This has to be one of the best models from Malifaux range. It's extremely well detailed and has that extra tongue-in-the-cheek factor to it that was characteristic for 1st ed models. An elderly man clutching reins, sitting atop a pile of random baggage carried by a donkey. If it wasn't for numerous firearms and swords, it could even be described as the most pacifist mini in the range.
The main challenge I faced while working on it was that I received it completely assembled. As a result, getting to some areas proved extremely difficult. At first, the number of elements on this model put me off but I just kept at it, adding a little every other night.
Once again, life's been filled with ups and downs. Shortly after being released from hospital, my 3-moth old daughter needed another major surgery. Seems like the problem with her thin intestine and colon is fixed for good now, which gives me more hope. I'm mostly at home with my older kid (3 years old) while my wife is with the little one at the hospital. It's a tough experience but we're pulling through. It's hard but seeing other kids and families with much more serious problems and facing them bravely is a humbling experience.
And yet again, painting has been a way to calm down and briefly escape other problems during late night hours. I've painted two models recently, both for my own collection.
Serena Bownam is a model that was added to Malifaux as a result of Divergent Patch campaign. I don't really know much about her background fluff-wise but she's definitely been through a lot. Her body is covered with scars and it looks like her skin was partly flayed and then randomly stitched back.
In game, she is Discuised and has Thick Skin, which protects her from blast damage. And as far as protection is concerned, she doesn't really need much of it as she is resummoned in your deployment zone if she dies in game. She can give Black Blood to friendly Nightmare models and then attack through them (looks like much more limited version of Reva). And then there's some extra utility she brings in. An ability to heal and remove conditions is huge, though suit-dependent. Another big one is her special upgrade, which allows friendly minions and enforcers to be deployed as with "From the Shadows" option. I've used her only once in a friendly game but I want to try her a few more times with the Dreamer.
I used box art as reference for painting, keeping the colors toned down. It made the pale skin pop more in contrast. The model was very easy to assemble and I needed no GS to fill in the gaps as all the parts fit together very well.
Lazarus a special model that can be "purchased' for 10 Guilders. It's made of a slightly different material - the plastic has a more "rubbery" feel to it and as such, removing mold lines requires slightly different approach. Rather than scraping them off, you
need to cut them away with a sharp hobby knife. It's definitely more time consuming and requires more precision. The model makes me think of illustrations from Stanisław Lem's novels. It has a slightly comical, exaggerated feel to it but overall it is well proportioned and nicely detailed. Lazarus comes from the Outcast faction, so I wanted to make sure he looks different than my Neverborn models. That's why (similarly to Hannah). I used primarily yellow on his armor, keeping the base in theme with the rest of my faction of choice.
Lazarus excels at shooting. His grenade launcher can fire three times per turn so any movement tricks (obeys/pushes/lures) to get him in right position can prove very effective. Neverborn have access to numerous ways of moving their models so this might prove useful.
This model was originally released as a reward for backers of Wyrd Game's Through the Breach campaign. Since then it has never been available in general release. It's probably one of the most rare models from the entire range now. I don't really care for the huge model that was released at a later date, so I had to pay through the nose to get this version when it popped up on ebay.
It's definitely one of the best models that Wyrd has ever released. It combines the steampunk and magical elements seamlessly. I chose a 50mm skull base from Micro Art Studio for her and did some trimming and filling with Agrellan Badlands to make sure she fit it well. The only part that doesn't look that good are her hands as they both seem a bit too large...
The pose is interesting and the level of detail is more than impressive. I wanted to make sure the mini stands out so I used slightly toned down yellow on her armor as no other models in my collection feature this shade. I used airbrush to sketch the lighting on this part of the model and proceeded to fill in the details. Marking the darkest areas with pure black and doing edge highlights on the armor was a painstakingly long process. That's one of the main reasons I've never enjoyed painting GW's Space Marines.
After that I moved onto the Hannah model, and felt much more comfortable while working on her. I used green and brown for her uniform as these colors worked well with the yellow armor. The book she is pointing at is a nice element that allowed me to shift some of the focus there and I used red on the cover and filled the open pages with some writing.
