A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Malifaux – Progresses continues on the commissioned board. Three of the buildings are near completion. After showing them to my client, he seems very happy with how they've turned out. Just a few details to add like smokestacks and some painting and they'll be finished.
I've been pretty busy with several commissions as of late. First up is a full double-sided board. My client wanted a 3'x3' Malifaux board. On one side is a "cobblestone" texture and the other is generic dark earth with grass. I just finished the forest pieces. They consist of several oddly shaped areas that are between 3" and 6" in diameter. The nice thing about this design is they can be pieced together to create a larger feature if need be. Also the odd shapes make it slightly more difficult to judge distances.
Also on my painting table is the Forgeworld Daemon Prince & Herald. This is a beautiful kit, but like anything that comes from Forgeworld, tons of clean up and tiny pieces to glue and pin. This thing is such a pain, most of the teeth on the skulls are separate pieces. And as with all Forgeworld stuff, your directions consist of a bad photo that obscures the most relevant details. These kits are definitely for experienced modelers.
I've assembled both the prince and the herald, as well as primed and base-coated both models. Since the clinet for this job just wants tabletop quality, I've started the process slightly differently than I usually do. For this project I've taken the base colors and applied them to all the relevant areas. So for the price, that's red for the skin, ivory for the skulls, brass and silver for the metal bits, black for the armor, and brown for the leather. Ofter this has dried, I use GW Devlan Mud to coat the entire piece. After it has finished drying, all the necessary shading has been accomplished. At this point all I have left to do is to go in a pick out the highlights.
I'm also working on a Pandora crew for Malifaux.
This consists of the Legion of Sorrows box set, Teddy, and the Doppleganger. They are based on Dragonforge Designs bases. I've basically only had time to block in the base colors and do some washes. Again the GW wash is pretty amazing.
Over the weekend I went to see the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Like the other remakes of classic horror movies (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) this is a much grittier, darker feeling movie: Freddy looks like a burn victim, they delve deeper into the fact he was a child molester, the gore feels more real. Overall it is a much scarier film than the original. The movie does lack the typical '80s T&A, drug use and fun. I don't think it hurts the film and in fact probably gives it a bit more credibility for what it is.
If you're a fan of the original I recommend this one.
Malifaux – work continues on the downtown breach district. I've detailed out three buildings and have the base coats on them. I decided that I'm going to try to stay away from the traditional grays for this board. It seems like everytime you see a urban board it's all gray. This might help make the minis stand out but I don't think it feels right.
As when I first began this project, it seems like a waste of time to make the buildings useable from the inside. That said I also decided that they needed ladders and fire escapes to make them more than a big impassible box. If someone insists on going into them, I've come up with a house rule. "It takes two movement actions to go from one floor to the other, and this allows you to go anywhere on that floor when inside the building.
I picked up some Victorian style street lights at the local train store and will be using them on each building base.
That's right its the first Saturday in May, which means free comic books. Throw your kids in the car and go introduce them to the wonderful world of reading. My wife and I will be going to what used to be our local store Green Brain Comics. Probably the best comic store in the Detroit Area. They go all out for the event so it's well worth the trip.
Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been pretty crazy for me as of late. Lots of new projects in the works.
First up I picked up the Western Express Toy Train from Toys R Us. This is the perfect size for Malifaux. It comes with track, an engine, cars and a silly half building that could probably be repurposed.
The project is to recreate the train seen in the Malifuax Rule book. I began with the engine and a plastic skull. I attached the skull to the front of the train as a base for sculpting the ram's head. From there I used an inexpensive epoxy putty to bulk up the skull and create the basic shape. I used a bit of plasticard for the cow-catcher/grill and bulked it up with the putty as well. So far it's taking shape nicely, the next step is to clean it up and detail the skull with green stuff and find something to add some boilers and pipes.
