Henching for Wyrd

I've been enjoying Malifaux a lot this past year so after discussion with Matthew the local Henchmen, I've applied for and been accepted into the Henchman ranks for Wyrd Miniatures.  This means I can demo games and run events officially on their behalf.

I'm very excited by this opportunity and have already run a number of demo nights at my local gaming store. Next up is a tournament on the 2nd of March - anyone who can make it is welcome!

Back to some minis then.  As the Malifaux league grew last year, I was wondering how to expand my Zoraida crew.  The stitched togethers were my first additions, but after those there were a lot of options so I had to decide which way to go.  Dolls was one route - with Collodi and his retinue and so on.  I'm not a massive fan of some of those models but I do really like the Puppets Wars plastics so I am hoping Wyrd will redo (in plastic) a number of figures in future.  Neverborn Nephilim were another route, but that felt more like Lillith's thing so I may come back to that.

So instead I went the cowboy/shooty route.  This isn't all that common from what I understand and the options are limited, but I was really interested in seeing what I could do here.  Zoraida is a subtle enhancing leader and can work with anything, in this case I was looking to maximise the amount of bullets I could put in the air.

First up, the only real Neverborn cowboy option, Tuco.  Clearly a reference to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, this chap is an ex-guild Ortega family member who was captured by the Nephilim and has become tainted whilst held in captivity.  Now resenting his former clan, he works for the Neverborn to try and reclaim Malifaux.  With a bit of "Smooth Criminal" style going on with this figure, I opted to copy the official paint job closely and am pleased with the outcome - although I can see a few chips on the photos so I need to sort those out an finally varnish him!  In game he's been amazing.  Extremely sneaky, fast and surprisingly durable, he's been a real asset to me.

Next up is the Brutal Effigy.  Created by Zoraida to learn about and exploit the other faction's weaknesses, the Effigies were created in mockery of the very things that made each faction unique.  This backfired during 'the event' and the effigies awoke with their own intelligence and agenda - they felt kinship with the factions they were designed to weaken.  All this said, the Neverborn can still command them when nearby so Zoraida can make good use of all of them.  I have chosen the Guild version, the Brutal, who at once resembles the Judge, death marshals and has 4 horse like legs.  This little chap lives up to his name, pretty cheap but hard hitting, he also comes with a pretty easy to cast healing spell that fills a utility gap in my crew. Again I've stayed close to the official paint scheme here and am very happy with the outcome.  Thinking ahead to the inevitable Guild crew I will own, I have started basing that faction differently - using cork.  My Kirai crew is on wooden boards, my Neverborn on swampy or badlands type bases, I wanted the Guild to be different again.

Next we have some minis that aren't official Wyrd products (traitor!).  I picked up some Black Scorpion cowboys as the Wyrd equivalents for the minions I wanted to use were't quite what I had in mind - i.e. more cowboys!  I've reviewed the complete pack on my brother's blog.  This slightly over the hill cowboy is my choice of desperate mercenary.  Very cheap to hire and in all honestly not great, these mercenaries are an easy way to increase my figure count and get more cowboys in to my game.  I've found that having a figure I really don't care about is actually very useful - more than once Tuco has plucked some treasure from the centre of the table, danced back to this guy and then left the poor sucker to lug it round and hide for the rest of the game while Tuco goes back to the party.

The last cowboy I've managed to squeeze in is this amazing looking chap.  The second Black Scorpion figure in my crew, I'm using him as a convict gunslinger.  The figure is suitably menacing and ready for mayhem.  Ruleswise this guy is where the pain is at, possibly the most bullet based output per soulstone in the game.  Combined this with Zoraida's abilities to control her minions, this guy is a one man army with the right cards. I've shot to pieces Dust and Ashes - and the urn he left behind.  I've also shot McMourning's face right off.  He's good.

So here's the main part of my Zoraida crew - the figures I've completely painted.  Its not quite everything I used in the league, I had some success with the Arcane Effigy and Zoraida's Avatar too, but they aren't finished yet.  I never quite got around to using my Spawn Mother or her Gupps, the all fishman crew is surely an experiment for another day :)

So just to round off on the league (as it finished last year I should really get these catch up posts out of the way!), I was very pleased to find that I had won the league with a combination of winning most games and getting so much of my crew painted.  I was also voted best painter, which I am really happy about as a lot of time and effort went into these guys.  Most hobby points went to Matthew who painted a huge array of mardi-gras themed undead and best sportsman went to Si, with his Orphelia lead crew and exemplary playing attitude.

Space Marin- erm, Interstellar Commandos?

In a week where GW made the news in a way they probably aren't too pleased about, I'm posting about my Grey Knights army that doesn't have any Space Marines, hopefully avoiding any legal issues.