So let's get into it then. Behold, my ramblings on playing competitive Infinity!
First off The Outpost in Sheffield know their stuff when it comes to tournaments - they should, they host them for just about anything you can imagine on constant basis. And it showed. The staff were insanely friendly and easy to talk to, welcoming, and above all knew what they were doing. No standing about wondering who was in charge, no waiting for tables to be setup, no messing about with the results or the 'housekeeping'. Full marks for personnel and organisation chaps.
The venue itself was probably a tiny bit crampt in areas for lots of 4x4 playing areas (looked more suited to larger 6x4 games) but the tables were a good height to avoid bad backs, and had tons of shelf space for your belongings to minimise clutter. Downstairs was a very well stocked little games shop with acres of cabinet space dedicated to some very well painted models, for between game perusal. Did I mention lunch was included, and was a rather delicious burrito from a local Mexican cafe? Yum.
Onto the gaming then. Terrain was probably the biggest issue. Simply put there wasn't enough on some tables, with two of the boards I played on suffering from very low cover that a TAG or even a Cameronian couldn't hide behind, contrasting with one or two very tall sniper nests. The result was domination from HMGs, snipers, and Panzerfausts/missile launchers and shorter range specialists being hung out to dry rather brutally. Some of the other boards were well catered for with bigger buildings but scatter was still at a premium.
The overall effect was the games (for me at least) feeling slightly alien at times, and not the tactical chess match I'm used to, with long range shooting dictating the games and static link teams dominating with camped special weapons. The Outpost are hoping to field another tournament in the Summer, and I really hope they can sort this for next time. It didn't stop me enjoying the games, with my first and third being great matches (especially my face off with one of my regular opponents Nate). I also know other boards had quite a bit of good cover, but luck of the draw with tables saw me on quite sparse layouts using low rocks and gothic ruins (mainly).
The player base was excellent. For what I thought would be a small eight man tournament, fourteen players turned up and it made for a great atmosphere. A generally great attitude to the games was evident with only a little gamey behaviour and ungentlemanly conduct, with plenty of mutual admiration for armies and plenty of banter. Having the event run it's own Facebook event page really helped with a number of familiar names and armies meaning ice breakers were easy to come across.
Terrain aside, for me the only other real area I'd like to see changed was the ITS aspect of the day. It wasn't fully ITS in format with four turn games, and slight changes to the scenarios/classifieds, and of course douchebags like me bringing Mercs. Maybe a four game format with three turns a game next time and full ITS rules?
As far as my games went, it was variable.
Game one shaped up for a heavy defeat after a couple of early losses, but Ariadna prevailed against the might of the Imperial Service and I comfortably won the Domination mission with sterling performances from Paracommando and an HMG Tankhunter. A game that really swung heavily half-way through in my favour once the Hsien Lt had been dispatched and a sniper Ninja eliminated. Terrain on this table was the most generous, but the low rock features kept most of the combatants at arms reach for fear of being blasted from distance.
Game two was an utter disaster for me. Really lopside terrain enabled a Multisniper Hafza/KTS link team to wipe the floor with many of my units without moving from their own deployment zone. Terrain in general on this board was a big problem with my warband units unable to cover any meaningful distances, and many units simply being stuck in the open... and dead. I used Scarface in this game and he was taken out turn one in ARO very easily simply due to a lack of objects taller than him. This was the game I really didn't enjoy for many reasons, but a sense of feeling defeated before I started affecting everything I didn't help at all. One to forget.
Game three was a really good match. The sort of game Infinity excels at. A very lopsided terrain setup meant I deployed against Nate's Shasvastii in relatively good cover, whilst he scattered his none-TO units behind almost nothing taller than a knee high stone wall. However a three turn tussle over a central antenna, a turn one assassination from his Speculo that saw Scarface dead again without a kill, and a hilariously cool vignette when his Noctifier picked off two Antipodes with it's Missile Launcher as they pelted at him before double tapping the third one with his Assault Pistol; were all highlights. A great game to cap off the day... but another defeat, only just.
My personal highlight of the day was winning best painted army. Quite a nice moment when it was announced I must admit! But there were several really pretty looking armies there with I think only one army completely devoid of paint bar primer.
Overall a great day spent playing a great game - despite the downsides.
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