Infected Colonies Tactics

Infected Colonies
Setting:	Grimdark Future
Games:	Grimdark Future, Grimdark Future: Firefight
Species:	Unknown
Version:	v2.50

Note: as v2.50 is in constant development the following might not be accurate.

Why Play Infected Colonies

This is another very budget-focused force built to spam a lot of weak fodder. However, you'll find some very glaring weaknesses immediately. Your shooting is garbage. Your units are mostly useless. However, you can buy lots of them. And you should.

Pros:

• Lots of Activations
• Lots of melee attacks
• Fairly affordable chaff
• Undead makes Morale issues less of an issue.

Cons:

• Your troops are pathetic
• Very limited shooting
• Vehicles have limited loadouts when compared to similar units.

Army Special Rules

• Bloodthirsty: Grants any attached unit Furious.
• Boom: When this model dies, the attacker takes three automatic hits.
• Mutating: Any attached unit gains Regeneration.
• Plague Command: Once per activation, this model can make one friendly unit within 12" move up to 6". Absolutely necessary to keep your gunners out of trouble.
• Terrifying: Enemies take -1 in melee to hit units where every model has this rule.
• Undead: Good news is that your entire army is immune to Morale issues. However, in place of any morale rolls, you need to roll a die for each model in that unit, dealing an unsavable wound for each 1 or 2 rolled.

Psychic Spells

• Bio-Horror (4+): One enemy unit within 12" takes an AP(2) Deadly(3) hit, which is pretty lethal.
• Infestation (4+): Friendly unit within 12" takes gets Poison on their next melee attack. Considering how poor your forces are in combat, you'll need every edge you can get.
• Onslaught (5+): Two friendly units within 6" add +2" to Advance moves and +4" to Rush and Charge moves. With the speed issues of your army, this is incredibly welcome.
• Panic Virus (5+): One enemy model within 12" takes five AP(1) hits to handle crowds.
• Plague (6+): Enemy unit within 6" rolls a die per model, dealing a hit for each 2+. This is hell for mobs of grunts.
• Vigor (6+): Friendly unit within 12" gains Regeneration when they next get hit. Absolutely necessary with how flimsy they are.

Unit Analysis

Heroes

• Monstrous Tyrant: Flat-out one of your strongest units, providing a hero that's a small monster. He's a melee powerhouse, but that's all he is. He's a very dangerous though between AP(2) Rending claw swipes, AP(4) punches or AP(1) Deadly(3) stings, so you're going to be burying something. This is especially helped by Fear.
  • Upgrades: Your leader comes with some potent but mutually exclusive upgrades to throw on. Gigantic Strain grants Terrifying, offering a minor score of protection in combat. Frenzied Strain gives Bloodthirsty, offering you a major boost for your hordes. Evolving Strain gives Mutating, offering extra protection to any mobs the tyrant's attached to.

• Great Hunter: A much more mobile hero, given Ambush and Strider for maximum maneuverability since this guy lacks guns. Fortunately, their quality and defense are quite good and you can grab the same Strain upgrades from the Monstrous Tyrant's list. Whether you go with the default AP(1) Rending claws or free Poison claws, the monster-felling AP(2) Deadly(3) barbs or the AP(4) swings, you have plenty of ways to take care of the enemy in a fight.

• Infected Leader: Cheapest hero and likely your default in smaller games. Statwise, they're no better than the base infected and can even buy the same melee weapons, going between Carbine or Pistol+CCW for the option of an Energy Sword or Fist and the option between Plasma Pistol for up-close anti-armor or the unique Scoped Pistol so you have a cheap assassin.. For upgrades, you have one of two options: Mad Scientist for Psychic(1) or Big Brain for Plague Command. The option between the two depends on how much you intend to rely on your hordes to do the dirty work.

Infantry

• Runners: These guys are even more prone to getting mowed down than the zombies. Fortunately, these guys are faster and have Strider so you can hide behind cover or ambush the enemy faster.

• Zombies: Zombies are...pathetic. Their only weapons are their claws, they're Slow and they're as flimsy as the rest of your units. Even Regen won't do too much to stop them from getting cut down. The one good thing is that you grab 10 of them for fairly cheap.

• Infected: You get 10 infantry men straight out of the HDF, making it likely the most common hero bunker. Truth be told, their venues are narrow, with guns being quite limited. Your range is short unless you grab the Grenade Launcher or the Heavy Machinegun, the Fusion Rifle is your lone source of anti-tank while the Plasma Rifle gives you AP(4). Your melee options are the same as the Infected Champion.
  • Weapons Teams: As with any HDF-alike army, you can either strap one onto an infected unit or as their own, complete with a Mortar for long-range bombardment. The Heavy Machinegun feels like a waste since your base Infected can pick it up anyways. The Missile Launcher provides cheap anti-aircraft with AP(2) Deadly(3) and Lock-On. The Laser Cannon gives you long-ranged anti-vehicle power while the Autocannon offers more universal coverage at long range.

