ToMB2: Month Three Complete


Last month I added Waldgeists, a Nurse, and a Performer to a Zoraida box. That nicely rounded out the crew with some staying power and Voodoo Doll tricks. Now it’s time to take it in a different direction.

I hemmed and hawed about what to do, but ultimately decided I had to use the Ophelia box I picked up at Adepticon. I was definitely painting it, and going Gremlin sounds like a blast. I can take them all (except Ophelia and the Young, obviously) with Zoraida, and every model I already have can come along if Z declares Gremlins.

To the financials!

Remaining from last month -$2.50
New for month 3 $22.50
Total Available $20.00
The Kin (Ophelix box, purchased using $25 prize from Adepticon) −$25.00
Remaining balance −$5.00

What’s this? Another month of deficit spending? I considered doing another “sale” of the Ophelia and Young LaCroix models, but I felt dirty using both that and the super deal I got on the box. In the end, I’ll just admit to being a dirty spendthrift cheater.

Words aren’t enough penance, however, so I’ll be making a donation towards disaster relief through the Red Cross (sorry, WAAC, but I don’t think I can get a tax deduction or an employer match for a UK-based charity). To make it sting a little, for every dollar I’ve gone over, both this month and last, I’m donating ten.

On to the models!

I decided fairly early on to use a variety of different flesh tones. After all, I do the same for my human models. I also wanted to use a variety of colors for clothes and such, to emphasize their ragtag nature. I kept consistent colors for woods and leathers, however, to try to tie it together a bit.

Ophelia
Ophelia

Ophelia gets olive drab. I decided to freehand a pattern on her shirt. It gets the job done, but I’m not in love with it.

Francois
Francois

Francois gets cool blues. His face is pretty much invisible until you get to a really low angle. I used the colors I’ve been using for woods on his hat, pants, and poncho, which gives it a nice dark, warm brown.

Pere Ravage
Pere Ravage

Pere is another olive drab. This guy cracks me up. He just looks so happy. I lost a piece of the pig’s straps to the floor gods, so just put some dynamite in it’s place. I also tried a bit of OSL-style edge highlighting, which I think gives it an interesting look.

Rami
Rami

Rami is warm greens. His gun was surprisingly hard to assemble, but looks okay now that it’s painted.

Raphael
Raphael

Raphael is non-drab olives. I’m particularly happy with how his skin came out, although he isn’t quite standing straight on his base.

Young LaCroix (shooting)
Young LaCroix (shooting)

The young all have colors which tie them into Ophelia’s model. This one gets a dress that matches Ophelia’s shirt. The skin is undead flesh tones, and I did the same kind of OSL edge highlighting for the muzzle flash. I’m not sure of the colors, but otherwise I like the effect.

Young LaCroix (shooting)
Young LaCroix (shooting)

This one’s pants and shirt both match Ophelia. I couldn’t resist adding some detail to the underwear.

Young LaCroix (shoulders)
Young LaCroix (shoulders)

This pair has olive and olive drab skin, and clothes that match Ophelia.

Next month, I hope to keep it under budget and add in some Slop Haulers. I also hope to actually get some games in.

Updated October 2016 with improved images.

Iron Painter Round 1: Fool’s Gold


I’m participating in Wyrd’s Iron Painter.  In each round, participants are paired off and given two weeks to complete a miniature to fit a theme.  Round one’s theme is “Fool’s Gold.”

I’ve decided to interpret that as this poor idiot carrying too much and getting stuck in quicksand.

The model is Reaper’s Oswald the Overladen Henchman, yet another from the Reaper Bones Kickstarter.

I had sculpted a ripple effect into the base, but the texture (corn meal) seems to have filled it all in.

ToMB2: Month Two Findings

I’ve gotten a couple of games in with my second month of Zoraida.  The full crew list now consists of:

  • Zoraida
  • Voodoo Doll
  • Bad Juju
  • 3 Silurids
  • 3 Waldgeists (new for month two)
  • Nurse (new for month two)
  • Performer (new for month two)

Last month, I found that I didn’t have enough Swampfiends for Eternal Fiend to let Bad Juju pop out when needed.  The Waldgeists have definitely helped with that, plus give a great 9.6″ engagement bubble (40mm base plus 4″ on either side) to give trouble to the opponent for some schemes and strategies.

The Nurse and Performer were brought in for Voodoo Doll Poison tricks.  The basic tactic looks like this

  1. Zoraida summons a Voodoo Doll, who Hems a tempting target.  The Doll should get dropped in engagement with the Nurse, if possible.  From this point, any damage or conditions given to the Voodoo Doll go on the target as well
  2. Zoraida still has one AP left.  If the Hem doesn’t go off, Zoraida can Obey the Doll to try again.  If not, she can potentially Obey the Nurse to hit the Doll instead.  Or maybe Obey to move the Doll into a better position.  There’s another great movement option available – Zoraida can Interact with the Doll to move the Hemmed model.  If nothing else, her Voodoo Pins can hit the Doll with Poison +2.
  3. The opponent gets to activate something.  Hopefully they can’t remove the Hem condition.
  4. The Nurse activates.  She hits the Doll twice with her Syringe.  The Doll relents, and probably takes 0 damage and Poison +8 (+12 if Zoraida Obeyed the Nurse)
  5. The Performer chain activates off the Nurse’s Accomplice.  She Siren Calls on the Hem target (requires 12″ range and LOS), with the real goal being the built in Sip of Wine, which does damage equal to the Poison condition, with no upper limit.  If that doesn’t finish off the target, you can do the same to the Doll for another 6 damage.

When this goes off, it’s awesome.  Only two of the actions (Hem and Siren Call) can be opposed, and neither needs suits.  The Chain Activation makes it fast.  Once an opponent knows it’s coming, though, it’s harder to pull off.

What I haven’t been so successful at is coping with failures, especially if I lose one of the models.  Shenlong or other condition maipulators make it hard to use as well.  The Performer has great scheme marker tricks, which I need to get better at using.  With Don’t Mind Me, she can Interact when engaged.  She can also blow up both friendly and enemy markers at range.

The Nurse has a lot of other manipulation options, but they’re tricky enough that I have a hard time coming up with uses for them on the fly.  I should work out another couple of options.

I’m really not sure what I want to do about month three.  I have $20 to play with, since I borrowed $2.50 from month two.  I’m considering either Killjoy or doing something with Gremlins.

Killjoy’s MSRP is $18, so neatly fits into the budget.  It also would give an extra bit of face beating, either to supplement or replace Bad Juju.

I’m already working on some Gremlins, which would be convienent. I haven’t figured out if there’s a useful chunk of models that fits into the budget, however.  Maybe I could ‘sell’ Ophelia and the Young, then split the rest of the Kin into months three and four.

Rapeepzel diorama

For some reason, this year my family decided to do a Peeps diorama contest, inspired by the Washington Post’s competition.

My wife was totally into it, so we submitted the following.

Rapeepzel excitedly awaits Prince Peepsalot’s visit (of the East Peepshire Peepsalots) while the evil Purple Dame Peepthel angrily plots his sticky demise.

Rapeepzel
Rapeepzel

My main contribution was the name, the tower (except for gluing on shingles and the vines), and consultation on the trees.  The tower was built as a variant on what I did at Adepticon stuck to half of a Pringles can.

We had gone for a semi-realistic vibe, although once you put brightly colored Peeps in there, realism kind of goes out the window.

 

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