In Search of Wisdom - Q/A Article (Part 1)

IN SEARCH OF WISDOM - Q/A Article (Part 1) (Update Pending)

In this series I reflect on the game of Infinity, as well the place of Ramah Taskforce in it.

 

I felt like trying something new, and thus asked for the readers of the blog to send me any questions they might have on their minds so that I might get some fresh perspectives from which to approach my beloved Sectorial from. I can gratefully say that not only have I received many questions, but they have also been very deep and interesting ones to boot! I've paraphrased the questions to a form that makes them easier to include in this piece (and maybe even a bit easier to answer!), and I'm sorry if any of the adjustments I've made to the questions have inflated their value in any way!

This article saw some extensive reworking in the August of 2022 due to the N4 Fireteam (and RTF Unit) Update that happened earlier in the year, so the article you see now isn't word for word the same as the one I originally posted, though I've kept as much of the original text as I could!

Let's get cracking!

1. What made you want to start the Good Guys Wear Orange?

-Urist

 

Well, I can basically name two broad(ish) reasons for wanting to start the blog!

 

The selfish reason was, that I was hoping the blog would be a new way of experiencing the hobby that has become so dear to me. As I'm sure is the case with most of the Infinity players out there, I don't have as much time to play and paint as I would like, but luckily firing up the old computer and writing a few lines doesn't take as much time and effort to get done! I was also hoping that by contemplating over the different units and strategies available to RTF, and setting up tactical goals for myself with writing in mind, would help me grow and improve as a player. I can happily report that in these regards the Good Guys Wear Orange has been a resounding success!

The more utilitarian motivation for starting the blog was the low amount of Ramah Taskforce focused content available online. I'm very critical of myself as a player and as a writer, but the fact that at the time of starting TGWO there were very few launching points for fresh RTF commanders available, made me dare and take the leap. I'm still questioning whether the blog is accessible and available enough for new players, but that's something I'm hoping to improve in the future - maybe by co-working with other content creators of the community one day?

2. How should one's mindset change when switching from Vanilla Haqqislam into playing Ramah Taskforce?

-Uthoroc

 

First, a disclaimer: I've never truly been a Vanilla Haqq player myself! I started the hobby a shortish time before the eventual release of RTF, and while I played Haqqislam while waiting for my chosen Sectorial to come out, I still mostly stuck to Ramah units, and as such I can only answer the question with this point of view in mind.

There seems to be a very strong sentiment  in the community that Vanilla Haqqislam excels at board control, asymentric warfare and layered defence. A Haqq player can often sacrifice cheap pieces in order to "trade up" to achieve either an attritional or a scenario advantage, or to defend against opposing troops looking to execute attack runs, and in doing so conserve the Haqqislam Player's elite pieces for the most crucial moments of the battle. I feel that Ramah Taskforce can be seen as almost diometrically opposed to this strategy - RTF has to (mostly) rely on it's elite pieces to beat back the advancing enemy, as well as to execute Scenario plays, with the supporting troops often hanging back and mopping up any enemies that make it to the late game. With limited ability to trade cheap pieces for expensive ones (ie. "punching up"), Ramah has to use it's highly capable troops to take out multitudes of opposing models instead, in order to make their presence felt (ie. "punching down") - luckily the supersoldiers are extremely talented at such a task! The reactive turn posture of RTF leads us to the next question...

3. Do you feel that Ramah has an attritional vulnerability? Any tips on migitating such a weakness?

-  Danger Rose

 

After the addition of Beasthunters and the changes brought about by the N4 Fireteam Update: a solid no. In the past the lack of "apex Tower AROs" and cheap Camouflaged pieces made defending RTF's ob the average more expensive pieces somewhat difficult, but after the recent changes this dynamic has changed drastically (see the next question).

