From here to Infinity

Hello everyone and welcome my first project diary on OnTableTop.  I suppose it makes sense to start with a bit of information about myself.  I’ve a long time gamer who started up with 40k twenty years or so ago.  I’ve played 40k, WHF, Mordheim, Warmachine, Mercs and a number of other table top games.  I’m also into various RPGs (Pathfinder, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, etc) and have done a fair amount of mini painting over the years.

Recently I started looking at Infinity and decided to give it a go with their new N4/CodeOne release.  So that brings us to this project.  I’ve picked up a number of Yu Jing models and thought it might be fun to track my progress here.  So here goes nothing!

To put some structure around the effort I’ve put an initial list together (no play experience so no idea how viable it actually is but that’s not the main point right now anyway).  Here’s what I’ll be painting up :

4x Zhanshi

1x DaoYing (lieutenant)

2x Tiger Soldiers

1x Ninja

1x Su-Jian

1x Mowang

4x Kuang Shi

1x Celestial Guard Monitor (to keep them in line)

So far I’ve assembled the Mowang and have three of the Zhanshi as well as the DaoYing put together to the point I’m going to paint them at (kept some parts separate to make painting easier.  The Ninja is about done as well.

Overall the models have been great so far.  I’ve found a fair amount of flash but it’s easily removed.  Oddly I haven’t seen many mold lines which worries me as I feel like I’m just missing them and suspect they’ll appear after I prime the minis.

The one exception to the easy of assembly so far has been the ninja (it’s the ninja with tac bow and an awesome pose on the edge of a rooftop).  The three part rooftop base was pretty finiky to get in place and it’s going to need some green stuff.  I ended up putting the small roof piece and the section with the ninja’s main body together first and then attached to the front roof section with his leg on it.

All in all, so far so good.

Hello again OnTableTop Community.

It’s been awhile so time for an update.  Unfortunately not a ton of progress but some solid steps forward.  First off I did some list tweaking which had lead to some new arrivals :

1x Zhanshi GonCheng

1x Zhanshi Yisheng

2x Yaozao

1x Kanren Counter-insurgence

This will replace a Tiger soldier and some standard Zhanshi but I’ll still paint them since they’re preped.  I’ll actually add another Zhanshi to the mix so when the Kanren deploys with his holo goodies I can plop down three “Zhanshi” which might cover for the hidden deployment of the Ninja and Tiger Soldier.

At this point all the models (with the exception of the last Zhanshi) are put together and primed.  As stated in the last post the models are all great and assembly has gone well.  Still minimal or no mold lines to deal with.  I did run into a couple of items though :

1. One of the Kuang Shi didn’t want to sit flush when put together and required some filler just below his chest armor.
2. The pistol wielding Kuang Shi has a grenade or something to that effect in his right hand.  Many of the models have had juts of metal coming off (guessing from vents in the molds) that I’ve become used to removing.  Unfortunately I got a bit overzealous and trimmed off the grenade.  The model still looks fine with just a fist but I might add a bit later.
3. As expected the ninja required some filler.
4. The Kanren (Hacker) is an interesting pose from a basing standpoint.  The leg with the basing tab is at an angle that doesn’t match the set slots in the bases if you want her facing forward.  Easy enough to cut a new slot but worth mentioning.
5. The Yaozao arm attach points are relatively shallow ball and socket type that let you adjust how they sit but seemed like they would be a bit weak.  So far so good though.  Also worth mentioning that one of the faces has a nose guard that could be mistaken for extra metal.  Don’t snip it off 🙂
6. The Zhanshi hacker has his combi-rifle hanging from a pair of straps.  Again you might mistake these initially for connective bits of metal to be removed so be careful.

The biggest bit of effort so far has been trying to come up with the paint scheme I want to use.  I’m still not finalized but I think I’m going to go with a winter theme.  I’m thinking black under armor with white plates and some yellow secondaries.  Light brown for most of the leather and light grey/white for camo.  I’m a bit worried they’ll come out a bit too much like Stormtroopers but hopefully the yellow will help negate that.

Should start painting soon.  Need to pick out some test subjects to start a paint scheme on 🙂

(Been having issues getting this update posted so going to try breaking it into two parts)

As mentioned in the last exciting episode the next steps were to find a volunteer to test out possible color schemes on. I want to go for a winter theme which means the armor will be in white/grey but I still want to tie the force back to the standard Yu Jing color scheme. The choice of secondary color (for the under armor) was also a bit up in the air. Initially I was thinking of going with black but in the end decided an icy blue might work better.

