Puzz-3D Wrebbit - Big Ben

I picked this up for a looney at the local Vinnie's (St Vincent de Paul. Kind of like the Salvation Army but a different faction). It makes for a nice terrain piece that's good blocking terrain and useful in an urban setting.

It stands fairly tall like a city clocktower should. It will fit in with the other puzz-3d items i got.

The Randomness of Playing Cards

In the first post on Malifaux i talked about the background story and factions. In this second article i'd like to talk about the mechanic for determining chance. Playing cards.

At first it would seem odd to use this type of mechanic. With four main factions though, four suits of cards makes sense. Each regular card suit represents different faction symbols.

Heart=Rams=Guild.
Clubs=Tomes=Arcanists
Spades=Crows=Ressurectionists
Diamonds=Masks=Neverborn

This is not hard and fast as many models use other suits for activating special abilities. More on that in another post. Wyrd sells faction coloured cards that have the suits changed for better gameplay.

Add the four suits to it the 13 cards in each suit and two jokers, and the old deck of 52 looks becomes a great way for a game to work.

When a model attempts to do something, they draw a card from the top of their own deck. The card value (1-13) determines their success or failure. If it is an action that can be resisted by a model affected by the action, they also draw a card. The appropriate statistic of the models are added to the values and the higher number is the winner of the "opposed Duel". Once a deck is exhausted, a player's discard pile is shuffled and becomes the new deck they may flip from.

If it is a combat action (melee or ranged) the number of points higher the instigator of the duel gets above the defender determines the success of the action. That level of success determines the number of cards flipped for damage.

This in itself is an interesting way of adding a large factor of randomness. If a person is keeping track of cards, they could determine whether to push their luck or not be as offensive. If a person can do that though, why aren't they in Las Vegas!

The two jokers  add a bit of absolutes. A black joker is an automatic failure. A red joker is an automatic success. Depending on what the red joker is flipped for will depend on what bonus you may get.

The amount of cards you may flip for an action may also depend on a number of things. Player actions/abilities, environment and opposing players actions/activities all can play a role.

For instance a ranged attack against a model would mean the attacker would flip one card and add their combat value to their score and the defender would also flip one card and add it to their defense score. The attacker hits the defender if it is a positive number and the amount they succeed by would determine what cards to flip for damage.

If the defender was in forest terrain (soft cover), it would garner a negative flip to the attacker. This means that two cards are flipped for the attacker and the lowest value card added to their combat value card for the weapon. The defender would flip a card and add their defense score.

If the same defender happened to spend their last action going into a defensive stance, they would get two positive flips. In this case they would flip three cards and take the best card to add to their defensive score. You can have no more than two positive flips or two negative flips. Positive and negative flips cancel each other out.

So far it seems simple and straightforward. That is until you add the element that you can "cheat fate"!

At the beginning of the game, each player has a number of cards they draw from their deck to form their own hand. Those are the cards they can use to replace cards flipped from the top of their own deck in order to turn a failure into a success. The act of replacing drawn cards during game-play is the mechanic of "Cheating Fate". The loser of a duel always has the option to cheat fate first. You may never cheat fate if you have a negative flip. You may cheat fate in all duels, for damage flips and whenever a specific rule allows you to.

The nice thing about this ability is that if an opposing player has at least one card, you never know if they can spoil your success.

At the end of each turn the discard and deck are reshuffled together. Then each player may discard cards. Then a hand is filled to its maximum amount, depending on the size of game being played. This is a lifesaver because some turns you may have a bad or meh hand.

So there's the playing card mechanic of Malifaux. I enjoy it and i think you will too. Check out the rules from the Malifaux site here. There is a plasticized deck for their "Puppet Wars" line that i would recommend and a new plasticized deck coming out from Wyrd soon if you plan on playing a lot and the current decks sold for Malifaux are nice on hard card stock but they are just cardstock.

Malifaux Story Background and Overview

Malifaux is described by the Wyrd Miniatures LLC as a brutal 32mm miniature scale skirmish tabletop game. It is set in a Gothic Victorian horror alternative-Earth setting with a dose of the Wild West, in the year 1901.

