The other day I posted some thoughts on my Seamus crew, featuring his Belles and some Punk Zombies.  On Tuesday I played a 35ss game with them against Scott’s Ramos and Friends, which you can read about on my blog here.  Today I’m going to re-visit the crew, and take this game into consideration.

Rotten Belles

Like I said in the battle report, the MVP for me goes to the Belles, so I’m going to start with them.  They gave me board control which was vital to my success.  If not for all of their successful Lures (I’d like to calculate their percentage of success), it would have been a different game, surely.  Not only did they neuter Hans by drawing him out of his sniper position, but they brought the various Arachnids into the fight as well.

I also used Undress successfully, I think against some Arachnids at one point. I didn’t try Distract this time around, but I’ll do so in the future.

In terms of damage output, they didn’t do too much, other than the one Belle who gave it to the Hunter.  But their Luring sure made up for it, so I can’t complain.

Seamus

I’m only talking about him next because he is the leader of the crew.  Otherwise, he did not do much in this game!

Killing Ramos aside (as it happened technically after we ended the game), his only claims to fame were Summoning a Belle, giving them +2 Wk at the beginning of the game, and weakening the Large Steampunk Arachnid for the Punk Zombie to finish off.  There were actually a couple of turns where Seamus literally did nothing but Pass.  That’s unheard of, man!  And that’s thanks again to the board control provided by the Belles.

He would also definitely do better against a Living or Undead crew to fully use his ability.  Constructs are pretty useless opponents!

Sybelle

Sybelle did well in this game as well.  Between her Shriek (although only used once, it did a whopping 6 points of damage), Flurry and being used in tandem with a Belle (using Companion), she was actually a powerhouse in this game.  Having the Belles bring an opponent right up to her is fantastic, and exactly what she wants with her Flurry, and string of Triggers.  Call Belle was another helpful Spell, somewhat.

Punk Zombies

Sure, they didn’t do as well as they could have, what with Cb7 andPaired Katanas, but they did their part.  Both the Hunter and the Large Steampunk Arachnid fell to the slashing attacks of the Punk Zombies.  In that sort-of turn at the end, the dying PZ failed his Slice and Dice Spell by missing a Mask suit.  That would have irked Ramos, I’m sure.

I will definitely continue to include Punk Zombies in my list.  I just know that they will do awesome some day, and instil fear into the hearts of my opponents.  And their miniatures.

* * * * *

Where to go from here?  Well, I’ve got Mortimer that I still need to paint up before I use him again.

Those are all of the Resurrectionist models I own.  I am honestly not planning on picking up any more, as I’m actually looking to sell my other crews (while keeping Seamus, the Ortegas and probably Lilith).  But there are a few ways I would go if I did.  Crooked Men look fun and would help with board control as well, as they leave little mine-like shaft markers that enemy models would want to stay away from.  Bete Noire is a psychotic chick who would fit right in with Seamus’ ladies, even though she isn’t herself one.  Seamus’ fiery little totem, the Copycat Killer would be interesting to have. The Hanged of course would be a great way to play the Wp/Morale Test game.

I’m sure there are a few more that would fit (I don’t want to stray too far off the theme path, so no Nurses or Spirits, etc.), but again, I’m not looking to grow my crew right now.  I’m content with what I have.

Actually, it would be nice to have some more Belle models, so I can Summon a few more during the game.  In this game, for instance, Hans left a Corpse Counter behind, and in those turns that Seamus had nothing to do, he could have dug up more.  I could have had another Belle or two on the board, so it’s quite possible I could have forced Ramos to square dance between the Belles like a puppet, Luring him back and forth like their little bi…

And thanks for reading, folks!

Tonight I’m hoping to give Freebooter’s Fate a first try with Loy.  We both have the rules, and we both have models.  Well, I have a legal force out of the starter set, Loy has some chosen models that don’t actually work (no Deckhands), but that might change or have changed by tonight.

Yesterday I read through the rulebook while my baby slept (he’s so nice letting me do things like this every once in a while), and before I actually play them out I wanted to write some thoughts on them.  I’ll say first that before buying into the game I was intrigued by a) the piratical theme, b) the nice models, c) the various card decks.  Let’s see, after reading the rules, if the game still looks interesting…

The Rulebook

Overall, the rulebook looks great.  Each page has an old parchment design, which is always good when you’re dealing with a pirate theme.  The various fonts throughout the book are generally pleasing, and for the most part the visuals are cool: character sketches, photographs of models and stat cards.  The order of the contents works as well, and makes it easy enough to learn the game, before looking at the factions and the scenarios.

