Malifaux: Unboxing the Boss
After months of waiting, Gremlin lovers finally have their first M2E crew kit. Lets see what’s inside.
If you’re a lover of a certain breed of diminutive greenskin that can only be found on the wrong side of The Breach, then you’ve had quite a wait. First it was March, then April, then… what month is it now anyway? Well regardless, plastic Bayou Gremlins are finally here, and I was so excited to nab some I had to share it with the rest of you.
This is only one of the sprues in the kit and it’s all loaded with bayou folk – and one human who is probably really happy to finally be let out of this dark box full of stinking Gremlins. More on her in a bit.
So yeah lets just do close-ups of these little devils shall we? We’ll start with one of the four Bayou Gremlins. This first one is going fishing.
Here’s his other side.
I’ve been really impressed with Wyrd’s more recent batches of plastics. Their earliest ones seemed to have some kinks to work through but they’ve improved enough that I continue to be stunned by each new kit I buy.
The detail has improved, which is great, but there’s something else they’ve gotten better at. What I’m referring to is the placement of the bits on the sprues. The detail around the edges tends to be handled a lot better meaning there’s less loss of it where the two halves of the mold join together.
The downside is that there are often a lot more pieces to assemble – sometimes in ways that seem less than obvious. I could care less. Assembly part of the fun for me, but I’ve seen a few complaints about it on the Wyrd forums. I’d rather glue pieces together than clean up horrendous mold lines. Like the ones I’ve seen on some of the other plastics that have been on my table recently. And there are instructions for most kits online, if not in the box.
Rather than go for a modular construction with rank-and-files like these guys, all of Wyrd’s minis are handled like characters. Each one is it’s own little sculpture.
Since you’ll rarely need more than three of the same model, there isn’t likely to be a lot of repetition in your crews. Although there are some cases, such as with these bayou gremlins, (who in addition to being low points models can also be summoned to the table en masse) where you might need more than the handful of sculpts provided.
Fortunately if you’re the type who just can’t stand any of your models looking the same, these models are polystyrene and are easy to convert. You may have to fashion some of your own pieces but old rusty knives are the easiest kind to sculpt out of plasticard.
Outside of the quality of the casts, the sculpts themselves are full of personality.
It’s been at least ten years since I first saw a digitally sculpted mini, and I remember a lot of the early ones seemed a little dull and lifeless. Now digital is just another medium for a skilled sculptor to take advantage of. I mean look at all the different facial expressions on these guys. Not to mention other details.
We’re finally through the chafe. Here he is, the boss himself: S’omer teeth Jones.
For those of you who might be unfamiliar with Malifaux, S’omer is a Master. These are the guys in charge. They’re all different. They might be skilled with a sword, or a gun, or at casting spells. They might also be good at summoning other models, or at buffing the models around them. Those latter two are mostly what S’omer is good at, although he’s got a pretty nasty gun too.
To get the proper amount of cavernous depth down into that gullet of his they’ve divided his head into three different pieces (five total if you count the two hat pieces). There have been a few complaints about the gaps on his face once the pieces are assembled.
And speaking of the hat, there is some pretty cool detail on it. On this half of it anyway.
Here’s S’omer’s buddy Lenny. For those of you not familiar with Malifaux, Lenny here is an Enforcer. Being an Enforcer is almost as good as being a Henchman which is almost as good as being a Master. In game terms it means Lenny is a pretty tough Gremlin, and he can also take an upgrade. Upgrades let a model do special stuff. Maybe it gives them a different type of weapon attack, or perhaps just a different ability.
There are generic upgrades and model specific upgrades. The model specific ones are usually the most popular, but don’t underestimate the generic ones. They have their uses.
Which probably explains why this pig he’s carrying looks so pissed.
Moving on, here’s that other sprue I mentioned. You’re looking at two Skeeters. These are S’omer’s totems. All masters have a totem unique to them. Usually you only get one of them, but S’omer is one of the masters that gets to cheat and take an extra. They have a chance to spawn more skeeters if they kill an enemy model, but the odds of this are slim. Really what you take them for is their ability to cast S’omer’s spells, although they do this rather poorly. The upside is their dirt cheap. At 2 pts they’re among the cheapest models in the game.
Unfortunately these guys are also said to have some assembly problems. Do you see the cavities on the thoraxes at the bottom of the shot above? You’ll have to fit all six of those legs in there. I can see how fitting them all in right could be tricky. Also, these guys are pretty big. I don’t know how I’m going to fit them onto 30mm bases. Good thing I still have plenty of clear rods from that big bag of flying bases I bought a few years back.
These guys are more natural looking than the Gremlins – organic rather than cartoon-y.
They don’t look much like earth mosqitos. There’s definitely some gross out factor going on here.
And our last mini is Johanna – a female sculpt of Renegade Steamfitter Johann. She’s not the most exciting mini, but then, she’s just a steamfitter who found out she could make more soulstones pounding people on the head with that hammer than she could pounding rivets.
She’s a bonus limited edition mini that you can only get in boxed sets from brick and mortar stores. There’s only supposed to be a limited chance of finding her in a box, although I’ve heard a rumor that’s she’s been showing up in all Gremlin boxes including those sold online. I haven’t been able to corroborate that, and I’m curious to know if anyone out there has gotten one in an online order. Anyway, the Crew box you can find her in is supposed to change from month to month. So if you don’t like Gremlins you might be able to find her in another crew if you’re patient.
And while she probably won’t be winning any beauty pageants, she’s still a breath of fresh air after all those leering Gremlin faces.
~ Hope you enjoyed the pics. Wyrd’s plastics might not be perfect but I’ve definitely been enjoying them. I’ve only had a chance to paint and assemble one of the new MkII crews so far – Seamus’ Shadows of Redchapel. For what it’s worth, they went together pretty flawlessly and had none of the issues this crew appears to. Although I really don’t see this S’omer crew being that problematic. Stay tuned for a painting article of the Seamus crew, as well as one for this one – although the latter may take awhile. I have quite a few projects on my desk at the moment.
