Introduction

In a major update for Infinity’s meta (the first of several scheduled for this month) we are welcoming back no fewer than 6 Sectorial armies which have hitherto been unavailable in the N5 rules. This was in response to a sustained outcry before, during and after the N5 release, complaining that these factions were not represented in the game. 

Honestly, we are all extremely excited for the sheer breadth of new stuff being added, because these really aren’t just old rules being added back in with a slight update on terminology. Lots of units across all the revived Sectorials have been given major overhauls, and that has some implications for their parent factions as well. There is a lot of red meat here, and while we will try and give you all the major points with some analysis, it will probably take some more time for the full possibilities of list building and play to become clear – after all, this is taking the game from 38 factions back up to 44. 

On that note, we should clarify that two factions excluded from the N4 to N5 update have remained dead: Spiral Corps and Foreign Company. The former is dissolved in the game’s background lore, and 99% of their tabletop capabilities were absorbed into the Tohaa faction anyway. That makes it logical they would not come back, since Corvus Belli has been sitting still on the Tohaa for some time in terms of rules, concepts and models, perhaps unsure what direction to take them in. The latter just doesn’t seem to be coming back because the game has enough mercenary armies, or possibly because too many of its signature character models were already farmed out to White Company (and scattered elsewhere)? That move seems less explicable. It might be the last gasp of trying to restrain the sheer number of factions in the game, but that ship appears to have sailed. (Musterkrux: – And stay dead, ForCo. Hannibal still sucks but slightly less than before, I guess.) 

In any case, before we get sidetracked into the wider state of the game, let’s look at the details of the changes. 

PanOceanians

Shock Army of Acontecimento

A lot of veteran players saw a similarity between old Acontecimento, and new Kestrel Colonial Force. They both combined typical PanO firepower with some toolbox and asymmetric units. In this update, Acontecimento definitely retains its heavy firepower units, with some useful Aleph transplants, limited but high-quality midfield skirmishers, and a good cheap baseline (heavily carried by AVA3 flash bots). There are also, for any Geneva Convention contrarians out there, a hell of a lot of mines. 

Units

Returning units:

• Regulars are back and pretty much unchanged apart from point tweaks and little things to bring their rules into N5 (like a cyber mine on the hacker profile). They are arguably a tiny bit less optimised or useful than the Fennec Fusiliers – no Discoballer here – but still the kind of line infantry that most factions dream of. Their sapper snipers were legitimately fearsome under N4 Fireteam rules, and even now may see some play.
• Bagh Mari go up to BS13 while universally getting NCO and Warhorse – pretty damn great shooting units. You need to be lean and mean to prosper as a 1VITA gunfighter in N5, but these look comparable to the likes of Karhu and Bolts, and should be popular. We may see a lot of the SWC options and perhaps the FO with its new +1B boarding shotgun. Lt Stephen Rao is still mostly an unoptimised rifle character, but there may be some use in his Lt +1 Order option, powering a Bagh Mari buddy through some extra activations.
• Guarda de Assalto return as BS15, ARM3 attack pieces, now with Mimetism-3 and Combat Instinct. Their value depends a lot on how good a player is at leveraging their peripheral. The Auxbot gained those special rules as well, plus the very flexible weapons combo of eclipse grenade launcher, light shotgun and flamethrower. This could be a real playmaker – it’s not quite as reliable as a Discoballer, but it doesn’t run out of shots (and can trigger FtF rolls against incoming shots). The Guarda itself can choose between multi rifle, HRL with +1B, and spitfire, and we are not entirely sure what looks best. With the potential for synchronised template assault, but not being a specialist, it has some ups and downs as an assault unit, especially being a non-Stealthy HI. The HRL is fairly efficient, but arguably won’t make great use of the peripheral. So we are interested to see if the community takes the Guarda up and what people do with it.
• Akalis get access to an EM carbine and a deployable repeater, so they do have uses, even if it’s just as a specialist where you need one. But they look relatively I optimised compared to other PanO drop troopers. Kirpal Singh brings slightly melee ability, NCO, and some nice short-range weapons while still being a specialist. But we think he’s a bit undercooked. Not useless, but why take his CoC profile with a boarding shotgun (+1SD) when you can take a normal Akali specialist with a shotgun +1B for less? 
• The fearsome Dragao returns to haunt us with its BS15 HRMC. Nuff said. 

Changes to existing N5 units:

• The Tikbalang, which has its famous (or infamous, depending on which side of the table you’re on) Lt +1 Order profile here, has regained Shock Mines on its profiles. Hurrah!
• The little-seen dismounted Knight of Montesa unit gets a real boost with BS Attack (+1SD), combining that with a seriously tasty looking FTO profile. Anyone fancy a fairly cheap HI that can roll 3 dice on a blitzen in ARO? Not many TAGs want to risk pushing into that.

Acontecimento keeps access to Scylla, a great multi-use hacker, with Nagas and Dart for an expensive but very dangerous camouflaged presence. That camouflage game is definitely bolstered by the AVA1 Beasthunter (including the B2 flamethrower profile) which we expect to be very popular as a fast, expendable assault piece.

Fireteams

The first thing which jumps out is that there are practically no (counts as) tags in Acontecimento’s Fireteams. Even with that constraint, there seem like some obvious plays: Two Regulars could be stapled to a Bagh-Mari for efficient firepower, and/or to Scylla to make her pitcher more reliable. Large defensive teams could remain a feature of the Sectorial. 

Bagh-Mari can form Duo teams (or any other size), including with Machinists (who are (Bagh-Mari)), which may also be popular. We are keen to see if anyone fields this sort of team with 1-2 Montesa paramedics for effectively +2SD ARO shenanigans. Speaking of those dismounted Montesa, they have an interesting option for a rare Duo with FD+8”. We aren’t sure that is good, since they are hackable units with no marker state starting forward, without particularly ARO-suitable weapons, but it is unusual!

Other Duo options are fairly normal stuff for TAGs and motorcycles. We do want to note the Wildcards: Scylla is handy, so is the Pathfinder sensor bot, as stapled on hacking, Sensor utility. But players can also wildcard in the Charybdis FTO bot. That’s a 12pt repeater and heavy flamethrower, a very useful unit to drag around with, e.g., a Lt Tikbalang before dropping it off somewhere annoying. 

