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Building Malifaux One Table at a Time


Pagan Wolfe

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SWAMP EXPERIMENTAL

LucidLovecraft was asking about swamps and as this is the next planned board I have been experimenting with some ideas. Here is what I have so far...it is in no way, shape or form complete, but is here to put the idea out now rather than later.

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So this is the general idea. All raised areas...

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...are land and can be moved on as normal while the table surface is the swamp water, thick mud and general nastiness that makes a swamp...well...swampy (i.e. severe terrain)

The islands / land are made out of the scraps when I cut the end off the table (6x4 down to 4x4). I cut them with a jig saw and used a $2 wood rasp to smooth down the top edges. Stippled the bits green and brown before applying a little pva and flock.

Once again this make for a very different game, where flying and floating models are awesome. You have to plan routes across the swamp as the land can be arranged into a variety of islands and choke points.

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or

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Then

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or

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The trees are blocking terrain (no point in obscuring as they are to small to park on), although my regular rules tester / opponent and I have been trying out putting the trees in loose clumps and treating the area in between them as 'counts as' obscuring.

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The walls provide soft cover and the tops come off the buildings (very simple interior....experimental!). These were made with....SHOCK!...balsa wood and then sprayed with a marine grade varnish with stain (kind of expensive though...so may go back to coffee).

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The crates were made the same way, just built a little rectangular prism frame from the square rod and then slats glued over/around (similar to the ladders for the western town in part one).

The sink hole in the corner was made YEARS ago for my forgeworld trygon (no longer around). It is just plaster smashed over some foam, painted and flocked with the obligatory MDF base.

Overall it works and looks good, but lacks that awesome shiny water quality. Maybe if I put plastic sandwich wrap...or seriously got a 3x3 square of durable clear plastic...like the stuff they make those weather curtains for cafes...or my friend who has an industrial laminator that always has 'end of roll' cast offs...

Yeh, I'll get back to you on that one :)

Edited by Pagan Wolfe
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The Bad Lands...Cave

So I taped up and covered the lava sections to protect them from my zealous painting style (or lack of)...

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...even used a little blu tack to cover the hard to reach areas.

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While I wanted everything to be dark, I did not want it to be black. But as far as undercoat goes, that was the logical place to start.

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Mixed a bit of dark brown in and gave the black a bit more depth and tone. This was done by wet mixing on the terrain itself by just painting thin layers over the black while it was still wet.

Then I fired up the air compressor and got my airbrush going for some red highlights around the lava. Figured while I was at it I would spray some brown around the edges of the rocky outcropping too.

Removed the covers and although a little black had seeped in under the edges I kind of liked the effect.

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Different shutter speeds to try and show both detail and colour.

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The black terrain piece in the middle will become a camp site with tent and fire. This will add a focus point and some colour (hopefully) to a rather drab looking table.

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Still love the effects, I suppose it looks as it should!

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Rules wise:

Cork piles are obscuring, unless you are on the same level with no extra elevations between attacker and target...then it is just open.

Lava is Hazardous 3/6/killed (how often do you see THAT?)

Moving UP / DOWN piles of cork (more than one layer in a turn of movement) counts as severe terrain. Running around on a flat surface is open.

General idea? Flat areas are open, lumpy bits get in the way and lava hurts. :)

EDIT

Oh yeh, still need to add some water effects with red ink swirls to add depth. Will post more up once that is done.

Edited by Pagan Wolfe
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I need to work out how to do spiky long leaf plants...but anyway, Hydey Park part 1!

I can fix you up for that if you need? I got a whole heap of spiky green shrubbery plants from the local fish tank shop...

I'll try to get some photos in the next week or so, after I have made some headway on my Guild crew...

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Great! May have to catch up for a game too...always looking for new people to play against. Always learning new tricks!

Happy to share from my extensive collection of building 'stuff' if you ever have a project and are after free salvaged gear :)

Come on people! Lets make Malifaux look GOOD!

Crazy idea for a campaign across Malifaux is brewing in my head...battles across swamps, badlands, defend towns and finally a show down in the Malifaux City streets!

