Infinity open to conversion and prices, etc

[rapterz]

Hey all you Infinity players, I had some questions and am not sure where they could be answered.

1st off, do you lot think conversions would be possible. I mean I can buy Infinity bases right?

2nd Is Infinity priced comparably to Warmahordes. I see building units can get kinda costly.

3. Is the game really worth going into seriously (ie is it balanced, and this has probably been brought up but hey i'm new)

4. Are there army books? I kinda hope not as I'd like to pick this up for cheap at first.

Just for some added help I'm thinking of picking up Nomads or C. Army. kthxbai

[AndrewGPaul]

1) Conversions are certainly possible (and if you want to field certain weapon combinations as WYSIWYG, necessary). However, they're not particularly easy. The metal is quite hard, the pieces are quite fine and models tend to be holding rifles and the like quite closely, making it hard to swap them around. Plus, it gets expensive buying a whole HI model just to use his gun.

Not sure what you mean by bases. Infinity uses the same 25 and 40mm bases as plenty of other games and manufacturers. You can even get the same-sized bases (although the 40mm ones are slightly different) from GW.

I also don't know what the community opinion on proxies is. I know using "same unit" proxies - a Zanshi with HMG standing in for one with a rocket launcher because there's no mini for the latter - is fine, but they tend to look down on using say Imperial Guardsmen as Fusiliers.

I'm not sure on the prices compared to Warmachine/Hordes. Round here, a single Heavy Infantry model is about six quid. Not sure if that's comparable to Privateer Press' models, but you don't need anywhere near as many of the things.

3) The Official Infinity thread on this very forum is probably the best place to ask that question. Personally, "balance" isn't a concern of mine when getting into a new game - we're pretty decent at self-control anyway. It's a very different style of game and setting to 40K, Warmachine, Malifaux, that sort of thing.

Nomads are probably the closest thing to a cheesy army - they have a lot of hackers and remotes, so they can make use of the infamous "guided missile spam". I'm told that tactic is reasonably easily dealt with, however. Combined Army tend to be expensive, so you won't have as many miniatures on the board as your opponent. In addition their starter box is about 180 points, compared to the 120 or so of the other factions' strters (apart from ALEPH and the Sectorial boxes).

4) No army books. Just the main rulebook, the Human Sphere supplement which adds new rules and troop types and the forthcoming book o' scenarios (which will probably include a few new troop types too). In any case, the full rules and army lists are available as free PDFs from the Infinity website. You don't get any of the background in them, so the physical books are still worth picking up.

[IJW]

1. Sure conversions are possible. The sculpts in the four-model box sets (for example the Magister Knights) are often designed to have interchangeable arms.

2. You don't have units in Infinity in that way, most lists top out at ten models whether or not you're running a Link Team. If you're running lots of cheaper troops in a bigger game then you might have as many as twenty models.

3. Hell yes! There are about half a dozen units that are considered to be over or under powerful for their points cost. Out of roughly 300...

4. No army books. There is:

2nd edition Rulebook - this contains the bulk of the rules and about 2/3 of the units/army lists. Both the rules part and the army list part are available freely as PDFs.

Human Sphere expansion - this adds some extra rules (such as Link Teams where specific model types can join to form a unit) and equipment. It also adds more units to the existing factions from the rulebook and adds the ALEPH faction. Again, the rules and army list parts are freely available from Corvus Belli as PDFs.

[chromedog]

1. Some conversions are certainly possible. The lack of a bits service or separate weapons kits does limit you somewhat.
What do you mean by "infinity bases" though? The Micro-Arts ones? Some people don't like them because they are 3mm higher than a normal base, and in a game where too much LOS gets you killed, this can be a bad thing.
2. I don't understand the "building units" can get costly aspect. Infinity is a game where EACH MODEL is a unit, unlike many "units" in WM/H that are made up of more than one model. An "army" is typically made up of 10 models or so most of which do not have to be with another model.
3. Is it balanced? Yes. All armies can pretty much do what the others can. It DOES need a LOT of terrain (this is where a lot of calls for "broken" come from. Trying to play it without enough terrain.). The 'critical' mechanic is the great leveller. Even the mightiest battlesuit can be brought down by lucky rifle or pistol shots.
4. No army books as such. The army fluff is in the rulebooks (two books, covers all factions), but ALL of the army lists are free for download - as are the rules themselves along with the counter/markers and templates. The books are only required for fluff or artwork (you'll end up getting them anyway). Much of the fluff for the unit types is also online (not directly downloadable - they've gotta have something in the books to sell them).

[rapterz]

So another thing. Are mercenary armies (the ones that take from multiple factions at lower allowance) any good competitively. personally I don't care but if i ever attempt to get people into this game I wanna know this.

[MarcoSkoll]

That depends on what you mean by competitively.

In competition? No, they're not allowed in Tournaments.
Can they hold their own? Yes, and because they have a range of selections that can counter the disadvantages of their individual factions, they are perhaps too good at times. This is largely why they're disallowed in competition.

I'd generally say that while Merc lists are possible, if you're that worried about balance, it's best for players to stick to the standard lists. If anyone's that desperate to have a model from army X alongside a model from army Y, they should pick one faction or the other and converting the other models into "counts as" models.
(Indeed, my slowly building Haqqislam force has three Ariadnan and one PanO models waiting to join the Sword of Allah.)