Infinity Faction Focus: Tartary Army Corps (TAK) (Updated January 13, 2025)

Changelog

Update: 2026-01-13 for N5 Quality of Life update
Published: 2023-10-17

Welcome back, Commander. When last we met, TAK was a little bit of a Dark Horse faction but after the recent quality of life update provided by Corvus Belli, the Tartary Army Korps (TAK)’s threat rating has been updated to: Significant. Space Russia has learned from the mistakes of contemporary Russia and has started recruiting Werewolves and leaning into tropes like Call of Duty and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade and is all the better for it.

TAK are a great Ariadnan sectorial that has a variety of playstyles that are all viable and interesting to play.

Playing Tartary Army Korps

Several TAK Streloks, and Strelok proxies (photo courtesy of Musterkrux)

Terrifying ARO options

With the addition of the Vystrel, a Remote with 2 Structure and Neurocinetic weapons like AP-Sniper rifles and Autocannons that can be easily fed into a Duo or Haris for an additional +1SD when shooting (Active or ARO), TAK is able to present a defence that can straight up stall out an opponent’s turn (or worse).

Camo and Shell Games You can run a 100% camo TAK list if you want. You can even run a 100% camo TAK list that doesn’t suck. Wild, right? Between Barsuks, Konductors, Streloks, Scouts, Spetsnaz, and Tank Hunters you’ve got a wide variety of Decoys, Mines and genuine threats that you can park under a Camo token in TAK. It’s nice and refreshing to play a faction that actually brings a good Camo Shell game. In order to play good Shell Games you need two key factors: 1. The ability to introduce uncertainty regarding the composition of your Camo tokens; and 2. The ability to project genuine threat from under your camo tokens. Of particular note, the recent addition of the Scout Minelayer (2) with E/M mines means that previously an opponent could bullrush your camo defences with a TAG or Heavy Infantry and just laugh off the low damage mines. Nowadays, they have to be genuinely wary of getting bricked.

Melee-Missiles TAK has a lot of models that can either sneak or rush into the enemy lines and start a melee rampage. Spetsnaz, Beast Hunters, Pavel, and Antipode Packs can all do it the sneaky way while Carmen, Dog-Warriors and even Irmandinhos can do it the loud and messy way.

Button Pressing TAK has a surprising level of access to models that can get into the mid-field safely and push buttons: Dynamos, Strelok FOs, Scouts and even Pavel himself is a specialist. On top of that, you’ve got Irmandinhos bringing their own Smoke as well as Impetuous Orders to toss them. You want a button pressed, friend? TAK’s got your back.

Unpredictable Attack Vectors TAK has the ability to deliver its punches in a variety of ways, ranging from decent ranged shooters, attackers hiding under camo markers and even Parachutists walking onto the table. Your opponent isn’t going to have an easy time defending against every possible attack you’re capable of delivering.

Now, for the downsides to playing TAK…

No Hacking Being an Ariadnan faction, hacking just isn’t your thing. Sure, you can run a Wardriver and a Katyusha Traktor Mul to pretend that you’re as cool as Nomad Guided Missile Spam but with no Pitchers or Repeaters makes this a terrible idea (just use Forward Observe, instead).

All Smoke and no MSV Well, that’s a partial lie. There’s a single Frontovik profile with an MSV 1. Otherwise, it’s a real shame to have so many excellent sources of Smoke and very limited opportunity to shoot through it.

Noteworthy Units

Ratnik and Veteran Kazaks (photo courtesy of Musterkrux)

Spetsnaz are the darlings of TAK, with a variety of skills and equipment that let them mix it up at range and close up. They are also your only access to off-the-table deployment, which is something your opponent might overlook while unpacking your field of Camo Markers. Nothing says ‘Я тебя люблю‘ like Stealth followed by CC Attack: D-Charge.

Veteran Kazaks are your elite troops. Pseudo-HI that only get NWI but get a variety of other skills and some lovely guns in exchange.

Tankhunter Autocannons are the new hotness. We'll talk about the AP-HMG later but the new Autocannon, with +1SD is a piece that genuinely threatens to end games all by itself. You won't win every F2F roll but the fights you do win are going to convert into catastrophic damage for your opponent.

Dynamos are fast, have decent weapon loadouts, Mine-Dispensers, Specialist options and Dogged for a little bit of failure-tolerance. They’re also priced to move. Dynamo Stocks are Stronk, unlike some other science-fiction-adjacent bikers we can think of.

Vystrel Mobile Artillery Regiment are the hardest ARO going around. Multiple Structure points, access to Neurocinetics and some weapons with very favorable range bands. The Vystrel is how you win games during your opponent's turn.

