Puppet Inspirations Part 1

So growing up there were a number of shows with puppets in them which have helped inspire me to look to puppets to bring characters to life (animation is my number one, but I can't draw, let alone animate). As such, I thought I talk about a number of them that have contributed to this, so think of this as something like my Animated Reflections series, but about puppets....and in mini form.

Note that yes, while Jim Henson and his company have created a variety of shows that have been influential for me (The Dark Crystal is my favourite movie of all time after all), they really need a part all to themselves and I wanted to talk about some others before I go into that. I'll talk about them in another part so look out for that one. I do feel a little limited in talking about these in such short segments, so perhaps sometime down the road I can look into them in a bit more depth. We'll see. So let's get started with my first one.

1. Mr. Squiggle

 Image Via Wikipedia

So here's a real classic from my childhood. Mr. Squiggle (the man from the moon) was a delightful character who would travel from the moon to join a human cast member of the series to make pictures from squiggles that would be sent in to him. These squiggles would be enlarged onto card which was placed on the character Blackboard, a rather grumpy character who always insisted that they 'hurry up', which Mr. Squiggle would draw on to make pictures. He had a habit of loosing concentration and going off on space walks, which the human assistant had to bring him back down to earth and get him focused again.

Other characters included Gus the snail (who's shell seemed to change depending on the series) and Bill the steam shovel, who appeared to blow smoke (was actually a powder) when he had a jolly good laugh. These characters were more side characters to the main cast, but more often had some small storyline in the episode in which they appeared.

We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of Mr. Squiggle, but sadly it seems that many kids have no idea who he is or why he is such an icon in Australia. For me, this was a brilliant and creative show, with family friendly characters that was a joy to watch. Thanks to the internet, you can still find a number of episodes over the various series online here and there, so go check them out.

2. The Ferals

Image Via BuzzFeed

The Ferals are an interesting bunch of characters. There original show (The Ferals) was about four characters, Rattus the Rat, Modigliana the Cat, Derryn the Dog and Mixy the Rabbit. The group were advertised as a messed up bunch of feral animals and characters like Rattus and Modigliana could be quite brutal & violent to each other (in the comedic sense of hitting each other with objects, but recovering quite quickly) would be some what concerning and yes, some parents were concerned, but somehow it really seamed to work.

Kind of like a cross between a kids show and a bogan comedy, the Ferals were a big thing on the ABC back in the mid 90's and looking back at it now, I wonder what the real reason was that ultimately sent them into obscurity. While the original show had human actors in it, their spin-off show called Feral TV was more puppet based and worked well with its idea of a pirated TV station and having various parodies of actual shows on it. After that they just seemed to fade away, with Mixy being the face of the new ABC Kids channel for a period of time while Modigliana was co-host with a human for the educational show Creature Features (a show about animals).

I think what brought them back up for me more recently was a show called Throwback which featured Tina Matthews, the person who made the puppets and looking at their designs, they are quite detailed and a real inspiration for pushing the creation of my own characters in puppet format. After watching it I felt that this path may be the right one to be on.

3. Agro

Image Via Courier Mail

The Ferals may have tried pushing the envelope, but Agro would cross the line. While much of his on-air performances for children's television was obviously edited, much of the non-edited stuff is now out on the internet for all to see. He was a rather naughty (making a number of adult jokes, usually involving sexual innuendos) and self-aware puppet (would make the occasional comment about puppet related things, like his hands or the hand up him). He was a real comedian about things and would often annoy and infuriate his female co-host. It also probably doesn't help that the this he said and did would most likely be slammed today as more harassment then anything funny.

Once again, time takes away from a character like that and his popularity has waned as the years have gone one. I hear his puppeteer and voice actor, Jamie Dunn, has moved on to other things and Agro these days makes a rare appearance now and then. Like most things on this list, we would like to see his return, but also like all things on this list, that is probably never going to happen.