But, the rulebook is not without its issues.  For one, there are a lot of typos.  Now, sure, I make errors all the time when I’m typing…but I don’t have to read my own dribble afterwards!  There’s just something about typos in rulebooks that irks me to no end.  Often it’s a problem with translation.  Like the upside-down-and-backwards quotation marks in this book…yeesh, it gets annoying, especially as they’re used a lot.  Another problem I’ve found is that when there are photographs used in examples, the explanation is often hard to understand when there isn’t enough labelling in the photos themselves.  For instance there’s a picture used to explain LOS and Arc of Vision, and while the explanation is just fine, it’s hard to tell which characters (out of five) it is referring to for each point. 

So really, they aren’t huge issues, and overall the book is well put together.  It’s not as awesome as others (I quite enjoy the books by Wyrd and Privateer Press, for instance), but it is definitely not a low-quality book at all, either in terms of visuals or layout/comprehension.

The Rules

1. Keelhauling for fun and profit merely talks about the game in general: you use minis, you play scenarios, have fun, etc.

2. Characters and cards talks about, well, characters and cards!  It goes through the layout of a stat card, explaining the attributes and other things you’ll find there, but saving more details for the relevant sections of the book.  One thing I don’t like about the cards is that the attribute values are written like “5/10,” where the starting value is 10, and the post-critical hit value is 5.  As I read left to right, I personally would rather have the left-hand number as the starting value.  It just seems odd to me.  Also, in the rulebook, this fact is not actually mentioned until later on in the Damage section, which is also odd and somewhat confusing.  You also learn about the different decks of cards in the game.

3. Setting up the game is straightforward and goes from “hiring a crew” to “setting up the battlefield.”

4. Start of play and sequence of play is also straightforward.  The explanation about how the turns play out is good.  I do have to complain again, though, in that there are three paragraphs that are repeated.  Meh, it just makes you get that deja vu feeling, you know?

5. Basic terms and concepts.  Here we start to learn about how models work and interact on the table.  For instance, LOS is pretty standard (if the model can see any part of another model’s head, torso or base, it has LOS).  However, Arc of Vision is a 180* arc that extends from the rear of the base.  Oh yeah, bases are square in this game, if you didn’t know that already.  I’m not used to games with square-based figures, but the AoV like this cuts out the potential for debate that arises when players mark a 180* facing on their round bases (I hope not too many people are that annoying).  When a character is in a building, his AoV starts at the outside wall instead of his read, which is cool.  This section also describes the terms Cover, Base-to-base contact, Prone, Defenceless, Out of action and solid footing.

6. Movement and terrain are also pretty standard, although Movement in FF does incorporate jumping, climbing, swimming and falling in ways that other games don’t.  I think this is great, and is going to make terrain very playable in this game, whereas in other games it is often less-so.  There are even rules about running along rails and stuff that you can’t end your movement on, so they definitely want you to have terrain that is varied and full of character, like broken rope bridges and peak rooftops, for sure.  Awesome.  There is also a section here on types of terrain that helps you identify penalties and characteristics of different terrain, like stairs, jungle, water, rails, etc.

7. Combat, a.k.a. why we’re all here.  In general combat in this game is pretty darn cool.  Aside from some confusing parts of this section (like using the term “right-hand Ranged Attack Value,” meaning the right-most number out of two, and not the value of the Right Hand, or the examples of combats with the poor labelling), the rules about combat are easy to follow.  Under ranged combat there are rules for long/short range (and weapons have associated RAV values), targetting a model in a cluster (i.e. in a melee), elevated position and ammunition.  Under close combat there are rules about aligning in base-to-base, aligning, support and defended obstacles.  All of the rules here are interesting and intuitive.  And it gets even better with hit determination and damage!

So, generally when you attack someone you are going to choose a number of location cards equal to your A(ttack) attribute.  Some actions, abilities and various modifiers will change this, up to 4 cards total.  The defender will choose a number of location cards equal to his D(efence) value, again with actions, abilities and modifiers changing this, up to 5.  Each player will have his own set body location cards to choose from, both sets being the same.  The goal is for the attacker to choose locations that the defender does not defend.  If this happens, the defender is hit.  If this happens more than once (more than one location was attacked and not defended) it counts as a critical. 

Now we move on to damage.  The attacker’s weapon’s RAV or ST(rength) is added to a Fate card, vs. the defender’s T(oughness) and a Fate card.  If the latter is higher, no damage.  If the former is higher, the difference is the amount of damage taken, and marked off from the Vitality boxes on the stat card.  Now comes the criticals.  If only one location was hit, another Fate card is drawn.  If it is equal to or lower than the damage caused, it’s a critical.  The location that was hit suffers a critical, and it’s higher value is marked off.  As well, if the character gets another critical hit there, they are out of action, or if they take three total criticals.  And lastly, if either hand is given a critical, the weapon used in that hand is lost!  Ouchie!

I really like how damage is dealt with in Freebooter’s Fate, I have to say.  I think the Malifaux-like Fate deck mixed with the body location cards and criticals is going to make for some fun combat.

