Malifaux Battle: Episode 2 - The Masters Arrive

So this is the second Malifaux battle summery for this blog and from this battle there is still so much more to learn. Again, the terrain ain't so good, the photos aren't the best and the Ten Thunders haven't been painted. So let's get down to it.

We chose a 30 Soulstone battle and got Flank deployment. The strategy was Reconnoiter, so each turn after the first you get 1VP if you control two or more table quarters at the end of each turn (you need more models then your opponent). Needless to say, we still screwed that up. The five schemes to choose from were the usual A Line in the Sand, then Assassinate, Bodyguard, Take Prisoner and Plant Explosives. I believe we both took Assassinate and Bodyguard.

Crews

So once again it's my Gremlins vs my brothers Ten Thunders. I have done some study on my models and have used most of them before, where as my brother is using his for the first time and so hasn't had experience with them.

Gremlins (Zargooran)

Ten Thunders (Vegemus)

Set-up

So as you can see, I'm now using the Swamp mat from Frontline gaming's F.A.T mats and am slowly building up some more terrain in the form of rough hedges and I'll get a tutorial on how I make them soon. The Dragon was picked up from one of those 2 dollar stores and I'm hoping to get a block to place it on and turn it into a statue or a tomb. Back on track, I'm on the bottom corner while my brothers at the top. Not much to say.

 End of Turn 1

We all moved. Not much more to say really. The Ten Thunders stuck closely to cover (which is why you can't really see them). Misaki took to the gallows, two Torakage went into the burnt ruins while the third took to the fence/hedge while Ototo hid near the chapel. Rapheal and Francois hid in the forest, both the Bushwacker and Rami took up better firing positions and Mah foolishly ran off too far.

End of Turn 2

What went from a quiet walk turned into pure mayhem. The Bushwacker moved in for a batter show and got ganged up on by Ototo and Misaki, a major mistake on my behalf. I moved Mah back to better protect her as I realised that my brother could have had Assassination and the Torakage moved in. It was a walk fest as the two Torakage moved into combat range.

End of Turn 3

My brother used a Soulstone to get the initiative and so we ended having a Master vs Master free for all took place with wounds flying and poor attack flips. Misaki took a large number of wounds and both Mah took a couple in return. For all that however, the real fight was at the forests edge, with Francois taking some wounds and squealing away, with the Torakage ninja flipping after him. Rapheal, took enough wounds and had Poison+1 and looked grim. The wounds did activate his ability to use reckless without taking a wound and his first two wounds failed to really damage him, but then his third hit and I triggered his ram. The damage flip was good and so the double damage killed the Torakage, but killed Rapheal in return.

End of Turn 4

Sadly, Misaki fell, but both Mah and Rami had taken more damage (Rami had failed both to disengage and to heal). Likewise, Francois managed to end the Torakage threat and just in time as with Turn 4, both of us revealed Bodyguard, though my Assassination kept me in the lead.

End of Turn 5

The final turn of the game didn't go well for the Ten Thunders as they focused heavily on ending Mah in a last minute shot for victory. Burning the remaining Soulstones to reduce damage kept Mah in and Rami managed to escape the combat, but couldn't risk shooting into combat for risk of hitting Mah. As such, I couldn't remove the remaining Torakage to get any more points. Francois moved up, but was basically useless by this point and so whistled a happy tune (as best as he could anyway). As the we flipped to see if the game continued, the cards of fate chose to end the game. The Gremlins were victorious.

Aftermath

So the game was over, but even before it had ended we were discussing what we could of done better. My brother felt if he'd known more about the effectiveness of Soulstone damage reduction he might have not burned his so quickly (he wanted to get Misaki's ability available as soon as he could). I felt he held Ototo back and should have got him into combat instead of being too cautious. There were also a few rules we were confused on, though I have since looked them up and now know what to do.

I myself have felt I'm not using my characters right. Running Mah and the Bushwacker in too quickly was a serious error and I was too focused on the Strategy and it cost me early on. I've also had little luck with both Rami and Rapheal and may consider changing them out in my next game. Also, the Dirty Cheater upgrade looks very nice on paper, but in all the games I've played I have rarely benefited from it due to not having the cards to cheat or risking worse if I did. I'll still stick with it, but it really relies on you having the right cards (though to be fair to my bro, Misaki's insta-kill also needs the right cards in hand, so I guess our game was even in that regards). No doubt things will improve for the Ten Thunders once my brother gets a few more miniatures added to his collection.

November Project Updates

So the final month of Spring is one and Summer is just around the corner and to prove the point, the bloody heat has kicked in. Damn I wish it was freezing right now. Anyway, trying to focus on fine details is a bit problematic due to the needing of better light, but it also brings in the heat. Am trying to find a solution to this problem.

That said, I'm making some rather unkempt hedges at the moment and (with any luck) should get a tutorial up for them soon. I'm also finishing the final touches to a number of Gremlins while working on the Outcasts. The Neverborn and Arcanists are on hold for the moment until I can get their bases done.

Still have a number of GW and Mousling projects that are mostly done, but still need to finish them off. Hoping to get one or two of them done this month. Also should get another article or two written up, though whether you agree on my thoughts on them or not will be up to you to decide when I get them out, so look forward to that.

What if......GW collapsed

There was an article on Bell of Lost Souls site which asked the question, if Games-Workshop collapsed, would it be the end of miniature wargaming. Their answer was 'YES'. It was basically a path of destruction which would spell the end of miniature wargaming......and it was BS.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe it. First off, if GW was to collapse, it would most likely be the end of it's miniature range, as I'm sure the IP is still quite valuable in various forms of media. Games, books and heck, even visual media like movies of video series can still be made. They are already well learned in how to sell their product in those medias (hell, GW video games have a strong market) so even with that collapse, I see the company's IP lasting much longer.

As for the end of miniature wargaming? First off, many non-GW brick and mortar stores only sell a small amount of GW products, with the rest coming from other miniature companies. Indeed, one such person (who copped a flaming by others) pointed out that out of their local stores total products, GW only makes up a tenth of it and it rarely sells compared to the other games. As such, were GW to collapse, it would make very little (if any) dent in the stores profit.

Another point is the debacle between the ending of Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. See, when Fantasy ended, people panicked as to what would happen, but all felt they would wait to see what 9th Edition would bring. It never came. Instead, Age of Sigmar appeared and it outraged many. A majority of those who played Fantasy Battle left GW in search of something to fill the void. Many thought it was the end. Instead, those who left suddenly found a world of multiple games and it wasn't long before many found new games to play.

The result, that there are other games out there and if GW did collapse, many would eventually move on to find other games. From the ashes of GW, other companies could rise up. Many are already jumping onto the market with games to suit all types of players. Star Wars X-wing, Infinity, Malifaux etc are already gaining popularity, and then there are those players who never bothered with GW, mostly those who played historical type games (like Flames of War etc).

My conclusion to all this? I doubt GW will collapse anytime soon, though it no longer has the kind of power that it once did. Many of those who agreed with that article are probably the type of people who refuse to believe GW would send 40K down the same rules path as Age of Sigmar (I don't know if GW will, but they already have established lore wise that 40K will have it's End Times soon). The fact is, if they were to collapse then I see miniature wargaming will take a blow, but it won't be that which ends it for good.

That Moment....

.....when you accidently shut down your internet browser without setting it to save those three hundred tabs you've had set up for your study and research over the last month....




....that's me right now....




.....I could destroy worlds with my rage at this point in time.

Malifaux favourites - Part 4: Minions

Minions tend to be a mixed bag, some tend to be good while others tend to be cannon fodder. However, they should not be looked past and ignored when building a crew and some tend to have a few skills or abilities that can prove useful. Here are my most favourite ones.

Coryphee (Arcanists)

By themselves, they are quick and effective damage dealers with some nice survivability, but they have something unique about them too. They can merge to become a duet and once they do they can also begin healing themselves, so becoming even more deadly. I like their dresses also.....so what?

