Leibster.

I got Leibster'd by Certs Tabletop yesterday - very kind of him to think of me! If you play Infinity and you don't read Certs already then you need to get that site bookmarked ASAP.

Gratuitous Para Commando Photo

So anyway here is my response to the Leibster:

My nominated recipients of the Leibster chain are:

Remote Presence
Max Von Deadlock

So now onto the questions:

Why did you start blogging?

I've been blogging or writing on the internet for a long time - I just love talking about the stuff that interests me. Probably been doing that for about 15-16yrs in various guises. Originally I ran a pair of pretty successful music zines - Better Off Dead, succeeded by the bigger Vendetta Zine. Both covered hardcore punk and underground metal and featured mainly news and reviews of records. Vendetta eventually became so out of control I couldn't keep up with the quantity of CD's I was getting sent from the bands and labels and I folded it. It had become such a monster I had a half dozen staff in various countries like Sweden and the US helping me, and we still couldn't meet demand. I think when the job of just producing writing takes over from the enjoyment of your blogs topic, you should stop. And so I did.

My First Tournament: Initial Thoughts

Well Saturday saw my first proper Infinity tournament, at The Outpost in Sheffield. Overall it was a great day and a very well run tournament that has stoked my interest in attending more of them in the future.

So let's get into it then. Behold, my ramblings on playing competitive Infinity!

Phalanx On Hold. Hallo Tohaa!

To comfort myself in the aftermath of the previously mentioned Steel Phalanx debacle, I've taken the plunge into Faction #3. And I've chosen Tohaa.

I've been holding off on a third faction as I don't like using unpainted armies, and the Phalanx were a painting roadblock I couldn't get round. So they're going into suspended animation whilst I work out how to paint them in a way I actually like. In the meantime, the Paradiso newcomers will be a gradually developing third faction I'm going to endeavor to paint as I get the models rather than end up with 300pts of unpainted minions.

With that in mind I've simply begun with the basic Starter Box. Once that's done I'll keep adding bits in. I'm hoping to pick up a Gorgos at the event (with a bit of discount) but until all of that is painted nothing more will be added. Gives me the incentive to get them done and on the table.

New Year, New Models!

The 30th of December saw the release of the photos for the next set of releases from Corvus Belli, and in my opinion a pretty sensational set of models they are too.

Aside from the fairly "meh" repackaging of the Celestial Guard, it represents ten other models that in my opinion cement CB at the top of wargame models podium.

A Happy New Year... And Resolutions!

Well 2014 has begun, 2013 was one hell of year for me being as it was my first year back into tabletop wargames. I spent the first two thirds of the year up to my nuts in Warhammer 40k, and the final third up to my nuts in Infinity. In fact those final four months of 2013 have probably set the marker down for how my wargaming future will pan out - less GW, more of what else is out there!

Infinity is my main gaming system now, having replaced 40K with some ease. I've played Infinity almost non-stop since August with just a couple of games of 40k in between. I've tried and failed to muster the interest in collecting a new 40K army in that time, and instead have put my finances into more Infinity and more recently Dropzone Commander and Hordes too (new to me).

Setting wargaming themed New Years Resolutions seems to be the thing to do if you run a blog these days, so here are mine for 2014:

1. Own a 400pt, fully painted Ariadnan army - already most of the way there, but for ITS I need some additional models finished (I've plenty to choose from).
2. Own a 400pt fully painted Steel Phalanx - as above. I've already got the models (Gawd bless 80pt Achilles) just need to pull my finger out and get them finished. Then add Myrmidons.
3. Expand the Ariadnan army to a fully painted Ariadnan sectorial - this one will take some work as I have a very even mix of Kazak, French, and Scotch units. I'm excited to see how the Kazak sectorial will look so this could be the one I eventually choose.
4. Paint my goddamn terrain - I must have £200 worth of MAS and Bandua terrain and none of it has gone beyond a grey primer yet. Disgraceful.
5. Play in tournaments - the UK doesn't have the biggest tournament scene so this one will be tricky to fit in...
6. Create missions - I love a bit of creative writing and so I want to try and concoct some narrative-based standalone missions. Even better would be to string a couple together for an easy afternoons gaming a la the old Space Hulk mission booklets.

