Surroundings

Another goal I have been wanting to tackle for the last few months was my painting/modeling area. I have a small, but dedicated space for which to work on all my nerdish hobbies to my hearts content. That being said, I don't always use my space very well and in particular, I didn't have it lit very well.

I have always had some sort of desk to do hobby work on over the last 13 years. The best point being when I had a 4' double fluorescent light bar with daylight bulbs above my head for painting. I never had any light issues, but my current space doesn't allow me to hang that light bar, so it is packed away in the attic.

To help remedy that I went on a thrift shop hunt for a new (and cheap!) lamp. The first Goodwill stop had a $5 desk lamp that was only missing the clamp (that I can't use), that kind of luck never happens! Next stop was Lowes to grab a Reveal CFL to throw into it. The light cost more than the lamp, but I got a 26w (100w equivalent) White (Day) light. I got the CFL because it runs substantially cooler than the incandescent bulbs that I have used in the past, but the light works really well.

The Lamp was screwed down to the work surface allowing it to be swiveled to where it is needed, but still be above my head during use.

LIGHT!

I have my second light that is now pulling back lighting duty (that is a standard cold Fluorescent light that is still going strong after almost 10 years!)

The next thing that I had stopped using for a few years (mainly due to lack of desire to paint) was my wet pallet. I've had the case that I use that was I think originally from a cheap screw micro-screwdriver set that was purchased years ago at a Big-Box-Store.

Empty

It is about 3.5" x 8" on the inside, folding with a locking top. To that I took some closed cell foam from a Pelican Case I had laying around (denser than the foam that comes in the Infinity blister or box sets) and cut it to size.

Foamed

I placed a small amount of water in the bottom and allowed the foam to soak it up. It takes a little while for it to absorb water in compared to a lower density foam, but it also retains water for a long time afterwards. Next, a piece of parchment paper was cut to size to lay on top of the dampened foam. Speaking of the wetness level, its more about experience as to how much water needs to be in the foam for it to retain the moisture content of the paint, but not be so high that it thins the paint down way to much after it sits over night.

Parched

I pull the parchment paper over a table edge, applying light pressure at the corner to remove the roll that occurs straight from the box. This (which was done at the picture above) makes the paper lay flat so the paint stays put.

Finished!

As you can tell, the holidays are not being kind to my ability to work on modeling. Got behind already! More updates about the Skavens (There was a Warhammer Fantasy player at one of my local GWs back in the day that added a "S" to everything so the name as stuck ever since) Warband progress and what I am doing with my Tohaa and Nomads.

Mouse Trap!

I got off to an early start gathering my Skaven warband together, assessing what needs to be done beyond what I had started originally. I own zero actual Mordheim-centric models and instead based my collection on the 6th edition plastics/metals that existed around the time I started playing (not to mention being significantly cheaper to purchase.)

My Main group of Skaven were formed around the purchase of a Gutter Runners boxset, the Skaven special character assassin Death Master Snikch, and a Single Rat Ogre model.

Group Shot (minus 2 models)

The only two models not pictured are the first standard Skaven with a sling and hand weapon I chose to start painting on about 2 months ago, which I completed over a two week span painting when I could sit down for 30 minutes or so so work on an area. The second model is the first Gutter Runner (for the warband all of the heroes are picked out by their capes or more notably their fighting claws.)

These models have been sitting cased for around 6 years (The last time I played Mordheim with any sort of regularity.) Modeling wise they were assembled with styrene glue and no mold lines were removed from the plastics. The metal models were pinned together and mold lines filed.

My plan is to work through all of the plastics, dealing with each model as I want to start painting it, removing it from the base (notice the two bases in the background?), placing a brass pin in one or both of the feet to aid in handling the model during painting (or lack therefore is a better way to say it.)  Each model will be primed using Krylon Flat White Primer.

I will go step by step on the first model and show all of the mold lines the lovely older style GW plastics gave us, removal of the mold lines, priming, and finally painting.

