Hey everyone, ever since I saw the Spiral Corps Box when it first came out I kept thinking about getting them but for some reason or another I never quite made the jump. Now with the release of N4 I kinda went back to that but since I’ve been burned before buying an army by looks only without knowing terribly much about the play style I was hoping you find people could give me a rough idea of how Spiral feels on the table. I’ve looked at some profiles but to be honest have a hard time working out how everything fits together. I know TriCore with the holo MSV2 viral sniper is one of their sticks, and both the Draal and the Kriigel are good but I don’t really know how. The Clipsos and the Rasail were universally feared in N3 afaik, and Robert did a lot of damage with the Kerail if I remember correctly. But...yeah that’s about the extent of my knowledge, and frankly not enough to go out and buy a bunch of stuff yet. What do you like about Spiral? What would you say the typical SC play style is? Is it similar to another faction/sectorial for comparisons sake? Maybe OSS? Thanks a ton!
I am a long term Tohaa player and with them being out if the picture for another month or two, I tried to figure out what SCs identity is. I was having a hard time, since my most beloved pieces from Tohaa, Makauls, Gao-Raels and the old Nikoul, are not in SC. We have a lot of small SWC taxes, some of which are basically mandatory, like the 0,5 SWC for Tri-Core, which makes list building kinda weird. As far as I can tell, SCs strength is the midfield fight. There are a lot of great units able to deploy up to 20 or 24 inches, some even come with mines. Draal, Igao, Clipsos and Greif are all extraordinary good fighters at close to mid range, and non of them are hackable. Most of my lists revolve around the units stated above, while my backline is protected by a lot of templates. We're really bad at long range, though, especially in the active turn. Also, there's the two Core links that SC can field, which is also unique in infinity. Still figuring stuff out myself.
As someone who is pretty new to actually playing, but has followed the scene for a long time, I can't speak much to experience but I can speak as to why I picked Spiral Corps: On the one hand, you've got the Triad mechanic from Tohaa. 2-3 fireteams are common, giving you a lot of order efficiency. The THREE different Impersonators and the newly-buffed Igao are great for screwing with your opponents' heads and making early dents in their order pools. Helots, Minelayers, and Igaos can all contribute to a decent Camo shell-game. Clipsos are still some of the most point-efficient TO models in the game. Your melee game isn't half bad either, with a ton of Viral Pistols spread amongst their best units and the absolute trucks that are the Kiel-Saan and the Igao. You also get access to Tohaa's special brand of "hacking," T: Pheroware, which works against any model with Wounds and can do some nasty stuff, as well as the infamous Symbiobombs and Symbiomates. Spiral Corps has tricks on tricks on tricks. On the other hand... that's mostly all you've got. The faction caps out at BS 13. There's a total of 4 Spitfires in the entire list (including the Merc TAG), only ONE of which goes in a standard Fireteam Triad, and she's a character. Your two options for an HMG are a Neurocinetics BS 11 Chaksa or the Merc TAG, neither of which are linkable. Heavy Firepower is scarce, especially at longer ranges here. As for hacking? Forget about it. Brawlers, Wardrives, a single character with a KHD, and a Taagma Profile with Zero Pain are your only choices, none of which are great. No repeaters, no remotes. Your only AD is the Cube Jager. I picked them because they've got a great deal of ways to mess with your opponents' heads and strategies. Having to deal with 2-3 Impersonators (including Jaan and his Light Shotgun direct templates), hidden deployment Clipsos, Helots, and mines only to finally be able to engage with a Tri-Core boosted Neema or Draal can quickly cause even the best of plans to go sideways in a hurry. As for the units you specifically asked about, Draal are BS 13 (highest in faction), Mimetism -6 with 2 wounds and an AP Marksman Rifle. Put them in a Triad with a Taagma with Tri-Core and you're looking at a very, very scary active turn piece. Comes with Mines and a Viral Pistol to solidly round out the profile, and his Symbiont Armor lets you load him up with a mate and/or a bomb. Kriigels are different, being only middling shooters with no Symbiont, but the cheap Smoke Grenade Launcher can pair wonderfully with the MSV2 Viral Sniper Taagma, Eraser is a "hacking" attack vs. anything with Wounds with a good chance to isolate, and Mirrorball lets him plop down Eclipse templates anywhere in ZoC, which can keep your team safe from opposing MSV or block a strong ARO piece before you walk around a corner. Pay special attention to the Special Fireteams that Spiral gets; Reex escorts might not seem good, but 2 of them with a Kriigel LT makes for a cheap defensive fireteam that can support offensive pushes via the grenade launcher's superior range. The ability for a Taagma to fireteam with 2 Chaksa FTOs is a great, cheap way to get +1 Burst on his Viral Sniper (and their HFTs!) and force your opponent to guess which Chaksa is actually the deadly long-range unit... or you can take THREE Taagmas all disguised as Chaksas in a regular Triad and really throw your opponent for a loop. The Kiel-Saan is a wrecking ball, but paired with Draal FTOs or some Kaurii Paramedics (who have +1 Burst on their medikits) and you can turn him up to 11. Or go absolutely nuts and pair 3 of them together for an incredibly expensive, incredibly offensive murderball.
