Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello, I have a question about the starter boxes for infinity. Are they designed to be balanced against each other or are they more for giving an interesting overview of the units available to the army? I'm wondering because in Warmachine the intro "battle boxes" aren't all that well balanced against each other (they don't even include the same amount of points a lot of the time) or even all that great from the perspective of things that could be put in them.

The question just came to me because I was looking over the Shasvastii (I can't believe I really learned how to spell that...) starter and it seems like the models they give you are way over on SWC for what appears to be ~150 points of models.

Yeah, starters aren't really balanced. For example, the Corregidor box needs to drop a whole model to have the same points cost as the vanilla Nomad Box (fortunately, that model is the hacker, which isn't that useful in starter box battles).

Good to know. Thanks for that. I think I'm going to go with the escalation league rules you can download from CB to get me and a few other people started then.

Good plan! You should post us up some BattReps of what hijinx you get into.

It seems like the actual armies in this game are a secondary investment compared to buying terrain. Acquiring enough scenery for those tables is not a thing that I am looking forward to. That is going to cost more than the army...

Yeah. There are a couple good threads on homebrew terrain and scenery. But yes, getting enough -stuff- together to accurately clutter a game board is a little ridiculous.

Pacific has a good thread showing his terrain works. And there are a bunch of cool chopshop things done in the P&M Blog section if you want some ideas.

Seems like this will be the game that finally makes me start scratch building terrain. Anybody have any favorite guides they like the look of? I've heard legends of people who can work wonders with terrain, but it's not something I've ever done before.

I can't remember if Pacific had his buildings on his Infinity Blog or a different one, but those were cool.

I don't know of any tutorials on this site, but I know there are a LOT of Plogs and How-To's in the painting and modeling sections. Just might need to do a bit of digging.

I have been collecting stuff to use in the future. But haven't really broken into any really hard work on that front yet. But when I get there I'll likely do some step by steps.

My best suggestion is to start with simple basic shapes for your buildings. If you can, collect little extra bits and bobs that you can add to the structures to give them a little pop... so you're not fighting in Shipping Container Land all the time.

Picking up things like ladders, oil drums, and size-correct cars will help fill up a board with quick terrain as well.

Print out a bunch of iKubes if you want to fill a table quickly and cheaply.

http://www.toposolitario.com/workshop/ikube.html

Foam core is fairly popular for quickly scratch building. If you have a good knife (Ex-acto or even a utility blade) and a steel straight edge, you can make basic shapes readily enough. Don't forget about scatter either.

Best source of table ideas is here http://infinitythegame.com/forum/index.php?/topic/16451-post-your-tables/

Those legends you've heard... just fairy tales. Pay them no mind

There's also a thread on the Infinity forums (which hasn't been active for a while now) called the "Insanely Clever Ideas Repository", which may be of use.

Has anyone used the Deadzone terrain for infinity? Once I finish the two projects I am working on (samurai and deadzone) I plan to pick up some infinity stuff, I have always been tempted by the awesome models but the rules where you can actually react to your opponent sound great,

I have a bunch of dz stuff and 10 nomad figures, I plan to use the dead zone stuff for both games. I'm scheming up an apartment building at the moment and I want to do a cost/effort breakdown against the stuff various companies make for Infinity.

On topic... doesn't the CA box come with a charontid? That's like half as much as some boxes get just on the one model . Not to mention extra rules like plasma weapon and that septi...thing. or does something else get that, may be remembering some unit we proxied in the charontids place.

Regardless of balance, they tend to be a good deal, I especially like the sectoral starters.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Seems like this will be the game that finally makes me start scratch building terrain. Anybody have any favorite guides they like the look of? I've heard legends of people who can work wonders with terrain, but it's not something I've ever done before.

Thanks Chemical Cutthroat.

Please take a look at my blog dementedwombat, I was in a similar situation as you (of not knowing where to start) so hopefully it might be of some use to you. Terrain stuff starts at the end of page 2.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/396797.page

In summary, I would say while terrain can be more of an investment (of time and money) than in some other games, it is a necessary part of playing Infinity and is actually very enjoyable (certainly, if you enjoy painting and modelling). A good terrain setup adds a lot to the experience, especially with games like Infinity as your units can interact directly with the terrain and there is less abstraction.

