The Conclave concludes, and a note on personal style

The Inquisitional Conclave comes to an end! To check out the results for all of the various entries, take a visit to the Neverness blog post here: The 2020 Inquisitional Conclave

First, let's address the timetable. I had the whole month of August to paint this single miniature. I even got off to a good start (kinda) and bought the model early in the month! AND I made a post about it! But then, I said a dumb thing.

"...I should have a better update next week!" 

Pretty par for the course for me, but still. I did fully intend to do at least one update post before the final "here's the result" post. I really did. Instead, though, I ended up doing what I always do...

Finish 99% of the whole project in a single 4-hour-long sitting at the last minute.

I can't decide if it's a good habit or a bad one, to be honest. On one hand, it tends to be a complete "follow the muse" type of experience, while on the other hand it means I sometimes have a difficult time repeating a certain color or effect if it occurred while I was "in the zone" so to speak.

Hmmmm maybe we should just jump into the specifics on the Inquisitor... BUT WAIT! This is a blog, after all, so before we go too far let me preface this by saying something about my personal style and my biggest influences. It's my blog and I can do that if I want to, dammit!

I've long been on the path of dirty, grimy, macabre realism. Not all projects/minis call for that, but if a project can make sense and gives me even an inch in that direction... I'm going grunge, and busting out da powdah. It's probably been five or so years, at least, since I started coloring my minis using washes and inks, priming light and working to dark instead of the standard "prime it black and work up" that most people tend to favor. I think that method, going light to dark, has been a huge influence in my push towards this particular "grimdark" aesthetic (as all the cool kids on the internet now call it, apparently). Now, as far as reference material and influences, I typically never use them. I scroll a lot of galleries and posts of painted minis and save the ones I like best, sure, but I'm not one to actually put a reference up while I'm painting myself; I tend to just... see where the project takes me. However, in all my scrolling and saving, I've found two key style influences that I go back to over and over again, just pouring over the pictures and absorbing the style. 

First, one that most probably won't know: The Garden of Hecate

Still some of the coolest miniatures I've ever seen!

A blog centered around the macabre, insane creations of a true genius for the craft, I just don't have enough good things to say about this. I saw this image somewhere a couple of years ago, probably Pinterest, and exclaimed, "Holy shit, this person GETS it!" and then I tracked the picture back to the blog and found a smorgasbord of content just like this. I've honestly never even delved too, too deep on that blog, just in an effort to save it for myself over time. It's all so wonderful, I don't want to consume it all just yet. 

Now, for number 2 (though really this is the biggest influence for me for many years, I've only just recently acknowledged it): John Blanche, famed artist and creator throughout Warhammer history.

So filthy. So beautiful.

This madman does things seemingly without effort that I can only dream of ever achieving, and almost every single piece I look at leaves me with a feeling of, "Dammit why didn't I think of that? I wish my brain would just me create things like that." So now, I consider myself a follower of the Blanchitsu Way, striving in my efforts to create such luridly messy and colorful works.  

Okay, so now on to the Inquisitor!

Freshly assembled, with a new head that I took from an Exorcist kit and on a base I 3D printed

Lately, I've discovered that I adore oil paints. They do the messy blending and moving around that I want them to do, with an extended working time and the ability to create effects by adding paint and then removing it, or even just thinning it selectively once it's already on the model, with some thinner. I'm still learning a lot every time I sit down with it, but it's reinvigorated my enthusiasm for painting lately and I'm honestly enjoying the struggle. The weirdest hurdle has actually been priming the minis, because it's very easy to remove the rattle can stuff with the thinner!

I started with a black primer, then gave it a heavy zenithal of bone white. I already knew I was going to covering all of this pre-shading up with the oil paints (when using acrylic washes and glazes you can very much use this pre-shading throughout the whole process, though) but it's a strong habit of mine because it helps me spot all of the details and different elements of the mini I might want to pick out. Like I said before, I just sit down and see what happens... I'm not much of a planner.