Predictions

Overall Acontecimento seems like an army with some real legs in terms of firepower and certain kinds of defence. Their close assault capability might be their weakness; they have some sneaky units but seem light in that department. While by no means as restricted as some returning Ariadna Sectorials, they don’t have that many different units and their Fireteams aren’t as flexible as some competitors. It’s interesting to see a Sectorial which combines some extremely efficient, newly-redesigned units with some older concepts and structures.

Neoterran Capitaline Army

Neoterra was usually regarded as the PanOceanian’s PanOceania. The shooty faction. It also had a good level of template coverage and Hidden Deployment, making for some defensive opportunities. Like Acontecimento, they boast AVA3 flash bots to help their bottom end. On its return, it keeps those features, but has been significantly upgraded in terms of hacking capability and pitchers. Oh my lord, have the pitchers arrived. 

Units

Returning units:

• Auxilia were traditionally simple combi rifle scrubs with heavy flamethrower-toting Auxbot peripherals. Those Auxbots have all been upgraded with Mimetism-3 and 360 visors, making them even better defensive pieces. The Auxilia themselves include B2 Nanopulsers (the FO option can be taken with just an SMG for a points cut). That is pretty good counter-attacking capability – units with Peripherals are generally strong, and enemies that don’t want to eat 3 templates are forced to Dodge against an Auxilia and its bot. But the cheapest FO option may be even more popular. 15pts isn’t cheap for an Order, but their Auxbot is also an FO (so it can observe or flash pulse at range, albeit at WIP11) and that means you’re basically buying flash pulse bots which don’t provide an Order, but don’t give one up when killed. We see 1-4 of these units being quite a common pick. That may include a cheap Lt and decoy which aren’t as supernumerary as plain Fusiliers, but Neoterra has interesting other options there.
• Hexas are some of the older Hidden Deployment/Camouflage/Mimetism-6 units in the game, and are relatively expensive due to those full-fat skills. They also universally provide Counterintelligence, which is a great thing for any faction to have, but note that you can’t claim the benefit from HD, the model or marker needs to be on the table. The SWC weapons may well be popular, since Neoterra has a couple potential HD threats (we’ll get to that). The hackers are slightly hampered by being DZ-bound, lacking any pitchers or special upgrades (beyond Surprise Attack-3). They also aren’t complete Classified Objective machines since they’re HQ troops, not Veteran/Elite. A unit which may well see play, particularly the PS4 multi-sniper, but doesn’t leap at us compared to some other Sectorial options.
• Uhlans picked up Warhorse – an apt skill for what was historically a kind of Eastern European light cavalry regiment, and a big effing deal for any TAG. Otherwise it kept its suite of impactful skills: a S6, ARM6 light TAG, but with full Camouflage, Mimetism-3 and Surprise Attack-3, alongside PanOceanian BS15 and Remote Presence. In short, it’s one of the most dangerous shooters in the game. The twist is that its weapon loadouts got bananas. 
  • The cheaper, 70pt option has BS Attack (+1B) on a feuerbach, panzerfaust, blitzen, and multi pistol. That’s a superior gunfighter at close or long range, but without leaning hard into active turn Burst advantage.
  • The significantly pricier, 80pt option has BS Attack (AP) on a spitfire and a +1B HRL. That’s right, the infamously terrifying “most dangerous gun in the game”, hitherto carried by O-12’s Wreckers (BS13, no mods) is now on the Uhlan. The BS15, mod-stacking Uhlan. This is just disgusting, and where that level of overkill isn’t necessary, and/or it wants to reduce risk in the FtF roll, at least within 24”, it can always use the spitfire. 
  • Either of these loadouts (but especially the +1B, AP HRL) does most of what a Cutter does, admittedly without the full security/surprise of HD, for much cheaper. These will surely be popular going forward.

Musterkrux: It was only today that I realised that my unshakeable conviction that the ‘Uhlan is a terrible TAG’ was a load-bearing foundation of my weltenshauung and I am, as the young adults say, shook. Fam, I am not Gucci right now. Look at that gorgeous profile, what a transformation.

Changes to existing N5 units:

• Blade-Ops got a Parachutist profile to go alongside their extant FD+8” one. Decoy(2) is a good skill combo, but not without risk, and we are not sure which profile will emerge as popular. In general, Blades being TacAware engineers, their FTO options will probably predominate.
• Blockers are maybe the most impactful change for Neoterra and generic PanO (yes, we’ll get to the Swiss Guard). Their hackers now carry pitchers and an inbuilt Firewall-3. For 19pts. Remember they are BS Attack(+1B), with good fireteam options to access +1SD. Now they are not exceptional hackers, at WIP13/BTS3. But they have great weapons for close-in shooting and bring insane utility with Sensor, so open up some really great lines of play for Neoterra. Jumping ahead to Fireteams and wider considerations, Blockers are easy to slot in with Fusiliers, CSU or Bolts, and Neoterra has WIP15 Deva killer hackers (among other options) which can activate via those pitched repeaters. These troopers are transformative, and may add to the general appeals for CB to deliver us from ‘pitcher hell’.
• The NCA-unique Machinist gets Warhorse (and Immunity Shock & Total Terrain), and might occasionally crop up where players can’t afford a Blade Ops.
• Richard Quinn seems to have picked up a Discoballer profile (his other weapons may also have changed a bit) and is honestly a great secondary gunfighter.
• Black Friars have improved to Albedo-6, and all versions now get Combat Instinct, not just the HRL, although that weapon loadout remains the best in our opinion. That Albedo gives them a niche in a faction rife with other gunfighting options.

Genghis Cohen: I saw ‘Black Friars’ in the official announcement and for a brief moment thought this was it; the rapture (aka the promised October 2025 Military Orders update) was upon us. Imagine my grief and pain on realising it was only 6 other, less holy, Sectorials which received this blessing. May the lord deliver his vengeance, and that right soon.

