The Scoop on GenCon

[Ben Lehman]

Thank you for those pictures!

And, ugh, the Chinese on the Imperial Service sign is not done right! (it reads top-to-bottom, left-to-right which is never how you read Chinese, and also the line break is in a really awkward place.) The actual Chinese words are better than normal, though: maybe they asked someone? Maybe google translate is getting better?

Seriously, CB, please please please run your Chinese by a Chinese speaker first. At least a second language speaker (someone like me) but ideally a native speaker. You have fans in China!

[Errhile]

I actually like the way the Ariadna is going - the Grunts seem to be using some late 20 / early 21st century equipment. The vest looks way like Eagle ind. TAC-1 (rifleman variant), the handgun holster has a tigh platform that looks damn familiar (not a Serpa though, but pretty likely a Safariland), the backpack is almost-a-Maxpedition Falcon, the helmet is almost Crye Airframe...

[Mob of Blondes]

Seeing her costume in person... it's really impressive. Super professional. Not nearly as "out of proportion" as many people who are just seeing photos think. By the way, she also agrees it's slightly off from a normal proportion, but she literally took the model and blew it up to fit a 1:1 scale. She stayed faithful to the model and did a spectacular job for the short notice of GenCon's timing, her other projects that were being done, and for doing such an elaborate cosplay.

She should also stay faithful to own body (bored of seeing people in streets wearing X because is the trend of the season, no matter what body type, even if they look poorly in it and are uncomfortable), with all respect. In the end, the idea is that it looks like what it's supposed to be, you need to think about the differences, and is not just 1:1 of a miniature or 2D sketch. So when doing cosplays, go with something that is a good balance of already fits vs needs adaptations to fit the body. If you are tall as basketball players, you don't try to get into a R2D2 because making it big enough will look weird, and making as original size will mean it's like carrying a barrel around the waist.

Now, she did mention that she was going to work on the costume some more once she made it back home to England. She was going to re-do the chest plate, some of the armor plates on the legs, and maybe even the helmet a little bit to get it looking better and better. That's what I remember off the top of my head. Ms. Lyons, I'm terribly sorry if I've misremembered what you had said!

Which would go with the critics. She should also check the weathering (too extreme and even symmetric in some things, and none in things like trousers). Great she wants to improve it.

[Claudius Sol]

Whew...

GenCon is over, guys. I'm back in my room, relaxing my feet. It's been a long and very enjoyable weekend. Super fun meeting a lot of the forumites and sharing some good times. Angel was amazing. Nice, talented, humble, and more than willing to deal with my craziness.

Special thanks, also, to you guys! I hope you enjoyed my posts here.

I'm gonna be trying to come back again next year, but it might not be in the cards if I'm halfway across the world to visit family. We'll see.

BUT! You don't want to hear me being all soppy and emotional. You want news! You want information! You want action! Well, I don't have too much news to share right now. I will share it in a blog post for Data-Sphere when I can collect my thoughts on it all and get you guys a well written article. It's gonna be nice. Just a tease: It's about Acheron Falls.

And with that out of the way! Time to tell you guys about my day!

I woke up "relatively" early at 7 AM. Mind you, I wasn't able to go to sleep until 3 or 4 AM. I was (am still) tired. But that wasn't going to stop me from having some fun at the Infinity Team Tournament at 9 AM. I washed up and made my way to the convention hall. I showed up and my teammate, Enduro Joe, was waiting for me along with Nestor, who was running the shindig. Class A dudes, these guys. Nestor covered my cover charge at the bar we went to last night, also. (I owe you for next time, man!)

So... Joe played Ariadna. I played JSA. We were gonna SHAKE AND BAKE! For those curious, this was my list:

Kisaragi Lt (28|0)
Aragoto Spitfire (29|1.5)
Aragoto Spitfire (29|1.5)
Aragoto Combi (25|0)
Aragoto Combi (25|0)
Yojimbo (28|0)
Keisotsu Combi (9|0)
Keisotsu Combi (9|0)
Keisotsu Combi (9|0)
Guǐ Fēng Combi (EXP CCW, Chain of Command, Holoprojector L1) (9|0|12xp)

