To be fair: 102 times... Because I just checked my plays for Aristeia! and after 21 months I managed to play 102 matches and most of them competitive via TTS, because for reasons... ;) That being said I have the same amount of plays like in Infinity. And like you can imagine this means that I mostly switched from Infinity (started in late 2016 and played only 10 matches the last two years) to Aristeia!. The reason for this is mostly because of the time needed to set up an Infinity table (I need about 60 minutes to set up my table and get it back into my boxes afterwards) as well as Covid-19 forcing me to play via the Tabletop Simulator. Well, you could say the time to set up a table is part of the game but if you try to arrange games with family time, work and other things in mind every hour counts. And while I really love Infinity for its gorgeous miniatures (and I play the most beautiful factions - Nomads & ALEPH - in my opinion ;)), great gameplay and setting, Aristeia! fits me even more. I like to compare Aristeia! with League of Legends. Not for the gameplay itself. But I was an avid gamer from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. Especially the games in the 90s were very well designed in my opinion in contrast to most blockbuster games nowadays. The reworks and remasters these days are telling. And LoL is the only game that keeps me engaged since its very first season and I am still playing it after over 10 years. I have the feeling that it is the same for me with Aristeia!. So what makes this game so special in my opinion and what are the PROs and CONs? PROs: It is quick, which doesn't mean short, but you don't get the feeling that it has downtimes which I contribute to the rolls for defense, brawn as well as the ability to play tactics in almost every moment of the game. It is easy to learn, but it has an incredible depth because of the 32 really unique Aristos that are currently in the game with their own tactics as well as three tactics decks and different scenarios. Therefore the depth comes from the characters which are incredibly balanced. There are some weaker ones, but you can even win tournaments with most combinations. Maybe we will see an update in the future. Great character design. Like I mentioned they are balanced and unique, but they have their own personalities as well! Every character has an interesting background, flavorful abilities and cool graphical design. No pay to win. You can even win events with just the core box. Very well designed Tabletop Simulator mod by the community that allows you playing quick and easy matches even during a pandemic. ;) Awesome "skins" for characters like in modern videogames. A well-organized online-community. CONS: Very very supersmall balancing issues with some characters that enforce certain teams to make those Aristos viable. Some artworks doesn't seem to fit the original quality, for example in the newer tactics decks expansion. Still no official videogame that shows more of the flavour of the game and the background than just the TTS mod. Would love to see a game with cool animations which shouldn't be a problem and creates a new market if done right (sales of copies, skins, arenas etc.), check out all the boardgames coming out as well as the (bad) WHU. Not every Aristo has an alternative skin so far, some have multiple. Almost no valuable marketing. I talked to boardgame shop owners and game designers and they mostly didn't even heard of the game or heard of it but never played it. Maybe the approach to use mostly Warcors (who mostly prefer Infinity) and tabletop channels isn't the right way. CONCLUSION: Best arena game so far because of the depth that doesn't come from the core mechanics which are really simple, but from the character synergies. All characters are unique as well and, apart from other arena games like Underworlds, competitive out of the box. You can even win tournaments with just the core box. THANK YOU: So a big thank you and shoutout goes to @-V- and the other ones from CB who created and support Aristeia!. I love this game.
IMO this is what has hurt Aristeia the most and has kept it from reaching a lot of people and having the sucess it deserves.
+100000000 This is a big problem new players have with infinity. I thought code one could be a solution (games at 20-25 points are easy to make and with more infinity rules could be super interesting and super fast (in a hour more or less)) but there is not support at all (no marketing like aristeia and just 4 factions super similar)
I totally second this. Aristeia is such a great game ! It's just missing a lot of communication on right channels (not only those dedicated to wargames). Maybe we could have some animated videos of the fight between Aristos, some videos from CB updated with the most recent Aristos (the latest videos have been published years ago)...
I call this the MtG Modern problem. In MtG you have the same thing like in Infinity with veterans. MtG Modern players most often have no interest in draft and casual formats and don't introduce players into the game (apart from their format). And Infinity veterans I know stopped having interest in C1 right after the N4 release and most often have no interest in using the C1 ruleset at all.
