November is strongly hinted at as FINALLY being the month when the Morat T.A.G., the mighty Raicho, will be released.
Early possible concept art (I hope it looks like this!):
Let's all hope and possibly pray that this finally comes to pass...
I'm hoping that we're only a few weeks away from getting the November preview pictures too.
(Also, I can't get to the "Official" Infinity Forums while I'm at work - so anyone who can, please feel free to post all late breaking news and pictures here, ASAP! Thanks!)
On another note, that concept art... That really looks like Morat hair on the back as well as a Morat face. I like it being so openly manned. Lookin' good.
Ahhh that post by MarcoSkoll was so predictable, yet no less amusing because of that
I really hope for your sake Alpharius that the Raicho is divinity reproduced in miniature form, I would hate for you to be disappointed with it after waiting for so long
I'm sorry, I had to do it. One day I'll have to accept the reality that I can no longer torment Morat players with pictures of Pokémon, so I can't waste the opportunities when they come along.
More seriously, where did these "strong hints" come from? I've looked around the (English) Infinity forums and can't find anything that seems notably more solid than the normal hopeful speculation.
I wish I could remember exactly, but I do remember reading something along the lines of 'so and so spoke to somesuch and he said that November is Raichovember!'.
Carlos at GenCon said that November is Raicho month, and that players who have lusted for one must submit photos to Corvus Belli of their faces when they buy/receive it.
Pacific wrote: Does anyone know what the background is for it?
I'm kind of confused, it almost looks like some kind of massive cyborg panda (although still awesome though!)
I agree that the head reminds me very slightly of cuddly creatures. The mane probably won't look as fuzzy on the finished model. Not really sold on the actual picture there, but the concept seems great.
Just crossing my fingers now, hoping they don't goof up the pose like they did with Scarface and some of the most recent releases/pre-releases.
The CF wrote: I think the "fuzzy" part of the head could be Morat hair. It is manned, after all.
I realize that it's manned, but that can't possibly be the pilot's head on top of the model? The baby arms are the pilot's arms, right? No doubt that it's supposed to be hair, though. I just think that the sculpt will make it look cooler than it does in the illustration.
I think the hair is just meant to echo that of a Morat, in the ame way as the face of the Raicho mimics the face of a Morat (albeit armoured), the same way any helmet does.
Someone mentioned that Raicho means "He who kills with his left" in Moratnese. But the HMG is in his right hand, which arguably is his main killing tool.
If I had a rocket punch, I'd prefer killing with that. Blasting the enemy from long range is all well and good, but a grenade launcher that doubles as an explosive close combat weapon, mmm, that's the ticket. :p
Morat language:
Mo = the left
Rat = that which kills
Morat = that which kills with the left
If you look at the early models, they're all left-handed. (And there's enough of them that it's a very long shot that this was coincidental, particularly given their name.)
However, it seems to be something they're increasingly forgetting/ignoring - some of the Human Sphere art was right handed, and now there's the right handed Zerat sniper and Sogarat. Possibly the Yaogats with Panzerfaust too, but they are at least "dual wielding".
But yes, the Morats are (or, were originally) a left handed race. Given the culture and left handed dominance that would have to exist to make it part of the name they give their species, I would be highly surprised if a) there were many right handed Morats at all, and b) they were accommodated politely. I'd say we're talking a lot more extreme than the persecution of left handers in our own past.
O yeah, you know i kind of knew about the name, having read the book (honest), but i completely didnt realise they had actually followed through with this in the models as well, thats actually rather impressive...
However, yes, Im with Ronin, the HMG is for Suppressive fire to let me get close enough to rocket punch someone
Wish I was near some image editing software so I could do a riff on the 40k "move closer, I want to hit them with my sword" image. That would be grand. Either way, my Morat-happy friend should enjoy that. I quite like the overall design of it, very anime villain.
That comment about the etymology of the word 'Morat' got me interested, so I read up on some fluff. It was nice to get some slight explanation to why they all look alike. Same colour skin and hair for example. I was thinking about this while painting my Yaogat a while ago and had to choose which colours to use for the hair and skin. Why would they all need to look alike?
