BASES: A new hope

After a long marathon of modeling over (last) weekend, some bases got built, a few more models got primed, and I ran out of materials to finish bases I was working on.

To be specific I have enough materials to complete 16 bases.

 

Above is the beginnings of the Project with the washers, cardboard spacers, sheet polystyrene 1" circles and all the pieces to make the slats.

Here is a work in progress image of placing the slats in alternating sizes. I use brush on super glue to control the amount if put on the slats. The brush on is pretty thin compared to the (intentionally) thicker bottle I buy for modeling purposes.

Another set of the top covers completed. That brings me to where I am at currently, which is running a .010" thick piece of polystyrene around the edge of each piece and finish sanding the base to be uniform and without any major gaps.

BASE-POCALYPSE

Its has been a little while since I picked up  the key board to explain what's going on in my Infinity world.

What has happened? Not too much! Other than gaming some and attending an ITS event its been quiet on the modeling/Painting front.

I did get accepted as a Warcor, eh? I've got to do something about it now.

Back to the title of this post.. I have been working steadily over the last two years creating various bases for my Nomads going all over the place. In that time I have made dozens of bases and lately just got the bug to standardize as much as possible... so this happened last night..

I basically removed 20+ models from their old variant bases, dropped the ones I had used for test models in the simple green salsa jar and started to build all new clean bases.

There are going to be two types of bases I produce. The concept will be the same, but each will be unique in its construction. The first type will be really simple, a piece of deck plate and texture to look like concrete/weird dirt as seen on the Crazy Koala I posted in an earlier article. The second will be a slatted bottom with the same unifying deck plate top piece as seen below.

That does mean I have a lot more incentive to get these done in a timely manner so that the models can get back on the table top.

I am going to concentrate on the Bakunin side first including putting together all my Reverend Moria Models and the Chimera too. 

______________________________________________

As an aside, I am trying out the blogger App, so if this post turns out to be a formatting mess with tiny pictures, be sure to let me know!

Riot Grrrl; Dedicated Photo Set-up Attempt

Riot Grrrl 2.0 Photos

Here are the results of the first dedicated lighting set up I put together via blue tape/notebook paper, and a T-shirt!

Riot Grrrl 2.0 Photos

As an aside, how does the whole two or three people who even read this blog think of the single group collage or should I stick to more individual photos?

Nomads: Planning my Paint Schedule

Nomads: Painting on a schedule

I have an idea of what models I would like to get painted over the next year. I have a priority set on the models I think I will be using for NOVA 2014 for the ITS Tournament. There is also an additional set of models that will work better for YAMS compared to the ITS format that don't overlap my list building. That leaves the models that I have yet to build or get used infrequently in everyday gaming that will be the last in line to get painted.

There is another consideration that has sort of put a greater time sink on my modeling times. The construction of my weighted washer/palsticard bases for my Nomads gives a unique look, (also stops me from going crazy reproducing a similar base over and over again) but it takes a fair amount of time layering up the various bits of styrene, sanding the joints if any are present and then dressing the washer/cardboard/stryene sandwich layers with more thin sheet stryene for a finished product.

With that in mind I have to keep a weekly modeling/painting schedule if I hope to get all the models I want painted for NOVA. Thus far, keeping that personal schedule has worked out poorly. I have one model painted (the Crazy Koala that appeared earlier in my color scheme topic) another few primed, but the majority of the models sit on incomplete bases or need to take a trip to the Simple Green Bath so the painting quality/scheme matches up nicely with the rest of the force.

No, that's not all of them!

Now, the priority models that I know I will be using
as part of my lists:
1. Moran Maasi Hunter # 1
2-3. Crazy Koala Set # 1
4. Moran Massi Hunter # 2
5-6. Crazy Koala Set # 2
7. Interventor # 1
8. Interventor # 2
9. Prowler with Spitfire
10. Tomcat # 1
11. Tomcat # 2
12. Morlock # 1
13.Morlock # 2
14. Morlock # 3
15. Morlock # 4
16. Zero # 1
17. Zero # 2
18.Zero # 3
19. Zond Bot # 1
20. Zond Bot # 2
21. Reverend Custiodier
22. Zoe
23. Pi-Well

Let off from my list are all of the remotes that may or may not appear as part of the 3 different tournament lists for NOVA.

I still lack the new Iguana, but have purchased the Gecko box set and more Hellcats (up to three of them now; Boarding Shotgun, Hacker, and HMG models) There is another component working beyond what I need to paint; the local bi-monthly ITS event has a Painting Competition as part of the event (It keeps me actively painting if nothing else.)

Work has started on both the MK12 variant of the Gecko TAG and the Spitfire armed Prowler model for that competition. That sort of ties into my paint schedule. Sorta.

At this point, being 4.5 months from NOVA and only having a single model painted, I am happy to get any all things I can by that time.

Q1 Progress Report

Quarter 1 Progress Report

I have gone dark (but tried to stay busy!) with this blog over the last two months. No excuses, just realizing keeping up a good level of content while balancing Life and Hobby time is rather more difficult than I would have thought.