Slate Ridge Mauler (Arcanist)

A type of bear, this guy is all about getting in your face and once he's there, he ain't never going to leave. One tough cookie, he is still heavily vulnerable to range. That said, should Myranda be stuck in a nasty melee brawl, then the Mauler should be considered to be your form to shapeshift into just to see the look of 'Oh Crap' on your opponents face.

The Illuminated (Neverborn/Ten Thunders)

Who better to bring along to the Hungering Darkness' party then a few Illuminated. These guys are tough, have regen and can dish out Brilliance to boot, which not only benefits them but old HD himself. I've had the pleasure (or should I say displeasure) of fighting these guys and they are hard to deal with without getting some of my own crew killed in the process. That and they look like they are very much at home in a survival horror game.

Big Jake (Outcasts)

A native American themed character I believe, Big Jake has some nice stats and abilities for being a 5 soul stone model. One of his best abilities though is should he die before turn 5, then on turn 5 he come back with full health to get his revenge and can be a last minute game changer. Gotta wonder how many players will miss that part before it's too late.

Bayou Bushwacker (Gremlins)

A highly trained Gremlin, she looses the reckless ability to gain a sort of permanent soft cover. She can also drop soft cover which lasts a single turn around her, helping those next to her. She can also take a single shot per turn against a target in her sight if another Gremlin shooting that target failed to hit, so it's like an extra attack each turn almost. They can move for free early on, so pick a good camping spot and let those bullets fly.

Shadow Effigy (Ten Thunders)

I was going to make an effort to not add pure Ten Thunders models on this list, but I've really grown to hate this guy to the point of respecting him. The reason: 'Remember the mission'. This blasted move make scheme marker based schemes so much more easier to achieve. It's thanks to this bugger that I lost my first ever game due to Line in the Sand, something that one might see as very difficult to achieve for a players first game and yet my brother won due to it. He is effective at what he does and if you plan to use scheme dropping schemes, then consider picking this guy as an option.




So there we have it, the last part of my favourite miniatures and so brief reason behind why I like them.

Malifaux favourites - Part 3: Enforcers

Enforcers are the difference between Henchmen and Minions, being that they are usually weaker then Henchmen, stronger then Minions and that they can also have a single upgrade. They also tend to have a nice story in order to make them stand out more. So here is the list of my favourite Enforcers:

Rouge Necromancy (Resurrectionists)

An undead Chimera is the bast way to describe it. It is everything wrong (yet somehow right) with the twisted fusion of science and necromancy. This creature is a beast and is one of those miniatures I hope to get around to painting as just the image of it is simply amazing. That and when I eventually get around to making a Marcus crew, I want that in it.

Howard Langston (Arcanists)

I'm sorry, but everytime I look at this guy, all I can think about is that he should be in a Doom video game as one of the bosses (if his body was a tank, then he would have already have been one). This guy is a pure monster and an very sci-fi looking miniature. I guess that's why I like him so much.

Convict Gunslinger (Outcasts)

One of my favourite, not only cause of how great they look, but also cause they are a nice anti-range ranged model. They can become even more brutal if they are lead by a Viktoria who has the upgrade that lets them use their Rapid Fire ability without having to discard a card. Can't stress enough how much I like these guys.

 Lucky Emissary (Gremlins)

It should be no surprise to people that I love Skaven and their crazy contraptions, the Doomwheel being a highlight in my army. So what could make my Gremlins that more special, a crazed lunatic driving a giant wheel. This guy is fast, can pull off some nice damage, with some points he can regen and towards the end he can sacrifice that to give every friendly crew member on the board a random positive effect. He's even using a Gremlin as bait to get the pig in the wheel moving, what's not to love.

Rami LaCroix (Gremlins)

The counterpart to the Ortega's Niño (though not as good), Rami has possibly some of the longest range for the Gremlins. His gun is of his own design (based on a sort of chaingun I believe) and has to have a small pig tied to it to help with things like weight distribution. I usually take this guy (along with Francois) in my Gremlin crews, mostly just to sit back and shoot. His only failing is his survivability as he does tend to die quite easily in combat.

Whiskey Golem (Gremlins)

How could I not put this on my list. It's a Golem, made out of whiskey barrels and filled with the Brewmasters special brew. What's not to love about that. He can dish out pain and poison in fair doses and is quite a resilient beast. His only draw back is that he works best in a Brewmaster crew, so giving me a tactical reason to use him in any other crew is much more harder to justify.



Well, that's the Enforcers done, stay tunes for the final one, the Minions.

Malifaux favourites - Part 2: Henchmen

Henchmen are very important when building a crew (hell, in 25 soul stone matches or less they are a must due to you needing one to be your leader). They tend to focus well on leading or supporting crews, but also have their own unique stories, a few even revolving around the Masters they tend to associate with. So here are my most favourite Henchmen.

The Judge (Guild)

Straight up. I just love how this guy looks. I'm a big fan of the fantasy Witch Hunter style (big coat, large hat .etc). This guy is not only tough (tougher if given a lead-lined coat), but with a hand of Masks he can also dish out a world of pain. He looks like a bad-ass, he fights like a bad-ass.

Cassandra (Arcanist)

Not just a pretty face, Cassandra is a combat focused showgirl. A decent damage, she can kick butt despite having little defensive bonuses (a common thing it seems amongst the female cast, great offense in exchange for low survivability). Her ability to cast another non-leader's CA on their case means she can effectively double some of her crews better casting abilities. She's got the looks and the skills, but she isn't the only one on this list with those.

Myranda (Arcanist)

Shapeshift. What more needs to be said. She benefits from having beasts near her and beasts benefit from being near her, but when push comes to shove or things start going wrong, having the back up of shapeshifting into a beast from the Arcanists list means that you can suddenly twist things in your favour. The beast of preference that I would choose for her to shapeshift into: Slate Ridge Mauler.

Hungering Darkness (Ten Thunders/Neverborn)

Good old HD. This Cthulhu-ish mythos type character has more too him then it might seem (He only counts as a Henchmen when he is selected as the crews leader, so I'm still counting him as one for this list). He might not have some great abilities at first, but when the right models are selected in his crew, that's when he really shines. Enemies find themselves in a bad situation once that Brilliance characteristic is slapped on them and old HD starts chopping away. That and the lore behind this guy is both creepy and interesting.

Viktoria of Blood (Outcasts)

Much like Cassandra, Viktoria of Blood exchanges the survivability for damage. Though only melee damage, once you are in range, you will regret it with some serious damage output. Much like the Hungering Darkness however, she is limited to being in a crew is she leads it or if Viktoria of Ashes leads it.

Tealor (Outcasts)

Another female bad-ass (seriously, this game has some of the best female characters I've seen in most games), Tealor has a relic hammer, a weapon that works wonders against constructs and tyrants. She has an amazing three inch range for her melee and it is defiantly a big mistake to summon anything near her due to her 'Welcome to Malifaux' ability.

Francois LaCroix (Gremlins)

A runt who was picked on, Francois rose up to become a deadly gunslinger. This guy has a nice enough defence and survivability and he can dish it out nicely in both melee and range. Possibly my favourite of all the Henchmen on this list, I can't think of any game with my Gremlins in which I wouldn't use him.

Mancha Roja (Gremlins)

A wrestling luchador extraordinaire, Mancha Roja is a melee boss. I just love his theme and the idea of him trying to pull of wrestling moves in the middle of an actual fight is just hilarious (unless your on the end of those moves, then most likely not so much).

Trixiebelle (Gremlins)

Gifted with some rather large..umm...assets, you might think she's nothing more then some rather disturbing eye-candy and a quick look at her rules would give most the impression that her lack of pure damage and survivability means you'd just skip past her. On the contrary, it's her skills that makes her quite valuable. She can move models around, move scheme markers, apply poison, help get the initiative and can get others to take damage for her. She does have access to a nice upgrade that does give her some better damage, but this gal is pure tactical in her use.



With the Henchmen now said and done, we next more on to those further down the food chain, the Enforcers.

Another Malifaux crew plan

So recently I've trying to get my miniatures painted, but things haven't been going so well. In between that I regularly read all the Malifaux stuff a few times over to get a better understanding of it. However, one thing I've noticed since taking this game up is how little there is in regards to videos.

