New Beginnings: To Infinity and Beyond!

As a collective group of gamers, with little monetary restraint (Martin!), all of our forays into gaming generally start with one of making an initial purchase, then bullying the rest into buying stuff to allow us to try out our new models! Then there is an ensuing arms race, with everyone trying to buy bigger and better things to spring on unsuspecting opponents (cough....Firestorm Armada Dreadnoughts...cough?).

In an attempt to minimise this I've been sticking to one faction for Malifaux for a wee while (selling off my Arcanists, to concentrate on just the Gremlins) in an attempt to get more games in of one game and keep costs relatively low. This was all going swimmingly, until I hit a snag and ran out of models to buy! I have now painted every Gremlin model I own (which is the entire current range - bar a single model from the Crossroads 7), so I could relax, and just stick to the gaming side, knowing the hard work was done!

At least I could until I got an alert on Facebook, that Martin had posted an image in the Geek Room (our local gaming club group page) looking for a game of Infinity to try out his newly purchased PanOceania Starter Box...

After the obligatory phone call with him first justifying the purchase (not much needed) then waxing lyrical about how great the models were, I was onto the Infinity website to have a look at the current ranges.

I should add at this point that Infinity is a game I have been interested in for ages. I used to have a Starter Box plus some extras for both Haqqislam and the Aleph, along with the previous rulebook, but had sold it on without ever getting a game, as we didn't have any scenery specifically for it, and we just never got round to it!

I had been ogling the 2 player starter box Operation: Icestorm for quite some time, but as Martin had just started PanO and Stephen has a Nomad faction very nicely painted waiting for someone to play, I realised these two were out.

The next place to look was the webstore of ABZ Games, our local independent gaming store, I knew from perusing their store that they had the Army Boxes for both Ariadna and Combined Army, which after close scrutiny are both fantastically sculpted, but I have never been a fan of the look of CA, and the werewolves of the Ariadna, are just not to my liking (can't really decide why!).

This left me with Haqqislam, Yu Jing, Aleph and Tohaa (which at this point I had just found out exist!). I decided I wanted a human faction, partly after painting so many Gremlins, the chance to paint normal skin tones was one that wasn't going to be passed up on.

It was then that my mind skipped back to something Martin had mentioned in passing, that Kit had the new 2 player boxed set in stock....

I had spent the nightshift reading the rulebook (downloaded for free off the Infinity webpage, always a bonus in my mind), then the quick start rules guide (when my mind was boggled!), and I'd came to the conclusion that it was a game I couldn't wait to try, so with this in mind, a starter box with everything I needed to play with would be an awesome to start (its almost as if thats why it was designed...!), only problem is the miniatures...

They were too damn nice! The Haqqislam had some lovely resculpts since my previous models - in particular the Kum Bikers, which I still have a full set of the old ones, minus arms and handlebars (which they were missing in the box, which CB were bizarrely unwilling to replace!).

However when I saw the Ninja, I was sold! I was going to join the Yu Jing!

All I had to do was decide what to do with the other side of the box, and like the usual way we start our new games, a message to Sean to see if he was interested, and we were set to split the box.

To keep things short, the box looks fantastic, I've built my minis, and sprayed black. Will hopefully get some painting shots up once I start, the scenery looks awesome, and has led me to decide upon a shopping mall/arcade as our first board (will order some pieces from Antenocitis Workshop and TTcombat to add to it, along with a second set for a bigger gaming mat).

The only issue is who gets the ltd edition model we got with it Yuan Yuan?

So with this new endeavour in mind, we decided a blog would be a good idea. We have all previously had individual blogs, but having a combined one, will hopefully mean new content more regularly, and a more cohesive look at our gaming experiences, ranging from our current main games: Malifaux and soon to be Infinity, to our side projects like Imperial Assault, Super Dungeon Explore, Frostgrave, and Warmachine High Command.

Happy Reading!