Even if the enemy force manages to break through the RTF strike team's first lines of defence, I've found the extremely elite nature of RTF's active pieces works as a built-in mechanic to counter losser suffered to some extent - when you send a supersoldier to take out an enemy, they usually (and definately!) get taken out, and when they're tasked with performing a Specialist duty, they will get the said job done with minimal amount of Orders wasted. This means even when working with a reduced amount of Orders, the Ramah Taskforce strike team can still out perform it's opposition - if their Commander is savy enough to seize the moment!

At the end of the day, the key to successful attrition play is to carefully manage the reactive turn balance between giving away too much in defence and being steamrolled because the of lack of it, and on the other hand, making every active turn Order count, whether that be by engaging and destroying the right targets, controlling the tempo of the game, or advancing the Mission parameters.

 

4. Which are the most reliable ARO pieces available to RTF?

- Danger Rose

 

These days I feel that there are two top tier candidates for overwatch ARO duty. A (Core) Fireteamed Zhayedan Sniper or Missile Launcher is as close to an "Apex Tower" piece as the modern Infinity meta comes, and unless blinded by Smoke, the heavy weapon wielding Immortal can lock down huge areas of the table, or force the enemy to engage them in very risky face to face gunfights. If the Zhayedan goes down, too bad; they've still slowed the enemy advance, but if they win, there's a strong chance that your Opponent just used their Orders to get their own pieces killed! The second unit I regularly turn to these days is the  (Camouflaged) Beasthunter, because they're a cheap, expendable road block that is not only difficult to reliably take out, but also capable of causing catastrophic damage to the enemy if the dice fall your way!

When it comes to ablative defence beyond the obvious choices above, I personally feel that Ramah Taskforce should embrace the consept of what I call "Active Defense" - that is, using a number of models to form an elastic defence that seeks to challenge the advancing enemy without committing to holding it's ground in the reactive turn, all the while doing it's best to avoid sacrificing performance power on the active turn by "turtling" - there are several pieces that I find very much worth highlighting in this role. Some of these include:

• Even though (non-Total Reacting) HMGs aren't usually considered ARO weapons, Shakushs' excellent BS combined with their decent ARM and several wounds means that these light TAGs can afford to guard a somewhat narrow part of the battlefield, ready to face anyone trying to close in, and fall back to Total Cover if they get wounded.
• (Non-Frenzied) Nahabs that can Infiltrate or Parachute into a nice defendable positions can turn out to be nightmares to dig out. Their excellent PH and Dodge +2'' means that the Opponent always has to respect the threat of them getting to engage their attackers in melee, while their Direct Template Weapons combined with No Wound Incapacitation and Immunities to Shock and Critical Hits make trying to trade with them a dangerous prospect. Just watch out for Spotlight + Guided Attacks (or Trinity in the case of the Killer Hacker variant)!
  
• Tuaregs (of every flavour) can leverage their Hidden Deployment to decide when and where to engage their targets. This keeps them safe until called upon, and getting to surprise opposing troops with Mines and/or Light Shotguns or Hacking can prove devastating.
• 
  Mukhtar Hackers can turn out to be very stubborn troops that are hard to face to face with gunfire thanks to Mimetism (-3), difficult to Hack thanks to BTS 6 and WIP 14, and hard to put down thanks to NWI, all the while troops closing in on them have to risk atleast getting Spotlighted (Spotlight?), if not far worse! In one rememberable game this gal stopped an Invincible Army Fireteam Core from advancing pretty much single handedly, thanks to a mixture of reactive turn Hacking and Shotgunning!

5. How much redundancy do you build into your lists?

-Brokenwolf

 

Alot! This propably stems from both my personal playstyle, as well as RTF's ridiculously good options when it comes to covering all your bases several times over! I can't remember the last time I'd felt I didn't have a strong to decent attack vector and/or a capable Specialist left at my disposal even on turn three - it's Orders that I've ran out at that stage plenty of times!

