Byron's 1st Painting Challenge Entry

Here is the first entry from this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  A Nurgle rhino and a pair of Tohaa from Infinity.  The painting process on the Rhino was pretty slow on due to the large number of washes involved.

First up is a Nurgle Death Guard rhino for my 40k force.  The rhino started out as a used kit from a friend that no longer wanted it, so it was already painted for Khorne.  That didn't matter a whole lot as anything being used for Nurgle needs about a metric tonne of green stuff before its ready anyway.

Here are some photos of the green stuff work done after ripping off the doors.

I was trying to make this match an older piece so that it fits with the army I painted probably 5-6 years ago, so it has no fancy chipping solution or grime solutions added as I started doing that all after painting this army.  The base colours were all done with an airbrush and went super fast.  I think it was less than 20 minutes to get the green and all the shading done, then the slow part started.

What took so long with the rhino was the fact that all of the pustule areas are just painted bone white and then layered with sepia, green, red, yellow, and blue washes in various areas to build up the sick looking colour shades.  Each layer had to sit and dry before the next, making it a slow process.

Next up are two Infinity figures from the Tohaa faction, affectionately known as the Artichoke heads, and I think you can see why.   These two are Sukeul Commandos, and I have been needing at least one of them for a long while. 

The one with the rifle is yielding a K1 rifle, which has a special type of ammo that can hurt anything 60% of the time.  No matter if it is a weak base trooper or a mighty TAG (Dreadnought) it is always a 60% chance to hurt them, which is damn strong since a normal rifle in the game has a less than 20% chance to hurt a TAG.  Since to many players have been fielding TAGs lately, I needed something to help out against them in my force.

I took her to my game last night, and off course, basic rifle troops did more damage to the enemy TAG than she did..... figures, right?

Both the Rhino and the Tohaa were fun little starter pieces for the challenge, but now its onto some of the larger projects.

Yu Jing: Beyond Red Veil

I very recently completed some 32mm scale reinforcements for my Yu Jing combat group for Infinity: The Game.

The Operation: Red Veil boxed set had provided me with my initial force of 7 figures, enough for just under 200 points of troops, which I used at a tournament in August. There are several approaches to expanding such a force to 300 points (a longstanding tournament standard). I could get lots of cheap troops, or just a few elites.

Follwoing the thoughts of @GentleBen on BoLS, I chose to obtain and paint a Guijia TAG , the Guijia's pilot,  and an allied JSA (Japanese Sectorial Army) doctor and a JSA combat engineer. The figures were chosen for their Looks Cool Factor, and the fact that it was a minimum number of additional models to paint.

Corvus Belli has very recently come out with their own Beyond Red Veil expansion pack, which I have duly split with Conscript MikeA. Don't know when those figures will get painted.

Modelling and Painting:
I pinned all the figures to the resin bases with wire. There is more wire pinning the larger arms of the TAG to its body.

Generally, I used my usual zenithal highlighting of airbrushing white over a black base, then glazes of acrylics, and finally details and blending with oils. Secret Weapon washes and Vallejo weathering powders completed the Dragon Forge Design resin bases. The figures were protected with Tamiya semi-gloss spray.

Gujia TAG
A TAG is a Tactical Armored Gear - they combine the benefits of an augmented heavy armor and a heavily armed walking vehicle. This particular Corvus Belli design is very similar to the armoured suits in Ghost in the Shell.

Like my other Yu Jing infantry armours, the orange armour plates used many, many thin glazes of GW Fuegan Orange. The "black" under-suit is comprised of glazes of dark blue acrylic shade (GW Drakenhof Nightshade) or indigo oil paint (Windsor&Newton) over the zenithal highlighting. All the the edges and hot spots are brought up with pure W&N titanium white oil.



Five, 1/4"-diameter rare-earth magnets are sunk into the TAG's resin base, to hold it safe in a metal box for transport. The model is solid metal, so it weighs a lot.



Below, I sharpened the cutting edge of the sword blade with a file. After zenithal highlighting, I used glazes of GW Baal Red on the sword blade.



Below, I obtained unit and faction decals from Plast Craft Games. After initial painting, I glazed the shoulder pads with Future floor polish, then used MicroScale Industries decal setting and softening solutions  to conform the decals to the rounded surface.



