Welcome back to our in-depth look at Nomads in Infinity. If you missed the prior entries in the series you can find Part 1 (competitive lists) here and Part 2 (Units and Roles) here. 

It’s fair to say that the release of the Reinforcements extra has had a mixed reception from the competitive Infinity scene. The inclusion of mandatory Commlink line troopers was criticised as restrictive, and most players were surprised that new profiles were confined to Reinforcement sections only. Reinforcements are also Open Information once the deployment of the Main Sections is complete – this was particularly surprising, and knowing exactly what surprises your opponent has to spring on you is an advantage you should always try to realise. But the main problem, as the games have been played out, is that the Missions in the ITS pack, particularly those scoring at the end of the game, do not play well with Reinforcements. The player who drops their Reinforcements second, particularly in the context of dropping them at the bottom of Round 3, has a huge advantage.

It is much easier in Infinity to attack than defend, the Active player has not just a Burst advantage, but control of where and how Face to Face rolls occur. I have talked before about the ‘reach’ of Infinity forces and how they push and pull between the two Deployment Zones. When the first player drops their Reinforcement Section into, and usually has to operate in, the midfield in the hope of contesting Objectives, it is near impossible for them to achieve their aims and still assume positions that aren’t easy pickings for the incoming enemy. The second player, setting up their own Reinforcements with perfect knowledge of the enemy forces and their lines of fire, and without any AROs in response to their deployment, is almost always going to clean up. I read it put best like this: Corvus Belli have implemented a drastically different new game mode as an extra, but neglected to make any changes to the Mission pack for it. 

Key Assumptions 

All that negativity is just to set the context for what we’re talking about, which is building lists for Reinforcements with Nomads. We have to accept that for now, the primary aim of the Reinforcement section is to drop second and sweep up the enemy Reinforcements and/or achieve Mission objectives. The fall-back plan, which they will have to default to around half the time, is to drop first . . . and hopefully achieve the objectives, or be in position to, and try to weather the enemy assault. We are not too optimistic about the latter. Like most Reinforcement rosters, the Nomads’ options are better suited to Active turn fighting. That said, the first and most important concern designing a Reinforcement Section, as with any list, is to think what the mission objectives are. If you are playing Frontline, for example, you can focus almost entirely on the ability to kill enemy Reinforcements and other midfield models; secondary considerations would be defending against a similar attack, and achieving Classified Objectives. If playing something like Acquisition or Supplies, having mission specialists who can activate objectives on the centreline, and survive the attempt, is paramount. There are some constraints which all Reinforcement lists operate under:

Numbers 

You have to build a self-sufficient Combat Group of 100pts, perhaps with the addition of a Commlink trooper. Now most Reinforcements are going to drop in Round 3, with even the bottom of Round 2 being unusual. So the group needs sufficient Orders to complete its designated mission in one Active Turn. There are never too many Orders in Infinity, so let’s look at our constraints. Nomads can have 16 troopers in their overall list thanks to the Commlink+1 rule. It’s important to remember that the split of trooper numbers between Main and Reinf sections is up to you, but the points (250 and 100) are set in stone.

Because of the 100pts Reinforcement Section limit and the cost of the Reinf options, the maximum possible number of Reinforcement models is 6. That would require 2 cheap Stempler Zond, 3 basic Marspiders, then you would just have space for a Spektr with multi marksman rifle (or you could take a fourth Marspider, freeing points for two of them to be Paramedics, but leaving you without any gunfighters in the group). Now we don’t recommend that actually, it’s too thin on capability. 

Conversely, the smallest group you can field is 2 models, if one of them is a Lizard TAG, but that’s also an unusual choice. You simply won’t have enough reach of Orders to accomplish much. We would only even consider this if your goal was more focussed on surviving on the table and you had a plan to use the other 14 trooper slots in your Main Section. More feasible is going for a small group of 3 models, if at least 2 can access either TacAware or NCO Orders to boost the group’s range. 

In short, Nomad players are usually looking at 3-5 middleweight models with 1W and scant armour as their Reinf section. The only actually resilient models you have are the Lizard and Vostok; taking either basically locks you into a 3-model structure. You can fit 4 models including a Vostok, but again that means including two basic Stemplers, unless your 4 is a Vostok and 3 Marspiders. Returning to the point, I find my most common set-up is to include 4-5 models, with a pretty decent mix of capability, and ensure there is NCO and TacAware in there. 

