Resource: Kuku Kube

If you haven't tried this and wondering how sensitive your eyes are to color, this site is a great way to test it.

Malifaux Mini-Campaign: Week 1

Because sometime you gotta just play an alternate mini-campaign when of your buddies goes on vacation! Super brief notes. Not interesting to anyone!

My starting Arsenal: Widow Weaver, Doppleganger, Black Blood Shaman, 3 Terror Tots. Bounty: Escort Mission.
Lance's starting Arsenal: Datsue Ba, uh some other stuff, and, uh, some bounty.

Weekly event: Forbidden Text
Strategy: Turf War
Deployment: Standard
Available Schemes: A Line In The Sand, Breakthrough, Assassinate, Vendetta, Plant Evidence
Schemes chosen (both of us): Breakthrough, Plant Evidence.
My outcome: Loss, 7 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Texts. 7 total scrip. Injury to 1 Terror Tot (need to re-flip). Completed bounty challenge 1 time.
Lance's outcome: Win, 8 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Texts. 8 total scrip. Injury to something.
My aftermath: Hand - 3 Masks. Barter - 13 Tomes.
Lance's aftermath: Hand - 12 Crows/13 Crows. Barter - 9 Masks. Injury - 9 Tomes.

My aftermath and purchases:
Purchase: Jet Pack (5 scrip)
Remaining scrip: 2

Games this year: 48

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #133

Can't believe how much I've done in the last 2 weeks!

No picture tonight. I finished a pile of stuff, which I won't recap here obviously. Ironically I don't have a lot of stuff in progress. The Widow Weaver and 2 Stitched Togethers are primed and ready for paint, but I haven't started them. I've assembled 2 Waldgeists, Black Blood Scion, and Mysterious Effigy. In general, I'm in a bit of a holding pattern.

Terrain: Sign Post

What it is: A Neverborn sign post, warning intruders.

How I made it: Balsa wood, plastic skulls from some ancient skeleton kit, and a random base from my Secret Weapon Bag-o-Crap. I made sure to put a magnet in the resin base so that I can bring it in my small model transport case and add it to whatever game I happen to be playing at. I also drilled a number of holes in the wood in order to accentuate that it's been at the center of battles. There's even an exposed pin painted to look like a nail.

What I learned: It's amazing how a small piece of terrain like this can get done so quickly. This took me maybe 3 hours total effort and that was just because I was enjoying the project rather than trying to rush through it.

Rules for Malifaux: Severe and Soft Cover.

Malifaux Campaign Week 2 (game 1)

Again, not really sure how to do a proper battle report yet, but here's notes from the first game of week 2.

Additional week 1 cleanup: Gaki Injury flip: 8 Tomes

Weekly event: Swamp Creatures (7 masks)

Game 1:
Strategy: Turf War
Deployment: Flank
Available Schemes: A Line In The Sand, Breakthrough, Protect Territory, Vendetta, Make Them Suffer
Lance Crew: Anna Lovelace, Hannah (Unnerving Aura upgrade), Datsue Ba, Jaakuna Ubume. Schemes: Vendetta, Make Them Suffer.
My Crew: Nekima (Quick Reflexes skill), Lilitu, Lelu (Clockwork Seeker equipment), Iggy. Schemes: Make Them Suffer, Breakthrough.
My outcome: Win, 10 VPs, +2 scrip for 1 Silurid. 8 total scrip. No injuries. Completed bounty challenge 1 time.
Lance's outcome: Loss, 4 VPs, +4 scrip for 2 Silurids, +2 scrip for crew rating difference. 8 total scrip. No injuries.
My aftermath: Hand - 9 Crows/8 Tomes. Barter - 2 Rams.
Lance's aftermath: Hand - 9 Tomes. Barter - Red Joker (+6 Rams).

My aftermath and purchases:
Total scrip prior: 11
Purchase: Metal Plate (3 scrip)
Remaining scrip: 8

Games this year: 47

Terrain: Gallows

What it is: A gallows, for hanging criminals.