The battlefield wreckage comes with the kit. It's the head and torso of another faction's TAG. That type of walker is a remote, pilot-less vehicle. I added GW Blood for the Blood God to simulate spilled transmission fluid.



Below, a size comparison of the TAG and its pilot. If the TAG is destroyed or hacked, the pilot might, on occasion, get out and continue the fight.




Guijia Pilot
The pilot is a neat little figure. Of the four models, I spent the most time on her face. Undercoat used the Vallejo face painting set, then details/blending with oils.



This figure posed the most difficulty for pinning. The heel of the wedge shoes are very narrow. I ended up drilling holes along the length of the feet, and bending the wires straight down into the resin bases.



The box art imagines the pilot with much more revealing clothing. I painted the figure as if it was wearing a full-body cooling suit, like in Battletech.






JSA Doctor and Engineer
The doctor and combat engineer allow for more battlefield specialties involving  healing injuries and fixing busted-up powered armour.

Left below, I used another Plast Craft faction decal for the engineer's armband. I glazed it with Tamiya Smoke to provide some shadows.










Below, the only thing that marks this figure as a doctor is the small Red Cross I painted on her cap badge.



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Below, all four models together:



Below, my original fighting force,  plus an Imperial Service Judge:



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Some in-game photos with Kyle's Pan Oceania forces:

Kyle set up his forces to immediately Dominate two objective markers. His heavy and medium infantry were set up to rush toward the one in the middle of the table.





All I had to contest the mid table objective was a TO Camo Ninja. Fortunately, it Dominated the objective for the first two turns...



... with the support of the TAG which advanced and covered some of the approaches to the central objective. Lucky dice rolls gunned down the PanO Father Knight (a heavy infantryman) and an elite  Nisse.



A remaining Nisse braved the TAG's fire, knocking it down into unconsciousness, and Dominating the objective during the final turn. The Yu Jing Engineer managed to somewhat repair the TAG, and the game ended with a narrow Yu Jing victory.




***

These figures are beautifully sculpted. They make a great addition to my slowly growing Infinity collection. Next in the painting queue are some samurai for Ronin or Daisho, then a force of Infinity PanO, led by the clone of Joan of Arc(!), to give my Yu Jing someone to fight!

Infinity... and beyond!

For my last game in Winnipeg, Byron treated me with an introductory game of Infinity. I have read a few battle reports on this blog and I was intrigued by the game system. Furthermore, I am myself a big fan of Japanese anime and the game is obviously inspired by shows like Bubblegum Crisis, Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell, or Blame. So reasons were many to try this game.

Byron set up a cool urban terrain with buildings he made. Games are usually played on a 4' x 4' area, but this one was a bit smaller.

For the first basic scenario, we both had three basic troopers. I set up one of my guys on the roof providing cover fire to his buddies moving forward. Everything just felt right.

Here is a ground view of the battlefield. The game is only three turns, but there is always lots of action. While one player makes his units execute orders, the other player must be attentive for any opportunity for reaction fire.

For the next scenario, I took command of a Panocean squad which included three regular trooper, one elite, one sniper, one close combat specialist and one commando. All these figurines were masterfully painted by Byron.

The objective was to claim the central building by being the last and only side standing on the roof. One security guard had to be "pacified" in the process.

Panocean troopers looking over the buildings at the 500' enemy commander.

The game uses "real" line of sight. So the little guy in the red circle could shoot at my guy in the foreground.

Troops supporting each other, getting ready to advance into the building.

We played three games in about 3.5 hours, and each scenario was providing the right feeling about fighting on the street with fire weapons, as well as a good dose of anime cinematic. All-in-all, it was very fun and I am even considering collecting a faction. But for sure I will be looking forward to play Infinity again and come back to Winnipeg next year for more discoveries and fun.

Thanks again to Byron for a great opportunity to try a new game that I truly appreciated.

Yu Jing - Imperial Service Judge

Finished the "Dragon Lady", a 32mm scale High Value Target figure from Corvus Belli, for the sci-fi skirmish game Infinity. This example is an Imperial Service Judge from the Yu Jing faction.

From the Infinity rules:
"The HVT (High Value Target) represents a non-combatant character belonging to the enemy side and placed on the game table as the target of Classified Objectives.

