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DakkaDakka, today I made a terrible mistake.

I let an Infinity fan talk the game up for about twenty minutes in the FLGS today.

Now I'm doomed. Doomed!

Anyway, now that I've realized that it's inevitable, I kind of want to pick a faction so I can start pumping myself up. I'd also enjoy some discussion of the game's strengths and weaknesses, so I both know what I'm getting myself into and get to feel better about my decision to give in (first purchases scheduled for april or may - ah, wargaming on a budget...).

Anyway, a little about myself:

I play to paint and I play to have fun - though it's important that I note that my idea of fun involves at least my fair share of winning. I'll admit that it was some of the specific style of Infinity that drew me in - more on that later. I like speed, mobility, and tactical options, and I seem to have a lot more luck with close combat than shooting. I enjoy dirty tricks, but in general I'd rather win because my own dudes were totally badass than because I was able to de-badass the other guy's dudes. It just seems more satisfying that way. My factional history in other games includes:

40k: Tau (mobility, strength within their bailiwick) and Blood Angels (speed, mobility, assault)
Fantasy: Lizardmen (assault, awesome models)
Warmahordes: Cygnar (mobility, cool tech) and Everblight (speed, assault, the first faction with models awesome enough to seduce me away from the good guys)

I generally prefer to play heroes to villains, though I like my heroes with a grain of gray.

Part of what drew me to Infinity was the straight-up sci-fi feel. I want to play a faction that lets me paint some of the awesome robots, cyborgs, and generally teched-up dudes. This, the guy I talked to at my FLGS said, would point me towards Aleph or the Nomads. He also pointed out that Aleph is much more "small elite force that hits like a hammer with some incredibly cool, sleek, badass models" (sounds good to me) while the Nomads are more "many tactical options and dirty tricks, plus slightly quirkier models" (which also sounds good to me). On the other hand, perusing the Infinity website reveals that the Haqquislam faction has an awesome giant spider mech, and that's just cool.

Then again, for all I know, Aleph and the Nomads ALSO have giant spider mechs.

Really, though, I'm quite ignorant. Post on this thread, and you have the opportunity to educate a n00b from (very nearly) scratch.

Thanks in advance.

You need this faction guide.

http://wargamingtrader.com/infinity/intro1

Both ALEPH & the Nomads have medium-size spider mechs which are utterly cool, check out the miniature galleries on the official site. ALEPH Rebots and Nomad Tsyklons, Salyuts & Zonds are what you're looking for, although the ALEPH Probots (death tricycles!) are neat in their way.

http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/category/aleph/
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/category/nomads/


As far as heroes & villains are concerned, there aren't really any, although Haqqislam (ignoring the vicious Hassassins) are probably the closest you get to good guys and the Combined Army (the only alien faction) are the closest to bad guys.

Part two of my intro series covers some of the game mechanics and how they compare with 40k:
http://wargamingtrader.com/infinity/intro2

You might enjoy reading these, just to cement the guy in the FLGS's opinion

http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/05/infinity-best-game-theres-ever-been.html

http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/05/infinity-best-game-theres-ever-been_29.html

http://thefrontlinegamer.blogspot.com/2011/05/infinity-best-game-theres-ever-been_30.html

I'll plus one on reading the links. My first thought when reading your history of armies is that you'd like Ariadna but reading on i think something like Nomads would suit you best. You should choose the models you prefer and go with that army as most forces can be built to do most jobs. Ariadna is the odd one out 'cause they aren't big fans of technology.

Ariadna is a great faction, but they don't have much of the "cool" tech.

Every other faction has those "spider walkers" you're talking about.
PanOceania has Dronbots. Fairly standard.
Aleph has Rebots. Fairly standard.
Nomads have Zondbots. Fairly standard.
YuJing have Yaokong. Fairly standard. They also have a Su-Jian which is essentially a transformer.
Haqqislam has Kameel Remotes. Light remotes geared towards utility.

As IJW said, there are no real 'bad guys'. This is not a dystopia.

PanOceania is 'good' in that they're a functional society where everyone has freedoms. They're 'evil' in that they use their enormous size to their advantage and oppress neighbors.

YuJing is 'good' in that they're also a functional society. They're 'evil' in that their civilians don't have as much freedom as in other societies.