This is where the 2014 Goals begin to rear their heads. I did a bit of quick photography on the bench to grab some decent shots of the painted but not yet varnished Skaven Verminkin to see what I needed to do in order to show off whats there. The first plan that emerged will be the construction of a small light box that allows for finish photography. I used one in years prior and moving around it just go tossed in the garbage. The Nikon has 1,000 features and adjustments that can be used/made. I messed with shutter speed and Aperture for about 10 minutes and settled with what I have below. Lots more work and research to do on understanding close in miniature photography.

I use a mixture of two generations of GW paints/washes, P3, Reaper Master Series, Vallejo Game and Model Color, and some Testor Clears. Basically I use what colors from what brands that give me the best results in paint consistency. I use a single W&N Kolinsky Series 7 #1 brush for 95% of my work, shifting to a #0 on occasion if I can't reach something with the large diameter #1 (pretty rare nowadays)

I have another model that I am working on right now, I actually took the model apart at the waist to assist in painting its lower torso, then assembled the top half back on to finish (where I am at currently.) 

Just looking at what the camera shows, certain areas let me know here I got lazy on skipping some layers or if the paint consistency got too thin. A notable difference would be on the rear shot, the difference from the left side wrapping on the feet (claws!) as opposed to the right.

Modeling goal for the Skaven for the Dec 14th update is to complete Skaven Gutter Runner #1, and have the next Skaven ready for paint with the accompanied modeling and priming steps.

Year One

I am already looking ahead to the release of the announced ITS 2014 rules and scenario. With that in mind and the coming holidays affording me more than normal free time a reboot of sorts I think is in order!

Bad Joke.. even Bob thinks so!

In all seriousness I have made a few goals for this year (including keeping this blog updated on a weekly basis to track my progress in modeling, painting, miniature photography (yeah that is something I want to work on too!)) and whatever I happen to stubble into along the way.

GOALS

• Paint one model a week or more: My main goal going forward is to completely paint one model a week. It doesn't matter what model I paint, it can be from the dozen or so miniature games I play or just a random display model of the many I have accumulated over the years.

• Enjoy the Above: I find myself thinking of painting over the last few years as a chore more than something I enjoy doing. Easing back into painting after more less zero brush time (other than the various spurts of muse that hits every few months) needs to be a process.

• Photography: This is topic that has always frustrated me when it comes to miniature painting and trying to show off, but also ask for constructive criticism online. Conveying what you have painted, without covering up mistakes with the camera, but also no taking pictures that reveal flaws the human eye has little chance of seeing. I have upgraded my camera (not for miniature photography, but for general use) to a Nikon D3200 DSLR, now learning how to use it will be fun!

• Improve My Painting Area: This is another thing that really needs work, I am lucky enough to have a dedicated space for my hobby. I utilize it poorly and the lighting conditions suck (I have one Fluorescent desk lamp above with white light and a clamp one with warm-light.) My plan is to add an additional desk lamp like the one I have throwing light from the opposite direction to get more even coverage. Over the year my eyes have gone from being able to stare at things 6" from my face for hours, to generating headaches after 30 minutes concentrating on all the detail present in modern metal/plastic/resin miniatures.

• Maintain the blog: Keeping this blog is my only way of self policing what I need to get done. Generating these posts is my reward of sorts, I could spend hours discussing all things modeling.

• Play more Consistently, don't just play: This speaks to how I go through spurts of availability for gaming and then what I do when I play. Having a goal in mind when playing with various lists (Mainly for Infinity..) I lately just toss a list together and roll with it. Trying out things I normally don't use (I have used AD: Combat Jump exactly once in 1.5 years of Infinity)

• Bat-Rep: This has been another topic of discussion among my player group and we never seem to have the stamina (or the memory) to get a good battle report together to publish online. I would like to do one monthly at this point.

Beyond the above goals I will be working on various lists for local player and for NOVA 2014 (9 months seems like a long time, I said that last year and barely got all the models I wanted to use based with my overly complicated plasti-card bases.) I picked up the basis for a Tohaa Army at NOVA 2013, and I own a large majority of the Nomad Line at this point. My Local lists will mainly consist of Sectorials for Nomads, concentrating more on Bakunin and a Tohaa Gun Line list (lots of spitfires *GRIN*) which may or may not get actual use for the upcoming ITS season.

