Infinity Yu Jing Hǔláng Shocktrooper (SMG)
review by Alapai
The Hǔláng (jackal) Shocktroopers are Yu Jing units from Corvus Belli’s Infinity miniatures game so named for their vicious melee-bases assaults as well as their lack of discipline and come with a couple CrazyKoalas, essentially mines that chase enemies that get too close. But, as will my other reviews this year, I am less reviewing their usefulness in a game of Infinity, but the way they can be used as hobby models.
The first thing to keep in mind with these and some of Corvus Belli’s other minis is that they are metal miniatures, which are more of a rarity these days. Metal miniatures used to be much more common, but the advents of technology have made plastic miniatures a lot better than they were back in the day and so they are used more often than metal miniatures now. There are still some metal ones left, but they are few and far between. When working with metal minis, be sure that you DON’T use clippers meant for plastic or plastic glue, as those will not work on metal.
As with some other older minis I’ve also put together, there weren’t any instructions for the minis in this kit. There wasn’t much to attach, so it wasn’t too hard to figure out, but because there weren’t instructions, I didn’t realize that the bases had slots in them that you were supposed to cut out for the minis until I got to putting together the Shocktrooper. The CrazyKoalas each had an Infinity logo attached to one of their feet and I didn’t realize that I was supposed to use that to attach the model to the base as more support than just attaching at their tiny feet. By the time I started the Shocktrooper, it was obvious there was a peg that attached him to the base and I then realized I should have kept the Infinity logo attached to the CrazyKoalas.
One other thing that these models had, that seemed to also be accurate with other metal models I’ve put together, is that the fittings for the components were much looser than I’ve experienced with plastic minis. As a result, I scored the sides that were going to be attached to each other so that the lines would run perpendicular when attached, then glued the sides so that there would be more glue on the points to hold them together better.
To store my minis, I use some cases from TABLEWAR that have metal sheets as the shelves in the case. To keep the minis on the sheet, you use magnets on the bases to attach the minis to the sheet. As such, I really appreciated that the bases for the Infinity models had a space in the bottom of the base that you could easily fit 3mm magnets into, although I did have to add some additional magnets to the Shocktrooper as he was just too heavy for one magnet.
Something I learned I should have done, but did not do properly was wash the minis to prepare them for paint. Just some basic soap and water and brushing them can help make sure that anything else on them that would stop paint from sticking gets removed. As I did not do this, the primer I used had a couple issues sticking in certain places, leading to paints not properly sticking to the minis. It wasn’t the end of the world, but next time I paint metal minis, I’ll definitely put a little effort into cleaning them up first.
My paint scheme was pretty simple. I painted a few parts white in order to use SpeedPaint markers on them and otherwise used Playmarkers to paint the rest. While I’m not reviewing the paint markers specifically in this review, I do have to say that they are probably my favorite way to paint at this point as they make getting a single color incredibly easy.
The minis themselves, like other metal minis I’ve worked with, did feel a little less easy to paint than plastic minis. Because the minis were so few pieces, all the greebles are built into the piece they’re on, making for a mini that feels somewhat claustrophobic. Part of the claustrophobia might also be because of not washing them as well, as there might have been more primer than I would have normally used just to get it to stick to all the places properly.
One thing I do really like about Infinity minis is the design. I’m a sucker for mechanized armor and the Shocktrooper and CrazyKoalas definitely are up my alley design-wise. The Shocktrooper’s futuristic armor matched with his sword makes for a really neat contrast of present and past. The CrazyKoalas have a cute design, resembling a koala, while also having that same armor-style as the Shocktrooper, again making for a contrast of cool and cute.
If you are looking for some sci-fi style miniatures from a future Earth and aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty with some metal minis, I do think that Infinity minis are a good choice for some really cool designs. Just be wary of whether the minis you are getting are plastic or metal and be better prepared than me when it comes to assembling and painting your minis.
Infinity minis are available now from our webstore.
