Its Electric! Boogey Woogy.

Here is a pic of a more unusual figure for my Malifaux Arcanists. As far as a know, Wyrd doesn't make a figure for the electrical creation, which is essentially a walking bomb that the arcanist can summon to the battlefield. There are a few versions of the construct on the web. I made mine from a foundry Ancient German that I had lying around. I removed the head and the bits from the figure and replaced the head with a ball of greenstuff. I really wanted this figure to be humanoid, but have no distinguishing personal features. I really think Malifuax is an opportunity to play with some subtle horror themes. The fantasy Inuit and the electrical creation are a few 'studies' I did with faceless miniatures. I'm trying to use that facelessness to make the figures slightly disturbing.

The painting was really simple. I tried again to practice the source lighting. This was a really interesting piece since I wanted to give the effect that the whole figure was glowing and casting a pool of light on the base. Overall, I'm pleased with the results.

More Magnificent Malifaux

I've been going forward with my Malifaux figures. Todays pictures are my Arcanist converted from the West Wind european vampire hunters set. I originally was not too keen on these figures. Some of the old West Wind figures suffered from strange poses and some odd feature(club hands, no ears, etc.). However these figures provided a really good base for some resuclpting and positioning. I so far have used every figure from the pack save for one. They fit the Malifaux feel pretty well. These guys will the the fleshy component for for a Miners and Steamfitters Union themed crew. Next thing to paint is the small horde of steam spiders.

First is the Victor Strausborg, budding mechanical sorcerer and tinkerer. I think the source lighting turned out better this time. Its a lot more subtle. I think this will make a good alternate(I don't like the word proxy) Ramos. I can honestly say that this is the first time I have ever sculpted eyebrows on a miniature. I'm not really happy about the flame in his hand. Fire was always something that i have had trouble painting. It goes against every painting instinct that I have accumulated over the years. Instead of highlighting the tips of the flame you need to highlight the base, where it is brightest. Its good enough for government work. I find there is a point on every figure where you should jsut stup messing with it, or you'll make it worse. I think I'm at that point with this figure.

Next up is the Slobodan the hunchback. He will standing in for Johan, Renegade Steamfitter. I wasn't too keen on the stock figure from Wyrd. He just didn't look like the "working man" that the fluff portrays. He looks more like he just stepped out of the Ultimate Fighting Ring. I did a lot of conversion work on this figure. The goggles, bandanna, and hunch on his back were all added with greenstuff. I tried to make the figure look greasy, like hes been elbow deep in some engine all day. I use liberal amounts of Valeo Smoke to acheive this effect. While Devlan Mud is a better general wash, Smoke is really good a for a variety of special effects. I use it for deep shading when I'm doing source lighting and as a grease when painting machines of various sorts.

I also received my Malifaux rulebook in the Mail today. There are plenty of other more extensive reviews out there, so I will not go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that I really like the rules. Not only the system, but the way it is written as well. Despite being a departure from the norm, the books is well laid out and written. I'm having no trouble understanding the rules and getting a grasp of this very innovative system. I hope they later release a system for constructing our own custom characters, since I think these rules would be great for some light role-playing.

Back Again and Building Steam

Again the heady responsibilities of studenthood keep me from my Blogging obligations. That and not having anything worthwhile to show you. Anyway, I have been working on some cool steampunk miniatures in preparation to play the new skirmish game Malifaux. I love historicals, but sometimes one needs to work on something a little whimsical. I really feel that deep down, fantasy steampunk is my favorite genre to paint and play(cyberpunk be a very close second).

I included some pictures of the unpainted conversions. You may recognize the Captain Alister Cain conversion I did a while ago. It now has a coat of Paint and is ready to shoot down neverborn and witches of all stripes. I haven't bought the book, but I think that I will be using these as Guild gunfighters. The figures from Wyrd are very nice, but I wanted something a bit different. The other miniatures are the Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team. I really like these figures, they are finely sculpted and are not too busy with details, something that modern miniatures are prone to be. Also in the picture are the steam spiders that I constructed out of beads from our local bead shop(which is called Libeado, clever). I like the Wyrd Brass Arachnid, but I am poor student so I had to improvise. I did buy one Bras Arachnid to get the stat card. I think that these would also be very useful for role-playing. I am particularly proud of the the small centre spider. The legs are made from suspension struts from an Airfix kit that I had been converting into a grav tank.

I sculpted all the bases out of greenstuff over standard lipped bases, which was not as hard as I though it would be. I carved a manhole cover for the top had wearing character's base. I'm rather pleased with the result. Although I wish I had my Dremel here so I could mill more circular pieces of styrene.

I had a lot of fun painting these. Took my time and really tried some new techniques in painting these. It felt like I spent just as much time trying to get the bases to look right as I did painting the models! There was plenty of reference material to go around. Durham is full of cobbled streets which I could observe and really get a feel for. The advantage of living here instead of just visiting is that I can see cobbles(and other surfaces) in various conditions, which is real help when painting. How do cobbles look when they are under a street light? All I have to do is look at them when I go into town next.

I tried to do a bit of source lighting on the magic user. This technique is really a holy grail of fantasy painting for me. It gives a sort of mysticism that really suits certain universes. Malifaux is one of those dark settings where the bleakness is punctuated with glowing magical effects that really stand out. I'm not entirely convinced that I succeeded with the overall effect. The more I look at it, the more I think its off somehow. I would appreciate if any of the expert painters on the intertoobz could shed some light on the subject.


Thats all for now. Stay tuned for more photos and ramblings.

Monster Hunters

Here is a photo of some Victorian monster hunters that painted for "Chaos in Carpathia", a game written by my friend Scott Pyle. These guys spent an entire campaign getting maimed by various creatures of the night. One thing you will come to find, gentle readers, is that while I love miniature wargames, I am very bad at them. I blame my lack of skill on a youth spent playing Orks in Warhammer 40k. One does not learn subtlety charging masses of greenskins into the teeth of Space Marine heavy weapons.

But I digress. Here are the monster hunters.


The left most figure is the West Wind Watson figure from their Vampire Wars range. Vampire Wars has some real gems, but they show their age when compared to West Wind's newer figures.

The left center is a West Wind Victorian civilian with an added torch, pistol and bowler.

The center figure is converted from the Foundry Christmas set "The Chestnut Seller." The original chestnut bag was clipped away and replaced with a stake made of an old wire spear. The mallet was made from a paper clip and a section of plastic Q-tip stem.

The right center is a Foundry cowboy with the chestnut sellers head. I suppose I could also use him as a Pinkerton detective in Old West games.

The right figure is an unconverted Vampire Wars figure which has been given a suitably dandyish paintjob. I used him as a mesmerist in Chaos in Carpathia.