INFINITY and Beyond

Hello people,


Yes, a somewhat worn pun but highly relevant as my Nomads are now that rarest of hobby items i.e. fully painted. I'll just pause for a moment; I HAVE A FULLY PAINTED FORCE OF NOMADS :)


Obviously that was a result of my week off during which I've also added to my Infinity scenery set. As part of that I wanted to add some graphitti into the mix which didn't really happen. I found reference to rub on transfers but they were out of stock everywhere. I did manage to find many sheets of posters on the Infinity forums so printed a load and ended up putting them on all of my non card buildings, literally slapping them on fly-poster style with watered PVA. While I was at it I sorted out some better storage for the scenery with a decent plastic box from B&Q;

You may have noticed that's there's enough room in here for some more stuff. In short I intend to fill that space, probably at a rate of a piece or two a month for a little while. A few more bigger pieces first and I want to look at what else I can do with the cardboard units. With Corvus Belli running Flamestrike I've been reading a few battle reports and noticed that a lot of people are using traditional green tables, hills and forests, with buildings and crates which also look really good. I'll keep going with the industrial theme for now but jungle also appeals.


On the subject of Flamestrike, that and the club's Paradiso campaign will be getting me plenty of games for the foreseeable and I'll be varying my Nomad lists as much a possible. Moving on from them I've got a small Shaasvasti force that's been sitting around for a while. Having learnt a lot about the game I've got a couple of lists worked out that use a lot of Camo. I want to get some time in with my Nomad Camo options before I move onto them. I also have a specific idea for painting them so a definite back burner project for a while.


So, without too much further prevarication; The Red Devils

The Week Off - Finale

Hello people,

Well that went quickly but in short I got everything done and a little but extra besides. As far as Points is concerned I'm scoring for the apartment block, Trandisgan Slaver and Z95 plus the final five Nomads, for a fully painted army, totalling 15 Painting Points.

As a bonus I've re-sorted the storage for my Infinity terrain, with room to expand, and found a good source of posters for detailing which have been liberally applied. All will be covered in a specific post I the near future....

Meanwhile my X-Wing Gozanti has been prepped for paint, with scheme I mind, with Wave 8 being released on Thursday with plenty of scummy goodness on offer. Once again a more specific post is planned....

Until then :)

Byes Don't Count

Hello people,

Now I'm not religious, stay with me, more vaguely spiritual in a karmic sort of way. The reason mention this is because it's a fitting segway from my last post about being up in the nosebleeds.

Yesterday a bunch if us headed down to Warboar / Paradice for what was my fourth and final X-Wing Store Champs. Determined to fly casual I took a Bossk Boba list;

Bossk: Predator, Mangler Cannon, Tactician, Outlaw Tech, Engine Upgrade
Boba: Vet Instincts, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade, Inertial Dampners

That Boba build I've flown a lot and has done well for me, Bossk is very new. In short I flew like a bit of a muppet for the first two games and then dice finished me off. Round 3 I collected the bye,.....which was somewhat chastening.

It did however give me the chance to think about what I was doing wrong and watch another Boba / Slaver game. In short I needed to be more aggressive setting up the joust with Boba and snipe with Bossk....so I did.

Round 4 I lost again but very closely. Round 5 I finally pulled a tight win, 100-75, against a great guy who had played a total of 9 games before ours. Round 6 was 100-75 again against an opponent as experienced as myself.

So technically I went 3-3 again, though this time at the bottom of the MoV tree rather than at the top, but as far as I'm concerned Byes Don't Count ;) The irony, however,was not lost on me. On the journey home, with obligatory post event analysis, it was actually quite funny.

I don't fly two ship builds and it's something I wanted to work on. I learnt a lot in that respect and also about this build. Bossk is a beast late game but Boba is just unlikely to ever get there. It needs work. On both counts it's working happy to put in.

The main point however, again, is expectation related. Some days it won't go your way for a lot of reasons. The key is how you deal with it.

It's only a game......right? ;)

Welcome to Nosebleed City

Hello people,

Last weekend was another double event with Gaurdians of Tyr's X-Wing Store Champs on the Saturday and a Netrunner Winter Kit at Dark Sphere on the Sunday. The week off immediately afterwards is not entirely unconnected :)

Saturday I ran Vader Crack Swarm and felt the "click" that I'd been waiting for to really connect with it. I started on the top tables and stayed thier all day.

My brain finally meshed with the list as I realised the need to control the first engagement and fly the necessary approach to get it. In short after four rounds I was 3-1 up with very strong MoV, the loss genuinely due to horrific green dice.

As such expectation of making the top 8 cut reared it's unwelcome head with 2 rounds to go. I didn't feel pressure but suddenly it was a possibility.

Game 5 was against an Imperial Aces / Palp list that went on to final victory, the top 8 was stuffed full of them. A mis-set dial on approach knocked me off plan and I failed to recover sufficiently. Still a fairly close loss.

