JMGraham

Got some more painting in! A Frankenstein's Monster by Blue Moon and a "Monster By-Blow" by West Wind Some "Boss Zombies" by Tengu Models: 3 of the WORST zombie sculpts of all time, by Reaper: I've also worked up (from existing models, re-based and what-not) 2 gangs for Empire of the Dead, a new Mordheim-style steampunk horror skirmish game. It's much more classic horror/steampunk than Malifaux (which I class as its own genre), and very, very British. I've not played a game yet, but looking forward to giving it a try. I've got two 150 point(ish) starting gangs. First up, a group of Wulfen Jaegers (a sub-faction of the Gentlemen's Club). The President with two heavy pistols and the Vice President with a heavy pistol and a sword: The Members, with a variety of clubs (torches), crossbow pistols (I know, they're not on the Gentlemen Club's buy list, but c'mon!) and a light pistol. I also included enough leftover points for two influences, which in the game allows the purchase of ... an ANGRY MOB!!! The mob is a group of 10 models that fights as one mass: I've also got some leftover models from my Warhammer Empire army to serve as new recruits: The second crew is a mass of reanimated bodies. I've used the Lycaon (werewolf) rules to represent a group of underlings reanimated by Herr Doktor Frankenstein: The big gent in the red pants is a Beastlord, the one in the purple suspenders is a Packmaster, the 3 Mantic zombies are Wolfskins with daggers, the Tengu zombie with the big arm is a Wolfskin with a double-handed weapon, and the Wyrd dogs are Wolves.

Not sure what kind of a tutorial you'd be looking for. I basecoat everything black, and use multiple layers of the same color to get a good, even coverage. I don't really blend, rather I "block paint". Except for the Necrons - they're dipped! If you have specific questions, I'm happy to answer. Here's the latest: 5 Intruders and a Spektr for my Nomads: And the start of a Hamelin crew in anticipation of the "Hamelin Rules Fix" (please, Wyrd! Do for Hamelin what you did for the Dreamer!) Next up I'm working on some stuff for my Empire of the Dead crews. ---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:53 PM ---------- Don't think I had posted this yet. My plan was to come up with a system to convert my Warhammer Empire army to 30mm bases without rebasing them. That way, I can use them as a Westerner crew for Hell Dorado and also for Empire of the Dead (likely as a Wulfen Jaeger crew). The bases consist of a laser-cut and etched base of 1/8" MDF glued onto the top of a 1.25" diameter fender washer. Because my Warhammer models are magnetized already, they attach onto the fender washer quite nicely. The bases are a bit bigger than 30mm, but they have to be in order for the wood to work (and to have an easy to find washer size). More to come!

Here's some possibilities - from Monolith Miniatures (might be a larger scale than 28/32mm, though): From Warmachine, doable with a head swap perhaps:

I've been quiet for a while, but not because I haven't been painting. I just haven't been painting Malifaux. Miniature Showcase being the egalitarian board it is, I figured it might not hurt to share what I've been up to lately. I'm currently working on my Nomads for Infinity. Here's a 150 point crew designed to spread repeaters so that the hacker can rain guided missile death onto the heads of the unwary: I've given Warmachine a try or two, and have really enjoyed it. The Cryx models I've painted to date: Last Winter my local group also had a 40k escalation league. I decided to speed-paint Necrons, vowing not to take longer to paint them than it took to assemble them. My forces ended up as so: Here's some close-ups of my Wraith conversions:

I hope you post details! What's the place? How's the quality of the cards? What's it like working with them? From what I've seen, both of the manufacturers I listed can do various sizes, tarot sizes, etc.

Bah! Losing our hairiest, most wild-eyed Malifaux player, is all. Almost a blessing, that. I'd be sad, but I know he'll come back anytime we do anything interesting (which is like, what, every week?).

No comparison, really. We Bellinghamsters live in a town referred to as "The City of Subdued Excitement", that frequently makes the "best places to live" lists. We've got a special combination of natural beauty, outdoor activities, beer, and a vibrant gaming community. Sandwich lives in a town known regionally for the "Tacoma Aroma", and frequently gets ranked as a stressful place to live. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/01/10/life.stress.reut/ It's bound to affect one's morale! Move to Bellingham, Sandwich! Up here we don't care about balance and Ressers do great!

