masters of the path and izamu - model review

Well folks, miracles will never cease, I finally got some hobby time.  OK, this was largely thanks to being sick as a parrot (Norwegian Blue, lovely plumage), but never the less, some hobby time.  Twice, in one day!
So, I've managed to get my Masters of the Path crew (Yan Lo) and Izamu together.  It was a bit of a bitch frankly, but good fun in it's way.

Completed crew

This was my first exposure to Wyrd's plastic figures.  I am used to working with plastic via Games Workshops figures, these are, in many way a different kettle of fish entirely.  There's no denying there's an excellent level of detail on these sculpts, but that means some very small and delicate parts.

lost love tournament - round up

Right then, my first tournament.  Actually, a lot of peoples first tournament.
Overall it was nice and friendly and a lot of fun, but I did find fitting four games in rather hard work.  I think I'd have liked an earlier start and a bit more space between games, especially at lunch time.  There were 31 players in all, which unfortunately meant someone had to have a bye each round.  It's a pity but there's not much can be done about it.
The tables were set up nicely with a good amount of scenery and a couple of the tables even had a steam train on them which was ace.  I'm not used to playing with so much scenery so it was interesting having to take it into account for a change.
We all got a bag with 4 wooden laser etched markers which was a very nice touch, thank you to whoever provided those.

My blister was a Guardian as I thought Lady J and a Guardian has to be a tough nut for anyone to crack right?  Well, almost as it turns out..

twisting fates - first impressions

(c) Wyrd Miniatures

Any blog worth it's salt would have reviewed Twisting Fates within days or weeks of it's release, but not here, no, here we like to take our time, get to really know a book and then review it..  Alternatively we're skint and have only just been able to afford it.  So, somewhat late to the ball I've finally picked up a copy of Twisting Fates.
There's little here that'll be news to anyone, but for what it's worth here are my initial thoughts -

Twisting Fates is the 3rd (or 4th if you include the Rules Manual) rule book - or second expansion if you will - from Wyrd Miniatures for their Malifaux game.  The rules from the first two books, along with erata were combined into the Rules manual.

In terms of rules there's little here...  The rules included refer to the main focus of the book and that's Avatars.
Each master has specific conditions under which they may, or must, change from their normal form into their Avatar form.  Once, or as, they convert to Avatar form various things can happen, depending on the Master in question.  Some can make healing flips, most loose effects and Totems.  You replace the masters figure with their Avatar figure, and replace their stat card with the Avatar card.
Once transferred to Avatar form each Master has a new set of powers.

What else is in this book?  Well, there is a handful of minions for each faction.  Some nice looking options, not much game changing here though, a few stronger minions perhaps but mostly fairly balanced.  I've a feeling resurs do better than most here but perhaps I'm wrong, always tricky to tell before you've played with or against.

Nicodem Avatar
(c) Wyrd Miniatures

And most of the book, and it's the thickest book yet, is a tonne of fluff :-)  I love fluff.  I love this book.  I've barely started the fluff to be honest but I've enjoyed what I've read so far and can't wait to read more.

Throughout the book is sprinkled a load of new artwork.  As usual some fabulous, atmospheric, pictures from Wyrd.  They're my favourite part of the fluff and you can't fault them, except perhaps there could be more.

So, any complaints?  Well, I love the look and feel of these books but I do wish they published them in the smaller format too (like the Rules Manual) so I could read them in the bath.  These books are wonderful to hold and look at and read sitting up, but lying in bed or the bath they're just to large and heavy.  If they published them large and small I'd buy both I really would.

