Backno

He seems cool, the only thing it hold me back from buying it was that is plastic, plastic is a pain to assemble, got to wash it, then carefully assemble the pieces, then you got to cover those gaps with green staff, metal is a lot better, and also it hold better in you bag, a metal figure weight don't move as much as a plastic fig, and the paintjob on a metal fig last forever, while on plastic it chips easier. Anyways Lazarus is good for both of my masters Levi and Ramos, I already mastered Levy so I plan to stick with Ramos for a while, 1 LSA and Lazarus seems the way to go. And also is 2 scraps for the LSA not 3, or I am wrong?

Not sure where you get plastic is more likely to chip then plastic, but you are incorrect. With plastic minis if you prime, paint, and clear coat them that paint isn't coming off anytime soon. As proof I offer the 150 Ork Boyz that I transported via 2 plastic baggies. That got tossed, beat, bumped, etc and not a boy has lost paint.

Plastic also has the advantage of being able to use plastic glue to put them together which makes for a damn near permanent bond while also working as a mild gap filler. The only downside of plastic glue is you have to actually pay attention to how much glue you are putting on. If you put to much of it on it can run and cause damage to parts of the mini that you don't want glued.

So finally I have been able to get a regular game going and been having a damn good time doing it. The problem is my primary opponent only has The Dreamer crew and I am having trouble dealing with the combo of speed + melee dmg with the crews that I have. So what are some good schemes, model combos, etc that I should be doing.

I have the following crews:

Ramos + Avatar

Collette

Kaeris

Mei Feng

I have yet to run Collette vs him just because having never used her before trying to learn how to use her while also playing against The Dreamer doesn't seem like a good idea.

It is, but not all her minions have it.

Kang can give models an extra CB or make the Immune to Morale duels for a (0) but neither is going to happen every turn

Metal Gaiman only have (0) In Trouble, so they can build as well most turns

Rail Golem has several (0)'s but also instinctual so you can see him dropping a token on at least one turn(especially if he gains reactivate)

Rail Works just have (0) Shove Faster, which is pretty situational

So plenty of models that don't have must use (0) actions that can drop the counter down and build the line.

The 2 games I have played so far verify this tends to be the case. I never really had any issues putting down at least 1 counter every single turn using just a random Rail Worker that couldn't shovel faster on something.

This weekend I will actually be painting and posting pictures of the rail bases that my wife made and resin cast for me.

I myself have looked over my hanging trees and Miss T. and have decided that the new computer system picks up the detail in direct portion and such as the drawn artwork. But our old scuplts by hand exggerations of details to make them more visible. That is simply the scuplt style our eyes are accustome too seeing in our gaming environment especially by warhammer and such. But if you were to look at wwii figures and alike there are no alteration of portions they are very normal and static. So what we have here is a combining of the two worlds were that artwork is frantically reproduced..in the end the artist's style is what will translate over into the finished product. Mr. Hungery is drawn with a spectral phantom coming forth into the material plane he isn't met to appear sharp and solid he is between those states. The plastics are not without their drawbacks but its your paint job in the end that will define them in the end.

I think this is the biggest issue. This strikes me as an issue where Wyrd now know how it looks at the end and will be able to tell the artists to either tweek the drawings of the figures so the details will end up more bold when they are put into mold form. When I compare my Rial Crew to Miss T I find the details much more crisp and I bet they will be much easier to paint.

First I want to thank ehren37 for actually writing a review with specific reasons why he didn't like the plastics. But I am also going to have to disagree with you.

I ended up either winning or buying every single Arcanist model at Gen Con this year and have been blown away with the quality. Things like the wood grains on Mei Feng's exploding wood, the feet of the Rail Golem, or Willie's wheelbarrow or Willies grin/teeth. This are things that would NEVER be that crisp or clean (or even possible) to show in metal.

The plastics where also much, much, much, much easier to clean up. In the time it took me to remove all the mold lines from 2 Gunsmiths I was able to clean the entire Rail Crew + assemble a couple of them. Add in being able to use plastic glue and the fact the pieces are lighter I was able to spend less time holding pieces together and more time gluing things together.

The only issue I had was on a couple of the really small joints putting a little to much plastic glue on. While I didn't lose any details or anything, I could see people touching the wet spots and leaving fingerprints. The big things is you REALLY should go buy good plastic glue for putting these plastics together. Some of the seams are very small, and trying to greenstuff them would be a giant PitA. I personally swear by the Testors plastic cement. The bottle I have has put together almost 200 Ork soldiers + vehicles as well as 250 Skaven + big things ans is still going strong. http://www.testors.com/product/136635/3507AT/_/Liquid_Cement_1_Oz.

