To Infinity (again) and beyond...

 Picture the scene dear reader, if you may... It is a quiet Sunday evening in our house when BlauJ visits and we are content in our gaming world. We have Kings of War armies nearing painting completion, War Machine forces on display (mostly constructed), and Pike and Shotte battalions under construction. Life is good, and there is no time or space for new games/models. We are happily discussing wargaming and Magic: The Gathering when Blau makes an offhand remark about playing Infinity with his son (who is older than we thought!! Time has flown). This provokes a comment from myself where I happily recall plugging a hapless Mobile Brigada with an ORC trooper, and Ben recalls the joyful experience of placing many camo markers and watching me fail many a discover roll. The conversation slowly but surely snowballs, and I find myself almost unconsciously reaching for my 'phone and opening the Corvus Belli homepage; just to see what there is, I hope you realise..? 

There's a new 300 point Military Order PanOceania (all praise the Hyperpower) boxed set, and also a new Military Order Action Pack that looks similar in size... Well it would be rude not to download Infinity Army to see how many points it is, wouldn't it? It's about 265 points (give or take a few depending on the load-outs), in case you're wondering. And there's a new Knight of Montesa model, on a motorbike with a dismounted option too, which takes that to 300 points (the standard for a game). As Ben looks, he spies a new boxed game, Crimson Stone, which comes with Ariadna and Nomads (his two weaknesses). BlauJ laughs, his work is done, and then he departs, having sown the seats of temptation. If you check more recent printings of the Book of Genesis you'll see the image of him beneath the tree, a box of miniatures in hand, tempting a surprisingly masculine-looking Eve...

Shopping lists are written, gaming tables are planned, suppliers are sourced, and by Thursday orders are placed. Goblin Gaming and Ashdown Gaming are able to provide us with the vast majority of our order, and Wayland Games has the extra scenery we needed. We ordered the Kaldstrom scenery packs, 2 of the main and two of the expansions, and the Underhive gaming mat (4' by 4') by TTCombat. But what toys did you order Martin I hear you cry?? Well, the Military Order 300 point army was very tempting, but it was comprised of several models I'd previously owned, whilst the Action Pack had 9 brand-new models so that was the starting point. I ordered the Knight of Montesa to bring it up to 300 points and the paint set. Ben generously added the Order Sergeant box to the order (comes with a Hacker, a Heavy Rocket launcher, a lady with a combi-rifle and an Auxbot with heavy flamethrower), which gives me some options if the boxed set didn't quite work out. Ben, after suggesting it might be Ariadna or Nomads, ordered O-12, which were a faction I'd never heard of, causing some extreme consternation as I looked at their range and rules. Had I picked a lemon?? He got the Action Pack, booster packs Alpha and Beta and the paint set, which similarly gave him 300 points plus some serious options in the form of Hippolyta and some fancy other troopers.

Our first game was 150 points and nearly didn't start when we realised in our haste to buy toys, we'd forgotten to buy the rules... Eventually we managed to download them, despite Sky internet's best attempts to thwart us and we were good to go. I foolishly deployed my medics side-by-side and lost them both to Ben's Gamma with Feuerbach before I got my first turn, failing the dodge rolls and being ko'd. Luckily my Knight of Justice (which appears to be N4's version of the Father Knight) stormed up the table, cutting down the Gamma with his sword (because in the far future, despite anti-matter guns and bio-chemical rounds, the best way to kill someone is to get a 14th-century cosplayer to hit them over the head). My biker survived a lot more than I thought he would, especially after I needlessly made him Impetuous (not understanding how the new rules worked I didn't realise it was optional).I managed to table Ben's army, although only the Knight of Justice (on 1 wound) and a single Crosier were left standing. 

The scenery requires a special mention. It looks stunning once it's all built and on a proper mat. It is an absolute bastard to get together however. Everything is incredibly snug and some of the slots do not line up (the top of the tower's wall being the part in question, as detailed by people on YouTube). We have enough for a very dense board (as previously stated, 2 of each Kaldstrom pack), and it is likely possible that you could manage with one of each if you had some scatter terrain.

Tune in next time to see what else I've bought, how my first game against BlauJ went, and hopefully to see some painted models.