4. The New Adventures of Blinky Bill

B&W Cast Photo from the Blinky Bill Puppet Series Facebook Page

So here's an old one from my childhood. Blinky Bill has always been an Australian icon, but has gone through a few variations in the visual media over the years. This one in the 80's had Blinky and friends as puppets with human actors playing various roles. It's hard to talk about this show as only a few episodes can be found online these days and sadly, thanks to former actor Robert Hughes being convicted of sex offenses, the show will most likely never get released in any format.

It was still a good show (I really enjoyed the characters of Mrs Magpie and Angelina Wallaby) and from the few I have seen they were very enjoyable to watch. Iwould like to see some sort of re-release in the future, though I understand that it would be difficult seeing a children's show featuring a sex offender in it.

I really do hate people who's horrid actions spoil a good thing.

5. Bambaloo

Image Via beIN.net

This one was a morning show on Channel 7 that, despite being an Adult be this point in my life, I actually enjoyed watching. I can't tell if it was the puppets or the story lines that I found interesting, though having little sisters I found tended to get me interested in all manner of children's television shows, so who knows. Was more surprised to find out that, when researching this show, that it was apparently created by Yoram Gross and the Jim Henson Company. What a surprise there.

The show featured Angela Kelly as the host character Sam, who lived in a tree house (The Bambaloo Tree) with her dog Fidget, a fish called Jet and a bird named Portia. They are shown to be the main cast of the show, but the real stars are the two mice called Jinx and Gypsy, who would commentate and interact with things, but remained hidden from the group. In fact, they really only interacted with one human, a man called Jake (played by Andre Eikmeier) who would make something each episode with the mice nicking his food just after. At one episode (Leaky Tap), Sam and Jake interact with each other for the first time, which makes me wonder just what would have happened if the show had continued on for a few more seasons. Would there have been more human interaction or was it just for one episode? Maybe they did and I just never knew.

Sadly, information for this show is somewhat scarce (and my memory is shoddy these days), but I do hope I can find more to learn about it cause it seemed to be a perfect balance of activities for a children's television and the kind of stories one could tell in it. That or I may be thinking far to hard for this one.

6. Lamb Chop's Play-Along

Image Via Reddit

Growing up, this was a name you knew by heart in primary school and it was due to one thing, one song...

A creation of the late and great Sheri Lewis, Lamb Chop and her friends was a morning series addiction with short stories and skits, along with jokes and songs, you knew who they were and you loved them. The ending credits song was a piece that would be repeatedly sung over and over with the lyrics:

This is the song that doesn't end
Yes it goes on and on my friend
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was
And they'll continue singing it forever just because
(Repeat)

It was damn catchy and you knew that once you started you couldn't stop (didn't help that the song itself started small and just built up, making seem to get more catchy as it kept going). Because of this, we all found ourselves drawn to this show. Looking into the work of Sheri Lewis and Lamb Chop now, you can see they did all manner of shows and even adult content was not out of the question, though it was still rather clean (especially if you compare it to say, Agro). Sheri brought a smile to us all and at times the way she would interacted with Lamb Chop you would swear that the puppet was almost real. Strangest part is, given how simple and some what limited the puppet designs were, Sheri really brought them to life with the way their faces moved as they talked and her interactions with them. You can see why people are still endeared with Lamb Chop even to this day.

7. The Sooty Show

Image Via The Telegraph

My memories of Sooty and friends were from the Matthew Corbett era and to me, this was the best period in the Sooty history.

The Sooty Show was a family favourite in the 80's and I can remember enjoying the antics of Sooty and Sweep, usually at the expense of Matthew. Looking back at it now, it was rather amazing how you can make a non-speaking hand puppet so interesting and exciting to watch. What I found out later in life was that at one point in Sooty's career, people were outraged because apparently Sooty and Soo were boyfriend/girlfriend and were living together in the same house, which was somehow offensive to people. Boy, times have changed haven't they.

