#ToMB Claw & Fang Vol. 6

Tale of Malifaux Bloggers: March-April

Calm before the Storm

Well as I continue my #ToMB adventure I found that not only did Month 1 prove to myself I could still actually paint, it proved that I needed to stock up, especially on brushes and a few paints.

Now I thank everyone who has sent given me positive feedback about the Sabertooth Cerberus' tattoos, but I will tell you now, this may sound big headed maybe but, I can do better!

Also while painting "Red" I found I lacked paints in my collection I thought I had and then, while checking through the rest it occurred to me a lot of metallics had diminished by running out or drying up.

this wouldn't help with Month 2's additions of Metal Gamin.

So off to Element Games I went, thanks to both the awesome advice from them and others on twitter @elementgames_ (for their Twitter handle) also have an excellent lot of painting and modelling tutorials you can look at.
For the lazy amongst you this is a link!

Combined with a small amount of money and element crystals I had been saving, I bought some bits.

First thing in my shopping cart were some new brushes, a GW medium dry and Wash brush, both of these needed replacing as I had wrecked them. I'm used to these brushes and they are decent.

Maybe they aren't the "best on the market", but I thought I'd stick with what I know.

Well I say this, but the other brush I got was from Element Games own range. I'd heard a lot of good things from the people who had picked them up, so I grabbed the "Regiment" (basically a standard) brush and it's fantastic. Smooth, keeps it point, I like it!

Grabbed a brighter red, some of the new technical paints I hadn't tried and some metallics, couple of vallejo and an army painter one to match the "big purchase" a can of plate mail spray.

Finished off with the tufts I'd forgotten to grab with my basing bits box filler and a wash I'd run low on.

A little bit of basing

Now in an amazing fashion, I needed to grab some snow, GW now has hair like snow flock and it doesn't give the best results, unless you want hairy white bases.

I'd heard the GF9 stuff was decent and I aimed to stock up with that...

...but I hadn't.

What could I do snow with?

Now my normal way of doing snow is simply snow flock + pva mixed into a sludge, watered down a little and applied.

In a previous post I had some Dark Eldar with basing like this which I'm fairly pleased with.

Looking at Elements snow basing tutorial it seemed that Byron does basically the same, bar he was using something I did have:

Thanks Mum!

So I tweeted about the joy of this as I sat in my backgarden getting on with hobby.

A lot of good advice came back to me but unfortunately it was too late.

I say "unfortunately" but really I was fine, unless the Bicarbonate of Soda ages very differently to the snow flock I should be ok for a while.

After drybrushing the base up a couple of greys I added the mix to this guy and am quite happy.

It worked!

I also think it works well with his brighter palette as it helps him "pop" from the base.

Currently I think Red XIII is 100% done, but I can see adding that handy dandy poison ivy in the future.

If I do I will have to similar things to this:

Donkey Cojo has got himself a couple of tufts and something I ripped completely from Byron's tutorial is brushing some of the "sludge mix" across the top of the tufts to let them catch some snow.

I did this a bit more with the guys I previewed in Friday's post.

You will looking at these that in some places the snow may need another layer, I sometimes like adding an even more watered down layer to create a melted look. 

The Metal Gamin will want a bit more of this as in their core, their essence is the soul of creation the burning power of a steam engine.

These guys paint wise were all fairly simple and were a nice fast distraction.

As well as a lot of my Ramos crew bits these guys were sprayed with the plate mail metal after a black undercoat.

I decided that I wouldn't be able to tie these guys into a video game theme like the Claw and Fang pieces without them maybe looking silly.

I did paint the larger Gamin over with alot of Bronze and Gold to make his colour pallette more like "Robo" from the fantastic Chrono Trigger.

Don't worry all you video game nerds shaking your monitors, shouting about all the robots that are in video games. I do plan, though not part of #ToMB to hint at things with almost all my Arcanists.

This means I have plans. 

The next stage was heavy washes and a few plays around with the GW verdigris and what I was using as oil leak paint.

Both are decent, I have also seen the Corrosion paint been used with it's partner the rust and it's decent.

For those who don't want to learn to do Verdigris it is a quick and easy method and it does have the added benefit of being a mix in a pot which means you can match easier.

These guys aren't completely finished.

They need some fiery glows from their vents, that extra bit of snow and maybe a touch of metal highlights.

Overall though, these guys are happily tabletop right now and like Cojo who needs his tie and maybe a barrel, I can happily field them as "done".

