Malifaux meddling

[Neil of Orange]

Hi there,

My first post on the forums after skulking for a few months. I'm relatively new to the game and still learning and expanding my first crew, Kirai.

Here's my Master then. Painted fairly typically, I have changed the head on her base into a soot sprite! I've got a twisted version of Kirai running through my crew's theme, which is a sort of 'Return to Spirited Away'.

All my my crew will be mounted on wooden boards too, a reference to the bath house from the Spirited Away film.

Here's the Ikiryo. Amusingly the second figure in my crew immediately clashes with the background theme. Rather than dwell on it, Ikiryo signifies the darker world of Malifaux that Kirai is in and has no link to Spirited Away. I've painted this a bit differently to the standard look.

Anyway, feedback very much appreciated. I've got more figures on the way :Rat_RedPaint:

Edited January 20, 2013 by Neil of Orange

[Guild Monkee]

Nice paint jobs and good to see someone that's putting the extra thought into the crew's scheme.

[LordZombie]

I like it! Good idea on a theme for the crew. I will be watching this thread. Nice work on the graveyard also, very nice.

[Neil of Orange]

Thanks for the comments - I will squeeze more graveyard shots in future pics. Its the Morr's Garden from GW. I've also been playing with some other bits from Renedra based on how cool this looked.

Here's a few more minis

My current gaki. These guys are painted a bit differently than the standard look with deep blue robes. The females in my crew will all be wearing red robes typically (as do all the bath attendant ladies in Spirited Away) so these guys contrast nicely. As is now standard, soot sprites and wood board bases all present and correct. In terms of rules and background, Gaki are a very good fit for No Face, my favourite character in the film. This means in terms of my crew, these are more of the same kind of spirit that No Face is that Kirai has bound to her will.

From a rules perspective I need more than two, however I find I rarely take them in my starting line up, taking Onryo instead. Gaki are summoning fodder through various abilities. This does mean I rarely get 2 or 3 (using proxies) together to try out their nastier tricks so maybe I should get more and try that a few times.

I am attempting to sculpt a film accurate model to use as another Gaki, but my first attempt is a bit big. While he does grow in the film, rule wise there's no good reason to have an enormous Gaki!

[Doppelbock]

I for one am a huge fan of terrain in the background of model pictures. I think it really makes them much more interesting, especially if you can get the background just a bit out of the field of focus so it blurs just a bit. Nice paint jobs & photos.

[Gujozec]

I love both the graveyard and the crew in making. Can't wait to see the rest!

Interesting thing is, I used to have a "Spirited Away"-themed Kirai crew, too. Since I hate the original gaki miniatures I converted my No-face out of tzeentch horrors. And I decorated the wooden floor bases with bath tokens and tiny nuggets of gold. I still have some (pretty bad) photos of them:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/demonn/Malifaux%20Painting%20Competition/Ana01.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb180/anapolan/DSC03411.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb180/anapolan/DSC03410.jpg

http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb180/anapolan/DSC03417.jpg

Perhaps you'll find it useful.

[NinjaBreadMen]

Great job on the crew! And you got the soot sprite spot-on, as soon as I saw it I knew what it was.

A friend is soon to be making a Princes Mononoke-themed Marcus crew, so I'll be sure to show him your work.

Keep it up, can't wait to see more

[Neil of Orange]

Thanks for all the comments.

Wow, Gujozec, great minds think alike! The pink horror idea is certainly worth looking into, I like the effect. I also really like the water spirit as sheishin -I wish I had thought of that as I've nearly finished the 5 I have, perhaps I could work him in for a shikome. The gold and tokens are a great idea, I was toying with some tokens for one of my upcoming figs, I think based on how well it works I'll go with it.

Here's my next update. My gaming room is in a certain amount of chaos so nice backgrounds will have to wait till next time, but I have had some success with taking shots outside, certainly these look closer to the real colours and detail when I look at them than the shots above!

These are my Onryo. Pretty much copied from the default scheme, but as I mentioned above I don't think this strays too much from the theme. To help tie them in, they are on the standard boards and now have little sprite buddies.

Edited May 23, 2012 by Neil of Orange

[Neil of Orange]

So here's my next update.

