About shadows, tactical rocks and the end of Infinity

Hey everyone! It's been a while since my last post and despite life had effectively and pleasantly limited the amount of time I can spend with my toy soldiers I didn't sit idle and managed to paint these three caballeros from Combined Army Booster Pack Alpha.

This post is less focused on Infinity as a game, leaving further tactic considerations to the upcoming Misson Focus posts, its intention being to deepen some thoughts that roamed free in the back of my head as I painted these miniatures. So, without further adue, let's start with...

Color schemes, alignments and the "end" of Infinity

When I first started painting KoDali, the choice of painting blue armours with white weapons was purely esthetic yet, with time, the "Shas are the real good guys" pun grew on me. What's a good guy anyway? Betrayal and Infinity lore in general pivot around this concept, casting lights and shadows on each faction. The corporation wars/special operations style of the first iterations, with double agents and secret agendas, really exploited the grayness of morals while the "total war" scenario of the Cerberus Gate incident depicted in the current ITS season calls for a more sharp division, which will ultimately be defined by the winning side. This direct clash is a powerful call to action for players but, no matter how prolonged or delayed will the war be, it will ultimately require a blood toll as a catharsis for the emotional investment.  Will the Combined Army win, true killing Recreated heroes? Will the Human Sphere prevail, dismembering the Evolved Intelligence? Or will a stalling conflict require de-escalation from both sides, ultimately leading to a coarse coexistence? Either way, blood should flow but my guess is it won't happen because of the fan base. Despite the friendly proxy rules of Infinity, sadly only a few hardcore fans will gladly accept the death of their beloved warlords in exchange for a compelling narrative twist. Hopefully, Corvus Belli will have the guts to do what it takes but I think they'll just set up a convenient straw man for this purpose if this time will ever come.

Tactical rocks rock!

The recent Tag Raid Kickstarter campaign offered lots of puns about tactical rocks. These features indubitably allow dynamic poses but are often regarded by part of the community as a limit for the set up of the perceived scene. These comments are usually on the lines of "my whole army is based with urban tiles, how am I going to fit a rock in this setting?". While I understand the problem from the point of view of the perfectionists, heavy-converting hardcore hobbyst, I think the whole topic is faced from the wrong direction: miniatures are static and will always depict your trooper in an inconsistent position, no matter how tactical those poses look to you. You don't have specific poses for your miniatures for when they're prone, dogged, wounded or fairy dusted and it surprises me how a scenic element on a base can bust our suspension of disbelief more than plasma weapons, pistols used while sculpted inside their holsters and kawaii robots.

Fifty shades of shadows

It sometimes happens to me to look at some old box arts and being surprised by it, wondering how those toyish looks could be a paragon of quality. Of course I was a kid back then but we should always keep in mind that taste and techniques, as well as tools and materials, keep changing. Each community will be biased by several elements or beauty canon, mainly based on the common ground shared by the majority of users. For example I realized I have entered the hobby in the "ink era", where shades and tints were the key element to enhance depth. What I didn't know were the drawbacks: apart from ruining your brushes and leaving an highly reflective nuance, inks tend to be difficult to control, resulting in inconsistently shaded miniatures. It took me a little while to interiorize the process, but now I paint my shadows with the same satisfaction and pleasure I feel when I paint highlights and I think that has highly enhanced my paint quality. I think the takeout here is to be aware of the meta you live in and keep an eye open for new or old lessons you may consider "out of pace".