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Sorry if this is in the wrong section but I was thinking of starting some mercenaries after fi ding that nothing appeals as a second army to me in in warhammer 40k for wargaming. How should I start my army? How different is it to 40k? How many models should I expect to field in a smallish point game. What sort of scale of games do I start with and does it function like 40k with points values on squads? Help as I have just made a first look in the site.

Alright, this should really be moved to the Infinity general sub-forum.

To answer your questions, I will try to go one-by-one:

Basically Infinity is very much different than 40k, so the change will most likely be a bit jarring. This is because Infinity is a squad-based skirmish game where you are more than likely fielding no more than 10 models at the 300 pts level, and each model acts independently for the most part. Instead of having set phases and a model only have one activation, each model provides an order that anyone in the squad can use. For an order, you can do certain actions and skills, and after that is done the order ends and is expended. As well, the main selling point of Infinity is the ARO- The Automatic Reaction Order. This is like overwatch, but it occurs every time when an active model gets in the line-of-sight of a reactive models reactive turn (hence the tagline "It's always YOUR turn"), and can do more than just shoot potentially. Also, your leader is a LOT more important in Infinity, as him getting him killed affects you until you elect a new lieutenant. The same is said for terrian, as a good/decent amount is what makes this game thrive since cover plays a big, important part.

For the amount of models and level of small points game, the points level is usually 150 or so. This translates to 5-6 models, so this is a good starting point. Infinity also has two points values: Normal cost and SWC. The SWC is you points you can spend on special equipment and specialists like hackers, HMGs or Sniper. But, you only get 1 SWC per 50 points.

I say look more into it and take a look at the Community stick in the Infinity Discussion forums. Also has links to video of gameplay, the rules and that.


If you do join, then welcome to Infinity!

To answer your questions one by one.

Mercs as an army are more complicated than any other "faction" force. There are merc units that you can take and then you can take units from other factions (NOT ALIENS like tohaa or combined) though.

How different is it to 40k?

Cover matters ONLY if you are in B2B with it.
Reserves come in WHEN YOU want them to come in (sometimes when you don't but you can often hold them back).
Bullets hurt. There is no "wound roll". If you are hit, you hope your armour saves you.

Otherwise;

EACH model is its own unit.
"Squads" do exist but these are called "fire teams" and use a variation of the "fireteam" rule. These have more advanced rules over individual models, too.
Not every army can take them (they are limited to the sectorial armies - sub-factions - for the most part).
Does it use points values?

Points? Yes. Two values. Points cost and SWC (Support weapons cost). For every 50 pts of the points level you play at, you have 1 SWC to use in your list.

There's also a thing called AVA. Unit availability. This determines how many of that unit are allowed in your army - REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY POINTS YOU ARE PLAYING. This varies from AVA1 for specific models or characters, to AVA total - for line troops. Total means you can have as many of them as you can fit into the list allowing for points/swc. If the unit is AVA1, then you can only EVER have ONE of them.

Sniper weapons, heavy weapons, certain specialists ALL use up both points AND SWC. Certain other models ALSO use up SWC and points.

At 100pts, you have 2 SWC and generally will see 5-6 models on the table - with one or two heavy weapons. This is roughly equivalent to a 500pt game of 40k.

Most players increase points levels in lots of 50pts/1 swc - so you will get 100-150-200-250-300, etc.

Many of the tournaments use 300pt/6 SWC level forces (around a 2000-2400pt 40k game). Whilst the SWC is greater for these games, you still can't take MORE than the unit AVA for those units.

You can easily start with a "faction" starter (which vary from 120ish points up to 240 or so points and generally have 5-6 models each.

Actions are done by spending "orders", and this generally allows ONE model to act (see: Each model is its OWN unit).
Each model generates ONE order.
These orders can be spent ALL on one model, one on each or any combination thereof.

 chromedog wrote:
To answer your questions one by one.

Mercs as an army are more complicated than any other "faction" force. There are merc units that you can take and then you can take units from other factions (NOT ALIENS like tohaa or combined) though.

How different is it to 40k?

Cover matters ONLY if you are in B2B with it.
Reserves come in WHEN YOU want them to come in (sometimes when you don't but you can often hold them back).
Bullets hurt. There is no "wound roll". If you are hit, you hope your armour saves you.