If you are designing your Reinf Section in this way with 4-5 troopers, that means a Main Section of 11-12 troopers. I would always advise fielding that as a single full combat group and 1-2 “spares”, so it’s important to ensure those spares have a semi useful role to play with their very limited Orders. You don’t want to be spending Command Tokens swapping them into a larger group, because you could convert those Tokens into Regular Orders! An obvious partial solution is to make the Commlink trooper one of the spares. You will at least get value from their Order in Turn 3 when your Reinforcements are used (so just possibly in Turn 2 as well). The other spare could be a trooper who is purely sacrificial, or has a low Order intensity job they can do – an Irregular Warband moving and throwing smoke for example. 

Haris Fireteam

Vanilla Nomads, like most factions, can muster a Haris Fireteam from their Reinforcements. This is a big bonus. Given that the section is operating on a very tight budget of Orders, it is incredibly useful to be able to shift the positions of 3 models while 1 is doing its primary job. Additionally the +1B bonus will be very useful to break through enemy AROs efficiently. Because the roster naturally guides you toward 3+ middleweight, linkable models, it would be silly not to plan on deploying a Haris Fireteam. I would say this is a universal choice for me unless deploying a Lizard TAG in a Duo instead. It’s important to note that a Haris team must include at least one Marspider or Kulak – as we will see, the former fit in more naturally and are less replaceable in their role. 

Units

Stempler Zonds. Initially greeted as the must take unit of the roster thanks to ITS14 Tachimoto rules (which gave them Marksmanship and Tactical Awareness for free) these are still a very strong utilitarian choice. Their basic profiles, at 13 and 16 points, are still the cheapest in the roster. That alone gives them a place, especially as they can join Haris teams. More than that, they are specialists thanks to Forward Observer (which you can even risk using to enable a guided missile from your main section) and bring onboard Repeaters. That is potentially huge synergy with hackers in the main section as well. A terrific support choice and one of the most common picks.

Lunokhod Sputniks. Oof. One of the rare units I consider an absolute dud in Main Sections, this would have added at least a little bit of capability to Reinforcements by deploying crazy koalas into the midfield. So naturally the Reinf version has lost the Minelayer skill, and traded the koalas in for normal shock mines, which are much more difficult to deploy as a layer in front of your forces, and far harder to generate active turn forks with. They did not get any cheaper and still can’t join a Haris Fireteam. Absolutely terrible. I know you could say they’re not entirely useless, they have heavy flamethrowers and repeaters which are both good things to have. But once you look at their points cost and competing picks, they’re simply not worth it.

Tsyklon Sputniks. Revamped with a new chain rifle when these rules dropped, the Reinf Tsyklon unfortunately lost its pitcher. I can understand that decision, Nomad hacking, especially with guided missile support, is good enough already, but damn it would have been nice. Without that selling point, both Tsyklon weapon variants are expensive for 1W models without even TacAware. Repairability is nice, but it doesn’t mean as much as it does for a Remote in the main section. Remember that most of the time you only expect to use these Reinforcements during Round 3. I suppose there are situations where you could deploy in your Turn 2, get knocked out in the enemy Turn 3, then be revived and do something important in your Turn 3 – but it isn’t probable. I would only pick a Tsyklon in Reinforcements if I very much wanted the repeater presence (although you can get that from Stempler Zonds for cheaper), or needed the armour busting capability of the Feuerbach variant. 

Vostok Sputniks. The premier combat Remote in Nomads has all the characteristics necessary to shine as a Reinforcement. It’s Fireteam-able, fires accurately to 24”, carries an onboard repeater and of course Mimetism-6 makes it a powerful gunfighter. The only downside is that you pay for all this. It is just possible to fit the Vostok into a Reinf Section of 4 models, but that means making it the only firepower piece and locks you into cheaper options for the rest. A natural pairing is the Marspider engineer to enact any repairs needed. Alternatively, a Rounder hacker can be useful – if a Vostok moves into an enemy hacker’s ZoC, while a Rounder hacker is outside that ZoC but is the Fireteam leader, that’s a difficult choice for the reactive model. Take a hack against the Vostok and let the Rounder use Trinity as a normal roll? Oppose the Rounder through the Vostok’s repeater, and suffer Firewall penalties? But you can’t fit both options in and still make 4 models, it’s one or the other. Maybe better to play those repeater tricks with a Stempler Zond and use a cheaper model for firepower. 