I started with some Vallejo "Liquid Gold" paints I picked up years ago after seeing them on a YouTube video of a guy painting some Grey Knights. When I first got them I was pretty disappointed, and I actually didn't care for them because I missed the fact that they weren't water-based when I bought them. Turns out I just needed to level up a bit, and I think I'm finally at the point where I'm ready to use them more. They're still a bit of a unique tool in my arsenal because they're actually alcohol-based and you use isopropyl instead of thinner/mineral spirits when you use them, and they dry within seconds of the paint hitting the model. They also have a very, very strong shine to them, as they are basically just some very nice metallic flake suspended in the alcohol solution rather than an acrylic gel. I started off just covering all of the armor with Old Gold, then giving it some depth with Copper, and finally giving the high areas some extra shine with Rich Gold.

Then, I blocked out the xenos weapon and skull, and her head with some acrylic stone and bone white, so that I could do some oil washing and clean-away. When working with the oils/enamels, you can put layers of acrylic paints/sealers if you don't want anything "below" that color removed when you start using the thinner to clean off paint. As long as the acrylic paint is completely dry, you're not going to accidentally remove any of it with the thinner unless you're really pushing down or using a rough cloth or q-tip or something.

 

Okay, so at this point the muse took me, my ASMR meditative breathing videos were going in the background... and I didn't put down a brush with a coherent thought to take a picture or take a drink or get up for anything until the point in this next picture, several hours later. Like at least 2 hours, probably 3 is more realistic? I honestly couldn't tell you. Believe it or not, there are only 4 added colors in the next picture, as well as black and white acrylics for a couple of things like the eye and eye patch, and the highlight on her hair. This is a couple of different enamel browns, Burnt Umber and Saddle Brown, I think,  shown just above and left of the mini (I didn't end up using the redder one on the right), and a Testor's "Green" and Testor's "Yellow" (like the little ones that come in a model car learn-to-paint kit you'd find at Walmart, lol) to do the dragon. Oh, and Red on the purity seal. Shit. So 5 colors. Whatever.

That was all I could do for that particular night of work, because oils have a slower drying time than a typical acrylic paint. I left her to sit for roughly 24 hours and then painted some Desert Sand acrylic on the base, then as soon as that dried I dusted her with some dulcote from a rattle can and applied some red oxide weathering powder (aka "da powdah" as mentioned in many previous blogs) which sticks down nicely to the drying (extremely thin) layer of dulcote without clumping. This time, though, I went a step further and used the same method as when cleaning away the oil paints, and with a q-tip and some thinner gave the base some variation and depth by cleaning some of the powdah back off.

And that's the completed project! All in all, I'm quite happy with her, and hope to have her accompany my growing Adeptus Sororitas / Sisters of Battle / Whatever We're Calling It Now forces on the field of battle sooner rather than later. 

...not gonna lie though I actually really like the name Adeptus Sororitas better it's so macabre and serious and nerdy hnnnnnnngghhhhh...

Hope you enjoyed the post! Sometime in the near future (...must stay vague on time commitments...) I've got some pictures taken already to do several new posts, primarily about the Adeptus Sororitas force I'm building to combat the treacherous armies of my son's T'au. But I do have one special one planned that should be a fun surprise! Well, for me, anyway. *shrug*

The Inquisitional Conclave (2020) begins!

Short entry for today (but I guess anything is better than my typical nothing...) just showcasing my entry into Neverness's new annual August challenge:

The Inquisitional Conclave

So, yeah, that's the first post for it. And this isn't included there because I'm late, for multiple reasons, but really because I had to go buy an Inquisitor (somehow I didn't have one and I didn't have a great idea for any inventive conversions). 

Unless this post IS in there? Did he edit it and now this is included? Are we stuck in a time loop? Damn the warp!

Anyway, the Inquisitor I'm choosing to use for this is actually GW's newest Inquisitor model, "Ordo Xenos Lord Inquisitor Kyria Draxus" or, as her friends call her... well with a title like that, she probably doesn't have friends. I actually don't know! I think this character is new and is in the recent campaign books for the Necron reawakening stuff, but I've read none of it. I just really like this model's armor and the lil' baby dragon that she's using like a falconer. And while I appreciate her shiny bald head, I actually plan on switching it out with one of my extra Sisters of Battle heads because she's going to be used with that army anyway. I hope. I mean, it's my current project, and my track record does kinda suck on completing projects and ever using the minis to play games, but I'm trying dammit.

Action shots! Look at that shiny box! Look at that sprue!

That's it for this week, but I've actually already assembled the body sans head, so I should have a better update next week!