With that in mind I have a few irons in the fire (feast or famine I guess) for posts to come in the next few weeks. There will be more on the get better tools for the job aspect, progress reports on how the modeling/painting of my Nomads is going and what I need to tackle in preparation for NOVA, Gnascon, and any other event I plan on attending.

Let look at what I have gotten done in the last two months (not remotely as much as I would have liked mind you.)

Tohaa:
I have that Sakiel I toiled over, stripped, and partially repainted. Tohaa have been placed on the back burner sadly. There is the positive note that the Gao Tarso w/ Viral Combi is built and Primed, a Chaksa Auxillar w/ Flamethrower built, and the lone Clipsos is assembled. My plan is to get the Sakiel finished at some point, followed by a representative of each model type to get the color scheme placement figured out. This will make painting the rest of the 12 or so models much quicker than the first.

Nomads:
There has been lots of work going on centered around these models between waiting for models to come out (Intruder HMG? You know the most common, awesome, MI available!) plus rebasing models to get my theme a little more consistent.

I have expanded my collection (just picked up the HellCat HMG/Hacker blister and the Gecko Box set.)

The painting front is not remotely where it should be, but I have painted another model to completion. I choose the Spitfire Riot Grrrl to paint for a local painting competition that is part of a Bi-Monthly ITS event. I didn't win (not sure what my placement was honestly) but I found that spark of REALLY wanting to paint to a high level on a regular basis returning after years of just having little interest in doing it.

Modeling Space:
Over the last two months, I have gone lighting crazy... after a trip to IKEA, I placed an additional two Swing Arm Lamps with 100w CFL Reveal Bulbs. Extra lighting goes a long way to keep your eyes from going cross from staring at the little details for hours on end. I have a lighting box project I want to complete very soon so my miniature photos don't just plain suck.

Nomads: Model #2 Riot Grrrl

I painted another Nomad Model

The Riot Grrrl is pretty interesting (although the anatomical armor gets some scorn from the SO); lots of small detail that is well defined from a sculpting perspective. Painting time was tracked via an audio book (John Ringo's "A Hymn Before Battle"; Pretty Awesome Military Science Fiction) That book clocks in right at 15 hours long, plus I spent 3 hours painting while watching the Route on Route 66 Infinity ITS Event Live Stream held in Amarillo, TX. All that combined I put in roughly 19 hours of painting from first brush stroke till final basing details over a 2 week period (for those with basic arithmetic skills, the last hour was spent painting the base.)

The progress photos were taken with my cellphone at the end of each painting session, so I apologize in advance for some of the blur/poor lighting conditions of those pictures. The final shots (once I get a light-box built, that is a project in of itself!) will be nice and clear.

I prime my models using Krylon Camouflage Khaki Paint. Why? I like neutral color bases, and for a long time I worked with a gray primer base until I tried it after seeing a fellow hobbyist using it. The warmer tones work better for my eyes and it takes color in some hues better than gray (red being a big one I noticed.) 

For glazes and washes I use a mix of Liquitex Glazing medium and VMC Matte Medium depending on the level of opacity for a given application (meaning I just make it up as I go and adjust via the addition of water as needed)

WIP 1

Session 1 found me laying out the majority of where I wanted colors to be located to get a feel for how colors needed to be balanced throughout the model. This is purely an aesthetic feel exercise, that I struggle with all the time, so laying out my plan a bit from the start keeps me focused on finishing the model and not floundering over color.. *cough* SAKIEL!!! *cough*

A quick run down of the paints I am using (Prepare for brand/system loyalty to go right out the window!)

Colors used: 

VMC Black

P3 Skorne Red

P3 Jack Bone

Another small detail you may notice, no antenna head gear. It's not because I did not like them, I misplaced them at some point after the initial assembly, so out came a small bit of Pro Create and good old fashioned boxy earmuffs got sculpted in their place.

WIP 2

Session 2 I continued laying base colors for balance (mainly the darker armor areas and red fins) and started washing/glazing the under armor suit. I built the glazes from a mix of the Citadel washes Devlan Mud, Gryphonne Sepia, Army Painter Soft Wash, RMS Brown Ink, and a small amount of the base coat color: P3 Jack Bone. I adjust the glaze opacity as I go by adding paint for more extreme coverage per coat or more water to thin the layer, followed by a quick hit from the heat gun to dry it.

As an aside, a heat gun (its a scrap booking heat gun, so more like a dual setting hair dryer on high) makes painting in many thin layers move quickly when coupled with wash/glaze layers to blend highlights together. I wish I could paint via two brush or wet blend quickly, but the technique isn't clicking for me yet (one day!.) 

WIP 3

Session 3 is more of the same and rather boring. Focus almost completely on the underarmor; glaze, wash, paint detail, highlight and repeat.

WIP 4

Session 4 brought all kinds of progress, it was a marathon of about 3.5 hours of painting. I went to town on the armor, highlighting and glazing up a storm. I also did some shading to create shadow and mid-tones in preparation of tackling the red.

