Sholto

I'll still use them, but I am all sad that I cannot use one as a charge shield for my Ortegas any more, and then obey her out the way to shoot her attacker to meaty chunks. A sensible change, though. Their potential movement was too much for 5ss.

<claps> Best story I've read here. Written like a pro, with some lovely turns of phrase and imagery, and a satisfying conclusion.

The base is £4.17 plus postage - http://www.shop.microartstudio.com/power-plant-c-3_59.html?currency=GBP

Really nice work!

I love the Peacekeeper model, but I am not so keen on the 'menacing hands' pose that the model defaults to. I wanted to try and bring out the Arachnid characteristic a bit more, as well as trying to pose it as dynamically and threateningly as possible. That meant a sizeable base, so that the model would be looking down on all the other models in the game. It would also allow me to have the model gripping the base rather than waving its arms around in the air. Here is what I found:- The base is a 50mm resin base from Micro Arts in Poland. There was some clean up to do, and some bubbles to fill. There was also a couple of rivets/ bolts missing, and I fixed those by adding sections snipped from a plasticard rod. The model is now assembled ready for painting. Although all the joints are pinned, they are not all glued yet. The only glued joints are the legs - the rest can be pulled apart to make painting this monster easier. Here are some photos of the WIP so far (the Convict is just there for scale):- All C&C appreciated

I cannot add much to what has already been said, but that is work you can be very proud of, and I would love to play some games on it. Superb

I have come up with a few ideas about posing this model that keeps the arms secure (having them gripping a fairly elaborate base is the key idea, and makes the most of the Arachnid characteristic), but it still leaves the harpoon gun fairly vulnerable. I am still working on mine at the moment, but it's looking pretty good so far.

For wild west bases, these ones are worth a look - http://www.fiendishfabrications.com.au/html/wild_west_0.html

I would like to see that errata, because my gaming group and I have become so confused by line of sight that we have just adopted true line of sight/ WYSIWYG. I know it's not in the rules, but it is easy and intuitive.

I like the metallic finish you got on that. Did you make the base yourself? The tip of the harpoon is bent. You should be able to bend it back straight again. It's a terrific model, although for some reason it now reminds of a GW genestealer My own peacekeeper is on the way from Maelstrom - can't wait to get to work on it. Sholto

Very nice. I'll need to get these girls sometime soon. Sholto

Red (with some black ink) makes for excellent, viscous blood. I have never used green, though.

@Snuggler - I would like to see that! @Melnibonean - that's the thing about any mini range, I suppose. Different models appeal to different people. It's why I feel the need to be careful saying I don't like this or that model, since people can be a little touchy about it if I diss their favourite model in the range. @Couchmonster - thanks a lot. I took inspiration from another Witchling Stalker I saw posted on here, but I cannot remember the name of the guy who painted it. If I can find it I will put up a link. The colour transitions just came down to mixing up lots of paint in advance. Let's see - white/ yellow, yellow, orange/ yellow, orange, orange/ blood red, blood red, gore red, gore red/ black, gore red/ more black, and finally black with a touch of gore red. Once you have the colours mixed up, the rest I found almost did itself, but thanks for the comment I am wondering what a glaze of Tamiya Clear Orange will do for the flames - it is an amazing paint, and I use it on metals all the time to get a greasy look. Sholto

I use an empty Vallejo bottle (you can buy then on Ebay for peanuts) for water, since you can control it just like a water dropper. When using GW paints I either take a bit of paint out the pot with an old paintbrush and drop it on my palette or add the water directly to the back of the lid (it forms a little cup when you tip it back and - once you're finished - the added water helps keep the rest of your paint fresh. Sholto

Good points - thanks. The more I look at it, the more it looks like a pair of flaming blancmanges. I will get rid of the excess white at the base. I tried to blend each individual flame, but will make it more pronounced. Cheers Sholto

