Infinity Starter Set Incoming

After a teasing announcement this week, Corvus Belli are making further steps towards breaking Infinity into the big boys league of tabletop gaming, with what appears to be a two player starter set in the vein of Warmachine, Flames of War and Warhammer. In otherwords enough stuff to get two people playing the game, but leaving them wanting/needing more.

From this fairly vague photo it looks like some kind of playing surface (small though?); two factions comprising what looks like a three person link plus four other models; a civie of some kind; dice and templates; and of course a rulebook.

As a fan of the game this all looks very positive and an exciting step forward for the brand as it will undoubtedly reel in a lot of new players curious about the game but put off by the array of different items needed to get started.

One crucial component that this boxset doesn't seem to feature is terrain. Now considering how important.... nay vital, terrain is to the gaming experience I'd assume that it's going to feature somehow. The setting of Svalarheima could suggest a non-building themed battlefield, although how they pull that off remains to be seen.

Spetsnaz Profile And Special Rules - Why I Will Be Playing Ariadna Again

One of the things I love about Corvus Belli, is that they don't abandon a faction once they've released a bunch of models for them. You tend to get something new and fresh for them every couple of months that just rekindles your original love that got you interested in them in the first place. Enter the Spetsnaz.

I've already covered my thoughts on the model: to summarise it's utterly badass and an essential purchase. I play vanilla Ariadna and so this is pretty much an auto-include for me not just because of the awesome sculpt but also because of the lovely profile CB have recently released to accompany it.

I'm A Warcor

After initially signing up for the Warcors sometime last year, and then reapplying recently when Corvus Belli asked for applicants... I've been accepted as a Warcor.

The system for being a Warcor revolves around either providing intro games to expand the player base, or promoting and running local ITS events. With 30% off the cost of the virtual ITS packs it's a pretty attractive way to get more frequent ITS events running locally I'd imagine. Certainly within our small local playerbase the prospect of  regular mini-ITS events over the course of a Sunday afternoon looks very likely now.

The more difficult aspect of this is going to be enticing new gamers into the system. 40K has what feels like an insurmountable grip on the local gaming scene, with a fairly common attitude of seeing anything non-GW as an inferior product. No comment...

I think my first port of call will be a local gaming store with a small basement gaming room that could provide a venue for some so-called Bootcamp gaming in the very near future...

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.

May Releases: I Can See Only One Model

Well I've had a little Infinity break to get some Dropzone Commander painted and played, plus I've taken the plunge into X-Wing too. But I'm back! Do not worry dear readers! So, May's releases?

The Knights are really nice... and I mean really nice. The existing model was always one of my MO fav's as I think they got the pose soooo right. And I'm pleased to see the other three are so dynamic and exciting as after a couple of the most recent boxed sets of models I'd started to worry the old dynamism was starting to fade as newer releases appeared.

The Raiden is another excellent pose. Not dynamic but the unexpected way they have him holding the rocket launcher makes me very happy.

The O-12 Commissioner is great civvie model... and one I'd invest in if I didn't have a couple already (YAMS anyone?).

The new Nomad Interventors are superb. Really superb. The male model in particular looks extremely nice with a level of detail that must bode very well for future Nomad expansions and the inevitable Tunguska expansion. The Panda's are also brilliant. The issues with the Flying Cat released a couple of months ago, are gone here (I personally liked that model...) and again the poses are just perfect. Very intimidating for a pair of what look like toy animals.

But I'm just delaying. The big 'WOW' model for me is the Spetznaz. Not a knockout pose... but man is it perfect for the model. The guy oozes badass-ery. How hench is that dude?! The sculpt is just lovely. Fits the existing Ariadna range perfectly but at the same time bodes very well for the direction the faction will follow with the forthcoming new releases and the (now) distant Kazak faction. This will be an essential purchase for me and the sole reason I'm digging my Ariadnans out and packing my Tohaa away for a while. Corvus Belli, I love you.

New Infinity Branded Items From Antenociti's Workshop

Following the recent announcement of the UK's Antenociti's Workshop new partnership with Corvus Belli, they've started rolling out some new items for the discerning Infinity gamer out there.

Next week they're releasing sets of these brass "Compass Bar" facing indicators - 25mm, 40mm, 55mm, and 60mm. Due out next week, but no prices yet. Want. Badly.

In addition they're also releasing new resin cast bases in the classic Infinity style of hexagonal pavement patterns, plus these rather lovely Tech-themed bases. £7 for either ten or eleven resin bases (depending on style) is really good value in my opinion, especially when they look that good. I'm not 100% sure if they're new or just re-branded but regardless they're on my shopping list.

No word yet on the promised vehicles, but hopefully these smaller releases are just a taster of the quality of what's to come next.

Review: Systema Base-O Laser Fence

I've been heavily attacking the terrain aspect of Infinity recently, by both buying up more of it and by trying to work my way through the backlog of unpainted scenery I've stockpiled since last summer. My latest acquisition is the Base-O Laser Fence set from Systema Gaming.

As you can see in the photo, I've actually bought the full Base-O Laser Bundle that also includes a Laser Fence Extension Pack, plus the Base-O Power Generators. But for the purposes of this review I'll focus on the cheaper standard pack.