• Hannibal gets a completely alternative set of skills and profiles to his existing White Company/Svarlaheima persona; it really is a whole different unit (this is Hannibal, Neoterran Mercenary Team Leader, thank you so very much). TacAware, Sensor, BS Attack(+1SD), you can even pay for Strategic Deployment – he is a Wildcard (Orc Troops, Bolt) – and/or +1 SWC for your list! This guy brings an unbelievable amount of value. We’d say he is an auto-take, but he’s clearly a unit which provides the most when in a fireteam with other, synergistic pieces. So fitting him into lists will be an art. We also understand why this frankly superior profile wasn’t given to WhiteCo. Sorry Svarlaheima.
• The Aquila Guard gets a Strategos L1 Lt profile for an additional +3pts – a bargain – and even adds +1SWC when doing so. This means you can indeed build an 8SWC Neoterra list, and seems like a ton of fun. Giving more ways to incorporate this camo-shooting, discoballing legend into lists seems like a nice piece of design, and yes, he is a Wildcard.
• Swiss Guards are the top ‘holy shit’ update to Neoterra/PanOceania alongside Blockers and the Uhlan. First off, the short-ranged, FD+4” profile was updated with a Firewall-3 and flammenspeer (did it already have these?) and an identically-armed profile with a killer hacker device has appeared. Now we are often critical of making Mimetism-6, primo gunfighters hackers, but as a 2VITA, hackable HI anyway, this is a very positive change for a Swiss Guard. What a mission specialist. He can hide from enemy hacking in HD or camo, he can fight, he can tank a template. But that’s not the big thing. The big thing is the Swiss Guard missile launcher (Swissile) getting +1SD. Interestingly that is +1SD on the weapon, not the unit, a little wrinkle featured on several units in the wider update. But the effect is the same – this guy is now a terrifying ARO threat. Even an MSV2 gunfighter is taking a real risk engaging, unless at favourable rangebands, so armies that can’t smoke out, and/or need to move Fireteams across the table, are going to hate this model. The mere presence of this HD profile in the roster is a defining feature of Neoterra. (Musterkrux: Praise be unto He. The Maestro of Missiles, the Emperor of Explosive Damage, the High-king of Hidden Deployment. A new world will be born from the ashes of the inferno that the Swiss Guard will spark with their holy anger. Amen.) 
• Locusts would be big news for Neoterra if Blockers hadn’t been updated simultaneously, and may well be just as good. They got the same update in Firewall-3 and pitchers. The differences are that while Blockers have +1B and sit in Fireteams, Locusts have HD/Infiltration. They’re not cheap, but having that capability, for hacking AROs or for unexpected pitcher shots right where the enemy doesn’t want them, is a big deal.

On top of actually revamped units, Neoterra has access to some other important tools. We mentioned Devas with their excellent killer hackers. They get the Redeye. They get an AVA1 Garuda, one of the most mobile specialists in the game (or an equally mobile, if fragile, shooter). They get Maximus, who we know is divisive, but is a very extreme tanky unit, and Shona Carano, an excellent and almost alone-in-Sectorial close assault melee threat. They get Bolts, and on that note let’s discuss Fireteams.

Fireteams

The basic Fusilier teams seem to be most for supporting Wildcards. We doubt anyone will be too excited about leaning hard into basic Fusiliers or the plain Orcs who can join. But Blockers or Blade-Ops are both (Fusiliers) and you can easily add a Wildcard like an Aquila, Quinn, or even a Black Friar to make a valid Haris/Core. Orcs and Bolts can both be the basis of Duo/Haris/Core teams; they don’t lump together for Fireteam bonuses, but you can use the AVA1 Machinist as a slightly cheaper Bolt, Hannibal counts as either, and there are a couple other valid (Bolt) Wildcards. Bolt Duos have been extremely popular in N5 generic PanO and they seem at least as good here, with real scope as the basis for larger teams, e.g. you could add a Blocker on top. 

There are two Duo-only teams. CSU teams seem mostly useful to pair a CSU with a Blocker (they are pure) for the most self-contained pitcher delivery team. The awesomely-named Ultima Ratio team is your Squalo Duo. The genuine pair of Squalos is the only option to unlock +1SD, but we should note that Neoterra can include the TacAware Pathfinder bots as Wildcards, or a Blade-Ops engineer, or Shona Carano, or…there’s a lot of potential there, although players may not embrace the Squalo in Neoterra until they’ve got the Uhlan out of their system.

Predictions

Neoterra seems like an extremely good, potentially A-tier Sectorial. As with much of this update, there’s so much to consider that we can’t really make a good prediction on their meta lists just yet. But they have the apex gunfighters, they have cheap defence, they have the infowar, they have extra-Order attack pieces, if not much true melee close assault. This seems like it might even be a competitive alternative to generic PanOceania or the mighty Kestrel force, which are both in really strong places at the moment. 

Varuna Immediate Response Division

Varuna remains the ‘sneaky and defensive PanO’ faction. Between the Kamau sniper, Helots, and arguably even the Montessa Knights, Varuna sets up Fort Kickass for you to besiege before the Kamau, Zulu Cobras and Echo Bravos sneak out at night to let the air out of your TAG’s tires and steal your stuff.

They’re also slightly odd in that some of their signature units, at least in the competitive scene, made it into N5 generic PanOceania, so were already familiar in their N5 form. For example Helots (both camouflaged and FTO) are unchanged, although they are AVA3, more than in PanO. 

Units

Changes to existing N5 units:

• The Echo Bravo gets Decoy and Surprise Attack now, which is mildly interesting but I fear that they missed the N5 discount that other Parachutist/Combat Jump troopers get, as they’re still 25+ points a pop, which hurts.
  
• The Zulu Cobra with KHD comes with a Pitcher now. That’s pretty cool.
  • Genghis Cohen: If by cool you mean ‘the downfall of civilisation to the PanOceanian hordes, then yes, it’s cool’.
    
• Many Kamau Profiles come with E/M Carbines, which aren’t my favorite gun in the game but if you’re a Kamau facing off against a TAG and you’ve got a choice between a Combi-Rifle and an E/M Carbine, it’s not a hard choice. So, on the balance of things, I’m thankful that they got them (even if I’m sure CB is stacking the Kamau profiles with extra kit to keep them expensive as a OOP-faction). Also, that Kamau Paramedic profile comes with Tactical Awareness. Heck yeah.
  • Genghis Cohen: I think that Kamau are a sterling example of optimised medium infantry (technically light infantry due to ARM1, and line troopers, but in every other respect they are like most faction’s MI). They have 6-2 movement for heaven’s sake! The way their profiles have individualised, interesting bits of equipment is a glimpse of a brave new future, far from the tyranny of mass-issued combi rifles.
    