This person is one of the few I watch and if anything, has changed my view of the Arcanists. This recent video is on the Masters of the Arcanists, though I do suggest you watch a few of his battle summaries as I find them to be quite interesting. But more importantly, he's changed my view on the master known as Marcus.

When I first picked up M2E months ago I would read his profile once and would just skip him in subsequent look backs. However, since watching the many videos on Nicholas' channel, I've actually grown to like Marcus and having seen this video, am convinced to do a Marcus force.

Yes, another set of models to paint and bases to make and yes, on top of all the other ones I've done. However, a lot of the problems involve the painting of skin and in this crews case, only two of them are human and so the rest I can be a bit more creative on. So I'm planning to start collecting the miniatures for that crew over the next few months (still got to find things like plastic plants for terrain, let alone for the bases). Plus, I do love that Rouge Necromancy and this is just another reason to get that miniature.

I do recommend checking out his channel and that of The Sustainable Center as well for Malifaux content.

Malifaux favourites - Part 1: Themes and Masters

Speaking of Malifaux, now that I've had plenty of time to go over the rules, lore and the gameplay, let's look at some of my favourite themes and characters in the game.

Themes

So themes are part of what I love about armies/ crew in miniature wargaming. A theme is a set of models or units that work well in the lore and aesthetically.

Gremlins

A slight bending of the rules on this one, but the faction as a whole. The idea of greenskins as hillbillies, cowboys and even drunken ninjas just comes off as hilarious. Now I just want to see many dressed as other faction characters.

Jakob Lynch theme

This crew is focused on brilliance and spreading it. Mostly focused on Illuminated, Depleated and Beconers along with the good old Hungering Darkness. Perhaps through in Mr Graves for some extra slight change, but still well in theme.

Marcus theme

Malifaux, full of stone and metal, the last thing you'd expect to see is a variety of wildlife. The Marcus crew tends to focus on many types of beasts and beast effects. Best part is he can hire beasts from other factions as if they were his own (so no extra mercenary costs). Nothing like using your enemy factions beasts against them.

Colette/Viktoria theme

In short, all girl groups. Colette focuses of her various performers and really requires some real strategy cause they're not they tough or strong, but have a variety of skills when it comes to scheme markers. The Viktorias are just pure bad-ass and are just straight up 'in your face' combat. Both are great.

Masters

Those chosen on this list are different from the themes. While themes are a synergy of characters who work well together, this section is just on the master themselves and the ones I like when it's just them.

Ophelia LaCroix (Gremlins)

Not wanting to simple end up like every other Gremlin women, Ophelia has had to work extra hard to rise to the top. She's spent much time studying the Guild's Ortega family and even went so far as to steal Perdita's own hat for herself. The master with the blaster, Ophelia is a decent range damage dealer with a few or her discardable upgrades that she can re-attach to use again. My first Gremlin (and therefore, my first Malifaux) master, she is by far my favourite master and one that suits my style.

Jakob Lynch (Ten Thunders/Neverborn)

I like the look of the miniature, his story line and his abilities. As a character who focuses on the gambling aspect of a game with cards, his abilities work well in that sense and trying to decide on upgrades can be difficult, but even if you figure out which ones are best, there is still that element of luck involved. An ace is his best friend.





Yeah, honestly, I just don't get many of the masters. I guess I find many of the henchmen more interesting in both character and in rules.

Malifaux update

With all the problems I've had to deal with and the heat now brought on by Spring (looks like Summer this year is going to be a nightmare), painting has become a lot harder, mostly cause I can't do much in the heat and the lights only heat things up more. That said, some progress has been made.

Despite the painting not being finished, I have got many of the bases done, so many of them should be finished soon. I'm also working on getting the bases done for both the Jacob Lynch crew and the Colette crew (I tend to feel more confident working on the models once their bases are done). Many have said that with you main faction you should focus on at least three Masters, but I only have Ophelia and Mah Tucket and I'm not sure who the third will be. I'll get the Wong set, but that's really only because I want the luchador character. I do like the Brew Master, but I'm not sure if he's the right kind of playstyle for me. Still don't know.

As for the other factions, I'm looking mostly at Marcus and possibly Ramos for Arcanists, Von Schill for Outcasts (Outcasts mostly comes off as having great Henchmen then Masters to me), holding off on Guild and Resurrectionists and as for Neverborn, holding off on that one for the time being too (maybe Zoraida?).

Perhaps I might work on my Skaven in between for breaks, though I'm hoping for a cool wave so I can focus on all this.

Wildstar update

They seem to have fixed most of my account as I now have most of the boxed bonuses (minus the decore placement) and the subscription bonus.

The plots have increased in size, but no new plugs were added and now I have to go through a few of me set houses and re-design most of the outside. Still, being free-to-play, I have the time to take it more slowly. This means I can now spend some time actually playing some of the characters, which I'm looking forward too.

Wildstar - Why you disappoint?

So Wildstar went free-to-play and of course there were server issues. But that's not what I'm complaining about. Server issues is just something I expect to happen, no biggie, that's what happens. No, my complaint is with the issues with accounts and rewards. See, I own the Deluxe box edition since day one and it seems that the bonuses to having the box seem to be either different from what was advertised to being non-existent. Doesn't help when the player appreciation rewards that I have been subscribing for don't show up.

Then we have the who NC coin and what it does for you. I was happy with it in the Beta, until you realise that you get no coin for your loyalty. As someone who loves customizability, some just seem ridiculous to get, such as extra limits on costumes and housing, housing extras, but I might look past it, were it not for those blasted carrot coins used for the fortune teller. The one hoverboard that looks decent and you literally have to gamble with actual money just to get it. That is stupid and a disgrace.

In all, I just want my rewards. I can look past the store as 'sure, your a free-to-play model now so I can live with it', but if you tell me I can get these extras for what I've done, then please give me what was promised.

A Conker multiplayer sequel?

Wow.....just wow. This is what happens when good ideas get canned. Yes, I did play Live & Reloaded's multi-player and yes, I had issues with it. The first being no matchmaking and that it relied on people creating games. As a result, I joined many a douche bag games where they were made purely to grief those who entered and got the craps when I refused to put up with their BS (and you know, actually started winning the game). Needless to say, it was those typical Call of Duty tropes with either people aged 12 (who shouldn't have been sold the game) to those who acted like a 12 year old (who shouldn't have been playing the game). Sure Conker has been known for the potty humour, but jeez, we can be adults about having a little friendly competition. Just because the humour is that of a 12 year old, doesn't mean you have to act like one.

Now, with that aside, the concept art looks amazing. I even noticed that the Tediz had a female character, who looks awfully like a panther. This would prove to have an interesting story behind it and with multiple male and female characters, would have proven more popular. This medieval/fantasy setting could have given us some great maps with tones of references, and what better way for Microsoft to pitch DLC by adding more content, mostly cool (or sexy given it's a Conker franchise game) outfits. Hell, throw in a good PC port and that could really go well. New maps could be thrown in and you could even have a competitive tournament play set-up too.

Most companies would probably jump on these ideas, given the current industry, so it seems so weird that this game just wasn't put on hold until the time was right. Instead, Microsoft's interference left the company with such a bad gaming rep that the only good game to have been released in years was in fact, the Rare collection, a collection of games they've already made over the years. As a result of the direction the company was going, a number of big named staff left to form other companies. This is a real shame as there was such a huge amount of possibilities for their franchises, now squandered and left a joke. So sad, particularly since I would have bought this game. Perhaps those former members can find a way to re-acquirer those licences and return some of the glory to those damaged characters.

The dancers have arrived!

So today my Colette crew + 2 boxes of Coryphee (two separate and one to be the duet) arrived. Now comes the hard part, trying to create the right base to put them on. I know I'm just going to do what everyone else does and have a stage floor, but it just really suits the theme. Getting that base however is a lot more harder as there are no resin versions to buy, plasticard strips of the right size are hard to come by and wooden stirrers might not work. Still, plenty of time for that as I still haven't completed my Gremlins, let alone my Outcasts.

