ToMB Month 2b: Pigs and Pigtails

So it's the end of Month 2 for the Tale of Malifaux Bloggers, and it's time to show you what I've been painting! 

As of my last ToMB post I was left with a few options for this months purchases. Either I start working on getting some models for McMourning to summon, or I try and add some models who don't need to stay close to the core of my crew (ie. McMourning and Sebastian). In the end, I decided on a Nurse and Canine Remains....wait, what? 

Okay, so it doesn't necessarily cover what I've been looking for - that'll have to wait another month. But the Canine Remains should pair well with my Poison-granting Autopsies and lets face it - the Nurse is plain amazing with or without McMourning (but especially with!). 


Spending some Moneys

As usual, I'm using prices from http://elementgames.co.uk/

Hog Whisperer £9.34
Left from last month: -£2.61

Left for next month: £8.27

I'll admit, I feel a little guilty using a limited edition model like the Gremlinette for this challenge, since she's all but impossible to find these days. But she's been begging for a paint job for some years now and I can't think of a better proxy for a Nurse.

The closest approximation to my Gremlinette would be the Hog Whisperer (who comes with a piglet), so that's what I've listed as my purchase for the month. If I didn't have the Gremlinette though, I'd probably use a Slop Hauler. Rules-wise they're the closest Gremlin approximation to a Nurse and thus wouldn't be too hard to mistake for anything else. 


Spare Parts

Anyway, while the Gremlinette's been sitting untouched in my box, the Piglet was re-purposed from an existing model I'd painted years ago;

I have (had?) three of these little guys, and they started life as night Terrors for my 1st edition Dreamer crew. All well and good, except in M2E Dreamer lost the ability to hire Night Terrors. So my magical flying piglet proxies have been left without any rules. :( 

Anyway, I removed the wings and rebased one of the piglets, leaving me with this pair as my models to paint for the month;

I was originally going to cut a slot into the Rootbeer base to glue the Gremlinette's tag into, but as it turns out the transparent bases are much more brittle than the standard ones, so I instead just removed the tag, drilled a hole through her foot and pinned her in place. The holes in the piglet were filled with greenstuff, of course. Other than that I did no converting for this pair - I was relying on the paint job to convey what minions these are supposed to represent.

Anyway, onto the finished products! Apologies for the lighting on the pics - hopefully I'll do a better job next time. :P

Gremlinette "Nurse"

It took some weeks, but the rare talents of Sebastian II eventually convinced Dr McMourning of the value of Gremlins as more than just spare parts. Most are useless of course, but now and then a gremlin would prove him or herself capable of working in the Lab without losing limbs (both to the undead creations and McMourning himself). Oddly, most of them have been females and so McMourning has dubbed them his "Nurses". The duties of these Nurses are much the same as their human equivalents - assisting McMourning in his surgical work and administering "medications" to the test subjects. The lifespan of a Nurse is typically short, but there's always more than enough volunteers willing to replace them. 

Porcine Remains

When he first came to the Bayou and Gremlins were proving hard to catch, McMourning's initial test subjects were Piglets. The good Doctor was not going to stoop as low as pig farming but once the mother was dealt with, her litter made for a good source of material for his work. Fortunately, the results of his experiments were as successful as his original work with Malifaux's local dog population. His new "Porcine Remains" proved just as loyal and hardy as their furry cousins, although they regrettably did show a tendency to eat McMourning's other creations and in some cases, themselves. Their ease of creation have encouraged McMourning not to abandon his new undead critters altogether, although it did him the impetous to renew his studies on the other dominant species in the Bayou.

That's it for this week. Next time I'll report on how my games with McMourning are going, and admit to a horrible, horrible mistake I've made. ;)

Until next time,

Adrian

State of the Collection, March 2015

So last Friday night, with my planned game at the local club cancelled I decided to pull out my Malifaux collection. All of it...

Yep, that's a 6'4 table mostly covered in Malifaux minis! It took a full three hours to unpack and repack them, but having never seen my entire collection in one place before I'm very glad I did.


Anyway, want to see some closeups? ;)

Neverdita Ortega. My Neverborn-themed Perdita crew remains my absolute favorite Guild crew. If I ever go back to playing Guild regularly, this bunch would definitely see alot of table time. :)

Sonnia Cridd. Who likes fairy floss? Sonnia, that's who! 