Nomads are 'good' in that they're freedom-lovers that fight oppression everywhere. They're 'evil' in that they're borderline terrorists in fighting 'the system' that only they see as broken.

Ariadna is 'good' in that they're just the underdog trying to survive in a world that wants them dead. They're 'evil' in that they performed systematic enslavement and extermination of their planets' native sentient life.

Aleph is 'good' in that it's a Skynet that wants to see humans prosper and it manages menial tasks while fighting threats to humanity. It's 'evil' in that it's tremendously controlling and ultimately it's still a computer.

Haqqislam is 'good' in that they're just traders in the most valuable good in the known galaxy and they treat all customers well. They're 'evil' in that their militant arm isn't the most ethical in their actions.

Combined Army is 'good' in that they're just a bunch of aliens enslaved or allied to the Enhanced Intelligence running away from a supposed bigger threat. Wars between them and humanity have ranged from misunderstandings to humans shooting first. They're 'evil' in that they're alien and see humans are a roadblock.

So, on further reflection, I'm pretty sure that I prefer the Aleph models. My wife does, too. She also thinks I'll enjoy Aleph's playstyle more (she may not be a wargamer, but I swear, she's never been wrong about this sort of thing). That's where I'm least sure though - she gets her information from me, and playstyle is what I'm most ignorant about.

Can anyone tell me more about how Aleph plays?

I've only had one actual game so i'd take my experience with a pinch of salt. The other guy was playing Aleph.
He used one guy(A) with some mad sniper rifle to move about and kill my army. I eventually killed A but he had already killed most of my men and then he sent out a medic/doctor(B) who healed A. The player went back to killing me with A.
So yeah, i think that had more to do with me sucking really badly but from what i picked up talking to the guy this was his normal play style. He would take one man and use him like some sort of legendary soldier, if he lost him and couldn't heal him he'd swap to someone else.
I imagine that's just one option though...

It's a tricky one because Infinity factions are incredibly broad in what they can do. ALEPH tend toward elite troops but can also do Myrmidon ODD-spam, sneaky infiltration with Dasyus, Nagas and some drop troop Garudas, straight-up firefights with Devas, HMG Rebots or a mix of all of those at once.

IJW wrote:It's a tricky one because Infinity factions are incredibly broad in what they can do. ALEPH tend toward elite troops but can also do Myrmidon ODD-spam, sneaky infiltration with Dasyus, Nagas and some drop troop Garudas, straight-up firefights with Devas, HMG Rebots or a mix of all of those at once.

So, then, on some level all I need to know is whether or not the models/backstory for ALEPH do it for me, since I can pretty much use the army for whatever I want, if I make the right choices.

Pretty much. There are a few exceptions like Ariadna not being able to do hacker lists. but generally all factions can do all playstyles.

If you play to paint, then Combined Army would be a good choice as well; the combination of tech, biotech, and gloopy bits will stretch your painting skills.

Nomads, however, have... furries.

Yeh i agree, you should be able to make nearly any list with any faction. Once you decide, you also have Sectorials to consider, or maybe we should throw that into the mix now. It changed my decision...
Basically inside some factions there are Sectorials. Sectorials offer fewer troop choices but you can have more of each, they are far less restricted. Ariadna for instance has Caledonia - Mainly consisting of Caledonian/Scottish troop choices and a few extras to pad it out. Ariadna also has Merovingians - Predominantly French troops.

While Infinity models are nice, be aware that they are fiddly as hell to put together, and I would suggest pinning, everything!

Delephont wrote:While Infinity models are nice, be aware that they are fiddly as hell to put together, and I would suggest pinning, everything!

So true. They're not recommended for the beginner or the impatient.

Ah I think people are spoilt these days with their easy-to-put-together plastic kits. Where is the sense of accomplishment, or the joy, of making something without gluing your fingers together, or watching the careless sweep of a sleeve across a board carry your model on a terminal dive towards the floor, and knowing that you will need to do it all over again?

Having grown up on the likes of the old metal landspeeders, and fantasy dragons, the Infinity stuff is fairly straightforward by comparison. Tiny bit of greenstuff in the joint is often all it needs, or a pin if it's anything carrying weight.

Pin? HOW?!