As for the game that was planned today, it didn't go ahead. Spent most of our time trying to glue together the Ten Thunders crew and it didn't help that it's instructions were not on Wyrds instructions page. The a big storm was about to hit so he had to go home, so the game fell through. I guess this might give me some time to work more on terrain or Gremlins? I don't know.

Video Game Voice Actors

Really have to agree with most of what is said. As a fan of voice acting (and always wanting to be one), I do feel that voice actors in video games don't get the respect they deserve. It's hard for a person doing a voice in media to be respected compared to say, someone how acts on screen. Yes, I agree that a performance can really make a game and ever since game characters started speaking, having a voice that makes them seem more 'real' is a major factor to that character (and in turn, a games) success.

Even the simplest of voices makes a character. For instance, does the name Charles Martinet mean anything to you. I'd never heard of him until a few years ago. He's the voice of Nintendo's Mario. I know Mario and I know Mario's voice, but had never known about him up until a few years back when my brother got to meet him in person at an expo. And that's just a common character, what about the lesser known names? This is why we need more precognition for these great people.

I can see this problem has entered the film industry too. Look at many of the animated movies. Now look at the ones that were based on something nostalgic. Now compare the voices from the original to the current version. Many of those characters don't sound the same and the reason is that many who had voice actors behind those characters were not called up for the revitalizing of those franchises, but instead were replaced by big named actors who sounded nothing like the original characters. Why? To these film makers think bringing in big names sells movies? Do they not understand that trying to sell a movie based on nostalgia requires, you know, that which makes it nostalgia? It's a big problem.

Personally, I'd love to thank those who are the voices behind the characters we love, both from video games and animation. It is to them that truly gives a character personality and life and it is thanks to them that many products (and sequels, prequels and spin offs) are sold on.

A Sanity Update

So as you may have noticed over time, updates tend to come is small bursts. This is due to my depression and as such, it can make writing articles very difficult. I have a tone of ideas, but nothing gets done due to it. As of this week, this condition went downhill rather badly.

You may have noticed that last week I did a short article on suicide and some of the basic thoughts that go through ones mind at the time. Well, Tuesday night at work was one such occasion, in which the stress and physical pain brought on by my work place (who I can't name for legal reasons, that being I'm still employed by them) brought on a series of such thoughts that left me in a rather bad way. Now having been down this road before, I do have some ways of handling it, but the result has left me unable to work until I get medical clearance (and oh boy, will my doctor have something to say about this). Needless to say, the following days were quite scary, though now I'm more confused as to what to do.

Now the problem with all this is that, while I now have time to rest, I'm having trouble with having things to do that would improve my health. I don't really know many people and out of them, I can't really talk to any one of them for support. Likewise, I have had a complete lack of energy and motivation (more so them usual) which has effected my ability to do anything. The depression is bad and while coping mechanisms can only do so much, I need some distractions too to help.

Although, I did get that citadel forest painted up (minus any foliage, still need to get that) and with any luck I might get a photo of that and upload it, along with my WiP Gremlins, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also going to be looking at study options for next year in order to keep myself active, though what they are I still don't know, but my clinical psychologist says it should be something to do with my likes and that I can use it in everyday activities (probably in relation to those likes). My focus was too much on a future career and because some career councillors are incapable of helping you plan that (think about that one for a second), I am now told to focus more on it like an everyday thing or a hobby instead and see what becomes of that career wise. Not sure myself, but if anyone has any ideas I'm opened to suggestions to look at.

As for the next few days, I'm not entirely sure. With luck, I'll hear from my doctor tomorrow and hopefully come up with a plan, but I do know my brother wants to come around Tuesday for another game of Malifaux. His crew box has arrived (his first master is Misaki while he waits for his next master, Shen Long, to be released) and with luck, the game mat will arrive. Perhaps a game of that might lift my spirits.

I don't know. We'll see...

I need a change of pace

Life is not treating me well at the moment and I've begun to question a lot of things.



Perhaps I need to find a series of cute kitten pictures to make me feel better.

Movie Fail: Angry Birds Trailer

One might expect me to talk about a movie failing after I had seen it, but this trailer was enough for me to call it.

There are several things wrong with this trailer. The first seems to be the re-designs, with me simply pointing out that there was no reason for this. The second is the movies plot, being that of a prequel to the games it seems, with a bunch of unnecessary bird characters, the pigs only now just showing up (with the main pig shown being someone who hasn't been in the games, or if he has then the redesign destroyed it) and what is their main plot? That three birds have issues and they get counselling for it? Way to grab the audience into that thrilling adventure.

Speaking of the characters, only three birds are named for this and not a single named pig is shown. But the worse part of this for me is the voices. Must every voice acting roll in movies have to be done by actors. I mean, you do know we have a large variety of actual voice actors who would be more then happy to work on this. And while I bitch about the Smurfs not sounding like the Smurfs, taking characters who don't talk and giving them not only words to say, but confusing personalities that say it. If anything, Red feels the most out of place in this trailer and he's technically the main character.

This is the problem with taking a nostalgic or franchised product and making it into a modern movie, no one seems to get the product and it fails. Game base movies don't work cause no one understands the product or sticks to the lore. In this case we have two series of their animated show, one series featuring Stella and friends and a show dedicated to the pigs. Yet despite all these shows, this movie trailer shows none of those features that made the shows good. Really beginning to loose faith not only in the movie industry, but in products and animation general.

Understanding Suicide

This is not a topic I ever like to reflect on, but now seems like one of those times that I must. I won't draw attention to a particular situation, but a number of Youtubers have stopped making videos for a few days after learning of the tragic events of one of there own. The saddest part is, this isn't the first time and it will most likely not be the last.

However, it seems that people lack an understanding of why? This tends to lead people to the conclusion that those who commit this act are somehow selfish and care little for the feelings of others. The thing is, it's actually the opposite. If anything, some do it because they feel they are a burden to others and by doing so, they hope to take away that stress and burden that they feel they are. Others tend to find themselves in situations that they feel there is no escape from and trust me when I say, that is a very terrifying feeling. Simple words can hurt more then any physical wound could and at the wrong time, a persons self control can reach breaking point.

So why? Mostly cause society still has trouble accepting depression and many don't know how to deal with it. Those with it tend to find it hard to seek help, partly cause they'll feel no one will understand or that they'll be ridiculed or that simply seeking help is a true sign of weakness. It's so easy for people to attack those with it, clearly cause those type of people have self-esteem issues (as do most Internet trolls). Because those with it feel that no one will understand or that they feel that they maybe misunderstood, they keep their emotions bottled up and that eventually becomes too much to bare.

But why am I talking about it? Thing is, I've had clinical depression for roughly 17 years and it's gotten worse over time. I had gone through that how 'should I, shouldn't I' phase of suicide in my teens and it was only cause my mother took action and from that I decided to not go through with it. It hasn't stopped the thoughts and there has been more then a few times that I've considered it over the years, but I now find the thought scary and tend to take things day by day to cope better. That said, I have been seeing a clinical psychologist recently and while we have had some dark moments, I have found her help to be just that, helpful. Life isn't the best, but I'm beginning to see things from a different point of view. I may have it for the rest of my life, but I'm learning ways to help keep living that life.

If you feel like this, if you feel your heading to that dark place, please seek help. If you know someone who has depression, talk to them and let them know your there to help. Seeking help is not a weakness. If anything, doing so shows you have more courage them most people. So please, seek help and try to stay positive, no matter how dark it gets.

Some good news for once

So I went back to the newsagent and asked about the F.a.T mats and apparently he's getting a whole bunch of stuff in. He plays miniature wargames himself and despite being a combined newsagent and post office, trying to make a living has become increasingly difficult, so he through in selling his favourite hobby into the mix.

What surprised me was that it was actually successful. Many stores in the city are moving away from miniatures, focusing mostly on ones like Hordes and stuff so a lot of the upcoming popular ones are not being sold there. This store has begun selling them and people are buying them up. So I've ordered a mat from him and will probably get another one or two in the future. If he starts selling terrain and Malifaux, I might find myself buying more in the future. Certainly getting paints will be much more easier and given his love of the hobby, he's actually got me excited to paint miniatures from other games, even if I probably will never play them.