8. Moral test.  Yes, it should be Morale, but there’s another glaring typo.  A character must make a Morale test/Panic check under different circumstances, namely getting greviously hurt or fighting with afearsome opponent.  When panicked a character has to flee until they rally, and every turn they fail to rally they run to the board edge.  Panicking characters are defenceless (A and D are 0, etc).  To pass a Morale test you need to flip a Fate card that is equal to or lower than your current Morale value, which of course gets lower the more damage you take.

9. Actions and traits details Standard Actions (the simple or complex actions that everyone can do), Special Actions (the ones that characters have listed on their cards) and Traits (special abilities also listed on the stat cards).  Most of the Standard Actions are pretty regular for a skirmish game, including ones like Aim that you don’t always see, as more unique ones like Take a Swing (bonus to ST on the next attack) and Smash (a special combat action to break stuff down).  Special Actions and Traits similarly have both familiar and unique things your characters might be able to do.  I like a lot of various abilities here, and it will be cool to see them get used out on the battlefield.

10. Crews is all about hiring your crews from the different factions, and Mercenaries.  Each character in the (core) game has a little snippet, either description or conversation, and its stat card here.  Some also have cool sketches, as well.  A lot of fluff here makes this what I feel is an unnecessarily long section, but I have not yet gotten fully immersed in the game’s backstory yet.  I’m sure if I do, this won’t be a problem.

11. Scenarios lists all of the scenarios you can play out, how they’re setup and won, etc.  There are some interesting ones, including “The hunt for rats in October.”

And that’s the rulebook! After first reading the quick-start rules I was non-plussed about the game, but now that I have read the rules I am eager to try it out.  I think it could be a pretty neat game to play.  It’s not going to replace Malifaux as my skirmish game of choice, I’m sure, but it will be something different enough to have.  The game sort of feels like Malifaux meets Rattrap‘s pulp stuff (.45 Adventures and Fantastic Worlds), in that it plays like the former, with the stats-connected-to-body-locations aspect of the latter.  And thankfully I like both, and the added pirate theme! Excellent!

So, hopefully we end up playing tonight so I can give more insight into the game.

Thanks for reading.

As it’s been a million years since I posted to ToG, I figured it was time to do so again.

Andrew’s incessant prodding and whining helped, too.

I think since Malifaux continues to be the mainstay of our little group these days, I’d like to put down some thoughts on the crews that I currently use.  Since my long-time favourite crew has been Seamus and his Undead Hookers and Friends, I should start with him.  And with a 35ss game coming up with Scott on Tuesday, these are my pre-game thoughts.  After the game I’ll speak a little more about them, how they did (sorta like how Andrew did about Kaeris after two games with her), and so on.

So, on with the show.

Seamus

This mad hatter is nuts.  In sanity-wise and game terms both.  I really enjoy playing with him. 

He makes his Belles move further with Belles of the Ball, giving otherwise slow minions a nice boost, as long as he’s within 8″.  And since he does like being up near the action, this is pretty much always the case.  He can also Companion a Belle, including Sybelle, but I hardly ever use that one.  I’ve used it I think once for sort of like a ‘feat turn’ surge (a la Warmachine/Hordes), getting all of Belles to pounce on the Seamus-weakened oposing caster.  Possibly Rasputina, but I’m not sure who it was.

He’s Hard to Wound 2 and Hard to Kill, both of which are annoying to opponents.  His DF is only 4, but HtoW2 helps a lot when he becomes the target of attacks.  Another thing that annoys opponents is his Necrotic Ministrations (not Menstruations, as I like to say it while playing).  Healing when a living or undead model nearby dies and drawing a Control Card is awesome.  Again, more reasons to have Seamus up in the thick of things.  He’s also Terrifying 12, which also hasn’t come up much (he usually doesn’t get charged before the game is over).  Oh, and he’s Fast, so he can do a lot on his turn.

Okay, let’s stop beating around the bush and just get to the BFG: The .50 Flintlock.  This thing is a beast, and even though it can only be used once a turn, it instills fear into the hearts and minds of enemies.  With a DG of 4/6/7 you can guarantee that opponents will spend good Cheats and Soulstones to avoid a Severe damage flip.  Even a Weak flip will kill lots of enemies, so if in range and he can spare the Action Point…BOOM!

He can make more Belles, which is awesometastic.  Especially mid-game when there are a bunch of Corpse Counters around the field that he can use.  I love when an opponent gleefully kills one of my Belles, and then cringes when they get back and get locked into close combat with one of their models…especially the important ones.  The down-side of this spell is that it requires a second Crows (feathers) of 10 or higher.  It’s not often that Fate just drops necessary cards into my hand, but it does happen on occassion.  I also like Live for Pain, which both damages  a target and heals Seamus himself.  That’s two Healing Talents he’s got, which is rad.

