I’ve been eyeing Malifaux for a while.  The models are cool and different from the 40k stuff I’ve been spending so much time with.  The rules seem interesting, too, although I’ve only played one demo game.

When Wyrd announced a summer painting contest, I decided that would give me an excuse to pick up a crew and paint it up.  I went with the Dark Debts set, lead by Jakob Lynch.  It seems like a well-supported crew in plastic, and I’m intrigued by the hand manipulation rules he has.

Here’s the full crew.  I like that the three Illuminated are very distinct models, although it does mean that repeats will stand out.

Jakob was my entry into the painting contest.  His coat and pants match the blue that I’m using for the Brilliance energy stuff throughout the rest of the crew.  The purple will probably tie into other Neverborn models, if I end up doing more.

This model doesn’t seem to get a lot of love on the internet, but I think he’s kind of cool.  He did have nasty seam lines though, right down the middle.   Some green stuff hid the worst of it, but I didn’t get the inside of his mouth.

I put some Secret Weapon Realistic Water in the opening of his esophagus and coating his teeth, and then hit the rest of the mouth and eyes with Future.  It’s fairly subtle, and doesn’t really come through in the picture, but I figure such a big mouth ought to look wet.

I wanted to bring some of the purple in, and picked a few places to put it on.  I think I went too heavy on it on this model though.

I’m pretty happy with this guy.  The festering Brilliance infection on his shoulder is done with a big of the blue in the middle, then covering a slightly larger area with purple wash.  I think it makes a nice transition.

I hit the monster guy with some purple, but with a softer touch than Hungering Darkness.  I like it a lot better here.

This picture probably shows the basing the best.  I cut out a circle of balsa wood about the same size as the inset area of the base.  I then cut it into strips along the grain of the wood, and then shorter planks on every other strip.  I sanded down each a bit to clean up the edges (although a bit too much on some of the models), and glued them down in place.  Once the glue was dry, I pressed into the ends of each plank with a small embossing tool, to simulate nails being hammered in.

I’m really happy with how these look (at least the ones without huge gaps), although it remains to be seen how well they’ll take the abuse of being gaming models.  Balsa’s pretty soft, and I’m worried that it might get banged up easily.

I’m happy with this Illuminated’s dress, although less so with the drooping jaws.  There’s no transition between the flesh and the blue, so it’s just like oversized sideburns or something.  I should have done the tops of the jaws with flesh, then with purple wash, like the shoulder infection on the first guy.

The kit comes with an alternate  upper body of this model, so I may try to find a set of legs from something to make another.

All in all, a very fun side project.  I only play with painted models, so now, when I find some time, I can actually play a game.

Updated October 2016 with improved images.