Dear Diary of the Dead

[Graf]

Dear dead Diary,

Day #1: Today I've bought my first Malifaux core box. Someone else was a bit quicker and snatched the cheaper M2E Seamus box, so a different master it shall be for now. All the good advice in my forum threads won't be for nought though, they just will come handy later. I've settled for von Schtook instead, looks like a good start for newbies. To me it's at least funny to play a crew lead by a professor and his undead staff/students. That's like my everyday life. Also bought a box of Necropunks. Someone should advice Wyrd on German language though. Or  declare the Prof. a Brit.

Day #2-3: I've assembled all models and created their bases. Switched to "normal" lipped bases, I like Wyrd's lower ones, but just in case I'm going to used sculpted bases one day, I don't want them to look differently. But for now I create the basing myself. Don't want to overload their bases, as fancy as this can look, for gaming miniatures I think it's important to focus on the models themselves.

Step 1: cast stony sheets with rough surface out of dental plaster (forgot to add glue, guess I'll have to live with the material being a bit brittle)

Step 2: graveyard decoration always works for undead, so I sculpt a few small gravestone out of milliput

Step 3: decide to glue single prepared pavement stones, works well but will switch to sculpting the pavement directly on the base in the future again

Step 4: add sand and pin models to the base

WIP PICTURES:

 

 

Step 5, filling the few gaps the models have, is still pending. But my friend, future opponent and also a beginner, still has to fully assembled his crew. So no need to rush.

The painting scheme is already planned, as I like to use gaming models to train myself in new or rarely used techniques, I'll combine underpainting and sketch style for my Ressers crew. Main colours will be cold tones from blue to green. In miniature painting you can't avoid to also use warm tones if you want realistic colour choices and e.g. brown you can rarely avoid. Instead I'll desaturate those to lessen their optical impact. As I plan to use strong shadows, the blending to the zenithal highlights will be a challenge though, especially on such slim models.

Sidenote for you, Diary, I could have written in multiple different books, but collecting painting, battle reports and general rumblings in one place is much easier to handle. I think you're the best place for that.

 

See you soon sweet dead Diary.

[MajorUndead]

Welcome to the ressers!
I hope you'll have fun with Von Schtook.

I personnly really like the thematic, visual style and gameplay of the crew.

I'm looking forward to seeing you painting scheme, it sounds promising.

P.S : I didn't know if I should reply to the thread or not, seeing as it kind of breaks the diary theme 😛

[Butch]

Sounds great. Please keep us informed (with pictures).

[Graf]

37 minutes ago, MajorUndead said:

Welcome to the ressers!
I hope you'll have fun with Von Schtook.

I personnly really like the thematic, visual style and gameplay of the crew.

I'm looking forward to seeing you painting scheme, it sounds promising.

P.S : I didn't know if I should reply to the thread or not, seeing as it kind of breaks the diary theme 😛

Thank you! Your replies are very welcome, one might argue the "diary" is a metaphor for the community, so fire away! 😉

 

11 minutes ago, Butch said:

Sounds great. Please keep us informed (with pictures).

I will! 😃👍

[Graf]

Dear dead Diary,

Day #4: I've filled all the gaps as planned. It dries now. Nothing worth showing, but it made me remember old times when I still used Greenstuff for stuff like that. One can always argue it's good to keep using the tools you're used to and despite the drawbacks GS still has its positives. You can buy it locally relatively easy as there's one specific store chain, which is the most common one to find and they all sell it and nothing else. It's sticky but still kinda solid and not mushy. On the other hand it's hellish expensive, unless you buy one of the smaller brands, takes quite some work to smooth out, can't change its viscosity much as it isn't water soluble and you can't do much with it after hardening, as sanding is a no go with GS.

The putty's of my choice, Milliput, only  (possible) drawback compared to GS is its softness when freshly mixed. Which can be solved by waiting 20min before working with it. Five bucks for over 110 gram is dirt cheap. You can mix it with water to create any viscosity you need. This also means with a little bit of water you can smooth it out perfectly flat without much work and it even hardens in a way so you can sand and hone it down to you hearts content. Instead of sculpting every detail while the putty is still soft, I can take my time, let it dry, grab a graving tool and create additional details or correct mistakes. There are also different variants and the superfine version is SUPERFINE. Even the standard version is good for tabletop miniatures, but the superfine Milliput is a real overachiever in that regard. It's even the second most flexible household tool (after duck tape) I have. So many wall holes filled, so many pipes sealed. Heck, it even cures underwater!

Diary, I recommend it to everyone whenever I get a chance to. Maybe to often. But not everyone is open to try new stuff and I have to accept that staying with whatever they're familiar with is their own free choice and they have their reasons for it. All I can do is show them possibilities. At least you will always listen to me.

