Malifaux Commission, Lady J & the Marshals.

Just finished is this quick commission, a fun crew of the roughest, toughest, sons of guns the guild could pull together. Ready to lay down some law and order on the streets of Malifaux.

The intended colour scheme was a definite wild west gunslinger, dusty leather, tumbleweed, spilt whisky, horseflies,sheriffsbadgehighnoon, sorta thing...y'all paint that now ya hear!

I quickly decided on an orange/brown cowhide tanned leather for the jackets/coats, contrasted with darker pants/hats and lighter straps/belts/boots. This suddenly became a rather regimented uniform for the whole crew. This may be too standardized for some tastes but I love how it looks on each model and the feel of the crew as a whole.

On with the pics!

Shabby beginnings, Devlan Mud hard at work!

The Judge, Lady Justice, Hans

Lady J's Hair definitely makes a strong focal point.

Death Marshals

Meath Darshals

Miss Terious, Exorcist, Sue (Just spotted the white on the inside detail of grave stone to be fixed >.<)

Wargames Foundrys' 'Buff Leather Light' was the winner for the base highlight and the cloak dusting.

Best not be any necromancy goin on round these parts!

Malifaux Mania

Mr Graves & Mr Tannen in progress, Plasticard scratched and cut for floorboards.

Mr Graves & Mr Tannen painted.

Ashigaru

Yan Lo and friends

Ten Thunder Brother test conversion and comparison.

Table ready crew.

Oriental inspired walls, modular scenery feature.

How Yan Lo can you go!

Thanks to Wyrd Miniatures recent weekend sale and pre release offer I just got my grubby mits on the upcoming Yan lo Ten Ten Thunders crew box 'Masters of the Path'. Suffice to say it was torn open and modelling commenced within minutes of arrival.

Strangely, Yan lo's head comes in its own baggy and not on the sprue.

Once again these plastics are detailed and rather delicate, some of the components in this box can barely be handled. Tweezers could be advised for attaching things such as Yan lo's beard and the ribbon for Chiaki's hair. 

The only other hitch I had during construction was the third Ashigaru (spear raised above head). The first two Ashigaru I built have torso/legs as one piece then arms and spear as a second, plus head and back a banner these are a doddle and likely the easiest in the box. Unlike the third, which appears to have ill fitting legs in two halfs, and a nightmare procedure for the two part raised spear. Hopefully as long as you get the spear straight enough the rest is just a ramshackle skeleton so anything goes.

These sets contain no instructions and plenty of parts, just follow the lettered and numbered tabs on the sprue.
(ie, A1-A7 = Yan lo)

I decided not to include the mystical flame effect for  Chiaki's base as I felt it overpowered the elegance of the model, or the scenic armour piece for Yan Lo's base which may be saved for another occasion.

The Ashigaru definately have 32mm stature, tall and forbidding warriors.

 Still a little work to smooth out the mold and joint lines, liquid green stuff to the rescue. The bases I plan to be battlefield debris, befitting the relic and reanimation flavour of the crew. Also in the post currently are Izamu the Armour and a box of Oiran to complete the points and flavour of this crew.

Malifaux releases - Urge to purchase and paint rising.

The entire range of Malifaux plastics from Wyrd miniatures is still looking phenomenal with every release! After seeing and painting the Misaki crew first hand, it is safe to say the models produced are well portrayed by the renders. The plastics molded are identical and hold close to 99% of the rendered details. They also hold very true to the artwork so there is more great stuff to come.

Anyone looking to get a sense of the Malifaux setting, I would recommend a listen to the rather wacky narrated fan fiction on the Aethervox podcast.

 

Pegasus Hobbies Large Cactus as 32mm scatter scenery.

So, I was hunting for available scenery kits and components that would fit the Malifaux themes well. Suffice to say there is not a lot out there to fit the scale and themes perfectly. So I grabbed this box made by Pegasus Hobbies, while not specifically scaled they have a 'large' and a 'small' Cactus set. This is the large set whose description has the models ranging up to 2" tall.

Inexpensive boxed set (courtesy of modelhobbies.co.uk, well recommended for there speed and reliability ).

In the box you'll find two of these sprue in delightful green plastic.

Each sprue will build up these nine Cacti. They fit well on their stands and the components are all numbered accordingly.
(Again, note that you get double this in the box.)

Bases cut from cork tile. With a generous and relatively densely packed quota on each base I produced six decent sized scatter pieces.  All secured with some hot glue gun action, together with a few small rocks for interest.

No problems with primer (GW black), and away with painting.

Usual light browns for dry brushing and some sandy colours for the rocks.

Little flock for more interest and bam. 

For scale this is a 32mm Malifaux Torekage. For Malifaux the pieces easily average out at Ht 2.

For conclusion, this is a decent kit with well detailed and distinctive models. They fit together well, but lack instruction and the larger 3 piece Cacti will be a case of trial and error to fit correctly. Naturally the components could be distributed to cover a large area, and I think this kit would also be perfect for detailing any piece of desert themed scenery or even bases.

Some of the very smallest extremities are prone to bending or snapping, but these can be removed unnoticeably. The plastic on the whole is sturdy enough, the flat shaped Cacti will bend under handling and painting but will not deform at all.

The small scale plastic Cactus market may be limited but this kit is certainly worth a purchase regardless for any wild west, desert themed gaming.

Shang, Misaki's Totem

He's hot, he's foxy, and he's a pretty handy totem companion. SHANG

It may be debatable, as two of his tails seem to merge together a little, but he does infact have nine tails! Easily the largest model in the Ten Thunder box set it could take weeks to appropriately blend each flame. My quick mix of colors here will have to do for now.

For any curious this was done over a white undercoat with the following colors in order from my wargames foundry paint set;

Yellow (Light)
Orange (Light)
Madder Red (Light)
Bright Red (Mid)

This was followed by a quick wash with thinned out Yellow (Light) to blend the tones and brushstrokes.
Retouch the tips with Red and finished.

Well almost, the face details, paws, and bamboo scorch marks were inked in with black/brown mix.

Lastly the eyes were in Teal blue just to echo Misaki's robes.

Ototo, Ten Thunder unique minion

Heres the second completed model from the Malifaux Ten Thunders box set 'The Thunder'. These are being finished to what I would consider a decent gaming standard easily within the space of a week.

Has to be said that these are definately the most dynamic and intricate models I have ever experienced, so much so I would give a give a word of warning. Working with some of these models is a very delicate procedure, fine sprue cutters and precision glue are certainly recommended.

Misaki, Mistress of the Ten Thunders