Zoraida Avatar
(c) Wyrd Miniatures

So, the Avatars.  So far then I'm not awfully impressed.  The Avatars I want to run are for masters I don't have.  The Avatars for Lady Justice, Pandora and Rasputina are, or seem to me after a few readings, weak. I don't know why you'd spend 2SS to take the option of turning Pandora into an immobile weakling who can't do anything significantly better than when she could move.  I mean even the tentacles don't hit hard, a Slop Haulers bucket does more damage!  And she can not move!  In Malifaux that's crazy, unless she's sat on a target I suppose, but it's not like she's static and tough all of a sudden.  LJ and Rasputina are similar.  My other two masters may be more promising (Zoraida and Perdita) but even then I'm not sure.  So far the stand outs to me have been Seamus and Ramos.  Both look like a laugh and have fabulous figures.  Colette is an interesting one, 3 models, only one is actually her.. a good thing or just 3 chances for your opponent to hit her?  Might be fun but could end up being a weakness.

Also some masters are way easier to manifest than others. Not sure why.

So, I've still plenty to read here, including many of the Avatars, but initial impressions are that
this is then another fabulously beautiful book from Wyrd.  Adding some depth to the game without upsetting the balance too much, but I suspect your usage will depend on your master.

february releases

Wyrd have posted their February releases on the forum:  February Releases

Here are my favourites from this months selection.

Witchling Handler

Witchling Handler (c) Wyrd Miniatures

Original artwork (c) Wyrd Miniatures

I really like this figure, very much reflective of the gorgeous artwork.  I currently have no Withcling Stalkers, but I feel I may have to change that.  I'll certainly get this figure at some point, even if just to paint.

(c) Wyrd Miniatures

Kirai Avatar

This is a gorgeous sculpt, really organic and flowing.  The sleeves are almost too much for me, but I love the detail of Kirai lying on the floor, her hand reaching out.  If I ever get Kirai, and she's top of my resers list, I'll definately be getting this figure too.

(c) Wyrd Miniatures

Rafkin the Embalmer

Yet another reason to go resurs sooner rather than later.  nice figure.  Though I know I've no chance of re-creating those trousers, beautiful paint job here really helps to sell the figure.

(c) Wyrd Miniatures

Ghost Town Bases

Lastly this month I love the Ghost Town bases.  They look cool at all sizes, however it's the 50mm which I love the most.  It really looks like a diorama all by itself.  It wont suit all figures, SnowStorm wont look in place on here for instance, but, get the correct figure and it's going to look so very very cool on here.

sarissa precision heroic old west shack review part two

So, my Shack is built, minus the window frames and door. How do I feel about it?

Well, I like think it's rather cute.  I really like the etching on the surfaces that provides texture and decoration and make this model good enough to use without painting (more of which later).








The roof is removable so the interior is useable (Unless you glue it down) though it's rather plain inside, but it is useable.















I'm looking forward to trying it in a game.  I think it will make a very nice atmospheric piece of terrain.
If I have one problem with it it's that it's almost too smart.  I think I'd like to 'weather' it a little.  The odd raised or missing roof tile, a plank missing from the back or side wall.  I'd like to see it a bit run down.  I have to say though that I suspect that I wont do this myself as I'm a sucker for not damaging things I've bought, even in a constructive way.  We'll see, I may have a go.

The next question I was wondering about, when I bought this, was how well would it fit with Malifaux?  I was pretty sure that the standard 28mm Old West models wouldn't be suitable but these Heroic ones might be more suitable as I think they have larger scale features, doors etc..
bearing in mind that I haven't yet fitted the door and window frames here are a few pictures.
Lady Justice seems OK, a little large maybe, or at least a little high, but I think this is due to the scenic base she's on.  without the base she'd probably be fine.




Also Perdita here, I've stuck on a big rock, so she looks a little tall for the shack, but that's not the shacks fault.

Large models may not be able to fit under the roof of the porch, and there's not enough room for a 40mm base on the porch.  This executioners claw is just too high to fit under the front of the roof, but maybe that's a good reason to keep it removable?





















I was also a little worried about how it would fit with other bits that I use as terrain at the moment.  Games Workshop LOTR ruins for instance.

Thematically I'm aware that they're quite different, but I was worried they might not look right together size wise, but I think they're OK.  The ruins seem a little larger, but, as they're completely different styles of building I don't think it matters.

