Linus Mcmold

I've started with master collecting back in 1.5. My first three choices were Zoraida, Ophelia (as Zoraida's hench) and Marcus, I really liked their swampy, voodoo concept.
Before my first order arrived some guy was selling his Viktorias box so I had my first game with those...
My first painted crew was Ophelia and I learned to play her competitively and I played Zoraida in some friendly experimental games (still haven't finished painting her crew as I've replaced silurids with new plastic models).
I've had my butt kicked with Marcus alot and I kind of finished playing with him but I haven't finished buying beasts for him.
Anyway I really liked Leveticus in the fluff so I got everything for him from the same guy I've got Viktorias from and that's a lot of stuff.
Fortunately I haven't branched toward Ramos and Hoffman, but I've got into resser stuff and started getting stuff for Molly against the warnings from fellow players that she was crap back then, but I ignored it because I just liked her fluff.
I also bought some stuff for Lilith and started building proxies for terror tots, Lilitu, Lelu and Mature Naphilim.

So the M2E comes out and I decided that I want one whole faction and I couldn't decide between Gremlins and Neverborn.
I've first set on getting the whole gremlin faction, but they were getting released really really slowly and I really couldn't get myself to like the Brewmaster. So I decided to get all of them besides the Brewmaster and get all of the Neverborn besides Collodi and Dreamer because they were too creepy for me and there weren't any art previews for them out at that point...
At the moment I have 18 masters (one of them is a proxy crew for Shen Long and Smoky Tara is the newest purchase) . Last year I've branched a bit into all of the factions and soon I'm getting Kirai as the 19th master and I have some stuff for Colette which will be my 20th master as soon as I build a proxy with some help from a friends TTB sprue and the new performer stuff gets released.

I'll probably stop getting new masters after my 20th master for a while and I'm not getting any new Neverborn masters (but I'll probably have all of those in a couple of years) until I paint everyhting I already have and two of the gremlins that have no stuff out at this point (Ulix and Mah Tucket). After getting all of the Gremlins I want and Neverborn I will cap at 25 masters.
Interesting thing is I've bought some stuff anew when it got re-released in plastic: Marcus, Ophelia, Viks, Leveticus and I'll probably get the new Molly since most of the stuff I've got for her crew are plastic minis. I'm not sure about getting a new Shen Long crew because I love my proxies, except I would get the man himself, but since he won't get released as a single mini I'm not sure I'll buy the whole box.

I'm a very slow painter but I'm getting better at it and that could also mean faster since I've decided to finish at least two minis a week. At least I'm more organized about this hobby and I've become happy with my sculpting and converting skills.
Seems like owning a lot of different crews inspires me to paint more, I just had to get enough of them to start painting more.

All of your models look really good. I really dislike the Johans old sculpt, but your painting makes his face stand out, he looks a bit like a character for Mike Mignolas comic book (Hellboy).

I really like your desperate mercs. Only thing I'd change would that I would do a darker tone on the wood of their rifles.
I bought a pro painted female desperate merc back during the first edition Malifaux because I disliked her sculpt and I need a reminder of how a mini can be fixed with decent paintjob and a more unique color scheme.
After that I painted Leveticus (also a dull mini) and I was quite happy with how he came out.

I have a similar problem with posting my minis here, because a lot of stuff looks so much above my skills.
But it might be just in my head. I would say that your minis are above average, because they capture interest.
I might post a Molly crew soon when I'm finished with it.

Sorry for the long  banter.

My order is #21684. I think I ordered within first two hours of Black Friday.

I placed a 200$ worth order. I just couldn't spare 300$ for the toys I can get later. I actually don't like the special edition Performer and I prefer my old metal Bete Noir to the new one even if the transparent blood effect looks cool.
Meh, it's for the better. I've blown too much money on these orders in the past and I've got burnt...

I see it as a different way of looking at things.

 

In Western culture, we tend to value life, particularly human life, above everything else. But that doesn't necessarily need to be the case.