Oh yes.

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Ahhhhh, it has been a while. I have been painting miniatures instead of building, sort of got over it after the last mass attack! Anyway, water effects and ink added to the lava...I like it both before and after, so if you decide to copy the idea just go for what you liked...

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and here is a nasty one with the flash on...sorry about the blue towel...it is on my dinning table :)

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So...this is on a go slow for a while. I have games to play (both Malifaux and BL2)

PEACE! :)

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

I'mmmmmmm BAAAAAAAAACK! :)

Well, while on holidays I plan on building two new tables of terrain:

1) Town (well, kind of Downtown revisited). The idea is to expand on the building that can be entered and try some new ideas. As always this will be built on a budget and kept simple.

2) The Ressers Lab. This one is kind of special and a very unique table idea...so I will keep that on hold until I get some Work in Progress shots.

Malifaux Town or Malifaux Upper Class Suburbs

I started this project with a model from my Dust Tactics collection. I always loved this building but found it a pain to play with (due to having giant hands). So now it has been rebirthed as an entire district in Malifaux!

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You can get this from most online gaming stores for around US$30. It is a click together kit and can easily be pulled apart and experimented with until you find a configuration you like. The detail is nice but not superb, but at the price I think it is a nice kit!

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I plan on airbrushing the whole thing and then dry brushing up some details like the brickwork. That and gluing on some posters... :)

After a bit of playing around I found a configuration that gave me 3 large buildings and one small Guard Outpost / Check Point. A point here is the kit only came with 2 doors that suit 30mm bases, so I left some gaps in the walls for back doors and figured models could also leap through windows (...um...sever terrain, so 2 inches for that 1 inch move...need to check the rules)

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A small drop of super glue on the joins (after making sure the walls were straight) kept it all together ready for the next step...basing.

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I used the jig saw to cut out slabs of 3mm MDF into the right shapes, allowing space for additions such as garden walls and shrubs for hard and soft cover (these will be unattached so they made be added, removed and changed each game). I then glued these bad boys down (thank God for cheap brand super glue).

Digging through my box of magic balsa wood I found that I still had a TON of straight sticks to build to roofs.

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Because these have tabs where the levels slot onto one and other the roof sits nice and securely in place. They can then be easily removed during the game to get models inside.

To close in the roof space I was going to use Balsa Wood sheets, but that is looking like a painful experience...instead I intend to use paper coated in PVA glue or perhaps...my other idea...time to go and experiment.

More to come soon, thanks for reading!

---------- Post added at 03:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 PM ----------

Turns out an idea I had Christmas Day has born fruit...yes, my brain is fruity!

I was helping the kids get some of their presents out of boxes (and undoing 22,000 little cable ties) when I thought about the corrugated cardboard. Long story short I just raided the box pile next to the shed (haven't been to the tip yet due to the 40+degree heat...that's over 100 degrees in Fahrenheit) and got this:

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Easy to work with and looks OK...10 minutes later and I had this

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So, it looks like I am on a winner here for a cheap and good looking town set.

$30 building, $5 worth of Balsa wood and the rest is salvage. Back to roofing! :)

Edited by Pagan Wolfe
SPELLING...typos,,,the usual :)
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The roofing is done. A few little hints about peeling one side off corrugated cardboard...

1) Try curving/bending the cardboard in the with the corrugations as you peel them apart, this seemed to make it easier and cleaner as all of my force (slow and controlled, not just fast ripping) was then concentrated on ONE corrugation.

2) If some patches still stick try 'shaving' it with a craft knife by rubbing the blade along the corrugations.

3) Fret not about small fluffy bits that will get stuck down and neatened up with judicious painting.

This shows the size of the doors I have allowed, making it interesting for players with different sized models. Obviously 30mm will reign supreme as they may also jump through windows but IMO you had to allow larger models access too...even if it is through a 'back door'.

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With the roof on

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Here are some shots showing off the roof construction. The ridge capping was made out of ordinary photocopying paper stuck down with PVA glue. The Balsa is also held together with PVA and pins.