If I was to describe some of Spiral Corp's key traits: 1) Spiral Corps' most defining mechanic is Tricore. Tricore, in my opinion, is actually stronger than Fireteam Core, because a Tricore team gets all of the benefits of a five-man team, while removing two of the biggest drawbacks (cost and maneuverability). In my play, juggling the Tricore Taagma has been a very powerful strategy, first in a link with the MSV2 Viral Sniper Taagma, and then into a link with a Draal and a third piece (usually a Kriigel, but occasionally a Kaeltar). Tricore got buffed in N4, dropping in cost by 0.5 SWC, which is a huge help since Spiral tends to use all of its SWC. 2) Spiral Corps is outright oppressive at controlling areas. Spiral Corps has some of the most cost effective area-denial pieces in the game. Eraser is the original Double Jammer+, and even with the nerfs to the non-Bomb version, it remains one of the grossest things to play into. Tricore also plays into this -- the Sixth Sense skill you get from being in a Tricore link means a Kriigel parked against a wall can be a huge threat to stuff on the other side of it. Helots are some of the most cost effective ARO pieces in the game. Clipsos, Igao, and Kiuutan are all tools that help you to control the middle of the table. Dazers have lost their saturation effect, but still significantly slow down the advance of models past key choke-points (they're also Disposable(3) now!). 2b) Just particularly to hone in on our midfield, Spiral Corps can take 2 Clipsos, 3 Draal, 2 Igao, a Greif Operator, and 2 Kiuutans (including Jaan). That means Shock Mines and E/M Mines up to your opponent's Deployment Zone. 3) Spiral Corps is much more effective at mid-range shooting than Tohaa. While its mid-range shooting ability was previously arguably the best in the game, it still remains very strong. The loss of Stratuscloud was a big nerf to our turn one power, but a Tricore Draal will be shooting on 16s with Mimetism(-6), putting it ahead of any other mid-range shooters available in Tohaa. 4) Spiral Corps tends to have a very low count of "cheerleader" units who don't have some kind of utility. I don't think I've ever taken a Brawler in Spiral Corps before (though it is something I'm looking at more now due to N4 rule changes), because we can rely on Taagma + Chaksa links for cheap orders. Our other cheap order producer, the Kauri, now packs E/M Mines (!). One thing I really enjoy about Spiral Corps is I feel like it's one of the only armies I've ever played where I will spend orders on almost every model in my list. 5) Spiral Corps is highly resistant to strategies that really on Lieutenant assassination. The fact that a Taagma Lt exists means from your opponent's perspective that almost any model deployed on the table at the beginning of the game can be your lieutenant, and the Kaeltar's Symbiomate/Symbiobomb/CoC profile is so obviously the best it will show up in almost every list.
@BlackCadian Dirty tricks If you like armies that are not based only on going head-on, Spiral Corps gives you endless combinations to play against your opponents
As far as I can tell from the rule book, TO Camo is no longer a game mechanic. There's only one camo marker state. Clipsos are still good with hidden deployment, camo, and mimetism(-6) though. Great forward observers.
I step by step, I would have the opportunity to take the Spiral box with the exclusive minia. Do I necessarily have to make additions? In case you have to take one / two miniatures, what do you recommend to take to make the box "playable"? Thank you very much for your availability.
Thank you very much for the great insights everyone, especially @meikyoushisui for your detailed reply! I am currently waiting on my flgs to get back to me if they still have that discounted SC box, if not I‘ll have a look on ebay. I‘m not in a rush and maybe I’ll do a game with proxies first, but I think I‘m ready to make the jump :) Thanks a lot everyone and keep it coming if you can think of anything else!
I would be interested in the answer to this, too. I suppose the MSV2 Sniper and the Helot box would be good? Symbiomates?
The MSV2 Sniper has been in pretty much all of my lists, and usually I have at least one Helot. The Chaksa Auxiliars box is the most important, in my opinion -- it's our cheapest orders and cheapest templates. The Kaeltar is excellent and the Chain of Command profile with one bomb and one mate is probably going to be incredibly popular this edition. Helots and Kauuri are maybe worth proxying at first since there are 4 of them in each box but you'll usually only be taking 1-2 Helots and just 1 Kauuri (though with E/M mines, maybe two is more viable now?) The only box I really recommend staying away from to start is the Brawlers, since I've rarely seen anyone taking them, but I can still think of uses cases for them. Kerails and Rasails are also probably lower priority, but still perfectly viable.
Thanks for your suggestions. The point is that I would like to use the Reex, take advantage of the whole box plus an addition. I see that the Chaksa are popular and the Helots too. Ditto Kaauri. They are already boxes and not single blisters. Already the Taagma sniper is "easier" to buy. There is also the Hatail in the box, is it usable?
The Hatail is the spec-ops for Spiral Corps, and the N4 spec-ops rules aren't scheduled to be out until later this year. Until then, the Hatail is best used as a proxy.
Ah, if you are new to the game, to "proxy" just means to use one model to represent another thay you don't have. Infinity has very friendly proxy rules, the only thing that matters is that the base sizes match. So the Hatail is fine to use as Aelis or any other S2 model. Edit: worth mentioning that Aelis does have her own model, she's in one of the Dire Foes boxes.
"Hatail" is the Tohaa name for Spec Ops, customisable troopers available in some tournaments and narrative games that're getting rules later this year. Aelis is a named Hatail, much like Jaan is a named Kiiutan Imposter, technically a different unit. That said, the official Infinity Tournament rules basically boil down to "Is it on the right base and did you buy it from CB, if yes to both, go wild" so you can use it as whatever you like.