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

ToMB 2015 Month 1b - Advice Pig says hello

I was going to start this off by writing some blurb about whether McMourning is actually a Coroner, or whether his job is better described as a Forensic Pathologist. But you don't care about that, do you? No, you want to see pictures! 

So here it is, my first batch of models for the Tale of Malifaux Bloggers! Needless to say I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. The whole thing involved me branching out a little and learning some alternative paint schemes, namely undead gremlin flesh and how best to do gremlin blood. I also went for some slightly different basing with these guys as well - having replaced my usual green flock with a combination of static grass and tea leaves.

Anyway, enough chatter. Here are the models;

Dr Douglas McMourning, Bayou Doctor

It was perhaps inevitable that the good Doctor's double life as a Guild Forensic Pathologist/Resurrectionist would come to light. With his secret labs burnt to the ground and the guild hot on his tale, McMourning made his escape to one of the few places the long arm of the law would not find him - the Bayou.

Sebastian II

The arrival of a human, self-styled doctor was a cause for great concern among the local gremlin tribes. Initial attempts to eat him proved more difficult than anticipated so it didn't take long for most gremlins to accept their new neighbor, albeit with a healthy dose of fear. 

Of course as is typical of gremlins, a number of them took to admiring and eventually emulating their new Bayou Doctor. With his former lab assistant out of action McMourning was all to happy to accept new apprentices. Almost all inevitably became his test subjects, although one particularly bright fellow proved more useful alive than dead. Though he almost definitely had a name of his own, McMourning either never remembered it or was incapable of realising the gremlin was not his lab assistant from before. Nowadays, almost all the local gremlins have come to accept his new name - Sebastian. 

The Student of Sinew (with Advice Pig)

So what happened to the original Sebastian? Well he was somewhat less fortunate during his master's escape from the guild, and by the time they'd eluded capture Sebastian was left without the use of his...well... everything. Fortunately he was in the company of the self-described best surgeon this side of the Breach. So with a replacement part from the local fauna and some impressive needlework, Sebastian I's life was saved! 

McMourning has since moved on with his new lab assistant. So instead, Sebastian I has become the constant companion and teacher for one of the good Doctor's first test subjects - the very gremlin who first tried to eat McMourning. His undead "student" has proven quite receptive to the directions he gives and has become a lethal addition to McMourning's personal army. Sebastian I refuses to talk to McMourning, despite nevertheless following orders. However McMourning himself seems to have completely forgotten Sebastian I's origins and has now given him a new name - Advice Pig.

The Bayou Autopsies

If nothing else, moving his lab to the Bayou has given McMourning a near inexhaustible supply of bodies. Initially the gremlins had proven unwilling to move within reach of him, resulting in the Bayou Doctor spending almost as much time capturing the Gremlins as he did experimenting on them. However as his experiments proved fruitful and his reputation grew, he found himself with both a steady stream of willing "assistants", and a growing army of undead minions to capture the less willing participants for him. 

The Bayou Belle

When McMourning completed his work on the Bayou Belle he'd thought nothing more of it than any of his other creations. Somehow though, this particular subject retained one skill it was almost legendary for during it's pre-undead existance - fishing. It's skill with the rod has proven extremely useful to McMournings expeditions to acquire more test subjects, and has been repsonsible for luring in more than a few unwilling targets. 

The Zombie Chihuahua
It broke McMourning's heart to leave his first creation, the Zombie Chihuahua, behind when he made his hasty escape into the Bayou. For weeks he assumed the tiny dog had been incinerated along with all the rest of his beloved creations. So it was with some surprise that McMourning found him at the door of his new lab, tail wagging excitedly and gripping the hand of some hapless gremlin in his teeth.

One month down, 3 more to go...

So with Month 1 finished I suppose the hardest part is over - I've painted up a 35SS crew and worked out what techniques I'll be using to get the effects I wanted. I've yet to play a game with these guys (hopefully I'll fix that in the weeks to come) but I know what I want to add next - flesh constructs!