Colors used:

VMC Dark Gray

VMC Ivory

P3 Gnarls Green

P3 Skorne Red

Citadel Devlan Mud

WIP 5

Session 5 The reds started getting attention. I learned a great deal painting this model when it came to red and the red for my Nomads. It is evolving into a high-contrast, bright red with green hued shadow all the way up to a pink/white transition line highlight at the end. Its a very striking and warm color that's many thin layers of reds progressively pulled from the bottom to the top (where the most paint will be left behind as the brush is removed) with a few intermediate glazes every few layers to clean up the color changes.

Colors used:

P3 Menoth White Base (for the areas that will be close to white later)

P3 Gnarls Green

P3 Skorne Red

VMC Red

VMC Ivory

VMC Black

Citadel Devlan Mud

WIP 6

Session 6 Glaze... Glaze.. GLAZE! Same routine to get the armor and reds finished. Very limited palette was used throughout for this model (if you use a wet palette, 10 dozen colors can be made, kept, and reused from 2 or 3 base colors.) for ease of recreation later on the rest of my Nomad force.

Colors used:
P3 Menoth White Base (for the areas that will be close to white later)
P3 Gnarls Green
P3 Skorne Red
VMC Red
VMC Ivory
VMC Black
Citadel Devlan Mud

WIP 7

Session 7 is the same as 6.. grinding through those last details.

Colors used:
P3 Skorne Red
VMC Red
VMC Ivory
VMC Black
Citadel Devlan Mud

WIP 8

Session 8 is where the closing parts started to fall into place. Blues were glazed in for an attempt at basic OSL from the interfaces/gems on the gauntlets and neck armor. The lens was treated as if it were tinted blue, mainly to break up the model some and draw the viewers eye to the face (Not the face.. I am very bad at painting faces...) I attempted to paint the eyes as normal, black them out, fill in the white, define the pupil, Iris, etc.. After three attempts and messing up the Riot Grrrl got her some glowy eyes! The Spitfire main weapon was base coated in P3 Cryx Bane Highlight, Glazed with Delvan Mud, then highlighted up. The Contact points were base coated with P3 Cryx Bane Base, and highlighted accordingly.

Colors used:
P3 Skorne Red
VMC Red
VMC Ivory
VMC Black
P3 Arcane Blue
P3 Cyngar Blue Highlight
RMS Fair Skin
RMS Tanned Skin Highlight
P3 Cryx Bane Base
P3 Cryx Bane Highlight
Citadel Devlan Mud
Citadel Gryphonne Sepia
Citadel Ogryn Flesh

Finished 

Atomic Empire ITS 2014 Event Janurary

ITS 2014 @ Atomic Empire

300 Point Spec Ops Tournament

25 Jan 2014

This past weekend, Atomic Empire (a gaming/comic book store in Durham, NC) held a 300 point ITS
2014 event. The Charlotte group traveled 4 people to participate at the event. Last minute scheduling Todd decided to travel but decided to sit out rather than cause a bye system to be instituted.


I choose to bring a variant of a stand by Nomads list I fall back on for events like this, but with a few
twists to change up the function of some of the specialists and use a TAG other than the Iguana that I
have tossing into lists off and on over the last year.

 NOMADS
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):

 ZOE (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (53)
 PI-WELL Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse.
 INTRUDER HMG, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 44)
 MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
 MORAN (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 24)
 INTERVENTOR Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
 VORTEX (BS12, Doctor, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (10 | 12XP)
 PROWLER Spitfire, D-Charges / Pistol, CCW. (2 | 37)
 ZERO (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Antipersonnel Mines / Pistol, Knife. (21)
 MODERATOR Combi Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Electric Pulse. (0.5 | 11)

 GROUP 2 (Regular: 1/Irregular: 3):

 SIN-EATER Mk12 / Pistol, CCW. (29)
 MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (7)
 MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (7)
 MORLOCK Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, Shock CCW. (7)

 5.5 SWC | 300 Points
ARMY CODE: eNpljEsKwEAIQy8zZlmMjp32Yl15+PlRuiiB90BMgiKuKnGEmIFgnhhONvgn93WMmB+AggYtLPoG3Nxqk0ndS4FRy7p4jzlLXn/JUzvR4Rzn

 NOMADS
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):

 LIZARD MULTI HMG, Heavy Flamethrower / . (2 | 88)
 LIZARD PILOT Pistol, Knife.
 VORTEX (BS12, Doctor, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (10 | 12XP)
 INTRUDER HMG, Grenades / Pistol, CCW. (1.5 | 44)
 MORAN Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
 MORAN Combi Rifle, CrazyKoalas (2) / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 21)
 INTERVENTOR Lieutenant (Hacking Device Plus) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26)
 ALGUACIL HMG / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 19)
 ZOE (Hacking Device) Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (53)
 PI-WELL Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse.
 ALGUACIL (Forward Observer and Deployable Repeater) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (14)

 6 SWC | 296 Points
ARMY CODE: eNo1i0EKACEMAz9jc27qtrIf8+TjrRYJTGBCnCL2h4TQYOByBzNQpNDGpi9gsWocrrgfjvN51XvJS7OakJvMbwOa2xYw



The Lists were set up with one to do the grab/push button/contact things missions and the other for
Annihilation. The biggest change from my normal fair was the inclusion of Zoe and Pi-Well. I have had
the models for a long while and just tossed them in after looking at their utility, 53 points for 2 specialists
that can complete over half of the classified objectives and add an ODF device to make my models that
much harder to hit seemed like a good deal to me.