Hannah is a henchman and a mercenary. I plan to try using her with my Neverborn. She provides solid melee attack with an impressive range of 3' and blast potential on moderate and severe. She can also copy a (1) casting action as her (0), which opens plenty of opportunities for her.
Hannah is armor 1, has 9 Wds and can use soulstones, so taking her down shouldn't be easy. She also makes the crew she is in better with her passive abilities. Arcane Reservoir increases crew's hand size by 1, and Counterspell means that enemy Ca actions lose all suits. What's more, enemy models within 4' of her (and that's a big area since she comes on a 50mm base) ignore any suits associated with their Ca, Ml, and Sh attacks, which can be a great in limiting opponents' offensive triggers.
Scion of the Void has a distinctly Lovecraftian feel to it. Tentacles, four arms, and a mysterious book add to this image. I was asked to use "floating island" type of base for this mini so that's what I came up with. Painting his black robe was a challenge as it comprises the major part of the mini. I used more contrasting highlights on the folds of the material and added some dry pigments on the edges.
Scion is a thematic henchman for Tara but he can also be used in other Outcast teams for burying key models and throwing them in the opponent's face (Viks come to mind immediately). He's also hard to hit as he gets to discard a card and bury whenever targeted.
I've painted the plastic version of Johan (with some Neverborn elements added) before. Johana is an alternate version of that model. As you can clearly see in the pictures, scale is an issue here. Johan is way too large for Ht 2 model, and Johana looks like a baby next to him, and her relic hammer like a toy. I like the way her proportions are defined as she looks more natural. The model has decent level of detail too.
Alternate Bishop used to be one of the rarest and most valuable miniatures from the Malifaux range. I managed to get him in a trade with another gamer from the US. Soon after that the mini appeared in Black Friday sale for $25... Oh well, at least I was finally able to paint him.
The model is based on a character from DC universe called Lobo. I'm not really familiar with it so after quick research I learned that he is some kind of badass alien bounty hunter. What I liked about him immediately were clearly distinctive features, style, and unusual colors. I decided to paint my miniature in a similar way and used this opportunity to simultaneously paint old plastic version of Bishop. I never cared much for that version of this model but it grew on me as I started working on it.
Bishop is a 10ss mercenary who is a versatile beater. He can choose a suit at the beginning of his activation and add it to all his duel totals until the end of his activation. Bishop can also choose whether he wants his opponent to resist his attacks with Wp or Df. His Ml value is a standard 6 with 4 different triggers that allow him to put slow on the target, push it 3' in any direction, deal one extra damage (not too bad on a 2/3/4 spread), or ignore Armor, Hard to Kill, and Incorporeal. The last one seems particularly nice. The only problems are Wk4 and his short range of only 1'. Still, he is swift and can flurry so a lot of damage can be caused as long as he is close to his target. His other Ml attack has a high value of 7, costs 2 AP, deals no damage but puts Paralyzed on the target.
His Df and Wp are solid 6 and if he wins a defensive duel in Ml, he can punch back for some extra damage.
June's been crazy. I've been snowed under with work and the fact that I've been ill for the last couple of weeks didn't help. I ended up taking antibiotics, and ... still working. Fortunately the worst is behind me now and I'm even beginning to regain my voice so things are looking up! I still managed to paint a few minis during that period so here's my attempt at catching up with new stuff on the blog.
Czerwiec to obłęd.Byłem zarobiony na maksa, a to że od kilku tygodni chorowałem nie pomagało. Skończyło się na antybiotykach i... pracowaniu. Na szczęście najgorsze za mną i zacząłem nawet odzyskiwać głos więc sprawy zaczynają wyglądać lepiej! Mimo wszystko udało mi się trochę nowego pomalować podczas tego okresu, tak więc oto moja próba nadgonienia blogowych zaległości.
First off, Big Jake, an Outcasts enforcer who brings a lot of interesting options, especially for GG2017. I actually wanted to submit him to a Wyrd painting contest but with all the things going on, I missed the deadline...
Painting dark shade of skin was a big challenge as I don't get many chances to do so. I used paints from Andrea skin set and I think the result is quite realistic. I used many warm colors on this one, which is not my standard approach to painting minis. I also used GW Agrellan Earth to create some crackle effects on paint on his torso and his face (it's hard to see it in the picture but there is a skull).
