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

Starting with Varuna

Discussion in 'PanOceania' started by DudleyLd, Dec 2, 2019.

  1. DudleyLd

    DudleyLd New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2019
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    1
    Hello everyone, this is my first post here.

    I'm a wargaming player with Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar background, and have looking into getting into Infinity. From what I've read, my faction picks are either one of: TAK, Haqqislam, or Varuna. How would you say Varuna compares to them? Are they fun, or are they just "point and click"? So far I think they seem fun but wanted to make sure.

    Also, how could I go about starting a Varuna list? Can I have some example 200 points list? I'm really not sure how to finally get started so I can truly understand which faction I want etc.

    Thanks in advance!
     
    barakiel likes this.
  2. barakiel

    barakiel Echo Bravo Master Sergeant

    Joined:
    May 5, 2017
    Messages:
    2,299
    Likes Received:
    7,519
    You'll talk to a lot of people who say Varuna are immensely powerful. They are powerful, certainly, but they're also incredibly finesse-oriented. The entire Sectorial hinges on getting serious work done with medium cost 1-Wound minis, without the safety net of useful items like smoke, antipersonnel mines, or cheap warbands. VIRD is full of elite choices, but since pretty much everything is a flimsy 1-Wounder, you'll want to develop a mechanical understanding of their rules in order to get maximum effect out of them. They're not durable enough, or numerous enough, to suffer much attrition.

    That being said, they're incredibly rewarding, and rely on leveraging their powerful tools. Rules aside, and competition aside, they're about as badass as it gets in Infinity, and that counts for a lot. VIRD is very defense-oriented, using aggressive AROs to "lock" the table and hinder your opponent's ability to maneuver, score, or attack. They rely heavily on frustrating your opponent's plans, and then counter-attacking with effective gunfighters. The most challenging component for a new player is that VIRD requires very careful layering of multiple game mechanics, so you may be frustrated a bit until you can get a firm grasp on how they all work.

    The most common VIRD setup features a Core link team of Fusiliers, supporting a Kamau Sniper. This is about as close to a cookie-cutter approach in Infinity as you can get, and the reason for this is because VIRD really likes having the dominant long-range capability of the Kamau Sniper. Fusiliers can hide safely, contribute critical link team bonuses, and help generate cheap Orders. Common additions to that link team are an ORC heavy weapon, or additional Kamau heavy weapons (the HMG is very popular, as a dominant Burst 5 active turn weapon.)

    From there, you basically start adding elite 1-Wound Snake Eaters of choice. It's very common to take maximum Zulu Cobras (Zulu Cobras are amazing... See the Pinned Tactica for more info on their profiles.) Echo Bravo and Crocs are also good choices.

    Those aforementioned units are going to do most of your work. From there, you can pad out with support units (Fugazi and Mule REMs for cheap Orders... A Trauma Doc and Palbot for patching your guys up... And Helots for their defensive capability.)

    A 200 point list is probably going to be ~6 models all capable of linking with one another in Core, plus a few Camouflaged snake eaters to do your midfield fighting/objective grabbing. That's also what your 300 point list will typically look like, but at 300 points, you can also add a small secondary Group, with cheap REMs for Orders, that will perform your support roles (Doctoring, objective grabbing, etc.)

    VIRD does have Heavy Infantry available, but I suggest using those as a durable point man for your Core fireteam. Since durability and resilience is a VIRD weakness, having an ORC heavy weapon to soak a hit and add some staying power can be very useful. But generally, you should void the temptation to run a full fireteam of ORCs. Being able to use inexpensive Fusiliers to provide link bonuses to more powerful, elite units like ORCs and Kamau is a major selling point of playing Varuna.

    At larger point values, you can experiment with TAGs, or a second Fireteam (Fireteam: Haris can be taken in addition to a Core Team, but is capped at 3 members, and Patsy Garnett is really good at leading and enabling Haris Teams.)
     
    #2 barakiel, Dec 2, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2019
    realder likes this.
  3. DudleyLd

    DudleyLd New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2019
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    1
    Thanks for the response. I think I can deal with the finesse aspect, I played Blades of Khorne in Age of Sigmar, which is basically the "chess army" of that game. Looks like I need to learn more about links and stuff, and also Icestorm is probably not a starting point. I'll think some more and try to learn more on the forums before I get started, cheers!
     
  4. barakiel

    barakiel Echo Bravo Master Sergeant

    Joined:
    May 5, 2017
    Messages:
    2,299
    Likes Received:
    7,519
    Icestorm isn't bad, but go with the generic PanO starter if you can. It has the same units as Icestorm, but you don't have to pay for the Nomad component. Either way, both Icestorm and the PanO starter have 3 miniatures you're likely to use in pretty much every game (the three rifle Fusiliers) so it's a worthwhile purchase for those minis alone. The ORC Heavy Infantry in there can proxy for any Heavy Infantry in Varuna, and the Akalis can proxy as an Echo Bravo until you buy one separately. So it's not a bad place to be, especially for those rifle fusiliers.

    Link Teams have quite a few rules, but generally boil down to this:
    • You pick up to 5 models, which have to be eligible to link. You can't just link any unit.
    • You form the team during deployment, and can reform it with different members during the game. You appoint one unit as the leader, and all link team members have to begin and end each order within 8 inches of the leader.
    • As long as the link leader is alive, the unit will receive bonuses based on how many miniatures are in the link. A 3 man team gets +1 Burst. A 4 man team also gets Sixth Sense Level 2. A 5 man team also gets +3 Ballistic Skill.
    • There are plenty of rules for forming links, breaking links, reforming links, etc that I'll let you figure out on your own, but the general premise is this: as long as your link team stays formed, every member becomes a much better gunfighter than they would be as a solo model. The upsides are obvious: shooting wins games, so getting bonuses to your stats is a big deal. The downside is big too though: all these guys have to stay pretty close to one another, and they're incredibly clunky to maneuver and fight with, so you're basically giving your opponent a big, unwieldy target to attack.
     
    Tongfa and AdmiralJCJF like this.
  5. Phillimon

    Phillimon Kazak Diplomatic Operative

    Joined:
    May 25, 2018
    Messages:
    61
    Likes Received:
    61
    I agree with barakiel, unless you have a friend to split Icestorm with I would buy the PanO starter. Then personally i would also pick up the VIRD starter, it come with the Kamau Sniper and the Kamau Heavy Rocket Launcher which are two of the mainstays of VIRD. It also has the ORC Faurbach, a very good defensive piece that could also proxy as the ORC HMG. The spitfire Zulu Cobra can proxy as any of the Zulu Cobra as needed.
     
  • 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