I only recently took a sudden plunge into Infinity after a long hiatus in miniature gaming. To get a lot of usefull stuff and beginning miniatures for my favourite factions I bought the Operation: Red Veil package which contains the following: 3x GHULAM (Rifle + Light Shotgun) 1x KHAWARIJ (Rifle + Light Shotgun) 1x TUAREG (Sniper Rifle) 1x ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) (Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun) 1x FASID (HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher Now ideally I would love to round this to an even 250 pts list to start with but I seem to be swampped with awesome units in the list (and already like the Khawarij and Tuareg as they seem usefull troopers with great potential). Now so far I have set up the units as follows: Haqqislam ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 GHULAM Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 20) GHULAM Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) GHULAM (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) TUAREG Sniper Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 33) KHAWARIJ Lieutenant Rifle + Light Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 27) FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) ZHAYEDAN (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) 3 SWC | 193 Points Open in Infinity Army I have heard that adding a Fiday in low points list could be effective however the Hunzakuts and Lasiqs seems awesome as well as Bazouks but there are just so many awesome options that it is overwhelming (and not even mentioning that I would like to add another Khawarij and change the Tuareg into hacker, while changing the Ghulam hacker to the LT two get tow flanking jumpers that can surprise and keep opponent on the edge). So basically this thread boils down to a new player being overwhelmed by options and looking for guidance on how to create an effective force on the battlefield from you veterans.
Fastest option: Beyond Red Veil adds an AD troop, Tarik Mansouri and a Fiday. also, you don't want to use the Tuareg as sniper, she is much better as midfield Medic Plus or Hacker (but the medic is better: she heals at 18, she is close to the Fiday and in the way of Tarik's advance... and there is no model, so perfectly must have proxying). Then, the Qapu Kalqi starter box gives you a sniper with MSV2 (Djanbazan), THE best infiltrator (Al Hawwa hacker, you can have 1 in vanilla, 3 on QK), a nice-looking NWI lady, and three potential Lt's/doubles! With all that, you are entertained enough for a time! Also, the Ghulam can be turned into Halqa without problems, there are no models for those and they have the same profiles as the Ghulam, just +3points because of the Mechanized Deployment.
When I first started, I picked up one of each starter set. (old and new Hassassin, Qapu Khalqi, Vanilla Red veil and beyond). From there, Ghulam swc box, a djanbazan HMG, and Saladin. That would have set me up for quite a while if I didn't follow that up with buying everything.
The old starter comes with a Janissary that could DoctorPlus your Fasid up to full HP. A Naffatun seems nice and then there's a sniper of some sort that seemed kinda meh. Unsure if you really ever want six Ghulams. Nasmats would be great since they're very cheap and allow your doctor to be in two places at once, but I think there's new models for them coming so perhaps proxy them. I second that the al-Hawwa hacker is great, one of my best game-winning pieces. Last game it sat behind a corner turn 3, made the opponent think for around 20 minutes and conclude that he has a winning play but it's super unlikely to work, and in the end his Seraph TAG couldn't beat the odds.
Ghulam can be proxied as Halqa, Daylami, and Brawlers, or chopped and used for bits. I'm not as sold on the Hawwa as everyone else, especially with the saturation of KHDs. I love the unit, but I take the Barid more.
Almost everyone runs at least one. If you get caught out, the Hawwa is dead in the water on your reactive turn vs most KHD. I like the Hawwa and used to use it a lot, but now I let my Farzan do the Boarding Shotgun/Camo work and typically skip Assault Hacking Devices. When I do run one, Its usually the Taureg or Barid w/icebreaker. The Barid are awesome because you can take a KHD w/upgrade + AHD w/upgrade for 35 points and .5 SWC. Plus you get 2 pitchers and an unwary opponent may foolishly mistake one for your Lt.
Beyond Red Veil offers the best bang for your buck. The 3 units offered there, namely the Fiday, Tarik and Ragik are not just great cornerpieces of any vanilla army, but are incredibly fun to play Haqq units. Add in a box of Naffatuns to round out your force and provide some cheerleading and LT support, and you are off to a great start. Welcome to Haqqislam!
So If I understood your comments I should change the 200 pts list to: Haqqislam ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 TUAREG Doctor Plus (MediKit) Rifle + Light Shotgun, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 33) KHAWARIJ Rifle + Light Shotgun, Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 27) FASID HMG + (Smoke and Normal) Light Grenade Launcher, Antipersonnel Mines / Heavy Pistol, Knife. (2 | 53) ZHAYEDAN Lieutenant (Marksmanship L2) Breaker Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 31) HALQA Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 23) HALQA (Forward Observer) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) HALQA Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 16) 3.5 SWC | 199 Points Open in Infinity Army and then either buy Beyond or QK box.
