Painted Malifaux Models Miniatures from Wyrd Games
In a world of lockdown painting in which I'd already done a 28mm Ancients army (the Assyrians), a 10mm French Napoleonic army and also a 15mm Medieval Hungarian, I suddenly found myself in need of some additional variety
This was not because the other three were in any way similar topics, or uniforms - it was more about trying to paint individual figures rather than painting up and finishing a full army, with a 'full arm' on table mass effect.
Prompted in the Lockdown Podcast to remember that I did have some Malifaux figures on the painting pile (although rather hidden in a cupboard) I dug them out and was pleasantly surprised to remember that there were more than I thought - I had forgotten buying Envy, from the Crossroads Seven, from eBay to add to the box-completing extras for the new Kaeris crew an, a plastic Hoffman, Sparks (my first Gremlin) to go with Mei Feng and finally Neil Henry just to do some old fashioned beating
The Envy model is the boggest of the lot - a mad bloke with Franz Nicolay's moustache playing the decks on a steam-powered walking musical organ equipped with dual gatling guns
As a concept this is pretty out there, and is about as far as you can get from Assyrians or French Line infantry
(This is Franz Nicolay from The Hold Steady. Apart from when he wasn't in the band, but he is again now.
He was/is the keyboardist, and harmonica player, and backup singer, and whatever else needed doing...
...and he may or may not be one of those preternaturally musical people who plays everything better than everyone. He does sometimes also wear a hat like the guy on the decks in Envy).
As the guy on the decks is somewhat of a showman, I copied his trousers from the way I painted up Carlos, the guy in the Showgirls crew, with one leg star-spangled and the other with red and white stripes.
Like many of the newer large models, this one lurches over the edge of its base in a satisfyingly animated manner
You can see the striped trousers from this angle
From the back you can just about see that I gave him a Rolling Stones US Tour 2008 waistcoat. This is another example of my latest idea for cheating, by printing stuff off really small and just sticking it onto the model
The Hold Steady did once supported the Rolling Stones, at Sloane Castle, Dublin in 2007, so there is a legitimate(ish) link to my Franz Nicolay theory here.
The gig is referenced in the track "Ask her for Adderall", which has one of the most kicking intro riff's you'll ever hear. You could even say that it's a bit like being hit with a gatling gun.
Keeping up the Rolling Stones theme, I pasted in the sheet music for Paint it Black and Sympathy for the Devil ont the book the guy is playing to
Paint it Black
These are two of the three Firebranded models that come with Elijah Borgman.
As is always the case with Wyrd, it's hard to see how you would ever use more than one or two of them at most in the same list, so now I have taken to only making the two best poses.
I gave them different cloaks, but with the same strikingly bold lining so you can see they are part of the same faction
Another outing for my flame effect painting as well - a very common and useful technique which Ancients and more general Historical figures never really need
These are all about starting with a white base, then building up with yellow, then orange, then red washes towards the tips of the flames, finishing with a wisp of black
Here's Elijah
Not the greatest figure really, but with such a billowing cloak I wanted to add a bit of interest so I did an "it's full of stars" effect using some WW2 10mm armour decals.
I also am not convinced about the eyes on this one, but it's a very obvious face to leave with nothing at all, and on the tabletop they are a bit less stare-ey too
You can't see the bubbles that look like they are in the mohican on the finished figure - they are an artefact of the matt varnish coat, but are too microscopic to see in real life.
His mohican matches the cloak linings of his minions
This is Neil Henry, enforcer for Mei Feng's Rail Crew
This is a pretty generic model in-game, in that he just hits things without doing anything too clever.
That does however make im easier to use than many models, as he does what he says on the tin, hits things hard with a big hammer
I was also really pleased with the build - very simple, and very solid
I gave him a blonde dyed goatee and eyebrows for that real hardass look
He may be a little over-drybrushed based on this view, but again from real tabletop distances that's not so evident.
This is Sparks, a Gremlin also in Mei Fengs Rail Worker crew.
My first gremlin, so I was keen to work on the green flesh and get a lot of highlights in the musculature and the rolls of fat on him as well
The workmans jeans are done just with drybrushing of lighter shades of blue - the cast works really well for this
The face of the figure was a bit indistinct so I opted to give him a "PPE" mask - lord knows what he'd give you if he coughed on you, so probably for the best even if there is no CV19 Through The Breach
I didn't actively paint these eyes - this was just a drybrush of white to suggest eyeballs, but they somehow seem to have come out much better than the ones I tried to paint properly!
Elijah Borgmann and his crew of two
The green fatigues look is supposed to make them look a bit military-ish
Super-happy with the fire here
More Gatling-gun action, this time from ground level
This model is just wonderfully nuts really!
Sympathy for the Devil (1969, MSG)
And here you can even see the sheet music!
Hannibal's Thoughts
I'm very happy with these - both as models, and as a change in pace from painting a whole set of troops to "wargaming standard"
The Firebranded in particular are excellent models, and I was pleasantly surprised that Sparks wasn't as small as I thought he would be too
Neil Henry is perhaps the best sculpt of the lot, really dynamic and purposeful
Sparks however gives him a real run for his money - I can see why people like collecting and painting the Gremlins.
That's the end - so why not go back to the Links Page and find some more stuff?