Sonnia's Totem I don't have the Purifying Flame model, but when I picked up the Fire Base I got this imp and the flames with it. So why not turn them into Sonnia's totem? There is a bit of Apoxy sculpt around the base of the flames to merge them with the sewer base. Hopefully it's not too obvious. The main things that were new to me on this model were painting flames and trying some proper Object Source Lighting. The flames were fairly simple - I just mixed up lots of blends of colour from pale yellow to very dark red and worked my way up the flames from base to tip. The OSL required a bit more thought. I painted the base first, without any thought for OSL and then, once I had finished it, went back in with orange, yellow orange and pale yellow glazes to try and create the OSL lighting effect. I think it looks not to shabby, but all C&C welcome Sholto

I had the same issue with a Ronin sword blade. Although I managed to bend it back, it remained lumpy and irregular no matter how many time I tried to flatter it out. In the end, I painted the sword in a way that drew attention away from its irregular outline - you can see it here. Worth considering. Sholto

I like the freehand on Sonnia's cloak, and the green flames look excellent. You've done a very good job on the camo scheme - a desert warfare Peacekeeper! Sholto

I really like Zoraida, and your ice pillars are great - I might need to nick that idea. Sholto

The white robes were done like this:- 1. White primer. 2. Base layer of GW Deneb Stone and White, mixed 1:2. Thin this down with a drop of water and then apply a couple of coats to give a nice even colour. 3. Pick a shadow colour. I used VMC Grey Green, which is a sort of dark olive drab, but any pure grey or greyish colour would work, bearing in mind how you want the model to look (eg. I wanted a good contrast for the orange eyes, so green it was). Add a touch to the base layer colour (but keep some pure base layer colour for highlighting later). Then make your shadow mix translucent by adding some Matte Medium (about 4:1 Matt Medium/ paint mix). Apply this to the shadows - the translucency will make it naturally blend in with your base colour. 4. Add some more of your shadow colour to make it darker, and apply this to the deepest shadows and recesses. 5. Now make your highlight colour. Add more White to your base colour, then make it translucent with more Matt Medium (2:1 is good). Apply this to the model as a highlight. 6. Then add more white to your highlight and apply again, covering less of the highlights this time. 7. Final highlights are pure white (with Matt Medium added 2:1) applied sparingly to the very brightest highlights. You could use water to thin the paints instead of using Matt Medium. The paint pigment will not spread as evenly if you thin with water, and will spread less evenly the more water you add, but a tiny dab of washing up liquid will help, as will plenty of stirring to raise the pigment from the bottom of your paint well. Sholto

@dgraz - good point on the gloves. I will darken the highlights a bit - thanks. The pistol barrel is just some black pigment brushed on. The weathering on the cloak is also pigments - very easy to weather minis that way. @melnibonean - the stalkers are my favourite models from the boxset. I am not a huge fan of either Sonnia or Samael, but the witchlings are very cool. Sholto

A couple of shots of the Witchling Stalker I completed today. I tried a couple of new things with this model; some NMM on his sword and some OSL on his eyes. Both were very minor effects, but I want to get the hang of them before I deploy them on a larger scale. The NMM was interesting. Rather than mix up all the different colour blends, I tried using Matte Medium to create the blending. It worked pretty well, I think. I painted the sword GW Foundation Fenris Blue, and then mixed up some VGC White and Matte Medium about 4:1. Thin layers of this were applied to the sword, each time moving further down the blade. I am keen to see how this works on a full size sword. The OSL was done in a similar fashion, with the base colour (VGC Blazing Orange) mixed with Matt Medium and then applied in decreasing circles around the eyes. All C&C welcome

I am starting up a Witch Hunters crew, to go along with my Gunslingers crew. I thought I would put up a pic of the model I am planning to use as Sonnia Criid. This is Isabella from Studio McVey, on a Wyrd Miniatures Flame Base and with Sonnia's sword. What do you think? I used the flame demon from the Flame Base Accessories to make a version of her Totem (a little GS work needed to tie the flames in with the base), and here is the whole crew ready for priming:-

I take it you're the same guy who does the World's End Radio podcast? Sorry to hear about your car Love the podcast, btw! Now get some more Malifaux in there Sholto

That is the first mention of the glass shard, which gets explained (sort of) in Part 3 - The Witch's Glass. I did try and work it into Part 1, but it broke the flow too much.