I can see why some people feel that a show with puppets has to have at least one human to interact with, as shows like this can have its puppet only segments, but much of the comedy needs a human for it to work (mostly cause the human is the victim in this case), but also to be the voice between the puppet and the audience and to bring in the moral message home so everyone can understand. The show seems to have a mix between antics and fun, but also a family feel, which can really appeal to certain audiences.

The show had both indoor and outdoor segments, but I really like how they created smaller sections to act as bedrooms and bathrooms for the puppets. It really did feel like this human person had modified his own house to accommodate for the needs of these smaller characters and it's something I can really appreciate, both from a creative and a narrative point of view. The Corbett family really worked hard to bring Sooty and his friends to life and it is something I just love.


So I think that will do it for now. Now doubt I will do another one of these soon as there are still so many shows to talk about and I only have so much in me to talk about them. Hopefully some of these will spark a little nostalgia in you and make you go back and watch them or perhaps you might find yourself interested in looking some of these up just to see what the heck I'm rambling on about. What ever reason, go watch them and be inspired.

Till next time...

Creating a Burrows & Badgers Warband: Part 2 - Painting and Expanding the Crew

So the last time I was still fleshing out ideas in Part 1, but now I have expanded further with the models. Converted and painted up, the crew has been put together and the characters own lore advanced. Photos are still of mixed quality, they are still look close to what they actually look like.

So the crew from first to last is:

- Brianna
Warband leader and tank.

- Ghost
Second in command and stealth runner (despite being an Albino Squirrel).

- Ginnette
Brianna's sister and crew alchemist.

- Miranda
Main spellcaster of the Warband.

- Gurumarra
Crew support and objective runner.

- Emrick
Stealth archer.

As a campaign goes on, so does a Warband expand and new members join to help in the Warband's ever growing story. As the crew hails from a tiny hidden village right next to a riverbank, I wanted more animals that are more related to such locations.

These beasts are the new recruits for my crew. From first to last we have:

- Marcello
Master ranger of the local forests, Marcello joins up to deal more effectively with the beasts that threaten his land. Marcello would help entice other Otters to the village and to help support the local defenses.

- Barnard
An ex-knight who became disillusioned with his fellow Knights and so took his family far from away to a more peaceful life. However, his former comrades did not approve of this and went to hunt him down. With the aid of the Riverbank Warband's help, they were sent packing, but knowing they'd be back, Barnard joined up to help secure their homes from any future intrusions.

- Conner
The first bird to join the Warband, Conner is an upbeat Kingfisher bird who is your average defender who offers the Warband a fast paced response fighter who can support his fellow beasts with his speed as a warrior. He also loves to whistle.

So yeah, the crew has expanded visually. I might also eventually add Bartholomew as a Bat Assassin as he is the partner of Miranda, but given he has a more political and strategical role in the village, he might work well as a sort of NPC/objective character for special narrative missions. The next part will look more into expanding the characters lore wise and finalize the crew setup. Hopefully that should be done within the next month or so, so keep an eye out for that soon (I know this one is rather short compared to part 1, but I'll try to make it up in part 3).

 A Slightly better shot of Ghost and his Hooked hand

Puppet Problems

So when going through the process of making a puppet, I've seemed to have found one of the major hurdles that seems to be a problem in Australia and that is gaining access to the materials I need to make them. By materials, the main ones I am referring to are that of the Foam and the Fleece. It seems foam of a 0.5 inch size is unavailable here, as is things like Antone fleece. Now with the fleece I can try to find alternatives, but the foam is harder to do. Not only that, but the replacement materials might not be as effective. Unfortunately, I am unable to know for sure as I still need foam and fleece to test them out.

I do have things like Polar fleece and some threat to practice sewing and as soon as I can figure out which option to use in the design process, I can get around to making a clay base to use in making the foam pattern.

Hopefully I'll be able to start some updates or a series in regard to this journey, but this is still in an idea stage, so nothing is set in stone yet.