How I made it: Loads of coffee stirrers, balsa wood, hot glue, and some twine. Also I painted it using P3 Umbral Umber, P3 Beast Hide (drybrushed), and then P3 Hammerfall Khaki (drybrushed).

What I learned: Originally I tried staining the wood, but there was 2 major problems. First, the stain doesn't really work on coffee stirrers and balsa wood. Second, the stain caused some of the hot glue to detach, which meant a lot of fixing. Also, wood stain smells horrible and takes a long time to properly dry.

Rules for Malifaux: Ht 1 models can walk under unimpeded. Ht 2 models can walk under as severe terrain. Walking up the steps requires no additional cost for climbing, but anywhere else must pay 4" to go up before moving onto the platform. The platform is a vantage point. targeting between above and below the platform is not blocked.

Terrain: Water Tower

What it is: A water tower! Shocker!

How I made it: Lots of balsa wood, wooden dowels, coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks, hot glue, and a single empty food can. I also used some simple craft foam to make the bands around the giant barrel.

What I learned: This actually was inspired mostly by a tutorial or youtube video I'd seen a while. I will say though that I learned using hot glue is much easier for this type of construction that normal glue. Shockingly easier.

Rules for Malifaux: Soft Cover while in the ground area contained by the posts. Beginning a Wk action at the base of the ladder allows for getting to the top in a single 1AP.

Terrain: Angel Statue

What it is: A weeping angel status to watch over those about to die.

How I made it: Very simple. I bought a "Doctor Who Angel" statue, hot-glued it to a small empty can, and then painted it. I used some of the ModelMates weathering paints to quickly speed the process as well, which they worked great on.

What I learned: Honestly, this was a super simple project. Mostly I just learned that there are Doctor Who Weeping Angle christmas ornaments.

Rules for Malifaux: Blocking, Impassable, Hard Cover

Alps

Nothing fancy. Just wanted to make them stand out.

Terrain: Serene Fountain

Here's the first of a recent surge of terrain building for Malifaux. I've been horrible about taking in-progress pictures, so these are less like tutorials and more like post mortems.

What it is: It's a peaceful looking fountain. It's not meant to be spooky or daemonic or evil or anything like that. Just a nice peaceful centerpiece to a town.

How I made it: I started with a form for the well from a mission kit I got at Michaels. Sorry, no link for it as I can't find it listed anywhere. It came in 2 halves and had the basic stonework pattern to it. I then put it together and attached it to a piece of chipboard, using some clay to attach it down. I then built up some styrofoam blocks and plastic tube to create the fountain part, and added some mixed grain sand around the outside edge. Next I primed and painted it up, putting a little extra effort into the bronze tubes to give them a weathered look. After that I added moss and grass and such, putting a little extra highlighting on all that stuff. The falling water was the tricky part. I used some fishing line and glued it at both ends (inside the tubes and to the bottom of the well), and then applied a liberal amount of gel super glue to the lines and let that dry. Next I poured Envirotex into the well part and let that dry for 24 hours. After that I applied a thin layer of uneven super heavy gloss gel and let that dry overnight to give the water surface a much more uneven look.

What I learned: Here's a really great video tutorial by Terrain Wench of doing pool water effects that I highly recommend. I learned a lot from this. Some key things that I would do differently in the future are as follows: First, I would do a much better job of sealing up the bottom edge of the pool, since a fair amount of Envirotex leaked out and made a mess. I was somewhat prepared for this, but in hindsight I should have just gone the extra mile to make sure. Second, I would change the angle of the water pouring out from the fountain pipes. It just doesn't look quite right unfortunately. Third, I would use Terrain Wench's tip and pour the Envirotex in multiple layers, do a very minor amount of swirling of wash medium to make it look more uneven. Other than that though, I am really quite happy with my first attempt and animated water effects. I'm already dreaming up ideas for more such projects.

