Various Malifaux Models

This was actually a really busy painting week for me. I decided that I wanted to get all of the Guild blister packs that I bought finished. 

I have a tournament coming up in a week and I am not sure what my list will be yet. I am going to spend this weekend experimenting with some new ideas. Maybe some of these new models will make the cut. 

I started this week off with the Pistoleros. I managed to finish them Sunday night. 

My executioner was next. 

I am not a fan of a lot of things on this model. First, I messed up the base. I wanted to try and make a brick pattern. So I used a brick wall piece from another model to press the lines into the model. Well, I am stupid and the end result was actually a reverse brick pattern. Oh well, I've learned. 

The other issue I had with this model is how the pieces went together, especially the pipes. I had to use a lot of green stuff and I am still not good with green stuff. So I ended up rusting up a lot of the metal on this model and adding a lot of blood to cover up imperfections. 

I painted my exorcist next. 

I was a lot happier with this model. I think his coat turned out really well and so did the base. The stats on this card also seem to be pretty wicked and I am really excited to try him out this weekend. 

Lastly, I painted my Guild Captain and two Guild Guard from Wednesday to Thursday. 

I wanted to keep the same jacket theme across these three models and my exorcist. 

My biggest issue with these three are the bases. I wanted to do a cobblestone pattern again. My first cobblestone stuff was okay, but didn't turn out as well as I had hope. I tried a different technique this time and it still isn't to a desirable level. 

I think the thing I have to work on the most is leveling out the green stuff with the base before I add the pattern. 

I also decided to pin these guys to the base for added durability, but in doing so, I screwed up somehow and their feet did not flush up with the base. So I put a piece of wood on each model to cover that up. 

One of the biggest problems I had with all of these models was with chipping. I used an airbrush to base them in black, but it just didn't seem to adhere very well to the metal models. Every time I put the models down, a small area of paint would chip off. 

I ended up varnishing all of these models, but I still feel that they may chip later. 

I think I am mostly done with metal Malifaux models though. I have a really good collection right now and more than enough to make crews with.  So I am going to mostly focus on buying the new line as it comes out. 

I am also going to take a short break from painting and waste some time playing video games. It is always nice to take a break once in a while. 

Guild Pistoleros

The latest blister I painted was my Guild pistoleros. I have been looking for some cheap units to fill out my Perdita crew when playing 50 point games. 

I have tried playing Wastrels with her, but I did not really like them. 

I have also tried using Death Marshals. They worked quite well, but they weren't ideals. 

So, I decided to buy a pack of Pistoleros. I managed to get them painted up this Sunday night. 

I had a few issues with various things. The biggest issue I had was when rushing their bases. I put on far too much paint for one thing. I also slipped with the guy in the middle and ended up painting mud all across his body. I also had a number of issues with the girl's blue shirt. 

My local shop hasn't restocked in a long time and I haven't been able to get my hands on a brown GW wash. So I have been trying other brown and black washes and they aren't working as I would like them to. 

I put excessive flock on each of these bases to cover up the hole in the middle. I have been building mostly the new plastic Malifaux models which don't have the support piece on the bottom of the models. I had overlooked it with these metal models and the mud started to sink in. 

The next model I will be working on is my Executioner. I already put him together. The main thing I don't like about the model so far is the wires that connect his hands to his backpack. The wires didn't match up perfectly and I have to use green stuff to fill in some rather large gaps. I think I will use rust and blood to cover up these imperfections. 

Abuela and the Nephilim

I recently ordered a number of metal blister packs to fill in some of the holes in my Guild army. 

The two models that I am most excited to paint and play with are Abuela Ortega and the Enslaved Nephilim. 

Both of the models turned out very well. They also didn't take me too long to paint. 

Here is Abuela with all of her greatness. 

The base is supposed to represent a porch or deck. I wanted her to have the appearance of just walking out of her home ready to fight. 

And here is the Nephilim. I went heavy with the flock because I kind of messed up the base. I ended up gluing and attaching the model too quickly and his feet didn't end up flush with the ground. So a few plants were needed to cover that up. 

I think the next models will be 3 Pistoleros. 

Pandora (Malifaux)

It took me nearly 3 weeks, but I finally completed my Pandora box. I decided to take my time with the box. I also had a lot of interruptions during the process. 

I experimented a lot with these models and learned a few new things. 

I also learned that I don't have any idea how to paint something that is intangible. I will need more practice. 

This is the crew together. I think the overall theme and colors go together well. I mostly stuck to the box art for this one. 

Definitely my favorite piece is the baby. He just looks horrifically evil. 

I was also quite happy with Candy. 

I found Pandora to be rather boring to paint. I also didn't put much time into her face. 

Of the ghouls or ghost or whatever they are, the Poltergiest turned out the best. 

My only regret here is that I didn't do much with the bottom. At this point, I had kind of given up on the green mist. I figure I can come back to it one day. 

