume it's 70-80% certain) for Gen Con, so you have quite the time to wait. In the meantime, however, Imperial Service has options to play with heavy troopers (Wu Ming fireteam, for example). If you want tech without hacking, the best option is the Steel Phalanx for "heavy advanced assault force", if you want to have, and use to the limit, as much "tech" as possible, Nomads are the answer (if expensive: you would need remotes, and Interventors, and Zeroes, and Carlota Kowalski or the Tomcats box, the Support box...). For Yu Jing, at this moment you either play Limited Insertion (not a bad thing, but your Haqquislam friend will be at a heavy disadvantage), or need cheap troops like Kuang Shi to "feed" the heavy hitters like the Hsien (hunt enemies from behind smoke), the Su Jian (assault transformer), or some other nasty surprises to the enemy, like the only Heavy Infantry troops that can also use TO camo (Hac Tao and Daofei, only in generic) or the Kanren (yes, you know it's a Kanren. But which one? XD). As I said before, it's better to try and get used to two different playstyles: the "toolbox", about using cheap troops with only one or two pricy ones, and the "fast and hard" of Limited Insertion (just 1 combat group) where you pick expensive troops that can do several things at once and each order has a great value.
Like, wait a week while we figure out exactly how, and how badly Yu Jing is getting screwed over. Nobody knows how many models we're about to lose access to.
Problem here is there are so many ways to go about it. If you could figure out a way to get your (Haqq)friend to split both Red Veil and its Expansion you get a lot of models. With those you get the Guilang (which can easily be converted to a Combi Rifle), Tiger Soldier with Hacking Device, Dao Fei, and some Zhanshi to round out the force right away. The Zuyong can be used to pad the force as he is a cheap unit that can be a specialist once you get back into the swing of things with missions. If you don't mind dipping into the ISS units, you can use the Zhanying from the Red Veil expansion as well as grabbing any of the Kanren. That's a pretty rounded out force right there and it didn't cost you too much. If you are on a budget, you can get both the Vanilla starter and the ISS starter. It gives you a lot of models for fairly cheap, but you won't be able to use all of the Celestial Guard. The units aren't varied either. You need to decide if you are going Vanilla or ISS. I would mention JSA, but they are in a weird place right now. If you like all of the love the new and improved ISS is getting, I would recommend them. They just have so much going for them and their line is very nice looking. To that end, I would recommend the following: Kanren Hacker ISS Starter Wu Ming box Kuang Shi Either Hsien MR and Zhanying Hacker/Su Jian That would give you an excellent starting point (I know most would say to bring the two ALEPH units with the Sophotect being almost borderline mandatory since it is the only Engineer/Doctor you can get. *sucks in a long breath*
JSA is no longer part of Yu Jing. They are part of the NA2 factions. I would be surprised if any Japanese unit are left over except for the ninja. I have a really good feeling they will stay due to the ninja being a part of the Red Veil two player starter box. Yu Jing is not going to be screwed over. Just missing a sectorial for awhile only to have it replaced with the Invincible Army. The sectorial where all your HI=Heavy Infantry dreams come true. You should ask the PanO forum on what to get for your son. Even ask the PanO player in your area as well before you buy. Get the opinions from forum members before you commit to buying anything PanO. By the way, you don't have to stay away from the JSA models since the new JSA Army box is being released very soon. Starting monday Beasts of War is having an Infinity week where they are showcasing the JSA Army box and are going to use the USA Army box to play against it. Have your son which the episodes with you. They will be a great way for him to see and understand just what kind of game Infinity is and maybe he might want to play JSA or USA instead of PanO. Let both of you bond over learning & relearning how to play. There will be a video coming out each day from monday to friday. Also you can watch the previous Infinity weeks on Beasts of War's youtube channel. Look up "Icestorm" & "Red Veil" along with "USAridana" as well and watch those videos when you can. They will be similar in fashion with info, matches just like this upcoming "Uprising" week. With Yu Jing it is smart to have no more than two high-priced HI in your lists. Otherwise you will starve your heavy infantry of orders they need to be effective. Zhanshi and Kang Shi are good cheerleaders plus the Kang can be deadly when used right while the Zhanshi can be a cheap specialist to complete objectives. Tiger Soldiers are probably considered the best drop troops in the game right now. You can even give them a sniper rifle which no other drop troop in the game has that ability. They can be order hungry as well so you will have to not overdo it with a lot of them just like heavy infantry. So maybe having 1 HI & 1 Tiger in a list at a time would be a good idea to start off. If you live in America check out Game Nerdz for your Infinity purchases as they have cheaper prices compared to other stores. Also don't forget ebay as you can get an amazing deal if you look for it. People sell or auction army lots or models at low prices. You will save a good chuck of money to use for other things that your married life might bring.
I think Ninja at the very least will stay with some AVA, but I would just recommend not purchasing JSA units until we know what is happening. (Unless you know something the rest of us don't.) Seconding this. A huge mistake beginners fall into is wanting to take all of the heavy infantry and they end up without the number of orders they need to support it. Try taking one longer range HI (Hsien, Hac Tao, Zuyong, Yan Huo) and one mid field HI (Daofei, Su Jian, Imperial Agent Crane Rank) at first. I'd probably rank Tiger Soldier as tied for number 2 with the Tohaa drop troop, both of which I'd rank below the Fraacta. That said, the second point about order usage is spot on -- Tiger Soldiers are pretty greedy, generally.
