"New" Player starting with MAF

I'd say it's difficult-ish. Playing morats means paying a small points premium on almost every model, which can leave you with slightly less presence on the tabletop than your opponent in any given game.

However, MAF did recently receive an update that gave us some very nice new options at a variety of range bands, with things the new Sogorat FA2 Feuerbach and Rodok haris being really nice, direct, potent units.

If nothing else I'd certainly say they're likely to be more direct and straightforward than vanilla which relies a lot more on the combined army's various 'utter bastard' units, most of which are sneaky or finesse-oriented to some extent.

 

I'd say Morats are pretty good, among the best, for beer and pretzels play. It's easy to put together a MAF list that will win 50% of the time without having to think too hard. Rodok link, Q-drone, Yaogat sniper, Daturazi, support stuff, done.

If you do want women with guns, though, play Bakunin. Most of that range is female.

 

As someone who recently branched out into MAF from Onyx, I can say that the starter pack is a perfectly fine purchase (I'm actually putting it together right now...). It gives you one of the two Sogarats (the better one, now with the changes, IMO), one of the two Oznats, one of the two Raktoraks, and 3 combi Vanguard. Not every list will use vanguard, but they are your second cheapest option for a core, so they are useful to have if you want to bring more than 10-13 orders.

 

The starter is pretty good, it gives you the basic line troopers you'll want and the full auto sogarat along with a Raktorak and an oznat they're all good units which are better since the update they had a couple of months ago.

I'd probably go with starter box, Daturatzi box, a Suryat HMG, Kornak and some Hungries, all of which are universally useful when playing MAF

Morat Aggression Force
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GROUP 1 9 2
SOGARAT (Full Auto L2) Feuerbach / Assault Pistol, AP CCW. (1.5 | 67)
RAKTORAK Combi Rifle + Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 23)
SURYAT (Tactical Awareness) HMG + TinBot A (Deflector L1) / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 48)
MORAT (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
MORAT (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15)
MORAT Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16)
KORNAK Lieutenant Mk12, Light Flamethrower / Pistol, DA CCW. (0 | 41)
DĀTURAZI Chain Rifle, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 14)
DĀTURAZI Chain Rifle, Grenades, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (0 | 14)

GROUP 2 1 4 5
OZNAT Combi Rifle + Light Smoke Grenade Launcher / Pistol, Shock CCW. (0 | 18)
PRETA Chain Rifle / AP CCW. (0 | 7)
PRETA Chain Rifle / AP CCW. (0 | 7)
PRETA Chain Rifle / AP CCW. (0 | 7)
PRETA Chain Rifle / AP CCW. (0 | 7)

3.5 SWC | 299 Points

Open in Infinity Army

It gives you a couple of basic lists and link teams you can fool around with:
It's written as a core team of vanguard with a raktorak and suryat added in for 5 monkeys but could also be used as a hungries and oznat team with a Kornak, Raktorak and Suryat Haris or running the sogarat and the raktorak as a duo. It also builds up a lot of the pieces you want to start moving into the more advanced bits of the sectoral like a Suryat Core team, or Yaogats paired with daturatzi for "the msv smoke trick", or having an order battery for a raicho (or that soggy)

 

As someone who plays both MAF and Bakunin, I think I can add the following:

Bakunin can indeed make an all female army that is both very effective and good looking. I have several female only lists and none of them has dissapointed. ALEPH can probably run all female too, but it's a bit harder.

Comparing the two, I'd say they're very different beasts, to wit:

MAF has:
- High fireteam variety means you can custom tailor your list and it's hard for an opponent to know exactly what you'll bring to the table;
- Pretty much immune to Loss of Lieutenant. This can be a huge safety net for new players, and even veterans will find themselves loving it when facing lots of EM ammo or Jammers (this is awfully common in my meta)
- Gorgeous space oni are gorgeous. Models look ultra badass, most of the range is fairly new and we have some truly awesome dudes and dudettes;

On the other hand:

- No camo options and one flimsy marker state means MAF struggles to hold the middle of the table on the early game;
- Middling specialists means we can have trouble on the specialist focused ITS missions;
- Models are expensive in terms of points, but there are ways of mitigating this (hungries are the biggest one);

As for Bakunin, it has:
- Arguably the best Heavy Infantry link in the whole game, AND it's an all female link;
- Effective and cheap specialists that are easy to spam;
- Nice range of cheap and elite models means the listbuilding is just as flexible, albeit less focused on links;

But it does have some problems:
- Few link team options, and some of them are a bit costly for what they bring;
- Obvious lieutenants makes it hard to use the LT order effectively when we have no Chain of Command;
- Some models are recent and beautiful (Riot Grrls, the Taskmaster, a few of the Moira models), while others are ancient and range from usable (chimera) to butt ugly (Zeros);

All in all, I think both are good for starter armies, but I'd go with MAF if only because it's way easier to learn, but also way harder to master. Despite "lacking tricks" morats can be a good school for someone who's only now beginning with the game.