Until next time my lovely dead Diary.

[Butch]

Milliput rules. Did you ever tried to mix it with alcohol? Marco Frisoni made a video about but I haven't yet had a chance to give it a try.

[Graf]

1 hour ago, Butch said:

Milliput rules. Did you ever tried to mix it with alcohol? Marco Frisoni made a video about but I haven't yet had a chance to give it a try.

No, I haven't. But you don't even need the alcohol do the same. You can mix Milliput with water and that's what I do to brush it on. The alcohol mixture might dry a bit faster? Alcohol tends to evaporate quite quickly. As a generally good solvent I guess mixing might be a bit quicker, though I never had any trouble with water.  Guess I'll have to test it, to see if I can feel a significant difference.

[Graf]

Dear dead Diary,

Day #5: Preparation progresses at a steady pace. Today I've added some dirt and mud structure on the models with two GW technicals. Liquid GS is really bad at its intended job but I've got the idea from a YT channel (Tabletop Minions) to dab it on with an old brush.

The second technical is Typhus Corrosion, which many people actually like. My own problem with it is posing an either-or problem. The colour is surprisingly opaque, but thinning it down will result in less structure when it's applied. So I simply use it before priming, so I can get the structure without covering any colours I painted before. I also add it to any sculpted surfaces looking to smooth.

 

I didn't overdo it and aimed for a subtle effect. One could apply much more grime and mud. Of course you'll have to wait to see the result, at the moment it just looks like sploshy colour on an unprimend miniature. Which... it is tbh! 😂 Next step is finally priming the models. Usually the most boring step, but due to the planned underpainting, it's all different here!

Charming dead Diary, you'll hear from me again soon.

 

WIP PICTURES:

 

 

 

[/spoiler]

[Graf]

Dear dead Diary,

Day #8: Priming is done. I've used Vallejo surface primer with an Airbrush. One could use cans instead, but airbrushing allows for much thinner layers and softer gradients. First step was a full coverage with black Vallejo surface primer. Next step was grey. I've mixed a bit white Vallejo surface primer, black and an off-white colour from Scalecolor, mostly to integrate the off-white. A premixed grey should be fine in most cases though. Since I know I want strong shadows, I've sprayed the colour from an 90 degree angle first and after that again from about 60 degree. Carefull with the last step, to not cover to much black. Next I've used pure White Sand from Scalecolor as my brightest layer. I sprayed it from 90 degree. To put more focus an the topmost parts of the models and their faces I've sprayed a little bit of it only on their heads and shoulders with an 70-80 degree angle. After all that I've looked at the values and still deemed them a bit to bright. So I've mixed a VERY thinned down black, turned the airbrush pressure up, applied a wet shade into the dark areas and then blew air from above so it flows more into the recesses. Anybody using cans could use a black wash for this step.

Important to note is the usage of an off-white colour. In reality white is never pure white, it would look artificial. If one doesn't have such a colour available you could just mix in a drop of another colour into the pure white. For sunlight I recommend a bone colour. One could take this a step further and mix all primers with another colour to establish a basic undertone, but since I know my models will feature cold and warm colours, I've decided to stay more neutral with my underpainting.

Next step to finish the underpaint will be edge highlighting with off-white.

See you soon, my adorable dead Diary.

WIP PICTURES:

 

[Graf]

Dear dead diary,

Day #10: As announced, the underpainting is finished. Using the off-white "White Sands" colour again, the base got a light drybrush. Afterwards, all pronounced edges got a manual highlight. With this, they will pop out later, after applying their actual colours. Drybrushing the models with a veeery soft brush would have been an easier method, but I wanted the underpaint to be as smooth as possible.

[newsun]

On 12/3/2019 at 8:54 PM, Graf said:

Dear dead diary,

Day #10: As announced, the underpainting is finished. Using the off-white "White Sands" colour again, the base got a light drybrush. Afterwards, all pronounced edges got a manual highlight. With this, they will pop out later, after applying their actual colours. Drybrushing the models with a veeery soft brush would have been an easier method, but I wanted the underpaint to be as smooth as possible.

So you are using thin layers to allow the under shading to show through later?

[Graf]

25 minutes ago, newsun said:

So you are using thin layers to allow the under shading to show through later?

Correct, that's the goal! The values on the models are (mostly) already set with the underpainting. I will use glazes, inks and similar mixtures for the "actual" colours and their saturation.

[newsun]

8 minutes ago, Graf said:

Correct, that's the goal! The values on the models are (mostly) already set with the underpainting. I will use glazes, inks and similar mixtures for the "actual" colours and their saturation.

