mathieu

I'll be very, very impressed if the book comes out at the end of the month: - as of the end of January the final version wasn't quite ready to go to the printer yet; - Cipher (and everybody else it seems) prints in China and February isn't a good month to get anything reliably done there; - the whole process of printing + shipping back to the US + clearing customs is a solid 2+ months... I for one wouldn't expect the book to show up before May. And that's assuming the book was indeed "almost ready" back in January. Which I (cynically) wouldn't bet on given the numerous typos and mistakes in the quick start rules, the book preview pages, and the cards they've put on their website over the past couple of weeks. Still I'm very happy about their (slowly) rebooting the game.

That rackham model is among the ones that are still relatively easy to find (e.g. on ludikbazar). I think Damien is a pretty good choice too, though.

Definitely get into it with somebody who's been playing it for a little while. The background is great, the rules are innovative and rather elegant (as of the 1st book at least)... but not well organized. Your first few games can get very discouraging if you're on your own. If you find somebody to show you the ropes and play a handful of games with you, it'll be a lot smoother and less painful.

I don't think the hooded rider is that nice, but I'm surprised people would use Darragh's horse as a conversion base. To me that model is way worse in pretty much every way! That said I think you did a really nice job on the horse's head. Removing that blade makes the model a lot better already, and the tentacle thingies work well with it. If I may offer a suggestion, people over on the PP boards have come up with that conversion of Darragh's horse to make it look a lot less stocky. A simple extension of the hind legs.

Cool! What do you call beta sculpts though? The moulds thing is the kind of story that seems to confuse a lot of people. Moulds wear out very fast and have to be replaced often, so discarding (or "destroying" for added theatrics) is nothing special. In particular it doesn't prevent future production of the model at all. Had they destroyed the greens and the masters, then that would mean they cannot generate moulds any longer, and therefore cannot cast the miniatures ever again. However this is not something they'll ever do given how valuable greens and masters are (even now for them since they convert some of the old masters to produce new PPP models). As for the foundry story, I'd be curious to hear more about it. Rackham had their own foundry, and, like I said above, it wouldn't matter nor mean anything if the guys working there had "destroyed" moulds. But since they were Rackham employees, I don't get the costs and negotiation issue. My understanding is that it was just a part of Rackham that got shut down (for the most part) when money started to run low.

The moulds' being destroyed is the kind of hollow statement Rackham's been known to make for years (apparently adding an -E. to their name didn't change that). They probably threw it at the old fans in a hissy fit to make it clear they had moved on from quality, metal models. The fact of the matter is that moulds (for metal models in particular) wear out rather fast and need to be replaced often. Or "destroyed" and replaced if you want to make it a bit more dramatic . Since Rackham certainly kept the masters, they could make some more moulds any time they'd like. Or sell said masters.

Did they really advertise it as a "fate deck-like" system? I didn't really get into this Aarklash Warpack thing, but it didn't seem to me that they were doing anything even close to a fate deck. That's quite possible, but as Breten pointed out, using of diminutive voodoo-type dolls versions of characters in a miniature game is also a Rackham "invention". They have been (or had been) a big part of the MidNor army for many years, with quite a few models coming with a "canopic doll" more or less in their effigy (completely useless in game terms, just as cool vanity pets for the miniature) So as far as that is concerned, there could indeed be companies tapping into the theme, but Wyrd would definitely be one of them.

And I'm pretty sure Confrontation predated both WM and DDM (I was at their first public demo in 1995). I remember Jean Bey throwing hissy fits later on when WM "came up" with stat cards for WM. I guess that'd close the circle of Rackham "stealing" stuff from Wyrd. Really? Do you have examples off the top of your head?

Those legs look amazing. Very Alien-like, as Rasmus pointed out. Your paintjob might actually end up make me like the model!

I remember seeing a video of Thomas using his zenithal highlighting technique and being blown away by the idea and how easy he made it looks. Years after I almost always use that technique, and it really is as easy as it seems

Cool, thanks for the clarification. That's quite possible, I haven't seen that green you're talking about (is it publicly available?). This is a good thing as I am excited about this model but a little disappointed by the wip shots (as far as the sculpt goes -- the paint job is top notch). Does that comment pertain to my post?

That's an odd decision. Isn't this model you're painting supposed to end up being the official paintjob? In which case the official paintjob wouldn't be that of the stock model? Anyway, I don't think the model is nearly as threatening and powerful looking than the concept suggested. Something is just missing. However I love to see your step by step painting, that dark skintone is pretty amazing. Thanks for sharing.

I'm not as impressed by the model as I was expecting from the concept. Probably because his being less hunched than on the art makes the model a lot less menacing.

The recently released version is the only existing version of the complete game. Up until now, people were playing with booklets available in some blisters. I cannot say if the booklet also had a horrible translation, a friend was teaching me the rules and I never had to read them. However I have a hard time thinking it was worse than what it is now, so my guess would be that there hasn't been any improvement.

Anima Tactics predates Malifaux by a few years, I don't see how it could rip it off I've played the game a few times before the book came out. I can't honestly say I had a strong opinion one way or another. The game was fast (depite my not knowing anything about it), and didn't coast me a whole lot of money. I like some of the models alright, but overall I find their poses rather stiff, and most of the faces lack any sort of expression. Not a huge fan. I purchased the book to see if it would re-ignite my interest. The backstory is cool, and the art on par with everything they've done before. I still haven't read through the whole rule section, so I can't tell if it's as poorly organized as Malifaux yet . The main thing that might prevent me from getting into it is how poorly the book is translated. There clearly was no proper proofreading as I know for a fact that any half-decent text editing software would have picked up quite a few of the mistakes.

