Mortarion

Finally done with Hinamatsu. This model has been on my painting table for quite some time while i thought about how to paint it. I really wanted to do this awesome model justice. I'm quite happy with the result.

Thank you!

More models! First up is an Arcane effigy. This one had been sitting on my painting table for a while since I could not decide on a colour scheme. I felt I needed to come up with a colour scheme for Arcanists in general. But after some thinkingI decided to just paint him like my Neverborn instead. My main use for it would be Collodi anyway. And then things became much easier. And a third Bunraku. Hard to get a good picture of this one because of the pose. And finally Master Queeg. The face look a bit strange on the picture because of the light, but it looks better in reality. I wanted to do something with the vest, so I tried to do an embroidered Guild symbol. I wanted it to be quite subtle and I think I succeeded.

The crews that have been more or less confirmed for a resculpt and re-release are Dreamer, Lucius, Rasputina and Lady Justice. Marcus, Nekima, Dashel, Basse, von Schtook, Euripides and Hamasaki are very likely to get new models, as they either have none or have changed quite a lot. Sonnia and Kirai are getting models for TOS, but I'm not sure if they are going to get new Malifaux boxes as well.

Wait... Are you saying that the open beta will go live according to some weird alternate American timeline and not according to the real time (CET)? Disappointed!

Thank you for the list. Since I like to play thematic crews, things look pretty much like I suspected. No big changes. Except for thematic Lucius... Woah... 5/9 Mimics now unavailable to him if I count correctly, and a sixth has become non-thematic. Which leads me to a question. In the list, there seems to be pretty large differences in thematic hiring pools. Many masters have around 7 models with the same keyword in addition to themselves and their totems. Marcus have 8-9 in addition to making in-faction beasts versatile. And then there are masters like Lucius with 4 models and Nellie with 3. I guess this will be adress somehow before the release of M3E, so it would be interesting to know more about that. Will they get lots of new models? Will they get upgrades allowing them to hire other keywords? Or are they actually stuck with the option of using generic in-faction versatile models or paying the non-thematic tax? A future weekly feature on the fate of the thematically impaired masters would be good.

It's been a while since I posted anything. I've had a lot to do at work, and my hobby time had gone to other stuff. In fact, it has been so little painting that the Guild decided to send two impartial investigators to find the truth about what happened. After careful investigation we have concluded that the Guild is definately not to blame for the lack of painting. Allthough it might not be clearly visible on the photos, I added a bloody knife to the base, so that she would have something to investigate. I thought a bit about which colour to use for the carpet. A light colour (like in the illustration) would look good and provide some opportunity to paint blood stains. However, I decided that it would also push the model to far into pure comedy territory. If you are going to dispatch of a bloody corpse it is stupid to use a light carpet as the blood would soak through. A red carpey would make that much less obvious. So I went for a red carpet.

It would fix any balance issues, but it will be slightly strange that the Flight keyword changes how you meassure your movement, since you still use the Mv stat. But it's not at big thing. It would be logical, but the text states that Place works more or less like in M2E and that "completely within" is gone.

If I'm not mistaken, when you place a model in M2E you meassure from any point of the base to any point of the base, meaning that you effectively gain movement equal to the model's base when compared to normal movement where you meassure to the same point on the base. Is this true in M3E as well? The text seems to imply that it is, meaning that flight will actually boost a model's speed as well. And overall good changes by the way.

And now, finally, the master to lead the last couple of models - Pandora! I tried a slightly different colour scheme from the "official" one. Green and purple like the rest of my Neverborn. And purple hair instead of red. I also painted the ghostly energy coming out of the box blue to add some more contract. The colours have more depth in reality than shows up on this photo. And her friend Candy: When seeing pictures of this model I didn't realise just how tiny it really is. The size made it somewhat difficult to paint, but it turned out OK in the end I think.

He could be in a similiar position as when he was kept as a gladiator by the humans - that he lays low and work for Nekima while secretly plotting his revenge...

