Leisure Hours Demos a SUCCESS

On Friday I went out to Leisure Hours Hobbies for an Infinity Bootcamp and it went great. I did three introductory games and all three players enjoyed the game. Two of them already had armies, just hadn't played yet. 

Thanks to Jon over at Leisure Hours for having me, can't wait to do it again. If your ever out in Joliet you have to check this store out. They have one of the most well stocked Infinity sections around.  

Casual versus competitive wargaming

Greetings,

My name is Jerimy Elliott and I am a contributor to this blog. Please don't take anything I say too seriously.


Recently I have been thinking alot about the types of war gaming that people do. Generally there are three types of war gaming experiences; Casual play (you versus a friend or friends) Leagues (casual/competitive play over time versus friends or strangers) and Tournaments (competitive play over and afternoon or weekend). Each style of play can be a challenge and each style offers up its own set of rewards.

Casual play helps people learn the rules and develop strategies. It can also help someone get a new army into circulation or try a new build for an old army. Casual play is generally more forgiving of mistakes and less pressure packed than a tournament. It's inherent disadvantage is that you can see the same armies and opponents constantly and get used to their play style. You may fall into the trap of engaging the player instead of the army. That may be okay for a time, but it will handicap you when you play a different person who may use the army in a heretofore un-thought-of way. Casual play is great for fun and army trials but you wont get the full range of opponents and strategies until you get out and play in a tournament.

League play is a good cross between casual and tournament play. League play has the atmosphere of a casual game night with a long term, competitive goal. League play usually lets you develop armies or build an geographic empire. League play has the disadvantage of being scaled to favor the victors. Generally in war gaming leagues, the victors in early going soon become unreachable and discourages the rest of the field from participating in later rounds. (Infinity Escalation leagues do a good job of navigating this hazard {http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/downloads/its/%5Ben%5DEscalation%20Leagues.pdf})

Tournament play (my personal favorite) is the most competitive and the most rewarding when done well. A good tournament will be run well and very organized. It makes for interesting games with new strategies and ideas. It also brings out the best in terms of army painting and competitive play.

I don't want to paint too rosy of a picture of tournament play. Tournaments can, at times, be filled with shady or whiny players and disorganized organizers. Just remember that even if you are in a less than perfect tournament scenario, you can still benefit from the experience of playing multiple games in a given day.

Remember the goal of the game is to win but the point of gaming is to have fun.

Doing Work, Warcor Style

Coming up on Friday the 20th of June I'll be doing my first Infinity Bootcamp at Leisure Hour Hobbies in Joliet, IL. I will be there from 6ish PM until they close at 9PM.  

I'm super excited, not only for the opportunity to share the awesome game of Infinity with other gamers, but my favorite BBQ  place is right down the street. 

Chicagoland Region Infinity Players Escalation League

Locally we've decided to do an Escalation League. It will last for the final six months of the year with each round lasting the whole month. We're playing this super relaxed, it's not getting submitted as an ITS event and you have a month to play one game.

I couldn't decide what to play for this so I put a poll up un our forum and let the rest of the crew decide. I ended up with Tohaa.

The first round is a simple Annhilation scenario with no Lieutenant required and no Hackers allowed. You are allowed a 120 point army. The army I'll be using for this round is:

 Tohaa - Untitled Roster (120/300 | 2/6)

Group #1 | 6 Models |  6  0  2

 Gao-Rael Sniper | Sniper Rifle, Pistol / CCW (1 | 37)
 Kamael Light Infantry Sniper | Sniper Rifle, Pistol / Knife (1 | 18)
 Kamael Light Infantry Combi | Combi Rifle, Pistol / Knife (12)
 Kamael Light Infantry Combi | Combi Rifle, Pistol / Knife (12)
 Sakiel Regiment Lieutenant | Lieutenant, Viral Combi Rifle, Swarm Grenades, Pistol / Knife (26)
 Makaul Flamer | Heavy Flamethrower, Zero-V Smoke Grenades, Pistol / Viral CCW (15)

 




The basic plan for this army is to park a triad consisting of the Gao-Rael, Kamael sniper and a Combi Rifle Kamael.  This group is going to provide covering fire for the other triad that will attempt to take the fight to the enemy.

So, I forgot I set this thing up.

A while back I thought it would be a good idea to chronicle my various gaming exploits. I had this great epiphany while my wife was trying on clothes at some random store in the mall. So while sitting on one of the couches outside the dressing room I set this thing up. I had great plans of posting all kinds of info about planning Infinity events at Adepticon and my awesome tactical skill at the myriad of games I play. Then my wife was ready to check out, I think there was a Cinnabon and with that I completely forgot about this blog.

Years have passed and it's time to pick this up again for the first time.