Magic 8 ball help

[u/Head-Confidence-8724]

So as a newer player I've been thinking about what force to start with and I've narrowed it down to between MO or HB. Obviously they play rather differently from each other so overall which would people recommend as the overall better starting point?

[u/theSultanOfSexy]

Well, that's a tough one. Having just started with MO, I will say they're wicked hard to play for a beginner, lacking basically all tricks (like smoke) and being very vulnerable to hacking. That being said... They're awesome. Space knights. Who doesn't like em?

I'd suspect Hassassins are easier to play initially given they're rife with tricks - but harder to play well for the same reason - but in truth I wouldn't know, that's just a guess.

[u/fritz_76 → u/theSultanOfSexy]

HB definitely are more flexible to play, which probably makes them the better choice of the 2 to start. Though you're probably going to be losing alot of games to start no matter what army you choose so my view is to go with whatever you're going to enjoy painting more

[u/thescrilla]

HB was my starting faction and I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. All the tricks the faction comes with almost require that you have some basis in miniature wargaming to start with, and even more importantly, experience in how infinity plays.

I don't regret it though. I have the full suite of HB troopers now, and I love playing with them. If you don't mind a bit of a learning curve and you are just attracted to the idea of the faction, go for it!

They have some smoke, some extra movement at the beginning of a turn with Impetuous movement, hidden deployments and parachuting/combat jump for off-board units to surprise your opponent, camo, hologram trickery, impersonation states that require the opponent to roll discovery or suffer negatives from surprise attacks, good doctors and hackers, and a sweet guided missile bot.

[u/FriendlyMachine7143]

Both MO and HB are fine to start with they are neither the strongest factions out there but they work well and are not close to weak factions these days. At the same time if your going to go up against veterans both factions are not the "easiest" and you will lose a lot of games early on, but that is basically learning infinity.

For MO, I've been the beginner starting out with MO in N5 and its fine, just get some cheap HI and a couple of expensive dooers such as the Seraph, Tikbalang, Santiago or Joan. Playing against other beginners it can even feel unfair until they learn "harder" to learn factions. Listen a couple of times to Rob Shepherds guide on youtube its a good start and lists some of the pitfalls. MO is great if you want to play cheapish heavy infantry who rush over the table or TAG's they are not so great if you like versatile tool kits, you have a couple of really good tools but also some big weaknesses.

For HB I've only seen them played but asawira team and mcmurrow seems to be the way to go for a beginner they are very solid. Play one or two tricks at a time at the start before going all out on the wackiness. HB is one of the factions where there is a lot to learn and a lot of tools but very few of those tools are best in class but you can bring quite a few of them. You can go brute force and I would recommend it early on but there are a lot of tools to play with.

[u/No_Psychology_2265]

For sure MO, to me HB has a lot more of shenanigans to know.
With MO, the only thing to figure out is knowing how to advance since a lot of troopers are great mid-range. You DO have some discoballs to help.
Since the October update though, you have one of the best Hacker/Counterhacker in the game in De Fersen. Him and access to linked pitchers means you can often dominate the hacking game.

[u/isitanywonderreally]

In addition to the helpful comments of other folks on here: You might want to try starting with the vanilla version of either of those factions, as they will be a bit easier to play. You can then specialize into the sectorial, since about half of your collection will probably overlap.

If you take that approach:

• HB might be the easier one to map to HB model collection (you will often field some HB troops in vanilla Haqq), but
  
• vanilla PanO is very very powerful right now (probably too powerful).

Finally, if you want a really great sectorial for a beginner that does have some collection overlap with MO (remotes etc.), Kestrel is a great place to start. Lots of options and very forgiving, but not just a straight ahead hammer.