 

Morats are straightforward in the sense that they don't have a lot of special rules for you to have to learn, but because of that, in my experience they require more thoughtful and deliberate playing because they don't have a lot of those special rules to give you more wiggle room around mistakes and tough decisions.

They can rely on throwing smoke grenades to advance and operate, and that takes quite a bit more forethought than just crutching on camo or defensive mods and firepower.

I feel like Pano more aptly fits the description of what you're looking for in regards to simple play.

But Morats have such great minis and can be very engaging and rewarding to play once you get the hang of them. If you're not looking to get into high end cutthroat games with them, I would recommend you give them a shot.

 

There's no reason you can't succeed at a high level with them if you put the effort in to learn them.

Rodoks are shaping up to be *the* fireteam for Morats, with the (now) sole killer hacker and the best shooting numbers against most targets. You shouldn't forget Yaogats either, however, due to the power of msv2 with big link bonuses meaning that enemy warbands are gonna have a tough time.

 

Wow, you aren't kidding. I think I accidentally picked up a couple of those now out of stock at Gamenerdz.

Anyway, Onyx is far more susceptible to loss of lieutenant than MAF and don't have smoke to cove their advance and synergize with the maakrep, but they gain TO Camo/Hidden deployment and excellent infowar options. They are both alpha strike forces, that much is true (for me anyway), but they do it in very different ways.

A savvy opponent will Lt. hunt an Onyx force if you give them even the slightest opportunity and you will be punished severely for it. Umbra are very squishy for their cost, as well. They are monsters if you can use them effectively, but shock ammo makes short work of them and that's all over the place at the moment. All-in-all, I'd say that Onyx is a force that punishes you pretty hard if you make mistakes. It's almost the opposite in MAF. That said, dogged BS11 REM line troops are pretty amazing...

 

@LordTableTop I'm not sure if you want to specifically order from gamenerdz, but Miniature Market seems to have almost everything
https://www.miniaturemarket.com/table-top-miniatures/infinity/combined-army.html#/?_=1&page=1

I began with MAF, then expanded into Onyx, as there are several units that are used across both sectorials. Eventually, when Shasvastii will get resculpted, most likely going to grab them as well.

 

thought so. I almost exclusively order from https://www.philibertnet.com/en/ (EU) for the same reason.

 

I buy from MM because they're one of the few companies that still ships to Brazil :D.

However, I'm of the opinion that you should buy wherever is more convenient. If you can only find what you want in MM, then buy from MM.

 

Hey, been a couple days, sorry.

The list I outlined isn't the best way to play Morats, just a really easy one. Sogarats rule and Oznat + Pretas is probably a stronger way to play. My list outline is easy because you operate with:

• A team of dudes who are pretty awesome and can do whatever, BS12, mimetism, armor, HMG, etc
• A TR bot that won't necessarily get blown up in one shot
• A guy who throws smoke
• And a guy who shoots through it

So yeah, you overpay for convenience and your order pool is gonna be a little short, but you're not going to fail what you're doing or have a bad time.

 

MAF is a great place to start because it will force you to play a tight tactical game, focused on the basics of Infinity. MAF requires more planning and careful play than any other faction in the game (IMO). That said, for a totally new player, they do lack many of the snazzy game mechanics that Infinity is known for (like camo). MAF is not a brute force faction, they’re a combined arms, tactical play faction.

Apples and orangutans. Onyx is the cream of the crop of vanilla Combined (minus aspects). Everything they do is extreme, only the elite MAF units, sneakiest Shas units, led by deadly Umbra. Nothing comes cheap in Onyx, because it is mostly the best units the CA has to offer. They lack MSV+Smoke (which is one trick MAF actually does have), but instead have some brutal raw firepower, and very effective link choices. Probably easier to start with than MAF honestly.