Lizard Squadron TAG. There are some pretty clear advantages to using a TAG in Reinforcements. It’s power at a point – you deliver Burst 4, BS14 shots where they need to be, you are far more resilient to counter-attack than the majority 1W competing options, you have TacAware for extra value. Especially when enemy Reinforcements arrive after yours, a TAG is the only thing which isn’t trivial to sweep off the board, although conversely, if your opponent does have the right tools and position to kill it, the loss is even more harmful. On the attack, the Reinf Lizard, with its non-AP spitfire, can be equalled by cheaper models with a +1B bonus from a Haris team. But none of those can safely push through a template ARO, and the ability to tank an ARO while using its own heavy flamethrower makes the Lizard a unique threat. The downside is Orders. TacAware only goes so far. The built-in Duo option for a Lizard is a Marspider, clearly pointing you towards an engineer, but there are some Wildcard options too. 

Redsky Crew Marspiders. In my opinion these are the standout unit of the Reinf Section, and the one that I will always include at least one of. Partly that’s due to their price point, as the second cheapest option and therefore easier to fold into the section. But they are superb assault troops. The combination of Burst 4 assault pistol and Burst 2 heavy flamethrower (both +1B if in a Haris team, which it should be) makes a lethal fork as long as you can get within 8”. If there’s one thing Reinf models can do, it’s get within 8” of the enemy. Note that because that fork exists, I prefer the basic 18pt Marspider with panzerfaust, which makes them a low-probability, high-impact risk for your opponent to attack at long range, over the 18pt Marspider with grenades. The impact template FtF roll at close range is nice, but when you already have the assault pistol/heavy flamethrower combo, it doens’t add as much as the panzerfaust. I support using these in a Haris, where they are a core building block, or as independent units (they have to be willing to piece trade, and sometimes you don’t want to break your Haris apart when they go down). 6-2 Movement and CC skills are just the icing on the cake. I can’t overstate how useful a troop type like this is. 

Spektrs. Giving up Camouflage and Hidden Deployment as Reinf profiles, these guys got a lot cheaper. Unable to join Fireteams, they have to find their own niche. Hacking profiles are not that attractive because while Spektrs are relatively cheap and WIP14, you can still get just as good hackers elsewhere in Reinforcements, and contributing to a Fireteam (a la Rounders with NCO) is more important to a hacker than Mimetism-6. The E/M mines and deployable repeater profile is very interesting, but it does require Orders to function and those are at a premium for Reinforcements. I think the potential best option is the 20pt multi marksman rifle. Admittedly it competes with Fireteam choices as an attack piece – BS12 and Burst 3 isn’t that impressive – but Mimetism-6, +1Dam and AP ammo are all very nice, and it’s just so cheap. I really like the format of a Haris team and a Spektr as the fourth model. 

Kulak Payback Unit. At BS13, Mimetism-3 with the added bonus of BS Attack (Shock), these have the potential to be good gunfighters, but I find them overshadowed by Prowlers’ TacAware or Rounders’ NCO. Kulaks are held back from greatness by the lack of good gunfighter weapons. The HRL might be promising, given how cheap it is, but their high-Burst option is a mere combi-rifle +1B, which can’t compare to the 24” range options available elsewhere. That extra reach is critical for overcoming resistance from strong enemy AROs. Similarly, I don’t think the Kulak hackers are worth it compared to the Rounder version. Much was made on their release of the fact that Kulaks introduced Chain of Command to the Nomads faction. I feel that profile is a trap. It is essentially insurance against things going wrong. The profile isn’t really useful for anything else at its price point, so I would rather take an offensive troop instead and try to mitigate risk to my Lt during deployment. The CoC option can protect you from Loss of Lt at the start of Turn 3, or if you lost your Lt at the same time as losing >100pts of models. It can’t stop you going into Loss from a Turn 1 assassination run, so it doesn’t really unlock any problems in building your Main Section – running without any decoy Lt, for example, would still be an unacceptable risk, whether you have taken CoC or not. Looking at other factions’ popular CoC models, they tend to be cheap support units that can sit safe in the backfield. A 29 point fighting model that could be an offensive unit Reinforcing into the midfield isn’t a good place for that skill. 