Dead Justice. Arguably the only reason I have her is the fact that she was a Nightmare Release The Scales and Executioner (a Wild West Exodus model, and hell to assemble) were added for the Rainbow Challenge.

Lucius. I actually painted the core of his crew while I was on a cruise with my wife (she's cool like that). Later additions included the Riflemen and Scribe, the latter being a metal Puppet Wars Lucius figure. 

Seamus. Damn you, broken arm Belle! I really need to fix that. The superbly painted Avatar wasn't my work - it was actually a gift from Bacms via the Malifaux Christmas Exchange last year. Same goes for Rafkin in the next pic...

McMourning. You know I think the problem I have with these models is that they don't really fit together as a crew. As a Guild Master I think the green bases would work, since they stand out as the "resser" part of the crew. But in Resser? Not convinced. 
Credit goes to Fibblewold for the Guild Autopsies - another great present recieved via last year's Malifaux gift exchange. :)

Bayou McMourning. My second McMourning crew and IMO, a vast improvement on the first. This guy's a work in progress for the Tale of Malifaux Bloggers this year. I've just finished a Nurse and Porcine Remains to add to the crew, so pics of them will be up pretty soon. 

Molly Squidpidge. Somehow, for some reason, Molly has become proxied puppet crew. It's not complete of course - I bought a bunch of extra puppets during the last Black Friday Sale, so at some point I'll hopefully expand these into a "full" crew.

Kirai. So many models for so few points. I'm pretty sure this is the hardest crew to start these days, purely because you need so many figures just to have both her base crew and the required summons. 

Professor Marcus. The third Master I played after Pandora and Zoraida. Marcus was a model I didn't like initially, but grew to love as I was painting him. it was also the first time I'd tried painting dark skin and I'm glad to say he turned out pretty well!

Also of note is Cojo, whom I painted as part of a one hour painting challenge during Gencon '14. Given the time constraints and the need to mix my own pink, I'm pretty happy with how he turned out.

Kaeris. No wings?? Are you Mad?! The decision to replace her wings with a backpack was actually a practical one at the time, since she would fit in my carry case far easier. I like her as it so I don't regret the decision. In fact I think it fits a little better with the slight "Sciencey" feel I was trying to go for (the colour scheme vaguely matches that for the game Portal...a game I've never played, oddly enough). 

Rasputina. I've never put less effort into a crew, which at the time reflected my lack of interest in her. Fortunately I was wrong, and if I move onto Arcanists this will probably be the one of the first crews I'll be looking to redo. Not because I don't like the transparent plastics (quite the opposite), but because I doubt Wyrd will be releasing the rest of her in-theme models in the same blue plastic!

Ramos. Like Raspy, this was a crew I painted just to tick him off for the Rainbow Challenge. Unlike Raspy, I still don't like how he plays. :( Moving on...

Colette. I went for a bit of a "Goth Chick" scheme for these girls, with orphanage bases to add to the creepiness. They turned out well enough but for some reason, I just can't get excited enough about Colette to put her on the table. 

Lilith. Another of my earliest crews, I think this was the third one I bought after realising I needed her Tots and Mature Nephilim. In the background you can see my Hooded Rider. I'm immensely proud of those snakes. They took ages to get right but they interlock well enough to be all but impervious to accidental bumps. 

Pandora. My first crew, and given the bubblegum pink scheme it probably shows! 

Pandora #2. Despite how dated they look, I couldn't stand the idea of repainting my original Pandora crew. So instead I made these guys. The original Avatar Pandora made for a great (if extravagant) model for my Master and good old Nightmare Teddy looks even more massive when surrounded by my Evil Baby Orphanage minis (representing Candy, Kade and Iggy of course).

Zoraida. My second crew, purchased back early in 1st ed when Pandora was, well broken. Nobody was really talking about Zoraida and so I decided to give her a shot. I think I played her for a good 1.5 years before moving onto a new challenge. She remains one of my favorite Masters and at some point I'll have to come back to her to give her a proper run in 2nd ed.

