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Hello guys. So, I will just admit that for a long time I have been very resistant to Infinity. I did some research, decided ALEPH was the faction for me based on the background, then went to the online store and rapidly backpedaled out saying "nope nope nope" based on the (in my opinion) complete overabundance of over the top and annoying anime girls. For some reason I assumed all the factions looked exactly like that, and my dislike of that one faction's aesthetics unfairly biased me against other parts of the game that are actually really cool.

That said, I have recently been made aware that the other factions don't necessarily look like that to anything like the same extent. To be honest the vast majority of the models look flat out awesome to me now I've been looking around. I am getting very close to jumping into yet another miniature wargame, but first I have a few overall questions.

1. I have read that the rules for this game are actually available for free. Is that actually a thing? Can you get everything you need to play from a rules perspective for free? I have no issue buying books and such, but apparently the editing/translation quality on some of them are actually not as good as the freely available resources. Is this generally accurate?

2. Now I've actually been looking over the other factions I am finding myself attracted to two of them in particular. Nomads are one of the two because I love the "crime syndicate/money laundering" aspect of them with lots of hackers running around everywhere messing with your opponent. I don't want to load up on hackers only to find out they're completely useless if (for example) my opponent doesn't bring any robots (I don't know any rules at all right now. I'm just throwing out random examples). Can someone explain what exactly hackers do in general terms?

The other faction that interests me is Combined Army. To be honest I just love the idea that I could play a literal "army of mantis men". That would make me smile.

3.I really want to play a "control-y" type army that does lots of weird things to mess with/disorient/manipulate my opponents. Is that actually possible in this game to some extent or is it mainly a "line up and shoot at each other" type game? If it is possible are there factions that are better at it? I mentioned the two that appeal to me but I would be willing to change if my desired playstyle isn't possible with those.

4. I understand that terrain is a huge part of this game, much more-so than most other games. Is it possible to have a board that doesn't look like a city? I mean are the terrain rules (or the setting fluff) that would restrict battles in, say, jungles? (This one really isn't a big deal, just curious because every time I've seen the game played it's with urban terrain.)

5. Is the game more towards 40k or Warmachine on the balance/rules clarity scale? Those are the two other games I play and they span a pretty wide range. I honestly enjoy playing both of them and believe that any game can be fun if you're playing it with the right people, so I'm just curious if the rules are well written. I'm already sold on the setting and models. I've also been told there are pretty much no "must take" or "must avoid" models, if that's really true I will be quite impressed.

Dang, that ended up being a little longer than I thought it would be. Hope you don't mind reading it too much. Thanks in advance for anybody who takes time to reply.

1. Yes, this is a thing.
Rules, army lists and templates and markers are all available as FREE downloads from the corvus belli website.
The editing/translation in the downloads is IDENTICAL to those in the books, they are just pdf versions of the rules from the rulebooks - the pages are identical.
2. Hackers do several things.
(i) The allow you to take remotes in your list. (Remotes are essentially a unit you need a hacker (or TAG - the big suits) to 'unlock' for your list. They don't control them on the table.
(ii) they can protect your remotes and heavy infantry from enemy hackers or guided missiles. (Remotes and heavy infantry (and TAGs) can be hacked immobile - unable to act - your hacker can attempt to prevent this by engaging enemy hackers in counter-activity. Guided missiles require a target lock to be used (but the missile can be hacked - usually - and success ALSO removes the mark).
3. It's NOT a line up and shoot at each other game. It's more about fire and movement and manoeuvre. Some armies do the move/manoeuvre thing better.
4. Most players tend to have urban terrain - probably because they come from other games with a lot of urban stuff. There are terrain rules for wilderness areas, complete with how they change movement. Most people don't use them - not because they're bad, but because in the tourney environment, you are already limited to 3 turns, and with some armies, getting ANYTHING done with restricted movement AND time is next to impossible.
5. It's a different game from those two. There aren't any combos that are game winning - there are units where you get increased benefits with how they work together, but nothing on the level of WM/H. There are no "must haves" as even a lowly grunt can wound the largest models due to the crit mechanic. There are units that do the job better than others, but this is not always the case.

Good to see another starting player - seems we have a lot of those the last month or two!

Anyway, if the annoying anime type girls get on your nerves (I feel your pain...) Aleph and Nomads... aren't the best two factions to go with, though I guess with Nomads it's avoidable, with some effort and a proxy or two. Still, not ideal.