Casino Security Rounders. Now we’re talking. The combo of NCO, MSV1 and Marksmanship would make these a natural choice as Fireteam leaders. We could wish the weapon options included something punchier than a red fury, but one can’t have everything in life. Surprisingly, my favourite profile here might be the hacker. Obviously we are getting less value from those gunfighter skills, but NCO is still useful and the addition of Trinity to a normal hacking device makes them extremely flexible. Limited to one per Haris, a Rounder is a very common inclusion for me and it will generally be the hacker or red fury. 

Jelena Kovac. Not an exceptional gunfighter, the selling points of this profile are Sensor and TacAware. A defensible choice as a ‘middle’ utility model in a Haris, alongside a firepower piece and the mandatory Marspider (or just possibly Kulak). She doesn’t compete with the SWC gunfighters, and is not that cheap, so picking her normally comes down to how much Camouflage you expect to fight. The more niche use case is her X-Visor and Triangulated Fire, which could sometimes be useful to remove a difficult ARO – but normally you would have an option with more brute power available for that. 

Raoul Spector. One of the stronger gunfighters you can get in a Haris team, at least at close range, due to the combination of NWI and Mimetism-6. Is he worth the expense compared to other options which bring TacAware and/or SWC weapons? A lot of the expense here is in close combat skills. With Martial Arts, Natural Born Warrior and an E/M CCW, Spector is one of those models that can kill almost anything in the game in melee. I would say that Spector is a highly multi-role model. He’s a Specialist Operative, he can shoot (within 16”), he can fight, he can throw drop bears around the place. But he’s expensive and without Shock Immunity he can be taken out quickly by the right threats. My reservations on Spector lie in how Reinforcements generally come into play. Usually they will only have one Active turn, using 5-6 Orders. Will that be enough ‘time’ for Spector to use all his different tools? Arguably we would be better served taking a Marspider for close combat and something like a Rounder for shooting, at only marginally higher cost. One advantage I will allow Spector is as a Suppressive Fire speedbump. Turn 3 is the only time I really rate suppression as a tactic, and with NWI, Mimetism-6 and the ability to beat most things in melee, Spector is relatively challenging to dig out of the state, he will be hard to outshoot and can try to shrug off a suicidal template attack. That said, a cunning opponent can usually find some way to get past suppression so I don’t consider this a default tactic. 

Prowlers. Well they’re certainly better in this role than in the Main Section, losing Camouflage & Hidden deployment in return for TacAware and point cuts. This produces an efficient Haris member – the spitfire especially is one of my favoured firepower pieces, being a good enough shooter with Burst 5 and Mimetism-3, while bringing an extra Order and Specialist Operative. Alternatively, while less flexible than the Rounder, the killer hacker is actually just a surprisingly good hacker with WIP14 and BTS6 – I like that profile in missions which offer a bonus to hackers performing the primary objective. Reducing the risk of wasting Orders failing WIP rolls can save games. 

Example Reinforcement Sections

We can now look at fitting these profiles together into combat groups. Reinforcements have a narrow enough unit selection that I can actually give a broad range of examples that cover most (not all) of the ways in which they can be used. You should always consider Reinforcements within the context of the mission, and the capabilities of your main section, but as we discussed at the start, there are some common trends in what you want your Reinforcements to do when they turn up: clear the midfield of enemies, activate any central objectives, present some form of ARO in Round 3. Trying not to die themselves is a more situational consideration, it only matters if they arrived in Round 2 and/or if the mission includes killing army points or holding zones.

Let’s remember that as well as their own Orders, TacAware and NCO, Reinforcement groups can (and often should) draw on the Commlink trooper being swapped into their group, and in ITS15 games, a Command Token being used on the O-12 Prestige rule to give them another Regular Order. 

