Question from Possible New Infinity Player

[CenturyChild533]

So I've just recently dropped Warhammer 40K and I've been eyeing switching to Infinity. Seems like a much better game overall. But I have a couple of questions.

With 3rd Edition waiting to drop from what I've been hearing, and base size changes to units about to be enforced, is now a good time to get started buying models or should I just wait until the new stuff is released? 40K 7th Edition just burned me in a similar manner, and I don't want that same thing to happen here.

I ask because Infinity models don't seem to be easy to find where I am, so I kind of want to snap them up while I can.

[Chronowraith]

Now is the perfect time to buy. No one anticipates a significant departure from the existing rules. Certain aspects will change a bit like Retreat and Loss of Lieutenant.

The Models won't change other than base size changes already announced. Since they now sell 55mm bases in packs so you can go ahead and base them on the new sizes already. Now, corvus does resculpt lines and some lines have more progress than others. So feel free to ask which lines are more up to date than others. Some factions you may want to wait for resculpts (unless you really like the current figures).

As for the rules... you don't have to buy them. Corvus Belli gives the rules away free and that won't change with 3rd edition. People buy the books so they can read the fluff.

[CenturyChild533]

Wow, that's... actually pretty awesome. I knew the quick-start rules were available on the site, but I didn't realize they also provided larger sets of rules. So that 59 page pdf on the official site is the current 2nd edition rulebook? And they'll provide 3rd Ed. when it rolls out? I like this company already.

As for resculpts and miniatures, the army that immediately caught my eye was the Japanese Sectorial Army. A whole group of ninjas is just too cool to pass up. Are those pretty recent, or should I hold off?

[DarkLink]

They have an official army builder app, too: [url]http://infinitythegame.com/army/[/url]

All their rules are on their wiki: [url]http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Home[/url]

It's also a much more simple game than 40k, kinda sorta. Each individual rule is very simple. Basically everything boils down to a single roll/roll off. There are a ton of options, and it will take a while to learn what all of them are and which ones are best when, but in actual practice, there's nothing as stupid as some of the stuff in 40k like, say, shooting a bucketful of dice, then rerolling all your misses, then rolling to wound, rerolling to wound, rolling your twenty or thirty saves one at a time mixed with rolling your Look Out Sirs one at a time, for five minutes straight, rinse and repeat for every unit in your army. 40k is amazingly clunky compared to Infinity.

[Antox717]

Corvus Belli pulls off two/three resculpts/new models every month, so i understand your worries. I believe yu-jing JSA starter is fairly old (2010, please correct me), and with the upcoming Invincible Army sectorial i believe they will get some love too. So in my opinion you should wait.
The truth is just i can't stand keisotsu models :P

[Poseidon]

The two rule books after prime will still be up to date if you like fluff, drawings and rules. They will update the unit profiles online for the last two books. Basically to continue the story.
JSA models will not get updated for a long time most likely. They are not in the most need. Also when a new one comes out you will want more keisotsu anyway. Close combat is pretty low unless you run ariadna or pano knights sectorial. The guns will be used more in almost all cases. Probably will be revamped in some way with the new edition.
Ninjas are good. JSA has one of the more strategic list options for ITS which is nice. Only really less than ten units in the game are almost unusable and JSA has none of them. So pick what you will. Links are important to have most so either keitsou or haramaki. Due to the restrictions from other things in yujing.

[CenturyChild533]

Well, made the leap earlier today. Bought the JSA starter box, a Hacker Ninja, and a Keisotsu Butai with HMG. There were a couple of other JSA models on the bargain table at the store that I went to, like an Oniwaban Kitsune, but this was all I could afford at the moment. I may go back in a couple of weeks and see if anything is left.

I do notice that the stores I've visited either don't have any minis for the game in stock or they're all on the bargain table. Not exactly reassuring. But I'm excited about this. The game seems like it'll be a lot of fun, and I'm really impressed by the figures.

[DarkLink]

They're readily available on line. Stores have limited shelf space.

[kabniel]

They're readily available on line. Stores have limited shelf space.

This is very true when it comes to stocking Infinity. Part of the issue with stocking infinity is it can be very difficult for a store to figure out what exactly to stock. With Infinity, a large number of models are not available in the loadouts available for the unit. It's common practice to proxy. Since all the models are pretty much WYSIWYG, there's less "well, we'll stock this box/blister and they can make these 5 units from it". It's easier, imo, since there are more unit boxes coming out. But if a model was ugly, people generally avoiding buying it in favor of proxy.

Then you get to the TAGs (Big stompy robots). Most of the PanO TAGs can easily proxy for the others, so why should the player bother buying the other one? How do you figure out which one you want if none stand out aesthetically to you?

That's probably the least eloquently I've ever tried to describe that set of opinions. I hope it makes sense. With such a large range of SKUs, the low *necessary* model count to play a game, and the common practice of proxy in this particular game; figuring out what to stock is difficult. Hence you see lots of stuff on the discount table. It's been on the shelf for more than 2 years. Not because it's bad or ugly, but because their player base already has the 1 they need. They don't need 2 or more.

[Chronowraith]

Most of the recoomendations for Infinity I"ve seen have stores stocking only the starter boxes. Minimal investment for the store but still gives a wide selection for people starting the game.