Infinity 2020 Project

Crimson Stone you beautiful starter set. A starter set with Ariadna my first Infinity love and the Nomads an army I don’t own I couldn’t resist and I had birthday money so win win!

I started on the Ariadna and decided to try a muted colour palate to look realistic. I’d been painting Bolt Action models so had some good khaki greens.

The models were base coated black. The greens were painted with Cidetal Castellan Green, washed with Athonian Green and highlighted with Death World Green.

The trousers are Dark Reaper grey washed with Nuhln Oil.

I love the poses and dynamimism of the new models they have comes on so much compared to the original Caledonian starter set.

Well this was the strangest Christmas ever with most of the family bunkered down and Boris deciding to go to another lock down (right choice, rubbish timing) at least Santa could still deliver just him and fleets of Amazon vans.

I was given blister packs from the Combined Army Bitt and Kiss the rebellious possibly still Human Hacker Bitt with her hacking device/robot with flamethrower Kiss. Bitt’s flowing red coat sold me on this mini and I couldn’t wait to try and blen colours…. One attempt later I decided to drybrushe from Khorn Red,, Mephiston Red, Wazdakka Red and Evil Sunz Scarlet.

With Kiss I stuck with the grey and red them I used with the Morats. Great Hicote undercoat, Nulhn Oil wash, Ershin Grey Administratum Grey, and a Palid Wytch Flesh dry brush. The reds were the same as Bitts coat.

The other Min was the Haqislam Hassasin Ayyar with Viral Pistol which just looks badass! Again rocking the Dune vibe, this assassin of the desert is like a ghost and the model tells that story perfectly.

Undercoated with Zahndri Dust and a good wash of Agrax Eeathshade I then used Zahndri Dust on the armour and Castellan Green and Deathwolrd Forest with an Athonian comoshade in the recesses.

All in all happy with all of these minis… But was hoping to use them soon.

I found a sneaky Japanese Seccessionist Army Domaru, which are Samurai (look at the swords) that I’d totally missed when doing the JSA earlier in the year.

Again, I stuck with the studio colours taking the white from rattle can grey (Hicote) through Cidetal Celestial Grey, palid wytch flesh and screaming scull white. The red and white are very invocotive of the Japanese flag which I guess is the point!

Well I probably should have updated this before now but you know, life.

I bought the Starmarda Action pack as soon as I could. This would have been October 2020 and I was still working from home.

The models were sprayed with a rattle an of Ultramarines blue before being heavily washed with Asuramen blue was which is an older Cidetal wash. I then worked the blue up through Teclis Blue and Temple Guard blue as well as drybrushing Temple Gaurd blue. I liked the studio paint style so stuck with the yellow. This was Averland Sunsent and Yriel Yellow.

For the bases I wanted to feel like a Spaceship as per the Starmarda fluff. I used the GW Necromunda bases and channeled 70’s Sci Fi.

I’m quite happy with the overall effect.

September brought the Betrayal Graphic Novel and I was very keen to pick this up, mainly for the new Ko Dali Model. If I had known there would be a bazillion alternative sculpts I may have waited. Oh well. The mini is cool the graphic novel quite good too.

The Monks were the last models found by my friend in his pile of shame and these were from Infinity 2nd Editions (N2). The style is very different but I love the dynamic posed of both of them. Along with Bebe from the Outrage pack the high kicking Monk is my daughters favourite (she 4 and seems to enjoy violence especially Wrestling, Spider Gwen, Supergirl punching people into Space…. we working on it) and I don’t blame her it’s a fantastic pose in a predominantly ranged miniatures game. Maybe it’s a statement shoot me and I’ll kick you into space.

Right deep breath because I was about to order the new Starmarda Action Pack…. her we go!

It was late August and I had finished my snow themed Ad Mech army and felt the call of Infinity again. I had a birthday and got a couple of bit from my family.

The Bashi Bazouks was from my son. I love the background to this unit (both real history and) in Infinity. Who doesn’t want a unruly drop trooper with a shotgun and disregard for authority! I tried to tie the model in with my other Haqqislam models but follow the official paint scheme with the reds. I ended up making the model fairly dirty but I think that was hangover from my last project.

The Japanese Sectorial Shikami quite possible one of the most badass looking mini’s about so I had to grab one for the JSA force. I chose the Raiden style head and the SMG rather than the empty scabbard and sword option. And, well it just looks cool.

The final 2 mini were a Sun Tze, this sculpt really shows the transition between the old Infinity sculpts and the CAD new mini’s. It’s waaaay bulkier and much more heroic. I do prefer the style. The last mini was a Daofei with the long pony tail, very much in the old style.

The Shaolin monks are one of the coolest mini’s in the old Yu Jing range. These ones were given to me by a friend and anyone who has built Infinity Mini’s before knows that some parts fit together better than other especially if they are meant to fit. There is a right way and a wrong way to put them together. Now I am fairly certain that heads are not on the right body’s which has made them look a little bit odd (all the heads were bald and difficult to tell apart).

Overall I was happy with the painting using my orange recipe from the other Yu Jing mini’s.

