Infinity factions Haiku's

I've been asked to produce a Haiku about my favourite faction, so I've set about trying to write a suitable Haiku for every Infinity faction I hope you enjoy them:

Aleph

Achilles it made
Posthuman Saviour brave
Aleph we all praise


Ariadna

Through worm hole they went
Lost from our gaze they flourished
They fight to be free


Combined Army

Sinister alien Force
Made Paradiso a grave
divided we'll fall


Haqq Islam

Holy Mohammed
Enlightened science they make
Silently they war


Nomads

Shunned banished in space
Wandering D N A Change
Three homes have evolved


Pan Oceana

Powerful they be
Rich decadent and depraved
Technology crutch


Yu Jing

Glorious Yu Jing
None match our warriors blades
Honour is our way


So which one do you guys all like best? I honestly can't decide. I think that technically they're all haiku as they all meet the 5-7-5 syllable rule for the three lines. However I'm not a literary master so if I'm wrong please correct me. I'm liking Aleph, Haqq Islam and Yu Jing. There's a pole now live on the Official Infinity Forums. Peace out!

Building an Infinity army (plus how not to do it)

This article is an expansion on an article I sent into the HoP Idol contest, there I went over the 250 word limit for describing my 'Achilles Paradiso Aggression Force' army list, but I felt it was an important opportunity to give their readership a heads up on how to build an Infinity Army. I felt it was also too good an opportunity to pass up for promoting a different game to what many are used to, i.e. Infinity as opposed to 40k and HoMacine. Lets be honest creating your first Infinity army list can be quite a daunting prospect for new Infinity players, hell many veterans I know still struggle at times. The guys over at the Official Infinity Forums will almost certainly offer invaluable friendly advice as they always do, but it can't hurt to have a few quick pointers and general rules to follow when building a force:

OMG!!! JSA TAG inbound

OK those of you who know me will know that I've kinda been waiting for the O-Yoroi TAG for my JSA sectorial force in Infinity. Every month I've waited patiently for the new releases to be announced and although there have been some truly stunning additions I have to be honest and say every month that went by without my samurai mech being released I died a little inside... but no more!!!

Yes I am real, and no you're not dreaming

Infinity: The best game there's ever been? Part 3.

Welcome to the third and final part of my increasingly insane sounding explanation of why Infinity rocks the casbah, I'll keep this one short and sweet because its all about you. That's right you the gamer, the opponent, the Infinity community...

Infinity miniatures honorable mention

As I said in my previous blog, I really struggled to pick my top ten Infinity figures, here are my ten that came close but no cigar:

Senor Massacre

Can you say Deadpool? Look at him, he's cool.

Speculo Killer

This sexy looking lizard lady is just a fantastic looking model. She's the bad ass in the middle if you're wandering.

Shevastii Noctifer

Yet another special looking Combined Army model. Just looks every inch a predator stalking his prey.

Naga Hacker

Most of the hackers can look a bit strange in some ways with their hands punching invisible buttons mid air, I won't mention Mrs Jazz Hands. However every now and then they just look spot on, the Naga looks like he's hunkering down to do some hacking and also he just looks like a spec-ops bad ass which gets him kudos points.

Saladin

I had to check whether I was picking this because of Angels gorgeously subtle paint job and intricate work on the coat... I wasn't he just looks so heroic.

Moderator Spitfire

Look at that pose... LOOK AT IT!!! Would you get in his way? Hell no.

Trauma Doc

I'm not sure Angel painted this one... hence the link to Corvus Belli's site. Any way this sci-fi Florence Nightingale deserve her place simply because she looks like she is shielding a patient while calling for help as she desperately tries to save the life of some Pan-O scu... I mean soldier.

Highlander Cateran

I'm not the biggest fan of the Arianda stuff, don't get me wrong they have some truly great models, but their retro chic doesn't float my boat. I do however make an exception for this bad boy. He's wearing a skirt and still looks hard... ooooh errr missus!!!

1st Highlander SAS

Another Ariadnan, perhaps I'm mellowing!!! No he just looks like he could kill you with a desert spoon. I just love the steadily advancing pose and all the spec-ops detailing. He might not be the most dynamic, or indeed a standout sculpt... but that's exactly why it works.

Female Fiday

And last but by no means least another deadly female Assassin type. Yeah she looks deadly, but thems child bearing hips and that ass just looks like a juicy peach you want to sink your teeth into. Chica indeed!!!