He’s got a bunch of other Actions, Triggers and Spells I didn’t go over.  They don’t usually come up for me, but I’d like to try and work the WP angle of Seamus and Friends.  You know, lower the enemies’ WP, then use the various Spells and Abilities in the crew to send them packing or make them go crazy and just plain die.

Madame Sybelle

Seamus’ right-hand hooker, she’s a well-rounded psuedo-Henchman (you know, the second-in-command, but without the Soulstone abilities).  Looking at her, she’s definitely round (I hate when her gross, thonged-butt is facing me…I try to get her on the flanks and move her on an angle so I don’t have to look at those dimply blobs).

Anyway.  She’s not terribly easy to kill, what with Regen 1 and Hard to Wound 1, and with Slow to Die to boot,  but she always does seem to fall.  I think it’s because she’s got Flurry and some good Triggers, as well as a couple of useful spells: Call Belle, to slingshot other Belles around the board, and Shriek, doing a little damage and freaking hit living models out.

Overall, I enjoy using her.  The only other high-end Minion I own is Mortimer, and since he’s not painted, Sybelle will get the spot.  She also fits the Undead Hooker theme, so that’s another reason.

Rotten Belles

When Malifaux was new I was drawn to the game for a number of reasons (variety of cool interwoven themes, nice-looking models, deck of Fate cards).  But what really helped me decide was the fact that I could play as Undead Hookers.  Undead frickin’ Hookers, man!  You can’t tell me that’s not an instant highlight of any game.

These ladies of the (eternal) night have overall low scores (which is fine for a 4-cost minion), but they make up for it with their plethora of goodies.  Hard to Wound 1 and Slow to Die again annoy the opposition.  ” You’re dead!…and yet you’re still attacking me…and you just healed Seamus…oh look, you’re back again…and attacking me again…I hate you.” 

In terms of Spells, the one I use most is Lure, drawing enemies close and biting their faces off, or at the very least bringing them closer for the next Belle to bite their faces off.  This is helped by their Seductive ability, making it so that you only need to flip a 4 of anything for the spell to go off.  You know, I don’t use Distract (makes targets Slow) or Undress (makes targets -2DF) very much.  Like, hardly ever.  I think I should change that.  Might need to try them out next game.  More annoying tactics, yay!

Mortimer

This is not the cute little noisy kid who I read about to my 9-month old.  No, this is a shovel-wielding fatty with a hard-on for Undeadliness!

With Regen 1, DF5 and 10 WD, he’s pretty resilient.  He doesn’t usually die as quickly as Sybelle when I field him.  His Six Feet Under helps, too, making him Hard to Wound 2 for a 0-cost Action. 

He can Exhume, pooping out a Corpse Counter for Seamus to use, but it hardly ever happens.  The spell is easy enough to get off, but flipping a Crow does not usually happen for me.  Fresh Meat! is cool, sending all friendly Undead models towards a target.  I haven’t used it much, though.  He can Summon a new Belle with Make My Own Friends, but it’s expensive (2 Corpse Counters and an All Action). 

I think his best value is in his attacks, either a ranged one at 2/2(Blast)/4(blast), or his 2″ melee at 2/3/4 with the potential (with Crows) to cast Empty Grave (1/2/4 plus Slow) for free (Paralyzed instead if you’ve got another Crows in the casting).  That’s a wicked combo that can do between 3 and 8 damage, with Slow or Paralyzed to boot.  Cool.

I’m going to paint him up and get him on the field some more, but I personally think it’s a Sybelle-or-Mortimer showdown for who gets to play.  Together they’re just too expensive to bring them both out.

Punk Zombies

Awwwwwwwwwyeah!  Nothing says “Fear My Crew” than samurai punks…be it the rocker or the bride!

Not only are their Katanas Paired, but they’ve got a CB of 7(Crows) and damage of 2/4/5.  Add Flurry to the mix, and if they start within 1″ of you…y’er chopped liver, boy!

They’ve got the usual zombie Hard to Wound 1 and Slow to Die.  Without a ranged attack the latter is only good if within 1″ or 2″ of enemies…

…because they can either do a regular attack, or castSlice and Diceto deal 3WD to anyone within 2″, if the spell goes off.  Not exactly easy, requiring at least an 8 of Masks, but it could happen.  They’ve also gotSelf-Mutilate, which essentially hurts them, but they then whip out the same amount of damage in shuriken at a target.  Booyah!  Eat Ninja Stars of Undeath, suckah!

The Punk Zombies do have some weaknesses, though, namely DF5 and WD6.  Even coupled with HtW1, they’re easily felled before they get into combat.  Without Nicodem’s healing/boosting powers, they’re not as resilient as they would be with him as their leader.  But, you know, I’m not ready to drop Seamus for Nicodem, so I’ll have to make do with squishy punks.

