It will be a while before I get my first Infinity game in, with Garth being the only one of the mates looking at starting it, and his being roughly 600km away (at least in the near future). I have started to think about lists though, as its one of the things I enjoy most about wargaming and some thought will after all be necessary prior to buying miniatures!
As a first step I will have the following models, to go towards a 150 point force:
- 3x Ghulam with Rifle & Light Shotgun
- 1x Hunzakut with Sniper Rifle
- 1x Naffatun with Rifle & Light Flamethrower
- 1x Jannissary with AP rifle & Light Shotgun
- 1x Djanbazan with Sniper Rifle
I'm planning on running a vanilla Haqq list rather than a sectoral, and I'll only going to take miniatures that I like. I'm prepared to compromise efficiency for the aesthetic, at least this early on in my Infinity career. Despite this, I am willing to use proxies until I have the models I need! Here is a starting list I'm thinking of running:
- Ghulam Lieutenant (R&LS) - 13pts 0swc
- Ghulam Doctor (R&LS) - 17pts 0swc
- Djanbazan (SR) - 33pts 1swc
- Djanbazan (HMG) - 36pts 1.5swc
- Hunzakut (Rifle, Light Grenade launcher, AP Mines) - 21pts 0.5swc
- Naffatun (Rifle, Heavy Flame Thrower) - 12pts 0swc
- Naffatun (Rifle, Heavy Flame Thrower) - 12pts 0swc
Obviously a wee bit of proxying there to begin with, though it may be I'll have plenty of time before I get my first real game in.
My thinking behind this list is that I wanted a fair number of bodies for the order pool (6 universal orders with 1 order limited to the Hunzakut as he is irregular). I opted for the Djanbazan support weapons over using a Jannissary as the lower points and support weapon costs allowed me to get a few extra bodies and hopefully gain some flexibility. I also love the Djanbazan models; I purchased the Sniper Rifle miniature before I was seriously considering getting into Infinity, and certainly before I purchased the starter set.
I really wanted a light grenade launcher in the list, as I like the thought of pinning my opponent in cover with the HMG and sniper rifle, allowing me to hopefully hit their static positions with the grenade launcher. Another benefit will hopefully be to give me a means of fighting back in the event that I myself get pinned - offensive and defensive flexibility all in the same model! The advanced deployment may also help with grenade range issues, and the antipersonnel mines will hopefully be useful in denying areas of the board and channelling the opposition into kill areas for my support weapons. Obviously a proxy to begin with; I'll have to wait until my net is uncapped so that I can see whether a model is available for the LGL variant.
I plan on using the Naffatun with their large flame templates defensively. I hear they are quite good in this role, but I definitely want to do some reading up on the Infinity forums for advice as to how to use them. I'm thinking at this stage of using them to cover the flanks/rear of my support weapons.
I don't have much of a strategy in mind for selecting my lieutenant. I figure a Ghulam is as good as anything as I'll have the model and I will have a reasonable sized lieutenant pool for him to hide in (2x Ghulam, 2x Naffatun as my understanding). I also opted for a Ghulam doctor as I understand that so far as the fluff goes Doctors and medicine are Haqqislam's strength. I'm happy to oblige the fluff, and hopefully the chap will come in handy.
I may make some changes to the list before my first game, though in theory I'm pretty happy with the composition. Options are perhaps dropping out the Djanbazan Sniper and a Naffatun in favour of the Jannissary with APR & Light Shotgun. It may be that I'll need some kind of anti-armour, something that I may not have covered off well in the above list. Units that I'd like to try in the future are the Khawarijs and the Hassassin Lasiq with Viral Sniper Rifle. I love both of the models, and while I hear that the Khawarij isn't necessarily effective I'm willing to give it a go purely for the beautiful sculpt. I've only heard good things about the Lasiq, so I'd love to give it a go in the list; perhaps I could drop out the Djanbazan sniper and try the Lasiq instead.
I don't think that I've mentioned this yet, but Garth will be rolling with the Nomads. He's found a way around his distaste for the Alguacile models (by selecting something else), and is quite smitten with the more recent Nomad releases. I'm pretty impressed by the Lizard TAG (probably my favourite TAG in the game), and do wish that the Maghariba Guard sculpt was more inspiring.
Anyway, that's my preliminary take on Haqqislam and my theory behind my first attempt at list building. I imagine that I'll learn the error of my ways soon enough :) I'll try and write in the next couple of days about my plans for a Infinity table and a bit of a list of my favourite models. If anyone (of my few page views so far) has any advice or comments in respect of the above, do please leave a note; I'd appreciate advice on list composition and things to watch out for with the Nomads, though I'll definitely be reading up on these topics over the next few weeks. I'll also try and add some colour to the page with some pictures once my net is back at full capacity. Cheers!
