The DiRT – Command Tokens in 3rd Edition and What it Means for Infinity Meta (Part 4)

6 Minute Read

Nov 21 2014

We are now at Part 4. How will Command tokens affect strategy changes and level the playing field in Infinity 3rd edition?

On the last episode of the dirt we took a hacking, this time we take a look at Command Tokens. In second edition there’s no real analogy to Command Tokens. There were Lieutenant orders, but they only created linked teams (beyond allowing your Lt to move again). Command tokens are game changers. This is where the game will deviate so sharply that a lot of common sense game meta may be thrown out the window. And why Yu Jing/Imperial Service may just be your next army.

Again, please note that these are only rules we currently know, this article should not be identified as definitive since I’ve not seen the published 3rd edition rules.

The News – Quick Review of Lt Order

In 2nd edition, the Lieutenant order could be used without exposing who your lieutenant is on the game table. You could just sort of sneak it’s use in there. Outside of granting the Lt an extra order, to move – shoot – etc, it could be used to rebuild broken linked teams.

In 3rd edition, the Lt order is now just an order. While it is still only usable by the Lt (though that may still be changed by strategos levels as it is in 2nd edition), the unit using the Lt order must be identified. This means, for the most part, that you’re exposing your Lt when the Lt order is used.

A side effect of this Lt Order change:

By Making the Lt order a specific thing that exposes the unit using it, orders will now be expected to be on the table and the game becomes cleaner. For those strategies that banked on keeping your Lt hidden but using all 11 orders in the group that housed your Lt, time to rethink it.

The Skinny – Command Tokens

So before we do a deep dive on command tokens, I really want to reiterate this. There is NOTHING in 2nd edition that maps to Command Tokens. AND…. Command Tokens are game changers. Let’s take a look at what are just some of the things you can do with Command Tokens.

Note the “… AND MORE” at the bottom. Like I stated at the beginning of the article, 3rd edition is not out yet. So I can only report on what has been revealed by CB. There’s still a lot here to digest, but I’m going to go ahead and break it down what I think are the top three uses for the command token.

#3 – Liberate a TAG from the Possessed State:

In 3rd edition, I can now feel free to rush my TAG forward and not care about hidden deployed Hackers. My TAG is free to wreck the place regardless if I’m a faction (ariadna and tohaa) who are not flush with hackers.

#2 – Make Fireteams:

While this is something that in 2nd edition can be done with the Lt Order, in 3rd edition it gets better. Since there is no restriction of using no more than one command token per turn (at least not one identified yet), I can potentially rebuild a single link team multiple times. Again this could introduce some Blitzkrieg styled game play.

#1 – Transfer a unit from one combat group to another

I could be wrong, but I think this will be one of the most impressive uses of the command token. Namely because it makes 11 miniature army lists (as well as 12 and 13) viable. In second edition, having just enough points to cover 11 models in an army list left some incredibly complicated decisions on how to split up the units. Having a one model combat group, was usually useless (unless the model had neurokinetics and you never intended on using that model in your active turn). Now an 11 miniature army list could mean for the first active player, spending 10 orders in Combat group 1, and if one of those miniatures die from an ARO, pulling the model from Combat Group 2 (and their order they haven’t spent yet) and using that order on a different model in Combat Group 1. Effectively meaning Combat Group 1 had eleven orders to spend.

One last note:

It has been explained that Sun Tze will be getting an additional Command Token. It’s why I said Yu Jing or Imperial Service might be your next faction.

The DiRT – The move to 11 models.

Historically, Corvus Belli has provided guideline lists for players that have included 10 models. This count makes sense as a single combat group cannot have more than 10 models. But the trend toward 11 models seems like it’s coming soon. And I found some evidence of this in a recent video that Corvus Belli put on their YouTube page.

For those of you with limited bandwidth or those that just don’t like seeing video footage in your blogs, I present to you a screen capture from the video (which shows 3rd edition points costs for Makaul and a screen cap from the current army builder for the same units.

Across the board, the Makauls are being discounted in points from 1 to 2 points. You can see a similar thing occur in the “suggested” lists at the back of Operation:Icestorm. Many of those models are discounted in a small way (1 point off of the Jotum TAG, FTW). While I believe whole heartily that these point shifts are truly meant as a balancing mechanism, since we have yet to see models get more expensive, it has the net effect of introducing a potential 11th model in a 300 point list. With Command Tokens, that 11th model does not have to mean splitting your primary Combat group to make sure models get more than one order.

Infinity Images

While not exactly new…. I have to post something about the new combined army starter box…..

I think I know what my next faction will be. Renegade Tohaa joining the ranks of CA is just such a great story arc. Mapping it to models that look like these and I’m regretting the fact that my wife and I don’t allow each other to buy things for ourselves from Oct 15 through the end of the year.

So that’s the news, the skinny, the DIRT on how Command tokens will level the playing field for Infinity players and why jumping into 3rd edition will be advantageous for new players. Special thanks the Thijs van Tienen for providing photos for this article. As always find me here, my YouTube Channel, or drop me a line or Infinity photos at my new email address [email protected] . Only 1 more weeks until my video space is up and running with more YouTube content.

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Author: doremicom

Doremicom has been a tabletop wargamer for over a decade. His area of expertise is Corvus Belli's Infinity: The Miniatures Game. He began writing for BoLS in 2015.

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