How do you (people who collect Morat) paint your guys? Identical colours or some variation?
That art of the Raicho made me start seriously looking at a Morat Aggression Force, even though I'm not overly fond of CA's fluff.
And I can do it with my favorite models. Suryat leuitenant. 3 Vanguard with combi rifles. Vanguard with HMG. Zerat hacker, Zerat Sniper. 200pts. Raicho slots right in to make it 300pts.
This also gives me a direct opposing force to my friends Aleph, and is really cheap.
I think that just pushed me into Morat Territory as well.
Oh, and I'm not dead!
I've actually been spending a lot of time painting, but a lot of stuff I've been forum AFK for a while. I'll try to remedy this as well.
I'm going on a weeklong vacation, and having just finished up a majority of my PanO, I now only have a handful of random models to work on... a djanbazan, a Hexas, another Muyib.... oh, and that hardass Morat Engineer with the Mk12. That will be the start of my slide towards the Raicho!
Seriously, that's just asking for trouble. Where do you expect we're going to get new information that just isn't out yet?
But on a similar note, I've been increasingly wondering why they chose the name Raicho:
A gamebird isn't exactly something that inspires a sense of awe.
Most of the rest of the TAGs fit into one of three categories - mythological (Jotum, Tikbalang, Dragao, Sphinx, Avatar), predatory (Squalo, Stingray, Salamander, Gecko) or historical (Uhlans, O-Yoroi, Maghariba, Cutter).
The exceptions are:
- Guijia ("Tortoise shell" - but that's a famous example of natural armour),
- Iguana & Lizard (both fit the Nomad theme, but the first is herbivorous, the latter is a phylogenetic suborder and too wide to pin down)
- Caskuda (An Acontecimento "Cockroach from hell")
The Raicho's naming really is a bit of an odd one out. Also, it's Japanese - which, given the Nipponese aren't supposed to be very popular in the Yu Jing culture, seems even more out of place in terms of becoming the official ISC name.
I'm 80% sure that Rai is lightning in japanese (I've seen a little too much anime in my life, and in Pokémon Raikou is the legendary beast of lightning whilst Raichu is a... lighting-mouse).
Maybe the Japanese Sectorial forces were the first to deal with the Raicho in combat, therefor getting it it's name. Unless of course Raicho is the Morat name, where it would mean something completely different and just happens to be named like something that already exists in an Earth Language.
I like to think it's the first one, imagining an O-Yoroi facing off against a Raicho, both with Close Combat Weapons out, ready to commence the badassery.
Dheneb wrote: train, feminist and legendary bird (all japanese)
The bird is actually quite obscure Japanese Mythology. I spent ages chasing down the idea, and it only appears on a relatively small fraction of lists of mythical Japanese creatures, and never with more than a few words of description. I can't actually track down any old time-y myths in which it features, either.
In Japanese, "Raicho" would typically refer to the Ptarmigan (and it won't easily show up on English searches, because it's not a common to use the Japanese name for it in English). It's a bit of an inverse to the name "Salamander" - which can either refer to mythological fire creature or a newt thing (although lizard like, it is actually an amphibian) - where while it is still both legend and actual creature, the legend is far less well known than the actual creature.
As for the train... I doubt nearly a two century old use of the name for rail transport is the first thing to mind when naming an alien death machine.
Heck, it'd be pretty ridiculous to call a combat machine after similarly old rail transport today, even with the benefit of that being a far more notable and memorable time in the history of rail transport - that was the time of the Rainhill trials!
As an example, try to name more than two of the locomotives at Rainhill. And then, remember that any of the five you fail to name are some of the most important and famous locomotives that ever existed, not a fairly average express train from the middle of rail history.
I did all this research! This is why I find it so weird.
Chemical Cutthroat wrote: Maybe the Japanese Sectorial forces were the first to deal with the Raicho in combat, therefor getting it it's name. Unless of course Raicho is the Morat name, where it would mean something completely different and just happens to be named like something that already exists in an Earth Language.
While not exactly, more or less you got it right.
Ok, shame on you all ! it's clear you didn't buy the books. Raicho's fluff is on Human Sphere book.
