Malifaux Child

Here's my latest work, the Malifaux Child!

I actually painted this one quickly since he's such a small model. I used the same NMM technique as before on his knives. I airbrushed his pants (although I didn't realize that it would look lost against the base colors I usually do) and painted the rest by hand. I tried a different recipe for his skin, this time using GW Tallarn Flesh as the base coat rather than GW Dwarf Flesh, then did my usually gradation adding GW Elf Flesh and Vallejo White. I used GW Nuln Oil wash around the eye sockets and then painted his eyes using grey, bone and white. I tried to recreate the original colors from the portrait since it's so striking and haunting. I then used the same technique I've done before with his hair by mixing GW The Fang with Black, then gradually getting up to GW Fenrisian Gray. The other new technique I tried were on the shoes using the tutorial that came with the Vallejo leather and wood set. In the end it turned out okay but it's definitely a technique that is going to need practice.

Overall he was a rather easy model to paint and pretty fun to finish.

In the game he is handy on paper, but I find it hard to use him. He's only 2SS. He has a heal, but his main ability is being able to copy any 1AP CA action from his Master. I originally got him to substitute for the Student of Conflict for the Viktorias, but after several games I may be rethinking him. I thought that he'd be more efficient for the Viks, but really he's still only saving Ashes 1AP with a chance of failing the CA for either Sisters of Fury/Battle. Granted, he's only half the cost so that's great utility for essentially making Viks more efficient, but with the Student you get another model that can use Sisters in Spirit to teleport - something the Child cannot do. Also the Student is a Sister model, which synergizes much more with Vik of Ashes and can get an extra attack from her. The Student can also give Fast out, which may be situational but it can be very important. I do prefer the Child model over the Student. I think overall it was much easier to use the Student over the Child in game.

Since my last post I've played two games. My game using the Viks against Lilith was pretty awful. Deployment mistakes along with overly-cautious play resulted in a staggering loss. Being that I was going against a very mobile master who hits like a truck much like the Viks was intimidating, especially when in the hands of a much more experienced player. I won't go into much more detail other than I got my butt handed to me.

I also played a game today trying out Misaki as an Outcast Master. It was also the first time I tried Yamaziko, Desperate Mercenary and Hannah. Overall there were a lot of misunderstandings on my part when it came to their abilities. It resulted in a 3-6 loss for me against Colette but I learned a few things. For one I like Misaki as a hit and run Master. I chose Stalking Bisento, Oathkeeper and Untouchable for her upgrades. I liked the Bisento upgrade as her limited. Disguise is a good choice for the keep away game but I think I prefer the positive flips for attacks as to assist her with avoiding that 2 weak damage and dispose of minions efficiently. Oathkeeper really helps out for an alpha strike, or utilizing AP for schemes like distract, or even putting a hurt sandwich on a model or two. Untouchable may be the one I switch out depending on the situation, as the aura didn't do much for the crew as she was moving around so darn much and she has a decent WP already. Against Ressers or Neverborn it may be the go to upgrade, but for the most part Scramble would have been put to better use for her when WP isn't in question.

Yamaziko had Oathkeeper on her. I was hoping to use her ability to drop cards from opponent's hands along with Hanna copying it to aid with Misaki's assassination triggers, but he revealed both schemes making it useless. I'm thinking maybe Scramble is a better one for her as she's already very mobile with Nimble, adding that one speed will make her very very fast and unimpeded may help her with avoiding attacks. She also has a weak damage of 3 making her not too bad against models without soaking up too many cards. I didn't use her properly at all this game and threw her to the wolves.

Lastly Hanna. Man, she is awesome. Her ability to copy CA actions is amazing, especially since she can use it on enemies! Her pool of utility is always handy. Although it turned out I didn't have much from my crew she could copy the opponent put plenty out there for me to utilize. I didn't get to use her Void ability though, and I put Scramble on her. I may shave off points since she already has a Walk 5 and doesn't need the 1 speed to be effective.

Here's yet another project I'm working on. I'm doing a commission for a friend and will paint his Dreamer boxed set for him. I'd already start on it, but I'm stuck as to what colors I want to use for them. Plus painting Lord Chompy Bits is very intimidating! He also has a metric ton of gaps I need to fill and I absolutely hate doing gap filling. Oh well, it will get done eventually!

That's all for now!