Getting Started: Infinity

Getting Started: Infinity

Alright, you've decided to jump in. Good choice, you're clearly a man/woman of impeccable taste.

Infinity's great because you can play on just about whatever budget you have. Keep in mind, miniatures are always expensive, and they're about the same price as everything else on the market (think $8 for a normal guy).

Starter Box

First off, get a starter of a faction that you like. That's pretty simple, and if you can't handle picking something that you think looks pretty you'll probably run into some trouble down the road in life. All starters include six miniatures and run about $35-$40.

Your box will consist of 2-3 line troopers. They aren't the strongest troops but sometimes do good work and provide you orders you can use on other better troops.

The other three miniatures will be some sort of specialized troop. Maybe they're good at infiltrating and staying hidden. Maybe they're a good sniper. Generally you can tell by looking at the picture.


I WONDER WHAT YOU DO

I've seen some people complain that they don't like specific models in their faction's box, but trust me. It'll be easier to learn and play.

Adding to your starter box:

Play a couple games, and get a feel for your army. You'll notice something might be missing (in most starter boxes this is a heavy weapon of some sorts).

I played around with an army builder to see what I could fit into my army that looked good, and helped the army along. Often times to bring it to a competitive list you'll need only a blister or two.

A great army builder to figure out what you can/should add is Alpeh Toolbox. It looks really confusing at first, but after a game or two all the stats will make a lot more sense.

Also most of the faction specific forums on the company's web page have a thread that goes over each troop and how to use them. Check it out!

Build/Find Terrain:

This is probably something you've heard before, but this game uses a ton of terrain. Like holy crap.

Because most guns can cover almost the entire board and everyone reacts to each other, an open board will end the game quickly and brutally.

Really anything that blocks line of sight is what you need. If you've gamed before you'll have some left over from other games. In the next two weeks I'll post a tutorial on making a cheap/good looking table as well as some easy/cheap terrain.

Figuring out the rules:

It helps if you're learning with a friend, but the easiest thing I can suggest is start small. Three line troops and a special guy. Play that game, get the absolute basics. Fuck up rolls, and rules. You'll get the bare basics of how to move/shoot/die. The company's web page (Here) has quick start rules that don't incorporate most of the special rules.

Then add the rules you need for your troops. You're in charge of learning what special things  your troops can do, so use the Infinity Wiki.

It's official, and has all the rules, weapons and equipment well laid out. If you're fielding a drop troop, or someone with wired reflexes, you can easily search on there and see what it does. During my first few games as we added more and more special troops I would sometimes forget to use their special rules, but that's all part of the learning process.

Things not to do:

- Yes, everyone says you can field whatever you want and it'll work, but that's not entirely true. Fielding an entire army of expensive troops with HMG's just won't work. Don't just grab random figures for your faction. Start with a starter.

- Don't go big at first. Cracking open your starter and jumping in is going to get frustrating quickly. The special rules and equipment makes sense when you read it, but only after the first couple of games.

- Don't try and play Mercs. Yes, you can. But you're limited to only casual games if you do this, and you're missing quite a bit of the fun in list building.

Examples: 

Ariadna Starter



This is actually a really good starting box set, and you'll probably use most of the models no matter how much you play.

First off you get three line troopers: Line Kazaks. They're actually not terrible, and are a great place to hide you lieutenant. There's no additional cost in SWC to make it a LT and it gets to hide among three other troops.

Line Kazak with Rifle 9 Points
Line Kazak with Rifle 9 Points
Line Kazak LT 9 Points.

So you're at 27 points for three troops. Don't get used models being so cheap.

Next up is the Chasseur. This is one of the best units Aridna can field and most people don't expect it. For 19 points you get a model with a flame thrower, who's camo'd and infiltrating (Basically he starts hidden, somewhere on your half of the board). For the starter we'll make him minelaying, it's one extra point and .5 SWC. Not a bad trade off, especially since nothing's eating our SWC yet. He's great for board control (Laying mines and making your opponent hesitant to attack till he's discovered). The flamethrower is something people will often get caught off guard by.

Chasseur Minelayer 20 Points, .5 SWC

Now we got the 3rd Highlander Grey. He's a tough bastard, but not my favorite. Smoke grenades are a welcome addition and a huge advantage to have out of the starter box. He will hurt people, and is versatile decent model, but watch out for frenzy. After he kills something he goes banana sandwich crazy and gets impetuousness.

3rd Highland with 2 Shotguns 28 Points.