The history is found on their website here. Boiled down it goes as follows:
Magic using humans opened a gate to another place in 1787 and changed history. Most survivors became empowered with abilities. In this other place was an existing large city, called Malifaux in found records, with no trace of its inhabitants. A mine located nearby had stones which could be used as a magical power source and recharged with the souls of the dying. Earth thrived for 10 years as the world of Malifaux was colonized and this new magical power was used. Then the gate closed after a message was gruesomely sent to our wold...ours.
An organization of magic using humans took up the job of protecting the soulstones that were in our world and called itself the Guild. They were brutal but dependance of our world on this new power had to be controlled, according to them.
One-hundred years later the gate opened and although traces of battle were found in the ruins of the city, no trace of its residence could again be found. The Guild moved in and colonization by miscreants and criminals, those the Guild could control, began again.
Four years have passed and other factions are making their presence known. The factions in the Malifaux game currently are:
Guild: Fascist protectors of the system of mining, hording and selling of soulstones.
Neverborn: They are the horde of legends, dreams and monsters made real. They also want the world of Malifaux to remain theirs.
Arcanists: Mostly all humans that come to the world of Malifaux exhibit minor magical abilities. Some that gain greater powers become Arcanists. They are on the run from the law and often fight the Guild.
Resurrections: Those whose magical abilities lead them to the closer study of the nature of the soulstones and its ability to draw power from the dying, often find their way to this group.They also seek the secrets of the dead.
Outcasts: Those who fit in no group are part of this one.

Pros: The background has a hockey-sock full of genres and ties them together nicely, with room to grow. It feels right and that's why i like the background.

Cons: It has a hockey-sock full of genres. Many people prefer one or two themes mashed together but with 4 I can see it being imposing to some. To focus, find a master for a gang you like the genre for and get their starter box. The Malifaux website has several excellent suggestions for models to expand the starter boxes.
Here's the Perdita one as an example. They suggest her totem (Enslaved Nephilium) to cast spells through, Abuela Ortega (another family member, healer and more), Guild Guard (for fodder), Guild Austringer (for more ranged attacks but behind cover), and Executioner (for a really really good and tough close combat model).

I only played five games before i jumped in and bought/painted the Lilith box and Perdita box (with extras). Very inexpensive compared to horde type tabletop miniature games and comparable in cost to other skirmish games like Infinity (which I also got miniatures for). So try it out at a store near you. Victoria BC's nearest dealer is Dice Bag Games in Duncan. A great bunch of guys there and they offer a discount to military, police and firefighters.

Two Gun Mage Adepts

Cygnarian Gun Mage Adepts are like solo Gun Mages with excellent commander abilities and can take out stealth models if they stand still to gain the aiming bonus.

 Primed white.

 P3 Bastion Grey pants. P3 Cygnar Base Blue jacket and drybrushed Cygnar Blue Highlight.

 Jacket and pants Drybrushed 50/50 P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight and P3 Frostbite. P3 Bootstrap Leather was used on the boots and holster and such. GW Runelord Brass on the chest piece. For those who have noticed, the adept on the left is missing his sword so i'll have to order one or see if its hidden amongst some Cygnar models i haven't assembled yet.

 GW Dwarf Flesh on the face and drybrushed GW Elf Flesh. P3 Gun Corp Brown was painted and drybrushed on the boots and holsters and such as well as the bandolier. P3 Rucksack Leather was used on the gun stocks and straps. P3 Scorched Brown was used on the middle part of the holsters.

 P3 Ironhull Grey was used on the hair and gun/metal parts. P3 Bastion Grey was drybrushed on the cuffs and hair, then P3 Frostbite was lightly drybrushed on the hair. P3 Cold steel was drybrushed on the metal parts. GW Runelord Brass was drybrushed on the cuffs. P3 Arcane Blue was applied to the glass on the goggles.

  Then finally a GW Devlan Mud wash.

 Ta da....pow pow. I also used dots of P3 Cygnar Yellow on the bases to tell the two apart.

