Still Alive

Sorry about the lack of new posts for the last two weeks, but I've been extremely busy with work. I also ran out of plaster, and spent most of my free time the last two weeks working on the rule book for the third season of Infinity Campaign.

The good news is, things have slowed down a little bit at work and my new shipment of plaster has arrived. I'm also quite close to completing the new Infinity Campaign book, although I need some volunteers to help me edit and proof-read it after I finish. I don't have any new pieces to show off, although I am almost done painting the Apartment block parking lot piece, and I am back into full plaster tile production.

I also picked up a new trick for casting plaster when I had a plaster jam session recently with Joel, of Brush Zealot fame. As a result my new plaster tiles are coming out more evenly sized and stronger, which has got me thinking about making many more of them.

I also just placed some big Infinity orders. The rest of the terrain for the Bourak table is on order from Crescent Root Studio, and I have the last model I need for my demo armies and a bunch of new Infinity counters already on the way from The War Store. Today I also bought most of the parts I need for the sixth Norcon table, a top secret project, from Home Depot. And next week I will be making the most important order of all, purchasing the Large Format Tournament kit from Corvus Belli for Norcon.

The bad news is that next week will be another long week at work, followed by a nice trip to the Bahamas the following week. So I will probably not have very many photos to post of new projects until sometime in May. Even though I have fallen behind in the last couple of weeks, I am still ahead of schedule and looking forward to July!

Future Cars- Product Review

When I came home from work tonight I was an exhausted wreck. I took one look at my terrain making table, and then spent the next hour sitting in front of my computer playing with Infinity lists and listening to music. After a while I decided I was in the mood to do some painting, which I haven't been able to do much of lately with all the terrain I've been knocking out.

I ran down to my car to grab some paint supplies, and went to check my mail while I was at it. To my surprise there was a package from the Royal Mail (everything sounds cooler in British). Inside were some terrain pieces I had ordered from Antenocitis Workshop, which I wasn't expecting for a few more days. And so, even though I tried to avoid it, it looked like I was going to be working on terrain again tonight after all.

I had originally ordered these pieces as ground level terrain for the city table I was planning on making, before I aborted that project due to cost. My plan now is to make a small parking lot for the Apartment Block table using these pieces.

Originally I did not have high hopes for this order. Anytime I place an order with a new terrain company I like to keep it small at first, having been burned in the past. When I placed my order with Antenocitis Workshop they sent me an email that some of the pieces I had ordered needed to be recast, even though their website said they were in stock. For two more weeks I heard nothing from them, until I got annoyed and sent them an email asking where my stuff was. Having gone through all this I was seriously expecting to be disappointed, but it turns out I had nothing to worry about.

First of all, the pieces arrived in professional looking blister packs, which put the packaging used by bigger model companies to shame. After opening the packs and inspecting the models I was impressed to see the quality of resin they were made with. As an experienced Forge World customer I have come to expect resin models to arrive in terrible condition: warped and deformed by heat, and covered with flash lines and mold-release oil. There was none of this with these models, which were made from brilliant and clean white resin, with almost no flash at all.

The last piece is made from white metal and clear acrylic plexiglass, but again, the pieces were well cast with minimal clean up and flash. It was a bit tricky assembling this, since I needed to paint it first. Given the amount of work required I doubt I will use more than one of these on the table, especially since it does not make for very effective cover. However, this simple piece will make for an excellent decoration, adding a nice ultramodern touch to the table.

I wish I had better pictures of the cars, but the brilliant white resin and my white photo back drop proved to be to much for my iPhone camera. I'll take some new pictures once everything is painted, which I expect will look much nicer.

These are going to make for a seriously badass parking lot.

My first Antenocitis order: Quality A+, Price B-, Value A, Customer Service C+.

Norcon XII Part 9- WIP Photos

In hindsight I think I should have given this series of posts a different title, since by the time Norcon arrives I'll probably be up around part 30. At least it's fun to post pictures of my work, and the response I've gotten has been great. Thanks again to everyone who has posted a response on the blog or complimented my work in person.

I am almost done with the Starship interior, which will give me two full tables ready for July.

