Here are some pictures of my next Malifaux crew. I usually don't post unpainted stuff on this blog, but I'm particularly proud of the sculpting. I'm using the Lucius list, but I'm using it to represent a organized crime syndicate that is at odds with the MSU. This syndicate, which manipulates and exists within the guild's hierarchy, specializes in smuggling guild prisoners back over the breach. I wanted this crew to have a distinct Oriental feel, but not to be "The Malifaux Tongs". This syndicate is run by the shadowy sentient construct, the Clockwork Dandy(left centre). I'm using my Desperate mercenaries as Guild Guard and filling using the two pistol wielding gents as Guild Gaurd Captains and the guy with the eagle as an Austinger.

Flying High

Edo, 1870 - The Blazing son press office has just confirmed the launch of their newest aerial vessel, the IAS Tenshi. Capitalizing on the latest anti-gravity lifting device, the Tenshi is slated to replace the older war gyros that have comprised the emperor's aerial fleets so far.

Above are some pictures of my scout gyro conversion. The official models are not out yet, and I'm not too fussed with the preview renders, so I made my own. The one model for the Japanese Faction that I'm absolutly in love with is their flying carrier. I decided to do an all flying Blazing Sun's fleet. I really liked the detail of their much maligned "train ships" so I decided to turn them upside-down by carfully sawing off the pilot house and the AA emplacements. The conversion turned out well. I actually think the Japanese ships look more like ships when you turn them upside-down. Next I'll do a larger war gyro and fill the rest out with carriers. The advantage of flying models is that they are pretty expensive points wise, so I won't need to spend a whole lot of money to get to 1000 points.

Pedagogical Techniques

Ask and you shall receive dear readers. I'm devoting this post to my painting technique fore my Dystopian Wars painting technique. Here is picture of one of my painted and rigged battleships. I was bestowed one of the highest nerd honours last week when my FLGS offered a place in their display case for my DW fleet.

This is the first blog post that uses a photograph taken in my new photobooth. My pictures are getting better, but as they do, they are revealing the painting mistakes that the poorer photos hide.

Without further ado here is the recipe for my quick and easy DW paint scheme.

Prime White

Hull

• Basecoat with Vallejo Model Colour German Beige Camo.
• Wash with GW Devlan Mud(the thicker the better).
• When dry, paint the panels with German Beige Camo leaving the areas around the rivets and seams darker.
• Pick out the hard edges and the gunwales with Vallejo Model Colour Iraqi Sand.

Deck

• Basecoatwith Vellejo Model colour Mahogony Sand.
• Wash with GW Devlan Mud.
• Drybrush with 50/50 mix of VMC Ochre Brown and Saddle Brown
• Lightly drybrush with 50/50 mix of the above mixture with Iraqi Sand

Details

• Windows were just filled in with VMC Deep Sky Blue
• Metal was done with basecoat metal(GW Tin Bitz, Bolgun Metal, Etc), washed with Devlan Mud and highlighted with GW Chainmail.

I hope that helps. Its dead easy and makes a good, quick result.

Stay tuned. I photographed my process for rigging and should be releasing a tutorial soon.

Cardiff Steamer

coming out from the other side of the application season, I finally got some serious painting. I succumbed to the new hotness at the local store here in Cardiff and bought a fleet for Dystopian Wars. Being the token Yank at the store I had to go for the FSA. It was convenient that they were my favourite models of the whole range. The figures are a joy to paint. I really can't compliment them enough. Spartan is really showing us the future of miniature making. I think the process of designing figures on CAD and having them 3D printed had finally matured where it can create models that are superior to more old fashion methods.

I'm really pleased with how these turned out, with the devlin mud adding a grungy feel. I went the extra mile and added a mast and some rigging. I think it adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the models. I have two battleships and some aircraft left to paint and then I'll be ready to enforce the Monroe doctrine at the barrel of a gun!

Some Steamy Capitalism

I figure I would post a photo and a link to a converted Malifaux crew I featured here a while ago, and is now up on ebay. There is a miss-spelling in the listing, so be assured that there is less competition for bids. Free UK shipping and reduced international shipping if it goes for over 60 pounds.

Thanks for looking.

Mechaniarachniphobia

Here are a few pictures of my first professional sculpt. Its a 15mm scale steam spider. It is designed for 15mm but as you can see by the last picture, it fits in with 28mm figures as well. The legs are separate and are on ball joints, so the figure is very poseable.

The figure will be produced by Aegis Figures.

Straight outta Malifaux

Here is a picture of my attempt at making some Desperate Mercenaries, a new unit from the second Malifaux book. These are converted from some Copplstone Castings High Adventure figures. I wanted them to be somewhat cohesive so I sculpted some cleavers out of styrene. I imagine them to be some sort of strange Malifaux axe gang.

I'm trying to improve my photography. I think the lighting is a little better, but I think that I still need to eliminate some shadows.

My Malifauxificent Return

Desolation engine, Four A Miniatures.

Steampunk Abominations. Left two are Mantic ghouls, while the right one is Four A again.

Necropunks, Four A Miniatures.

Hollow Waifs. Right, West Wind. Left Copplestone.