That peacekeeper looks like an interesting model. I hope the casting is decent, all these chains and tubes will be a pain to clean if they're nearly as bad as the last few models I got.

1) Favorite: Color of paint GW tin bitz, or P3 trollblood base 2) Favorite: Brand of paint P3 3) Favorite: Sculptor Jacques Alexandre Gillois 4) Favorite: Painter Marike Reimer and Yellow One on CMON (forgot his name) 5) Favorite: Mini Company (other than Wyrd, we all know it's everyones #1) Cypher, provided they start releasing Hell Dorado models 6) Painting Preference: Metalics vs. NMM Metallics, as long as they are painted pretty much the way NMM are. 7) Mini Preference: Fantasy vs. Sci Fi Fantasy 8) Mini Preference: Male vs. Female Males I guess. 9) Mini Preference: Human vs. Monstrous Monstrous 10) Favorite: Paint Brush you use the most Tie between W&N series 7 and Raphaël 8404, both in size 2 11) Favorite: Paint Job You've Done (provide link if possible) These guys from the late Rackham, even though they are still wip. Or this Lonewolf. 12) Favorite: Paint Job Ever (provide link if possible) Minotaure by the late Ilyad Games 13) Desire: A mini company from which you've never painted a mini, but want to Arte Factory 14) Desire: A mini you most want to paint, but haven't Minotaure from Arte Factory. And the latest GW screaming bell 15) Favorite: Mini related forum (again, other than your obvious favorite; Wyrd) minicreateurs 16) Favorite: Site you find most useful in terms of helping learn mini painting/Sculpting minicreateurs 17) Desire: A sculpt you would love to see, but doesn't yet exist A good looking FW Lord of Change 18) Ambition: What would you most like to achieve in the painting hobby Increase my paint speed! 19) Least Favorite: Thing you most dislike about mini painting (think eyestrain, back ache, being socially outcast, lost time, costs, etc...) Often requires more time than I can spend. See 18) 20) Least Favorite: Paint Brand you've tried Probably Rackham Color 21) Least Favorite: Mini Company who's sculpts/style just don't make you want to paint them. Anything too old school

There a quite a few more "news" here. As for the minotaur, I received mine (along with the monster dice, monster dog, and other stuff), and the quality is top notch. The model is massive too, it is ~85mm tall indeed but also ~135mm wide (5.3"). Very impressive.

I know what the "usual" sculptors are, I just have a hunch that some of these previews are from guys that hadn't worked for Wyrd yet

Very nice. I'm not crazy about the vulture totem, or at least about that picture of it. To me Nicodem's vulture looks much better. But I like pretty much everything else. I'd be curious to see the names of all the sculptors who worked on these models. Some have a familiar style that I can't quite identify.

Where you put which leg really doesn't matter much. Start by putting two rear legs such that, when you make them both touch the model's future base, the Steamborg is leveled, or at least has the tilt you want to give it. Then glue one of the front legs (either). The 3 contact points between the legs and the base completely define the position of the model in space. You may then glue/pin/... these three legs to the base, and once it's cured and solid it's fairly easy to 'slide' the fourth leg in with a little bit of glue in it's socket, and adjust it's position such that it looks cool and has a good contact with the base as well. After spending a frustrating afternoon trying to assemble it, I really had to put it together quickly. I've found this way to be very efficient and easy.

It's a good descriptive article. The fanzine already presented the universe in issue #5, so here they focus on the rules. The bulk of the article is exactly that, a quick rundown on how the game is played. Nothing new or worth mentioning. There are a few comments on the game/book itself: - The layout is well done and reading the book is enjoyable [...]. In the rules section the chapters are separated by short stories which provide an immediate immersion in the universe, but which might also make it inconvenient to browse through the book during a game. - Every model is defined by a lot of parameters. You might make a few mistakes during the first few games, but the limited number of models makes it easy to quickly get familiar with the ones you play. And, towards the end: - The box sets are well designed, and rather affordable. - Malifaux was postponed many times, and has a creative system that seems to run smoothly. The many parameters to take into account make it a little difficult for new gamers. However veterans will appreciate the large variety of model profiles. In addition the fluff is deep and innovative, that's a lot of reasons to add Malifaux to your game collection. He also mentions that most of the model profiles are already translated in French (not all very elegantly, but the few I looked are at least understandable), and he gives the address of the fan site.

WM/H: I dropped the games when PP showed the field test (which sucked big time imo). Since the final version took quite a few steps back from the dumbing down process they had put WM through, I'm thinking about playing again. C3: never really stopped, I even bought quite a few models for a new army at the Chimera hobby booth at gencon (good deals too) Hell Dorado: or how throwing down years of development to get fantastic models and a cool ruleset by taking a few amazingly stupid decisions. Despite the announcement that Cipher bought the game and is working on it, I'll believe it's not dead when I see new stuff coming out.

Casting is very hit or miss, though, and you better hope you do get a flawless piece, because the customer service is ok but far from stellar. I ordered the demon a couple of years ago. A fantastic sculpt with insane details... however one hand and the legs showed a fairly large (>1mm) shift, and there were quite a few bubbles on the face (which just so happens to be the most finely detailed piece of the model) including some large ones in the jaw, meaning that teeth were missing. Long story short, he only replaced the arms and the head, the latter was just as poorly casted as the first one I got, and he basically went "deal with it". The guy is talented, nice, and courteous and all, but between this experience and the one I had with ultraforge, I now only buy resin pieces that I can check beforehand.

Nice to have it with pictures, but the news had already been posted I so wish these guys were not 54mm...