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Hi, I'm considering getting into infinity and would like some tips to help me start.
Normally I just go for the "2 player starter box" for every game I get into, but this game seems to lack one :(.
So, my question is "Where do I start?"
I love the look/short lore info on a lot of these armies, but I think I've managed to narrow it down to a couple choices (this coming from the guy who owns 3k+ of every 40k faction)
So some basic questions:
1. Is there an "Oh god don't play that army." in this game?
By that I mean is there an army that's either A. So over-powered/overplayed that everyone will either be playing the same army or just hate you for playing it,
Or anything that's so underpowered that it'll be difficult to have a good game even once I know what I'm doing?
2. Are "Starter boxes" actually good starting points for armies? I noticed a few factions have more than one starter as well. Any help here would rock.
3. I notice Mercs are a small group? Are these usable in any army or certain ones only work for certain armies? Any clarification here would rock. Would hate to buy a random merc to add to my collection cause it looks cool only to find I've bought it for no reason but looks and can't use it.
4. Where should I start with rules? Do the starter boxes actually have quick start rules or anything? Or do I have to drop cash on a rulebook just to try the game out?
5. Any other suggestions/comments welcome here. Thanks!

1. There are no 'bad' armies. There's a lot of balance. Literally, no force is stronger than the others.

2. Starter Boxes are pretty good. They typically include 3 'cheerleader' units, which are very commonly used to bulk out a force, plus 3 more specialized units. They'll almost all see play.

3. Mercs are very limited. You can play them by themselves, or include a select few on specific army lists. They aren't really a faction. Casual play, you're free to use a merc. But they're not allowed in tourneys unless the army list permits them specifically.

4. Starter boxes don't have rules, but all of the rules are FREE on the Infinity Website in PDF. The only thing the rulebooks have is fluff, and the campaign system in the newest one.

5. Welcome aboard. I say you go for whatever army has the coolest look, and figure things out from then.

Welcome to the game... it is really a great game!

1. As stated there are no bad selections... and each has there own... feel. For example Pan O is the Hi Tech, Shooty, TAG lov'in faction, Nomads and the Hackers, and so on. Pick what you like and go from there.

2. As below but be aware that some starter boxes are sectorial forces. Sectorials are "specialized" forces that are theme based (lie JSA is the Japanese force for Yu Jing). As such you can take more of a certain troop type than you normally would. The downside of this is that you can only build from a specific list. In general the starters are a great place to begin a force.

3. Mercs, I don't have much experience with them but in casual games take and use what you want. In tournaments you can only take Mercs that are allowed by your particular list.

4. Rules are available for Free!! Also there is a great Wiki that has the rules I strongly recommend checking the download for the rules and then the Wiki... There are also a great number of online army builders too.

5. enjoy, have fun. Start small with some starter box games and expand past that. After a few matches at 150 or 200 points start moving away from assassinate games and move to objective games. Infinity was built to be played with objectives so don't be shy in playing that way.

Sweet! Thanks for all the help. Really excited for this. Since I have to wait a year extra for Relic Knights this looks like a great way to help me forget :3

I would agree with the other posts. I would suggest though to try and stick to the regular starter sets and not a sectorial set for your starting point. As you get more into the game then you can decide if you want a sectorial. The only other thing to beware of is that a couple of the starters (aleph for sure and I think tohaa possibly combined army correct me if i'm wrong fellow infinity fans) are more points than the other armies. If you are looking for two balanced armies to start with keep that in mind. Past that buy what you think looks cool to start. They all play well.

 lucasbuffalo wrote:
Hi, I'm considering getting into infinity and would like some tips to help me start.
Normally I just go for the "2 player starter box" for every game I get into, but this game seems to lack one :(.
So, my question is "Where do I start?"
I love the look/short lore info on a lot of these armies, but I think I've managed to narrow it down to a couple choices (this coming from the guy who owns 3k+ of every 40k faction)
So some basic questions:
1. Is there an "Oh god don't play that army." in this game?
By that I mean is there an army that's either A. So over-powered/overplayed that everyone will either be playing the same army or just hate you for playing it,
Or anything that's so underpowered that it'll be difficult to have a good game even once I know what I'm doing?
2. Are "Starter boxes" actually good starting points for armies? I noticed a few factions have more than one starter as well. Any help here would rock.
3. I notice Mercs are a small group? Are these usable in any army or certain ones only work for certain armies? Any clarification here would rock. Would hate to buy a random merc to add to my collection cause it looks cool only to find I've bought it for no reason but looks and can't use it.
4. Where should I start with rules? Do the starter boxes actually have quick start rules or anything? Or do I have to drop cash on a rulebook just to try the game out?
5. Any other suggestions/comments welcome here. Thanks!

1. Pan O and Nomads. If you play them no-one will love you! But i'm probably just biased.
2. Most of the generic starters are a good place to start with most factions and will usually have an exclusive model that isn't available/ difficult to get hold of anywhere else. Some of the sectorial starter boxes aren't that great to start out with but are a good way to expand an existing army.
3. Um, i don't really use mercs so i have no idea. But i think the latest campaign/ tournament rules made it easier to take mercs and they will be getting expanded as a faction in later books.
4. The rules are free to download from the Infinity website and i think there are quick-start rules that can be downloaded there too. They will be easier to learn the game with if you don't have anyone who has played to give you a demo.
5 Don't go Pan O or Nomads!

As a suggestion to add to what the other guys have written, start small.

You can get some starter rules from here, made by Beasts of War but I think a great place to start:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/Infinity-QuickStartRules-V2.pdf

Get 3 or 4 miniatures (proxy anything you like!) set up a bit of terrain (more dense than 40k, assuming you have played that game). Then just have a bit of fun learning the basic mechanics of moving and shooting! You'll soon have guys running between terrain, flanking each other etc.

