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.

Skaven Update #30.1

Quick update, the Warp-grinder is done. Yay!

It's a shame it doesn't have a nightrunner unit to accompany it. :( A couple things I may have done a little differently. First, I should of planned the base a bit more. The intention was to make it look like the weapon team was emerging from the hole they came out of. I pretty much winged it and the result is just okay. Secondly, I wish I picked out a thicker guitar chord for their hoses. A bit skinny.

I do admit I like how it came out despite it all. I think it's the most extensive conversion I've done to date. I even like the periscope counter I made for it. Personally, I thought it was... GENIUS!

I haven't committed to anything yet and just did whatever I felt I liked doing. So, I started basing a few different minis including a 40mm x 60mm base for my old Screaming Bell. Next update I hope to nail down which batch of Skaven I'm doing next. This 'one unit + single model' approach seems to be working for me so I'll continue to do this. Until next time, thanks for looking!

Skaven Update #30

Okay, here's what I've accomplished so far...

gutter unit #1

 

gutter unit #2 with a deathrunner These Gutter Runners have been a real chore for me. I thought that these would be a quick paint considering they are mostly black. But, the longer I painted them the less motivated I became. Part of it is the sculpt; difficult to paint around. I think this is as far as I'm willing to go with these guys. I'm happy with the simple color scheme so let's just call them done and move on shall we? I doubt I will ever field 2 units of 10 gutter runners- maybe 2 units of 5 at most. I just wanted to build as many as I could. Still painting the Warp-grinder. Hope to get this done soon. I'm not quite sure what's next on my Skaven plate. The night runners were suppose to be next but seeing how long these gutter runners took I might have to take a break from the models. My 'to do' rat list is always growing but on the top of list are:

1) Screaming Bell and unit: Originally I was going to update this clanrat unit by repainting the whole unit and then updating the bell by adding the large 60x100mm base. I even had a couple of ideas to fill up the enormous base that the bell would be on. It would've have been a nice project to work on but after seeing the great armies at Adepticon especially the Skaven in person I started having second thoughts. Right now, I still want to repaint the whole thing but instead keep the old 40x60mm base and officially retire/shelf the entire unit.

2) Rat ogres: Varying degrees of completeness. Where to begin? The old Boneripper mini would be the master bred in the unit but I need to make a special base for it. Not sure what though.

3) Giant rat pack: Another unit with varying degrees of completeness. I do want to add a unit filler in the unit, hence the empty 40x40mm base.
Decisions, decisions.

Adepticon 2011 re-cap

Whew! Adepticon 2011 is finally over. Even though I didn't play any tourneys I was still exhausted. I went on Friday and Saturday and man was I overwhelmed. So many painted minis to look at. This year was definitely bigger than 2009. Not sure what they did last year but this time around the main hall was devoted to the registraion booth, Crystal Brush, the vendor area, and everything 40k.

First thing you saw was the immense diorama by Opposing Forces near the main hall entrance. Really awesome stuff. So many angles to appreciate.

The vendor area had your usual suspects like Battlefoam, Blue Table Painting, and Forgeworld which had an enormous line wrapping around the vendor area, no surprise there. Cool Mini or Not also had a shop which had products from Micro Arts and Dark Age to Soda Pop's Super Dungeon Explore.

Just outside the main hall there was a vendor called the Game Room that was always crowded. I walked over to see what was going on. I was pleasantly surprised to see bins! Bins full of bits! I was there for hours. Bought more bits than I should have and stayed there for way to long. Too long that I even missed a seminar that I was supposed to go to. Whoops! Among the things I bought there included the Death Angel card game by Fantasy Flight, numerous Skaven bits that I care to admit, and a couple of nice finds in the bits bin. One is a Gamesday mini still in the bag unopened for $15. The other is the metal Skaven army standard bearer that came exclusive in the battalion box- also for $15.

As the weekend went on Crystal Brush's display cases quickly filled up with wonderfully detailed minis.

more Crystal Brush pics click here

Next I immediately scanned the area for Brandon's Ork army, Mad Morks. This I had to see in person. Words cannot describe how awesome the army was. The theme, painting, and conversions were just ace. The display alone is one of the best I've seen. I found myself coming back to his army everytime I went in the main hall. When I found out it only took him a month from conception to completion I was even more impressed, and then later depressed. Curse you Brandon and your skillz! Lol.

for more Mad Morks and other 40k goodness click here

I was surprised to find out that the army actually ended up NOT receiving Best Appearance but Players' Choice instead. WTF?!?! Not sure why this happened. Conspiracy I tells ya! Players' Choice is basically just that, popular vote. It's favoritism. In a way it works as everyone loved the army. But the fact that the award probably doesn't even need an awesomely painted army is like a backhanded compliment, y'know? I'm glad Mad Morks was awarded something but it still feels wrong. Personally nothing came close, not even from the other halls from what I remember. The best in show imo. 

There were a lot of cool 40k armies and it made me want to start one up! Even had me thinking of ideas for themes. While I thought Friday was crowded, Saturday was insane. It was packed in the main hall with 40k team tourneys players.

It wasn't until well after a couple of hours of wandering around the main hall that I realized the Fantasy stuff were nowhere to be found! Turns out that Fantasy was plopped with the rest of the non 40k folk on the other side of the hotel. Fortunately, each game system (Fantasy, Specialist Games, Privateer Press, and Flames of War) had there own hall. But, because they weren't near the main hall there wasn't much foot traffic. So when I went to check out the player's armies in the Fantasy hall I felt like an oddball even though it was probably okay.

more fantasy pics here

The SWAG didn't disappoint. Well I wasn't disappointed anyway. I was shocked to see a Warmachine Cryx starter set included in the bag. Apparently people got random Warmachine starter sets. In hindsight I wish I had asked around to see if anybody was willing to part with there Cygnar set. D'oh!

Overall, I had fun even though all I did was drool over the minis and take pictures. I actually didn't think I would have this much fun just wandering around. Although that free time did lead me to spending way too much time in the evil bits bin at the Game Room. Maybe next year I'll have a more structured itinerary.

If you want to see the rest of my pics check them out here. And before I sign out here's a little clip from Saturday in the main hall. Enjoy!

Skaven Update #29

Another small update. Finally got a chance to pick up a decent brush. I can now start painting!

Still not done with the gutter runners. I've got most of the base coating done and started a little bit on the shading.

The warp-grinder is ready for priming. The hoses aren't permanent at the moment. I'll glue them afterwards. Maybe even add some greenstuff. I just don't want them to get in the way while I paint.