TimH

Keywords have kinda always been consistently inconsistent. Witness for example is presumably in relation to the new master Damian having some story connection to the tyrant Witness, but while we have December, Obliteration and Plague as keywords the 3E Pandora keyword is Woe as opposed to Despair, Nightmare as opposed to Nytemare, Monk instead of Dragon, Mercenary instead of Shez'uul. Similarly while certain keywords tie to characters just for being a thing (every Puppet gets the Puppet Keyword regardless of faction) other characters lack a keyword despite being a thing (Barbaros is Nephillim with a special rule to prevent him being used by the Nephillim Master but Graves and Tannen are both exclusively Honeypot despite being a Nephillim and a Woe). Generally the most sensible keywords have been the ones where the Master has 2 keywords that differentiate that the models they use are not necessarily all of the same nature (Elemental+Academic, Chimera+Beast, Sooey+Pig, Elite+Mimic etc.) Angler being the keyword presumably just means that a decision was made somewhere that it was suitably thematic and suitably Gremlin sounding.

If you use the Skulker Skin as a baseline for what it means to be an "angler" those other models definitely do fit in. Skulker Skin basically has nothing going on visually that would say "fisherman" other than that he is wearing the skin of a deep sea beastie. It seems likely that the thematic tie for the angler keyword will just be "gremlins that hunt by the ocean"

Unless I'm missing something Unbound's condition removal is tied to a pulse as opposed to an aura and so can't cleanse the stun off of himself.

I saw that guy and also thought it might be the shared model with Harold. Looking back though this does raise the notion to me that perhaps Tull or the Clampetts might be dual faction. Granted the speculation for this is incredibly wild but the reasoning basiucally goes that it feels like it would be kind of odd for wyrd to box both dual faction masters together. This would mean that either Tull is Guild/Outcast or Clampetts are Bayou/Explorers. That is of course wildly speculative as there is no reason that Wyrd couldn't make a box of two dual factions and there is also no guarantee that the artillery gremlin is actually a shared model (he just sorta looks it).

Part of my August work that couldn't post till the results were out. I seem to recall from the previous competition that people preferred it to be posted into the current month than into the month that just passed. Was my first go at OSL and honestly am dead chuffed to have gotten the votes I did, especially considering the overall high level of quality across the contest. Got some very useful c&c in the gallery. My turqoise "shadow highlights" were much too bright, something that is very obvious to me when I see it compared to the other entries, but when painting my ongoing thought had been "if I dont do something here it will just look like I didnt bother painting it". The green glow is meant to be coming from the eyes of the spider, something that doesnt apparently come across well/doesnt make sense, would definitely dial that back down if I did the model again. Very happy with the skull though, I love everything about that little guy, the light not penetrating the sockets, the fact he casts his own little shadow... I tried to do something similar with the shrub that is half in and half out of the light but it turns out that painting grass tufts is not as simple as it seems! Anyways, I'm pleased with the results, I managed to put a lot more effort into getting a decent looking photo this time around and you can expect me to be back for the halloween event (I already have a few ideas and am keeping some models unpainted in case the theme works with them).

Well I am now very confused about what certain factions are going to be having as their masters.

Stunned is definitely a good shout. Against Unbound though you have to be careful about how you plan to get it onto him due to him cancelling your suits and a lot of stuns being on triggers. Theres definitely ways around that though. Both Pandoras and Candy in NB, Nightsilk Creeper in Explorers, Dita2, Ophelia2 and McCabe 2 can all get it on him pretty reliably. In ressers your fine if you declared Von Schtook due to lecture notes. For the most part though those stun options are only going to be available based on what master you declared though. Sniping gamin and the puzzlebox will definitely slow the crew.

Including my submission for City Nights I managed 131 stones over August. For September I'll be looking to paint up the final elements of the Savage Keyword (Euripedes2+Kaltgeists) put the finishing touches to the last Bearly Together, hopefully get Hinamatsu painted to finish my neverborn Versatiles and then any other work will be dependant on some models I may be recieving. Probably going to involve starting Chimera or putting some work into the Lucius keywords though. Something I have been meaning to ask though @Shock & Awe not sure if this is the case for anyone else but for a few months whenever I go to submit my stones I have been finding that the Username field on the form has been retitled to the "Shock & Awe" field 😅

Out of curioisity do you know if they were predominantly playing Aspirant or Unbound? Aspirant very much looks like a choking denial piece with all these overlapping auras and LoS abilities from your various pieces that limit the opponents choice of what they can do with their models. Unbound on the other hand is losing a lot of that but cant have triggers declared against him and if you set him up correctly throws out giant healing pulses with every attack. Agree that its much too early to say "nerf this" but I would be unsurprised to see Unbound's Resonate Power Trigger errated to be "to a maximum of 2" to keep it in line with his other triggers. Against unbound I imagine you use something mobile or ranged and just snipe the Puzzlebox at your first opportunity. Unbound can't bring it back and having it off the board means one less House the Soul, no more rework the configuration and no more giving fast to Bonati or Ledger. With how his anti trigger ability works you probably just run some big heavy hitters into Unbound and try chunking him to death with models that dont need triggers (assuming spending time killing him is even the correct option). Carrion Emissary in ressers seems a solid pick against him, the aura stops him healing off of his attack or grinding down Lohith for prevention flips and 2/4/5 damage flip should put some work in. Greatswords and similar style weapons in other factions, might try Nekima1 when I play against my local Arcanist.

Probably the last mini for me this month. I'll be working on some Kaltgeists and Euripedes2 as the final models for my savage keyword (now they've arrived) but I imagine those will be my first models for September as oppposed to getting finished in August.