Walpurgis 3 Swag and Terrain Blog (Custom fate deck, cool terrain, and more!)

[JMGraham]

Hi all -

It's that time of the year again: I've given up my hobby for the next several months in preperation for Walpurgis, the (now 3rd) annual Malifaux tournament we do up here in Bellingham, WA. The hallmarks of the tournament are generally a laid-back attitude, some neat, narrative scenarios, and, of course, tons of cool swag and terrain. I've got some fun stuff planned this year! If you're interested in joining in, see this link for more info on how to sign up. Stay tuned to this blog for some other ways to get involved - they'll be some contests and chances to win some cool stuff down the road.

The first thing I've been working on is the custom fate deck we'll be giving away to all tournament attendees. I'm doing something different this year. It turns out the good folks over at the Through the Breach Podcast have been working on producing a custom fate deck for their listeners, and needed a hand with some layout and design. On the other hand, I was in need of a deck to layout. Suffice it to say it's proved a match made in heaven! They've generously agreed to provide the decks for this year's tournament, AND they let me play with their gorgeous art!

Here's what we've been working on so far. The art is by Daria (I don't have a link to her website yet, but when I get one, I'll add it here). Mark has been acting as art director, and he and the rest of the Through the Breach crew have been making final decisions for cards (though we're open to input - that's part of the reason for posting things here!). I've been doing layout and some light design work.

Here are some mock-ups of the numbered cards we've been working on:

And, because everyone likes the pretty art, here are some of the face cards:

Hope you like them!

Jim

© Wyrd Miniatures, LLC, 2005-2013. Used with permission, no challenge to any copyright or trademark intended.

Edited February 22, 2013 by JMGraham

[Mach_5]

Like!

[Guardian]

WOW, these are nice!

How can I get my hands on them?! (except attending, since Im nowhere near that place )

[bfrench]

Looks amazing! So glad we signed up early.

[sharpobjects]

Will you be making a new scheme/strategy deck?

[JMGraham]

Thanks for the kind words!

@Guardian - Typically, there's a limited number of decks for sale to folks who can't attend the tournament, with all proceeds going towards the swag/prize pool of the tournament and, in this case, toward getting Through the Breach some fancy recording equipment (or beer, I forget which). Details to follow!

@sharpobjects - No plans to do a new strategy/scheme deck, though we may update the old one with the new schemes. Every year, we try to do one "gaming aid" to include in the swag bag. The first year it was some laser-etched wood tokens. The second year it was the strategy/scheme deck. This year it will be ... something different!

[Manowar]

Man, that's awesome. Stoked that I'm going.

[Stanislav]

very nice!

[Kalkris]

This deck looks to be shaping up as nicely as (if not nicer than) the previous decks, from what I've seen! Kudos to the artist and to Walpurgis!

~Lil Kalki

[sharpobjects]

Well I love your Strategy/Scheme deck and I use it all the time. If you were to update it with the Gaining Ground 2.0 stuff I would be interested in purchasing several of those decks.

[JMGraham]

And, the card backs are done! As you can see, this year's fate deck is sponsored by the Through the Breach podcast (thanks, guys!) If you like the deck, and won't be able to attend Walpurgis, they will be available for limited sale (along with a reprint and update of the scheme/strategy deck). I'll link to it from this thread after it's up and running.

I also have an idea for a little contest that might be fun, and provide a way for some of y'all to get some unique Walpurgis swag. Details to follow! Now I get to start working on some sculpting and design work for some more swag! Also, a train depot board.

[DeusInnomen]

And, the card backs are done! As you can see, this year's fate deck is sponsored by the Through the Breach podcast (thanks, guys!) If you like the deck, and won't be able to attend Walpurgis, they will be available for limited sale (along with a reprint and update of the scheme/strategy deck). I'll link to it from this thread after it's up and running.

Oh, I see. This is some sort of trick to get us well-out-of-state folks to subscribe to this thread.

Well, it worked. *shakes fist*

[Mach_5]

A plan fiendishly clever in all its intricacies....

[JMGraham]

Muhahahahaha!

http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?38825-Custom-Fate-decks

[JMGraham]

So, I'm not usually thrilled to post pictures of unpainted stuff, but I'm really pushing it to the wire, and it's been way too long since an update. Therefore, I figured some resin casts wouldn't be remiss.