I mean, really, I'm pretty good about trying to pin everything. It makes sense and makes my life easier.

But these joints have got to be the thinnest in existance. It's maddening. The one ax-medic chap for Aridiana? There's nothing to drill into on that hand unless I find an atomic drill (as in size, not powered... thought that would be cool too).

And even if I find a bit small enough, what could I pin it with that would even offer support? A single strand of speaker wire? Carbon Nanotubes? (YES!) NO!

I just keep a bottle of zap-a-gap in my case with my Infinity minis... for the inevitable!

1/32 musical wire is the way to go. I have yet to see a joint I couldn't pin with it and I've pinned my Chimera that is possibly the skinniest model in Infinity.

Musical wire hmm? I'll have to check that out.

I'd still prefer carbon nano-tubes though...

lol that basically what it is. Stuff is retardedly strong and ultra skinny. You have to be careful not to stab yourself with it half the time.

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Pin? HOW?!

I mean, really, I'm pretty good about trying to pin everything. It makes sense and makes my life easier.

But these joints have got to be the thinnest in existance. It's maddening. The one ax-medic chap for Aridiana? There's nothing to drill into on that hand unless I find an atomic drill (as in size, not powered... thought that would be cool too).

I think for the smaller stuff it's not necessary - I've put together 20 odd standard guys just using green stuff (and as said above, a thicker super glue).

I would only bother pinning if it's a big 'ole chunk of metal, something like a TAG perhaps, where the fact it's carrying so much weight means it might fall apart. But, generally, the benefit of those very thin arms and weapons is that they weight next to nothing, and certainly within the power of something like Zzap to hold in place.

ElectricPaladin, welcome to the madness. I think I saw you post over on the CB forums too. As a fellow west-coaster, I warn you that Infinity is a bit thin on the ground here, but I think we're just seeing the second wave of adoption really hit right now. The local scene here in Seattle is growing quickly after a long stagnant period.

As for faction- sounds like you love the Aleph minis, and I applaud you for adopting something you find appealing to the eye as a first faction.

That said- with the preferred playstyle you describe, it sounds like Nomads would suit you best. They're both sneaky and cerebral, and can pull some awesome tactical moves off that use the game's rules in an amusing way rather than brute-forcing their way to the enemy. They are the other infowar specialists in the game, and they do it with more style than Aleph IMO.

The only downside is some of their basic troops being older sculpts and a bit ugly, like the old Alguaciles in the basic box. However those are soon to be replaced (see the recent much-cooler Morlocks). Also, the Bakunin basic troops (Moderators) are just as useful and much prettier.

Enjoy getting into the game!

I'd just like to say, I'm heading into Infinity as well. Turns out there's 4-5 guys in my Warmachine League who have models/played a few games, but it looks like the game's finally gotten enough momentum to finally get some in-store attention.

I've got the PanO starter, but as it appears there's a couple other PanO players as well, I have the JSA box coming in. I thinking/hoping this'll replace Warmachine as my go-to skirmish game, especially since I've always favored sci-fi over fantasy.

Pacific wrote:

Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Pin? HOW?!

I mean, really, I'm pretty good about trying to pin everything. It makes sense and makes my life easier.

But these joints have got to be the thinnest in existance. It's maddening. The one ax-medic chap for Aridiana? There's nothing to drill into on that hand unless I find an atomic drill (as in size, not powered... thought that would be cool too).

I think for the smaller stuff it's not necessary - I've put together 20 odd standard guys just using green stuff (and as said above, a thicker super glue).

I would only bother pinning if it's a big 'ole chunk of metal, something like a TAG perhaps, where the fact it's carrying so much weight means it might fall apart. But, generally, the benefit of those very thin arms and weapons is that they weight next to nothing, and certainly within the power of something like Zzap to hold in place.

Must strongly disagree- sorry, Pacific.

The delicate arms in extended poses (ie the arms of almost every female fig in the range) tend to snap off really easily. That'll chip your paint and leave nasty bare metal showing, or require re-gluing so many times that you end up with big globs of extruding glue.

It's worth the effort to pin -every- extended arm etc., as it saves you time and frustration in the long run. There's nothing like dropping a fig and not having it automatically doom you to and hour of scraping, regluing, and repainting.