1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

Combined Army Stater Pack Tactics PLEASE HELP

Discussion in 'Combined Army' started by Refry101, Mar 2, 2019.

  1. Refry101

    Refry101 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2019
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    7
    My friend and I are just getting into the game. I purchased the combined army starter set and my buddy got the tohaa starter set. We've played four games against each other so far and I seem to be at a loss for basic tactics with my army. We're playing a 150 point game with no real mission besides killing the enemy team. The units in my starter set seem to limit the choices for customizing my squad. The unidrons require a hacker, the legate and the tracker are the only options for lieutenants. I'm just not sure how to play against his units or just some basic strats/tactics for this army. My buddy has access to a triad fire team, a medic, symbiont armor, a hidden deployment unit, and a guy with a holoprojector that he purchased separately from the starter. I don't have access to any speculative fire weapons to counter the triad, seems almost impossible to get in cc range with the legates due to the extra burst perk of his fireteam, and I seem to be lacking a basic strategy and just playing the game cautiously and getting punished for it. I'm unsure how to play my units effectively. Any tips or thoughts on how to play the combined army starter set would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
     
  2. solkan

    solkan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2017
    Messages:
    1,335
    Likes Received:
    1,982
    If you're playing with two starter boxes, and that's all you have, that's too early for using fireteams. That goes double if you're just playing "Kill the other dudes" missions.

    Are you both just diving right in to the deep end (rules wise), or did you try building up like they do in the Operation boxes:
    • Mission 1: Your three grunts vs. their three grunts (Kamael vs. Batroids)
    • Mission 2: Add an Lt
    • Mission 3: Camo/MSV and whatever
    • etc.
    ? One you've got the hang of things, trying a game with the fireteam rules where you take the Legate and make a fireteam with your Unidrons (as Onyx Contact Force) and the Tohaa player uses Triad fireteams would be a good learning experience. But not until you've gotten the other basics down.

    Operation Coldfront has Aleph with Remotes and the intro rules completely ignore hacking and the Hacker requirement for remotes for those scenarios.
     
    DaRedOne, Stiopa and Golem2God like this.
  3. Sabin76

    Sabin76 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2017
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    I'm going to echo @solkan here and say that if you are going all in (having your friend use triads and all of the other more nuanced rules out the gate), then use your box as an Onyx starter instead of a vanilla CA starter... it was part of the 300 point Onyx box, afterall. A 4-man link team will give you Sixth Sense Level 2, which will shield you from his holo'd surprise shots.

    That said, I'm going to also echo their other point: you should start small with few rules. Get the hang of face to face rolls, LoF, AROs, and the like. These are things that are fundamentally different from other miniature wargames and can take some time to get used to.
     
    DaRedOne likes this.
  4. Tickle Monster

    Tickle Monster Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2019
    Messages:
    41
    Likes Received:
    29
    If you run your legate as a hacker you should be able to pull a few tricks that can even up the odds.

    Firstly cybermask gives allows him to become an impersonation marker which can help him get into close combat.

    Second he can use white noise to shut down msv troops (if your opponent starts bringing them) without too much trouble.

    He can also buff your Unidrones using assisted fire allowing them to ignore cover. This works best if you have a 5 man (robot) link but can still be effective.

    He can also help with your Fraacta by making it easier to land a combat jump.

    If you are having trouble getting your legate into cc there is a rules loophole that you can exploit to get him there. Step 1. Move your legate into a position where he is out of sight but within 6 inches of an enemy model. Step 2. Declare a new order and idle. Be sure to announce that your Legate is not using his stealth skill. As you are within the opponents zone of control he will be forced to declare an aro of either reset or change facing. Step 3. Use the second part of your order to move 6 inches into base contact. Step 4. Declare a new order and tear your opponent a new one in close combat.

    This tactic is a sneaky way of getting your opponent to waste their aro and has other applications such as using msv troops to shoot at close range through smoke. It is somewhat more order intensive than simply shooting an enemy but is great for shifting really stubborn defensive shooters.
    Be warned this trick will not work against troops with sixth sense and many enemy hackers will simply try to hack you.