Hi all - For two years now, we folk in Bellingham, WA have put on a swag-filled narrative style tournament on or about Walpurgisnacht (April 30/May 1 for the uninitiated). I though it would be worthwhile to share what we did, in case others wanted to enjoy the story and encounters we whipped up. In case you want a visual, the swag we produced for the tournament is here (as you read the encounters, the purpose of the different pieces will become clear): The tournament pack, which includes the narratives, rules, and the like is available HERE A Malifaux-style Stat card for Mordecai Wolfe is available HERE Originally, of course, the tournament pack was printed and bound in booklet style with a color cover. If anyone is interested in running this as a tournament or campaign and need access to the original files, let me know. As always, I appreciate any feedback or comments y'all might have. When looking at the story encounters, the one piece of consistent feedback we got was that the Followers of Croatoan should have been more lethal during the last encounter. Feel free to boos t their power when you play it. I hope you enjoy it! Jim

Hi all! Sorry it’s taken me so long to get this up. I’ve produced a number (three, to be precise) of custom card decks to use as giveaways for tournaments. Several folks have asked me to share my experiences in producing them. For reference, the first deck I produced was for the 2011 Walpurgis tournament (a annual 2-day Malifaux tournament we hold on or around Walpurgisnacht). For the 2012 Walpurgis, I produced a deck of Scheme cards, and another fate deck. A reprise of images: 2011 Fate Deck Cards manufactured by Customized Playing Cards, Art by Jim Graham and Ravyn Schmidt, Design by Jim Graham Card Backs (That'd be a hamster skull and crossbones): Hodge Podge of cards: Rams: Crows: Tomes: Masks: Scheme Deck (2012) Cards manufactured by Superior POD, Art by Jim Graham and Ravyn Schmidt, Design by Jim Graham 2012 Fate Deck Cards manufactured by Customized Playing Cards, Art by Nathan Lough and Jim Graham, Design by Jim Graham Here’s the completed 2012 swag, with the 2012 Fate Deck on the left and the scheme deck on the right. Preparing the Art So I should probably start this bit by saying that I’m not a professional designer or artist, so there are likely MUCH easier ways to go about this than I’m about to describe. I’m pretty much entirely self-taught. With that said, my holy trifecta of card design has been MS Paint, Picasa, and Inkscape, with Inkscape being the true workhorse. Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics program which is somewhat akin to Adobe Illustrator. Vector graphics involve the shape of objects being determined by a series of equations, rather than a series of pixels. Thus, you essentially get unlimited resolution with vector graphics programs – you can scale to any size without losing image quality. Download Inkscape Here For the 2011 fate deck (and the 2012 scheme deck) I used a series of found clipart images that I modified and manipulated through MS Paint for simple corrections. In cases where I wanted to turn something more grayscale into black and white line art I cranked up the contrast with Picasa and tweaked the odd pixel here and there with MS Paint. Then I imported images into Inkscape and traced the bitmaps into vector images. During vectorization it tends to simplify lots of the lines and actually stylizes things quite nicely (though it takes some practice to get the settings just so). For most of the voodoo dolls I couldn’t find what I wanted so I drew up some sketches, “inked” them with a Sharpie, scanned them, and vectorized them. The skull and crossbones on the card backs and the joker art were drawn up by a local artist and vectorized in Inkscape. The textures and borders were also from clip art textures that were manipulated with the 3 programs. For the 2012 deck, I asked Nathan Lough, a member of my local wargaming club to draw up some suits and face cards. He designed the suits in Inkscape (using various shapes and the like), and I tweaked them somewhat. Since they were objects in Inkscape, it was easy to lay them out in the card-suit style. For the face cards and jokers, Nathan drew some line art, inked it, and scanned them. I then manipulated them with the trifecta, in some cases asking Nathan to redo some art and combining pieces from different versions. The card backs were cobbled together from a variety of clip-art and self-made sources. The borders were done in Inkscape, and the distressing texture was likewise created by me by vectorizing some photos of distressed surfaces. The actual formatting of the cards depends entirely on the company you use to manufacture the cards. Most companies have specific format requirements, and typically provide some sort of template to follow. It’s likely a good idea to know what manufacturer you’re using before starting layout and design, as you don’t want to have to re-do all of your work. I’ll describe the different layout requirements with the different manufacturers I’ve used below. Card Manufacturing I’ve done a fair bit of research on the various custom card manufacturers out there, and have direct experience with two companies. I’ll try and describe the pros and cons of each of these as accurately as possible. Keep in mind that while the final product might be a 3.5” x 2.5” poker card, the file will usually be 3.625 by 2.65 (to allow for “bleeding”) and the actual “live” print area will be smaller. Again, it’s worth checking into the requirements of a specific manufacturer before you begin. Most of the card companies out there are set up to produce generic