Suddenly have the eager to go and paint some terrain.

First game of Malifaux

So we finally got around to having a game of Malifaux and it was very enjoyable. Unfortunately, despite taking a number of photos, most were blurred. Problem with my camera is you can take a photo, look at it through the camera use close up on it and it looks perfect, yet when it's transferred to the computer it looks bloody terrible. So yeah, very few shots for this one.

As you can see, I really lacked a bunch of terrain. I also lack a game mat, though I just learned that the local newsagents is starting to sell miniatures and stuff and it just so happens that they will be selling appropriate size game mats for Malifaux. As for terrain, still going to need to get a lot more, but my brothers terrain did help here. That, and as you can also see, most of it still needs to be painted (hell, the 40K ruins still have the old paint from when we first got it.

For this game we were using 25 soulstone limit with myself playing Gremlins and my brother playing Ten Thunders. Since he doesn't have a crew box for himself yet, he was using my Jacob Lynch crew. As you may noticed from the set up shop, I haven't had a chance to paint them up, so it's just another thing to do on my long list of things to do.

Gremlins

Ten Thunders

So the deployment was Standard and the strategy was Reckoning. The schemes that were available to us were the standard A Line in the Sand with the other four were Protect Territory, Bodyguard, Power Ritual and Spring the Trap. I choose Bodyguard and Protect Territory while my brother chose Bodyguard and A Line in the Sand. My bodyguard was on Rami while my brothers was on one of the Illuminated from the group of two in the ruins.

Set up for us was fairly standard, with two Illuminated hiding in the ruins, Hungering Darkness near the burnt out ruins and an Illuminated and the Effigy in the dead forest. Francois and a Bayou Gremlin hind behind a large bolder, Rami and the Bushwhacker behind the building and Raphael near the bushes.

Turn 1

We moved up. Seriously, that's all that happened this turn. Actually, this was the start of my first downfall as I moved Rami up and had the Bushwhacker just in front of him.

Turn 2

Mr Darkness assaults Raphael (Raph fails his TN when he tried to assault back), The Shadow Effigy attacks the Bushwhacker and the Illuminated that was with him assaulted Rami. Rami dies, so I failed bodyguard and the feeling of stupidity flows strongly through me. Both the remaining Illuminated move up to the large rock and both drop scheme markers.

Turn 3

Shadow Effigy deals another point of damage, but then chooses to use his special ability on his Illuminated buddy, before the bushwhacker kills him. Then that so-called buddy comes in, but fails to kill him. However, this turn ending means a scheme marker it dropped. One Illuminated charges Francois and badly wounds him, with Francois striking back and killing him and thus, ends any VP's from my brothers Bodyguard. The other Illuminated moves and drops another scheme marker while my Bayou Gremlin moves in and drops his own. Both Raph (who is still failing to attack) and Darkness (doing barely any damage) just seem to stand there and play slaps with each other.

Turn 4

So Mr 'I'm so good at dropping scheme markers' Illuminated straight up range kills my Bayou Gremlin. Illuminated failed to kill the Bushwhacker and Francios fails to shoot the Illuminated. Again Raph just seems to keep failing to hit Darkness and Darkness is still doing minimum damage back.

Turn 5

Simply put, it is the exact same as turn four, nothing to note actually happened and with that, the game ended.

Aftermath

And so the game ends with a 2-1 win to my brother. This game took close to 2+ hours to play so excuse me if this report is a little underwhelming. Having this being our first game, we were spending more time consulting the rules compared to paying attention to every detail in the game. That said, we had a bunch of fun, though I feel I made too many mistakes (considering I've spent at least a month looking at rules and watching videos).

We both learned that our hands had terrible cards for cheating and we barely made use of our soulstones. I should have given bodyguard to Raphael or maybe should have kept the best range guy at, you know, range instead of moving him to where melee characters could reach him. I also misunderstood one of my schemes so I stuffed that up too.

Overall, it was a good first game. This means that we'll be able to play faster in the future, which will give me more time to figure out how to get the best camera shots. Problem is, is that the owner of the unit I live in (I board, too bloody expensive to live by yourself) has taken a number of weeks off work to play Forza 6, so working on photos or even a video just isn't going to work too well. Still, my brother is now looking at the various crews and models to look at building up his Ten Thunders in the future and the plan is to try to play a game once a week or fortnight at the latest and hopefully I'll get some better terrain or even a new mat to help make these more visually pleasing.

Well see.

The problem with terrain

I've done a number of painting and conversions when it comes to miniatures over the years, but never have I come across a problem like this. The decision to design and make my own terrain for a board has proven a lot harder then I had originally thought. Terrain is very expensive and so I need to make some due to a very tight budget, but in doing so it has proven to be both a major time sink and a lesson in frustration.

Currently I've just about finished two big boulders, but they haven't turned out the way I had wanted. Likewise, the trees I'm working on have proven to be even more tricky to do and I'll documenting their construction in the hopes that someone can point out more helpful ways to craft them. There are a few videos on Youtube on making terrain and it's the one on making buildings that I'm really hoping will give me the inspiration I need. After all, it will mostly be used in games of Malifaux and considering that place has architecture that's inspired from all over the world, you'd think designing all this would be a lot more easier. Perhaps a trip to the library and it's various books on architecture might help.

I'm just thankful my brother has lent me his Citadel trees and those old 40k small ruin bits, though they are only undercoated black. Still, should be enough for when he pops on over tomorrow for our first ever Malifaux game. Given the pain I'm in, I look forward to a little fun.

Australian Politics

Another day, another Prime Minister. Honestly, I don't get what the fuss is all about. I spent years studying the politics of this country cause, believe it or not, I actually wanted to be a politician. I wanted to stand for the people and do the things that most politicians didn't have the guts to do. They are voted to represent the people and it just wasn't happening. And after all that time, what did I learn?

Politics is an old man power game and if you don't do as your told, your out. Even independents have little choice and as someone I know who joined a big party to make changes learned, it destroys your reputation and you have no choice but to obey or your out. Those like myself who would enter for the right to serve the people would end up just serving those at the top.

But let's get back to what is currently going on. People are upset that a party in power can just change a leader and thus, change a Prime Minister. This might seem like a fair point at first glance, until you realise that you don't vote for a Prime Minister, you vote for a party to become the Government. You don't decide who gets what portfolio nor do you get a choice on what policies get made and passed. In essence, you a simply voting for a group of people who you trust will do the right thing by you. The Prime Minister is simply the Governments leading individual, chosen by that party and while he can override certain decisions, he only remains leader while he has enough support.

People say they want democracy, well this is it in full swing. It's only now that some people are realising what is going on. Sure people wanted Tony Abbott to remain leader until the next election, but that's only cause they want to feel like they had the power to throw him out. In this current age, people will complain, but they won't take action. For them, they feel that by the next election (three year period) they'll 'show them' by voting them out.

It's sad that many voters tend to vote this way too, preferring to vote based on who they hate the most instead of, you know, policies and actual achievements. Then again, politics is a nasty business and if it's one thing we hate, it's a bloody wanker, and politics are full of them. As for my stance, Tony Abbott was a dangerous man to have in power and while Malcolm Turnbull isn't the most charismatic politician, he is certainly a much better choice as leader of the Liberal party (also note, I despise the major parties, though I dislike the LNP the most).

As far as the complaints about how much better this would be if we'd gone Republic and used that political system, just remember that Donald Trump is in a good running to be the next US President. Now replace him with Clive Palmer or Gina Rinehart. Let that haunt your nightmares.


As I've said in the past, Mr Squiggle needs to be Prime Minister. At least he's a puppet you can trust.
~Zargooran

Armello - What a game

You can check out their site here: Armello

So what is Armello? Well, it's a video game, done in the style of a board game with a card game with miniatures. Except it's characters aren't miniatures, but animal anthropomorphics and it's bloody brilliant game.

