The best things about the gameplay are:
1. Balance. Maybe it's just because 40K is so not this right now, but I absolutely adore how balanced infinity is. I never need to ask my opponent what they are bringing to the party or avoid certain units because they are broken. There aren't any broken units in infinity and everything has a counter. Each army is missing a little something, which is their weakness, and also has their unique strengths, but they also share a lot of stuff, which helps to maintain the balance. There are only a handful of weapons, a score of items and 30 odd skills in the entire game, so while there is diversity it's not enough to have one faction scream ahead just because it has access to a move-shoot-move ability, like Eldar.
2. You're never bored. Infinity uses an active/reactive turn system where both players are engaged all the time, rather than one player just rolling saving throws. It is quite possible to build lists that dominate their reactive turn as well, so there is no time in a game where you aren't standing up.
3. Realism. Infinity has range bands on weapons, low visibility, handguns that kill motherfuckers dead and shoot through cars, genuine stealth mechanics, and 'private information' like what troops are hovering overhead or lurking underneath camoflage markers, which makes for a fairly realistic spec-ops experience.
As I said, the only thing I don't like about infinity is the aesthetic, and even there it is only the aesthetic of the miniatures that leaves me a little cold - the terrain and backstory is awesome.
I was a little late to the game amongst my gaming group, so I chose to just take whatever faction was not currently being played. This landed me with Yu Jing, which would not have been my first choice but which I have grown to love. Turns out they are probably the most morally dubious faction and certainly the most grimdark. They are basically a sophisticated futuristic police state where surveillance, kidnap and brainwash is so high tech the public don't even know it's going on.
I was trawling through the models and not liking things much until I found these bad bitches:
The Karakuri special project are remote controlled military robots with a swiss-army knife of weapons and a useful skill in forward observer. I don't care much about that - it's the Geisha robot look that did it for me. Immediately I had a thought - Chinatown red light district in the bladerunner universe, with these babes painted hot pink and handing out flyers. I've now got a bunch of terrain in the works and most of my army worked out. I'll share it as I paint it up. In the meantime I've been playing games with baremetal (metal is the one other thing I don't like about infinity). I thought I'd make a list of points here about the contours of Yu Jing, mostly for myself, but also for anybody interested in the faction.
The basic rules of thumb for listbuilding are 3-5 specialists (they are scoring units), preferably one of each (hacker, engineer, doctor, forward observer), 1-2 defensive weapons (sniper rifle, missile launchers) and at least 2 assault weapons (HMG, spitfire, Heavy rail rifle, multi-rifles to a lesser extent), preferably with one being touted by a beat stick heavy infantry or TAG. Other things to consider are camo token shell games and smoke grenade games with multi-spectrum visors.
Here is a helpful list of options and then some lists I'm playing with at the moment; current record is 2 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw.
Good Specialists: Note that I am not including spec-ops in any of these lists. Spec-ops are awesome and if you're allowed to use one with 12exp you should, but we never use that rule in my group.
Hackers:
1. Guilang with assault hacking device
2. Celestial Guard with assault hacking device
3. Shang Ji with Assault hacking device (b/c BTS)
4. Ninja with assault hacking device (expensive and WIP13, but infiltrate)
I usually either take the Guilang or don't bother with a hacker. The actual hacker skills aren't so useful unless you're up against a lot of HI or TAGs (in which case they will have high BTS and probably some other protection) and you pay a mint for them. It's mostly to get those easy roles to beep-the-boop on consoles. The Guilang is great because he can infiltrate within range of a console or target and emerge from camo when it suits.
Forward Observers:
1. Karakuri
2. Weibing Yaokong
3. Guilang
4. Wu Ming
Karakuri are great little all-rounders. Solid defense, access to the heavy shotgun, which is fantastic on defence or offence if you're in a cramped space, D.E.P for taking down big dogs, total immunity, remote presence, explode (again, for cramped conditions) and forward observer, all for the reasonable price of 35 points. I don't think the MK12 is worth it. It makes you a bit better at range but I use my Karakuri as shock troops around my Oniwaban, so I don't care much for range.
