Boomstick

@Kutslo, looking good! The blue really pops with the rest of the colors.

As far as fur goes, take it from a long time space wolf player, I find it works best if you start with the darkest colors and dry brush each shade lighter a little "higher" up the fur texture. Image searching whatever animal you're aiming for helps as well. 

That said, her cloak looks great for some kind of arctic beastie. Looking forward to seeing the other one.

My plan this month is to first get the Malifaux Child (2ss) and Earl (3ss) off my tray from last month where they were ignored. Then,  Lucius (15), the Scribe (2ss), Guild Guard x2 (8), Lawyers x2 (12) and either Dashel (9ss) or alt Barbaros (10ss) depending how the month goes.

Allons-y!!!

Lots of great looking models have been showing up here lately. Great job everyone!

So I managed to finish Zipp (15), Datsue Bae (8), the First Mate (9), and 3 Iron Skeeters (18) for a total of 50ss.

And here they are. Thoughts? I'm toying with the idea of using wire to add lightning to Zipp's gun and give his blue glow an actual Object to provide Source of the Lighting.

7 hours ago, H4ml3t said:

Plaid goes significantly beyond my abilities. I look forward to seeing this finished. Good work so far.

Thank you so much!

I owe my plaid superpower to years of playing/painting a Celtic themed Space Wolves army. Each squad had a different tartan on their pinky-nail-sized tabards. Datsue's skirt is a bit more difficult in that there are more contours to the garment, but the basic process is the same. 

Worked on Datsue Bae tonight, not done, but getting there. Going for more of a banshee feel, hence the head conversion.

Finally posting my (mostly) unpainted stuff for the beginning of the month. Did what's pictured on the skeeters here right before remembering to take the picture, and all I've done since then is a few layers on the gremlin skin. Saving Hyrule has left little time for painting, but I'm trying to remember to come up for air. More to come!

I'll be opening up with the Zipp crew box, Malifaux child, and Datsue Ba (may she burn in the Special Hell).

Pictures will follow once I sit down and shrink them to a size the forums like. Though I forgot to snap a picture before tonight's paint-slinging, so there's a bit of paint on the skeeters.

3 hours ago, spooky_squirrel said:

Carlos doesn't appear to be on the near-term schedule, but he might be made available if there's any special sales (I ordered mine as part of the Black Friday specials).

Easter is coming.

18 hours ago, benjoewoo said:

As a quick note, because someone mentioned having Banasuva summon--you can only copy actions on Sandeep's card, and unfortunately that does not include actions given by upgrades.

I can't give a page or FAQ number at the moment as I don't have the materials with me,  but actions gained from an upgrade are considered to be on the attached model's card. Just had this very question asked about Sandeep last week and my local Henchman confirmed upgrade actions count as 'on card'.

I'll be back with a relevant citation as soon as I can, unless someone else beasts me to it.

6 hours ago, SevenThirtySeven said:

Great post. Question in Essence of Power - his (2) gives everyone within 3" +1 cast. If another academic more than 3" from EoP uses Beacon to copy a Sandeep cast, does it get the +1Ca too? All the Beacon ability says is that you have to "take a Ca action printed on the models stats card", doesn't say anything about having to use the exact Ca profile.

 

They should get the +1 CA too, so long as they're in 3" of the EoP. But since Beacon specifies "printed on the status card" the mages would still consider the action's starting cast as Ca6, -1 from Beacon, +1 From EoP within 3", they Beacon at Ca6.

On the other hand, if you want to get away from the Colette On Ice show or want something truly top heavy, something like this could be fun:

35 SS Arcanists Crew
Colette Du Bois + 3 Pool
 - Cabaret Choreography (2)
 - Arcane Reservoir (2)
Mechanical Dove (2)
Carlos Vasquez (9)
 - Stunt Double (0)
 - Practiced Production (1)
Cassandra (8)
Union Miner (5)
Performer (5)

 Carlos and Cassandra each holding a stash marker or the center in general is pretty tough to deal with, especially with the Union Miner there to pop out scheme markers with false claim to make All Together Now deliciously easy to do while also pumping Carlos up with extra burning for some Flaming Fists of the Great Carlos Vasquez (it's just so fun to say!). Plus, when the Performer dies, so long as she's nearby one of your bigger models, they get to reactivate. And with three of them, it's much easier to keep our her close to somebody.

