Wyrd Birthday Sale & Insane Mornings

When the Wyrd newsletter appeared in my inbox this morning, I almost completely missed the contents, something I blame on the absence of coffee in my system. I usually download my mail, and whilst that's coming down the wire I wander off to my local forums. I was browsing what's new in the painting scene when my local henchman posted up about the sale. Yeah, yeah I thought, I'm getting to it, and then went and made myself a coffee.

As the caffeine seeped into my veins and my addled brain worked up to the state of barely functional, I got a text message. Someone was brave, most know to leave me alone that early in the morning.

"Did you order Yan Lo yet?" flashed at me from the screen. This got a confused look from me. That set isn't due to be out for months. Had I gone into hibernation - maybe missed summer in favour of few extra z's from the comfort of my mattress.

Slowly the realisation struck that something was different with the world this morning. I slurped my coffee and let my pre breakfast brain consider the possibilities. Hibernation, an alternate reality and some form of time dilation were considered, as was breakfast, and all the time my hand slowly and meticulously typed out a reply to the over zealous texter.

One word was all I could manage - "What" - I didn't even have the enthusiasm to add the question mark.

"Wyrd Sale - buy it, buy it, buy it now..." was the reply...

Alright let's have a look....

Wyrd is having a birthday sale... lots of oldies but goodies being re-released..... And then like lightening striking there it was... Yan Lo and Lucas McCabe released early.








And that's how I went from thinking I was making a dent on my pile of shame to hurtling into our bedroom, waking the wife (never a good idea) and sending beagles flying in an effort to get to my wallet.

JUST TAKE MY MONEY - just bill me already, now by some miracle of technology beam the order contents into my hands so I can tear open those boxes and ogle my latest plastic crack before it inevitably gets banished to my pile of shame.

My momentary insanity aside, I was left wondering what exactly the "sale" component was, before the more pressing thought that I'd run out of coffee overtook me.

And then the texter did it again....

"Have you seen the new Trek movie trailer yet". And the world moved two steps to the left and the insanity took me once again....

Malifaux Kickstarters - RPG's and Game Boards

Just when I thought it was safe to venture back on the Internet , I stumble upon a thread in one of my local forums that lists every Kickstarter type project currently on the go.

A willpower duel overtook me, but like a play thing for Zoraida, I was drawn in and before I knew it, more money was leaving my account.

Through the Breach


Wyrd have decided to crowd source funding for their latest offshoot, a Malifaux RPG called 'Through the Breach'

There's no denying that the Malifaux world offers plenty of opportunity for conspiracy and a good RPG. I think the important thing is that Wyrd have taken the important step of divorcing the RPG from the events and characters of the table top game. Therefore you're not going to see Lady J and Seamus bumming around in the same warband, but that's not to say your band of merry adventurers have to be from the same faction, in fact it would make for a spicier campaign if they did have different, hidden and often conflicting agendas.



Whilst I hovered on this for a long time, I ultimately decided not to commit to this one at this stage. I play in a long running Star Trek RPG and I would love to run another Dark Heresy campaign again next year. I'd also like to see how far this expands the Malifaux fluff and what options are available for play before I commit.

Games and Gears


Games and Gears looks to the brain child of a few London gamers trying create a cheaper and more versatile range of GW's battle board. Cast from ruggedised plastic, you are buying 12" square tiles that can be locked together using plastic fasteners. The effect is a modular board that can be bought or expanded from 3x3, 4x4, 4x6 or even 4x8'.

The initial tranch of boards includes cobblestone and desert settings that struck me as perfect for Malifaux. I'm already considering whether to update my crystal canyons board to be based on one of these puppies and I can see my Arcanist rail yard looking very nice on a blend of the cobblestone and field boards.

Three 3x3 boards set me back just over $320 Aussie. But when you consider that one GW board would have cost that much, it seems like a fair deal.

This Kickstarter also advertises itself to the RPG market via some felt lined equivalent boards. Perfect for that Through the Breech encounter, some will be planning with the release of the Malifaux RPG.

Product Review - Gale Force 9 Badlands Terrain

After reviewing GF9's crystals recently I wanted to offer a different insight into their products, in case I left you with the impression all of their goods are poor quality.

