Chapter 1.10 : Street Performance

August 25, 2016August 25, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / Leave a comment

The clean-up after the attack on the Aleph A.I. Node took the rest of the day, and by the time I finally finished my report the Neon lights where already the only light to be seen on the outside as I left Neon-jo through the actual exit instead of the elevator directly home I’d usually use.

I had decided that, if my day off had been cut short so harshly, I’d at least spend my evening in a more relaxing way. Of course exiting through what was basically a castle gate and being greeted by the slightly panicked stares of people nearby who then quickly turned away to not look even more suspicious to the most likely Imperial Service guy leaving the Neon-jo, wasn’t exactly relaxing, but two blocks and a street crossing later I had already blended into the crowd and turned into just another random guy walking along the street.

It was at this time that I think The Neon Dragon shows it’s most interesting and beautiful side. The streets are filled with all sorts of night life, be it business men and women who after their long hours of work finally get to buy their groceries, or spend the evening with their colleagues or friends in one of the countless Izakayas that litter the side streets, or the countless prostitutes and street performers vying for the attention of the passing by crowd.

As I walked along the street, staring at the moving crowd and the countless neon lights above it, I almost crashed into a young woman dressed in a Maid outfit which appears to have had some sort of body modification that actually gave her real cat ears and a tail. As I bowed in apology and hastily accepted the advertisement card for her Maid Café to make up for my carelessness to her, I wondered for a while about the double standards of the Yu Jing society when it came to stuff like that. Body modifications like blue skin, extra arms or glowing eyes, stuff that you’d see in every bar of “The Gulping Toad” when a Nomad trade ship has recently landed, where usually frowned upon, and where actually forbidden in most areas of Yu Jing. But when it comes to old Asian fetishes like unnaturally big eyes, cat modifications or stuff like that, even the law seemed to simply ignore it.

Amused I dropped the thought and continued onwards, leaving the cat maid behind as I made my way to a small plaza where the crowd had formed little rings around street performers. The ring I eventually ended up in surrounded a pair of artists that where drawing paintings in the air with some sort of semi liquid floating substance that shimmered in different colours, and somehow stayed in exactly the places where the artist put them with over emphasised elegant hand gestures , eventually forming what looked like a traditional Japanese ink drawing of an ocean with a Torii in it.

Stunned by the beauty of the floating picture and considering whether to buy it for home or not, I almost didn’t feel the hand of the pickpocket, slowly sliding over my wrist holo in attempt to transfer some credits with some sort of low level hacking program.

Quickly grabbing the wrist of the wannabe thief I forcefully twisted it around which resulted in a painful yelp from my soon to be prisoner, followed with a panicked “Let me go! I didn’t do anything wrong!”. Raising an eyebrow I looked down at the thieve that was easily a head shorter than me and asked in a disappointed voice “Really? That’s what you are going with?”

Just as a rueful smirk appeared on the thieves face and I grabbed for a restraint band from my belt, the crowd suddenly started screaming in surprise as a human came flying in right through them and the beautiful picture, to land right on one of the artists that smashed into the ground with him.

The crowd quickly parted along the flying corridor of the person, revealing a huge half wolf half man creature that I quickly identified as a Cameronian of sorts. Apparently in the spectator ring next to ours, a pair of Scottish foreigners had been holding a wrestling contest, and something must have gone terribly wrong.

The Cameronian howled a rage filled challenge to the man that had just ruined the lovely picture, and in response to it the thrown man picked himself up from the ground, and started panting like a mad man, his muscles twitching and moving like crazy. With a howl even more rage filled than his challengers, the man suddenly started a painful looking transformation into what would eventually become a Cameronian as well. His muscles started deforming, his joints and bones making snapping noises all over his body and as his face started to grow into a long snout, he also grew in height and muscle mass right before our eyes.

Eventually most of his clothes ripped apart, except for his Quilt which seemed to have been made specifically with a transformation like that in mind, and we could see fur growing all over the Beast man’s body.

Before the Cameronian could finish his transformation, the other one was already rushing towards him through the quickly building corridor. The beast was obviously so furious or ignorant about other people’s lives that he simply stomped over one of the fleeing viewers that didn’t make it out of the way fast enough, the person’s leg breaking with a loud crunching noise followed by a pain riddled squeal from the balding fat business man.

Realizing that if the fight between those two would continue, even more innocent bystanders would get hurt, most of all the artist that still lay at the feet of the second Cameronian, frozen in fear from the transformation happening right in front of him, I sighed in frustration and unsheathed my Tanto that I always had at my side.

Shouting with as much authority as I could I jumped in the path of the onrushing beast “IMPERIAL SERVICE! STOP RIGHT THERE OR I’LL DROP YOU!!”.

Oh how I had wished for my heavy suite of armour right then and there. Obviously the enraged giant Cameronian wasn’t very impressed by my threat, most likely because the blade of my Tanto was barely longer than the claws on his hands, and so it continued to rush on towards his adversary, almost ignoring me if it wasn’t for the fact that he was preparing his right arm to flick me aside.

Now to be honest, what I was about to do was a very VERY bad idea, and almost everyone else would have wasted his live meaninglessly in a situation like that right then and there, and there was a good chance that I would be one of those persons anyways. But to my defence, I have to add that I have been fighting against Caledonians of all sorts for the majority of my recent campaigns, and have faced my fair share of Cameronians as well, giving me experience in fighting them that most others would not have.

So as the giant beast came crashing at me, swinging at me with his trunk like arm and claws, I rolled forward right towards and under the arm that he was swinging at me, avoiding the razor sharp claws by only a hairs width, which I noticed by the fact that I was missing quite a bit of them after the battle was over, and slashed at his ankle with my Tanto.

The masterfully forged blade, a family heirloom for several generations, cut through the creatures skin and muscles like paper, resulting in a pained howl from the creature as it stumbled and fell right next to the other Cameronian.

I was hoping for a moment that the other Cameronian would spare me the trouble and finish off the wounded other one, but no dice, it seemed like the fact that I wounded one of them, somehow remembered the two fools that they were actually on the same side, at least when compared to my side, and so, once the wounded Cameronian made it back to his feet, both of them decided to dash at me.

By this point most of the crowd had left the area, with only the thrill seekers and mad ones remaining within viewing distance, and so I had enough room to push my arm forward and pressing the activation switch on my holo wristband.

At first nothing seemed to happen, and the Cameronians just came crashing onwards towards me, one even smirking at the moronic gesture I was making towards them as if that’d stop them, but then the smirk turned into pain riddled surprised howl as his fur suddenly evaporated, quickly followed by chunks of skin and muscle, and eventually even bone.

The other Cameronian jumped to the side while his comrade quickly disintegrated into bio sludge, quick enough to avoid any major damage, but not fast enough to avoid it completely. Realizing that I had some sort of unseen weapon, a Nanopulser to be precise, the Cameronian snarled at me in anger, and quickly turned around to flee.