The Scenarios

The three rounds consisted of (in this order) Supplies, Annihilation, and Antenna Field.
The first round was randomly seeded and I faced off against a familiar forum name Doremicom playing
Tohaa. He won Initiative, choose to go first, so I decided board edge/deployment zone and let him deploy first.

 TOHAA
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):

 KAMAEL Lieutenant Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (12)
 GAO-RAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 37)
 KAMAEL Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 18)
 KAMAEL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (12)
 HATAIL (BS12, Super-Jump, Specialist Troop) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (12 | 12XP)
 SAKIEL Spitfire / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 24)
 KAMAEL Paramedic (Medikit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (16)
 KAMAEL Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (12)
 HATAIL AELIS KEESAN K1 Combi Rifle, Nanopulser, Flash Pulse, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 34)
 GAO-TARSOS Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (31)

 GROUP 2 (Regular: 4/Irregular: 0):

 KUMOTAIL Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (22)
 CHAKSA SERVANT Hedgehog Weapon. (3)
 CHAKSA SERVANT Hedgehog Weapon. (3)
 CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Neurocinetics, 360º Visor) HMG / Pistol, CCW. (1 | 25)
 CHAKSA AUXILIAR (Baggage, Sensor) Heavy Flamethrower / Pistol, CCW. (10)
 CLIPSOS Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 29)

 6 SWC | 300 Points
ARMY CODE: eNpVjUEOgDAIBD9T9sxCa/Vjnvp4ATXGkMyEAMtOEVeVTYgdXA4PEr3IZE8BChq0selbuMlHnrNlGHU6v4ABC1XMOoK2yJ80FkrZzfhtcvYLUjcf3g==

Supplies

I won’t go into the complete detail of the scenario, but the basic idea is grab some boxes and keep them
until the end of the game while stopping your opponent from doing the same.
Side note: A quick word about the supply boxes and where they were located within the terrain. Tables
were preset up when we arrived at Atomic Empire (30 minutes early, which they graciously open their
doors early to allow us to check out the tables and the store itself) with a wide variety of good LOF lanes
and high-low terrain density. The Supply boxes on our table ended up in very different levels of exposure
and level of difficulty to get to. The (my) left most box was placed atop a concrete stack of sorts around
5” off the ground making it the most difficult to get to and grab. The center was located on a bridge that
ran from deployment zone out to the center line and was very exposed to both sides ARO potential and
the last box on the (my) right gave the opposing side a protected approach to that box.
I rolled up Telemetry and Sabotage for my Classified Objectives.

Deployment

I set up using my Moran’s Crazy Koalas as the catch all deterrent to prevent early game Box grabs by my
opponent. I tried to create cross fire AROs that did not directly expose my models to a large portion of
He set up a Neuroscientic Chaksa w/ HMG prone overlooking the (my) right supply box, a Triad in the
center, and a Triad on the (my) left. A Kumotail was in total cover behind the Chaksa on the right and a
Chaksa Servant was on the left behind the Triad.

Highlights

• A Clipso came out of Hidden deployment to Combat Camo attack my Sin Eater, who was
positioned to over watch the middle supply box. A moderator and a Morlock also responded with
a ‘Hold’ ARO to react to the Marker if it shot. The Sin-Eater survived the Sniper Rifle Fire from the
Clipso and returned fire with his MK12, connecting with one hit which the Clipsio made her armor
roll and then dropped prone to reduce the AROs later from the ground.

• A Gao-Tarso w/ Combi rifle dropped in using airborne infiltration on my left flank around the
corner from the (my) left supply box. It engaged that Moran Massai Hunter to no effect on either

• The middle Triad moved up under the cover of the middle terrain and approached the (my) right
supply box. He broke the link and sent out the Kamael to trigger the closer Crazy Koala that was
within 8” of the supply box. The Kamael passed his armor save, then using his LT order reformed
the link and using the spec ops picked up the supply box. That Triad then retreated to the (my)
right rear flank of his deployment zone with the HMG Chaksa still able to cover all the approaches

• My turn and the following next two turns are a blur of events.

• The Gao-Tarso eventually died to the Moran.


• A Zero Forward Observer with the help of a Morlock laying smoke down grabbed the middle

Supply Box and retreated back down the walk way towards my deployment zone. The Gao-Rael

is his turn tried to take out the Zero, but after a good series of armor rolls, Guts moved into total cover


• A Gao-Rael and Prowler with a spitfire traded shots with the Gao-Rael eventually falling  unconscious.


• It really came down to the last turn where the (my) left Morlock laid down some smoke for Zoe

to move up to complete tne Sabotage objective followed by a Moran moving up to Forward

Observe the unconscious Gao-Rael for my second classified objective. We were down to the wire

for time so an ARO was missed and we had to rewind three orders and start over with the Moran

moving and FO the Gao-Rael twice. He succeeded the 2nd

ARO shot from the Saikel that was still centered up in the opposing deployment zone.

 time and then died from the spitfire

Results

We both had one supply box, I had accomplished both Classifieds to Doremicoms one. Win 3-2.


