misterfinn

@Viruk I’ll echo the others re: painting time. It’s an impressive and consistent level of quality for the time you’re putting in. I can’t seem to break the four-hour barrier for my models, and my average for Malifaux infantry is 6.5 hours. Well done. @Burnin' Coal I love the color work you’re doing on the Stitched Togethers. They’re going in my Pinterest painting inspiration board when you get ‘em done, for sure. @iamfanboy Another +1 on ditching the Bandersnatch dude. Black to purple on the body sounds OK to me. Perhaps you might add some visual interest with the legs and/or the chest? Get some red in there maybe, or green if you want to go high contrast. Re: the Insid - you might not have accomplished what’s in your head but what you’ve got on the model is looking quite good IMO. The purple body reminds me of a nebula - sort of an ethereal cloudy substance that’s constantly shifting. Taking the purple another stage darker might help to strengthen this effect. Try it on a junk model first.

Wow, lots of traffic in this thread since yesterday. It’s great to see everyone’s progress. @Purple Mist Thank you for the kind words. I’m afraid he is actually a light warm gray and not white – I blame my photography. :-) @Viruk I haven’t done much experimentation with Vallejo’s special effect products (or GW either for that matter). Clearly I should give them a closer look. @Caedrus Thumbs up on the undulating pukesnake! It gets the incorporeal across just fine. Something you might consider for your flaming puke OSL: regular fire is brighter in the middle where it burns the hottest and darker out toward the tips of the flames. I’ve often seen it done the other way around. @RustAndTheCity The biggest problem I had when learning NMM was contrast. Extreme contrast between dark and light is what makes the shiny effect believable. Piccio’s post at the top of the page demonstrates this - the shiny parts go from dark to light with very little transitional color. The more reflective the surface, the sharper the transition and the brighter the highlight. Aside from that, know where your imaginary light source is so your highlighting is consistent and use plenty of photo reference. I have a whole folder full of pictures of metal objects, from armor to tableware to industrial machinery. @Joachim Your cyclops skin looks outstanding. Are you finished with the ice? I think it could use a few more stages of highlighting. Right now it looks flat in comparison with the skin. Also I think the gorar color scheme works well as is. That is my strong opinion. ;-) Keep up the good work, everyone!

Some Specialist WIP. All the non-metallic bits except the gauges are finished. I might decide to do some caution striping on the tanks and/or put some color on the hoses for contrast, but I’ll wait until the metals are in first. Not all the blends are as smooth as I’d like. Frankly, though, I’m tired of painting gray and just kind of want to get him done. :-) Comments, questions, and critiques are welcome. I’m a big believer in constructive criticism.

@Piccio NMM looks great. Your color choices aren’t traditional metallic, but it still reads as metal as opposed to some other kind of glossy surface. @Shock & Awe happy accident! The new texture gives the model a nice Cthulhoid vibe, much creepier than the stock sculpt. It picks up drybrushing well, too. I think your wretches could use some gap filling - that line down the center is a little distracting IMO. @Viruk I like the depth and shine you’ve given your base. What technique did you use?

I’d wait to do anything with it until you’ve got the model finished. The green looks too bright now, but that might change once it’s next to your other colors. The finished model can also help you decide if/how you want to tint the lichen for overall composition - more brown, more yellow, deeper green, etc.

Great work on that face! I like the blue-to-tan transition a lot. Have you thought about continuing that color approach on the rest of the skin? Looks like you’re going there with the chest and belly, though it might be reflected ground light. Hard to tell from that angle. Agree with Treehouse that the lichen looks great. You’ve got very natural looking growths there - what material are you using to get that texture? You’re also starting to get a nice luminescent glow going around the crystals. It’ll look even better when you get them fully highlighted. I’m excited to see the final product.

Ah, I see. Yeah, that’s a nasty threat. Only two activations for your opponent to reposition. Even if you don’t get the big murder train rolling on turn one, you still start your opponent on the back foot and force them to play defensively. Makes sense to me. An “all comers” list with the Viks is a bit trickier than other masters who’re more well-rounded (like Von Schill) or have more flexible hiring pools (Tara, Levi). I’ve taken a more conventional combined arms approach to that situation in the past - a mix of artillery, close support, and melee beatings. Now I’m extra curious to hear how your curve ball crew fares!

