What is Infamy Miniatures?

Infamy Miniatures is the culmination of 22 years spent playing with and painting toy soldiers.

I've done a lot of daydreaming in that time and what you see on this site and will see develop over the coming months, is the outcome of those daydreams. Isn't it amazing what you can do when you get motivated, clear out your savings account and eat a lot of cheese before bed!

The collective

Rather than carry the burden alone I've brought in some very skilled creative folks to help make my vision a reality. It's been a crazy and sometimes painful ride, but I'm learning so much as I go and now the site is up and running things can really begin to pick up pace.

The initial aim is to release beautifully illustrated, exquisitely sculpted and amazingly cast miniatures (which is nowhere near as easy as you might think) and things are off to a pretty good start!

Each mini release will also provide plenty of opportunity to build up the background of that character, their gang, setting and so much more.

The eventual result of all this will be a veritable smorgasbord of content for me to munch my way through when properly developing the skirmish game, which I'm hoping will be out in a beta form at the very least before the end of 2013.

So there is a game?

Well, yes and no. There is a game of sorts, but it currently exists in the form of scribbles on scattered scraps of paper, insanely autocorrected notes on my phone and a great many anatomically incorrect doodles.

But, over the next year or so I will be using the releases of the models to further develop the world and spark many more ideas. Eventually I plan on bringing in an experienced game developer to give balance and structure to my ideas and occasionally slap me when enthusiasm gets the better of me.

Although fine details are hazy, Infamy will certainly be a skirmish game set on the streets of an alternate 19th century London, where opposing gangs battle it out for control of technology, power and finances.

The city's aesthetic is that of a steampunk fuelled violent nightmare, mashed together with a large amount of famous literary characters, each one twisted to suit the unpleasant world they reside in.

Some of the features that will make Infamy stand out:

• A risk reward activation sequence unlike anything you have seen before.
• A versatile roster system that allows total freedom in the setup of your gang, but rewards fluffy loadouts with easier advancement.
• Infamy accumulation means that the more in character you play the more infamy points you earn - and points mean prizes!
• Chaos on the streets - The streets of London are brutal and unpredictable. Each leader has his or her own level of control. Some embrace the chaos, others battle to control it. Either way, you will bend fate to suit your will and use the unpredictability of the city to impede your opponent or invigorate your own gang.
• Combo attacks, 20 hit juggle combos and fatality moves (these ones may not make the final cut!).

The 'brains' behind the operation

Hello, my name's James, I was born in Grimsby (about as fun a place as the name implies) in 1981 and since my first game of Heroquest in 1989 I've been passionate about toy soldiers.

I'm not going to pretend Infamy Miniatures is a huge, professional business collective. I confess, it's just me. That's not to say I'm not professional of course, (I have even been known to put on pants a few days a week when my busy schedule allows it) but deep down this is the passion project of a hobby geek with a dream. I think that's probably a good thing!

I have the strangest full-time job right now, as I'm a professional miniature painter. This means I get to do hobby stuff all day long. So far I still enjoy it and it remains hobby stuff rather than the dreaded (whisper it quietly) work. I'd love for Infamy to become big enough that it could be my main focus so I could actually paint some models for myself though.

As far as games go, I love Necromunda, Malifaux, Dominion, Scrabble, Mordheim and Warhammer Quest. Some of these will no doubt inspire elements of the Infamy game. How Scrabble will fit in is yet to be decided!

I live in Nottingham (toy soldier central); love to cook overly complex, experimental and fancy food (my palatable vs binable ratio is improving); read trashy sci-fi and fantasy novels and occasionally something 'worthy'; play computer games; consume whole HBO series in intense bursts and hang out with my awesome friends in the pub and drink cider (not too much though as I am a total lightweight).

In good company

If this sounds like a familiar sort of plan to some of you, well, it is! I'm a huge fan of Kingdom Death, Studio McVey, Banelords and most notably, Wyrd Miniatures.

There's no point hiding the fact that I've taken inspiration from their business models. I would be stupid if I didn't go some way towards following in the footsteps of companies that I admire.

They produce awesome models and treat their fans well. Those are noble goals to attempt to emulate. I hope that in time I can build my way towards something similar.

There's something their ranges don't have though, and that's a twisted interpretation of Doctor Jekyll, as a female, wearing a corset with an in-built chemistry set.

They don't have a criminal mastermind Sherlock Holmes tooled up with a giant steam and clockwork powered combat backpack either now that I come to think of it!