The Morat name is Raizot , but by "phonetic corruption", japanese troops of YuJing have made the term Raichô to become quite popular. Raichô, just like the Mythological firebird.
Btw, a funny tip: it is said half of a Raicho's weight is because of extra ammo rounds.
The CF wrote: I'm 80% sure that Rai is lightning in japanese (I've seen a little too much anime in my life, and in Pokémon Raikou is the legendary beast of lightning whilst Raichu is a... lighting-mouse).
I can confirm you 100% that Rai means lightning bolt or thunder in this word as well as in Raiden (or any of the Pokemons you named... ).
However that doesn't exactly mean Rai is "lightning" in Japanese. In Japanese language, words can be formed by kanji (pictograms from chinese origin that were imported to Japan around centuries III-IV a.C ) and kana (japanese characters that represent phonetic syllables). Kanjis have two ways to read them, a reading derivated from an old chinese form called "chinese reading", and the japanese reading. Each kanji has at least one "chinese reading" (but it can has more, most of the tims a pair, sometimes three) and it can has one or several japanese readings. When to apply the proper read is one of the things any student of the language must deal with, but in general when a kanji appears alone or accompanied with kana forming a word, the proper read is the japanese one. On the other side, when a word is composed by two or more kanji then 80% of the times the chinese reading is applied. In the case of Raichô the word is compounded by two kanji thunder/lightning bolt + bird. The japanese read for thunder/lightning bolt is "kaminari" and the corresponding one for bird is "tori", but instead of reading "kaminaritori" it is applied the "chinese reading" of each of kanji: RAI for thunder and CHOU ( ô = ou = long vowel sound ) for bird. My point here is that around little more than 2000 kanji are officially known and used in daily life and there can be more than one kanji sharing the same "chinese reading" . As far as I'm concerned there are around 3-5 common kanjis sharing the chinese reading RAI and only one means lightning/thunder, while in the case of CHOU there're are 20-30 commonly used kanji easy.
With that slander settled, I'd say in my defence that the obvious place to look for the fluff on a unit in the main rulebook is in the main rulebook and some of the almost cursory fluff segments in the first rulebook (such as the Raicho has) are not expanded until the unit reaches the website (Irmandinhos, for example). In short, the fact I missed the fluff passage in HS because my search wasn't 100% sure it'd be there - it's not in anyway improbable.
I would still stand by my earlier statements about the Japanese myth - it really doesn't seem to be a major one, and thus an unlikely source of naming.
If I go and search "mythological salamander" on Google, I get lots of pictures and stories. If I search Google Japan for "mythological Raicho" or reasonable variants (using my very limited knowledge of Japanese, I admit), I'm not turning up good hits in images, wikipedia... anywhere I looked. The name in common use seems to almost always refer to the Ptarmigan.
Also, there are phonetic corruptions that would seem more likely - unless Japan's culture doesn't stretch to using given names as slang/naming for weapons (as is common in western culture - see: Archie, Big Bertha, Bouncing Betty, Dora, Little David, Karl-Gerat, Schwerer Gustav....), I guess.
I'm going to paint mine yellow and brown with big black ears and a white tummy just for you. Maybe give it the tail too.
I was actually avoiding CA for a while, but I started to check out more of the models and I decided building a Morat force would be pretty awesome. Now my Raicho excitement also ramps up! We'll see if I can get this paint scheme to work... Not the yellowbrown one...
I think it'll be a 40mm base, but it's definitely sounding more like "Powered Exoskeletal Battle Armor" ala the "Grey Death Standard" from Battletech rather than the larger TAGs we all know and love.
Chemical Cutthroat wrote: The Gecko does sound fun. From what I interpret... I'm betting it's a TAG that fits on a standard Infantry base, rather than a 40mm base.
How cool would that be?
You mean like Achilles?
Actually I'm really looking forward to the Gecko as well ! Although presumably we won't have anything like the wait for it - The guy on the O-12 podcast the other week was talking about waiting for the Raicho for 6 years - I just hope beyond hope that we don't end up with the situation of someone linking the Darth Vader-meme 'Nooooo' soundbite onto this page...
Von Skyfury wrote:It might just be some photoshop trick to fool Alph =P
Let's hope not!
