Malifaux: Nekima, featuring the Spin-o-matic

I bought Nekima in Wyrd’s Black Friday sale, and was able to paint it up in time for the Frozen Moments painting competition, in the single miniature category.  It’s also my first posting to feature my shiny new Spin-o-matic 360º viewer.

Nekima
Nekima

I decided the model looked a bit small for Height 3 50mm, so I figured I’d build up the base a bit.  The bar and stools are 4Ground.  I added a bit of texture, although honestly it still seems a little flat.  The mugs are made out of a bit of tubing for the body, wrapped in green stuff to  sculpt a little shape.  The handles are made out of paperclip wire.

Nekima (detail)
Nekima (detail)

I’ve also been experimenting with building a 360º view.  I’m still not fully satisfied, but I think it’s workable.  Click once to load, then drag to spin.  It’s tested in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.  It probably works in IE9+, too.  Let me know what you think. [Note: I’ve improved the Spin-o-matic, including updating the images on this post, so I’m much happier with it now. You’re still welcome to let me know what you think]

Updated October 2016 with improved images.

Malifaux: Depleted


The Depleted are the last pre-ToMB models I’ve completed.  They’ve got some synergies with Lynch and Brilliance, but Hard to Kill, Hard to Wound, and positive flips to disengaging strikes ought to make them a nice cheap tarpit in any crew.

Depleted (stretching)
Depleted (stretching)

I mounted this model too far forward on the base, but otherwise I’m pretty happy.  The shirt is just a shade lighter of the dress, which I think works, even if it’s not super exciting.

Depleted (uh oh, arm)
Depleted (uh oh, arm)

The blend from flesh into Brilliance-soaked tentacle here isn’t very smooth, but I did get the floating leg working.  Hopefully it stays on the base.

Depleted (tentacles)
Depleted (tentacles)

This guy is definitely having a bad day.  He’s a little plain, but it gets the job done.

Updated October 2016 with improved images.

Tale of Malifaux Bloggers II Month Zero

I’ve decided to take part in Ben Sime’s continuation of Tale of Malifaux Bloggers.  As a quick recap, the idea is to build up a collection over time.  Each month you get an allowance to buy, then build, paint, play, and finally ruminate on a set of models.  As Ben is in the UK, he’s established £60 for the first month and £25 in following.  I’m interpreting that as $60 and $22.50.

After being inspired by Episode 19 of the Before We Begin podcast, I’ve decided on Zoraida.  Yes, I’ve already got a ton of Neverborn.  That actually makes it a little more interesting, because I’ll want to avoid anything I already have.  There’s also the possibility of expanding into Gremlins.

Zoraida and friends
Zoraida and friends

In Before We Begin, Ewan Smart describes a Zoraida crew based around a bunch of Swampfiends being annoying everywhere, plus the Voodoo Doll comboed with a Sorrow.  That sounded pretty awesome, so I’m going to see if I can put my own twist on it.

For the first month, I’ll start with the Swamp Hag box.  I’m a firm believer in paying where you play, so I picked it up at Game Kastle while I was playing the league game.  That uses $50 of my $60 first month budget.  I’ll save the rest for next month.

Malifaux: Rapid Growth League Week One Report

I played in the first week of a Rapid Growth league at Game Kastle Fremont today.  I had a great game with Jennifer, a player I had seen around but hadn’t ever actually met.

As this is the first week of Rapid Growth, the game was played at 26 stones.  We both declared Neverborn.

  • Deployment: Standard
  • Strategy: Reckoning
  • Schemes:
    • A Line in the Sand
    • Murder Protege
    • Protect Territory
    • Distract
    • Plant Evidence

Even though I know it’s not always the best tactically, I decided on most of my crew before I left the house.  I recently finished painting up my Lilith box, and I figured this kind of small scale game would be the perfect place to learn it.  I figured I’d swap out the Cherub for Primordial Magic, though, to save another stone for upgrades.  In the end, I decided on:

Jennifer chose a remarkably similar crew:

  • Lilith
  • Cherub
  • Barbaros
    • Nephilim Gladiatus
  • 3x Terror Tots

We chose schemes, and ended up revealing everything: Murder Protege and Protect Territory for me, and Murder Protege and Line in the Sand for Jennifer.  Barbaros (both of him) was going down!  Unfortunately, the Nephilim Gladiatus was going to be pretty useless, since Primordial Magic was the only non-Nephilim model on the table.

Jennifer deployed first, and bunched up in the corner on my left.  I went more towards the middle, with one Tot and Primordial Magic hiding in the far right corner, ready to pop out late game and take care of Protect Territory.

The first turn we just kind of moved in a bit.  Jennifer’s Barbaros started going towards my Tot/Puke Snake pair, while the rest moved towards the center line along the left flank, ready to pop scheme markers next turn.  I moved towards the center, and tried to Tangle Shadows on an enemy Tot, but failed to consider the double-mask target number and fizzled.

On turn two, things got ugly.  Jennifer moved her Lilith closer to try to Tangle Shadows one of my Tots, but didn’t get it off.  This left her close enough for me to Tangle Shadows (using a stone for the second mask) her Lilith in retaliation, pulling it into my web.  With the two AP left I was able to Severe and Red Joker on damage, killing the enemy Lilith.

Lilith vs Lilith
Lilith vs Lilith

Meanwhile, Jennifer’s Tots laid a bunch of scheme markers on the center line, and her Barbaros kept moving towards my Protect Territory buddies.  My Tots moved up to try to interfere, and my Barbaros took out a Tot, netting me a point for Reckoning.

Turn three, I was able to trap her Barbaros with another stoned Tangle Shadows, putting my own Barbaros into base contact as well.

Somewhere in turns three and four, her Cherub hit my Lilith, pulling her out of position and making her slow.  Her Barbaros managed to Bull Rush my Barbaros to pull me totally out of position.  The following turn, another Tangle Shadows (with a high mask card this time) pulled them back in, and Barbaros went down, netting me three points for Murder Protege.

With all the heavy hitters down, I was able to mop up, killing all of Jennifer’s models and removing enough scheme markers to keep her from getting A Line in the Sand.  I did lose one Terror Tot in the process, although I was able to use Brood to keep her own Tot locked down.

Final score was 9 to 0 (3 for Protect Territory, 3 for Murder Protege, 3 for Reckoning, including one on turn 7 after Jennifer was tabled).

I had a lot of fun this game, and I certainly hope Jennifer did as well.  Tangle Shadows really pulled a lot of weight for me this game, once I realized what I’d need to put into it to get it done.  Barbaros has enough speed to come back even if it ends up putting him pretty far out there.  I think Primordial Magic was a good choice, but the Cherub’s shoot-slow-push can be pretty scary, too.

It turns out we both had recently bought the Zoraida box, so we’re talking about doing another mirror match in a couple of weeks.

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