The awful truth is that even after this, nearly top 10 list there are some stunning sculpts that I haven't even looked at... also there's not a single bloody remote!!! That's a travesty. What I'm really trying to say is go take look at the miniatures yourself because I bet I could do a top 50 and still feel guilty, hell maybe even a top 100!!! Best model range around bar none. Peace out.

Top 10 Infinity models - 5th to 1st

Well here they are, the second part of my personal 10 10 favourite Infinity models, 5th to 1st and I personally think this list contains some stunning miniature...


1st  Anathematic

Just look at it!!! Have you ever seen anything so cool in your life. Its awesome in the flesh as well and the surface detail is outstanding. The pose is just so threatening and its just full of kick ass alien bad assery!!! The two whip like strands of hair, I wanted to say plaits but I was scared the Anathematic would take offense and come get me, slash round the sculpt adding a bit of drama and animation. The claws look ready to rip stuff to shreds on the end of those powerful arms... put it this way would you argue with it?

2nd  Lasiq Sniper

The pose's on pretty much all of Infinity's snipers could be fairly described as 'cool', but none are as purposeful and dynamic as this little lady. The pose stepping forward onto a stone to steady herself as she aims carefully down the sights, coat fluttering gently in the breeze screams HEAD SHOT!!! The length of the sniper rifle jutting out over the base leading the pose off into the distance makes her feel like she's on a battlefield.

3rd  Saito Togan

We've all of us watched the odd classic Samurai film I'm sure (Seven Samurai, Seppuku, Yojimbo, Kagemusha and although not considered a 'classic' Zatoichi). The exaggerated stances, the balletic poise and strong swift movements... they are undeniably stylish and totally cool. This miniature captures all of that in one fell swoop, what a pose, what a sculpt... awesome, he looks every inch of him a noble capable warrior.

4th  Cassandra Kusanagi

The one and only dirty space pikey Nomad on my list. But she fully deserves this place and was very nearly in 3rd place. The pictures on Angels Blog might not do the pose and detail justice, but then no photo can. The movement and animation in this miniature is genuinely breath taking, its a space nun diving backwards and sideways, double pistol shooting John Woo style. In the flesh its utterly convincing and stunning. Words fail me. At no point is the illusion of movement ever broken by a piece of the sculpt not being 'right' the motion is all spot on.

5th  Oniwaban

I was torn over whether or not I preferred the standard Oniwaban or Shinobu Kitsune but in the end the bog stand Oniwaban won out with his great stance and faceless menace. Again much like Saito Togan he is full of poise and is clearly offering some poor schmuck 'out'... whoever it is you know in a blink of an eye a neon green flash with a monofilament blade will end said poor schmuck's pitiful existence in an explosion of blood. Simple and effective composition.

So there it is my top ten favourite Infinity models. I'm pretty sure not every Infinity fan will agree with my choices. Others could easily come up with an equally cool and valid top ten I'm sure. I've also compiled a top ten honorable mentions because some truly stunning mini's hit the cutting floor when doing this list and I felt really guilty. Peace out!

Top 10 Infinity models - 10th to 6th

So here are the first 5 in my favourite top 10 Infinity models, enjoy...

6th  Marut

At first I really, really didn't like this miniature. I mean REALLY didn't like it. So its a testament to how good it really must be to actually make it onto this list, not only as the first TAG, but also as my first Aleph choice, because trust me the competition was stiff! Its another miniature you need to see in the flesh to fully appreciate. Its a powerful model and pose and I think its the definitive Aleph model.

7th  Deva Functionary (Spitfire)

Following hot on the Marut's heels is another Aleph figure. Again it was hard to pick just the one given how full of awesomesauce the Aleph range is. He's not as dynamic as most of the Infinity models you'll see, but he doesn't need to be. He's simply kick ass and he knows it. Oozing command and control. Its a powerful stance and the nanopulser arm raised thrusting into the air looks fantastic.


8th  Zerat hacker

At first I didn't really like the Combined Army range, maybe because the little boy in me just wanted all the big mechs and space ninjas... but slowly they grew on me. Now I love the range. The Morats are HUGE in comparison to their weedy human counterparts and look brutish, but the female Zerat is all dainty elegance and poise. This model captures so many of the good things about Infinity's sculpts that it demanded a place on my list.

9th  Karakuri

During the Beasts of War Infinity week they had a fantastic article entitled 'creating the Karakuri' . It just demonstrated perfectly the level of detail and thought that goes into every single miniature within the range. I always felt the Karakuri was such a beautifully awkward sculpt capturing the moving mannequin theme perfectly, hauntingly beautiful. They could however just taken inspiration from this bjork video.