Chemical Cutthroat wrote:He's so Raicho crazy and I've yet to see his Jotum.
...not a euphemism.
That's what sh... OK, never mind!
And yes, I am a VERY slow painter - but in my defense, we just bought a house, and I've finally got the "Man Cave" section of the basement just about ready - pictures to follow!
-Loki- wrote:It would be so sad if the mini didn't hit his expecttions.
It will be awesome - I've NO doubt!
Kanluwen wrote:
-Loki- wrote: It would be so sad if the mini didn't hit his expecttions.
Sad and yet poetic...
"Get Out of Jail Free Card" revoked!
Chemical Cutthroat wrote:Its going to be awesome. I know it.
Yes!
Kanluwen wrote:I'm not obligated to do that. I'm just the messenger, bearing the news for Alpharius to be happyface about the Raicho.
Next month though, I'm starting the "Where's the Gecko?!" thread.
"Get Out of Jail Free Card" reinstated!
Also, that might have to be my new Infinity obsession - the Gecko! Still bummed that it didn't get 'climbing +'!
Actually I'm really looking forward to the Gecko as well ! Although presumably we won't have anything like the wait for it - The guy on the O-12 podcast the other week was talking about waiting for the Raicho for 6 years - I just hope beyond hope that we don't end up with the situation of someone linking the Darth Vader-meme 'Nooooo' soundbite onto this page...
Has the o-12 Podcast improved?
I haven't listened to it since the start - as it was too painful to do so...
Alpharius wrote: I'd say get your Gecko talk out of my Raicho thread but...
...help me out!
How is Zero-G better than Climbing Plus?
Opens up some really interesting avenues when playing with the Zero-G Terrain rules.
Bear in mind:
Zero-G Terrain: This is where gravity force is very weak or non-existent, requiring a different sense of direction and movement. Zero-G Terrain includes zones with atmosphere and pressure and also exterior vacuum. Possible Zero-G scenarios would be freight zones of great spacecrafts, the exterior rings of space or orbital bases, the corridors of spaceships or bases with disabled artificial gravity, etc.
Zero-G Terrain is "Impassable" for anything which does not have the ZGT rule...which applies to a very large amount of Corregidor models. Hellcats, Tomcats, and Wildcats all have ZGT. Zondcats have ZGT as well. Intruders and the Transductor Zond both have Multiterrain, allowing for them to pick ZGT if they know the rule will be in effect.
Alpharius - I thought the O-12 podcast wasn't that bad, although I have only listened to the most recent couple. A couple of the guys are pretty light-hearted and funny, one of them not so much and perhaps a bit too serious (although that plays them well off of each other). I usually have it on in the background when I'm doing something else!
Forward Observer podcast tends to be on topic an awful lot more, and is pretty good and entertaining, but they're often behind the news a little because they dont have any inside sources.
I spoke to one of the Spanish Infinity playtesters at TTN, he said that Angel paints this stuff really fast, while looking over his shoulder and chatting to people....
Makes me want to throw the whole lot of my stuff in the fething bin..
Well, here is "a" picture of Raicho (via Facebook):
I begin the step to step of Raicho, here a little photo If I will get 1000 likes in my page, I will show more little photos and when the miniature IS AVAILABLE in the WEBSITE OF INFINITY, I will show the step to step
I'm ok with it taking a little longer to come out, as frankly it's the only thing stopping me dropping my Haqqs and starting a Morat army and I'd like to get them painted before starting a new army!
I begin the step to step of Raicho, here a little photo If I will get 1000 likes in my page, I will show more little photos and when the miniature IS AVAILABLE in the WEBSITE OF INFINITY, I will show the step to step
Well... what can I say... Production has its own complexities that goes beyond what we can consider "cool", "gamewise", "Haqqislam humanitarian behaviour"...
After these months when we released 6 products/15 miniatures in October and now 7 products/11 miniatures in November the production staff is working at their 100%
The Raicho casted and assembled metal miniature is now in the skillfull hands of Angel Giraldez so, I dare to say that this miniature will be next December's big thing among other cool miniatures.
