New player from Wyoming - solo play

[rhel]

Good morning from Wyoming. I'm a solo gamer and I have no interest in playing with another human. Also, the nearest gaming store that even carries this product is hundreds of miles away. Now that introductions are out of the way, I have a few questions regarding Infinity as I probe the possibilities of this game and its environment.

1) Of the three or so starter boxes (Icestorm, Red Veil, and Ariadna: USAriadna Army Pack) which armies presented contain the fewest useless/immediately replaceable units, and requires the fewest number of immediate additions to function in a real world environment. As for anyone about to point out that 'this isn't that type of game,' it is that type of game, so long as marketing, lawyers, and accounting departments exist, compromises will be made for the purposes of shaving costs down. Also, I've read the Bostria’s Challenge posts and ran across multiple instances of 'I would totally use this unit, but then I'd have to use all of these other units in the box and I can't fit those in with my limitations.' There are optimal units for various reasons, and most starter sets exist to be an example army for a new player, not to actually function (though there are exceptions, and they tend to wreck face in starter events since they actually work, instead of existing as 'just a bunch of parts that meet the minimum requirements to play').

2) Are the sectoral or side faction armies playable together as a main faction, or are they isolated from the rest of the main faction? This confuses me, because a few of the sub-factions don't seem to have enough physical pieces to function in isolation.

3) I love the idea of forcing players to use terrain and scenery. Every single other miniatures game could benefit massively by its inclusion. Though I guess as a solo player, this ceased to be a problem for me years ago. How durable is the boxed terrain in all three mentioned box sets above in 1)? How quickly will I, or should I replace it? If I'm not really into paper-craft, is there a good alternative that isn't priced to drain?

4) I've read that Aleph isn't a good starting point for new gamers. Do any of the other factions suffer from the <faction> always wins (at low points) and teaches you how to play poorly syndrome? On the other hand do any of the factions suffer from the <faction> always loses until <skill level> or <points level here> is reached syndrome? How about that one faction that makes you wonder why you even have the main rule book, because the faction book is a list of everything you ignore from it (you move differently, you shoot/cast differently, you win and lose differently, etc) like the devs got bored and made an anti-unit that breaks all the rules, because...reasons.

Thank you for your time. If I come across as harsh, well decades of exposure to Games Workshop and Privateer Press games players, terrible store owners, and rigged tournaments has made me a very jaded person. Peace.

[ARCangel]

First off, welcome to the game and the forums. Hopefully you get some decent answers to your questions and like it here.

1)The starter boxes don't really contain many "throw away models" for the most part. Honestly most of this game doesn't contain throw away models. I've used, and still use nearly every model in my collection on a semi-regular basis. A lot of model usefulness comes down to the scenario system you play, so keep that in mind. The marketing aspect comes in with the four man boxes. I may only want one Muyib, for example, but dammit I'm dammit have to buy all four. That doesn't so much make the other models bad, they're just other ways to represent Muyibs. If you don't care about proxying, you could technically just buy two armies worth of models and play them as whatever you want them to be, but the point of the multiple models is to actually represent the different profiles. Some people like that some people don't, but that's the philosophy of CB. As to functionality, basically every starter box is going to need at least 1-3 things added to it, not just because of points because their are low point game options like Recon, but because of necessary skill sets. You want things like doctors, airborne troops, heavier weapons, special abilities, etc, and most starter box either don't come with those, or only come with a limited selection of those. Of the three you stated, technically the USAriadna one needs the least amount of additions, but that's because its not a two player starter. Its an army in a box for Ariadna's USAriadna sectorial.

2) I don't really play sectorials so my knowledge on them is limited, however the main advantage is fire teams of various types. This balances out the lower selection of models in the army. They also have increased AVA, in most cases, on units that are usually limited. Again, wait for an answer from someone who knows them better.

3) The card stuff is ok to start with, and durability isn't an issue if you tape it or glue it and add boxes and a bit of weight. It does get boring after awhile though. There are several less expensive options for terrain, than the usual MDF, but the MDF also isn't that bad cost-wise since you really only need to invest in it once. You can get some decent cheaper buildings from somewhere like MCStudio's M4 line, which is high density card board, but you can also get some good stuff from Top Down Terrain's Section 186, which is MDF.

4) I've got nothing for this, I haven't really played the game long enough. Honestly ALEPH, specifically Steel Phalanx, is the only time I've watched a game and gone, "Well that's not really fair." Otherwise the rest of the armies seem friendly enough to newer players so long as you understand the core concepts of the game. The bigger question I usually try to sort is which are the most model heavy because that can be overwhelming for newbies, and also tells you which are the most expensive.

Hope I helped a bit but keep one thing in mind. CB is not GW. They're actually really decent guys that take a lot of player feedback, and keep stupid things to a minimum. That's not to say they don't do stuff that boggles the mind or seems like a cash grab -cough- USAriadna Devil Dog Team -cough- but for the most part they don't really do anything like that. This isn't nearly as competitive or "balanced" as a PP game either. Its not to say it isn't balanced, but that you don't need to memorize every faction and all the things it can or can't do to win the game. Its truly about the tactics you use, unless you're specifically trying to spam some skill or another; it is a bit of a game for gentleman's agreements.