iamfanboy

On 1/2/2017 at 5:14 PM, case.card said:

I thought about this too, but as the model is intended to be handled on a regular by strangers, I thought it would be best to keep it in it's original (and least fragile!) form!  What kind of wire did you end up using?

Paper clip, actually - one of the small ones that also come coated in plastic so it's even thinner. It requires some bending with a pair of pliers to look natural, but is really resilient to external pressure.

That tie is priceless. I can just see Heartsbane shyly handing him a box with a whispered, "Happy Birthday," and fleeing before he has a chance to open it. When he does, he thinks, "Good gods, that's ugly, but... she gave it to me, so..." and it thusly became his favorite tie to wear around the workplace as he chainsaws open skulls and tries to keep a handle on the ever-increasing numbers of madmen in Malifaux. 

The one thing that bothers me about the starter box mini was the lack of a connection between Heartsbane's shock paddle and her box. I added a wire myself, but I can understand why people don't. Maybe it's up her sleeves and down her shirt?

10 minutes ago, Bengt said:

Cherufe left Sonnia to become half of the Burning Man in her Ripple of Fate vignette.

Well this is what I get for being so poor that I can only afford books or minis, not both.

...I... don't feel like that's a joke. I really want to read all the fiction, but my access to it is sharply limited - and the Through the Breach podcasts do not interest me. I don't like listening to stories, even if it's the only way I can hear them, and trying the podcasts just reminded me of that fact.

So Tyrants - any Tyrant-influenced character - would probably be your interest. The Tyrants are the mysterious enemies of the Neverborn - and were once Neverborn themselves - who nearly conquered the world. In desperation, the Neverborn brought Death itself to touch the world, rendering them vulnerable; but in exchange, it shattered their culture and sanity.

They are definitely inspired by Lovecraft's Great Old Ones, locked away in the aftermath of a horrific battle where no one won. The Neverborn are afraid not of the humans, but of humans releasing the Tyrants in ignorance or greed...

And they are right to be afraid.

Hamelin was an ordinary murderer and thief living in the sewers, until a sudden storm washed him into the prison of a being known only as Plague for what it brought to Malifaux in the days before Kythera. It took him, remade him, and now rides him as it once again spreads the only thing it loves - with the help of rats and worse.

Whether they were called nightmares before Nytemare used them to feed on slumbering terrors is academic - at this point, they are one and the same. On one trip for a feast of fear, though, Nytemare found a little boy who had no fear in him, and in fact controlled his own dream so ably that Nytemare could do nothing but retreat back to Malifaux - then the little boy followed him! Now, that child treats the world of Malifaux as nothing but his own dream, and Nytemare (aka Lord Chompy Bits) tutors him and watches, wondering how he can use the Dreamer to his own advantage.

December's cult lives in the permanent icy grasp of the highest mountains, and the wintry chill has permeated all members - who are not afraid to extend the limited rations with a bit of cannibalism, if given the opportunity. Right now, Rasputina and December are almost one and the same; she speaks for him, and he empowers her. Who knows how long this alliance will last... but for now, they are united.

Sonnia Criid, chief Witch Hunter of the Guild, thought she knew magic. She thought she was wise. She thought she could control Cherufe. She is finding out that she was wrong, and Cherufe's flames are burning away her will to resist its commands - and once it wins, the next thing to burn will be the world.

Tara was a mercenary searching for her next big score when Obliteration invited her into its prison. She spent uncounted millennia wandering the maze, nearly losing her sanity, and she finally won through to the center and released Obliteration... then returned to the real world moments after she had entered, its blade in hand and its spirit part of her. On her way out, a sniper put a hole through her chest, and only the work of a Resurrectionist brought her back to a semblance of life, animated in part by the magic and in part by Obliteration.

Pandora is the Neverborn who dares to use the powers of an imprisoned Tyrant against the invaders of her land, and she should have known better. It touched her mind, warping her, and now she seems almost as willing to strike at her fellows as at the hated humans - and is much more willing to use the power trapped in the box than she should be.

There are a few more tyrants, but those are the ones whose motivations we know the most.

Oh, and it's entirely possible that the Burning Man was created as a result of the Guild's Governor's attempt to become a Tyrant. At this point, we don't know for sure.