He was limping as the Nanites had already begun eating away at one of his legs before he managed to jump away, which, knowing the normal speed of Cameronians, was the only reason I decided to dash after him. Even limping the Cameronian was very fast, his tall stature allowing for extremely long strides, forcing me to run at full speed behind him to keep up.

Seeing me chasing him the half man half creature’s wobbling run took on a frantic nature, which wasn’t exactly typical for Cameronian warriors, but after seeing what had happened to his comrade, was only understandable.

I followed the Cameronian for several minutes, jumping over various obstacles that the beast man threw in my way while doing so. If it wasn’t for my artificially enhanced muscles and lungs I would have had to drop the chase long ago, as a normal human’s constitution simply didn’t stand up to a Cameronian one, but even with those enhancements I was beginning to lose ground on him, even though his wounds where slowing him down as well as he lost more and more blood over time.

Just as I thought I’d have to drop my chase before dying of asphyxiation, the Cameronian turned around a corner into a dark alley way, and as I dashed into the alley way behind him, he was gone.

Instinctively dropping down on the ground to maybe avoid a possible ambush I scanned the alley way, but no matter how I looked at it, the Cameronian wasn’t there anymore. The surrounding buildings where too tall for the creature to jump on, even given their extremely powerful legs, and there was no other obvious way to leave the alley way either.

Out of breath and not happy with the idea of searching through the area almost unarmed and on my own, I did what I should have done long ago before even charging after the Cameronian, I clicked on my holo wristband, and contacted Neon-jo for backup. Maybe the Caledonians had a hideout in the area with some hidden access pointsthat the beast man had used, which ment….it was time for a little recon!

Yasashii Fuyu

August 23, 2016August 25, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / Leave a comment

Name: Yasashii Fuyu

Position: General of Yu Jing, currently Commander of The Neon Dragon Imperial Service Branch

Gender: Male

Age: 40

Heigth: 1.89 m

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Grey

Origin: Shen Tang

Hobbies: Martial Arts, Riding his bike, Reading (sometimes even actual books) , Aristreia

Background:

Born into an old Japanese family of Bushi, Yasashii’s early life was a little different than most other Yu Jing children those days got. He was loved by his family as most other kids where, and he went to school just like all the other kids did. But while for most kids, the fun really started after school was over, for Yasashii, school time was actually the playtime.

At home Yasashii had to undergo a rigorous training exercise designed to turn him, from the moment he could walk to the moment he would die, into a true Japanese Samurai, just like his parents where, and if he’d survive long enough, his own children were supposed to become as well.

Training to become a true Samurai obviously consisted of a lot of physical exercise, running, climbing, swimming, martial arts, bow shooting, and even early gun training once he was strong enough to withstand the recoil, which considering Yasashii’s unusual height, was quite early indeed.

But unlike many other warrior trainings in the galaxy, becoming a Samurai also included training the mind. Additional studies of various topics way above what was thought at school where every day occurrences for him, and he also had to learn poetry and philosophy, even though his young mind would only really understand the meaning behind it way later in his life.

All that rigorous training paid off in the end, and Yasashii finished as the best of his year in school, with the possibility to go to whatever higher education he’d desire.

His parents obviously wanted for Yasashii to join the military academy to become an officer in the Japanese Army right away, as was only befitting for a Bushi such as him, but even though Yasashii had been mostly a “good kid” all throughout his childhood, obviously resisting the rigorous training every now and then to do what little kids liked to do every now and then, but ultimately doing what his parents wanted him to do, it was at this time that Yasashii started what he would later call his rebellious phase.

As Yasashii grew up the concept of honour had always been burned into him, how to keep his face, how to be loyal to your betters, the true way of a Bushi. But somewhere deep down inside of him, Yasashii had always wondered if the traditional Samurai way of honour was….really fair? Why would a Samurai have to serve his Master till the end, even if said Master was a terrible person who didn’t deserve it? Why was a Samurai supposed to commit Seppuku for his errors, while his Master was allowed to live no matter his own shortcomings? It just didn’t seem just to him.

Over the years this had sparked within him a deep routed interest in the concept of Justice, and how to achieve it, and so as his time to choose his future came, Yasashii decided to study Law instead of joining the military academy, to become a Lawyer or judge one day and bring true justice to the world.

His parent’s didn’t like this decision at all, and they spent countless meetings trying to persuade him otherwise, but Yasashii persisted, and the choice wasn’t shameful or anything like that in the end, so his parents eventually decided to let it go, although they insisted that he kept honing his skills as a Samurai all throughout his studies, arguing that even a judge would need to know how to properly behave and defend himself if needs be.

Happy that he could convince his parents of his decision and glad to make the compromise if that meant he’d be able to study what he wanted, Yasashii agreed, and so he started to spend the next two years in a mixture of Law studies and Bushi training, just like he had been doing all his life until then, the only difference being, that this time he really enjoyed all of it to the fullest.

But obviously Yasashii wouldn’t be where he ended up now, if things would have gone just as planned then and there.

As a second class Japanese citizen Yasashii always had been bullied every now and then, and had to experience the disadvantages of being of a lower class than many others all throughout his live, even though in Shen Tang this wasn’t as significant as in some other regions of the Yu Jing Empire. But it was during his study of the Law that Yasashii felt the brunt of this difference for the first time.

As his studies progressed and he joined several courts of law as a viewer to see how the Yu Jing justice system worked, it quickly became apparent to him that not everyone was exactly equal before the law. Foreigners were dumped in a prison cell for minor transgressions that first class Yu Jing citizens wouldn’t even have been bothered about, and second class citizens ended up guilty in cases where first class citizens or richer and more influential people simply walked away.

At first Yasashii didn’t let this set him back, he decided that he would become the one to change all this, the one that brought true justice to the courtroom when he’d eventually become a judge. But this resolve was quickly washed away when one of his teachers revealed to him that he’d never be able to become a judge, simply because he was a second class citizen and those weren’t actually allowed to become a state judge, lawyer being the highest they could ever hope to achieve.

Now sure, becoming a lawyer was still an honourable position, and many of his fellow students aspired to become just that, but understanding how unfair the justice system worked, Yasashii simply couldn’t think about a future where one of his clients might be judged guilty just for being a second class citizen, and that he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

Demotivated like that Yasashii soon started seeking for some sort of relieve for his building frustration over the futility of his choice to study Law. Unable to consider facing his parents and telling them that he’d chosen wrong, he eventually ended up as part of a Biker gang that had been hanging around campus and that he had eventually joined during a not so sober moment of frustration.

It turned out that Yasashii actually had quite the hidden talent for driving a motorbike, and as his grades steadily grew worse, he steadily grew more and more famous in the Japanese biker scene.

Failing both in his studies and to continue his training as promised to his parents, they eventually kicked him out of their home in shame, in an attempt to make him realize his mistakes and reform himself, but this only lead to him becoming even closer connected to his biker gang, which he had by now become the leader of.