 

I see Alyce and Leveticus both as rather existentialist characters who border on what we might call psychopathy. Life to them is fleeting, cruel, and brutal and its end is inevitable, despite what magic Leveticus may be working to stall an already foregone conclusion. Therefore the continuation of life is not the ultimate value; merely the quality. They each set their own rules and play by them, and survival is not requisite to playing well. 

Characters featured in naturalistic literature from 19th century usually exhibit some or even all of those characteristics you just mentioned. Pessimism and nihilism are usally used to portray realism, unlike previous literary movements that usually romanticized the human condition.

Beatniks as a stereotypical sub-culture from the 1960s' usually implemented some of those characteristic while portraying themselves, some of those characteristics veered their way later into punk and other subcultures.

Literary work is just a bit more extreme than real life, but it's no less cruel.

Personal caricatures are just more easily portrayed in fiction and much better hidden in reality, but it's there

(easily found around the internet for example).

Modern pop-culture heroes are usually a bit too perfect and make only little mistakes if any (probably because of recent superhero popularity).

Although Malifaux is usually very dark, most of the characters exhibit human values and have real human problems. There is even gentlness appearent here and there. There are just a lot of new characters lately and not all have been in the spotlight yet and some like Viktorias haven't been there for a long time now.

I think Leveticus and Alyce have a good solid deal and they are friends in their special way.

Leveticus is formost Alyces teacher and everything else is secondary.

Even if he is using her as a pawn they still share mutual trust in the end. It just isn't that obvious.

Seamus is a good example of an interesting villain and I would even dare to say an anti-hero character in the later stories.

He has a character ark (I just don't want to spoil it). His random violence, myisogyny and wackyness isn't the start and the end to what he is.

That root beer golem will have some great looking beer effect when someone paints it.

Unfortunately, Brewy is the only Gremlin master I won't be getting...

Uhhh, couple of days ago I was going to spend 150$, but there is stuff I want and if I'm going over 200 bucks I might push it up to 300$ for the extra toys...
I see that people would want to split their orders into two parts because of customs fees. It's a lottery for my country because they can charge you for boxes above 50$ value, but will usually let it through without fee if the box is light or small enough or for whichever other obscure reason.

I hoped for TTB limited edition deck to be amog the limited stuff. Oh well...

So, is Carver now a regularly released miniature or still a limited edition mini?

Hatless marshal is a big improvement with a stubble.
I love the big guy and I'll get him one day. My Ortegas might need more death marshals since I only have Miss Terious.

I love the blonde Lady J and the man behind iron mask.
Does the bearded one alt head has a beard on it or is it your conversion?

In b4 lock!

Hey I've seem poultrygeist on AWP on facebook. Awesome effect with light inside of its orifices !!

I've seen the same pre-orders on Elementgames (except for the Brewmaster).
Might be significant for the gamers who live in Europe.

Great work on Baby Kade and Teddy's patch.
Love your color schemes.

Love the new Witchlins'!

Math Mathonwy said it the best about your Samael. Best one I've seen so far.

I've found two things  that need a change:

 

- Ama no Zako should have Initial cache of 4 when selected as a leader.

- When you take Mah Tucket as a leader the Little Lass should be able to take one upgrade with a restriction of Mah Tucket for free.

"I'll Carry That, Mah!": At the start of the game, attach one non-Avatar Upgrade to this model with the restriction of Mah Tucket without paying any Soulstones. No other model in this Crew may attach the same Upgrade. If this model leaves play, attach the Upgrade to a friendly Mah Tucket, ignoring any restrictions.

 

I somehow visualized the Governor General when reading Malifaux stories as the Gene Hackman's role in Quick and the Dead.
That movie is spot on.

I just remembered an anime called Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (yes a sequel) that has a very Malifauxy atmosphere and the look of architecture, scenery, monsters and even some characters.
Its story is very trashy and forgettable and it would have been better if the main character wasn't such a Mary Sue type of character, but the animation and overall design is beyond perfect.

