To Infinity... and Beyond!!!

In light of the recent GW news- phasing in resin products in place of metal and another price hike- I've noticed quite a bit of players switching to other game systems. Some finding a fall back and some just completely bailed. Games like Warmachine/Hordes and Malifaux seem to be the popular alternatives. I too will be switching but Infinity will be my game of choice.

I've been lurking the Infinity forums for a couple years now admiring their miniatures and even picking up a couple minis on coolness alone. It wasn't until Beasts of War had an Infinity-themed week that I started to seriously look at the game. After reading the GW's current announcements, it pretty much sealed the deal.

What lead me to Infinity besides the cool minis were the rules. At first I was really overwhelmed with how different it was from the other games I've played. But as soon as I got my head around it I realized this is a great game. And I'll give you three reasons why:

1) Miniatures. Minis are wonderfully sculpted. Even if you aren't into the heavy anime style there are a couple factions that aren't. You don't even need a lot to start playing. A couple of starter boxsets for you and a friend is all you need. One can even buy as little as a few blisters to play a small skirmish game.

2) Rules. I had always hated the down time you'd get from the typical 'you go, I go' sequence. Infinity instead allows you to react to your opponents' minis whether its running away, shooting back, get up or go prone, or just plain dodge while it's their turn. Can't think of other games that do this. Can you?

The game is also supposedly unbelievably balanced. No faction is better than another and there are no specific list that wins. All lists for the most part are actually competitive. That is unheard of! I really hope this is true but I'll find out soon enough.

3) Free. Rules are free to download so if you're still on the fence you can proxy those Imperial Guard or AT-43 figs.

I still love my rats. In fact, I'm still planning on attending Gamesday. It's just looking more and more that my fantasy army will be 99% hobby and 1% gaming.

Skaven Update #31

I was expecting to get some good quality hobby time these past couple weeks but that was not the case. The little time I did find I...

...expanded!

Since I'm working on rat ogres at the moment I thought it'd be a good idea to open up my 2 unopened Moulder boxes that's been collecting dust and to finally start on them as well! They've been on the shelf for a long time. I picked one up way back during the Lustria summer campaign (remember that?) and the other one when a LGS went out of business shortly after. Aside from a single packmaster everything else is assembled and most are based. Y'know, I do have a couple more rat ogres that are still in their packages- the more recent Boneripper and the Mordheim Skryre rat ogre. I wonder if I should assemble them as well. This project just got a little bigger.

Rat Ogres!

Okay, it's official. I'm committing myself to paint this hulking bunch next.

Looks like they're almost done but let's take closer look...

The packmasters have obviously not worked on. They don't even have their bases sanded yet.

At the time, I rushed these dudes to have them tabletop ready (for an entirely different game system no less) and in doing so, prematurely added the static grass when I clearly wasn't finished. I need to brighten the skin tones a bit and finish the smaller details. Also need to paint around the grass to finish the base. Well that's the plan anyway. I may need to strip the grass all together.

These guys look about half done and need some serious wash and highlighting. These earlier models clearly look different from the others so I wanted their paint scheme to reflect that a bit. After seeing them within the unit I may have to tone down contrast just a tad to have a more uniform look.

The old Boneripper is now my master bred. Still needs some painting to do but what it really needs is special treatment on the base to have it stand out more.

Well, there you go. We'll see how long this project will last.