Infinity: Defiance & Beyond

Qiang Gao is probably my second favourite of the hero models from the core set and I was really looking forward to painting him.  It also gave me chance to practice yellow armour – something I may have a lot of in the future when I get around to painting my Yu-Jing Infinity models (of which there are many).  He wasn’t as easly to paint as I was expecting, mostly because of the way the arm is posed.  I decided to paint the gun arm separately which actually proved quite fiddly.  The main model was done using a paint grip but I didn’t have anything equivalent for painting the arm and so paint was constantly being worn off.  Eventually I settled for doing a very basic paint job on the reverse side that isn’t very visible and then sticking it to the main model before finishing it off.  Also the face was a nightmare, I still don’t really know how I got that eye on there because the eye sockets were TINY.  I think I need something smaller than a 000 brush for some of these.

Overall though I really like the miniature, and I kind of like his backstory too, it really resonates with me.  An honourable soldier who did the right thing  and took the consequences rather than a yes man working his way to the top.

Sheshkiin is the first of the combined army characters in the Defiance set and also something that I already had a miniature for from the Wildfire starter set.  I have to say, I much prefer the updated defiance miniature – even with its foot on rock.  She kind of reminds of Liara  T’Soni from Mass Effect, although probably more of a bitch.  I of painted these at the same time, because they use the same colour palette to try and ensure a consistency of colour across both miniatures.

One thing that really disappointed me – and this is because of my eyesight – I didn’t spot the mould line on the leg.  Now it’s painted it’s sooo bloody obvious.

I am kind of taking a pause on Combined Army models here though.  I realised that I have painted more than is necessary for the first mission and if I paint another two heroes, I can actually start playing.  So the Shasvastii are now on hold

Yes the name means what you think it means.  While I think it’s a somewhat unfortunate name for a unit (I don’t know whether it has some other meaning in spanish), I can sort of see why they are called that.  Their human features are just a false, genetically engineerd exterior.  The entire lower half of their face opens into a huge, fang filled mouth.

Although there are two speculo killers in the box, they were both painted separately.  When I checked out the artwork and examples of these, one of them was painted with the pink jumpsuit and one red.  So I decided to do the same which then allows the Nox to fit in a little more with the army as there is now a better mixture of colour schemes.

The Seed Soldiers, the basic troop unit of the Shasvastii. The Shasvastii as a race do not typically engage in full frontal, all out assault to achieve their goals and favour stealth and surprise, their aim is to have full control of a battlefield before the fighting ever starts; by the time the fighting actually starts, the invasion is already well under way. Seed Soldiers are the way they achieve this, with thousands of “seeds” (capsules containing a single shasvastii warrior) being distributed and hidden, often buried, in an around target objectives and potential battlefields. The seed capsule provides constant tactical updates to the waiting soldier until eventually they are given the order to attack. Their appearance in a battle is usually used to effect an immediate change to the tactical situation in a battle by drawing the enemy into a desired position and then opening up new fronts to force an opponent to split their forces or even surround them.

These are the last of what might be considered “troops” that have for the Shasvastii. I think I have something like 10 miniatures left in total, but they’re all individuals and characters now. This means the rate at which things get painted is likely to drop a little, because I can’t really batch paint them and I am likely to put a bit more time and effort into them. However it feels like I am getting toward the end of them and when they’re done I will have quite a sizable force for Infinity as well

I painted these at sort of the same time as Uma, or rather I did the black armour at the same time as painting Uma.  The rest was finished later so my eyes were much improved by that point.

Ironically I am starting to master my quick method of doing the armour (because I hate painting black) just as I am getting to the end of the Combined army models.  Those that remain are of high enough importance that I may consider painting them properly.  To get the black armour I prime black then drybrush three layers of great, a heavy drybrush of dark grey, a lighter drybrush of mid grey and finally a light highlight of pale grey or white.  Then I thin down some black speed paint and use it like a strongly pigmented wash.  Because of the nice red contrast and other details, your eyes are generally drawn away from the black (and thus all my sins).

