I've been thinking recently about Infinity. I know, big surprise! But in particular I've been thinking about how well the various factions are written, and by that I mean how the total set of rules, loadouts, discounted units, fireteam compositions and weaknesses are distributed among them. I always look for this virtue when I consider a new war-game, as I really think it's crucial to enjoying a system to its fullest. Having recently started playing Shasvaasti, I've been struck by how damn well composed they are - if you run them in a traditional manner you'll lose horribly, but if you lean into the asymmetry of their playstyle, they come alive, and it's just so satisfying. So I just wanted to get the community's opinion on which faction(s) they think are most expertly written; not powerful, imba, in need of tweaks, etc, but which factions you think perfectly capture the flavour of a faction, and translate that into a constrained, unique, rewarding playstyle.
JSA is pretty much completely outclassed by the newer generation of Sectorials at this point, but still remains one of the most aesthetically and thematically well designed factions across the entire game.
I always felt FRRM offered pretty much exactly what was described in the background. a light, "modern", professional, immediate response force. lots of forward deployment, no native irregular, solid stats all around. though they where my first army so I'm more than a little biased. MO and SP are also pretty good in my book, both unsubtle wrecking balls, MO through the power of Pan-Oceanian technology and a concerning number of bullets. and SP by resting on the shoulders of metaphorical giants, heroes who's deeds (and stats) are ripped right from legend, and ripped a TAG apart with their bare hands.
Having just started to play RTF, I feel that their supersoldier fluff is very well represented on the table: Lots of models that can do a lot of different things and take some damage, but aren't apex fighters or super-heavy armored. When it works and you don't die to an Alpha strike, it's very satisfying to see these guys and girls perform.
I’m very new to O-12 but so far, I’m loving the backgrounds. Most of the troops seem to match their background. The few I don’t think quite match their backgrounds are: Nyoka. They are assault troops, but their low ARM seems out of place to me. Psi-Cop. They should have counter-intelligence or something to show they are the Intel troop. Epsilon. The bio-immunity kind of show their altered body chemistry but the background says they become ultra-rational. I would think this would show up as Courage or Veteran. Gangbusters. I think they are using the wrong kind of Infiltration. Their story has them being more like an Impersonator.
Caledonians for me played as they should. Lots of wulver/dog dudes, lots of cheap stuff in kilts, good in CC, plenty of teseum. Hasn't translated well into n4 with being pretty much a dead faction but the faction feels right. Previous guy who mention FRRM gets a like from me too
For what it's worth, the power creep with the most recent releases has shafted a lot of older sectorials into the 'dead faction' space, it's not an isolated, or even uncommon issue anymore.
This! All of this! I altered my characters' fluff to transition from QK to RTF. I was planning to return to QK with the latest changes and addition of the Reinforcement units, but list-building all I could think of was how I really liked playing with my Namurr, my Nahab and my two Muhktars.