Don't be fooled by the lovely animated trailers, the only animated cut-scene is the intro trailer in the game and yet, that doesn't take away from the experience. The art is beautiful and the music just suits this games style and aesthetics. It's smooth and surprisingly it has very few bugs that I've noticed (and after playing multiple games, I've noticed all of one bug that was in one game and it sort of fixed itself).

So what is it all about? Armello features four clans (Rabbit, Wolf, Rat and Bear) who were united by a Lion and he became King. However, a corrupting power called the Rot has infected the King, driving him mad and slowly killing him. As such, it's a race against time for you to complete objectives and take over as the new ruler in one of four victory's you can win with. They are Presage (the highest when the King dies wins), Combat (beat the King in combat, you must survive that combat to win this), Corrupt (same as Combat, but you must have enough Rot to be corrupted when you kill him) and Spirit Stone (collect four Spirit Stones before you confront the King)

Obviously, this is a 4-player game, though single player can be challenging enough. You can pick from one of eight characters (one male and one female from each clan) and each one has their own stats and an ability. The clans themselves gain a bonus on the type of day (yes, there is a day/night cycle) and you can pick one ring and one amulet to help give your character an advantage. Most a locked, but rings are earned by playing games with that clan where as the amulets are unlocked by getting that victory type (boosting your chance of getting that victory type if you choose it). Each turn starts with the King, who by day two will give the player with the highest prestige (declared the Prestige Leader) a choice from one of two cards that will take effect. Then the Kings guards move around before the players get to go. The night turn has corrupt crow creatures (called Banes) move (guards are day) and getting killed by a Bane will increase your Rot level by one.

I'm still not sure how the card draw phase works as it seems to screw me over all the time, but when you do draw it's from one of three decks: Equipment, Spells and Trickery. There are other cards like Followers and Royal Items, but these are obtained through quests or exploring a dungeon tile. Equipment, Followers and Royal Item cards can be attached to your character (at a cost) where as spells can be cast if you have enough spirit and trickery can be used to help better yourself or screw over others. Each card also has a symbol. These are used for both combat and in perils. Perils require a combination of symbols, which you get by rolling dice. You can sacrifice a card so that one of those die matches the symbol on the card. Combat works slightly differently with shields giving one block per shield and swords giving one attack per sword. Other symbols also affect the combat (like the time of day affecting if a sun or moon symbol will help) while rot ones tend to benefit the most corrupt. Each character has a certain number of hit points (a.k.a the Body stat which is shown in hearts) and when reduced to zero you die and re-spawn at your clan grounds.

Needless to say, some victories are easier to obtain then others and you can find yourself one minute with the best run only for your opponent to play a card that turns all your card symbols into rot symbols (damn it Thane!). Yeah, there have been one or two games where I've felt cheated, but then I just keep getting the eager to have another go. The graphics and art is simply amazing, with the cards also having their own lore text, along with the name and signature or the artist for the art and the animator (for the cards that are animated). The music works well too and most single player games run just over half an hour if things aren't being dragged out. Some people do have a gripe about not skipping over the computer opponents turns to speed things up, but for me it's only a slight annoyance. That said, this game does have multi-player, but I have yet to play that, though like most board games it's best to play amongst friends and have a good old time.

If your interested then go check out a game or two that's probably been played by a Let's Player (heck, might do a video myself on it), see what you think and if it's for you then it's available on Steam.


Edit: So apparently, this thing was a kickstarter at some point and has been in early access for a short while. How did I not know about this? I mean, the company that made it got Australian funding from the Australian Government and Film Victoria, so how was something like this missed? I feel bad about this now, cause this is one of those projects I would have loved to have backed on kickstarter. Come on Australia, we gotta pick up our act if we expect good things from this industry. Oh well, I did buy the game and the soundtrack so at least they got that (and I am enjoying playing both).

Still Miniature Related

So yeah, there has been a somewhat lack of updates as of recently. What's more curious is my complete lack of commentary on Wyrd's Malifaux world event. Well...

I'm actually working on that part. See the thing is, there is no groups in my region to play with (well there is one, but they only play one day a week at a certain place at a certain time, which I can't get too), so I require my brother to join me if I want to play any games. As such, I'm working on times to get him over to play a game or two.

The second is that actual game board itself. I don't have anything of that size, so I've had to obtain an appropriate size piece of wood to use as a gaming board and give it a quick base coat (still stinking out the back door). The other problem is a complete lack of scenery. See, we've mostly played our games of Warhammer at GW stores, so now when it comes to my own games, I've got no scenery. As such, I did find an old Sigmar Chapel I got cheap off Ebay a few years back (it's missing a few parts) that I had once planned to use as part of a now failed Armies on Parade board. I got some cheap plastic barrels (not very good, but it's a start) and have made a small burnt out hut using various craft sticks.

I'm currently working on some trees, starting with a wired base and then will use modelling putty or green stuff to cover it and add detail. Still need to order clump foliage for it, along with some foam so I can start sculpting large rocks for cover. Also plan to make fences using craft sticks and skewers, using a clay base to keep it steady. Not very professional, but you do what you must when on a tight budget. Hopefully in the future I will be able to order those building everyone else seems to use in their Malifaux games.

Will try to get something uploaded within the week.

Malifaux: Shifting Loyalties short review (some spoilers)

While I'm still learning a lot about reviewing and that I tend to do very short reviews of the novels I've read, this was something I just really wanted to talk about. Before I do that however, I guess I need to talk briefly about the previous two books and what they contained.

Malifaux 2.0

The main rule book that teaches you the rules of the game. The rules are set up in a way that are a little confusing and as such, I did have some trouble understanding them (videos on Youtube helped fix that), though there is a starters pack that does explain it a lot better apparently. Surprisingly, it also has rules for running a story mode style game featuring a series of battles, my favourite being one where your trying to achieve goals without attacking the enemy crew and the first side who takes damage from an enemies attack gets bonus points before all hell breaks loose (all I can think of is one of those old saloon bar fights you see in the movies). It also lays the foundation rules for Avatars which we wouldn't see until Shifting Loyalties.

Each faction comes with rules for at least three Masters per faction, along with models from those crew boxes plus a bunch of minions. Along with this there is a story for each faction, usually containing two or all three of those Masters involved. Those models shown in this book was Wave 1 of Wyrd's Malifaux plastics release.

Malifaux: Crossroads

Still not sure about the title, given that the only Crossroads I've seen mentioned in Malifaux was the Crossroads 7, and they didn't show up till Shifting Loyalties.

Anyway, this one features another three Masters for each faction, but also a story for each Master and a Strategy/story game for each story. A lot more fluff and more models for what is Wave 2. A couple of these story base games even have rules for a model to go with it, from a Golden Pig to the pumpkin head scarecrow called The Carver (is a Halloween horror anymore scary compared to what normally roams the streets of Malifaux at night?). If you want to read more stories or try out new game missions then you might want to consider this book.

Malifaux: Shifting Loyalties

So now we get on with this book and to simplify it I'll brake it down into three parts.

Rules:

The focus of this book was to set up rules for Campaign gaming. What is it? Well, it's design for a small group up to a club or higher and is driven by weekly games (around 2 or so). Each week a card is drawn and that effect is applied to all games that week. The campaign starts with games around the 35 Soulstone mark, can't include a Master and the leaders cost IS added to the crews total cost. As the campaign goes on there are rules to help balance games out, along with injury charts, items and skills that can be purchase with a currency called Scrip, which you earn at the end of each battle. Optional rules range from removing the injury system or giving the option to spend scrip to head to the doctor to more competitive rules for tournaments and hide outs. Avatars are now introduced, though they seem to be limited to the Campaign.

I'm really excited to try these rules out, though sadly there are no game clubs around here that do it, so I may just have to do a story mode style with my brother.

Models

So there are more Enforcers in this book, probably due to there being so few in the last one, along with a bunch of nice minions to boot. The main focus is set on two main groups: The Crossroads 7 and the Emissaries. The Crossroads 7 are a band featuring one member from each faction, each representing one of the seven deadly sins. Their leader, Wrath, wants revenge against the two who cursed them and despite being a Henchmen, can lead a force in a 50+ Soulstone game, so long as the crew consists of all seven members of the Crossroads 7.