So I've been painting miniatures for a quarter century, some 80% of my actual conscious life experience, and for most of the last few years I've been mostly chore-painting.

Oh, I don't mind doing it, but I enjoy the finished product much more. Being able to reach into my tightly organized magnetic shelf of D&D minis and pull out a fully painted one for almost any situation, or having the only fully done Warmachine army locally, or having my Battletech stuff split up by clearly visible faction, was more important to me than the act of painting. There have been exceptions over the last few years (some Super Dungeon Explore heroes, a really great garage kit I'd been mooning over for a decade), but for the most part it's been just getting it done to HAVE it done.

Really struck home for me the last few months how little I've been enjoying the art itself; I've been repainting my X-Wing stuff to make it more individualized and doing a paid commission work of my friend's entire Zombicide collection. Nothing quite like churning out 16 zombies an hour or painting over an already painted mini to make you think, "Why am I doing this?"

And then last night I let myself paint Pandora's No Shelter Here.

Eight hours later, I look up at the clock and realize, "Ya know, I'd better clean up the living room, we're having guests over for New Years Dinner... but I'm almost done with Candy and the others only need sealant. Must... Finish The Job..."

Thank you, Wyrd. Your kits may be hard to put together, but the miniatures themselves are an inspiration to paint. I feel... happy.

Unfortunately, now the only one I have left to paint is a miner for my Arcanists! Must... buy... MORE! Let's see, Widow Weaver, Hans and Johan, M&SU, Hide and Seek, Teddy, Body of Evidence...

In theory I think that the Executioners, while not 'good' models, make a good match for McMourning thematically - looking like the composite of science and flesh. I like the thought of an Executioner/Nurse pairing, too - Uppers to move them in faster, then Hallucinogens to make them really deadly in close combat.

4 hours ago, Cadaverousbirth said:

That is a good point on fluff. The lead reporter for the Guild probably wouldn't want to be seen working with the dastardly nefarious enemies of the common good. I like that a lot actually. @JDAntoine great point about Guild/Outcast crossover. Just like Hoffman is "half Arcanists", Nellie could be considered Outcast-lite*TM

@4thstringer Good thinking about the C7. Wrath could get pretty ridiculous with Nellie I think. Sloth probably not as much but she can still hire 5/7 of the band at cost which would be neat. 

"This is Nellie Cochrane, reporting on the side project of several Crossroads Seven band members which they've only referred to as 'Embed In Bed.' I'm not quite certain what the name means, but I feel rather uncomfortable with the way that the violinist has been eying me..."

9 hours ago, Kaled said:

GMort is great for looking at sprues - I use it all the time, but not really what I was looking for. Googling for painted models is probably the best option but it's a shame Wyrd don't have a gallery to showcase the range.

Oh, I agree on that. Renders are nice and obviously (with the method used) representative of the model, but a painted model really does bring it to life in a way flat gray does not. And the shots you get over the internet are reliant on the individual's skill in photography as much as painting; I'm a pretty decent painter but for the life of me I can't make cameras work.

Gmort's blog DOES have all the starter boxes, and is only missing random items here and there - the only thing I wasn't able to find on there was the Guild Austringers. Aside from the absolute newest releases, but a beginning player should probably avoid those... right?

I think I'd recommend it to your brother just for the images of the sprues. I have a friend who's just starting and really wanted to do Gremlins, but images of those tiny tiny separate feet kinda dampened his enthusiasm. He's still doing Grems, but with open eyes about what he's getting into.

What I've found helpful in doing Google searches for miniatures is including the word "Painted" in my searches. That tends to auto-exclude any webstores and (because mini painters often want attention) have large images of the minis.

So I went back to the Warseer to post a questioning thread about this Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer (2003) I found on my bookshelf because I simply canNOT believe Amazon's pricetag, and I found out something that made me laugh out loud, threatening to wake up my fiancee -

I was apparently banned from there.

Spirits only know how many years ago THAT was; I haven't played 40k since 2007 and sold my armies circa 2008-2009. The only archival email I could find in my account was a warning - not a ban notice! - for a post in a Tyranid thread that no longer exists.  I would find it hilarious if I'm a banned unperson, not existing but for the ban notice.

