Introduction 2 - Infinity Gameplay: ARO and Orders

Welcome to the second Introduction to Infinity.

While my first Introduction was focussed on the factions and the story, this post will cover the basic gameplay of Infinity, which is really different from a lot of other turn-based strategy games. These mechanics are one of the main reasons that I really fell in love with Infinity; it creates a realistic simulation of a skirmish combat enviroment.

It is always your turn!

Active/Reactive Turn and ARO

While Infinity is turn-based both players are constantly playing. It is always your turn! In many turn-based games, there is a Player 1 turn and a Player 2 turn. While Player 1 is playing, Player 2 has nothing to do. In some turn-based games, you can even go to the kitchen to grab a bite, make some tea, read the newspaper and come back to resolve all the events with the dice before it's your turn again. 

Infinity however, gives us the Automatic Reaction Order (ARO). With the ARO Player 2 can react during his Reactive Turn to Player 1's Active Turn.

This way the game is really dynamic and realistic and it is taken to a whole new level of tactical warfare. 

So how does the ARO work?

Orders

To understand the ARO, we first have to take a look at the Orders. In an Infinity army, every unit generates one Order. Orders are a valuable resource in Infinity. The Order allows a player to move his units. Since a standard 300 point Infinity army is usually somewhere between the 10 to 15 units, this means that a player can generate somewhere between 10 to 15 Orders. With every model you loose, you loose orders as well.

With an Order a player can do many things. It is what powers your unit to take actions. 

An order is often broken up in two parts (two Short Skills or one Long Skill). While Player 1 is taking his actions; moving, hacking, taking objectives, shooting, Player 2 can react to these actions by hacking or shooting back at the opponent. Player 2 can react to every action his opponent takes, as long as those actions are preformed in Line of Fire (LoF) or Zone of Control (ZoC) of one of his units.

Let it sink for a moment... 

Yes indeed, you can shoot your opponents strategy entirely to pieces during his turn. It's this mechanic in the game that really makes Infinity a totally new way of tactical gaming.

The ARO is resolved by another core mechanic of Infinity; the Face-to-Face Roll, which I'll cover in future posts. 

Terrain

At this stage, I think everybody who read this gets an idea of the importance of cover and terrain within Infinty. If you're out of cover and out in the open, you're a sitting duck and the opponent can kill you off pretty easily. A player really needs to take a risk when crossing a street, square or passing an ally. He will also have to cover the backs of his own units with his other units. 

To play Infinity, you'll need a lot of LoF-blockers. I can't stress this enough! A lot of tabletops use few terrain-pieces. When you start Infinity with this kind of table in mind, the game is over in one or two turns and it will look like weird game. 

Luckily you can make terrain with everything; cereal boxes, books, cups, cans, etc. You can even make your own terrain with paper or foamboard, which is a pretty cheap option. 

One of the great Infinity tables, this one made by Antenocitis Workshop. You can see a lot of sight-blockers.

Well, that raps it up for tonight. :) Remember, the rules are downloadable free-of-charge from the Infinity website.  

                                                                                                                                           

The pictures are from Tom Shadle's Miniatures and Certs Tabletop