Honestly, the rules are pretty cool and I think the biggest draw of the game. Very simple concepts, but add so much tactical depths as you learn to master them.
Then of course the bonus is the beautiful models you get to play with as well

 lucasbuffalo wrote:
Hi, I'm considering getting into infinity and would like some tips to help me start.
Normally I just go for the "2 player starter box" for every game I get into, but this game seems to lack one :(.
So, my question is "Where do I start?"
I love the look/short lore info on a lot of these armies, but I think I've managed to narrow it down to a couple choices (this coming from the guy who owns 3k+ of every 40k faction)
So some basic questions:
1. Is there an "Oh god don't play that army." in this game?

Absolutely not.

2. Are "Starter boxes" actually good starting points for armies? I noticed a few factions have more than one starter as well. Any help here would rock.

The starter boxes can be a good starting point, but it's very iffy.
The extraneous starter boxes you're noticing within the factions are what are called "Sectorial Armies". They're alternative lists for the main force, first introduced in "The Human Sphere" book.
One Sectorial starter box isn't really a "starter box", but rather "we threw these models together and called it a starter box"(The Shasvastii Sectorial). The rest are fairly passable starter boxes and definitely will work if you want to use it as the core of a Sectorial force.

Oh! And one thing to mention as well:
Quite a few of the boxed sets(Briscards, Kaplan Tactical Services, Druze Shock Troops, and the Yaogat off the top of my heads) can actually be used as starter boxes in and of themselves.

3. I notice Mercs are a small group? Are these usable in any army or certain ones only work for certain armies? Any clarification here would rock. Would hate to buy a random merc to add to my collection cause it looks cool only to find I've bought it for no reason but looks and can't use it.

Mercs, as a faction, are not really a faction at the time being.

Certain mercenaries can be fielded as part of certain Sectorial armies however. Consult the Army Builder on the Infinity site for more details, as it's a useful tool to pare down what you would like.

One thing to keep in mind is that Haqqislam basically has a "Mercenaries" faction in the form of the Qapu Khalki Sectorial. It allows you to field Kaplan Tactical Services and Druze Shock Troops, as example.

4. Where should I start with rules? Do the starter boxes actually have quick start rules or anything? Or do I have to drop cash on a rulebook just to try the game out?

You can just download the rules off the Infinity website. The rulebooks have fluff/art you won't find elsewhere though.

Adding onto what Kanluwen said regarding (3) and Mercs:

Mercenaries are pretty much just that, factionless models. In the Infinity Tournament rules, you're not allowed to run the Mercs as a faction by themselves, and you're not allowed to put them into existing factions. There are rules to do so for casual games. Think of them as something similar to Forge World; cool models with rules if you want to play them, but not tournament-legal.

However as mentioned, there are many sectorial army lists that allow you to take specific models from other factions including Mercenaries. Haqqislam's Qapu Khalqi is the most famous of these considering they can take Druze Mercs, Kaplan Mercs, Scarface&Cordelia, and even some off-faction Nomads models. Thee choices are indicated as part of their respective army lists. Other examples would be the merc Neko Oyami being taken in the Yu Jing Japanese Sectorial list or merc Avicenna being taken in the Nomads' Bakunin sectorial list.

The lists for each Sectorial and what models they're permitted to take is in this .pdf:
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/army-lists/%5Ben%5DArmiesCP.pdf
See pages 24 to 27 for each Sectorial and what specific models they're permitted to take.

Neko is not a merc - he's the Domaru character.

You might be thiniking of Saito, Musashi Or Yojimbo (all three ARE mercs and are all allowed in the ITS rules for the JSA sectorial).

 Absolutionis wrote:
Haqqislam's Qapu Khalqi is the most famous of these considering they can take Druze Mercs, Kaplan Mercs, Scarface&Cordelia, and even some off-faction Nomads models.

Don't forget Yuan Yuan.

Appreciate all the tips and helpful info. Thanks guys!

Start by reading this great pdf.
You can play sample games with a friend using proxies.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/Infinity-QuickStartRules-V2.pdf

One important thing. Don't try to play 300pts from the get go.
Start with 150pts forces. Once you master the basics upgrade to 200.
From there you can jump to 300pts.

Infinity is a skills and equipment game.
The learning curve can be steep at first once you get into the more complex stuff.
Some skills, weapons and equipment may look unbeatable when first encountered but they are not.
Infinity is balanced. Stick with the game, ask us questions and you will discover a very rewarding gameplay.

MARC C

MARC C wrote:
Start by reading this great pdf.
You can play sample games with a friend using proxies.
http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/Infinity-QuickStartRules-V2.pdf

One important thing. Don't try to play 300pts from the get go.
Start with 150pts forces. Once you master the basics upgrade to 200.
From there you can jump to 300pts.

Infinity is a skills and equipment game.
The learning curve can be steep at first once you get into the more complex stuff.
Some skills, weapons and equipment may look unbeatable when first encountered but they are not.
Infinity is balanced. Stick with the game, ask us questions and you will discover a very rewarding gameplay.

MARC C

This is all true. When I started playing the first thing I did was use the very simple quickstart rules for the first few games. After I felt like me and my group had all the dice rolling mechanics we slowly started adding some of the more advanced stuff. Lol I remember my first game with impersonation everyone thought my Fday was OP, but after seeing him played a few times most people quickly adapted and while he still can sometimes be a beast, he usually gets taken out quickly. But the point is it's a very balanced game, and one that can be played very simply at first and then slowly ramped up to something much more advanced.