Last is the Veteran Kazak. He's probably got the best stats in the box, and is one of Ariadna's best models. You'll have a couple options for this model (doctor, visor, mimetisim). For the first game just take mimetisim. His AP rifle will help crack open opposing heavy infantry, and his armor might even save him from time to time.

Veteran Kazak with Mimetisim 47 Points

So you've got a total of 122 points out of the box. Lets figure out how to bring it up to 200 points, without breaking the bank.

First off, you'll need heavy weaponry.

Tankhunters are great, and if you're on a budget, you can simply grab a blister of the ADHL and HMG one for $13, and you're just a dozen points shy of 200. But the ADHL is a situational weapon, and not the best choice to be used often... It is feesable though because the ADHL also comes with an AP rifle.

Instead lets go with the Autocannon Tankhunter. It's 40 points, and takes out anything very well. Plus it's camo!

Tankhunter with Autocannon 40 Points 1.5 SWC

So we've got 38 points left to play with, and enough SWC to do pretty much anything.

You can go with either a Briscard with heavy rocket launcher or a Para Commando with HMG. The Biscard is good if you're going up against camo'd people. He's got multi spectral visors level 1, and is great at hitting most things (you're rolling a 15 at his ideal range band). The problem is you might want something that can shoot more bursts. That's where the Para HMG comes in.

First off, Ariadna paratroopers aren't as great as the other ones. But he'll still do a damn good job. It'll allow you to surprise your opponent, and better yet, surprise him with an HMG.

There you go. 8 models, 194 points.

Starter box $35, two blisters: $19. You're sitting at a fun army for only $55.




Next post: Review: Sci-Fi City board on the cheap

Review: Infinity

Review: Infinity

Infinity has quickly become my miniature gaming group's go to game. Mainly because, we wanted to shoot each other but not in "a dark gothic future where mankind only knows war and yearly price increases". The story and factions really jumped out at us as well, so it was a pretty easy sell.

Story:

It's future o'clock and things have changed quite a bit. The US and Russia dumped the last of their resources into an ill-fated space colony effort, and the ensuing power vacuum has let other countries step up and assert their power.

Now all the different factions/nations have started to quietly fight among each other while the beginning of an alien invasion looms on the horizon. O-12 (the united nations), has been tracking the escalating tension, and the current level of tension is "Infinity", the level just before all out war.

The set up is pretty standard, but the story really shines with each of the faction's background, and a lot of the technology and history the company has added to the game.

Factions: 

I hope you like anime.

There's a lot of factions for this game, and almost everyone is going to find something that jumps out at them.

Pan-Oceania: Consisting of Australia, New Zealand, India, The Philippines and several other Asian Pacific nations. In the story they are the most powerful nation. They focus on having the best tech and the best shooting in the game. Great for new players, because shooting is an easy advantage to grasp.

I loved the look of them at first and bought an army, but the second I saw their basic line trooper, I ran away screaming. Seriously re sculpt the Fusilier. That and the Croc trooper are fucking ugly. Argh... I'm choking on my own rage.

Yu-Jing: China/Japan/Other Central Asian Nations. They're the second strongest faction in the game. Focusing on close combat. They have great tech and tags as well, but need to play smart in order to not get out shot by the other factions.

They look really anime. But in a good way. Plus the backstory is great. Basically Yu Jing thinks the Japanese are a bunch of pricks and send them in as throwaway troops... but still need them for their advance tech.

Haquislam: Probably one of my favorite groups that I don't play. Basically it's Islam without the small faction of insane fundamentalists. They focus on improving the body and mind. In game you're going to see a lot of doctors, and light infantry. I've heard some people make jokes about them because they are muslim, but I generally don't game with fucksticks so I've never seen it come up.

Nomads: Imagine 4Chan made created a society. The basic rule in this society are as long as you're not hurting the ship, do whatever you want. This ends up with a lot of body modifications, including (sigh) furries. They've got the best hackers and great special forces choices.

This is one of the two factions I play, but haven't gotten quite used to them yet.

Ariadna: The remnants of Russia, America, France and the UK's failed colony. They were separated from the rest of society for decades, and therefore don't have advanced technology. For example one of the units uses a wooden bolt action rifle. They are great at having a lot of camouflaged troopers and great physical stats. They've got werewolves with kilts, which I haven't used yet because that's dumb.

My main faction, and I play an almost 100% camo'd list, which I love and highly recommend. Of course I miss the toys. the other kids get. And the lack of hacker and cubes sucks for the campaign.