In other news I'll be running demos at the World Steam Expo in Dearborn, Memorial Day Weekend. Anyone interested in seeing my terrain and tables in person should try and make it out. I'll be running demos, Saturday from 5pm-11pm and Sunday from 11:00am-4:00pm and 5:00pm-10:00pm. There's going to be tons of other stuff there from what I've heard and they'll be doing things at the Henry Ford/Greenfield Village. This is also the weekend that Greenfield Village does the Civil War Remembrance so there will be plenty to do in the area.
Today I went to a tournament, unfortunately due to numerous factors only three players showed up. This was pretty disappointing as I brought 4 of my custom boards and a bunch of counters/tokens to give out as random prizes. I felt bad for the organizer since there is a sizeable (20+) Malifaux community within the Metro-Detroit area. But that sad the three of use who showed up played a 30SS three-way slaughter game and had some fun. I brought McMourning, some Belles, Canine Remains and Bette Noir; my opponents were Leviticus and Perdita. I'm getting the hang of McMourning, using him with Belles can set up some interesting situations. The Leviticus player won, in part because I lured the Desolation Engine into combat with Perdita when she had Quick Draw up, which meant she couldn't use it and Leviticus could summon the Hollow Waifs he needed to survive.
Given the turn-out for this event and the low turn-out for another event last month I thought it would be appropriate to talk about what it takes to run a successful tournament. Before i begin that discussion I think it's important to talk about why store run tournaments and how they benefit from them. Obviously any retailer is in the business to make money, when they run tournaments it is expected that players will come in and buy stuff while they are at the store. If they don't then the store needs to generate money through the cost of the event. It's important that players realize this ahead of time.
I've seen several hobby stores in my area go out of business because their player base bought everything online (ebay, discounters etc.). While it is great to be in the hobby for the love of it, if you're not covering the bottom line then there's no point in offering gaming space. The moral of the story is to support your store. For stores offering a discount on the days you run an event for a system is a good way to generate more sales.
The other reason stores run tournaments and leagues is to show off the community of gamers for a particular system. When a customer comes into the store and sees 10+ guys all playing the same system, they feel more comfortable dropping the cash on a new game because there's obviously lots of of people to play it with. they can ask existing players questions and get a feel for the game, maybe get a demo and hopefully get hooked.
Players enjoy tournaments for a variety of reasons the competition, playing against new people, prizes all are valid reasons for playing in a tournament. When they decide they are going to play it's a commitment to 6-8 hours on a Saturday or Sunday. When they make that commitment if the event goes poorly for whatever reason, they will feel like they've wasted an entire day. For people with families or girlfriends (face it, the majority of your players are guys) creating the time for that commitment is a chore in itself.
As a tournament organizer (or Henchman for Wyrd) it is you duty to do everything in your power to make sure that both the store and the players are happy with how the event goes. If you don't the parties involved will most likely not make the same commitment in the future. For those of you that listen to podcasts check out World's End Radio they've done some excellent segments about running events. Some of what they talk about is very GW-centric but lots of it pertains to all game systems. Some of the advice is duplicated below
So how does one go about fulfilling the needs of both the store owner and player-base to run a successful tournament? I would start with the following:
• Make it affordable. Entry fees are needed to pay for the prize support and or cover the costs associated with the event. For a Malifaux event I would cap it at $5. Prize support should hinge on the actual turnout for the event. Maybe the organizer makes a cool trophy, terrain piece or something to give away. I think far to many stores just offer store credit, which means you have to get enough players to cover the full cost of what you're giving away. Ideally the game company would offer an event package with cool pins, coins, or other swag that could be purchased for $25-$30. That then gives you an easy button for prize support. If they don't, then be creative; take some time and make something cool or ask someone else to. I've been working on making "best in faction" pins, when they are done I'll post pics.
• Advertise. Posting on one forum does not count. There are numerous yahoo groups, game clubs and other sites that you should be posting on. Make some flyers and distribute them. Work with event organizers at other stores to cross promote your event. Just because the stores may be competitors doesn't mean your events have to compete. A healthy player base and good turn-out will result in better sales for all parties involved. Post pictures of prior successful events, a good photo will generate more interest. Google Image search brings this site a ton of extra hits each week. If you have good photos people share them and drive traffic which will equate to more interest in your events.
