Malifaux's New Plastics - Part 1

A friend and I got some Gencon Malifaux stuff through Wyrd's online store, and they finally arrived a couple days ago. I picked up Mei Feng's Rail Crew as part of my slowly growing Arcanists, and Miss Terious for my Guild. I know that a bunch of people have already put out pictures and reviews for Malifaux's plastics, but the plastics are still quite new so I thought I'd toss in my two cents.

Rail Crew Sprue, Front Side

Rail Crew Sprue, Back Side

The Rail Crew is all on one plastic sprue. This means that the packaging was a large but thin box, which is very different from the old packaging. I guess we'll see how stores adapt to that. The actual miniatures look alright, and there are a couple of spare/alternate parts on the sprue, which is a nice touch. For the most part, they seem to be attached to the sprue at logical places so you won't have a nightmare trying to clean up flash in awkward, visible locations.

Miss Terious Sprue, Front and Back

Miss Terious is all on a single small sprue. I had heard people express concern that her axe seemed very fragile and prone to breaking, and assumed they were exaggerating. They were not. The axe is extremely thin and the plastic doesn't seem particularly sturdy at that thickness. I feel like some parts in the Rail Crew box also have this problem. I can only try to be careful and hope that it stands up to the rigors of actual use.

Generally speaking, here's what I noticed about the new plastics:

• Scale and proportions of the models are different. Less heroic scale and more realistic. Reminded me a little of Infinity's scale, which is noticeably smaller and sleeker than Malifaux's.

• The plastics seem to allow for smaller, better scaled accessories like weapons and hair. Hopefully these small parts will hold up under stress better than they would have in pewter.

• Models generally have less, as well as softer, detail compared to before. It's very noticeable on larger areas that seem unnaturally smooth, but smaller areas do sometimes have greater fine detail.

• Despite what people may want to think, the actual miniatures do not look exactly like the CG renders that are shown, much less the art.

• Prices don't seem any better, although I don't recall Wyrd claiming that they would be, and it's possible that the initial prices are higher to help cover the start up costs.

Overall, switching to plastics doesn't seem like it was a terrible idea. I'm not convinced it was an improvement, but at worst, it was a sidestep. At the least, conversions will be easier now because plastics are easier to work with than pewter. Anyway, I think that once Wyrd gets the hang of it and works out their production kinks, it will be business as usual.

I'll be busy during the next few days, but as soon as I get a chance to assemble these models, I will post up another entry covering how easy or difficult the assembly was. At that point, I'll have a better idea as to how much the change to plastics really affected the average Malifaux gamer.

Stalking With Swords

My trio of Witchling Stalkers. I could fake it with the Exorcist, but the Ortega theme kinda falls apart with these. I suppose the Guild sent a shipment over to the Ortega Ranch to assist with that tricky Neverborn Magic. Anyway, I picked them up because they're cheap and good in melee, both of which are traits my Ortegas lacked. Their melee aspect fell short of expectations, but I've found that they're a good overall package. They do way less damage than Francisco, but are much more likely to at least do something.

Aside from a one colour basecoat across the whole model, these three were painted entirely with washes. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, and the Witchlings made for a good opportunity, what with the many folds in their clothing. As I had hoped, it was pretty easy to do, was quick (aside from the drying times for all the washes), and produced decent results. I feel that this style only works on certain kinds of models though, so I don't know how often I'll be doing it.

Regarding the image, as I had feared, it was difficult to get a good shot of three models at once. The edges of the photo are clearly blurrier than the middle. I'm concerned about taking group shots in the future, especially regarding colour balance since it's pretty rare that every model has the exact same colours, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Benedicamus Domino

The Ortegas are good, God fearing people, so it's only natural that they would consult with a priest for spiritual advice. The Exorcist is a model I picked up partially on a whim, mostly with the intent of replacing Papa Loco in certain matchups.

He's my latest attempt at painting black, and I am reasonably satisfied with it. There are a variety of mistakes I made, but I've identified them and should be able to avoid a repeat of them the next time. Though time consuming, it was surprisingly easy to paint the black; I just needed to not try to shortcut it. Instead, the shortcuts this time were in the overall colour scheme and in not picking out details in a separate colour.

I've barely played with him so far, but I've found that he isn't as radically hateful of certain demographics as I thought he would be. Which I suppose makes sense, given his reasonable cost. What's mostly letting me down are his ranged CBs of 5, which make it difficult to purge the unfaithful. He very much seems like a finesse unit compared to the Ortegas, so I'll see how it goes.

He so Crazy

Got me a Papa Loco done painted. I went for silly colours on him because I figure he can dress however he wants and nobody's going to stop him. The washes darkened and muted everything, as expected, and although I should have gone back over and highlighted, I just wanted to get it done with. He's not varnished yet, so hopefully that'll go ok.

I'll need to get in a lot more games, but right now I'm not liking him. Not because he's bad, but because of how he is relative to my other models. My crew is filled with WP resistant guys, and he feels like a major hole that can be exploited. I also don't have the Obey engines that can make him sing. Still, he's pretty funny and this is all conjecture anyway.

I've recently had renewed interest in Malifaux because of another LGS I've just checked out. It's technically in the next town over, making it a little difficult to get to, but the Malifaux scene there is big. I'm hoping I can head over there every now and then, because it's good to expand your horizons. They're also starting up Infinity, which is actually why I went, so I'm hoping that catches on too.

Mexican Cowboys

Two of the very few models I've painted since I pretty much stopped playing Warmachine a year and a half ago: Santiago and Francisco Ortega, from Malifaux's Guild faction.

Santiago was painted quite a while ago, but I just finished Francisco recently. I'm not happy about how I painted a lot of things on both of them, but I've long since learned that if I keep worrying over every detail I'll never actually finish a mini.

Even though I basically forced myself to finish them just so I can have fully painted minis, I'm not terribly disappointed with the overall result. I did have an issue with the matte varnish, especially on Francisco, and that was rage inducing. The bases are pretty ugly as well, but again, the idea was just to get the models done so I can play.

Despite having bought the models back in May, I've barely played any Malifaux. This is partially my fault, for greatly favouring Infinity over Malifaux when I get chances to play, but also just because we don't have much of a scene for it over here in Ottawa. I know that plenty of people have bought Malifaux, because they're selling over at the LGS, but I don't know where any of these people are.

Anyway, I like both these models, including their rules and fluff. Santiago has those dual pistols, and I've seen what he can do when he gets mad. Francisco is a great character and I'm a little disappointed that they chose him to be the Ortega's low cost model, because he's a total badass in the fluff. I haven't had any success with him yet, but I'm sure I'll eventually get him into melee safely.

Next up on the Malifaux painting block is Papa Loco.