The layout photoed here is not representative of what the Starship table will actually look like, but is an example of how the pieces for this table can be arranged to be used in many different ways. In fact, this weekend, I will be testing this terrain out with my d20 Future group, not even for Infinity.


The photos here are pretty rough. I just wanted to give people an idea of what I was working on and the progress I am making. Once I have these pieces painted better I will post some nicer looking photos.

It's tough to see the scale in these photos, but each square floor tile is equal to 1". The tiles are arranged onto sheets of MDF board, either 12" wide or 4" wide. The total size of the table right now, if I cram everything together like this, is just over 3' x 2'. In the configuration for Norcon the table will be about 3' x 3', and if I spread everything out and use the 4" tiles as connecting hallways between the bigger pieces, I can almost get to a full 4' x 4' table.

I've got a busy weekend ahead of me, with gaming every night until Tuesday; but stay tuned for some new photos next week!

First Battle Report

Tonight at Matrix, David and I did another playtest of the Norcon Tournament scenarios. Even though the terrain and our models were not painted, we decided to do a battle report since we had plenty of time to play and the cameras on our iPhones. It turns out that this was the right choice, since our game ended up being an awesome confrontation that came down to the last few rolls of the last turn, and a narrow, but decisive, victory.

The battlefield, pictured here, is laid out close to the way it will be for the actual tournament. In the empty spaces next to the apartments there will be a pool and a parking lot on the final table, but all the important bits are here for the play test.

David won the Initiative roll, and opted to take the first active phase. His army, the Japanese Sectorial Army, was a hard hitting force, built around a solid core of a heavily armed 5-man Keisotsu link team. The team consisted of a Keisotsu with a Missile Launcher, one with a Heavy Machine Gun, one with the Forward Observer skill, and two normal troops with rifles. The troops with rifles deployed as a rear guard to provide security to the team, while the Missile Launcher and HMG went on the attack. As a nasty little bonus, the forward observer was able to call shots for a Remote with a Guided Missile Launcher hidden behind one of the apartment buildings. On overwatch, David deployed a Ninja sniper to cover the Keisotsu advance, while hidden in the background his Lieutenant, Ninja Hacker, and Remote provided support.

On my side I deployed an army that I've been experimenting with, unsuccessfully, for my last few games. The Qapu Khalqi were led into battle by a four man link team of Djanbazan, concealing a disguised Hafza Lieutenant. The intention was for the Djanbazan to tear apart the enemy by firing through a cloud of smoke using their Multispectral Visors. The tragic flaw in the army is that I depended on 3 Yuan Yuan to lay down the critical smoke screen that would cover my Djanbazan assault. To go for the objective I deployed a Hawwa sniper and Jannisary with an HMG, while I rounded out my force with a Ghulam Doctor and Nasmat to keep everyone in fighting condition.

Early in the battle David's Ninja sniper got the drop on my Djanbazan, knocking 3 members unconcious, and breaking the link team. The Ninja also managed to strike a crippling blow to my army, by stumbling across my disguised Hafza Lieutenant, and knocking him out of the game early. Going into my first active phase I was already in Loss of Lieutenant, and back on the defensive. Things were looking grim for the Qapu Khalqi, and I began to fear that I was on the way to an early end to the game.

Things suddenly turned around for me with the arrival of my Yuan Yuan. Sadly, they were just as tragically ineffective this time as they have been for my last few battles, yet for once they surprised me with a lucky attack that robbed David of some of this initiative.

One of my Yuan Yuan, armed with a light flamethrower gained from her Booty skill, got the drop on David's Ninja sniper. Although she valiantly lost her life in the effort, she managed to set the Ninja on fire and knock her out of the game.

Things didn't end so well for the other two Yuan Yuan. The first landed way off target as she dropped onto the table, landing square in the sights of the Ninja Sniper, and getting blown away before her flame throwing sister could swoop in to save her. The other Yuan Yuan tried to get the drop on David's Keisotsu Butai, by managed to land right in front of his two rear guard troops.

Taking out the Ninja Sniper proved to be crucial, however, and even though every Yuan Yuan died without throwing a single smoke grenade, my Djanbazan were free turn their weapons on David's exposed Keisotsu.