Na początek Big Jake, Outcastowy enforcer, który wnosi do gry sporo opcji, zwłaszcza w obliczy zasad GG 2017. Miałem go nawet wysłać do konkursu malarskiego Wyrds, ale przez natłok pracy przegapiłem termin...
Malowanie ciemnego koloru skóry było dużym wyzwaniem, ponieważ rzadko mam ku temu okazję. Użyłem farbek z zestawy Andrea do malowania skóry i myślę, że efekt jest realistyczny. Malując ten model, używałem wielu ciepłych kolorów, co nie jest dla mnie typowym podejściem do malowania. Użyłem też Agrellan Earth od GW do efektów spękań w miejscach, gdzie jego tors i twarz są pomalowane farbą (ciężko to dostrzec na zdjęciach, ale ma tam namalowaną czaszkę).
Changelings were a challenge to paint as they're so tiny it was hard to keep the details visible. I kept their uniforms black and purple to tie them better with the Neverborn faction.
In game they are solid scheme runners with low Wounds and a few tricks to keep them alive. They can also be useful offensively as they can copy attacks from other models.
Malowanie Changelings było wyzwaniem przez to, że są tak małe i ciężko utrzymać na nich dobrze widoczne detale. Pomalowałem ich mundurki używając czarnego i fioletu, żeby łatwo kojarzyli się z frakcją Neverborn.
W grze pełnią funkcję scheme runnerów z małą liczbą ran, ale paroma trickami, które pozwalają im dłużej przeżyć. Mogą się też przydać w ofensywie dzięki możliwości kopiowania ataków innych modeli.
And Last but not least, Luther the Pascha Hare. There is a really creepy story about him in Wyrd Chronicles #17. Wyrd released him in a scenario set. It can be officially used as a Blessed of December. I really liked the twisted Alice in Wonderland feel to this mini so I decided to get it and use it as an alternative Teddy (hence the 50mm base).
I don't really care for minis that are preassembled and made of this rubbery material as it's really hard to clean all the mold lines off of it. Working on all the fur was a major challenge as I didn't want to make it look flat. I also painted his jacket purple to tie him with the Neverborn a bit more. The yellow patch on the back was added to add a bit more color variety.
I na sam koniec, Luuther the Pascha Hare. W 17 numerze Wyrd Chronicles można przeczytać o nim opowiadanie, które wywołuje gęsią skórkę. Wyrd wypuścił go w boxie ze scenariuszem. Może też być używany oficjalnie jako Blessed of December. Bardzo spodobał mi się jego pokręcony wygląd, który budzi skojarzenia z Alicją w Krainie Czarów, więc postanowiłem go zdobyć i używać jako Teddy'ego (stąd też 50 mm podstawka).
Nie przepadam za fabrycznie składanymi modelami, zwłaszcza wykonanymi z gumowatego materiału, co sprawia że czyszczenie linii nadlewów jest bardzo niewygodne. Malowanie futra było dużym wyzwaniem, nie chciałem, żeby wyglądało płasko. Pomalowałem też jego marynarkę na fioletowo, żeby kojarzył się z Neverbornami. Żółta łatka na plecach była dodana dla większego zróżnicowania.
Johan is a cheap enforcer that often finds his place in many non-Outcast crews. He is a good beatstick (especially against constructs and tyrants), he can use Flurry, and can take some punishment thanks to Hard to Kill. If he goes down, there's always Finish the Job to drop one extra marker. Rebel Yell is the ability for which he is often chosen. It allows him to remove a condition from a model (both friendly and enemy).
Johan to tani enforcer, który często trafia do nie Outcastowych ekip. Potrafi mocno przywalić (zwłaszcza konstruktom i tyranom), może użyć Flurry, potrafi też przyjąć trochę na klatę dzięki Hard to Kill. Jeśli zejdzie, zawsze jest Finish the Job do zrzucenia dodatkowego markera. Rebel Yell to najważniejsza umiejętność dla której jest najmowany. Pozwala mu usunąć condition z modelu (przyjaznego lub wrogiego).
The model is well designed and has slightly exaggerated features with huge body and small head. He is Ht 2 but still towers over other models of the same size. Wyrd sometimes has problems with properly scaling miniatures and this seems to be a good example. Even if he was meant to be a bug guy, he turned out too massive in comparison to other models.
