Infinity Miniature Game
From: Corvus Belli S.L.L.
Reviewed by: Ron McClung, Ryan Jackson, Lance Jones
Infinity Miniature Game is a new Miniature Game from Corvus Belli
S.L.L..
Infinity is a 28mm-scale skirmish-level combat miniature game with a strong anime inspiration.
Set in a future 175 years from now, humanity has broken up into several factions
along with several alien factions. Combat units range from simple infantry
soldiers to powered-armor heavy infantry; from an array of heavy combat vehicles
to robotic Remotes (REM). This is not the scale of something like Battletech. It is somewhat comparable to
Warhammer or Warmachine to some degree, but less Gothic and more
cyberpunk anime-style.
Miniature games (minis) have long fascinated me but I have rarely gotten involved
with them because of the expense and the time required to paint. However, I
have friends that are heavily involved in games like this and I recruited them
to help me review this game. Ryan Jackson is a long time miniature game player
and manager of Above Board Games in Fort Mill, SC. He and his friend Lance
James, who is also a long time miniature game player, both helped me look over
the rules and get a feel for the game.
From page # 6:
“One hundred and seventy-five years into the future, Humanity has managed to
survive despite itself, but for how much longer?”
Content: First off, I have not seen this much background and depth
in some role playing games, let alone a miniature game. This game has a
deep background and fascinating vision. Also, to many anti-Americans,
it is not North American-centric. I also find it relieving that it is not
European-centric despite being published in Spain. The history has the
North American countries falling deep into a depression early on and the EU
unable to fill the gap as a super power because of its own internal struggles.
The galactic super power that arises out of the ashes of our mother Earth is from
a most unlikely place - the South Pacific. Australia and several of its allies
formed, in time, PanOceania, the most powerful stellar nation in the game.
Along with the PanOceania, there are 5 other factions (not counting Mercenaries)
that rule the stars--the Yu Jing (Chinese socialistic capitalists), the
Ariadna (ruminants of the Americans, Russian and Scottish), Haqqislam (a more
liberal Islamic state), Nomads (three huge ships nomadically traveling through
the stars), and the Combined Army (an 'alliance' of aliens bent on the
destruction of all things human).
System: In this system, each player gets a set of Orders, usually one per
miniature, that he uses as he sees fit to activate and perform certain tasks.
These tasks can be Short Movement Skills, Short Skills or Long Skills. You are
allowed a certain number of actions within an order, for example two Short
Movements Skills or a Short Movement Skill and a Short Skill or a Long
Skill. There are 4 options in an Order. There are a wide variety of Orders a player can give, from
simple attack actions to special actions like doctoring and discovering.
When an
action is taken against a target, that target also gets an ARO - Automatic
Reaction Order. These act just like regular orders except one can not
perform a Long Skill action as an ARO. Movement is simple. Each miniature has a first and second movement rate
given in inches. There is a fully illustrated example of combat at the end of the
rules that really helps you understand the flow of combat.
A few unique aspects of the game include Camouflaging and Hacking. Some figures
have a camouflage ability that is, what I call, the Predator-effect (from the
Predator movies). It takes a Discover action to find any camouflaged
target. Hacking is a cyberpunk aspect of this game that allows a character
to either disable or take over robotic units of the opponent. Some units have
the hacking skill. I found both of these unique and interesting.
Our first impression as we went over the rules
system was that it seems VERY fast paced. It was also very urban oriented
and fairly deadly. However, throughout the game it felt like less of a miniature game
system and more like a role playing game to me.
From the back cover:
“Science advances, economy prospers, and all appears to be going reasonably
well...”
Layout: This book is beautifully laid out. I did find the
type-set a little hard to read (but maybe I am just getting old). The art is
amazing, presentation brilliant and the whole book is gorgeous. The anime-like
art throughout the book brings the universe to life and the miniature photos
are incredible. It is full color from cover to cover and it is brilliantly done.
Lance did feel that there were not enough pictures of the units (for painting
purposes), however.
The miniatures are simply gorgeous. They are very nicely made and very
detailed. The definitely bring a quality to the game that surpasses many others.
A big minus to the book, however, is that it is missing a good index. A book this size
with this amount of information should have an index.
In conclusion, what did we all think? We liked the system to some degree but saw some flaws in it. Collectively we
thought that the system was fast paced and kept everyone involved a lot.
However, we also felt that it would bog down in larger battles with so many actions
and reactions. There were also times we felt a cheat sheet would have helped.
Too many times, we found ourselves book-diving for rules. Ryan and Lance both
also felt the system had a big learning curve as compared to other systems they
have played. This is also where a good index would have helped.
Both Ryan and Lance felt that the miniatures were a little pricey and that game
system itself was too dependent on terrain. Lance termed it "terrain
intensive" - meaning the system was dependent on lots of terrain,
buildings and obstacles. A game with very little
terrain would be very short as the weapons seem to have long enough range that
anyone can shoot anywhere. Ryan also felt that there were not enough limitations
on forming armies. He felt with a 150 point game, he could take a
Combined Army Avatar and walk right through just about anything else the
opponent could throw at him. Balance seemed to be a problem.
Both Ryan and I felt that it was more like a role playing game with some
miniature game trappings. While reading through it, I found myself saying
that I would love to role play in this game universe. It has an absolute rich
background and well thought out history. The factions are attractive and
inspiring. However, the system fell short of our expectations as a
miniature game system.
Overall, its a very nicely presented game with a so-so system.
The fact that the style is anime-like can be seen as a plus or minus, depending on
how one sees or fits in the anime niche. It is also important to mention that
the web support for this game is considerable, including a downloadable set of
the basic rules of Infinity. This downloadable file is just the
rules, nothing extra.
For more details on Corvus Belli S.L.L. and their new Miniature Game “Infinity
Miniature Game” check them out at their website http://www.infinitythegame.com, and at all of your local game stores.
Infinity Miniature Game
From: Corvus Belli S.L.L.
Type of Game: Miniature Game
Written & Game Design by: Gutier Lusquinos Rodriguez, Fernando LIste
Azpeita, Carlos Torres Rodriguez, Alberto Abal Couceiro, Corvus Belli
Editting By: David Satterthwaite
Cover Art by: Antone Pires
Additional Art by: Antone Pires, Spindash (Yukiko Otsu and Ben Huen),
Tirso Cons Perez, Carlos Trigo Rodriguez, Jonathan Olivera, Javier Vidal Fimia,
Carlos Liauger Lorenzo, David Ardila
Number of Pages: 181 plus several pages of charts and unit rosters
Game Components Included: One rulebook
Game Components Not Included: miniatures sold separately
Retail Price: €30.00 Euro (Europe)
Website: www.infinitythegame.com
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