Sectorial-unique profiles:

• My goodness. Is that a Zulu Cobra with Minelayer, E/M Mines, Multi-marksman rifle and X-visor? Starting the game with E/M mines in play is a really strong feature for keeping your opponent honest instead of just bum-rushing your DZ with HI or TAGs. 
• On Varuna, the time of the orc is at hand. Their Varuna Division Orc Troops get Stealth and Warhorse on all profiles, which makes them worth considering to fill the un-PanOceanian role of direct close assault. Really, they could have just made this a new troop type, like Hannibal in Neoterra being a different unit to his other incarnations.
  

Fireteams

• There’s the classic Fusilier Fireteam, but now you can run it with Helots as key piece. Also worthy of note, it’s Duo-able. I don’t often suggest using Line Infantry in offensive Fireteams but Fusiliers are both cheap enough and BS 12 enough to make it potentially viable…-ish. Patsy Wildcarding into a Helot Duo or Haris might be cute, though.
  • Genghis: Quinn is the wildcard who jumps out at me as benefiting from a cheap Fusilier buddy, although he has other Duo options. Even more, I see multiple scales of defensive team here. You could have anything from a pair of Helots, to a Kamau sniper with two Fusiliers, to a Kamau sniper, a pair of Fusiliers, and 2 Helots all in one big happy family!
    
• There’s also the Undertow fireteam, for Kamau or Orcs. At the moment, I’m excited to test a Kamau backed up by a Montessa Knight Paramedic. That (+1SD) the Knight has will stack with the Duo bonus, giving you a very cheeky 3 dice ARO with its Blitzen (remember that +1SD doesn’t expend additional uses of Disposable). Who wants to line up a F2F roll with a 3-dice BS 13 model with Mimetism (albeit, no cover) that’s good out to 32”…with Arm 7 in cover and 2 wounds to keep you honest? That’s wild.
• There’s also your obligatory ‘Double TAG’ fireteam and a Montessa-Bike-Duo but they’re not super exciting. Not bad, mind you,just not exciting.
  • Genghis: like Muster, I think the Undertow fireteam is the most exciting, with a lot of permutations of Orcs, Kamau and characters intermingling into fun Duos. But we should also note that Varuna can slot TacAware Pathfinder bots into any team. Cheeky. 

Predictions

Varuna seems to be a very popular faction. I think we’ll see a lot of vanilla players return to the comfort of Varuna and do relatively well with the faction. It’s still not Kestrel Colonial Force but it’s still going to be a faction that both sells its aesthetic (sneaky special ops pool party) while remaining competitive. In many ways it goes super hard into PanOceania’s strengths (dominant gunfighting) with some nice defence via Helots and Zulu-Cobras, who also give it some hacking potential. But this specialisation comes at the cost of a relatively narrow roster, and a real shortage of close assault units. They have lots of Stealth, but the only Martial Arts in the whole crew are on the Montesa Knights (they do not have Stealth). Quinn is the only vision control with his Discoballer. This is a strong faction, but it’s not a very broad faction.

Musterkrux: My body is so ready for Varuna’s triumphant return.

Genghis Cohen: I’m not sure my body is quite as ready to be battered into a set of Helots (and now Montesas), then wiped off the table by the Cutter (and now pitcher KHDs). 

Implications for Generic PanOceania (and Sectorials)

This update brings Pitchers into vanilla PanO on the Blocker, Locusts and Zulu Cobra, all platforms which offer a lot of utility. The first is very reliable at getting Pitchers down, and the other two can hide in Camouflage/Hidden Deployment until needed, which actually gives PanO a lot of control in the infowar game. We aren’t crying that the sky is falling just yet – all these units cost, and they are not particularly good at the actual hacking – but it is a potential step change in what the faction can do. 

For Military Orders, Black Friars improved their Albedo to (-6), but they already had a firm place in many lists. Dismounted Knights of Montesa get their new +1SD, and the FTO profile, but it has no place in MO Fireteams as of yet, so the impact is limited. This is something that might change along with MO’s next readjustment, which should be imminent.

Svarlaheima get the Locusts’ Firewalls and Pitchers, which is pretty big. Their only other benefit is the Blade-Ops parachutist, which is interesting, probably not going to be that frequently seen, but any off-board engineer can be useful for lists fielding TAGs and other STR units. 

Ariadna

Interesting rules space; units like Moblots or Mormaers have always been ‘Heavy Infantry’, with the eligibility for classified cards and weakness to EM ammunition that implies. They are now Immune to the Imm-B state (which is inflicted on HI and some other troop types by EM ammunition), so their rules now make more sense for troops who aren’t wearing powered armour like the advanced HI of other factions. Turns out there’s an upside to Keeping It Simple, Stupid.

Caledonian Highlander Army

While many of their units were looking a bit outdated by the time they departed at the close of N4, Caledonia has always had a defined and fairly strong niche: super cheap troopers, as both defensive Order batteries and aggressive warbands, combined with capable sneaky-beakies and relatively cheap firepower. This is all warped through the lens of Wallace as an Inspiring Leadership Lieutenant. Well, that is all still true, but with some big changes to key profiles.

Units

Returning units:

• Volunteers continue to provide 6pt Regular Orders, with template defences. Honestly, they are great due to their price; many factions would be windmill-slamming the button to add several to every list, but there are a lot of alternatives for cheap models in Caledonia. But their Fireteam-friendly profiles are a huge freedom in list building. The camouflage/infiltration ones are probably not worth it due to the lack of a punchy ARO weapon, but we can see the camouflage option with d-charges being a strong pick for specific missions.
• Isobel MacGregor gains Warhorse. She is still something of a classic ‘rifle character’, but her two profiles both have niches. The CoC can fit into some Lt set-ups in this brave new Scotland, and the hacker is one of those classified-objective machine units. Which is good, because as a hacker she’s terrible.
• Highland Greys gain Warhorse and the aforementioned Immunity to Imm-B (they also move 6-2, we’re unsure if that’s new). They are still pretty great Dogged assault troops, especially because of how they fit into Fireteams. Smoke grenades on units that can also fight pretty hard with BS attacks is a great Caledonian perk. The HMG option still gives a dirt cheap Fireteam leader for volunteers, but exists in the long shadow of the mighty…
• MORMAERS. That’s right, I’m shouting now. Give us MORE of these MAERS. These are the stars of the show, and now truly beastly HI. No longer labouring under their long Dogged history, they are full NWI with Immunity (ARM). To their glorious BS Attack (AP) and (SR-2) they add (-3). That’s a lot of parentheses! These are a terrifying shooting unit. Even ARO-ing models with relevant gunfighting skills/immunities don’t want to get the full 4+1 Burst from a PS3 HMG. Thought that was enough? No, their profiles are now a choice between Tactical Awareness or Lt+1 Order. These guys slap, they justify their 41-49pt cost and we can’t imagine not taking them in a list. That’s not just because they are great, they remain the only resilient firepower unit in the Sectorial, so it’s as well they are capable. Their one real weakness is weapons that attack BTS. As great at shooting as they are, keep them away from viral weapons.
• Wulvers remain expensive, unhackable 2VITA units with strong melee (MA3/NBW!) and mediocre shooting. We are not sure that will be popular due to cost and more specialised units in either role. They do get a thematic little skill in Discover(+6), sniffing out the enemy. 
• Cameronians remain beastly heavy, fast warbands, if not as good as they were in late N4 (due to changes to smoke and Immunity). But they are 18pts and Caledonia gets Inspiring Leadership. The major change is they now pack a PS4, T2 close combat weapon – a major upgrade in their melee punch, although they still won’t want to engage enemies with melee skills of their own. Individually, you would never take one over McMurrough (see below), but at AVA3 they open up a really cool army build where you can just overwhelm your opponent with tough assaults. Musterkrux: 18 points for a Cameronian is enough to justify playing a faction all by itself. Everything else Caledonia gets is just gravy and wow, so much gravy…

Changes to existing N5 units:

• Good old ‘willy wangler’ Wallace sees some major tweaks. He is straight 2VITA rather than NWI; he is a true CC monster with +1B on top of CC Attack (-3) and NBW; most importantly he adds smoke grenades to his kit. This is all great, which you might expect for 38pts. The really interesting quirk is that alongside his obvious Lt profile, you can take a Chain of Command non-Specialist option. This seems to be for situations where you don’t particularly need Inspiring Leadership, or the coordinated Lt Order, and prefer to use something like the +1Lt Order on a Mormaer. A very intriguing piece of design and we’re keen to see what the community makes of it.
• Scots Guards see some new profiles: a HRL replaces the old ML as a camouflaged option (it’s still available as an FTO) and there’s an MSV1 HRL for Fireteams. Honestly we can’t remember if these already had universal NCO and Forward Observer, but that is pretty sweet, and they get the new, if minor, Medikit (PH=14) rule. Their Fireteam profiles seem like good troops for missions and to provide potentially-recoverable long range AROs, but might not be popular against Caledonia’s traditional cheap dudes and tough warbands. The camouflage options add a lot to the Sectorial’s shell game.
• Caterans got a FD+4” option for their T2 sniper. Honestly pretty nice to access better deployment spots and confuse the traditionally obvious question of what’s under a Caledonian marker, especially with Beasthunters and the new Scots Guards profiles.
• Cadin ‘Firststrike’ Donn may or may not have had a flammenspeer before, or 6-2 Move, or CC Attack (+1B), or E/M Grenades (+1B), but looking at him now, he is a bit of a beast. There’s a lot of competition here for a 30pt assault unit with no marker state or smoke grenades, but as a Wildcard there are a lot of potential ways to incorporate him.
• We can’t remember if 112s had a boarding pistol before, but they do now. We know some players who like the motorised version in certain missions, but the FTO seems obsolete in the presence of the Volunteer paramedic. Perhaps it has a role for classified objectives.
• Uxia McNeill has merged her traditional two profiles, so now universally has MSV1 and Specialist Operative. She also gains BS Attack (+1B), so her boarding shotgun is now more likely to be used against some targets, relative to her assault pistol(s). There is still a profile which swaps out the assault pistol for a boarding pistol, and d-charges for grenades. Despite the utility of B2 grenades and direct templates, we suspect the assault pistol variant will still prove more popular overall.
• McMurrough gets a major boost, dropping 4pts and gaining Dogged. This is an enormous buff to his most obvious tactical approach: charging at people while screaming. It also reverberates across a few other factions: Corregidor, Hassassins and Dashat Company all raise a toast to Caledonia today.

Caledonia also get access to AVA2 Beasthunters (huge in a faction with Inspiring Leadership access), Armand Le Muet, and an AVA1 Wardriver, which does have a full hacking device with Sixth Sense and Zero Pain (but no access to the pitcher profile).

Sectorial-unique profiles:

• The very limited number of Scots in Kosmoflot appear to be identical to their Caledonian equivalents, so Kosmo benefits from the changes to Scots Guards, Donn, but especially Wallace and Uxia. Similarly, for generic Ariadna, Uxia is the big news, and as before, they can’t take Wallace as a Lt. 

Fireteams

There are a few, but impactful, (counts as) tags here, mostly on the wildcards. Volunteer teams seem suitable for powering an efficient Grey HMG, providing paramedic support, for which there are lots of targets in the roster, or even playing with a cheeky Beasthunter FTO as a speedbump ARO. Scots Guards can form all levels of team, but the actual Scots Guards are the only source of bonuses; they seem actually very usable to provide gunfighters, AROs and specialists, but have some stiff competition. Galwegian teams seem like a meme: they can only Core, they don’t require Wallace’s inclusion but he needs to be your Lt for the team to really function, and frankly there are better ways to do massed Warband assault. Its only particular niche is cheap, reliable smoke, but Caledonia has other ways to provide smoke on more interesting units. Wulvers are probably too expensive for larger teams, but can Fireteam as Duos as well. That’s an interesting option to deliver Donn, or even Wallace. We’re not sure if adding a Scots Guard FTO really fits there, but a Wulver, a punchy character, and a Scots Guard SWC weapon is a very complete Haris team.

What we’re really here for is the Heavy Caledonian Fireteam. These are just dripping with style. Either Mormaer loves a cheap Grey buddy with reliable smoke and a T2 shotgun. Or take Isobel for objectives, or as CoC while giving your [AP, PS3] HMG that +1SD. If you really want to spend points, add a Scots Guard MSV HRL for those Mimetic targets you don’t want to risk the Mormaer against. There are a load of possibilities here. 