    Also try the legate spitfire load out. With 6-2 movement, b4 and mimetism he is quite a good attacking piece.

    The Legate is a useful toolbox model but it is quite squishy and hard to protect. If you find that it is getting killed too often try proxying him for a Samaritan. If he gets a kill or 2 he can find himself with 3 wounds (plus nwi) which combined with his high dodging ability and kinematia can make him him difficult to kill.


    Your Unidrones are a bit rubbish as attackers but are powerful in aro. In a full link with a variety of range bands and support from a friendly hacker they will become absolutely murderous. Don't forget that if they get shot they can go dogged and keep dishing out pain for the rest of the turn.

    The Fraacta is a superlative drop trooper. Unlike most drop troops it can take a hit and keep going and it's nanopulsar can make a mess of bunched up troops (like a triad). The nanopulsar is also great in aro.

    The Maakrep tracker is a solid msv unit but is a bit wasted unless your opponent is running a lot of camo or smoke. Without having smoke yourself it is hard to get the most out of him. Be careful if your Legate is throwing white noise templates around that you are not going to block your own lines of sight.


    Please correct me if I am wrong but I believe that the tohaa starter pack are armed almost exclusively with combi rifles and nano pulsars. If you can engage them with your longer range weaponry (spitfire, hmg) in favourable range bands you should be able to win more firefights.

    Your choice of lieutenant is a hard one and if you go down the onyx route having obvious lieutenant choices are a weakness of the faction that you will just have to learn to mitigate. One way of countering this is to learn your opponents faction and target their obvious lieutenants (with a Fraacta for example).

    If you go down the vanilla combined army route you will find loss of lieutenant is hardly an issue.

    This has turned into quite a long rant. I hope it helps.
     
    Razi likes this.
  5. Refry101

    Refry101 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2019
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    7
    Let me start off by saying thanks for all the input. I really didn't expect to get so much advice with such a beginner/noob post. I really appreciate all the suggestions and strategies you guys have posted.

    My friend and I have a pretty good understanding of the basic rules of the game and have watched multiple youtube videos on how to play and a few of the 300pt battles showcased on the beastofwar youtube channel hosted by Carlos a rep for Covus Belli.

    With that being said I think we are both comfortable with the core basics. But as beginners, we do tend to make mistakes in regards to remembering all the perks of the specials skills and the subsequent levels and what to roll for each ammo type and so on. Basically, the stuff that starts to make the game more interesting and unique rather than just roll to shoot/hit. But I'm aware that this knowledge will be easier to retain the more games we play and by asking questions on the forums and doing our own research.

    I have four printed lists of the units my friend was using in our games. Kamel, Ectros, Sakiel, Clipsos, Kotail, and Kamel(2). He has different loadouts on each page, a hacker in one, a paramedic in another, and a minelayer in another. As far a weapons go it seems he has a pretty good spread, combi rifle, hmg, viral combi rifle, nanopulser, nimbus plus grenades, sniper rifle, boarding shotgun, spitfire, and vulkan shotgun. But you are correct that the majority of the loadouts for each build use combi rifles.

    It seems that the Tohaa starter set has more utility compared to the combined starter set. He has access to smoke and the halo projector and hidden deployment which seem to be good tactics against a beginner like myself. The combined army starter set seems to be very aggressive with almost no utility. Combine that with a passive/cautious play style of a beginner whos afraid to take risks/gamble, I just cant help but feel like I'm playing the starter set army wrong.

    After our last game, my friend did suggest that I try the onyx sectorial so that I would have access to a four-man fire team. I think I will give this a shot in our next game.

    Also my friend is close to collecting units for a 300pt game. I'm wondering what are some of your favorite combined army units and what are your go-to lieutenant. I did some research of some army lists and took note of some of the overlapping units various people had listed. Seems like some must have units include the combined army support box, Ikadron batroids and Imetron, Nexus Operatives for lieutenants, noctificers, daturazi witch soldiers for smoke, and bit and kiss for a hacker. If Tohaa is weak against fire can you recommend a good unit that utilizes fire?

