Monday 23 May 2011

Things that I play: Infinity

Website ( Infinity the game )

I'm not going to even bother trying to hide the fact that I am a HUGE fan of Infinity. It is simply the best wargame I've have EVER played with one of the best miniature ranges you'll ever find, just hop on over to their website and take a look for yourselves. A bit like HoMachine I've been asked if Infinity could be a 40k substitute. As far as I'm concerned the two games couldn't be further apart if they tried. Despite 40k having guns in it, oddly it really doesn't do ranged combat at all well, in fact its a massed close close combat game with guns stuck on and its had its IQ turned down to 10, lets be honest its for people who like rolling lots of dice... why these people don't just play Yahtzee is beyond me. If you like that sort of thing great, if you like things a bit more cerebral then perhaps you should try Infinity. Infinity does many things right, but if it does one thing right it's ranged combat, its brutal, just like it should be because guns are deadly people!!!

I love this miniature more than a grown man should

I'm also a huge fan of Japanese anime, I grew up watching giant Japanese styled robots in the likes of Patlabor, Macross, Appleseed et al. I also loved Akira, Bubblegum Crisis and of course Ghost in the Shell. To say Infinity has taken some of its reference material from these and many other Japanese anime would be the understatement of the century. However they've done so with great care and a loving attention to detail that respects the source material and puts it to exceptionally good use. The universe of Infinity just sits right with me and indeed many of my friends. However its not just an über cool background with splendid miniature... oh no its so much more besides...

Its also very detailed game that seeks to emulate small scale skirmishes between highly trained kick ass soldiers in the future, who just so happen to have brought with them some super sweet weaponry. Its a very tactical game that's all about using your resources well and playing the gaming board and terrain as much as your opponents force. Its a highly cinematic game that is full of drama and really cool play mechanics that set it apart from the competition. I'll be covering Infinity in more depth in future blogs so I don't want to go into too much detail but given its depth this could easily be the only game you'll ever need. If I was doing desert island discs and being asked what wargame I'd take with me, it would have to be Infinity.

So what is it going to cost you, and are there people out there playing the game? Well the answer to the second question is yes, but not in the volume of players that play either Games Workshop games or even HoMachine right now, but it is growing steadily. It is a travesty however that more people aren't playing it and all right minded wargamers should want to put that right!!! There has however been a significant spike in new gamers after the guys over at Beast of War ( Beasts of War Infinity week ) did their fantastic Infinity week and really brought this fabulous game to the attention of a much wider audience (personal thanks from me here guys!). So it should be much easier to find a game and to convince people to start. One of the great things about the initial costs towards Infinity is that the rules can be downloaded for free off of the Infinity website and realistically with a starter set for your chosen faction and perhaps a few other things you can get going with Infinity for £50. Not bad for the greatest wargame ever TM. Peace out!

4 comments:

  1. Just got into Infinity thans to Beasts of War and the friendly players in the FLGS. To bad Beasts of Wars Infinity Week died when their account on youtube got nuked. From the one demo game I've participated in I can safely say that 40K and Infinity has nothing in common except the base size of the common troopers. This game systems just plain rocks and the AROs makes the silly charge over open ground thing go away.

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  2. Absolutely spot on Klaus, and welcome to the greatest game on earth!!! One day we'll also make it the most popular. Glad you're enjoying it though, more power to you!!!

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  3. One of the few games that makes firefights as realistic as I can fathom in miniature game. Honestly my current favorite.

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  4. Infinity is such a rewarding game. I can't stress that enough to people. I might not be the worlds greatest gamer but I have such a HUGE wealth of experiences with other games and I can hand on heart say that Infinity is head and shoulders above the rest. I know sometimes that makes me sound like a maniacal, crazy, zealot or something but its just so fantastic. The miniatures are awesome and to see them on the board moving from cover to cover taking pot shots at each other... its just so cinematic. If couldn't tell I love it.

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