Hello guys, I saw a lot of topics about units optimizations, factions ranking and cost-efficiency of units. I felt like these could be really dishearting for players that are not always on competitive mindset. Moreover, all these subjects take into account the fact that the game is played on a 300pts table, without insights on the terrain. And that's a shame, because infinity rules emphasize so much over both terrain capabilities and army sizes. If think that most of our vision from the game is blurred by the conventions we have of what a table - and a game - are. So here it is, the cheap and funny tricks we have in my local meta to create different gaming experiences. Let's bring some spice ! Golden rule : Have fun. Do not add anything if it slows your game or make the experience tedious. Here we are ! You have 3 different missions, and each player is ready to build 2 different lists. But right before this, add some depth to the table by doing one, several or all of these things: 1 - Breaking the homogeneity When you setup your table, it's tempting to make a table with an even repartition of terrain. This means that depending on how much scenery you place, the whole table is either "open" or "closed" for shooting. Instead, try to create clusters of terrain and other spaces quite open. Using this method gives several benefits: - roads : having places where only a S2 can go is really interesting. Silhouette management happens rarely until we bring a TAG on the table. If you do closed and open spaces, you create unique playstyles for both big and small infantry. - rangebands : obviously, high-density terrain will be perfect place for a shotgun or smg while low density is perfect for snipers and hmgs - specialization of scenario : what if your terrain is divided in 4 quaters in the midfield ? The mission will be impacted, and deployment/initiative will surely be affected. Thinking terrain with classic scenarios limits (where is the middle of the table ? where are the quadrants ? ..etc) help to improve overall game experience. - assymetry : assymetry is good. It means that taking a specific side of the table gives a strategic advantage. Is it defensive ? Offensive ? Again, the strategy is impacted. 2 - Special scenery Infinity brings plenty of different characteristics on each units. Yet, we rarely use them on terrain. Take time to talk with your gaming partner : what interesting rules could we add ? I advice to use 1-2 special rules at the time, no need to overcomplicate things. If you feel at ease, increase the amount for maximal brain stimulus. Here are some small examples of rules that we use in my local gaming group -it really brings new opportunities on the table- : - D-Charging walls : Select specific walls, crates or barricades. Units with D-Charges can break them using a short skill and passing a WIP roll when in contact. Engineers can reroll the test for free. This short skill generate AROs the same way interacting with a console does. Consider that explosion is located on the wall - it doesn't hurt people around. Then remove this scenery piece at the end of the activation. - Smoking factory : Select a specific building with pipes or chimney and place a smoke template on it - some steam or cloudy thing comes out of it. It acts exactly like a normal smoke but stays during the whole game. - Buzzing generator : Select a specific building which does radio waves or electrical perturbations and put a white noise template on it. Works like "smoking factory". - Dead surface : Select a deep hole, acid pool or lava. Units entering in contact with this zone are removed from play (dead). Note that you can still jump over it without harm. - Hack interaction : Select a door, force field..etc anything that can change state (open/closed..etc). If it's in range of your hacker (repeaters included) you can use a short skill tp change it's state by passing a WIP roll. This short skill generate AROs the same way interacting with a console does. The state switch happens at end of activation. - Explosive : Fix a profile for this scenery (we usually put 1STR 0ARM for a barrel). It gains the rule "Explode". - you got it, now do your own ;) 3 - The generic rule Some missions already set a "generic rule" over the game table (jungle/mountain terrain..etc) I encourage to do the same on a classic game by using one of these: - Special terrain : the level 0 (your game mat, table, whatever) becomes jungle/moutain/aquatic/whatever terrain you decide. - Night : if you play at night, apply -3 to all BS mods. MSV units ignore this rule, they treat other units as usual. - Hurricane : everything gains saturation 1 (reduce all Burst by 1 to a minimum of 1). Combat jump units have a modifier of -6 when trying to land. 4 - Variations in list building We also like to change the way we build our lists. Here are a few ideas of what you can do : - Big/Small guns : +1/-1 SWC, keep same number of points - The Crowd / the Elite : +50/-50 pts, keep same number of SWC - They got another ! : Every unit - except characters - gain +1 AVA -> Then, each player announce it's faction (we do this because in local group, some people play only 1 factions, it's more even if they know who they face). And build it's 2 army list (or select one of it's previously created ones) with unique terrain and enemy faction. The game system is the same, but taking these 5 mins to add spice will surely bring new units to the game. We still do tournaments together, and have no particular meta given the volatility of the terrain: one day the Yan-Huo is a god piece, the other one it's shitty. I hope it gave you some ideas for your gaming sessions and hope for your favorite profiles. See you until next time !