Another area of interest that has come and gone are the GW (*GASP*) games; Mordheim and Necromunda. 

Mordheim is the game that started it all for me way back in 1999. A local GW (since closed) and a demo of Skaven VS Humans is what sparked my interest in this hobby. I still have my Skaven Warband that I have used for years, but never actually painted, until now. These are the models that I have been using to rebuild my painting technique on over the last few months and what I am going to use for the month of December to learn about my camera. That said, I have painted one model to date and am about 40% complete on a second model.

The other game (and miniatures) I am going to dabble in (to paint human skin mainly) are my Goliaths for Necromunda. I have the more modern set, not the old style plastics. I named them all after gun manufacturers and will go through some of the conversions I did to represent some of the antics that happened during a half dozen campaigns over the years.

To close, the model I am most proud of (and since has been knocked around by my cat, breaking it :( ) The Cold Zombie:

Another Model I have stuck away for a game called Foresaken that was developed locally:

The next installment will be centered around my Skaven warband; All things painting and updates on my goals (To keep myself honest, the weekend of December 14th being the goal for the blog update)

I think an update on where I am at in trying to prepare for the NOVA ITS Tournament (Hunger games and the Team Tournament too!) Myself and another player in my local gaming group (The Dread Gamer Todd, if your on the infinity forum you know what I am talking about) have been playing with some of the theorized lists that would seem to be rather hard to deal with (First Turn TAG Lieutenant alpha-stirkes and Preta Spam so far.)

I'll explain the Preta Spam first with a little bit of history (from 2 months ago I believe) about how Pretas (of the Combine army) came to lose their biomines and gain just regular mines... well I really have no idea, it just happened.

Now there is a 5 point model that is impetuous and has mines running around. We theorized a list that ran 8-10 of the could be a real pain to deal in regards to the ITS (any of the token scenarios and front-line especially.)

We both made lists (I used a list for supply run that I have been working on getting comfortable with to play at NOVA and Todd made a Preta Spam list.) We played two games (ah yes super small sample size) with the same lists both knowing exactly what the other had from the get to. First game the Preta list got first turn, then it basically flooded the board with mines using coordinated orders to limit the ARO exposure and take 2 of the 3 supply boxes. I was a complete loss as how to get through the 2 dozen or so mines that made it onto the board IN ONE TURN (mine sweeper/Engineers). I lost that game before I even got to go. Keep in mind there was still 260 points worth of army still pointing HMGs, etc at me. Now we just flip-flopped who went first in the same scenario. Basically, a Spitfire equipped Prowler mowed down the Pretas and all of the Major ARO threats. I grabbed all 3 boxes and got ready to weather the counter attack that never came. During the course of the Prowlers shooting spree I had taken out Todd's Lieutenant buying me time to secure the boxes in hard to reach areas going for the win. This game was a result of the terrain density and the quanitity of models to get into cover not working out.

Our conclusion is that 1st turn is super important and that leads into the next thing we started messing around with: 1st Turn Lieutenant Tag Alpha-Strike. We took turns (I choose the Avatar; Todd the Marut.) In both cases we "assumed" that the TAG Lieutenant side won initiative. Not a far stretch for the Avatar with WIP 17 and the Marut's WIP of 15. Todd played an army he was looking to use for the NOVA ITS and I went after him with the Avatar. I could only get one supply box, but managed during the process to take out his Lieutenant, 2 Kaplans, a HMG total reaction remote and put two wounds on Scarface. So he was hurting on his first turn right from the get go and we called it to switch. He did managed to ARO hack the Avatar and immobilize it during my last order.

Now with Todd in control of an Aleph group with a Marut in the lead, I choose a list similar to one I usually play a variation of for most objective type scenarios with the twist of having as many Total Reaction or Neuroscientics models as I could to see if an offensice reactive turn could stop the alpha-strike. First turn saw common use of smoke covered movement and smoke/shooting that left all but one defensive model out of the game. Todd had secured two boxes and the Marut had taken to wounds (from criticals from a TR combi-rifle at 32"..) I then tried to counter but the boards we played on (very similar density from what we've seen posted at other ITS events) did not allow me to move without getting into a TR firelane of some sort and my attempt the hack the Marut failed. After that the Marut was in a position to be repaired and most of Todd's Aleph force was still intact (I think I took out a yudbot and a thorikite) and mine was missing a good chunk of my heavy weapons due to being shot apart as part of my attempt to stop the Marut.

