Getting Started

Hi, Salsashark. Welcome to the forums :)

It depends on whether you plan to play vanilla (or in the future Vedic) Aleph, or Steel Phalanx sectorial. Vanilla is more flexible, has access to infiltrators and camouflaged troops as well as a wider choice of combat bots, while Phalanx is more focused on assault, close combat, close quarters battle in general, and built around elite characters.

I usually advise to start with sectorials, they are more restricted and it's easier to focus on something. Since Corvus Belli was focused on Phalanx for some time now its model line is more modern, too.

In any case best starting point is the chosen starter. For Phalanx you can add the Steel Phalanx 300 pts pack. For vanilla I'd add the Support Pack, Deva box and basic Rebot box.

Regardless of your choice best way to start is to start small - build a 100-150 pts list, play a few training games changing the list often, add another 50 pts when you'll feel confident and play some more, repeat the process until getting to 300 pts. This will allow you to learn the faction's ins and outs, as well as give you a solid grasp on the rules.

 

As Stiopa say, you can go 2 ways:

• Steel Phalanx, the Greeks:

Right now, the best option is to buy the 300pts army box, and add to that the Machaon blister, with that you can start a Phoenix+Machaon+2chain rifle Myrm, Ayax+MyrmOff (boarding shotgun)+2 chain rifle Myrm, and the mk12 Agema (or missile launcher), using the last myrmidon as Thorakitai proxy.
Once you have the knack of it, getting the Thorakitai SWC box and Thrasímedes (find a nomad player to split the Dire Foes box) is the next step, and you finish with the Rebots remotes box and the Ekdromoi blister. Everything else is optional, but Teucer is a nice option for a character sniper, and Achilles is useful if you manage to not depend of him.

• Generic (future Vedic):

Start with the Aleph's Starter box and Aleph's support box, and now decide how do you want your posthumans to look like.

Spoiler: Posthumans

Personally, I only like the Mk1 and Mk3 models, and the mk3 barely sees any use at all; if you want female posthumas, I suggest getting the female Dactyl (if you can) or the female engineer from the Yu Jing support pack box, unless you want to mess with the models... for mk2 I use the female Naga sniper or the female hacker dasyu (mostly the second, since I don't use the mk2 sniper much), and for mk 5 I use Uxia (cover ops), and the Wu Ming HRL (yu Jing) for the Mk4. If you buy the posthumans (1) box, then I suggest saving the parts of one of the Mk1 bodies, the female Hexa sniper blister (PanOceania) is great as mk2 with one of the heads.

Yes, posthumans are kinda must have. There is a thread here about what models to use as proxy, I think.

To finish this up, remotes box. Since I like the spider way of things, I have the Aleph Rebots box and the Haqquislam Khameel box, and I plan to get the Panoceania Dronbots box (because I also play Nomads, and there you need to have some extra remotes aside from the exclusive ones they have), but with just thre Rebots and Kameel you are set. Get a Danavas blister (as a second danavas I suggest the Kanren hacker blister from Yu Jing if you need a second) and the Deva Functionaries box, get the Dakini blister (HMG) to have 4 models, and you have the bare minimun troops now.

I suggest to get the Specops blister regardless of your choice, since she comes with two heads, on of which (the helmeted) is exactly the same as the Mk2 body in the Posthumans box (I used it with the Wu Ming HRL model), and has several weapons you can use to make weapon panoplies markers for some ITS missions. Also, she can double as a mk1 posthuman in a pinch.

The Quality of Life models you can add to the collection afterwards are the Asura Spitfire (I LOVE that model) and the Mirmydon box (I tend to place 2 of them at least in my lists, they are cheap troops with superb stats and gear, melee specialists with smoke... ideal bodyguards for the troops you want to protect, like the Asuras or the Devas).

 

Aleph has a variety of gameplays ranging from brute force (most of the Steel Phalanx part, especially some like Ajax) to tricks and surprise attacks (nagas, dasyus ...). Overall it is still an expensive army fielding a few number of elite troops. It has some of the best troops from all Infinity, but you will pay for it.

You should buy one of the starter (or both, they don't overlap) and try some games. Start with 100-150 pts games with 6-8 minis, don't go straight to 300 pts games. Play and play again, and with time you will know what you need, you don't have to build a full army from the start.

Have you already played other wargames ? If you already own some 28mm miniatures from other games, don't hesitate to use them to play your first games. Don't hesitate to proxy (ie: take a mini to play another mini you don't have) to try some troops.

Contrary to other games, no mini in Infinity is useless (well some are debatables, but they are still totally playables). So don't hesitate to buy a mini you like. You find Asura cool ? Atalante ? Ajax ? Patroclus ? You will be able to play them, so take them. Just a quick note through, Steel Phalanx is limited to some profiles (you can't play Asura in SP for example), generic Aleph can field all models including SP models, and both have a very different gameplay.

 

xagroth speaks words of wisdom, but I'd stay away from Posthumans for now. They're awesome troops at the moment, and as such they can easily become a crutch. It's better to learn the game without them, and add them later on. their rules are a bit complex as well, so they're not the best choice in the beginning.

Support packs and basic remotes are must haves regardless of army.

As Nenyx said, there are very few - to none - useless troops, so the only risk when buying is that the unit won't fit your playstyle.

One more thing - don't get attached to your list too much. Lists are very fluid in Infinity. Most of my lists were used in 2-3 games at the most.

 

Excellent advice above, but to back up a bit as you sounds like the OP is totally new to Infinity - the game base factions such as Aleph and Own Oceania, and within those factions are sectorials, which represent a particular facet of that faction.

In Steel Phalanx's case, they're the military arm of Aleph based around recreated ideals of ancient Greek heroes like Achilles, Hector and George Michael.

Sectorials have limited access to a faction's models, making up for it by being able to form fire teams and often having lower costs for special weapons. The limited choice make them.ideal for new players as it avoids the mass of options available in a full faction.

 

I'm not sure i would call it ideal, since sectorials brings also advanced rules - fireteams. And fireteams are not exactly noob friendly. Especially with Steel Phalanx which have a unique and rather strange fireteam.
I would advise against playing fireteams for the first few games, limit to the very basics of the game, and add some new rules when the basics are understood.

For the very same reason i would advise against starting with myrmidons for the first games. The reason being: they are too good in beginner's games. ODD is so strong, the one who own it may not understand the basics of cover and placement, since he will win face to face even when with a bad positionning. And on the opposite, the player facing ODD may find them overpowered, since he will lose in direct confrontation - it takes time to understand how to deal with it.

Better start with thorakites (proxy), dakinis or devas. My 2 cents.

 

Some are clearly marked, but ultimately you'll have to know your faction. Have you looked at the Army Builder?

https://army.infinitythegame.com/

 

By the way, since we are Aleph, this is rather easy: if it is in Steel Phalanx it is also in generic Aleph. But be careful, some sectorials may have access to a troop that its generic cannot have, for example Haqqislam's Qapu Khalqi can take Scarface (a mercenary) or Iguana (a nomad TAG) but Haqqislam generic cannot take any of them. So it's better to double check generic and sectorial if you are interested in both

 

No worries ;)

Clicking on unit's logo will bring down its profile, as well as list of available loadouts. clicking on a loadout adds it to the list.

If you want to check what unit's skills and equipment do, their names double as a link to online wiki.

By clicking on "BS Weapons" or "CC Weapons" on top of loadout list you can open list of weapons available for this particular units, complete with their range bands, damage, burst, ammo and special traits.

There's also a basic guide available here:

https://www.infinitythegame.com/blo...ty-army-6-a-little-guide-to-be-a-great-expert