I mentioned that I barely managed 500 points for Warhammer 40k. Indeed, my track-record for completing armies is almost as bad as my actual track record at the local competitive running place. Yeah, that bad. It would be better to start smaller, like get my 114 point-or-so starter set up to a reasonable 150 points. From there, a short jump to 200 points and then a larger jump to 300 points. Easy peasy. The problem is that it’s very difficult to play an escalation league in Infinity, I’ve read, and adding points to an existing army doesn’t make the best armies. The reason for this, I theorize, is that Infinity strays far from 10 models at all point levels. This is because the more models you have, the more orders you have, which is good. The max is 10 orders. After 10 you have to split into two groups, each with their own orders. Fine if you have 20 orders, not so good at 11.

With this in mind I designed a 300 point army using the models I want to use with no consideration for the models I currently own. However, I don’t want to abandon the stuff I have, nor do I want to pony up the cash that a 300 point army would cost. I need something in-between, such as the 150 points and 200 point milestone I mentioned above. It would be best if I could make use of the models I have as an incentive to paint what I have. So, at 150 points I am adding some models onto my existing collection, using the models I want to use at 300. Once they are painted I will move up to 200 points. I will still be adding models planned for my 300 point army but I will have to start dropping models from the starter set. With this plan I will make sure of, and paint, my starter set while purchasing, and painting, models that are in my primary 300 point army. This plan only involves me purchasing a single model that won’t be used in the 300 point army. Not too shabby.

If you are like me and have some existing models for Infinity that you want to use but may not be good in the army you want to play in the future, try what I am trying. I think it’s a good plan. It may be smart to wait for me to report back on my success or failure, but considering my track-record you may be waiting a long, long time.

To recap: Forget about your existing collection. Design the army you want to play at your target points total. Design some intermediate armies that use miniatures from the goal army and miniatures from your existing collection. Avoid, if possible, buying models that won’t have a spot in the final army.

Ok, I’m ready to make my first order and do some painting. After I play a bit of Black Ops.

-Tyler

Corvus Belli Alguacil for the game Infinity, WIP by Tyler Provick

It feels good to be back. I am still heartily enjoying  both Battlefield 3 and Skyrim, but the burning urge to play has faded and I am able to return to some of my other loves, such as painting miniatures and blogging.

Helping me along was the news that Fandom II has started carrying Infinity books and miniatures. While also available at The Comic Book Shoppe Clyde, Fandom II is a short walk from my office while CBS is a drive across town. So far both stores are only carrying the main books and some starters but I’m hoping that there will be enough interest to see some blisters. Ottawa, it seems, is a hotbed of Infinity action.

While I applaud Corvus Belli for offering free pdf downloads of the rules I was happy to finally pick up the hardcover rulebook. In fact, the ability to read and use the rules before buying anything factored heavily in my decision to start this Infinity project. In my opinion the rules are the best part of the game.

In anticipation of picking up the book, and later inspired to play by reading it, I’ve picked up the brush again after a too-long absence. I finished up a few red areas I had missed before moving on to the grey arms and legs. I am not finished, there is still a small section of pant below the knees that needs to be painted. After that is finished the biggest part of the miniature remaining to be painted is the combi-rifle. Then it will be a seemingly endless progression of small details to drive me insane. 

On a somewhat related topic, I think the General’s Tent Video Series is dead. Despite the videos I’ve released so far I have no desire for the videos to feature my talking head or examples of already painted miniatures that are better shown as still images on this website. I want to make painting videos and I’ve had to admit that it just isn’t possible. My camera is fine, I bought some lights just for video and I have software to edit the final piece. The problem is getting a usefully close shot of the miniature I am painting while letting me get close enough to see what I am doing.

With a decent Macro lens (expensive) or macro-adapter and a good tripod (expensive) I might have a chance. As it is I don’t see the point to making videos where you can’t see what I’m painting. I’m a little disappointed and if I can think of anything worthwhile to film I certainly will.

- Tyler

Infantry Alguacil by Corvus Belli. Wip painted by Tyler Provick

Rather surprising considering that the new maps and weapons for Battlefield 3, the game that’s demolished my painting time, was released today. Despite this I managed to sit down at my painting table and bang out the lighter red portion of the armour. I’ve been reading the Massive Voodoo blog and wanted to try one of the techniques they discussed.