Otherwise;

EACH model is its own unit.
"Squads" do exist but these are called "fire teams" and use a variation of the "fireteam" rule. These have more advanced rules over individual models, too.
Not every army can take them (they are limited to the sectorial armies - sub-factions - for the most part).
Does it use points values?

Points? Yes. Two values. Points cost and SWC (Support weapons cost). For every 50 pts of the points level you play at, you have 1 SWC to use in your list.

There's also a thing called AVA. Unit availability. This determines how many of that unit are allowed in your army - REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY POINTS YOU ARE PLAYING. This varies from AVA1 for specific models or characters, to AVA total - for line troops. Total means you can have as many of them as you can fit into the list allowing for points/swc. If the unit is AVA1, then you can only EVER have ONE of them.

Sniper weapons, heavy weapons, certain specialists ALL use up both points AND SWC. Certain other models ALSO use up SWC and points.

At 100pts, you have 2 SWC and generally will see 5-6 models on the table - with one or two heavy weapons. This is roughly equivalent to a 500pt game of 40k.

Most players increase points levels in lots of 50pts/1 swc - so you will get 100-150-200-250-300, etc.

Many of the tournaments use 300pt/6 SWC level forces (around a 2000-2400pt 40k game). Whilst the SWC is greater for these games, you still can't take MORE than the unit AVA for those units.

You can easily start with a "faction" starter (which vary from 120ish points up to 240 or so points and generally have 5-6 models each.

Actions are done by spending "orders", and this generally allows ONE model to act (see: Each model is its OWN unit).
Each model generates ONE order.
These orders can be spent ALL on one model, one on each or any combination thereof.

Actually take chromedog's word better than mine. He explained it much better than I did.

Welcome to the game Feel free to ask whatever questions you want, and if you are worried about whether the subforum is right or not just hit the yellow triangle and we'l lsort it.

Hope you find what you're looking for in Infinity. I think it really is a great game. When some of my 40k friends asked about it I described it as "What Necromunda would be if it was released today after taking advantage of everything we've learned about game design in the last 20 years." You could also compare it to the X-COM video games. One of the factions is even a very good copy of the aliens from that series.

The only thing that I don't like is the lack of a solid campaign system. There is a campaign book released though, so you could probably take that system and write your own missions for it if you were so inclined.

Oh, and if you want a mercenary type force, maybe Nomads might fit what you're looking for without needing to go full on mercenaries (I haven't explored the rules for mercenaries fully, but they looked complicated). Nomads are basically a bunch of people that live on space ships and deal in information, trade, and various illegal activities. It isn't such a great stretch of the imagination that some enterprising Nomads would hire their services out to various minor powers who can't support their own elite strike teams.

That's a lot of what I think is really cool about Infinity. All the battles you do represent various special forces units skirmishing over some important objective. It could be literally that a diplomat is walking down the street to get a burger and suddenly a dropship flies overhead and spits out a kidnapping force, then the diplomat's guards move into action, and you have a firefight in the middle of downtown.

That's what the sectorial force "Qapu Khalqi" are.
Formally, a Haqqislam army option, they have several nomad units as "hired advisors" - including the Iguana TAG - as well as outright mercs like SCARFACE (another TAG).

Ok, I have looked on the website and I can't find if there are any rulebooks templates or starter kits avaiable. Can someone please point me towards either a nomad or mercenaries starter kit and rules?

The official site?

Rulebooks are at http://www.infinitythegame.com/store/index.php?f=1&s=1 but the 2nd edition rulebook is due to be replaced later this year. However all the rules are available for free from http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/downloads/

Mercenaries aren't a playable force in official tournaments so they don't have their own starter.

The 'vanilla' Nomad starter has been discontinued as it makes up part of the upcoming Operation: Icestorm two-player starter, but it should be available separately some time after that.

Bakunin and Corregidor are sub-factions of Nomads, their starters:

http://www.infinitythegame.com/store/articulo.php?o=3&b=nomad%20starter&id=299
http://www.infinitythegame.com/store/articulo.php?o=3&b=corregidor&id=2248

However as you appear to be in the UK I'll also point you towards my store where you can see all the starters at once.

http://store.wargamingtrader.com/infinity/starter-pack