• Terrain. If you use the same crappy terrain that a store has for general use, your event doesn't feel special. Even it if means just making one new board or terrain piece, doing something special makes the event more then just another day at the store. If you have system specific terrain then just bring it out for events. When you do there is more interest from bystanders as well as players.
• Plan ahead. Do some research. Malifaux in particular is a very rich game that offers tons of possibilities when it comes to game size, type and events. Those possibilities make the game fun for players and keep things fresh, but can make life hell for the organizer. You have to make sure people play on a relatively even field, this means they should be getting the same or similar missions, play in a variety of locations that have similar events. If you go with a straight VP system and allow players to flip for events some players will flip Mysterious Effigies and have access to 4 more VPs that could swing the field. Is that what you intend, if so how much player backlash with you get? What happens to the player that flips slaughter or recon. all day long? Since there isn't an official format you need to work all of this out ahead of time. I would suggest meeting with other event organizers in you area to work out a standard system, that way if there are complaints they can be addressed and corrected so the same misunderstandings don't continue to happen.
One thing I've been considering is a system that links three strategies together. The players flip a card or draw from a hat to get their "story" prior to the event starting. They then have 20 minutes to build three lists, chose three schemes and submit them to the organizer for registration. Once they are paired against an opponent they may chose a second scheme and announce one or both if they wish to. The winner is determined by total VP's and scores event points as follow 3 win, 2 tie, 1 loss; VPs are recorded for tiebreakers. Locations and special events are determined prior to the event starting and remain fixed throughout. This gives players enough variety while maintaining a constant throughout the event. The "story" allows event organizers to control the missions while sticking with the idea of character driven combat. Ideally the strategies would follow a flow that allows the player to write a narrative about what happens. For example Recon., Treasure Hunt, Assassinate: the master is looking for something, they find it then an opposing master threatens to take the prize. Simple things like this add to the enjoyment level for all players and make for better battle reports to share on the web.
• Confirm the date. If you're going to be running an event make sure your player base can make it. If half of your players are going out of town for a Con. probably shouldn't run an event the same weekend. Check to see what could interfere with players availability. If a big portion of your players are students, see when exams are; if you have a bunch of single dads check to see what weekends they don't have their kids; sports fans don't conflict with major games. If you want to have a good turn-out, plan around things that may deter people from coming. Nothing is worse then spending time and money planning an event, and getting a small turn-out because half your player base is at a huge convention or the local team is in the play-offs and your players are avid fans.
• Registration. Start a sign-up sheet and keep it public and limit the spots available. Gamers will flock if it seems like an event will be fun and they may not be able to get a spot. You can always add more later if need be. If you get to a week before the event and only have a few players signed up, then you need to make a push to get more players. Contact your player base directly to see if they know it's going on. Stores that keep track of purchases and email accounts have the upper hand here. Take a look at your database to see who has purchased product for that system within the last 2-3 months and email them an invite (if your store doesn't track that info, you should). If that doesn't work warn the players already signed up that the event may be canceled due to lack of interest. If they really want to play they'll find more people. If you don't have a minimum sign-up by a few days before the event, cancel it. If players have a real interest in playing and you've done everything you can to accommodate their needs, then they should return the favor by registering. You may get some negative backlash, but it's better then running a mediocre event and having it taint what you can do in the future.
I think by following some of the steps detailed above event organizers will be able to see a better return on the time they invest in running events for their players.
Seamus by far my favorite of the Resurrectionist masters. He is great at so many things. I typically prefer him for assassinate and slaughter. The movement bonuses he grants to Belles also makes them good for treasure hunt. He is very difficult to kill and can take a ton of punishment. The necrotic ministrations ability helps to refill your hand and keep him healed.
