Is this thing on....? 2018 Blog is a go!

It has been 3 years since this blog has been updated and a lot has changed since my last post with the game of Infinity. Infinity is still the #1 game for me, the game has changed editions and now this blog is going to be rekindled in order to track my own progress this year for modeling, painting, running and attending Infinity ITS tournaments. It is a vehicle for accountability to myself and a centralized location to get my thoughts onto paper on whatever topic for that week/month.

Let's get onto the meat of the topic shall we?

2018 Goals:

• Run 4, quarterly Infinity leagues locally
• Run 4, quarterly Infinity ITS Tournaments
• Paint 1 Theme Army per Quarter:
• Q1: Gundum-Anx; Steel Phalanx
• Q2: Synth-Rats; Morats
• Q3: Heaven Lo-tek; Bakunin
• Q4: Limesicle; ISS
• Attend Rumble on Route 66
• Attend Nova Open 2018

Each of these goals will have some sort of post related to the execution of the goal, for example the events will have After Action Reports written to relay my experiences running these events, the challenges encountered and how they were overcome.

Included below is some of the beginnings of the Theme Armies that I want to finish building and painting for 2018. Each army has a color scheme theme pulled from some inspiration, which will be explained more in depth in later posts.

Synth-Rats Proof of Concept

Synth-Rats Concept Testing

Gundum-anx Proof of Concept

The larger regional events will employ mission break-downs, army composition and tactics explanation, and just how much preparation put into traveling to these events and what I am doing to improve my finishes. 

Previous years I've done OK at these events but recently my time to physically get games in has been limited and mistakes have cropped up with deployment, speed of play, tactical decision making, etc. that have cost me enough that my potential finish position as suffered. 

I always have fun at these events even while getting my face smashed in, but I am always looking for new mini challenges in the game to try and swing it back in my favor. Those situations act as learning opportunities and continue to build up the game play experience for myself and my opponent.

That wraps up the first spark for the coming year, Happy Gaming!

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.

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)

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.)