Infinity/N3 Tactics/Nomads

The unit overview and tactica for Nomads.

Why play Nomads

Because everyone else does!

Nomads are by far the most popular faction in Infinity and their inclusion in Operation: Icestorm solidified this position. It's not because they are OP or anything, quite the opposite – Nomads are the most "middle ground" or jack-of-all-trades faction, with good stats across the board, Medium Infantry focus and access to most tools in the Human Sphere. Sure, they're expert Hackers, but hacking has quite limited applications.

Simply speaking Nomads can do everything quite well without deviating too much in one direction (aside from sexually deviating that is).

Faction features

Special Skills

Hacking area: entire table: Nomad hacking capabilities are one of the reasons Ariadna became popular. Nomads have access to HD+ on WIP 14 and 15 profiles for low points and an absurd number of repeaters. Basically if it's hackable, Nomads will find it. While KHD units could use this to get at Nomad hackers, they mind find themselves in a situation not unlike trying to outshoot PanOceania.

Courage and Religious Troop: Courage being a signature of Corregidor and Religious Troop of Bakunin Reverend Agents. Nomads usually have medium armour, which is enough to survive most shootouts and having your guys stay where you want them is a useful skill.

Toolbox units: A lot of Nomad units can perform several jobs at once. No, not just having different loadouts – all on one model. It is especially true of Corregidor units.

Engineer: Being meteorheads, Nomads have quite a few Engineers. Standard issue Clockmakers are better than other factions equivalents, while all the other ones are engis in addition to having other skills.

Weapons and Equipment

Medium armour: Nearly everything cool in Nomads is in the Medium Infantry section. This means the guys are kind of slow and one wound only, making them susceptible to Shock ammo. Keep faster support in mind.

Adhesive Launchers: Nomads have as many as 6 units with ADHL and one Akrylat-Kanone. Basically if you have trouble hacking it, glue it.

Underslung Light Flamethrower: Nomad units favour Rifle + Light Flamethrower over Rifle + Light Shotgun combo. Good for reacting to enemy that gets too close or for Intuitive Fire. Position your dudes accordingly, since you can't flame over your own troops.

Smoke grenades: Great way to cover your advance, available in spades.

Units

Light Infantry

Usually the backbone and Order supply, Line Infantry is here to watch the backs of your MI, allow AD troops to move and sometimes push for objectives.

• Alguaciles: Basic Nomad Line Infantry and pretty much the most basic Light Infantry in the game. WIP 13 makes them decent Forward Observers and Hackers; a lone Alguacil Hacker is not unheard of. Lieutenant costs 1 SWC, but in vanilla you're not as limited in this regard.
  • Alguacil Vortex Lupe Balboa: With Dogged, Mimetism and Smoke Grenades, Lupe can push solo or provide cover for other units 23 pts for a Specialist Operative with all that weaponry is not a bad deal, although her lack of Infiltration is making her a harder sell in vanilla than in Corregidor.

• ALIVE Anti-Establishment Group: A small Hacking group for 50 pts and 1 SWC, including AHD, KHD and WHD. They have no lethal weapons (aside from the Killer Hacker Device and knives) and can be taken together or separately, in latter case being Irregular. That is a lot, but they provide a reasonable Repeater network all by themselves. However "anti-establishment hacking group" is basically what Nomads already are, making them a dubious choice.
  • Note on Switch: if you're taking him alone, it's good to disguise him as another Irregular troop, like a Warcor. That way his Irregular Order will not raise any eyebrows.

• Moderators from Bakunin: The second type of Nomad Line Infantry, Moderators are 1pt cheaper and trade BS, WIP and ARM for BTS and Shock Immunity. Access to Pitchers and 0.5 SWC Spitfire, which on BS10 is not amazing, but it's better than nothing. Moderators will be your choice if you're spending a lot of points somewhere else and need them purely for cheerleading duties.

• Authorized Bounty Hunters: The most common way to take one is the Sniper Rifle profile, for a disposable ARO piece. Spitfire is also a good one, especially if Bike is rolled.
  • Miranda Ashcroft, Authorized Bounty Hunter:' With ODD, Stealth and I-Khol Miranda's job is to get up close and personal. Not really required considering your access to furry warbands.