Animated Reflections - Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tale

Officially titled - Footrot Flats: A Dog's Tail Tale (cause the main character is the Dog and grammar isn't his specialty), this animated movie is based on the comic strip series by Murray Ball. Given this was a New Zealand venture with animation done in Australia and was released in the mid-late 80's, I would not be surprised if no one outside this region would have heard of it. I would also not be surprised if some of the humour is lost on those outside of this region as much of it is rural based from these regions.

Talking about a movie rather then a series is a little different for Animated Reflections, but this is one of those animated movies I did see as a kid and it does hold a special place for me.

The story is more a collection of situations that are forming around as the main story. It follows much like it does in the comics, situated in the fictional town of Raupo in New Zealand and the nearby rural property of Footrot Flats, owned by Wallace Footrot. Wallace may be the farmer (plus a massive Rugby fan) and one of the central characters, but the real star is his Boarder Collie, a dog called...errr...Dog. Known as 'The Dog' in the comic series, he does have an actual name, but he refuses to let anyone speak it.

One of Footrot's neighbours is a kind and friendly farmer nicknamed Cooch and his dog called Jess. In fact, there is a flashback scene that explains how Wallace got Dog, how Cooch got Jess and how Dog and Jess met, which is different from the one in the books, but can understand why it was changed to better suite it for a movie.

The other neighbour that Wallace has to deal with are the Murphy's, which consist of Irish Murphy and his two sons Hunk and Spit (yeah this movie prefers to use every ones nicknames, which I guess makes it more amusing and makes characters stand out more). Irish's main goal is to get Cooch's Stag, Spit is competing to get into the All Blacks Team (the national Rugby team for New Zealand) which is one of the parts as Wallace wants to impress the selector and Spit is going for the same gig. Finally there is Hunk and he is.....just there really. He's not too sharp so I guess they couldn't do much more with a character like that. The Murphy's also have a group of nasty pet dogs and there land is inhabited by their pigs, which are referred to as 'Croco-Pigs' due to the fact that they kind of act like aggressive Crocodiles.

Beyond that there as support characters like Wallace's Aunt Dolly, his niece Pongo and Rangi, a local boy who helps out on the farm (who is also a character who appears to be of indigenous decent, so glad that there was more acceptance of that here). Another character is also Cheeky Hobson, Wallace's girlfriend and someone who the Dog has no trust for what-so-ever. Finally there is Horse, a cat that lives in the area and is basically a total bad-ass who is usually moody. They all play parts in the story, but are limited due to what you can put into a movie (the more I keep watching it the more I feel like it would have made a great T.V. series). Oh, there are rats and one particular nasty one which when you see his is very over the top looking.

Animation wise, it is done in a style that matches the art style of the comics, which was a brilliant decision. The characters are outlined well with colour added to them (as can be noticed well in Pongo's hair with her pigtails having straight black lines like in the comics with orange colour in-between them). The backgrounds are done with lines and colour with things like scribbles and marks to make it look like the background of a comic strip. Movement is smooth most of the time (being hand drawn animation does mean there are issues from time to time, though you have to be looking for them to actually notice any) and rapid movement even has the added lines to show the movement like in the comic strips. I really like this style and would like to see more shows based on comic strips use this sort of visual style.

While I enjoyed the Soundtrack, I would completely understand if other did not. Produced by New Zealand musician Dave Dobbyn, the most famous song from this soundtrack is Slice of Heaven (which I do love). Other songs are more hit or miss for me, but the non vocal music I do enjoy (I do like Cooch's theme on the OST,). Not much more to say, so I suggest looking them up and seeing which ones appeal to you.

Overall, a great movie that I recommend, though it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Like I said earlier, this was one that I have seen multiple times growing up and has stuck with me. What I don't get is why I haven't seen it on television in some time. Happy to repeat crap movies over and over again, yet this gem never gets a shot, why? Anyway, go check this one out and have some fun.

