What are the almost top-tier factions in Infinity

These are very strong factions capable of winning any tournament, even against the top-tier lists, but they are missing one piece of the puzzle. Before reading this article you should probably read part 1 - what makes a strong faction, part 2 - who sucks, and part 3 - who is average, if you haven't already. 

These are very strong factions capable of winning any tournament, even against the top-tier lists, but they are missing one piece of the puzzle. 

1. Bakunin. If these guys had a single MSV2 they would be awesome (especially if they had some cheerleaders). 5-man ODD link teams with all the range bands, NWI and WIP14 doctors wreck a lot of face, but an HMG firing through smoke is very painful for these guys, especially as Kusanagi's BS14 is attached to a multi-rifle, which won't range well against an HMG. You might think that you can just hide from smoke attacks, but that is difficult with an unwieldy 5-man link team, and you can't throw zero-V the way Phalanx can. Zeros are decent infiltrating, camouflaged specialists and Zoe and Pi-well are an excellent hacker/FO-repeater combo (ODD on Pi-well helps him get in range to act as a repeater for Zoe), so a good player can win anything with Bakunin.

Kill missions are even more favourable, though it would be nice to have a TO: camo shotgun or a quality air-drop troop to have as a second assault piece beside the Moira link, or a quality sniper to cover the opposite flank. I take a prowler, which does this job reasonably well and synchronises with the minelayers. Prowlers also have d-charges, which helps you get the classified objective thanks to being able to infiltrate next to the target building. I suspect Bran do Castro would actually be awesome in ground control because he carries quite a lot of points and is extremely mobile with super jump and climbing plus, and he is camouflaged and thus difficult to put down. His point value is quite unwieldy in list building though, especially as Bakunin seems to sit around the 10/11/12 model count, which is awkward for combat groups.

 2. Corrigidor - you can't quite get everything you want. You have two lists here. The first is a Wildcats link (Engineer, #2, HMG, missile, lieutenant) with some intruders (HMG and sniper) and McMurrough for the smoke plus a couple of Masai hunters and bandits. You're lighter on specialists than is ideal but you've got a decent BS13 link team and plenty of face wrecking/distraction potential in the dog-warrior (smoke on 19!) and intruders, who synergise not just as smoke/MSV2 but also as a close-assault unit paired with long range units that can knock out long range obstacles that might prevent the werewolf from making contact with targets in the mid-field. If McMurrough makes it into melee with infiltrators he will cause carnage. Remember that you can throw smoke next to a target so they can’t shoot you and then hit them in the smoke once you’re in base-to-base.  

Second option: a full link of Mobile Brigada with a single intruder sniper for defense and some Masai hunters for infiltrating. What this needs is a hellcat or intruder with HMG as a secondary assault option but the Brigada chews 4 SWC minimum and then you still have the intruder sniper, so you could only get something with a combi or boarding shotgun and they aren't so effective as drop troops. In any case, you have a viable specialist saturation list and a viable chunky link list for supremacy, so Corrigidor is very strong, just not perfect.

3. Nomads. The vanilla version can bring MSV2 intruders and cheap, impetuous smoke from morlocks to make effective assault pieces; spectres with shotguns, prowlers (best I think, because of synergy with the rest of the camo assault) and hellcats with spitfires as secondary assault pieces, interventors (and Masai repeaters) for very effective hacking, and zeros for extra infiltrating, camouflaged specialists. You play a bit like Ariadna, with a huge number of camouflage markers and mines, but you also have some TO: camo stalking about the place and some genuine attack pieces in the intruders. This is a very strong army, arguably top tier but it will struggle a bit in kill missions because it lacks link teams. Hopefully you have enough mines, smoke, cray koalas and hacking to waylay them, but you’ll need skills. In objective missions the intruder assault units and invisibility antics can provide enough of a distraction that you can get the objectives and get out before the link team bites, but in kill missions you need to engage the link and if it's chunky or Djanbazan (MSV2) the full group will get the better of your intruder pretty quickly. In my opinion, Nomads are the best Vanilla army by a decent margin.

4. Japanese sectorial Army. These guys are really hard to play with all the impetuousness and close combat focus, but their results on the ITS are strong. Their main advantage is an ability to bring a huge number of forward observers to the party. Their main weakness is a lack of infiltrating specialists.

Karakuri link teams of FOs (3 maximum sadly) are good assault units with B3 heavy shotguns on BS13 base and a nice range band on the MK12, which makes breaking into fortified positions pretty easy. ARM3, 2STR and total immunity make them able to shrug off hits from snipers and roll another 4 dice on the MK12. A Rui Shi provides an answer to smoke defence and combined with Yojimbo smoke is an excellent attack piece for knocking over snipers and creating a beachhead. A ninja hacker is basically mandatory in objective missions, but don't leave home without one of the Oniwabans as well, who provide a crucial distraction for your advancing FOs. The rest of your points are spent on Keisotsu's - at least one 5-man link team. The link team makes them decent, especially on defence with missile launchers, and provides them with the ability to get 3+ specialists forward very cheaply (I use 2 missile launchers, 2 FOs and a paramedic). In kill-point missions you could consider a team of haramaki coming in behind Yojimbo's smoke. Haramaki weapons benefit nicely from link team bonuses. Domaru are better on their own – close combat weapons and impetuous don’t benefit from links rules.

When playing JSA, don't forget to swap your links between Karakuri and Keisotsu, and don't be afraid to run the Keisotsu forward just as cheap, individual forward observers.

5. Tohaa. Against people who haven't played a lot of infinity, Tohaa are devastating. A lot of lists just don't have answers to that many good snipers. And by the time their units have finally managed to kill your Nikouls and Gao Rael's you suddenly rush forward with two link teams to claim objectives. The biggest weakness of Tohaa is their lack of well-priced and tailored infiltrators and assault units with appropriate weapon load-outs (like an HMG!). They are a very defensive army. They also are a bit shallow on specialists, and because Neema is their only good lieutenant option you have to take a Keltar (chain of command – useful for backfield objectives) to prevent loss of lieutenant from assassination runs that know she is your woman. She effectively has 3 wounds though, which helps.

This is all fine as long as your opponent isn't ready for your sniper teams, but smoke and an MSV2 HMG will severely limit them. Pairing 2 Gao-Rael's with a kumotail doctor and putting them prone in a good sniper nest can change things, but that is relying quite heavily on the board to help you win as sniper nests that fit 3 units are rare.  Tohaa are very, very good, but only really have 1 build (4 snipers and 2 fireteams) and can't really adapt to the mission (notably kill missions that require section control at the end of each turn and hence early forward movement), which keeps them out of top tier.