200/300 points | 3/6 swc
open with Aleph Toolbox : http://goo.gl/Tf7GVe

Round 1: I'm sorry, but I can't remember who we faced. One guy was kinda new. They played Corregidor (veteran) and Qapu Khalqi (new). His buddy was helping him out, though. Joe and I won the Lt. roll and opted for Initiative. After deployment, Joe went first and with "clever" usage of a Cameronian revealed a Hafsa from his holoprojector, shrugged off several damage 15 hits, and even killed off a TR remote before falling down. After the Cameronian's "heroics", Joe used his AP HMG Tankhunter to amazing effect and took out 3 models in one burst. It was spectacular. 2 Alguaciles and the Hafsa from before all went unconscious or dead.
Then the Corregidor fellow was up and he moved out his TR remote with mines up ahead of a couple of my bikers (Asuka and a Spitfire). The tricky Nomad machine placed a mine in the way to reach him. Besides that, not too much happened, as I recall. Memory is a little fuzzy. Didn't eat today and still super sleep deprived. The things I do for you guys ;D
After him, it was my turn. Tons of bikes screamed across the field. Asuka and the Spitfire mentioned before were safe enough to avoid the mine and TR remote. Yojimbo managed to move out with his Koalas (I remembered them!) and had them in a position to lock down the Haqqislam player's models (since he was going next, my objective was to make it difficult for him to do things). Then, with Yojimbo in position, I focused on the more experienced Corregidor player. I moved up my Spitfire Aragoto towards his lines, hugging cover and blasting away his line troops. Feeling aggressive, and wanting to push my luck, I forwent cover to the TR remote to get a shot at a model we suspected was the Haqqislam player's Lt.

The Aragoto split his burst and shot burst 3 at the Ghulam in the back and returned fire to the TR remote with burst 1. The three shots at the Ghulam easily took him down and set the Haqqislam player into Loss of Lt. The one shot at the TR remote managed to cancel out most of the return fire, but let one squeak through! The Aragoto went down with his ARM 2 doing little to help him (as I roll VERY low). The Haqqislam player went and cleverly removed both of my CrazyKoalas in a single order by moving up a Ghulam into range of both of them. The Ghulam did not survive, BUT allowed the nearby Iguana to approach unfazzed towards Yojimbo. Taking his shots and Yojimbo attempting to cover his defense with a smoke grenade, Yojimbo suffered a single wound.
Back to Joe, he moved some camo markers (Antipodes) into range to engage the Iguana. All that was left were small metal ribbons and an ejected unconscious pilot several inches away. It was very sad.

The antipodes then moved into good position to draw some AROs and fire from a Ghulam doctor (who we didn't want living) to raise up the unconscious guys. Taking grenades and rifle fire, the Antipodes managed to avoid the shots and engaged the Ghulam doctor while only losing one antipode near the covering Intruder.
With little left to him, the Nomad player shot down the remaining Antipodes easily. He then opted to bring in a Tomcat! We were in for some bad times on our backboard as the Tomcat proceeded to burn/hose down the antipode controller and a volunteer. Unfortunately, the Tomcat did not survive the encounter with our (mostly) well covered back board.
It was again back to me where I used Yojimbo to perform a coup-d'grace on the ejected Iguana pilot, earning Joe and I two objective points. At this point, our opponents called game as we had effectively tabled them.
Win for team Sneaky Vroom 8-2 or so.

Round 2(final round):
This game was a faction mirror match. JSA and Ariadna vs JSA and Ariadna. SUPER FUN GAME! One player was kinda new to the whole competitive scene, but one was a veteran from New York. One of the Mikes, I think. Sorry guys, I know the face, just not the name. Anyway, Joe and I lost the roll for initiative and ended up going second.
The Ariadna player went first and started things off with a paratrooper crashing into our side. Moving about Joe's camo'd Autocannon Tankhunter, Joe managed to land a solid Autocannon hit into the paratrooper HMG. But the tough trooper makes all his saves! The damn rounds just bounce off! Ok. I'm super tired. Many many things happened! O-yoroi rampaged. Yojimbo fell. Antipode controller and Spitfire Aragoto worked together to bring down the TAG in ARO. Combi Aragoto crashed through windows and vaulted a jeep to shoot at a keisotsu. Spitfire Aragoto hosed down a Gui Feng Keisotsu spec ops.
The game ended as a tie, 4-4! Joe and I killing over 200 points, but gaining no classifieds. Our opponents killing 178 points but gaining one classified.