Cygnar Mechanics

Since i have lots of jacks for my Cygnar faction, i thought it was time to get some dudes to repair them. Its also been a while since i made any Cygnar models.

 The ones primed black i purchased over ebay over a year ago and based with horrible flock.. The primed white ones were bought by me.

 P3 Traitor green and Hammerfall Khaki (dry brushed on the gobber's skin). P3 Midland Flesh was then painted on the mechanic's skin and drybrushed on the gobbers on the lips and knuckles (from work).

 P3 Hammerfall Khaki, P3 Rucksack Tan and P3 Gun Corps Brown were used on the gloves, hat and shoes of the gobbers and parts of the mechanic. For the Gobbers, the shorts and vests were painted with P3 Exile Blue. The mechanic trim and gobbers shirts were then painted P3 Cygnar Base Blue then drybrushed with P3 Cygnar Blue highlight. The Mechanic's skin was drybrushed with GW Elf Flesh. The colour is extremely similar to the midland flesh so i'll use the GW Dwarf Flesh instead with Elf Flesh in the future.

 Then i used P3 Ironhull Grey and drybrushed P3 Cold Steel on the metal parts. Then used GW Runelord Brass on the metal detail parts.

 I then used a blend of P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight 50/50 with P3 Frostbite.

 It didn't go on like my jacks but fine for mechanics.

 Here's my blending bin. The bin is an upside down clear plastic bin.

 Inside is slightly wetted paper towel and on top of that parchment paper. Makes mixing paints easy and large quantities can keep for a week or so.

 GW Chaos black was used on the mechanics hair. Then P3 Rucksack Tan, P3 Bootstrap Leather, P3 Hammerfall Khaki on the pouches. P3 Arcane Blue was used of the glasses. On the jack hand wires, GW Blood Red and GW Goblin Green were used. GW Elf Flesh was used on the ropes.

 Finally GW Devlan Mud wash was applied, the base was...based and P3 Cygnar Blue Highlight used on the base half-circle for LOS.

 Main mechanic leader.

 Gobber Bodger type I.

 Gobber Bodger Type II

Fun and quick little squad that took a week.

"Squeak" and "Chi" approved.

Arcane Ruins Basing

On June 1st when i said that I'd base this terrain on MDF, I've since changed my mind.

I played a game against an opponent with Trollbloods and it just was better to be able to place it where i wanted and how i wanted.

 It easy to bump into and knock over sometimes.

 I'll probably just put plastic bits from sprues in the bottom with some washers to weigh them down.

I'll probably buy a second one so that more of the table can have ruins in its theme.

That's approved by my cat "Squeak".

Perdita Ortega's Gang Basing

So now that all the model's for Perdita's gang are painted, it was time to base them.

 Here they are moseying along.

 The bare base.

 I got out my IMEX Southwestern Alamo Accessories that i bought several years ago for a purpose like this.

 Its got lots of little bits for bases and scenery.

 And even more bits.

 Here's among the ones i'll be using.

 More specifically, these ones.

 When its wet out (and this being Victoria, BC Canada it gets wet often), its not always practical to spray outside. In cases like these its good to gave a bottle of primer paint handy.

 Here is a base with P3 Guncorps Brown with the extra scenery drybrushed with P3 Rucksack Tan.

 The cactus was painted P3 Traitor Green then drybrushed with GW Scorpion Green. The grass was painted P3 Hammerfall Khaki then drybrushed P3 Cygnar Yellow and washed with a GW Gryphon Sepia.

 Then it was washed with GW Devlan Mud.

 Then using dollarstore glue on the bases, i poured older GW sand on it. It has the nice big stones.

 I also used, for the first time, Army Painter Battlefield Meadow Flowers.

 Here is the result.

 I also used splotches of grass to break up the bases.

 Finally a coat of GW Foundation Mecrite Red.

  Perdita Ortega, the boss of the gang.

 Her Enslaved Nephilium, to cast spells through.

 Papa Loco.

 Nino Ortega.

 Santiago Ortega.

 Francisco Ortega.

Abuela Ortega.

Next i'm going back to Warmachine Cygnar models and painting a full squad of Mechanics and some more Malifaux terrain.