So with the release of book 4, I'm thinking Mei may be a better choice than Raspy for this. As far as I can tell Ramos, Kaeris, and Mei all like their constructs so there may be a little better model overlap. Also I believe Mei can dish out a few burn counters so she has a little more offensive potential than Raspy with Kaeris.

Swapping Raspy, the Gamin, and the silent one out of dgraz's list for the Railcrew box also works out to roughly the same price.

I will add another vote for this. I actually bought Kaeris and Mei at Gen Con this year to team up with my Ramos crew that already had. It's an even better idea after you read the Rail Crew rules/abilities and how well it matches up with Kaeris.

So the final list of things to buy:

Avatar Ramos

Alt. Ramos

SPA swarm

LSPA

Mobile Tool Kit

Electrical Creation

Kaeris Box

Mei Feng Box

If you have the spare cash I will also HIGHLY recommend getting the Rail Golem. Awesome model + a high SS beat stick that is actually somewhat hard to kill.

Edit: Total from my favorite retailer would be $160 for all of that, including the Rail Golem.

So what crew would you guys pick to play AGAINST a Ramos crew for a demo game? I am looking at trying to become a henchmen so trying to figure out a good crew for it. Atm I have Lady J and Perdita.

Awesome. I had heard last year it was nice for newer player, but wanted to double check. I have heard to many horror stories of scummy players blatantly cheating/playing like jerks just because a new player dared to enter for fun.

As a player who has had only had 2 or 3 games under my belt, would joining the more "serious" events be frowned upon? I honestly don't care if I show up and get my brains beat in, I just need to get some games under my belt/want to actually play this game I have put so much money into.

P3 Coal Black base coat, wash with Badab Black, drybrush of 50/50 Coal Black + dark grey, lighter drybrush of 25/75 Coal Black + dark grey.

I find this is my favorite way to knock out good looking black fabrics in a timely manner. Also the rough look by drybrushing makes it look more natural.

just go with krylon grey primer from walmart, have also seen it sold at joanns craft store

3rd'ed

For the cost and how easy it is to get there really is no reason not to use it.

A paperclip of needle is the quickest and easiest.

You are correct about Secret Weapons. Les has a link to them on his storefront. I believe it was in his post on Dakkadakka that he went into the specifics about why he was shut down, but you are right, it was beurocratic BS.

On another note, I ended up buying the stuff to make his wash. Flowaid was a pain to find, it took 4 different art/craft stores, everyone had Liquitex matte medium, but not the flowaid. Following the recipe as exactly as I could, it came out a little too viscous for my tastes as it seemed to coat the entire model and not just settle into the recesses. Going to try adding more of the water/flowaid mix, but I have not had much chance to play with the recipe to find a balance I like.

I also wasn't keen on the 1oz serving size in the recipe. I'm playing Malifaux, not Warhammer, I only need to paint a dozen models or so, not hundreds, and I don't always want the same color wash (the main reason I'm making my own in the first place). Doing a little math, I came up with a more convenient serving size for doing single or small batches of models. Given that a drop is approximately 30-35ul (I work in a lab, I measured) I came up with a ratio of about 1 drop of ink to 13 drops of the flowaid-water/matte medium mixture, so for most of the recipes that use multiple inks, 3 drops of ink and 40 drops of base give you approximately the same mix as the original recipe. Again, I haven't had much time to test this.

I will update this as I go if anyone is interested.

The quick answer is selling something like a wash requires a bunch of red tape and fees.

I found that the APJ washes are darn useful and work well. But the best thing is the fact that you can adjust a wash to the EXACT thing you are doing. So if I want a more subtle wash I just add some matte medium mix, if I want to tweak a color I can add a few drops of another color, etc.

One of my favorite things to tell new painters: DO NOT START WITH YOUR FAVORITE MODEL.

The reason for this is your first minis are going to look rough, no way around it. So get your first taste of painting on your Belles THEN go to Seamus.

Also paint the whole crew before even thinking about going back. This will let you look at your first mini that you have painted next to your most recently painted one. It might sound stupid but being able to look and see your improvements side by side can really help keep you motivated.

For stripping minis I use nothing but Simple Green. You can leave metal, plastic, or resin things in it for months with no ill effects.

These are what I use for my crew:http://dragonforge.com/Painting%20service/for%20sale/base_sets/round%20lip%20bases/cobblestone_rubble_rlb.htm

*looks to make sure my Ramos is still on my desk

Looks awesome man, GREAT metalics. What combo/steps do you use to get your metals?

Wow lots of good information, I was kind of expecting to get flamed.

Anyways! So I like the idea of necromancy so I think I'm going to buy Seamus' crew tonight.

so as far as paint goes, at a minimum I should get:

-a couple GW brushes

-a standard primer from walmart (probably gray krylon)

-Badab Black and Devlan Mud washes

-black, white, silver, brown, +other brighter colors.