Thanks Again

Don't forget to check out Element Games and Malifools 

Catch me on twitter with any questions about #ToMB or anything else.

Currently I'm rounding up any of you who are going to #MCC and want to be on #SimeTime

@barnaberible has made a good claim to one of the 3 slots.

Gotta love MS Paint!

Also please, please, don't forget to get those #MFXTOP entries done for April's "Minions" category where you have until the end of April to get 2-4 minions painted up (more details in the previous blog post).

Remember just tweet them to @TheMalibros or @psientologist with the hashtag saying that they are done and are your entry.

Thanks again for reading. Next #ToMB update may be a more gaming one as I have had at least 2 more since (including my first loss).

-Ben (@psientologist) [Listening to the soundtrack from Hotline Miami]

#MFXTOP March Winner, April theme and more!

#MFXTOP MARCH

We had 20 fantastic entries in March's "Wave 2" theme, but now it is time to pick a winner.

Thanks again to Element Games as the winner will receive a voucher to spend in their store.

Time for that classic countdown:

Third Place

In at third place is model that I heard a lot of buzz about,

also definitely in my personal top 3.

It's @proximocoal

and his extremely tidy and characterful Mr Graves (sir)...

...the softness of the felt, the perfect spot of red, has earnt 11%  of the votes.

Second Place

I start this description with an apology, I admitted on
@malifools that I voted the person who came in second last month,
I think I cursed @dudewaaagh as I voted him myself.
I however, was not the only one and "Princess Peach" earnt itself 19% of the votes.

First Place

And the winner.

With 46% of the votes!

@wrkbnchwarriors

We have our very first back to back winner in the form of Richard.

His excellent Hooded Rider shows a whole range of awesome techniques.

The lighting on the eye, the NMM on the sword and much more.

The base itself is also fantastic, totally thematic and those cards...

@wrkbnchwarriors is the Winner of #MFXTOP3 "Wave 2"

and March's

Tyrant of Painting.

#MFXTOP Month 4

Before revealing the theme for April...

Don't forget each month the winner gets a voucher for Elementgames.co.uk

Also I have still have a challenge for all the #MFXTOP entrants of now and the future, my "stretch goals".

The more entrants the more awesome bits of @malifools swag I will give away:

• If we hit 25 entrants I will send out something to who comes in second place.

• If we beat 27 entrants (we got 27 in January) then I will send prizes out to second and third place.

• Lastly (for now) 35 entrants, is my top goal and I will not only be doing all the above, but I will have a winner from each faction in the game (that includes Gremlins) who scored the most votes meaning 7 total prizes being given away.

As previously mentioned, "entrants" refers to people entering, not the amount of miniatures.

STOP THE PRESS. MORE PRIZES

As #MFXTOP moves on and continues to gain new entrants I feel that maybe it's time for some more chances at a title and a prize.

Each month now will have a Best Newcomer award for whoever received the most votes and has not entered #MFXTOP before.

The prize itself is yet, to be decided, but they will get something shiny and be happy in the knowledge they are that month's Best Newcomer.

So everyone who has and wants to continue to support this competition, continue to enter, but tweet about it and spread the love!

April's Theme

For April #MFXTOP is a "5 week month", this means everyone has more time to work on:

"Minions"

For April we will have the first competition where you must paint more than one model.
The rules are, more complex, but still very simple, the restrictions:

1. Your models must be Minions (like the title) or Peons
2. Your models must be the same name (e.g. Illuminated)
3. You must paint between no less than 2 models
4. You must paint no more than 4 models
5. Your models combined cost must be a minimum of 6ss
6. Your models combined cost can be no more than 21ss

Examples:

• 4 Bayou Gremlins (not less than 2, not more than 4) combined cost of 12ss
• 3 Rail Workers (not less than 2, not more than 4) combined cost of 15ss

One exception to these restrictions is Performers and Mannequins breaking rule 2.

As always, if you find another exception that fits the theme, tweet me.

Also a visual example and a preview for my #ToMB month 2, 3 Metal Gamin:

As always, if somehow this confuses you or you have any other questions, contact me at either @TheMaliBros or @psientologist on twitter.

Please feel free to leave a comment here or on any of the other blog posts I've made.

Finally go out and grab yourself a some minions from Element Games and listen to that lovely @oldmanmyke on Malifools and Fools Daily.

-Ben (@psientologist)

#MFXTOP March Voting

Time to pick

This is a page of all the finals entries with the names of the entrant in one place.

Please have a good look over them all and then click the link to the poll at the bottom.

