More Malifaux Minis Manifest

Misaki's completion marks the end of me painting up my masters for the Ten Thunders- at least until I pick up Mei Feng and her constructs. Ototo was every bit the pain to paint that he was to assemble. I am finished now though, and that eases my pain- at least until it's varnish time. Yep, still no varnish as the last day I was able to seize was used to protect my now finished Greys (continues to pat self on back).

The next minis in my painting queue were the Torikage. Since they're basically ninjas I decided to forgo the green on all my other minis so that they wouldn't stand out too much. I know, the purple is pushing it, but look around this blog. It's my favorite color, so it made the cut. Yeah, the masks are gold too, but hey, they look cool so in the color went.

Last up (and only because this is the order I painted everything in) come the Thunder Archers. Those little arrows are still super fiddly, so a lot of care was taken painting them up. You may notice that the green on them is not as vivid as on the other minis that sport it. That's an oopsie. I forgot that I had been doing one further highlight with the base green and I washed them. I'll consider redoing the green bits, but now that they're "done" I'm ready to charge on to the Oiran.

...Or maybe the Ronin...

I think I'll paint them differently than the crew "proper" as the base will tie them together. Now to come up with a color scheme.

Forward Progress With the 'Faux

So I've been working on my Malifaux minis like a madman. Toshiro is done, Ama no Zako has been finished, and Shang is ready to go.

At least nearly so.

The weather here in NoVA has not cooperated with me, and I have yet to varnish a single mini. This makes me afraid to touch them (too much) as I don't want to mess up my work. I hate handling unvarnished minis. Once the humidity breaks (I type as a thunderstorm rages outside) I'll start spraying, but it's not looking too promising according to my weather app. I have my first second edition Malifaux game Friday against the Ortegas,  and I'd really enjoy moving my little kung-fu mans around without worrying about the oils on my hands damaging my paintjob.

Here's the latest shot of my crew. I'm going to use the schoolgirl to represent the lone swordsman, one because the card appears to be awesome,  and two because it finally allows me to paint her after four or so years.

Mali-Funky

Above is the start to my wife's and my new Malifaux stuff. Mostly the Ten Thunders I have amassed on the left, but you can see the bases she's making on the right. I may have gone a bit overboard on my own bases, but you can judge for yourself.

First up is Yin the Penangalan. I was attracted to this model because she is so disturbing. The camera was acting up when I took this photo, so it's more than a little out of focus, but you get the idea. She's basically a floating mass of viscera, and she uses her horrifying appearance to paralyze enemy models. I still need to varnish her (first matte, then gloss on all the organs), but again you get the idea.

Next are my minions. I painted up my Ashigaru and Chiaki in a misty kind of green color. Their armor got a gold base, followed by a green shade, then a brush of the original gold followed by a brighter shade of the same. I wanted them to look like they were magically animated. They have pink eyes for an evil glow that offsets the green. For the purple I stopped by GW to grab a pair of purples and a purple wash. it made painting the back banners and ribbons a breeze.

Finally, Yan Lo and his Soul Porter. I painted the casting hand the same green as the magically animated minis to show he's casting a spell. The skin was my usual three stage method, similar to the one used on my Chaos Space Marines, just without the rosy flesh step to keep him more pallid and old looking. The Soul Porter was straight forward, what you see is what you get.

My wife has dived headlong into her minis- she hasn't put anything other that the Soulstone Miner together, but her bases look slick. I can't wait to see what colors she chooses for her crew.

Next up is Ama no Zako. I haven't decided how to paint his clothing yet. I guess I'll let my brush decide.

Going Back to a Wyrd Place

So, now that my Warmachine career is over I need something to replace it. With 7th edition 40k looming, and me being wary of it and Demitra having sworn off the game (as far as I can tell) that's a no-go. Then a miracle. My wife asked me "what about Malifaux?". Why would she ask? She knows the game is played in stores on days I'm stuck at work until 11:00 at night...

