Operation Cowboy

I find the motorbikes in USAriadna deeply disappointing. Not physically, but conceptually so.

They might be great miniatures and the bikes definitely fit the anime asthetic but they just don't gel with the riders for me. When I think American wilderness and frontier towns I don't think of bikers, I think of cowboys. Do cowboys ride bikes? Not a chance. Bikes run of petrol (or gas, in USAriadna), can't easily traverse difficult terrain and can break down. What you want is a horse.

I man come on, just look at the concept art. Sure, fluff-wise the Ariadnans probably wouldn't initially have had horses, but I'll be damned if that will stop me. Plus given all the other 'American' tropes they've tried to fit into I can bet they'd have imported some as soon as they had a chance!

Wide brimmed hat, poncho, holstered pistol. Check, check and check.

The Humble Bounty Hunter (with Sniper Rifle)

Welcome to another article in the 'Humble' series. This time I'll be fan-boying all over the my main squeeze at the moment - the Bounty Hunter with Sniper Rifle.

First up, a quick disclaimer. This article is specifically aimed at PanOcenia, Aleph, Nomads and Yu Jing - i.e. armies that don't typically get access to non-MULTI Sniper Rifles. Haqqislam and Ariadna already get access to cheap Sniper Rifles and therefore don't benefit as much.

So, why do I like her so much? Read on.

ALIVE Anti-Establishment Group Review

Just a couple of days ago there has been a real shake-up to all Infinity armies (except Combined Army and their sectorials, sorry) with the release of the new ALIVE Group!

As part of this group you have three mercenary Hackers - Cypher, BIT & KISS! and Switch whose services you can hire. I'll be going through each in turn to see how they might affect army building and the game in general.

If you haven't already seen the news, then you can find all their profiles on the official ARMY Builder and in the ITS rules PDF.

The Humble Irmandinhos

Today's topic of conversation is the humble Irmandinho. In real life the Irmandinhos were a a group of Galician revolutionaries around the fifteenth century but in Infinity they are Smoke-toting Engineers with a complete disregard for their own well-being.

I've been waging a personal crusade to get some recognition for what I feel is an underused unit (although this may just be because their sculpts are seriously dated) and finally have gotten round to jotting down my thoughts.

So let's take a look at what they can do.

Infinity - Unreleased models

Following on from my article about limited edition miniatures (now mostly up to date again) I was contacted by many players keen to share other oddities with me. So it seems that it's time to venture into the world of even rarer miniatures - those that have never been released to the general public at all!

None of the models in this article were made commercially available so their numbers are extremely limited. Generally they were early or test versions that weren't considered suitable for general sale but very few have been given away by Corvus Belli to mark special occasions or victories in particular tournaments. It's unclear how many of each there are floating around, but 8 is probably a fair guess as that is how many would typically be on a master mould.

The six sculpts below are those that I am aware of but if you know of any more, or have further info or corrections about any of them, then please do let me know and I'll be sure to add it in. Also, if you happen to own one and are looking to sell then don't forget about me!

My thanks go out to a number of players without whom this article wouldn't be possible including Cervantes, Yasbir, Fithavil and Admiral JFJC. Information was also taken from a related Data Sphere thread that is now somewhat out of date!

The unreleased Ninja and Highlander (left and right respectively, for those wondering).

Tactica: Deployment or Initiative

So you've won the Initiative Roll and now have to decide whether you want to Keep Initiative (choosing whether to go first or second) or Keep Deployment (choosing which deployment zone to take and forcing your opponent to deploy first).

What do you do?

At this point in the game I've seen experienced players (including myself) all but melt down into a puddle of indecisive goo. Not only do you have to choose whether to Keep Deployment or Keep Initiative, but you then have to decide which Deployment Zone to take or whether to take the first or second turn respectively.

The entire flow of the game is going to hinge upon these two questions, but how do you decide which options to take?

Tactica: Dodge in, Dodge out, shake it all about.

Good morning class, it's pop quiz time.

Can anyone here tell me exactly what Dodge, Engage, Change Facing, Alert, Warning and Reset do, where they are different and when/why you would use each of them?

No? Well frankly neither could I. So I did a whole load of research, picked through all the rules, FAQs and forum threads I could find and wrote it all up whilst dispensing tips and suggestions as I went. Hopefully it'll be an interesting read.

Warning: Thar be many words ahead!