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I'm pondering getting into Infinity just for casual game play at least to begin with, however I'd like some advice please. I am liking Aleph, mostly in terms of look, and would probably prefer to play them, however to begin with is it better to get the Operation Icestorm kit? Would the Aleph starter box be on par with the starter factions in Operation Icestorm? I'd be grateful for opinions on this.

Operation Icestorm is a great set, but in general I advise to simply start with the faction you want. Infinity is a complicated game, and you're not going to make it much less complicated going with another faction.

In general, starter boxes are in the general vicinity of being equal in points. They tend to hover in the 100-150pts range, with some being less (IIRC the USAriadna starter is hilariously low on points) and some are more. Grabbing either of the Aleph starters (Steel Phalanx is the starter for the Greek sectorial, if you like the Greek units more) would be a fine way to break into the faction.

The benefit Icestorm has for new players is it has some decent starting terrain and has two starter boxes if you wanted to split it with a friend. But if you have no interest at all in Nomads or Pan Oceania, just grab the starter you want and if you like the terrain, just buy it separately. It's called the Mototronica terrain pack and is carried most places.

That's great. Thanks for the info, it's very helpful.

I used to have a breakdown of the points values of all the starter boxes. It used to be that the five basic human factions were roughly equivalent, with Combined Army and ALEPH, as well as most of the Sectoral lists, being significantly more.

They're also slightly more complicated (for example, to use the ALEPH starter, one of the models needs to be a Hacker).

I would recommend starting simple; Download the quickstart rules first. I wouldn't go to the extreme of only using three basic riflemen in your first game - at least add in an HI or similar so you get to use more than one profile.

There's also another scenery set - the Hephaestus scenery pack. Same amount of buildings and crates, but with different artwork, that might be more ALEPH-themed.

Thanks again.

It should also be noted that the Nomad and Pan-O forces in Icestorm is slightly larger in terms of points than the starter boxes, so picking one of those forces to play against starter boxes is not going to make for very even games.

But as far as it goes, go for looks. Do read a tiny bit regarding story, though, since that will contribute or detract from the look and feel of a faction. Also keep in mind that tech levels is a thing and Aleph is near top when it comes to tricksy things to do - but their soldiers are an odd mix of flashy gadgets and dead drop vulnerabilities. Myrmidons, for example, have decent ARM (armour) and ODD (very hard to hit) but no BTS (bio-hazard protection) so will drop dead quick to someone with Viral ammo. They really don't like Haqq'Islam and their viral mines.

OK, looking at the current starter boxes (and not including the Father-Knight and Reverend Healer that come as extras in the Icestorm box), the starter sets clock in at:

PanOceania 126
Shock Army of Acontecimento 118
Military Orders 130
Neoterra Capitoline Army 223 (!)

Yu Jing 116
Imperial Service 151
Japanese Sectorial Army 109

Ariadna 113
Caledonian Highlander Army 114
Force de Réponse Rapide Merovingienne 100
USAriadna Ranger Force 90 (Not including the Devil Dog and Antipode or the Maverick)

Haqqislam 105
Hassassin Bahram 100 (although the box set doesn't actually include a model capable of being the Lieutenant!)
Qapu Khalqi 136

Nomads 132
Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor 132
Jurisdictional Command of Bakunin 106

Combined Army 144 (although it's not legal; the Umbra Legate can either be a Hacker or a Lieutenant)
Morat Aggression Force 141
Shasvastii Expeditionary Force 143 (although it's missing a Lieutenant)

ALEPH 162
Steel Phalanx 144

Tohaa 135

That's being WYSIWYG as possible. Some of the issues with missing Lieutenants can be solved if you relax that a bit (field the Malignos with MULTI Sniper Rifle as a Malignos Lieutenant with Combi Rifle, for example), and depending exactly which options you choose (types of CC weapon, mines, Lieutenants, etc.) you can add or subtract a couple of points here and there.

I'd have to parrot what others have said about going directly for your army of choice. OP: Ice Storm's scenarios are very different from the Infinity you see people playing in stores. You might as well just go for the real deal unless you have a hankering to either play Nomads or PanO.

300 is the standard points value for ITS while people generally plays YAMS at 200-300 points.

Usually all it takes to bulk out an army beyond the starter box is a couple of blisters at most. Check out Army5 and make yourself a little army (I'd start with YAMS since it's a lot simpler than ITS in general). For example, you could easily do 200 points (without specialists mind you, so you'd be playing YAMS) with just the starter box (use the Asura combi as a spitfire) and an Agema marksman blister.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

Combined Army 144 (although it's not legal; the Umbra Legate can either be a Hacker or a Lieutenant)

Regarding WYSIWYG the Fraacta with a Combirifle can get a EI Assault Hacking Device thus the starter box is legal, making it a 150 Point box.

Another vote for simply going with the faction you love the look of. (Though Ice storm is great value if you can see yourself wanting to branch out in future or have the ability to supply models for an opponent)

And I'd just have a few straight up shoot outs with no turn limit to begin with. This should give you a good handle on the core mechanics as a foundation to build from.

While I don't want to direct you to another forum, the Data Sphere has some great faction starter articles.

Here is the Aleph one

http://www.data-sphere.net/starting-aleph/