Predictions

Caledonia do several things extremely well: tough warbands; cheap Orders that suck to attack; straightforward firepower; punchy skirmishers. It’s easy to get drunk off this heady brew, like a Galwegian on buckfast tonic wine. We have to remember their limits: an extremely small roster, very limited hacking with no repeater net, no MSV2 or Mimetism-6 type units, and a lack of TAGs or other really tough elite HI. (They have plenty of 2VITA units, but none of them stack on other protections like really heavy armour or Mimetism) We think Caledonia’s overall effectiveness will depend on how well their individual opponents, and the wider meta, adapt to their particular set of aggressive tools. 

Merovingian Rapid Reaction Force

Merovingia remains an odd duck of a faction. It’s still possessed of a seeming dearth of multiple-wound models, can still spam Camo if it wants to, and still has Margot and Duroc. Like Caledonia it is very short on the overall number of units. 

Returning units. In many ways, we suspect it’s still intended to sell itself as a bit of a paramilitary/self-defence force rather than a fully capable military compared to the other Human Sphere factions. 

Returning units:

• Metros are still cheap line infantry for Lts, decoys and paramedics, and they still have their Daylami-esque camo/infiltration profiles; the d-charge version might see mission-specific play, but the 13pt panzerfaust is going to be the more common sight.
• Zouaves are very aggressive troopers with Dogged, Warhorse, good Dodging, FD+4”, and assault pistols everywhere. Their profiles are all FTOs except the one with Sapper, which we would have said was their signature skill in previous editions. That Sapper/Minelayer is the most interesting, but frankly doesn’t seem worth it, even with Minelayer. FD+4” is not enough freedom to place a Sapper with a T2 Marksman rifle. It won’t be far forward enough for suppression fire to be a realistically good idea, even its normal shots can still probably be outranged – it’s just too vulnerable for that points investment to use defensively, and offensively there are cheaper and punchier options available. 
• Briscards return to provide an MSV1 option, while also bringing Warhorse, Climbing Plus, and being significantly cheaper than the other firepower-oriented infantry. The HRL +1B seems to be the standout profile, as that weapon often is. 

Changes to existing N5 units:

• Wardrivers are actually rather good now, both generally and with the faction-exclusive pitcher profile. (Musterkrux: I maintain that it’s a crime that they didn’t just give us a single profile with both the Pitcher and Discoballer. This is not a profile that can be abused in Ariadna, CB, just give us a nice thing! Who is scared of Budget-GML fire from a Wardriver and Traktor Mul, honestly?)
   
• Moblots get (+1SD) to Dodge on 12’s, that’s a very interesting survival mechanism. Toss in that sweet (Medikit=14) and Ariadna’s absence of Cubed models for re-rolls hurts just a little bit less. Like other Ariadnan HI they’re also IMM:B, so now they really are MI in all but name. We honestly can’t remember how much of this kit they had in N5 up to now, because they were not a common pick for Ariadna in N5. But essentially, as MI with TacAware and Mimetism, they are pretty useful. Their price is a little higher than some other factions’ MI we have discussed today, e.g. Bolts or Bagh-Mari. But their bevy of more minor special rules all add up (Combat Instinct! BS Attack (Shock)!) and you just don’t have that many choices for B4 firepower in this faction, so you should take some.
• Bruant lost Camouflage on every profile except his Infiltration one, which I find mildly frustrating (I loved having an AP-Spitfire Camo Lt) but it’s a small price to pay for everything else we’re getting.
• Para-Commandoes get a +1SD Boarding Shotgun FO, which I think is just enough to tip them over into ‘worth taking’.
• Equipe Mirage-5 got a few changes, Margot is Tactically Aware instead of having NCO (note: this works for Parachutists and similar mid-game deployers in N5; they get the order available immediately on hitting the table). She’s also picked up Immunity to IMM-B, which is cute. Duroc remains a beast.
  • Genghis Cohen: Did Margot have Mimetism-3 and Combat Instinct before? Or Specialist Operative? My Ariadnan knowledge is letting me down, but she looks great to me. 
• Kuryer Traktor Muls (the ones with Minelayer) picked up BS Attack(-3) on the Katyusha weapon profile. The French are getting in on the Guided game now!
• The Anaconda is much improved – see the StarCo section. This is one of just 4 units in the faction with >1VITA/STR, so it clearly has a place.

Sectorial-unique profiles:

• The one to note here is the Pitcher Wardriver, weirdly enabling offensive hacking play, including Guided, which has generated some shrieking online. However, this is a faction with no Killer hackers, so leaning into the infowar side of things does not by any means guarantee success, and the pitcher Wardriver doesn’t get the Zero Pain which helps the other profiles survive.
• Bruant gets the opportunity to buy Lt +1 Order, for 4pts over the normal version that Ariadna shares. Which is fine, perfectly fair and good.

Aside from those listed above, Merovingians get access to plenty of Traktor Muls, AVA4 Chasseurs (who with Bruant form a very simple camo shell game in the midfield), two strong melee characters in Carmen Jones and Wolfgang, the excellent Apaches, and perhaps most importantly, AVA2 Vystrels. Those last options are key to their defensive capabilities, alongside some engineering and fireteam-sniper options. 

