Infinity/N3 Tactics/Shasvastii Expeditionary Force

Why Play Shasvastii

Let's be frank - this isn't an easy army to play, much less master. Basically, this is the army for you if you like a very slim, straight-forward list that's geared totally towards marker-state fuckery. The only saving grace is that, with the update, they gained some more traditional tools (like the upgraded Gwailo and Boarding Action Sheskin) that make the learning curve a bit easier. They also keep the REM tools that make vanilla Combined Army so potent (like the EVO hacker on a small chassis with a combirifle). Given the options for camo markers, TO camo ambushes, and Cadmus drops there's still plenty of options to get tricky.

Faction Features

• The Flesh is Strong: Along with the Shasvastii rules and seed soldiers, there are multiple levels of Striga available, automedkits and a whole lot else to keep your evil flesh-monsters alive. Add to that the fact that all your trooper choices are regular and you have some very efficient infantry.

• Coming out of the Damn Walls: Marker state troops (including Camo, TO and Impersonation) are regularly available, along with various levels of infiltration to get your guys where you need them.

• Choice is Limited: There's not a lot of stuff to choose from in this list; some find it helps make unit selection easier.

Special Skills and Equipment

• Shasvastii and Seed-Soldiers: Arguably the list's hallmark, your guys can either start out the game in camo state with better armour. Also, if your guys go down, they won't count against your total for determining retreat nor are they counted as kills for your opponent. This can be a real PITA, especially the latter for certain scenarios.

• Camo and TO Camo: This is one of a number of camo-infiltrator lists (the others belonging to Ariadna).

• Striga: Both Protheion and Morpho-Scan can be found in this list, the former available on multiple units.

• Fireteam Core: Only one fireteam is available and both choices are MI.

Unit Overview

Light Infantry

• Nox: Your AVA total basic infantry. Shasvastii, Bioimmunity, and Stealth bump them up to 14 points for a base trooper with otherwise average stats, but they have a variety of non-standard profiles to make life interesting.
  • Submachine gun Hacker: cheaper access to a basic hacking device for buffing remotes or bringing hacking support. Not a bad choice if you feel like you need one more support hacker, and it brings along the EI upgrade (Suckerpunch!)
  • Smart MULTI Sniper: Guided sniper. Put an assault hacker in the midfield, spotlight a target, then blast away with guided missiles and guided sniper shots.
  • Zapper: Might not be as obviously good as the Riotstoppers, but EM/2 is a great deterrent for HI links from Military Orders or Invincible Army. Not a bad sacrifice play either, in case you need to try suiciding an expensive rambo piece like Achilles.

• Seed Soldiers: Down to AVA 4 after the update, they become better forward-deploying threats; they start the game as ARM 2 BTS 3 limited camo markers and develop into a basic line troop. There are options for an LGL, FO and Paramedic. All of them come with DEPs. For 2 points, you're turning a Nox into another midfield camo marker that might be a Caliban, a Shrouded, or a mine for your opponent to worry about. The WIP 13 on the developed shape is pretty decent for spotting and objectives.

• Tensho Experts: WIP14 specialist that can join a Nox fireteam. The addition of a Automedikit should keep it alive and able to get it to objectives.
  • cheaper journalist l1 than the Mechadron, in case you need that extra objective point.

• Cadmus: These guys can be a real nightmare because of Morpho-Scan, allowing them to copy MOV, CC, BS and PH attributes of anything within their ZoC once per battle; even worse, if they scan anything that's unconscious and in base contact, they can swipe a weapon off the guy! Combined with the fact that they deploy via combat jump as a seed-soldier and you can really dick with your opponent by wearing his favourite guy's skin and wielding its gun.
  • Decoy: This means that they can land pretty much anywhere they want. Combat drop your first decoy in the middle of the board, maybe scatter, then just daisy-chain your decoys to where you actually want the Cadmus to land. Bonus points if you can drop a decoy into a spot that clears out some mines for free.
  • EI KHD: remember that the Hacker profile isn't actually a hacker until after it hatches from its seed-egg. Pop it out and Maestro in the same order to really surprise your opponent.
  • Cadmus Naish Agent Sheskiin: In an army list of literal monsters, Sheskiin is a monster amongst monsters. Her stat-line is astoundingly beefy with a 6-4 MOV and multiple values at 15 (including PH). She then trades Morpho-Scan for K2, Free Agent, Protheion 3, NWI and can hop into any Core team in the list. Finally, she packs a nanoscreen, DA CCW, pistol, D-charges, pulzar and either a multi rifle or red fury. Hitch a ride with a Gwailos and then ditch those slo-mos to go on a rampage!

• Sabotage and Destruction unit Caliban: Still tough as nails compared to the MI version, and even scarier to boot. Camouflage, Protheion, and Forward Deployment turn any of your midfield camo markers into potential major threats that your opponent will need to plan for. Definitely a force multiplier, rather than an individual rambo unit (unless you can get Protheion off safely to start a rambo run).