• Bakunin Clockmakers: With as many Engineers in the faction, the Clockmaker has some tough competition. So he trades skills like AD or armour for WIP 15. For a backline Engineer, taken for actual fixing rather than catching objectives, an excellent choice.
  • Zoe & Pi-Well: For more than twice the cost of a Clockmaker you can get Zoe and Pi-Well, and all things considered, it's a sweet deal! Zoe's an Engie and a Hacker with an HD and the Stop! upgrade program. On top of that, she comes with her own Repeater drone (Pi-Well) that can fit anywhere she can, has ODD, Forward Observer, Sat-lock and Sensor. Take if you can spare the points and give her Zondbots to maximize her effects.

• Daktari, Campaign Doctors: A non-linkable Alguacil with Doctor skill. WIP 13 is decent, 14 pts is not much. Is also an African, foul-mouthed catgirl if you buy her solo. Get her a Zondbot and keep close to backline infantry.

• Knauf, Outlaw Sniper: Knauf comes in with the uncanny ability of making Grenzer Sniper seem obsolete. While not as heavily armoured, he comes with Mimetism and Marksmanship lv1, as well as Multiterrain, greater speed and higher CC value. And as they cost exactly the same, if you're not choosing between Sin-Eater and an Intruder for your Sniper, Knauf is your man.

• Krakot Renegades, Morat Fugitives: Treat this guy more like Warband than LI. His job is to kill as much as he can and die gloriously. Support him with smoke.

• Securitate: Ah, well... Poor Securitate. They are the worst unit in the entire game. Elite LI with inflated cost and pointless abilities. They are so bad CB doesn't even produce any models for them anymore. Waiting for Tunguska sectorial for an update. Although they are notably the only Nomad unit that goes for more universally popular Combi+Light Shotgun instead of Light Flamethrower.

• Tomcats, Emergency and Rescue Special Team: This is where things start getting interesting. Airborne Infiltration, Climbing Plus and Combi Rifles + Light Flamethrowers base, makes a good sweeper unit. DEP and Mines profiles for mid-field assist, but the most interesting profiles are the Doctor and Engineer. A Tomcat an quickly get to where he’s needed, be it healing, repairing or grabbing objectives. Another perk is ability to take Zondcats, basically letting your specialist to be in two places at once without having to footslog from Deployment Zone. Tomcats are often game winners in ITS scenarios.
  • Carlota Kowalsky, Tomcat Sergeant: A buffed up Tomcat Engineer, Carlota brings an ADHL to the table. Just like regular Tomcat engi, can take a Zondcat. If you have spare points, it’s worth upgrading a regular Tomcat Engineer to her.

• Tunguska Interventors: Russian hackers best in world! 25 pts for an HD+ WIP15 hacker is just insane. With White Noise and Cybermask, supported by regular smoke, an Interventor could easily get where she needs to be safely. And then another one, a KHD for 20pts is a great hacking ARO piece, making sure the enemies think twice about using your repeaters against you. Interventors are auto-include against anything HI-based and a popular choice even when not.

• WarCor: 3 pts Irregular Flash Pulse ARO piece with 360 visor. Not very useful, but if you have 3 spare points and all your Doctors and Engineers already have G: Servants, why not.

• Vortex Spec-Ops: If your meta allows for one, you have a choice of an Alguacil or a Moderator. Unless you need the 1 point, Alguacil will be your choice. It's hard to say what to give him, since Nomads cover all niches, so just take what you don't seem to have space for or make him a mix of heavy weapon and specialist.

Medium Infantry

Nomads' Medium Infantry is where their signature units reside. A lot of them are designed to be aggressive rather than defense/support but there are those here as well.

• Armand 'Le Muet', Freelance Killer: For a quite hefty price Le Muet give you Symbiont Armour, ODD and a MULTI Sniper. Not as commonly seen as the Intruder.

• Grenzers, Grenz Security Team: Some people discount Grenzers for not being Intruders or Nisses. Unlike those chumps however Grenzers can pack Missile Launchers. Then there's the FO profile which is basically a dedicated anti-camo unit. They will gain a lot more value in a Tunguska sectorial, but they are not all bad in vanilla either.

• Hellcats: ARM 2, BTS 3, Courage and Superior Combat Jump. Can be taken as a short, medium or even long range killer (HMG on an AD unit? Yow!) or a Tomcat with more deployment options. PH 12 with Supportware makes it easier for them to not scatter, and if they do, and it’s a Spitfire or HMG profile, landing in your Deployment Zone is not as bad. Even though they have AVA 4, you should not be taking more than 2, as they can be order hungry.