I fell like I've done more comeback tours than Cher. I'm now settled into my new room in Cardiff and I thought that I would show you, my loyal readers, the fruits of my unemployment...

Here are some pictures of my freshly painted steampunk undead for Malifaux. After a three month painting hiatus, I tried to bring my A game to these figures. They are all pretty heavily converted with various bits I had lying around. I am especially proud of the Desolation engine, both in painting and converting.

This group of figures primarily uses miniatures from the relatively new Four A miniatures. I have blogged about them before briefly. This is the first time that I really had a chance to work on and paint the figures that I bought from them back in April. The casting is clean and well defined. The figures take paint well and gave me a chance to put some love into them. They are well worth a look.

I was also mightily impressed with the Mantic plastic ghouls. They are really detailed and at times have finer features than a metal figure ever could. Mantic is really showing what plastic can do. They were also a joy to paint. I'm going to be keeping them in mint if I ever need more undead stuff.

The HOTT sands of Mars

Some pictures of last nights game at the club. We used the HOTT rules to play a game of British colonials versus Martian beastmen. there were 72 AP per side. The game was a blast and a the figures (painted by my friend Steve) were superb.

A fair bit of comparison

From left to right, West wind(heavily modified), GW, Privateer Press, Four A, Heresy

I wanted to post a quick review and size comparison of the new tophat miniature from Four A miniatures. Four A is a new company based out of county Durham. I'd like to add that, even though Andy at Four A and I are realtivly close in proximity, I am in no way affiliated with the company. I have only met Andy recently and I have never gamed with him. Rest assured this review is objective and independent.

Tophat is arguably the most promising figure form the new range. I was immediately drawn to the figure as a substitute in Malifaux for Hans, since I was not too fond of the stock Wyrd miniature. What I really like about this figure is that it dosent go overboard with the steampunk elements, somthing that Privateer and Wyrd have been guilty of in the past. This figure suits me fine. The details are crisp and the casting is very clean. Although, I would expect this since its coming out of brand new mold.

The figure is listed as being 38mm from the feet to the top of the hat. This has drawn some flak on the LAF, being rather large for a 28mm figure. The turth is that this is a very large 28mm figure, but a 28mm figure none the less. You can see from the comparison above, that Tophat is much taller than other heroic 28's. That being said, the proportions are similar to the more popular lines out there. I think he'll fit into my existing figures as a taller man.

Overall I would recommend this figure for any steampunk or sci-fi gamer. Despite its size, it fits well with most existing line and should fit even more with official Malifaux miniatures. I hope that all of Four A future figures are not all so big, but I think this one provides some good variety in a Malifaux crew. A great start for the fledgling miniature company.

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.

I Drink Your Milkshake!!!!!

I drink it up!

Here are a few pictures of a conversion about to get some paint. I have always wanted to do some steampunk fantasy skirmish, but didn't like the ridiculousness of most of Privateer Press' models. So I decided to convert a few to meet my steampunk needs. The above figure is a conversion of a variant of Allister Cain. I romoved the steam generator on his backpack and resculpted the arms. The revolver in his hand is from Wyrd miniatures and the other pistol is an old 6mm plastic space ork heavy weapon from epic 40k. I think he kinda looks like Daniel Day Lewis' character in There Will be Blood. He would work well for any steampunk game, including Warmachine. I figure he would also work as some sort of officer in Rogue Trader.

Some Steampunk Inspriation

http://www.clockworkquartet.com/

Here is some inspiration for you steampunk wargamers and RPGers out there. This group performs what I would call "Steampunk Ballads". They only have two songs, but their production values are good and the performers are talented. These songs get me in the mood to do some Gothic Horror miniature gaming.

Steampunk Ipod Work in Progress

Here are some scans of the finished woodwork. I think the carving on the back is a little crude. However, I'm very please with how the clockwork in the back turned out. I'm debating on how finish the wood work. I'll probably end up staining it and topping it off with urethane to give it that classic wood finish.

The final brass work has been a bit problematic. I can't find brass that's thin enough to work with. I'll probably have to wait until I visit Pittsburgh later this month and buy some at the art store.

I'm also not exactly sure how to finish the top edge. I would like to fashion it after the top of a pocket watch, with a metal loop and a winding knob. I'll have to go back to Michael's to look for suitable beads.

Some Notes and Sketches

I was working on the steampunk Ipod today and I figured that I would post some of my concept sketches. Sorry for the crude scan. These sketches were completed a few weeks ago and have been traveling at the bottom of various boxes ever since.

I wanted the final case to have a lot of Victorian scroll work along with the other, more traditional steampunk elements. Since I am a very poor artist, I had to play around with the scroll work untill I got some patterns that I liked.

The wood carving is nearly done. Next comes all the brass work.

We're all just a cog in the machine....

This is for all of you steampunk aficionados out there. I picked these up at Michael's craft store yesterday to put into my steampunk Ipod(more on that later). They retail for $4.99 and come with an assortment of gears, cogs, and flywheels that are all about 1 - 3/4 inches in diameter. These would be great for steampunk vehicles or scenery. I think they were in the scrapbooking section, of all places.