• Aswangs: Get your giggles out, yes it has a funny name. Okay, good? Great - Aswangs are not to be fucked with. Camo, Protheion 2 and a very healthy stat-line are only boosted by an ADHL or if you want, a spitfire. With the former, you ought to be freezing TAGs and sneaking up on and devouring soft targets; the spitfire gives you a nice 4B surprise shot. They can also be your lieutenant.

• Haiduks: Cover-camping bastards. They have sapper and your choice of either a Multi Sniper or a SMART Multi Sniper, a particularly rare and expensive weapon. The latter is best taken if you have a lot of FO infiltrators... you did take lots of FO infiltrators, yes?

• Jayth Cutthroats: ODD, MSV1, and CC skills. It's certainly an odd choice, but they have a lot of power. Don't expect them to be your sole attack piece, but they're certainly interesting if you can get them out of your deployment zone. Conceptually they can protect your deployment zone but they're a bit expensive for that.

• Mentors: A lieutenant choice in Shas for its camo state and counterintelligence. Downside being that the LT order has no NCO options to use, and the Mentor doesn't really want to be doing anything since it can't re-enter the marker state. 22 points for one order and an LT isn't a great choice. But that's the price you pay for relative safety.

• Noctifers: Dogged, TO camo dude not to be underestimated. Here, you'll be wanting to take either the spitfire or the ML/assault pistol combo because it's a great lethal at all ranges combo; either pair well with surprise shot 2. There's also an EI hacking device or lieutenant option, which are not bad either. Keep in mind if you need a multi-purpose hacker, you will be taking either this guy or an E-Drone as your hacker.
  • The Noctifer ML in hidden ARO is pretty much a trope at this point, and for good reason. He's just cheap enough to go into a list without crippling it, V:dogged makes him a bit tougher to remove on the turn he reveals, and the pie plate is brutal on link teams during their active turn. Even the threat of a Noctifer ML can make your opponent play cautiously. If you take him as such, consider saving him for the second turn. You may pass up a good opportunity, but you might also be able to save him for a great surprise as your opponent is beginning to look at objective hunting instead of killing your units.
  • Shasvastii bumps their AVA up to 3. It's an expensive way to trick out your army (and will limit your ability to take other fancy units in the sectorial), but you'll be guaranteed to break your opponent's spirit. Unless they have something like a Charontid or Aquila HMG.
  • Has an LT profile for some reason. Certainly an unexpected choice if that's what you take.

• Med-Tech Obsidon Medchanoids: They are your doctors AND your engineers, fast as hell and with a great WIP. You can take one and maybe a slave drone or two just to ensure that it isn't exposed. Surprisingly, due to the abundance of automedkits, the Doctor isn't a necessity for the Shasvastii.

• Aida Swanson: A mid-field skirmisher. She's got mimetism, 2 submachien guns, and viral mines. She's a bit expensive for her short range and mediocre defenses. Great model though.

• Victor Messer: Hacking device plus, NWI, Nanoscreen, and Wildcard. Great shortrange toolbox that doesn't actually want to be getting into firefights. You've got much better characters and tools to do that job. Instead, keep him back and give him a good repeater network.

Medium Infantry

• Gwailos: now a HI choice.

• Sabotage and Destruction Unit Caliban: They moved from being MI to being LI.

• Corax Hasht: a fairly milquetoast character, he's basically a buffed up combination of a Gwailo and a Caliban, sporting a nanoscreen, NWI and a spitfire. The main perk of this guy is that he's a Wildcard that can drop into any fireteam. Use him if you need high-burst output in a link but can't afford Sheskin. And you DO want high burst in your link.
  • Fireteam Core: he's a high burst line infantry with solid stats. Use him to shoot up anything that doesn't have armor to protect it against Spitfires.

Heavy Infantry

• Gwailos:

• Boarding Action Cadmus-Nash Agent Sheskin: 12 point upgrade to get a EXP CC weapon, better armor and BTS, an extra level of Protheion, and multiterrain. Downside being that she loses Nanoscreen and becomes hackable. Overall a relatively fair trade if you need her to get a bit tougher and want just a bit more damage in CC.
  • getting a new vulnerability to E/M is another major downside given the proliferation of E/M ammo in the game.
  • upgrades her pistol to a Breaker Pistol which is kinda nice, but not as nice as her other upgrades.
  • Overall, it's better to pick up an Ikadron and Slave worm and use the 'normal' Sheskin unless you're a huge fan of her.

