NEW PROJECT!! Infinity Ariadna

Infinity is seeing a resurgence of interest at my local club so I'm jumping on that bandwagon. I got a PanO and Aleph starter years and yeears ago when Infinity was just into second edition but never found anyone to play with so I am very keen to get started. Also every new model Corvus Belli seem to be releasing right now is a hit, while the old lines had quite a few misses despite overall having a strong line up.

I picked up the 'OPERATION COLDFRONT' box and was lucky enough to find an old box with the pre-order exclusive Wardriver Hacker figure. I really like the Aleph look and really like the 'vedic' troops so I was very pleased to see that not only is there a vedic sectorial to go alongside the Homeric one but that this starter was all vedic. Similarly the Ariadnan Kazaks were also my favourite but lacked a sectorial for a while but again this box was all kazak and even had a nice chunky low tech TaG, Ratnik. I like to have one or two big show-off pieces in a low model count skirmish game and Ariadna's lack of them was something that kept me from them during my previous abortive attempt to get in the game but the Ratnik fixes that in great style. So this set was pretty perfect for me really. I was still in the mood for beat up and rugged after my Green Mars Rebellion vehicles so I started on the Ariadna Kazaks. I haven't started the Wardriver yet as I am still considering how to meld it into the rest of the forces look but still set it apart (its a mercenary as opposed to a Ariadna native).

I really like this model, although the massive hammer gave me brief pause. I went for an Urban look to do something different to the usual green Ariadna I see and because I have been painting a lot of green recently. I wanted them to look like they had been in the shit for a while so lots of caked on concrete dust, scratches and chipping wass in order.

I wanted the infantry to have lots of subtle chromatic shifts instead of contrasting and distinct colours. They might be a little dark right now though so I might go back to them for highlights or a touch of light concrete powder weathering pigment.

These are really nice and evocative models with great poses. The detail means they are really fun to paint and not at all a slog. My phone camera isn't the greatest but hopefuly these pictures give some sense of the look.

All together in a (slightly fisheyed and a bit dark) family photo.

Small photoshoot for old models

Cracked out some models I have had painted for a little while but done very little with to get some new decent pictures of. The APCs are Antenociti's Workshop and the troops are Odzial Osmy New Vistula Infantry.

I need to go back to these eventually and finish the rest of the force, which consists of a reinforced platoon with attachments including a couple of very nice light grav tanks. After so long I'm concerned I won't get the same look but I have the 'recipe' written down so I should just get on with it at some point.

'Free Mars' Vehicles. Army complete!! (sort of)

OK! So I've got my basic 15mm rebel force finished for my 'Free Mars' project! Here are the vehicles!

 From this

To this. I'll get some pictures of the infantry and tanks together when I get a game soon.

Here is some low-fi macro camera action to show off the micro scratching and chipping I'm very proud of:

My method here was (unless otherwise noted its all vallejo) Model Air Hull Red over a AK Fine White prime, then a Humbrol gloss varnish layer, then Model Air Duck Egg Green. the DEGreen (with a drop of humbrol thinner) was applied when the varnish was still just a little bit wet in the corners, this meant in the wettest sections I got a very nice paint cracking effect that added to the weathered appearance. I then took a toothpick and while the paint was still tacky I started picking and rubbing off paint focussing most heavily on areas that would see the heaviest abbrasion. I wanted the vehicles to look prett battered and well used though so no surface was spared. This approach doesn't seem to work great on metal but was fantastic on the resin sections, for the metal i instead stippled the DEGreen over the Hull Red with a torn off bit of packing sponge. The rest was weathering and shading with Army Painter Strong Tone, and Mecha Rust Texture, being the main shading tools. Weathering was Games Workshop Ironcrust, (sparingly!) used to give some dirt texture to the underside and wheelguards and then Iron Oxide Earth pigment and some Tamiya Rust from a weathering pallete. That was it really apart from the final gloss and matte coats to protect them.


Of course I will be adding more. I have already got some Ikwen hardened fighters to paint, plus a squad or two more of regular ikwen, and I have one more combat car (with pintle weapon instead of the auto-turret) and three of the same model of tank but without the ERA and a less advanced main gun but with four anti tank missiles mounted on the turret.

Next on the table is some 30mm Infinity Ariadna!

Glasgow Games Gathering

Very late article to give a bit of a write-up on Glasgow Games Gathering (took place on 29th of June), Glasgow’s first gaming show for a little while ran by and organised primarily by G3 Glasgow Gaming Group, a weekly gaming club. The show filled up one large hall and had a nice turnout of traders and clubs and overall, I think it had a nice balance between shopping and actual gaming. I got to the show about lunchtime and managed to get two demo games in, a lot of good conversation, and even won something in the raffle! Another nice touch from the event was the ‘passport’ which was a little card with five spots for a sticker that once filled meant you were entered into a draw for 3 vouchers. 2 pots where for playing a game, 2 for spending £10 with one trader, and one left that could be filled with either.

 Obligatory loot shot

Standouts for me were Gydran Miniatures and CS1. Gydran for their very promising looking Breaching the Rift setting (http://www.gydran.com/). While I picked up a couple of their miniatures with the intention of using them for 15mm SF I am keeping an eye on the game’s development and I’m quite interested in seeing how it develops in its own right. It is a very unique and characterful line of miniatures that is worth a look. I’ll definitely be picking more up down the line.

Second stand out was S.L.A. Industries: Cannibal Sector One (https://nightfall.games/cs1). I enjoyed the demo game enough to dive in and get the rules and some models. Unfortunately the models are a bit challenging. They are caste in very soft resin and while its quite easy to work with (so long as you are careful not to carve off too much while cleaning them, and you will have to clean them a lot, loooads of flash and some slipping too. I’ve seen pictures of models with quite bad bubbles too. Mine are ok so I don’t know what customer service is like but they seemed very friendly) its maybe not up to the standard a lot of modern wargamers may be expecting. Hopefully as time goes by they will improve their casting skills/equipment (whatever it is that makes a good model cast) but right now I would recommend them with the caveat that you will need to put your modelling skills to work to get the best out of them. As far as sculpt quality goes I would put them at around the same level of the good early Infinity stuff, though more 90s edge than anime gloss in aesthetic and posing. The setting has really captured my imagination which I would say is probably the main selling point, other than the rules which seem quite robust at creating interesting and exciting tactical situations with a ‘Ratings’ system (ratings as in tv ratings; camera drones film the battles and skirmishes for the consumption of the general public!) that gives you access to special abilities the more popular your actions make you with the audience (kills and melee mostly!). A few people at the club play this too so I’m hoping to get a game of it soon. I went for the Scav and 9^th factions. Scav’s are big tough smart elite mutants with abilities that focus around their ability to fix and modify their equipment on the fly, and the 9^th is the renegade (The first troops into the zone who got mismanaged and left for dead) version of the ‘vanilla’ faction, the Shivers, who sacrifice a bit of tactical mobility and a medic trooper for tactical knowledge of the Sector and a serious vicious streak (one of the characters can scalp dead enemies for ratings). 

 

So a good day and a really well executed event. I’m really looking forward to next year’s, and, if everything goes to plan, I might run a demo table there next year.