Tonight was my first time with the new technique and I really felt I understood what it was about and achieved good results quickly with it. It is essentially a combination of wet-blending and glazing. You build up a couple of layers of wetblending with semi-translucent paint, then refine any roughness with thin glazes of the same colours.

I plan to make a video of the technique once I have practiced it a little more. I need to buy some continuous lights for video before I do.

- Tyler

If you are interested in Infinity, or are trying to get your friends into the game, these videos are a great place to start. It’s also nice to see Corvus Belli’s amazing miniatures and terrain on display.

-Tyler

I want to say a quick word about my opponent before talking a bit more about the game I played. Endalyon from the Ottawa Infinity Association agreed to play against me using starter sets. We didn’t worry about points or army composition, instead just used a JSA and Nomad starter set. My force was exactly as included in the set, although I don’t know if Endalyon modified his force for balance because I’m not familiar with the JSA Sectorial list and box. Regardless, he was a pleasure to play against. He was both patient and understanding. I don’t feel I was particularly slow or inept, I generally learn my stats quickly and play quickly, but I’ve played learning games before where my opponent wasn’t able to clearly explain those rules I didn’t know. I look forward to playing with him again.

I also don’t know how much Endalyon was going easy on me, so take what follows with a grain of salt and consider that my opponent may have subtly thrown the game in order to not discourage me. For example, in explaining the possibility of having a TO unit which is not deployed on table, but is noted to be in a specific location, Endalyon revealed where his TO unit was. Then again, I may just be paranoid based on usually losing most games I play. What follows is some of my theories on Infinity tactics based on the game I play. I think this will be interesting based on only a single game played, if only to contrast with my opinions once I become proficient at the game.

An Automatic Reaction Order, or ARO, is awarded to a model when it has line of sight on an enemy model that is performing an action. Basically, whenever the active player gives an order to a unit, every enemy that can see the unit can react, usually by shooting. I think this is the most important part of the game. If you can make sure that multiple units can see, and shoot, every enemy that attacks you you drastically increase the number of attacks you can make. I tried to position my figures with interlocking fields of fire so that any time the opponent moved or attacked, I had two or three attacks against him.

This ability is made even more powerful by the ability to chose the moment when you fire, and the rule that says unless you are touching cover you do not benefit from it. This means that as enemies approach you will get your shot at an open target while they suffer a negative modifier to their attack and damage. To the attacker’s advantage, most models only receive a single shot with an ARO while the most common weapon can fire three times. On a one-on-one battle the three shots should beat the one. By having two or three models reacting it gets very difficult for an attacker to make any headway.

Early on in the game Endalyon sent a single figure forward to make his attacks. Each time I was able to fire with at least two models and with a bit of dice-luck I came out ahead in those situations. The situation turned suddenly when his ninja sprinted forwards on a handful of orders and attacked on of the figures on my far flank. He had managed to create a one-on-one situation where neither of us had cover. I had to decide between dodging and firing. If I fire, I may take down his ninja. If I dodge, he might not hit me but he’ll be alive to keep trying. I felt that he was playing a little impetuously, and if I could draw him even an inch closer my other models would be able to react. I dodged, and failed. His shot hit and I had to make an armour check and luckily succeeded. I could have attempted to make a Guts Check to hold my ground, or fall back at half speed. This is essentially the same as dodging, so it worked to my advantage. He pushed his ninja closer and suddenly I had two more models that can react, plus the original dodging model. All three shooting were able to take him down, to my great relief.

Since I now had a significant model advantage, five to his three, I decided to push forward and go on the attack. So far I had been moving steadily forward but maintaining a defensive stance. I could have stayed back and let him continue coming to me, but with no objective or reasonable time limit there was no reason he should. This almost cost me the game. One of the things I’ve learned from years of playing WWIIOL is that the closer you push towards an enemy’s defence, the easier it is to get flanked. I had to move around a large piece of terrain he was hiding one of his best units in and thus split my forces. Once I did, he launched an attach to try to get a shot at the back of some of my models.

Fortunately for me, he stepped into the 8″ awareness range of my model, allowing me to react by turning around. What’s worse, he did this with the second move of his order, meaning he needed to use another order to attack. If he had moved into range on my first move of the order I could have reacted by turning around, but he would have had a free short against me. Since this was a new order, I was able to react to his attack by shooting him back, making it an opposed roll. I failed and was shot, but again managed to make my armour check. Again, I could make a Guts Check to hold ground. Again, I chose to fail it in order to move into cover. On the next order I was able to outshoot him with my reaction and take him down. I moved a little more carefully after that.