• Infected Gunners: Five Infected only, but you have free reign over the basic guns and possess Relentless, which you'll enjoy if you want more shots. Only take if you need a certain gun so badly that only two won't cut it.

• Hunters: Hunters are actually quite effective for killing stuff up close but quite a bit more expensive than the Infected. Ambush and Strider make sure that they can reach their enemy quickly and two of them can upgrade their claws, all of them being similar to the Great Hunter's loadout. This makes them into something more akin to assassins.

• Boomers: These Hunters are at 4+ quality and defense, but gain the tankiness of Tough(3), making them useful as meatwalls. Despite what you might think, this isn't so you can stall enemies - they won't. Instead, your goal is to sacrifice these guys in melee to trigger Boom so you can take down more obstinate assault mobs. This can at least guarantee a second screening if the enemy gets past the zombies.

• Leech Swarms: A whole new level of weak without even AP on their attacks, but what you have is Tough(3) and Strider to ignore obstacles. This makes them a cheap target to distract Deadly weapons.

• Crazed Ravens: While as much a distraction as the other animals, the ravens at least have a 5+ to quality and defense, making them more effective on harassing opponents.

• Rabid Dogs: Puny, like most of your forces, but you have Fast and Scout. Though they are more costly than any of your other pet swarms, these dogs get 4+ quality and Rending, making them the most likely to kill an enemy in combat.

• Infected Vultures: A slightly better set of ravens with a slightly better bite. These birds also get Ambush to make them distractions that can appear anywhere you need them. Buying Piercing Beaks can make them particularly annoying to use against vehicles and elite models, while Swoop Attack gives you some Impact, which can throw a few pre-emptive blows before entering a fight.

• Corrupted Beasts: An elite pack of beasts with 3+ to quality and defense. Each one is a beefy melee unit with Tough(3) and a pair of Sharp Claws with AP(1) Rending. Any of these claws can be swapped for either free Serrated Claws to wipe crowds, Smashing Fists for armor breaking or Piercing Stingers to kill other large beasts.

Monsters & Vehicles

• Great Beast: A bigger and meaner Corrupted Beast with Tough(6) and AP(2) on its claws. While the smaller beasts' claws can be swapped off to handle other sorts of enemies, the Great Beast is made for one role and one role only: Smashing tanks.

• Attack Buggy: Fast is the thing you want when you need to get somewhere, especially if you bought the Cargo Space for Transport(11). It even works as a modestly affordable harassment unit if you don't buy the space. That said, your weapon slot is alone: if you want more than the Twin Heavy Machinegun, then you only have the Twin Autocannon and Twin Laser Cannon as alternatives.

• Battle Tank: Yours is a stripped-down version of the beasts seen in the HDF, though no less hardy. Your main gun is limited between either the stock Battle Cannon, which can handle most crowds, the tank-blasting Twin Laser Cannon or the more balanced Twin Autocannon. Your Twin Heavy Machineguns are locked onto their slot, providing some long-ranged firepower. With how limited your heavy weapons are, protecting these becomes a bigger priority.

• Combat Walker: This walker doesn't really work in melee with only two stomps, making it more suited as a mobile weapons platform. The default Heavy Fusion Rifle gives it plenty to wreck tanks with, though you can replace it with either the Twin Plasma Cannon for high AP bombardment or the Twin Laser Machinegun for long-range AP firepower. The Heavy Flamethrower makes the walker short-ranged but it also installs a Walker Chainsaw to provide melee support.

• Abomination: An even larger monster than the Great Beast, blessed with AP(3) claws in case you really need something to go toe to toe with the heavy tanks and titans of other armies.

Aircraft

• Light Dropship: This ship is actually an incredibly cheap transport, being slightly cheaper than the Attack Buggy with storage for the advantage of being airborne. However, like the buggy, you only have one weapon. The default rapid-fire Twin Minigun, with the cover-popping Twin Missile Launcher or the tank-busting Twin Laser Cannon being your only choices. While they do serve their roles for hunting, do not go in expecting to go up against enemy fliers with an expectation to survive, because your vehicles are woefully underequipped for that.

List Building & Tactics

General Advice

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Tactics

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See Also

• Infected Colonies
• Infected Colonies Quickplay Armies
• Grimdark Future Tactics
• Grimdark Future List Building
• Grimdark Future Strategy
• Grimdark Future

Infected Colonies
Overview - Tactics - Firefight Tactics - Miniatures - Quickplay Armies - Firefight Quickplay Armies

Grimdark Future tactics
List Building - Strategy - Special Rules
Alien Hives - Battle Brothers - Blessed Sisters - Custodian Brothers - DAO Union - Dark Elf Raiders - Dwarf Guilds Elven Jesters - Eternal Dynasty - Havoc Brothers - High Elf Fleets - Human Defense Force Human Inquisition - Infected Colonies - Jackals - Machine Cult - Orc Marauders - Prime Brothers - Ratmen Clans Rebel Guerrillas - Robot Legions - Saurian Starhost - Soul-Snatcher Cults - Titan Lords - Wormhole Daemons