You don't have to have entered or do anything special to vote, just click that link, you get one vote, so use it wisely!

So in alphabetical order (by twitter handle):

@dude_abiding

_________

@dudewaaagh

_________

@elessarion30

_________

@gorbad13

_________

@gorillawizard

_________

@Joel__Henry

_________

@laundry_king

_________

@lemonconstruct

_________

@markjbyrne 

_________

@NigelSBartlett

_________

@PanzerHarris

_________

@proximocoal

_________

@rythos42

_________

@sassylady1970

_________

@sir_reeves

________

@the_Big_Ned

_________

@Therril_83

_________

@tigerstyle40k

_________

@wrkbnchwarriors

_________

@zacgoldenhall

_________

CLICK HERE TO PLACE YOUR VOTE!

#MFXTOP March Week 4 Update

The End of (the) March

#MFXTOP Month 3 comes to a close.
As with previous month's we have some cracking entries in the last week of the competition.

Let's have a look:

Week 4 Entries

Coming in early this week it's @tigerstyle40k 

He's been working on a fair bit of Neverborn recently,
check out his Twitter feed, this is one of it's many highlights

Next is a fantastic proxy for The Captain

by @The_Big_Ned

Love the rich red coat and the skin is clean and tidy.

Not many people did Masters this month

but @dude_abiding took his chance

and it has paid off with this fantastic fiery Kaeris

In life, you always find someone,

someone that bests you at something.

@dudewaaagh and his Dreamer Mario crew are that.

I urge you to check his blog here

Not only is all amazing, he's beat me to the DK with tie,

I am planning on stealing his awesome case idea though.

@Malibites host gave me some love and sent

in this Soulstone Miner (not that love, get your mind out of the gutter)

@zacgoldenhall has done more with Ramos' bits, you should check it all out

Speaking of podcasts, from the awesome @malifools *shameless plug*

it's @Joel__Henry also with an awesome Wave 2 proxy

this is Vasilisa, I love the Harley Quinn colours!

Good old Joe Taylor @laundry_king

with a fantastic paint job on an understated model,

the eyes are great, the red is rich and overall it's fantastic

A last second from @TheMalibros legend of (episode 1 mentioning?) 

Ole! aka @Gorbad13

with this excellent Silent One

To finish this month, last month's winner @wrkbnchwarriors 

Did have an amazing Gracie, but has worked on this especially for #MFXTOP

A sweet, Hooded Rider. So many awesome parts to this!

Done

Go check out the next post for voting the winner of #MFXTOP March where I will have all the pictures in one handy place, scroll down, click the link, choose your winner, done.

You will have from RIGHT NOW until midnight (GMT) 27th of March.

Don't forget to come back Friday for the announcement of the winner and April's theme.

Plus maybe another announcement, hmmm... I like to spice it up!

-Ben (@psientologist)

2 for 1 - Mei Feng

Top Picks to add to Mei's Arsenal

This is the first in what I hope will be a little series of looking at the Wave 2 Malifaux release from a master to master basis and what works well with them.

I realise that is not how everyone plays the game, it is usually about factions, but as discussed on this weeks @malifools a lot of people do pick Masters and not factions.

The reason for this article (and hopefully future ones) is Wave 2 is HUGE and still fairly new to most people.

I for one am still taking crews and "testing" Wave 2 models.

Also, if you go to tournaments with the Soulstone Pool system or an equivalent, this may help you make some decisions.

Warning, these are thoughts and opinions. They could be utter rubbish.

Arcanists

5. Coryphee

Nasty, fast, deadly.

The Coryphee is a Wk 7 Construct, this is something I look at and get excited about when using Mei Feng as her power comes from Rail Walker.

Wk 7 allows the Coryphee to easily become the second or third "stop" for Mei.

At 7 Soulstones, it is a big chunk cheaper than the current (wave 1) fast constructs Big H and the Rail Golem.

The downside is that 4wds is very low and will be annihilated fairly easily, if hit.

Don't stay bunched up with these.

Solid all around model with only Dance Partner being the only part of the card that doesn't synergise with Mei Feng specifically.

4. The Firestarter

Ok, so this isn't a construct, but can offer a few other things.

First of all, this is M&SU, this may sound like a stretch but other M&SU things will still be in your crews, regardless of the addition of the Foundry.

Unsurprisingly, this guy is all about Burning.

This means Mei can be set up to hit harder with her Tiger Claws if The Firestarter has been burning things already and once you've started to stack up burning you will actually be able to earn VPs if they are the cause of death as long as the Firestarter is about.

