I'm hoping for some advice, I'm starting Infinity with an escalation league beginning in a couple of weeks. Not having played even a single game I need some list pointers. I was figuring I'd play vanilla Aleph but could go with Steel Phalanx. The first round is 100 points with no advanced rules and no lieutenant. I was thinking something like this list but am more than happy to throw it out and start from scratch. ALEPH ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 NETROD . (0 | 4) NETROD . (0 | 4) MYRMIDON Spitfire, Nanopulser, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CCW. (1 | 31) THORAKITES Submachine gun, Light Rocket Launcher / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 15) NAGA Combi Rifle, Monofilament Mines / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 30) NETROD . (0 | 4) THORAKITES (360º Visor) Submachine gun, Chain Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 12) 2 SWC | 100 Points Open in Infinity Army Cheers, Darg
I'm not very fan of low points games, cause gaining initiative is 75% of a win. Try it, it's a solid list, specially if you go first. Beware of the position of the netrods, your opponent can cut you 3 orders easily if the scatter and end in open spots. Good luck
Start by getting posthumans. At 100 points you’ll rule the opening league rounds and lose all your friends :)
I have the original box of posthumans but don't have the second one yet and may not be able to get my hands on one before the first round. I tried to make a list with them but had trouble getting the SWC to fit. Any suggestions?
I see your point. It would mean you couldn’t field the Myrmidon Spitfire, which is awesome by itself :)
ALEPH is very hard to play at low points costs I find as it is one of the armies that doesnt scale-down well. Too much high-cost stuff. That said I think the only thing the Naga is really adding to the party is the Camo. But a pair of cheaper myrmidons and remove a netrod might be better...
Deva+ Devabot Lt and Dakini spam are your friends there, but you need to think the Dakinis as roadblocks rather than effective troops (but they are effective specialists in certain scenarios with Medic/Paramedic bonuses).
The first couple of missions don't allow hacking or use lieutenant rules and I wasn't sure if taking a hacker just to activate remotes would be wasted points.
Then you are not playing an escalation leage, but a custom leage (escalation leages don't start at 100 points but at 200 and apply all rules). You should ask the organizer about how to bring remotes to the game if you cannot use hackers. As for the list... with no Lt and no hacker... ALEPH ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 7 NETROD . (0 | 4) NETROD . (0 | 4) PROXY Mk.1 Médico (MediKit) Fusil Combi, Nanopulser / Pistola, Cuchillo. (0 | 10) PROXY Mk.4 Lanzacohetes Pesado, Subfusil, Nanopulser / Pistola, Cuchillo. (2 | 20) PROXY Mk.5 (Observ. de Artillería) 2 Subfusiles, Nanopulser, Granadas E/M / Pistola, Cuchillo. (0 | 10) YUDBOT Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 3) Tacbot DAKINI Fusil Combi / Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 13) Tacbot DAKINI Fusil Combi / Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 13) Rebot LAMEDH Pulso Flash, Sniffer / Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 8) Tacbot DAKINI Sanitario (MediKit) Fusil Combi / Pulso Eléctrico. (0 | 15) 2 CAP | 100 Puntos Abrir en Infinity Army
Thanks for the response but that is how the escalation league works. It's the rules from the Season 9 ITS on page 60. Round 1 is 100 points with the Scenario Special Rules, "Training Mission. Armies must not include a Lieutenant, so Loss of Lieutenant rules do not apply. Players cannot make use of the Advanced Rules"
Ok, I was looking at the tournament extra, not the leage one ^^U. Anyway, I find it really strange that the ITS document forbids the hacking rules, but you still need a hacker to place remotes (a vertebral part of several factions' gameplay). Maybe @HellLois can have a look at this? It would seem the mode sees little use, but a modification ("remotes can be deployed without the need of a hacker") or an explanation ("no remotes allowed" or "you need to align a hacker to deploy remotes even without using hacking rules") would be appreciated :S
Yes I agree, it seems to be an odd oversight. From what I can see, it makes vanilla Aleph particularly hard to run at that point level.
I wouldnt trust too many orders to netrods. Bad scatters might mean you start the game with very few orders. Like was mentioned, ALEPH is particularly hard to make work with very few points. Too much of our decent stuff is simply too expensive. And with no REMs it is even harder. But if you *really* want to play at that points level, posthumans are almost mandatory. They are the best possible troop you can bring, and their cheap but very useful bodies will add a bunch. You can pretty much run a posthuman (mk1, 2, 5) and use the rest of the points to provide orders for her.
The way I've always read/played this is that it prevents hacking programs, not hacking devices. The Training mission rule explicitly states you can't take a LT, whereas the above doesn't state you can't take a hacking device.
Aleph is not very good on low points games. Of course, we have low priced posthumans and netrods ... It may feel fine until you notice you have close to no ARO (netrods can't do a single thing beside giving orders), bad order efficiency (no coordinated orders between several posthumans) and all our low cost miniatures are either slow (thorakites) thus no more than backups, or requires a hacker (dakinis, lamedhs ...), and some of them are either unarmed or with only flashpulses. Whatever the amazing statline they seems to have, posthumans are overall weak toward low priced WB - no MSV and low CC stats makes them easy targets.