Collodi. Not my favorite Master, but at least his paint job turned out okay. I'm pretty happy with my Effigy proxies though - that Puppet Wars set was the best thing I ever bought :)

Dreamer. With three Nightmare models (inc. Pandora 2's Teddy), the OOP Avatar and 5 Limited edition Puppet Teddies, this is easily my most expensive (and heaviest!) crew. Maybe one day I'll sell it to put my daughter through college...

The Viktorias. The Viks where my very first non-pink crew. Looking for some variety in my painting I decided to use a variety of different colour schemes for the Mercs to emphasize their independent nature.  I also wanted them to have a bit of a "Power Rangers" vibe.
The unbased Taelor was the second model I did for the Gencon 1 hr painting challenge. I doubt I'll ever use her, but she came second in that round so I don't think I'll get rid of her either!
Also, there's the Puppet Hans on the left - the only reason he exists is that I needed a Wyrd-legal proxy for him at Gencon. Ironically I never used him (and still haven't), but he's an awesome model nonetheless.

Tara. It's good to see her regular release box coming out in the next few months, although I have to say I've no intention of replacing my Nightmare crew. Even if the Nothing Beast is a pain in the butt to transport! 

Von Schill. There are some paint jobs I really love in this crew, especially heavilly converted Lazarus, Hannah and "Steam Trunk". It's just a pity the crew as a whole doesn't interest me. 

Jack Daw (revised & original).So my original Jack Daw crew (Monty and Jack in the 2nd pic) was another present from the Malifaux Gift Exchange, this time courtesy of the phenomenal efforts of abraxus04. I loved that crew, but my planned Gencon trip (where I'd require Wyrd-legal proxies) combined with a new base size for Guilty (from 30mm to 40mm) meant I needed to build a new crew, shown in the first pic. Some of the original models were repurposed, with Lady Ligila getting a fresh coat of paint and one of the Guilty becoming a Guild Autopsy (shown in Tara pic above...). 

Leveticus. While I'm pretty happy with the Abominations, Deso Engine and Ashes & Dust, the rest of the crew looks dated enough for me to want to replace them. I'm not sure when that'd happen though - there are far more interesting Outcast Masters available that I'd rather be playing. 

Hamelin. The single worst scientist either side of the Breach, Hamelin proved marginally more capable as a Tyrant. At some point I'll be replacing his model with the Avatar version on a 30mm base because as much as I like his crew, that Hamelin model is just ugly. 

The rats, of course, are magnetised, which was the single best thing I did for this crew! Also, there's Kade, who was actually rebased and slightly updated from my original Pandora crew. He found himself much more useful as Hamelin's peronal baby killing machine. ;)

So'mer Teeth Jones. Sometimes, I wonder if I should have given my Gremlins pink skin, rather than the cowardly green-yellow I eventually settled on. Still, they look nice enough so I've no real reason to complain...

Ophelia. Aesthetically one of my least favorite crews. At some point I really need to replace her with the plastics so I can do a decent job of her. They all need to be just a little darker I think. 

Lucas McCabe. What else is there to say but that backpacks make everything better? ;) Aside from some metal backpacks I bought online, I have my extensive bits box to thank for most of the equipment I added to the crew. That, and some fake plastic diamonds I "liberated" from the tables at a friend's wedding reception.

Yan Lo. I know I said that I'm not a fan of the paint scheme but despite the lack of pink, it is growing on me. I'm still pretty tempted to paint a fresh crew for these guys though. 

Mei Feng. God damn, I love this Cake crew. :) The colour scheme turned out so well and while I regret not finding an appropriately sized spoon, my blinged out "Cake Golem" turned out as well as I could have hoped. 

Jakob Lynch.My first attempt with Wyrd's transparent bases, I've been trying to find excuses to use them ever since. Despite the hate his sculpt often gets, the Hungering Darkness remains my favorite of the crew. He just looks so happy...

Misaki. Obviously Misaki and Ototo are converted, both for the better IMO. ;) I also used a Bushido Air Elemental for my Shang - I have the original but after assembling and dry-fitting it to a 30mm base, I decided there was no way I was going to try and make it work. I freaking hate those easily-broken spears but other than that, it's a cool crew. :P

Until next time,

Adrian

ToMB Month 2: Fun with Poison

At the end of the Month I ran a Malifaux tournament through my local club. It was a small event, with 7 entrants but with an odd number of people it also meant I had to be the ringer. Needless to say, I saw this as an opportunity to pull out Bayou McMourning for four games! The list I took was as follows;

McMourning
- Plastic Surgery
- Evidence Tampering
- Decaying Aura
Sebastian
- Transfusion
- Corpse Bloat
Zombie Chihuahua
3x Guild Autopsies
Rotten Belle
Student of Sinew
Bishop

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire... Bishop.

