2nd Crew Ready to Roll

Sorry, no pics, as there's no paint, but I've finished putting together my 2nd Malifaux crew, one that will be compliant with the upcoming 2nd edition.

Sadly, Kirai will not be one of the crew rules sets initially released, so she's in limbo right now. But that did give me impetus to work on my Miasaki crew. I've put together the Thunder box set, plus a set of of those [expurgated] Ten Thunder archers, and Yamaziko. With M2E hitting, both Ototo and Yamaziko can henchmaster, so I can use those in lower points games, but as it is, I've got about 53 Soulstones with of stuff to play with.

I'll try to play a few more games of the beta rules until Gencon, when I can (hopefully) pick up the new rules set.

Bonkers for Bunkers

It seems I've made a few in my day.

Ugly

Still ugly

My first is one I made from instructions I found in the old 4th edition rulebook, back when hobbying was allowed, perhaps even encouraged!

Given how rough mine looks, perhaps I shouldn't have been encouraged. It may be pug ugly, but it gets the job done. It blocks LoS, and protects models. I made two of the buggers, and both are still with me after 8 years, so I think they've made their $10 I put into them back for me.

And if you want to make your own (hopefully less ugly) bunkers, Miniwargaming shows you how easy it is right here:

I was also excited to see the GW Wall of Martyrs one as well. It looked neat and fit the grimdark. That was, of course, until I got it home. It was tiny, smaller even than my trusty foamcore bunker.

Note which one actually has paint on it.

Interior detail, but still no lavatories in the 41st millenium

At the last Adepticon, I spied the bunker above available as a kit from Tectonic Craft Studios. Two bucks more, and tons more room, plus interior detail and usable roof space.  I will admit, it was more complex to assemble than the GW bunker, but given the sheer size of it, and how well the kit is engineered, I'll work with it. In fact, I bought another one. I'm just waiting to assemble it.

That being said, I did but the firestorm redoubt. Because flyers. The rule are wonky, but I think in the end, it'll be effective.

This one is still WIP, just like the Tectonic Bunker, the Redoubt is just further along.

Now, I just need that table to come in from Secret Weapon, and we'll be set!

Another Tectonic Studios Piece

Got this finished the other day.

It's a nice piece, so have three pics.

Some completed terrain

These, I love. I got them from Warsen.al. The construction of both is solid, and relatively easy with the youtube tutorials Warsenal puts out. As of last time I checked, there's not tutorial for the large shipping container to the right, but you can extrapolate from the tutorial for the small container. Warsenal also makes magnetic stacking wound markers that are pretty nice looking.  When I use dice, I invariably end up picking wound dice up accidentally; this simplifies the process.

I also showed you Tectonic's Gallows last post. I wanted a sun-bleached, derelict look for my wood work, so I ended up priming black, heavily dry-brushing Chardonite Granite from GW's older foundation paints. One of the most versatile colors they ever made, by the way. It's gray or green depending on the highlights, and always looks proper drab after you're done with it. I then did a dry brush of my apple barrel craptastic "I only use these for terrain" paints, and it came out nice. I'm going to add a bit of static grass to the base, and maybe a twine noose, but then I'll be done with it.

             

A macabre terrain piece for many systems

It's hard to see, but there's just a bit of blood spatter on the gallows.

Terrain being worked on

GW's Firestorm Redoubt

Kitbashed Memorial Garden

Tectonic Game Studio's Gallows

Tectonic Game Studio's Shipment

Warsen.al's Torii Arch

Been a bit busy with it, in fact.

I'm planning ahead for my Secret Weapon Tablescapes table that I got via their Kickstarter. I was orginally slated to get the Ruined Cityscapes, but I'm thinking that the ruined temple would still work with my terrain and allow me to play Malifaux on it. Of course, I could just build a 3x3 for Malifaux on my own, which I'm exploring as an idea (given the dearth of "inside spaces" available for tables). It just doesn't seem right to be playing a steam punk game on a Zone Mortalis board all the time.

A detour through the Breach

One of Kirai's spooky ghosts, a Shikome in particular

Just as I've been delving in alternate models, I've been exploring games outside the Games Workshop umbrella. The one I've been playing most often is Malifaux, Wyrd Game's skirmish based game that takes steam-punk, the weird west, and Asian horror, and puts it all in a blender.

The pros:

• Individual models matter (four wounds on a model is somewhat weak)
• Turns are activation based, as each model moves, fights, and casts until it's done, and then your opponent can respond, giving crewes consisting of weaker models a distinct advantage later in the turn.
• Dice, the great betrayers that they are, are not used. Instead, a customized version of the standard poker deck is used with a control hand, allowing the player to manipulate fate by legal "cheating."
• With each model doing 2 standard actions and one zero action (think free action) each turn, you'll feel like each model is getting their points cost worth.
• How much you succeed by matters; the greater the success of an action, the more hurt it does (generally)
• The models are pretty darn keen
  

The cons:

• the rules for each model is set, with no customization. Every Shikome works just like every other Shikome. Every Gaki, etc..
• The individual model's rule are all every complex, and model activation timing is crucial. It's easy for a beginner to forget rules or to do things out of order. 
• Synergies exist, but research and experimental play is crucial for the new player, so they can discover what their models can do, and how far their abilities can be pushed.
• The rules are not as transparent as some systems, and the learning curve can be steep

The good news is that Malifaux 2nd Edition is coming out, and will likely address a number of those issues. Masters will be simplified, and some of the standard abilities they have will become upgrades. Synergies might suffer a bit from that, but at least you'll be able to be surprised by a model and what it can do instead of knowing all "Kirai"s can Evolve Spirit, cast Chill of Death, Sooth Spirit, etc. And you won't have to pay for abilities you don't use. Since I'm heavily invested in Kirai as a caster, I'm hoping she doesn't change too much, but I'm sure she'll still be the Master of Spirits she has been.

M2E is being released at Gencon, and it's going to be one of my first purchases, so I'll give you my thoughts then. Oh, yeah, I'll be at Gencon.