    Once again, thanks in advance. I look forward to your replies and the information you provide me.
    Thanks, Refry
     
  6. solkan

    solkan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2017
    Messages:
    1,335
    Likes Received:
    1,982
    Writing as someone who has way too many Infinity models to someone who probably has too few at this point, my strongest suggestion would be to just start straight out proxy'ing for whatever you want to try out. Get some 25mm/40mm/55mm bases and put cardboard cutouts of models on them, showing what you want to use for that game. Or use models instead of cardboard cutouts if the cardboard standees are going to look too silly.

    Because
    1. The best way to find out what you want is to try it out.
    2. I don't want to tell someone to buy a $50 TAG box and a $50 support box and then find out that they would have preferred the stealth TAG instead of the big guns TAGs. Or that you'd rather have one of the Morat combat engineers instead of "Dr. Worm" from the support pack. Or that they really like the Avatar but to use it they can't play Onyx any more.

    For instance... The hands down one of the coolest looking models currently in the game is Anathematic. But you can't use it in Onyx. Xeodrons look cool, but you get a box of two when the generic AVA is 1, and the Onyx AVA is 4.

    You're eventually going to want to buy a drone box either for EVO Hacker, repeater, or total reaction, and then be confronted with the fact that there are like 5 drones that you can build from that box, and you get enough parts to build two of them. (It's $40 for two models that are going to end up being 15-20 points each. But they have really useful options to choose from. Some people put enough magnets into the bodies to be able to switch the pieces around to change which drones they have each game.)

    If you look around, you might see that the 300 point Onyx army box was essentially:
    • Combined Army starter box
    • Rodok box
    • Drone box
    and I think there's an article suggesting adding a Noctifier and a Xeodron Battroid to that. Although an equally good suggestion would probably be the Unidron box of 4 support weapons.

    Proxy, proxy, proxy.
     
    Sabin76 likes this.
  7. farseerixirvost

    farseerixirvost New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 11, 2018
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    First off, even with only a handful of games under your belts, I'd suggest trying adding the aspect of playing a mission. There's a few easy enough ones to start out with. If you focus on objectives and your opponent focuses on killing, you may loose more models, but can easily win the game.

    Onyx Sectorial food for thought. To expand beyond the starter, you might consider getting the Unidron special weapon box to create a fuller Onyx Fireteam. If finances are an issue, you may see if getting the Unidron w/ Plasma Sniper Rifle single mini from Shae Konnit is doable (instead of full support box) (link below). With the three from the starter + plasma sniper + Legate you'll have a full 5-man fireteam. Honestly, I'd prefer a Nexus operative filling out the 5-man Unidron team allowing the Umbra to be on his own. And the support box. Dr Worm and his wormlings will help keep things up and running (as an Engineer AND Doctor, he fixes both fleshy wounds and mechanized structure). Maybe round out with a Overdron. List below is Starter + Plasma Sniper Unidron + Support Box + Nexus + Overdron. LOTS of specialists (for those scenarios).

    http://www.shaekonnitgames.com/infinity-split-box-deal/

    Onyx Contact Force
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
    [​IMG]10
    UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    UNIDRON Plasma Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 24)
    NEXUS Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
    SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
    SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
    FRAACTA (EI Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 35)
    MAAKREP TRACKER HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 33)
    UMBRA LEGATE Hacker (Hacking Device Plus) Boarding Shotgun, Flash Pulse / Pistol, DA CCW. (0.5 | 43)
    OVERDRON Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon / . (2 | 74)
    [​IMG] STALDRON Flash Pulse / Knife. (0 | 0)
    6 SWC | 299 Points
    Open in Infinity Army
     
  8. Tickle Monster

    Tickle Monster Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2019
    Messages:
    41
    Likes Received:
    29
    There are several models that almost always make it into my lists. Dr Worm, Ikadrones, Imetrons, Drone remotes and Noctifier missile launchers. In a vanilla list I will nearly always take at least one Daturazi and some Gakis or Pretas. In an Onyx list I will always take either a Rodok or Unidrone core.

    The rest of the list will consist of a few killy troops and some specialists to achieve objectives. The Combined Army have such a variety of specialists and killy models that I honestly can't advocate one over the other as my personal play style and preferences may well differ from yours. As stated earlier in this thread do some proxying and find out what works best for you before making any decisions.