So time for that volunteer and who better than the Zhanshi who was just added to the force (that’s what he gets for being late!)?

Before diving in a bit of general info for those who are interested. First off I’ll be using Reapers Master Series paints (https://www.reapermini.com/). I’ve been using them for years and have been very happy with them. Brush wise I’m mainly using a 5-0 Kolinsky Sable (again by Reaper). As we go through I’ll give the paint name, number and then the paint to water mix ratio I’m using (ex. 2/1 is two drops of paint to one drop of water). Lastly I’m generally doing multiple coats at any given step but won’t always mention that (safe to assume most steps get at least two coats).

Ok off we go then. First off I primed him with Grey Primer – 09299 – 8/1 and base coated him with Twilight Blue – 09020 – 2/1 applying two coats and then following with Snow Shadow – 09021 – 2/1 for another two coats.

Worth mentioning that I left his left arm separate to aid in painting.

With the base down I painted the armor plates in Rainy Grey – 09038 – 2/1 followed by a bunch of coats of Pure White – 09039 – 2/1. I also went ahead and painted up the leather items both to get them done and so I could attach his arm. These were done with Ruddy Leather – 09109 – 3/1 followed by Oiled Leather – 09110 – 2/1 and then highlighted with Burnt Orange – 09111 – 2/1.

This is probably a good time to mention that the Master Series paints come in convenient color triads that include a base, shadow and highlight color grouping. I don’t always stick to them but they are nice to use that way.

In all I was pretty happy with how things were looking so far.

Ok so arm attached and armor plates set it was time to work on tying into the Yu Jing color scheme. Doing a bit of research I found that the yellow used varied from a bright yellow down into oranges and even more of a red so it seemed I had some leeway. I started with a base of Palmino Gold – 09074 – 3/1 followed by Buckskin Pale – 09075 – 2/1 and then Marigold Yellow – 09007 – 2/1. This came out pretty well though I’m not sure the first two colors added much.

I also realized I’d missed his boots and gloves and got those done before my browns dried 🙂

Pretty happy with the overall effect I painted up the bare skin portions of the model (basically his head). For this I started with a number of coats of my base tone (Golden Skin – 09092 – 3/1) and then washed it with the shadow (Golden Shadow – 09091 – 1/3). After that I went back to the Golden Skin before highlighting with Golden Highlight – 09093 – 2/1. I also added a Marigold Yellow tattoo going up and over his head.

About this time I decided that the under armor was a bit too light so I washed it with a 1/1 mix of Twilight Blue and then highlighted with a 2/1 mix of Snow Shadow. I think it added some better depth and in the future I’ll probably just go with this rather than over coating with Snow Shadow.

The last significant area left to paint was his gun. Generally it seems people hit them with black, highlight and call it a day. I considered going this route but would like to do a bit more to make the weapons interesting. I painted the rifle, side arm and some metal bits in Blackened Steel – 09205 – 3/1 (a metallic paint) which gave them a nice look. I still want to do something more but I’m not sure what yet (some ideas include a dark wash, adding additional colors or adding camo). I think the key is going to be doing enough to give the weapons some life but not so much as to pull attention from the main part of the models. Regardless this will do for now.

With all the major colors down it was time to refine and clean up. I painted his backpsck in Midnight Blue – 09019 – 2/1 to define it and break up the lighter blue and then circled back to the armor plates. The white was pretty rough so I hit it all with a couple of coats of Pure White again at a 3/1 mix. I then highlighted with Pearl White – 09100 – 2/1 which has a nice sheen to it. I considered doing all the armor in this but stuck to highlighting only.

His left forearm has what looks like a screen on it so I hit that with undiluted Pine Green – 09010 and a touch of Pale Green – 09012 to give it that electronic screen look.

Lastly I came back to the yellow which seemed to lack depth and was mainly just the Marigold Yellow. To break it up I washed it in Highlight Orange – 09243 – 1/3 (the highlight color for a different triad) then went back to the Marigold Yellow at 2/1 and finally mixed in a bit of Sun Yellow – 09008 to highlight.

At this point he’s about done. Still need to determine if the gun will be getting more work and he needs to be based but he’s completed his test subject mission. Next up will be his fellow Zhanshi.

Feeling rather lonely our sole Zhanshi called back to base for reinforcements. His request was answered immediately and a small holding force of four additional Zhanshi was dispatched to buy time until additional forces could be provisioned.