playing cards, with modified backs all sharing a common artwork. That’s not what we’re after – we want what are referred to as “custom faces and custom backs”. Also, you want to be certain to plan enough time before your event for manufacturing. For me, I aim for submitting the card order 2 months prior to the event; that way there is time to correct any possible problems with the first run of printing, and time to relax and celebrate if there are no problems! Customized Playing Cards http://www.customizedplayingcards.com/index.html Used For: 2011 Fate Deck, 2012 Fate Deck Order Process: They don’t list prices and the like on the web, but are very forthcoming with quotes if you ask. When you contact them, let them know that you’re interested in cards with custom faces and custom backs. They respond readily by e-mail throughout the entire process, are very open in answering questions and the like. Once you submit the files (see below), they do the final formatting/layout of the cards for printing. They do prefer being paid in check, and offer a discount for doing so (I believe the quoted prices they send you assume you’re paying by check). This doesn’t slow the process down, however, as you give them a credit card number to beging production, and can send the check along later. File Format: They accept a wide variety of formats, and want a separate file for each card face and one file for the card backs (unless you’re using different card backs). They then take your files and do the file layout and formatting of the print files. Part of what you’re paying for, therefore, is for another human being with expertise in their specific card making process to handle and check your cards. My first run using CPC involved lots of dialogue back and forth between myself and the company trying to figure out what format to save in from Inkscape. They were infinitely patient and responsive in the face of my ineptitude, and we eventually found a format that worked. The second go around was much easier – I exported the files as very high resolution .png files – they imported them into their software and sized them appropriately. I’ve got to say, them handling the final layout was totally worth it – it relieved my anxiety of not knowing whether I had everything exactly as it should be, and it was great to have a second set of eyes double checking things. Print Quality: Their print quality is extremely high – very vibrant colors, very black blacks. Everything they printed looked, color-wise, exactly like the files I sent. Top notch. Card Quality: I’m fairly certain I used their plastic-coated 300 gsm stock for both decks (though it may have been 310 gsm for the 2011 deck). They also offer linen-textured cards that look GORGEOUS, but they can’t guarantee their print quality for small (less than 500 decks) runs. The card quality is simply outstanding. I have a deck that I’ve used for over a year, and it’s held up very well. It shows no signs of giving up. I bridge when I shuffle, so my cards get abused pretty well. The plastic coating makes for a durable deck that stands up well to abuse. Price: Price varies based on the number of decks you order, the card stock you use, etc. For the quantity I ordered with the 2011 deck (around 35), it cost a bit more than $9 a deck. For the amount I ordered for the 2012 deck it cost a bit more than $5 a deck. Customer Service: Outstanding. They respond very quickly to e-mails, and are quite helpful. When I made the 2011 deck, some of the decks had misprinted cards, areas where the coloring was faded and where some sort of dust trapped under the plastic coating. I contacted them about it, sent them some photos of the affected cards. They apologized profusely, looked into what had caused the problems, and promptly re-printed and replaced the entire order. Not just the affected decks, THE ENTIRE ORDER. Suffice to say, the other decks I received were perfect, as were the decks from 2012. Again, friendly, courteous, and professional. Superior POD http://www.superiorpod.com/category Used For: Scheme Deck Order Process: They list prices on the web, everything is laid out quite neatly. Note that I ordered from their old website, though it looks like they’ve changed things up since then. They have a server to which you upload your files, they send you a digital proof, and then update your status to let you know where in the process your order is. At least, they presumably update your order status to let you know when things have begun production, etc. As I’ll describe below in customer service, most of my orders from them didn’t involve getting updates. Basically, Superior POD’s system seems to be largely automated (as compared to the very personal handling of CPC). File Format: They are mainly after flattened pdf files, though they also accept a variety of other file formats. Rather than asking for separate files for each card, Superior POD asks you to lay out the cards on templates and send them as the actual full-sheet files that will be printed. I’ll admit that this made me a bit more paranoid about whether I was getting things right or not, specifically as there were some sizing issues with the template files. I used their online forums to get some information about using the templates, and received a fairly quick response. Eventually, I ended up figuring out how to get the template open in Microsoft Publisher, and created my final files in there (importing the Inkscape cards as high resolution bitmaps). Print Quality: Their print quality is fair. Being able to compare the 2011 Deck and the Scheme Deck side-by-side is particularly instructive, as the cards use the exact same artwork. The