Infinity Yu Jing Moodboard

We are in full swing with Infinity locally and I'm loving it. I've amassed quite a large collection of The Combined, which isn't hard to do with this game, and starting to contemplate my next move. Since I have more time to think lately than to actually paint, I'm not terribly worried about this derailing me from my 40k obligations, but it's starting to look like next year may be the year of Infinity for me. While I do still enjoy 40k, I'm enjoying it more and more as a fun with friends game, and less as a competitive one. Infinity on the other hand seems to have very solid competitive rules, plus is far easier to transport an army to remote locations. Anyhow, random tangent aside, I'm thinking that my second faction may end up being Yu Jing. I know, I know, I bought the USAriadna starter already... but after playing the game a few times now, I'm discovering that the play styles that I like aren't really encompassed by a rag tag force of freedom fighters. Actually, quite the opposite, I love playing the jerks that everyone wants to overthrow! This makes the idea of the Yu Jing ISS incredibly appealing to me. They're the boogie men, the black-baggers, they're the reason you don't speak ill of the state or the party...

Inspiration

When I look at the Yu Jing miniatures, or read the fluff, the first thing that comes to mind is Blade Runner. The dark, dystopian future of Las Angeles with a distinctly asian flavor. Coincidentally, I have an unpainted set of the Secret Weapon city tiles, which would feel right at home in this neo-noir setting.

Artistic Inspiration

The first piece of art that caught my attention was probably without coincidence, a piece of art actually drawn for Yu Jing, showing an agent being less than caring as he scans a suspect, while behind him you can see a higher ranked investigator watching the scene... Hell yes! Other art I'm inspired by is all manner of anything related to Blade Runner. Dark rainy cities with neon lights, moody personalities, and a wonder of what's lurking in the shadows, all under the constant supervision of a strong authority.

Miniatures

Clearly for my aesthetic choices, painting minis with strong lighting is a must. The Yi Jing miniatures lend themselves well to this, especially Father Lucien Sforza, who I think will look absolutely amazing with a fedora sculpted on for extra effect.

Scenery

Since I have my Secret Weapon City tiles still sitting comfortably in their box, the temptation to make an appropriate setting for this faction may just be too great. While I like the asian design styles of the game, I'm not a super big fan of an overly anime-like setting. Seeing as how this game only takes place about 175 years in the future, it's totally feasible that some places of the world still have their older architecture, though obviously it'll be mixed in with some newer buildings. Having a mix of classic brownstone style buildings, with sci-fi add ons, plus some newer architecture in between will go a long way to capture the feeling I'm going for.

This will undoubtedly be a bit of a project, but I think the results would be worth it! Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies, so doing a board based on that for a theme just sounds fun as hell. Having an amazing game board combined with an army that looks good on it thematically will be worth the effort. Now I need to see if I can con the wife into helping me with the terrain!