Finally! I made it! After all this years, I finished my Infinity Bakunin Nomads and I was ready and willing to play. But first things first, I needed a tutorial. The game I will got familiar with the game.

Well, reading the rules, watching Youtube battle reports is not enough. Real life game was a necessity. Thanks to me, Corvus Belli, company behind Infinity, is organising so called ‘WarCors’ program. I tell you, this is awesome. WarCors are players who put extra effort to the hobby. They watch over their local community. They organize tournaments, other events, or… this is most interesting for me… make demonstration games.

A year ago, when I had first look crush on Infinity, I was watching tutorial game between Pat, the local WarCor in Warsaw and my friend Jarek of Wargamer Hobby Store. And I thought, I might need the tutor like Pat to get more familiar with the game. In about two months or so. Pat, motivated with WarCor’s duty, was willing to help whenever I want to.

Of course, reality turned to be little bit more brutal. Two months later (that was August 2015) I had no more than 4 -5 painted miniatures, and I was far from ready to play. And, man, I was about to leave Europe for 6 months soon. There’s no way I could make it. Reality overwhelmed me one more time.

So here I am, almost one year later, finally ready. 12 miniatures painted. That’s about 200 points or so. All I needed – the introduction. Two weeks ago, I finally had the means, time and will to give Infinity the try. I contacted Pat and and we were able to spent few hours playing Infinity. About time, if you ask me:).

Usually, Pat organise tutorial games with Operation Icestorm set and miniatures. This starter campaign with series of missions arranged in such way, to give newbies the best idea of game mechanics, and learn Infinity. However, as you probably know if you follow my blog, I put a lot of effort to paint my Bakunin Nomads, so I asked Pat if I can use my own minis in the tutorial. There were no problem at all, as predicted.

So, here I was with following minis:

6 Moderators

2 Reverend Custodiers

Reverend Moira

Prowler

Sin-Eater Observant

…and Zero.

I didn’t know what to expect. If we will be playing some simple scenario, how many miniatures, objectives. Nothing. So I took my all collection to be ready for whatever WarCor prepared for me.

Pat used Tohaa faction against my Nomads. We played two simple games, so I would be able to learn the basics and be explained all necessary details of Infinity.

..and let me just say – it not went well (I mean final score of the game, not the learning part:) Of course, I can put the blame on my lack of the experience, and it would be easy, but dice… 20 sided dice… they don’t love me. And if you think rolling ones on D6 is frustrating, one on D20 is just nightmare. And I have plenty of those, in most unfortunate moments.

After short intro, when I was shown of all simple stuff like stats or how and when to roll, I was ready to try my new acquired skills.

Game 1.

This was simple. Four of my models (3 Moderators and Rverend Moira), against four Tohaa (Sukeul Commandos and 3 Kamael Infantry).

It all went really fast, I got the basics really quickly (or at least I thought I did) and I could try to focus to bring the pain to Pat’s Tohaa. As this was tutorial, Pat was trying to give me tips what to do right, how to avoid simple rookie mistakes, and what’s most important switch my gamer’s mind to unique Infinity game system (little bit later about that).

After thoughts. Everything is crucial here – deployment, where you move, how you move, which models and in which order. The devil is in the details and even one silly mistake can give your opponent the advantage. So,  you can probably imagine how fast the game was, and how fast my Nomads were taken down. Quick, painful but memorable lesson.

Game 2.

Since the first game was so fast, we had plenty of time to play the game two. Little bit more complex, introducing some new skills like Camouflage or Lieutenant’s orders. This time we played 6 models against 6. My Bakunin Nomads: (4 Moderators, Prowler and Reverend Moira as my Lieutenant) vs Tohaa (Sukeul Commandos, Gao Rael and 4 Kamael).

This time things went little bit better. I managed to shoot down two enemy models in the first turn. And maybe that was my doom. This early ‘success’ made me believe that I can easily win this one, and my later actions became too reckless. As I pointed before, if you don’t plan your moves carefully, you will most probably loose the whole battle. So,  as there’s no place for recklessness in Infinity, you can imagine the final result – I lost.

The same lesson taken. Focus more, plan ahead, and no foolish actions. This is war. All mistakes will be disastrous.