The OmniGamer

It's become something of a joke, both that I make about myself and by friends that know me well enough, that I tend to spread myself a little thin when it comes to my gaming choices.  In the typical banter among friends that one can experience at the game store or on Facebook, there has been an interesting question posited in my direction multiple times in recent weeks:

"Is there a game you don't play/have models for?"

Well, yeah.  I mean, of course there is.  We tabletop gamers live in a time of plenty, where there are more games and lines of miniatures available than any sane person could even hope to be a participate in.  But I'll be damned if some of us don't try!

Actually, ironically, my wife and I were recently discussing personality traits and characteristics as defined by a book in our collection.  In this particular version, it uses the ennaagram types (9 total), and, as you might expect, we were reading it together and trying to classify each other. To make a long story short, everyone has a combination of different traits, but my main one is Number #7: The Enthusiast.  While there is a "good/healthy loop"  and a "bad/unhealthy loop" for each one, the basic idea for the Enthusiast is "a fear of being deprived or missing out" with the defining keyword being "Anticipation", which is definitely a simple explanation of my internal struggles.  I actually, legitimately stress myself out over my miniatures.  I need to assemble this, or I need to paint those to have them ready to use, or I need to acquire these to complete this list, etc., etc.  I'm never a person who "finishes" an army, nor am I one that can be content with a paint job on an army past a couple of years.  I'm hoping that now my painting skills have plateaued enough to prevent this, but who knows?  I'm clearly a crazy person. :P 

Primarily I'm writing this post to catalog/list my sickness, with the hopes that in looking at it in a compiled format I can tempt/shame myself to makes some cuts and lessen the stress I place on myself with my toy collection.  A wise friend told me yesterday, "The more games I get into, the less of each I get to play."  It's something I've known for quite some time, but having it verbalized back at me sparked in my mind the curious thought of how I must look to other people.

Pathetic?  Spoiled?  I honestly don't know, but I do care.  

When I stop to think about it, though, how can I actually be passionate about all of it?  Why do I feel like I need to belong to or claim every different game? 

GAMES:

Warmachine:

This is my oldest game, and the genesis of my sickness.  Faction creep saw me build, paint, and play every single faction available at least once from the span of 2003 to 2011.  This is also the game that began my unfortunate backlog.  Once upon a time, I bought a model, assembled it, painted it, and played with it.  At some point I began trading on Bartertown, and I would get thrills by trading up, acquiring armies that had been nerfed or were at a downswing in popularity and then saving them for their inevitable swing back into high demand, acquiring more and more each time.  I actually haven't even played this game in a few years, having become disenchanted with the tournament mindset the game sets out to achieve.

Currently I'm sitting on a brand new Convergence army, waiting for the right inspiration to get to work on it.  A handful of other things are around from over the years (I always kept at least one model from each army I traded or sold off), but I don't really have any usable armies anymore that are assembled and ready to play.

Age of Sigmar:

Never being a Warhammer kid, I only got into Warhammer Fantasy in more recent years after reconnecting with a good friend who played it as his game of choice.  I built a small Ogre (now Ogor) army but only ever used it once or twice, and have since acquired too much of this stuff for any sane person that hasn't really even played it.  Age of Sigmar itself is very exciting to me, though, and I love pretty much everything about it.  This is one that I am very anxious to get a force together and play.  

STILL the coolest piece of art I've ever seen for a miniatures game

Warhammer 30k/40k:

Word Bearers with Mechanicum, some Dark Eldar, and Blood Angels.  Largely picked up stuff because everyone seems to play this, but the power gaming that tends to be the norm around here is definitely a turn off and honestly intimidating.  It's also one that seems empowered by peoples' negativity, and that gets old immediately for me.

Beyond the Gates of Antares:

My new favorite game to play, for sure.  My Boromites are my current favorite miniatures I own, and are spread across my workbench in various stages of assembled and painting this very moment.  I also have the two-player starter (Concord and Ghar) but I've not done anything with it yet besides put the rulebook and templates to good use.  This game isn't going away anytime soon for me.