So to finish out my crystal canyons board I was looking to create some rock pillars and spires, my homage to badlands national park. I was researching hot wire cutters and expanded insulation foam when up came these beauties in flipboard.









I debated for a while but in the end decided to take the plunge, despite my experiences with the crystal terrain, reasoning that at the least I could sell it on if it was really bad.

The day arrived when they finally delivered and I tore open the boxes like a kid under a Christmas tree.

The results were surprisingly good. I'd seen a you tube video and the rock colours looked very washed out. I'd resigned myself to giving the rocks a couple dry brushes to add definition, but as I pulled the rocks out they didn't appear to need any. Better still the sand around the bases had been picked out neatly in a complimentary and contrasting colour. There didn't appear to be anything to do, this truly was a battlefield in a box.

I looked over the bigger pieces first which appear to be made of a semi hollow resin, they're pretty solid and well based. They have some good shading and a few highlights, generally on the edges of the plateaus.

Next came the smaller rock formations, you get 7 in a box. Again there was that same level of detail, everything was good, everything was as I had hoped.

To cover a 3x3 board with just this type of terrain, you'd probably want both the big boxes and a couple of the smaller rock formations. With the mix of terrain I have planned for crystal canyons, maybe a little less but having those three or four sets would give you some variety.

My only gripe is the packaging, the sort of polystyrene that crumbles and cracks the minute you look at it, this was never going to be suitable for long term storage and is going to need to be replaced if its going to be making journeys to and from my local club.

All up this product gets 4.8 out of 5, loosing only a few points because you'll have to insider storage and transportability and because a little dried grass applied near the base would have left me with nothing to do.

If you ever wanted a desert board, this terrain is a great place to start.

Product Review - Gale Force 9 Crystals

So as some readers may have already glistened I'm in the process of building the second in my themed Malifaux boards, this time a Neverborn board, which I'm calling Crystal Canyons.

Whereas the first board had a heavy emphasis on GW terrain, and say what you will about that company, they do make some awesome terrain, this time around I'm using Gale Force 9 almost exclusively.

Crystal Canyons wouldn't be the same without some crystals and I'd bought 4 sets of the green crystals for a 40k board concept some time ago that were languishing in my pile of shame.

Since I bought these the company has started to offer red and blue colour crystals, which might suit a snow or mars board better.









The set contains 10 crystals of varying sizes and disposition. There are smaller clumps and some bigger standalone crystals. There is one crystal that's obviously designed to sit on its side and another where there's a stump, which could all be crafted into a diorama implying some pretty strong weapons were used on these crystal formations.



The smaller crystals are anywhere between 25 and 35mm in height, whereas the larger crystals are approximately two inches in height.

The models themselves appear to be made from an acrylic or coloured resin, with the colours themselves leaning towards the luminescent end of the colour spectrum. Don't get me wrong, they're not 80's luminescent but I think most games would probably be tempted to repaint these in darker colours. Certainly a straw pole of the product amongst our gaming club committee came to the conclusion these needed painting.

The models also exhibited a lot of air holes and were badly cleaned up. Even if you intended to use these out of the box, there is a mould release agent on most surfaces that would be best washed off before play.

If you're intending to paint these, then prepare for the model to drink your paint. You'll want to use a heavy undercoat and lots of layers or an airbrush. Consider using much darker colours for the first few coats and have lots of it.

In particular, the crystal designed to lay down will need a lot of tidying up and filing down if you intend to stand it up. The surface it lays on as standard is really badly defined and needed a lot of work.

After undercoating you might want to go at these with some liquid green stuff to fill all the air holes, a prospect I think I'm going to have to do if I'm ever going to be satisfied and use these on a board.







All up, this product isn't entirely of the quality I've come to expect from GF9. I can't speak for the newer blue and red crystals, maybe because they were released almost 6 months apart, GF9 has had a chance to improve on the production process, but these earlier edition green crystals disappointed me and members of my local club.

Rating 2.0 out of 5

Kickstarter Steampunk and Industrial Buildings

My first foray into Kickstarter came when one io the ever increasing number of terrain kick-starters I've seen came up with something different. Not the usual Tudor or mud house that seems to be the cornerstone of fantasy terrain, nor even the skull laddened bonanza that is GW terrain, this time here were some modest Steampunk and industrial designs that seem ideal for an Arcanist board.









http://kck.st/QxpXjo

Impudent Mortal's Kickstarter had something I wanted and when I looked a little closer I realised it'd be the ideal club terrain, or at the least great mobile terrain. It is solid MDF and best of all he's incorporated a puzzle design so it snaps apart for easy transportation and storage.

