Dost thee remember this thread?
http://www.nagoyahammer.com/forum/viewt ... f=9&t=2489
Well I only went and followed through on what I said back a year or more ago. Corvus Belli (makers of Infinity) have released the new, shiny starter box for infinity 3rd ed these past few days, and my pre-ordered copy is winging its way to me as I type. The purpose of this thread is to provide a wee window into what it's like to start Infinity as a completely new player. I'll put up pics and stuff of what's in the box and so forth once it arrives, but basically I intend for this to be a bit of a rambling stream-of-consciousness typey thing. I'll also try and provide some background to the game (factions and suchlike) as I go.
Here's the main website.
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/
Now, being the kind of chap who likes a bit of research, while I was in Scotland in the summer I read my way through the 2nd ed Infinity rulebook, very kindly lent to me by AndrewGPaul. Here's some random things I remember from that...
Infinity is a small scale (usually) skirmish game. About half a dozen to 10ish minis a side. You could do more, but your brain might implode with the added complexity.
Your minis react to stuff. This seems pretty critical. In 40k, when a spess mahveen walks out from behind a rock and shoots at a squad of eldar, the eldar basically get shot. In Infinity if a dude walks out from behind a stack of crates and shoots at somebody, they bloody well shoot him back as soon as he sticks his head out of cover. On which note...
Cover, and lots of it seems to be the order of the day. Think "Mass Effect" every time you walk into a crate filled warehouse with gantries or similar. You know that way you just know there's about to be a firefight? Build that board...
It uses D20s as the basic dice. Bit of an eyebrow-raiser, that, although I daresay it shouldn't be.
As it is only a few minis a side, it allows for more complicated actions to be carried out (similarly to Necromunda). Lie down, take cover, turn invisible (assuming you have the tech) hack enemy AIs, and so on. Tecknikal wotsits n stuff...
The setting is only a coupla hundred years in the future. None o that grimdark malarky here. It can be all shiny if you want. Think Ghost In The Shell, or maybe Deus Ex: Human Revolution, or maybe Bladerunner. You can gritty it up if you want. Or just set your games on the jungle planet full of werewolves, if you love trees n stuff.
The setting is quite good, actually. More details later
Oh, and the minis are awesomesauce, assuming you like the style.
So, that's all for now. More Infinity musings once the box arrives, I suppose. By all means chip in if you have questions or know stuff about this game. I'm feeling more enthused about gaming than I have in ages, actually. 's quite nice
Update October 18th
Setting and factions
Infinity is set a couple of hundred years in the future. Humanity has expanded out into space and begun colonisation of other planets, via discovery of a wormhole. Travelling through this wormhole led to an inhabitable planet, and the human race has now colonised around a dozen of these planets, each reached through its own wormhole. These planets (plus earth) are collectively known as the human sphere. The human sphere, and travel through it via the wormholes, is controlled and enabled by an AI called Aleph. All human factions make use of Aleph to run their systems. An organisation called O-12 is responsible for running Aleph. Many humans (the rich ones, anyway) have a device implanted in their brains called a Cube. A cube can record someone's memories and personality, allowing it to be implanted in an artificial body when they die. However, licences for such implantation are strictly rationed, and the drug required to facilitate it (Silk) is controlled by the Haqqislam faction. This ability to implant a personality in an artificila body is what has allowed historical characters (Joan of Arc, William Wallace etc) to be recreated by the various factions.
In terms of politics, the human race is not a united whole, although the individual factions are not overtly at war with one another. The human factions are:
PanOceania(PanO). This is the dominant faction, and controls the majority of worlds. It is affluent and possessed of the best tech. This faction is the Cygnar/Ultrasmurf faction of the game.
Nomads. The Nomad Nation is not planet bound, but travels the stars on 3 giant space craft. Each ship specialises in supplying a certain range or type of services. For example one ship specialises in trade - you name it, they sell it, legal or otherwise. One ship produces highly trained mercenaries (and tradesmen), and so on. This faction is kind of the "rogue" archetype of the game.
Yu-Jing. A combination of all things Asian (in the Infinity setting China has pretty much assimilated all the other Asian cultures). They excel at diplomacy and subterfuge, although theyre not above sending in a cyborg ninja to sort things out if it all goes a bit pear shaped.
Haqqislam. Only has one planet, but controls Silk, a required component of digital resurrection. A rather easy-going form of Islam dominates.
Ariadna. The first ship sent through the first wormhole (filled with brave colonists) was lost, and teh wormhole collapsed. Some years later, contact was re-established, and the descendents of the original settlers are now the faction called Ariadna. They are Scottish, French, American and Cossacks. This is the faction with werewolf looking things (actually hybrids between humans and local alien life).
There are, however, 3 non-human factions. They are:
Aleph Aleph is the AI that runs the human sphere, and it has clearly decided that humanity just aint doing things right. Aleph faction minis tend towards either being robots, or downloaded personalities in artificial bodies.
The Combined Army (CA) Aliens! The CA is not one species. It is basically a fairly diverse group of aliens who have been conquered by an AI (the Evolved Intelligence, EI) who is hell-bent on assimilating bloody everybody. The faction is nice and varied.
Tohaa The Tohaa are an alien faction who are at war with the EI. Their range of minis is somewhat limited (albeit cool), suggesting theyre a fairly new addition to the game.
There are also Mercs, who are, y'know, mercs.
Gameplay
Coming Soon! (tm)
Further Reading
The main Infinity home page from Corvus Belli
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/
The Infinity Wiki
http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Home
Be aware that the new edition comes out in December, so all rules discussions and so on are temporary, at best. I'm given to understand that N3 is a fairly radical shift from the previous edition, with more streamlining and better English translation (CB are Spanish).