I used bits of a very old GW Chaos Warriors sprue to modify the model. I wanted the changes to reflect the effects that might have occurred to his as a result of keeping bad (Neverborn) company. The base incorporates both elements that I have in my crews from this faction (planks and swamp).
Model jest ładnie zaprojektowany i ma lekko przerysowane proporcje przez ogromne ciało i małą głowę. Ma wysokość 2, ale mimo to góruje nad innymi modelami o tej samej nominalnej wielkości. Wyrd miewa problemy ze skalą i ten wydaje się być dobrym przykładem. Nawet jeśli miał być dużym gościem, to wyszedł zdecydowanie zbyt masywny.
Użyłem bitsów ze starej wypraski GW z Wojownikami Chaosu do modyfikacji figurki. Chciałem, żeby zmiany odzwierciedlały efekty przebywania w złym (Neverbornowym) towarzystwie. Podstawka łączy w sobie elementy obecne w tej frakcji (deski i bagno).
I managed to buy these two old metal minis a while ago and painted them up quickly. They were fun to work with as I finally had a chance to paint something from the world of Malifaux that looks like it could actually exist in real life. These two are some of the few that actually look better than their plastic versions. The new ones are much smaller and have fewer details.
The Trapper is an excellent sniper who can deploy From the Shadows and can shoot pretty much across the whole board (with a built in +). I'll probably try him with my Neveborn at some point.
I painted the Specialist thinking about using him with Sonnia. He can hand out burning with his Flammenwerfer and hit with blasts on moderate and severe. He can also remove markers, which may come in handy.
Niedawno udało mi się kupić te dwie metalowe figurki i pomalowałem je od razu. Przyjemnie się z nimi pracowało a malowanie czegoś z Malifaux co mogłoby istnieć w "prawdziwym" świecie, było miła odmianą. Te dwie figurki należą do tej małej grupy modeli które wyglądają lepiej w starych wersjach. Nowe są mniejsze i mają znacznie mniej detali.
Traper to świetny snajper, który może być wystawiony From the Shadows i strzela praktycznie na całą długość planszy (z wbudowanym +). Myślę, że przy jakiejś okazji przetestuję go z moimi Neverborn.
Specjalistę malowałem z myślą o użyciu go z Sonnią. Może dawać burning swoim Flammenwerfer i trafiać z blastami na średnich i wysokich obrażeniach. Umie też usuwać markery, co zawsze może się przydać.
I've also recently played a game against Hired Guns crew. The highlights included Coppelius and Doppelganger running schemes and doing some fantastic flips (they both had two eye in turn ). I also managed to hug Von Schill to death with my Teddy (with some help of hazardous terrain) only to have him killed a moment later by Stongarm Suit flipping Red Joker on damage. It was a friendly game as I was introducing a buddy into Malifaux so we didn't even finish it.
Rozegrałem też ostatnio grę przeciwko ekipie Hired Guns. Najciekawszymi częścioami gry były Coppelius i Doppelganger biegający ze schemami i flippujący rewelacyjnie (oboje mieli po 2 tokeny oczu w 2 turze) oraz Misiek, który uściskał Von Schila na śmierć (przy pomocy niebezpiecznego terenu) tylko po to, żeby po chwili zginać z rąk Strongarm Suit i jego flipowi na damage z czerwonym jokerem. To była tylko towarzyska gra, w której wprowadzałem znajomego w grę, więc nawet jej nie dokończyliśmy.
Aionus was a special, 10th anniversary miniature that was released in 2015 during the Black Friday sale. It's an unusual model in that it comes fully assembled (unfortunately, there are some nasty gaps that have to be dealt with before it can be painted) and unlike standard plastic Wyrd models, it is cast in PVC. The quality of this miniature is pretty good although removing the mold lines was a bit annoying as the material is made of is much softer than plastic...
I wanted the paintjob to somehow reflect his skills with manipulating time and matter and found a very good source of inspiration in Curtis Shoemake's article in the latest issue of Chronicles. I painted the clock and Aionus' hands and feet in a way that I thought would represent his unusual skills.