In short: Carlos is awesome.

Agreed about the 50ss, but we all have to start somewhere.

Personally, at 35ss I would leave the coryphee at home. Not only is one too fragile, it also misses out on the best tricks Colette can pull with two of them. In the 7ss slot I would bring either a gunsmith, since you mentioned having them, or a December Acolyte. Both make pretty good prompt targets and are versatile models. Some would say the gunsmith will do better at the lower Soulstone game than they will at 50ss, but I say it's all matter of crew composition in relation to the strat, schemes, and table.

One reason I'd recommend the acolyte over the gunsmith is if you find yourself bringing a Silent One as well, which is great with Cassandra for her Understudy trigger to get more damage out there. The Silent One also can take advantage of a lot of Frozen Heart synergies between her, the Acolyte, and your Ice Dancer.

Here's my idea of a 35ss Colette list with a fair bit of versatility (though in general I prefer building to the objective pool than having a set list, like I said, we all start somewhere) :

35 SS Arcanists Crew
Colette Du Bois + 3 Pool
 - Cabaret Choreography (2)
 - Shell Game (1)
Mechanical Dove (2)
Cassandra (8)
 - Practiced Production (1)
 - Recharge Soulstone (1)
December Acolyte (7)
Silent One (6)
Ice Dancer (6)

 Wow, been a while since I made a 35ss list, thought I'd fit one more model in there.

So basically you have a lot of Frozen Heart synergy, with the Acolyte and the Ice Dancer doubling as forward firing nodes for the Silent One.

I personally haven't gotten what I want out of shell game in the past and prefer Arcane Reservoir for the guarenteed card every turn, especially as I've gotten more away from Prompting with almost every AP, but I think it will work well in this sized game. 

You don't *have* to hire a dove, but I've found having one in your opening list can help if you have a truly bad hand. Just pop it to give Colette + flips on Ca actions and she can get you a few more for more activations and future + flips while it's turn one and everyone is just focused on moving up the board. 

One thing I'll say about putting practiced production on Cassandra is make sure towards the end over every turn you're thinking about where you want to drop the extra marker the following turn, since you'll generally want Cassandra going first to put up Southern Hospitality.

Had my first game with Sandeep this year over the weekend (third game overall, the other two both ended in ties). Faced another Arcanist who is known to be a very solid player in the area, my first game against him as well. 2nd round of a tourney, Interference. I took Accusation and Hunting Party, expecting Ramos and not wanting to get into a mirror match. He ended up taking Claim Jump and Hunting Party. Pretty straightforward Ramos list with Joss, Hank, and Envy as the centerpieces. I took Sandeep with 3 mages, Angelica, Carlos, and Mech Rider.

A lot of interesting things happened throughout the game.

Turn one he quickly gave Hank reactivate, so I found myself unwilling to move too far up the board in any one particular area until I saw at least one activation from Hank as well to get an idea of what his target would be. That said, I had Angelica push two of the mages to present a unified front up the opposite flank (really just off the center). Long story short, I ended up with Banasuva whiffing when trying to Beacon Sandeep's place, couldn't get close enough to Hank to pummel and try to slow him down before he could use his second activation to reach Mech Rider and commence her decommissioning with extreme prejudice. But I had to do something, if only to slow Hank down by an AP. So Banasuva summoned a Metal Gamin engaged with Hank. And instead of dying, the little guy not only held Hank there for two activations (with Banasuva managing to teleport in the second turn and distract Hank from bothering with the Metal Gamin), he did 5 or 6 damage to the big guy that first turn and Accused him first thing second turn! This gave the Mech Rider a chance to come in and finish Hank off. The whole nonsense had both of us cackling at the absurdity.