At this point (early June) my infinity project was put on hold due to the arrival of a prize I had won on the Floorhammer Podcast (WH40k podcast well recommended) an Ad Mech army shiny syndrome took hold. I can add a seperate Ad Mech project if anyone is interested.

I came but in August with a few more Yu Jing, Haqqislam and Japanese Sectorial models.

At this point I was beginning to run out of storage space. I looked at ‘official’ miniature storage and was put off by both the cost and complexity of some of the systems. So I came up with me own!

I bought 2 large hobby organisers from the UK shop Home Bargains for £2.50 each. Then bought a roll of egg box foam for £10 on amazon.

I cut out out individual squares and added put them in the recess boxes of the hobby organiser and job done. Models are snug and I like the uniformity (yep nerd)

I’ve since bought a 3rd box so all in this cost around £2o, which isn’t too shabby.

Up next Yu Jing. I have never been sold on the Yu Jing faction, I don’t know if this is because of the models or the background but something about this faction just does not sing to me (Panoceania is the same but more meh!)

However these were freebies so I will not complain and as they are going to be used by a group of people at work (probably in gloves) I don’t really have to like them! That said the Code One starter sent models are nicer than these older ones so maybe it’s the sculpts.

With each faction I have made the decision to base them in an archetypal way, so the Yu Jing is going to be based on city streets. Smooth but with road markings….well that’s the plan. I was keen to stick to the orange paint scheme because it is there identifying feature and it does look good on the table. My orange mix is black undercoat (Halfords) Citadel Jokero Orange all over as a base and then I used Fuegan Orange  and Fire Dragon bright both Citadel by wet blending with a homemade wet pallet (Takeaway tub, 2 layers of kitchen roll soaked with water and a layer of no waxy baking paper) to mix the colour and get the gradual change in tone. I used Yriel Yellow (Citadel) to highlight the edges and used it for a very light dry brush.

I’m not convinced that these models will make a coherent and force but it should be fun to find out.

We’re getting into the summer/lockdown of 2020 now. Days are long, homeschooling is grueling…. But in this time of challenge and woe a package arrives unexpectedly. One of the guys who tried Infinity originally with me had a clear out and sent me his unwanted Yu Jing and Japanese Sectorial Army models.

These hadn’t been touched they were all bare metal still. This now meant that along with the Ariadna, Combined, Haqislam and the Japanese I now had enough forces for all the guys at work who wanted to play at Lunch. Plus a spare Yu Jing if I get my painting on. At this point we were hoping for a return to work in September……Yeah ok, so that didn’t exactly go to plan.

I added the Ninja from the Outrage box set and the Dire Foes JSA mini to round out the team.

I forgot have difficult working with white can be! The undercoat if a light grey made by Hycote. I then washed the recesses with some black was (Nuln Oil) and then went up gradually from grey to white using Citadel Celestial Grey, Citadel Pallid wych flesh and Citadel Screaming skull white. I then finished it with a dry brush of screaming skull to pick out to edges. The black under clothes were painted with Citadel Dark Reaper, Nuln Oil Wash and then a dry brush of Citadel Administratum Gray. I’m not an expert painter and I’m happy with tabletop standard or at least my version of it. I would love to paint like Angel G or Darren Latham but I have learnt to be happy with what I produce whilst still trying to improve. I do not hold myself to unattainable standards…. I hope.

One of the many things that I  love about infinity is the Dire Foes packs. Not only do you get cool miniatures but they come with missions and a ton of artwork which is just cool.

This set was the the first things I ever saw of Infinity and I was hooked! So finally I decided to pick it up. Isobel MacGregor sold it for me. I love the pose and I justified the purchase because the other mini Guǐ Fēng Yuriko Oda looks like DC’s Katana (who my 4 year old is a big fan of).

I painted them as faithfully as I could following the box art, however I swerved the tartan trousers as my previous attempt at tartan was not great.

Emily Handleman. This is my favourite model in the set and character in the Manga.

The Whole crew of the Dolly Danger. Now I need to use them in a game.

I was on a roll and my confidence was high so I thought now was the perfect time to paint the Outrage box set…

Ages ago I had been lucky enough to win a box set of the Outrage Manga mins from a BOW Gen Con prize bundle. But I’d never thought I’d be able vle to do them justice. But with Lockdown happening I thought why not give it a go.

First up Bebe Rodriguez.

Bebe was not a favourite character nor was the model the most appealing to me but I thought it would be a good place to start. She’s wl sassy though.

Uhahu was up next. She’s the non combatant of the group and is the hacker. She’s a cool character in the Manga.

Domovoi, is a one dimensional dogface who adds very little to the Manga. But I did enjoy painting him.

Next up Kanuaff the unhinged sniper. Sorted.

Silent disgraced ninja. Check.

After playing our first game I was back on the infinity train whilst the game was short it had hooked me back in.

