Infinity

I don't really have any idea of what to write about, so I figured I'd post some pictures from a game of Infinity I played a couple of weeks ago and give my thoughts on the game.

Yu Jing

Above is my collection of Yu Jing faction figures.  I don't think I can actually field all of them at once, or if I could it wouldn't be the best choice.  When creating an army "list," you have to contend with the usual points values but in addition to that is SWC (special weapons something) and more importantly, the number of orders your force has at its disposal.  SWC limits the number of big guns and fancy gadgets you can bring to the battle.  The tournament limit is 6 SWC for a standard 300 point list.  Orders are trickier.

Infinity is driven by its order system.  Basically, each figure contributes one order to your pool.  There are some exceptions, but for the most part one man (or woman, or werewolf) equals one order.  So, while getting to 300 points and staying at or under 6 SWC isn't that hard, you don't want to do that if you're winding up with 6 or 7 orders.  It seems that the sweet spot is 10 orders in a 300 point list.  So while I can get to 300 points with little trouble, the maximum orders I'll have with the figures I currently own is 7 maximum.

Yu Jing High Value Target

And the figures are the second best thing about Infinity.  They are what got me interested in playing in the first place.  In every game you have to place a High Value Target (HVT) that your opponent will try to do various things to in order to score points.  The Yu Jing HVT pictured above is one of the reasons I chose it as my faction.  That and the fact that it was one of the two factions in the two-player starter set that had just been released.  But all of the models are pretty great.  Almost impossibly difficult to assemble, being all-metal and very delicate, but absolutely gorgeous.

The third best thing about Infinity is the setting.  The quick lowdown is it's the future and mankind has expanded beyond the solar system.  But it's not 40,000 years into the future, just a few centuries.  The world as we know it is gone, replaced by the superpower of Panoceania, kinda like Australia writ large, and Yu Jing, sort of a combination of Communist/Imperial China and Japan (though in the latest background Japan has separated itself).  Along with that you have Aleph, which is the AI that runs everything for humanity, and well, I won't go into it anymore because I'm no expert.  Why am I no expert?  Because the background information is for the most part contained in the physical rules you can buy, which I don't own.  But how can I play the game without owning the rules?

Because, the number one best thing about Infinity, is the rules.  And they're free.  So many miniature games falter over how to handle turn order.  Who gets to go when.  Right now, Infinity does the best job of handling this crucial part of miniature gaming.  Each turn (there are three) one player is active and the other reactive.  Once the active player is finished those roles reverse.  On the active player's turn, he issues orders, one at a time, to his soldiers, who can be ordered multiple times in a given turn.  The beauty of the system is that the reactive player gets a chance to react to what the active player is doing by winning an opposed die roll.

The game is complex.  Dense is another good description for it.  The action/reaction system demands both players full attention.  Additionally, there are numerous weapons, abilities, and pieces of equipment each figure has that can take awhile to learn.  But the game is incredibly fun and worth the learning curve.

I'm looking forward to playing the game much more in the future.  The buildings shown in these pictures are 3D prints made by the guy who taught me the game.  Which leads me to another observation, the game doesn't require many miniatures, but you'll need a lot of terrain.  Or someone else's!

Imperial Service Judge and Ninja Bodyguard