At this point, everyone was tired and we weren't sure we'd have time for another round, so we called it. Joe and I won with 12 OPs to the next highest being 6, I think. Then 4 for 3rd, and I think 2 for 4th, 0 for last. Everyone walked away with plenty of prize support! Joe and I even got some awesome mugs!



After that, I talked a fair amount with Fernando, Tabitha Lyons, and Angel. I got some info which I'll post in a blog post at the start of the week. Sorry to be a tease.

Though... there is something else I learned. Unfortunately, I am unable to share that intel with ANYONE. Fernando explicitly told me not to ruin the surprise. I'll give a hint, though. It has something to do with Infinity. It also has nothing to do with Infinity. Stew on that for a while.

[Hero of Man]

Claudius, Kudos on keeping us all up to date on GenCon. You're definitely an asset to the Infinity Community in General, and DataSphere in particular.

[Claudius Sol]

Hero, man, I appreciate the recognition.

I do this all because the game is just amazing. The community is great. The models look fantastic. The company is super awesome. It's harder to find reasons not to do what I do than it is to find reasons to do it.

At any tabletop related thing I attend, I'm wearing that cap, man. If you see me (this goes for anyone), feel free to walk right on up and say "Hi"! I love talking to most everyone, doubly so for Infinity players.

But honestly, I'm no more important than any other Infinity player out there. Each one of us is as important for the game, its growth, and its community.

I'd do more on the official forums, but I seem to have awkward or bad timing and manage to catch it when it's down. That's the biggest reason I chose to post my GenCon coverage on Data-Sphere. I've not seen it go down once. Stable as a rock. Which I will promptly stand on for a pose.

[chaos11]

Thanks Claudius, you did a great job with your GenCon coverage, super jealous of anyone who went! I'm really excited for these new models, for 3rd Edition, for Acheron Falls... The waiting game begins!

[Lampyridae]

Seeing her costume in person... it's really impressive. Super professional. Not nearly as "out of proportion" as many people who are just seeing photos think. By the way, she also agrees it's slightly off from a normal proportion, but she literally took the model and blew it up to fit a 1:1 scale. She stayed faithful to the model and did a spectacular job for the short notice of GenCon's timing, her other projects that were being done, and for doing such an elaborate cosplay.

She should also stay faithful to own body (bored of seeing people in streets wearing X because is the trend of the season, no matter what body type, even if they look poorly in it and are uncomfortable), with all respect. In the end, the idea is that it looks like what it's supposed to be, you need to think about the differences, and is not just 1:1 of a miniature or 2D sketch. So when doing cosplays, go with something that is a good balance of already fits vs needs adaptations to fit the body. If you are tall as basketball players, you don't try to get into a R2D2 because making it big enough will look weird, and making as original size will mean it's like carrying a barrel around the waist.

While I understand this is artistic criticism, before we go down this road I'd like to remind people that Tabitha Lyons put in hours and hours of hard work for our benefit and that her 1:1 scale conversion is entirely the result of her skill and experience as an experienced cosplayer. Constructive criticism is appreciated but comments that people should wear X because they have figure Y is akin to telling someone they can't paint their Ariadna pink or fluoro orange, only with more serious social connotations. Comments about a person's shape and what they can / can't do are even worse. Let's respect the person and their work.

[Arachas]

Thanks a bunch, again, for covering Gen Con for us, CS. It was so great to get live news like this. We recognize the hours of sleep you lost over us and WE SALUTE YOU!

Watch out for Claudius' spoiler-filled blogpost soon...

[tinfish]

I really wish the Tech Bees and O-Yoroi pilot were sold out of the box as depicted in that cabinet
I guess I could probably just abouts pull of the Tech Bees, at great expense.. I suspect converting the other one would be beyond my abilities.

[M2Cat]

Claudius, thanks a lot for this news stream directly from the source.
+100 carma for you

@tinfish
You can always find a wicked and/or experienced modeller, who could convert the pilot/tech bee got you.

[mbdeyes]

Great work. Any chance you could maybe give us a timeline for when then might release this 'surprise'?

[Claudius Sol]

The big surprise (Oh, you guys're gonna love it) should be out before the end of Saturday.

... Maybe.

