My first game of Malifaux...

Well, it's my first ever game of Malifaux tonight. I'll be using some combination of the models in this post. Wish me luck! ; )

Cheers
Dave

A wee little fellow

Continuing my recent theme of not having a theme, here's my version of Seamus, from the Puppet Wars game by Wyrd. I started on this guy months and months ago, and until the week before NOVA he languished on my painting desk. I felt I needed a "new" miniature for my Fantasy entry at the NOVA Open Painting Competition, so I jumped in and finished this guy off.

He didn't place, but he certainly was fun to work on. I hope you like him.

Additionally, I've just put up a post on our Guns of April blog about next year's activities. If you are interested in historical gaming, you should head over and check it out. It involves Frenchmen running around under the hot sun of Egypt.

Cheers
Dave

Oh My... Shiny!

Apologies for the crappy photo, taken on my phone late last night.

There are sometimes I know I just shouldn't go to my FLGS (Dropzone Games), as I'll see something there I might not be able to resist. I find I'm more likely to be distracted if I have a LOT on my painting plate already (currently ACW, Mechanicum, Lamenters, and a couple of other things), so here's the new, shiny thing I've purchased.

Photo from Dakka member Valtyr, used without permission.

I picked up the Relic Hunters box, and have added a Guild Riflemen box that the nice folks at Wyrd sent me in January. After putting together these plastic models, I must say I'm very impressed. I'm not just impressed with the level of detail and the number of components that increases the layered feel of the models, but I'm also impressed by the amount of character pushed into each sculpt. Bravo Wyrd, bravo!

Now don't worry, I won't be suddenly playing Malifaux, but this does give me a chance to scratch the itch to paint these lovely figs. Once I'm done I'll be selling them off, that's my justification for buying them in the first place ; )

Cheers
Dave

Puppet Wars In Plastic!

Last week (I think) I showed you all the plastic Malifaux that were sent to my door by the great folks at Wyrd Miniatures. Well, I had a few other sprues arrive with that box, and when I offered to send some of them on to a few of my friends who love Puppet Wars, I was offered, in return, a few cool bases.

That's right. This post was delayed while I waited on USPS to deliver the above pack of 'planky' bases from Chris Borer (and his Full Borer Miniatures line). These bases are ones he has made for the metal Puppets and weigh in at 23mm in diameter. They are very nicely detailed with wood grain and nail and screw heads. Check them out here.

Chris also sent me a prototype of his 30mm planky base designed to work well with the slightly larger plastic Puppets. Speaking of which, I clipped off and trimmed up three of my favorites from the sprue. I love the poses of each of these, and the detail in all of the models seems to be a step above the Malifaux plastics, putting them directly on a par with GW's plastics. The models vary in their number of pieces (the girl above was six if I recall correctly, while the creepy chap at the bottom was only two).

These models just look great, overflowing with malicious character. I'm sure they'll paint up quickly, and you could spend all evening on each one to really bring them to life.

Once again, well done Wyrd!

Cheers

Dave

Malifaux in plastic!

A week or so ago a nice brown box landed on my doorstep. I was unsure what it was, but as it was addressed to me I figured I should open it. Turns out it was a cool preview/review package from the guys at Wyrd Miniatures, makers of the very popular Malifaux and its lesser-known cousin Puppet Wars. Inside the box were some samples of their cool new plastic models (above), alnog with some packs of their new colored bases. While not really my style, these bases could certainly work well for many gamers when basing their particular factions. Oh, and did I mention they're plastic? Hard plastic, not plastic resin, in a similar style to the plastic sprues from Mantic and the latest sprues from Wargames Factory.

Like many of you, I like big robot suits too, so the first box I broke open was LAZARUS.

Inside I was pretty surprised to see how it was all packaged. The hard plastic sprues were unlike any I've seen before and certainly not what I'm used to (surrounded by a plastic frame, for a start). Also included in the box was the unit card for the game, and a set of assembly instructions.

Four small sprues of hard grey plastic pieces, and one sprue of soft blue plastic cables. I assume you could save these until after you've painted the rest of the model and glue in the "glowy" bits, much like the green rods on Necrons. Or you could just as easily include them in your build an paint them another way.

The second box I opened was Willie the Demolitionist and there he was, all on a small sprue, much like the way GW are offering many new plastic character models. Also included were his base and unit card.

There is no doubt that Willie is nice and finely detailed. Check out those small bundles of dynamite!

It seems the sprues are also designed to be stacked in the warehouse, much like the sprues from Wargames Factory.

The Willie model was just so dynamic and characterful I just had to put him together.

Finally I took a look at the Dark Debts box. After the two different sprue presentations in the previous boxes, I was unsure what to expect (although I thought there might be multiple sprues), but upon opening I found all the parts of the Dark Debts models on one sprue.

The sprue certainly had the feel of a GW special box set (like Dark Vengeance and Space Hulk) about it. Obviously everything has been digitally sculpted and then digitally sliced apart to be arranged on the sprue in the most efficient manner. As each model really only goes together one way (although there are a few options for one of the Illuminated), it was cool to see what could be done.

I couldn't help myself, and had to clip a couple of my favorites from the sprue. Jakob Lynch (on the left) consists of seven parts, and a full ten parts go into the making of the Illuminated model on the right!

Initially I feared that the detail might be a bit too soft, much like the first few offerings from Wargames Factory a few years ago. It seems, however, that Wyrd have been able to push past that initial learning curve and jump in at what I would consider the "quite crisp" segment of the digital-sculpting-to-miniature spectrum. The details aren't as crisp as you'd expect from GW, but then again, GW have invested vast amounts of time and money to get to where they are now. For first offerings these are certainly some VERY impressive pieces.

Even if you don't play Malifaux (or aren't interested in playing) then you can always pick up a few of these sets as they release and incorporate them into your other gaming!

EDIT/UPDATE: Here area couple of other reviews of the Malifaux plastics
• Viruk's review on Independent Painters
• GentleBen's review on Bell of Lost Souls

Cheers
Dave