Boromites are cooler than whatever faction it is that you like

Infinity:

This game... I don't know.  I really love it, I think.  This game suffers, for me, from being very complicated.  There are a lot of details to remember for this game, even just in what you can and cannot do, and it requires a lot of focus.  As evidenced here, I'm spread too thin to be any good at it!  It's only so much fun, both for me and for my potential opponent, if I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to do things for the whole game.  The models and the background are phenomenal, though.  Currently sitting on sizeable forces for both Aleph and Haqqislam, and a bit of Ariadna as well.  I have struggled with trying to make myself get rid of some of it but I can never make myself do it!

Dark Age:

This game is like a sickness, for me.  I really love it.  This game has maybe my favorite story/background of any miniatures game that I play, and it has amazing models all-round.  It's doubly difficult for me to rid myself of any of it because I'm a Legion member for the company produces it (CMON), and they pay for the time I spend demoing or running tournaments or whatever with more toys!  I have... well, I have a lot of it.  Stacks.  Boxes.  Wanna play some Dark Age?

Outcasts gunna wreck ya

Wrath of Kings:

What a damned cool game this is.  Also made by CMON, this is a more army-sized fantasy combat game where Dark Age is the sci-fi skirmish.  I Kickstarted this one, and actually have a nearly-fully-painted army of Nasier, as well as a work-in-progress Teknes army.  I will hopefully be playing a lot more of this game, I'm just waiting for the hype cycle to come back around on it and have my friends want to it play it again.  This kinda replaced Warmachine for me for a time, as it feels similarly sized on the tabletop.

"Fall of Oni's Bane"

Marvel Universe Miniatures Game:

Made by Knight Models, the game itself is a little goofy but the models are the 12 year-old comic nerd that lives in my heart's dream.  We've actually been playing this a bit, with intent to play more soon.  

My most recent project: Mr. Magnet Man

Batman Miniatures Game:

The other side of the coin to the Marvel game, but with much less super powers and more tactical decision making.  I'm sure we'll get back to it, but Marvel has taken its place.

Pulp City:

A unique super hero miniatures game, I picked up some of the models and the rulebook in a kickstarter.  Still haven't managed to play it, but we likely will really soon to see how the rules differ from the Marvel game.  If they're much better (which they kinda look like they will be), we'll use the Marvel miniatures and characters and mix them into this game's ruleset.

Relic Knights:

Kickstarted this, and actually managed to get rid of a lot of it because no one else was really interested.  I kept my stuff for the Paladin faction and the Speed Circuit faction, and would love to actually have a reason to assemble and paint and play it.  Maybe someday.  ;)

GorkaMorka:

After a short-lived stint of a local revival of this game last year, my work schedule got in the way of us maintaining it and it kind of died. I'm still itching to get back to work on my Diggas because the modeling aspect of this silly game is just so much fun.  Check out some previous blogs for my crazy vehicles.

Just... mayhem.

Arena Rex:

I really should just buckle down and paint my stuff for this beautiful game.  A couple of good friends are all about it, but I've just never managed to latch on to it.

Judge Dredd:

I love Judge Dredd as a character and a comic book.  I have some of the models and the rulebook, but I've never gotten to play it.  That kinda sums it up. 

Bushido:

Models look awesome, I love samurai/Japanese culture stuff, and the game is a small commitment in terms of it being skirmish with a handful of models for each side.  I picked up a few models for two different factions and the rulebook on a whim in a clearance sale, but I've still not gotten to actually play it.  Really want to, though.

Guild Ball:

I only have a simple starter box for the Alchemists, but I am extremely curious about this game.  It seems like it might be amazing.  And I'm not even a sports guy. :/ Unfortunately the only other person locally who's invested *also* picked up Alchemists, and way more of them than I have, so I need to find a new faction.  Maybe Union?  (See how this addiction works?  SEE!?)

Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit:

I'm a fantasy nerd.  Can't be helped.  I enjoy collecting these as much as anything else, so they're really in the list on a technicality.  I'm hoping to play it with my sons at some point when they're a little older though, as the ruleset is pretty simple.  Plus GW is bringing it back as just the "Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game" so I'm glad I've kept it all!  

Wasteman:

I've written past blogs about it, but I picked this up largely out of the inspiration it gave me in its creation.  The brainchild of a single man (all rules, art, sculpting, etc.) the game is super goofy and 80's, which I just love, so I bought into the kickstarter.  Actually haven't really gotten to play in any significant way yet, as only one person I know cared enough to also pick it up.  Very much a small, "indie" game.