Living day by day, racing wherever he wanted to go, in constant competition with the other biker gangs which often resulted in violent brawls or even shootouts, Yasashii spent the next few years living every bikers dream.

But his rise to fame was too quick, too glorious and based on too much arrogance and ignorance for those other gangs around him, and eventually a few of those gangs banded together in an attempt to make Yasashii fall.

During a standard Gang fight, things suddenly turned sour as some of the other gang members suddenly pulled out fully automatic rifles, a big breach of conduct in the scene at that time, and started shooting at Yasashii’s group. Realizing how dangerous the situation was Yasashii quickly ordered his gang to turn around and flee the scene, but it was then that the trap was sprung, as several other gangs came in surrounding Yasashiis gang, cutting off their retreat and starting to shoot at them as well.

By the time the police arrived and dispersed the gangs, Yasashii was the only member of his gang still alive, heavily wounded and surrounded by his dead comrades.

The next thing he knew he woke up in a cell, bandages all over his body and an appointment for his trial for murder due later that day.

It was then, in a dank cell of a Shen Tang police department, that he was suddenly approached by representatives of the Japanese Army, and his future would change forever. Having heard of what happened, and his status in the biker community, as well as having investigated his background, the recruitment officers offered Yasashii a choice, getting framed for countless murders as a second class citizens in a court of law, most likely ending up dead or in prison for most of his remaining live, or using his skills in service of the state, and riding for the Aragato in the Japanese army.

With all his friends dead, his dreams crushed and the injustice of the law system about to come down on him in an incredible tidal wave of irony, Yasashii finally gave up his resistance, and joined the Japanese army, not the way his parents had hoped to, but that really didn’t matter to him at that point.

Once part of the army, his unique set of skills and training quickly helped him to acclimate himself and eventually proceed through the ranks. From a lowly Aragato he eventually became a leader of a band of Aragatos, and as his leadership skills where recognized by his superiors, his officer training began, which eventually resulted in him becoming promoted to the rank of a Bushi, joining the ranks of the Domaru Butai.

Apparently no matter how hard he had struggled, the way of the Samurai had always been destined for him, and by that time he had resigned to it, and decided simply roll with it, a term he had grown to like during his time in the biker gang.

During the following years Yasashii proved to possess a surprising amount of tactical finesse and leadership skills, which he never had considered to own, and he somehow ended up as a commander, leading whole units of different kinds of troops into battle.

After several assignments his first real test would arise in the form of Operation Flamestrike, a combat operation on the small island of Flamia in a strategically important position on Paradiso.

His successful operations on Flamia lead to Yasashii quickly receiving one promotion after the other, and eventually he was selected as part of the Paradiso High Command group responsible for Yu Jing Operations on Flamia.

With his bold and reckless tactics, always leading from the front with a Katana in his hand and a command on his lips, Yasashii eventually came to the attention of even the Emperor himself, who promoted him to the rank of General, at the time the second one on Flamia, entrusting coordination of most Japanese forces on the island to him.

As part of Flamia’s High Command Diplomacy and Propaganda became part of his tasks as well, and unlike many other fields of expertise Yasashii had been shoved in throughout his career, this one proved to be his downfall. Driven by the ways of the Bushi, and his new found sense of honour, Yasashii simply wasn’t suited for the fine nuances of inter faction or even inter species diplomacy, and some of his thoughtless remarks caused huge diplomatic and military backlashes all across Flamia, with some even going as far as blaming the whole eventual failure of the operation on his shoulders.

Luckily the after action reports and debriefs later on proved that his terrible diplomatic skills only were a small part of the reason why Yu Jing failed to secure the island, and how own combat results had made up for most of that, so blame got laid elsewhere instead, but still Yasashii didn’t get away without backlash.

During his official promotion ceremony to the rank of General, which had to be held after the operation was over due to the nation of the operation; Yasashii was also informed that he’d be repositioned to a new command. With his newly acquired first class citizenship, his background in law, and his previous shortcomings when interacting with other factions, it was deemed that it’d be best for him and the state if he was to serve as commander of an Imperial Service Branch in The Neon Dragon, where the previous commander had recently died in action and his skills could be put to good use.

Some considered this a punishment for the young General, but the Emperor had proclaimed this to Yasashii as a good opportunity to improve his knowledge and learn new ways, because the time would surely come when he’d have to fight in an international conflict again, and he’d need to be ready for that.

And so Yasashii had been relocated to his new post on the same evening, being driven there by a taxi right from his promotion ceremony, his belongings having to be sent after him later, and is now currently the Commander of the Imperial Service Branch in The Neon Dragon.

Corvus Belli Miniature Review: Wu Ming

August 21, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / 6 Comments

Hello Everyone!

I recently bought the new Wu Ming miniatures, and since it’s quite the new set, I thought, why not make a small review about it?

As usual in their recent sets the Wu Ming come with 2 x 2 sets of different upper bodies, and 4 unique pairs of arms and 4 heads to fit them.

The set also comes with a seperate SMG which can be attached to any model you want, or maybe even be used for a different model if you want to.

The parts go together very easily and I didn’t have any problems with assembling them, although the arms seem a bit flimsy at the joints for some reason.

I am a bit sad that this set doesn’t include the Combo/Multi rifle weapon option as that seems to be one of the better options of the Wu Mings, but the box is still quite awesome I must say.

Painted and Assembled Wu Ming:

Please excuse my not so great painting job on them, I’m sure most of you will be able to do them better justice, but I am happy enough with the result and I think they look awesome and very intimidating on the table!

The helmetless one especially looks very threatening and has a very Bane like appearance.

Overall I’ll give this set a 8 out of 10. It’s a very nice set, but the missing Combo/Multirifle option really is a bummer. The additional SMG is a very nice tough however and might help people with conversion work on other models.

As with all recent Corvus Belli Boxes that I have had i would have much prefered for there to be 4 seperate bodies though….sure the arms and heads make each model look unique, but still it seems a bit lazy, and with only 4 models in the box, having each one look unique should be possible.

It is however an obvious recommendation for all ISS players. All weapon options except combi/Mulit rifle are present, and they look way more unique than the old Wu Ming I think, and they definitely make a statement on the board when you place them.

Chapter 1.9 : Battle Report 4 : Sword Unsheated

August 13, 2016August 13, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / 3 Comments

By the time I had reached our base and entered my suite of armour, the squad I had called for stood already assembled at the elevator that would lead us to our dropship.

The Aleph A.I. Node in The Pearl Turtle was too far away from our elevator system, so we had to deploy by Dropship, and thus the briefing for the rest of the squad was done while we where already in the air and on our way.

By the time my boots hit the ground everyone was briefed and knew what was at stake. Mere minutes before the Dragon Lady Onigokko had informed me about the supposed Haqqislam Attack on the Aleph A.I. Node, one of our Field Agents had sent a distress call regarding this matter as well. Apparently the local Haqq Corporation Branches were having trouble with some of the regulations and taxes regarding their products, and it seems like they had decided to do something about it by altering the local A.I. Node Database.

