By My Reckoning

I've already stated that Malifaux is my new found love, and I've given strong reasons for it - an entire blog post, in fact. I've talked about how the game works, and shown off some of my models (though I've since gone back and made the bases a little more interesting) but I've never really given much comment on how I play, or specific examples of some of the neat little tricks the game encourages.

I played a game on Monday night that highlighted why I love Malifaux, and whilst you won't find a full battle report after the break, you will find a discussion of the game and examples of why I love it. 

Battle Brothers

This weekend I journeyed from Blackpool back down to Nottingham for the Warhammer Battle Brothers event; a doubles tournament at Warhammer World, where I was partnering up with a very good friend of mine from back in Epsom. A few of the other Epsom gang were there too, and it was great seeing them.

Find out how the weekend went after the break!

How I Paint: Flames

I'm often asked about my painting, and I've been compiling an FAQ for a while; it might even make the light of day eventually. Beyond the usual "How do you paint so fast?", one of the most common questions is as to how I paint fire and flames on my models, and I must admit that I see an awful lot of models where the flames just aren't believable and it really lets the model down on what may otherwise be a very pleasant painted miniature. That's not to say I always get it perfect...

Now, of course, this is how I paint flame, and that in no way makes it the only way to paint flame. In fact, you may find this method may work with your miniatures and painting style, but it may not. Just as I once saw a tank wonderfully airbrushed and weathered with a commander poking out the hatch painted by hand in bold, bright colours, a mix of techniques and styles can make a jarring effect, and not in a good way. In that example, the tank looked gritty and real, the commander by contrast looked overly clean and cartoony. Both facets were exceptionally well painted, but together they just did not mesh. My style tends to be quite... heroic, in the sense of comic books and animated films. Grit and realism is not my thing, so if that's what you're looking for, sorry. Back to Google, and good luck!

Still here? Cool. Let's show you how I do it.

Elitism

Today I wanted to talk about something that has bothered me for a long time. I've touched on it before when I talked about the social nature of our hobby, but now I wanted to take a more in-depth look at the canker at the heart of our hobby.

Elitism.

The Social Media Scandal Continues

It seems that Games Workshop's removal of their social media accounts caused a little bit of a stir. Some people got quite upset about it all; some claimed that they had paid a good deal of money to GW, and the very least they could do was to keep a Twitter account open; others cranked the lever to FULL PANIC MODE and started predicting the decline of Games Workshop - citing poor sales of Warhammer Monthly and the Imperial Knights (yes, some people really are that crazy that they think the Knights aren't selling...); others took it much more calmly and began looking into the possible reasons and examining what this could mean.

And that's what I've been doing.

The Curious Case of Disappearing Social Media

This morning I woke up, came downstairs to check my Twitter feed over breakfast, and discovered that Games Workshop have apparently shut down their social media. Heading to @ForgeWorld, @BlackLibrary and @GWDigital on Twitter all received the same effect. The feed would flash for a moment, then settle on: @GWDigital [or whichever] does not exist.

The Gremlins Are Here!

I had been trying to decide if I wanted to go back to my Gremlins with the new plastics, and if so, whom would I go for?

In short, OHMYGODOPHELIA. 

In other news, I'm looking at the Moon Shinobi (Drunken Gremlin Ninja) in the bottom left corner and despairing at those bottles and straws. Wyrd love adding ridiculously diddly bits to their models, and it looks like 'Closing Time' is gonna have more than it's fair share.