The deployment of one of these models is compulsory for both players, as their presence and interaction with other models in-game has consequences for the achievement of Classified Objectives when playing scenarios."

HVT's can be secured, scanned, spotted, inoculated with noxious compounds, retro-engineered, their cyber-brains can be hacked, etc; loads of fun!

Someone online complained about how most people didn't paint their HVT's. He said that this figure should rather spur you to your best efforts, since it won't change much from game to game, though the composition of your fighting force will.

Mostly painted in oils, with some Citadel Washes. I painted the dress mostly in Cadmium Red oil paint, highlighting with Cadmium Scarlet. Again, I went with a darker palette for her skin tones.



The resin base is from Dragon Forge Design. It was finished with Vallejo washes and weathering powders.





For her sun parasol, I went with more of a Japanese theme, freehand painting cherry blossoms falling from branches. The parasol is 17mm across.



Group shot with my other Yu Jing figures.



In-game shots:

Yu Jing from Operation: Red Veil

Infinity: The Game is a sci-fi skirmish game that "simulates combat and special operations in a Science fiction environment created by Gutier Lusquiños of Corvus Belli. The games aesthetics are largely inspired by Manga, particularly the work of Masamune Shirow...Unlike many tabletop games, the rules for Infinity are freely available for download..." (from the Wikipedia entry)

After collecting Infinity figures for a couple of years now, after Christmas I finally got my act together and started painting a force from one of the four (!) factions that I own.

These seven 32mm scale figures represent about half of the contents of the Operation: Red Veil boxed set, which contained 14 (or, in my case 15)  figures representing the Yu Jing and Haqqislam factions. (RE: Yu Jing: "The whole of the Far East, united under the banner of what once was China, has produced an integrated, but heterogeneous, oriental culture.") 

I split the box with Conscript MikeA (who got the Haqqislam and special forces operator figures). These boxed sets are great values, giving introductory rules, dice, templates, a play mat, and cardboard fold-up terrain, in addition to the figures.

These Yu Jing models are a balanced force of light infantry (3 Zhanshi armed with combi-rifles), one medium infantry (a Tiger Soldier Hacker, with a rifle/flamethrower combo), two heavy infantry (a Zuyong with either a combi-rifle or a multi-rifle, plus a pair of breaker pistols; and, a Hsien with a heavy machine gun and a fancy sword), and an Operation: Red Veil exclusive figure, a Ninja Hacker (with a silent, tactical bow, and another fancy sword). A good description of each model and its use in the game is located here. Note that over half of the figures are female. Neat touch.

Modeling:

The models are beautifully sculpted, with great anatomy and posing. The one downside to these models is their fragility. The arms are tiny, and the legs only marginally less so. I pinned all the figures to Dragon Forge "Tech-Deck" resin bases. I affixed a 1/4 inch rare-earth magnet to each base, to help transport the figs in a metal box; no rattling around!



For painting, I started with my usual Zenithal highlighting, airbrushing white over P3 black primer, Most of the major colours were laid down with successive layers of Citadel Washes. The faces and details were painted in various oils.

The bases were finished using various Vallejo washes and weathering powders. The dark grey lines represent the front 180-degree facing of the model, a requirement for the game.

Below, a group shot, sitting on a metal medical instrument case:



Three Zhanshi, light infantry. I painted the flesh darker than I usually do, to help show the figures' Asian background. The purple hair is pure anime.





Below left, the Hsien heavy infantryman; love the sculpting of the flowing tails of the coat. Below right, the Zuyong Terra Cotta Soldier. Very, very nice rendering of powered armour. Maybe my favourite sculpt of the set.





Below left, the Tiger Soldier; she's a jump trooper who's also equipped with an Assault Hacking Device. Below right, the Ninja; she is equipped with therm-optic camouflage (invisibility!) and a Killer Hacker Device. Hacking of computers, telecomms, devices, and even certain other people is an important part of the game.






In Action:

Had my first game with them against Derek at the Legions Maxximus game convention. They also garnered me a gold medal at the 40th (!) annual Manitoba Model Soldier Society show and competition, run concurrently.

The following are photos of various games I used them in over the last little while.






Below, two photos of Scott's terrain, at the Rest Lounge game day.