10 Hours In : Infinity The Game : The Dao Fei

10 Hours In : The Dao Fei

I'm starting a new series of articles with the focus of deep diving into specific models and their profiles for Infinity the game. 

Infinity is such a tactical game where the load out of a model can determine how the unit is played, despite having the same stats.

If you're just getting into wargaming as a hobby, this might be too deep for you. This is more suited for those playing Infinity at the intermediate level and above. 

Why 10 Hours?

Typically, a game of Infinity lasts 1.5 to 3 hours, depending on how things are resolved as well as the missions. However, I find that my games average about 2 hours. That makes it a total of 5 games (10 hours), which is a good amount, since we're talking about 5 games with the same specific loadout and profile.

The Dao Fei

When you google translate Dao Fei (it's Chinese, 盗匪), you'll get "Bandit". A bandit, by definition is "a robber or outlaw belonging to a gang and typically operating in an isolated or lawless area."

Dao Fei Variant from Corvus Belli

With its inherent special skills and kit that it comes with, the Dao Fei is a formidable unit to use for Yu Jing.

We'll go over how it's an interesting piece (and also a flavor win!) because this model does live up to its moniker on the table top.

On the Tabletop

By default, the Dao Fei comes with the profile below :

Dao Fei Stats and Skills

With an aggressive and fast move of 6-2, this unit can roam and hunt easier when compared to other units with 4-4 move. 

However, the thing that makes the Dao Fei stand out amongst most units is the combination of Infiltration, Camouflage, Surprise Attack (-3) and Mimetism (-3), 2 Wounds and its high armor of 4 for an infiltrating unit. 

When paired together, an opponent will be hitting on -6's when in the open! Couple that with its high armor and 2 wounds, and this its going to take a while to remove this model from the table.

Profile Focus

In this deep dive, we're going to zero in on the profile with the Spitfire, the non-lieutenant option. 

Profile Focus

Being a unit that gets to deploy halfway up the table, the Dao Fei is in prime location to leverage on the range band offered by the Spitfire. Yes, you can attempt the Infiltration roll at a PH -3, but the risk/ reward ratio isn't heavily skewed in your favour (unless you're up for some risky plays but hey, that's up to you)

Positioning

Positioning-wise, the sweet spot between 16 and 24 inches is where you want to try to position the Dao Fei at, as that its where most weapons are at a bad range band.

From here, where the Dao Fei excels at, is taking out Light to Medium Infantry, preferably those with 1 wound. While any model with a Spitfire and similar stat line can do the same, the Dao Fei survives better because of its Camouflage package (Mimetism + Surprise Atk + Camo State) and its much more order efficient to do so since he starts at the midfield. The Camouflage state bolsters this even further by letting him walk past fire lanes with more protection.

With this, deploying him in Camouflage state on one side of the board that has lighter armour targets goes a long way. Your opponent wouldn't know what the Camo marker is and they'll be sweating when it's a Heavy Infantry taking out their smaller units. 

The Secret Sauce

With the right positioning and the Dao Fei's inherent skills, you're able to come up with attack vectors that can be devastating when played correctly. What I've found the most effective is to take targets out one by one, overwhelming your opponent with the 4 dice from the Spitfire and leveraging the negative mods to their BS Stat to carve out an area on your opponent's side of the table. Should the opponent continue to ignore him, you'll secure a flank which can be used to prevent your opponent from freely moving his models without any ARO.

Older Dao Fei Variant in Game

The thing that makes the Dao Fei a cut above the other infiltrating options in Yu Jing, is that he has staying power. No random mine can take him down and if he is shot at, he has an armor of 7 in cover, which means you have a 12.25% chance of losing him to a combi rifle with one order from the opponent, which is considerably lower than the 50% of failing the armor save from typical a 1 Wound infiltrating model (a success rate of more than 4 times!).

Because he is a threat (a big one that needs to be dealt with) to your opponent, the Dao Fei can operate well on his own during the active turn than most units, which serves his Bandit moniker to operate in an isolated area pretty well.

Limitations (Weaknesses)

The Dao Fei isn't a god unit. There are weaknesses to his profile.

For one, the Spitfire isn't a gun that is suited against high armored targets. A TAG will just laugh it off and you'll be wasting resources on the Dao Fei trying to take down a TAG when he could easily hunt down lighter Infantry.

Tip : One way of limiting the use of a TAG is to take down the order generators which are typically light Infantry, which is what the Dao Fei is good at.  Low orders = not much activation of the TAG. 

Next, any models with multispectral visors are possible threats but a model with MSV 3 is a real threat to him. The Dao Fei costs 55 points, so you wouldn't him to be taken down in one order, which is what a model with MSV 3 can do. With the ability to automatically discover any Camouflaged models, it takes one order to Auto Discover + Shoot the Dao Fei, thus reducing the layers that all add up to his staying power. I've had an experience where my 2 W Dao Fei just went down in one order because of my opponent's MSV 3 model and its not a good sight.

Tip : This boils down to table setup and matchup, but use full cover (going prone helps too) during the reactive turn, and then decide to engage the MSV 3 model on the active turn when the odds are better for the Dao Fei.

Next, a Dao Fei that isn't in Camouflage during your reactive turn is easy pickings for your opponent because they can hack it easily or devote a model that is effective at hunting it down (those with lower levels of multispectral visors).

Tip : Dedicate one full order to go back to Camouflage state or make it hard to reach the Dao Fei either by ending prone on top of a building or at a difficult place to reach.

Final Thoughts

The Dao Fei is an amazing model to play with. While he does excel at some areas, like most of Infinity, there are weaknesses that can be exploited.

Dao Fei with Spitfire from Operation Kaldstrom Box from Corvus Belli

In my 10 hours with him, I know I've had fun playing with the profile regardless of wins or losses. Pick him up if you're looking for a midfield piece that can pack a punch!