Having plotted out the paint job it was time to start applying it. The additional Zhanshi were painted largely following the same method as the original with a few tweaks.

The base coat was done with 3/1 mix of Twilight Blue – 09020 and then highlighted with Snow Shadow – 09021 – 2/1 which skipped the step where I washed with Snow Shadow and then had to rewash with Twilight Blue last time. In the end it ended up with a similar (if a little darker) result which I liked.

While base coating I realized I’d neglected to deal with a pretty significant gap at the hackers shoulder (oops). Since the Yisheng (doctor) was still waiting to be dispatched…err painted…his fellows did their best to patch him up.

With that distraction done I moved on to getting their coats painted. I decided to have two in a leather color and the third in a grey just to break things up a bit. The brown coats were done with Tanned Leather – 09031 – 3/1 followed by Leather Brown – 09030 – 2/1 highlights and then washed with Brown Liner – 09064 – 1/2. The grey had a slightly different order with Cloudy Grey – 09089 – 3/1 first followed by a wash of Grey Liner – 09065 – 1/2 and then highlighted with Misty Grey – 09090 – 2/1.

Armor was next using the same method as our test subject. I also went ahead and did the weapons in Blackened Steel again.

From there it was time to turn attention to their skin and hair. The hacker got done in Nightshade Purple – 09022 – 3/1, Imperial Purple – 09023 – 2/1 and then Amethyst Purple – 09024 – 1/0 and then Forest Green – 09013 – 3/1 and Jade Green – 09015 – 2/1. The Zhashi to his left was done with Chestnut Brown – 09071 – 3/1 and Brown Liner – 1/2. Our red head started with Carrot Top Red – 09242 – 3/1 followed by Auburn Shadow – 09241 – 1/1 and Highlight Orange – 09243 – 3/1. The last just got Faded Black – 09657 – 2/1. I also added in the first bits of orange/yellow as per the initial model.

Afterwards it was a lot of detail work on things like their knives, the hackers wrist computer and glasses, etc. Of note I decided to try some camo on the rifles which I’m fairly happy with.

Next up I think I’ll move onto the Kuang Shi.  With them done I’ll have both “groups” of models done and the rest will be singles or pairs.  Being that they’re pressed, brainwashed prisoners I might modify their paint scheme a bit but we’ll see.

The Troops of the Banner had taken up forward positions and called back sightings of Yu Jing’s old foe Pan O (future project).  Commands were quickly relayed and in no time stimulants were being injected into a quartet of unconscious forms.  As their eyes snapped open the hatches to the coffin like pods that had served as their homes for untold days slid open with a hiss.  Their first sight was of their Celestial Guard overseer calling for them to fall in.

So next up is the Kuang Shi and their Celestial Guard Monitor.  For the most part I panted them up just as I did the Zhanshi but with a few differences.  First I wanted the Kuang Shi’s armor to look more worn and of poorer quality so after starting it with Rainy Grey (as per the Zhanshi) I then moved to a 2 to 1 mix of Leather White – 09062 and Tanned Highlight – 09045 (2/1/1) followed by straight Leather White (2/1).  Next I figured the NationState would prefer their re-educated criminals catch bullets rather then their loyal troops so I painted their jerkins (?) in the orange/yellow color I’d used for details on the Zhanshi.  The shackle/explosives and their packs I did in Old Bronze – 09197 – 3/1.  Finally I added some symbols to their helms, not sure if those will stay or not.

The Celestial Guard Monitor was painted up the same as the Zhanshi with some detail (stripes on her pants, back of her helm and a bit of her gun) being done in Antique Gold – 09050 – 3/1 followed by New Gold – 09051 – 2/1 to represent the Guards station.

Also worth mentioning that I’ve started painting the front arc of their bases (also went back and did the Zhanshi bases) as I like how this can tie troops together and it’s also useful in games like Infinity where facing matters.

Next up I think it’s time to bring some command and support to the team so I’ll be working on the Daoying, Zhanshi Yisheng and Zhanshi Gongchen.

The sharp report of chain and combi rifles filled the air and echoed off the nearby hills. Snow and bark was blasted into the air as the two forces exchanged fire. One of the Zhanshi, her left arm bloodied and limp, had drawn her sidearm to continue the fight while a second could only seek cover behind a rock outcroping his life blood flowing freely. Despite their bravery and training it seemed they’d be overwhelmed before long.