A couple of pointers as to what I would suggest:
- You can mix bought terrain kits* and home-made. Mine is a mix of both, so it doesn't have to be too expensive.
- You don't have to go mental! Use the printed card terrain linked by IJW above, even home items like biscuit tins, cd-towers, old electrical goods - almost anything can be used. There is nothing to stop you making up a table covered in books, just so you can start playing some games and start to enjoy it, and then gradually building up terrain. A rough recommendation is no more than 8" between each terrain piece - I would also recommend sticking to just 1 'level' (i.e. not making sniper perches) to begin with.
- Take a look through the Dakka terrain threads and community thread, there are loads of ideas to get inspiration from.

* There are quite a few Infinity-focused terrain companies out there these days. Off the top of my head, you could try a google search for:
- Micro Arts Studio, Bandau, Sarissa Precision, Antenociti's Workshop, Warmill, Warsenal

That blog is really amazing Pacific. Certainly gives me some ideas to aspire to. Here's something I have found completely on accident. Not nearly as awesome looking as your stuff but a little easier to get at for a novice terrain builder. (skip to around 3"30 if you just want to look at the terrain)

I found a thread here about going to the local hardware store for terrain items. I made a list and set out. Spent about $20 or so to pick up some electrical boxes and various sizes PVC, as well as those plastic rebar clips.

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up 1" blocks and some barrels to use for scatter. Spent time in Dollar tree to pick up those plastic CD crates to use as buildings.

Finally, wargaming trader had some advert print outs that slip inside Chessex dice cubes. A bit of foam core for stairs and metal brackets to make bridges across buildings and of course the printable Ikubes and about $40-$50 in all and I had plenty of terrain. Plus, it all fits into one of those collapsible office crates for transport.

Cerrik wrote:
I found a thread here about going to the local hardware store for terrain items. I made a list and set out. Spent about $20 or so to pick up some electrical boxes and various sizes PVC, as well as those plastic rebar clips.

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up 1" blocks and some barrels to use for scatter. Spent time in Dollar tree to pick up those plastic CD crates to use as buildings.

Finally, wargaming trader had some advert print outs that slip inside Chessex dice cubes. A bit of foam core for stairs and metal brackets to make bridges across buildings and of course the printable Ikubes and about $40-$50 in all and I had plenty of terrain. Plus, it all fits into one of those collapsible office crates for transport.

This.

Dollar Stores are like the Junkyards of cheap inventive terrain. You can walk into one with a 20 dollar bill and walk out with enough scatter terrain to last you a while. (Just needs some primer and a quick paint job usually).

 dementedwombat wrote:
It seems like the actual armies in this game are a secondary investment compared to buying terrain. Acquiring enough scenery for those tables is not a thing that I am looking forward to. That is going to cost more than the army...

First thing would be to decide what kind of table you want. A clean looking future city? A jungle planet with lots of bushes and foliage blocking line of sight? A small tribal village about to be introduced the the devisation of massive walking tanks and cyborg ninja?



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Cerrik wrote:
I found a thread here about going to the local hardware store for terrain items. I made a list and set out. Spent about $20 or so to pick up some electrical boxes and various sizes PVC, as well as those plastic rebar clips.

Then I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up 1" blocks and some barrels to use for scatter. Spent time in Dollar tree to pick up those plastic CD crates to use as buildings.

Finally, wargaming trader had some advert print outs that slip inside Chessex dice cubes. A bit of foam core for stairs and metal brackets to make bridges across buildings and of course the printable Ikubes and about $40-$50 in all and I had plenty of terrain. Plus, it all fits into one of those collapsible office crates for transport.

Mind linking the thead?

I've purchased a few small appliances recently in the way of a blender and some plant growers with molded cardboard packaging. They look promising as the basis for industrial facilities and forts, and they were basically free.