I'm not even sure the little punk pig on the hood has rules, but he's my favorite of the ones I've painted so far!

MERCS:

Tiny little skirmish game that I've not gotten to play since it originally released years ago, but that might change soon.  At least it's fully painted!

Deep Wars:

Underwater setting skirmish game that we picked up starters for at Adepticon a few years ago, but only played a couple of times.  I like to think we'll go back to it because the models are gorgeous and the ruleset is really unique, but there are just so many other things to play.
 

 X-Wing:

I'm included this here because, as a part of my sickness, I don't want to play with any models that I didn't paint myself.  That means I repaint all of these things.  I'm a glutton for punishment.  I do love playing it, though, even if I hate the tournament mindset that a lot of people have about it.

Confetti Squadron, fall in!

Star Trek Attack Wing:

Star Trek version of X-Wing that I totally like better than X-Wing.  Yeah, I said it.  I like Star Wars more than Trek, overall, but I think the ruleset for this style of game is more fun with the way Attack Wing implements it.  Worth a note that I'm a faction purist, though, and only play all Federation ships.  I'm not a fan of the aspect in the ruleset where you can combine any ships from any faction incurring various points penalties, allowing some crazy combos which is how the tournament gamers play.  

Star Wars Armada:

Have the first wave of stuff from release, and have played it a handful of times.  It's definitely very good, but I'm just not sure that it can keep my interest.

Firestorm Armada:

I have a fleet of Terran ships that I've gotten to play once or twice, and this is basically the space fleet game I wanted.  It suffers a similar problem to Infinity, though, in its just a tad too complicated to be casual about it.  It needs some study.

*DUN DUUUN DUNNNNNNNN*

Firestorm Planetstrike:

Sitting in the boxes, one friend and I picked up starters on the cheap during a clearance sale with idyllic dreams of playing out fleet battles with Armada and simultaneous ground battle with Planetstrike, but we've never managed to make it happen.

Dreadball:

Man, screw Mantic.  Fooled me into kickstarting this game, acquired too many teams because of how they flooded the free stuff into the pledges, and then they ran the value of it in the ground and released ridiculous additions to the rules in multiple new kickstarter campaigns, outdating everything before I even got a chance to use it.  The base game itself is pretty fun, but damn did Mantic just trash it.  Plus the models kinda sucked. They even just did a Dreadball 2.0 kickstarter in the last week or so!  Never again, Mantic.  Never again.

Wild West Exodus:

Sigh.  I am remiss to even list this game, because I kind of don't want to give it any more attention for someone new.  Long story made very short, I kickstarted this game and got very involved with it, both in the sense of it taking over my hobby time and in my involvement with the community.  Turned out the owner was a horrific piece of shit.  I will never give that company another dime.  Unfortunately, the game is fun (if sloppy) and the models are really cool.  So... yeah.

Picture of the models I painted one time for a painting contest, won anonymously, then lost when they found out it was me.  Joy.

Konflict '47 (Bolt Action):

Just getting into this one, and currently waiting on the British starter box to release.  Some cool people are going to play it and I've grown to trust Warlord games, so why not? Plus I'll get to use that box of British Bolt Action soldiers I bought but then never did anything with! ;)


So I guess that kinda sums it up, aside from the random one-offs or boutique lines of miniatures that are just for collecting or proxying into a game, or board games filled with miniatures (Zombicide, Super Dungeon Explore, Myth, etc.).  I'm not sure if this has proven therapeutic, honestly.  Even just sitting here typing it I've been coming up with mental excuses to not let any of it go.

There is another aspect to this, though.  Have you ever heard of misery shopping?  It's basically the idea of being unhappy or frustrated or stressed, and then buying new things to make yourself feel better for a brief time.  There are times where my job has me very stressed, and I know I've scoured eBay or Bartertown for cheap deals on more than one occasion as a result.  It kinda feels like cheating on a diet at the time, because you know you shouldn't, that you probably won't be happy later about it... but you do it anyway.

Maybe I should just work on self control?

 
 

Step 42: Spread thinly and unevenly for mixed results

It's only been a month!  That's not so bad.  Right?  Time goes by so quickly for me that it doesn't feel long at all, at least.

So accurate.

