(Jan 29th) The DiRT-Top 3 lessons learned in first Infinity N3 game
My first three games (over 50 points) in Infinity 3rd edition? I went to a tournament. Here’s the top 3 things I learned
I have played A LOT of 2nd edition Infinity games. More than I care to count, especially when I include demo games. The people who saw me at GenCon will know what I’m talking about. So as much as I’ have wanted to get some large scale 3rd edition games in, real life with (work and moving to my new house with TONS of issues) has made that nearly impossible. But I saw a break in the insanity, when I got notice that we were going to run a local 200 point 3rd edition Infinity tournament. So without a single 3rd edition game over 50 points (and none included anything but generic line troops), I signed up and headed out. And yes, I even failed to read the missions we were playing (all of which are included in the N3 book). I just took something that approximated a decent 2nd edition ITS list and moved forward. Special thank you has to go out to the three opponents I played against at the tournament. Every one of the games were close, but the thank you extends to their patience with me as they pulled off 3rd edition craziness game after game and them walking me through the details.
The News – #1 lesson – Command Tokens seem great, but I never ran out.
Having won the face to face willpower roll off in my first match of annihilation, I chose to go first. My Tohaa lists thrived on a turn 1 consisting of taking out particular targets that would wreak havoc on my fire teams. After we started, I was hit with losing two orders. Evidently, at the start of the game, a player going second can spend a command token and reduce the order pool of the player going first by two orders. With 200 points lists, this proved devastating. In the games I played, whoever went second and reduced the first player’s order pool by 2, won. Might this be an issue with 200 vs 300 point games? I think it’s likely. At 300 points, probably not as devestating. And I want to make something clear, I LIKE this change. A command token for 2 orders off the first player balances the game nicely. I just don’t see when you would ever not take advantage of it.
In my Tohaa lists, I used two command tokens to reform the tohaa fireteams. For the three games I played, the count of remaining command tokens was 4, 3, 2.
The Skinny – #2 lesson – The battlefield is smaller.
I projected last year that measuring from the front of the base and the range band changes would make the battlefield seem smaller. I’m here now to confirm that projection. Since the missions stated in the N3 book encourage a rush to the center of board, the need for weapon range bonuses over 24 inches quickly fade. OH, OH, OH….. and Grenades….. so many amazing things you can do with grenades now that you can effectively throw them 16 inches (AND +3 to 8 inches!!!). My Tohaa Swarm grenades were used to a devestating effect in each of my games. I was unable to (even once) land a swarm grenade in 2nd edition.
Is it odd that I feel like the MVP for my tournament lists was a piece of equipment rather than an actual miniature?
THE Dirt – #3 lesson – N3 is about causing both sides to have holes.
This may seem like an odd lesson, and one that may disappear as I move from 200 point to 300 point games. The truth is that with the new weapons range bands it appears that every time I looked at the battlefield, there were open pockets to rush through and cause havoc against my opponents. Even ones fielding really good 5 man linked teams. As I approached there seemed to be a way to navigate my units into positive weapon ranges for myself and crummy weapon ranges for my opponent. It made the game feel faster paced and fluid. It seems to highly discourage “camping” units, which seemed a more useful option in second edition. Since those same sorts of holes existed in my army lists as well, my opponents also got a chance to experience the rush of navigating toward the soft underbelly of my lists. I think this will lead to less trench warfare, more movement around the table, and more opportunity for big epic moments in the game.
Some may be shocked that hacking was not included in one of the lessons. In all of the games I played, my opponents hackers were killed in combat with bullets early in the game and Tohaa has zero non-defensive hackers.
INFINITY BONUS IMAGES
So that’s the NEWS, the SKINNY, the DIRT on the top 3 lessons learned in my first non-demo games. What lessons have you learned in Infinity 3rd edition? Let me know in the comments below or on my YouTube channel.
