Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 5: Deep Wars, the state of GW and supplements, and the decline in Malifaux model quality

Deep Wars is back!

Musing about Malifaux: Campaign play and a shift in model design

Shifting Loyalties

Long time readers of this blog will know that we have been very impressed with the skirmish-based miniature game of Malifaux, primarily due to the simple yet evocative system of using cards to replace dice (expanding the possible outcomes). The Victorian horror/western theme is also pretty unique, allowing for an incredibly varied cast of characters.  The emphasis is on characters here, because all of the models are well-developed, with flavorful abilities and wargear (at odds with the increasingly streamlined 40k).  In the last few months, however, other projects and the lack of exciting model releases on Wyrd’s part (more on this later) have kept me from being too involved with Malifaux.  This looks like it might change for me, with their newest rules expansion, Shifting Loyalties.  For a little while now, I have been desiring to play a good skirmish-miniature game with role-playing elements, something akin to Necromunda or Gorkamorka.  The thought of learning (or relearning) a rules system can be a bit daunting at times, so I was pleased to discover that Shifting Loyalties layers some simple rules on top of the general Malifaux ruleset to support progressive campaign play.  Having now read through the rules in the new book, I figured that I would give you some of my impressions of it!

Plast Craft Games: Malifaux terrain review

In a quest to find good terrain for Malifaux, I decided to give Plast Craft Games a try.

In a hobby that is focussed around building, converting, and painting model soldiers, it is easy to forgo putting as much effort into creating equally evocative terrain for them to battle over.  But, just like playing with painted models, having them on a carefully constructed gameboard elevates a game immensely.  Thankfully, a wealth of companies have sprung up to produce attractive looking terrain that is easy to assemble, without requiring a huge amount of time investment to get it playable.  For example, Mantic games released a line of buildings that they created for Deadzone that is excellent for most science fiction games. The kits are fairly easy to assemble and largely modular.  There has also been a rise in laser-cut, medium-density fibreboard (MDF) terrain, like Tectonic Craft Studios and Sarissa Precision.  While the material is often very nice, in my experience, it is somewhat hard to work with, particularly if the pieces are not cut out properly.  Recently, I found that Plast Craft Games makes a line of similar terrain that is made out of pre-cut PVC plastic, a medium that promised to be much easier to work with.

Malifaux: Building the Whiskey Golem and Miss Ery

A clash of titans!

Although the the last month has been an incredibly busy one, I am happy to say that it was not completely bereft of modeling time.  Admittedly, I am still assembling Ophelia’s crew of gunslinging gremlins, but as I worked on them, my eyes kept being drawn to the shiny box containing the Whiskey Golem. Who would not be excited about a ramshackle walking cask of strong alcohol?  Eventually, the urge became too intense, and I put the gremlin that I had been working on aside and pulled open the whiskey golem box.  I convinced myself that it was the right thing to do. After all, any self-respecting gremlin needs his malt liquor, right?

The Horde Assembles: building Malifaux Gremlins

The gremlins are some of the most lively and characterful models in the Malifaux range.

Over the last few weeks, following up on the excitement over Wyrd’s new releases at Gencon, I have primarily been working on assembling gremlin models.  Although most of the recent effort has been focused on Ophelia’s crew,  I also made significant headway on Som’er Teeth’s gremlins, as well.  I thought I would show you some pictures of those models that I have assembled and talk a bit about a small skirmish they got into against the Judge!

Malifaux: Special Gencon Unboxing

Good things happen.

Gencon has come and gone this year, and although I was not able to attend this year, Wyrd Miniatures modified its webstore to reflect the inventory they would have at the convention, allowing me to get some of the Gencon exclusive and early-release Malifaux models.  Every year Wyrd releases a special Nightmare model kit, usually alternative sculpts of popular models, as well as a single “Miss” miniature that is given out to to people who spend at least $100.  Each year during the days leading up to Gencon, there is rampant speculation as to what these special models will be.  Although this year proved no different, I suspect no one correctly guessed what the special models would be.  Unlike last year when they released Tara and her crew, this year’s Nightmare kit was a single miniature, albeit a  towering one, the Gremlin’s ramshackle Whiskey Golem.  The “Miss” model was also a slight departure from form, where the convention was to release a female model, this year they released an alternative sculpt of the Neverborn’s Teddy (who admittedly may be female, but such distinctions are less meaningful when talking about ambulatory stuffed animals!).  I have always had a fascination with goblins since Brian Nelson recreated their image years ago for Games Workshop, effectively blending realism and whimsical creativity.  Malifaux’s Gremlins have been the first models that capture much of the same charm as those initial grots (thinking about you Red Gobbo…), so it was not really a question as to whether I was going to purchase the Whiskey Golem.  Thankfully, the Gremlins were out in force this year at Gencon, with the release of the gunslinger Ophelia and her gun-toting kin, so it was not difficult to find models to order!  To my excitement, I just received my order in the mail and figured I would show a few pictures of what I was sent.  Also, I mentioned in the last post that I wanted to get a set of the Guild riflemen, and figured this would be a good time to show some pictures of how they turned out too!