The second round came up with me playing Rich, a newish player for the group playing Hassassin Barim.

 HASSASSIN BAHRAM
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

 GROUP 1 (Regular: 5/Irregular: 0):

 MUYIB Doctor Rifle + Light Shotgun, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (27)
 MUYIB Rifle + Light Shotgun, Panzerfaust, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 25)
 MUYIB (X Visor) Heavy Rocket Launcher, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 34)
 MUYIB (Minelayer) Rifle + Light Shotgun, D.E.P. Viral Mines / Pistol, Knife. (25)
 MUYIB Rifle + Light Grenade Launcher (Normal and Smoke Ammo.) / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 23)

 GROUP 2 (Regular: 6/Irregular: 0):

 LASIQ Viral Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 29)
 BARID Hacker (Hacking Device) Lieutenant Rifle + Marker / Pistol, Knife. (1 | 26)
 GHULAM Panzerfaust, Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 16)
 HUSAM (CH: Mimetism, Hyper-Dynamics L1, Specialist Troop) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, Knife. (17 | 12XP)
 RAGIK Hacker (Hacking Device) Rifle + Light Shotgun / Pistol, CCW. (0.5 | 42)
 FARZAN (Chain of Command) Boarding Shotgun, Contender / Pistol, Knife. (32)

 6 SWC | 296 Points
ARMY CODE: eNpNzDsOwDAIA9DLBM/BoSi5WCcOX5cuFdKTMJ+gGU9aWiDhFfB2t9FSpmT5VsSiVuXEUvqOiTl+9XU4rfuI4XX15dJ72h0Px24YRQ==

Annihilation

Kill ‘em All. Mid-Tier, one classified. I rolled up Telemetry again and Coup de Grace.

I won the Initiative roll and opted to go first, Russ choosing side and having me deploy first.

Deployment

On my left I set up an Interventor, Zoe, the Lizard next to PI-Well, Augicil FO, Intruder and my Spec ops.
The two Morans were infiltrated forward to threaten his flank on my right and in the center building. A
lone HMG Auigicil was placed in the center in Total Cover as a secondary threat to move to one flank or
Rich set up a 5 man Muiyib link team with a HRL, Doctor in Total cover behind a Lasiq sniper that was
prone behind some barrels. A lone Muiyib w/ PanzerFaust was placed on the roof top on my left, a Camo
marker to the far left and a Barid hacker prone on the left. His reserve placement was an impersonation
level 2 marker on my left flank faced off with Zoe and an Auigicil covering the corner it would emerge

Highlights

• My first turn saw the Intruder w/ HMG combat camo the exposed Muiyib on the roof and the
Morans moving forward to threaten his left flank which was only protected by the lone Muiyib.
The center Moran moved forward to threaten both the link team and the Lasiq. The main reason
was to get the Moran’s repeater in range of the Lasiq to use the hacking device plus to mark
the Lasiq to get my classified objective early. The Intruder laid a Suppression Fire over the area
where the Muiyib Link team and Lasiq was proned out to prevent it from standing and shooting.
That ended my turn taking out all I could see and setting up to threaten his left flank.

• Rich’s first turn saw the Impresontation marker turn the corner and all of my discover AROs
failing. He then shot both Zoe and the FO Augicil leaving just my Interventor in total cover and
at the now re-Hidden Fiday’s mercy the following turn. The Muiyib link team moved and dodged
in to activate the first Crazy Koala which he succeeded the Dodge roll. The Link team activated
again and went prone and moved avoiding my suppression fire zone. Once in a position to attack
the reveal intruder directly, the HRL Muiyib advanced and took 3 shots at my Intruder. The dice
were not on his side, as my ARO HMG shot scored a hit and wound on the HRL model.

• Next turn saw me trying to take out the lone Muiyib on the right flank and eventually losing a
long shooting battle (4 orders I think) to the Muiyib to a Critical hit. The Intruder during this
turn or the next took out another of the Muiyib Link and the Lasiq Sniper (at some point it stood
up and shot at the Intruder, I do not remember at what point the exchange of fire happened.)
This left me with just the Impersonation marker to worry about right outside the right side of
my deployment zone. I was out of position to much of anything to the Impersonation marker,
so I moved both Pi-Well and the Lizard around to cover its approach. That also allowed my
Interventor to run and hide in a stairwell area in total cover behind the TAG.

• Rich wasted no time and turned the corner to with the impersonation marker and try to take
out the much stronger TAG. In the End a EXP ARO from the Lizards Multi-HMG found its mark
and the Fiday threat was removed. The Muiyibs were maneuvering around to get a shot at the =
Intruder and get their doctor up on a ledge.