This is my Shikome. Its actually a Bushido figure, however it fits perfectly with my background and IMHO looks a lot better than the harpy witch thing that is the official figure. In my background, Kirai has come back to the world of spirits looking for her friend Haku who had saved her twice previously. She has only been able to contact his dragon spirit form/side and continues to search for his human side. I would love to find a suitable figure to represent Haku in human form that I can use as Lost Love in my crew if anyone has any suggestions. The dragon form of Haku is clearly older than the dragon in the film, he's hairier, got longer horns and looks generally more lived in, so the human form could easily be a full adult, or perhaps he's still a adolescent spirit trapped somewhere?

Back to the figure, I went into some detail reviewing it here if you are interested. In terms of painting and detailing it, I went for a colour scheme pretty close to the movie look, but darker generally to suggest he's older. As usual he's on wooden boards, but rather than a soot sprite buddy, there's a defeated paper soldier on his base, a reference to a key scene in the film.

Given the Shikome's purpose of hunting down prey, I really like that Haku is sent on missions in the film with a single minded purpose - it nearly kills him in more than one way! All in all I am really pleased with the figure choice, how I've painted him and how it all ties together.

Edited June 3, 2012 by Neil of Orange

[EnternalVoid]

I had actually read the review before I found this post here oddly enough. Been trying to research that Bushido model to get some ideas, been considering it for a project.

Any chance of getting a picture of the dragon next to another model? I have been noticing that finding pictures of the Bushido models next to other models, their own or other lines, has been rough to get a size gauge.

And very amused by the Spirited Away theme idea.

[Neil of Orange]

Thanks for the comment - here's a shot of the crew (with WIP sheishin) for scale. Haku is bigger than Ikiru in height and certainly bulk.

[EnternalVoid]

Thanks, that helps alot getting an idea how big it is. Though another question has sprung up. Where did you pick yours up? I live in America and they seem European based, alot of the gaming websites don't have the stuff or if they do it is only the starting boxes.

[Neil of Orange]

I ordered mine directly from their site - there's a link on my review (not sure Wyrd would appreciate me posting it here).

[Gujozec]

Coming along nicely! Haku is my favourite so far.

[Neil of Orange]

Been a while since I posted. I've started a Zoraida crew in the meantime and here's some shots:

My stitched togethers:

One I sculpted myself:

and finally the snowman version (its a white out in the UK at the moment)

More info and stuff on my blog

[GreenMonkey]

Loving the dice idea on the stitched together. Might just use that idea for myself! (If you don't mind... Hehe)

Also nice work on the sculpt. Looks very much like to oogy boogey man off nightmare before Christmas.

[Neil of Orange]

Thanks for the comment, the dice idea was entirely inspired by Oogey Boogey so you're more than welcome to it!

Glad you recognised the sculpt - he's definitely the main boogey-man from the film and a huge figure now he's done (according to the character bio, Oogey is 8ft tall!).

[Neil of Orange]

Hi all,

Some more figures to add to my crews. I'm really loving the cowboys and witches thing I have going on with my Zoraida crew currently, so here's my latest additions.

Here's Tuco

and the brutal effigy

A group shot of the complete crew so far

[Viruk]

Lovely crew, I really like the bright, vivid colors, BE looks particularly nice.

[Neil of Orange]

Hi all,

Just a quick update to show you my Yin.

and from behind

and a shot of the base I had fun making.

Cheers

[LupusFerreus]

How well does it hold up as a plastic?

[Neil of Orange]

I made a few notes on my blog about painting her - the figure seems fine, but my undercoat was a bit too much so I think I lost some detail and had to compensate as best I could in the paint job. Very sturdy despite the odd pose as the mucus and the hair help support.

[Viruk]

You're probably the first person to show a pic of this model here and what's more, it's very nicely painted. The guts look slick and disgustingly realistic which is perfect.

[Neil of Orange]

Thanks for the kind words. I've used transparent gloss acrylic paint (Humbrol) to make the gore and guts shiny in some places, although not covering her from chin to tail. I find this easier to use than gloss varnish and not so thick. I'm finding a limited number of the book 4 models painted across this forum and the web in general and I thought I'd take the plunge with Yin and get an early version done. I'm less brave with my Izamu, I hear Mako is painting one so I await his version!

[Wyandottemike]

Great work! That dragon is beautiful!