Malifaux: Entering the Guild

"I was lucky in the order, but I've always been lucky when it comes to killin' folks."

Since discovering the wonders of Vassal for playing miniature games online, I have really gotten excited about Malifaux again.  And with Gencon coming up in less than two weeks, where Wyrd traditionally unveils a host of new models and some limited edition ones, it seems like a great time to be involved!  This spurred me to continue to assemble and expand my primary faction: the Guild.  While not as flashy and esoteric as many of the other factions in the Malifaux range, the Guild are grounded a little more in reality, with a heavy Western theme: long coats, cowboy hats, bandanas, and single-action revolvers.  With one part Clint Eastwood, another part McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, and a lunatic touch of Kouta Hirano's Hellsing, Malifaux’s Guild have a very distinctive style themselves.  Nowhere is this more evident than in their Marshals, which are what drew me to the Guild in the first place.

Playing Miniature Games Long Distance: Vassal

Miniature-based wargaming is graced with a huge amount of variety, from setting to scope, science fiction to low fantasy, skirmish to total warfare.  But whereas the genre affords players a plethora of different themes to explore, one aspect of the hobby always remains the same. And that is the investment of time that it takes to play a miniature-based wargame. From assembling, painting, reading background material, learning rules, and ultimately meeting up with some friends to push models around on a tabletop, the hobby takes a lot of time.  And if you are anything like me, as you get older, time is more and more at a premium.  No longer in school/college, you are starting a career, a family, or both, and even if you do have some free time a few evenings a week, your gaming friends likely are not just down the hall or across the street.  Because this is a hobby that I love, I still make time to assemble and convert models, read background lore, explore the vast and dedicated miniature gaming blogosphere, and try my best to keep up-to-date on the rule sets of multiple games.  Of these, being knowledgeable about the rules, has probably become the tallest order.  And this is simply because I do not often get the chance to actually play the games.  Although I really enjoy reading and learning new rule systems, just reading them is not the same thing as playing them.  Playing a single game every five months, when I get together with my like-minded friends, is hardly a good way to learn and retain the nuances and complexities of many of these games, let alone experiment with army lists.  This got me to thinking about how it would be wonderful if there was a way that I could play some of these games digitally, such that when I actually got together with my friends, the games we played would be as good as possible, filled with strategy and character, rather than paging through rulebooks and reusing army lists from years ago. This led me to Vassal: the open-source boardgame engine.

A look back: Miniatures of 2013

Now that the year is drawing to a close, I find myself thinking back on it as a whole and remembering all the exciting miniatures that were released. Between the Bolter and Me is now almost a year old, and I can’t help but think of some of the releases that kept me forging forward with the hobby amidst the toils of graduate school. Before the year turns over, I felt it would be neat to talk a little about my favorite models of the year, culminating in my pick of the best model of the year.

The year certainly had a number of really impressive releases which really helped inspire me to work harder than ever to assemble and convert  new models. With so many companies releasing models, it has become increasingly difficult to select a single model as the best of the year. To make this post more manageable, I am going to break it down by the specific company that released the models.

Welcome to Malifaux! Impression of the game

There will be Blood.

Although I had known about Malifaux for a few years, and heard a lot of good things about it, the models really left a lot to be desired for me, and I resisted any urge to start playing it.  When the 2nd edition was released and the new plastic models started to come out Adam bought a few and was quite impressed by them.  So much so that he bought the rulebook and started to learn how to play the game.  Despite this, I was a little reserved about starting up the game myself.  Did I really need to be playing another skirmish game, having started to play Deep Wars and now Deadzone?  But when he assembled enough models and asked if I wanted to play a game of it, trying out the rules, I could not resist.  Although I knew I would not be able to appreciate and incorporate all of the nuance and  strategy in the game having not read though the rules myself, I was excited to go through the basics and see how things played out. In particular, I was interested in seeing how it compared to Deep Wars and Deadzone, both rulewise and in narrative scope.

Malifaux: Finally time to go through the breach?

Bad things happen.

In the recent years, the game Malifaux has been growing in popularity. And while the backdrop of the game was intriguing (a weird mix of Victorian horror and wild-west gunplay), I could not get too excited about their range of miniatures. Wyrd Miniature’s initial selection of models for Malifaux were very hit or miss, tending towards the latter end of the spectrum.  But with their transition to plastic, there has been a dramatic increase in the quality of their sculpts, greatly benefited by the advance in computer generated figures and 3d printing.  And while I do not necessarily like the design of all the new models, it is hard to argue with the actual implementation.  They use a 32mm heroic scale system, similar to GW’s 28mm heroic scale, although these numbers are more of a rough guideline.  The main difference between the two companies is the artistic style they use, with Malifaux favoring long limbs and small hands and feet, while GW’s models are a little stockier.