Through the Breach: Into the Bayou Short Review

So it's in and I've been reading and re-reading it since I got it. Now, I want to point out that I've never played the Malifaux RPG Through the Breach, mostly cause I don't know a lot of people or anyone who would want to play it. That said, I absolutely love Gremlins and this book really gives me a good insight into them, but also helps me define that Gremlin character I've been working on. So lets get into this.

Obviously, this is an expansion to the rules set out from the Through the Breach core rulebooks. It's broken into several parts from Lore and character creation, new pursuits (classes), advanced pursuits, talents and skills, gear and stats for a number of creatures your party might encounter while in the Bayou.

Lore

This got me giddy with excitement as many of the books Wyrd releases for the Malifaux miniatures game really don't give much lore, other then a few stories, for the Gremlins. This gives a nice description of the Bayou area, the creatures in it and some of the more famous locations with in it (There are even rules to gamble against the Hag Witch Zoraida, though be aware that such a thing is very much in her favour). Gremlins get the most detail in this, such as their beliefs, habits and their love for booze. Family names are something they hold dear to themselves and work much like a community or tribe, so every Gremlin belongs to a family (or at least until they are thrown out). Life for a Gremlin child is rough, as a mother can sometimes forget you exist and can end up rounded into small groups that can form gangs. Some are more favoured by their mother (particularly girls, due to their rarity) and they tend to get better treatment (until the next back of children are born anyway).

Marriage and Love are also slightly bizarre. Love is fine, but the very romantic type many of us enjoy is seen to go a little too far, so they prefer you keep that level of affection at home. Marriage is more of a reason to just throw one massive party and booze up, but it's also to bring one member of another family into one's own. As such, a female Jones marries a LaCroix male, the female will change her family name to LaCroix and depending on her memory and booze tolerance, it will determine how much time it'll take for her to forget she was ever a Jones. Even Humans can marry Gremlins, for they are not overly against this as after all, once you are part of the family, you are treated as one of the family. It's not rare that a Gremlin can get so plastered at these events that they can end up marrying a Pig or even an attractive looking rock.

As mentioned, Family is important and the book give a page worth of detail for each of the major Gremlin Families (lesser families are mentioned, but they are kept unknown for the Fatemaster to expand upon). There is also some interesting information on the families from the Three Kingdoms region and they defiantly sounds like there will be problems with the Ten Thunders and the Black Dragon. I get the feeling the Gremlins will end up in a massive war amongst themselves when things go to hell.

There is also some brief information on Kythera, but more importantly, the Red Cage. While I'm not sure when this happened (was it due to the Nythera campaign or is it part of Ripples of Fate, I don't know), the Red Cage is the giant crater that housed one of the legendary Tyrants, which occurred when one of the other Tyrants called Plague tried to steal their power, but failed. Needless to say, it's an important part to the ever growing story unfolding in Malifaux and it's nice to see us Gremlins being dragged into it.

Pursuits

There are eight new Pursuits to pick from in this book, with the focus that Gremlin characters are more likely to be these compared to other factions like Humans or Neverborn. These consist of:

• Bokor (A Shaman like character who prefers to manipulate minds)

• Boomer (A shotgun fanatic)

• Boozer (Yes, alcoholic is now a playable class)

• Buckaroo (If it's big and not defiant, you can ride it)

• Copycat (Start with imitation, end with short bursts of becoming that person)

• Pugilist (Fist fights and Wrestling, what more could you want)

• Swineherd (Raise cute pigs to become killer pigs)

• Trapper (You use a variety of traps and trapping techniques)

All have their related Talents added to their descriptions, so no flicking between pages like in the Fated Almanac. But if that wasn't enough, there are five Advanced Pursuits to go along with it, with these first two being common in Gremlin lands, while the last three are very much Gremlin focus and will be extremely difficult for non-Gremlins to obtain.

