What's a YAMS? Yet Another Mission System for Infinity

[IJW Wartrader]

YAMS is a card-based random mission generator for Infinity. By now it's the most commonly-used mission system for Infinity tournaments across the world.

It's also free.

http://wargamingtrader.com/yams

Background
There have been several fan-made mission systems for Infinity over the years, notably TaOS and Mission Roulette. However these tended to be slightly complex or get repetitive after a few games. As a result I ended up taking a bunch of the objectives from these systems, adding in a bunch of extra ones and creating a card deck with one objective per card. This let players pic cards randomly to get several objectives and hugely increased the variation of games.

How to use YAMS
Download the PDF, print it out and cut out the cards. They're sized to fit in standard card protector sleeves.
Before initiative and deployment, each player picks a number of cards (normally six) randomly from their set of cards and then gets to choose which two cards they discard. This leaves each player with four objectives - you can alter the number of cards picked/kept if a tournament needs a specific number of points per round.
Once Initiative has been rolled for, each player gets to reveal one card as a 'double or quits' which they get two points for instead of one, giving them a potential five points in total.

Secrecy
Apart from any double-or-quits card (and the Ambush card), the cards are kept secret and only revealed to the opponent when it says to on the card, usually when the objective has been achieved or at the end of the game. This makes 'reading' your opponent's actions very important as you don't automatically know what they're attempting to do...

What extras do you need?
One Civvie model and one crate, which both get placed on the centreline of the table. Each player also needs a flag marker which will start off as a camo marker.
Some games will ignore all of these items, it's all down the cards that get drawn.

Balance
I don't pretend that YAMS is the ultimate in balance for games and tournaments, but it's had huge amounts of playtesting and is generally pretty good.

Future Plans
I've been provided with translations of the card text into multiple languages (from memory, Russian, French, German and Spanish) but other projects keep getting in the way of getting them published. Hopefully this Summer they'll get done.
Now that Campaign: Paradiso is out and we have a bunch of official missions to look at, I quite like the idea of a set of additional cards taking inspiration from the Paradiso objectives and adding in a bunch of Hacker/Engineer/Specialist cards, but that's not going to be any time soon...

Ian

[Crushar]

Thanks for posting this Ian.

I really, REALLY like what YAMS gives me as a player and a Tournament Organizer.

I had a question about YAMS, and then I forgot what it was! I am sure it will come to me soon though. Right now though, I can not recommend YAMS enough for people!

[Magno]

All I can say Ian is YAMs is a fabulous system.
I'll be using it at GenCon.

[Pierzasty]

YAMS is awesome for friendly battles when you want something more than a straight firefight.

[Oreet]

YAMS is awesome for friendly battles when you want something more than a straight firefight.

Yes. Before Paradiso, YAMS saved infinity from the boring "i kill all your army til I win" scenario everyone was playing.

[kidterminal]

YAMS is great! They make the games more fun.

[IJW Wartrader]

Thanks everyone!

[Oreet]

YAMS is great! They make the games more fun.

They are also quite tasty.

[valthonis]

YAMS is great! They make the games more fun.

They are also quite tasty.

Love the system! Though any chance you can adapt it to allow earning of XP so we can also apply the Paradiso XP chart?

[IJW Wartrader]

That's an easy one.

Tough version - each point is worth an XP.
Nicer version - each point is worth two XP.

I do have a few ideas for an expansion set of cards inspired by Paradiso, but at the moment earning a living is taking up rather a lot of my free time.

[valthonis]

Easy addition!

I just haven't been a fan of all of the "stuff" needed to run some of the Paradiso missions. Where as your system is just so simple!

[mouzerius]

YAMS is a great system played it a few times now it just makes the game much more intrigin.

[Oreet]

[MarcoSkoll]

I do have a few ideas for an expansion set of cards inspired by Paradiso

I've been playing around with much the same concept, but ran up against a bit of a problem.

If Doctors, Hackers, Engineers, Specialists, Baggage, etc are required for objectives, those objectives are random draw and your list is written before the objectives are known, it does get a bit interesting actually trying to build a list for the game, particularly if you actually want some cool toys in there as well.
You can in theory concede that you'll discard any objectives based on a given specialist type, but that's got a good chance of using up the entire leeway given by the two card discard.

I approached the idea by basically trying to write a list that could in theory complete any Paradiso scenario - I did find lists that probably wouldn't have been totally catastrophic, but one combat group meant not having much redundancy* and trying to fill up two groups while buying spare specialists meant there weren't the points to buy anything other than a smorgasbord of LI.

*Mind you, it was a cool list. Having a regenerating doctor means I get to do the "Hello Stonehenge" speech.

[blooded cat]

I feel more comfortable posting this here than on the other boards: I _hate_ the paradiso missions. Overly complicated, and by only allowing specialized units to accomplish objectives it is possible to take your first turn after all your specialists are dead and just be "going through the motions".

With YAMS not only do you have reasonable objectives, but ANY unit can accomplish them - allowing for "Plan B" situations, which keep the game interesting. I'm going to try and push for more widespread use of your system at my FLGS, and especially after the last tourney (which used modified paradiso missions) I think all the players will be receptive.