Meanwhile, on my right flank, I was moving my figures slowly into position. I tried to make sure that every move ended in cover, and that the two models didn’t bunch up. It turns out this was a good idea as my opponent had a large template weapon which would have devastated any clustered units. He was able to pop out a couple of times and wiped out my entire right flank, leaving me with three models to his two.

At this point, after being reminded of the ability by my opponent, I started laying down suppression corridors on his position. Unlike a normal ARO, a suppression corridor allows you to fire your entire burst against any enemy that move into it. They are balanced by requiring a full order to begin, and deny that area to friend as well as foe. I slowly closed the net on his remaining figures until his last unit, his lieutenant, made a Butch Cassidy and the Sundown Kid dash to freedom, with historical results. At that point we shook hands and packed up our models. The game could not have taken more than two hours and was probably closer to 75 or 90 minutes. We were playing with forces a third the size of an “average” game, but I don’t expect that more points would add significantly to the game length. In Infinity more points means having better troops, not faceless masses of grunts.

Once again, I really had fun and look forward to playing again. I’m also tempted to introduce the game at my boardgame night, using proxied models. Although I doubt my friends would want to invest in a miniatures game, I think they’d appreciate the rules.

Infinity Nomad Alguacil by Corvus Belli, painted by Tyler Provick

Now that I’ve finished my first Infinity miniature I’m anxious to start working on the new figure from the starter set. It will be another Alguacil. They’re the only miniatures that would follow a set scheme so painting them at the same time makes sense. They’re also the only miniatures I plan on using once I start collecting my real army. I will still paint the rest of the starter set before I buy anything else, but since I picked Nomads because I like their remotes I’m planning a remote heavy army.

Meanwhile, it’s time to reflect on my experience painting this miniature. I’ve already written a review which you can read if you want to know how I feel about the sculpts. Instead, I want to talk about my paint job. It may come off a little critical, but bear with me. I just want to talk about what I liked and didn’t like about my effort in the hopes of improving. Some of these I noticed during painting, but I’d rather push forward with what I’m doing and improve on the next miniature than endlessly repaint the same model.

Infinity Nomad Alguacil by Corvus Belli, painted by Tyler Provick

First, most obvious to me right now, is that the legs fade into the base. I wanted the base to look more like the concrete used on highways. I started with a sand colour but it’s come out so close to the grey of the legs that they just disappear into it.

The blending of the legs is a bit rough, especially on the model’s right leg. I’d like to tighten that up and focus more on lighting the whole object rather than the individual panels. I think this is a common mistake many painters make. They highlight each part of a larger object independently. This reduces the global contrast and makes the highlights look contrived.

With this model I have tried to pay more attention to the global contrast and how a surface is lighted rather than trying to include a highlight and shadow on every piece. I was at least partially successful on the red vest. It really is my favorite part of the miniature I don’t think I was too far off on the legs, to my eyes they have nice volume while remaining a coherent whole.

The face is a terrible mess made passable by a decent sculpt. The mouth looks fine, until you turn the miniature side-on to the light and realize that all the definition comes from the sculpt, rather than the paintjob. This is something I want to work on.

I don’t want people to think I’m down on my paintjob. Actually, in the continuum of my painting this ranks near the top. I find, however, that I’m having an easier time than normal seeing where my technique and execution are falling behind my theories. I’m excited. I think it will make my next miniature even better.

- Tyler

Liquitex Matte Varnish

This would probably make a good feature post, done up with images and finished examples. I’d rather just get it out so people can benefit, so here it is. My bottle of Pebeo Matte Varnish was down to its last, rapidly-thickening, dregs and I wanted to try another brand of varnish. I am a fan of Liquitex, not only for their products, but for their attitude. I’ve learnt so much from their Acrylic Book that I’ll always try their products first. Thus, I picked up a bottle of their Matte Varnish. Last night was the first time I’ve had a chance to use it and I have some initial thoughts.