By the math this is a 44SS crew with a Cache of 7, so I was playing a little below the 45SS limit. Since this is for the ToMB I didn't want to take models I hadn't painted specifically for Bayou McMourning. The only exception was Bishop, who I threw to make sure I was at least somewhere near the SS limit (I'd have been 11 under otherwise)! Since I wasn't too interested in seeing how Bishop performs (I already know he's amazing), his job was mostly to tie up an equivalent value of models while the rest of my crew handles everyone else.

Other than that, the lack of Moonlighting upgrade meant no summoning, which seemed like a pretty big disadvantage for me. As it turned out though, the list wasn't nearly as bad as I thought...

Lured by a Belle, surrounded by Autopsies with no room to place the summoned Ashen Core. Turns out it's a pretty decent way to kill an Ashes & Dust!

Death by Poison
So long story short, I won three games and lost one during the tournament, unofficially coming second overall. I'll admit this made me a pretty terrible ringer, something I need to rectify the next time I run an event! Moving on though...

Over the course of the four games I got a good handle on how to move poison around. The Guild Autopsies were great sources of Poison for Sebastian's Transfusion early on, and the Zombie Chihuahua helped keep those Guild Autopsies topped up. As expected, the Rotten Belle was amazing. Her Lure was instrumental for pulling in targets for my crew, after which the McMourning/Sebastian tag team would tear it to pieces with Expunge, McMourning's Scalpels and generally just lots and lots of poison damage.

Ramos and his spiders didn't fare so well either!

The Student of Sinew proved to be a dependable minion for McMourning, especially with Plastic Surgery giving him lots of undead targets to wallop. He was never outright amazing, but I feel that for his cost he performed well enough. For now he'll stay (I've barely enough models as is!), but the fact that he needed to hang around McMourning to be fully effective didn't sit right with me. Between him, Doug and Sebastian that's alot of my crew that wants to stick together. That might be fine in some games but I do feel like some slightly more independent pieces wouldn't go astray.

You know what happens when you fail to kill the Viks? 

This was my first game with Guild Autopsies and I must say... they're pretty damn useful! In the games I played two of these usually ran up the flanks while one more hung around to support the rest of the crew as a poison battery/dealer. They need some help if they're faced with killing anything half decent though. So in the future I think they'll need some support, probably in the form of Canine Remains or whatever else might benefit from the Poison they hand out.

This. This is what happens. :( I came very close to killing them both...right up until bloody Vanessa pulled out her heal spell after McMourning's Decaying Aura was gone! 

Doug's got a Wish List

So based on my games thus far, I'm starting to get a better idea on how to fill out the crew in subsequent months. I think what I have now gives me a solid core to the crew. But I do need some faster and more mobile elements that will better allow me to deal with threats on the flank.

Of course I still need some models for summoning, specifically Flesh Constructs, Canine Remains and Mindless Zombies. Although now that I've played without Moonlighting I'm a little more comfortable about going without it a while longer - Decaying Aura has proven to be a more than adequate replacement for time being!

So what's on Doug's Wish list? Well at the moment it's the following;

- Canine Remains (Summoned, plus should pair well with the Autopsies)
- Flesh Construct (Summoned)
- Mindless Zombies (Summoned by Autopsies...probably only need ~2)
- Nurse (More poison, plus some incredible support/disruption)
- Rafkin (Haven't looked too hard at him, but I hear he's good for a Poison crew)
- Shikome (Poison synergy, plus she should be a good, hard-hitting flanker)
- Rogue Necromancy (same as the Shikome but bigger, better and more expensive!)

The Necropunks have fallen off the list for now. I don't doubt their usefulness but between the Guild Autopsies and Canines, I feel like I have enough cheap flankers for now. Besides, I'd rather be spending my budget on some more high cost crew members before I consider adding Necropunks. 

Anyway, that's it for now. Next time I should hopefully have my month 2 model/s to show you! 

Adrian