Carmen Johns is fast, order efficient, brings Smoke as well as a friend. Also, she hits people with a wrench. That’s just straight up Aura Farming right there.

Irmandhinos are cheap specialists who bring smoke grenades to use with their Impetuous Orders. Like cookies, they are a Sometime Food. If you take Vystrels or Total Reaction Traktor Muls defensive pieces (Kuryer or otherwise), taking a cheap Engineer to babysit them is a wise investment.

Antipodes are going to be listed here as noteworthy for a few reason (noting that noteworthy does not equal good). First, they are a squad of camouflaged murder-wolves. Second, they have Tactical Awareness which is a great boon for order efficiency in N5. And finally, it’s worth noting how Peripheral interacts with Camouflage and other orders (Sir, may I be so bold as to offer a portmanteau? Peripher-wolves?).

I need you to understand that speed 6-6 with Super-Jump is fast. We’re talking, Sonic the Hedgehog got all 7 Chaos Emeralds as well as 50 Rings levels of Gotta-Go-Fast here. If your opponent doesn’t contest the mid-field with some sort of Discover-ARO you’ll be elbow-deep in some poor sucker’s chest cavity within 3 orders (and the Antipode Handler is bringing two of those orders to the party). That’s pretty OK if you ask me.

However, the problem with camouflaged Peripherals is that as soon as you ask the Handler to do anything that involves rolling dice (ie. Dodging or even, heaven forbid, firing their Smoke Grenade Launcher…) the Peripherals are obliged to drop their marker state. This is because even if the Peripher-Wolves can’t perform the action that the Handler is doing and instead Idle (which is an order that has the No-Roll tag), the rules for Idle specify that you drop out of Camo when you do it. So, your opponent can spend a single order trying a long-bomb spec-fire on the Handler and fork you into either not dodging or dropping marker state on the Antipodes. Rough.

That said, in a meta-game of null deployments and limited overwatch, you have a very real chance of delivering the Peripher-Wolves to their target and trading up nicely if your opponent doesn’t contest the mid-field. And if they do? Shoot them with your Cool HMG Daddy. Which leads me to my next point…

Who's your Cool HMG Daddy?

Tank Hunters and Spetznas HMG (photo courtesy of Musterkrux)

TAK has a few viable options for your HMG-range band rampart sweeping duties. Each have their own Pros and Cons while sitting within the 35-46 point ranges, with no clear winner. It's worth briefly outlining the virtues of each core option to help educate your decisions with respect to the noble art of dropping fools at range. It's also important to rate each of these options on the amount of raw drip they bring to the party, hence the Cool Factor rating.

Spetsnaz with HMG: Mimetism, Surprise Attack, and Marksmanship means the Spetsnaz has a really good chance of wining F2F rolls. The downside is that toting around a regular HMG means you're not as likely to break armour on heavily armoured targets even if you do win. Having both a marker-state and a Decoy means the Spetsnaz has better chance of surviving your opponent's Alpha Strike if they get the first turn. Cool Factor: 9/10, you will never be a bad enough dude to save the president while wearing both NVGs and a Beret. Die mad about it.
Tankhunter with AP-HMG: Sort of like the Spetsnaz but you trade Decoy, Marksmanship and a Close Combat threat for slightly more armour and AP-ammo. You might not win as many F2F rolls but you're more likely to convert those wins into wounds. Cool Factor: 7/10, both the classic and contemporary Tankhunter HMG sculpts just ooze style. It's worth noting that there are no Tanks in Infinity because the these guys Hunted them into extinction. Everybody loves a successful predator. Nobody likes Dodos. The worst thing about AP-HMG Tankhunters is that every one with a HMG is one that isn't holding an Autocannon (AKA the Ariadnan Hacking Device).
Veteran Kazak with AP-HMG: BS 13 is nice, and you've got a good mix of survivability (armour, No Wound Incap and Mimetism) with the downside being that without a marker state the Vet Kazak will have a harder time staying safe if your opponent decides they need to die. Also, they're bloody expensive at 46 points. Cool factor: 8/10, always issue your AP-HMGs to the people with the foresight to bring their own Stahlhelm and glowing-red-goggles to the war. That's how you know they're Veterans, they've got all the cool custom skins and Battle-Pass cosmetic equipment.
Line Kazak Fireteam with AP-HMG: By themselves, Line Kazaks with AP-HMGs are pretty cheap but if you toss in a few buddies to make them a Haris (Because Burst 5 is a quality all of its own) or even pure-Fireteam Core (Burst 5, BS 14 is TAG levels of firepower) they suddenly start to look a little more competitive. Pro: Burst 5 and slightly higher BS. Con: Trying to move 3-5 models around the table to leverage your Mini-HRMC will suck. Pro: This module will generate 3-5 orders for a comparable cost to your other options, orders that you'll still have access to even if the HMG gets dropped. Con: Those 'orders' all have Arm 1 and a single wound each. Cool Factor: 4/10, these Line Kazaks put the 'Line' into borderline boring.

