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Wandering River Monks: ladies, maybe?


The Zinc Lich

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Alright, so, after a quick count, the Ten Thunders faction has 10 female models to 26 male models (and 6 Samurai and Tengu, which could really be either). Not exactly an even split. I think that we need a few more women in the ranks, and I think that the Wandering River monks would be a great opportunity to get some in, for several reasons:

 

-We know that they exist, thanks to Shenlong's fluff.

-We know that the River Valley is arranged around the presence of the Dragon's temples; monks practice its martial arts techniques for the eventual goal of becoming the Dragon Host, peasants work the fields so the monks can concentrate on being at one with the universe.

-However, all the people from the River Valley thus far have been men. Wyrd has done a great job of showing us how 48% of the population lives, with no mention of the other 52%. I, for one, am curious.

-Everybody knows that women doing wirework kung fu is freaking awesome

 

I almost didn't use the second scene in my examples because, though it is pretty, I'm really sick of women's primary place in a narrative being decorative. Malifaux does a pretty good job of avoiding that trap. Even putting aside leaders like Perdita or Molly, Wyrd has made sure to put women in a bunch of their multi-model boxes (the female Illuminated certainly isn't being decorative, for instance). We still have the Oiran and the other Showgirls, but they aren't the only place women show up, and they do a good job of showing off the power of weaponized femininity.

 

It's not a hard conversion on, say the High River Monks to make them more androgynous, if not explicitly female, but I just wouldn't mind a little more gender parity in my kung fu badass faction.

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How do you high river monks are male? Face masks.

Also one of the Torakage sculpts is female.

And I am not going to peak under the dawn serpents skirt to see if male or female. Heck the TT bros could be female (not the one with the hammer but the others maybe) Ten thunders being secret and such who knows.

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Peasants and agrarian workers have always been egalitarian jobs. Even if Shenlong gets two male peasants in his crew box, Wyrd is probably going to release a box with 3-4. This would be a great place to include a bunch of female models with minimally different sculpting.

 

The High River Monks are the easiest. Their athletic poses are already androgynous; some more breast/pecs and a slightly narrower waist on some of the models would make them easier to read as either gender (see also: Torakage). This is barely a change to the CAD and Wyrd wouldn't need to change the art.

 

Can we talk about Fermented River? Imagine a middle-aged Chinese woman leaning backwards, her traditional hairstyle lopsided as one bun dangles beside her head. She raises one fist in drunken bombast, the other clutches a jug of Gremlin moonshine. Or the newer acolyte, not as sure in her cups and definitely not as steady on her feet as she splays her legs and windmills her arms to keep her balance. Or face-plants on the ground in the famous snoring dog defence?

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Peasants and agrarian workers have always been egalitarian jobs. Even if Shenlong gets two male peasants in his crew box, Wyrd is probably going to release a box with 3-4. This would be a great place to include a bunch of female models with minimally different sculpting.

I quite doubt there will be separate peasant box, with peasants being Shenlong's totem and rare 2.
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I personally want a male outcast enforcer that has an ability called "dream come true: this model counts as a show girl for actions that target it" also give him "always in motion". Cause people say the showgirls are great dancers but the internet tells me men are pretty good also. Make his model a tap dancer and all will be right in the world. Or break dancing. Or doing the robot. Heck give him an action that makes him be a construct for a hot minute.

Point of post we all want something. But I highly doubt it will ever come to fruition. But might be surprised maybe a wandering river model would be the first step in this process. Who knows when that could be.

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I quite doubt there will be separate peasant box, with peasants being Shenlong's totem and rare 2.

 

Huh, goes to show how much I know about Shenlong. I've never played against him, but I always assumed that his summoning schtick was to flood the board with Peasants... I guess it is to replace losses if you drop down to one peasant?

 

I personally want a male outcast enforcer that has an ability called "dream come true: this model counts as a show girl for actions that target it" also give him "always in motion". Cause people say the showgirls are great dancers but the internet tells me men are pretty good also. Make his model a tap dancer and all will be right in the world. Or break dancing. Or doing the robot. Heck give him an action that makes him be a construct for a hot minute.

Point of post we all want something. But I highly doubt it will ever come to fruition. But might be surprised maybe a wandering river model would be the first step in this process. Who knows when that could be.

 

Actually, having a model for the fans of the Star Theater or a guy who always wanted to make in on stage would be pretty neat, but that's not precisely why I made this thread.

 

Due to the incredible toxicity of a lot of the established gaming groups in my area, I have found myself community building on my own a lot. I know a ton of women with varying levels of nerdy-ness, but miniature gaming has always been a hard sell. The costs to get into it are high (and Vassal is not exactly user friendly), the density of a-holes is high, and the number of game lines I wouldn't be embarrassed to show people is depressingly low.

 

I think that Infinity is a great game; I love the aesthetics and I love the rules. Unfortunately, 90% of their female models are trapped in high heels, boob-plate armor, and cheesecake poses. One of the main reasons I got into Malifaux is that they treat women like actual people, not window dressing. Women in parkas, women in sensible everyday wear, women in uniforms that don't have inexplicable boob windows... there's a whole world of female characters *that you just don't get* in other game lines that I am hungry to see.

 

And really, if you do a model count, women account for about 25% of the models in the game right now. Are we losing out on anything by making it 30%? Or, heaven forbid, 40%-50%?

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