Marcus and a Pack of Wild Animals (Plus Myranda): a Malifaux Showcase

It's time to unleash the big beasties!!  This week is all about raw muscle power, fangs, and claws.  Who better to lead a horde of enraged monsters, than the beast caller himself?  Marcus is truly a master to be feared in the Malifaux universe.. and his minions look freakin badass!

Let's take a closer look into the jaws of the beast..

I love the mythical Cerberus from Greek legend, and though I was skeptical about a sabertooth take on the mythical beast (in absolute retro grouch fashion, of course), I've been won over by this model's subtle charm and ferocity.

The sabertooth cerberus leers with a perfect predatory glare... absolutely fantastic.

As a child I played Magic: the Gathering and only built dragon decks.  In fact, I have one of each Magic dragon (minus one of course) ever printed, lovingly tucked away in my collection to this day!  Child Matt would have gobbed over this model and Modern-Day Matt thinks it's most excellent too.

The dawn serpent's cherubic arms and legs are kind of hilarious.. and a touch precious too.  Thank goodness for the winds of magic, because those little baby feet kicking mildly in the breeze wouldn't be getting him anywhere!

Cojo was 100% my least favorite model by a longshot before I painted him.  Now he's definitely hanging with the best of them (ape pun intended).  Check out that great expression and how his fur coat really shines!

A little blood goes a long way.  No damn dirty ape should be without a bit of gore unceremoniously splattered about his person if he can help it. 

Marcus hates all things civilized.. just look at all those human skins stitched into a skirt!

No doubt they were from scholarly types, venturing out into the Malifaux wilds on some academic foray... perhaps just hapless gunslingers looking to cash in a bounty on the notorious rogue's head..

An absolute favorite of mine (there are many in the Malifaux range), Myranda looks exquisitely feline crouched upon the rocks that come stock with her model.  I considered modelling her on a lateral tree branch, suspended an inch or two of so off the base, but decided to revel in the awesomeness Wyrd provided.  Matt approves.

They'll never expect the Jackalope!!  With +2 dmg on the charge and a 7" leap this little rabbit would make even Tim cower in fear. "Just look at its fangs!"

Donovan B. and I decided to put the beasts to the test.  Picking his new favorite of cadre of zombies and guild hounds marshaled by Lucas McCabe, Donovan was perfectly situated to take advantage of the reconnoiter strategy and protect territory scheme.

Lucas made the keen decision to skirt the outside of the encounter breaking behind my lines to plant a few scheme markers in my deployment zone for "protect territory" (thanks for protecting my territory, Donovan, what a great guy), and mitigating my revealed "deliver a message." Both the Jackalope and Cerberus are perfect at dropping in from a 7" leap and delivering it in one fell swoop!

A running drama between the rattler and a pack of hounds (made significant by Luna) took up the western flank.  Unsurprisingly the snake did serious damage to their ranks, but what wasn't so expected was...

That the lone jackalope was the one to chase down and dispatch a hound looking to breach my line and plant even more victory points in Donovan's pocket!

A keen eye to the mission and sound tactical play led Donovan's finesse force to overcome my brute one and ultimately win the day with a thumping in victory points.  It was fun to be bashy with my models this time, but I'll probably be reserving this force for when the mission rolls "make them suffer" in the future!

You can see the whole crew for yourself at 31st Century games in Olathe, KS!!

Until next time, make bad things happen!

Summer Wrap-Up... M-m-mmmega Post!!!

There's a whole lot of things that come with the passing of Labor Day.. pools close, sno cone operations start packing it in, women stop wearing white pants (I personally think white pants are fashionable anytime of the year) - truly it is the beginning of the end of the summer.  A lot of great things have been going on here at the Monster Lab during that time and now I present them to you in one grand blog post full of fond memories and favorite projects from the ending days of the season.

Let's take a look!

This female inquisitor conversion was done for new customer Jay C.  He wanted a subtle conversion that would take an old grumpy puritan guy and turn it into a nice busty babe.  A goal of mine was to do something cool with the flaming tip of the inferno pistol, and make it a neat contrast point.  I'm really pleased how the whole piece turned out.

July 11, 12 & 13 this year was the sixth annual KantCon! The convention started as a meeting for a group of friends and has quickly grown over the years to occupy the Overland Park Convention Center, featuring role-playing, table top gaming, card gaming, and board games.  I count myself lucky to have been a part of the fun for the last two years, hosting a vendor booth and even doing a couple of painting and modeling clinics this year.

Here is a class of my favorite students, eager to learn and quick studies too!  You guys were great!

Donovan Baker, of facebook group Malifaux KC fame and creator of the best Malifaux app you'll probably never see (really, it's awesome), hosting Malifaux demo games at KantCon.  Donovan and I (Donovan has done all the heavy lifting really) have really taken up the mantle of this great game, demoing it, and spreading the joy of "making bad things happen" whenever and wherever we can.  Malifaux hosts some the coolest, best rendered sculpts I've seen.. and has an awesome action packed rulenset to boot.

What a spread, nice work Donovan!

It's not a complete convention without taking an embarrassing pic with a cardboard cutout.  Thanks to Jon at Black Blade Publishing for bringing the one and only Hugh the Barbarian to the con!

One short month later and we were heading off to GenCon!  It's mind-numbing how much STUFF there is.  Vendor booths, demos, fan flicks, parties, artist signings.. the list just goes on and on.  Of course the Malifaux booth was a major attraction for Donovan and I.  The Whiskey Golem was even so good as to spot me a drink!

Wyrd Miniatures are famous for the valuable promos and GenCon exclusives they have on offer, and there a ton of people who show up for the raffle at the end of the weekend (you get one raffle ticket for each $25 you spend).

Wyrd had each and every mini they make on display, some for Malifaux and some for their new game.  Here's a look at the female creations you can make with the Through the Breach roleplaying game starter set.

After a long day of carousing the vendor hall it was time to kick back and relax... I think Scotty's Brewhouse will do!

It's safe to say that Scotty's is the new official restaurant/bar for GenCon (sorry, The Ram).  Check out the fantastic patio view!  You can also dine inside and enjoy the Star Wars marathon playing all weekend.

There was still plenty to see on Day 2 in the vendor hall, including some cool minis from Cool Mini or Not.  Funny how that works out.

I'm not 100% sure who was hosting all this gorgeous Infinity terrain, but good god damn!  Just look at it!

There was terrain for every season: jungle, winter, desert, urban, underground bunker; you name it.

Cardhalla is big attraction, growing over the weekend in anticipation for its ultimate demise on Saturday night.  Donovan was impressed.. you can see it on his face.

When GenCon was over it was time to head back to America's Heartland and get back to making hobby goodness.  James H. wanted to take a Dream Forge Pleasure Demon and turn her into a female bloodthirster.  I said, "ok."  (I like to make Tenacious D reference whenever possible)

Probably my favorite part of the model is something that James did himself, Khorne pasties!!!

The game plan was to give her a humongous-biznatch-slaying axe and bone whip.  

It's a demon axe, so naturally there's some spooky faces peeking out.  There was more nasty Khorne goodness to come...

A big ass demon skull with elongated jaw should do!

The whip was individual vertebra with some nasty barbs.. definitely not something you want a lashing from!

James was psyched about his conversion, and sent me back some pics of the completed piece.  Check out Xiomara over on his photobucket!

And that's it for now.  It was a great summer and I'm excited for what's to come next year!  Stay tuned, there's more great projects coming!