• Virtuoso (Music that can effect allies and enemies)

• Rocketeer (Slap a rocket to your back and away you go)

• Lightning Bug (Beg Wong to teach you and learn just how dangerous you are to your friends)

• Taxidermist (You stuff animated dead animals.....with explosives)

• Big Hat (Get the biggest hat you can find and force them to make you the Boss)

Conflict Talents

Unlike the family history card flip for Humans entering through the Breach, Gremlins flip for a Conflict Talent. These are a special Talent as a result of your characters childhood, which grants them both a positive aspect and a negative one. The character creation example for instance give the character the Gator Bait Talent, which gives the character +1 Damage to creatures with the Swampfiend characteristic, but they also treat creatures with the Swampfiend characteristic as if they had Terrifying (All) 11. This represents their fear of such creatures, but also their desire to see them dead. Many of them are quite good at fleshing out a nice backstory.

There are also a few, more Gremlin related Talents (we have Squeal) and there are three new skills that anyone can use, but again, Gremlins will probably benefit from them depending on the Pursuit chosen.

Gear

Gremlin gear isn't known for their fine craftsmanship nor their reliability. It's no surprise then that some items lend themselves more to the comedic aspect of the Gremlins. Such items I'd like to point out are things like Fryin' Pan, Pig Prodder, Backwater Pepperbox and the classics like Metal Pot as a helmet and the old Whiskey Barrel.

Magic

They have a few new spells, but since I've never played the game, I can't tell you how effective magic is in it. That said, I do like the spell 'The Kitchen Sink' (summon a large, heavy and comedic item to fall on your enemies head) and the Bokor's own advanced spell 'Animal Hex' (transform a person into an animal for a number of rounds, with a trigger called 'Princess Clause', meaning they need someone to kiss them to turn them back to normal faster). There are also a few new Grimoires that tend to be located in the Bayou and are more likely to be useful to Gremlin casters.

References

As mentioned above with the 'Princess Clause', there are various references to other, more pop culture related references. Wyrd is well known for doing this and it's great to try and find a few of them. Obviously, the Rocketeer has the ability called 'Blasting Off Again', which clearly references Team Rocket and their iconic phrase as they are hurled into the distance. There's even a reference to that singing frog gag from the loony tunes cartoons. They even threw in a MLP gag with the Big Honkin' Gun, which states how Gremlins prefer this weapon as it's 20% Cooler then other rifles in the Bayou. Yep, seems they beat me to a Friendship is Magic gag.

Bayou Beasties

The end part features a story of a Human taking notes on their journey into the Bayou and the various stories and creatures they encounter. Designed to help Fatemasters by giving them the rules/stats of the various encounters one might have in the Bayou along with a quick sketch of what said creature looks like. For me, I really want them to make an Ahool model, those things sound bloody awesome. For that matter, why haven't they made Whiskey Gamin miniatures yet. Maybe they will in the future.

Overall

If your a Gremlin fan then you'll love this book. It gives you a lot to work with for both Gremlin lore or even to do a story campaign for the miniatures game. If you play the RPG and want to add Gremlin players or just some neat Bayou stuff, then you'll most likely get this book too. If you play the miniatures game (or even the RPG), but have little to no interest in the Bayou or it's inhabitants, then you can pass on this. For me, it was well worth the wait and cost. As a Gremlins fan, a must have.

Malifaux: Divergent Paths - A New Campaign?

So Wyrd has announced their latest global event coming in September. Called 'Divergent Paths' (or at least, that's what the image states) it will no doubt probably be related to the Ripples of Fate book that is coming out (unless you got it a GenCon).

I don't know if I'll participate this year, as last years event I had my Brother to play against, but we really haven't interacted much over the last few months. Plus he now lives further away. I don't think there will be any major gaming groups forming in this area just yet, but who knows. If I do join in, you can expect my Gremlins will be going full on in. That said, we still won't be getting those Banjo playing miniatures for some time. Pity about that, am really looking forward to those models.