The Emissaries were originally the Effigies that each faction had (introduced in the Crossroads book) and have now been infused with power during the event that takes place in the book. They have two main features. The first is that they can have a single upgrade, one that is set or they can pick one based on which Master is leading the crew, so it gains an aura and a power based on the Master in the crew. Their second feature is Power Sink. When the crew earns 1 or more VP (Victory Points) from a Strategy it gains Destined+1 condition for the rest of the game and gives the Emissary an effect. Each Emissary has an ability that once it has Destined+2 it can remove it's Destined condition to give a rather nifty effect (some better then others).

Story (spoilers)

Once again, each faction has it's own story with the final one explaining the great Event. Each faction story seems to have a particular purpose, though some contribute to the overall happenings in Malifaux better then others. The Outcast has Taelor telling a story about her past with some truth involved which some might consider a tall tale, the Ten Thunders has a great story that questions 'is what they are doing right?' and the Neverborn story;s twist is about Zoraida's past and the time paradox of her coming to Malifaux. Some weren't happy with the ending of the Gremlins one, but I've always considered Som'er Teeth Jones to be characterised as having a big ego, but is slightly incompetent, so I enjoyed the story (though I do agree that the Brewmaster part at the end wrapped it up too quickly).

So what of this great Event? It involves the Governor-General trying to summon a Tyrant's power into himself and failing spectacularly. While it's great to finally get some good information on the Governor-General, he seemed to be a very short lived character. It has Perdita arguing with the Governor-General, the rise of the Emissaries, the tragic battle of Lady Justice, Zoraida's trap failing and Gremlins not giving a crap. A very touching tale indeed.

Final Thoughts

An interesting book. For me the campaign rules are great, though some involve neutral models showing up, meaning I'd need models to represent them (like Guild Guard or Swampfiends etc) so that could be problematic for smaller groups. The idea of building a hide out is always a winner in my book.

The stories were alright, though I really enjoyed the Ten Thunders one which makes me ask the question to those who support them: 'Are they any better then the Guild?' and while Wyrd haven't finish releasing Wave 2, I am looking forward to this Waves releases, particularly those of the Outcast, Arcanists and of course, Gremlins. The Gremlin Emissary on that wheel feels me with joy. Perhaps he should race Snikkotto and his Doomwheel.

Now that would be a sight to see.
~Grey Seer Skratchnsniff

Anyway...

If you are looking to play just the basic game, then you don't need this book. If you want more from the game however, then give this one a shot.

Bases Update

So yeah, getting base pics hasn't been easy, not to mention that images in Photoshop seem different to when I view them in an image viewing program. Still, this one was the best I could get:

So these are the Gremlin bases that I did using the 2-part Epoxy. They do look a little turquoise in colour, despite using green ink. I believe that this was cause my first coloured batch was too dark, yet this batch had too little ink per the epoxy amount. The only problem with this is that any future bases that get made with epoxy have to be the same colour and trying to get it like that will no doubt prove difficult. Also, this picture was take after removing the plastic, but removing the excess Blu-tac, giving it a clean and adding a layer of GW water effects just to give it that look.

This one was my test base for creating a Victorian era style base for Jakob Lynch's crew. Made using green stuff, the stones were shaped using a hobby knife and textured with a rock. Coloured with the grey/brown colour and added a thin wash of brown or flesh on a few stones to add a bit of colour. I'm liking it so far and my next step will be to do one with a two level effect. Hopefully will work on that one this week.

The Rise and Fall of the Comic Empire

So I have just finished watching the last video of The Rise and Fall of the Comic Empire by SF Debris and it was a very interesting look at the events surrounding the collapse of the comic book industry. Comics are a visual media, a for of art and this story is what happens when corporate greed and inflated egos try to rule such an industry. It's about poor business decisions and a complete lack of respect for their customers. Strangely enough, while watching it all I could think of was a few other companies that are making the same decisions today and how long will it take before history repeats itself, just with another industry.

It's an amazing look at the events that contributed to the crash and the aftermath that lead the comics industry to it's current form, one that may yet collapse again if those companies don't do something to secure it in the long future.

It's soon...I promise

Yeah, haven't had much luck with the updates. Turns out things in my life just seem to be getting worse and it's hard to maintain control in times like this. Luckily, there is always some positives if you know where to look.

First up, getting closer to completing some of the Gremlins (and the two Convict Gunslingers). Not having much luck on the Viktoria's crew, put that's probably because I'm not good at painting female characters (Games Workshop didn't have much of a variety to paint with that where humans). I picked up some Guild Guard cheap from a local store while trying to find any local gaming groups (not having much luck there) and will start designing their bases soon (looking at Doctor Faust's Painting Clinic cracked earth bases tutorial as an option), but also got the Jakob Lynch crew too. As such, in between painting, I have begun work on a test base for a more Victorian era style base and hopefully I should have it finished by tomorrow. As luck would also have it, I've been trying to plan some scenery for a gaming board to play the games on and wouldn't you know it, I had such a piece. Turns out I had a house/chapel of Sigmar that I got cheap off eBay a year or two back that was planned for an Armies on Parade board for my Empire, which fell through soon after I got it. It's missing a piece and it didn't fit very well together, but I can work with it. Hopefully get some more ideas for that soon.

Speaking of miniatures, while looking for some painting articles, I stumbled upon a studio called Micro Art Studios and to my amazement, they make Discworld miniatures. So I did the most obvious thing, ordered myself Rincewind and the Luggage. It's expensive with the conversion rate, but I couldn't help myself, I just love the Discworld series and this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Details show my GenCon order has now left and should have it in the next week or two. As for my August pre-orders, not sure when Wyrd shipped their products to external outlets so I'm still waiting on that one too. Guess this just encourages me to get those Gremlins finished. Should get some shots of those bases up by the weekend with any luck (just need to get the shots done and edited).

Update 3/8/15

So, still not well and so once more I set off to see my doctor tomorrow.

The good news is those cobblestone/slated bases I ordered arrived and so I'll work on getting the two Convict Gunslingers done and hopefully uploaded soon. Still working on the Gremlins. With the bases now done I'm focusing on painting each one up, but it's taking so bloody long and I'm loosing patients with them fact. Doesn't help that the skin colours haven't blended as well as I'd thought they did. Still, perhaps the next set I paint from my GenCon order will be better.

Hell Yes, Swat-Kats

So a whacked as that last post was, the video itself had a commenter pointing out something that was the exact opposite of that video, pure awesome.

Swat-Kats Kickstarter

Back a number of years ago, to the days when Pay-TV had a channel called Boomerang and it actually showed good cartoons, in the early hours of the morning I was channel flicking and discovered a show called Swat-Kats, and it was amazing.

The simple premis is the story of two anthropomorphic cats who work as mechanics in a junkyard, but a secretly heroes who battle villains with various gadgets, but mostly in an awesome fighter jet. Yeah, it sound silly and it was, but somehow (though it's art style or it's story writting) this show really worked and was enjoyable to watch.

Oh God, forgot this still exists.

Every fandom has this, but my god, this is just weird. Their basically horses and possess no human physical structure, I don't get this. I've create characters and stories with animal anthropomorphics, some with romances and couples, but porn was never a part of it.

If you think this is screwed up, you have yet to see what the Internet is capable of. I once did research for a planned article I wanted to write about understanding fandoms. Needless to say, I never got round to doing it and it was more so for the fact that I cannot unseen what was seen. Will this stop me from enjoying being a fan? No, but thanks to that little experience I've become far more wary of what one can find on the Internet. I believe this one was picked out due to it's fandom still being out there, but this type of thing is in all fandoms, so don't pin hate on Bronies just cause this shit exists. Seriously, there are worse problems in the Sonic fandom then MLP has at the moment. Perhaps this is why I get into being a fan and then stay on the outskirts of the fandom, trying to avoid the hate and madness that exsists deep within.

