Models lacking character

[wizuriel]

So one thing I love about Malifaux is just how much character the models and abilities have. I want to like TOS, but I find none of the factions draw me in and a large part of that is looking at the artwork nearly all the factions seem to lack character (Burning Man is the exception imo, but I know I won't like their gameplay).

Gibbering Horde for instance I would have expected to see some units that kind of take inspiration from Jellyfish, Sharks or Squids ect. Maybe it's just the artwork but Speckled Crawlers, Barbed Crawlers, Yarazi, Striped Skulkers and The Frenzy just seem like 90% the same model.

abyssinia nearly everything looks like it has the same generic armor (though they have a bit more variety). 

 

I just kind of fear if the different units look too similiar, that painting multiple of the same models to have different fire squads is going to be 😐. So do the models have more variety than the art work look?

 

 

[Gullinbursti]

There is actually a fair bit of variance on having a closer look at the Gibbering Hordes. Frenzy is definitely a Shark. The Karkanoi have an insectile crustaceans appearance, the skulkers have a chameleon-like appearance. The Gibbering Horde mix deep sea, amphibian and reptilian, so there probably will eventually be krakens and jellies, just not yet. There’s also the probable desire to have the armies look at least semi-coherent. At the moment the Gibbering Hordes are the most alien/bestial army, but later as more factions are added they probably want to keep them looking similar enough so that new players and folks watching games can tell unpainted Gibbering hordes from neverborn etc.

 

[Clement]

24 minutes ago, wizuriel said:

So one thing I love about Malifaux is just how much character the models and abilities have. I want to like TOS, but I find none of the factions draw me in and a large part of that is looking at the artwork nearly all the factions seem to lack character (Burning Man is the exception imo, but I know I won't like their gameplay).

Gibbering Horde for instance I would have expected to see some units that kind of take inspiration from Jellyfish, Sharks or Squids ect. Maybe it's just the artwork but Speckled Crawlers, Barbed Crawlers, Yarazi, Striped Skulkers and The Frenzy just seem like 90% the same model.

abyssinia nearly everything looks like it has the same generic armor (though they have a bit more variety). 

 

I just kind of fear if the different units look too similiar, that painting multiple of the same models to have different fire squads is going to be 😐. So do the models have more variety than the art work look?

 

 

Not sure I agree with it.  True, Cult of the burning man has some REALLY flavorful models in it, but I'd have just as hard a time differentiating between Warped, Twisted, and Broken as I might with Speckled Crawlers, Barbed Crawlers, and Yarazi.  There's a tension at work in these lines because they have to "look like an army" while still looking distinct.

In some cases, things can become challenging (just looking at renders, yarazi look a lot like speckled crawlers with wings) but I think seeing them in person, the Yarazi's wider head, weird horns, and of course wings will help them stand apart a bit more.

Abyssinia and King's Empire are struggling a bit more because both of them are just humans, specifically humans representing actual military forces with uniforms and stuff.  Abyssinia gets around some of the similarities (Electrocutioners are like heavy crow runners) by using different paint schemes (browns vs. blacks.  neither of which is "standard green").  The other squads (Mechanized Infantry, Mehal Sefari, Steel Legion) manage to separate by having really different amounts of armor and/or weapons. (Mechanized are lightly armored, and all carry a short spear, Mehal Sefari are moderately armored and all have coat and tails on their uniforms, Steel Legion are in full body armor).

I feel like a big part of the "they all look the same" problem is also attributable to the much larger number of guys.  If you took a standard army and only selected 1-2 models from each unit, I think it would start to look a lot more dynamic in your eyes while still being really strongly themed.  Like buying a crew and supporting models for a single caster.

 

P.S.  Von Schill's crew is also very "samey" as Abyssinia and King's Empire, and for exactly the same reason.  They're an actual standing army.

[Gullinbursti]

Though, I do think that the poses for a fair few of the TOS models were fairly, I don't want to say uninspired, someone worked hard on them, but they didn't exactly grab me. Even now, some of the poses like Prince Unathi don't do much for me. They're not terrible or anything, but they weren't something that inspired me to grab TOS.