Rules for Malifaux: Ht 1.5", Blocking, Impassable, Hard Cover

Terrain: Malifaux Style

In an effort to get our Malifaux games to the next level of awesomeness, I'm embarking on a terrain quest. Terrain is far more important in Malifaux than in any other miniatures game I've ever played. Coming from Warmachine predominantly, but also Dropzone Commander, Warhammer, 40K, and so on, terrain was essentially window-dressing and an afterthought. For Malifaux though, it dramatically swings the balance of the game. After playing the first couple games of our campaign, it became painfully obvious to me that I needed to do some research as well as some terrain building. The first step was to tap into my primary resource for Wyrd stuff: A Wyrd Place, the completely awesome Facebook group of Wyrd players. This is hands down my favorite miniatures game Facebook group due to the positive attitude and helpful nature of everyone on it. In addition to getting several good insights, I got links for some excellent resources. First I'll share the resources, then the remainder of the post will be a summary of all the stuff I took away from all the helpful comments and resources that I read.

Fantastic pinned post on the forums - Has great visuals. Fantastic first place to start.
Terrain is a Big Deal in Malifaux - Great article on Pull My Finger. Incorporates stuff from the forum post along with other great material.
Chronicles of Breach Fighters - Fantastic Facebook page of battle reports, showing lots of table configurations. Perhaps even more fantastic just for the ideas of terrain pieces to build.

What I learned from all this...
* Always discuss the terrain up front before starting the battle to ensure no confusion later on.
* Terrain should cover 30-50% of the table. Test this by collecting it all into one solid section at the start.
* 3 important types: Cover (to curb shooting), LOS blocking (to curb casters), slow/block movement (to curb melee). Balancing these is important.
* Don't use hills, except near the edges of the board. They don't fall into any of the 3 important types and end up introducing elevation. Elevation itself is tricky, and will need house rulings to be workable.
* There should be little to no direct LOS from 1 deployment zone to another. Maybe 1-2 narrow lanes.
* Terrain in the center of the board is good, whereas along the edges is not as useful.


Now it's time to build some terrain! I'm finishing up a bunch of pieces (which I'll post during the coming days), but doing this research was helpful. Next I'm going to take a close look at which of the 3 categories each of my existing terrain supplies fall into, and see how much board coverage capability I have. In the mean time, here's some ideas I have for more terrain projects:
* Sign posts
* Low hedges
* Gravestones / open graves
* Archway opening to a graveyard area
* Large spooky tree

Black Blood Shaman

Strange model. Not entirely happy with it, but it's done. A little too bright with the reds perhaps. Anyway, it's a freaky sort of thing and I'm looking forward to fielding it.

Malifaux Campaign: Week 1

We started a Malifaux campaign! I'm documenting the progress of it on my blog. The week recap posts will mostly just be notes rather than narritive. I'm also just trying to get a handle on how to track and report this stuff since it's our first games of Malifaux in years, and it's our very first time using the campaign format.

Starting crews:
Lance: Anna (leader), Hannah, Datsu Ba, Gaki. Decaying Aura upgrade.
Me: Nekima, Lilitu, Lelu, Young Nephilim. The True Mother upgrade.
Henry: McTavish, Lenny, Rooster Rider, 3 Bayou Gremlins. I'll Love It And Pet It upgrade.

Week 1:
Event: Fate Favors The Bold

Game 1: Reckoning (standard deployment)
Henry, Assassinate + Murder Protege, win, 7vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=11. Card hand: 11 Crows, 2 Rams. Barter card: 3 Tomes. Injury on Lenny to resolve.
Scott, Make Them Suffer + Murder Protege, loss, 5vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9. Card hard: 2 Tomes. Barter card: 6 Crows. No injuries.

Game 2: Squatter's Rights (standard deployment)
Henry, Breakthrough + Make Them Suffer, win, 10vp, 2(?) bonus scrip, total earned scrip=12 (but capped by weekly max to 5). Card hand: 13 Rams, 9 Masks. Barter card: 2 Masks. Injury on one Gremlin to resolve.
Lance, Make Them Suffer + Frame For Murder, loss, 6vp, 6 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9. Card hand: 3 Masks. Barter card: 12 Masks. No injuries to resolve.