Given the way the last event went, I feel we'll just get a sort of repeat from last year, with the top three spots being contested by Guild, Arcanist and Ten Thunders. As much as I'd love to see my beloved Gremlins on top, I do hope that the Outcasts give them a run for their money.

Wild Ones Play Style (One Way to Play Them)

(I will refer to the models by their 'count-as' names as it will make it easier for referencing)

So spending some time going over the models and their rules, I think I've got a feel for the play style this box set gives. While the style of McCabe, Luna and Sidir have their usual connection, though I feel that McCabe would work well supporting his crew either through upgrades or combat support, it's Luna that would be useful when you throw in Guild Hounds. This idea was brought about by the two other models in the set, the count-as Mounted Guard.

Mounted Guard have a few good abilities (though their attacks are good) that when I looked over them, made sense when working with the hounds. First off, Luna removes their Insignificant problem (Guild Hounds need other Guild Hounds nearby to ignore this issue), which removed problems they have with schemes. With this in mind, sticking them next to a Mounted Guard will let them benefit from their Cavalry Charge ability. Cavalry Charge lets the charging Mounted Guard to pick a friendly non-leader model within 2" and LoS with a Cg value of 7 or more (Hounds have Cg 9) to be placed within 2" of the Mounted Guard after they've made the charge move. This means you can either move the Hound into combat with the same enemy target as the Guard or move them just out of range so the Hound can run off to drop more scheme markers or something else. As far as combat after the charge is concerned, the Mounted Guard can use his 0 action to discard a card to give a 3" aura that gives friendly models a positive flip to Df flips. Not only that, but the Guild Hound also has the Companion ability, meaning he can then activate after the Mounted Guard is finished. This would let them benefit in that they are a killer combat combo or it means the Hound can just run off straight away to take any advantage that shows itself. Hell, if you really want, throw the Hound a Strangemetal Shirt to activate in harder combats and you have one mad tag-team.

This means I'll have to get myself a few Guild Hounds to go with them. Still not sure what format to use, such as if I should replace both Guild Guard for two Hounds or one Guard and the Effigy or what. Perhaps when I finally get them all done I'll get a chance to play test and see what happens.

Malifaux - The Other Side Preview

So Wyrd has started their applications for people to play test their new game - The Other Side. Sadly, I have to skip this due to the ever increasing stress from study and the like. That said, they did provide a preview sheet for the game, along with the request to support their Kickstarter campaign for the game when they get it up, most likely later in the year.

The game is somewhat different to Malifaux, with different stats and the like. It still uses the Fate Deck, though it appears that damage flips are no longer a thing (at least, not from the character card in the preview). Stratagems will give your commanders useful tools to use during battle, though most a one shot effects, so you have to play smart with them. There's even a special type of moral system which you can build up to activate Glory, which lets you use the other side (or Glory side as it's known) of a miniatures card, usually giving it better effects like more damage and stuff. The game has you picking one of two sides it seems (Earth or Outsiders), but this may change when they increase the number of Alliances. Yep, Alliances are a major feature, as they seem to grant you special game effects and help you better focus on what units to take.

Ah, Units. Yes this game has more of a group based focus this time, with small units being a focus, along with a large monster-like miniatures and command characters. While the units themselves don't seem to be big in number like some other games, they are still making it more unit focus and even plan on adding special movement trays to help out. While I'm not a really into the idea of this game, from what is planned the miniatures will look amazing. The humans have that great Steampunk cross magic feel, while the other worldly creatures feel like they are terrors from the Abyss.

Obviously being an alternate Earth set in the 1900's, I would really like an Australian faction (or at least a unit or two, even if they are serve under The King's Empire alliance), little is known about this Earth other then mentioning Brittan, China and Abyssinia as locations. Beyond that it's hinted America does exist, but not much else sadly. Hopefully we'll get more information the closer they get to starting the fundraising (We know The King's Empire and The Gibbering Hordes will be the first alliances to be released). As for which side I'll pick? I like some of the humans look and would defiantly pick up any Aussie miniatures, but then given my character of Zargooran and the love of monstrosities, I may also take on one of the Breach alliances.