A theme that saturates the Ramah Taskforce Sectorial (as well as my articles about it) is the fact that many of the elite pieces of this Faction can easily doubletime as quality fighters, as well as excellent Specialists, which means that when list building I don't usually have to compromise between the two. In the IGL Season 2 (in which I didn't end up doing so hot), I ran the same (very not good) list in all five games, and a common occurance in the games was me being fustrated with my Mukhtar MSV L2 Redfury not being a Specialist... What do you mean you're not a Specialist?!?! Ofcource it's possible to cram all the cool guns and heavy armor one can lay their hands on into a Ramah list and end up finding it lacking in some of the other areas of the game, but I consistently eshew such list designs in favour of ones that allow me to have several models that are capable shooters/Hackers/melee brawlers/Specialists/healers/potential ARO presences...

Obviously such excellent redundancy comes at a cost; mainly the lessened ability to overwhelm the opposition with either direct attacks or some other facet of the game. Then again, I'd rather participate in every aspect of the battle, than just put all my eggs in one basked and hope for a quick win or a quick loss!

6. How do you best utilize Super Jump, Climbing Plus, and other mobility utility available to RTF?

-Urist

 

I actually utilize the different mobility enhancing Special Rules quite differently, so here's my short take on some of the ones most prevalent in RTF!

 

I use Super-Jump mostly as a "passive ability" - in practise I use it to take shortcuts that will allow for me to save Orders while moving about the battlefield whilst I'm not engaging any hostile targets. If an (Entire Order Skill) Super-Jump will allow me to get off (or on) the roof I'm occupying (or hoping to occupy) without the need to spend extra Orders to use a set of stairs/ladders situated in another part of the building, I'm already turning profit - any extra Movement along the ground that I'm able to execute is just a bonus. When measuring the amount ot distance jumped I always try and be generous to my Opponent - I'll either Jump a distance that's clearly way shorter than what I'd be able achieve with a careful placement, or I measure the distance talking with my Opponent and asking what they feel most confortable with. When in doubt (when jumping down), I measure up the parapet of the building, base + parapet width over, the entire wall down and then any surplus left over to move along the ground to my final destination (and the same in reverse when jumping up); this will mean that I loose actual distance covered vs measuring in another way, but my first priority is to make sure I don't cheat any extra movement and/or make my Opponent feel uncomfortable with what I'm doing! I rarely use Super-Jump to try and draw cheeky Lines of Fires to targets - with the jumping model having to have enough distance to reach both the highest point of the move and to return to ground, there often isn't that many chances for such attacks, and even if there are, I've burned my wings several times when firing at targets without the benefit of Cover (as you do when Super-Jumping). As a last note on this Special Rule - it's best to be sure there are no Hidden Deployed models or other unexpected AROs waiting for your Long Skill Jump, lest you end up with a Haris of dead Red Turbans...

Climbing Plus is a whole lot more straight forward and tactically applicable a skill to use. Units like the Namurr can usually plan and execute attacks using approach vectors that few other models can match, and it's quite easy to Climb youself to a strong high ground position or draw a surprise Line of Fire to a model that the Opponent thought to be safe! One of the ways that I often use this skill is by moving my feline supersoldier on top of something usually unreachable (like a stack of containers) and then going prone there, ready to threaten enemy troops looking to advance past him/her by springing up and shooting them in their backs!

Ramah Taskforce also has  access to several models with Terrain (Total). While it's often not worth to go out your way to use Difficult Terrain as accleration strips, you never know when an extra inch of momevement could come in handy! The big thing here is that unlike other models, the Terrain (Total) pieces of RTF don't have worry about troublesome patches of Terrain (such as those provided by the ITS13 Blizzard rule) making a path to their target difficult to use! It also pays to remember that these units (along with those with Climbing Plus) benefit from +1'' to their first MOV value in all the ITS13 Mission incorporating the Antarctic Terrain trait!