I would also find it both hilarious and ironic if selling this little book at a ridiculously inflated price furthers my Malifaux or Warmahordes *eyeroll* collection. Kinda tells the whole story of my history with Warhammer 40,000 and Games Workshop.

So these would be my thoughts (and I'm in the same boat as you, just starting off, my fiance enjoys the Neverborn as well):

First off, go over the various Neverborn Masters with her. See which thumbnail sketch of a character appeals to her; Malifaux is sold on the characters, not just the gameplay. It's quite possible that the Mother Of Monsters will grab her, but (for example) my fiance really loved the Dreamer's story. Don't pick FOR her, pick WITH her, that'll make her more invested.

https://www.wyrd-games.net/malifaux-masters/

Though do offer advice filtered from the Internet - "most of the guys say that Zoraida is hard to play because of the sheer variety of models she can bring to the table, and that Lucius is really bad because..."

Why is Lucius considered bad, anyway?

Anyway, my advice stands. Ask HER which one seems most interesting and go for that one.

It's usually a good idea to have at least two or three Masters for a given faction before branching outside that faction or picking up separate box models - fortunately, many crew boxes have good crossover potential with their models. Lilith's Terror Tots are excellent scheme runners regardless of Neverborn Master, a Witchling Stalker or two can help almost any Guild crew, and so on.

The worst models I've put together? Definitely the Palladium Robotech minis. The kits are, I swear to Protoculture, just 1/100 model kits that have been shrunk down to 1/285. One of the kits had separate antennae that were maybe 1mm across by 3mm long! And the design, good spirits above. The Gladiator kit had 10 separate hands for 2 Gladiators. Good variety, right? NOPE! 8 of the hands were right hands, meaning that if a left hand suddenly flew across the room thanks to a too-hard cut and you can't find it, one of them will need to be modeled with battle damage.

But yeah, Malifaux kits are pretty hard too. There are some which are definitely EASIER than others, but even in my limited experience with owning the models, in looking at Gmort's unboxings there are few that I'd call EASY.

I like your post. It states the basics of good play a lot more succinctly than the article in Wyrd Magazine (which is on my mind, as I just finished marathon reading the entire series!) It's also from the POV of someone coming to grips with the rules, rather than someone who's buried in them enough to get articles published in an official magazine.

I'm in a position of trying to get Malifaux going at my local store, and I'm glad that I understand right from the start what you're getting at here: that the game is VP-driven, not kill-driven, and you have to be able to focus on that.

It's getting that idea across that I'm finding hard in some cases. Recent starter box game I played had me down to one model in the tagging buildings scenario, but I was up 4 VP because I kept tagging buildings with him while the other guy kept trying to kill my dudes.

I'll probably try to link your article to people who are having trouble gripping the basics.

I don't own the book, my gaming dollar is pretty limited for right now and the foreseeable future, AND I'm actually trying to get my LGS to carry Malifaux (his attempts to get Warmachine going was stymied by the supply shortage driven by Mk3), so I only own the Core Set and was going to expand into several Crews that would give a good demo variety afterwards.

And it looks like the best price I can get for a Generalist deck is 15 bucks. While that IS a lot better than the 30 cards I can get PoD, I kinda need Sue's card far sooner than I can afford to buy whichever book he's in - probably Crossroads. 

So far I have: Imbued Energies (x2? x3?), Retribution's Eye, Mimic's Blessing, Useless Duplication, Fears Given Form, Aether Connection, Sue.

So I have an odd problem - namely, I found a 1e Sue miniature lurking in my Deadlands stuff. When I went to the Print on Demand website Wargame Vault that 10 card minimum stumped me, because I already FOUND an Arcanist Wave 2 box which had everything I needed for the one Crew I own (Colette's) with the other odd mini (Gunsmith) also covered by that box.

So I started looking at the Upgrade cards from the Wave 1 box I was missing and it's got all the good generalist stuff - like Imbued Energies - that I'm not sure IS available in an actual boxed set.

That got me to thinking about what generalist upgrades to print out for the OTHER factions. At this point, I could see myself at least a dozen other Master boxes (Seamus, Molly, Kirai, Rasputina, Marcus, Pandora, Dreamer, Lynch, Viktoria, Misaki) and, uh... more than a few other boxes. But I have to focus, more's the pity.