@beevison, your “yo-yo” approach is an interesting use of SiS. Have you put this crew on the table yet? I dispute that there’s a right or wrong way to play the Viks. They are murder machines for sure. That’s what they do. They also cost 0 of the 50 stones in your crew to start with, 8 if you include their two core upgrades (Fury and Mark) and 5 for cache. That’s plenty of extra room for a variety of play styles. Strategies and schemes dictate how I use my Viks in practice. Far apart, close together, vanguard, counter charge, distraction, area denial, scheme runner hunting, leader hunting, it all depends on what I need to do for that game. I don’t like using the alpha strike because it’s unreliable and it overextends the most dangerous melee model(s) in my crew. A bad hand, low flips, and savvy opponents aren’t hard to come by. Get any one of the three and your party is most likely over. My objectives also dictate most of the other models and upgrades I take. I always take Fury. I always take Mark. I always take a librarian. Everything else is up for grabs, although Vanessa makes the cut most of the time. I’ve been experimenting with Sisterly Bonds recently. Mystic Blades is fantastic all by itself, at least in my meta. Turning a Ronin into a 4/5/7 armor-ignoring Flurry machine is just a bonus. I can’t remember the last time I used Sisters in Spirit or Synchronized Slaying. In practice I’ve found that this approach makes my Viks simultaneously more dangerous and more fun to play against than a typical slingshot build. More dangerous because they’re unpredictable, more fun because my opponent is actively making decisions over the entire course of the game. I win a lot but rarely have blowouts. All of my games end with a smile and a handshake. My 2 scrip and YMMV. @SirRocketPants, where do you get the chain activation from the Scion unbury? The Hollowing doesn’t grant chain activation. Synchronized Slaying can’t be taken by the Scion. I must be missing something.

Paul7926, I 100% agree with Scatterbrain about the Best Sportsperson award! It's important to remember that Malifaux is all about accomplishing schemes and strategies. Plenty of models have good stat lines and cool abilities. As you become experienced with the models you own and learn their pros and cons, you'll discover gaps in your collection that you want to fill. For example, the Ronin is a go-to model for me if I need to hold an objective because Disguised and Stand Ground force your opponent to spend a bunch of AP to get rid of them. If scheme running is important, I'll leave the Ronin at home and include models with mobility enhancers like Unimpeded and Incorporeal. I might buy two or three Oathkeepers in that situation as well, to get the benefit of Finish the Job. Everyone's got favorite models that they use often. Someone else might not like those models because they don't fit that person's play style or synergize well with that person's other models. Sue is very popular, for example, but I've never felt the need to field him. Freikorpsmenn don't get much love here but they're great for me in a Von Schill crew. Other examples abound. I encourage you to learn the game, become familiar with your models, and then decide how to fill out your collection. Heck, in a few months you might discover that you have more fun with Shenlong or Asami and you don't want to add to your Outcast collection at all. I hope you have a great time at the tournament - let us know how it goes!

My pledge for January: one Freikorps Specialist (8ss). I'm gambling that the January errata makes him playable. If we get the errata within the next week or so and he isn't fixed, I might swap him for something else. I also have a Nothing Beast in progress. It's a big model with a lot of blending, so I've just been working on it as a break from 30mm humanoids. I'm not going to pledge/claim it for points because it's half done already but I'll post WIP pictures anyway if I make any progress. The front and arms just have color blocked in. The back is about 2/3 complete.

Brilliant! Love the beverage holder in pic 7. In pic 8 it looks like you've got an accessory area for cards/tokens/whatever that hooks on to the main table. Where do you store that piece?

Hired Guns and Hired Swords were my first two boxes when I started playing last year. I learned the game with the Viks, but I'd start with Von Schill if I were to pick the game up today. Viks The slingshot is fun for a minute and not that difficult to get the hang of. It's also not that hard for a savvy opponent to mitigate if s/he sees it coming. I think the Viks are tremendously powerful once you get past The Big Trick, but they're not forgiving. They're fragile. Their synergistic buffs (0 actions and Blood Lines) are largely positioning-dependent, which means you need to plan at least one turn ahead and stay focused on your plan. You need to be careful about managing your hand size to take advantage of Fate's Chosen and Fate's Pariah. Using cover and terrain wisely is crucial. It was a lot to absorb while I was trying to learn the game at the same time. They were fun to paint though! As for the other models in the box: I don't have much love for Taelor because she's slow and Outcasts have so many great options in the 10ss range, but my Ronin are solid utility. I often run with two. The third one went straight to my bits box. I rarely take the Student since I don't use the slingshot. Vanessa, Lazarus, Strongarm Suit, Freikorps Librarian, and Malifaux Child are the other models I use most often with the Viks. Von Schill I didn't think he was that interesting (or fun) to play until the Wave 5 upgrades. Now I play him all the time. He's durable, mobile, and flexible. He doesn't have a lot of special rules to keep track of while you're trying to learn the game. I've used every model in his box except the overpriced Specialist. Hobby-wise, you will paint the same colors over and over. Strongarm Suit is an auto-include for me with Von Schill. I take Lazarus sometimes. Hannah's a big assembly and painting job that I haven't undertaken yet. My 2 scrip. YMMV.

Thanks @prof_bycid. I've been lurking on the 2017 threads for a while - it's encouraging to see other folks' progress. Glad to be joining the party.

Please count me in at Enforcer level. I like the terrain idea - sometimes it's a nice break to work on something larger. Is it OK to start with models that are primed or must they be unassembled?