July Releases for Infinity!

CB haven't released a proper group picture this month so this will have to do. :)

Yeah... I missed June. Sorry, I'll simply have to blame the summer season as I've been busy doing summery stuff. Suffice to say it was a good month with the Ghazi Muttawi’ah winning the price for most longed for update and the Suryat for most badass. :)

Anyway, let's have a look at July! With all the hoopla about Operation: Icestorm and N3 you almost forget that there are regular releases coming as well. This month is extra exciting for me as we see the first figure for the upcoming Invincible sectorial for Yu Jing. Woo!

I might as well get it over with and start with the Zuyong Invincible for Yu Jing. This is the first of the long rumoured Invincible/Terracota sectorial which is supposedly based around heavy infantry. We saw the concepts for it back in March and the model doesn't disappoint! The armour is based on the updated Invicible design that the HI version of Sun Tze is sporting. The main differences being the shoulders, the helmet and the lack of back spines. The helmet looks very different from anything Yu Jing we've seen so far and have received mixed reactions. I quite like it as it's also a reasonably realistic design for deflecting direct hits. He also looks very menacing! I'm sad to see the spines go as I really like that kind of stuff. Yes, a bit fiddly to put together but still very cool looking once done. Oh well, ce'st la vie. Also, let's not forget the new Yu Jing HMG design! I think it's a huge improvement on the old one although I can't help but feel that it could have been sliiiightly larger to make it a bit more imposing looking. Still, a great improvement on the old one. Currently there's a lot of speculations on the stats on this guy and what he might end up costing and if he's supposed to be the line trooper for the new sectorial I'd expect him not to be much more expensive than ~25pts. Time will tell and I think I red that we might see the interim stats before September at least.

Next up we have a new box of Ghulam Infantry for Haqqislam. This is the SWC box that covers most of what the Ghulam can field in the way of special weapons. We get a missile launcher, a sniper rifle, an HMG and a hacker in the box and they are of the two bodies-four figures variety like most other recent boxed sets. I've talked about this before and how sometimes it really works well whereas other times it's very obvious. This time I think it works fairly well. The new HMG design is great looking and I like the missile launcher as well (although many think it's too thin). What I'm not too keen on are the twin syndrome when the sculptor has simply reused the exact same head. It's true for all four minis, but at least the hacker has a helmet to make him look different, the two women really look like clones with identical haircuts! Apart from that this is a nice looking box.

The Combined Army Raktorak with Vulcan shotgun is interesting as it's the first model with this neat gun. It works like a boarding shotgun with additonal fire effects. Nasty! Anyway, the mini is more dynamically posed than the rest of the new Morat releases (even the Dāturazi!) and it looks... cool. I'm not as enthused with it as the ones released so far though, especially compared with last months Suruyat! I don't know if it's the pose or the helmet/mask but he's not a mini I would rush to the store to pick up. In game he's kind of an upgraded vanguard with some boosted stats and the choice between the Vulcan or a heavy flame thrower. I'm thinking Tohaa hunter...

Here we have yet another box that was in dire need of an update; the Ariadna Antipodes and Handler! I don't know if you remember the old ones but they certainly didn't look as fierce as these guys and my mind always went to rats when I saw them. However, I actually think the handler is the best model in the pack! I really like her pose and concept design. Very cool! The antipodes themselves aren't bad either and certainly look like something that could tear a TAG apart given the chance. My only niggle is that they look a bit too much like werewolves, especially the two standing up where you can see their very human looking hands. I wouldn't have minded something a bit more alien looking but still with the wolfish features. This is me picking on details though. If I actually do start that Kazak sectorial later on these guys will be in it for sure!

Finally this month we have Thamyris the Aoidos of the ALEPH. I'm sure a lot of Steel Phalanx players are happy to see this guy as he's the best of their (limited number) of hackers, and he's a journalist to boot! Now the model is interesting and although it's at the same time close to its concept sketch it's also quite different. To me the main difference seems to be that the model is bulkier than the sketch and the face a bit more pudgy, the hair is also a bit flat and almost looks like a beanie. However this could very well be the photo not doing it justice. I kind of like him but feel I really need to see him for myself. Anyway, he's a pretty good hacker with a WIP of 14 and -3 BTS. What makes him shine is his abilities and equipment though as he has No Wound Incapacitation and brings a Marker for some scary hacker reach. A nanopulser and an assault pistol will keep enemies at bay and all this for the cheap price of 29 points!

I mean... my Celestial Guard hacker who is has a worse stat line and no neat skills or equipment costs 25. So for four points Thamyris get +2 CC +1 BS +2 PH, cube 2.0, Journalist L2, NWI, Marker, Nanopulser and an assault pistol! Sure the guard get a combirifle instead, but I'm sure that is not worth that many points. Hrgmm... Oh well, went off on a tangent there. :)


So that was July! From a model point of view my favourite is probably the antipode handler, with the Terracotta a close second. However, the Zuyong is certainly the model I will get my grubby mitts on first. With all the PanO and Nomad goodness we've seen and the slow drip of N3 information I'm about ready to start four new armies. As soon as I find a second job. :)