* * * * *

Well, those are the Resurrection models I currently own.  I don’t have any plans to add to this any time soon, as I think I’m fine with the amount of Malifaux models I have (aside from maybe Abuela for the Ortegas).  I’m going to try and run Seamus and company for the next few games I play, trying out some of the other tactics that I mentioned I don’t usually use.  I’ll be sure to post my findings here in further Parts.

Thanks for reading.

Alternate Rasputina and a Silent One.

I am borrowing this post concept from the other guys here and giving a heads up about what I have on my work table right now.

Rasputina is assembled and has been given a light prime.  I have very lightly glued her to her base as I think I will be moving her over to a Dragon Forge scenic base.  I like this Alt model a lot better than the original.  It is still flat and almost one-piece but this one seems to have a lot of “motion” sculpted in.  The old one looked a bit like someone just striking a pose.  Madonna’s Vogue comes to mind when I look at it.  As you can probably guess I will be fielding the Alt from now on.  What to do with the original…?

Slann Mage-Priest Palanquin

Wild Green Fiendy Liquid

This monstrosity has been sitting on my shelf in a semi-built state for a long long time!  I managed to get 90% of the way through the build but the gaps were starting to bother me so I took a stab at using Green Stuff.  That was a disaster.  Green Stuff is the devils work.  It sticks to your fingers but not metal.  So you need to use, get this, spit or Vaseline to get it to not stick to you which makes it even less likely to adhere to metal.  It cures fairly quickly so if you don’t know what you are doing it starts getting crumbly before you even have it applied to the model.  It is ridiculous.  I wept that day.  I blame Green Stuff for my tendency to drink while doing hobby related things!  Fast forward to mid-last week and a quick stop in at the Scarborough GW to grab some paints.  I notice a bottle on the shelf behind the cash labelled “Liquid Green Stuff”.  I talk to the guy about it.  Ask various questions that he doesn’t really have answers for.  Get him to pop one open and show me the viscosity (about the consistency of, uh, Mayonnaise?).  And end up buying a bottle just to give it a shot.  The verdict is still out but I did get the seams filled (mostly) on my palanquin.  I also used it to fill a ridiculous gap in the neck of one of my Salamaders (see below).

Salamander

Gap was behind the neck frill.

Buying the Liquid Green Stuff reminded me of my Salamanders, I remembered that at least one of them did not fit together well.  I pulled it out of the figure case the other day and got right to work.  The gap in the side of its neck looked like it had been made by a band saw, a large smooth rectangular cut.  I didn’t know specifically how to tackle it so I just started loading up a brush and pushing the filler into the crack, feathering the edges where possible.  Each attempt I let dry for a few hours before applying another coat.  After the last coat I let it dry for almost 24 hours before I took a look at it.  Pretty messy looking but between a file and my hobby knife I was able to clean-up it up to a point where I was confident priming it.  After priming it looked fine to me.

Fiend of Slaanesh

I took out this model last week to see if I could quickly put it together before my game with Justin.  What a laugh.  There are lots and lots of pieces to this model.  All I’ve managed to do is pull out one piece at a time and clean them up.  I have lots left to do and another full Fiend sitting in its blister waiting.  Ugh.

Freebooter’s Fate Amazon Starter

I threatened to Justin that I would grab out the models and get them all finished before him if he didn’t post something to this blog.  He didn’t believe me.  Rightly so.  They are still sitting, untouched, in their box.  I love the look of the models and am pretty interested in trying out the game but, despite all that, I can’t seem to bring myself to take them out and start working on them.  Too much going on I guess, hobby and otherwise.

Lastly, and related to Liquid Green Stuff again, I leave you with this photo:

Steg

I went over to the Meeplemart (local gaming store) last night. A bunch of new stuff came in so I want to take a look. I do have a ton of things to work on at home but I can’t resist the new and shiny stuff.

The latest and greatest stuff on my radar is the Freebooter’s Fate game. Prior to my trip to MM, I did go through the website to figure out which faction I liked the most. For me, it’s all about the models. I could care less if they’re close combat or range oriented. The models just have to appeal to me. The Brotherhood and the Goblins were the front runners but then again, Justin & Andrew picked up the Imperial Armada and Amazons starters respectively. So I went through the stack of minis available and had a hard time deciding. MM had a ton of variety when it came to goblins but a smaller selection of the Brotherhood. No, I didn’t pick up both factions … I do have some will power. Another thing that I noticed was the price tag. Wow, $17 CDN for a single model. Err … that had me thinking until Justin reminded me that you only really need a small handful of models so it not a huge investment to get into this game (vs. GW stuff). Anyways, after some waffling I did go with the Brotherhood. I’m not a big fan of the models that come with the starters so I decided to pick up specific guys.