And don't ask what it was I saw back then as I spent many months trying to forget and I will not try to remember for you.

Malifaux GenCon Order

So Wyrd's webstore is finally up with all those lovely GenCon miniatures. Sadly, the AU dollar is still bad against the US dollar, so I was limited to what I could order (sorry Colette). Did grab a few things I wanted:

- The Bushwhackers (Mah Tuckets crew)
- A Gremlins Tshirt (Cause hell yeah)
- Lucky Effigy (For my Gremlins)
- Hodgepodge Effigy (For my Outcasts)
- Shadow Effigy (For my brothers Ten Thunders, hope we can get that up soon)
- Arcane Effigy (was at $98, so got this to bring it up to that $100US mark for...)
- Miss Anne Thorpe (Counts as a Wastel) Grabbed this cause it's a limited collectors release and cause I do plan on doing a McCabe force in the future.

Still most likely wont recieve this for at least a minimum of 3 weeks (couldn't afford the good shipping), so now it's just a waiting game. Still, this does give me a time limit to finish my current Gremlins and work on my Outcasts.

The future of my miniatures and projects

Since the coming of the Age of Sigmar, it seems all that was old Warhammer is going. The stores are trying to get rid of the old stock for the new waves to come. One might also point out that I've been rather focused on Malifaux lately and that I'm turning away from GW. Another factor has been my health, which hasn't been the best of late. As of writing this, things aren't going very well and as such, this hobby is one of the few things helping me to keep it together.

As for the future, here's the low down of it:

Warhammer/Age of Sigmar:

I will be continuing to do paint/convert miniatures from this line. I still have a number of Old World miniatures left to paint and while my brother has long abandoned the painting challenge, I still have a number of them to still finish off. I've also got an Ikit Claw model ordered cause Skith Warpclaw 2.0 can now commence since the Skaven Warscrolls have Ikit's rules. Better still, my original plans had a warpstone claw and now that Ikit has a claw attack, I can proceed with this joyful project once more.

Also remember that Skaven still exist and no doubt I'll be looking forward to seeing what the new Skaven and Tzeentch models look like. This will be the key to seeing if I'm willing to stay on in this part of my hobby.

Warhammer 40K:

As long as there is creativity, there will be the Inquisition. This band will continue soon as I have both planned Inquisitors converted, they just need painting to be finished. That said, this isn't a major priority on my list of things, though that may change depending on future releases as GW as of late seems to be digging up almost anything and releasing it, so perhaps something cool will get me excited.

Mouslings:

Sadly, there aren't easy to obtain and all I have left are the barman and barmaid, along with the Indiana Jones and Lara Croft variants. Hoping to find more, but given that Reaper hasn't done much in a while, I'm not keeping my hopes up.

Malifaux:

Blasted GenCon, so many cool miniatures, never enough money. It's safe to say that given my constant plans to start new forces, this game makes it so much easier. If anything, the only faction I'm not looking at playing is Ten Thunders, which is fine since my brother has taken a keen interest in the aesthetics of that faction. That said, I'm also interested in the Crossroads 7, though that may have to wait like many of the rest. Personally, my goals are like this:

The Guild - Lady Justice (though only cause I love the look of the Judge), The Ortegas (cause Wild West) and Lucas McCabe (for a mixed bag).

The Ressurectionists - Nicodem (mostly cause of that whole Goon Show thing) and I love that Rogue Necromancy.

Arcanists - Colette (cause that crew seems much harder to play and I'd love a challenge later on.....plus they look cool).

Neverborn - Zoraida (Cause swamp and tree creatures), Jacob Lynch (not sure, but does seem very Cthulhu about it), The Dreamer (another one I'm not too sure about, but we'll see).

Outcasts - Von Schill (seems more of my style with range), Tara (mostly cause I like the monsters).

Gremlins - Mah Tucket (partly cause she's a melee monster and partly cause Trixiebelle is great as a stratagy character...yeah, that's it..I like her...strategies..nothing else...), Wong (cause I want Macha Roja, wrestling awesomeness).

Ten Thunders - Yeah, so Lucas McCabe will be acting for guild mostly, so I most likely will never focus on this group beyond his starter.


So yeah, that's my plans for up till the end of this year, perhaps into next year. We'll see how things pan out over the next few months. I'm hoping my brother can join me for a few battles and who knows, perhaps I'll record a battle rep or two and see what people think. Having found a place that does play Malifaux, I will hopefully learn how to play the game.

Of Miniature Wargaming Rage and Hate

I love this hobby, but recently I've begun viewing it in a new light and gained a different point of view. This hobby has become very toxic is a short amount of time. I admit, I'm not a fan of Games Workshop as a business and have pointed out on several occasions their range of poor business decisions, but I've still stuck to the hobby and have recently expanded into new areas of it. However, it seems that where I have begun to calm down and found new ways to keep myself going, others seem insistent that their opinions be heard and that you must agree or else hate or some crap like that. The amount of hate spewing rage is astounding and I've grown tired of it all.

I understand peoples poor response to the lack of tournament competitiveness that Age of Sigmar currently has and that it happening around the time of some big tournaments ment that people are confused what to do, but that's about it. Personally, I felt 8th was unbalanced and that the only reason it was used in tournaments was because those organisers had their own rules added to make it more competitive. Give a few months and I'm sure some will figure out how to do it with Age of Sigmar too. As for the Warscrolls, what did you expect? GW is there to sell NEW miniatures and the only reason we got anything was to say we could try out the rules and still use our old models, but that the new stuff is better. In fact, that was what the usual thing was with each new armybook/codex release. Every new one would introduce a new powerful unit/character and people would rush out to grab them cause that made their armies more powerful (or at least until the next armybook/codex release). It's what they do.

As I've already said I'm not a fan of the Sigmarines and that the current aesthetic style is not too my liking, but I've learned to accept the game as it is. 8th Edition is gone, the Old World is gone and we need to accept that and move on. If you are unhappy and don't want to play it, that's fine. There are other games out there and many of them are good, but in their own style. There's no need to go overboard with hate and rage and begin burning your armies (mostly cause that's stupid. Put them up on Ebay or something and get some money out of them at least).

Yes, that last part actually happened. More so, people are now raging on other miniature company games simply because they are not the lost 8th Edition either. At one point someone tried comparing 8th Edition to Malifaux, a comparison that was not only ridiculous due to these games being completely different, but was also unnecessary. Like I said, I can understand peoples frustrations, but in the last few weeks all I seem to see is angry articles or rage filled videos with little constructive arguments and more like 'I'm angry and you should be too. I hate this. Rage Quit 2015'. After seeing all this, I can't help but feel like we should get rid of all miniature wargames and thus, remove so much anger from the world.

That's stupid of course, as there are some who actually sat down, took a few breaths and decided to accept and move on. There are a few videos where people have tried to make the best of things and have pointed out many positives. I agree with some of these points too and while in regards to GW I'm not a fan of the business, that fact that I can use cannons in Age of Sigmar without constantly consulting the rules and spending ages trying to determine many calculations is a big benefit to myself (and my opponents as they were certainly annoyed by this every time I wanted to fire a cannon). I also agree that these rules speed up games and the ever releasing scenarios make for some interesting games (meaning rules like Sudden Death are not in it and therefore can't be abused).

I've also discovered new games and new miniatures to paint and convert during these times. If anything, I've begun to have 'fun' again. I think that people have forgotten what the term 'games' mean, being something you do to have fun and to stop boredom. I want people who feel wronged to tell everyone that and then move on to something else. Look around and find something that grabs your fancy. Sure the communities are smaller, but if everyone does it, they will grow in size. There are plenty or tournaments for things like Warmachine, Malifaux .etc, as they are in the same likeness as Warhammer has tournaments (since Games Workshop stopped supporting them years ago), so if you are looking for that competition, then it's still there.

It's time to move on. The Old World was good to us, but times have changed. We must accept and move on, that's just life for you. Sad as it is, there are still bright futures ahead, so go find that certain something that re-ignites that bright spark inside you and learn to have fun again. Trust me, so much better then stewing on rage.