Another movement echancing skill that several of RTF's models have is an increased Dodge distance. I use this ability both on the active turn (to cover ground, while at same time avoiding AROs or Dodging Mines), and on the reactive as a way of keeping my models active when the enemy is moving about. Such reactive turn movement can immensely help you challenge the approach of enemies closing in on you, and thus make your Active Defence ever more a fluid and resilient! Most the Dodge (+X'') pieces of Ramah also benefit from high PH values, which makes their reactive movement somewhat reliable!

7. Do you play Aristeia!? What do you think about including the various Aristeia! Characters in Infinity? What are your favourite Characters in RTF, and do you include them in your lists more for background reasons, or for their competitive value?

- BlauJ

No, I don't play Aresteia!... Yet! I bought the Saif Traider's Coliseum and the Aristeia! Walls and Obstacles Set to serve as a fun and tactically challenging Terrain element for one of my tables, but the game does intrigue me to the extend that I do see myself playing it in the future! I just need to be able to find some more time for hobbying in order to do that...

When it comes to Characters in general, I'm not the hugest fan of including them from the backstory standpoint - I wonder how the different Dramatis Personae have enough time to feature in everybody's lists AND keep working their day jobs! The Characters that I like to include in my lists usually are Yara Haddad and/or Leila Sharif, simply because of the excellent tactical impact they can have on the table and these days it's difficult to build a list without Carmen Johns in it! I also do include Wild Bill and Rahman Rouhani in my squads from time to time, but not as often!

I think it's cool that the different Aristos have been making their way into the Infinity Factions. While the backstory on how this happens can at times feel a bit shoed in, their inclusion offers added value to those who play both games, as well new profiles to obsess over for all of us! It's been quite a while since we got a new model added into RTF, so I whole heartedly welcome additions such as Fiddler!

8. What are your most beloved units in Ramah?

-Brokenwolf

 

Oh boy, there are so many! If we are talking about just some of the units that I have the most warm feelings towards...

• I really can't go wrong with the Khawarijs! They look awesome, they have a really distict set of abilities, and they always have atleast a decent way of trying to approach any problem they might face!
• Shakushs offer RTF lists a coctail of tactical capabilities that the Faction otherwise struggles to replicate, and playing them is such a blast!
  
• I also can't not mention the Hakims; they are after all the unit that drew me to play RTF in the first place! Their tactical tools are very unique, they're well costed, and they're also some of my steady performers - and ofcource too cool for school!
• Tuareg Hackers have also won me so many games that it's hard not to love them - time to face some desert power!
  

Those are just some of my top picks, I'm truly, deeply, madly in love with most of the units in the Sectorial, and so far I haven't been able to play enough games to grow tired of any of them!

 

9. How many Parachuting or Hidden Deploying models would you recommend? How to not feel Order starved when using such models?

- DangerRose

 

RTF has access to some truly amazing Parachutists and Hidden Deploying units, and I've well and truly played my fair share of them! It's also true that the Ramah player can feel Order starved at times, even without making the problem worse by holding models out of play. These days I feel that having one model off board is pretty much the hard cap - the opportunity cost of not having access to an Order is huge in a Sectorial that's packed with high performance pieces that could do wonders with such a valuable resource! I also feel that the current Infinity meta has pretty much figured out how to defend against Parachutists on the first couple of turns of the game, and thus aggressive units like Nahabs will often have to wait until the last turn before making their presence felt - they will surely take out their target once they arrive, but you may not have Orders left for much more! I feel offensively capable models that can Hidden Deploy (and Infiltrate) are more difficult to counter, and thus the Tuaregs' star is on the ascend!

There is a caveat to this "one model hard cap" that I prefer to observe, however. Ramah Taskforce can build lists that use Parachuting and/or Hidden Deploying as their main tactical gimmick, and when building lists such as these I've gone as far as 3+3 models in the past! Such an approach requires quite alot of finesse to pull of, but it'll surely also scare your opponent like few other things can!