I'm looking at the Steampunk, brick and stone buildings and thinking, despite it being 28mm, it'll work well for my planned Arcanist board. Now i just need to track down an appropriate train gauge for the rail line....

Product Review - Battlefoam X-Display and Fury boards

I am at heart a cautious person and after being involved in the running of a dozen or so tournaments for my local gaming club, the one area I really feel some gamers underestimate is the risk to their beautifully painted minis in a tournament environment.

I've literally seen minis worthy of a Golden Demon go into orbit at a tourny because the poor guy was dodging another player as he made his way between tables. It's always heart wrenching when you see a beautifully painted crew shattered into a bizillion pieces and it was because of that that I decided I needed the Battlefoam X-Board and Fury tray in my life. Even though at the time of writing, I haven't attended a single tournament, my cautious side was screaming that I needed that protection, or rather my minis did.

It was particularly important to me because so many of the tourneys here are single faction, meaning you could have multiple crews laddened up as you traverse a room of gamers all trying to do the same.

But anyway onto the review.

So I'll point at the start that this review actually covers two products from Battlefoam, the X-Board Display (hereafter called the XB, because its a bit of a mouthful) and the Fury.

Battlefoam X-Board Display Board





Battlefoam Fury Tray (one of two tray insets shown)


Starting with the Fury, this was originally designed for WarMachine and Hordes players and includes set recesses for 30mm, 40mm, 50mm and some even bigger base insets. It'll even hold a Collosus or whatever those hulking great things are called in WarMachine. Unlike many other display boards the Fury is specifically designed with insets for your minis, it isn't a display board per say, think of it more as a carry tray on steroids.

The Fury comes in a rugged black plastic design with two trays and a set of carry handles, which snap onto the sides.

It can be combined with XB's rails to allow you to combine the two fury trays into a single tray, changing the number of minis that can be carried from approximately 40 for a single tray to 80 for both trays.

If you go to tourneys which are fixed master or fixed list you probably only want the Fury system. The minute you start going to brawls, single faction or multi master you need the added functionality to connect trays that only the Fury and the XB package provides.

The XB by comparison is a fully featured display board. It comes with two textured tiles that when combined provide a centre step or two separate raised levels onto which you can display your minis. Provided in ruggedised plastic, the textured tiles can easily be undercoated and drybrushed to provide a nice landscape to present approximately 30 minis against. You might be able to squeeze a vehicle in there if you we're playing something like 40k but the more minis you add to the top, the less it looks like a diorama and the more it looks like a carry tray.








The XB is held together via four support rails, the longer ones, designed to run along the front and back have an inset where a name or army tag could be mounted. The short side rails have comfortable hand grips you'd use when moving it around in a tournament setting.

The XB also comes with a cotton carry bag you can use for storage, although it will only carry one set of trays, either those from the XB or the Fury. It doesn't have a carry strap either which kind of defeats its purpose.

When fitted together these boards will form a single solid unit that isn't coming apart without some brute force. I tried out both XB and Fury insets in the XB rails when I got it and its was a struggle to pull apart. It might have been where it was brand new, but it was definitely a struggle.

The XB has a one inch grid layout under the textured surface which is advertised as being ideal for you to fit magnets to, so that your magnetised minis wouldn't move if the tray was knocked but I think in reality most gamers wouldn't go to that extreme because you'd be unlikely to use the same lists at each tourney. The fury might be a batter candidate for magnetisation but I'm not sure it would offer you much more protection than the recesses already do. Even I, probably the most cautious Resser on the planet wouldn't necessarily magnetise these trays.

So to sum up these products in terms of pros and cons and to give this a rating:

Pros
Very rugged design in both products,

The XB has a very nice little textured tile setup that is generic enough that it works with any system and detailed enough that it only needs a quick drybrush to be ready

The XB front rail has a nice inset for a name/army tag

The Fury's recessed style offers protection from the tray being knocked

Both trays can be magnetised

Cons
The carry case in the XB needs a carry strap

The rugged design can be difficult to break apart, unless it eases up over time, I'd probably leave it in the same configuration.

