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 everyone,

I'm a long time Warhammer 40,000 player who is interested in starting a skirmish-sized wargame. I've been watching Infinity battle reports from Ash at Guerrilla Miniature Games, but I'm honestly intimidated by the d20 system.

Do any of you have any suggestions for good learning materials/videos?

Is there a more forgiving army for scrubs like me?

I know the default answer to it is "Google it!" but I was hoping to get the opinion of existing players.

Thanks for reading!

I would suggest hitting this site: http://www.data-sphere.net/

Lots of good information in the various "Starting With" sections.

Hit up the Infinity site and go to the Store area: http://infinitythegame.com/catalogue/index.html

Look over the armies and figures, see what appeals to you.

Then sort of put two and two together.

Personally, I don't like Combined and Tohaa, love everything else. So I go by my Rule of Cool and build around that.

I was also a bit intimidated by Infinity. A really good starting point is Operation Icestorm, as it gives you two forces and terrain. Run through the missions, swapping sides each time, and get a feel for the core mechanics. Keep watching those GMG batreps, they're superb. Gaming with the Cooler also does some great Infinity batreps.

The army builder seems really daunting on first look. Essentially you have two options, 'vanilla' or sectorials. Vanilla allows you to take everything from that faction [e.g. Pan Oceania], while sectorials [e.g. Neoterran Capitaline] limit you to certain choices, but give the benefit of using link teams. Have a play around with the army builder and work out what you can and can't do. If you get a red cross you're doing something wrong, and Sybilla will tell you what.

In terms of choosing what faction you want to go with, it's purely down to fluff and aesthetics - everything works.

Welcome to the game, trust me, it's amazing.

Go here http://infinitythegame.com/archive.php get the N3 rulebook, FAQ, and the Quick Starter Rules, and whatever else strikes your fancy (ITS rules and missions have a bunch of scenarios) and maybe design a small 150 point or 200 point army here https://army.infinitythegame.com/ at the new army builder, and just play. Proxy minis if you have too,

Remember that there is the Wiki too
http://wiki.infinitythegame.com/en

Basic rule is pick a faction that has the minis you like the most. This really does work.

Thanks for tips, everyone! I think I might just go ahead and buy the starter set. It's cheap for a game system test and seems like a good way to learn.

I really like the look of those Tohaa so far. I also haven't seen many battle reports with them.

StraightEdgeFTW wrote:
Thanks for tips, everyone! I think I might just go ahead and buy the starter set. It's cheap for a game system test and seems like a good way to learn.

I really like the look of those Tohaa so far. I also haven't seen many battle reports with them.

IMO buy the starter and see if you can get a demo game at your FLGS. Most Infinity players I've met have been very chill about getting people into the game, and are usually happy to run demos.

The D20 system is a little odd at first, and its really confusing to explain it. But in practice its nice and simple.

The D20 system isn't bad, but face to face rolls are pretty confusing to new people. Gone are simple rolling to hit and wound, now your opponent can actually cancel out your shots and kill you in your own turn.

Think about it like Blackjack - you're trying to score as high as possible to beat the other player, but without going over a specific number (your modified attribute).

 -Loki- wrote:
The D20 system isn't bad, but face to face rolls are pretty confusing to new people. Gone are simple rolling to hit and wound, now your opponent can actually cancel out your shots and kill you in your own turn.

This is what I struggle with, and it's only intimidating because I haven't had to do it yet. I'll keep reading, watching and trying!

Looks like I better buy that cool starter set.

StraightEdgeFTW wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:
The D20 system isn't bad, but face to face rolls are pretty confusing to new people. Gone are simple rolling to hit and wound, now your opponent can actually cancel out your shots and kill you in your own turn.

This is what I struggle with, and it's only intimidating because I haven't had to do it yet. I'll keep reading, watching and trying!

Looks like I better buy that cool starter set.

The GMG reports are a great way to familiarize yourself with the rules. The tactics, you will have to learn by playing since a lot of the nuances aren't really available with the brief views you get from the camera.

StraightEdgeFTW wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:
The D20 system isn't bad, but face to face rolls are pretty confusing to new people. Gone are simple rolling to hit and wound, now your opponent can actually cancel out your shots and kill you in your own turn.

This is what I struggle with, and it's only intimidating because I haven't had to do it yet. I'll keep reading, watching and trying!

Looks like I better buy that cool starter set.

If you can wade through 40k's tome of badly laid out and non-sensical rules, you shouldn't have a problem with Infinity.

The main difference (aside from infinitely (heh) better written rules) is that you're rolling a couple of dice at a time and need to think about actions/reactions and modifiers, rather than rolling four handfuls of dice multiple times and slowly couting out the hits/misses and doing rerolls.