Fireside chats: Terrain and setting your table

Good evening, friends.

In this new series of articles, we will explore the advanced topics that will make your game a more enjoyable experience. We will talk about things such as dirty tricks or underhanded tactics but also meta-game elements such as list building. We will try to evaluate certain plays and game-play elements, such as TAGs or HI in the ITS environment.

Setting up your table well is one of the most important things that you have to do while preparing an Infinity game.  One of the things that a new player notices about Infinity is that compared to some other games out there, the table is very heavy on terrain.  To such an extent, in fact, that many times players who want to have a table at home find out that they need to pay more for the scenery than they did for their models.

Acquiring a table can be done in many ways, I myself suggest setting up a game club where a group of players can pool their resources and have a wider variety of tables that could be set up in different ways. This leads to a better, tighter community and is a natural starting point for getting a group of players to know each other and run tournaments.

An interesting non-standard table setup

There are many different companies producing terrain – both official partners such as Micro Arts Studio or Warsenal, as well as unofficial partners creating S-F Mass Effect-y terrain such as Zen Terrain, Systema Gaming or Shark Mounted Lasers. All of these companies, and more besides, create awesome scenery elements that you can incorporate into your table. There have also been individual initiatives by forum members, both on Data Sphere as well as on the official forums, where individuals shared their laser cut designs with the community. In fact, half of the tables at our club are composed from these open source designs.  Some gifted people also create individual tables – you probably saw some of Magno’s creations or the various cardboard designs shared here by Errhile.

Home-made Ariadnan Great Wall by Magno

Home-made terrain shared by Red Harvest on Data Sphere’s forums

Coming back to the topic at hand – Infinity tables can be divided into 3 broad groups and at least 2 types. Types are simple – it’s either an urban board, with many buildings, crates, ladders, boxes, benches, street lights etc. or a non-urban board, such as a Paradiso jungle, a Svalarheima winter dune or a Bourak desert. The second type is more difficult to set up, but makes for great non-standard table and is more often used in campaigns than in ITS missions. The 3 groups can be divided as following: dense (sometimes called U.S style boards), sparse or open (sometimes called European) and boarding action (fighting inside installations/space ships).

All groups and types share one particular design philosophy, namely that the 2 Deployment Zones must never be equivalent to each other. One has to be better than the other, so that the choice between Initiative and Deployment is not a meaningless one. You can achieve that easily by setting up one taller building, a so-called “sniper nest”, in one of the deployment zones and keeping the other one flat. However, keep in mind that the sniper nest should never be able to completely dominate the entire battlefield. There has to be a way to approach the nest safely and dislodge the sniper. Long fire lanes are good, but too many of those will mean that the match goes to whoever has more HMGs and Sniper Rifles.

A typical Infinity table would look something like this + scatter terrain

I usually divide my table into 9 smaller squares – making it a 3×3 board. In each of the squares I set up a major terrain element, usually a building. The middle belt is very important here, as that is where your LOF-blocking buildings will be. Remember the sniper nest we set up? Now we want to limit its fire-lanes by putting down some big blocks of terrain.

A 3×3 approach in action

After populating the squares I then put down the, so-called, scatter terrain – all the small pieces likes benches or boxes that would only grant partial cover to a standing trooper but that could provide total cover to a prone trooper. I put them around the table, looking for places where troopers could use the Cautious Movement order in order to advance, but remembering that I want to leave a lane or two for snipers to cover in ARO. You don’t want too much scatter terrain or else the table will become too crowded and Chain Rifle warbands will become too powerful. You don’t want too little terrain or the snipers will rule.

Two of the three aforementioned table groups are divided based on the amount of scatter and scenery that you put down. Put down more than 1 big scenery item in one of the 9 squares and you’re going to be creating a dense board.  Put very little scatter terrain and only the basic 9 scenery items; 1 per each square; and you’ve got yourself an open board.

A dense board

An open board

The boarding action tables are something else entirely. Here, more than in the other types, your imagination has to fill in the blanks. In this case again, the deployment zones should never be the same – one has to be better by having more scatter or more rooms to hide troops in. When setting up a boarding action table you will need a mat, a lot of scatter and doors to make the rooms accessible.

A boarding action table, where the rooms are outlined by a mat and only the doors and scatter are actual physical items

The mats are something that many players overlook – they can add a lot of flair to the table and very often make the difference between a good and a great table.

One last thing that I would probably add is that lately I set up all my tables at an angle, instead of doing them on a straight grid. I was doing it for a while subconsciously seeing the merit of such a set-up until I was explained by someone that setting the terrain like that means that there is more cover to be had, because instead of just having an a length of cover, where a is the length of the wall of the scenery item, you have an a√2 length instead. I’m no mathemagician but it makes sense to me.

A table provided, in part, to our gaming club “Dragon” in Warsaw by the generous Micro Arts Studio

A table made from designs shared by the community

Basically, the question you should ask yourself when setting up the table should be this: “Would I, with a list that could benefit from having a sniper in the sniper nest; or a Link Team settled safely in a tall tower, would I pass the Initiative to the opponent in order to make sure I land on the better part of the table?” If the answer is yes, you have set up your table well and you are looking forward to an enjoyable match.

If you have attained a responsible post, be careful to study it and you will have achieved victory. Be sure to tell us what you think about setting up your table in the comments below!