But not knowing the rules and then discovering later … I need to pick up some regular deckhands so that I can field some specialists. I did pick up a leader (Queen of Shadows) which is an awesome sculpt but then picked up 3 specialists (Miedo a Morir, Fith’Aarch the Spider & Rinero the Strangler). No big deal I guess. The deckhands available weren’t the ones I liked anyways. I have to proxy these guys until MM gets in Coscritti & Halequin.

So that’s last night. Tonight I had some time so I decided to try to put them together. What do I think about these models? Well, I’m very impressed. There was very few mold lines and the pieces fit really well together. I did have to pin a number of pieces but that’s expected with these types of thin models. I love the fact that they all come with floor pieces. I can see how some people would prefer to build their own base but then again, there’s nothing stopping you from not using the supplied floor piece. For me, I’m not quite at the creative stage where I can scratch build great looking bases so I’m thankful for these floor pieces. The Queen of Shadows mini come with this small imp that comes out from under her huge dress. I definitely have to paint that separately and then attach since it would be impossible to get in there to put any detail on her legs if the imp was glued to the base.

So that’s last night. Tonight I had some time so I decided to try to put them together. What do I think about these models? Well, I’m very impressed. There was very few mold lines and the pieces fit really well together. I did have to pin a number of pieces but that’s expected with these types of thin models. I love the fact that they all come with floor pieces. I can see how some people would prefer to build their own base but then again, there’s nothing stopping you from not using the supplied floor piece. For me, I’m not quite at the creative stage where I can scratch build great looking bases so I’m thankful for these floor pieces. The Queen of Shadows mini come with this small imp that comes out from under her huge dress. I definitely have to paint that separately and then attach since it would be impossible to get in there to put any detail on her legs if the imp was glued to the base.

Another small gripe is that the stat cards are on pretty thin card stock. I would have preferred something a bit thicker but since it’s going into a sleeve, it’s really not that big of a deal. I love the vibrant color and the art work that’s on the stat cards. So after putting them together, I have to say the price isn’t that bad.

Since I spent a long time walking around MM, I did find a couple other models that I wanted to try out. The Mercs miniature game is another game on our radar (but it’s further out of range) so I thought I would give one model a try. Initially, I liked the USCR faction models but I wanted to try painting some “thinner” models. I have a ton of GW Imperial guard so I’ve got a fair share of guys in bulky body armor. I decided to try out a KemVar trooper model. Similar to the Freebooter models, this model had very little flash or mold lines. Simple to put together.

The other guy I picked up is not associated with any game system that I know of but I thought he look pretty cool.  His name is Roggus the Fake King. Sinister looking fellow and I’m sure I can fit him into some army. Had to pin both the right hand and the staff but overall, it’s a great model.

I have two weeks to work on these models since next week’s MM day falls on Valentine’s Day and none of us are stupid enough to pick game night over our wives. Not saying that I have anything planned but I know it’s definitely not gaming at Meeplemart.

So all other minis on my workbench are on hold and the freebooter stuff are the next up.

Took Mercs out for another spin tonight.

Steve took the CCC. I took KemVar, for the first time.

KemVar is distinguished by their active camouflage (which puts them in constant cover, making them hard to hit at the best of times), extreme mobility (especially on the assassin, who can also close with the enemy and do two blood on a single charge) and flimsy armour (doesn’t deter assault rifle fire; malfunctions with relative ease).

So what would be the best way to take on an army that closes fast, is almost impossible to hit, and is readily damaged?

Everyone who said “flamethrowers”, come to the head of the class.

We played on Steve’s Xeno-Terror table, full of close quarters and corridors. This is a table that really favours KemVar’s style, and I was eager to try out the last of the factions in my MERCS toolkit. We selected a scenario based on the “Fire Station Epsilon” encounter designed for CCC and USCR, with the objective to get three uncontested figures in the centre space of the table.

I figured I’d get my main army around one side and close the pincer with the Heavy and Assassin coming from the other side. But I got mixed up and sent the Heavy with the main group, and the Assassin and Mechanic went off on their own. Not smart! The Heavy gets a big bonus when he’s on his own, and the Assassin is a key mop-up piece. Instead, I led with the assassin, and grouped the Heavy with the rest of the squad, losing out both on his Heroic Loner bonus and the Leadership benefit from my Assault Leader.

Steve brought his Heavy, Incinerator and Medic up the east half of the table, while his Sniper and Assault Leader snaked around to engage my main force. My assassin inflicted brutal damage on his flamethrower trooper, but once again, hands up everyone who remembers how many Blood tokens the Incinerator can take before dying.

That’s right: four. In the time it took to ambush his one tank, his Heavy waltzed up and demonstrated what happens when a toad gets hit by lightning brawling heavy attacks a lightly-armoured assassin.

