Infinity N4 O-12 Starmada Preview

When you've got rogue alien artificial intelligences and combined federations of alien races roaming around wreaking havoc, combating those threats requires a special kind of space cop. Infinity's O-12 Starmada are just those cops. You can join the O-12 Starmada, the new Infinity N4 Sectorial now with the Starmada Action Pack.

Infinity is Corvus Belli's anime/cyberpunk wargame. If you're brand new to Infinity, the best place to start is with Infinity CodeOne and you can read our guide on getting started here. If you've played Infinity before or are looking to upgrade from CodeOne then Infinity N4 is the latest edition of the Infinity rules. Infinity has several playable factions, and O-12 are newest faction on the scene. O-12 are an organization, tasked with protecting humanity, from internal and external threats. Starmada are O-12's space navy. Able to deploy O-12's forces anywhere, but also able to respond to situations with their own troops and allies.

When choosing an Infinity faction to play, players will refer to 2 different types of army. Vanilla and Sectorial.

• Vanilla - Vanilla armies are the core forces of Infinity. There are 8 of them including O-12. Playing a vanilla force gives you access to the full range of that factions units.
• Sectorial - Sectorial forces are themed forces. They have limited troops choices, and generally include some interesting choices from outside the full faction options. They also have access to Fireteams, which allow you to link up units and move them with a single activation, and also gives them bonuses to attacks.

With O-12, O-12 are the core, vanilla faction. They were first made available in the 2-player starter set, Operation Wildfire. You can also now pick up the Infinity CodeOne O-12 Action Pack, which includes the O-12 units from Operation Wildfire, and also the Beyond Wildfire pack. The Infinity CodeOne action packs are 100% compatible with Infinity N4.

Starmada are the first O-12 sectorial and are available in their own action pack, which released alongside the N4 rulebook. They have access to their own specific combat troops, and also themed troops from other factions, like the Panoceania deep space operators, the Knights of Santiago or the Yu Jing, Tian Gou, Orbital Activity Squad.

To look at the Starmada Action Pack in detail, we brought in our resident Infinity expert, Andy 'Riker' Roo, who is one of the UK's top Infinity players.

When O-12 were released, there was a lot of speculation about what their sectorials would look like, and how they would play. With the release of N4, we finally know, with the addition of Starmada, Bureau Regis Naval Police Department.

O-12 already stamped themselves out as the board control faction. High armour units, solid BS, perimeter weapons, and the Riotstopper; an adhesive direct template weapon. Starmada really lean into this, by adding the option to take a Core link (which can be a strong defensive weapons platform), some heavy infantry that can Fireteam: Duo, for rapid redeployment, and a whole wealth of anti-impersonation and infiltration tools. To back this up, they’ve got some very fast and flexible strike pieces, like the Lawkeeper, and the Crusher drop troop, who can take advantage of any weak points of the enemy, whilst the rest of your force holds them in place.

Whilst probably better than average in a gunfight, Starmada will find themselves out gunned if they don’t back each other up, so be careful not to leave lone units exposed, and take as much advantage of cover, and Suppressive Fire as possible. The action pack is a great way to get started with Starmada, as it features a solid spread of both defensive and offensive units, from all unit types. YOU ARE THE LAW!

The Starmada Action Pack contains:

• Saladin - An interesting addition to the army, and one that I’m somewhat in love with. If you take him, he’s your Lieutenant, so be prepared to keep him safe. Still, with ARM 3, No Wound Incapacitation, Immunity (Shock) and a Burst 2 template, anything getting too close is going to be in for tough time. Bunker him up, and consider starting him in Suppressive Fire with the free Command Token he gives you. 
• Bluecoat (Submachine Gun) - The Bluecoat adds some much-needed backline defense to the force. It’s Biometric Visor protects from Impersonators, and the Discover(+3) and Sixth Sense make it great for dealing with Camo units. It can also a Wildcard and join a Fireteam, so I’d be looking to put it in the Kappa Core.
• Lawkeeper (Motorcycle Mounted Unit) - I AM THE LAW! I love this mini, especially because its wielding a MULTI Pistol, so you can use it as any profile. Mimestim(-3), good ARM and BS, and BS Attack (+1 DAM) signals this as a straight-up strike piece. The Red Fury would be my choice, and I’d use it as a flanking, or counter attack unit. 
• Bronze (MULTI Rifle and Light Riotstopper) - With a 360° Visor, Climbing Plus, high BS and ARM values, and Immunity (Total), the Bronze makes for an awesome, mobile ARO piece. Being able to Fireteam: Duo with a number of other units means you can move things up efficiently, and drop them into Suppressive Fire on an objective. Woe betides anyone who gets too close, as Riotstoppers are nasty.
• Crusher (Forward Deployment and MULTI Rifle) - Much like it’s AD ally, the MULTI Crusher is a great gunfighter, but the Forward Deploying (+8”) version is much better suited to grabbing objectives in the midfield. Alternatively, spend a Command Token to start it in Suppressive Fire, and lock down a good chunk of the board. 
• Crusher (Combat Jump and Boarding Shotgun) - With a strong BS, Mimetism(-3), good ARM, Immunity(Shock) and No Wound Incapacitation, this drop troop is a stone-cold strike piece. It's also a Forward Observer, so can grab buttons, but its profile and Boarding Shotgun make it ideal for clearing out positions held by the enemy.
• Kappa (Hacker) - With the new hacking rules, the hacker adds a useful bit of ARO presence in your list. Although it only has offensive programs, this can be a good deterrent from rampaging TAGs, HI, or REMs. Keep it out of your link team, but near them, so that you can ARO with hacking, whilst the Link team shoots.
• Kappa (MULTI Sniper Rifle) - Another part of the backbone of your army. This adds some heavy ARO presence to the Core link. Have it sat in a prime firing spot, covering firelanes, or objectives.
• Kappa (HMG) - Combined with the 3 Kappa from Operation Wildfire and the MULTI Sniper, this should form your Core link team. Mainly an aggressive piece, the HMG can still be good in ARO, so perhaps use it to cover a flank, until you're ready to move up and gun down any juicy targets. FEAR THE BEARD!

Andy's Starmada List Straight Out Of The Action Pack

Options after the Action Pack

As I suggest for most factions, the O-12 Remotes Pack is a great thing to expand your force. It adds everything from a cheap order, to a solid ARO piece in the Total Reaction bot, to a Specialist, and in N4, remotes are cheaper and more survivable.

It’s also worth considering an Epsilon unit as MSV2 is so powerful in the game. You could use it either as a long range support piece, or opt for the HMG or Shock Marksman Rifle to act as another offensive piece. The O-12 Epsilon Unit with MULTI Sniper is available in the O-12 Action Pack.

Similarly, with the release just around the corner, getting yourself the Zeta TAG wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s a fast and maneuverable killing machine, and will draw the focus of your opponent the whole time it’s on the board, so it acts as a great distraction piece. There are a lot of great options in Starmada, so anything you think looks cool, give it a go, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

This article was put together with the help of our resident Infinity expert, Andy 'Riker' Roo, who is one of the UK's top Infinity players. Andy keeps his own Infinity blog if you want to see more of his thoughts and tactics.

The copy of the Infinity N4 Starmada Action Pack used to produce this preview was provided by Firestorm Games.