• Intruders, Corregidor Assault Commandos: The Big Bad Unit, the one people will call auto-include. First off: BS 13, ARM 3, Camo and MSV2. Second: can take an MSR or an HMG. Third: Jaguars and Morlocks give you cheap smoke. Intruder can easily snipe off enemy killer units and ARO pieces from a distance and safety of smoke screen and Camo lets you abuse Surprise Shot. Unfortunately his only Lieutenant option only comes with Combi + Light Flamethrower and MSV2 units shut him down hard. One wound means it’s easy to lose him to a Djanbazan sniper or a similar unit.

• Prowlers: Here's a Camo Infiltrator that isn't a squishy skirmisher. Two profiles have D-charges (one with a spitfire, the other with a boarding shotgun) while the other two pack a Combi Rifle+LFT and an Adhesive Launcher. If you didn't bring an AHD, the ADHL is your go-to TAG stopper; this guy can also be made a Spec Op for a 0.5 SWC.

• Reverend Agents: The main Bakunin combat force, the Observants are all Medium Infantry with ARM3 and ODD or Mimetism, designed to fit specific combat roles, but all of them aggressive. Slow and 1-wound, but effective. Variants include:
  • Reverend Custodiers: An alternative choice to Interventors, Custodiers trade a point of WIP for a lot more survivability. It is a good idea to take and as Lieutenant, to use that order for faster movement. So what if you reveal her? Cybermask, White Noise and ODD on top of ARM3 makes her quite safe. Also comes with her own Pitcher.
  • Reverend Healer: Or Healer-Killer as fluff would have it, Healers are the ones with Mimetism and high CC skill. Without ability to put one in a Moira or Custodier link her usability is dubious, but hey, WIP14 Doctor.
  • Reverend Moiras: Moiras are the multi-purpose MI unit whose main strength is being linked in Bakunin sectorial. However with ODD they can still make for good killer units at low points.
  • Reverend Superior Cassandra Kusanagi: The head nun is a little package of hurt. BS14 Spitfire paired with ODD lets her win most firefights and V: NWI is there for those she loses. With a Specialist Operative skill on top Cassandra is a valid choice even outside Bakunin.

• Sin-Eater Observants: Another religious MI but with mimetism and neurocinetics. They're iffy as hell because they only get full B when in ARO, and that's only against the model that attacked them. If you do take one, you're using it as a harassment tool, constantly prodding your opponent to try and take a shot at him. If you do take one, use the shootier guns (HMG, Mk12 or Spitfire) and keep your distance.

• Wildcats, Polyvalent Tactical Unit: In vanilla Wildcats are basically overpriced Algauciles. A very basic, multi-purpose MI unit, Wildcats' true strength is being linkable in Corregidor, not acting as glorified cheerleaders ar backup killers. 2SWC for HRL on an MI is harsh.

Heavy Infantry

Quite limited selection when compared to everyone else.

• Mobile Brigada: The basic Heavy Infantry option. Courage is an important perk, since Heavy Infantry is likely to roll Guts a lot. Can take both long and medium range weaponry and the basic MULTI Rifle option also has the ever present Light Flamethrower. What really sets Brigada apart is the Hacker profile: who doesn’t like an HI that can Fairy Dust itself? In short, Mobile Brigada is what PanOceanian ORC Troops will always want to be.

• Riot Grrls: The bane of shitlords everywhere, the Grrls are a cheap Frenzy HI unit with Hyper-Dynamics and basic HI weapon loadouts. Can be a deadly killer or die like a (if you excuse me) bitch depending on rolls. Usually better in Bakunin than anywhere else.

• Taskmasters, Bakunin SWAST Teams: Overall, the biggest surprise of the Bakunin list. Dead 'ard, killey, and armed to da TEEF! They come with Free Agent, Fireteam: Duo, CC19, Martial Arts 1, ARM 5 and BTS 6. In terms of guns, they all get a heavy pistol and a DA CCW. In terms of loadouts, the HMG is arguably the weakest (which is saying a lot), but it's still takeable; if you really want long-range D15 power, consider the HRL guy as he also comes with a Light Shotgun, a Pulzar and a pair of CrazyKoalas. Every other config has at least 3 BS weapons including CrazyKoalas. They will kick pretty much everything's ass right up until they have to face a TAG.

Tactical Armoured Gear

Nomads have quite a TAG selection, from light to heavy ones.