Turns out she really likes the background and minis. Hmmmm... I took a gamble and asked if she was interested in learning the game. The answer was yes! She has been interested in learning how to paint minis for quite a while now, and it's been a while since Monsterpocalypse or Battle Lore hit the table, so I seized on the opportunity. I took the PayPal money I had earned from selling off all my Warmachine stuff and went to the Miniature Market. First up, my crew.

I chose the Ten Thunders. I love their Asian look, and who doesn't like kung-fu and ninjas (pirate fans can go scratch)? Plus their underground mafia theme and the fact that all of their masters have infiltrated all of the other factions is a great bit if fluff as well. The fact that the models look dynamic and super slick was a big selling point too.

My wife loves steampunk, so I turned her straight toward Ramos. It was love at first sight (read?). All his constructs, in particular his arachnids, resonated with her. Super cool, we had picked out our forces.

I, having read the rules and figured out how the various crews interact, placed the order. About a week later most of our stuff had arrived. I say almost since my FLGS somehow had a Misaki crew in stock, and with the second edition cards! This is an almost miraculous find, as no online retailers I know of have them. I snatched them up, unaware of the trials the box would contain. More on that later.

My crew consisted of the aforementioned Misaki box, a set of archers, some Oiran, and Yamaziko. I figured this would give me a solid core from which to expand. My wife received Ramos' box, an arachnid swarm, and some metal gamin. Again, I figured that this would be a solid place to start. I made a couple of oopsies with that order. First, apparently Oiran are all but useless. Sad face as the minis are gorgeous. Second, Ramos needs many, many arachnids as one of his strategies is to go around making more and more of the things from the scrap markers as the initial ones get destroyed.

Time for a second order.

With my part of the money I got the Masters of the Path box, with some nice undead samurai to tag along. My wife got more arachnids as well as a Soulstone Miner and the Mechanical Rider. The Soulstone Miner was purchased because it looks cool, and the Rider because according to a few podcasts he just wins games.

Now that I had my stuff either in hand or in the mail (due to arrive two days from now), I decided to slap together the minis I had in hand. First basing, which I decided to do with a sort of ruined city street look. I started with using green stuff to lay down cobblestones, followed by laying some slate pieces over them to look like crumbled walls. I haven't gotten to laying down the ballast yet, but as soon as this post is finished that's next on the list. Now that the bases were ready it was time for the minis. I started with what I thought would be the easiest, Yamaziko. She went together like a breeze, and I glued her to her base. No sweat! The Internet legends of these being some of the toughest minis to assemble on the market were obviously posted by amateurs. Then I popped open Misaki's box.

What a nightmare.

I'm being helpful.

The parts were thin and fiddly. This I was prepared for. There were no instructions and the parts were randomly numbered. This was bad. Off to the Internet I scurried. I looked for an assembly guide on the Wyrd site. No such luck. To Google! Nope. So I started reading Malifaux blogs with Ten Thunders articles. Eventually I hit pay dirt. A color coded diagram. Not instructions, but the next best thing. From there I struggled through putting the nightmarish little things together. I struggled with Ototo, but I was able to noodle through the rest of them.

The Oiran went together easily enough, but then to the archers. Every last arrow, every single one, came snapped in half. I was going to have to get creative here, because they were all the same diameter as paper clips. Not good at all. Again, I was able to bodge the models together, but there are some arrows that are obviously bent and to mu eye you can still tell they were broken at one point. I am a bit more than displeased with these models. Maybe they'll look better painted, but I'd give it a 50% chance that they won't.

In the end the minis did go together, but not at all smoothly. Because of this, unless you are an experienced modeler and have lots of patience, steer clear of this faction. I'll give Ramos and friends a review when my wife puts them together, but as you can actually find instructions online I would give these a much higher chance of being doable than my faction.

That's enough text for now. Here, have some pictures of my finished minis:

Oiran. Useless, but easy to assemble.

Torakage. Middle of the road once you get the color-coded diagram. Still, those chains are fiddly and delicate.