At this point David hit me with his army's nastiest surprise. His forward observer Keisotsu slipped around the back of one of the apartment buildings, and managed to lock onto my Jannisary. Here's a before and after picture I took with my iPhone of the actual battle:

I'm proud to say that David had to fire his Remote's Guided Missile Launcher four times before knocking out my Jannisary, but no matter how tough this warrior might be, no one could survive being hit by this many missiles...

With David's Ninja Sniper gone, however, there was no one to protect the Keisotsu from my Djanbazan, who managed to take out the Keisotsu Missile Launcher and forward observer as they approached the target building. My Hawwa also managed to beat David to the door of the Hacker's Apartment and ambush the approaching Keisotsu, taking out the Keisotsu HMG, and breaking their link team for good. One of the two remaining Keisotsu brought honor to his fallen brothers and sisters by taking out my Hawwa before she could do any more damage. Suddenly the tides had turned yet again, and I was back on the defensive. With only two Djanbazan left, my army had lost it's Lieutenant, and was now also in Retreat Condition. My one redeeming grace was that my Djanbazan sniper was in a perfect position to cover the Hacker's apartment, which would hopefully be enough to lock David into a stalemate.

David was forced into an unenviable position, wait out the stalemate and avoid my sniper, earning him a minor victory, or gamble everything on sending his Ninja Hacker after the objective. If David managed to apprehend the civilian hacker he would earn a major victory, but if his Ninja and one other model died in the effort he would be pushed into retreat, giving me a draw.

David chose glory, and his heroic Ninja was sent out into the line of fire to dance between my Sniper's shots and secure the civilian. The Ninja stormed across the open courtyard between the apartments, then flew up the stairs to the civilian's room. She kicked open the door, and nimbly darted to the criminal hacker's side, as window panes blew out behind her from sniper fire. The civilian, clearly overwhelmed by the graceful ballet of ninjitsu art and shattered glass, surrendered to the Ninja without question.

On 5 consecutive ARO's, my Sniper missed the charging Ninja again and again. Finally, on the sixth ARO, and my Sniper's final chance before the Ninja's escape, I managed to hit and knock out my nemesis. On the final roll of the game, with only 3 Orders left in his final Active phase, David managed to get his Yaozao to the Ninja and get her back on her feet. My sniper missed the Ninja a final time, as she managed to take the civilian prisoner again (even though he tried to attack her!), and with his final order David managed to lead the civilian off the edge of the table.

It's rare that a battle comes down to the last order of the second-to-last active phase. Even though I had no chance at victory after the 4th round, the game was still a real nail biter with an uncertain outcome. Every game should be as close as this one!

I can also say for certain that we both learned some valuable lessons from this battle. Even though I still love Yuan Yuan, this was the last straw for my current tactic. I'll be going back to the drawing board to come up with a new offensive tactic, and in the meantime I'll be going back to my nasty defensive line-up. I'll also be bringing my Hawwa Hacker back into the list, now that David's discovered Guided Missiles!

As for David, I'm certain I'll be seeing more of his Guided Missile Launcher and Ninja Hacker in the future!

Norcon XII Part 8- The Table is Dead, Long Live the Table

Some sad news this week as I continue to prepare the tables for Norcon. I was gambling on a fairly large bonus from work to pay for most of the Norcon Terrain, but it turns out that I'll be getting less than expected. Sadly, this means that I will need to scrap the Torqua city table and the "Bank Heist" scenario. This was the table that I was most looking forward too, since it would be so completely unlike any other terrain used in any other game played locally. The terrain that I was planning on using for this table is made by Demos Laser Cut Designs, some fantastic laser cut MDF buildings. Although their buildings aren't as sophisticated as the buildings made by Micro Arts Studio, they are taller and have more variety. The down side is that I would need between 8-12 of them for a full city table, and they cost about $30-$50 each. That's not including the prices for the fire escapes, billboards, sign posts, trash bins, furniture, and decorations that I was planning on using to dress up the table. All together this table was going to cost almost half as much as the rest of the tables combined. So, I'll have to put this one on the back burner for next year's event.

This has brought about a bit of happy news. In an effort to come up with a replacement table for the event I started going through my old Infinity terrain. The pieces in this photo are all scratch-built buildings made from evergreen sheet styrene and PVC pipe. I was pretty proud of these when I made them, but I stopped using them because they were very plain, and some of the pieces were not very well made.