Some things I’ve found with Seamus is that he works better with 7-8 stones. You’re going to want to cheat and burn a stone most times to be sure his gun hits and does at least moderate damage since you only get one shot. When he gets in a bind or stuck in melee (you don’t want to be there his purse is only good if you need one more point of damage) Undead Psychosis can force the enemy to move away as long as you keep your undead models close. He is a bit lackluster at some things, unless you have whittled your opponent down to no card his melee attacks are low damage output with a trigger that only works when your opponent has no cards. No escape lets him charge on an opponents turn, cool but very situational since you don’t typically want to be in melee with him.
My usual 30SS list with him consists of a convict gunslinger, copycat killer, 2 punk zombies, 1-2 canine remains and a Belle. The idea is to run the dog forward as interference, it will die an maybe trigger rabies if you get lucky. The belle moves up and lures something forward (preferably whatever moved closer) to set up the gunslinger, Seamus and the copycat for a shot. Using this technique I’ve been able to kill a steamborg by turn two with one round of shooting as well as eliminate other forces one piece at a time. The nice thing about this tactic is depending on how you activate you’ll usually have a corpse within 6” to make a Belle. Once you have a few more Belles you can usually pull what ever you want in range and cast distract to slow down the rest of the crew.
I haven’t had a chance to experiment with the hanged yet but it seems like they are a natural fit for a Seamus crew. Seamus’s ability to lower willpower should allow them to cause some havoc. The 8 stone cost and the fact that they are spirits are both limiting factors to consider. Seamus really relies on the ability to make more Belles, if you’re not creating a new Belle every other turn you’re probably not going to win a war of attrition. Sticking with low cost high damage/utility units is the safest strategy with Seamus.
The unique characters can add a different flavor to his crews but they really become very situational. Sybil can help move the Belles around where they are needed and give Seamus a chance to activate most of his crew at once. She soaks up damage and has a decent output, but isn’t always the best choice depending on your strategy. Mortimer and Sebastion both can do some interesting things however you have to remember if they are using an all action they will be left behind. If you flip a graveyard for the special terrain Mortimer is a auto-include. Once he gets there he can pop out 2 corpses a turn and help to grow you army. Sebastion is decent in melee but the desire to turn him into a dog factory makes it so you don’t actually do anything useful with him. Bette Noir should be a useful addition, the major issue I see here is her cost and having to keep a high crow in your hand. With Seamus this could be a Belle or a more useful trigger. The havoc she can wreck if your enemy has something die in the middle of their forces is considerable. But in my experience with her she’s done some damage and then either died because I didn’t have a crow or came back to late to make an impact. I love the model and think she could be a huge asset, I just haven’t had success with her yet.
[edit: Bette doesn't need a high crow, it just so happens that every time I've used her the only high card I had in my hand was a crow. So she's potentially much better than I give her credit for I just haven't had success.]
Malifaux – Nicodem is the summoner, he can summon any non-unique undead model and has buff spells that make undead models better. His major drawbacks are a low speed, low defense and limited offensive capabilities. I’ve found he works best with lots of low costed models necropunks, dogs etc. The reason for this is they are cheap and die quickly which means you can turn them into better options like Flesh Constructs, Punk Zombies etc without paying the premium. The vultures help to keep him in range of the corpses since his crew will definitely outpace him. Casting arise is essential once there are some corpse counters around and try to keep the mindless zombies within 2” of him. He definitely doesn’t have the durability of Seamus unless there are multiple zombies to sacrifice to prevent the damage.
At 30SS I like him for reconnoiter and treasure hunt. A typical list would be 3 dogs, 3 necropunks, a Belle, a Punk Zombie and the grave spirit. The plan here is to split the necropunks up and grab the table quarters or treasure token as quickly as possible. Move the dogs up as a pack keeping within 10” of Nicodem, this is tricky since he has to walk twice to keep up. Link the totem and use it to cast the fog. The armor and soft cover should protect him until you can start making more models. The Belle and punk Zombie work in tandem to eliminate threats or cull the weak. If you need to luring Nicodem can get some extra movement out of him. I’ve had good success with the list detailed above and think he works best with lots of cheap models.