I'll make a real choice once we have a lot more details on it, but the game sounds good.

What I've Learned From Video Recording

Trying to get good footage is very difficult. Sure, recording inside is easy enough, but I need to obtain footage from both parklands & the city and from my experience so far I have got very little that someone might consider 'usable'. I have another run tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.

It gets worse as I then have to use that footage to form a montage, which means getting that footage to somehow blend well enough that the scenes look right and don't stand out like a sore thumb. This has been a real eye opener and I'm going to need a lot more practice if I plan to go ahead with video making. 

More Project Uploads

While I'm still waiting for my damn Gencon package to arrive (Seriously, how long does it take for Sydney to deliver that bloody package to Brisbane), I have uploaded a few new uploads to my DA page, including the updated Skith 2.0

I'll link my page here: DeviantArt Page

Thoughts on Character Creation - Flaws are the Best

You know you've seen them, read about them, those characters that are perfect. They can do anything, beat anyone and everyone loves them. Those heroes who are unstoppable or an OC (Original Character) who outshines and outlasts the main cast. Those characters who are always so perfect.....and they are BORING!
Note: I try to avoid referencing anything as a Mary Sue/Gary Stu as I find such titles to detract from what is being said. Yes, I know what they mean, but like most things I hear or watch, they tend to come off so negative. They talk about all the bad things associated with them, but they never really talk about how to take something perfect and to make it flawed in a way that gets the point across. That said, I doubt I'll do any better, it's just that I hate hearing those two names all the time when character discussions occur.

If I can say one thing when it comes to creating characters, is that you should always consider the flaws before you get into depth with them. This is more true when it comes to a characters backstory, as the two tend to go hand-in-hand together. Flaws are usually associated with something to do with their past and their past can be shaped based on their flaws. Flaws a fundamental when creating your characters and while their is nothing wrong with creating characters with god-like powers, you should also give them god-like flaws to match. Flaws are interesting, they provide limits for a character as well as create new interactions with other characters who may share similar flaws or have strengths that can help cover those flaws.

The first type are small flaws. These can be minor things like a small fear or personality trait that can show up on occasions, but doesn't cause too much problem in the over all story. These things can be simple fears and phobias, such as arachnophobia for example. Such things can help keep a character on the bad end when they should have no problems and even help flesh out a backstory to explain such fears. They can also have opposing flaws to their own talents, cause just because your good at one thing does not make you great at everything. Having them not be good at things helps balance their talents out, with them having to deal with the fact they fail at things or that there needs to be other characters around to help off set those flaws, creating great opportunities for character interactions.

Now lets go to the other end, having a great power, but giving it a flaw. Making a character with incredible skills or powerful magic etc. is perfectly fine, but giving them limits or flaws can help not only balance that character out, but makes them more interesting. Limit their ability to use this power or add some form of negative backlash to using it. Perhaps they can only use that power by possessing certain items or through some complex ritual that grants power, but is short lived. The greater the power, the more limited it must be, otherwise what is the point. There is no drama, no tension and it makes it harder to feel the emotion or to cheer on the hero. There is nothing wrong with a character calling on power at the height of the battle, but you should make sure that it is hinted at or shown in small doses leading up to it. I guess the best example I can use is Gohan from Dragonball Z, who leading up to his true power in the Cell Games Saga had several scenes over the series in which he got angry and unleashed power, hinting that he had great power within and so when it was used during that saga there was enough backstory that it made some level of sense when he became that powerful for that fight. They even threw in a fall, before leading to that final moment of triumph. Even at the height of power, they can still have flaws that can cause the Hero to risk defeat.

