January Releases for Infinity!

 Not quite as late as last couple of months, here are the latest releases for our favourite skirmish game...

 And, we're off with the HMG toting ALEPH Ekdromoi! Quite a few of the AD troops in the Infinity reange look a little awkward as the sculptor has tried to get them to look like they're landing or something. Sometimes it works, but many times it doesn't really... this is one of the times it works as the Ekdromos look like it's just about to take off! Great dynamic pose! I know a lot of people are happy to see this guy as the Ekdromoi is an excellent droptrooper with Super Jump and an HMG is always a welcome addition, especially as it's a weapon that is somewhat rare for ALEPH, with all their Spitfires! However, I find it hard to get this guy above Diomedes...

 Next up is a box of angry Scots Guard for Ariadna. I wasn't really a big fan of the first Scots Guard we saw last year; something about his collar and left hand put me off. These guys look a lot better, but I'm still not a fan of the collar! The flowing duster is also problematic in a pack like this when there are two bodies and four sets of arms. One flowing duster would have looked awesome (it's well sculpted!) but two that look exacly the same kind of lessens the effect somewhat. Still, the guy with two SMGs look badass! In game they are solid, albeit slow, medium infantry that should perform well as both the closer range support (Molotok/Marksman's rifle) or assault (twin SMGs) . They even come in regular and camo flavour!

The Yu Jing Raiden Seibutai is a new troop type from Paradiso and don't look anything like I had pictured it. The armour is a mix of Haramaki arms/legs with Keisotsu cuirass and it goes together quite well, fitting the role of an ARM 3 MI. The helmet on the other hand is new and looks a bit... weird. I don't know if I like it or not to be honest. I kind of dig the faceplate with the three holes, but would like it better if it didn't have the neanderthal forehead thing going on. Might be subject to filing if I get a Raiden on my own. From a stats perspective I don't think it's a model I would use in vanilla Yu Jing but I think it might have a place in a Japanese sectorial as a kind of second line defensive trooper where his low movement, limited camo and X-visor should work well.

Woo! I've been eagerly awaiting the Haqqislam Sekban box as I think it's one of their best looking units the best looking near-future troopers in miniature gaming overall. Love the helmets, the armour, the sprouts on the back and the fatigues. Simply great looking! The poses are conservative but work well and aren't simply of the "standing around" variety often seen in Haq models. Beautiful models but not sure how well they perform in game; they come armed to the teeth and with 360° Visor, but mostly short ranged assault weaponry combined with low movement feels like a bad combination. Still stick them in a Fireteam: Haris and you could speed them up considerably. Somewhat expensive though.

Let's go out with a bang and bring some hot alien ass into this post! The Combined Army Gwailo with heavy rocket launcher rounds out this troop type as all weapon options are now available. I'm a great fan of Shasvaasti in general and the concept of the Gwailo really appeals to me - Shasvaasti trying to be hard instead of sneaky (and not being all that good at it). The Gwailo design has stayed consistent since its debute with any change being of the sharper sculpt variety. Love the pose on this guy as it looks like he's turning around to fire at some poor humans behind him. Great weapon design as well!  As for playing with it, looking at the Gwailo stats I think they are really quite squishy for their cost. Sure, Nanoscreen will help, but get flanked and it's probably bye-bye bug-boy!


A month of solid releases covering up some different holes among the different factions, although I kind of feel that all of them are probably not first choice models when putting together a force. Yes, there are no really bad troop choices in Infinity, but some are definitely trickier to use effectively than others! My favourite release is the Sekban box for sure! Probably followed by the Gwailo. Still, I've set my sights on SSS so I should be eyeing the Ekdromos instead. :)