• My Last turn it was time to bring the Tag to bear, having lost 3 orders up to this point (counting
myself lucky dealing with the Fiday and the Muiyib Link Team.) The Moran engaged the Muiyib
and finally took it down. The TAG went to work moving towards the Muiyib Link in order to get
as many points down as possible and hope for a model to go unconscious to get my second
classified objective. I rounded a corner with three models staring at me (one being unconscious
already) the other two armed with a spitfire and the other a DEP. I chanced it, and shot with my
Heavy flame thrower to hit all three. The Spitfire ARO landed a Crit, taking down one wound (STR) and
the DEP hit. CRAP. Well, I rounded the corner to stay in cover, so I was at Armor 8/2 + 3 (7). I
needed 8s or more to on 3 dice to survive otherwise I would have just taken a solid victory to a
weak one. I tossed the dice and the lowest was a 10. The two active models burned to death,
leaving only the unconscious model to take an ARM save. That Muiyib passed and allowed the
TAG to complete my other Classified Objective, and then run away as far as possible.

Results

I completed both classified objectives, took out 204 points worth of Russ’ army. Russ’ took out one
Moran, the Augicil, and Zoe netting 35 points and one classified objective (Experimental Drugs). Win 9-1



The last round was against Tim, Playing JSA. I won the initiative roll and took choice of deployment to
get what I perceived as the better side. Tim gave me first turn (which is a good choice in this mission,
always able to react to the resources put in place by the opponent on each antenna) and him taking 2nd

 JAPANESE SECTORIAL ARMY
──────────────────────────────────────────────────

 GROUP 1 (Regular: 10/Irregular: 0):

 Yaókòng WÈIBĪNG Combi Rifle / Electric Pulse. (21)
 KARAKURI (Forward Observer) Mk12, Chain Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (43)
 KARAKURI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Chain Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (39)
 KARAKURI (Forward Observer) Combi Rifle, Chain Rifle, D.E.P. / Pistol, Knife. (39)
 GUĬ FĒNG (BTS-6, Chain of Command, Hacking Device) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (13 | 12XP)
 TOKUSETSU KOHEI Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (14)
 NINJA MULTI Sniper Rifle / Pistol, Shock CCW. (1.5 | 50)
 ONIWABAN Lieutenant Boarding Shotgun, Nanopulser / Pistol, Monofilament CCW. (1 | 44)
 KEISOTSU Paramedic (MediKit) Combi Rifle / Pistol, Knife. (12)
 RUI SHI Spitfire / Electric Pulse. (1 | 25)

 3.5 SWC | 300 Points
ARMY CODE: eNo9jFEKwDAIQy9T8zmMttRdbF89fKtjQ3g+Aom5iKuKX0M4QXB1WJE/bcKPZG7Q9h2bgmlvBka+Ra2BwCmvu5yI5Mg1efoGSucXiQ==

Antenna Field

This mission is pretty simple; be the guy holding the most Antennas at the end of each game turn and at
the end of game to build points to win.

Deployment

The Exclusion zone present in this scenario puts a damper on how my list likes to work in defending objectives. I would normally have the two Morans tucked away protecting (Defending) two of the antennas with the Crazy Koalas without having to expose myself to many active turn shots. What I chose to do was advance them as far as I could towards the flanks to cover the left and right antennas, and then take advantage of a good bit of Total Cover centered right near the rear deployment area antenna by placing the prowler to my right. The interventor proned out right next to it out of LOF.

Tim deployed with everything except for the Rui Shi out of LOF. I placed my reserve camo marker, to take that bot on.

Highlights

• My turn one consisted of the Intruder (Reserve Camo Marker!) spending 3 orders to down the Rui Shi with his HMG. I followed up by moving the Interventor into base contact with the deployment side antenna. Lastly the two Morans moved up to protect against any advancement towards those antennas (the left flank guy moved up to be in base contact with the antenna, the right flank Moran moved to a position to maybe be able to dodge into contact if the possibility arose. 

• Tim responded by revealing a HD Ninja Sniper who smacked my Morans in the face with combat camo (right flank) and then superior modifiers on the left flank. The Karakuri Link then moved up on the right flank, absorbing the damage from the Koalas. Tim took the OP for Game turn 1. Not good.

• Pi-well ran up behind total cover to bring a repeater into range of the Karakui. The Interventor then did a Hack-Mark (Forward Observer) on the Karakui for my Classified Objective. Solid.

• My Intruder went to work, shooting against the Karakui link, I believe I used 5 or 6 orders of HMG fire to finally shoot them all down. Crazy.

• Tim then proceeded to move the Yaókòng WÈIBĪNG FO bot around to take the right flank antenna, passing right by the Intruder. The Intruder was attacked by the TO ninja, survived that, also Aro'd and got hit I believe, allowing me to choose to fail my guts roll and tuck in right next to the center hill the ninja sniper was on top of, keeping him safe (the sequence is fuzzy to me at this point). Tim really wanted that intruder out of the game. Another Ninja (Oniwaban) came out of hidden deployment and moved towards the Intruder. The Combat camo attack didn't do anything, so the Oniwaban retreated back around the hill. Tim had two Antennas to my one. He is up 4-1. Double Crap.

• Big Turn 3 for me. Time was short, I was down on points, but end of game I could pull out a win if I could just go to town on the JSA army. It came down  to two things. 