PanO for example has some boobplate and a few annoying poses if you really start digging around, but the vast majority of models are pretty sensible. With Ariadna you could get around the problem, mostly (afaik; tbh, not the faction I'm most familiar with). Combined army has a bit of it but frankly, you can work around that pretty well (and even then aside from sheshkin & speculo it's not that egregious).

Aside from perhaps Haqq though, you picked the two factions you'll be having most issue with on that aesthetical point.


Anyway; there are some issues with translations (original is spanish), though it's not all that bad anymore. Aside from that, the rules are extremely elegant, logical and concise - it just takes a few games to get used to the mindset for most.
That's just it, though; in a few games, you're coping with tactics rather than looking up rules; it's a challenging, extremely fluid game - but the pure rules are pretty easy to learn.
It seems as if there's a bunch of special rules and skills and whatnot at first; however, once you master those you 'get' every model in the game. Unlike Warmachine where you're learning to cope with dozens of different casters, units etc - here they're all variations on a couple of themes you'll get the hang of pretty quick. You'd be amazed how much variety there is in subtlety, especially given how lethal everything is (making every possible edge crucial, and every huge advantage potentially meaningless at the same time )

Download them here http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/downloads/ get the rules, the army lists, etc. The books are a good source for background and artwork, but the downloads, as noted, are the rules as they come from the book.

The Combined Army is for you if you want to control stuff. Sepsitor allows you to 'possess' some enemy models, the speculo killer allows you to impersonate enemy models, and hackers do their thing too. Infinity is anything but a gunline game.

I routinely play on a more wilderness style board, like this

or any number of tables in this thread http://infinitythegame.com/forum/index.php?/topic/16451-post-your-tables/

What models you take will depend on how you like to play. Really. Any must take units are entirely dependent upon the scenario --ITS scenarios require specialist units, for example. The game is very tactical. And Tacti-cool

LOL! The annoying anime girls might be the thing that tips me over to Infinity. I'm currently looking at Warmachine and Dust as well.
(Maybe it came from living in Japan?)

1) Almost. All core rules and unit profiles are free (although the campaign rules are only available in the Campaign: Paradiso book. They are not, however, any kind of necessity) - for the most part, if you're buying the books, it's mostly to get the fluff and art.

As chromedog says, the official digital versions are the same in the rulebook - however, I'd say that while the translation/editing isn't as good as if it had been done by a native speaker, it's more that things are sometimes odd to read rather than unintelligible. The Spanish have a more long winded way of saying things, which carries into the translation.

2) Hackers can be used to:
a) Immobilise remotes, power armoured heavy Infantry and TAGs
b) Possess TAGs, allowing you to steal control of your opponent's model.
c) can be used to protect against enemy hackers (and most guided missiles)
d) Serve as a "specialist" who can achieve objectives in tournament scenarios.
e) If equipped with a Hacking Device Plus, effectively laser designate nearby targets.
f) Allow remotes to be taken in your own list.

They're certainly not universally useful - for example, against an Ariadna list, only point d) or e) will be of any use. However, while a list can't survive only on hacking, bringing hackers and not using them is not terminal.

3. No, it's not a "line up and shoot at each other" type of game. If you're relying on sitting back and shooting, you'll get your buttocks handed to you on a platter.
The thing is, models can be activated more than once a turn, or shoot mid-way through a move, so it's not at all difficult to end a turn giving none of your opponent's models line of sight.

If you're looking to mess with your opponents the Combined Army are a good choice - either the general faction, or the Shasvastii sub-faction.
The full faction is presently the only force which can bring the Sepsitor to the table, a weapon that can actually hack into people (provided they're equipped with a Cube - basically a digital back-up of their mind). The Shasvastii (and, by extension, the full faction) can also bring along near-Invisible TAGs, shape-shifting double-agents and models that can scan and mimic the DNA of enemies near them.

4. Urban terrain is not a requirement. The requirement is really that you generously break up lines of sight (bearing in mind that the rules allow line of sight for seeing almost none of an enemy model), which can comfortably be done with jungle terrain by reaching the right agreements for how to handle it.

Like it's typically ruled that you can see into or out of, but not through, buildings (because gaming clubs often use WH40K terrain, which is like a sieve) doing a similar thing with the base of jungle areas fixes it nicely.