Unfortunately I've also hit a bit of a snag with my Flesh Construct plans. The standard flesh construct is a Ht 2, 40mm based model. However the Warpig I was planning to proxy it with is a Ht 3, 50mm based model. Wyrd has never been that consistent about the Ht of their models (the flesh construct is as tall as the new plastic warpig), but it still doesn't sit right with me. Besides, if I use something else for my Flesh construct then I could use the Warpig as a base for my Rogue Necromancy! So I'm wondering what I could use for a flesh construct instead? If anyone has any ideas on that front, I'd like to hear them! 

Until next time,

Adrian

ToMB 2015 Month 1 - The Bayou Doctor is born

Welcome back to my Tale of Malifaux Bloggers!

                    

I last left you with an exciting (kinda...) cliffhanger – having told you I’m starting McMourning, my first purchase was to be… So’mer’s starter box?!?! I guess it’s time to explain the method to my madness.

Like I alluded in my last ToMB article I really wanted to be building a crew to a unique and interesting theme. I had already committed to Ressers for the year and considering the my dissatisfaction with some of my Resser crew models (well, McMourning and Yan Lo), I really needed something that I could both justify building to replace my existing crew, and would keep me interested for the length of the challenge.

I can’t remember exactly how it happened, but somehow I came across my unopened plastic Born on the Bayou box and linked it up with the idea of building a McMourning crew from it.  It didn’t take me too long to nut out potential in-theme proxies that would work for the crew and before I knew it, I had a plan for the ToMB! I am to build a Bayou-themed McMourning crew, complete with conversions across both factions to create something, well, kind of bizarre I guess.  

So the theme behind the crew is simple enough. McMourning is finally exposed as a dirty Resser and has to escape quick-smart to the one place he believes the Guild won’t follow – the Bayou. Forced to start his work afresh, he “convinces” the local gremlin tribes to work for him, both as his assistants and his test subjects (they probably don’t know the difference). Stuff happens, hijinks occur and the stage is set for the newest Bayou Doc to terrorise the locals with his undead creations from the most readily available resources - gremlins & pigs. :D

Month 1 Purchases

For my first month of purchases I needed both McMourning’s and So’mer’s starter boxes. With only £40 to spend that would put me way over my limit, so I decided to reduce the cost by “selling off" the parts of McMourning’s box I didn’t need. I’ve put the sell price at 2/3rds what it would cost retail, mainly because that’s always been my rule of thumb when buying or selling models second hand.

I was originally going to convert the monthly allowance to Australian dollars (ie. ~ AU$77 for Month 1) and work out purchases according to a local retailer called the Combat Company. But as it turns out, the Australian online retailers regularly discount their Malifaux to what their cost would be if the Australian dollar was on parity with the US currency (it’s not). The end result meant I would have gotten a massive discount on my purchases compared to ToMB participants in the UK and US. It felt pretty unfair - it translated to about an extra US$18 just for the first month! So instead I’m calculating my allowance in £UK and through the UK website Element Games. This way I still get a discount, but not a ridiculous one. ;)

Anyway, enough of the boring details, here’s my purchases for Month 1;

The Bayou Boss:         £25.49

Body of Evidence:            £25.50

Sell 1x Canine Remains: -£2.26

Sell 2x Nurses:                   -£5.67

Sell Flesh Construct:        -£5.67

TOTAL for Month 1:        £37.39

Left over for next month: £2.61

So with the models purchased it was time to assemble! I’m using all the models from my purchases (minus the ones I “sold”, of course), with one exception – the Skeeters. I have plans for them, but won’t be able to enact on those plans until later on in the challenge. So for now I’m putting them aside. At the time of writing this I’ve now assembled everything for this month, so here’s what I’ve got;

McMourning

If Dr Doug is going to set up shop in the Bayou then at the absolute least, he needs a hat. Fortunately the Bayou Box comes with quite a few hats that are easily separated from it’s owners. Being the flashiest by far, So’mers hat was the one I decided on and with a bit of a haircut, managed to fit onto McMourning’s head with minimal trouble.

The rest of McMourning was more or less unchanged. I was thinking of adding some of the spare liquor bottles to McMourning’s tray instead of the usual zombie head, but instead went for the more Bayou-suitable frog & hollowed out gremlin head.