Do you think about 12 citadel paints would last if me and 2 or 3 other friends each got a crew and shared the paint?

-To give you an idea of how little paint you use per mini: I have basecoated and highlighted over 120 Ork Boyz with 1 bottle of Vallejo Sick Green. That bottle is still about half full...

-as for the GW brushes: Either go to a place like Hobby Lobby or other arts and crafts store and buy brushes there OR go online and buy some actual good brushes. The cheap arts and crafts brushes are nice because when (not if) you do something that ruins them you are not out a bunch of money. You just toss them and grab another one.

The advantages of the nicer brushes is that if you treat them well they will last years and years and years. They also will hold a point better and be more consistent then the cheap brushes.

- As for picking some colors to start go digging around online and find pictures of your crew and try to find a color scheme that you like. You can then use that picture to give a good starting point of what paints you need. I will also list some of my favorite goto colors. These are very flexible colors and I find that I use them often:

Games Workshops paints:

*Devlan Mud

*Badab Black

*Gryphonne Sepia

*Foundation Paints in Red and Yellow

These are called "liquid talent" for a reason. By simply basecoating with a color, washing it, and then taking that same base color and using it as your first highlight gives you 3 different colors on the mini AND helps make everything pop. The foundation paints make some colors like yellow and red much, much, much, much easier to paint.

P3 Paints

*Coal Black

*Menoth White Base

*Menoth White Highlight

Coal Black is actually a very, very, very deep purple. What you us this for is as a replacement to pure black. This lets you use washes and is just an easier color to work with. The two whites are what I use instead of a "pure" white. They look more realistic, and mix better/won't***** kill your color******

****** Start Paint Nerd Talk******

This is going to be something that is a bit advanced, but it was a tip that I was told several years ago and found my minis started looking much better.

Using a pure black or a pure white to darken/brighten a color via mixing can make your colors very flat and stark. If you instead use a dark purple/dark blue or a white that has some yellow in it makes the colors look more realistic and less "fake". I actually have not used a pure white or pure black in several years because every time I do I think the color just looks ugly. So play around with it and see what works for you.

****** End Painting Nerd Talk*****

Vallejo Paints

* everything else

I have found these to be my favorite paints to use overall. Good color selection, good coverage, easy to mix consistently, etc.

- Try to find a local store with a good group of miniature players. You will be surprised how much free advice and stuff you can get just by being a poor person interested in the hobby. Even just going to the store with the goal of painting stuff regularly can save you having to buy some of the colors you only need a drop or 2 of.

Looking good. I really enjoy the colors you chose for the group. As for the bases I would def go with a simple, muted base to not take away from the girls. Maybe play around with a dark red/brown for more color then just a simple grey if the texture on the bases would look good as bricks.

I chose Arcanists because in all the other TT games I play, I chose factions that have the play style of "run in and bash things with your face" (more or less). I have been wanting to teach myself to play more ranged and caster based play now, so took up Raspy. I also love the snow theme that she has.

I was interested in Ramos because of his clockwork creations. But it looks like I will be keeping away from him until he get revamped. from lurking around the forums, everyone says he isn't very good.

Thanks to his Avatar you no longer have to wait .

These are my first painted Malifaux Minis that I have delayed posting on the forums. I am a bit of a slow painter. Comments, criticism, and tips greatly welcome. Enjoy!

The main man Ramos...And Lastly my current WiP's: Avatar Ramos and 2 Large Steampunk Arachnids. Only one side was textured on the arcing lightning so I might not even bother with it =[

If it makes you feel better I am doing the same thing with the avatar. I am going to sculpt some simple flames into each hand and call it good.

What is the color combo you are using to get the brass color for the Electrical Creation, Toolkit, and Brass Arachnid?

Stupid fly, get off my nose!!!!

But seriously try Soul Puppet's idea and see if it gets you better results. Also maybe us a really light grey for the whites of the eye. This tens to make them less stark/more subtle.

I use 2 on every single miniature I paint: Krylon Gloss and Krylon Matte Varnish. I put 2 THIN (let the first coat dry 100% before putting the 2nd down) coats of the gloss onto the minis to prevent wear and chipping from play. After that is 100% dry I put 1 coat of matte on to remove the shine from the gloss sprays.

Since I started using that method I have not had a single chip or wear on my minis. Note I transport my bulk Ork Boyz and Skaven Clanrats in plastic baggies where they rub, bounce, etc when transported.

http://www.awesomepaintjob.com/index.cfm/resources.recipes

Go, watch, learn, save.

I bought the stuff for painting my Orks and Skaven. Using 2-3 full washes per mini on over 250 guys got expensive real fast.

All you need are the 1oz bottle of the inks. A single 1oz bottle of that ink will let you make something like a quarter gallon of wash (that's .95L for you people using funny units)