• Gecko Squadron: Less of a TAG and more of an oversized HI, Geckos are small AMR5 lizards with medium range weapons. They used to eat a lot of SWC, but that is not true anymore. 50 pts for a STR 3 unit is a steal. They are however easily outranged by anti-TAG weapons and they’re not too tough and let’s face it, twin Combi Rifles is not a TAG worthy weapon. Geckos are there to support your other units, not act as frontline Rambos. Fortunately their smaller silhouette let’s them find cover easier. Arguably Taskmasters have made them obsolete.
  • The pilot has 2 Assault Pistols, Specialist Operative and WIP13, making him quite dangerous in short range and a decent specialist.

• Iguana Squadron: Larger than Gecko, but still a light TAG. Iguana’s claim to fame is the Ejection system and the 2 wound HI Operator. Basically Iguana is not designed to last, but to take at least one more shot than a regular TAG before going down. Mounted Repeater means it carries around it's own Hacker support.
  • The Operator, unlike most TAG pilots, is not a Specialist Operative.

• Lizard Squad Lizard is a no-nonsense frontline TAG: BS14, ARM8, armed with a MULTI HMG and a choice of Heavy Flamethrower or a Heavy Grenade Launcher. Speculative shot anyone? With the amount of engineers and hackers to keep it alive and cheap cheerleaders in form of Moderators it is easy to build a list around this thing. Not to mention it has the single sexiest pilot model in the range.
  • The Lizard Pilot now carries a Submachine Gun on her supple ass, making her a lot more dangerous than before, especially with the ability to use Suppressive Fire. And is also a Specialist Operative.

• Scarface & Cordelia, Mercenary Armoured Team Now that Scarface & Cordelia are everywhere, Nomads can take them too. Should they though? For all he's worth Scarface is an oversized Gecko with Frenzy and Cordelia is just another Engineer. IMO not really worth it in Nomads.
  • Joe himself is now a Specialist Operative with a Light Shotgun. He still has Frenzy, but with WIP13 he can take an objective in a pinch.

• Szalamandra Squad Mr Potato-Head is an ARM8 BS14 TAG with Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon for 2SWC and 90pts. About as subtle as it is pretty.
  • With Contender the Szalamandra Pilot can defend herself at medium range quite well. And because she's Tunguska, she's also a Killer Hacker. Nothing like Redruming the asshole who Expelled you.

Remotes

Nomads are known for their Remotes, partially due to their fancy Hackers.

• Zond Remotes: Standard issue S3 Remotes, but with a twist here and there.
  • Reaktion: The HMG Total Reaction Remote. A good ARO piece and cheerleader for your aggressive troops. Climbing plus lets you reposition it easier.
  • Stempler: The Forward Observer Remote. A fast and cheap specialist and a mobile Repeater. Sensor makes for a good alternative to Intruder for Camo hunting. Also Climbing plus. Not essential, but not bad.
  • Transductor: The Repeater/Flash Pulse Remote. Very good to have in vanilla Nomads for better Interventor range.
  • Vertigo: The Smart Missile Launcher Remote. Used to be a staple of Nomad lists and it's easy to see why: enough Forward Observers and Repeater coverage to Target what's needed and rain fire upon them from safety of your own Deployment Zone. Unfortunately most targets whom you'd like to use this against (TAGs) have ECM.
  • Meteor: Unique to Nomads, a Forward Observer Remote like the Stempler, but with AD: Combat Jump. Whis is awesome and hilarious.

• Salyut Zonds: Standard issue S4 Baggage Remotes. Come with Minesweeper, EVO Hacker and TR Combi profiles. EVO Hacker is for Hellcats lists if you don’t want to march them from the side or use an Order for Assisted Jump, or for Overclocking Tsyklons.

• Lunokhod Sputniks: Nomad-specific, come with Heavy Shotguns, D-Charges and Crazy Koalas, as well as Minesweeper, with a Repeater on top. Lunokhods guard your Deployment Zone from enemy infiltrators, clear out mines or steal AI Beacons and can make a good push to mid-field if needed thanks to their high speed. Unlike most remotes they have both high ARM and BTS values. Very good board control unit.

• Tsyklon Sputniks: Also Nomad-specific, these are long range combat Remotes for both offense and defense. 360 visor + X-Visor is a hellish combo and the update to Feurerbach makes Tsyklon a veritable TAG-hunter, while the Spitfire version provides a good active turn killer or a rather indecent Suppressive Fire piece. And comes with its own Repeater and a Pitcher. Unlike most remotes they have both high ARM and BTS values.