Gotta go through the editing/approval process as well as figuring out how the hell I'm supposed to write this all.
Oh well, wish me luck!

[jherazob]

Good luck!

[Claudius Sol]

Welp! As of last night, I have submitted my article for proof-reading and review before release. Ideally, I'd have it out by tomorrow, but I've not had to go through a review process before. It'll be a surprise for all of us when it comes out.

I've done what I can. Preemptively sorry if it comes out late!

[Scorch]

Welp! As of last night, I have submitted my article for proof-reading and review before release. Ideally, I'd have it out by tomorrow, but I've not had to go through a review process before. It'll be a surprise for all of us when it comes out.

I've done what I can. Preemptively sorry if it comes out late!

I'll take a last scan tonight and put it up tomorrow in the afternoon (GTM+1 that is, so your early morning!;))

Drums please!

[Harlekin]

Yeah! Sadly, I'm at a tournament (my first team tournament for Infinity) but this article will be the very first thing to check, when I'm back home.

[Mob of Blondes]

GTM+1

[Lord Sessadore]

Quite looking forward to reading your article, Claudius. Really appreciate you taking the time and effort to play reporter for all of us at home!

[Scorch]

Because of popular demand the article is up now, a little earlier than expected but we aim to please!

[Myrddin]

Ah no word on Varuna? And Vedic is confirmed but might not be in Acheron Falls?

I imagine Human Sphere: N3 is probably going to generate some hate if it comes out before Acheron Falls. Oh well, still a lot of cool things coming.

[McNamara]

So beside the Sygmaa Sectorial there aren't any real news?

Mercs in ITS might be thr "big" surprise, I guess.

[Hunter2k3]

Am I the only one who thinks HS N3 is strange? Since weeks bostria says N3 will be compstible. No need to throw HS an C:P away. And now this?

that's kind of discouraging, espevially for our Germsn distributor who just recently reprinted HS with some major effort to correct errors(nothing ruleswise, just text).
I believe they will be pretty pissed. Especially since CB announced N3 2 month after they reprinted 2nd edition too....

[Tony2805]

Thx for the Article, but it reveals more "meh" news than "yeah" news. Only one sectorial per Faction? No Varuna? Vedic Sector possible not included? That's a little bit disappointing...... .

[Scorch]

Ah no word on Varuna? And Vedic is confirmed but might not be in Acheron Falls?

Sadly no! I want my Varuna! Been eyeing that sectorial since day one, together with Vedic Aleph.

[tdc]

It does seem a bit of a let down. The only thing that was news was that human sphere n3 was going to happen....

Which is really sad since cb have kept on saying the other books aren't going to be made obsolete...

[BakuninLover]

I always thought that every Faction would be getting two new sectorials in Acheron Falls, supposedly said by Bostria?!? Or maybe I got it confused with that every sectorial eventually will get two more sectorials.

Varuna and Vedic is also the ones I am anticipating the most... Do we have any clue at all on when we could be seeing Acheron Falls?

[Bladerunner_35]

Awesome article! Reallt stoked about the White Stars (surely their unofficial callsign is going to be White Snakes!).

The Druze and later Scarface have always been my favourite miniature.

You have to have a cold heart indeed to not be excited by having a lot of smoke finally dissipate and rumours laid to their final rest.

I agree that news about HS v2 goes against what Carlos' so adamantly been denying. Still it's easily more than a year away so no big deal I feel.

Now QK will be but a stepping stone to future glories and war crimes...

Thanks Claudius!

[Berynius]

Am I the only one who thinks HS N3 is strange? Since weeks bostria says N3 will be compstible. No need to throw HS an C:P away. And now this?

that's kind of discouraging, espevially for our Germsn distributor who just recently reprinted HS with some major effort to correct errors(nothing ruleswise, just text).
I believe they will be pretty pissed. Especially since CB announced N3 2 month after they reprinted 2nd edition too....

Yay I too would like to know what that was about, it contradicts what Carlos said at the seminar, I hope it is just a misunderstanding, otherwise C.B. is at worst lying to us or at best not telling us how much the rules change in N:3.

[Claudius Sol]

What I think Fernando meant was an update for Human Sphere. I am not sure if it is going to be an entirely new book. As far as we know, it could just as easily be a PDF with updated rules and profiles. Why would the fluff change, after all?