Tax return time! So, with my admittedly modest return, I'm ready to buy my first Infinity minis! But I could use a little help: Operation Red Veil and Operation Ice Storm are supposed to be good starting points, but I seem to recall one of them is a pain to assemble. I do not remember which one, though. I am not a beginner at painting and assembling, but I'm not advanced either. Used to Privateer Press miniatures, plastic and metal, know how to pin (although I hate it) if need be. I do not need the full rule book at this time, correct? Any other little add-ons that would be nice/helpful for a first player / buyer? I will be the ONLY Infinity player on Maui so far as I know. So, I want to get the two-player box so I can hopefully get someone else to play with me :)
You don't have to buy the rulebook ever. The rules are all free to download from CB's site. The only reasons to buy the books are: Exclusive Minis, Art and Game lore. If you only want rules, you don't have to spend a dime on books. I don't know about how hard to assemble these models are supposed to be. They all felt quite easy for me, although I would advise on choosing you starter box based more on which factions you like visually than whether the models are easy to build or not. Also, there are three starter boxes now: Icestorm: PanOceania (Shooty, in you face faction) vs Nomads (Tricksy, hacker heavy faction); Red Veil: Yu Jing (Badass Asians, balanced faction tending to elite) vs Haqqislam (Good guy Islam, balanced faction tending to horde); Coldfront: ALEPH (very elite faction with expensive but strong models) vs Ariadna (Tricksy, camo heavy faction); So pick one, get both the Operation and the Beyond boxes so you have two 300 points armies, and go to town.
I don't know which faction I'd favor. It looks like Red Veil would be the easier, more straight-forward one buy, though.
Coldfront was easy to put together. Haven’t had the opportunity to put Red Veil or Icestorm together. Between Red Veil and Icestorm, I would choose Red Veil. All for subjective reasons though. I like the models better, think I would use those models more than the Icestorm ones down the road, like the terrain better, like the Beyond models better, etc. Good luck with your decision.
The faction is quite important, since while the game does not require to have every single model of your faction, the "gotta have them'all" feeling is in full effect here. Each faction has an aesthetic (more pronounced and defined since the start of the 3D sculpt, but at the same time the model positionings are more and more recycled) and a game style. Recently, ALL factions got an "elite", single combat group (10 orders, which usually means 10 to 20 models depending on extras) in the last wave of "subfactions" (sectorials), and some factions have been discontinued in the production of models (all more or less old). As for where to start, you can go straight for what you want, asking in the different faction's forums. Remember however, that the following factions have discontinued models: Merovingia (french in Ariadna) Acontecimiento (South-American in PanOceanía) Qapu Kalqui (naval part of Haqquislam) Part of Tohaa (alien faction, Tohaa). Also, be wary of Shasvastii (from Combined Army), since the whole range of models has been discontinued, and will be renovated later this year. As for the factions: PanOceanía: corporations as a state. Nomads: all the anarchists, chaotics, freaks, strange people, people who run from the law... Strange, vital, follows combo tactics and going around problems instead of punching through. Aleph: Artificial Intelligence faction. Being happy is mandatory, Citizen ;p Yu Jing: All Asian cultures but for the Japanese (those "recently" seceded), tons of heavy infantry. Ariadna: people from today, spent a century or three isolated in the Wild Wyld West (change native americans for vicious "were"wolves) and have a current-military look. Haqquislam: good guy muslim, humanists and biotechnicians supreme. Also with a whole army of Hassassins, sanctioned by their state :p Tohaa: If you know of Wh40k, "eldar" lite: we are being pummelled in war, so let's lure the enemy to fight other enemies to get time. Aliens, "allied" to humanity. Combined Army: We are the Borg, but won't mind-rape *all of you* (only some) ando won't fill *all of you* with implants. Subfactions here are specific species within (Shasvastii => infiltrators and schemers, Morat => angry monkeys with "only the best rule" and they are the best) and elite mixed assault corp (Onyx => kill them all, then get the objectives).
The Dice Abide has a pretty good post about the different factions: https://www.thediceabide.com/blog/2018/8/3/infinity-which-faction-is-for-you
Is it safe to assume that starter packs / sectoral starter packs are balanced against each other? So if I buy X and my friend buys Y, they should be roughly equal? I play another game that has starter packs that are criticized for NOT being balanced against each other (albeit I never get good explanations why).
To expand on this, this 2 player battle packs (Icestorm, Coldfront, Red Veil) are all designed to teach the game and roughly balanced, with the contents coming in at around 180 points. The 6 model starters are more "start collecting" boxes than "start playing" and vary somewhat in points value and SWC, some aren't even technically legal out of the box.
Do note that CB's official proxy policy is incredibly lax, so don't feel like you need to play WYSIWYG at all. Buy either and operation box of a starter and just play around with some units in faction through proxy. Considering neither you nor whoever you play against will have any prior knowledge about what a unit actually is on the table, there's almost no chance that they will think it's something else accidentally. Just make sure to keep copious notes on what is what and share them freely with your playing partner(s).
Well, there's no organized play here (as noted, I'm pretty sure I'll be the ONLY player on Maui), so I'm not terribly concerned about what is or isn't tournament legal. I still want to support CB, plus playing Infinity with Warmachine minis seems sort of silly!
Haha, didn't mean to use another game's minis. Just that whatever starter you get, you don't have to stick to the troop profiles that are there. Swap 'em out for something else in the army. It can help guide your next purchases.
Gotcha :) I know I was to get some JSA later on but that's because I want the medics to be Okinawans. Because I'm 1/2 :p
Okay, I think I'm going to go with Red Veil. It seems to be straight forward on both sides (versus one seemingly straightforward and one "tricksy"). Minis look nice. Looks good! Now to wait on that durn refund to come in :)
I think I'd do better with proxies in the meantime. I seem to have an easier time with that, and TS seems a little iffy to me. I keep thinking they're one lawsuit away from going out of business :/
Do the starter boxes come with much in the way of terrain? I see pictures of what's supposedly in Red Veil, but just want to be sure.
They come with a small intro mat, 4 of the buildings, 4 cubes, and 2 bridges. It's enough for the tutorial missions and Recon, but you need 4 or so of those card packs to fill a 4x4 table with just the CB terrain.
The good news in that regard is that most of the card terrain sets ARE available separately, as well (maybe not the last lot just yet)