blacks in the Superior POD are not the deep black of the CPC decks, and the colors are much less vibrant (the red was more brownish, etc.). Moreover, the colors weren’t entirely true to the on-monitor colors. The biggest example is the purple background used for the masks in the 2011 fate deck and the neverborn schemes from the scheme deck. The purple from Superior POD initially came out quite blue when I printed a test deck. After that, I ramped up the red in the purple significantly, but it still comes out rather blue. I also had a test 2012 Fate Deck printed from Superior POD, and again found that the colors were a bit off. Card Quality: Superior POD does not offer the veriety of card weights and finishes that CPC does, but I’m pretty sure that the weight of the Superior POD cards are in the 280 to 300 gsm range. These cards are definitely not plastic coated. I can’t speak towards how well they hold up over repeated shufflings and play over time. My initial impression was that they would hold up less well, which is why I chose to do the Scheme cards with them (as they don’t get shuffled, just used as references). Price: Prices are on the web and very by the number of decks ordered. Prices start under $5 for a 54-card poker deck, and drop down to $4.14 per deck for 100. Looking at their updated prices, it looks like their discount now continues the higher you go, and that they now charge extra for shrink-wrapping the decks (which wasn’t the case before). Customer Service: I’ll admit that I had some problems here. When I first ordered from them I ordered a test deck of the scheme deck and a test deck of the 2012 fate deck. I did this in part because I was nervous about having to do the final layout myself, in part because the price was such that it was affordable to do so, and in part because the artwork wasn’t yet finished for the fate deck, and I wanted to see how they were coming along. The automated system kept me apprised of the order status, and I received the cards several weeks later. When I received them, 6 of the fate cards were misprinted – it looked like there was a smear of some sort on the face of 3 and on the back of a different 3. I immediately took photos and sent a description of the problem to Superior POD. After some time, I received a reply that they were looking into it. I eventually received 3 of the cards. I responded indicating that I had only received half of the misprinted cards, but received no reply. During that time I placed an order for the scheme decks (the fate deck artwork was not yet complete). After a week, my order had not been scheduled for printing so I sent several inquiries, but received no response. Finally, given the time constraints I had in place, and given my order was not yet listed as being in the production queue, I called them to cancel my order. My call was greeted with an automated system with a variety of choices, all of which put me on hold. I waited on hold for approximately 30 minutes to no avail, so I sent e-mails. Eventually, I settled on the direct approach and put a stop payment order into paypal (who I had used to pay for the cards). This got an immediate response. The dialogue went on for a while; Superior POD refused to cancel the order because they had already begun production (despite their on-line tracker saying otherwise) and they were “out money”. Long story short, I eventually got the cards I needed, but the process was quite a hassle. I also eventually got the remaining 3 misprinted cards from the test Fate Deck. -------------------------------- Comparison: In my mind’s eye, there’s really no comparing the two companies. For my purposes, I’ll continue using Customized Playing Cards in the future, and will not use Superior POD again. For others, if you are producing cards in significant quantities to make it worthwhile, the card quality and service you get from Customized Playing Cards is definitely worth it. However, if you’re doing a very small production run, then CPC is not likely an option. Superior POD is attractive due to the lower price and small print runs, but I’d recommend planning additional time if you go that route, because problems may take longer to correct. I also recommend, should you choose to use Superior POD, that you pay with a credit card and not Paypal funds, as that provides more consumer protection should things go awry. Conclusion All things considered, producing custom cards is very time-consuming, but very satisfying. I hope it’s a trend that others pick up, as I think there’s some pretty creative things that can be done with cards. Also, if you produce cards of your own, please share them with the community by offering some for sale (which can also help make everything cheaper by funding larger print runs). I know I’d love the chance to get my hands on what our community produces! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Had a chance to start writing a how-to, then got side tracked grading comprehensive exams. Cursed students! Still on my radar, though! If anyone was expecting a post from me (not the UK folks who are getting stuff through Clousseau) but has not received it yet, please let me know. I'm guessing that everything should have arrived by now, but I can check customs stuff to locate things if some of the overseas stuff hasn't arrived yet. ---------- Post added at 12:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ---------- Completely my fault! I also noticed a couple schemes that were misformated. I think the errors I know about happened when translating from the native file to pdf - the native file was good, but I (obviously) didn't go over the pdf well enough.