The conclusion we came to was you can not build a defensive list that will be strong enough to stop an alpha-strike reliably and will leave you weak in the offensive capability side of things. My preparation has turned my lists over a little bit, adding more active turn bite, and reducing the amount of reactive turn offensive threats. My thought process is being prepared on your active turn if you go 2nd to take out the 110+ alpha strike model with the use of hacking or concentrated fire to remove the threat. Now if your opponent is playing convservatively enough that they are happy with 1-2 boxes and they secure the alpha-strike model back into Total Cover you are going to have a tough time digging that model out with taking heavy losses.

Token Scenario Break-Down: Part 1

This is the beginning of my thoughts on the ITS 4 scenarios leading up to my first entry into a Infinity and ITS 4 event a the NOVA open.

Supply Run:

 

 

Simply three boxes that need to be picked up by specialists and retained (in possession of a living model) by your side until the end of the game. Players receive 2 OP per box in their possession at the end of the game (Main Objective), Secondary are the standard Kill more points than you opponent for 1 and kill 150 more points that your opponent for 1, and 1 Classified Objective . A good note is that the specialists are only required to extract the boxes, after that any model can hold/transfer by the use of short skill.

Models with Baggage can hold up to 3 boxes, while all other miniatures can hold one.

Supply run is in the middle of the difficulty level for the Token scenarios, if you go second you have opportunity to take or re-take the boxes from your opponent. In saying that once a player has the boxes and can squirrel them into a defensive position you are going to be hard pressed to dig them out. In other words a player can grab the boxes, transfer them to nasty model (HI/TAG/Baggage) and then encircle them. This will force much more direct confrontation on the opponent’s terms.

After playing supply run a few times a trend has started to crop up with the players that get 1^st turn. Being able to protect your specialists with smoke or if terrain is dense it is really difficult to stop someone from grabbing 1-2 boxes and getting them buried in a good position. Getting all 3 is more than possible but you will be a bit more pressed to then bring them all back into Total Cover or a Total Reaction umbrella that can protect them.

 

My suggestion is to really secure 1-2 boxes on your first turn (whether you go 1^st or 2^nd) and then make the other box location really difficult to take/secure with the use of suppression fire zones, mines, and Total Reaction/Neuroscientics. If your opponent has the advantage and you have to drive deep into their side of the board to grab a box it is going to be difficult to take a box back without the use of infiltrators, AD, or fast specialists. Set yours lists up accordingly to be able to strike back and quickly take a box back to your side of the board or protect it with as many high threat reactive models are possible.

 

Seize the Beacon:

 

Goal of this scenario is simple, be in control of the beacons at the end of the game. You get 1 OP for the closet beacon (closest to your deployment zone), 2 OP for the beacon at the centerline and 3 at the far side near your opponent’s deployment zone. Secondary Objective is 1 OP for killing more points than you opponent, and  1 OP for killing 150 more points than your opponents. Finally there is one classified objective that garners 2 OP.

This Scenario is one that can be approached from a few angles. You can bring a list to break stuff and grab the beacons before your opponent runs or turtle and prepare for a turn 3 blitz on the points. You can also end up against some crazy specialized lists (Order Sergeants) that will work for all the token scenarios and be really damn hard to counter, especially if that player gets first turn. The use of late game AD: Airborne Infiltration and Combat Jump will be common, late reveals of Hidden Deployment models, or just pure break stuff Alpha-Strike to reduce the possibility of you even grabbing the points to start with.

With terrain set up so that you can see two or more of the beacon locations having models with TO/Camo/Smoke to make it to the beacons and survive will be important early. Layering of mines, deployables, Total Reaction/Neuroscientics around the beacons can be a decent counter to someone grabbing the points early. Making your opponent fight through a meat grinder to complete the objectives, will hopefully wear down the model count in their army and allow a turn 2 or turn 3 push that will have less opposition.

