Plots, Schemes, and a Look at March's New Releases!

Monster Lab Mini's bases and markers are hitting store shelves and are starting to get some buzz.  A good friend of mine made an excellent review of February's wave 1 releases.  Check it out below or on his youtube channel!

I've been hard at work not only sculpting up new bases, but painting a few of my own for use in my Malifaux play group.

Scheme Markers

To date I have four crews: Rasputina, Ramos, Marcus, and the Viktorias.  Three are Arcanists, and that is the faction I enjoy playing the most.  Rasputina works well with Joss, armoring him up and launching him into combat; all the ice constructs drop scrap for Ramos's shenanigans; and Marcus's beasts pair well with anyone needing some close combat punch added to their force.  Considering that, I decided to have my scheme markers draw heavily on those masters' shadowy machinations.

I showed you the crystal 5 pack last week, and here's another take on one bunch of crystals based with my favorite crushed glass snow.

Ice Gamin and Golems are constructs, and when they die they drop scrap markers.  A bunch of cogs or wiring simply won't due, but luckily this crystal base doubles excellently as a scheme or scrap marker!

Ice Golem and Ice Crystal Scrap Marker

The dynamite scheme marker is a definite fan favorite so far and is great for basing, I'm looking at you Papa Loco...

I knew I wanted to do a chest that was a bit out of the ordinary, and landed on the idea to do a glow emanating from the crack between lid and trunk.  Simply done, it makes it that much more Arcanisty.

It also works incredibly well as a "cursed object!"

Someone has gotten out their tools and is definitely up to no good.  I wonder who that could be...

At the heart of any good scheme is likely to be a pile of cash, in this case a literal pile of gold coins.

And now one of my personal favorites, the map that is going to be essential to carrying out the plot!  For my mini, I went with a world map and a clean dagger (it's yet to do its dirty work).

One of the other projects I've been working on is painting up my M&SU starter.  I have Joss on the painting table now, and after four hours in I've made some decent progress.  He's based on a scrap marker as are the rest of the crew!

And now for a sneak peek in the spirit of all good spoilers.. taken from a camera phone and a bit grainy.  (My buddy took it on his Android phone because I forgot my camera at home, ha ha)

On the left are two 50mm "wreck" bases slated for release early next month, and on the right, three 40mm wreck bases slated for the same.  These are designed to function exceptionally as bases, but can also be used as markers when your mechanical constructs go boom!

That's it for this week, come back next time to see what I'm working on here at the Lab!

February Monster Lab New Releases!

Last week I gave a preview of the new line of scenic bases/gaming markers that I'm producing in collaboration with Prairie House Miniatures.  All the miniatures featured here are available at the brand new monsterlabminis.com site in the web store.  Be sure to check out the promo for 15-50% off your next Monster Lab purchase at the bottom of the page.  If you've been kicking around the idea of commissioning a project, this is the time to do it! (15% off promo also applies to web store purchases)

I promised pictures of the painted pieces I showed you last week and I'm excited to show them off to you here today!

Let's take a look...

This is the Crystal Marker 5 Pack, a simple design that works well with games ranging from Warhammer 40k to Warmachine and Malifaux to Wild West Exodus.  I had a blast painting the mysterious glow on each crystal.

There's a lot of room for creative interpretation with these crystal markers, I'm excited to paint up a few for my Rasputina Malifaux crew.

Plots and schemes take many forms, be they money laundered for bribes or dynamite at the ready for a devastating explosion.  This Scheme Marker 5 Pack gives you as many markers ready to represent objectives that any gunslinging desperado or conniving bureaucrat would maneuver to achieve.  

Check out all the individual gold coins littering the ground around these money bags!

What's in the trunk?  That's for you to decide!  Will it be a venerable old redwood lock box or a dark vestibule emanating a creepy glow?...

This scheme marker pulls double duty as a Scrap Marker and works well as a base too!

Complete with map, dagger, and compass, this map leads to treasure, or maybe it plots the path of enemy movements...

When the fate of machines turns for the worse, they live on as scrap markers.  This Scrap Marker 5 Pack contains as many beautifully sculpted markers representing the mechanical spoils of war.

A personal favorite of mine, this marker represents the remains of a construct that was powered by arcane crystals.

Ramos, Joss, and three Steam Arachnids from Wyrd Miniature's Malifaux

Scrap Markers also work incredibly well as bases for the mechanophiles in your force... I'm thinking of you tech priest.

Whether you're reanimating them as undead fighting corpses or claiming them as objectives, this Corpse Marker 5 Pack is great for gaming and model basing alike!

To help us celebrate the launch of Monster Lab Miniatures, I'd like to offer you 15% off your web store purchases and even up to 50% off you next commissioned project.  Check out the promo poster below for full details!

Monster Lab Miniatures New Releases!

When I came up with the name Monster Lab, I stuck with it because it was a fun metaphor for the work I was doing: creating hobby horrors to rampage across the table top.  In the early days my work was all burly space elf abominations, undead three-headed dogs, and dark lords of the underworld.  Ok, not much has really changed.  I love table top hobby, just like you undoubtedly do, and the past decade has been a great journey.  I've met a lot of great people and had more fun than I ever thought 28mm minis could supply.  I opened up the Midwest Monster Lab commissioned painting and modeling services in the spring of 2012, and after working with some truly wonderful people I've decided it's time to take the next step.  As far as announcements go, this is good as any:  I'm proud to announce the creation of Monster Lab Miniatures!

You may have noticed some banner changes here and there around this site and the nod I made last week to a project that is helping to fuel the changes.  I'm going into the miniatures market and I'd love to show you what's new, and what's on the very close horizon!

Let's take a look.

My first line of product (wave 1 if you will) is resin cast bases/markers.  Bases/markers?  Right.  They are designed primarily as markers (objective, scheme, scrap, corpse, wreck, you name it), but as you can see above, most work well as awesome scenic basing!

Let's take a closer look at the full line of first release bases and markers!

Here are the five scrap markers seen above.  There's tons of great little bitz on the bases: gears, tesla coils, severed robot heads, crystal energy cores...  I'm really looking forward to showing you the painted product when I have them done next week.  Until then, here they are in unpainted resin.

Scheme markers are great for skirmish level games like Malifaux, Mordheim, and the like, to represent objectives, loot, and resources.  The treasure chest is a favorite of my play group, but let's not forget the dynamite, map & dagger, money bags, and tool box!

Unfortunately, all things must die.  This is as true in hobby gaming as in life.  Luckily we have a brand new set of corpse markers to represent these causalities!  That's not to say they can't be used as objectives or bases.  Nothing says, "this is my badass-axe-wielding-head-chopping-champion," like standing with a foot propped up on a pile of skulls!

Next week I'm going to show you the painted versions of these new markers, unveil a new marketplace site, and tell you where you can find them!  Until then, have a great hobby!