Fireteams

• The Metro fireteam still exists, as expected, its primary purpose is to give either Knauf or a Moblot +1SD when shooting. Which is fine. Knauf hungers for blood and the Metros will help him in his dark works.
  • Genghis Cohen: on top of that basic, efficient chassis of 2 Metros or Metro/Moblot, as well as Knauf, this is where you can put a Wardriver if you see a role for pitching in your list – bear in mind you have access to Guided, but not to any killer hackers.
• There’s a Loup Garou fireteam that remains pretty underwhelming despite getting a glow-up (still stuck running a Haris or Core and no Duos). Best pick here I can find it slapping a Marksmanship Loup Garou with 2x Apaches for a pretty solid, if not good, shooter. Which is a shame, because Loup Garou have had some of the coolest concepts and artwork for the longest time.
  • Genghis Cohen: I am a big Wolfgang fan and he is also (Loup-Garou). So I agree about the Apaches (they are excellent) but think subbing one out for Wolfgang is a decent option too.
• The FFRM fireteam at least gives you Duo options. Our snap-pick would be a Briscard HRL (+1B) coupled with a Moblot Paramedic. The Medic brings Tactical Awareness and can zap the Briscard with a PH=14 Medikit roll if it gets dropped, while the HRL is firing at 4-keep-3 dice on offence, which is a pretty solid effort for 20 points.
  • Genghis Cohen: I think a lot of combinations here are tempting, although not particularly better than equivalent cool-guy shooter Duos in other factions. It also can go to larger teams if you’re really yearning to roleplay some kind of French special forces unit, but that’s certainly a bad idea in terms of competitive play.
• Then you have the Anaconda and Friends Duo. Might be cute to set up a Moblot Engineer on a blind date with the Anaconda, that’s 4 orders between them and the Engineer can tinker with the TAG if it gets hacked but that’s also 90 points…
  • Genghis Cohen: while I don’t quite know how an Anaconda stacks up to a more conventional TAG in practice, I think it may actually be necessary as a more robust firepower piece for the faction. Not sure if a non-Remote Presence TAG with an escape system is worth engineering though, I might look more at a cheaper specialist, or Wolfgang. 

Predictions

Merovingia will remain a Snowflake faction played by people who are cool enough to commit to playing the gamer on hard-mode. Musterkrux: I’m not convinced there’s enough in here to make FRRM a better faction than Kosmoflot from a competitive perspective but I will absolutely respect the Chads who take this faction to a tournament. 

In a bit more depth, Merovingia have some perfectly good firepower units, cheap/utility units, assault units and sneaky units. But their overall level of choice is incredibly narrow, and they suffer from the Ariadnan issue of being overwhelmingly 1-wound units in a metagame which sees increasing numbers of tougher models.  

Implications for Generic Ariadna (and other factions)

First, anyone who gets McMurrough is celebrating today – he was good before, dropping 4pts and gaining Dogged (hardy-har-har, I see what you did there, CB) is truly exceptional. 

Genghis Cohen: I know he’s locked into my Corregidor lists for the foreseeable future.

Uxia was already a commonplace pick in Ariadna/Kosmoflot and has gotten measurably better. The other scottish options in Ariadna and Kosmoflot aren’t too many, with SAS and Galwegians unchanged, Caterans barely so. But Wallace and Cadin Donn both got rather more threatening and their inclusion rates could lift along with their capabilities. Scots Guards in Kosmoflot got new options but still probably won’t appear that often.

On the French delegations to wider Ariadna, a new Para-Commando profile is fine but the boost to Margot of Equipe Mirage-5 is the only really significant change. New-look Moblots and Briscards do feature in Ariadna, but we doubt they will often be taken against the camouflaged firepower options. We might be wrong though – Briscards can make a lean pure Duo in Ariadna, and Moblots are after all TacAware HMG-carriers, for a cheaper entry point than other TacAware options. 

Non-Aligned Armies

StarCo

Starco is back, baby! Really, it is mostly unchanged from its previous incarnation, although profiles that were revised for (or since) the launch of N5 for some units (e.g. Mobile Brigada, Bandits) will mean some changes. The roster is practically identical. But there are maybe two powerful units which saw changes.

Musterkrux: I don’t understand why they brought StarCo back. I’m on the record as having said that it’s a diet-CJC. We even re-homed Knauf, Emily and Uhahu. Everyone was happy. However, if it cost CB nothing to put together a list that makes the venn diagram of people who want to play CJC with a sprinkling of Bakunin and a dash of Raoul Spector happy, I guess it’s fine?

Returning units:

• To recap, StarCo sees the same basic format: one fireteam pot of Corregidor stuff (Alguaciles, Mobile Brigada, Daktaris, Senor Massacre), one fireteam pot of Bakunin stuff (Riot Grrls, Avicenna, Fiddler), a little pot of mercenaries (Brawlers, Diggers, CSU), a few, mostly AVA1 oddballs from Corregidor, Haqqislam and Ariadna, and a whole heap of special characters. We’re not going to go through in detail since almost everything here is just ported from previously-playable N5 factions, without any unit/profile changes. Lots of them changed fairly significantly since the last time they were in StarCo together though. In particular, the hacking/repeater set-up is stronger, with a couple options for Tinbot Firewall-6, Sixth Sense hacking from Brawlers and a Wardriver, quality hackers in Uhahu and Al’Hawwa, and good pitcher/deployable repeater access from Uhahu, Tsyklons, Hellcats and the Bandit minelayer.

Changes to existing units:

• The Anaconda is the headliner here, fully revamped in line with its beefy new model. It is now a semi-‘melee-hardened’ TAG with CC21 and decent CCW, but lacks any MA, NBW or similar skills, so really it will still get bullied by proper melee units. More importantly it gains Warhorse, a very good skill on any hackable unit. Most importantly, it has gained Immunity (ARM)! One of the tankiest units in the game to have this, at ARM7 it will have good odds of stonewalling anything without Breaker, E/M or similar ammunition at long range. That is to say, most players wouldn’t risk wasting Orders pushing into it with conventional weapons. For example against most TAGs (or any other SR-1 HMG) an Anaconda would be bouncing the hits on 14s. We mustn’t let that give us a false sense of security though, it’s completely possible to fail those rolls, and unlike most TAGs, the Anaconda drops dramatically in effectiveness after taking two wounds. It’s really hard to pin down ‘is this good or not’ because it behaves so differently to most TAGs, and leveraging that Immunity depends so much on your opponents’ tools to defeat armour. If they relied on panzerfausts, you’re laughing. If they fancied EM carbines or CCWs, not so much.
  • The weapon options are very different but very even. The AP spitfire and B2 heavy flamethrower seems better for an aggressive TAG you’re willing to trade away. The HMG, on the other hand, will be easier to bring into play. In either case, players have to remember this is BS13 without any mods (besides ignoring BS Attack(-3)) so will slog it out against some AROs. At least you’ve got Knauf to help.
  • The Operator profile, if it survives (much easier to lose that last wound in one swoop, than it is for the effectively-2VITA Iguana Operator) is just a plain spitfire/boarding pistol, which is disappointing. But there might be some play in the smoke grenade launcher to decline future engagements (ie with whatever killed you previously).
• Raoul Spector is the only other unit we can see here which changed. He went from NWI and not Shock Immune, to a full, meaty 2VITA. That’s a big improvement, particularly since he can no longer be zoned out by the first shock mine he comes across. He also went up to MA3, putting him back as a real melee monster given his NBW, and has +1SD specifically on his Drop Bears, making them extremely reliable. He was a very good little assault piece before and he’s excellent now.