A few games into this scenario leaves me the most confident about being able to do something about not getting first turn and having enough ways to get back into the game by the end. Having the last turn to hit those beacons even if the model doesn't survive afterwards will get you the objective points.

That is the end of Part 1. Part 2 will be dedicated to the emergency transmission scenario and how to attempt to deal with going 2nd.

 

 

Token Scenarios

Token Scenarios:

Let’s look at first turn mindset for Token scenarios; going first then going second:

To protect your token grabbers/button pushers you have a few options; Shoot/Hack your opponents ARO capable models to remove that threat or Smoke (Zero V.) I always lean on the fool proof break stuff method over the more finesse use of smoke to claim objectives. Multi-Spectral Visors (MSV) can ruin your day unless you have Zero-V smoke to negate them. Not that I would advise against finesse, I try to create lists that has as many tactics in the list toolbox as possible.

Going first in these scenarios is going to give your opponent a glimpse of your deployment so they can react to what you are doing. The use of infiltrators right next to the markers (all of .0000000001” away so you are not in BTB at the start of the game) with decent to high WIP or the use of Hidden Deployment. The other option is shoot/hack/smoke the fire lanes away and then move in with fast/big specialists to grab the boxes with your remaining orders.

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          Going second is not fun in a Token scenario. You must put enough of your models in a place to be able to ARO the Token grabbers which leaves them exposed, but at the same time have enough threats present that the player on the active turn has a tough time solving the puzzle of your reactive turn. Its a hard thing to balance.

If you present this as your reactive turn:

Your opponent’s going to push you out of the way and complete the objectives.

I want this to be my reactive turn:

The goal is generating multiple high-threat (tons-o-dice) AROs. Total Reaction/Neuroscentics are your friend in this case along with MSV (3 is best, but few have it) to be able to check the CAMO threats. Mines in difficult to impossible places to see that still threaten the Objective (which is hard to do as they exist as a 28-30mm tall "thing" until they are discovered then they are the height of a base, but that is a rant for another day), Krazy Koalas if you have them and Forward Deployable Repeaters/Repeaters as well. Just adding layer upon layer of things to deal with is where I see the best results. Forcing your opponent to burn orders to deal with all the deployables and fire lanes reduces the chances of buttons being pushed or boxes being moved away.

Now I have one threat that I really have limited solutions for on the Reactive turn, Alpha-Strike super HI or Lieutenant TAGS. Pan-O With the Cutter Lieutenant, Combined have a few, Yu Jing, the list goes on. Shooting them may work, Hacking them may work, it’s all on the dice at that point. The D20 is a fickle jerk-face that won’t generate any sort of average in a game of Infinity, play the percentages, and you’ll still roll a 18 on a 16 or less roll. I am not bitter, nope, the dice just do not like me.This scenario is where luck is paramount above all other things (in my mind.) I realize it goes both ways with the dice, but an armor 6-8 TAG rampaging with -6 to -9 BTS is going to be a tough nut to crack in the open, then throw in Cover/TO/ODD/Enemy Hackers and you’ve got a wild set of circumstances to overcome for some of the Alpha-Strike models. I keep things like this in mind and be prepared to remove that threat if it all possible in your active turn.

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Now to go back to general overview the last thing you need to take into account is going to be the availability of Cover/High Terrain. Terrain density is a big deal. Playing on very dense terrain initially in our group lead our meta-game in one direct, then Paradiso was released and our thinking changed as boards became much more open. Looking at various Battle Report/Blogs/Tournaments terrain varies a good deal.

I am looking/hoping for medium density volumetric terrain meaning 8-10 big blocks with no/little internal use during the game with an additional 10-15 piece of scatter terrain between those blocks. The shipping container boards seem to be the most common.

The road to NOVA: Scenarios and List building

The NOVA Open is approaching quickly (less than two months out now) and its time to get cracking at list building along with scenario break down. I will playing with vanilla Nomads, that is what I know best and feel like the sectorials hamper Nomads in the ITS 4 format (just my opinion though.)