Though I took out his medic, it was just a bit too late to save the game for me. I managed to get my troops into the central room, only to have them largely burned out by Steve’s barely limping along Incinerator. A background swordfight saw my Leader put down his Sniper, and my Heavy was able to shut down his Assault Leader eventually. But in the end, the flames got them all.

The moral of the story? Pick those key targets and make sure they go down. Especially when you have key clutch pieces — almost always including the Heavy — in your sights, focus on taking them out to the exclusion of lower-priority troops like Assault Leaders and Snipers.

Here endeth the lesson, but the fire still burns…

I got sidetracked this week with the Diablo 3 beta. I was warned that it’ll suck up all my hobby time but I didn’t listen. I gave it a shot but surprisingly, it didn’t over impress me. I finished the beta and although I did like all the cool graphics, I could take a pass.

Even with this distraction, I did make some time to work on a couple of models. I wanted to play around with some of the techniques that I read about in some of GW painting books that I have. I took bits and pieces from the ‘Eavy Metal Masterclass & How to Paint Citadel Miniatures books. I not much for a ton of mixing of a bunch of paints and then successive shades of highlights but I was curious to see what kinda of results I would get.

With the dragon on the DE sorceress’ arm, I tried the following:

1. Basecoat of chaos black & blood red
2. Highlight of blood red
3. Highlight of blood red & blazing orange
4. Highlight of blazing orange & bleached bone
5. Glaze of Baal Red wash

Although I wasn’t able to pick off a ton of detail, I was happy with the “arm’s length away” look. I used a similar formula with Lilith’s outfit and once again, I went with an “arm’s length away” look and I’m pretty happy. There’s a ton of details with all the buckles on her boots but I decided to not waste a ton of time and go for the tabletop quality.

With the DE skirt, I went with a base coat of chaos black & dark angel green then work up with highlights with snot green and rotting flesh. I used a bunch of other techniques from these books for both their hairs, the DE serpent wand and lilith’s coat. So in the end, I’m pretty happy with the purchase of these painting guides.

 

Edit: I think I need some better pictures … I’ll bring these gals to Meeplemart tonight so that Justin can take some better pics.

Just a quick update on my Fire Gamin progress. Sorry, I just don’t have time to do a detailed post. I’ll put up a workbench post in a day or two as I have started a number of new projects.

Halfway through the washing process.

Kaeris

So I have been struggling with finding a technique for painting fire.  Following a suggestion from Argentbadger I took a stab at working up from yellow and am quite pleased with the results.  First off, I know the Gamin are supposed to be some sort of solid, like Lava or Magma, and wouldn’t be coloured like this.  This assumes that the Gamin’s “heat source” is at their feet.  Just imagine that they are a spout of flame given shape and this look could work.

The wash technique.

Here are the details.  I gave this new Risen model a generous base coat of Golden Yellow.  Then a light wash of Baal Red picking out only the highest areas.  I felt that it started to look kinda junky at this point so I changed focus and gave it a generous red wash around its head.  After drying I washed it again, head and shoulders.  Twice more getting progressively lower on the model.  During each wash I focused a lot on the head to get it as dark as I could.  The photo above is after the last wash but before the model was completely dry.

I could try to implement the same technique over smaller areas, leaving the individual recesses of the model yellow but I don’t think I am quite ready for careful work at that scale yet.  Maybe I could do some work on the base to support the idea of fire coming out of the ground.

I an not 100% convinced that I should have finished by very lightly dry brushing the red.  It seemed to dull it down quite a bit.  I will probably give his head one more wash to liven it up.

After a light white dry brushing.

Anyhow, the next big challenge will be to reproduce these results on an actual Fire Gamin model.  Something tells me that will be easier said than done.

Okay, on to other things….

I’ll start from the end.  Here is where I have gotten her to:

Kaeris mostly base coated

Fairly straightforward stuff here.  To bring her up to this state I used a curry’s #0 tapered flatbrush and a Reaper Pro #0 detail brush.  I blocked in all the metal on her torso.  Boltgun Metal for the backpack and wing mechanism and Shining Gold for the feathers.  Then painted in her skin with Elf Flesh.  I switched over to a Reaper Pro #2 flat brush and blocked in the exterior of her cloak with Fortress Grey.  For the interior I used Codex Grey and a combination of all three previous brushes to get into nooks and to easily coat flat areas.  Last thing I did was lay down some Scorched Brown Graveyard Earth on her pants with the #0 detail brush.

For the base I started at a greyish colour…whatever it was Justin had base coated it with before he gave it to me.  I then gave it a light coat of Fortress Grey and a wash of Badab Black.  Once it was dry I gave the areas between the rocks another wash to darken them up.  I dry brushed on some more grey and finished with a light application of Thraka Green wash.  Not sure I like the look of the green.  I was hoping it would suggest moss or mildew on the rubble.  I’ll work at it some more later.  I did the whole base with:

Stumpy the P3 drybrush

This work was spread out over a few days so, alas, no booze summary.  I will inform you that I did most of this work without drinking any beer.  If you think this seems to be better quality work then before I can assure you that it has nothing to do with the absence of beer, nothing.