The Weibing narrowly nudges out the Guilang because it is faster, cheaper and you want to use the Guilang for other stuff (hacking, minelaying, sniping). Note that the Weibing just has a rifle and BS11, so it isn't much use as anything other than a cheerleader and a late objective grabber, though it does excel at that because it can clear mines as it goes. I have used it with combined orders to move late game to great effect.
The Wu Ming with boarding shotgun is okay, especially in an ISS list and especially if you have a link team of Wu Ming, but he's a bit expensive for his equipment. Heavy infantry is nice but you really want a big gun for those points.
Doctors:
Celestial Guard Spec ops with doctor
Shang Ji Paramedic (only WIP13)
Tiger Soldier Paramedic (WIP14, 29 points)
Tokusetsu Eisei (courage, doctor, cheap, WP13)
I hate all of these options except spec ops, which usually isn't available. I am using an Eisei at the moment but WIP13 is a bummer. None of these guys can really do anything except heal, though the Eisei at least qualifies as a cheerleader with the low points. The Shang Ji is HI but it only has a combi-rifle, which makes it expensive. Tiger Soldier is better as a surprise unit with a hacking device (WIP14 but BTS 0) so they can stay hidden or a spitfire, so they have to be taken care of or they will rampage through the backfield. To be frank though, I don't like Tigers. 30 odd points for a model with only ARM2 and 1 wound that eats orders doesn't seem like good value to me, even with mimetism. I'd rather have an Oniwaban for chaos.
Engineers:
Yuriko Oda
Tousetsu Kohei
Mech Engineer (same as above but +1 pnt for +1 BS)
Yuriko is fantastic because she has BS12 and either a panzerfaust or an E/mitter, both of which are handy (the panzer is better because it makes her into a useful defensive unit and keeps her away from threats). She also has hyperdynamics for PHI-14 dodge rolls, and she's a minelayer which works great with a Raiden or backfield sniper. She's a little bit pricey at 24 but a great multi-purpose package.
The others are cheap cheerleaders that can beep a boop in the late game, but don't expect them to get downfield for anything like that because they are made of paper.
Defensive weapons:
Raiden with heavy rocket launcher (19 points! but 1.5 SWC)
Guilang with MULTI sniper rifle (brutal, but 34 points and 1.5 SWC)
I use both of these at the moment, which costs me on tables that have a big building in the middle, but otherwise they wreck face. When DA ammo or damage 15-fire hit most targets they go down, and you almost always have a range-band advantage if you position right, plus the Guilang has camo and MSV1 and the Raiden has an X-visor (ignores negative range mods). These guys hold a flank while my Hsien and smoke team power up the other side.
Another option here is the Rui Shi remote with MSV2 and HMG, but I think you want that precious SWC somewhere else unless you're building a threat saturation list.
Offensive weapons:
Hsien with HMG
Hac Tao with HMG
Dao Fei with HMG or spitfire
Oniwaban
IMperial agent with HMG (30 points, 1 SWC - pretty cheap, but only 2ARM, BS12)
Raiden with spitfire - 27 points and 1 SWC, BS12 and ARM3, x-visor
Tiger Soldier with spitfire - 32 points, 1.5 SWC
Lu Duan with MK12, heavy flamethrower, 22 points 0 SWC, Holoprojector, MSV1, Repeater
Yao Xie Rui Shi with spitfire, BS12 MSV2, 21 points 1 SWC
I have only used the Hac Tao once and he was pretty beastly, but the terrain and my opponent's deployment really suited him. I like to hold him in reserve and deploy him last so that he definitely has targets to shoot and hopefully so that there aren't any visors around, then he is a monster. But at 70 points he can easily become dead weight. You usually want to hold him until your lieutenant dies (a Dao Fei who went Rambo for me, so easy enough) so he can use executive order, but then there might not be many targets left. He also starts in your DZ, which is good for the HMG but bad for him getting to targets in a hurry.
