Every faction in Infinity features a wealth of options for your army. There are sorts of different troop types and all sorts of different roles within them. Here's a look at the different types of units in Infinity.
· Line Troops: light infantry, the mainstay of an armed force. Capable fighters, yet typically lightly armored. Line troops often have access to a variety of special weapons and battlefield gear like medkits and hacking devices.
Medium Infantry: Armored and well-equipped, medium infantry a better than line troops in a fight, but are not vulnerable to hacking like Heavy Infantry. They often know special skills or multiple weapons. My favorite are the Tiger Soldiers of the Yu Jing and the Muyibs of Haqqislam.
· Heavy Infantry: Often the ultra-elite of your forces, Heavy Infantry have staying power and lethal combat abilities. Most Heavy Infantry wear power armor, which incorporates computer systems that can be hacked by the enemy. Pan Oceania, Combined Army and Yu Jing are all known for very powerful Heavy Infantry models.
· Skirmishers: Skirmishers are light infantry that specialize in stealth and infiltration. Although fragile, these troops can cause an enormous amount of havoc on the tabletop by acting as forward observers, hackers and even mine layers.
· Warband units: Undisciplined and impetuous, warband units are the berserkers of Infinity. They are cheap, lightly armored, and often times masters of close-combat. Used well, they flush out the enemy like hunting dogs and cause significant amounts of damaged before they are destroyed. They rarely survive contact with the enemy, but have the potential to cripple your opponent’s force in the early stages of the game.
· Remotes: These are robots that accompany your force, generally providing support for your troops by extending the range of their hacking, doctor or engineering skills. Some are designed as minesweepers, artillery and mobile sentry guns.
· TAGs: TAGs (Tactical Armored Gears) are the mechs and battlesuits of Infinty. Some are controlled remotely and are this fearless on the tabletop, while others are battlesuits, operated by a pilot who actually harbors self-preservation instincts and will at times flinch and take cover from enemy fire. They are the most powerful units in Infinity but need to be used with care, as even Line Troops can take out these Goliaths, if well-coordinated.
Let’s take a look at these kinds of units in more comfortable form - my current army list.
At 200 points, my Yu-Jing army featured quite a bit of each Troop type.
· 1 Gui-Lang Sniper; a skirmisher armed with mines, a sniper rifle, multispectral visor and camouflage. I use this gentleman to take out high priority targets. He will pop out of camo, eliminate someone and then skulk back to the shadows. When the enemy close in on him, he drops mines as he retreats.
· 3 Zhanshi Line Troops armed with combi-rifles, Infinity’s boltgun. These guys are pretty basic, but decent shots and courageous. While most of the time, these 3 warriors spend their time in defensive positions, they provide the army with support and come into their roles as fighters when TAGs show up. Working as a team, they are often able to cause enough damage to a TAG to bring him down.
· 1 Tiger Soldier; a medium Infantryman with a low-level cloaking system (mimetism), Combat Drop capabilities (deep-strike-sort of), and a combi-rifle and flame-thrower. This is one of the game's best combat drop troops.
· 1 Shaolin Monk; a warband unit with smoke grenades, a chainrifle (basically a futuristic blunderbuss) and killer close-combat abilities. I'm still getting the hang of playing with warband units. In 40k terms, warband units have something like the Rage USR, except that it is a bonus move done in the beginning of your turn, which be cancelled by sacrificing another order. I've played with the Monk, once and he died in the first turn. More practice is needed here.
· 1 Celestial Guard Hacker, a line trooper with a hacking device. Celestial Guard are a step up from Zhanshis, they are braver and have more protection against bio-technical attacks. They also make decent hackers which is why I have included him.
· 1 Shang-Ji Invincible, a heavy infantryman in power armor with a great stat-line. This gentleman is my tough guy. He's fast, durable and is difficult to dislodge when in cover. He's got a short-range weapon that incorporates a flamer-thrower but he often finds himself holding the line in a central position.
· 1 Yoa-Kong Escort Remote; a spider-like robot with a heavy machine gun. This is my mobile sentry gun that provides a great amount of protection to the rest of my army. He generally kills 1-3 models per game, often in the first turn. He isn't well armored however so can be very fragile against a determined foe.
So there you have my current list and an explanation of how all these troops types fit together. There are tons of different roles for each troop type, especially heavy infantry. If you have any questions, feel free to comment below and I will try to answer them, time permitting.
So what are you waiting for? Grab some Infinity stuff and start dicing!