I have to say I was a bit alarmed about the strange grade of details we had about this plan of attack, but I guess that’s IS Agents for you, or maybe some of Haqqs commercial enemies have spilled the beans after a failed deal? It really didn’t matter.

What mattered was that my squad and I seemed to have arrived just in the nick of time. No sooner had my squad taken up position than the first Haqqislam Troopers where already advancing on the A.I. Node.

An enemy trooper that had apparently advanced before the rest of their force came rushing in from the flank, hoping to get the drop on us, but Kanren Umibozu who had concealed himself via several Holo Echoes, instantly spotted the ambusher, and since he was a skilled Holo Echo user himself, he quickly spotted the real person among the ambushers Holo Echoes and took him out with his gun.

Basically at the same time on the left flank some crazy Haqqislam woman on a bike came dashing towards us, hoping for her speed to cover her advance, but the Bao Sniper that Pheasant Agent Fu Bao had deployed on the nearby tower wasn’t going to let her pass that easily, and instantly dropped her with his Multisniper rifle.

With their initial rushed attack taken out instantly, the Haqqislam Commander decided to go for sneakier tactics as he advanced some sort of Jammer Unit that instantly tried to damage Kanren Umibozu equipment to cut him off from the rest of the squad and mess with his Hacking Device. But Kanren Umibozu was quite skilled at cyber and technological warfare and thus he managed to prevent any real damage to his systems by activating the systems safety reboot system just in time of the attack.

The enemy tried to repeat this for a while longer, before realizing that it was no use, and then tried to relocate to search for better targets. By this time however the rest of the squad had noticed Umibozu’s predicament and the same Bao Sniper that had taken out the Biker Girl before, now was already waiting for an opportunity like this, and as the enemy trooper advanced into a nearby building, he took the shoot just as the trooper entered the buildings door and shoot him down.

At that moment the Haqqislam troops coordinated a push forward and took control of one of the A.I. Nodes Connection points while remaining hidden from my troops. While Kanren Umibozu was still busy with restarting his Hacking Device a metallic “clank” could suddenly be heard next to him, and as Kanren turned to take a look at it, his freshly booted Hacking Device suddenly beeped a loud warning for an incoming hacking attack. Realizing too late that the enemy had just pitched some sort of Repeater near him Umibozu’s neuronal connection to his Killer Hacking device suddenly went haywire and sent Umibozu unconscious with excruciating pain.

At this point my troops finally managed to find the momentum to swing the initiative in our favour, and no sooner had Kanren Umibozu hit the ground that Sophotect Akaseni came dashing around the corner to heal him with her Motherforge.

Out for Revenge Kanren Umibozu instantly hacked into the enemy repeater in search for the Haqqislam Hacker that had just attacked him, but he had to realize that there where more than just one hacker, and even though he tried to take them out all at once, he was overwhelmed and ended up wounded again.

This time Sophotect Akaseni healed him even before he dropped, and thus Kanren Umibozu was able to use the enemies confusion and frustration at their failed attempt to kill him, to start another attack.

This time Umibozu’s long experience in Cyber warfare prevailed as he killed both enemy hackers, one after the other. Apparently the enemies weren’t as lucky to have a healer right next to them as Kanren Umibozu had been.

But Umibozu got a little too focused on hunting down the enemy’s killer hacker, and just as he fried his enemies brain his hacking device suddenly went blank. Apparently another enemy hacker had been lying in ambush and Umibozu had failed to notice him in time. Luckily this one didn’t appear to be a killer hacker, so Umibozu was spared a worse fate.

Meanwhile Celestial Guard Shen Jing, this time in a role as Forward Observer without her Kuang Shi, managed to take control of a nearby A.I. Node Antenna, preventing the enemy from taking over control of the system.

Apparently the enemy commander had gotten wary of our Sophotect by now and thus was sending out another Jammer trooper to take care of her, but it seemed like her sophisticated systems where save enough to withstand this attack without any damage.

Frustrated by that failure the enemy commander decided it was time for more physical means of dealing with my troops, and he thus sent a trooper through a nearby building to flank my units.

Luckily Sophotect Akaseni wasn’t going to have any of that, and with an almost cheerful “Gotcha Sucker!” she planted a bullet into the ambushing trooper the moment he showed his face in the nearby doorway.

Meanwhile the hacker that had just isolated Kanren Umibozu used the distraction to crawl past my Wu Mings field of view and under the watchful eyes of the Bao Sniper to take control of a second A.I. Node Antenna, tipping the control of the node back into Haqqislams favour.

Pushed by his success the trooper then decided to advance a little further, but as he did so he came within one of my Wu Ming’s field of view and was attacked. But the enemy trooper was not only a skilled hacker but also quite the marksman, managing to wound the Wu Ming and forcing him back into cover, while reaching his desired position himself. I knew right away that this guy would continue to cause us trouble, and just as I thought so he somehow vanished from our satellite lock once more, most likely by reactivating his thermo optical camouflage system.

Sophotect Akaseni used the disappearance of the enemy hacker to reactivate Kanren Umibozu’s Comms Equipment, but with the enemy Jammer still within range, her own Comms systems got isolated in return.

Having had enough of the enemies jamming shenanigans I ordered Celestial Guard Shen Jing to take care of the enemy trooper, which she promptly did by popping out of her cover and wrecking the enemy Jammer with her Boarding shotgun.

There where however more enemies hiding in the corridor below and Shen Jing was thus forced back into her cover by the enemies return fire, barely managing to survive thanks to her armour.

Knowing that the Central Control room and it’s A.I. Node terminal was of critical importance I now ordered the Wu Ming Duo Team to take said room at all costs.

Advancing under heavy enemy fire the two troopers entered the room, and one of them tried to take out the enemy troopers shooting at them from the flank. The enemy trooper was quite the skilled shooter though, and thus the Wu Ming was forced to block the entrance of the chamber with his own body, to allow for his comrade to take over the Central A.I. Node Console.

It seemed however that security was tighter in the central control room, and thus the Forward Observer Wu Ming didn’t manage to take control over the console before the enemy started his counterattack.

A camouflaged enemy trooper with a spitfire that had been sneaking around the right flank used this opportunity to down the Wu Ming Forward Observer through the opened doorway, and another enemy trooper with a Heavy Rocket Launcher that had been creeping on a nearby rooftop decided to change his position and shoot down the other Wu Ming through another open door to the Central Room. What a disaster.

Noticing my strategy the enemy commander changed his tactics and sent an agent into the Central Control room, who took over the A.I. Node Console and took up suppressive firing position in the room. He had been trying to finish of the unconscious Wu Ming Forward Observer in the room as well, but Kanren Umibozu’s Boarding Shotgun had forced him to dash for cover instead.

The remaining Haqqislam troopers took up firing positions to cover both the central room as well as the last Antenna; apparently the enemy commander wasn’t going to make this easy for me.