Tactical Armored Gear

• Sphinx: TO camo TAG with a really quick 6-6 MOV, Multiterrain and Climbing Plus. Its armaments are a tad disappointing at range with a spitfire as its only ranged weapon but it has two HFTs and an EXP CCW. This TAG is also rather pricey taking out over a third of your army's budget so maybe the points are better spent elsewhere... unless of course you're fighting against someone else who abuses the shit out of marker states. The two HFTs can help with camo markers on your side of the board, but the update to Shasvastii giving you easier access to Sensor and MSV lowers the value of the HFTs too.
  • Consider the Sphinx as a tough, hidden, infantry-killing platform. It shouldn't be used against armored targets, but it's immune to many of the more dangerous ARO threats TAGs normally face (notably: the TO camo gives it Stealth, letting it skirt around hackers and jammers).
  • Scindron Remote Ancillary Unit: Sphinxes can eject a Scindron which is very similar to a Staldron, just with worse WIP. A bit of a downer considering they're a specialist, too.

Remotes

• Combined Army Basic REMs:
  • M-Drones: The M-Drone is the standard toolbox REM.
  • Q-Drones: The Q-Drone is different from all other basic TR bots because they have Mimetism and two weapon options: HMG or Plasma Rifle. Both are solid choices which one you may need more will depend on the composition. Otherwise the stats are the same as other TR bots.
  • T-Drones: T-Drones are standard Smart Missile Launcher REM.
  • R-Drones: Basic Flash Pulse bot, but with Mimetism.
  • E-Drones: The CA does not have a baggage bots with EVO option. Instead the EVO Hacker is on the basic Drone chasis, thus making it faster and armed with a combirifle. It is upgraded with Exile and Goodnight. This is a great buy for making sure your Cadmus lands where it needs to.

• Slave Drones: Little Nurse Worms for Dr Worm. Use them to keep either Dr Worm or Caliban Engineer safe.

• Ikadron Batroids: The Ikadron is is a fast little baggage bot armed with 2 LFTs. It also has Flash Pulse with WIP13. They're only 9pts and only AVA2. Ikadrons are good for order filler, mid ranged Flash Pulse overwatch, and making a mad dash to light a dude up with the 2 LFTs. They're also excellent support for resupplying D-charges or mines.

Skirmishers

• The Shrouded: Camo infiltrator, comes with an automedkit and your choice of mines or a MULTI-sniper; you also get the option of a boarding shotgun to replace your combi-rifle or an EIAHD.

• Malignos: Malignos are a straight upgrade over the Shrouded. They have all the same options as Shrouded but with the added benefit of antipersonnel or monofilament fines covered over with TO Camo instead of regular camo. Basically, if you were going to load up a Shrouded, consider a maligno instead.

• Speculo Killers: People that play against the Hassassins often talk about run-ins with Fidays and their impersonation shenanigans. Speculo Killers take that shit to the next level - they can impersonate anything. They also pack an automedkit, mono CCW, smoke grenades and martial arts 3, just to make sure they slice what needs slicing. They are fairly pricey however these are pretty much the unit Shasvastii players consider auto-take.

Warband

• Taigha Creatures: Shasvastii Hungaries. They cram those two profiles into one, with a bit more ground speed at the cost of climbing-plus. They're less good at getting to hiding targets, but still decent attack pieces. Instead, they look to be good living land mines. Protect your deployment zone, stick them in the midfield, or see if you can sneak them up to squishy targets that are worth trading for.

Building Your Army

As with most sectorials, there is a starter pack and a whole bunch more available for purchase. The first thing you will want to figure out is what kind of list do you want to play: do you want to cheerlead some nasty surprises or do you want to build it around a core team? It is very difficult to do both with this list as your guys aren't particularly cheap. Or maybe you wanted to play CA with some other stuff; either way, the first step is to figure out what you want to end up with.

Pick a theme and run with it:

• Midfield Skirmishers
• Blank Courtesy List
• Sheskin Core Team (Nox backup, maybe another character or two in support)
• Active Gwailo(HMG) Haris
• "I hate you" Gwailo (MSV2, HRL) Haris
• Noctifer spam
• Order/Taigha spam

Strategies and Hints

As has been mentioned before, this isn't an easy list to play nor master, but it all comes down to using the Shasvastii's unique combination of skills and abilities. First and foremost is to understand how to get the most out of spawn embryo; granted it relieves you of a lot of risk considering retreat, but it doesn't make you invincible, what you should be doing is using spawn embryos as a means to draw out opponents into a trap from the other well noted Shasvastii skill - the marker troopers! Careful use of camo markers and infiltrators as well as your own movements are key; you should be making your opponent second guess whether or not to move somewhere lest there be a hidden surprise for him.

Tactics

• The Lure: This will require camo and TO camo troops, particularly infiltrators. Basically, place your infiltrators as best you can somewhere that your opponents troops can easily access them and then hid your TO camo troops somewhere that they can easily shoot at them. Like say a bunch a seed soldiers being guarded by a sphinx or a shrouded being watched over by a noctifer, etc.