New models! First up, the last Sorrow: And a Poltergeist: And finally a group picture of the whole misery family: Go ahead! Make that Wp duel! What could possibly go wrong?

The fate of the Judge was revealed by Mason in another thread.

In a perfect world, a second master would end up costed so that you really have to consider if you want to include her. She will bring a lot, but the cost required could be used for other good things instead. Do I want quantity or quality? Like a Peacekeeper today. In my opinion, two (or more) masters should be playable, but more of a niche thing for elite lists. I would not like if it becomes the norm. So I hope that the beta testing manages to avoid both that a second master brings more value than the alternatives (Yasunori or Nekima level) and that a second master simply costs too much for what she does (pre-buff Pale Rider level).

So, playable Judge and progression in the story? Awesome!

I noticed some interesting stuff in the official Dead Man's Hand info. https://www.wyrd-games.net/m3e-dead-mans-hand 1. It lists some other models in addition to the masters. Mostly their totems, but also Ryle. It would be interesting to know if this is a complete list. For example, it has been confirmed that The Judge is dead, but he is not on the list. Since it is a title, there could easily be another person who takes on the title of "The Judge". Or the info could just be listing some examples. 2. Look at the Faction on Ramos card. He is not Arcanists. He is Dead Man's Hand. It still remains to be seen exactly what this means, but at least it will propably mean less access to non-thematic models. 3. And speaking of thematic models. Ramos "Legendary inventor" gives him quite a large selection of Thematic models. It will be interesting to see if other models gets similar rules. For example, it would suit Hoffman quite well. Of course, nothing is final yet. But when Wyrd posts something on their homepage it seems pretty solid. Any thoughts?

That is just my theory. I don't think anyone official has said so. The only official statement is that The Judge is dead. However, since the Dead Man's Hand page mentions not only Masters, but other models as well, I still think that this is possible. Changing the Judge to another person would still have a large impact on the stories.

Lucius. The model looks so cool, and different from what you usually see in miniature games. Plus I like his playstyle where the leader makes other models better but almost never attacks the enemies himself. And with that being said, it may sound a little bit strange that Lady Justice is a close second for my favourite master. But she such a cool concept, and the Death Marshals are certainly winning the prize for being "Most Metal in Malifaux".

I am hoping for this as well. And it would make sense for Wyrd from a financial standpoint. If a model is only cost-efficient for one master, fewer players will buy it.