To Glue or not to Glue, that is the question?  Apart from the window and door frames it is possible to leave this kit unglued so that it may be taken apart and stored flat between games.  This is good news if you are short of storage.  However, I'm not sure how much repeated taking apart and putting together again this may take.  Already one of the tabs on mine is showing signs of wear, though this is probably due to my cack handedness.  Also, when not glued, although the fit is very good, the porch roof is easily moved out of position and I noticed that when I took the roof off it didn't hold together especially well.
I think either option is fine, depending on your needs, but I think I'm going to glue mine.  I will definitely be glueing the roof together as one piece though will always leave it so that it may be removed from the building.

To Paint or not to paint, that is the question?  I like how this shack looks out of the box (or bag).  With this Shack all readily visible surfaces are textured apart from porch roof supports and under the roof where visible.  So I'm seriously tempted to leave it as is.  In fact, I'm going to leave it unless I either come up with a paint scheme I can't do without, or have a go at weathering the Shack, in which case I may paint to disguise any damage I may do.

Overall then I think this is an excellent piece of scenery at a decent price, good value for money.  It was dispatched reasonably quickly and packaged well enough, it's quick and relatively easy to put together and doesn't need to be painted, though you might like to.  I will most certainly be buying some more, just as soon as I'm able to resist using my monthly allowance for more Malifaux figures ;-)

Part 1 of the review

Sarrisa Precision Old West Heroic Range

(Previously published elsewhere January 2012)

sarissa precision heroic old west shack review - part one

this weekend I received the Sarisaa Precision Old West Heroic Shack I ordered last week.  I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Sarissa precision make a large number of nice looking laser cut mdf buildings in a number of different

styles from Wild West to their new infinity highly customisable sci-fi range.

This shack is from the Heroic scale Old West range.
I thought I'd try one out to see how it worked with the Malifaux figures before potentially buying numerous more of these.  A toe in the water as it were.  After all, I didn't want to spend lot's of money just to find they didn't work in scale with the figures...

This is what turned up in the post, after extraction from a decent padded jiffy style bag.

The Shack Pack

Pack contents

And this is what the contents look like after unpacking.

What you get is




A floor section, two side walls, two end walls, two roof sections, two triangular pieces that hold the removable roof together and a pack containing the porch roof, the supports, window and door frames.

Contents of the sub pack

The porch roof, supports and frames come in a separate pack.










You also get an A5 piece of paper with the instructions printed on it.  The instructions take the form of an exploded diagram of the shack and a couple of sentences below this.  This is more than you need but it does leave you wondering about a couple of things, namely how best to go about fitting it together and what type of glue to use.  It does say words to the effect that you fit the walls to the floor but doesn't really say which order to do this in.  Without the floor the walls don't fit together so well that they stay together on their own, so putting them together then fitting the floor to all walls at once is a tricky option.  If you insert the walls into the floor first and fit them together as you go, you do end up relying a little on flexibility and the last wall in is a tricky fit.  As a result I did end up with a slightly 'fluffed' tab on the bottom of one of the walls, which isn't going to help longevity if I want to flatten and build this each time I want to use it/ put it away.

With regard to gluing Sarissa have informed me they use PVA.  Whilst another option is to use Super glue, but this will, apparently, set quickly on the mdf.  I will probably be using PVA and will report back on the success or otherwise of this option.

Each piece of the kit is laser etched with appropriate texture - wooden boards, roof tiles etc..  everything looks lovely.

The kit smells a bit.  Like the ashes of a fire gone cold.  It's not unpleasent or overbearing, But it is there.

Once the dry fitting pieces have been put together it's time for a little gluing.  The window and door frames need to be glued into the relevant places on the outside of the building.

It's a quick and easy job to put this kit together, apart from the gluing I completed this shack in 10 minutes, even with experimentation to find the best way to fit it together.

Once complete it looks very nice indeed, whether or not it needs painting is a matter for consideration as it actually looks rather good as it is.

Check back shortly for part two of this review where I will post pictures of the completed shack and also discus it's suitability as Malifaux scenery.

Part 2 of the review

Sarissa Precision

(Previsouly published elsewhere January 2011)