Aristeia!

By: Dozer

Aristeia! is now a thing.

I heard about this at Rumble at Route 66 and you can think Bobby Whisky for that. Warcors getting drunk, loose lips sink ships... or drunk Canadians become easy friends with folks and get ignored when the secrets are being whispered among the drunk.

I kept my lips sealed and enjoyed getting the behind the scenes look as some of the leaders of the USA Infinity Scene talked about the new game. There will be fancy dice and cards it will not be like Infinity mechanically - it's a whole new game. They just share the fluff. Same idea for the Infinity RPG but they did craft a conversion set for putting your characters on the table.

Beasts of War posted the first reveal of the minis and an interview with Carlos on who's the who of the game. My sole question is yet to be answered: What scale are these minis?

These come right after the leek of the characters from Outrage. Leaving us with a ton of character minis from Corvus Belli instead of nameless unit minis. The change of paces is nice and I like the minis so far.

So I'm going to do a quick review on the minis we've seen and how I would proxy them into my Infinity lists.




Maximus

Covered in Mototronica colours (a PanO megacorp) and sporting a shield from a Jotum, Maximus looks like the classic champ. I love the look of this mini. It's huge and the armour looks beefy. I'd love to see what his helmet looks like and see an alternate sculpt. He's the leader and champ most years so we're looking at the PanO of the games.
**** - Above the Standard

I'd snag a second copy of the guy put on a helmet. I'd also load a weapon on the off hand and use him for a PanO heavy armour mini.

Will Bill

Corvus Belli made a classic look futuristic with the small details. The robotic hands, the armored vest but it still keeps the classic look with the revolver, pants and hat. Not my favorite mini of the set but one that still comes up to the standard we can expect from Corvus Belli. I like the idea that he affect the cards that are used in the game and think it's a neat idea for a mechanic reminding me of the RPG Deadlands.
*** - Meets the Standard

I don't much use of this mini in Infinity outside of a Merc or even some USAriadna solo. I'd try to swap the legs and replace it with a more modern combat pants style that I think would look really nice.

Gata

I see what they are trying to do here. The 'cat girl' thing has never been done right in Infinity and this is there best attempt at the style. Surprisingly they pull it off, she looks like she in motion and not a pin up. I would have liked to have seen a different pose because I love the image but not the mini. The cat mask is slick. I also liked hearing about how she is the one who scores lots of points - evidence to a scoring mechanic.
*** - Meets the Standard

Being my second least favorite she would not be top of my list. Although with a few pieces I'd make her into a Riot Grrl. Up armour the body, add the common Riot Grrl plates and vola another hyper-punk lady in power armour ready to kick in your teeth.

Mushashi

I love the image and the mini is also nice looking. The pose is not a reserved as the last Mushashi mini but it's a nice one. I would have liked to have the hair on the mini more like the hair on the picture, a bit messy.
**** - Above the Standard

I'd use this as another proxy for my favorite Mercenary mini and my JSA staple Mushashi. I would also get a second on and put a Imperial Agent helmet on it, smooth the shoulder guard down, making it a Samurai trained JSA hunter in the vein of Okita Sōji of the famous Shinsengumi.

Pavarti

The ALEPH construct from the original event before they started letting in humans. My least favorite mini of the batch but still fantastic looking mini. I'm  not sold on the wings but it's got some great details with duel SMGs, flowing hair, and defiant pose.
*** - Meets the Standard
Outside of making a female Tiger soldier, another Ko-Dali mini, or some light ALPEH jump troop there is very little I'd use this mini for. This may be why it's my lest favorite.

Luna

Second favorite mini of the batch of eight. Lunah already got a dynamic looking mini over the last couple of months for Infinity as a Mercenary. This one is less kinetic and more poised. I love both of them but I feel like I would have used this mini for the Infinity miniature and the dynamic posed mini that we currently have as my Aristeia! mini.
**** - Above the Standard

This is a nice looking proxy for any sniper mini or simply as Major Luna. I would swap the tactical rock for an ammo box, otherwise I would not change a thing to the mini.

8-Ball

The first Nomad Bakunin Aristeia! mini and it's a Kung-Fu panda. Another Tank but unlike Maximus 8-Ball is a bruiser ala WWE. There is a lot of character in this very unique mini.
**** - Above the Standard

I would do nothing to this mini. It's a super sized Morlock or Pupnick. I could also you it as the Chimera by modding the staff into a whipe, but otherwise if it's not Bakunin this will not proxy a thing.

Hexxer

My favorite miniature of the set. It looks like all three ships made up a super hacker. It looks like the nightmare child of a Interventor, Rev Custodier, and Bandito. The pose looks slick. The terrain peice at the bottom should be easy enough to remove if I don't want to use it but it looks fine in most cases.
***** - Challenges the Standard

Using this in Infinity, my first idea I would be drill out the face and sculpt a new face or cut of Kusanagi's face to put in and use her as a new Kusanagi mini with other minor changes. We're talking easy proxy for Interventor, Bandito Hacker, Reverend Custodier, or even by adding a weapon making the mini a female Sin-Eater. The aesthetic fits units from all three ships. It can be a Zero, Spektr... there is lots a Nomad player can do with this mini.