This turned into very much a “mental health” project. Painting is my primary hobby and is a bit of a crutch that I lean on to support my mental health. However I also had physical health issues while painting this (an eye infection which caused blurred vision in one eye) and so the two were competing.  That’s really why there’s not been much progress in 11 days.  It’s just been one of those weeks (Well, one of those years if I’m being honest and very much a continuation of an ongoing theme).  But I try to ensure that when I have motivation to indulge in my hobbies that I do so and that, unfortunately, meant soldiering on with it. Ultimately, it’s better than I thought it would be but I wouldn’t really say I am happy with the results. Luckily I have the alt-sculpt of her so I will save that one for when I my eyes are in a better state.

Up to now I have focused all my efforts on the bad guys, the Shasvastii. But Defiance is a Dungeon Crawler and it’s a co-op game at that so the story is all about the heroes, of which there are many.  And as I have painted a significant number of the Shasvastii, I decided now was a good time to paint one of the heroes.  I could have gone for any of the heroes, they’re all amazing.  However I am trying to convince my gaming group to let me run an Infinity RPG game later this year but nobody really knows anything about it.  However, knowing at least one of the group as I did, I thought if anything was going to sell the setting to him, the idea of a Space Werewolf would, especially as Dog Faces (as they are affectionately known) and Wulvers (which is what Cadin is) are a playable races in the game.  So Cadin it was.  This was also nice for me because I haven’t ever painted any Ariadna miniatures and this one is, in my opinion at least, a very nice model indeed.

I love the psuedo military look, sort of half combat fatigues half biker gang (yes, he has a gang motif on his jacket).  The pose is also nice, leaping over a piece of some destroyed TAG with that machete or whatever the hell it is raised high.  He looks like he is ambushing some poor, unfortunate and unsuspecting enemy, although it certainly doesn’t look like it’s going to be quiet end.  And honestly, I suspect that’s exactly how Cadin likes it.

Right.  This one is serious.  I had been dying to paint this since I got hold of the box.  This is the Megalodron, to date the largest model Corvus Belli have ever produce, and it is BIG!  To give you an idea of scale, each of the hexagons on the base is large enough to fit a standard 25mm, round slottabase inside it.

Unfortunately, when I assessed the model, it came in two pieced, the upper torso and arms and then the lower torso, legs and base.  Ideally this needed to be supplied in THREE parts with the base, which is a lovely, sculpted scenic base, as a separate component.  After a little more investigation, I determined that the base should be easy enough to remove with a little jiggery pokery.  So I put the part in the freezer for a couple of hours which makes some glues go brittle and with a little bit of elbow grease, it came off.  There was a tiny bit of damage to the bottom of one of the feet but when I looked at it, it would not be visible once the model was reassembled.  So no worries there

Next I had to figure out a colour scheme.  I wanted it to tie in with the rest of the Shasvastii, but, because it isn’t a Shasvastii, it is something else, I also wanted it to stand apart.  So I went for a reversed colour scheme.  I used a predominantly deep red for the armour with black details.  Both halves were primed using Army Painter Chaotic Red which is dark enough that it doesn’t really need any wash or shading.  The highlights were built up very gradually and mostly near the edges, using a series of red paints from Vallejo, starting with Carmine Red and working up to Scarlet.  To maintain some consistency, I also used turquoise and pink for spot details, like I had on the rest of the army and I also used the same pale green skin tone.

Finally, the base.  Wow, what an amazing design.  I love the jungle undergrowth, I love the remains of the TAG suit sculpted on the base and slightly overgrown (and yes, if you look on the Corvuse Belli store that TAG is an actual TAG that you can buy).  Painting it was as enjoyable as painting the main model and, as a final touch, I bought some flourescent “alien grass” tufts

I have to say, painting it was a royal pain in the arse.  Because it was so big, and such an awkward shape, I could fix it to any of the painting grips that I have.  The upper torso was easy enough, I just mounted it on the legs and held the lower piece.  The legs, however were incredibly difficult to do because there was only a tiny stub of plastic at the top that could be used to grip it.  I don’t know whether it was a problem with the primer, the material or the paints I was using but you only had to so much as look at it funny, and paint was being rubbed off the harder edges, such as armour plates.All in all, including the base, I spent around 60 hours painting this thing I felt like I spent as much time touching up areas where the paint had rubbed away as I did painting the actual model.  Although I am absolutely amazed by the results, it’s not an experience I would be rushing back to do again because of the paint adhesion issues.  Which is obviously why I backed TAG Raid which comes with another two or three massive monsters made out of the same material…