Overall, it was a pretty fun box to put together. I still haven't read what these characters do, but I imagine I will take them for a test drive within the next two weeks. 

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I also bought this cheap piece of terrain. It isn't anything special, but it will be a nice addition to the table. 

Unconventional Terrain for Malifaux (Forbidden Text)

Continuing with the unconventional terrain, I have made a marker for the Forbidden Text. This model was very easy to put together and only took about 90 minutes. 

First, I started with the base, which is a simple 30 mm piece of cork board. 

Next, I wanted to create some kind of podium for the book to sit on.  I again used my pseudo green stuff. 

This was the result. For the top part, I cut a notch into the top of it for the book to rest on. 

I glued the top onto the stand and primed the base and podium in black. Then I hit them with some brown and a wash (which is the wet paint on the podium in the picture). 

The book was next. I made two pieces for the book. The cover was a rectangular thin piece that I creased in the middle with a ruler before it dried. The second piece is the pages. I scraped long lines along the edges once it had dried to create pages. 

I didn't take any pictures of the book when painting, but I simply based it in black, then I painted a darker tan color over that a few times. I then used a brown wash to finish it. 

To do the blood, I used the newish GW blood paint. I loaded a brush up with the blood and held it in front of the book. I then used my airbrush to shoot air at the brush and blow to blood onto the book. I imagine anyone could do this with any kind of compressed air and a brush loaded with blood. 

To finish off the book, I glued the page piece to the cover and then wrote some nonsense in Korean on the book. The M at the end represents Malifaux and my laziness to not bother writing more. 

After taking this picture, I decided to blast the book and podium with some blood. For me, Malifaux always needs blood and mystery. 

The final steps were painting the cracking earth ground from GW on the base (the light brown on the base) and gluing in a few sticks I bought at an art store that I thought looked neat. I also wrapped a few pieces of string around the branches because I thought it made them look creepier. 

I then glued the book stand onto the base and used some green flock to cover up a few of the gluing imperfections. 

Overall, this was a very fun project. It didn't take long and the final result was very close to what I had imagined. I have to make one more Forbidden Text marker, but I think it'll be a much different design. 

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I also threw this together last night in about 30 or so minutes. It is my first attempt at an effigy. It didn't turn out how I imagined, mostly because of the doll. I have to practice my voodoo doll making ;). 

Unconventional Terrain for Malifaux (Carnivorous Plant)

Last weekend, my friend and I played a game of Malifaux using the Unconventional Terrain from the special encounters section of the book. 

We randomly chose the Carnivorous Plant, however, we didn't have any marker for it. We simply used an extra 50mm base to represent it for the game. 

The terrain actually worked very well. We avoided it at the start of the match, but eventually forgot it was there and moved toward it. The terrain ended up killing my Papa Loco and one of his zombies. 

So, since it was quite fun, I decided to make a plant out of green-like stuff. 

I have only limited practice with green-like stuff and have never sculpted anything with it before. Also, I say green-like stuff because I am not using actual green stuff. I am using some super cheap Korean putty stuff that is meant for plumbing. I imagine it works about the same, however, I feel that this stuff dries much quicker, is much stickier and ended up having bubbles in it when I stretched it. All of this can probably be avoided if you actually know how to use the stuff. However, I don't. :)

I started off with the base. 50mm cork. 

I painted this up brown and applied the new cracking earth soil stuff paint from GW around the edges. 

I figured I didn't need to get in the center as the plant will cover most of this base. 

The next thing I did was create the leaves. I had a rough idea of what I wanted the plant and the plant's leaves to look like in my head. 

It took me about 30 minutes and two different types of green-like stuff to make them. There was a lot of trial and error and I ended up getting better as I went along. The lighter green-like stuff definitely worked better. 

Next, I created the plant. I originally wasn't going to create a flower of any kind for the plant, but I ended up rolling the excess material from the leaves into a ball. It then gave me the idea to make the flower. 

The inside if the flower is the rolled up excess. I then made some more shitty leaves and wrapped them around the ball to look like a flower that hasn't bloomed. 

The next part was rolling some plant tentacles/arms/branches or whatever the hell they are. I think they ended up being a bit thick in the end, though. 

Next, I based everything in black. 

I then started putting on layers of green, working from dark to light. I also hit the bubbles on the leaves with some red to make it look diseased. 

The flower was next. Again, I just added a few layers of red, working from dark to lighter colors. Later, I cleaned up the branches with a brush. 

The next step was laying out the leaves in an arrangement that I liked. 

After gluing them down, I placed the flower on top and glued it down. 

The whole process took about three hours to do. There were a lot of tough parts and a lot of learning. I will make another plant some time soon in the future since the scenario calls for two plants to be put down. I think I will be able to produce something a bit nicer next time. Also, hopefully I can get my hands on some real green stuff. 

Here are a few more pictures.