5. Well - if you write in with a rules question, you won't get an answer from the customer service team. No, your answer will come directly from the game designers - and, for any of these answers that make it back to the community, there's a pretty diligently maintained wiki that keeps all these responses on record.

I've also been told there are pretty much no "must take" or "must avoid" models, if that's really true I will be quite impressed.

It's not flawlessly true, but it's overwhelmingly true.
A few units are slightly more in or out of favour than others, but there's only a couple of models I'd be particularly surprised to see on the table and none I'd be surprised to not see.

Certainly, there's no such thing as a "net list" in Infinity.

Thanks guys. I'm really loving the answers I'm getting. I am surprised at how Combined Army sounds like it plays. From looking at the models I was really expecting them to be a "run in and beat your opponent to a pulp" kind of faction. Also the fact that the models I seemed to enjoy the most (Shasvastii apparently) are exactly the kind of thing I want to play.

Some of them, a couple of the weird messed up drone looking things, and one of those awesome giant insect jump troopers... I would love to put that on the table. Especially if I was stalking people through a jungle

Morats (the red monkeys) are the subsection of the combined army that punch things in the face, but there is absolutely no need to go anywhere near them. In fact I don't think you'd be allowed to take any of them if you made a Shasvastii army.

 dementedwombat wrote:
From looking at the models I was really expecting them to be a "run in and beat your opponent to a pulp" kind of faction.

The Morats (again, the red monkeys) are the violent section of the Combined Army, and not a prerequisite of getting involved in the CA (and as jonolikespie says, not even available in the Shasvastii sectorial list).
However, should you want to use the Caskuda, that's an Exrah model and also not available in the Shasvastii sectorial list - as there's presently no Exrah sectorial, that's only available in the full faction at the moment.

To explain the sectorial thing very crudely, a sectorial is a sub-faction that's limited to just appropriate models for that sub-faction, but it gets to take more of those models - and can also link certain models into basically a mini-squad. As a result, sectorials have access to a more limited range of cards they can play, but they're generally better at playing them.

It's really a double-edged sword. General lists get to benefit from variety, sectorial lists get to benefit from specificity.

 MWHistorian wrote:
LOL! The annoying anime girls might be the thing that tips me over to Infinity. I'm currently looking at Warmachine and Dust as well.
(Maybe it came from living in Japan?)

We are in the minority it seems. But I don't think liking a bit of cheesecake is a crime. After all, my Muyib chica with a Spitfire is an incredibly lethal strong independant woman! And she tends to get waaaay more kills than everyone else when I'm running the Hassassin sectorial. (With the exception of the Fidays... which tend to go out in wonderfully violent blazes of glory... as they should).


Steering back on topic, my advice for Sectorials is to make them a sort of secondary goal. Running a generic list may limit the number of models of a certain type you can take, but they also allow you to sample from the entire range of the Faction. You may like the way the Shasvasti are sneaky, but fall in love with the Anathematic model (and I mean really, who wouldn't?). Though I guess that could work both ways! You could start a Sectorial list and then pick up other models to run a generic list if you wanted. The only problem with that approach is that Sectorials typically allow you to take more of a certain unit than is typically allowed in a generic list, so you might end up with models you can't use.

This coming from the guy who has way too many models to ever use in a single game.

BUT! One of the really cool things about Infinity is that 1) Since the rules are free to Download and 2) You're likely coming from other miniature games and you have stuff... is that you can proxy all sorts of stuff and try them out! So you can easily get a feel for how things work and what you like before dropping your cash. You can read the rules till you're crosseyed, but the best way to learn them and all the tricks of the different units is to drop em' on the board and play.

Models will die, Crits will be rolled, you will have fun.

Good to know about the sectorial forces. From what I have been researching the Shasvastti actually have an "in faction" (to use a warmachine term) TAG that can do all kinds of interesting stuff, but the Caskuda just looks so cool, and it looks like it's one of the biggest "blunt objects" in the game at the moment. Could be fun to have a list all focused around control and sneaking around, then have this brick just waiting to catch my opponents off balance.

At any rate the Morats don't really interest me but pretty much anything else in Combined Army does. I'm going to read through the free rulebook and see how this game actually works. Thanks for the suggestions, you have been very helpful. If anybody has anything else to add certainly feel free to.

