infinity-ireland.org

So, you're considering starting Infinity...? Excellent!

So where to start?

With the models that you like the look of!

In Infinity you can do pretty much any play-style with any of the factions. The differences between factions are subtle and largely are restricted to matters of degree. For example, every faction has many heavy infantry choices but Yu Jing have the most and the ability to bring the most cheap heavies. The faction balance is also superb - as shown by the varied races winning ITS tournaments, possibly to an extent because factions aren't as disparate as in some other games.

So, unlike in most games where I'd suggest you pick a faction based on your preferred play-style, in Infinity I'd suggest getting the faction with the models that most appeal to you.

You can see the various factions and their models here .

The appearance of the factions varies between near-future/modern (Ariadna/Haqqislam) army look and really out there Manga (Nomad, Aleph) and Sci-Fi Aliens (Combined Armies). So do check out the various factions if the first one you look at isn't to your liking.

You-tube
Corvus Belli have their own you-tube channel. This has videos showing off the different factions, explaining the background fluff and explaining basic as well as more complicated rules.

Rules and Army Lists
The full rules and army lists are available free from the manufacturer, Corvus Belli, and you can see the links on the web-site's right hand side toolbar.

There is also a superb wiki with all the rules. This is officially approved by Corvus Belli, and as the rules are freely available they are all on this wiki, complete with uptodate FAQs, in a wonderful searchable form. It's actually quicker than looking a rule up in the rule-book if you have a smart-phone or iPAD.

On-line Army creator
There is an excellent official army creator. It requires Adobe AIR, a free browser plugin download.
Or a light-weight army creator for anybody without Adobe AIR or with a smart phone.

So how-much will it cost me?
Well, seeing as the rules and army lists are freely available they won't cost you anything. You may decide you want the fluff - which is only available in the books - and the books are gorgeous in my opinion but you absolutely don't need them.

A starter box costs about 30 euro from Martin in Gamer's World, and varies between 120 and 190 points depending on faction.

Typical game sizes would be 150 points (small), 200, 250 and 300. With 250 and 300 being the norm. To get from a starter box to 250 points can be done simply by adding two moderately expensive models such as heavy infantry or elite skirmishers. This means that you can get to 250 points for a cost of about 50 euro or so.

However if you decide that you want some of the lower point cost models in your army then this naturally makes the euro per point cost rise.

A typical cost would probably be around 75 euro for a 300 point force. This is a full-size game and I've never actually played above this level, although some do.

Corvus Belli provide some sample 300 point army list suggestions here

Note that the prices Corvus Belli quote for their sample army suggestions are RRP, so you'll find that in reality they're cheaper than Corvus Belli would suggest.

Finding games
There is a fairly low traffic Infinity Ireland Mailing list which is good for organising games.

Alternatively the Wargaming Ireland forum is another good place to introduce yourself to fellow Infinity gamers.

Most Dublin Infinity gaming takes place in Gamers World on Jervis street.

Can I try it out for free?

Yes!

There's many players on the Infinity Mailing list who are happy to give demo games to those interested in the system. So you can try it out before buying any models.

Additionally, with the rules and army lists freely available you can easily proxy models to try the game out. Infinity models are on 25mm and 40mm bases. With TAGs (giant robots!), Remotes and Bikes on 40mm bases.

40K models make perfectly servicable proxies, as do necromunda models. You can try the game out with 30mm based models too, it won't make much difference.

Your first games, a few tips
Infinity is quite different from many wargames due to the automatic reaction order system which allows the inactive player to react in the active player's turn. Weapons are also brutally dangerous.

So I'd suggest trying your first game or two at low points levels, 100 or 150, and leaving out camouflage (especially TO camo!), drop troops, TAGs and impersonators.

Additionally, good terrain setup is very important in Infinity - cardboard packaging and books make good make-shift terrain, and paint pots make nicely scaled barrels for soldiers to duck behind, so it doesn't have to be fancy.

In Infinity if someone with a sniper rifle or heavy machine gun can see you then (realistically enough!) they can kill you. So you do need a lot of line of sight blocking terrain - ideally you should not be able to see from one deployment zone to another, and be very cautious about creating perfect sniper nests with great views of the entire battlefield otherwise a couple of snipers will lock the whole table down!

And finally... even if you choose one of the faction sectorials - themed sub-faction lists, kind of like warmachine tier-lists - you can still play the sectorial starter boxes as their general parent faction. I'd suggest considering doing that at first because the Sectorials are specialists - they tend to lose width of choice and gain depth in one certain aspect. You may find that trickier to start with. Don't let that put you off buying a sectorial starter box if you like those models - just remember that you can play them as non-sectorial lists too.