Rating
4.75 out of 5 - All up, these products are super cool and fit a niche nicely, whilst there are cheaper alternatives becoming available, the is no doubt Battlefoam have a winning design.

On the subject of commission painting

So here's the part in the blog where I make a confession. For those of you looking for painting inspiration I have to say right up front that at this time I am using commission painting services to bring my minions and masters to the board.

As some of you will have glistened from my profile I work for one of the big 4 consultancy firms and that takes its toll on your free time. I quite regularly pull 12-15 hours days for my job and being in IT means that any remaining time really should be spent keeping up to date on the latest trends.

This when combined with a relatively busy family life, and heavy involvement in my local gaming club, means I'm lucky to have 6-8 hours for gaming a week, which most of you will know probably only equals one or two I painted minis.

I take no pride in fielding a commission painted army, I used to find painting very satisfying and relaxing and I was pretty good at it, but the reality is that painting your own crews is a time consuming business and I have to accept that for now, commissioning my crews is the only way to go.

Thankfully Malifaux is one of few games where I can probably get away with a commissioned crew in a tournament setting. The gaining grounds tournament outline is very clear on how painting should be awarded and it doesn't factor in an overall score. This is a pretty shrewd, meaning that a commission painted crew still has a shot at a podium finish, you just won't be picking up best painted.   Or you shouldn't... I go to extraordinary lengths to point out my crew is commission painted and I hope others do as well.

So onto commission painting itself, if you're reading this and considering the option then I think there are a few things to consider, namely:

1) Prepare well enough in advance, your minis may be away for a while, you need to have a proxy substitute available and you need to ensure you get into the busy schedules of those artists willing to undertake the work

2) Pick your artist based on their talents and a style you like. Don't rush to the first available and don't rely on a friend just because they have talent. The easiest way for a friendship to fold is because money or resentment becomes an issue.

3) Consider how much of the process you want to do yourself, the more you do, the less it'll cost and there's a sense of reward you get from being involved in the process yourself. For me that meant all minis were assembled, in some cases converted, were based and undercoated. Given how detailed and fragile Wyrd metal minis can be, doing your own assembly work can save you time and heartache.

4) Make sure you have the budget and make sure the cost of the work is agreed upfront. It shouldn't feel like your visiting a dodgy mechanic, whose going to have your minis up on the ramps before scratching his head and proclaiming that there's a lot more work here than originally thought and its going to cost you double.

5) My last piece of advice is to ensure you are involved in the creative process from the very start and all the way through. You are after all the client and these will be your babies, the last thing you want is for them to be screwed up. Even if you want your minis painted exactly as Wyrd painted them, you want to be involved often and always to ensure what you get at the end meets your expectations.

For me the path of choosing a commission painter was a long and convoluted one until I settled on Blue Table Painting. Here in Western Australia my local choices were fairly limited, and in one case had run up a reputation for not finishing or returning projects! I turned to the national scene and found a group of commission painters hanging out on Wargamer AU, but when I posted there was little availability and I wasn't overly inspired by the responses I received.

It was at that time that I turned to Blue Table Painting, a company in Utah who have made a reputation by applying a business standard to the commissioning of painting and assembly services. I'd used BTP once before and I'd been delighted by the result but this time I was asking them to paint 40 minis in under a month to a much more detailed level.

I have to say I can't recommend the services that I received enough. Zana, the artist assigned had a real passion for the work, Josh, the Art Director, did a fantastic job on following up on my instructions and checking the details, and the whole process was flawless from start to finish.

Now this work was undertaken at levels 6&7 on their scale and you have to understand that this is approaching but not quite the love you'd see put into a mini by Wyrd's painters to have it published on their website or packaging. If you engage any painter at a lower level you need to reset your expectations, don't expect a Golden Demon when paying $15 a mini.

The net result for me was a crew I'm proud of, but that I consciously tell everyone was commissioned.

Below us a link to the youtube vid BTP did of my crew and some pics from the gallery of acceptance photos they take for every commission they undertake.

Again I can't recommend BTP enough but good luck regardless of who you choose!