• Zonbots: Nomad regular G: Servants. Come in Support Pack with the units that make the best use of them.

Skirmishers

Nomads love their skirmishers. Skirmishers are how Nomads achieve their famous board control.

• Corregidor Bandits: Corregidor's only Camo Infiltrator and an Irregular unit. Bandits have an unusual set of skills, which makes the the most toolboxy of the infiltrators. An FO/AHD/KD Bandit for example is a quick specialist, ADHL troop and a close combat killer, thanks to Martial Arts 2 and DA CCW. Or you can take a Combi Rifle + Mines option for more traditional area denial. Scavenger is not likely to come into play, but if you manage to take down an enemy non-CC HI, steal his HMG or Spitfire and then Suppressive Fire back at the enemy, you’ll be glad he has it.

• Moran, Maasai Hunters: You’d be a Moran not to take one. Walking repeater, FO profile, infiltration and, probably most importantly, Crazy Koalas. Morans make excellent area denial units and two of them can effectively block off enemy from advancing. Note that Camo units can slip through them.

• Spektrs: The only Nomad TO Camo unit, Spektr is a pretty basic one. Mines on nearly every profile, two specialist ones and decent stats, including WIP14. Very good at area denial or grabbing objectives, although being the only TO Camo unit it's obvious what you're hiding in Hidden Deployment. However you can downgrade TO Camo to regular Camo to pretend it's only a lowly Zero.

• Zeros: Zeros are basically downgraded Spektrs at very low cost. Also mines on nearly all profiles and some specialist ones, including KHD. Their low cost makes it easier to fit multiples into your list (3 Zeroes cost as much as 2 Spektrs) or use them in tandem with more expensive Infiltrators. I wouldn't trust one with a MULTI Sniper Rifle, but having one deploy mines near objectives would not go amiss.
  • Bran Do Castro, Triple Zero: The Japanese think they're so cool with their cat-samurai? Well, we have a monkey-monk! With Superior Infiltration and Martial Arts 3, CC 22, Camo, Super Jump, Climbing Plus AND Multiterrain. He even wore underwear and has better armour than regular Zeros (by 1). Take him as a Specialist Operative and sneak out those objectives or slip into enemy DZ on turn one to destroy his Order supply.

Warbands

Warbands will often eat your orders in early game, but they’re bound to accomplish more than expected.

• Bakunin Uberfallkommando: The so-called furry guided missile. Deploy them where you figure your opponent might be hiding a hidden infiltrator and tear that fucker apart when you activate in its zone of control. The Chimera of the group is silly dangerous with a Viral CCW, eclipse grenades, Natural Born Warrior, i-Kohl 1, Total Immunity and Climbing Plus. Then on top of that, she brings 1-3 pupniks that are synchronized with hyper-dynamics 2 (perfect for soaking up AROs), climbing plus and DA CCWs. Just don't let them get caught in the open with their frenzying (use those eclipse grenades).

• Corregidor Jaguars: A Warband unit that doubles as cheerleaders and also your Intruder’s best amigos. Jaguars are cheap Regular Orders and smoke chuckers. Can also be used to run at enemies and kill as much as they can before they die (like a regular warband) and a Panzerfaust + ADHL profile is very trolly.

• Die Morlock Gruppe: X-Men rejects, they are a pretty standard Irregular + Extremely Impetuous warband. Can tear anything apart in CC, they just need to get there. Don't overspend on them. Note that BS11 is not entirely terrible though and one of them can take a Smoke Grenade Launcher – probably not worth the 1SWC, but it makes your Intruder's life easier.

Building Your Army

Both Nomad and Bakunin Starter Packs include a lot of stuff that is good for vanilla player. Get a good cheerleader base, consider Tunguska Interventors, Zeores, Tomcats and some heavy hitters, like the fan favourite Intruder or Taskmasters. Make sure to get good Repeater coverage for your hackers and include some Remotes to give your hackers something to do when not actively shutting down enemy troops.

Hints and Strategies

Nomads are not as simple to play as PanOceania or Steel Phalanx and the variety of profiles can often make new players confused. Remember to use smoke, AD and Infiltration (check if you're not playing a scenario that limits those abilities not to gimp yourself) and that MI has only 1 wound.

Focus on board control. Don't buy too much into the Best Hackers meme, They are the best hackers, but not everything is hackable. Consider it rather another way for board control.

However like it was expressed at the start of the article, Nomads can basically do everything competently. So just try to be equally competent.