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