Fireteams

Musterkrux:

• We’ve got the classic Alguacil fireteam. Just like CJC, you can fold in Mobile Brigada and Daktari. You also get to add Brawlers and Senor Massacre for some reason but I don’t rate either option here, maybe a Brawler MSV2 sniper but then you have to ask why you’re not just taking Knauf here, instead.
  
  There’s a Riot Grrl fireteam, just like BJC (are we sensing a pattern yet?). Go a Riot Grrl ML or Spitfire, Avicenna an Uhahu for an incredibly flexible toolbox.
• The PMC Fireteam has some potential, you can duct-tape a CSU to Spector FTO. Which, on reflection, might be very cute. With Spector’s new +1SD Drop Bears, being able to toss out a Drop Bear 16” and have an 87.5% chance to land it just because your CSU is cheering from the sidelines is almost enough to convince me to run Regular-Raoul instead of the terror that is Combat Jump Raoul (AKA Irregul-raoul, try saying that three times fast!).
• There’s an Outrage fireteam for people who want to re-enact the classic scenes from the Manga (of the same title: Outrage). Which is kinda cool. Maybe you run Knauf and Uhahu as a backfield module. Maybe try your luck with Emily as a Spec-Fire demon (Protip: Don’t do this).

Genghis Cohen:

• So I’m not a huge fan of the Alguacil/Brigada team. It doesn’t benefit from the Wildcard options more than any other team, and Senor Massacre definitely doesn’t want to be shackled to these guys. It primarily exists as a place to potentially put one of your very restricted Lt options. Indeed, I’d say being a Lt without needing an extra slot is the main reason to build a Brigada-based team (with Tinbot) over a Riot Grrl one. The Grrls team remains truly excellent.
• For the PMC team (based on Brawlers/CSU), the Armoured Fireteam, or for any other 3-model team, I want to stress how flexible the Wildcards with their counts-as tags are here. You can give +1SD to just about anything via a pair of Brawlers, a pair of CSUs or a pair of Diggers. There are a lot of efficiencies, although we aren’t promising the resulting Fireteams are actually good during play. The new-look Anaconda in particular is unusual in being a nearly-proper-TAG which can gain +1SD from cheap team-mates. You could even do a Triphammer and two Diggers for the ultimate cheap-as-chips, Battle-ravageable team.

Predictions

It’s not anything terribly unique or overpowered, but I think there’s a little bit of value in testing out Superior-Infiltrating (with Re-rolls)  Bandits using Minelayer and Deployable Repeaters to give you an absolutely wild first turn hacking adventure with Uhahu. It’s kind of janky but when it works it works. Overall, Starco feels like it’s 70% CJC, 20% Bakunin and 10% Diggers and Brawlers, and as such you’ll already know if this is the faction for you or not.

Genghis Cohen: My concern about the above is that I already use a lot of those tools with Corregidor (with Jazz rather than Uhahu). I don’t feel like StarCo has that much unique capability of its own. Maybe if you really want to combine Riot Grrls with those other elements.

Conclusion

Corvus Belli could have left these factions out of the game for years, or even forever, and we don’t think that would have been a deal breaker for 95% of the community. However, they’ve given us our old toys back and even if some of these factions aren’t going to meet the gold standard for competitive play, we don’t think that’s the be all to end all of playing Infinity. It’s still a very cinematic game of ‘Your Dudes’ and giving people more options to play is fundamentally a good thing. If you’re dying for the competitive metagame takeaway, we will hedge and say there’s a lot to take in, the game may still change slightly (see below) and we will wait and see…but broadly, Neoterra and Varuna look excellent. Acontecimento looks very solid, but perhaps a bit behind its very strong PanOceanian competition. Caledonia and Merovingia have some much better tools than in N4, but are still very limited rosters without so many extreme units – despite some standouts (Mormaers!) they are still somewhere in the general herd of factions. That’s limited good news, since straight ports and cost-adjustments from N4 would have seen them as basement-tier N5 factions. We’d rate Caledonia ahead of Merovingia. Finally, StarCo is…fine. It has some good units, some synergies, but little that jumps out as exciting to use. Some of its high points are special characters (e.g. Raoul) who are frankly available in better factions. 

Musterkrux: Thank you for giving me my Varuna back, CB. I take back everything mean I ever said about Starco.

Genghis Cohen: I don’t, I think StarCo is by some distance the least of these returning Sectorials. Maybe I’m not seeing it because I already play some other varieties of Nomads and its core structure is just a mishmash of them. But I don’t see it as having the depth or as many stand-out units. We’ll see. 

While I (Genghis) am full of enthusiasm for new/returning stuff, and change in general, if from less of a personal direction than Musterkrux here, I do still think, objectively, that this might have been a mistake. The game is big – 44 factions, due to go up to 45 – and perhaps unmanageable. I thought at start of N5 that CB were right to cut some of what they couldn’t keep updated and supported, and ultimately I think the long-term health of the game would be improved if they had some element of rotation, with Sectorials going through stretches of ‘we can’t update this any further for X years, and might revisit it later, so please don’t complain if they aren’t getting access to new stuff’. I appreciate that complaining on the internet is going to happen in all directions at all times, and ultimately CB want to sell their customers product.

That dour note aside, we’ve seen a big chunk of new content with new ITS17 missions last month. Now we see 6 Sectorials risen from the grave, with all their unique personality. We are eagerly looking forward to updates for Tartary Army Korps and Military Orders – apparently driven by their extremely low reported win rates in ITS play – as well as the new Combined Army Sectorial. On top of all that, there is due to be a general balance pass, also this month. We have no idea what that will look like. It could be a scattershot of profile/points cost tweaks, some targeted at known meta auto-picks, some at apparently random units from random factions, similar to what we have seen from CB previously on occasion. Or, and this is our hope, it could be a serious tweak to core rules, targeting things like pitchers. Time will tell, and we mention this not just to whet your appetites, but as a reminder: the update we have just reviewed may look a bit different in context by the end of the month. So stay alert and go play some games with all the new toys!

Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.