Assault Pack out of shot an' in yo' face.

So there you are. Plenty to be getting on with already and this is just for Infinity!

Non-Infinity related stuff revolve around Dropzone and Hordes, or anything else that takes my fancy this year. I can't rule out getting back into 40K at some point, but right now it's not on the radar at all.

Tohaa Gorgos Is Gorgeous

I must admit to having thoughts of a third army in the wake of the new Tohaa Gorgos model pictures. Now that is a rather awesome piece of sculpting.

There's been a bit of moaning about the stance of it's legs, but the fact it is so friggin' tall just makes it even cooler to me. I imagine the Gorgos to be something different to the usual TAGs; a monstrous alien creature in armour purposefully striding across the battlefield, coldly picking off it's enemies one at a time! Epic.

Batch Painting The Steel Phalanx

As the title suggests, I have indeed lost my marbles. I tried to do this a few weeks ago, and one airbrushed highlight too many and they were back in black primer within minutes. For me however, unpainted models are an unacceptable feature of wargaming (tongue firmly planted, dear reader) and so with two weeks of holiday having commenced today, I have decided that I will have a fully painted Assault Subsection by the end of it. Family and festivities, be damned.

The question is, will they be the same colour at the end of it?

Early Days Of The Steel Phalanx: A Greek Tragedy

It's been about six weeks since I picked up a sizable chunk of Steel Phalanx units with which to run my second Infinity army. I've only played a couple of games with them in that time, but it's clear I've a way to go before I'd claim to have felt them 'click'.

Coming from an intensive period of using Ariadna and being very successful with them, has meant a sharp learning curve (more like a sheer cliff) as I almost have to relearn the game in the process.

Some Music... And A Message

It's all gone a bit quiet on Toth recently, I need to fix that. So expect some new stuff to read coming soon. In the meantime, check out this little tune below - it's on the trailer for the new Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow, which looks awesome incidentally.

Aside from that I'm looking for people interested in writing articles for Project: Toth. I'm after experienced/seasoned Infinity players with an interest in writing. Shoot me an email to retrovertigo.mike@gmail.com if you're interested.

The Steel Phalanx Are Coming!

With my Ariadnan army reaching a 300pt painted milestone, I decided to begin a second faction project. With them being a strictly vanilla army with mix of each of the different nationalities of Dawn included, for the new faction I decided to try a sectorial army instead. I'd gone as far filling a shopping basket on a couple of occasions, with Shock Army models; but indecision regarding the composition of my list meant I was constantly changing and tweaking the list I'd written.

This delay was fortunate though, as whilst idly leafing through the Paradiso book one evening I started to read the background of the Steel Phalanx ALEPH force... and a love affair was born.

After a couple of weeks of waiting for models to arrive, my fledgling Steel Phalanx force has been assembled!

Aaa-ll Together Now, All Together Now...

304pts of WYSIWYG Ariadna (Duroc is used as a Cameronian). 300pts if you ignore the DEP on the Metro! I'd certainly consider fielding this lot together in games, even if it is short of ITS objective winners it should do fine in YAMS.

It is missing a couple of staple inclusions that I don't normally do without such as Chasseurs and I'm using the Assault Pack a bit too.

A Beginners Thoughts On Infinity #3: Guided Missiles

You know that feeling don't you? When you're playing that wargame you love so much, and someone unleashes a unit on you, that seems so utterly awful and impossible to counter, that the whole game system feels like it's falling down around your ears?

"You'll never get me when I'm in cover, pigs! -3 to hit, +3 to my ARM... mwah ha ha! Wait, what are those things coming out that remote..?"

Well that just about summed up my first experience with guided missiles.