Cool, looking forward to seeing finished results. I've tried airbrushing though could not get things well for fine detail work. Unsure if skill, device, or both were issue. Ended up going back to brushes.

[Graf]

25 minutes ago, newsun said:

Cool, looking forward to seeing finished results. I've tried airbrushing though could not get things well for fine detail work. Unsure if skill, device, or both were issue. Ended up going back to brushes.

Me too!  In my experience, for most people, it's a bit of both. You need good equipment, which means a H&S pistol and compressor with a tank, and it helps a lot if someone experienced can coach you for a bit. Friend of mine improved his airbrushing skill from 'meh' to 'I can use that for good looking gaming models' after just one afternoon of tutoring. It takes a long time to develop your airbrushing skill on your own and online tutorials can get you only so far. Since I don't have a tank compressor atm I'm using the airbrush only for the prominent colours and leave the details to the brush. Which is fine anyway in my opinion, especially when you paint unique models instead of units.

With this project I'll mostly use brushes from this point on. The airbrush helped a lot to get soft blendings in my value gradients, but inks and co. work well and quick with brushes too.

What you said is also a reason why I included tips for anyone who doesn't use an airbrush. 👍

[Graf]

Dear dead Diary,

I finally got my first friendly game with van Schtook in! So today is report time. Not a detailed one though, more like a summary.

I've used the models from the Core Box (Schtook +Whisper, Assistent, Anna, 3 Undergraduates) and played against Dashel, Executioner, Taggart, Warden, Riflemen, Guild Hound.

Flank Deployment with Turf War, I chose Outflank and Harness the Leyline.

 

I send one Undergraduate to a far off corner in order to flip for Turf War and then  go to a corner for Outflank (and port back afterwards), but after he soaks some actions he dies a little bit to early. I'll definitly utilize a Necropunk for stuff like that in the future. The Undergraduates are a bit to slow to cross the table on their own.

Holy Molly, the Assistent is awesome! Activate him late in T2 and first on T3 to move him into position and throw 5 vials into a bubble of 4 models. My opponent gets a bit lucky with his duels but the Assistent alone kills the Dispatcher, a dog and nearly the Riflemen. The dog was important to kill T2, to deny my opponent his first Turf War point, which I got from the marker near my deployment zone.

T3 Anna sends Taggart into the earth, so he can't mess with my scheme markers. I put down 4 so even though the Executioner removes one, I score Leyline.

We ended the game after T3 (due to time constraints) with 2:1 for me. In terms of strategies the game was still very open, but after losing two Undergrads and the Assistent I doubt I could handle the Executioner and my opponents remaining models combined with his summons (in total 1 Warder and 2 Dog by this point), even though I would have safed one Undergrad, if the game went on longer.

Studied Opponent was really good, I never drew less than two cards per turn. Three plus feels like common, especially with more SS. I think mastery over this ability is key for Transmortis, to push them from "being okay for everything" to "being good at whatever is needed right now". 

The crew also didn't feel as mobile as I've expected. I guess that's due to the missing Valedictorian. Schtook, the Assistent and Anna held back a bit and therefore I got to use the Undergrads' teleport only once. Also I felt like I missed something killy to trigger the summon at least once, to keep up (somewhat) with Dashel's summoning. I will remember the Assistent as a possible target for the upgrade though, at least when something squishy is present.

 

To do list: Find a suitable proxy for the Valedictorian (recommendations very welcome!). Remember Whisper, haven't used it once... Keep on painting. Keep on playing.

 

See you soon, my highly appreciated dead Diary.

[Graf]

Dear dead diary,

you have been even more dead than usual anyway, guess this isn't your year as well. Time for something positive. While I've played many games, build some models and already painted a good portion of my Transmortis models, when I wrote last, I kind of lost steam with painting shortly after. While there is something to show in this regard, I'll start with "a little side project" I started while to motivate myself to finish Schtook's crew: Painting a whole different crew! .......Yeah, it doesn't make much sense in my mind as well. There even are some Versatile and OOK models thrown in for good measure. At least it wasn't a long project, took about two weeks - including drying time, which took a bit due to oil colours.

 

As I've found in conversation with a local player: If all you've got at hand is a shitty mobile phone cam, it's better to go for "artistic" lighting... 🤣

[Thatguy]

Those are very nicely painted.

[Nathan Caroland]

Dig the one crawling off the gravestone ..

 

[Graf]

@Maniacal_cackle This post is for you! 😁👍

[Maniacal_cackle]

3 hours ago, Graf said:

@Maniacal_cackle This post is for you! 😁👍

Whoaaaaaaa, amazing!!!