Phase one - The Longshot:

• A lone Morlock, with his Impetuous (move+move), followed by Irregular (move+move), finally the only regular order rounded a tree corner, firing his chain rifle at the engineer that had been comfortably holding his deployment side antenna the whole game. Dice came out, both went unconscious, so phase one complete. 

Phase two - Go-Go Intruder Murder-Death-Kill Rambo session:

• Step one: Kill the Yaókòng WÈIBĪNG0 FO bot. Check. 
• Step Two: Re-Camo. Check.
• Step Three: Step out and Combat Camo the Ninja Sniper with the HMG. Check.
• Step Four: Use Two Remaining orders to hunt the Oniwaban down around the corner. Check.
• Last important bit (this happened around step three) Use Pi-well to control the center antenna at the end of the game. I was set up to take 4 OPs that turn.
• Tim's last turn he was in Retreat and LoL.

Results

Tim had 4 OPs to my 5 thanks to the HMG run the Intruder went on. It was a tense and well fought game.

Overall Thoughts

Karl ran a great tournament as a TO. Always moving around, answering questions when needed and keeping things timely.

1. Tim
2. Derek
3. Alex
4. Matheiu
5. Russ
6. Ryan
7. Brain
8. Rich
9. Kaylun
10. Chris
11. Geoff
12. Jerry

The group from Charlotte are bold. I ended up coming in second behind Tim with 17 OPs to his 19. There was a raffle at the end for additional goodies to be given out plus buttons, stickers, etc. It was nice getting out into a different meta and seeing how things function outside of ours. I had a great time, at a great venue, and hope to attend more events in the future.

Now I really need to take pictures, take notes, and generally be more prompt about this sort of thing. I only took two plus weeks to type this thing out. Please feel free to smack me around for my wall o text. First time I have written something like this, so its overly verbose with extra stuff I really don't need. Its done!

Nomads: It Only Takes one (RED)

Nomads was my first faction for Infinity. I started playing the faction not because I particularly liked them more than any other, it was the only faction in the group that had yet to be represented. It just so happened Nomads are one of the more well rounded factions available to play with.

The collection of models has grown over the last year and a half to include a large majority of those available to the faction, mainly lacking a few support models I rarely play with at this point. What I do not have is a painted force. I started a test moderator over a year ago and have since stripped and painted it four times looking for a scheme I enjoy painting and that I can consistently paint.

This relates back to kicking the rust off after more than 3 years of very little painting (plenty of gaming though!) I believe I painted this model somewhere around June of 2013, so not too long ago. I went with a fair amount of washing and little highlights that don't show up under these lighting conditions. I really need to set up a light box for this kind of thing...

I settled on a scheme that is still Nomad like in that it carries the Red, Black, and white colors, but switches where those colors appear on models depending on their status within the army and what I feel like painting.

Here is a good example of swapping the dominate colors around for a for unique look, but still maintaining the scheme and faction unity. This model was begun around the same time that I finished the Moderator test piece. It really shows in pretty much every part of what I thought was OK a few months ago. Now compare the reds on the single should pad I messed around with about two weeks ago to the reds I painted on the Moderator. Happy with the improvement so far.

Now lets get to something I painted about 4 weeks ago (and one of three models I managed to completely paint in 2013) ... a small KrazyKoala for one of my Moran Massi Hunters.

Now I was fairly happy with how this model turned out, including the base. The parts that really didn't work out so well, were the gems and OSL I failed miserably at for the eyes and "Mouth" area. I think I hit a block of not wanting to ruin otherwise acceptable paint job trying to kick rust off of that too. I am tweaking my airbrush in hopes of taking areas like that I can achieve a much better result with less effort.

These pictures are not kind, but in a good way for me to really see where I dropped the ball on technique and thought "That looks good enough." There are areas that stick out as poor (to the standard I want to achieve) i.e. the stomach plates and arms having a pink strip that has no blending and just shows up. The only way I am going to get better and really get a feel for technique is to paint as much as possible, to the best of my ability at all times until it just happens that way.

I made I few decisions for the Nomads paint scheme. I will use metallic paints, I don't have a very good NMM technique and I'd rather just paint a bunch of random stuff learning than try it on an army I would like to have fully painted by NOVA 2014. I not only want a painted force, but I want something that can compete for Best Painted. I feel I can have a good showing at an army level, just a personal goal for 2014.

Tohaa: Conspiracy of Color

When I left off I was struggling with what was my next step. As you can see, I sort of just started shotgunning colors onto the model. The Emerald weapons just created too much chaos and while I liked the grenade colors themselves, again they just did not add anything to the scheme.

I took a few days of thinking with the occasional change being made as I went. I ended up using RMS Imperial Purple for the cloth color and did a gem style nightshade purple fade all the way to the brightest Amethyst Purple for the highlights. I also made the decision to stick with a more classic black high contrast weapon. In doing so I also tried a bright yellow weapon which ultimately (I didn't grab a picture of that mess!) got paint back over with VMC Black. 

The mask got a different treatment, which I while I was happy with the result, felt it was not bright enough for the rest of the scheme (as pictured below.) 