5 Model Reinforcements

Prowler spitfire – 31/1.5

Rounder hacker – 22/.5

Marspider paramedic – 19

Stempler Zond – 13 

Stempler Zond – 13

Total 98 points, 2SWC

This is the sort of Reinforcement Section I view as archetypal of Nomads. Quite a good starting Order pool at 5 Regular Orders plus 1 TacAware and NCO. The Prowler, Rounder and Marspider form a classic Haris team with firepower, utility and a close assault piece, and in fact all 3 members, and all 5 Reinforcement models, are Specialists. Note that this makes them very flexible for some missions, but should be avoided in some others where an Objective is to kill more Specialists than your opponent! It is also possible to deploy the Rounder outside the Haris to accomplish some task elsewhere, replacing it with a Stempler, and it can still hack from that Stempler’s repeater. This sort of section is flexible and capable but can’t take any kind of punch in the Reactive turn. 

Rounder red fury – 26/1

Marspider paramedic – 19

Marspider panzerfaust – 18

Spektr multi marksman rifle – 20/1

Stempler – 13

Total 100 points, 2SWC

This Section operates in a similar way, but with a lighter Haris team (and no TacAware) in exchange for having a very capable Mimetism-6 shooter as an alternative Active piece. It would be better if you were presented with multiple targets for your Reinforcements on a complex table, so attacking at two separate points becomes necessary. 

4 Model Reinforcements

Rounder red fury – 26/1

Raoul Spector multi rifle – 34

Marspider paramedic – 19

Spektr KHD – 21 

Total 100 points, 1SWC

Going down to just 4 models lets us beef the Haris up with Raoul Spector as an alternative shooter within 16” and an assault piece. Note that I have made the Spektr a killer hacker since that can be a great Active turn capability, but it could be swapped into the multi marksman profile. Or, you could change the Rounder into a hacker, and upgrade the Marspider into a Kulak HRL for some punch out to 32″. I rate this team slightly less highly than the 5-model options above for the impact of their arrival on the Active turn. Orders are important. But it can be much more of a pain for your opponent to remove, if they have lost certain key pieces like their MSV gunfighters by that stage in the game. Suppression fire can actually be useful at that stage, to hold enemies off key objectives. 

Prowler spitfire – 31/1.5

Rounder hacker – 22/.5

Marspider paramedic – 19

Prowler killer hacker – 28

Total 100 points, 2 SWC

Do you like hacking and Tactical Awareness? Of course you do. Leave one of the hackers out of the Haris to do their own thing, and go achieve some objectives.

3 Model Reinforcements

I would only consider these formats if the mission (and the rest of my list) did not require the Reinforcements group to spend any Orders activating Objectives. With so few available you need to focus on killing key targets. They might be more usable where you value resilience to enemy counter-attack.

Vostok – 44

Kulak HRL – 22/1.5

Spector multi rifle – 34 

Total 100 points, 1.5 SWC

This would not be a usual choice for me – it has 3 Orders with no TacAware or NCO, so even with the commlink trooper it may struggle. But reactively, it has 3 Mimetism models, two of which have effectively 2W/2STR, so it can be a bit of a pain to remove if your opponent lacks MSV. I wouldn’t take this, I just wanted to show what a 3-model section without a Lizard looks like!

Lizard – 64/1.5

Marspider panzerfaust – 18 

Stempler Zond sensor – 16 

Total 98 points, 1.5 SWC

You could upgrade the Marspider to a paramedic if desired. I have also put in a Stempler as its repeater and sensor capability add something else, but you could take a second Marspider and that would be fine. The focus here is the aggressive assault Duo of the Lizard and Marspider, which would be nice for some missions that only require killing and/or controlling zones.

Lizard – 64/1.5

Jelena Kovac – 23

Stempler Zond – 13

Total 100 points, 1.5 SWC

Jelena Kovac isn’t necessarily bringing much to a TAG Duo – the Lizard is better at shooting in almost any situation – but she is bringing another TacAware Order, and occasionally Sensor will be a clutch capability. 