    As an aside if your main opponent is playing Tohaa their multiple link teams can be messed with quite easily by an E drone using exile and anything that can put up a decent repeater net. Kerr Nau in a Unidrone link is my personal favourite for this although bit and kiss or repeater drones also work well. Try it with some proxies and see.

    Also when constructing a list try and include a variety of weapons with different range bands. There are not many things in this game more galling than being pinned down in your deployment zone because you forgot to put enough long range weapons in your list.
     
    WarHound likes this.
  9. Tickle Monster

    Tickle Monster Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2019
    Messages:
    41
    Likes Received:
    29
    Onyx Sample list.
    ──────────────────────────────────────────────────

    GROUP 1[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]10
    KERR-NAU (UPGRADE: White Noise) Plasma Rifle + Pitcher, D-Charges / Breaker Pistol, Knife. (0 | 27)
    UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    UNIDRON (Forward Observer) Plasma Carbine / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 15)
    UNIDRON K1 Combi Rifle + 1 TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 17)
    UNIDRON Plasma Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (1.5 | 24)
    NEXUS Lieutenant (Specialist Operative) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
    MED-TECH OBSIDON MEDCHANOID Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
    SLAVE DRONE Electric Pulse. (0 | 3)
    IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
    IKADRON (Baggage, Repeater) 2 Light Flamethrowers, Flash Pulse / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0 | 9)
    ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)

    GROUP 2[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]5
    E-DRONE Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 28)
    NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
    NOCTIFER Missile Launcher / Assault Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 32)
    ÍMETRON . (0 | 4)
    MALIGNOS Hacker (EI Assault Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 41)

    6 SWC | 299 Points

    Open in Infinity Army


    Here is an example of an onyx list with several of my favorite toys in it. It is designed to work best if it goes second but still be able to work well if you have to take first turn. It is quite short on long range offence so you need to keep your Unidrone sniper safe until he is ready to attack. Keep Dr Worm or a slave drone nearby just in case.

    deploy the Noctifier missile launchers hidden and where they can cover as much of the field as possible. Use them to try to fend off enemy advances. Be careful springing them if your opponent has the ability to use any smoke + MSV shenanigans.

    In your offensive turn use the unidrone sniper to take out long range threats as you advance your link team up the field. Use Kerr Nau's pitcher to drop repeaters close to his link teams, or hackable troops. Keep an Ikadrone close by to resupply Kerr Nau's pitcher. In the reactive phase

    The Malignos should preferably stay hidden until the last turn when you can use him to seize objectives. He can also spring out early to hack enemy heavies or Tags etc. He can also come in handy for taking out long range threats by sneaking up close and shooting them outside of their optimal range bands.

    Your lieutenant will be quite obvious to any player familiar with the Onyx. Keep him safe at all costs. Deploy him prone and out of sight. preferably with a bodyguard like an Ikadrone, E drone or even Dr Worm nearby.

    Your E drone is there both to aid the Unidrones with supportware and to mess with link teams using Exile in the reactive turn. E drones provide a lot of little bonuses to your army. Be sure you read up on them.
     
  10. Aspect Graviton

    Aspect Graviton Friendly Alien Overlord
    Warcor

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2017
    Messages:
    789
    Likes Received:
    1,800
    Solkan's entry above is pretty spot on, it's a big game and Combined have a lot of variety even within a sectorial in terms of the units and what they do, write a couple of lists for Generic and a couple for Onyx and see what you enjoy. Onyx is pretty big for glass cannons and powerful core teams, Vanilla gives you access to Aspects (probably the best selection of LT models in the game) The main battle TAGs, Daturatzi, skirmish units under 30 points.

    For specific Tohaa killing units however: Suryats, Ikadrons and the overdron all come with fire in Onyx (there is also the sphinx but as it's being resculpted and is over 100pts I would be tempted to hold off on that for a while)

    Onyx and Tohaa are quite an interesting match up being very clearly designed to kill each other. Onyx has line troopers with High BTS and multi damage per hit guns to deal with tohaas access to viral and simbiont armour, Tohaa have viral, shock and 2 shot AROs which limit the usefulness of transform on the fraacta, V: dogged and NWI, and all those automedkits (basically anything without dron in the name).
     
