To INFINITY and Beyond?

Hello people,

Last Wednesday night Jon came over and brought Operation Icestorm with him.

I have an admission to make. I've been immensely tempted by ININITY for a number of years but haven't done anything about it. Other than the time / money issues I've been most put off by getting enough games. I'd also heard that the mechanics were a bit fiddly and potentially rather gamey. A couple of years ago at Salute I almost cracked to the point of picking up the 2nd Edition rulebook and two starter sets at a startling good price. I eventually them down again!

I've always really liked the aesthetic of the game, the figures, the races, the setting....everything. It feels very Blade-Runner to me and I've always loved that. I very nearly pre-ordered Op Icestorm but was put off by the paper play-mat and then I spent the money elsewhere.

So back at Wednesday night we ran through the five beginner missions in the box that run along the narrative of a raid by a Nomad strike-force on a PanOceania facility. Starting with three grunts vs three grunts a figure / unit is added each mission along with thier additional abilites / rules / actions. Pretty straight forward but well thought out none the less.

 As or mechanics it's a skirmish game. You get one activation token per figure on the table at the beginning of the turn. You spend one activation token to give a figure two ativations from Move, Shoot, Close Combat Attack, Dodge and Special which you can take in any order. I you have a Leutenant you get a bonus activation token, only usable by them. You can spend multiple tokens on the same figure OTHER than if your Leutenant has just bought it. The turn after individual figures can only spend the activation tokens that they generate.

The big difference with Ininity is Automatic  Reaction Orders, AROs. Once a figure has performed an action all enemy figures that can draw line of sight get an ARO and can Shoot (single shot), Move, Dodge as a "Face Off" reaction. It's basically a built in Overwatch, similar to the NUTS WWII ruleset. As such tactical movement and activation is key, if you go charging in you'll get shot and combat in this game is BRUTAL.

Five quick games in it feels like grown up Necromunda, which is a good thing, a VERY good thing. The game is also very well supported by a very slick Website from which you can download a free set of the core rules, browse the fluff and make use of the Army Builder.

The figures are just as grown up as the game itself. Being true 30mm scale and multi-part pewter they're not novice friendly but they look awesome. In someways pretty cheap to get into with starter sets at about £35 you will need PLENTY of scenery and then a bit more!

As I'm sure you've realised I'm VERY keen to invest. I really fancy the Combined Army, especially the Morat and Shasvastii. Something about the alien jackboot seems to call to me :)

I have to admit that it's bonus to me that this ISN'T yet another Kick-Starter, but that's another story!!