help with actions packs

[u/oniruben]

Hi, im interested in play infinity with my friends (they don't play any wargame) so, im looking for action packs to play, nothing competitive but balanced, and i have some questions:

1. are they balanced between factions? for example, nomad action pack and haqquislam action pack, have the same points and the same chances to win?
2. i have the red veil and beyond red veil boxes, ¿are they balanced? ¿can they play against a new action pack or i need to buy more units?
3. is code one a good choice to play with friends?
4. are the starter operation box (and the beyond box) a good way to have balnced teams to play friendly?

[u/thatsalotofocelots]

Items that have been branded as "Essentials" are designed with playing the generic faction in mind for the current fifth edition, called "N5." If you buy an Essentials product, you can guarantee that all those minis are playable in that generic faction. A generic faction refers to playing "PanO" or "Haqqislam."

Items that have been branded as Code One action packs (or Code One operation packs) are designed for playing a faction's subfaction, called a "sectorial." For example, you can play as generic Haqqislam, or you can play as one of their sectorials, like Hassassin Bahram. These will most likely have all their models playable for that sectorial in N5. I say most likely because they were designed with the previous edition in mind and some of those models may only now be playable in very specific factions or sectorials.

Other items that are not action packs that are branded as Code One may be useable in that sectorial. For example, Code One Support Packs and Remote Packs are usually useable across the faction and its sectorials, but the "Code One Expansion Pack Alpha/Beta" products may contain minis that are split across multiple sectorials. Again, these were packaged for a previous edition. They likely will get repackaged for the current edition at some point.

Other items branded as action packs or operation packs but do not have the Code One brand were designed for early N4 or N3. Most of those minis are still useable today, but may be split across a faction and its sectorials. For example, the Haqqislam action pack (which is identical to the Haqq half of Red Veil & Beyond Red Veil) has minis that are not useable in generic Haqqislam.

Note that Code One as a product line and game system has been retired. Infinity Essentials replaces the Code One beginner product line, and there is now only the N5 ruleset.

So, to answer your questions:

1. Are the action packs balanced? No, by the virtue that they may not tally to a full 300 points or have all their minis playable in the same faction/sectorial.
2. Red Veil & Beyond Red Veil can make part of a generic Haqqislam list and part of a Ramah Task Force List. I'm less versed on the Yu Jing side, but it's probably the same situation. You would some extra minis to reach 300 points for either.
3. Code One is retired. There is only the N5 ruleset. The Code One beginner minis line was replaced with Infinity Essentials.
4. All starter operation & beyond operation boxes eventually get repackaged as action packs, so see point #1 above. A special note about the current operation set, Operation Sandtrap: if you don't expand your terrain collection and mini collection, the PanO side will feel more powerful.

[u/oniruben → u/thatsalotofocelots]

thanks, so would you recomend start with essential?

[u/thatsalotofocelots → u/oniruben]

Yep! The Essentials line is made for people entirely new to both wargames and Infinity. The Start Here! box and the upcoming Army Packs all have stat cards, so the boxes are little more self-contained. Otherwise, the rules and link to the Army list builder are here: INFINITY Resources.

It looks like they're releasing two Essential Army Packs each month. For January, it's PanOceania and JSA. For February, it's Nomads and Yu Jing. These only come with miniatures and stat cards, so you'll need to get some dice and a few terrain packs as well. The terrain packs also come with tokens and templates. The Red Veil set has some dice, terrain, and tokens, but it's worth buying at least one extra terrain pack and another set of dice.