New to the game and Ariadna

Your next buys are going to depend on whether or not you want to stick with an exclusively Russian force. If you are, then an Antipode assault pack would be an excellent addition to your force, and it's hard to go wrong with Dog Warriors. If you are willing to play vanilla Ariadna, then you should buy two Chasseurs as soon as possible. The chasseur is our best skirmisher, full stop. Also,
Galwegians are excellent chaff to pad out any vanilla Ariadna list.

Regardless of the direction you take your force, a dozer and a pair of Traktor Muls is a good investment.

 

Take a look at VaulSC on youtube. He has some great videos on strategy and tactics, as well as list building. He tackles the TAK sectorial @15:30 in this video:

His take on the game is pretty good. Also, have you ever used Tabletop Simulator? It's a good way to get in some practice. It's on sale for $9.99 right now on Steam(you will need to add the Infinity plug-in obviously, it's free). Join the discord if you are looking for some help.

Vaul has a video on TTS here:

 

If you go Vanilla, you're going to have to buy a whole lot of extra stuff.

As for TAK, just play TAK. They're great. I've been playing them since OCF's release and I'm really happy with them.

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You don't see many Line Kazaks? I typically play 15-17 orders and run 5-6.

The thing about Infinity, is that you're building to play scenarios. So you need to ask yourself.. what do I need to accomplish? What do I need to answer?

Let's say you're building an all-comers list. It will be fine for pretty much everything that doesn't need specialised pieces. Like your Loot and Sabotage, Frostbyte, Biotechvore, etc.

First thing you do is think about your core link. I typically lead it with a Veteran Kazak AP HMG because he's a monster. Then fill it with Line Kazaks. I usually take a Medic or Forward Observer because I need a specialist in the link to accomplish objectives. I usually take a Light Grenade Launcher because it can Speculative Fire and thus solve problems nothing else can.

Also with the Veteran Kazak, you get an SWC discount if you take him as your Lt.

I've been playing a Veteran Kazak with Boarding Shotgun in the link lately, because I've needed a tough Datatracker to accomplish objectives.

You're pretty much always going to need forward specialists or disruption pieces. From what I can tell, playing TAK is all about the shell game. Which of these is an Ambush marker? Which is a mine? Keep your opponent guessing. It's actually something I really enjoy.

My go-to models for that role are Strelok Forward Observers. They're bare bones, but cheap. They get the job done. I usually take two. Sometimes I like to take the Minelayer profile because it puts out three Ambush markers and comes with Antipersonnel mines.

The Scout is basically a better Strelok. You pay for the extra equipment and skills. But you get a lot for your points. Scouts are very good at playing to scenarios and completing classified objectives.

Spetsnaz with HMG is a beast. I find he's the best thing you have for breaking enemy link teams. A lot of the time you're going to be scalping out one enemy in the link. He's rolling 4 dice on 15's vs like 2 dice on like 12's. The money is good. Once you shred the first guy you can often just pick out 1-2 more guys in the link and it's done.

Irmandinos are great. I only ever take the one with Chain Rifle and Smoke Grenades. You have limited access to smoke and they're an extreme impetuous irregular specialist. A lot of the time they run off and do mission scoring for you.

Antipodes. Just grab a dog pack. Opponents will fear them and hide their TAGs on the other side of the table. They have camo, armour piercing claws and are scary. Totally worth 25pts. The handler, she also has a smoke grenade launcher.

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There's three things I love about TAK:

1) The theme and models.
2) The shell game with Ambush.
3) The fact I can have 17 orders and still have my super killy pieces.

 

Don't forget you can have as many fireteam Duo's as you want...which means Dynamos, Vet Kazaks & Ratniks. I haven't gotten a chance to experiment yet, but there may be some missions that could make great use of multiple(3+) Duo teams.

 

How are you feeling about basic game mechanics?

It's nice to build towards 300 points, but honestly you should just have some firefights in the ~100 point range, then build to 150, and so on.

The game's much easier to assimilate if you take it in pieces. Look at a handful of units, rather than an entire army. See what your units do. Focus on using them well in small games, then find ways to support them in big games.

If fireteams feel complex, avoid using them for a few games until you feel better about the mechanics. Fireteams are really important if you play the Kazak-only Sectorial, but grasping the basic mechanics first is more important.

 

@mipevo6
Sounds like a good course of action.
Honestly too, I've had success with just picking a miniature you like the look of, looking up its different rules and equipment in the wiki, then just adding it to a list to see what happens.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with building a list with a bunch of line infantry, a Vet Kazak HMG and a few other units in the 20-30 point range, then ramboing the Vet Kazak for as many Orders as you can until it dies. You'll learn the value of multiple order expenditure, momentum, positioning, etc. and then when the Vet Kazak dies, you'll start to fall back on using other units and learning what they do. You'll realize a Strelok with mines can go in and flush out the enemies who are hiding from your AP HMG by dropping mines around corners and then following up with a boarding shotgun. You'll learn link teams by realizing that a full 5-man link is still spending Orders on a Vet Kazak, but his stats get supercharged, and you have to drag around 4 bodies with him too. It's all straightforward, it just has to be presented in the right context. Suddenly your 100 point game and your 300 point game won't be that different... Dominate the lanes with your long-range pieces, then go in for the kill with your short-range pieces. You'll just have more Orders to use, more enemy pieces to contest with, and you'll start learning things like multiple Combat Groups, area denial and defense, etc.

 

Definitely.

Also...only focus on the rules/abilities of the models you're playing with, like Dogged, NWI, etc. Build a list, then look up the specific things your guys can do...focus on that. I copy pasted those rules into a Word doc, printed it out and took that with me to matches. That's how I learned the game.

There will be plenty of time to learn what all the other rules are.

 

Yeah, Infinity is a hard game. A very rule dense game. But it's that density and complexity that keeps you finding new things, making the game cinematic and keeps you interested. Every game is different. You never just sit down. Put your dudes on the table, roll buckets of dice and you're done. There is so much to Infinity, it's an inexhaustible well that keeps me coming back.

But yeah, it will take time to learn the rules. There's a lot to process. Just focus on learning the core mechanics and what your own stuff does. Remember to take small bites of the watermelon and learn sequentially. Like 80% of the weapons are the same across all factions which really helps.

It's also interesting to note that, due to the way the game works- netdecking barely exists. All pieces have a role, you need to identify that role and apply it in the correct scenario, table position and against the right target.