2 Model Reinforcements(!)

Obviously any Reinforcement of only 2 models has got to include the Lizard to approach the 100pts limit. Doing this is clearly not very good in most situations, because your Reinforcements have fewer Orders to make an impact when they arrive. But you could spend a surprising maximum of 5 Orders on them when they arrive (2 plus the Commlink trooper swapped in, plus the Lizard’s TacAware, plus O-12 Prestige). It’s not nothing, but I still prefer the reach of a larger Reinforcement section. There is an upside though, in that this composition lets you include 14 models in your main section. That can be a stretch at 250 points but is certainly possible and gives you a lot more Orders and options before the Reinforcements arrive. In some missions and list formats that might be exactly what you want. 

Lizard – 64/1.5

Marspider Engineer – 22

Total 88 points, 1.5 SWC

No doubt intentionally, it is impossible to fit a third model alongside a TAG and Marspider engineer. Given that, I don’t rate this option. If you plan on taking a Lizard as Reinforcement, remember that it may well turn up at the bottom of Round 3, so repairing it is unlikely to come up. If you want to be prepared anyway, it is easier to build an engineer into your main section – Nomads have great options like Tomcats – and save your Marspider(s) to be the disposable assault troops they were born to be. 

Lizard – 64/1.5

Raoul Spector – 34 (35 with super-jump)

Total 98 points, 1.5 SWC

Now you could take a Lizard tag in a Duo with Raoul Spector for Mimetism, melee and drop bears. This would be hilarious, my instincts say it would end up underfunding two powerful active turn models with Orders – Raoul particularly is very Order-intensive to get maximum value from him. But it’s relatively resilient. If you have to drop Reinforcements first in a zone-control mission, and can’t kill the prime enemy threats, these two in a zone with a couple of drop bears protecting them, and in suppression fire, can be a pain to dig out. 

Final Thoughts

One important caveat to all my points above is that the Reinforcements format is still being explored. Playing conventional 300pt games using ITS missions for over 10 years has given us a firm understanding of the pattern of how those games play out. The assumptions changed slightly with each edition, but the flow of the games remained recognisable. The initial impression is that Reinforcements doesn’t so much upset the back-and-forth pattern of play as make it more extreme. You have to be prepared to make the most of the turn in which your Reinforcements deploy, and accept and mitigate the level of freedom your opponent will have when their Reinforcements deploy. My instinct is that the best method for that is aggressively attacking the opponent’s main section to reduce Orders (and inflict Loss of Lieutenant if you can). Setting up AROs, which is usually a trap strategy in Infinity, will be difficult against enemy Reinforcements which can deploy precisely where they need to be to get effective Face to Face rolls. 

For an Infinity list, the most important thing is to look at the mission or missions it will be used for, and envision how your list can achieve the objectives and stop the opponent from doing so. Reinforcements are no different. Once you have got your list filled in, ask yourself what you will do if you drop your Reinforcements first? In Round 2 or Round 3? Would you hold them back until Round 3, if you had the option to deploy them earlier? What does your opponent have as Reinforcements – it is very important to remember this is Open Information – and how will they interact with the terrain and your primary ARO pieces? Your Reinforcement Section has to secure the Objectives for the end of the game, whether that entails killing enemy models, securing certain zones, activating consoles, completing Classifieds and Securing the HVT, or just not dying.

That last one, if you have to drop your Reinforcements first, is the most challenging based on my current experience. In many missions you want to bring those Reinforcements in right at the end of the game if possible, and that places a premium on having plenty of Orders and options for movement. There is a common strategy in Infinity missions that score by position at the end of the game, which heavily favours the second player. This is that if you are playing first, you need to play the game as aggressively as possible, to decimate the opposing force so thoroughly that they have neither the Orders nor the force to push you off the Objectives in their final turn. The same dynamic applies to Reinforcements. If you are going to drop your Reinforcements first (usually because you are playing first) then you have to practically destroy the enemy main section, and hope that they can’t flip the game with their Reinforcement group alone. In many missions it is super helpful if you can get the opponent to drop their Reinforcements first, typically in Round 2, by making them think “well if I don’t bring them on now I’ll have nothing left”. Then you can deploy your own Reinforcements in Round 3 with every advantage. But savvy opponents will have gone through the same planning as you, and will hold their Reinforcements till the end of the game in missions that reward that approach – just as you should. 

Get out there and play some games!

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