NOVA initially was set up to use YAMs but the community asked for a switch to ITS 4. ITS 4 is made up of 5 scenarios; Supply Run, Emergency Transmission, Seize the Beacon, Front-line and Annihilation. Each of these have three type of objectives; Main, Secondary, and Classified. I think it’s best to first understand what one would need to complete the objectives in these scenarios before moving on to list building. All of the scenarios in one form or another require the use of specialists.  Specialists, with regard to ITS 4, are models with the hacker, engineer (no G: Servant though), forward observer, chain of command, and lieutenant skills. All of the Scenarios have a 3 turn limit which leads to more aggressive play and leaves little time to flounder or wait the opponent out.

I look at these scenarios and split them into two types: Token and Durability (just coined those terms arbitrarily.)

Token type scenarios involve interaction with spots on the table, markers, etc. - Supply Run, Emergency Transmission, and Seize the Beacon. Token type scenarios all need infiltrators in my opinion or fast moving specialists, whichever your faction/army has. This scenario type invariably (for me) always generates 14-16 model lists over the more standard 10 model combat group. Nomads have ample model choice to run in these scenarios with different means of deploying them (Standard, Infiltrators, and AD of various flavors.) Supply Run and Emergency Transmission suffer from being lopsided towards the player that goes first. Seize the Beacon is mainly king of the hill on the center beacon on the last turn, so much more forgiving for certain play styles and maybe it’s even better to go 2^nd.

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Durability type scenarios involve just being able to break stuff and survive while doing it. - Front-line and Annihilation. Durability scenarios seem to make you lean towards a single combat group with fighting specialists. Nomads are mediocre in this department compared to some of the other factions. What I mean is that there are not many specialist  models that also bring an offensive punch with them.

Just to touch on list building briefly before I dive into the scenarios, I plan on building a Token List and a Durability List that can deal with most any threat presented from TAG to Horde (who is bringing 20 Pretas?!? )

 After going through the first two scenarios I am going to break the rest up into separate posts (Token and Durability.)

That went well.. Post #2 (4 years later!)

My dedication to the blog went away about 10 minutes after creating it. I just stumbled back into it by luck because Google knows all (I bow to my google overloads.) and prompted me to sign into my blogger account when I wanted to comment on a blog.

Now where am I in the miniature hobby? I have played WarmaHordes, 95% of all GW games and continue to play Necromunda and Mordheim. Fantasy and 40k have become laughable in the last decade in terms of game play and model creep (Why no, I do not believe I will pay $4000 to play an Apocalypse sized game.) I have gotten into historicals mainly old west and Ancient civilizations but that is more for a quick CON game or two. I forayed into Malifaeux for a while in 2011/2012 but never could dedicate  enough time to "get" the game so my interest fell off. With the new release of the updated rules I hope I can change that. Mainly I play  Infinity now. Intensively. Every Weekend sometimes more (during the height of WarmaHordes 1.0 it was 3-4 times a week)

Infinity is interesting game. Keeps both players engaged throughout the entire game, which is major plus (Not like 1.0 Baneknights.. I had 30 at one point *insert evil smile*) for me and keeps the game flowing. As a player you have a sphere of threats to deal with, from all directions, some you can see, and some just fry your brain from afar (or at least your equipment.)

Thus far my gaming group has managed to grind through Paradiso with enthusiasm up until the end of the third chapter. We are 3 sessions from the end and it feels like we are just trying to finish it up and move on. The Campaign went from FUN and NEW to weekly meetings deciding how our group was going to handle this ambiguous section of a scenario.

Thus the release of ITS 4 happened and we are playing through the scenarios early and as much as possible to avoid those mid-game (what did CB mean here; we are a very Logic driven group with heavy CCG and Tournament based miniature games experience; this hasn't lent any favors trying to smooth out our understanding of Infinity much though) questions or quirks.

I think I will be using this space for the next few months as a means to chronicle my continued learning curve on the global meta in preparation for NOVA in Late August. I working on building and painting models while at the same time trying to hammer out a list that can handle most everything (to a point) from every faction.

My next step is to really analyze what each scenario needs in terms of required number of specialists, contingency plans when you don't go first, terrain density, and whatever else I can try to wring out as I continue to play and build lists.