“Father Anderson” decided it was time to change from covering the right flanks to attacking it, and he quickly dispatched of the enemies Spitfire Camo Trooper that had just taken out the Wu Ming Forward Observer.

Having watched the enemy commanders movements for long enough I decided it was time for myself to act. Dashing to a nearby corner I opened fire on a Flash Pulse Drone and the hidden Hacker that had been hiding nearby, taking both of them out, and with a direct line of sight to her I managed to order Sophotect Akaseni to try the unthinkable.

Dashing forward into the now free space to the door of the Central Control Room, and with one swift motion she raised her arm, firing an Adrenalin Dart from a hidden compartment in her right hand at the unconscious Wu Ming Forward Observer in the room.

Twitching back to life the Wu Ming in the Control Room rose like a fictional Zombie, and driven by duty, hatred, revenge or whatever drove those lowly Wu Ming Criminals, he punched in the command codes to take over the Central Control Room’s A.I. Node Console, countless enemy bullets riddling his body as he did so.

With a blood smeared satisfied smirk on his face the Wu Ming dropped dead to the ground, knowing that he had fulfilled his duty and stuck a wrench into Haqqislam’s plans all the same.

Knowing that this sacrifice had basically secured the A.I. Node for us, I still decided that such a brave act deserved to yield more than just a small victory, and thus I dashed forward, right into the Central Control Room, and aiming my Spitfire at the enemy trooper that had just taken out the Wu Ming with his suppressive fire, I took revenge for the Wu Ming and his partner, one bullet at a time, until the enemy trooper was little more than a bloody bullet riddled pulp on the ground.

While I did so I could feel the impact of a high velocity sniper round bouncing off my Crane Armour, from a nearby Sniper, but it was already too late for Haqqislam, the A.I. Node was save, the control room belonged to us, and most enemy troops were defeated.

Realizing his defeat the enemy commander ordered a general retreat, while I made sure that my troops secured the remaining area and take back control of the A.I. Node until an Aleph representative arrived.

It had been a close call and Haqq had almost succeeded in corrupting the A.I. Node, but we had made it in the end, thanks to the two Wu Ming who had in the end managed to redeem themselves to Yu Jing society with their brave sacrifice.

Snapping around to the sudden sound of clapping, I could see the recognizable shape of Dragon Lady Miyu Onigokko leaning in the Control Room’s doorframe I had just come through, clapping in acknowledgement and nodding “Not bad indeed…you’ll definitely make a fine commander for this IS branch, I look forward to working with you…”

Before I could answer she had left through the doorframe and back around the corner though, and I was too busy with the coordination of the operations aftermath to go chasing after her. Next time I’d meet her however, I decided it was time for her to answer me some questions….whether she wanted to or not…

Comment:

This battle was another first for me, first time playing against this opponent (My community seems to be blessed with awesome players, and its always a pleasure to play against them!), and my first time playing against Haqqislam.

As I feared in advance I was heavily outnumbered and really didn’t know how to start my advance against such an array of guns and specialists , but then luck was on my side and the first imperuous movements of my opponent lead to him losing 2 models, followed by yet another one as his E Mauler fauled to isolate my Kanren and he decided to reposition.

From then on I got more confident and managed to turn things in my favour, although it was really close until the last round. Had my suicide charge with my Crane Lieutenant not worked, things could have become really ugly really fast, but luck stayed on my side during most of the game, and thus I ended up winning.

Thanks again to my awesome opponent, I love games like this where the result can swing either way until the very last second!

It was also my first time trying out the new Wu Ming, but even though they saved me the game, I really don’t think I did them justice…I basically just used them for a suicide mission…which ended up working and was quite fitting, but I think didn’t quite play to their strengths ;-P

Chapter 1.8 A Day Off

August 9, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / 2 Comments

With the morning tiredness stretched out of my body and the thought of my belongings getting crushed by my new Automaton Helper pushed into the back of my mind, I dodged the panicked office lady that came dashing along the narrow street in front of my building, and proceeded towards the nearest food stall for some breakfast.

The Office Lady most likely came from one of the Capsule Hotels around the corner, mostly used by those poor souls who worked so far away from their families that frequently returning home during the working days just wasn’t feasible, and those who simply couldn’t afford anything else, and she was most likely heading towards the local Maglev Train Station which would bring her to one of the bigger corporate buildings in the business district.

Enjoying the fact that I myself didn’t have to hurry to work today, I finally reached my destination, a little bakery shop on a nearby street corner, which miraculously turns itself into a Ramen Restaurant once the morning rush is over every day.

As I entered the small shack I was instantly greeted with a loud and cheerful “Irasshaimase!” by the bald middle aged man working behind the counter wearing a “Baking for life!” Bandana on his head complete with a steamed loaf of melonbread with the stylized Japanese sunrise behind it.

Wondering for a second if this was a turn over bandana with “Ramen for life!” on the other side, I quickly nodded in response and quickly skimmed over the countless baked goods on the counter before pointing at one golden brown bun with slight traces of brown powder on it in front of me “I’ll take two of those and….that strawberry soy milk over there please.”

Looking slightly surprised for a moment the man nodded “Two Curry Chicken Bread Buns and that soy milk…strawberry right? Interesting choice if I may say so Sir, I haven’t seen you around before, are you new here or just passing by?”

Fully aware of my odd taste when it came to breakfast I just smirked in response and added “Yeah I just moved here a few days ago, didn’t have time for a proper breakfast the last days, but since it’s my first day off I thought I’d give your place a try, if I like the buns you might be seeing a lot more of me in the future!”.

Apparently happy at the possibility of a new returning customer the man put my buns into a paper bag and turned around to get the soy milk from the see through fridge. “Eeeeh busy work then? May I ask what you’re doing for a living young man?”.

Stretching my hands out to receive my order I thought about lying for a second to keep up the good spirit, but then decided that the truth would yield a more interesting reaction and a better base for the future, and so I simply replied in the same friendly tone I had used before “Imperial Service, I run the local branch since I came here.”

The old man was about to start laughing, but then he took a closer look at me, saw my trained tall body, my battle scars and my demeanour and froze in the middle of handing over the bag and soy milk, forcing me to take them out of his hands to keep the situation from becoming even more awkward.

“Eeee….ehehe…that’s great right? Imperial Service….good job right? Lots of work to do right? With all those…criminals around right?” came the hacked up response of the Baker slash Ramen cook as he slowly backed away one and then two steps, most likely thinking about all the petty little crimes he might have committed, and whether or not I really was only here for breakfast or was just the sadistic spearhead of a full blown Imperial Service Attack Operation on his Bakery.

It was kind of funny for me to see the reaction to my new work in the public, but I decided it was too cruel on the baker to let him continue with his train of thoughts, and so I slowly activated the payment application on my wrist Holoprojector and smiled at the man “Don’t worry, as I said, it’s my day off. Mind if I pay? I’m really hungry.”