10th  Cutter

This is the second TAG in the list and while it might not be everyones cup of tea (it is Pan-O after all) its here because of the affect it had on me. This model reminded me of all those Japanese anime films I used to collect and watch to death as a kid, the ones that made me wish the future was here now, so I could pilot big mechs and kick ass. This model just made me smile when I saw it.

Next up will be my top 5...

Infinity: The best game there's ever been? Part 2.

This is the second of my ramblings on why we should all be playing Infinity, and its the thing I love the most about the hobby... the miniatures!!!

The Miniatures

Now I know aesthetics are a personal choice and we all have our views on whats cool and whats not, BUT we can all at least usually agree when something is at the very least understandably liked. For instance I think Scarlett Johansson is hotter than a BBQ on the sun... some might disagree, but most can at least understand why people would find her attractive. Infinity models can sometimes suffer from 'first glance dismissal' syndrome. Whereby people's initial views of a model reveal nothing special.

Part of the issue is one of scale. The two biggest companies in the hobby both use what is delightfully known as the 'heroic scale' (Privateer Press and Games Workshop). While this is fine and looks OK on the table, it does lead to overly sized hands, feet and heads so on and so forth. This can lead to some goofy looking miniatures in my opinion, but its what we've all been brought up with and its what most of us expect from our miniatures. Infinity isn't heroic scale, its true scale, so feet, hands, heads, fox tails and bunny ears (yes I said bunny ears) are all in perfect anatomical proportions. It can take some time for your eyes to adjust and get used toit but once you do, you have a new appreciation for them as sculpts.

Infinity: The best game there's ever been? Part 1.

Lets get this out of the way right now; the title of this blog is a rhetorical question. Oh yes it is and while other people might feel differently and (erroneously) believe other games are better, they are unequivocally wrong! Sorry you are (only joking). However I'm going to explain why I believe what I do, because if all I said was it's the best ever and left it at that this would be a pretty damn short blog. In short I just want to express the love that I have for this game in the hope that others who read it might be inspired to to give this fantastic game a go. Before I do though I want to show you a piece of art work from the book entitled 'Citizen' from the insanely talented Chester Ocampo, it shows the universe of Infinity off perfectly... there's nothing grim or dark about it:

Picking a colour scheme: Aleph

I thought it might be interesting to show the thought process (random crap) that goes through my head when trying to pick a colour scheme for a miniature I'm painting. Plus if I start on this path I'll have people nagging me to actually fecking paint something!!!

Where to start?

You see back in the good olde days before the internet I used to like looking at a miniature uncluttered by the influence of other people's paint jobs... well that's well and truly out of the window nowadays. So the process goes something like this:

1. Look at studio paint job and worry I can't do better (I know I can't)
2. Paralysis and nagging self dou... erm no I pick the aspects of it I like, tone, colour, theme neat touches
3. I then try and see if I could change the palette or if I just want to bloody copy it!!!
4. If I want to change it I start looking for source material

For the Aleph lets be brutally honest the art work is pretty damn striking, but what I actually Liked about Angel Giraldez's paint job was the almost monochrome tone of them and the neon pink/purple lines:

Things that I play: Infinity

Website ( Infinity the game )

I'm not going to even bother trying to hide the fact that I am a HUGE fan of Infinity. It is simply the best wargame I've have EVER played with one of the best miniature ranges you'll ever find, just hop on over to their website and take a look for yourselves. A bit like HoMachine I've been asked if Infinity could be a 40k substitute. As far as I'm concerned the two games couldn't be further apart if they tried. Despite 40k having guns in it, oddly it really doesn't do ranged combat at all well, in fact its a massed close close combat game with guns stuck on and its had its IQ turned down to 10, lets be honest its for people who like rolling lots of dice... why these people don't just play Yahtzee is beyond me. If you like that sort of thing great, if you like things a bit more cerebral then perhaps you should try Infinity. Infinity does many things right, but if it does one thing right it's ranged combat, its brutal, just like it should be because guns are deadly people!!!

I love this miniature more than a grown man should

I'm also a huge fan of Japanese anime, I grew up watching giant Japanese styled robots in the likes of Patlabor, Macross, Appleseed et al. I also loved Akira, Bubblegum Crisis and of course Ghost in the Shell. To say Infinity has taken some of its reference material from these and many other Japanese anime would be the understatement of the century. However they've done so with great care and a loving attention to detail that respects the source material and puts it to exceptionally good use. The universe of Infinity just sits right with me and indeed many of my friends. However its not just an über cool background with splendid miniature... oh no its so much more besides...