I've seen some really nice paintjobs on his cloak, some people chose to paint a starry sky pattern and I liked the idea. However, I also wanted to try something new and unique and decided to use nail polish with small bits of glitter mixed inside.
Aionus is a 12 soulstone Mercenary Henchman who can move scheme markers and support friendly models by giving them Fast (as long as he discards a card of value higher than the target model cost). He can also hand out slow to enemy models and has a few offensive tricks up his tattered sleeve. His entire stat card can actually be seen in a preview at Wyrd's website.
Aionus był specjalnym modelem wydanym na 10-lecie Wyrda podczas ostatniego Czarnego Piątku. To dość nietypowa figurka, która już na starcie jest sklejona (niestety pozostaje na niej sporo dziur które trzeba zaszpachlować przed malowaniem). Co więcej, w przeciwieństwie do standardowych modeli Wyrda, Aionus jest odlany w PVC. Jakość wykonania figurki jest wysoka, ale usuwanie linii po nadlewach z miękkiego materiału nie było przyjemnością...
Chciałem, żeby malowanie w jakimś stopniu odzwierciedlało jego umiejętności manipulowania czasem i materią i znalazłem świetne źródło inspiracji w artykule, który napisał w ostatnim numerze Wyrd Chronicles Curtis Shoemake. Pomalowałem zegar, dłonie i stopy w sposób który może oddawać te nietypowe umiejętności.
Widziałem sporo ciekawych wersji tego modelu z płaszczem pomalowanym tak, że przypomina gwieździste niebo. Ten pomysł przypadł mi do gustu. Chciałem jednak spróbować czegoś nowego i użyłem lakieru do paznokci z maleńkimi kawałkami brokatu.
Aionus to henchman o charakterystyce Mercenary, jego koszt to aż 12 soulstonów. Potrafi przesuwać scheme markery i wspierać przyjazne modele dając im Fast (pod warunkiem, że odrzuci z ręki kartę o wartości wyższej niż koszt modelu). Może też spowolnić wrogie modele i ma kilka ofensywnych sztuczek w swoim podartym rękawie. Jego kompletną kartę można zobaczyć na stronie Wyrda w sekcji zapowiedzi.
And to finish things off, here's a video that seems to go well with this post. I na koniec klip który chyba dobrze pasuje to tego posta.
I'm a big fan of Wyrd plastic models but every now and then I work on old metal versions. Many of them suffered from scale issues or were a true nightmare to assemble, but there are some that stand out in terms of quality of the cast. Taelor is a good example and she is one of the few models which I like more in their old version.
When you look at the model it's actually hard to believe she's made of just one piece. No glue was needed to prepare her for painting, I only had to remove the mold lines (which is a bit more difficult then with plastic models). Her proportions are realistic and the pose is very good too. The details look great as well, her face looks amazing, with clearly defined cheekbones and sharp details on her mouth.
Painting her was a lot of fun and I enjoyed picking out all the small bits with a brush. I initially wanted to give her a more vivid, pink hair but in the end decided to keep it red, using toned down shades. I also painted the Good Lady (her Relic Hammer) using gold. I realize that in reality it's a soft metal and it wouldn't really work well with weapons (hello warriors of Khorne!), but I wanted it to stand out in contrast to her pneumatic arm, And besides, it's Malifaux, so things don't have to be what they look like at first glance.
The only problematic thing I didn't really like so much was her hair. The strands of hair are cast in thick lines, so it requires some really careful brushwork while painting. Also, her stomach, while cast really well, lacks detail and I had to put extra effort to paint muscles on it. Not a big deal, but it was another thing that required additional work.
Bardzo lubię plastikowe figurki od Wyrda, ale od czasu do czasu zdarza mi się też pracować ze starymi, metalowymi wersjami. Wiele z nich ma problemy ze skalą, niektóre to prawdziwy koszmar przy sklejaniu, ale są też i takie, które wyróżniają się jakością wykonania. Taelor to dobry przykład, jest to jeden z nielicznych modeli które wolę w starszej, metalowej wersji.
