New Infinity CodeOne: Crimson Stone starter set with trailer announced

Playing wargames with miniatures requires patience. Of course, all of the painting is there, but the rules themselves are notoriously complex. Fighting a battle can take hours, and there is often downtime spent waiting for your opponent’s turn to come. It is these shortcomings that Infinity CodeOne, a game developed and published by Corvus Bell, was designed to work around. On Thursday, the Spanish company unveiled a new starter kit called Infinity CodeOne: Operation Crimson Stone. We embedded the trailer above. Polygon spoke to co-creator Gutier Lusquiños to find out more.

infinity was first published in 2005. Lusquiños and his staff wanted to make a science fiction game that would stand out from the competition. They wanted something less dark and retro-futuristic than Warhammer 40,000but also a little brighter and more upbeat than your average cyberpunk attitude. The solution was a mix of Japanese manga-inspired artwork and a hopeful, transnational political landscape resembling Star Trek.

Photo: Charlie Hall / Polygon

Your world lies 180 years in the future, when humanity is just beginning to establish itself on several extrasolar planets. For players this means lots of exotic weapons and armor, but a fighting style that feels familiar.

In a traditional game of infinity, two players compete against each other with around 15 miniatures each. The battles take place at small tables, the largest being four feet square. What distinguishes the game visually, however, is the density of the terrain. Where a game like 40K maybe just have a handful of buildings or trees on the table, games of infinity often resemble dense labyrinths full of strange futuristic structures and extraterrestrial flora. The reason for all of the terrain is because of infinity‘s most unique feature, a mechanism called Automatic Order Reaction (AoR).

Image: Corvus Belli

Suppose one of your models is in the back of a building, completely hidden from your opponent’s miniatures. When it is your opponent’s turn, they will move their miniature around the corner of this building and face it with your own. In a game of Warhammer 40,000if these units weren’t within an inch, not much would happen. The enemy unit would end its movement and then take its actions accordingly when it was that player’s turn. But in infinity

Units are always at risk of receiving backfire, which makes simply moving around the board a challenge. As a result, fans of infinity find it much more active and engaging than other systems.

Image: Corvus Belli

“One of the great advances of infinity when we published it almost 20 years ago it was the automatic order response, ”said Lusquiños. “One of the reasons we say, ‘In infinity It’s always your turn because you can always play. Always. And that, too, comes from our time as gamers when you say, “Okay, it’s your turn. I will sit here and wait. I’ll get a Coke and be back in five minutes, but you can move now. ‘ It’s very boring and doesn’t reflect the reality of the fight. “

Also games by infinity only takes a few laps and turns every effort into a sprint to the finish line. Players have to look for weaknesses in their opponent’s line, but when they stall or lack boldness it can be easy to lose momentum.

Image: Corvus Belli

Infinity CodeOne is a simplified version of the larger one infinity Game. To like Warhammer 40,000: Kill TeamAlso, it requires fewer miniatures – just three on each side. But not how Kill team, CodeOne is a real introduction to a larger set of rules. CodeOne teaches players exactly the same skills they need to be in the full-fat version of. to be succesfull infinity. Lusquiños calls it the “gate to” infinity. “

The new Purple stone Starterset adds two factions, the Nomads and the Ariadna, which have not yet appeared in this stripped down version of the game. Expect an asymmetrical confrontation with the less technically advanced Ariadna relying on brute force against the more advanced nomads. When the game ships later this year, it will come with a play mat, lots of three-dimensional cardboard terrain, and all the tokens and markers needed to play. Pre-orders start July 5th. No pricing information was given.

You can start playing infinity now, with all available miniatures. The full, 176-page rule book is available online for free.