His tensed shoulders slumped down a tiny bit as the man realized that I most likely wasn’t going to shoot him, and he proceeded to start the payment transaction, although awkwardly making sure that his back was hiding the area of the fridge that held the officially prohibited imported batch of PanO Softdrinks in there.

This was of course a baseless fear of him, the stuff was officially prohibited by the government, but it was nonetheless as commonly spread throughout the Yu Jing Empire as any other sort of beverage, and I actually liked it quite a bit every now and then. Plus going after stuff like that wasn’t really worth the time of the Imperial Service; we had bigger fish to fry, especially in an area like The Neon Dragon.

I was thinking about giving the man a small heart attack by ordering a can of the now hidden “Freespirit” behind him, but since the man was already muttering some sort of attempt to give my order to me for free as “compensation” I decided against it. The man was fun and if the buns were good I fully intended to return here more often, so sending the owner to the hospital that way really wasn’t in my interest.

Waving my hand in denial and paying for my order as normal I responded to the man’s offer “No need for hand-outs, I can pay for my breakfast, and you wouldn’t want the public to think that I could be bribed with buns now would you? Have a nice day! And maybe until next time!”

I left the Bakery with the slight sigh of relieve coming from the owner behind me, and headed for a small open space on the opposite side of the street where a couple of benches were standing under some trees.

It was rare to see trees in The Neon Dragon, and usually a place like this would be crowded by all the old folks around, but it was still early and in the middle of the week, so the place was almost empty as I sat down on one of the benches and unpacked my curry chicken bun.

Apparently almost empty wasn’t empty enough though, as the moment I wanted to take a nice bite out of my bun, someone suddenly sat down on the bank next to me, and some strange little creature bumped into my foot.

Before I could turn to the side to take a closer look at the person, a clear female voice broke my surprise “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with the Baker just now….so you are the new Imperial Service Commander of The Neon Dragon now?”

The woman speaking was as beautiful as any women could ever hope to be, which indicated a little artificial help, but nonetheless her emerald green hair and hazelnut brown eyes almost made my jaw drop as I glanced at her. Her voice was calm and perfectly intonated every word, which together with her perfect looks indicated special training or modulation of sorts, and the fact that she apparently heard my conversation with the baker across the street inside of the building meant that she at least had some sense enhancements in place as well.

Noticing my “analytical” stare at her she smiled at me and tapped her ear “Best enhancements you can get for your money and government connections. My Name is Miyu Onigokko, I’m the local Dragon Lady as people usually say, nice to meet you.”

Taken aback by the sudden revelation I quickly shoved away my curry chicken bun and shook the perfectly manicured hand she had stretched out towards me, an odd custom for Yu Jing really, but most likely she had picked that up during some dealings with foreign representatives, or whatever Dragon Ladies do all day when they are not in court sentencing enemies of the state to their terrible fates.

Glad that I hadn’t stuffed my mouth with the bun yet I replied as elegantly as I could muster “Nice to meet you as well, I’m General Yasashii Fuyu, and as you already heard, the newly appointed commander of the local Imperial Service Branch.”

Too hungry to really care and after realizing that we were actually of at least equal social status, I then stopped resisting the urge and finally took a bite of my curry chicken bun. Amused Miyu leaned back a little and mustered me from head to toe “Not bad not bad, I think you’ll do just fine, you at least look like you have seen your share of real combat, and you’ll get plenty more of that in this city for sure.”

Swallowing down my first bite I simply nodded “Yeah I’ve come to realize that as well, since I came here there hasn’t been a day without combat, this city is a mess. But today is my day off, so maybe I’m lucky and The Neon Dragon will give me a little break?”.

Holding her hand in front of her mouth in a very elegant way Miyu started laughing a little “Hahaha, well I wouldn’t be counting on that General, word is that there is a group of Haqqs currently preparing some sort of attack on The Pearl Turtle local Aleph A.I. node. I actually expected you to be there by now, which was part of why I wanted to talk to you……”

Stunned by this information I almost choked on my second bite of the bun, and just as I cleared my throat and wanted to reply to the Dragon Lady, my wrist Holo Band suddenly started beeping and the familiar face of Pheasant Agent Fu Bao appeared to inform me of just that situation.

Slightly ashamed of getting outdone by the Dragon Lady I rose from the bench and excused myself with a little bow. She just responded with a cheeky “Off you go General! Show them Justice!” and with her waving at me from the bench I dashed back home, informing Fu Bao that I was already on my way.

I just had time to realize that my new Automaton Yuki had for some reason tossed my prized Katana on the kitchen plate together with the Kitchen knives as I changed into my uniform, and to give her an angry stare as I retrieved the sword from the Kitchen and attached it to my belt.

Tossing her the Bag with the second Curry Chicken Bun and the Strawberry Soy Milk I shouted “I’ll be gone for a while, please don’t mess up things too much. And eat this…it’d go to waste otherwise.”

And with that I was already in the elevator, pressing the code that would send me down to the Imperial Service Command Center below my flat. Hurrying to work just like that office lady….so much for my day off….

Antenocitis Workshop Review Part 2 : Happy Panda Noodles

August 7, 2016August 7, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / 1 Comment

Hello Everyone!

In Part 2 (and currently the last part) of my Antenocitis Workshop Order Review we’ll be taking a look at the building I had wanted to order for over a year now, and finally got around to order. The Happy Panda Noodles Restaurant!

Happy Panda Noodles

I can’t say anything about delivery times because I ordered the building from a german distributor since that turned out to be cheaper with the pound to euro conversion and some very weird calculation problems I had on the Antenocitis Workshop Page (The normal price already included tax, then it added tax again, and then on my paypal payment site it wanted to add tax again! making everything cost almost double the original price in the end……maybe it’s some problem with where I order from (Austria) or with the conversion itself or whatever, or maybe I was just experiencing some weird bug.)

The Building comes with pre painted MDF and at first I was quite surprised when I opened the box, as some of the white parts (mostly the Panda itself) seemed VERY burned, to the point where I assumed they had some sort of production error or old laser lense…

But after reading the very detailed and informative instructions (which sadly were missing the last page for me..), it turned out that the white parts actually come with a protective sheet on them, and once you pull that off the MDF is beautifully white behind it.

Getting the sheet off can be a bit tricky for some parts, and I often used the back of my hobby knife to gently scrap it off, which yielded good results.

When assembling this kit I recommend you take extra time to very carefully read the instructions, and make extra sure to assemble the basic structure of the building properly.

If, like me, you don’t notice a slight bend in one of the slot in parts, you won’t notice this right away, but once you come to the later steps, you’ll suddenly be faced with something like this:

And it will be waaaaay to late to do anything about it because ripping the wall off will do terrible damage to the pre painted part of it, forcing you to repair and repaint it (if you even happen to have that specific colour of red around, which I didn’t…)

The round front part of the building slots in and fits surprisingly good and isn’t fragile at all as I first feared it would be, a very smart design choice there I must say! (Note that this part comes with a protective sheet on BOTH sides!)