Patrząc na nią aż ciężko uwierzyć, że cały model odlany jest w jednej części. Do przygotowania jej do malowania nie potrzeba ani kropli kleju, trzeba tylko usunąć linie po odlewie (co zawsze jest trochę bardziej praco i czasochłonne przy metalowych figurkach). Jej proporcje są realistyczne, jej poza jest też ciekawa. Detale wyglądają świetnie, zwłaszcza jej twarz - kości policzkowe są wyraźnie widoczne, dobrze też wyglądają usta.
Malowanie tej figurki było czystą przyjemnością i bez problemu mogłem podkreślić wszystkie detale. Początkowo chciałem pomalować jej włosy przy użyciu bardziej jaskrawego, różowego koloru, ale ostatecznie zdecydowałem się użyć bardziej stonowanych czerwonych barw. Jej młot runiczny, Dobra Pani, został pomalowany na złoty kolor. Doskonale zdaję sobie sprawę, że w rzeczywistości ten metal jest stosunkowo miękki i nie zdałby egzaminu jako broń (pozdrowienia dla wojowników Khorne'a!), ale zależało mi na tym, żeby mieć kontrast do pneumatycznego ramienia. Poza tym, w końcu to Malifaux, a więc nie wszystko musi być tym na co wygląda na pierwszy rzut oka.
Jedyną rzeczą, która mniej mi się tutaj podobała są włosy. Pasma włosów są odlane w grubych liniach i wymagają bardzo ostrożnej pracy z pędzlem przy rozjaśnianiu. Poza tym, jej brzuch, pomimo tego że jest odlany naprawdę dobrze, nie ma detali i musiałem włożyć sporo dodatkowej pracy w namalowanie na nim mięśni. Nie był to wielki problem, ale też była to kolejna rzecz wymagająca dodatkowej pracy.
Taelor is a go-to mercenary when you're facing summoners. She has an excellent ability ("Welcome to Malifaux"), which allows her to take charges out of her turn and target any newly summoned models within 9' of her. She is also relentless, so horror duels don't matter to her at all. With an impressive Ml7, her Relic Hammer dishes out scary amounts of damage, and has an amazing 3' range. It also receives two positive twists against constructs and Tyrants. Her other attack, Hammer Fall, is a (2) action that doesn't do that much damage, but it affects all enemy models in 3' range, and pushed them back after a failed TN14 Df duel.
When it comes to resilience, her base stats aren't impressive at all. However, she has both Hard to Wound 1, and Hard to Kill. Add to that the fact that she is a henchman and can use soulstones and all of a sudden taking her down looks much more difficult and requires concentrated effort.
So does she have any weaknesses? As pretty much any Malifaux character, there are some. Most of all, she is fairly slow and has no real defense against against ranged attacks. Put a few firearms together, and Taelor can be in serious trouble.
And last but not least - in the latest book ("Shifting Loyalties"), there is a very nice store with Lady Hammerstrike herself as the protagonist. Probably the best one in the book, check it out if you have access to it. And yes, the title is "Welcome to Malifaux".
Taelor jest oczywistym wyborem w starciach przeciwko masterom przywołującym postacie do gry. Ma świetną umiejętność ("Welcome to Malifaux"), która pozwala jej na szarżę poza aktywacją w kierunku każdej nowo przyzwanej jednostki w zasięgu 9 cali. Jest też nieugięta, a więc horror duels jej nie dotyczą. Jej młot ma bardzo mocne Ml7, świetny zasięg trzech cali, i Taelor potrafi nim naprawdę mocno uderzyć. Dodatkowo, ma zawsze dwa pozytywne flipy przeciwko konstruktom i tyranom. Jej drugi atak, Hammer Fall, to akcja za (2), która co prawda nie zadaje tak dużo obrażeń, ale działana wszystkie modele przeciwnika w zasięgu 3 cali i może je dodatkowo odepchnąć po przegranym TN14 pojedynku na Df.
Jeśli chodzi o odporność, jej bazowe statystyki nie powalają. Jednak mimo tego, ma zarówno Hard to Wound 1, jak i Hard to Kill. Do tego można dodać fakt, że jest henchmanem, może używać soulstonów i nagle okazuje się, że pozbycie się jej z gry wcale nie jest takie łatwe i wymaga większj koncentracji siły rażenia.
