Infinity Tactics 101: Alert and Warning

In the frantic crossfire that happens on the battlefields of Infinity, it's important to know where the enemy fire is coming from, and not let them shoot you in the back. As squad members get taken out, other fighters near them will ready themselves for the incoming attack. There are two rules in Infinity that help represent this situational awareness and bring it to the table top, Alert and Warning. Since they each perform a similar function, but work entirely differently, and it's important to not get them mixed up!

Warning

The most commonly used of the two rules, Warning occurs automatically when someone near a friendly model is attacked.

REQUIREMENTS

To perform a Warning! the following conditions must be met:

• The trooper cannot be activated by Order or ARO in the same Order.
• An allied trooper inside his Zone of Control or the trooper himself must have been targeted by an Attack.

WARNING! RULE (Active Turn/ Reactive Turn)

• Warning! is always performed at the end of the Order, in the Conclusion, after the ARM/BTS Rolls.
• Warning! allows the trooper to spin, without changing its position, to modify the arc of his LoF so the attacker is within it.
• This is an automatic movement which doesn't require any Roll.
• As Warning! is performed at the Conclusion of the Order, it doesn't generate an ARO.

Simply put, this rule means that any time one of your own models is TARGETED by an attack, at the end of that order, any of your models may rotate to put the attacking model into your model's front arc (you're only required to get them in your arc, not necessarily LOF). Note that you can use this skill regardless of if it's your active turn, or your opponent's.

How to use Warning

Here we have a pretty common situation, Red has closed in on a pair of Blue models and shoots at the first one he comes across (Blue 1). A firefight ensues, and since Blue 1 was in the Zone of Control of Blue 2, during the conclusion of the order, Blue 2 may now turn to face the enemy.

Note that if Blue 2 actually was within 8" of Red, they would NOT have been able to use Warning, unless they declined using their own ARO (which would have been generated by the enemy activating in their ZoC).

Alert

Alert is a very different beast from Warning, and a bit more complicated. Unlike Warning, Alert is an ARO and must be declared like any other ARO, which means if you Alert, you cannot dodge, shoot back, or any other ARO. The result is that if you do declare an Alert ARO with one model, every other model on your side to declare a Change Facing, regardless of other restrictions. Since you are forgoing any ability to go face to face with the opponent with the model using Alert, it's usefulness can be very situational.

How to use Alert

In this situation, Red has a great shot at the rear of a very valuable model, Blue 2, which has his back turned. Blue 1, knowing the importance of Blue 2 declares an Alert ARO, giving Blue 2 the ability to declare Change Facing.

Hopefully that clears things up for you guys, I know it helped me understand it for myself! Understanding how to control your units facing is very important when your enemies could be coming from any angle. Just remember, if the attacker is in your ZOC, then you can Change Facing. If the attacker is out of your LOF/ZOC and attacks a friendly model inside your ZOC, then you get to use Warning. Finally, Alert is only used if one of your models declares it, and it lets any model anywhere on the board Change Facing, regardless of it's normal restrictions.