Note:
So yeah, it's been a while since I've looked at anything and this seemed like a good step into getting back into the swing of things. Sorry it's not up to the usual standards, but its clear that mine were becoming more like critic reviews more then the reflections I wanted to write about. Might need to review a few more things until I can get this series right, hopefully I'll get it down pat soon enough. Also, sorry about the screen shots but only had a Blu-ray version and not a DVD version, so didn't have much for visuals for this one. Had to make do with what I could find, so hopefully I'll be able to get one down the track or a Blu-ray player for the PC, which ever one comes first I guess.

Researching While Down

So yeah, it can be very difficult to get things done, but my support workers are positive towards my ideas for a video show using puppets. Now that's all fine and well to talk about, but until you have things like a puppet in your hands, it can be depressing to keep going on a path where there seems to be no outcome other then failure.

As such, I tend to find myself just stuck in bed just watching Youtube vids on the T.V in my room, so I decided to really use that time to find videos on making puppets and boy there are some good ones. I admit that I have no real skill in that area and while I want to produce a group of advanced puppets, it might be best if I start off small and look at making more complex versions further down the path.

One such channel I found was an individual named Adam Kreutinger, who has some great videos on puppet making. While these are average puppet designs, they are a good starting point for me to begin working on. I must admit, I'm the kind of person who tends to need specific instructions when working on many things (either because I'm afraid to fail, I tend to forget or I'm just plain stupid) and I'm also a perfectionist who wants things to be perfect the first time around, so this is a very intimidating project to go into. More so cause the puppet designs are for anthropomorphic engineer rats (one good, one evil), a steampunk engineer mouse, a sugar-glider possum pilot along with various robot and alien creatures (with possible inclusions of others like my Bat characters or even Storm Spear/Corrupticus). I feel a character like Zargooran would be better served as a 3D model integrated into a scene via VFX, though perhaps a sort of Eye Pod/Growth on a wall could be a starter until that sort of advancement is made.

Ship wise I'm still stuck, though an Adam Savage video I saw of him making such things has given me hope that I can still do that (making 3D models and animations was one of my weaker aspects of my VFX course, though that was mostly in making more organic movement I guess). I'm a little mixed up now that so much has begun going through my head as I write this so I think it's best to leave it here and update this project later.

Up-coming Stuff

So I'm really trying to make an effort to get back into this whole writing thing again (cause as the last year has shown, my mental health makes it rather difficult to keep updates regular). As such, I have decided to focus on a few things I'd like to post over the next few months and hope I can at least do that. So here they are:

+ Malifaux 3rd Ed Rulebook Review. May hold off on for a bit until I get a chance to get some gaming experience or review some battle reports to see how the new rules really work.
+ My Life with Mental Illness (a post by post section where I just write about my experiences and thoughts in order to both help myself and to help others without it to better understand what it's like living with it).
+ Animated Reflections: Footrot Flats.
+ At least one Warhammer novel review (and this one is purely for the gag I last left off with)
+ Uploads of photographs of projects I've done and am working on (including the last part of that Burrows and Badgers Warband section).
+ GW in-store painting competition. I withdrew due to my mental health issues

I think this is a good start, just hope I'm not digging myself too deep with this lot. Can be hard sometimes, so with luck I'll get all these done over the next few months (I really want to get most done over the next few weeks, but I'm giving myself a few months due to the unpredictable nature of my mental health).

Thoughts on Warcry

So today I gathered my nerves, swallowed my Valium and went into my local GW store today to give the skirmish game Warcry a go. The results:

It was a lot of fun.

I not only got taught how to play, but was taught by some gamers/customers, who were both nice and fun. The game had my Gloomspite Gitz vs his Fleash-Eater Courts, the mission was board quarter control and I lost the game 2-3. I learned a lot about how the game works, how my faction works and the mistakes I made.

As far as a skirmish game goes, it is still somewhat basic, but mistakes early on can cost you down the road. So I guess it's best to talk a bit more about it.