The Caskuda is terrifying. Between that, the Avatar, and the Anathematic, the Combined Army has some truly terrifying big monsters.

And the Sphinx! TO, Heavy Flamethrowers and a Spitfire. And Climbing Plus! It is really one of the scariest things you can take in my opinion.

Keep us updated on what you end up doing! It's always cool to see others working through the hobby, as well as what they come up with.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Good to know about the sectorial forces. From what I have been researching the Shasvastti actually have an "in faction" (to use a warmachine term) TAG that can do all kinds of interesting stuff, but the Caskuda just looks so cool, and it looks like it's one of the biggest "blunt objects" in the game at the moment. Could be fun to have a list all focused around control and sneaking around, then have this brick just waiting to catch my opponents off balance.

Don't need to run the Shasvastii Sectorial if you want to play them unless you like Gwailos, because they don't really need link teams.

Have a local Shas player that plays vanilla Combined. Runs a Camouflage heavy list with a hidden big nasty. Rotates out between the Sepsitor Anathematic, Sphinx and Caskuda since they all fall into the same point range. Makes deployment dicey since I'm never sure which to prepare for.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Good to know about the sectorial forces. From what I have been researching the Shasvastti actually have an "in faction" (to use a warmachine term) TAG that can do all kinds of interesting stuff, but the Caskuda just looks so cool, and it looks like it's one of the biggest "blunt objects" in the game at the moment. Could be fun to have a list all focused around control and sneaking around, then have this brick just waiting to catch my opponents off balance.

At any rate the Morats don't really interest me but pretty much anything else in Combined Army does. I'm going to read through the free rulebook and see how this game actually works. Thanks for the suggestions, you have been very helpful. If anybody has anything else to add certainly feel free to.

There is an official wiki that's worth a look at too. I know I find it easier to just scroll through that than to flip through the book whenever I see a model with a special rule or piece of equipment I haven't seen before and want to know what it does.

Also having the wiki app on your phone can be invaluable while playing your first few games.

It seems that with the models being released you at least have the option to avoid the annoying anime girls with their hair going all over the place... for every faction. I think Aleph is the same as the others, you get options but you might have to omit a couple figures from a starter set here or there if it's not your thing. To each their own... personally it annoys me but little by little i get to accept it... Infinity is not as bad as some other game systems where they model the girls with their boobs literally hanging out. They are getting less cheap-cheesecakey and more sexy but cool like a comic book character.

Now they've managed to annoy me in another way.... bikers with no helmets! Why? Well I guess nothing is ever perfect.

In any case the quality of the models and the game itself (or these factors combined together) is literally the best out there... and now releasing at a rapid pace amazing models, and a very sensible entry cost and good track record of models/factions not going obsolete and being overlooked.

People don't like the cheesecake?

But... Cheesecake?

You cannot resist.

Oh god that looks delicious.

In the interest of steering this back a little more towards the actual topic I'll agree the TAG with boob armour and high heels is crossing the line, but I quite enjoy models like this little lady:

You must mean the Marut?

Its a FOUR ARMED TAG with boobs and high heels. Which I think is pretty damn awesome. And ALEPH just uses a bit of it's consciousness in it when it is being used, like slipping into a new set of clothes. So when it designed them, I imagine the interesting thoughts that went into it. Particularly how deadly it is, but is so much more graceful than the other TAGs out there.

Shiva had boobs too. Might as well go for the full effect!

I think the concept of terrible beauty is a neat one. You need combat personell to interact with the monkeys you're trying to protect, so why not have your avatars be the unsettling perfection of said monkeys?

...but yeah, I can see how it can be a turn off for some gamers. I was actually very impressed when they can out with the second sculpt for Uxia, (which I then chopped up to use to make my girl a model of her Wildstar character... I should post that). I think for every cheesecake model, there's a badass female model in the mix.

Look at it this way, the game is very anime influenced... but it is also super lethal. So there is no Plot Armor to save you when you came to the fight in a leotard!


...also yes, I regret posting that picture because of the noises my stomach have been making ever since.

I think the thing that really ruined it for me was when I noticed one of the models had nipples sculpted on their "combat leotard" and the example paintjob had them painted a bright contrasting color.

Actually those are just painted on the Asura. The one I handled (giggity) didn't have any sculpted nips.

