Malifaux: Plastic Versus Metal Round 2

First off, another big thanks to Miniature Market. With the recent introduction of Malifaux 2e, and all of the new sculpts of old figures, done up in plastic, Miniature Market saw the writing on the wall and put an immediate 50% off sale. I picked up quite a bit of stuff, mainly in bases and some larger figures that I wanted to use as monsters. The order was quickly delivered and came at 100% fill rate. So again, thanks to the employees of Miniature Market. Good job again.

Speaking of monsters, some of those I picked up included Ama No Zako, a large plastic piece and the Avatar of Vengeance, a large metal piece.

I put them on some of the 'fancy' bases I picked up in the sale as well.

Now in terms of pieces, the plastic one has something like fourteen separate pieces. The metal one? The main body is like four. Add in the figure it's rising out of and the hand and we're at like six? In terms of ease of assembly, not bad on either of them but I find that super glue tends to have a melting effect on the plastic. On the official forums I've seen it suggested that Gorilla Glue is the answer. I'll have to check that out soon.

Ama No Zako, the big oni looking thing, is regularly priced at $16. Kirai, the avatar of vengeance, is $30. This is a plus of the plastic. The last time I compared plastic and metal, the metal was actually less expensive. Might be a result of the metal figure here being newer and having a more 'realistic' price.

Height wise, Ama No Zako also towers over the Avatar by at least a head.

But in terms of detail?

Let's take the hair for example.

We can easily see numerous different strands of hair. Different lengths. Different flow. Different depths.

Here not so much. There are a few individual strands that poke out.

How about cloth?

Again, lots of difference here. Lots of raised areas. Lots of uneven curves like cloth might have.

And the plastic? Again, very smooth with a few folds in the material.

Mind you, I'm not saying it's impossible to paint smooth surfaces or anything of that nature. I am saying that I find it visually boring. I find it a step back in progress. That this multi-pieced plastic figure could have a lot more potential if it actually had some more character as opposed to the smoothness of the plastic.

I'll be looking to try out some more plastic as time goes on but the metal buyout on my part from Miniature Market insures that I'll have plenty of metal to come for a long time.

July Sales and Kudos

I may have mentioned before that I've been collecting Privateer Press miniatures for years. Recently the company decided to release some of their classic units that used to be sold at minimum strength in unit sizes of maximum strength. Units like Greygore Boomhowler and Company.

I've had the six pack for years and well, it motivated me to assemble the miniatures for either RPG or future use one day. When I did so though, one of the guys was missing his battle axe. Privateer Press took care of it in a manner of days. Kudos to them for the quick no-hassle replacement.

Miniature Market is having a board game sale. I placed an order two-three days ago and it arrived already. I bought some more Privateer Press miniatures for reinforcements for my angry elves and mercs as well as the two Okko board games that were on sale. Great graphic novel series there on a fantasy style Japan setting for those interested in that vein. Solid art and good story telling.

One of the problems if you will, and it's a "first world problem", is that our hobby has so many niche specialty items, that even a great game store like Games Plus in Mount Prospect, doesn't have everything.  Mind you I was just there today and very pleased to see the new range of washes by Vallejo Paints.

Michigan Toy Soldiers though, is having a sale and they have some Andrea and Scale 75 and Lifecolor paints that I've wanted to test out.

Well, let me amend that. The Andrea paints I've used in the past are fairly solid if a little thick. You'd have to really thin them if you wanted to use them in an airbrush. The Scale75 looks like it's using a similar idea of themed colors and I've watched a few videos of Lifecolor and they look pretty solid. But you don't want to pay full price for these things right? But that's what a sale is for!

But with July 4th around the corner, we have other companies, like Fantization having a flat 20% sale. They also have some of the Andrea and Scale 75 paints as well as a good selection of materials.

In short, it's a good time to be a hobby painted so grab those brushes and batten down the hatches!

Anyone else getting in on sales while the getting is good? Leave a comment if so!

Big Update: Ex Illis, Games Workshop, Hasslefree, Fenris and Confrontation

So when I started the blog, I was just getting started with my airbrush. I'm still in that phase. See, after basecoating, I still have to paint the damn things. However, it's been going fairly quick as with some of these figures I bought them mainly to test the airbrush and haven't done much more than a quick base coat of other colors and then a quick dip or wash.

