ThatDarnSatan

When you are an adult with a salary and the impulse control of a twelve year-old ... Bad Things Happen.

I have yet to hear anything, and my two orders are from the beginning and end of the sale. I guess they're not going by date and time. I was hoping that getting that first order in early would ensure it'd go out in one of the first batches, but the rules for this game are mysterious ... oh, damn. Black Joker! Every time!

edit: I bet it's by zip code. Can anyone beat 98101?

Am I imagining it, or do Perdita's legs *alone* look taller than Francisco...?

"I knew this girl once. Beautiful, she was. Her eyes were dark, her skin was tan, and her legs ... oh man, I kid you not, her legs were longer than a short Argentinian."

It looks like it, but he's crouching, while she's tall and not crouching.

Just imagine the skies filled with terrifying Wyrd delivery drones clutching their precious cargo...NAthan back at the secret warehouse lair crying out "Fly my pretties, fly!!"

Drones are good, but I prefer to think of package-laden Necropunks springing from rooftop to rooftop, pausing only long enough to coo over a baby in a window, or to shiv an old lady tending her garden. Surely if they can do dayglow plastic, they can hook us up with Necropunks.

Her hat is just pulled down over her head. I'm not sure if that kind of hat is normally worn so close to the scalp, but arguing fashion with a psychopathic demon hunter seems unwise. The new mini makes her look more ****ed off, gruff, and powerful, IMO. I'm still looking forward to the alt sculpt too. They're both great for different reasons.

I want the CCK to steal Francisco's hat so he can launch an expedition to get it back at all costs. A lot of eyes are rolled at the Latigo's mission briefing. Nobody understaaaands me, thinks Francisco.

I have no information, but presumably their artists use whatever they feel comfortable with (though odds are, it's Zbrush). They must submit .stl format-friendly geometry and someone else hacks it apart. I'd be interested in getting the inside scoop on this myself, especially what software is used on the mold-cutting side to arrange the sprues.

It took me some time too but eventually got through. I haven't received an email confirmation yet, but my credit card has a charge pending, so I guess it's all good.

I got all the crew boxes but the Viks (which I had from GenCon), Marcus and Ramos. Also picked up a Nephilim box. Hobby schizophrenia!

Oh god yes. I use the cobblestone inserts for my Rezzers, and like them a lot but would love if they were plastic. That would be so much easier. I agree that the weight of the metal inserts is satisfying, but if I never had to pin another dainty Malifaux babe's plastic foot to a chunk of metal again, I would happily do without it in a second!

So, so good. Am I going to get it all? How can I resist?

I'm surprised by the Canine Remains, just because I expected a pack of them in a box of their own at some point. Maybe three or four other doggies are going to be sold separately, while the bulldog is only available with McMourning and offers additional incentive for Rezzer players to buy the box and complete the set?

Meee too. It's the monthly publication I read the most of, by far. Nearly everything seems of interest.

Oooo! I really like it. A challenge with the Nothing Critters is to acknowledge the fluff without really having the ability to follow it, to blow the viewer's mind a little in another way, and I think this does that very nicely.

Fantastic! You might've just sold me an Executioner mini.

I had to buy this box twice, because I mangled Lady J pretty badly the first time. Issues:

1) If you attach her head to the body properly, so it's nestling in the spot where it seems it's meant to go, her face presses against the sword blade. The blade, in addition, ends up too high on her face and covers it. The solution I found was to add a little blob of Green Stuff to her back, so that I could place the head more where I wanted it. As a result, her neck doesn't connect quite right but it's such a small area, covered by both her chin and the sword, that I'm not worried.

2) The scales on her scabbard and the gun on the back of her belt are very fragile. I don't know if it's possible to glue those after pressing the head on (maybe the hair covers them, I dunno, I glued them first both tries), but either way, be careful not to put any pressure on them or they're likely to break.

3) Her wide stance, small left foot and the off-angle of the right foot do make it difficult to stick her to a base. I'm using the metal Wild West base inserts for my Guild models so have been pinning them, so this was an extra challenge. In the end, I drilled her left foot between the heel and instep, up through her butt; I'll paint the exposed bits of brass rod black, hopefully you'll never notice.

The Scales of Justice should be handled carefully, in that the connection between the scales and cross beam are so very, very fragile. I haven't touched him on the second box I bought yet, but ended up having to drill and pin the points of articulation on the first one. It doesn't look too good so I'm going to try it again, just being much more careful. I presume it won't matter much and they'll eventually break anyway, but hopefully I should get some photos before that happens.

The belles caught me with Lure ...