I've been thinking about keywords, and how they will be spread out between the masters. If the look at the M2E keywords, they are as follows: Guardsman: Captain Dashel (He), Master Queeg (He), Guild sergeant (En), Guild austringer (Mi), Guild Guard (Mi), Guild hound (Mi), Guild investigator (Mi), Guild pathfinder (Mi), Guild rifleman (Mi), Mounted guard (Mi), Warden (Mi) Total: 11 (0+2+1+8) Dashel will become a Master though... Witch hunter: Sonnia Criid (Ma), Samael Hopkins (He), Dr Grimwell (He), Nurse Heartsbane (En), Witchling handler (En), Witchling stalker (Mi), Witchling thrall (Mi), Orderly (Mi), Thalarian Queller (Mi) Total: 9 (1+2+2+4) Guild Marshal: Lady Justice (Ma), The Judge (He), The Jury (He), The Lone marshal (En), Exorcist (En), Domador de Cadáveres (En), Death marshal recruiter (En), Death Marshal (Mi) Total: 8 (1+2+4+1) Journalist: Nellie Cochrane (Ma), Phiona Gage (He), Allison Dade (He), Field reporter (Mi) Total: 4 (1+2+0+1) Family: Perdita Ortega (Ma), Francisco Ortega (He), Niño Ortega (En), Papa Loco (En), Santiago Ortega (En), Abuela Ortega (En), Pistoliero de Latigo (Mi), Monster hunter (Mi) Total: 8 (1+1+4+2) Mimic: Lucius (Ma), Guild lawyer (Mi) Total: 2 (1+0+0+1) I have ignored any totems (since they belong to the master in question) and any dual faction masters leaving the Guild (since I guess their thematic models will leave with their master). There are also some models which do not currently have any keyword linking them to a master, such as Executioners, Sanctioned spellcasters, most Guild constructs and the ones confirmed to become versatile (rider, effigy, emissary). Looking at this, I have concluded the following wild speculations: - Guardsmen will likely be divided between Dashel and Cornelius. Some of them might get dual keywords perhaps. Cornelius may also get some new models to help establish his identity as anything other then "That guy who stole Dashels models". - Witch hunters will keep their stuff. Possible exception for the medical staff which never really seemed witch hunter to begin with. Otherwise they will end up with the largerst thematic crew. - Guild marshals. Propably not too much change. The most likely thing to happen will be The Judge going to "Dead man's hand", since he is dead. On the other hand, a different person may take on the title of "The Judge", in the same way as "The Governor-General" is a not the same person now as it was at the beginning of M2E. - Journalists will most likely not lose any models, but will hopefully get some new. - Family. Unless they kill someone in the background I don't think much is happening here. - Mimics: Lucius may get another keyword, such as Elite division. But he might keep Mimic as well, and be able to hire out of faction models. Mimics have been his thing for a long time, and it is a pretty controlled theme in terms of game design. It will be interesting to see what the elite division consists of. I am hoping for dirty tricks such as investigator rather then elite fighting. - The Guild constructs will likely get some kind of Keyword to tie them to Hoffman. Currently Hoffman and Ryle has the M&SU Keyword, but that would make no sense for the Guild constructs.

I have tried Witch hunter Lucius. It worked OK, but not super well. But since it was only one game and I made some mistakes I can't really tell if the list works or not from that. And Lucius plus two witchling thralls can carry a list pretty far. I've also tried an almost thematic Guild guard crew with Lady Justice. See the "been a while since I've asked..." thread for that one.

I very much doubt Chompy will be out of the game. He is a large part of Dreamer's identity in Malifaux. Removing him would, in my opinion, be like removing one of the Victorias. And there has been nothing in the background suggesting he would be gone. On the contrary, he was very active in the events leading up to M3E. He might be getting different mechanics or something, but I don't think he will become Dead man's hand.

Thank you! @lusciousmccabe: I originally used Coat d'Arms "Dwarven flesh" as a base, shaded with watered down Citadel colour's "Tuskgor fur" and highlighted with Coat d'Arms "Flesh". But since Coat d'Arms paints are really difficult to get a hold of, I have now switched the base to Citadel colour's "Cadian fleshtone".

Some new models done. Insidious madness! I love these models! When first looking at them I thought that they lookd pretty cool. But it was first after putting them together and painting them that I really became aware of how well designed they were. I've seen other companies attempt the "madness taken physical form" thing but none succeeded as well as these. And they were some of the few models which I actually thought were fun to put together. They were, to use and overused expression from digital gaming, "the Dark Souls of modelling". They were challenging but fair. Each piece only fit in one place and fit perfectly, but where that place was certainly wasn't obvious. Almost like a 3d puzzle. With the colours I went away from my normal purple and green Neverborn colours. I wanted lots of colours and transitions between them. They are madness!! But to get something holding them together I painted them all the same way. "Can I play with madness?" "Now that they are painted, you can."

I am starting to get a bit worried. Handing out "free" pass tokens, being able to hire multiple masters and the removal of Paralyzed does seem to favour elite crews. I really hope that the game does not shift towards crews consisting of a few "unbeatable" models steamrolling any lesser models and require that you bring similiar models yourself. One of the things that I really like about Malifaux is that it requires multiple different models working together rather then a few super models that can do everything. I'm still hoping that Wyrd will balance it out, though.