  11. Sabin76

    Sabin76 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 23, 2017
    Messages:
    1,708
    Likes Received:
    2,086
    To be fair, only 2 units in Onyx have them: the Maakrep and the Malignos.
     
  12. Aspect Graviton

    Aspect Graviton Friendly Alien Overlord
    Warcor

    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2017
    Messages:
    789
    Likes Received:
    1,800
    That is fair, I think by that stage in the rant I'd wandered into shas as the hype intensifies (20.5 HOURS!). More the point is that there are 6 pretty expensive and fragile units which pay for rules which are specifically weak to viral
     
    Sabin76 and Tickle Monster like this.
  13. Refry101

    Refry101 Member

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2019
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    7
    Once again thanks for all the support!!!!

    So I have an update on where I'm at. I made a fairly large purchase from an online vendor and myself some decent units to make/proxy a variety of army lists. But I have to start off by saying that despite all of the help and information provided the online vendor that I purchased my minis from was out of stock on the IKADRON and IMETRON. Seems like that's the first go to purchase for the combined army but I was unable to get any at the time of my purchase. So with that bit of info out of the way.....ALSO.....I made a list of tools that I wanted for my army and the only box that I was unable to check was fire damage. I wanted the Ikadrons and the Sphinx but with the rework and the new sculpts on the way I decided to hold off. So my army is still lacking fire damage but this is what I was able to get...

    1.Infinity: Combined Army - Drone Remotes (2)
    2.Infinity: Combined Army - Support Pack (3)
    3.Infinity: Combined Army - Daturazi Witch-Soldiers Box (4)
    4.Infinity: Combined Army - Skiavoros (Plasma Rfl, Nanopulser)
    5.Infinity: Combined Army - The Charontids (Plasma Rifle) (1)
    6.Infinity: Combined Army - Nexus Operatives (Hacker) (1)

    My friend gifted me Corax, a shrouded, and Treitak

    So now I have a decent amount of minis and different silhouette sizes to do some proxying while not being confined to the hacker/Mnemonica/tag for my remotes.

    After reading your suggestions I feel the noctifier would be a great addition, with to camo and the missile...launcher seems like a cool combo.

    With that being said I was able to play a few games with my buddy that's running Tohaa. We played The Armory mission. For both games, I experimented with the Onyx sectorial. We played smaller army sizes running 200 point games trying out some different tactics. I like the variety of units in vanilla but I loved being able to use a five-man fire team with my unidrons, legates, and nexus operative. That with q,m, and t drones made for a fun game that seemed balanced on both sides. The advantages for a five-man link team combined with the hi-tech weaponry of the combined can have some downright dirty dice rolls. I followed VaulSC tips of deploying in total cover and going second which seemed to be effective for a new player like me, not getting mowed down by half in the first turn :)

    Understanding the idle combo and using it with the Legates was also a great tip. Knowing that stealth is optional, declaring idle and generating no real aro and moving into close combat with a da ccw with the advantages of a five-man link team including an extra burst and a +3 to cc is just disgusting. With a base cc of 21 its very good odds you're going to land more than one hit.

    So what I took away from the two games is a better understanding of generating aros and how they work, the strength of link teams esp five-man, f2f rolls vs an unopposed roll, basic math of mods/bs #/burst, deployment, and initiative, and the advantages of hi-tech weapons and gear.

    My rant goes on and I have lots to share but that's it for now...Keep the post alive and feed me your tips and tricks so I become the ultimate evil Combined player!!!!

    YOU DONT KNOW THE POWER OF THE DARKSIDE

    please excuse typos and grammar :p
     
    Sabin76 likes this.
  • About Us

    We are a company founded in 2001 in Cangas (Spain), and devoted to design and manufacture games and figures. Our main product, Infinity the Game, was born with the ambition to satisfy the most demanding audience, offering the best quality.

     

    Why are we here?

     

    Because we are, first and foremost, players.

  • Quick Navigation

    Open the Quick Navigation