Somewhere along the way I missed uploading a photo or two of this set but it's the Games Workshop Walls and Fences. It's actually a nice set with a lot of different pieces that can be painted up in a variety of ways. Sad when their scenery is actually more affordable then most of their miniatures.

During one of my shopping binges on Miniature Market, I picked up a pack of Hasslefree Zombie Hunters. It was a little over $10. For four modern figures? Even though modern RPGing and table top is my least favorite aspect of gaming, I can use them for super heroes or something.

As I work through my new minis, I also try to sneak in some of my older ones. I'm not real picky in terms of having to have company 'X' figures. In this case, it's a Fenris resin figure. It's a little off in proportions, you have to attach the sword, the base is 20mm but... clean up was a snap, it'd look much better if I could dot the eyes properly and it was a 'clean' figure. This figure is one of three warrior women. Fenris looks like they've changed quite a bit since I last bought anything from them with a larger e-bay presence and a lot of bases.

This looks weird, but it's on a huge base and is a nice chunk of metal. It's another one I picked up from Miniature Market on clearance for another like... $10. It's a Confrontation Cthonian Larva. I figure I can use it for some weird horrible monster in a variety of games. They still have a few of them.

Sixteen figures for $12 from Miniature Market. Mind you, the game Ex Illis looks pretty dead. The figures are of the 'skinny' type. Their weapons are also thin. They have a lot of glued components. The pikers especially since their arms are separate and you have to glue them to the hands and you're using plastic glue and it's a PIA to get that type of join right.

But if you're testing out some new paints? If you're testing out a new airbrush? If you need to fill out some town guards for your D&D or Warhammer game? Yeah, it's a solid deal.

On the top, I used Vallejo's basing material, grey earth or something, with a black wash and a highlight over that. I did a different color than the pikers because I wanted some variance, I wanted to show the difference between Vallejo and Games Workshop basing materials, and the brown probably would blend too much with the figures themselves. The top I used the last of my old Sepia Wash from Games Workshop. On the bottom, it was a dip in Army Painter strong. The problem with the bottom figures that you may or may not be able to see, is that when I hit them with the dull coat, it frosted several of them. I guess that's to be expected in Chicago.

Being plastic, they do have a lot of mold lines. Being plastic, those lines are very easy to remove if you're not as lazy as I am. There are actually a lot of details in the figures that I didn't bother to pick out so don't let my simple paint job fool you.

So there we go. While I still have some figures not painted from that first or second go round, my workspace is now clear enough that I can prep another batch and see how that works out in terms of getting more done. Wish me luck!

Shopping Review: Miniature Market

I recently received an order of various miniatures, both Star Wars for my pie in the sky Blasters and Bulkheads game, and some heavily discounted Ill Exis material from Miniature Market. The later were for the testing of my recent airbrush purchases. I figure why spend tons of money on limited edition resin figures to blast them with an airbrush I don't know how to use?

Anyway, the Miniature Market is one of the places I go to in order to check their various sales and discounted bits. I've ordered from them several times in the past. This includes Privateer Press miniatures and books, the entire run of the original Pathfinder Random miniatures, and well, Ill Exis miniatures prior to this. I'm hoping that the price comes down on a few more of those puppies so that I can place another order.

One of the nice things about Miniature Market, is that they have a 'low' threshold for free shipping. I know, $99.99 isn't free or anything, but seriously, when a battalion for Warhammer or 40K costs around that much, and there are numerous limited edition miniatures that cost that much, and the average price of a miniature is like $10, even from Reaper if it's not one of their special 'Bones' or 'Legendary Encounters', $99.99 isn't going to stop me from adding, say, some Star Wars random boosters to my order to quality for free shipping.

While I've had a few questions about the status of an order, they respond quickly to e-mail. I've never had an order lost. I can't recall any back orders. They do a good job of keeping what they have on stock on their web page. I'm not bashing Coolminiornot but man, when I first started ordering from them, it seemed every order was missing something that I'd been charged for. They were cool indeed in fixing the issue and not calling me a lying bastard or anything, but the missing bits in the first place, especially when some of those missing pieces were part of their limited edition range? Not a happy customer.

That's probably the only big 'weakness' if you will of Miniature Market. While Fantization and Coolminiornot both seem to have their own specialty bits, Fantization having their Rusted Heroes and a new game in the making, and Coolminiornot having their fingers in well, every other damn pie, Miniature Market is, as far as I know, just a good place on the internet to shop.

Check out their clearance seciton one of these days and tell them Kushner sent you.