What Liquitex considers matte is not what I consider matte. I think this is a problem with any brand. We all have different ideas about what is matte. With miniatures, any glare will reduce the impact of the paintjob, especially since our miniatures are highly curved. I’ve notice this when I’ve used their Matte Medium. I’ve mixed it with Vallejo Model Colour, normally a very matte paint, and found the results were downright glossy. It is approaching 24 hours since I applied the last coat of Matte Varnish, and while the miniature isn’t glossy, it isn’t really matte either. It looks like it may be semi-gloss at best. However, I think I need another 48 hours to really judge the effects of the varnish. Acrylic dries fast but takes a few days to fully cure. I’m still hopeful that once fully cured it will be more matte than it currently is.

Before anyone comments, I did agitate the bottle for several miniature before using. There was nothing settled on the bottom by the time I was using the paint, so this isn’t one of those times where the matting agent has settled out and only the glossy medium is left behind. Other than that, if anyone has any experiences for or against this varnish, I’d like to hear them. In case the results are still semi-gloss after full cure, I’m also entertaining recommendations for other varnishes. I might have to try another bottle of Pebeo if all else fails. Sure, it’s supposed to be opalescent, but in thin coats its nice and matte.

- Tyler

The player commanding the elves rushes to support the men and dwarves who have foolishly left the shelter of their slope in the face of overwhelming cavalry.

My friends are all primarily boardgamers but a few used to play Necromunda over a decade ago. Most nights I have more players that BOFA can accommodate, and since it takes the big table to run the game I tried to fit as many players as possible into the game. Two players handled the forces of good and two players handles the forces of darkness while I ran the game, handled the scenario special rules and explained the rules. While I think not playing really helped me to teach the game some of my players were frustrated that their turns seemed to come and go quickly while others had lengthy turns of combat. Other players were frustrated because not knowing the rules meant they couldn’t always pick the best course of action for their forces and they made large tactical mistakes. Learning a new game is frustrating. Personally, I cannot stand trying to apply rules that I haven’t read myself. That said, I’m not sure how well received the game was. I’ll probably find out later this week as people have a chance to think back on their experience.

Battle of Five Armies by Games Workshop. Here one of the players points out a confused unit.

It was really nice to finally use these miniatures I painted so long ago. I hope we’ll get a chance to try it again when people have a better understanding of the game. I’d like to get at least one more use out of it before I retire. That said, I’m not sure if it fits the preferences of my group. Part of the problem is the scale. Most couldn’t understand how a unit pushed back into water would be destroyed. Before you write me comments, this was my initial ruling but I re-checked the rules after my players protested. In reality, a unit is confused, not destroyed, when driven back by shooting, and that is the way we played it.

Battle of Five Armies by Games Workshop. The battle lines come together, with the dwarves and humans caught in the open field by an outnumbering force of cavalry.

So, in one sense my players were correct that the unit wouldn’t be destroyed, in this game anyway. Other game designers may decide that a unit would be destroyed in that situation and it would be correct. Large bodies of people behave differently that small groups. Those at the backs may not even know why they are being pushed back while those at the front don’t realize that they’re pushing their own men into the river. However, in games like this loss of stands doesn’t always mean that everyone was killed. Usually it’s a mix of casualties and morale loss that removing stands models. It’s possible for units to break up and evaporate without taking a single casualty.

I guess my players weren’t the only ones frustrated.

-Tyler 

Infantry Nomad Alguacil by Corvus Belli, painted by Tyler Provick

Tonight I only worked on a small section of my Corvus Belli Infinity Alguacil I feel like I made a lot of progress. First is the realization that as much as I am putting a great deal of effort into these models they are still wargames figures. It seems I need to be reminded of this frequently. There are some bits that aren’t as good as I’d like. Part of that is looking at an image of my miniature at many times life sized is going to reveal flaws that aren’t apparent when looking at the figure live. The second is that I just don’t practice my painting enough to be flawless in my technique. A case of long on theory, short on practice, I’m afraid.

Tomorrow is my regular games night and I don’t tend to paint on the weekend. This leaves Monday or Tuesday as my likely completion date. All I have left are the two firearms which I intend to paint to match the box art. I like the grey with a tint of green look and it will go well with the red on the miniatures. Having the end in sight also gives me a sense of progress.

I’m really looking forward to my next chance to play, finishing the starter box and buying a bunch of remotes for a remote-heavy list I made, and building some terrain. Right now terrain ideas are bouncing around in my head so much that it’s giving me a bit of a headache. I was thinking of doing a shipping yard bordering a shanty town table.

- Tyler