Fireteam Options

Line Kazaks (Photo courtesy of Musterkrux)

Line Kazaks (Haris and Core): Kazaks are pretty basic as far as fireteams go. If you’re going to do anything with them it’s likely going to be running 2 Kazaks (possibly one being a Doctor) and then either a Frontovik Sniper or Veteran Kazak HMG. You might also fold Colonel Voronin into a static fireteam to keep him slightly more safe. Veterans (Duo, Haris or Core): This isn’t a terribly exciting Fireteam to me. If you want a Vet Kazak to have the +1SD bonus on shooting there are cheaper ways to do it than here. You could possibly run a Frontovik Duo with a shooter and specialist but…again, cheaper to just do it with Line Kazaks. Mobility (Duo and Haris): Duo Dynamos are insanely good. They’re fast, cheap, have Dogged and you can easily take a specialist alongside an attack piece. On top of all that, you can use the +1SD Duo bonus with those Mine Dispensers to just absolutely lock down the table. Amazing. Please continue to ignore the 112 Motorised as an option here. Additionally, a cheeky Mobility Duo you can run here is a Ratnik alongside a Frontovik (I suggest the Engineer as both a Specialist and someone who can un-brick the Ratnik if it gets Hacked). This gets your +1 Burst Ratnik tossing a lazy 6 dice (keeping 5) down range with an AP-spitfire. That’s pretty OK.

Gunnery (Duo and Haris): Oh wow. Wowowowow. Because putting Total Reaction and Neurocinetic models into cheap and flexible fireteams is never a bad idea. With access to both the vanilla Traktor Mul as well as the Minelayer Kuryers, you’ve always got the option of spending 5pts to turn any individual shooter available to that Fireteam into a +1SD gun. You can also drop that 5pt Mul into a Duo to give them another 10-ish” of distance between each other, so you can cover different fire lanes easily. My default pick here would be a Vystrel with Neurocinetic AP-Sniper rifle, a Kuryer Total Reaction Urugan remote and then a Baggage bot. While the Katyusha is probably a better Guided platform, I think the trade off in Guided efficacy is made up for in the Urugan’s absolutely terrifying ARO presence, albeit along slightly shorter firelanes than the Vystrel might be working with. While you can put a Dozer Engineer in here, I think you’re better off either using an Irmandhino or separate Dozer with access to a Buddy Bot Elektronik to cover your repair duties for these pieces.

Command Options

All New Colonel Voronin...with a new Beret (courtesy of Musterkrux)

Colonel Voronin: The big man himself. Strategos level 1 in Ariadna, baby! He telegraphs himself badly as a WIP 14 Lieutenant that brings an extra command token but he’s great for the price and between Guard and MA2, this monster will throw his dog at you if you come within 8” of him, that is if he can’t be bothered firing his T2-Boarding Shotgun. Voronin is an excellent Lieutenant and I’d argue that he should be your default pick for most TAK lists unless you have a reason to take someone else.

Cheap Lieutenants: Basically Line Kazaks. However, this is fine. They’re WIP 13, well priced and useful enough as cheerleaders that you can have 1-2 decoy Lieutenants in your list if need be.

Fightin’ Lieutenants: I’m mildly down on Frontoviks but that’s not to say they’re terrible, just never my first pick for Lt. You’re paying 13 points more than a Line Kazak to give your Lt just enough equipment that they might feel obliged to pick a fight that they don’t have the chops to reliably win. Veteran Kazaks are a much nicer (albeit far more expensive) proposition. Higher armour, NWI, 6th Sense and Veteran make them the sort of Lt you’re going to have to fight honestly rather than assassinate through tricks or technical play. You could also be forgiven for going active with them and you at least have the NWI-state to fall back on if a F2F roll goes pear-shaped. Expensive but worth it.