Now it was at this part that I did the biggest error in my construction of this kit. I was so focused on making the roof section fit properly, that I didn’t notice a big error I was making while attaching the white parts of the side decorations.

On the front and the side everything looked fine, but as I turned (after a little time skip due to family distractions ;-P) to the back, I realized the terrible mistake I had made, and also had to realize that I no longer could fix it without brutally damaging the roof sections of the building……I had glued on the white parts too high…

(This part of the building shows signs of another metal grey bit with neon lights that should be added here, however this part wasn’t included in my set and the neon light stick was too short to fill the part as well if it would have been included…so maybe this is a leftover from their design process, or an alternative position.)

Now this is not the end of the world for this building, everything still fits together nicely and looks good in the end, but I was still very annoyed by my own carelessness, and so I hope this Review can prevent others from making the same stupid oversight.

Now as mentioned before this lovely product comes with already pre painted MDF and metal grey plastic/resin parts, which means that unless you really want to, there is actually no painting required.

Still I couldn’t stand having metalic grey products standing around in the interior of the building (yes this thing actually comes with interior!), so I ended up painting all the plastic/resin parts in the end anyways.

(As always, Miniatures not included and only added for scale)

Assembled (wrong) and Painted Happy Panda Noodles:

Everything looks quite awesome once assembled, and I absolutely LOVE the interior details and the way the doors where made (they swing opend and closed very easily), but as the last picture indicates, i have had a BIG problem with these 3 parts of the interior.

I don’t know if it’s because I screwed up at assembly somewhere, or if the mold was faulty or I really was supposed to do what I had to, but for me the three pieces where too big and too tall to fit into their designated spot, and trying to cram them in instantly popped the side out of the building or wouldn’t allow for the top to fit in smoothly.

So I had to cut away several layers of plastic/resin from these pieces to actually make them fit in, which not only required a lot of work, but obviously took away from their looks as well. (and I kind of messed up by cutting away from one at the top because it seemed the best part, only to notice that the other one had packages at that spot, forcing me to cut away at the bottom…).

Another part that was annoying me a bit was the fact that this lovely building, which even includes an interior, for some unknown reason does NOT include a floor! Why? Whyyyy??? The entrances even have a little step which would have made adding a floor very easy, and the interior basically screams for a floor, but nope, non included, and now every picture I take of the interior shows the outside floor….

So yeah, this turned out to be a very complicated construction process for me, and to some degree I am not sure whether that wass due to my own errors, or design/mold flaws.

However I will give the Happy Panda Noodles Restaurant a 9 out of 10. It is almost perfect, and if it were not for the not fitting interior pieces and the missing floor, this would have been an easy 10, but no floor in a building like that is actually a huge deal for me, and having to cut apart stuff to make it fit is quite troublesome for assembly.

I do however recommend the Happy Panda Noodles Restaurant for every Infinity player, no matter the board you are intending. This cheeky Panda (my wife keeps insisting that it looks like a cat pretending to be a Panda) could easily sneak one of it’s branches into the bloody desert, or an icy mountain top if you ask me, and it will greatly enchance any table you place it on I think.and I can’t wait to play my first game with it on the table!

TTCombat Terrain Review Part 2 : Oriental Bridge and Lanterns

August 7, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / 2 Comments

Hello Everyone!

In Part 2 of my TTCombat Terrain Order Review we’ll take a look at the Oriental Bridge and Lanterns set.

Oriental bridge and Lanterns

Just as with Part 1 the package arrived within 2 weeks and came in a nice perfect fit envelope.

The Sprues themselves come wrapped in plastic and come with a nice picture of the product on the front, and the instructions on the back.

This set comes with a lot of thin cardboard pieces which can be a bit tricky to cut out without damaging, but the only really troublesome part of assembly were the Lanterns, since most of the fiddly bits there were made out of the cardboard, and they easily get lose, don’t fit as tightly as you’d want to, and it’s easy to rip little pieces off if you get glue on your fingers, which can easily happen while trying to fiddle the thing together.

The Bridge on the other side goes together very easily and looks great with the carboard details on the side.

I think I was hoping for more with the lanterns, as they just don’t fit together as well as I wanted them too, but the bridges are awesome and look very authentic, and the lanterns can be forgiven when considering that the original japanese stone lanterns often look very crude as well.

The details on the side of the bridge don’t show that good with my traditional painting sceme, but the sides are slightly thicker thanks to that and I really like the bridges.

It seems I either messed up during assembly or they got warped due to some sort of pressure in the meantime, but one of my bridges ended up slightly angled and doesn’t stand completely flat anymore.

As with all my TTCombat Terrain Reviews I’ll also split this one into two categories:

For Infinity I’ll give this one a 5/10, it’s easy to assemble and the bridge looks nice once painted, but the lanterns just don’t fit for Infinity and just look too crude and boring for the Infinity Universe I think, and due to the bridges design it doesn’t work as bridges between buildings with most building designs (which was what I had originally thought of using them as), but if you want to build some island of tranquility within a japanese themed area of your Tabletop, it might work out well.

Thus for Infinity I can only recommend this set for those who want to build a traditional japanese styled area on their table, it really doesn’t fit into any futuristic areas and isn’t compatible with most terrain like that.

For other more traditional medieval japanese style games I’ll give this set a 7/10. It looks very traditional, the bridge goes together nicely and looks good, and in a medieval setting the crude looks of the lanterns can be forgiven more easily than in Infinity I think. I still would have prefered for the lanterns to be made completely out of mdf though, as I don’t think they’ll survive for very long without losing parts. I’m sure this set would look great in some sort of Temple Garden.

Once again I’ve got to say that the price of this terrain set is still very nice though, and if you are on a budget it’s well worth it I think.

TTCombat Terrain Review Part 1 : Torii Gates

August 7, 2016August 7, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / 2 Comments

Hello Everyone!

Recently someone posted a nice little Review of a japanese style hut from TTCombat, and as I took a look at their site and noticed the prices of the terrain….I just couldn’t resist and ordered all of their Eastern Empire Scenics Terrain stuff!

In this part of the Review of this Order, I will take a look at the Torii Gates.

Torii Gates

The package arrived within 2 weeks and came in a perfect fit package.

The Torii Gates sprues themselves come in a plastic foil with a nice picture on the front, and the instructions on the back.

As you can see, assembly of the gates is easy enough, with the hardest parts most likely being fitting the 3 top sections together without too much of a gap, and adding the thick cardboard roof on top.

Yes you read that right, the roof is made of rather thick cardboard, which works very well, but forces you to be VERY careful with your glue, less you rip parts of it off with your sticky fingers or so.

I am not too big a fan of the rounded “bases” of the Torii as it’s kind of at odds with the rest of the design, but that’s just a minor thing really.

(As always, miniatures not included and only added for scale comparison)

Painted Torii Gates:

I keept the painting scheme simple as real Toriis in Japan are kept very simple as well (most of the time…), and I really like that style.