Impression

First of all, if I want to play Infinity for real (and I do) I need to trash all my wargaming knowledge, habits and experience. All these rules I got familiar during my entire life – they are more like ‘heavy burden’ then something helpful. Infinity is different from any game I played before.

ARO

The structure that actually gives some portion of control to inactive player. It gives him the means to react to any active player action – well, it was little bit too much for the first game. Of course I knew this before the tutorial, I had theoretical knowledge about Automatic Reaction Order of inactive player, but to implement this to real life, it was hard. Many time Pat was obligated to remind me, how and when I should react to his models’ actions. Many games ahead of me, before I’ll get it correctly.

Also other side of the story – during my turn, to plan my actions in such way, that opponent by using AROs will do the least harm to my force. And this is also tricky – even simple movement should be planned carefully. What I noticed – do not move your models straight forward. Find cover and stick to it and tell your opponent how exactly your actions go. It might be little bit overwhelming for starters, but in the long run, all this attention to details will make, that you will appreciate Infinity even more.

This is the biggest shift I had to get trough. Usual – my turn, your turn style – made me think in one simple linear way. In Infinity, I need to forget all I learned in Warhammer or other games – be cautious of my opponent’s actions and reaction in every moment of the game.

So many options, so many details…

Exactly. Of course in my first games, I could not witness entire spectrum of Infinity’s possibilities, but I read the rulebook, allright. I know what’s in there. I know what to expect. Weapons, hacking programs, skills, and scenarios, with various number of different objectives. This game is rich, I tell you that. Plenty of time is needed to explore it.

On the other hand though, it’s not necessary. The beauty of Infinity is – models in all factions have many skills, different stats, but they are all 100 % playable and can be used in any of competitive games. So, bearing this in mind, in Infinity you can go further and further in game’s world, but on the other hand you can just focus on few models in one factions, and still be able to play it right (to win:). As long as you are plan your game right:).

They all look the same!

That was my very first impression about Infinity. So many factions, so many minis, and so many of them look alike. I know, it’s kind of silly accusation. Let’s take most popular example – Space Marines of WH40k. Nobody cares they look similar. So, to be honest. in case of Infinity, I feel it also does not matter. Models are super cool, and that’s the most crucial factor. Few of them may look too similar, but general impression is positive. All setting work perfectly with every model available. My initial thoughts passed. Right now – I don’t think that any more. Infinity models are awesome. So different than GW, but offering so many details – all I needed to get into it and see, that similarity of the models means also opportunity to arrange my army in nice common scheme.

…and like I mentioned above, the rules are really balanced, so every model can kick ass. Amazing, you can do it if you want. Shame on you, Nottingham;).

Super Heroes time!

Well, rules are balanced, almost every model is fully playable, but still you can play your one model like a boss:). All thanks to ability to use all orders (action points) on only one miniature, and move him/her across all table, shoot/attack several time. Honestly, if everything goes according to plan and your rolls are stunning, your model can perform good old John Rambo style here! There’s no limit here – all depend how you arrange your actions and how lucky you are…

…and of course if you remember that game allows you to do that:). For me, old time Warhammer veteran, it was not that obvious. This was another thing  I was aware before the tutorial, but during the game I kept to forget about this feature. Pat gave me a lesson of effective using of orders per model in second game, when he moved Sukeul all across the table, to flank me from the left and appear all of the sudden and shoot two of my miserable Moderators:). Yeah, one more time – forget what you know if you want to play Infinity.

To sum up…

I had a blast. Simple, tutorial games. But this was exactly what I needed to catch the bug and be ready to play for real next time. The same thing was with Malifaux, my second parallel skirmish project. First, demo game and later slowly, step by step getting familiar with mechanics, rules, twists and turns – and all of the sudden, one evening I found myself sitting with the rulebook for few hours, studying and plotting some effective strategies. Oh, I’m sure it’s going to be the same with Infinity. I need just more games:).

So far I see one major difference between Malifaux and Infinity. I find Infinity system little bit more attractive. With no offence for Malifaux, of course. It’s awesome, but I think Infinity will pull me in little bit harder:). Can’t wait for more games!

At the end, I’d like to thank Pat for demo games. Awesome job, mate! I’m in. Need to paint more, play more and soon I’ll be able to join in one of many tournaments organised in the area. And I hope before our next game, I’ll gain more experience and will become more equal opponent. Cheers!

…and now back to painting!

Until next time!