On the other side of the board, Carlos was paying dividends by fire-punching spiders for hunting party and pushing on top of the scrap left behind to make Ramos really have to work to summon, engaging Joss and remaining spiders to prevent Interference points and keep them from spreading out. Sandeep made judicious use of keeping the mages from needing to randomize into combat and they made the quickest work of Joss I've ever seen.

The second highlight of hilarity of the game was the last two turns which had Sandeep and Ramos locked in combat with Sandeep blocking LoS to the last scrap marker, and the two of them were swatting at each other like two stereotypical Professor-types in Pugilism Club.

Game ended 9-2 in my favor. I was and still am a little in awe of how well Sandeep shut down Ramos in Interference, especially when my previous showings with him felt like I was doing more things right and ended in ties, while this one, especially at the beginning, I felt I was Beaconing the wrong thing at the wrong target at the wrong time. Neither of us were having much luck getting the suits we needed for our summons, and our decks were all over the place all game as far as what was coming up.

Super fun in any case, I'm looking forward to trying more of our Academic master out. Definitely agree the mages provide a lot to the crew. I think I want to try a Librarian running with them as well.

I generally run one performer and a union minerror as my schemes unless I'm leaning more ice heavy, then the performer becomes an ice dancer. 1 mannequin is usually all I need when I take one,  they can get pretty much anywhere by following showgirls around. 

8 minutes ago, Mrbedlam said:

So what's everyone's thoughts in playing Carlos, 2 union miners and Rail Golems into Colette since the errata has made the miners better?

I've tried this minus the rail Golem and it works wonderfully. Charges up Carlos, helps scheme, and makes using All Together Now require much less effort to be a big return on Colette's 2 AP.

40 minutes ago, 7thSquirrel said:

Semi random question, how often do people have all the doves out on the board at the same time?

I might have all three turn one. Usually hire one,  summon two if the cards are right,  use her other AP to facilitate some movement shenanigans. Other than that I find myself with two cycling most of the game.

Waaaayyyyyyyy back in the Grim dark times, I had similar trouble with my Dark Eldar, as far as visualizing bubbles of threat range. Now I accurately refer to their carrying case as the Pink Bag of Death because I made it my business to improve my ability to see those bubbles.

Step 1: Measure eeeeeeverything that is a threat to you, and how far away you can be a threat to a potential target. As much as possible stay out of their bubbles and put them in yours.

Step 2: Repeat Step 1 until you see bubbles. If your screen saver is the bouncing bubbles over personal pictures, that unfortunately doesn't count.

Honestly, for me it's less about visualizing bubbles, and more that, through repeatedlyrics asking/looking up/measuring those distances I found I developed an eye for those distances and stuck them in the memory banks. Ended up being able to tell a new opponent if they could get to me or not without them having to look it up.

Took a while, but a valuable skill to have. I'm very excited to say it transfered pretty easily to Malifaux.

Best of luck!

Sounds like fun! Put me down at the Master level.

Edit: screw it, go big or go home.  Call me an Emissary!

7 hours ago, Flint said:

Now You see me Requires suffering damage = loose duel. You cannot use df triggers when choosing to loose duel (small manual p.27).

That's what I thought when first playing her too. But the box on pg 27 only stops Df triggers if you relent. So don't relent, flip cards as normal. It can be card intensive, but generally this trick is only useful first turn as an easy way to get up the board quicker, and most deployments will have you far enough anyway rim your opponent that cheating in a low mask for Colette won't hurt your hand in a noticeable way.

13 hours ago, aquenaton said:

Just played my firt game with Colette, and it was against Shenlong with Katanaka team and emissary without much terrain... the poor ladies really suffered. Even though, it seems like an awesome crew! I personally was paralized by the options! so many things to do with my AP! The mobility! Also, a reactivating Colette can be a very nasty hitter if surrounded by markers (managed to kill shenlong and disappear after that.

Glad to hear you enjoyed,  despite hardship!