ALEPH: The AI that helps run human society has access to a peace keeping force. If you've ever seen Ghost in the Shell you know what to expect. Great troops all around, great hackers, but you're not going to be fielding as many units as other people.

Combined Army: The aliens. Very similar to the idea of the covenant from Halo. It's a mixture of several races, all combined under the flag of the EI (Emergent Intelligence, basically an AI). Like the ALEPH they've got great troops, but you're not going to be fielding a ton.

Tohaa: The new faction, another alien race that's basically using the humans as a buffer between them and the force of the Combined Army. They're obsessed with the number three, and are really fucking easy to light on fire.

The Game: 

The rules are actually simple after the first five or six games. Basically you get an order for each troop in your army. And you can use these to move/shoot/do actions with any trooper in your army. So lets say you have six orders, you can spend four on one guy, and two on another. This is considered one of the unique features of the game. The other one is the ARO. During your turn, you can react to people moving within your sight. This can be to shoot or dodge for example. The ARO mechanic makes a huge difference and positioning becomes key because if you properly cover yourself and fire lanes during your turn you can ruin your opponent during his turn.

There's rules for giant robots, hacking, airborne deployment and tons of other goodies. These special rules seem overwhelming at first. But will make sense quickly. I'm not going to go over the rules in depth because there's plenty of videos/articles that do.

My thoughts: 

The Good:

What? Your head matches the rest of your body? 

The miniatures are simply outstanding. Clean, well sculpted and just gorgeous  They're in real scale, so heads are proper proportioned.

The rules are great once you get the hang of them. It really does force you to make tactical decisions that you wouldn't in other games.

Getting started is easy. The company's web page has free rules, and there's some great army builders online. The company's support is seriously good. From a great forum, to a rules wiki that is easy to navigate and use.

It's inexpensive. Well as far as a miniature game goes. Starter boxes are well balanced and cost between $35-$40. Add a blister or two and you've got about 250 points (which I feel is close to the sweet spot for this game).

List building is good, but not where the game is won. Every miniature you'll use has a purpose in almost every battle. You can make a viable list just by picking the miniatures you like (to a degree)

The Bad: 

The rulebook is crap: I don't think anyone should buy the rulebook unless you're interested in the fluff. It's poorly translated and doesn't really do a good job of teaching you the game. Plus it's only hardcover so it's too expensive for how often you'll use it. The fluff is great, but there's no way I'm paying $50 for a book I can barely read.

The models can be hard for a new gamer to assemble/paint. Because it's true scale arms/heads are smaller. It'll take some time to assemble and because of the small size some parts are prone to popping off. If you know what you're doing it's actually a refreshing change of pace.

It's a frustrating game for new gamers: Because of the ARO and strength/range of shooting players either new to the hobby or more used to 40k/Warmachine will have a hard time with their first game. Things will seem insanely overpowered at first. During my first game a paratrooper destroyed my entire army because I didn't cover my back arc because I always look to the future, not to the past.

Furries/Werewolves: I have no fucking clue why this is in the game. I've heard some people really enjoy the werewolves in kilts, but I have yet to someone stand up and be thankful that the nomads have got a furry fetish.


"Oh hi, I'm here to ruin the theme of this great game"

Overall: 

The pro's far outweigh the cons. It's a solid game, from a great company with good support. Might take a bit to get used to, but you'll quickly learn the ins and outs. It's about as realistic as you can hope for from a game that involves therm optic camo and fighting robots. I highly recommend it.

I'll be posting an article that goes over how to start infinity as well as an in depth look at the factions.

Next Post: Getting started with Infinity

First!

It's happened...

I'm starting to blog. Sigh. My fear of doing anything trendy has finally subsided, and here I am.

So what am I going to talk about? Mainly tabletop gaming on a budget.

Like a lot of people I started gaming in high school... Hero Quest, then D&D onto Warhammer 40k... it's pretty cliched. As I got older I kind of tossed it aside while working through college and playing in a few bands.

But I'm back. And what I like to focus on is games that are easy to afford. Most games I'll talk about can easily be started (or even finished for that matter) for under $100. I also will be posting how to properly trade and use craigslist to get the most out of your dollar. For example, when I started Dystopian Wars, I managed through a series of trades to get two fleets and the rulebook for $20.

I have a small three man miniatures gaming group and a large board game/magic group.

So I'll hopefully be writing tutorials on Math Trades, abusing craigslist sales to trade on bartertown etc...

Also hopefully things are are a bit more structured then this mess of a post.