Game 3: Reckoning (standard deployment)
Scott, win, 8vps, 4 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=9 (but capped by weekly max to 7). Schemes: Cursed Object and Breakthrough. Card hand: 2 Rams, 7 Tomes. Barter card: 9 Masks. No injuries to resolve.
Lance, loss, 6vps, 4 bonus scrip, total earned scrip=7 (exactly hitting weekly max). Schemes: Assassinate and Cursed Object. Card hand: 5 Tomes. Barter card: 3 Masks.


My aftermath and purchases:
From game 1 barter - Clockwork Seeker (for 5 scrip)
From game 2 barter - Quick Reflexes (for 4 scrip) for Nekima
Bounty - Map It Out (for 4 scrip)
New Hires - Iggy (for 0 scrip)
Remaining scrip = 3

Lilitu

This was a delightful model to paint. Since I've picked up Malifaux with sincerity in recently, this is the first model where I really felt like I had poured myself into. In contrast to Lelu, I toyed around with the skin tones toward a more blueish tone for the highlights. I also tried to push the overall contrast a bit further, and especially used her hair as a way to pull attention towards her face by having the lightest portions right around her face. Just overall I really enjoyed painting this model so much.

Lelu

Lelu here is half of a pair that I painted at the same time (the other model being Lilitu). Thematically these models are meant to be paired, and so to accent that, I decided to use some color accenting of their flesh tones. Lelu's tones start with the basic blue/purple tones, but then I highlighted upwards towards a more red tone to represent his anger. Inversely, Lilitu got a bluer highlight tone to represent her colder calculating nature.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #132

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Finished Lelu and Lilitu. Got my Alps and Stitched Togethers primed. Got started painting on the Black Blood Shaman (pictured here). Went through my terrain building supplies and got organized in the hope that I will start building terrain in the next couple weeks. Got my wet palette refreshed with a new sheet. Now for sleep.

Interview with Mike McVey

Go read this interview with Mike McVey. Right now. It's fantastic.

Nekima

I'm not really sure what to say about this model. It was a bit intense for a Malifaux model due to its sheer size. It was also a little awkward to paint because of the wings. Even getting it assembled was tricky because of the position of the arms and sword. However I will say that I like the pose of this older metal version of Nekima better than the new plastic one, simply because she's huge and regal. I'm eager to see her swat gremlins tonight!

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #131

Oops. Missed a couple weeks.

Sort of a mediocre week for hobby progress. Painted Jakes, although I'm not sure how soon I'll be playing her. Also finished the 3 Daydream and Nekima. Nekima was a bit of a challenge and I got stalled a couple times getting her done, but I pulled it off. Pics of her to come tomorrow when I have more time to post. I also got 3 Alps and 2 Stitched Togethers assembled, along with just some general organizing of remaining unpainted models. Speaking of...

In the process of sorting through my remaining unpainted Malifaux, I did something extremely rare for me. I found my old metal Mysterious Effigy model. I was trying to interpret it and finally just decided it was unreadable visually. So I opted to toss it into my parts bin and get the new plastic version of it. The plastic one is very nice in comparison. It still pains me a bit to do this. However having looked through my existing metal models and at the new plastic sculpts, if there was a single model to do it with, this was the one. As my friend aptly put it, "the old sculpt looks like Picasso throw up".

Another task I wrapped up was swapping the bases on my Neverborn models that have the type "Spirit". All of them happened to have Incorporeal which is a very relevant thing to remember, and I decided that the best way to represent that with a visual reminder was to use the translucent purple bases that Wyrd sells. The only problem was used straight as is the bases were too bright. So I opted to hit them with a matte coat, then a purple ink wash to darken them a bit. I like the result. The Dreamer one was the tricky one since I needed to re-paint the glowing fire effect on the bottom.

Here's a shot of the newly updated bases in among the other traditional ones.

And finally I have this little experiment. I did a primer undercoating of black and then white, and then did 3 washes of various sepia colorings and control levels. This was just to test out how easy it may (or may not) be to do a western style look (a la sepia colored old photographs) on a model. The results are, well, less than exciting, but as a proof of concept they did show that it's feasible. I'd obviously need a more interesting model for the overall look and way more work, but the effect is interesting. I might fool around with this a bit more later when I pick out a more appropriate model to test on.