I bet a lot of players start like that, seeing something wacky like zombie courtesans, psychotic babies or Teddy, then go on to appreciate the less outrageous and subtler parts of Malifaux. I sent a link to the store to one of my Warhammer friends, and made a bet with myself that he'd come back raving about Pandora's box set. Won the bet.

Aww, I felt embarrassed for my question about pronunciation when Justin said Sonnia's name early in the episode, and was hoping you weren't going to ask after all.

As a gamer, it's nice to have the design process deconstructed and emphasized. Even after a glance, it's sometimes easy to presume the designers haven't thought something through when of course, they've been over it many times and don't set anything in stone without long and hard consideration. As a game developer working in a non-design position, it's good to hear a designer talking about his process. It gives me more of an appreciation for the nuts and bolts.

Excellent episode! (even if my question turned out to be stupid. Cringe)

How does one pronounce Sonnia's name?

I know, everyone says SEWN-ya, but based on the absence of flavorful spellings in the game (Seamus, Myranda, Marcus are spelled the way you'd expect to see them in the real world), I'm guessing her name is pronounced something like "sun-EYE-uh CRY-id". Yeah?

Hey squid, I know this is a bit old but I'm newly arrived in Seattle (Bellevue actually) and am interested in learning to play. Thursdays are a little difficult for me but I'm sure I can figure something out. Is there still a group playing at Card Kingdom?

--John.

Yes, it is so true. I often wonder if Wyrd sees the sprues before they go to production.

They certainly seem to now!

I believe that with the first kits, there was a keen newbie's "let's just do one and tweak later" approach. The archers especially have an auto-generated look to them, as if a program was run with the usual settings and returned an arrangement and number of parts considered ideal by the software, without much subjective human influence. The digital 3D artists out there may notice the resemblance between the first sprues and the results of automatic UV unwrapping. The result was a bit insane, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones concerned about it.

If someone at Wyrd isn't personally overseeing production now, then the company they work with has stepped up and put some good people at their disposal. The new plastics are very nice. Maybe we're not seeing GW-like flair for clever sprue construction yet, but Wyrd is still doing a great job making sure everything both looks and casts well, and doesn't take forever to put together. They've already massively improved and will continue to do so. Go, Wyrd.

I hope this isn't hijacky, but it's on-topic in any case.

This is what I'm getting with Vallejo Matte. You can see three sections on the rim of the base, from left: gloss finish, unvarnished black paint, and matte finish. The matte isn't TOO bad, but probably about as bad for dulling and greying as Dullcote. I dunno, maybe fresh paint is naturally a little glossy and any matte finish will make it seem very dull.

Is this about what I should expect to see? Am I possibly not applying it properly? This is mixed 1:1 with water and applied in one coat over the gloss layer with a brush.

More Fun With Magnets: I like to glue a square of steel sheeting to the top of a cork, then stick the magnetized miniature to it. This has the usual practical use of not having to handle the miniature itself, but also not having to pick poster putty out of a miniature's base afterward. It's a small time savings but they add up. (I used to glue magnets to the corks, as in the pic, but since I realized the magnet on the base sticks about as well to bare metal as it does to another magnet, it seems fine to just go with a bit of steel)

I used strip magnets at first, but felt they were too weak -- I was always afraid of things shifting in the bag. It's down to what you're comfortable with, but I like the strength of the rare earth magnets.

Putting magnets in the bases allows you some interesting flexibility. We have metal bookcases whose shelves are totally packed full with books, but whose sides are ... well, metal. For a couple years the side of one bookcase was thick with Dark Eldar and Orcs & Goblins, waiting for their chance on the painting table. I even used a rat ogre for a refrigerator magnet for awhile. These are all side benefits and I wouldn't argue for this approach on the basis of being able to collect your pizza coupons under a creation of Clan Moulder, but I think it's the way to go.

Sold. I ordered the stuff from ebay, and will put some poor Warhammer orc to the test. Thanks for the info.

I know the effect he means. I'm not sure it's that easy to photo. I actually use this as part of my process to matt down some of the metalics so I don't find it big issue. I'll also go back in with gloss or satin varnishes where necessary to add shine back in.

Yeah, that's it, it's somewhere between subtle and significant. I could live with it if there weren't any other options.

I know Liquitex matte finish is pretty shiny, despite the name. Is Vallejo matte finish properly matte? I like a lot of Vallejo paint, and am game to try their finishes.

Generally, you can just glue them in without the greenstuff. If you have sized your magnets properly, then they won't catch and will adhere fine. You lose a magnet once in a while, but in my entire kit, I have lost about 1 magnet a year.

I use the green stuff to fill the space between the base and the magnet. It's necessary with the ones I linked. Do you have, er, taller magnets to recommend? I'd be happy to skip the green stuff if possible.

Very welcome! Magnets are quite helpful.