This leads to personality flaws. A character can be anti-social (which is a common one, but if done right it works wonders to a story) or they can be overly trusting or gullible. Perhaps they are egotistical or simply absent minded or eccentric to negative degrees. While personality flaws are the common go to ground for character flaws, they are also very important to the overall view people will take on what they think of your character. As with the last paragraph on having great power, having personality flaws can also be added to help offset these issues. Arrogance tends to lead to the downfall of many powerful creatures or perhaps fearful or even being a pacifist can also restrict a character from getting involved. Personality flaws are the easiest to add so be sure to really get creative with them.

Another one is more focused on OC's. Never have your OC Hero beat a shows main Villains, nor should they out shine the main cast when their Villains are involved (to be fair, they shouldn't out shine the main cast in most things anyway). These Villains are meant for the shows main cast to overcome, not your character. If you do want to have a Villain as a Arch-nemesis for your character to overcome, then create one. Much like Heroes having flaws, so too can your Villains and thus making them more interesting too. However, you should also consider what reason or flaw that the Villain would have that gives a reason why that Hero is able to defeat them. This can be anything like a flaw in their power that only a character who was a descendant of a particular bloodline can overcome (a little far fetched, but could work in a supernatural setting) or perhaps there is something about the Heroes past that is somehow connected to the Villain, making them more focused of getting at that Hero. A past history with that character would add to the backstory and show reasons why that Villain is so obsessed with your character over the main cast, even going so far as to explain why your character feels that they must be the one to defeat them. Villains themselves are great for using flaws, as they can range from the most despotic and sadistic to comedic.

I admit, these aren't the greatest of examples. Their there to help give an idea of how a character can be shaped by flaws. One thing I suggest to you is to find characters you like and try to find their flaws, look into how they effect the story and how they make the character more interesting to you. There are also a few places on the Internet that have RPG flaw lists and generators and I highly suggest you check them out and look through them. They might give you ideas of flaws and maybe even give ideas for strengths for other characters too. In fact, I highly recommend you check out various RPG's as they are great inspiration for character creation ideas and is something I highly recommend looking at if you want to add more flavour to your characters.

Don't be afraid to try out a few of them and see what kind of character interactions or stories you could tell with them. Ask yourself if those flaws fit the characters style and personality and how they interact with their strengths. You don't have to flood your character with flaws, just adding a few and toning down on strengths can be just as good. Sometimes a simple character with a few strengths and flaws can be more interesting then someone who has a bunch of them.

Remember, character flaws can by just as much fun as character strengths.

My First Video - I'm Truly Sorry

I'm doing some video editing as part of my study assessment, so I decided to give it a shot with another bad joke idea I had. Not too bad for my first attempt.

New Yooka-Laylee Trailer

New trailer is out and the game is coming out swimmingly. Givin the recent reactions of other games at the moment, this game appears to be exactly what we expect, a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. It's nice to see a game and forget about fancy graphics or complex gameplay and just see fun. A number of games seem to lack that feature.

August Project Update - Part 2

So quickly, the Skaven got a re-shoot and the new photo is now uploaded on DeviantArt. In the meantime, I am working on two short gags (one which is spending more time making it then the gag itself, but it's good practice with using vectors), so they should be up in the next week or so.

Along with them, I have already finished Old Cranky and am close to getting the Brutal Effigy done. Once I have the dried grass tufts, I will add them and upload that small Guild group shot with the others. Will also work on Jacob Lynch, Skith 2.0 (he's just about finished) and will work on completing my next Mousling project too. I want to get a number of shots done so I can upload them in one single session. Expect more soon.

Project Photo Post

So I got those photos done, I won't upload the Skaven one on DA until I finally get a shot that I'm satisfied with. That said, here is the current Skaven Age of Sigmar group:

However, I didn't want to just upload a shot of a complete project. As I've stated in the past, I have been working here and there between them in order to keep myself from getting frustrated with them. As such, here is the completed models for my Outcast collection:

My Guild collection (in preparation for my Wild Ones crew):

The Hungering Darkness:

And here are some of the more close to completion miniatures:

So I have been doing some work here and there. Perhaps I'll get some more done over the next few weeks (certainly after my assessments are done). I really need someone professional to help me with blending cause as you can clearly see, better quality photographs really show off just how bad I am at it and I've tried for years to get the hang of it.