I think she's awesome because she's heavy infantry with no need for armor! Like Mokoto from Ghost in the Shell... she probably weighs a -lot-.

A no-nips conversion should be relatively straightforward

As a new player, I really don't mind all the over the top curves. It's manga influenced, fluff wise many of them are posthuman / genetically or surgically enhanced super people, and all the blokes look like sprint swimmers too, Plus, I find wandering around town on a sunny day, those ladies who do look like that do little to hide even now, never mind 175 years on

Pffft. You're in Manchester, you don't get sunny days.

We count any day it isn't raining. Which has happened.

So guys...I've actually read some rules and watched a few battle reports so I now have the basics of what's going on. Don't even ask me about the plethora of TLA (Three Letter Acronyms) for all the special skills though! Conquering that mountain will take some doing. Might be some unintentional accuracy there since the military absolutely loves to pull out weird and unintuitive abbreviations for everything.

Anyway just thought I'd mention that I've been scheming about some lists and list creation in this game is really dang hard! There's just so many options and the fact I don't know what half my stuff does yet isn't helping matters any. Is every faction as complicated as Combined Army?

I am strongly leaning towards just buying the Shasvastii starter box and expanding into the vanilla CA stuff from there. Those EI constructs look so fun. A Lieutenant that will never die? I want one!

The CA are certainly one of the more complex - they don't really have any "basic" models, with nearly everything coming with at least some special rules.

However, CA or not, the strong recommendation you'll get from almost every Infinity player is not to rush into building full size lists. Starting with smaller lists that aren't overloaded with special rules is a far better way to learn the game.

I found a lot of the rules I just straight up couldn't comprehend until I had models on the board and had a book open right next to me. That first week of games took forever as we looked everything up, but it really cemented how a lot of the rules worked for me, and soon it was less trips to the index.

And yes, exactly what MarcoSkoll said, play some quick games with 100 or 150 points worth of models. Don't worry about missions and stuff, just murder each other and get a feel for how the dynamics of the games work, and the seemingly complicated special tricks will gradually smooth out and click.

So the first week of this Escalation League is 120 points free for all with no retreat rules and optional lieutenants (i.e. you don't need one and you don't suffer LoL. Heaven only knows how you're supposed to determine initiative without one though...). I schemed up some things I think would be indicative of how I want to run my force and came up with the following. Does this looks like a suitably nasty introduction to the world of Combined Army? Just curious because I don't want to order models and then find out I messed up somehow.

Combined Army | 5 models
________________________________________________________

Seed-Soldier Combi (14|0)
Seed-Soldier Combi (14|0)
Noctifer Missile (42|1.5)
Aswuang Shotgun (25|0)
Shrouded Minelayer (25|0.5)
________________________________________________________

120/300 points | 2/6 swc
Warnings: must have exactly one Lt
open with Aleph Toolbox : http://goo.gl/8dpp9j


I really don't like the fact I don't have a "beatstick" to rambo, but Shasvastii really doesn't play that way. The week after that is 150 points with lieutenants. I plan to introduce my opponents to the wonders of EI constructs at that point, including the Sepsitor and the imetron... good times will be had.

I find Aswuang to be terrifying opponents. They aren't particularly strong, but if they get fed and you have a lot of orders to blow on them, they get mean.

Something that is cool about their Protheion ability, is that it comes with Dogged V. So even if you drop to unconscious, you can still keep pushing orders into him to keep him going. If you manage to get another kill using the ability that regenerates wounds? It turns Dogged off so you don't die as soon as you stop pumping orders into him.

This is double edged, and you have to be smart about how you use it. It can be very powerful and frustrating to your opponent. But if they get a lucky shot and drop him before he can get into range to be really effective, pumping orders into him to get him there is a waste if you could apply orders elsewhere in a more effective manner.

You might also find yourself a little short on orders at 6, but maybe your opponents will as well.

I mean it's 120 points. There's not much you can do at 120 points. Most of the starter boxes are 6 models and they're supposed to be 150 so that seems about right to me.

I totally didn't even think about the Dogged trick. That is amazing! I know one of the people will most likely want to play Military Orders (he loves his Space Marines in 40k) and I just had visions of using combat camo to slap an adhesive launcher shot onto one of those knights... 25 points just removed 42 points from the game with no repercussion? Seems like a good trade to me!