Warbands have a set point value (usually 1,000pts) with one champion model being chosen to be your Leader. Stronger models have a higher point value while weak ones have a lower point value (so some factions can have the option to have few but strong or lots but weak). The stats of each model type have been reworked for this game, so looking at a models Warscroll is pointless if you want to see which ones are best to pick (a bit more on stats later on).

So for example, my Warband consisted of:

+ Boingrot Bounderz Boss (Leader)
+ Boingrot Bounderz
+ Squig
+ Squig
+ Squig
+ Squig Herder
+ Stabba with Barbed Net

Total Points: 995pts

This brings us to the turns. Each turn both players roll six dice. Numbers that are double, triple, quadruple get set aside while single numbers are used to determine who gets initiative. So say player one rolls 3,3,4,4,5,6 and player two rolls 1,2,2,2,4,6. Player one has rolled two sets of doubles and two single numbers, while player two has rolled a triple and three singles. Because player one has two singles and player two has three singles, player two wins initiative and goes first that turn. Should both players have the same number of singles, then a roll off occurs to determine who goes first.

But those doubles, triples and quadruples are still needed as they are used to activate abilities (both general and faction specific). One good example of this was in Turn 2 of the game I played, where I rolled three doubles and during that turn both of my Squigs were under attacked by one of the larger Fleash-Eater monsters (a Crypt Horror I believe). I used one of my doubles to active an ability which added 1 to my Attack and Strength characteristic for that models activation (he had to be within 1" of a friendly fighter which was the second Squig) which gave that Squig 5 attacks at Str 6, which increased the amount of attacks and hits I could place on that enemy. After he activated a Ghoul to come in and attack the second Squig, I activated that second Squig and since he was both in base range with his buddy Squig and the Horror, I used another double I had to use that same ability on that Squig and after that fight the Horror was no more.

That's not to say having them can be beneficial all the time, as in Turn 3 I had a triple aside and had no real way to use it in the game that would help and so it was wasted that Turn.

Combat is simple, with there being combat range (usually 1"- 3" for melee, with range attacks being 3"+). Your attack characteristic is the number of dice you roll to attack, Strenght and Toughness are used to determine if you attack wounds or not with a roll of 6 always being a critical hit (so if your Str is higher then their Tough you need a 3+, equal Str/Tough is a 4+ and if Tough is higher then your Str it's a 5+). There is also a damage stat shown as X/X (X being a number). This is your average damage and your critical damage, so to use the Squigs again, they have a 2/4 stat, with 2 being the damage you deal on a normal hit and 4 being on a critical hit. You then add these all up in a fight to determine how much damage you will do.

So lets do another example: You attack with you model that has four attacks attacks against a model with the same toughness as your strength and you damage value is 2/5. You roll a 3,4,4 and 6, so you have made two normal hits and one critical, so your damage is 0+2+2+5 for a total of 9 wounds to that model. Simple, but I found that when most models have a more equal Str/Tough can make more tension in a fight (better when someone decides to use an ability to shake things up).

Man, this is sounding more like a review then an experience. So back on topic, the game itself lasted around 20 - 30 minutes, give or take the learning curve. Short but fun, which is what I seem to like these days. I imagine more factions will be included as new faction releases happen and I can easily see this game having campaign expansions in the future. While you can just have the rulebook and a faction card pack or so, much of the campaign section has a layout for setting up the terrain what comes in the starter box, which can be confusing. I'm sure there are ways for everyone to go around this (given they are selling other terrain box sets to go with it), so I'll wait a bit longer to see how that one goes.

If you are interested in this game, I highly recommend either going into a store and ask about a demo game to teach you or look up various Age of Sigmar channels on Youtube to see games played and determine for yourself if the game is more suited to you (I remember one of the staff saying that 40K Kill-Team was more about harder to kill models while Warcry is all about getting in and killing).