BTW - it took me 3 months to find out that the civvie stats were in the HS book. It might be worth just adding them to the main rule sheet for the next version

[valthonis]

I do have a few ideas for an expansion set of cards inspired by Paradiso

I've been playing around with much the same concept, but ran up against a bit of a problem.

If Doctors, Hackers, Engineers, Specialists, Baggage, etc are required for objectives, those objectives are random draw and your list is written before the objectives are known, it does get a bit interesting actually trying to build a list for the game, particularly if you actually want some cool toys in there as well.
You can in theory concede that you'll discard any objectives based on a given specialist type, but that's got a good chance of using up the entire leeway given by the two card discard.

I approached the idea by basically trying to write a list that could in theory complete any Paradiso scenario - I did find lists that probably wouldn't have been totally catastrophic, but one combat group meant not having much redundancy* and trying to fill up two groups while buying spare specialists meant there weren't the points to buy anything other than a smorgasbord of LI.

*Mind you, it was a cool list. Having a regenerating doctor means I get to do the "Hello Stonehenge" speech.

I ran into the same problem, I like having more of a reason to use specialized troops other that fixing this and healing that (Doctors and Engineers mostly).
But what's wrong with tailoring your list to your objectives? It certainly offers the possibility of more unique objectives and now you have the challenge of not only completing your objective, but you still have to play against the other player and anticipate their objectives.

Besides, I like to think that in at least some cases a black ops team will have some idea what they're getting into.

[blooded cat]

My suggestion would be to add objectives that specialists (doc/hack/eng) can complete, but also make them possible to complete with regular units, but say at a -6 WIP penalty.

[TallonHunteR]

Praise for YAMS from my gaming group.

"I like Infinity, but i always felt it was missing a little something. This is that thing"

"It adds an interesting Dynamic to the game."

and i like it too, thanks Ian

some ideas from me personally: more crate objectives like defuse the bomb, secure the crate (no enemy models in crate ZC at end of game), etc

[MarcoSkoll]

Sorry, totally missed I'd been responded to.

But what's wrong with tailoring your list to your objectives?

Nothing strictly, but the normal approach (at least my normal approach) to YAMS would be choosing objectives after the list.

It probably would be better to write a list after deciding on the mission... but this is less ideal for quick pick-up games. I like being able to pick one of my ready-to-play lists (either one I've used before that worked well, or one I'm meaning to try), deal the mission cards and just get stuck in quickly.
This is why the lists I actually wrote up as part of the experiment are still sitting around - while they'd be work to use, they could just about suffice for almost any game with a bit of ingenuity.

[AgAZuR]

Hi there,

First off, great mission system, really like the idea. We have a rather new group playing infinity and using YAMS makes list building at lower points much easier, but we did encounter some problem today with it when we played today and i was coping someone could clarify a thing or two:

1) How do you kill a Civvie? shoot or stab it, but what to roll? like if I charge it I would roll CC, does the Civvie fight back(its neutral)? what are its stats? I have searched the online rule book, the ITS rules and the wiki and can not find any stats for the Civvie.

2) Regarding the mission Assess (i think that's its name, the one where you need to see 75% of the enemy army), it it see 75% at once? or during one turn or something? because the card just says "at any point during the game" and that makes it ridiculously easy to complete if I can spot enemies one at a time. Also, why is this mission not relieved once completed? (just from a sportsman like perspective it would be easier to show that you have actually completed the mission when you do it, rather than telling your opponent like "remember 3 turns back when those guys where over there and those were alive and....."

[Hero of Man]

I'll try to be somewhat helpful here.

1) How do you kill a Civvie? shoot or stab it, but what to roll? like if I charge it I would roll CC, does the Civvie fight back(its neutral)? what are its stats? I have searched the online rule book, the ITS rules and the wiki and can not find any stats for the Civvie.

Civvie cannot be attacked at range unless they've been synced by the opposing force, so until that point you gotta CC them. As for their status, neutral until attacked, but I'm a bit foggy on the stats rule; we just always assumed a CC of 10.

2) Regarding the mission Assess (i think that's its name, the one where you need to see 75% of the enemy army), it it see 75% at once? or during one turn or something? because the card just says "at any point during the game" and that makes it ridiculously easy to complete if I can spot enemies one at a time. Also, why is this mission not relieved once completed? (just from a sportsman like perspective it would be easier to show that you have actually completed the mission when you do it, rather than telling your opponent like "remember 3 turns back when those guys where over there and those were alive and....."

There are a few objectives that are easier in YAMS, and Assess can be one of them. From my memory, its just like real life intel gathering; just spot most of the enemy forces and record them. You don't have to see them all in one turn or anything.

As always, if I've made any glaring errors from memory, do correct me folks.

[Mob of Blondes]

Weak search fu.
http://infinitythegame.wikispot.org/Rul ... ng_civvies
http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity ... ofiles.pdf The "(Updated 06/09/2014)" one and probably previous versions too (CB dictionary has issues with the word "versioning" and family), I forgot when they added that part.

CC 6 for most.

[Hero of Man]

I guess civvies are just tougher here in my neighborhood.

[chromedog]

CC6, low ph - they really only hurt you if they manage to crit.

Send an odalisque to sync with a civvie. i-kohl will make sure they can't hurt you (cc6-6 is an auto fail) and then you can just pick up the unconscious body.