Glad everything's arriving safely, and I'm glad folks like them! The how-to-make cards post will still be forthcoming. There are no plans to reprint these cards, but there will definitely be a different deck for next year's tournament!

Thanks a million to all the players and volunteers for making it such a memorable weekend! Photos of the event are up here: http://www.ordofanaticus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12820 Congrats also to the winners! I'll add in logins and Masters when I get the chance, but for starters: Best Storyteller (Favorite Opponent) 1. Joey (Wiccus) and Adam (Malsqueek) 2. Steve (Yarbicus) and Andy B.(?) Best Looking (Best Painted) 1. Devin (Devo) 2. Sean (Esperatus) 3. Joey (Wiccus) Best Gunslinger (Best VP, TP for ties, DIFF for more ties) 1. Joshua N. (MrBigglesworth) 2. Ryan Gallagher (Onayr) 3. Darren (?) Best of Faction: Guild = Joshua N (Mr Bigglesworth) Ressers = Tylre Arcanists = Riley Neverborn = Matt (Goblyn13) Outcasts = Darren [code]Name Faction VP TP DIFF Paint Sports Joshua Nakauye Guild 33 12 13 0 5 Ryan Gallagher Guild 30 15 20 6 5 Darren Thibault Outcasts 30 13 13 0 2 Ryan Budd Guild 29 10 6 0 9 Matt Kutchins Neverborn 26 12 7 1 1 Josh Vannelli Outcasts 26 11 11 0 3 Adam Baumeister Neverborn 25 8 1 0 13 Tylre Arens Ressers 24 15 8 1 8 Corey Wilke Outcasts 24 7 -5 9 9 Mike Pederson Guild 24 6 2 0 1 Dan Miner Ressers 22 12 8 10 1 Mark Hanford Ressers 22 9 4 12 8 Riley Miner Arcanists 22 9 -2 0 3 Nathan Lough Outcasts 21 6 -1 5 6 Ray Bannon Outcasts 18 10 0 0 7 Sean O'Donnell Ressers 18 10 -3 31 7 Derk Keift Outcasts 18 6 -3 1 6 Andy Watkins Guild 18 5 -4 16 3 Steve Yarborough Guild 16 6 -8 1 11 Derek Stout Neverborn 15 12 -2 0 0 Joey Konopka Outcasts 15 12 -2 24 13 Ryan Garcia Arcanists 15 9 -9 0 5 Chris Barnes Ressers 15 6 -8 1 7 Christopher Spence Neverborn 14 6 -9 1 8 Andy Bernard Outcasts 14 6 -11 1 11 Stephen Porter Ressers 14 3 -15 0 6 Devin Scheirman Arcanists 13 7 -7 44 7 Jay Whisler Guild 11 3 -15 4 2 [/code]

*whew* The tournameent was this past weekend, and it was a blast! If you're interested, there's a lot of pictures of the event (including many of the crews and terrain boards) here: http://www.ordofanaticus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=12820

Great ideas! Maybe a Flesh Construct modded with some claws to be an Executioner?