Speaking of the staff, big thanks to the Warhammer Brisbane CBD store staff for doing their best to make me feel as comfortable as they could and a massive thanks to the two gentlemen who played and taught the game with me, it really made my day (because being in a small crowded store full of talking people is terrifying for me due to my mental health issues. Planning on writing a series to explain my life with it so that it might help people understand some of the issues we have).

Sorry for turning this into a bit of a ramble, but I had fun playing the game and enjoyed the day (a rarity, but still good).

Thoughts on Gremlins in M3

So having read though the Malifaux 3rd Edition Gremlins stat card pack and compared them to the ones I already own, I have a few thoughts that I'd like to bring up about them.

The first major thing I noticed is how the Gremlins have had their 'Risk vs Reward' reduced in exchange for more stability. This can be noticed as defensive stats and abilities have been improved, but things like the trigger that does double damage but they take half is now gone. On the one hand, I feel somewhat saddened that this fun little mechanic has been nerfed into the mud, but on the other hand is has made a number of Gremlins more sustainable and more likely to be chosen again.

Also, much like all the other factions, the limited upgrade options don't add too much to the crew (save for Jones and Ophelia), so I feel that at this point in time, the loss of some of the more popular upgrades seems a bit disappointing, though no doubt will see more come out in the future as the game progresses. The Keyword thing is also a bit of an issue (it does muck up some of my options when playing certain factions), but I guess with the Masters I own, that really isn't a huge deal for me.

Speaking of which, while I'm not too familiar with some of their masters, I do own three of them and so will give my quick thoughts on them (I'll update this when I get around to testing some options and combos out):

Ulix Turner:

Ulix no longer breeds the pigs anymore (but Hog Whisperer's and Slop Hauler's can summon Piglets), but in exchange he can now take a pig and upgrade it to a higher variant. So say you get one of the above mentioned models to summon a Piglet, Ulix can then upgrade it to say, a Wild Boar (assuming he can get the casting off). As such, you can still do the whole Pig breeding mechanic, it's just that how it's done is now different (so if you did play that style then you'll have to change your tactics a bit). If Ulix is used as the crews Master, then he also has the Pig keyword for the purpose of hiring pigs, so his crew is still very much a pig focused crew (and even in smaller games, Old Major can still lead a pig only crew, which I just love).

Ophelia LaCroix:

The Kin have returned and they are sporting to be a bit more competitive against the Ortega Family (Given their rivalry in the lore). While Ophelia herself still have the upgrade arsenal mechanic, it's her Kin that have had the real change, with the above mentioned Risk vs Reward exchanged for a more stable style of combat. I think this change was meant to better reflect the mastery of weapons taught to them by Ophelia and I can see them working much stronger together as a result. They are even getting Kin minions just like the Ortega's, so I expect to see these two families do battle with each other more in the future.

Mah Tucket:

I think the loss of upgrades for Mah and her crew took a bit of a bite out of them, but their compensation was to make their crew box set much more appealing. They still have many of the abilities to help boost both the crew and their turn initiative, but the biggest boost comes in the form of pit traps and the Bushwackers. In just a few turns you can set up a few pit traps to force your opponent into trying to decide if they want to risk the damage or just go the long way around and the Bushwackers themselves now benefit from being hidden until the enemy gets close enough, making them much more deadly. Can easily see this crew being more of a 'holding out or holding position' mission type, forcing their enemy to move in to avoid ranged attacks only for Mah herself to give them what for. Trixiebelle herself no longer has any sort of attack and is very much used for manipulating things more then she once did (but if you have a powerful character kept next to her, she can use a type of attack action to make that model attack her enemy instead, so there is a benefit to giving her a personal bodyguard).

Overall, I do like what has become of the Gremlins as a faction and I will talk more about them in a bit more detail in the future (along with some of the other faction crews I own). That said, I best review the M3 Rulebook first before we go any further into factions, so look for that very soon.