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Here are the other buildings

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Less than $40 worth of supplies and I scored 3 large and good looking buildings and one small guard station (still WIP). It is far to hot out in the shed at the moment to paint these, even at night. Suffice to say more shots as they come along.

I think you could also get away without adding the roof to these structures or even making them multi-leveled, as the tabs at the tops of the walls are designed to lock in and support several levels. The wall sections even has a 2-3mm gap that holds the cardboard floor used in Dust Tactics, making it SUPER easy to slot in a floor.

I avoid multi-levels as it complicates the game and movement when you have to left off parts of builds that contain a crews models.

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I used the kit from my Operation Cerberus campaign box (Also about $35PP on eBay). It has 3 levels, so with only 2 in the accessory box (sorry, only just had a close look) you may be pushing for three...but I think it would be do-able.

---------- Post added at 07:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:28 PM ----------

EXPERIMENTAL Indoors / Large Building / Laboratory

I have always wanted to try out a full fledged hallway battle through a large building so I started thinking about the easy ways to represent this (going back to my 'Every table I make changes the way you play the game' motto).

Here I just cut up some balsa wood to random lengths and glued them into T junctions using a single square 'stick' to reinforce the join.

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These can then be arranged in any manner of crazy combinations, from tight mazes through to corridors and large rooms.

Crazy Mazes

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Large Rooms

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Keeping in mind that most ranged attacks are quite short range I don't think this would become a total melee wonderland.

The idea would to also add in lots of other terrain, such as piles of crates, bookshelves and tables for soft cover and movement inconvenience. Of course the walls would also have posters and paintings on them too. A few ladders here and there so people could climb up and over walls may also be an interesting feature.

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It will need some play testing in different configurations. For strategy's that involve terrain on an opponents side of the table I would look at ruling for the incidental decorations that are coming (shelves and tables) rather than whole wall sections.

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I played a game last night in the experimental type table (all walls) with Lucas McCabe vs Lilith. Over all the game went very well without any major rules problems, however we did make a few clarifications.

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Random junk added for hard/soft cover bits...

1) While flying models could fly down the corridors and across the rooms (avoiding disengaging strikes and the like) they could not fly OVER the walls (ceiling and all that...different i you just called it a maze I suppose).

2)Spirits and other models that have an ability to let them move through terrain (like Wastrels) are very handy.

3) Liliths ability to see right through walls to target things is nasty :)

Hard fought game with a 2VP vs 1VP win for Lilith.

So I may go ahead now and start making it look better.

It was also quite a mild day today so I made the effort to get out to the shed and do some painting. I used some bold colours for the tin roofs to keep it Malifaux flavoured. Also, as predicted, while slapping on the base coat of Black over the cardboard with poster paint all of the daggy fluffy bits stuck down making it look much cleaner.

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Not finished yet, still to add some posters stuck to the walls in sections and do a little landscaping. It wasn't until I was taking these photos I noticed I had completely forgotten to do the guard post...sigh.

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BITZ! I have been in this game for a long time and had bits of other kits, bits of crappy lego knock offs, and just bits of stuff that I thought looked interesting (like one of them has a dust cap off an old bike tire). Sorry I cannot be more helpful than that, I literally have a junky container of just assorted stuff from back in the day when I converted 40k models extensively.

I have gone ahead and glued in some decor. I have made the decision to have it very 2D and flat against the walls as I have built cluttered rooms full of furniture before and have found that while it looks AWESOME it hinders the game just enough to be annoying.

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So fresh you can still see wet glue at the edges!

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I have plans for building some VERY simple but effective pieces that will stick to the walls and provide soft cover but will wait until I have mock ups before sharing.

In the meantime here is a great idea that looks funky and uses more of those Christmas surplus items that may be on sale in your area...fake tea lights!

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and BluTac...

It was hard to get a good picture but when turned on the flickering golden light looks awesome through the windows. Next change will be a little superglue and magnets.

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Thanks again and I will hopefully get some more stuff done soon. I run and organize a ton of games at friends houses and demos, but at this rate I could start my own club! Hmmmm, ideas...

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