Sebastian II

So’mer converted into Sebastian II so easily that I’m starting to think that this must have been his true purpose in life. Seb’s saw, back pack and even the tubing fit onto So’mer with a minimum of fuss – at worst I shaved down some pegs so they’d fit right, pinned the saw onto So’mers arm and drilled two holes for the tubing to glue into. The final product even looks scarily like Sebastian, or at least how you’d expect a Gremlin version of him to look.

My only gripe is with how ill-fitting some of So’mers regular pieces where during assembly. More that a few required a bit of converting, but the worst offender was the chain around the left side of his waist (pictured above). It required both shaving down and a good chunk of modelling putty to fit properly.  Overall though, this is the model I’m most proud of thus far.

Flesh Construct/Student of Sinew (with Advice Pig)

Before writing this up I posted a pic of this model on Facebook as a sort of preview. While the feedback was positive (always encouraging!) I was really surprised by how freaked out some people were by the model! I can only assume it’s because I’ve put Sebastians head on the piglet (henceforth known as Advice Pig), which I can’t really fault people for. Advice Pig was actually a last minute conversion when I realised Seb’s head was about as large as the piglets. It was too good to resist, so Undead Lenny has a helpful Advice Pig to tell him what to hit.

I originally planned to use the model as a Student of Sinew, but at least while I’m lacking my planned models for Flesh Constructs (Warpigs), Lenny & Advice Pig will happily sub in as a Flesh Construct

“Bayou” Autopsies

With the muscle sorted, Bayou McMourning needed some numbers to round out his starting crew. The Bayou Gremlins don’t really seem to fit as Canine Remains. But with their crappy guns, poor hygiene and fragile physique, they’re near-perfect proxies for Guild Autopsies!

The conversions for these guys were pretty simple. As is becoming standard for undead models in this crew I drilled out the eyes and carved in the odd cut to ensure they didn’t look TOO pristine to be undead minions. Pipe Gremlin was looking a little too sophisticated, so his head had to go. As for fighting Gremlin, severing a few limbs gave me a look I was satisfied with.

Rotten (fish) Belle

Originally intended for use as a 4^th Guild Autopsy, this Gremlin instead became a Rotten Belle once I realised s/he could literally use that fishing rod to Lure models in. ;) Her(?) hair took a bit of time, but for better or worse it’s probably my greatest ever achievement with modelling putty. :P

Chihuahua

I wasn’t initially planning to use the original Chihuahua model for this crew. The sculpt itself is a pain to build (4 parts…4 PARTS?!?!) and I thought a puppet piglet would fit better into the crew. But being on a budget, it seemed like a waste not to use a model I paid good money for. Besides, the puppet piglet might be mistaken for a canine remains (who will be proxied using undead pigs). In any case, now that he’s standing on a gremlin hat I think he’ll fit in with the rest of the crew just fine. :)

The Future

If you know anything about how Resser McMourning works, you’ll probably realise that I’m running short on a few of his “essential” minions. Mainly Flesh Constructs and Canine remains but also the likes of Rafkin, Nurses and probably some other stuff too! I’m planning to fill those holes in subsequent months, of course, but they’ll need to be in theme. So at least for the moment, here’s what I’m thinking;

Canine Remains: Piglets (modelled/painted as undead)

Flesh Constructs: Warpigs (as above, plus mounted on a 40mm base)

Rafkin: Gremlin Taxidermist (I just hope the model comes out soon!)

Nurse: Gremlinette (Ltd ed model so while I have one, it’s not ideal)

Necropunks: Skeeters (converted somehow…I’m still very sketchy on this)

So as above I’m not entirely happy with the options for the Nurse and Necropunks. I’d also like to find something suitable for a Rogue Necromancy, Lawyer and maybe the Shikome, but the jury is still out on those as well. Of course if you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Anyway, that’s it for now. All in all I now have 8 models to undercoat and paint for the challenge, totalling 34SS without upgrades (assuming my math isn’t off). So hopefully I’ll have something to show you before the month is out!

Until next time,

Adrian