Infinity

[Ironworker]

Hey I just ordered three faction starter pack for Infinity.  Who on here plays?  I'm looking for a Sci-Fi game I can promote locally as an alternative to 40k.  How well does the game play?  How many minis do you need to play a good game?  How balanced are the armies? 

[chromedog]

I play.  PanO, Yu-Jing and Aleph.

Recommend downloading the "starter rules" and other downloads from the miniatures trader which will help.

"Normal" tournament play is 300pts and around 10 models. 
Starter sets range from 115 to 170 or so pts (not all are equal).

I recommend starting with three Light Infantry (LI) models per side, basic weapons, no special rules (visors, camo, hacking, etc) and just learning the Orders reserve and ARO (Automatic Reaction Orders) procedures (it's not entirely I-go/U-go, you always get to do stuff in the other player's turn).

It's reasonably balanced, but experience of the players smooths a lot of the bumps over.  Some builds could be seen as powerful, but there ARE counters to them - even if it takes you a while to master them (I still haven't mastered several). 

I lost a lot of games to start with.  Still do.  If losing is something that discourages you or your peers, then maybe find another game.  The combat is brutal.  Guns DO kill people.  Close combat CAN kill people, but you have to get past all of the guns first.

[Cultist #3]

I play Yu-Jing.

Cover is not your friend, it is your life. The more the better.

A good game can be played with the starter sets, but you will want more variety at some point.

Chromedog makes some good points, keep it simple, not too many heroes or specials, learn the rules and then expand.

[hubbabubba]

What Chrome dog said.
It's a very good game, but it requires patience and perseverance to get the most out of it. There's a steep learning curve.
I'd recommend having alook at some of the video tutorials on YouTube.

[number9]

Be prepared to read and reread and reread the rules again. There are a lot of "moving parts" in the mechanics of action-reaction. Also there are a few translation issues and it is probably wise to become familiar with the infinity wiki:

http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Home

Like has already been said, keep early games small and without more expensive complex models with loads of special skills.

Also terrain matters immensely. Not just how much of it you have, or how tall or short it all is (that matters too) but HOW YOU SET UP YOUR GAME TABLE WILL ALMOST IMMEDIATELY DETERMINE WHETHER THE GAME ABOUT TO BE PLAYED WILL BE BALANCED OR NOT.

Yes the designed balance of the factions is extremely good, but getting the balance of terrain just right takes a lot of time, variety, and experience with the rules. You may find certain troops better or worse in your initial outings than expected NOT specifically because of how they are designed related to their point cost, but more because of how they were advantaged or disadvantaged by the way you constructed the table.

Don't get discouraged. Keep at it. The game gets a lot richer with time and experience.

[tnjrp]

Who on here plays?

I've played rather a lot of it, comparatively, over the last two or three years... Whenever it was when it originally came out.

I'm looking for a Sci-Fi game I can promote locally as an alternative to 40k

Infinity is a good game (not the best since sliced bread IMCO like some say tho) but I wouldn't try to pass it off as an "alternative to Wh40k". It's quite a different beast.

How well does the game play?

It plays well and smoothly enough (with the obvious caveat that not everybody may like the way it plays) once you get the hang of it. Like 9 said above, it requires a bit of getting into because the rulebook has a few "chicken and egg" problems and the last version I read hadn't still nailed the explanation of the reaction mechanic to make it crystal clear on reading alone.

ETA: second opinion:
http://wargamestuff.blogspot.com/2012/01/presentation-problems.html

How many minis do you need to play a good game?

Less than 10 per side (I really don't recommend it with more, expect perhaps with the group activation rule the name of which I forget where a number of minis operate as a single decision unit) but don't expect to find every possible option crammed into just 10 models.

How balanced are the armies?

Generally pretty balanced, at the cost of everybody getting pretty much everything, at least in some quantities. The points costing scheme appears very simplistic so the balancing in mostly done on the troop availability level I would think.