I didn’t have time to play a game with them yet, but I think the Torii fit to scale very well (for big Torii anyways) and they look great on the table!

(Sorry for the lower quality of this picture)

Obviously they’d fit into a traditional medieval setting slightly better, but they work just fine for Infinity as well I think.

I’ll split my Review for the TTCombat Terrain into two parts, one for Infinity, and one for the Kit itself.

For Infinity I’ll give this kit a 7/10, it’s easy to build, looks nice and does it’s job, but for Infinity this could have done in way more stylish ways, with Neon signs or whatnot (some Torii have signs on the middle part for example), but if you are going for a more traditional feel (like I did) this is still a very good kit and I’d recommend it for your asian style Infinity Table any day. If you are on a budget this might even be a 8/10 because of the sweet price 🙂

For a more traditional japanese medieval setting I’d give this kit a 9/10, it’s easy to build, looks nice and very authentic, and is easy to paint as well. The only thing to improve I think would be to use round poles for the Torii, I know that’s hard to make with MDF lasercutting, but when I was in Japan all Torii I saw there had round poles, and it takes away a little bit from the classic design to not have that.

Corvus Belli Miniature Review: HVT Dragon Lady

August 4, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / Leave a comment

Hello Everyone!

I should have started this when I actually started with my ISS I guess, but I didn’t think about taking pictures of the boxes and unfinished models, so I decided I couldn’t do proper reviews for them.

But now that I ordered some more models for my quickly growing ISS Army it’s time to start reviewing them a little.

Today i will start with the model that will most likely be used the most in all my armies from now on….the lovely High Value Target Dragon Lady!

Dragon Lady

I was surprised to see how sturdy the umbrella bits actually are and how easy the model is to assemble when considering how frail the arms and umbrella handle actually is.

I do however recommend tightly securing the Dragon Ladies little pet creature (cow? pig? whatever it is…), I thought I had it savely tucked away until I’d come around to paint it, only to instantly lose it the moment I started cleaning my desk a little, and it took me 2 full on dumpster searches and another very close up desk screening to find it again (hiding in between two keys of my keyboard…little bugger!)

The Model comes with a surprising amount of detail, from the little bands of her corsette to the little decorations on her boots, this model just begs for an awesome paint job…or in my case for a better painter.

But since I spend all my hobby money on new figures and terrain, I don’t have money for professional painting services, and no time to actually improve my skills to the level this miniature deserves….so as sorry as that is, she’ll have to deal with my level of painting ;-P

Dragon Lady Painted:

She actually looks a little bit better than on the pictures, but the quality didn’t turn out too good on them.

I blatantly stole the umbrella design idea from someone named JotaGe83 who’s pictures of the Dragon Lady I found while googling for inspiration, and I think it turned out quite nicely!

I think the Dragon Lady is one of the best HVT Models of the range, and a perfect fit for Yu Jing. Het outfit is a perfect mix between classic and modern asian style and the little pet just adds to her awesomeness.

I really don’t think I should rate Infinity Figures as I am basically just a Miniature addict in full swing, but for the heck of it, I’ll give this miniature a 9,5 out of 10. The only way to make this model better would be to give her some sort of combat profile so she could go around and kick some ass instead of just standing around looking good! I think the little Pet deserves a Guardian Profile and she could easily be some sort of Pheromone wearing Geisha Assassin or whatnot ;-P

I definitely recommend this model for any Yu Jing player that wants a HVT, just give her some unique and awesome design to make her yours, as she’ll be joining you in basically every battle you’ll ever play!

Antenocitis Workshop Review Part 1: Stand Alone Vendors

August 4, 2016August 7, 2016 / Yasashii Fuyu / Leave a comment

Hello Everyone!

With the new month around the corner I decided to finally order some things I had wanted to order for quite a while now. Sadly I couldn’t order everything I wanted because they were out of stock at the distributor of my choice, but nevertheless I got the two most important parts.

For this Review I will focus on the first part of my order, which is the Antenocitis Workshop Stand Alone Vendors (as the title already revealed).

Stand Alone Vendors

I still needed some more fitting scatter terrain for my table, and what is more fitting for an asian city, than a bunch of vending machines? I mean really, have you been to Japan? There are 3 of those on every corner, and sometimes 8+ in a single small street, so how could I go without any for my The Neon Dragon Terrain right?

The set comes in a little blister and is as simple as it gets really, just 4 pieces of resin and 2 sheets of printed surfaces.

A little bit of trimming is required as some of the Vendors might have excess Resin at the base, while others have small holes instead, most likely depending on how much material made it in the mold. But since this side is the bottom of the machine, once you cut off the excess parts you won’t see anything of it.

The Vendors are tall enough to provide full cover for Silhuette 2 Models if they hide behind the front or back, although the way you’ll usually position them they’ll most likely just give partial cover.

I was a bit surprised to find that the cover prints were actually just printed on sturdy cardboard, but if I had properly read the description I should have expected just that.

I really wonder though why they didn’t go for stickers instead, as it would seem like a really obvious and easy to use option, and I have to say cutting out the middle part on 2 of the front covers was a pain in the neck, and cutting out all the parts properly took almost as long as completely painting all 4 vendors (which only shows how sloppily I paint I guess ;-P)

Once I managed to cut them out and added a little hardcoat to them to make them shine a little bit, I think they do look quite awesome!

(As always, Models not included and only added for scale..)

Stand Alone Vendors Assembled & Painted:

All in all I think this little set is nice for the price, but it is really as simple as it gets, and a little bit too simple maybe. Making each printout unique wouldn’t have killed them and would have added more variety if one would order more than one set, and that the printouts aren’t easy to use stickers is kind of a bummer.

I do however love that the printouts were done in chinese/japanese as it fits perfectly for my Yu Jing themed board, however if you are not a Yu Jing player it makes the set a bit harder to recommend.

I’ll give this set a 6,5, it could be improved by adding different designs, by making the printouts stickers, maybe by adding some neon parts to it, and maybe even adding more different vendor designs to make using more than one set more compelling (maybe something different than drinks? How about a gun Vendor, or whatnot, there are a lot of crazy vending machines in asia already, and I’m sure in Yu Jing the craziness would just increase!), but I’d still recommend it to anyone who wants some cheap nice looking stylish scatter terrain, even more so if you are building a Yu Jing themed board.

the gentle winter

A Infinity and Hobby Blog

Month: August 2016

Chapter 1.10 : Street Performance

Yasashii Fuyu

Corvus Belli Miniature Review: Wu Ming

Chapter 1.9 : Battle Report 4 : Sword Unsheated

Chapter 1.8 A Day Off

Antenocitis Workshop Review Part 2 : Happy Panda Noodles

TTCombat Terrain Review Part 2 : Oriental Bridge and Lanterns

TTCombat Terrain Review Part 1 : Torii Gates

Corvus Belli Miniature Review: HVT Dragon Lady

Antenocitis Workshop Review Part 1: Stand Alone Vendors