Quick Update

So we had a Royal Show holiday yesterday and it gave me a chance to get some of that project stuff started. In preparation for the arrival of The Wild Ones box set, I've got all but two 50mm bases and so set them up with some wood putty and rocks for the base layer, with today adding the Cracked Earth citadel effect, which should be fully cracked tomorrow. Also got the Brutal Effigy's undercoat done too.

The Hungering Darkness is done (or at least, 'I've had enough' done) as is Miss Anne, though like the Guard she'll need dried grass flock before being complete. I am considering getting some Guild Hounds as not only do they work well with Iggy Pup (a.k.a Luna), but their armoured look really matches the style of the crews theme.

Got most of Old Cranky's base done (just needs flock) and he himself has the skin painted. Shouldn't be too hard to finish. Fixed Skith 2.0's arm, though it just doesn't look as good as the original conversion. Also close to finishing one of the Ronin and while my stockings blending wasn't great, it does look better then my first few tries. Happy enough to leave it and finish the rest of the model.

Gotta go out tomorrow to grab footage for part of an assessment, so should get a photo or two done and up as well (well, that's the plan at least). Also been thinking about getting one of those Wocom Intuos tablets, the $150 ones as that will probably help with no only study, but could also prove to be useful in other project ideas I have. Just got to decide soon as budget is very tight and I can only spend so much on study related items.

August Project Update

Oh boy, what fun we have with the little time we have. Yeah, fat chance much will get done.

So, Skaven wise, I have finished the Warlord, 10 Clanrats, the Ratling Gun and the Poisoned Wind Mortar (well, by finished I mean threw my hands in the air yelling "That's it, I'm done with this crap"). Should get photos done this week as there is a public holiday and it's a chance to get some things done.

Unfortunately, my flat mate ended up accidentally breaking Skith 2.0 and loosing one of his claws (he was just about finished too, just needed a touch up here and there). Unable to find that one, I'm now forced to come up with an alternative, given those claws came from a Hellpit Abomination arm I got from Ebay, which sadly there are no more available anywhere now. I have an idea, but we'll just have to see how that goes. I do want to eventually create a profile for the Skith character in my characters section soon too.

Malifaux wise, things are moving very slowly. My skill has really suffered over the last year or so and I can't tell if it's my brushes, my paints, my lighting or me. Both the Outcasts and Arcanists have come to a stop, having tried to practice painting stockings and failing each time. Once I've worked out an alternative, I should get those back into gear (still need to get the plastic strips for the Arcanists floor boards). I've  worked on the Hungering Darkness (for the third time) and have decided that no matter what I do, he is going to look terrible, so I'll just do a wash or two in some spots and give up on him. I hate to do so, but nothing is working and I'm not in the best mental state to cope with this. That said, I'm hoping the rest will work out better, despite the crappy bases I've made (though I did miss making one by mistake).

Positive side, both Old Cranky (a much needed defensive totem for my Gremlins) and the Brutal Effigy has arrive. Given I've nearly finished two Guild Guard and Miss Anne Thrope, it should round out my crew. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I did decide to order that Nightmare set (along with the Gremlin book and the free Miss Fire model....gotta love those Miss models) and these models will round out that crew for 50ss (with upgrades and extra soul stones). Once I get some dried grass tuffs from my local store in the next week or so (they have to order it) I can start getting some shots done. When they show up it'll probably give me the motivation to work on them. That or they'll show up during my assignment period and irritate me that I have no time to work on them.

Oh well, who knows, might do an unboxing video or something. Seems a good way to practice some video editing for my studies.