The other great combination and the main reason he is on the list, is the combination of him and the Emberling. FIRE!

3. Mechanical Rider

Painted by @OldManMyke

Again, another fast construct with a Wk of 6.

Not only is the Mechanical Rider a great second or third "stop" like the Coryphee is, the Rider can then start creating new stops from the second turn onwards.

Also Mech Rider has a couple of things over the Coryphee.

First is that it can take a lot more abuse, this is expected however at it's cost.

The second bit is Fated Strike draws cards!

I love card draw as we all know, but the "Mei Haters" always complain she is card dependant, sometimes even suit dependant. Well this can help go a long way to sort those things out.

Mechanical Rider also has a lot more it's own tricks up it's sleeve and remains a fantastic addition to any Arcanists arsenal.

2. Arcane Effigy

This little guy is another significant non-peon, with Hard to Kill to add to her pool.

It's a construct, it's only 4 soulstones and has got a higher defense than the Metal Gamin (though only armour +1).

On top of this you get what is probably the cheapest access to condition removal she can get and if that's not all Arcane Radiance synergises well with her too.

It essentially means that you get her inbuilt Mask trigger without having to pick it, if they do decline to get Burning, they're discarding cards and that might just be better.

1. Willie

He is Willie!

Ok, I'll elaborate, but I don't feel I should need to.

First of all he is Foundry and synergises with her themed crew as he did in 1.5.

He has blasts at range, something there isn't really the largest selection of for Mei Feng to choose from, Vapormancy is a thing and Kang can shoot.

Willie has a fair bit of scheme marker interaction, this is also something, the Foundry especially lacked outside of Ten Thunders.

6 Soulstones is a bargain. He isn't a construct, but bar maybe Kang, he is the only thing you'll probably take that isn't.

Ten Thunders

5. Toshiro the Daimyo

I have to admit Toshi is mostly here as I just like him.

However, Daimyo is potentially a strong ability with Rail Workers a stable of Mei Feng crews everywhere.

Implacable Assault and this for ++Attack, with the + to damage makes the likeliness of negative damage flips quite low.

War Eternal is a great trigger that can be used in a similar fashion to why the Mechanical Rider is good with Mei, get those 7's, dig for that mask to Leap Aside.

Mei doesn't use corpse marker's so not only is The Daimyo's Price some free value, it also works very well with the Avatar, Focused may not be much of a shackle to throw off but I think we can all appreciate more ways of giving her minions Fast.

The War Fan is also a great addition, especially with it's Samurai Champloo trigger, again Mei has slow crew members, so let's push that Worker up and give him an even scarier threat range!

4. Mr Tannen

Painted by @PanzerHarris

Mr Tannen is a very unique guy, simply having him around can swing combats your way thanks to Cooler.

Letting you cheat and your opponent potentially not being able to, means that with Mei specifically you can set up stronger attacks or even set up a perfect Leap Aside.

Bore to Tears is a similar ability, helping Mei's slower crew catch a hold up it's foe and Yawn can have a similar and potentially more powerful effect on combats like Cooler.

Leave it to Luck also can help Mei Feng, not with her Kick from Punch Street Fighter combo, but if she wants to leap, burn or slash at multiple enemies, doing these all at a starting total of 8 is pretty ace.

Finally, my favourite thing about Tannen is he can get Chatty, not Mei specific, just a powerful ability.

3. Komainu

This guy comes in at the same cost as a Rail Worker, isn't quite better or worse.

What it does is attacks from a different angle and I can see mixing these up against different opponents.

Attacking Willpower rather than Defense can be huge is certain match ups.

Rend the Soul is a solid attack, comparable to the Rail Worker but this can put out Slow and for more synergy, yes that's right, it's Burning again.

Like Rail Workers, Construct, tick, Hard to Kill, tick. A good little doggy/lion statue thing.

2. Shadow Effigy

Ctrl+C Ctrl+V Arcane Effigy

While the Shadow Effigy doesn't have quite as synergistic abilities on the back of it's card as the Arcane.

Remember the Mission is fantastic and Blend Into Shadow can turn a combat or help Mei leap the hell out of there (well usually further into there, no not there, there).

1. Willie

Well I'm not explaining this again.

Hope this helps

What wave 2 models are you looking forward to using in your Mei Feng crews?

Do you totally disagree with things on my lists?

Who would you like us to cover next?

Answers on a postcard... sorry no, in the comments or on twitter.

Thanks for reading.

Byeeeeee

-Ben (@psientologist)