10. Do you prefer to Parachute or Infiltrate your Nahabs?

-Crabsy

The short answer is to Infiltrate, the long answer is it depends! As I pointed out in my previous answer, I've found it that most people know how to defend against Parachutists well enough that there just isn't that many chances for early game attacks with them, and if one has to wait until the last turn before bringing in the Nahab, there's a steep opportunity cost to overcome. I've won many a game with such attacks, but I've also bled hundreds of Orders doing so... From my experience, those Opponents familiar with RTF also tend to expect a Parachuting Nahab, so letting them think that's what they're looking at, rather than being worried about your Tuareg feels nice... You can check my article on Nahabs for a deeper anlysis on how I prefer to run each profile!

Many people seem to have the belief that Ramah's midboard presence is 'weak', and those who think so clearly haven't played/faced Infiltrating Nahabs! I find them to be excellent and durable Skirmisher hunters, two of the profiles are Specialists, and the Killer Hacker even has access to a Marker State (provided they haven't drawn blood yet)... I cherish moments like when an opponent Smoked my Nahab guarding a middle Objective, (ill advicably) ran Liang Kai into melee with the Haqqislamite, and got rewarded for their efforts with a headless Shaolin Monk! I've also tested a setup where an Infiltrating Nahab and a Hidden Deployed Tuareg support each other...

11. Do you like to bring "Trophy" units (also known as ''Vanity Picks'')? That is, units that may not be the best tactically speaking, but you include because you find them to be thematic and/or fun to use?

-Urist

 

Yes and no! No, because I feel that every unit (if not every profile) can be the tactically the most sound choice when played into the right Mission/Opponent/Game Plan combination, so these days I never truly feel that I'm making suboptimal choices just to include a piece in my list. I did feel like that in times past, but that was before I was able to acquire the depth and width of experience with the different RTF pieces that I have today.

Even so, when building lists I always look to have fun. I want to create strike teams that are enjoyable to play and I love trying out new combinations and tricks, so in that sense I may end up making "vanity picks" - then again, if such picks let me have some fun AND learn more about this complicated Sectorial, isn't that really at the end of the day very much a "rational pick"?

12. What ITS Missions do you think Ramah Taskforce excels in and why? What ITS missions do you think that Ramah has weaknesses in or require specific list building requirements to succeed in? 

-Brokewolf

 

I'll preface this answer with the aknowledgement that ITS Season 14 is looming in the horizon, so take the following with a grain of salt!

 

I've found that Missions that reward active participation and high mobility from both sides are the ones where Ramah Taskforce tends to do very well. Missions with important Specialist elements (such as Supplies and Unsmasking), strong emphasis on mobility (such as Quadrant Control, Supremacy) or Classified Card compeletition (such as Countermeasures, Highly Classified) are the ones I feel most comfortable going into. When the Scenario forces the opposing strike team to break formation and contest the field, RTF operatives get to shine by hunting the enemy operatives down, all the while advancing the Mission scoring parameters.

Then again, Ramah's lack to staying power makes (more or less) purely attrition based Missions (such as Annihilation, Firefight, Capture and Protect) more of uphill battles, especially if the opposing force is able to set the tempo of the game! I've found that even in games in which I've won decively, the casualties I've sustained have been rather high, which speaks to the somewhat frail nature of RTF squads. I used to rate Frontline as a difficult Mission too, but it's recent shift in focus from pure shoot & advance into rewarding Classifieds way more changes things for the better for the Guys and Gals in Orange!

Some of the Missions that I've found most difficult to build for include Looting and Sabotaging (as static defence and DA Weapons really aren't RTF's things...) as well as the new version of Frostbyte. The latter is challenging, because these days dominating the Zone of Operations in this Mission requires one to have more points in it at the end of the game (as opposed to previously having Data Tracker/Snow Ops Trooper be there), and with 6 out of the 10 Objective Points coming from killing opposing units and dominating the middle zone (which kills all units that aren't REMs/Heavy Infantry/TAGs/Snow Ops - that is, basically most of Ramah units - at the end of the game), this Mission really is a "bad of RTF" Scenario on steroids... But despair not! I'm currently testing out "mostly unfreezable" lists, and they don't seem too bad!