So, Walpurgis 3 isn't focused on what is going on in Malifaux as it is focused on what is going on beneath Malifaux. As you might expect, bad things happen. Here we've got an assortment of resin goodies that will be going to each participant, and which will be used in various scenarios over the weekend. That big fellow bursting out of the ground in the back was sculpted by Nathan Lough (the same guy who sculpted last year's Mordecai Wolfe, Plague Doctor). The "craters" (wyrms that are just breaking the surface) and the eggs (awww... aren't the baby wyrms cute!) were done by me. The gunslinger is just shown for scale. The eggs are on 30mm bases, the small craters and the ground-burster are on 50mm bases. The big crater is about an inch high and 3 or 4 inches across. It's hard to photograph unpainted white resin, so I played around with settings. Here's a couple to choose from, at least.

Just because it's so pretty, here's a better shot of Nathan's work. If that Gunslinger stands very, very still, I'm sure he'll be fine. Just don't. Make. Any. Noise.

[Mach_5]

AWESOME. That is all.

[JMGraham]

Whew! Stuff is starting to come together. This is the nerve-wracking part, where we're past the point of no return on most of the plans, but I'm still not 100% certain that they will all work out.

Got some "craters", eggs, and the (as yet unnamed) big game hunter painted up, I'll post some photos later. For now, here's some shots of the test cuts of part of the graveyard terrain set. Each participant will get one set of 3 broken stone walls, and a few bases of tombstones. The terrain was designed by me and cut by Advanced Deployment.

For variety, I did 2 versions of the walls:

---------- Post added at 10:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 AM ----------

Also, for those keeping track, the swag tally for each participant so far is:

1 Through the breach Custom Fate Deck

3 30mm resin egg markers

2 50mm resin adolescent wyrm markers

1 resin adolescent wyrm minitaure

1 ginormous resin adult wyrm marker

3 laser-cut MDF broken walls

With hints made towards all sorts of other things! only 6 or so spaces left - sign up quick!

[JMGraham]

And .... some more swag. Things are really coming together (which, I suppose they should, given we're a month out now!). There's another announcement that I'm REALLY excited to make, but can't make quite yet. Did I mention there are still 5 tickets left? If you're interested in coming to an incredible weekend of narrative storytelling, see the link in the first post!

This is a combination turn (the big dial) and soulstone (the little dial) counter. Designed by me and cut by Advanced Deployment out of 1/8" MDF. It should look particularly sweet once it's painted up in some metallics and distressed a bit. Got to use it in a game last night, and it's pretty handy! I hope the tournament attendees like it. The 30mm base is included for a size reference (also, ignore the piece of the upper left cog that I forgot to punch out).

Every world full of nasty horrible monster needs something to hunt them, correct? This is the (currently) unnamed big game hunter. The miniature is a plastic by Wargames Factory, and this particular one was painted by me (tournament participants will get theirs unpainted, of course).

I've stared painting up some of the wyrms. These are the 3 egg markers, 2 50mm adlescent wyrm markers, and 1 ginormous adult wyrm marker that participants will get (unpainted, of course). I'm still working on painting up Nathan Loughs gorgeous sculpt of the large adolescent rearing out of the ground.

[OldManMyke]

These all look awesome, I may well have to steal the turn marker idea for 4M. Really really nice stuff

[Evilbleachman]

How about some love for those overseas who would love to have such an awesome and beautiful deck!? D:

Damn that stuff is nice!

[JMGraham]

Thansk for the kind words - This stuff is really fun to make.

@Evilbleachman : Oh no - sounds like you missed the pre-order thread: http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?38825-Custom-Fate-decks. Perhaps you can try shooting Richelieu a PM?

[mistercactus]

Excellent job mate. You seem to surpass yourself every year!

[JMGraham]

Excellent job mate. You seem to surpass yourself every year!

Thanks! To be perfectly frank, I think it's getting a little over-the-top this year. I've just got a commitment from another sponsor that I'm really excited about, and then Ravyn at Advanced Deployment had an idea for another cool piece of swag that's too cool to pass up. Still, it's a blast to have an excuse to exercise all of my hobby-skills. I've learned tons over the past 3 years. I'm not sure that I would have picked up sculpting & casting to the extent I have, or card design, and designing laser cut stuff at all if it wasn't for Walpurgis. I really enjoy having a reason to create all of the crazy stuff I dream up.

If you want to make it over to Washington, there are still 5 spots left....

[Evilbleachman]

I sent that person a PM. I doubt I will get lucky though. D:

Damn. This kind of stuff needs an alarm system that blinks and blinds me until I look at it. xD

[Alviaran]

Very jealous of those getting to attend. Sigh. If I ever move to Washington state like I would like to, I need to attend these sort of things. Thankfully, some of us here ordered the decks so I at least get those really sweet cards.