But... not all the Infinity players are CA/Morat players... there's lot of stuff to do, lots of troop gaps to fill...
Have a nice day, you USAriadnans.
So if lucky, it will be available by Christmas.
Most likely though it will be available here in the US come the New Year.
Ouch, thats disappointing....i can understand though. Anything to read into from the USAriadna comment or is this just how Bostria signs off in the English forums?
Here's a theory: maybe the Raicho is really slotted for November, but Angel hasn't finished painting it yet. I totally get not meeting a deadline because you think the paintjob is subpar and/or you didn't know painting it will take longer than you expected.
It's undoubtably going to be awesome. That's all that's important to me. They're going to display an amazing model that we're all going to drool over, done in a paint scheme none of us can replicate. And then we will rush to purchase the Morat Murder Machine as quickly as possible.
Mine will be tagged M3 on the shoulderpad for that very reason.
I unliked his page. Setting a target, then moving the goalposts, makes it obvious that he is not interested in actually doing what he said he would, only in boosting his online profile. Not interested in feeding his ego if he doesn't even bother to keep to his word.
There are a lot of T.A.G. models which need to be released, the problem is that they take up so much design time it's silly.
As for the unreleased ones, barring the Tohaa "Bio-T.A.G." and its Chaksa Servant, you have:
PanOceania Acontecimento Shock Army: Tikbalangs and "Toni" variant.
Military Orders: Seraph
Neoterran Capitaline Army: Clausewitz Uhlan
Nomads Corregidor Jurisdictional Force is missing three T.A.G. models at the moment. Two are the same model with different profiles(Gecko), but brand new and the last is the "Iguana" which has been missing since Human Sphere.
Those are the big ones that spring to mind, barring the Raicho...which no longer counts.
I mean, nothing more important, clearly, but I'm wondering just how much CB will be getting from me this month!
A Knight Hospitaller blister with a HMG for PanOceania.
A Sekban with HRL for Haqqislam.
Diomedes, the Ekdromoi special character, for ALEPH.
A Makaul warband box for the Tohaa.
Raicho box.
Nomad Riot Grrls box.
I mean, nothing more important, clearly, but I'm wondering just how much CB will be getting from me this month!
A Knight Hospitaller blister with a HMG for PanOceania.
A Sekban with HRL for Haqqislam.
Diomedes, the Ekdromoi special character, for ALEPH.
A Makaul warband box for the Tohaa.
Raicho box.
Nomad Riot Grrls box.
These need to be officially announced and show already!
I want to order a lot of that, and I'd like to use the Warstore's special sale to do it!!!
Don't worry, I'll start my own Tikbalang speculation thread once the Raicho is out
I actually want to buy a Raicho, but i don't know where to use him. And I'm really not inclined to buy any CA models: only the Raicho is calling to me, beckoning in my sleep, filling my head with Raicho-sounding voices.
And i actually don't have any idea how a Raicho-riding Morat would sound.
And watch out, T.A.G.'s can 'force' you to start collecting a faction you were trying to resist - witness me, the Jotum and PanO!
The Cutter is the first TAG I bought and it didn't force me to collect a faction I was trying to resist. It just confirmed which faction would be first.
A mate of mine based his entire army purchase on that faction's TAG - he went Haqq just for the marghariba guard (which is painted up as a tachikoma).
I'm also tempted by the Jotum, actually. The Maghariba I like design-wise but not how it plays out (too big of a footprint). I was actually thinking of either purchasing a Raicho or Jotum and use it as a stand-in for Scarface, just so I have an excuse to use it in-game.
It's Christmas-time, Alpharius! Things get usually delayed at these times, more so in Spain where Christmas is really big. We Filipinos Christmas really hard. I think we got that when Spain colonized us, since we don't have Christmas before that.
I also managed to pick up the Briscards Heavy Rocket Launcher, Moderators Sniper, Ajax, the new Uxia McNeill, 2 Ikadron Batdroids & Imetrom blisters, Ekdromoi, Sekban, Phoenix and Scarface & Cordelia.
A belated wargaming present to myself because I didn't get any from anyone else!
And that's it - no more wargame stuff this year, I promise!
)
of course it is....thanks Kan.