Camo Lieutenants: Scout Lts are OK but I feel like I’d rather go for the Tankhunter, having both higher Armour, some interesting equipment (including Minelayer!) and being slightly cheaper than the Scout. Plushenko is a weird piece for me. He’s priced at a rate that demands some sort of Active play (a T2 Sniper Rifle is a terrifying and unique weapon) but I’d be worried about the failure tolerances you’d have for a 36 point Lt who’s only got Dogged to keep him going. He’s fine, I guess, just make sure he only fights people in their worst range bands and accept that 1 out of every 10 games he’s going to get slapped in the mouth by a Crit and risk sinking your game plan.

Command Options: No NCO in TAK, which is a minor shame. However, Plushenko (again) is a Chain of Command option, offering everything I mentioned above but at least this time it’s not necessarily true that every time he dies you’re going into LoL. He’s viable but also very, very expensive. 33 points for the Tank Hunter CoC isn’t much better but if you’re absolutely terrified of your opponents sniping Voronin, I guess you have to decide if you’re going to splash out for CoC or wallow in your own misery if he gets sniped.

Sample Lists

Robert "TheChirurgeon" Jones

The following lists should be taken as conceptual starting points for the lists that you'll later refine and adapt to your own personal style or scenario pack for an upcoming event. Goonhammer takes no responsibility for any tournament outcomes that result from ingesting these sample Army Lists (unless you win). If -uq3xr_Q">Gopnik Bass last for more than 3 hours please consult Dr" frameborder="0"> Livesey.

All Camo All Hate:

Group 1

Barsuk (Camo, Decoy, Heavy Flamethrower) Barsuk (Camo, Decoy, Heavy Flamethrower) Barsuk (Camo, Decoy, Heavy Flamethrower) Tank Hunter Lt (AP Rifle, Minelayer – AP Mines) Tank Hunter AP-HMG Beasthunter (Camo, Forward Deployment with Heavy Flamethrower and Panzerfaust) Scout (Minelayer x2, E/M Mines) Scout (Forward Observer) Pavel McMannus

Group 2

Strelok (Decoy, Forward Observer) Strelok (Decoy, Forward Observer) Strelok (Decoy, Minelayer) Konductor (Chain-colt, Flammenspear) Konductor (Chain-colt, Flammenspear) Spetsnaz (Parachutist, Boarding Shotgun +1B)

Don’t play this list against the same person more than once every 3-months if you want to have friends in the long run. Not because this list is over-powered or broken but it’s kind of annoying to play against a list that deploys nothing but 24 camo markers at the start of the game. You’ve got a decent but not amazing list of attack pieces and specialists but it’s all relatively safe for you to move into position as needed and pick the fights on your terms.

Also, of critical importance: No-one" frameborder="0"> expects the Spetsnaz Parachutist. TAK isn’t a faction known for Parachutist or Combat Drop, so unlike a faction with Van Zant or Equipe Mirage-5, an unsuspecting opponent is going to look at your 24 camo tokens and assume that there are 15 troopers hidden amongst the Mines and Decoys, leaving your lone Parachutist free to exploit whatever gaps your opponent leaves open for you.

Line Kazaks (Photo courtesy of Musterkrux)

Tik-TAK-Toe

Group 1

Haris: Vystrel (Neurocinetics with AP Sniper Rifle and LRL), TM Kuryer (Total Reaction Urugan MRL) and Traktor Mul (Baggage) Beasthunter Carmen and Batard Duo: Ratnik (AP-Spitfire) and Frontovik Engineer Duo: Dynamo (Paramedic) and Dynamo (Submachinegun and Panzerfaust) Colonel Voronin (Lt. +1 Command Token, T2 Boarding Shotgun)

Group 2

Barsuk (Camo, Decoy, Heavy Flamethrower) Tank Hunter AP-HMG Strelok (Decoy, Forward Observer) Strelok (Decoy, Forward Observer) Dozer with Turret and a Buddy Bot (Elektronik)

Are Veteran Kazaks still just the Kerberos Panzer Cops from Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade?

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (1999, courtesy of Mamoru Oshii)

Yes, they still are (positive connotations).

Final Thoughts

TAK Antipodes (courtesy of Musterkrux)

Last time we talked about TAK I didn’t rate them as a Dark Horse Faction that sometimes wins tournaments off the back of shell games. I’m very happy to say that opinion is now very much incorrect. Your psychiatrist might say that TAK isn’t real and TAK can’t hurt you but they’re wrong on both counts. You wanna put a tonne of Space Werewolves into your list and howl your way to victory? Sure thing. Does deploying 20 Camo Markers and handing your opponent a blank courtesy sheet to rustle their jimmies please you in ways that no significant other ever could? TAK got yo’ back, fam. TAK can do just about anything Russian-adjacent that you want it to, except that weird blank-face robotic ballerina thing…and honestly? I’m pretty OK with that. Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.