His box set is very solid. The Punk Zombies are glass hammers and being able to bring them back is very useful. Mortimer can soak quit a bit of damage and has a decent ranged attack. As with my previous article do not waste time casting exhume, you have a 1 in 4 shot of getting it off. If you get so lucky as to flip a graveyard as your special feature have fun and get there ASAP.
Once you get the hang of the box set you’re going to want to buy two of the vulture totems and 2 flesh constructs (if you don’t plan on buying McMorning). That way you have some useful things to summon and can make the most out of his casting expert ability. The constructs are easy to summon and you’ll here “That thing does what...” over and over again. From there you’re going to what to pick up a gunslinger, the ranged power he brings to the table will help to make up for the lack of ranged attacks. The gunslinger is really a no-brainer for any competitive list, trigger-happy alone has turned the tables for me more times then I can count.
Once the dogs are released Nicodem players are going to want at least 2 packages of them (4 dogs) I would go so far as to say pick up 4 packs just in case. They are cheap fast and have an amazing trigger. Bette Noir should be amazing with him +2Cb/Df takes her over the top. The issue I’ve had is she’s to far away usually to take advantage of it. I imagine with more practice she will be a bigger asset. Again the need to hold onto a high crow forces you to make hard decisions.
[edit: Bette doesn't need a high crow, it just so happens that every time I've used her the only high card I had in my hand was a crow. So she's potentially much better than I give her credit for I just haven't had success.]
Malifaux – I just finished up a third set of young nephilim for a client. They match the other sets keeping with the different hair colors to tell them apart. Oddly enough one of the models had a miscast arm and was missing the other one. Rather than try to get a replacement I just went through my bitz box to find something that would work. The vampire counts ghoul arms actually look better on this model then the arms that come with it. The baby hands make me think of that dumb Burger King commercial.
In other news I've almost completed the victorian board.
The cobblestones are painted and the manhole covers are just about done. I began construction on the buildings this week. I noticed observing people play on my other boards that nobody ever goes into a building. So for the victorian city I'm not doing interiors, instead I'll add lots of balconies, fire escapes and flat roof areas. If someone wants to go inside maybe I'll keep building interiors with the board. I began by cutting 9"x9" MDF boards for the city blocks. The buildings are based on 3" equals one floor that way it's easy to calculate damage (when my Belles lure someone off the roof). I'm also constructing the windows from card stock rather then cutting them out. I think that will speed up the construction process and make these more durable structures.
I've designed a back patch for our gaming club. Pretty simple and a bit cooler then a simple t-shirt. The patch consists of a top rocker, the paperbag reaper, and a bottom rocker to denote the members home store. This idea was of course inspired by the Sons of Anarchy television show. I have to say its one of my favorite shows and I'm patiently waiting for the new season and the release of season 2 on DVD.
I've also been remodeling the game room and converting some 4x4 tables over to the new 3x3 format. I've also scaled down my 4x8 table to a more reasonable 4x6. That way we still have a standard size Warhammer 40K table that will hold the smaller Malifaux table tops. In the event that we start playing Warmachine/Hordes in the future the smaller table will work just fine, in fact it will speed up the game quite a bit.
Once things are in a more finished state I'll post photos of the remodeled game room and new tables.
Thanks to the D6G for plugging my site on their Twitter feed, I hope whoever won the terrain set at Temple Con enjoys it.
Malifaux – I've been working on demo boards that will fit all the encounter locations for Malifaux. The sewer board that can be seen in previous posts works for all the urban encounter locations, on the reverse side of the sewer board is a generic earthy board that can work with the mountain mining town terrain as well as the swamp terrain available in the online store.
I've almost completed a dedicated swamp board, that will work for all the swamp/bayou encounter locations. The water effects were achieved using Envirotex.
The basic board is completed and I'm in the process of making the matching terrain. I went through the possible special terrain features an am making a set of them for each of the boards. The plan is to just count the water as a water effect unless "Bog" is flipped. There are also 3" and 5" forests. I haven't decided if I want to make a quicksand pit or something else for the hazardous terrain feature.
