Malifaux "Dark Debts" crew

[Gabbi]

I almost completed painting my Neverborn crew:





Jakob Lynch, owner of Honeypot Casino and Master of this crew, beside his totem Hungering Darkness. ‘Huggy’ is also an henchman, so in games with low soulstones total it can lead the crew in place of Jakob.


The three Illuminated, saturated with Brilliance. The one in the middle with the ‘stand’ seeming to devour him is the single model that made me buy this crew. It’s a good example of how sick Malifaux models may be. It was also a hassle to base, as toes offer a contact surface almost nonexistent. So I opted for this solution, with his feet resting om a ‘step’ made of wooden planks. This allowed me to have more contact points and hide a pin. In addition, aesthetically this will provide a ‘bridge’ between models in this crew, based on wooden boards, and the rest of my Neverborn, which will have more traditional bases, like the foremost part of this one.


A beckoner and Mr. Graves.
Graves is the bouncer in Jakob’s casino, and is another model that I like a lot: he looks definitely spooky …without any needs for horns or claws.


The crew is painted for gaming purposes, not display, but I put some more effort than my usual tabletop standard. Pretty satisfied by the result although maybe some models are a bit too bright and colorful.

Comments and criticism will be welcome

Original post, with full gallery: https://gabbigames.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/malifaux-neverborn-dark-debts/

[Momotaro]

Nice one!  Some great use of colour with the blues and purples - nicely blended, especially on the big toothy thing in the first photo.

Never built or painted any Malifaux models - how did you find them?

[goon3423]

Very nice painting. I used to love Malifaux minis but they lost me when they went to plastic  .

[Gabbi]

Thanks mates!

Malifaux miniatures changed a lot in the transition from first edition of the rules (well, 1.5) and second edition (known as M2E). They changed from metal to plastic, but also in style: metal miniatures were more "rough" but with lot of character and a grotesque vibe. Plastic ones are more proportioned and poses are way more dynamic, but lost "something" (imho). The crew above is in plastic and beside the Illuminated with the "thing" looming on its back they were quite easy to work, but overall Malifaux models are a bit more tricky to assemble and work with than you'd expect from a plastic kit. Nothing that can seriously trouble an experienced hobbyst, but assembling them sometimes causes some curses and profanity from me 

[Major_Gilbear]

Lovely work there Gabbi, Jacob himself is fantastic and the "tadpole" has some great colours!

I don't want to derail your thread, but I did want to respond to the other comments briefly:

I personally wasn't too happy with the transition to plastic, not least because the game's artistic style changed so drastically. That's not to say I dislike their plastic sculpts however; indeed I have a fair few of them. I just think that it made mixing the two styles within the same crew visually dissonant, and I already had most of the first edition metals.

In terms of assembly, I have found a lot of the plastic models unnecessarily challenging due to: lots of impossibly small parts, overly-delicate components that are hard to glue due to tiny surface areas, and poses that are overly fragile. It's not insurmountable for any moderately experienced or patient/savvy hobbyist to build these properly, but I wish Wyrd has thought harder about this aspect of their models.

Anyway, I'll say no more about this aspect of them here, and resume enjoyment of Gabbi's efforts instead!  

[Gabbi]

No problem mate, I really appreciate your post. As you can see in my post right above your, I overall agree with your comments/opinions

Thanks!

[Harwood Hobbies]

Great paintjobs on those!

I don't play Malifaux, but collect the cooler models and I have those.  I find their plastic kits fiddly, but just figured it was the trade-off for decent detail.

[Gabbi]

I've just comp'leted another model for my Neverborn crew:



Very quick paintjob, as usual, I have aimed just to a nice tabletop quality.
Unable to decide on painting what’s on her hands as skin or as a towel, I chose a color similar to the skin tone, but lighter. So it could be both…
Once finished, I alternated matte and gloss coat, to give contrast between skin and skinless parts. I think it looks nice.

More pics: https://gabbigames.wordpress.com/2016/08/12/neverborn-doppelganger/

Comments will be welcome