The lack of terrain I find especially noticeable with the showgirls, even moreso against Shenlong's snipers, I'd imagine. Definitely have buildings or forests to block LoS next time.

My first five or so games with Colette, looking back, were developing "macros" for the different things she can do, instead of thinking of 1AP 2AP 3AP, etc. Especially since with Prompt it can lead to some crazy interactions between your other models that would normally take multiple activations. Especially with her and Cassandra, there's some nonsense there (first turn: have someone 0 a scheme next to Colette, have Cassandra hit Colette and push her 4", then Colette's Df gets rid of the damage and she places within 6". If you really want to add to this,  Cassandra can 0 a scheme, hit Colette again and take her Understudy trigger to Prompt or teleport before Colette's Df comes into play again).

My old roommate would consistently glaze over and go get a drink while I decided what to do. Not so much anymore. 

Practice(d Production) makes perfect. 

I haven't had much chance to try out Colette as a beater, but I have a mental image of her teleporting in and finishing off a few models to help out her crew. Particularly with A Lady's Secret to keep that marker to help out. Any more details to add to your account of Colette getting up close and personal?

Personally it's difficult to keep a Dec Acolyte and a Silent One out of my Colette crews without a specific reason. Both are great prompt targets, they add a bit of Frozen Heart synergy to each other (need to try out the ice dancers more, I imagine one of them will too), slow from the acolyte is never a bad thing, and the Silent One has a heal and makesuch Cassandra's Understudy trigger just bananas.

A word of caution: be careful where you put your Coryphee. Anything that ignores and more will eat them if you're not careful,  and that's a significant portion of your crew.

As to what I'd recommend you add to you your hiring pool next: something for the Mech Rider to summon. Lately I've been preferring steam arachnids or fire gamin (I know, I'm against the Internet wisdom on the latter, but a well placedesigned magma-spit has helped me more often than it hasn't). In either case, I'd suggest getting the crew box they come in. Ramos' box for the spiders will also have Joss and Howard, which pretty much any Arcanist crew loves. Kaeris' will have the Firestarter, whom I don't think I've ever taken with Colette,  but he's nice to have in the bag when you need someone cheap, fast, and schemey.

Otherwise, look for Carlos when he comes out. Picked him up on Black Friday and am consistently amazed at how well he sticks around and ties down his section of the board. Precisely what Colette usually lacks, in my experience.

Another oft-overlooked one for Arcanists (or Foundry crews in TT) is Willie. Nobody likes him being on the board near their people for some reason...

I agree, more TriChi, especially on Thunders' side. Gives a reason to actually take Running Tab. I like the fermented monks, but they dont offer a lot to Gremlin Brewie. At least in TT he can take the upgrade to bring Westley and whoever else, and now he can bring a terra cotta warrior to swap it out for Misdirection, 

Personally, I don't think he needs a change (though the rewording on the contest certainly makes it simpler to explain). And considering he got that, I don't think we'll be seeing one.

I find the contest is good to lock a few key models down, but beyond that it gets too problematic.

Fielded Brewie vs Dreamer this last week in Interference. Drew  Teddy into the middle, handed him a few drinks and made sure he was Swilled all game -- he only moved when a Daydream finally pushed him away once I'd moved a model that was blocking him in a few turns later. Even locked down Chompy when he popped out before he could activate (but believe me when I say I'm glad I had the resources to set off You're Drunk, Go Home" if needed.)

With the heavy hitters locked down, the rest of my crew focusedo on schemes. Only thing that died all game was an Alp that had taken a hit and wandered into the contest so he died from poison at the end of the turn.

The contest is the opponent's focus. I find Brewie works best if his focus is knowing who to Swill or Binge for the rest of his crew to capitalize on. 

Side point: I was recently reminded that since Swill is a negative to all duels and flips that includes any healing/prevention on them and damage they put out. Figured I'd make sure others realized that too. Really made him shine more than usual in the game I was talking about.

7 minutes ago, Aaron said:

His name is not Cinnamon!

You heard it here first, folks: confirmation that his name is Cinnamon! Huzzah!