On the flip side of this swamp board will be a generic urban board. I found some textured wall paper that looks like cobble stones, which saved me a ton of time and more closely matches the Dragonforge Designs bases I'm using for my Resurectionist crews. This board is going to take some time yo figure out how to make the buildings so that they can be repositioned and still look like they belong. Initially I wanted to wire it for street lamps, but realized that a fixed board would be better suited for that. The problem with fixed board is that they eventually get old and games become stale.
I've also completed a desert board for the remainder of the encounter locations. One side has fixed hills and the other is just a flat surface with matching texture. The cactus patches count as forests with a little twist they are dangerous terrain with a 0/0/1 Poison 2 damage flip. It shouldn't make that much of a difference in the games but does add a small risk/reward element. I'm still working on the graveyard and bottomless pit as the hazardous terrain element. Right now I have some GW spirit hosts that are acting as mysterious effigies. I'm sculpting 30 mm Easter Island type heads that will replace them once finished. The Ancient monument was some plastic toy I found in my bitz box, I'm working on sculpting something similar to cast for the other boards. Also for this set I've made a soulstone vein, magical nexus, deadzone, campsite, hanging tree and a treasure counter. The plan is to make two different colored treasure counters for each set just in case both players flip them. More pictures of all the boards are available in the gallery section.
Malifaux – I just finished up the Death Marshals and Ortega crew boxes. These were a commission for my friend Dave, he just moved to Wisconsin for an internship and is hoping to get the local store up there interested in Malifaux. Originally he was playing Arcanists using Ramos as his master. I think he's going to find the Guild fits his play-style better. He has a thing for the "red" armies, in Warhammer 40K he has a couple thousand points of Khorne Daemons and Bezerkers, Warmachine he plays Khador, in Necromunda he plays the Goliaths and in D&D he's usually a barbarian. So the in your face style of Lady Justice is really going to suit him better than the way Ramos plays.
I tried to keep brown and red as a primary color scheme throughout all the models. For the Ortegas I stuck with a traditional Caucasian skin tone so as not to lose the flesh in the leather coats. I'm really happy with how Lady Justice turned out, the white jumpsuit makes her stand out on the table. I achieved the slightly other-worldly skin tone on the Death Marshals by applying a purple wash to the skin. This gives them a not quite human appearance without looking like undead flesh.
The bases were constructed from cork and a sand/litter mixture. Painting them in various shades of brown and applying a sepia wash gives them a nice earthy color. The grass is from Woodlandscenics. I've mixed flock, static grass and some coarse turf to give a more natural appearance. I've found that by applying brush on super glue, than dipping the model in a bag of the mixture and blowing off the excess, the grass sticks very well and will stand up.
The new year has brought some new commissions, currently I'm finishing up several Young Nephilims that will join the Lilith crew I painted last year. I'm not a huge fan of the "dancing sculpt" but the angry looking model is pretty cool. As with the other models I painted for him, my client wanted the hair/loin clothes to be different colors to distinguish between the duplicate sculpts. The models are based on Dark Age Lava Inserts, which are a really great product.
I'm also trying to get my own crews ready for the casual league that starts next week. I've got all three of my Resurrectionists crews base coated. The league is escalation style, so every two weeks you have 5 more Soul Stones to buy minions with. I'm hoping it will be a great experience.
Christmas means many new games to enjoy. I was lucky enough to receive Smallworld and have played over a dozen times since Christmas. The mechanics are simple and a game won't last more than and hour and a half (playing with the maximum amount of players). My wife enjoys it as well as the rest of my gaming club, in fact it has has dominated the last few game nights. Yes it's that addictive. There are also several expansions that add new races and abilities, I would imagine both are must haves for this game. I'll discuss Rogue Trader, Ticket to Ride, Set and Set Cubed in future posts once I've had a chance to play them.
Malifaux – Just finished up a commission for the Undertaker's Lot crew. This one is tons of fun to paint. I went with a greenish rotting look for the punks, since they seem to be in a serious state of decomposition. Nicodem is in traditional black as that's how I picture an undertaker. Mortimer is one of my favorite models in the range. I can't help but think of "Mickey's Christmas Carol" every time I look at his face though. He bears a striking resemblance to Pete from that cartoon. You can see the rest of the crew here.