Marvelous work, 96p! Dear sweet gods above, what is this amazing miniature from? Manufacture? Conversion? Scratch build?

Hands down best option, IMO, is Advanced Deployment: http://store.advanceddeployment.com/product/victorian-horror-token-set

Hi all - Just a heads up to say that Walpurgis II is rapidly approaching. Thanks to everyone for their support of the tournament, and I'm looking forward to an amazing weekend. I case folks didn't see it elsewhere, the contents of the updated swag bag for all participants are as follows (supplied unpainted, of course!): 2012 Warhamster Fate Deck Scheme/Strategy Deck MDF Gallows terrain piece 3 Mantic Zombies Plague Doctor 3 Soulstone Markers 3 Corrupted field markers The updated list of attendees is as follows: 1) Mark Handford (Mach5) 2) Steve Yarborough (Yarbicus) 3) Matt Kutchins (Goblyn13) 4) Darren Thibault (Distaff) 5) Ryan Budd 6) Stephen Porter 7) Derk Kieft (dkieft) 8) Christopher Spence (TigeraceX) 9) Josh Vanelli (kogre) 10) Jason Beauchene (jasonbeauchene) 11) Tony Penksa (tpenksa) 12) Andrew Watkins (android) 13) Sean O'Donnell (?) 14) Nathan Lough (Nathonicus) 15) Ryan Garcia (?) 16) Ryan Gallagher (Onayr) 17) Joshua Nakauye (Mr. Bigglesworth) 18) Corey Wilke (VonVilkee) 19) Adam Baumeister (Malsqueek) 20) Mike Pederson (bloodyfangs) 21) Chris (BrotherSir) 22) Andy Bernard (?) 23) Tylre Arens (Yomster) 24) Derek Stout (Hallowed1) 25) Joey Konopka (wiccus) 26) Riley Miner 27) Dan Miner (veskit) 28) Ray Bannon (Rage) 29) Jay (Jay) 30) Devin (Devo)

I've got lots of thoughts/advice/rants on producing custom card decks, as I've got 3 under my belt now. Look for a detailed post sometime in the next couple of weeks, after the dust from our even this coming weekend settles.

That's the idea! Reduce the win-at-all-costs vibe and foster a laid-back attitude by removing the incentives for winning (they just get a trophy, no extra prizes), and showering everyone with stuff (everyone gets swag and everyone gets (in random order) a draw from the prize table). The only extra stuff you get for winning is a trophy and bragging rights.

*whew* Done with the swag, prize are ready to go. Just finishing up the tournament pack now! Here's a look at the soulstone clusters, cast out of resin: Here are the corrupted field markers/ plague pits, also cast in resin And finally, here's a look at the swag for this year (supplied unpainted, of course!). The tournament is based on the idea that everyone should be showered with prizes. As such (in addition to the prize raffle (which everyone gets SOMETHING from) and the trophies, every tournament participant gets the following: Contents: 2012 Warhamster Fate Deck Scheme/Strategy Deck MDF Gallows terrain piece 3 Mantic Zombies Plague Doctor 3 Soulstone clusters 3 Corrupted field markers

And.... they're off! Got stuff packed up quicker than I expected.

Fate Decks arrived yesterday, and their gorgeous! USPS tracking says the scheme decks are out for delivery today. Barring a horrible travesty (misprint!), I should get them packed up this weekend and in the mail on Monday for delivery no later than Wednesday or Thursday for state-side folks (bit longer for folks who are abroad). Walpurgis is next weekend, and I've got that pesky tournament pack to finish! @Nilus - I hope Adepticon goes well, and I'm excited to see your graveyard board.

Beautiful! WIll we be seeing a Ms. Hyde?

Barring divine intervention, I can pretty much guarantee it! Heard back re: the scheme decks, they should be ready for shipping tomorrow.

RAW, it seems that Arise doesn't work on corpse counters carried by Nicodem, any more than it would effect corpse counters carried by any other model. Makes a bit of sense, I reckon. Rather than picking up bodies, ferrying them to the desired location, and then reanimating them, Nicodem is going to animate them, and then escort them to the desired location. Have folks been using "zombie bombs" before? Collect a bunch of corpses, get close to the desired target, and then unload a ton of MZ on them?