Infinity: B-Sides of the Sphere

Completely inspired (read copied) from Mikes wonderful post about his music to accompany Infinity I thought I'd share some music that runs through my head as I think about this amazing universe!

1: Jan Hammer - Crockett's Theme (Link)
2: Bear McCreary - All Along The Watchtower (Link)
3: Bear McCreary - Defiance Main Theme (Link)
4: Vangelis - Conquest of Paradise (Link)
5: Hans Zimmer - Liberty (Link)
6: Klaus Badelt - Without Love (Link)
7: Blue Stahli - The Pure and the Tainted (Link)
8: Eric Serra - Noon (Link)

James.

Infinity: Music of the (Human) Sphere - A DIY Soundtrack

I love music as much as I love wargaming. So I merged the two and came up with an hour of what I feel is perfect Infinity themed music in an awesome iTunes Playlist. I thought I'd share it with you dear reader.

1. Mercado Nuevo by John Murphy (link)
2. Extra - Requiem for a Dream (Remix 2) by Clint Mansell (link)
3. Derezzed (The Glitch Mob Remix) by Daft Punk (link)
4. The Bank Robbery by John Carpenter (link)
5. Pacific Rim (feat. Tom Morello) by Ramin Djawadi and Tom Morello (link)
6. Time (We Plants Are Happy Plants Remix) by Hans Zimmer (link)
7. Requiem by Geinoh Yamashirogumi (link)
8. Solar Sailer (Pretty Lights Remix) by Daft Punk (link)
9. Solar Maximum by Majeure (link)
10. Sapphire by Zombi (link)

All electronic for this first 'volume', I'm going to compile another mixtape of more guitar-based noise shortly. ENJOY!

Painting Ariadna - You Can't Have Enough Greens Or Blues

An expedition to pickup a better range of greens and blues for painting my Ariadna army, initially failed today as the Newcastle GW continues it's campaign of inexplicably inconvenient opening hours. Failure was turned into success, at the expense of Modelzone and their liquidation sale, as I instead picked up about £40 worth of paints and glues for a measly £16 from them.

Mmmmm multiple shades of drab greens and washed out blues. My desire to own the entire spectrum of model paint greens and blues continues unabated.

A Beginners Thoughts On Infinity #1: Terrain

From our humble beginnings using lumps of 15mm Italian village buildings as simple LoF-blocking objects, to a more typical looking infiNity table; terrain has been my main preoccupation in order to enjoy a genuinely good game of infiNity. You can't escape the constant reminders that terrain is everything in this game, with the comfy world of Gothic ruins and gaping fire-lanes you're used to in another sci-fi wargame considered anathema in this game of reactive shooting and tactical model placement.

What you quickly learn is that what looks like a formidable set of buildings and scatter terrain, can turn out to be barely enough to clutter the middle third of a table without the judicious use of trees and hedges borrowed from a warzone 250yrs earlier.

 

What you also learn very quickly is that a pretty table to look at, doesn't always make a good table to play on.

Coming from a galaxy far, far, away...

Welcome to Project: Toth, a blog all about the tabletop wargame, infiNity.

Project: Toth will be a collaboration between two long time tabletop wargamers, myself (Mike), and my gaming nemesis, James. We're both completely new to infiNity having played wargames on and off for many years between us. You could call us 'noobs'. I hate that word, but it's fairly suitable in this context.

I've never significantly strayed from the reaches of a certain Nottingham based model company, with Warhammer 40k providing me with countless hours of hobby and game time - so infiNity is a big dive into the unknown and away from the comfortable and secure reaches of the 41st millennium of grimdark and high gothic-ness. James on the other hand has dabbled in many other areas, is a huge fan (like myself) of all things 40k, but also enjoys a slice of fantasy-themed battles once in a while too.

This blog will chart our journey into a completely new realm of skirmish gaming. We'll cover painting, rules, games, terrain, background fluff, artwork, news, reviews... all from the perspective of a pair of brand new infiNity players.

To infiNity, and beyo... sorry. I couldn't resist.