So, what upgrades would you guys recommend printing off to at minimum fill out the other 9 cards, for Arcanists and Neverborn at first with an eye towards Resurrectionists and Outcasts after that?

So I bought a Union Miners box, then found a Gunsmith and Sue lurking in my Deadlands minis and I was wondering about adding them to Colette's Crew - only problem is that I'm pretty short of 30mm bases.

How many Miners actually help Colette? Could I just add one and base the Gunsmith and Sue, or would two be a better number - and if I did so, which one would be the better add, Sue or the Gunsmith? Can Cassandra steal Sue's Ring of Fire action - the pullmyfinger wiki doesn't say how much it costs, and I'm not sure I want to buy the new card without knowing if I'll USE the mini for Malifaux at all.

7 hours ago, Torsul said:

Maybe I lost something in translation but couldn't you just place Chompy on the topmost tray without another one aboth his head?

Well, yeah, but I'm also building a closed in cabinet where there will be 10 inches of height for the miniature trays (so far I'm at 23 15"x11" trays!), and having him fit into the tray will just make things easier to organize all around - no special exceptions for height, so I can put that tray anywhere.

If I had to, I could always keep Lord Chompy Bits on a tall tray separately (he'll make a fine glabrezu tanar'ri for D&D), but I'd ruther keep them all together. Right now my Malifaux (just a Colette crew and some extras) fits on a tray with plenty of space for a good Dreamer retinue, and probably a third crew on top of that. I really like the look of Nellie Cochrane... though I've been wanting Misaki... and Som'er... and Pandora... and Victorias... and Ophelia... and Mollie... and Jakob...

That's been my problem with Malifaux, really. With Warmachine I could just sigh at how boring all the models look, buy a Cygnar force because Haley2 is the only mini I actually WANTED to paint amongst all of them, and set it on the shelf to play locally if/when other players ask.

With Malifaux? If I could spend a thousand dollars and bury myself in boxes, I would account myself one happy mini painter.

Thanks. I was kind of afraid of that, but I was hoping that he would just baaarely squeak under the limit. But 3.25 inches... hm. I might be able to magnetize his rear arms for storage purposes. Though having him be able to turn at the waist would be sort of neat...

Yeah. Yeah, I'm getting Hide and Seek. I like Pandora, but I'm in love with the concept of the Dreamer, so much so that he's one of my go-to examples for how varied and eccentric Malifaux commanders are. It's too bad his stuff doesn't seem to expand well into the other Neverborn's basic boxes, but that's okay.

So I'm trying to choose between Pandora or the Dreamer as my entry into Neverborn. While I do like the Dreamer the most just on eyeball and flavor, the problem is Lord Chompy Bits - specifically, his miniature's actual height.

I've magnetized all my minis for all of my games and have them on trays with risers allowing me to stack them, store them, and transport them. The tallest risers I have are 4.5" tall, and the one I have allotted to Malifaux so far is 3" tall. If LCB is too tall, I may either have to (reluctantly) pass on him, or magnetize his waist for easier transport - an annoying proposition, as it means buying two larger rare earth magnets and creating a padded 'cradle' specifically for his torso.

Or I could just give that whole scene a miss and pick up No Shelter Here.

I'd be reluctant to allot a 4.5" riser to Malifaux, because how many of the minis exceed 3"?

So, the question is - how tall is Lord Chompy Bits' actual miniature from the Hide and Seek plastic set, from base to pointy elbows?

I have yet to actually play Malifaux, but I've purchased a number of Malifaux minis to use for other purposes (RPG sessions of Deadlands and Shadowrun, to be specific); however, my holding trays for them are sized for 25mm and 20mm square bases, not 30mm rounds. Would it significantly alter gameplay if I were to put Malifaux minis on square bases (25mm ones, to be exact) so I may store and display for RPG sessions, but still use for actual games of Malifaux? While I haven't yet played the game, I do love miniature skirmish wargames, and I happen to like at least one or two heroes from each faction, so I wouldn't mind prosletyzing the game up where I live. However, if square bases are going to be an issue regarding actual game play, then I'll have to come up with another solution. Maybe putting them all on 20mm ones and creating a 'holder' for the same size as the usual bases... Thanks for taking a look at my question.