Besides the sci-fi/gothic genre, the group of brothers (and especially their sister) from the movie reminds me of Viktorias band of mercenaries and the green lady in the trailer that fuses with a tree reminds me of Lilith.

I must say I didn't enjoy Bunraku that much besides the Woody Harelsons role. It reminds me of the movie called Spirit and in a way the new Sin City in that that I didn't care for any of the characters because they were played too cool and too invulnerable and that feels too shallow. I guess that's the same reason I don't want to see Suckerpunch.
Heh, the anime I mentioned above has similar problems, but it's more akin to Kill Bill in that respect because the characters are just too cool, but not invulnerable. There has to be some stakes to create suspense and enjoyment.

Uoua! She looks even better from this angle.
Her helium bust doesn't even bother me in this pic Awesome paintjob, great looking mini (umm, large miniature).

This is my favourite mini/plastic kit in this gallery so far.
Great work on syringe, her socks and shadings on the white dress.
The base is super effective, strong color theme and I love the hairstyle on this particular mini.

Your freehand skills are quite good. I didn't see any faults with the cross before mentioning it in the last post and now I did   
It looks fine and it's very well placed, strategically speaking.

The fox girls kimono looks awesome.

I wanted to add I liked origin stories  in Crossroads a lot. I've finished the book a month ago and I must say Mah, Kaeris, Toni Ironsides and McCabe stories shed some light on characters that werent as pronounced before.
Anasalea and Lucas are old characters that were never really portrayed in the older books more then roguish henchmen of some greater powers.  Now I do care about those characters, besides thinking they are cool.

Wong and Ulix have fun stories and I loved the humor behind those, especially Mancha Rojas latino manager and lightning bugs sidekicks.

Oh god, The Face Behind the Lie was one of the best stories in Crossroads in my opinion.
There wasn't much action in it, but I really felt for Colette in the story and it shows how smart she is.

I still think that Ophelia needs a complete origin story.  Collodi and Ophelia had a short introductions in Rising Powers and those were well written, but Collodi story in Crossroads is the only one that felt a bit bland and Ophelia didn't have a story in M2E book.
Collodi and Ophelia don't have to be introduced since they both have a strong theme. Other henchmen have been very well established as master and some like Molly have multiple stories across all of the books (Molly wasn't featured only in the Storm of Shadows). I don't see Collodi as a protagoinist in his new story, or the story seemed too short, or maybe I just expected something different like him not being a villain for change.
Whining aside I liked all of the stories and even the Collodi one shed some new light on that character.

Jack Daw, Hamelin and Yan Lo who even didn't make an appearance in his story were all villains in their stories, but they felt like complete characters and I enjoyed those stories. Dreamer is still a spoiled little brat and Nytmare is the real master, which I feel is ok for his theme.
 

I guess the Brewmaster doesn't have his own story yet, but there are some stories leaked about the art of brewing here and there.

I also wanted to mention that I like how Charles Hoffman is becoming more of a badass unlike in his previous fluff where he was feeling all sad and helpless.

Very nice higlight effect on the socks.

Is the cross on her shirt a freehand and how much of freehanding these kits support?

Beutiful face and NMM. Is it pure NMM effect or did you mix some metallic color in it?

still needs to be filled with green resin, though...

this was just a dry fit...

Are you going to partially fill it with resin or will it be full to the top?

I bet there are other tubes that are broken and empty somewhere near by.

Vikkies, die Freikorps, Leveticus and his Salvage and Logistics operation, Misaki (she started out as a merc) and even Tara (I'm not completely sure about her, but she comes from that backround) all hire themselves out as Mercenaries sometimes.

Jack Daw, Hamelin (or Plague) and somewhat Tara (with her Herald of Oblitheration thing) are more like elementary disasters.
Hamelin just wants power and the other two can't help themselves and their motivation is unclear.

@Mako: You forgot Tara. Karina is her tie to Ressers, but beyond that nothing else was established fluffwise.
I suppose since Tara's got some good sinergy with Bete Noire, those two could get some fluff tying them together.