That said, I've mired myself deep in new projects (because the incomplete projects I was already mired in weren't enough), both in an effort to complete some things I should have wrapped up a long ass time ago and because buying new toys is fun.  I'm also in somewhat of a mad dash to finish a handful of the bigger, terrain-based projects so that I can store them appropriately during the impending construction in our basement at home coming up all-too-swiftly.

So... where to start?

GORKAMORKA

Nope, I haven't forgotten or abandoned my Diggas, I've just been focused on other projects.  GorkaMorka is a game that I play with people who have a passion for it that isn't "flavor of the week", so I know that I can easily play with any member the dedicated handful of players so long as we plan on it a few days ahead.  That said, my only model painted so far is my Digganob, but I've made a couple of acquisitions to accompany my mob.  I'll also be switching out the ork driving Cassandra to a digga; I intend to focus on them completely.

My diggas will have a van-themed fleet (as much as I can maintain, anyway... van models aren't common, surprisingly).  I managed to snag this sweet model made sometime back in the late 70's for my main trukk, and may just have to search for more of this exact one because it's a good size:

Stickers are optional... but I'm leaning towards keeping them.

I also picked up some cool cardstock terrain on the cheap in order to get working on a more custom fort for the diggas.  I'm not sure what the final shape of it will be, as I tend to incorporate ideas as I build rather than make a strict plan and stick to it, but I'm excited to get working on it.

ARENA REX

Arena Rex is a 32mm gladiator combat game.  Literally 1 to 5 models, maximum, per side.  And it has probably the most intriguing hand-to-hand combat system I've ever seen in a game... This game has the potential to be my favorite tabletop game, ever, if it pans out like it appears it will.

Now, that said, go look at this shit:  http://arenarex.com/

Did you go look?  No?  Well, you're crazy.

Arena Rex has the best resin models I've ever seen produced for a game (so discounting strictly display-quality statues).  And by that I mean both the best sculpts AND the best quality of miniatures.

More traditional style gladiators of the Ludus Magnus, with my favorite model in the game Micon the brawler on the right.

The Legio XIII, a military sponsored group of combatants.

Essentially Arena Rex is an alternate history type of setting, where Rome never lost.  Like, ever.  At anything.  Also, mythical creatures are a thing.  This allows for multiple "factions" of models, like those shown above as well as the Morituri (Egyptians, more or less) and the Zephyri (Native/Viking-esque), plus monsters like a wendigo or the gorgons.  There are no points when building forces, simply number of models.  

I've made a bit more progress since these pictures, but you'll see these again along with more when I do a whole post about this, but... without further ado, I present Ludus Bellicosorum Pugnax.

Yup, those are Playmobile toys.  Wait for it...

It has begun!

Look forward to much more about this; it's going to be my best piece of terrain to date, I'm confident.  The board is 4' on the long side, so it's a very usable piece.

INFINITY

Our local club, the 423rd OverMountain Guard. 

Man oh man, prepare for some pictures.

Infinity has taken a hold on the local group, and it's been interesting to be a part of overall.  Infinity is one of those games I eyeballed  and picked up a few things on the cheap for years, and then when I first met up with Hoss in the local group sometime over a year ago, I actually got to start playing it.  It's one of those games that can be obscenely complicated, yet is built around a simple framework, and works best if played out with each player having objectives and scenarios they need to complete that are different than "kill moar dudes".  We managed to bring in a few others (though I'll give all the credit to Hoss, being the local fanboy for the game, as I often am whoring myself out to a different game system week to week if I'm able), and learned that some folks like Da Masta Cheef had already had forces in the past and might be convinced to dust them off and play.  Fast forward to present and we're currently in the middle of a "grow league", which is a league designed around bringing in new people and having them build up to a typical-sized 300 point army over the course of 5 rounds.  In theory (and mostly in practice) this is a great idea.  It's gotten a lot of people playing, and it will hopefully mean that a game of Infinity will be easy to schedule for the immediate future.

That said, there are elements that wear on me.

I'm not an overtly competitive guy.  My wife would contend otherwise, and she honestly wouldn't be wrong when it comes to real-life applications, but when I'm gaming I'm playing to have a good time and create cool stories.  I'm playing toys.  I mean sure, it's fun to win, but it's only fun to win if both players had a good time.  Building a ridiculous army list and stomping someone who doesn't have a chance to win isn't fun, for instance.

