We sometimes get sneery comments online when we describe Corvus Belli's skirmish wargame Infinity as a "Warhammer 40k rival", and it's true that the plucky little Spanish firm is a minnow compared to the Great Beast of Nottingham. Still, that's not stopping Corvus from trying its hand at a bit of GW-style trans-media expansion. For a start, it currently has two full Infinity videogames in development - and now, Wargamer can exclusively reveal, it's producing "a premium series of large-scale display figures for collectors and hobbyists".
The figures are being launched in a "two-tier collector program", Corvus says, with each one available indefinitely as a 1:24 scale model, or in a numbered, limited edition version at a slightly larger 1:20 scale, for a higher price. Both editions, though, are reportedly made of the same "high-quality resin and delivered as unassembled, unpainted display kits".
The first figure off the presses will be Shinobu Kitsune, the shadowy (and, officially, non-existent) ninja spymaster of the game's Japanese Secessionist Army (JSA) subfaction. Corvus' announcement says she's in a "dynamic action pose, capturing her signature stealth and lethal elegance", and it's quite hard for us to disagree there.
The new figures are being sculpted, manufactured, and sold by Mindworks, an Italian firm that makes and sells large scale display models of characters from various fantasy and gaming worlds - including, most recently, Trench Crusade. We don't have exact measurements, but, taking into account Shinobu's magnificent Tactical Rock, we'd estimate the 1:24 version must be around three to three and a half inches tall, with the 1:20 version around 20% larger (yay, math).
The 1:20 scale, numbered, limited edition version of Shinobu Kitsune comes with two interchangeable heads: one with an intriguingly tech-upgraded Jingasa hat, and a hatless head that lets her flowing locks fly. Only the swiftest fans will be able to snatch it, though, because it's a limited edition of 300 figures, priced at $106 (90 Euro). The 1:24 scale regular version is a chunk cheaper, at $59 (50 Euro).
Corvus Belli tells Wargamer that both versions are now available to preorder immediately from Mindworks via their US and EU webstores.
That pricing makes the regular edition Shinobu Kitsune around half the price of the cheapest Wētā Workshop Warhammer 40k display figurines: its range of $99 helmets. At 5 inches, those are technically a little taller, but most of that is the helm's plastic base, where the Infinity model is a complete resin figure.
And there's a less than subtle hint that we'll eventually be getting Warcrow display figures as part of this collaboration, too. "This series is about creating definitive display figures that honor our iconic characters, our fans, and Corvus' amazing 25-year journey," the firm's head of marketing Max Lattanzi says in its January 25 announcement, adding: "we're starting with Infinity, but this is a long-term platform that will grow across our IPs."
If you're a newcomer to Infinity, have never heard of Corvus Belli before, and clicked on this article because "cool hat lady", you can catch up on the company's rather interesting 25 year history in our recent retrospective feature. Alternatively, if you already know your EI from your Aleph, hop into the free Wargamer Discord community to chat wargaming with us, and/or share your take on this Shinobu Kitsune figure!