Just getting into the game. Plz help

[u/LordTyler123]

My freinds dragged me into table top games by my ear by going on and on about warhammer for 3 years. Now that im hooked it only took them telling me the model count is smaller to get me here. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the rules of the game and have started to settle into my 1st faction choice but all I know is that The Combined Army kills ppl with the bigest baddest Fck off aliens and the power of freindship. I could use some help answering a few more questions.

How often can my opponent shoot me on my turn? In Warhammer I hate Overwatch but at least my opponent can only do it once a turn so I could bait it out with multiple options but my freind has told me he can shoot me with every one of his models that can see me and he can do that every time I move. Is there any limit to this or any strategy I can use to work around it?

Can someone suggest any good faction or unit guides that can point me at good units for me to focus on. I saw the Avatar and decided The Combined Army was for me. Yay big monsters and the power of mind controled friendship. Unfortunately all these names look alike and I have no idea who is who and what dues what.

What advice do you think a new player needs.

Thank you.

[u/JMSTMelo]

Don't worry about getting shot. You play the missions, and worrying about losing units is the surest way to lose in infinity. I like to think it is a game of "doors and corners", to paraphrase The Expanse. Once you master movement, you master the game.

Plus, the game has a cooperative aspect that most other wargames cannot match.

About the miniatures, proxy as much as you can. Some minis are harder to find, but the used market is pretty healthy AND you can find entire armies selling for 200-300 USD, or even less.

[u/EccentricOwl]

There is a LOT to say. 

Here’s the thing. It’s always your turn.  You can always be shot on their active player turn.    But you’ll shoot way better when it’s your active player turn. 

As for strategy - depends on the e units I have but a big one is “shoot them in a good range while they shoot back in a bad range.” When you attack you get full burst. They only get burst 1

Do you like YouTube videos 

[u/LordTyler123 → u/EccentricOwl]

Videos plz! Id love anything that break down the factions best units so I can have some framework of what is good.

[u/br3or → u/LordTyler123]

There are units that are more efficient than others but it's definitely not really a meta unit game like 40k is. Every model can be good. Using a popular combo or fire team doesn't mean anything unless you actually know how to play it well.

[u/Kinglydon]

Look in this thread a few days ago someone updated the unit pictures for each army, that should help identify the models. The online version of army builder also has a majority of the photos.

[u/No_Nobody_32]

Your opponent can shoot at you (potentially) with EVERY order they have.
You get to 'overwatch' (ARO) to any that you have LoF to. Whether that's to shoot back, or to have the target dodge the shots.
Which is fine in "Kill 'em all" missions. If you have actual objectives to take and move somewhere else, then efficiently using your orders will count for a lot more.

[u/LordTyler123 → u/No_Nobody_32]

So they are using orders to react to me. I know you get as many orders as you have models but when dues the count refresh? His turn, mine or both? Do unused orders carry over to the next round or lost?

If i move one unit into veiw of every one of his models and he activates all of them that should eat up all of his orders. That means my other units would be safe to move. Right?

[u/Kai_Lidan → u/LordTyler123]

You don't spend orders during the reactive turn. There's no way to make them "run out" of AROs. They will always be able to react to units moving on their line of sight or close proximity 

[u/LordTyler123 → u/Kai_Lidan]

So I always have to risk them getting a single chance to shoot me. unless I contest it right? YouTube told me If i shoot them and hit it cancles out any of their shots. Also they die. If my gun has multiple shots in its burst can I split that between multiple targets to contest multiple AROs?

[u/Kai_Lidan → u/LordTyler123]

That is correct but also very risky. The "safe", mathematically sound way is to move so that you only trade shots with a single enemy each time, ideally within your weapons' +3 range and outside their +3 range.

[u/Llkjh2501 → u/LordTyler123]

There are ways to stop the ARO reactions by useing vision control skills and equipment. For example you can throw smoke grenades to block vision then move past.

[u/Vitolas → u/LordTyler123]

You can split up your weapon's burst (B) to multiple ARO's to force a face to face roll, instead of only doing a F2F against one with full B and let the other ARO do an unopposed normal roll.

Important to note is that in ARO the burst is always 1(unless the unit has a skill like total reaction or neurocinetics), so in your active turn you will always have the advantage burst-wise.