Now, like I said, the Infinity league has 5 rounds.  The first 4 of those rounds, however, are the mission type "Annihilation", where the only goals are to kill as much of the enemy as possible while keeping as much of your force alive as you can.  Sure, starting in round 3 you get to start using Classified Objective cards (basically 2 randomly selected side objectives your specialist troops can complete), but the main point of the game is still the same.  And frankly I'm bored of it.  Infinity is setting up crazy terrain and making interesting objectives involving hackers and engineers and dropships and d-charge explosives and... well it's a lot more than just setting up in a fortified position and rolling dice, hoping your rolls are better than the other player's.  And because of that, I'm not feeling excited to go play as much because it's lacking in unexpected elements.

I'm also not as excited because the league is somewhat competitive.  What I mean by that is there are points allotted to each player based on the events of a game, and those points are tallied in a spreadsheet, and certain players in the league like to bring it up constantly.  "I scored this many, and now I'm in contention for the lead, and I got these achievements, blah blah blah."  And no, to stop your train of thought, I'm not losing and thus don't like it because I'm whining.  I'm actually very close to the top and could really have a chance to win if I gamed for it... but ugh.  That's exactly my problem with it.  Instead of everyone building cool armies around a theme or aesthetic that they like, some people are trying hard to game the system in order to get points.  I know most people don't care, but to me that shit is annoying.  We're not playing in a tournament, we're playing in a league designed to get interested gamers more invested in the game and to get the interest of completely new players.

ANYWAY!  Minor rant aside, I've been playing a lot of Infinity lately.  Lol.

Typical game table set up at the group.

Fear the Fiday!  Perspective shot from the enemy Nomads' POV, where the Fiday had been laying down some shotgun blasts.  The Nomads got him back, though, giving him probably the most glorious death of any of the league games so far!

The majority of my Haqqislam stuff... I need to get painting.

I think this is all of the rest of it, minus a couple of Nomad Alguaciles that I can use in one of my sectorial forces.

Work-in-progress on my Janissary Fireteam, based on a pretty obvious theme.  ;)  The green one is actually a Nomad Mobile Brigada that can be included in the sectorial, so it made sense that he be the green "outsider" to the main team, but is still basically equivalent in capability.

My first finish Haqqislam model... the sneaky hassassin Fiday.

  


Infinity is a game that requires a veritable shitload of terrain, as well, so I've been trying to get pieces together to make the game boards a little more interesting.  Primarily, though, I've been working on a set of corridors to allow for the interiors of spaceships or bases that will work well for more interesting games.

The corridors I picked up from a company named Fantasy Arc originally through their kickstarter, though they now have everything for sale on their website here: Fantasy Arc - Bug Hunt Corridors

When you put the different pieces together, you can make a pretty good variety of shapes depending on what you're trying to achieve.  This is a stock photo from the website.

Here is one of the regular corridor sections I just painted this past weekend.

A more up-close view of some work in progress.

These should also work nicely in my next topic...

GRUNTZ

So after great effort and much convincing (or, you know, like passively mentioning its existence in conversation) Da Masta Cheef has gotten me into 15mm gaming.  15mm has always been something I've looked at and found interesting because of just how many cool vehicles there are for it (being so small, the little dudes need vehicles to get around the table), and now that I have a friend to play it with it seemed as good a time as any to jump in.

Also, dropships.

Because they're the coolest.

My centerpiece.

My main troopers, decked out with exo-armor very similar to that cool Tom Cruise movie from last year "Live. Die. Repeat."

OKAY!

With all of that, I guess I'll call it closed, even though I actually have a few more pictures of various things I've been working on.  Enjoy!

A cool archway that was really fun to paint.  A typical 28mm model is about as tall as the brick course running around the bottoms of the columns.

My character in an ongoing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay campaign, Karyle the Pit Fighter (now Veteran).

This SICK temple from Antimatter Games that I picked up on clearance a few years ago (seriously this thing is normally like $200, I snagged it for around $40).  Those Dark Age models are on 50mm bases, for reference.

A Dark Age Outcasts (Salt Nomads, specifically) army!  I'm a crazy person!

My OCD spreadsheet that I designed in order to track my painted models as well as schedule deadlines for myself to finish them so I can keep all of my projects balanced and get things completed.

Yup.