This past weekend was the "Copycat Killer" tournament at Pandemonium in Garden City, MI. Our group had an amazing time. I came in 13th out of the almost 30 participants, and enjoyed ever game. I can't help but think 4 rounds might be to many for a tournament, it ran really long. Even so they had all the encounter locations represented and there's talk of a league starting in January.
I've made some progress with the sewer side of my demo board. The water effects are done and the walls have been painted with the base colors. I need to do some weathering and ink washes to the walls and pipes to make them appear like a grimy ancient undercity. I haven't decided if I want to just paint the torches as flames or if I should try to do a lighting effect on the wall as well. Right now it's playable but I really want to make sure it's impressive. A great table filled with cool terrain and painted models is the best way to draw interest to the demo. More pics are posted in the gallery.
Malifaux – I've been working on a commission recently and thought I should post some WIP shots. The client provided the Dark Age lava bases and wanted his brood to be an off skin color. Given the basing I decided to go with a red. He has three sets of Terror Tots and I painted the hair different so it would be easy to keep track of damage. I'm going for a very vampiric look with Lilith as I think it ties her in with the tots as well as her abilities.
I also want let my reader's know about my painting service. For tabletop quality simple schemes I can paint your models for $8-$12 each depending on the complexity of the model and/or scheme. For display pieces or more complicated schemes the cost would be higher.
Malifaux – On November 15 our gaming club, the Paperbag Wariors, held our first Malifaux tournament.
Read MoreThe holidays are upon us once again. I've been pretty busy trying to get some christmas presents done. This Christmas Sophie is one of my favorite Reaper models.
I've also had quite a few new commissions. First up is the Witch Hunters Crew, I really like all the guild models so these were fun to paint. I kept everything in a simple brown scheme, Samuel really feels like a Daniel Boone/Davey Crocket character. From the few tournaments I've been to he seems to be an auto-include for most guild players. The Witchling Stalkers and Sonnia Criid are also really great models and don't need much work to make that look really great.
In addition to the guild models I just finished a few models for the Arcanists. The Ice Golem is such a pleasure to paint, washes and light dry-brushing bring out the detail. I stuck with the same color scheme as the Ice Pillars. The sabertooth was painted similar to the studio scheme. The Rattler started off using the same colors as a coral snake but the spines made it too busy. The black and red stripes give it the feel requested without detracting from the sculpt. You can see more photos in the gallery section.
Malifaux – I've been working on a 3' x 3' Malifaux board. I started with a 2" thick block of foam and pegged a 1"x4" board around the edges. This makes a durable yet lightweight table top that will fit on a standard size card table. Rather than just having one playing surface I made the board double sided. With the variety of locations you can wind up playing in Malifaux it makes sense to maximize space where ever you can.
One side of the board is a rocky dirt texture, this will work for most encounters by switching out the terrain used. The other side is a sewer. I think it could pass as the Quarantine Zone, Industrial Zone and the Downtown area depending on the terrain used.
The tricky part of doing any board with water effect is figuring out how to make it modular. I decided on making the brick platforms fixed with water running between them. For the walls I used 2" foam and cut multiple lengths all 5" high. This way the walls and bridges can be moved around so games don't get repetitive.
The brick platforms were made by covering foam core with individually cut bricks. The process is tedious and time consuming but the effect is well worth the effort.
The water was created using caulk to create a texture. Once it's painted it will be covered with Envirotex water. The wall were covered with a brick texture wallpaper (which I can't find at the store anymore, if you know where I can get some email me). I cut the grates out of cardstock and create pipes with straws and a variety of cardboard tubes. The torches were made from a plastic tube and a christmas decoration. The bridges are foamcore cover with plastic mesh.
It's coming along nicely, next up is painting the walls. I'm also working on a commission of Lilith and 9 terror tots, seems like it could be pretty nasty list to face.