I prefer the Hsien. He has a similar hitting power and synergises exceptionally well with Shaolin smoke and the smoke launcher of the Celestial Guardsman with the Kuang Shi control device. You can plonk smoke on his head and he sees right through it with his MSV2. This can cripple some armies because they shoot -6 at him but he gets full mods.
The Dao Fei is great but a bit expensive. He is a hard-core Rambo - going solo a lot of the time with minimal support thanks to camo and ARM4. I think he tag teams great with the Hac Tao, but that will set you back a lot of points.
Oniwaban can be a bit situational but he is quite cheap - 41 points, sure, but no SWC. The boarding shotgun and nanopulser are not to be sniffed at, but of course it is in CC where he really shines. I find the best way to use him is to put him in or adjacent to a doorway. When your opponent goes through you ARO engage into close combat - you stepped on my ninja. Because you're in the door you are hopefully out of line of site of people after that and can re-camo. In my first game of infinity this guy went absolutely bezerk with a nanopulser and killed 3 guys then shanked another before taking one wound off a last guy with his shotgun in a crossfire that put him down. Beast. There is also something so psychologically powerful about having a hidden unit on the table. Surprise! With PH12 and superior infiltration he is rolling 15 for the roll to infiltrate into your opponent's half, which is pretty good odds. I would only use it if my opponent has set up something really juicy, like a cluster of snipers. Tohaa be afraid.
The other units on the list are ways to get HMGs and spitfires into the list on the cheap. I think the Yao Xie are the best options. MSV2 on the Rui Shi goes great in Yu Jing alongside a Hsien and lots of smoke. The Lu Duan packs a slightly weaker punch but has a holoprojector to shore up its weak defence and again makes a nice complement to a Hsien or a Karakuri. I'm going to try and get one of these into a list soon. For now, this is what I am working with:
YU JING - 300 points, 6 SWC
GROUP 1
Hsien (lt.) with HMG, nanopulser, AP CCW
Karakuri (FO) with heavy shotgun, D.E.P. and chain rifle
Guilang (hacker) with combi, mines
Tokusetsu Eisei (Doctor) with combi, medikit
Celestial Guard with Kuang Shi Control Device
Kuang Shi with Chain Rifle
Kuang Shi with Chain Rifle
Kuang Shi with Chain Rifle
Kuang Shi with Chain Rifle
Oniwaban
GROUP 2
Shaolin with Chain Rifle
Shaolin with Chain Rifle
Guilang with MULTI sniper rifle
Yuriko Oda (Engineer) with E-Mitter, d-charges, combi
Raiden with Heavy Rocket Launcher
I'm still awkward about the group split. If we used spec-ops I could replace my doctor with a spec ops celestial guard with doctor, infiltrator, and engineer or minelayer and then the one extra point would give Yuriko a panzer and I'd be satisfied. The problem here is that Yuriko's E-mitter is short range (8-16 is the +3 and 16+ is -3) so she needs to get close but doesn't really have the orders to do so. With a panzer the entire second group would have defensive weapons. I could spend some points while the Raiden and sniper are hidden to move Yuriko or the monks forward. Once they appear though all the orders in this group just go into firing rockets. I am tempted to put the Karakuri there so I have a specialist in the second group.
This is a fairly balanced army. I have 1 of each specialist, 2 assault beat sticks in the Hsien and Oni and a modest assault unit in the Karakuri (dat shotgun) and strong defence with the sniper and raiden. I have a tonne of orders thanks to the Kuang Shi. I usually deploy the monks, Kuang Shi, doctor and Hsien all together. The monks and celestial guard lay down smoke which protects the KS as they advance and my Hsien can shoot through it for maximum carnage. If your Kuang Shi ever manage to blow up on an opponent you know you've had a good game. Meanwhile, on the other flank, my Karakuri is advancing under the watchful eye of at least one of my snipers to the ninja's position. My opponent thinks I am weak but then we he least expects it - surprise! CC24 and MAlvl 4 to your face!
My specialists tend to come in late game, though I can get the Guilang to mid-field and down-field objectives in the early turns if necessary.
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