Blog Intro: The first post

So the first post here, very exciting!

So to start, I go by UberBranchez on this here wonderful platform, and anywhere else I can be found (twitch, twitter/X, Instagram, YouTube, etc.), although not all of those platforms see my consistent use. My latest exploits have been regarding the wonderful world of Infinity: The Game where the global community is in the process of wrapping up from the latest Global Campaign: Shattergrounds!

Infinity is a skirmish-scale sci-fi tabletop wargame that takes heavy inspiration from anime/manga art-styles, which showed very much in the earlier models for the game. I happen to primarily play a faction called Ariadna, which is a faction comprised of a joint effort from the United States, U.K., France, and Russia. This faction was sent off through a wormhole that closed, to which this closure caused a communication cut-off, leaving the expeditionary group isolated from the rest of earth. To save time, WarLore over on YouTube has a great video detailing the history of Ariadna, and a lot of background/lore for the entire game setting here.

Upcoming exploits include my continued on-again-off-again relationship with Warhammer 40k, where I mainly play a faction called the Astra Militarum; or more affectionately known as their old name: The Imperial Guard. I have pictures of my models and some games over on my Instagram, but I'll have more of that up in the near-ish future.

I have also been graciously gifted the Minimoto New Player bundle. So I will be getting accustomed to playing Bushido soon enough! The models, so far, are full of detail and are thankfully either a single-cast piece, or only need something small like a single arm attached, making building either a breeze, or a step I get to skip!

Some other games I play locally are Burrows and Badgers by Oathsworn Miniatures and Wild West Exodus by Warcradle. These get played sparingly, as there are not many local players for them. Burrows and Badgers is a fantasy skirmish game that can be best described as the Redwall book series by Brian Jacques made into a skirmish game. Wild West Exodus can be a described as a somewhat skirmish-scale wargame that is late-wild west (say Red Dead Redemption era), but with an alternate history involving lines, necromancy, and weapons that use the mysterious substance called RJ-1027 to shoot lasers while riding hoverbikes called Iron Horses. While a great game, Warcradle is currently focusing their efforts on a different game called Dystopian Wars, which is a same-setting naval combat game featuring various global powers in the setting. 

I can guarantee there'll be a flurry of posts coming up soon enough, as I re-post my battle reports from the Shattergrounds forums, along with reposting a lot of the battle reports from a local Infinity league we had earlier this year.

The purpose of this blog is to report the games I play, as I am finding my time to play games getting smaller and smaller, so I am hoping that starting this blog will keep me more focused on the games. I'll update the blog over time with the different pictures and games that I play, encounter, experience, etc.; so the blog with look very bare-bones for the time being.

For the locals who read this, thanks for following me here, and please give me any grief you want to give in person! For those here from the Shattergrounds campaign, thanks for following along with my weird catalog of games and ideas.

Finally, for my wife, should you find this, I swear this will help me get the pile of models I have painted a little bit faster, so I can post new battle reports using only the freshest of painted models.