May Releases for Infinity!

Hello there! It's been a while and some of you might have noticed that I missed posting the new Infinity releases for the last couple of months. The simple reason is life and baby getting in the way of hobby and blogging (although I have managed more hobbying than I thought I would!). The reason I put off posting the new minis was that I didn't feel I had time to jot down my own thoughts on the models as I liked. Still, I want to continue posting the news, but I've decided to simply keep my comments short so I can churn out one of these posts quickly. For now at least.

So let's have a look at what May brought us, shall we?

First up a Panoceania Croc Man with MULTI sniper rifle. Updated design looks good (the old one wasn't very popular) but I feel the bulking out of the model makes him look a bit like an action figure. Maybe it's the pose though. Still, I like the realistic design of Infinity minis so I'm not that keen on the big stompy boots.

Wow! The new Haqqislam Naffatun are simply awesome! While I think the old ones were fine from a model standpoint their design were a bit generic. These guys with their new visored helmet and distinctive chest armour really stand out and I think they look awesome! And while the chest is a little bulky it follows from the way the armour is constructed and their legs are normal sized. Really great box! I just want to get them for painting!

The new Nomad Intruder with HGM also suffers from the bulking out syndrome! I think the two new Intruders we already have (sniper and combi rifle) are among the best in the entire Infinity range so was a little sad to see this guy looking big and clumsy next to them. He has the same design except it's like he's made out of Duplo while the others are made out of Lego. Sure, cool. I just wish they'd kept the subtlety of the earlier sculpts.

I was really looking forward to the second Combined Army Umbra Legate as I really like the one in the CA starter. This guy though... I don't really know what to make of him. It's obviously a dynamic pose but I'm not really sure what's being conveyed. The twist of the torso and the flow of the robe suggest different things to me. Hmmm.. might very well be a mini that needs to be seen in the flesh. Undecided on this guy.

Finally we have Scylla & Drakios for ALEPH. I dearly dearly hope that this is all about bad photography and that Scylla (and Drakios to a lesser degree) looks a lot better in person! Please let it be so! The concept art was really good and Steel Phalanx could certainly do with another hacker (although, enough with the characters for a while. Yeah, CB?) but as I look at the photos of the model it simply looks weird to me. An uncomfortable looking pose, horn rimmed glasses like Dame Edna and that sword that seems to have been stuck into her hand for no other reason than "it was there". She just... don't work for me at all. As I'm set on building Steel Phalanx I'm sure I'll get her anyway and if the pics aren't lying and she looks weird then to I'll probably try and modify her enough to at least not have that strange pose. Perhaps make the glasses into sunglasses. Hmm...


So to summarize this month. Might be the first time since I've started playing Infinity that I'm actually mostly disappointed with a batch of releases. Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are! The Naffatun are truly awesome and really saves this month, but I think the crocman and intruder are average while the Legate is the ugly of the good, bad and ugly. Scylla though... I'm trying to keep hope alive in my heart...

I'm sure this was just a temporary dip though as March and April had some great releases like the 45th Highlanders, the Tiger Soldier, the Azrail and the Jaguars. Also, next month there's probably some Yu Jing goodness to look forward to! :D