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Hi all,

I am a long time 40k player who has started dabbling into skirmish games. I have found that skirmish games such as Age of Sigmar or Wild West Exodus are easier with kids due to lower model count, ease of transport, etc. Infinity didn't appeal to me until I saw the sculpts that corvus belli has been releasing these past few years. I found the Van Zant mini and realized he and his name are parody to one of my favorite movie characters!!! As a fan of the US of A, I saw the new USAriadna set... needless to say I jumped on board the infinity line! I also purchased some cheap sealed exclusive minis as I am a fan of collecting limited stuff too.

This is what I have purchased (or pre-ordered) so far:

USAriadna starter pre-order set
USAriadna Van Zant
Exclusive Mercenary Yaun Yaun
Exclusive Mercenary Autherized Bounty Hunter female sniper
Exclusive Mercenary Max Scipio
Limited Joan of Ark
Joe Scarface Turner
Haqqislam Kum Motorized troops x2 set


I was thinking of trying to get the operation icestorm set. Are the two forces in the icestorm set balanced point and model wise with the USAriadna starter? Any suggestions of what to purchase next or what armies are a good match (I am assuming my brothers will use my stuff instead of buying their own... so I am looking to invest in several small cheap armies with cool characters to switch in and out). I have never played the game, watched two online battle reports, and just skimmed the rulebook (looked similar to WWX, but more shooty, different activations - like batman mg - and with reactions).

Thanks all

The USAriadna starter is roughly the same number of points when compared to the two Op:I forces
it plays quite differently though because each individual trooper is generally cheaper in Ariadna than in the other factions

All armies are a "good match" as long as no one tries to skew the balance too heavily on one side by spamming a particular thing (like camo spam notably)

Also, don't base your understanding of the rules on battle reports, the most viewed ones (MWG) are consistently flawed when it comes to rules, but they do give a pretty good feeling on how things work

Balance in Infinity comes from the fact that any model can kill another model with Crits.

If anything, the terrain you bring to the table is going to matter just as much (if not more) than the models you bring. The terrain will dictate how you maneuver your models, and also how you react to different missions (if you decide to go ITS).

Friendly missions between friends? No big deal. You can have a 'kill'em all' scenario if you like, but understand that the dice will impact how things go as well.

If you're going for ITS, though, make sure that you have a minimum of 2 Specialists (Doctors or Engineers) on hand to complete them. Some people like to run 3 or 4 for redundancy, and that's fine.

Right now, your purchases are spread out.

You have all you need to play USAriadna.

You have 1 PanO model.

Mercs can be placed in most any army you want (there are exceptions).

You also have some Haqqislam.

Buying Icestorm will get you 6 PanO and 6 Nomads. The actual capabilities of the two forces are pretty similar, but they do have differences, predicated on the styles that those two factions go for.

PanO is basic shooter. Very specialized models with high tech but low Willpower (impacts whether they can hold up to a Guts roll when their Armor saves occur, and also impacts whether you get to choose Initiative or Deployment in the first roll off). All in all, their Ballistic Skill gets a bump, so that's what they do best. Shoot.

Nomads are sneakier, electronic specialists abound, and big on Hackers. Hacking in N3 has gotten a boost in some ways. A Hacker within its Zone of Control can bust a Heavy Infantry model or TAG model and freeze it completely in its tracks, or attack it and damage it.

My advice would be that if you want to start off, start small, with 6 models. Some people go with even less (3 or 4 models), but that's entirely up to you.

Thanks for the replies. Brandonkf that post really answered a lot. I'm not sure how each faction plays, I bought pretty much everything based on aesthetics; The out of place haqqislam set was only purchased because the Mohawk biker is a great model!

I think I'll dive into the ice storm set then. That'll give me three different playable forces with different play styles (keeping it small), that I can add different mercs to.

Anyone have an overview of the playstyles of the remaining factions?

I'll direct you to IJW's guides (IJW is one of the most active members of the international community, also a great guy)

faction guide http://wargamingtrader.com/infinity/intro1

Part two of his intro series covers some of the game mechanics and how they compare with 40k:
http://wargamingtrader.com/infinity/intro2