Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Indicium: The Path to Infinity - Getting Started

Are you tired of supporting a game company that makes you pay a premium for an insanely protected, poorly supported, infrequently updated ruleset all the while claiming to just be interested in selling toy soldiers? Do you have fully painted models gathering dust because you can't "make them work" in a newly competitive environment? Are you tired of painting endless squads of the same miniature over and over again only to be forced to keep them protected in metal boxes until they are ready to pop out and die?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, have I got a miniature, table-top, war game for you!

I present for your reading pleasure a brief introduction and a set of links designed to get you and your gaming group up and running on Infinity. Infinity is a 28mm, skirmish level game set in the near-future where high-tech is the norm and humanity has only recently spread itself across the stars.

The appeal that Infinity has for me is the science fiction setting, the 28mm scale, and the ability to use miniatures from other companies almost seamlessly. Specifically, miniatures from the 40k universe work very nicely in Infinity and have allowed me to enjoy my painted soldiers in a different venue.

Getting started with Infinity is as simple as grabbing their quick start rules and setting up a small table:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/2011/access/quick-start-rules/

Of course, as an experienced war gamer, you are ready to dig into the main rules which can be found here:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/rules/[en]Rules.pdf

Corvus Belli (CB - the maker of Infinity) has also released an expansion called the Human sphere:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/rules/[en]RulesHS.pdf

CB provides some basic video tutorials that give you a good sense of how the basic game mechanics work:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/category/wiki-beginning/

Now that you have the essentials of the game down, it's time to choose an army. CB makes this incredibly simple by providing an online army generator here (be patient, it loads a little slowly):
http://infinitythegame.com/dt_army/


Selecting one of the factions' icons launches the army generator for that specific faction. Each faction has its own units, with respective abilities and points values. Click a model from the list selection and it is automatically added to the army list. Infinity games are typically played between 200 - 300 points, but can be readily played at the 150 point left.


Another amazing facet of Infinity is the searchable wiki available with the complete set of rules. In fact, clicking one of the attributes at the header level of the unit entry in the army generator launches a new window with the wiki entry for the selected attribute.

The Infinity wiki is found here:
http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Home

On a final note for getting started you will need terrain... and lots of it! Fortunately, there is another awesome resource out there for getting quality terrain set up very quickly. The IKUBE series from Topo Solitario offers beautifully crafted, printable, foldable terrain that doesn't even require glue - and it's all free! Of course Topo provides more complex terrain elements but for getting started with Infinity the IKUBE series is second to none.

I hope I have provided you some insight into getting started quickly with Infinity. Stay tuned as I will continue to post Infinity articles related to army selection, gameplay, and tactics within this very cool universe.

5 comments:

CounterFett said...

That is AWESOME! Thanks for all of these links. I really like the Infinity setting, it reminds me of Mass Effect. It seems like pretty dense reading though, and I am happy there are quick start rules now, the only thing I had been able to find previously was the main rules.

How do you swing using 40k minis though? I thought it was like Warmahordes, where the minis had their own card/record sheet and that was the only way to pick units.

Morgrim Dark said...

Fett, Infinity has a common set of weapons that can easily translate into 40k:

40k infinity
lasgun - combi rifle
bolter - spitfire
heavy bolter - HMG
sniper rifle - sniper rifle

Not sure about the card concept... I just pick troops from the army generator and match them to the existing minis I have. For example, I have been using metal Grey Knights as my the Magister/Teutonic knights with the storm bolter counting as the panzerfaust.

Of course, the Infinity minis are gorgeous and you will find yourself considering them after only a few games ;)

Tim said...

Awesome post, Morgrim and I love the intro, pretty much sums up all my problems with 40k and why I really enjoyed the refreshing switch to infinity.

I've actually thought about using a bunch of my fire warriors to run a Pan O list for a change. With a Crisis Suit running as a TAG. Drones as remotes. Should give me a fun way to play with my painted Pulse Carbine armed Fire Warriors.

Morgrim Dark said...

OSH, that sounds like a great way to use Tau. A Crisis suit would make a great Cutter or Seraph... hmmm giving me ideas!

CounterFett said...

Wow, OSH, I hadn't thought of that either.

Thanks Morgrim, after checking out the army builder, you're right of course, I should be able to figure it out.