During all of this I realized (and it was pointed out a few times on forums!) a mold line I missed running half the length of the holster side of the body of the Sakiel, so it was going to head back to the a Simple Green dip for me to start over. My Cat thought it would be a good idea to encourage me to do so today by playing a quick game of swat my stuff off the table.

The damage wasn't bad after coming the 40" off my bench to wood floors as I would have thought, but it was getting a repaint to begin with, so its not sitting in a bath of simple green over night.

With that being said, I am happy with what I came out with for my scheme, its more akin to an organic Dark Elf style than I realized. They do stick out in a crowd (and on the table.)

Items I will concentrate more on when I start the Kaemel for the first "completed" model for this army are:

1) Increase the contrast of the yellow, I like the mid-tone and highlight I got to, but it really needs more depth added to it initially with some quick washes with a brownish paint.
2) Increase the brightness and contrast of the mask; I am not sure how just yet.
3) Watch those damn dainty mold lines!
4) Don't give up!

With the release of the ITS 2014 scenarios and formats I have made the choice to continue with my Nomads for the most part as my main army and paint my way through this year. Overall that will mean a Nomad model or two every week, with a Tohaa thrown in so I am painting red until my eyes cross.

Next up is a quick run down of the Nomads models that I have set up to be painted for this year, the scheme I settled on, the first test model and the 2nd.

Tohaa: A Color Scheme

This past August, fellow gamer Todd won a Tohaa starter box at NOVA 2013. He graciously gifted (bartered!) it to me, as I had expressed interest in playing the faction (and it cut down on how much the split bill was in the end!) a few times.

While at NOVA I took advantage of TheWarStore.com being set up with a booth stocked with Infinity goodies and purchased a Chaksa boxset, Makauls Boxset, and a Gao Rael w/ Sniper rifle to get my force started.

Those models have since set in a box, waiting for a day when I felt likg modeling and painting them. That day is now (or about 14 days ago at this point!) and I have started with a test paint scheme on the Sakiel (which when I started with it, I had no real intention of using Sakiels in my lists, but then ITS 2014 came out and BAM! I need as much Viral as I can get, but that is for another post.)

Starting out, I struggled with the color scheme I wanted to use for my army. I am always the contrary type when it comes to official schemes, always waiting to do something different or at least flip major/minor colors around some. The Tohaa presented an interesting avenue to approach the scheme from, they are aliens and they have living things that provide armor for them (for some at least.) I searched  for inspiration among other Tohaa players armies, but never saw anything that sparked my interest. I broadened my search to just include a color that I wanted to work with, Purple. Again nothing really seemed to grab my attention as most of the schemes were very monochromatic. Finally I turned to nature and a silly debate with my fiance about if there were red and purple beetles. A quick Google search turned up such a beast and the inspiration for my Tohaa Army!

Meet Chrysochroa-Buqueti or the Banded Jewel Beetle.

This picture (and others like it) inspired what I am working on now. Executing against what I had envisioned in my minds eye on the other hand as been a very slow process. I am working with some hues I normally avoid like the plague (Yellow and Purple) so I first had to add more paints to my collection (never a bad thing if you ask me.) I purchased two RMS triads; the Royal Purples and the Dark Elf Flesh. The Royal purples will be used on the Armor and Symbiote while the Dark Elf flesh will be used on the Chaksa models skin to tie the army together but give the Chaksa a foreign look compared to the rest of the army.

I approached painting the Sakiel from the inside out, meaning I started with the inner most detail of the model. In this case it was the Symbiote, which I chose the Amethyst Purple as the initial mid-tone color. I washed all the areas with a watered down (with a mix of water and matte medium) coat of purple.

I then did a glaze of Imperial Purple and Liquitex glaze medium to darken the recesses more than the higher areas. I didn't get a picture of this step. I did layers of this, and then switched to the major armor flats. I picked out nightshade purple as the base to eventually create a high contrast dark to light transition, but here is the base coat step.

Also pictured are the kerf cut armor plates and what I view as lower support armor below the outer plates and on the feet. These were painted using a thinned layer of VMC German Gray.

After this I hit a hold point of sorts as I pondered what I wanted to paint the straps over the cloth and symbiote armor. I wanted to paint some sort of soft yellow, but being that I don't use those colors much, I had a small and very bright selection to choose from. I ended up taking a trip to local gaming/comic book store (Parker Banner Kent and Wayne) to look for paints.

This what I settled on, P3 Menoth White Base (a paint that I already had) and RMS Lemon Yellow. I applied a thinned layer (thinned with matte medium) of Menoth White Base followed by a thinned layer of RMS Lemon Yellow. I also followed through with the  Beetle scheme and base-coated the mask of the Sakiel with VMC Flat Red and washed it with Citadel Leviathan Purple Wash (Discontinued..sigh.)

All the paints I use to paint my Reds

That is far as my progress has gotten me to date. If you notice the leg on the left has the straps painted yellow and the cloth parts black. I am not sold on this part of the scheme yet. The weapons and accessories are still in the white, trying to decide what colors would go well (thinking a bright emerald type color for the weapons, but that also means I need to dig around for a green/turquoise paint or take another trip to the PBKW.

Continued in Part 2.