Since I put them away I have gained many new bits, mainly from Imperial Bastions and some railroad terrain I picked up on clearance. By adding these bits to give the terrain more character and detail, as well as correcting some of the original construction mistakes I've breathed some new life into this terrain.

 As I mentioned in an earlier post I had started building a couple of papercraft aerial vehicles that would be perfect for a spaceport table. My plan now is to make a couple of landing pads, either from foam core or more sheet styrene, and combine them with this terrain and the papercraft vehicles to make a spaceport table. The scenario for the table will be "Search and Destroy", but  I haven't made up my mind if this is going to be a race to destroy a single objective, or if each side will have an objective they need to defend against destruction by the enemy. I'll have to do some playtesting with the Sunday night crew to figure out which objective will be best.

This terrain is still pretty rough looking, but as I apply more paint things are starting to look better. The addition of lots of bits, such as search lights, antennas, and air conditioning units, has done a lot to spruce things up. Once I get some more painting done I will start to add signs and stenciling to the sides of the buildings to add some much needed color.

Norcon XII Part 7- WIP Photos

I've had a lot of progress in the last two days. Several projects that I've been working on for the last two weeks all reached their conclusion at the same time, resulting in a pile of new terrain. All of these pieces are for the Starship Interior table.

The first piece is a "Primary Airlock", when the starship interior is finished there will be three of these airlocks connecting the two starship decks. For most soldiers, these will be the only way to get from one ship to the other to attack the enemy. The airlocks remain permanently closed at all times, but a model can pass from one side of a door to the other side by moving into base contact, and then performing a special Open/Close short skill. Models with the Infilitration and Mechanized Deployment skills will be able to start the game deployed inside of these airlocks, ready to jump into the enemy ship the moment they dock.

The second piece is hard to see in this picture, but will look nicer once it is painted. This piece is a "Secondary Airlock". There will be two of these on each ship, between the primary airlocks, but instead of opening to a safe tunnel that leads between the ships, these open to the harsh vacuum of space. Models with the AD/Zero-g, Zero-g, and Multiterrain skills have the ability to move through the space between the ships to use these airlocks to attack from unexpected angles.

The third piece is a new hallway segment used to connect the larger 12" tiles. This simple piece has a small wall section on it that models can use for cover, and after I paint it I will spruce it up a little more with some cool bits from Antenocitis Workshop.

The final new piece that I finished is called "Barracks". This 12" tile will be one of the main ship pieces where combat will take place. Unfortunately, it does not look very good in this picture with just primer on it. Once it is painted I expect it will look much better. Along two of the walls of this piece are sleeping pods, bunk beds that fold up into the wall. There is also a pillar in the middle of the room with some equipment lockers on it for the soldiers that sleep here. Once I am done with the piece I will be adding some more parts between the two outside columns using bits from Antenocitis Workshop. I haven't decided yet if I will place some furniture or a tactical map table in this spot.

I've also nearly completed assembly on another 12" tile, "Engine Room", but I had to wait for some more plaster parts to finish drying before I can put the last touches on the piece. This tile will probably be done tomorrow night, and then I can start painting.

Finally, I was able to put the final touches on the "Cargo Bay" piece, adding tinted windows and completing the assembly. I've got a lot of painting ahead of me now to get all these pieces looking nice. Also, I still need to make the final objective tiles and several new smaller tiles before the Starship Interior table is complete. For now though, the table is more than half done, which is great news since I thought this table would require the most work before Norcon. This progress puts me comfortably ahead of schedule.

Infinity Night

We had a better turn out to Infinity night this week, it seems like people are finally starting to get back into the game. A few of the Infinity veterans were able to make it down, as well as some new players just taking a look at the models and terrain.

I got in a game with Seth to playtest the first scenario for Norcon. I realized that I need to make the terrain a little more symetrical to balance things out, but otherwise the scenario played well. A few more trials and the scenario will be ready for this summer.

For next weekend I am trying to get some more terrain completed, focusing my efforts on the starship interior table, and the last few parts needed for the apartment table. I should have some new photos to post of the starship table in the next couple days, so stay tuned!