Going into the final game I knew I had to get a big win to progress. I also knew it would be the same for my opponent. Thankfully I was paired up with a good guy I've played a few times before so I knew it would be a decent game whatever the result. In the end a minor mistake on approach allowed dice to decide things against me. No complaints.

My opponent went through in 8th while I suddenly ended up 3-3. It really does get that tight up at the nosebleeds and it's a reminder that at that level the hours spent honing your list and play can make all the difference to tip things in your favour, assuming that's your thing...

Sunday I headed down to Dark Sphere for a Netrunner Winter Kit. I was surprised that there were only 12 of us until I was reminded that Leisure Games had run thier Store Champs on Sat. Oh and it was Mother's Day!

As such there weren't too many of the top end faces about but I pulled one of them in the first round. We'd played the Saturday before and split, both winning as Corp, and it was the same story again. He ran Jinteki Replicating Perfection and it's a match up I struggle with. A bit more learning required.

Moving on I got the rub of the playmat a few times and somehow won both ways rounds 2 and 3 to find myself on 10 Prestige. That was already my best result ever but suddenly I was in a final round shootout.

This turned some heads and once again invited expectation, mainly that I was going to get utterly hosed, but the potential was there and dealing with that is important. I've since found out that my opponent, who smashed me at our first event, is ranked 5th in the UK which I'm glad I didn't know at the time. That didn't stop him getting the lowdown on my decks from my first opponent who looked rather flustered went I overheard him doing so.

They didn't need to worry as his Noise / Virus deck steamed into my slow start and never took its boot from my neck. Against his Near Earth Hub / Astro deck I did at least play enough of a game to make him sweat, I rather enjoyed that ;), until he took the game to go undefeated for the day.

He was running two very strong decks and obviously had plenty of experience with them. We kind of chatted about the strength of NEH and how to counter. "I don't really know" was his main response. A couple of days later I realised that the mill effect of a Noise / Viral deck would cause it trouble....

In the end I finished 3rd and won myself an Anarch deckbox, which was hugely pleasing and something that will hold a special significance to me as a symbol of how far I've come on in the game, in the manner that I wanted to. 

For me, that's what it's all about. The vitory pizza was particularly tasty :)

The Week Off - Update 1

Hello people,

Wednesday afternoon and all is going surprisingly well. Never as productive as I'd prefer to be but pretty good all the same.

The warehouse went together easier than I initially thought it might. There were internal walls and stairs that I left but have kept had of them as an option. A couple of coats of hairspray sealant did the job nicely. Sprayed black, brown and then dusted grey has given a decently grubby look. Basic details are blocked in so I'll print some Infinity posters for detail before weathering. A job more than half done.

Meanwhile the Hound's Tooth and Natasha Pup are similarly block painted awaiting wash and highlight. The layout of the scheme formed itself fairly organically though the variation in the panels is a technique I saw a month or so ago and really liked. Another job more than half done.

So far,so good :)

The Week Off - Prelude

Hello people,

So, another week off, another "realistic" project list. The last one worked out pretty well so hopefully that's repeatable. It's bits and pieces this time round but each with its own purpose and payoff.

So from top left;

YV-66: I've got the re-paint scheme sorted in my head for the Hound's Tooth / Natasha Pup. I'm playing down at Warboar on Saturday and I want to get it on the table for some fly casual action.

Nomads: Just the Inventnors, plus Pandas, and the Intruder Sniper to complete the set. Big woop!

Apartment: It's steampunk, designed for Wolsung, but I'm more than happy that it'll fit in with my industrial set in a Blade Runner kind of way. I'll be going for a semi derelict look with some Sci Fi graphitti to finish the job. I'm playing Tuesday night so it's the priority one piece.

Shasvassti Gwailos: These ARE recent purchases but targeted. With a far better a appreciation of the game I've worked out a list I want to put in some games with. This is just a build, base and spray job. I've got a specific plan for the paint job that will need to be done as a job lot.

So that's it. As before I'm aiming to be good to go by midday.

Best laid plans ;)

Big Boys Don't Cry # 2

Hello people,


A little later than billed, as I went and saw Deadpool Sunday night, but the TAGs are done :) In a lot of ways their size actually made them easier paints, given their strong, simple lines. There was plenty of wash work and getting the white clean was as long a job as you'd expect but all to the good.


I'm claiming a modest 3 Painting Points per TAG and 2 for the Iguana pilot. Hopefully the greens look as good to you as they do to me. As previously mentioned I'm now just 5 figures away from a fully painted Nomad force........scary!


I also tried the Open Camera app on my pad which is far better than the pad itself but still not great. I'll get some scenery out to do a group shot once everything is done so I'll likely reshoot these again at the same time.


Brace yourself ;)