Infinity Miniatures Painting: Nisses, Croc Men, Corp, and Fusiliers

primed and ready for paint

Last year Michael and I decided to jump into a table top miniatures game.  I did some research and picked Infinity.  I had heard good things and the theme was a fit for what we were looking for (and the male gaze isn't too bad if you pick and paint your minis carefully).

I started out by buying the Operation: Icestorm starter set.  It comes with 14 figures a small play mat and some cardboard terrain pieces.  It is not cheap but is a good deal.  We jumped in, liked it, and then I fell a bit down the rabbit hole.

More than a year later, I've built my own terrain, bought more units, constructed boxes to store them in, and started painting.  So only a little down the rabbit hole.  Table top miniatures games are not something to get into lightly.

Painting!
I used to paint minis for Dungeons & Dragons in high school.  A little after college I painted the old minis from Robo Rally.  Clearly it has been a while so I did some research, picked up supplies, and got started.

First off, I decided to group the minis we had by color schemes and paint them together.  Hat tip to the Esoteric Order of Gamers for this tip.  I picked 6 minis from Michael's Pan Oceania army that did not belong to any particular sectorial army, superglued them to their bases, and applied two coats of white automotive primer.


Then I painted.  The idea behind painting a group is to open a color, apply it to every mini where needed, let that dry, and repeat with a new color.  The concept is to save paint from drying on your palette and save time waiting for paint to dry on a single mini.  It worked well for me.

After I was done painting, I applied the magic: Quickshade from The Army Painter.  (Links and details on material at the bottom.)  Again, hat tip to the Esoteric Order of Gamers for this tip.  I painted the stuff on, cleaned off excess, and it really added depth to the details.  I think it really shined on the Nisses white cloak as you can see below.  But the stuff does leave a shine, so I finished the minis with a spray of Flat Lacquer Overcoat.

Basing
While I was buying quickshade and some glue from Army Painter, I picked up some basing supplies -- grass, rocks, etc.  This is where I tagged out and Michael tagged in.

He would squirt some basing glue on the top of the base (basing glue looks a lot like regular old craft glue, but came with the kit I bought).  Then smooth it out into a thin coat with a paint brush.  Then stick on what ever he wanted for that base.

Michael had two things he wanted me to pass on.  First: apply big things first.  Once you drop a layer of grass or snow to the base, there is no uncovered glue to stick on your rocks or bushes.  So he learned to put down any rocks or bushes first then finish it off with the ground cover.  Also, he discovered that you can put snow on the troops themselves.  Note the Fusilier below with snow on his shoulders.

Results:

SVALARHEIMA NISSES

CROC MEN

NEOTERRAN CORPORATE EXECUTIVE

FUSILIERS

Some are a little rough around the edges, but over all I am happy with this effort and Michael is excited to base the next batch I just finished painting.

Supplies
Below is a list of what I used for this paint.  Besides the Esoteric Order of Gamers, I also owe a big thank you to the How To Paint Miniatures web site.  Particularly this list of materials.

• The Army Painter Miniature & Model Superglue
• Dupli-color automotive primer (white) which I bought at a car shop
• An assortment of acrylic paints from a craft store (Reeves paint in my case)
• Metal base from Citadel
• Brass paint from vallejo
• A small plastic palete
• Artists Loft brush sets from the local craft store
• The Army Painter Quickshade (Strong Tone)
• Model Master Lacquer Overcoat (Flat) from the local hobby store
• The Army Painter Battlefields Basing Set
• Also Black Battleground and Ash Grey Flock from The Army Painter