I am still obsessed with Manchester Orchestra’s album Simple Math but this time I listened to a bunch of other stuff as well.  Songs of note:  Back and to the Left by Texas is the Reason, The Name of a Street by Metroschifter, and Sleep Is Wrong by Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

Next time: Painting the real Fire Gamin. Also, Kaeris may get an all over wash.

Thanks for reading.

Game 1

Malifaux - The Arcanists

Kaeris, Male Gunsmith, Female Gunsmith, 3x Fire Gamins … 5ss pool, 1ss wasted.

vs Seamus (w/ Sybelle, Belle x3)

I had a great first game with Kaeris.  Part of this had to do with Justin’s choice of playing his Seamus crew.  Going up against a close combat oriented crew during your first game with Kaeris, especially one where the frontline troops have a fairly low Df, really helps Kaeris shine.

My recollection of my first game is pretty spotty now.  I should have taken notes.  Oh well.  Maybe Justin can comment on his observations also.  I do remember that the Fire Gamin felt pretty slow.  I really wanted to get them up into close combat but it seemed to be taking too many activations.  Can’t remember why though.  I think it was that after their first activation they were just a bit outside of charge range and were then relegated to the ranged support role.

Early game things were looking great for Kaeris.  I was peppering damage all over and managed to cheat away the Ranged beatstick that Seamis tried to lay on me.  A early kill in the second turn followed by Justin shrugging and having Seamus bring the Belle straight back to life reminded me that I should totally not be “peppering damage all over”.  Kaeris was then overwhelmed by a fresh crew of undead and a newly healed Seamus.  Lesson learn.  Fun game though.

Conclusion:  This battle really demonstrated for me the raw shooting power Kaeris has.  She behaves a lot like Rasputina.  But where Rasputina focuses her shooting to deal massive damage Kaeris spreads the love around.  Follow this with one of her spells to either reburn everyone with a token or seriously burn one model who has a token and you have a pretty versatile damage delivery system.

My big mistake:  Spreading the love around.  It had been so long since I played Malifaux that I forgot how Seamus worked.  I spread the damage around trying to kill everyone when I should have focussed on Seamus.

Loss.

Game 2

vs Ramos (w/ Hans, Large Steampunk Arachnid, Arachnid Swarm, Brass Arachnid)

The following is an exact transcript of part of my post game night chat with Justin…
Justin:  So how do you feel about Kaeris’ performance tonight?
me:  boo
I f****d it up
I was really tired…I didn’t want to get cranky so I just did an assault
it worked ok
but left her too exposed
it worked ok in that I didn’t get cranky AND she killed and wounded some things
Justin:  I think all that should be your next post 
me:  probably
I’ll write something up
Justin:  Yeah, maybe if you had gotten rid of a few more threats first, like Hans, then you could have brought her out.  But Ramos can be nasty.

This may not make sense to most so I’ll give a little explanation.  I was really worn down and didn’t feel like going to game night.  I specifically asked Ilan to come join us so that we would be an even number though.  So I had to go.  When I am tired and things are not working for me I can be a little bitch.  I know it, Justin knows it, I can’t help it.  It isn’t irritation with him (or whomever my opponent is), it is irritation about knowing what I want my army to do but not having the clarity to make it happen.  When things start going wrong because I made a bad move I get pretty upset.  When I am well rested and can focus on my strategy a defeat doesn’t upset me.  Often a defeat is just as fun as a victory, especially a close call.  This irrational emotion is why I try not to play when I am tired.  Doing an assault meant I had predetermined what all my models would do and just needed to think about two things; what order to activate in, and how to max out the damage they would do.  This strategy took a lot of the burden off of my already tired mind so that I could just enjoy the game, come what may.  Now, this is not meant to be an excuse for being defeated.  Scott did a great job in his first game of selecting the right abilities and spells to use, what models to focus on, etc…  A well deserved win.  I got a pretty early kill in too so had I managed to keep Kaeris alive through that fateful “Paralyzed” turn it would have been anyone’s game.

After Kaeris was destroyed Scott and I talked about whether I should just surrender or go on.  He wanted to play it out but it was getting late and without Kaeris to manipulate Burning Tokens my damage potential is sorely reduced.

Conclusion:  This game taught me that Kaeris is fragile, just like most everyone else.  If you move her out into the open she is going to get picked on and you are going to waste all your good cheats and soul stones keeping her alive.  Well, I didn’t even manage that.

My big mistake:  Moving Kaeris out.  This could have been remedied by dropping a big wall of fire at the end of her activation to block Ramos.  Better to keep her in cover though.

Loss.