In the mists of time during the second edition of Infinity N2 3 friends and myself decided we would have a ‘Geekend’ (TM) and thought it would be a good idea to try a new game, having been ardent 40k players (to be honest I’d strayed a bit into Mantic and Malifaux) but fancied a change. So we bought into Infinity and they were not sold!! To be fair they gave it a good go we had lots of games throughout the weekend but it just didn’t float their boats. However I was hooked! Especially being able to play as Scots in space. Ariadna was the faction for me.

Having played the lunch game I’d forgotten how much I like the Ariadna and remembered that I had a couple of blister packs in the cupboard of shame. Time to add them to the army.

I added a Ariadna Scout and the Veteran Kazak. The old scout kneeling down was one of my favourite models (plus I think she looks like my wife, she doesn’t agree) so I tried to paint the new one to look similar with the green.

For the veteran Kazak I channeled Jean Paul Gaultier.

Before Covid turned our world upside down with Lockdown last March I managed to arrange a couple of games over my lunch break (it’s a Friday treat) with some friends at work. There is 4 of us who regularly meet up and play over a lunch time. X-Wing is our go to game for ease and speed but we have played, Legion, Bolt Action, Armada and various board games. It really does help with the stress of working in education!

The group is diverse, 3 gents and one lady ranging from early 20’s to late 40’s. Between us we cover the whole range of table top goodness. E enjoys board games the more complex the better, L is a RPG lover (D&D) and likes WHFB (Elves), G is a historical player really WW2,  Spanish War of Succession and Rebels and Patriots being their jam at the moment. I am a sci fi lover with 40k armies and Star Wars but do dip my toe into Napoleonics and WW2 so there is a lot of experience here (not that it helps with any new game we play).

For our first game we kept it simple with a 3 v 3 using the ‘basic’ troops from our respective armies. G chose Haqqislam, E went for Ariadna so grabbed the Morats. L wasn’t in that day.  I’d printed off A4 sheets with all the stats from the Infinity Army website (really good tool) so we had everything to hand easily.

The Great thing about Infinity is that you can by scenery packs for under £10 in the UK and that’s your table done. Great for carrying to and from venues and is relatively sturdy.

Now it’s been a long time since I last played Infinity and I forgot how brutal the shooting is and how you NEED cover. The open fire lanes in the table able meant that we did a lot of hugging of wall and sneaking. But the game was quick and the ARO (Automatic Response Orders) meant that we were watching for people to stray into our line of sight all the time. Being able to dodge and move slightly was really useful. However it took some time to get our heads round the dice mechanism and rolling below to succeed as well as the Face To Face rolls. Over all an enjoyable lunch time with the Morats losing 2 of their 3 troops.

Rolling into February and feeling good about the completed Haqqislam models I turned my attention to an older project that just never really go going. I’d picked up the Morat Vanguard starter set ages ago. I loved the Klingon/Ape Warrior caste feeling behind the models and I don’t think I’d come across similar models in other games. I do like a Xenos faction (my go to 40k army are Tau). I thought these would be a good foil to the 2 Infinity Factions I already have Haqqislam and Ariadna (more on them in a bit).

The Morat are big brutal warriors whose sole purpose is to fight for the Combined Army’s EI (evolved intelligence) I liked the direct nature of these fella’s who are fanatics and respect might and military ability above all.

Now it’s worth saying that these were a bugger to put together. I pinned, I glued I gave offerings to the glue god the lot. A friend of mine said try bicarbonate of soda (???). Sprinkle a small amount on one side of the piece to be glued and then put your super glue on the other piece. Boom! This sticks fast! And is really solid.

I kept the colour scheme that Infinity suggested the grey and red complimented each other well and were striking on the table top. I primed with grey primer from Halfords (matt Grey) which is excellent value and good value as this was the base colour. Then washed with Nuln Oil in all the recessed the give depth before going to town with dry brushing using lighter and lighter grey up to Pallid Wych flesh.  The red was Mephiston red base, Carroburg Crimson wash, Wazdakka Red and then a highlight of Squig Orange but not too much.

With 3 factions painted we were ready for a Game……

1. Before Covid a group of us at Work decided to start playing infinity. I had played a bit before and had some starter packs so said I would paint a few bits so we could all play with colourful minis. We thought this would be a great slow group project and the others would jump in with models as we went… Nothing could go wrong.

First up Haqqislam. I got this starter set for Christmas so was keen to get them painted up to play. One of the guys at work asked to use them so I cracked on.

I started with the Gulahm’s as these are a core troop. The models were sprayed with GW Zhandri Dust and the heavily washed with Agrax Earthshade to pick out the recesses. I think dry brushed with Zhandri Dust and Pallid Witch flesh to give some depth. I wanted to give the idea of these models being very earthy and tie them to their planet. This idea is something I wanted to replicate on all the Infinity models to tie their based to their homeworld.

I was happy with the models (feeling a real Dune vibe) and loved the basing if I did say so myself I pushed on with the rest of the starter set. I followed the same painting plan as the above model spraying Zhandri Dust and lots of washes. The next models were another Gulahm,  Zhayedan (dude with brown coat and snazzy pose), Khawarij (badass in the Red Turban) and the Taureg (Sniper lady).