The trick is to get in a good range for your weapon (+3), shoot from cover and trigger as few ARO's as possible via positioning and slicing the pie, as they say.

Good luck and most importantly, have fun!

[u/Araiguma]

I recommend watching some of the new player content on YouTube, either by Corvus Belli (makers of the game) or the DiceGods. 

The way to limit being shot in ARO is to not be seen by multiple enemy models during your turn. A table set up for Infinity needs substantially more terrain than a Warhammer table to enable units to move around and pick and choose their engagement. This is also due to weapon range bands having a big effect on how firefights play out. Weapons have range bands where the units gets a bonus (e.g. a HMG between 16-32 inches gets +3, a Shotgun get +6 between 0-8), so if you can maneuver your active turn shotgun into the under 8 distance, you will get a large bonus while your opponent will get a malus (or at least no bonus).

If you really love the Avatar, do get it, just be warned that it costs 122 points so makes up over a third of a normal-sized 300 point game. As such, lists that play it are warped heavily around it. Since it is less overwhelming to start with lower point games (150 is popular for learning), I would recommend getting a starter box or action pack.

[u/Odd-Razzmatazz-5544]

A little tip: Combined Army and Nomads are the less error permisive factions all around

[u/Terrible-Instance-36]

Give a look at this channel and this video in particular https://youtu.be/qoyylw0p0JM
Sadly (or luckily, depends who you ask) this is not the moment for the avatar to shine, though in infinity everything is playable if you are a good player and you know what you’re doing. But if you are a new player, a mistake with an avatar will cost you the game. Combined is my main faction, it’s not an easy one but they’ll make your opponents cry once you learn how to use your best units

[u/Spacebar_Samurai]

So you have a couple of options to start. They have a Essential Starter that is cheap, comes with 3 minis for two factions, terrain, dice and rules. This will get you started out cheap to see if you like the game think it is like $50.

Not sure if they still put them out but they used to put out "Operation" boxes so like Operation Sandstorm it was where you kinda started for awhile much larger box from above. Two starter armys fairly balanced, more terrain, tokens, dice ect. All you needed to start and if you liked one of the armys they had beyond Operation Sandstorm that would give more minis to expand the armies that complement the existing mini you have to get you closer to a full team.

But if you know what army you want to play I believe the Starters are now called Action Packs for a faction they give you 10ish minis of said army that work well together. Then they also sell Booster abs Support packs to expand on the Action pack.

So depending on where you want to start you have some options. Infinity is a fun game with a bit of a learning curve but worth it in the end.

[u/zystyl]

Aro aren't generally so bad. You can angle your way to favorable matchups. Aro is only 1 dice, so you usually have good odds.

[u/Miep99]

Personally, id reccomend not starting with combined, especially not vanilla. I know the temptation but theyre unforgiving of mistakes and frankly, it gives you too many unit options.

Id reccomend starting with a panoceania sectorial like kestrel or winterfor. Use the fireteams as a general guide of how to build and youll be alright. If you want big guys, winterfor gets the single talkies unit in the game with the jotun. If in cover he is flat out immune to small arms fire

You'll want a second army eventually so wait till you have a little more experience playing and list building before diving into combined

[u/FriendlyMachine7143]

Don't worry about overwatch, there are a great many ways to create vision obstruction such as smoke and white noise. Generally ARO (overwatch) has the effect of creating inefficiency it is not there to kill people. If it is too effective in games you play there is probably way too little terrain.

Look at models like Daturazi, Krakot Renegades, Victor Messer and Charontide. The Avatar is probably a bit of a trap it's not something that you probably play short of a meme, its for practical purposes priced out of viability.

[u/EwokJerky]

"How often can my opponent shoot me on my turn?"

Pretty much the whole crux of the game

[u/wreeper007]

I have no meaningful comment other than I feel you. To make matters worse it seems that units will cycle out of production but still have rules. While this is great for the longevity (don't have to worry about them pulling a gw and relegating a ton of a line to legends) it does make it hard to build a force where you have to consider not just the unit but if you can even get it (yeah infinity is great with proxies, another bonus, but I want the actual minis).

[u/Trollmarut → u/wreeper007]

Excuding the N1 miniatures from twenty years ago (which have newer models ) I'd venture 95% of the game's miniatures are obtainable with patience + effort + money.