Czy w takim razie Taelor ma jakiekolwiek słabe strony? Jak praktycznie u każdej postaci z Malifaux, coś się znajdzie. Przede wszystkim, jest dość powolna i nie ma żadnej szczególnej ochrony przeciw strzelaniu. Wystarczy zestawić parę strzelających jednostek i Taelor może mieć kłopoty.
I na sam koniec mała ciekawostka. W Najnowszym podręczniku doMalifaux ("Shifting Loyalties") znajdziecie bardzo dobre opowiadanie z panią Hammerstrike w roli głównej. Chyba nawet najlepsze z całej książki, jeśli macie do niej dostęp to polecam. Acha, i jej tytuł to oczywiście "Welcome to Malifaux".
Hammertime now!
Well, I've made it to the second round of Wyrd's Iron Painter competition. It wasn't easy but here I am, trying to go at least one round more than I did last time. The theme for round 2 is "The End of the World, as we Know it". It took me a while to come up with an idea. I didn't want to buy minis especially for this entry so I made use of what I had. I ended up buying some extra bits but those are for sure not elements typically used in the hobby ;)
Very early stage
I got a small picture frame and three Christmas ornaments with LEDs inside. I then cut the "trees" away so that I only had the basic parts. Those were white LEDs so I painted them using red and yellow inks. As you can see, I've also dug out some very old LoTR plastic ruins from the bottom of my bits box.
I knew from the start which miniatures I'd be using for the diorama. Few things in (and I mean it in a good way). They combine ruined human bodies with various metal elements. wires and other random bits. These are one of the best models that Wyrd has released in plastic so far. The design is absolutely amazing, they look grotesque and barely even human with all those random elements protruding from the tormented bodies. While working on this project I painted four of them separately. I used Wyrd Morgue Base inserts as I thought these tie in nicely with the nasty look of Abominations.
The only problem I had with them was pinning as their feet are so thin it's hard to drill through them without doing damage. With the spider one it is actually impossible so instead I just drilled small holes in the base and stuck him in. The chainsaw one had fragments of plastic sprue left below his feet and they served as pins for gluing him to the base. The four used on the diorama were painted in the same way.
Iron Painter is a good opportunity to try something new. You need this extra bit to get more points for the judges. I decided to try creating a smoke/explosion effect. I used some cotton wool, shaped it slightly and then sprayed matt varnish on it. I wanted to preserve the shape I formed and make sure it doesn't disappear later on when I sprayed some black over it. In the end I stuck the LEDs into inside.
The children occupy a center place in this diorama so I wanted to make sure they stand out from the environment and used bright, vivid colors. I also glued a patch of bright static grass around them and mixed it slightly with scorched one around the edges, following by adding a little bit of black. This part of the diorama is supposed to represent "the (...) World, as we know it" part of the theme. "The End" part is everything around and the explosion and smoke was created to reinforce this element. U also used two weathering techniques for that; dry pigments and some glazes of dark colors. The colors of the ruins are generally kept dark but at the same time bright enough to contrast with the weathering I've added to them.
There can really be no other song to go with this post...
I've recently had a chance to work on a great limited edition model - Hannah, the Chief Freikops Archivist. She comes in about 30 plastic pieces and there's no instruction on putting them together available online. However, assembling the model didn't prove too complicated. It's a very impressive miniature with lots of details. The pose is rather static but it emanates power despite that. I like this version much more than the officially released one.
She comes on a 50 mm base and unlike some of the other larger Wyrd models, she fits in perfectly.Her armor was a bit tricky to paint as there are some flat surfaces. I painted three versions of Hannah. I chose different type of base for each one and I also painted her uniform to match the theme of the base.
Hannah is a Henchman. At a high cost of 10 ss she brings in some interesting options. She is a member of Freikops so things like Armor and Freikops Suit come with the territory. Together with Counterspell and Nether Flux, she is pretty survivable despite her 9 wounds. Hannah is a chief librarian and this is reflected by her Arcane Reservoir ability, which increases the Crew's Hand by +1. An extra card in hand is always a good thing.
She can also dish out some damage in Melee. Her (1) attack can hit with a blast (or two), together with a chance for an extra Horror Duel. Her main strength comes from a (0) Make a New Entry action, which comes at a very high Ca of 8. It allows her to copy any Ca action and perform it.
