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Point of this is to really get opinions on what you guys think. The girlfriend loves minis games, but hates to use a tape measurer. Tried it before and just really didn't go well. I know a lot of the game is really trying to get into that sweet spot with your guns for the best bonus. Would the game just be really boring if played on the old star wars minis maps they had for the WotC game? I feel like it would be, but has anyone else ever had experience with this?

It would in theory work fine. Some things would end up weird though, for simplicity as long as the squares were 1", then essentially a figure moves that many squares in its movement.

The real quest is why does she hate the tape measure? Is it simply the act of having to take it out, measure 4-6 inches, move a guy, etc as being annoying?

With my wife, I found if you take a small 6" ruler or create a guide, not necessarily a tape measure then it takes a lot of the 'mental' association that I'm playing a miniatures game with measuring. Simply create a move guide template, then explain you can move up to this far.

She find it very fiddly and doesent want to bend it to move around things. I think it is the mental association you described. I guess she accosicates it with building things, and not war games. We do play D&D Attack wing, which uses the templayes for moving and she has no problem with that. I can see movement working out at templates, a 4 inch and a 2 inch so most things are not more then that.

What would you suggest for weapon templates?

Have you tried Deadzone? The rules are a little simpler than
Infinity, it's all based on a cube system for measurement, and while it's own minis are great, you could easily sub in Infinity minis if you prefer them.

Not to mention, it comes with awesome hard plastic modular terrain that can see plenty of use in Infinity.

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/deadzone/product/deadzone-the-sci-fi-skirmish-game.html

Oh yea, I went in the deep end putting over 400$ on deadzone KS. Me and her have played it and she liked it as do I. I just like infinity a lot more because of the reactiveness of it and the models are waaaay better (not that deadzone is bad).

I know im asking for cake and wanting to eat it to, but id like somehow to make it work for infinity and her hate of tape measurers

If you want to use a grid, use hexes and not squares, much better to get more accurante ranges
If the problem is jsut the tape measurer itself, use a movement template as people said, like the Gale Force Nine or such

Or you can try shock teraphy, highly effective.

As for weapon ranges.....well there is a way: Take some bambo sticks and paint them acording to weapon reanges, one for each weapon. Now you have 20 or more sticks that are annoying as hell, pain to use and keep track. She will gladly go back to tape.

str00dles1 wrote:
She find it very fiddly and doesent want to bend it to move around things. I think it is the mental association you described. I guess she accosicates it with building things, and not war games. We do play D&D Attack wing, which uses the templayes for moving and she has no problem with that. I can see movement working out at templates, a 4 inch and a 2 inch so most things are not more then that.

What would you suggest for weapon templates?

If she is honestly find with D&D Attack Wing, then use just make a movement guide one 4" and another 2". You could also simply make a 4" and put a divot or line for the 2" part on the 4" guide. We actually don't use tape measures for measuring distances. We use a plastic notched rod or you can cut a thick piece of plasticard or sintra board into a thin measuring stick. Free/cheap and easy just grab a paint stick from Home Depot for free, paint and add your lines for ranges. We have the various ranges marked on it. There are a couple of different ones, depending on the gun.

The main reason we got into this habit is some gamers are really good at looking at two miniatures and guessing the distance fairly accurately. Newer gamers have issues with that so they move in a direction, think they are in range and end up being off. By having the rulers/guides on the side of the table, it gives them a better idea by glancing at distances how far things are and tend to make better decisions (mileage will obviously vary).

Operation Icestorm comes with a nice little measuring template in the cardboard components. It's got really nice graphics and all. I never use mine, if you pm your address I could probably mail it to you.