A startling silence broke the formerly chaotic comms which were immediately filled by a steady, dispassionate voice and stream of visual references appearing in their HUDs. “Guards woman, reposition your Kuang Shi to rally point one and hold that line. Squad Alpha hold position and cover their movement. Squad Beta flank left to rally point two. Yisheng see to the wounded and get them functional.” The voice cut out as abruptly as it had appeared but the effect was immediate and apparent as the various troopers moved to obey their orders.

The next addition to the force was a Yu Jing Support squad made up of a Zhanshi Yisheng (doctor), Zhanshi Gongcheng (Engineer) and their Yaozao assitance as well as the Daoying Lieutenant. For the most part these were painted up just like the Zhanshi. For the doctor I incorporated some red as I figure medical personnel would continue to enjoy some protections in combat. For this I used Deep Red – 09002 – 2/1, Blood Red – 09005 – 3/1 and then highlighted with a bit of Pure White added to the Blood Red. I carried this over to her Yaozao.

Continuing with the theme of the Celestial Guard the Daoying got some gold added to her using the same Antique Gold highlighted with New Gold.

One minor issue I did have was that I missed quite a bit of flash both on the Yisheng and Daoying that had to be removed as I found it. Not sure if I just rushed the prep a bit or if it blended with the details but in the end it wasn’t a big deal.

At this point I’m about two thirds of the way through the force and I’m pretty happy with how they’re looking. Still trying to decide who will be next. Probably the Tiger Soldiers or the Kanren but we’ll see.

The steady clatter of small arms was drowned out by the deep “thumping” of heavier fire just before a pair of trees exploded near the Zhanshi line.  Chunks of wooden shrapnel, pine tar and needles rained down from the destruction.  Looking towards the enemy lines a massive armored suit stomped it’s way into view, guns trained on the Yu Jing forces.  Apparently the enemy had been re-enforced as well. 

The appearance of the TAG was not a good sign.  It was unlikely the assembled force would be able to hold long against the level of firepower and armor it could bring to bear. 

On the left side of their line three Zhanshi seemed to distort before fading into multicolored fragments and finally disappearing.  In their place was a Yu Jing agent of the Kanren.  Her gaze was locked on the TAG but unfocused, seeing a world beyond the natural.  After a moment the great beast of a machine jerked sharply and then ceased moving at all.

“Threat neutralized Lieutenant”  stated a voice over their comms.  A brief cheer went up from the StateEmpire troops as the balance of power shifted back their way.

Hello everyone.  So we’re getting into the final stretch of at least the first phase of this project.  Fifteen of twenty-two models done (with a whole pile of others that I can start on after that 😉

As I mentioned last time I was trying to decide if I would do my Kanren Hacker or two Tiger Soldiers next.  In the end I started off by working on all three (makes more efficient use of paint since they share a lot of colors) but then ended up focusing on the Kanren.

The main reason for this was the mini itself.  The Kanren Hacker is made up of two parts, the main body and one leg and the other leg, gun and arm.  Because the legs weren’t connected I couldn’t base the mini.  As I started base coating all three and then adding the first layer of Rainy Grey to the armor I realized I was going to have to be touching the mini a lot more than I would like and paint would be getting rubbed off a lot (generally I hold them by their base).

This lead to me figuring out what I was going to need to paint prior to attaching the two halves together which in turn ended up with a completed Kanren and two Tiger Soldiers still essentially just base coated 🙂

So for the Kanren I mainly used the same paint scheme as the Zhanshi but I did want to make her a bit distinct.  I did this by painting her coat in purple (Nightshade Purple – 09022 – 3/1, Imperial Purple – 09023 – 2/1, Amethyst Purple – 09029 – 2/1) and then did her hair in a fading pink (mainly just for fun) (Pale Violet Red – 09027 – 3/1, Violet Red – 09026 – 3/2, Breat Cancer Awareness Pink – 3/1).  I did a bunch of blending to get the hair effect to something I was happy with.

One slight issue with the model, or perhaps how I glued it, is that the back leg makes contact at the knee but then the lower leg rises so the foot is in the air (where I think it should all be flat on the ground.    It also extends past the edge of the base which is a little annoying (if it didn’t the toe of the foot might touch the ground which would negate the rising issue).  I should be able to fix this once I get to basing however.

Because I just got on a roll with this mini I didn’t take much in the way of in progress shots so there’s just the one and then a few shots of the final.

Now it’s time for those Tiger Soldiers 🙂