Archers. Putting them together is the biggest exercise in patience in my modeling career

The Henchmen. Yamiziki is easy, Ototo is a pain.

Misaki and Shang. I would figure out later that I had assembled Shang's tail wrong, but it's not really noticable.

Goodbye MalifauX

This is less of an entry, and more of an image hosting thing. I'm using this as a place to show off my MalifauX minis so I can sell them. Of course, this is also a perfect opportunity to show off some old toys.

First up is my original crew, the Swamp Gremlins. I was hoping they'd be fun to play, but unfortunately they were just frustrating.

I then turned to the Viktorias, but wasn't really thrilled with their play style.

These fellows are the other outcasts I have painted.

Next up came Rasputina, but truth be told I really only bought her to paint her.

The Ortegas. This is the crew I decided on running, but then work changed my schedule and I haven't been able to get a game in in two years.

The Pandora crew I truly bought just to paint, and they are by far the best looking minis I have for this system.

...And finally, those last few minis that never saw the tender touch of the brush.

That's about it for this little trip down memory lane. Hopefully this is goodbye to minis that now only take up space.

Final Ravager Finalized

That's right, I'm done painting Ravagers. This one, as stated before, was a chore. At least it's over and done with. You may have noticed the sort of "crown of thorns" around the vehicle. It's a sharp and pokey as it looks. More than once I had to put the model down because it was becoming uncomfortable to hold. In the end, however, it came out looking pretty spiffy, so it was totally worth it.

I'm hoping to start the five Kabalite Warriors. I may or may not get through them today (having Fridays off really helps me get my painting done).

Tonight I'm running my sister through either a game of MalifauX or Warmachine. The gaming virus within my family grows stronger! I was really surprised when she texted me asking if I was willing to run her through an intro. I will have to brush up on my MalifauX rules should she decide that's what she's into, but I still have most of the rules down. I think I'll just need a quick reference sheet. We'll see how tonight goes. Hopefully I'll have a new opponent some time soon.

I Want a New Drug



I couldn't think of anything else, so have some Etna!

 I've been plodding through painting my Dark Eldar, when it hit me; I'm plodding. I'm not enjoying painting the miniatures like I should. When I paint MalifauX, Song of Blades and Heroes, or Anima: Tactics, I enjoy painting the minis. I remember painting my Confrontation Alchemists, too. They were a blast, and I spared no detail on them.

This just isn't possible with a 40k army.

Not for me any way.

What is the common theme of these mini games I so enjoy painting? They're skirmish scale. With maybe ten miniatures per side, I can lavish each one with the attention it deserves.

When you look at my Dark Eldar, you can tell there is a bit of a hurry when I paint them. Highlights aren't as crisp, occasional shading is missed, and certain reas (like eyes) are a bit "outside the lines".

Now, a portion of this can be attributed to the injury my hand sustained since I last painted a miniature to true "showcase quality", but deeper than that, I'm hurrying myself. Symptoms include, but are not limited to;

-Sloppy paint jobs
-Rapid fire unit completion
-Dipping minis
-Poor conversions
-Looking at painting as a chore

I've been exibiting all of these signs for a while now, and I can only think of one thing to bust me out of this slump. I need a skirmish game, ASAP. I've been looking for a good skirmish system for a while, and since I can't find an opponent for MalifauX, Anima, or Song of Blades and Heroes, I figure I'll look at Infinity. I'll still probably lack opponents, but damn if those models aren't sweet. The factions look like a cross between Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed. If these models don't inspire me to paint, and to do it to the best of my ability, none will. I'm just tired of forcing myself to turn out sub-par results, and with my financial status the way it is, I may have to stick with skirmish systems weather I want to or not. Right now I'm having trouble saving up for a Venom, let alone the rest of the army.

Don't get me wrong, army scale games will always have a place in my heart, but right now 40k may have to go on the back burner. Sorry to Demitra, but between time and money I just may (note I said may) have to drastically slow down the slow-growth project.