All in all, flexibility is really one of Ramah Taskforce's main strenghts, and there truly isn't a Mission that I find frustratingly difficult to build for and play - I see the difficult Scenarios as chances to improve my listbuilding, learn more about my units and try to innovate new strategies!

13. What are some of the Alpha Strike (ie. "First Strike") pieces of RTF that you would recommend?

-Crabsy

Take a seat; this is going to take a while! RTF is a very, very aggressive Sectorial and it has access to an embarrasement of riches when it comes to fielding solid Alpha Strike pieces!

• If you're looking for Sweepers (ie. models that knock out opposing ARO pieces for other strike pieces to be free to move), some of my favourites include Fireteamed Khawarij Heavy Rocket Launchers and Multispecral Visor L2 Mk12s, Zhayedan HMGs, Shashush HMGs and even our Snipers for outranging stuff!
• 
  Solid early game models for rushing the opponent include Mukhtars (fielded solo here, no need to give up more than one supersoldier on early game high risk intrucions), Spitfire Namurrs (who can be a pain to dig out once in position), deep striking Shakushs, Khawarij led Haris, Carmen & Bâtard (for throwaway goodness; these days with even more goodness!). Also, don't forget about the potential free Motorized Authorized Bounty Hunter in some Missions! The Besthunters also fit into this category, though with the asterisk that they are a tad unreliable on the active turn!
  
• If the Opponent has made errors in their Deployment, it can be possible to punish them with opportunitive strikes by Nahabs, Hakims, Tuaregs or even humble Rafiqs (6-4 Light Shotguns for the win)! Just be careful that your Opponent isn't luring you into a carefully prepared trap by faking a mistake!
• Don't forget that sometimes the play to make is to just spam Speculative Attack Grenade Launcher shots from you Fireteamed Ghulam NCO - it's an almost riskless play that while unreliable, can yield surprisingly good results! He's also great at laying Smoke for the Alpha Strikers to advance under the cover of!
  

14. If you didn't play Ramah, which faction would you have picked instead? Still a Haqq Sectorial? Or maybe something completely different?

-Urist

 

Back in N3 I actually served a stint with Qapu Khalqi, and I enjoyed it quite alot! I love the "Haqqislamite Naval Special Forces" feel that they have, and I also think that N4 has seen them elevated to become an excellent Sectorial! I peridiocally give my QK models some sideways glances, but they haven't been able to pull me off RTF... Yet!

 

I also own a substantial painted Spiral Corps force that I played for the last six months of N3, but while they're thematically very cool, I currently find the Jaan Star/Kaeltar Specialist -combo to be too unethical to play, and forcing yourself to play one hand behind your back by not picking them feels off too...

When it comes to Sectorials that I don't own, but I find interesting, I could mention the Invincible Army and the Military Orders (sensing a theme here?), but I'm not really considering branching out to any of them at the moment. If (a strong if) I start to feel that I've (for the moment) peaked my skill as a Ramah Taskforce Commander, I'll propably swap my Orange for Red and ply the dark seas of space, but that's not something that I expect to see happen any time soon!

 

You Have - No - New Messages

Thank you some much everyone for sending me your questions, I've well and truly found it fun to answer them! Writing a blog can sometimes feel like you're sitting in dark room rambling to yourself, so getting to engage with you, the Readers, has felt really refreshing! I'd love to do this again in the future, so please feel free to send me new questions by commenting on the Q/A announcement post (or this one!), by using the blog's contact form, or by commenting on the thread in the Official Forums!

Until the next time - I wish you the very best in leading the Swift and Deadly Spear of the Haqqislamite Army to Victory!