In the interest of full disclosure I do have some bias. I am running the team tourney at NOVA and Mike and the whole crew are working hard up to make NOVA something long term.

I think formats that actually recognize and seek to redress some of the obvious deficiencies in "competitive" 40k make for a more fun gaming environment than that which the more "free form" format ard boyz supports.

I would say that getting out for the big conventions is really where it's at these days. Time was the cons were limited so hitting up an occasional out the way tournament was a necessary evil. Now that cons have become more like destination gaming for me, I tend to focus on getting ready for the big three and am satisfied with local pick up games otherwise.

Good to see more interest in Infinity. Despite the more complicated ruleset, I see it as one of the more evolved sci-fi gaming systems on the market.

Great comments above from some experienced players. I would recommend staying at around 150 pts until you get the basic mechanics mastered. I know the temptation is to jump in feet first but the the risk is that you will mistake some of the basics (for example, a model MUST be touching cover to get cover advantage - this screws up a lot of people).

Of the three main "specialist" categories (Hacker, Doctor, and Engineer) I would really only recommend exploring Doctor in your initial games but be sure to give your doc a G:Servant Remote. That way you can start to understand how remotes work without getting too complicated. Hackers and Engineers become A LOT more relevant as people take bigger lists with heavy infantry and TAGS.... but for now keep it simple!

I posted a blog entry a while back with some useful Infinity links:
http://23lines.blogspot.com/2011/05/indicium-path...