ToMB - Come my mechanical minions!

Hey guys, short introduction :)  I'm Will, owner of UrbanLasercraft.com, avid gamer, hobby guy and more.  I've been into miniatures since the early 90s and when Malifaux first came out I jumped right in.  I love skirmish games and this one had some really cool fluff and lore and the minis were just amazing.  Plus with my luck at dice ... well it was a win on all sides :)  My very first master was Ramos and over the years and versions I have played all kinds of factions and masters but with the release of Malifaux 2.0 and the new plastics, I had to go back to my old favorite.  I haven't even really read much of his rules but in the old game you had exploding mechanical spiders and the ability to create more spiders out of scrap to then blow up!  You can't beat that :)

Ok so let's try to format my rambling into something that might make a little sense to read :)

Who did I pick?
I picked Ramos, but not just any Ramos, but the new plastic box set.  Wyrd has made some great improvements to their plastics and the new models are just fabulous!

Ok so the box comes with Ramos who is the maser, Howard Langston who is the Steamborg Executioner, basically a mechanical Drider of doom.  The Brass Arachnid who is a support model, Joss who is an elecric axe wielding crazy man and 6 spiders that you can base as either a swarm of 3 or individually.

The other good thing about the new box is it comes with all the cards you need to play them so you don't need to worry about arsenal boxes.

That comes to 42 Soul Stones without any upgrades, throw in a few upgrades and extra soul stones since Ramos only has 3 and you have a 50 point game you can play with a single box set.

Bases

Now for the rules of the ToMB we have $60 to purchase stuff for our first month.  Technically bases do not count but I want to highlight that I think some of the amazing custom bases out there by companies can really make the model stand out.  Normally you are only playing with 5-10 models, so splurging a little for custom bases for these guys really makes each one a mini diorama.

For my Ramos crew I am using Groundwerks Base Inserts - Dungeon Floor.  I think it gives them a really cool look and you can imagine him in his underground lab making these mechanical monstrosities!

Assembly Time!

So the other good thing about the new plastics is that they glue very well together with Testors plastic model glue.  They can be a little fiddly because of how tiny some of the parts are but once they meld together they are pretty much not going to fall apart after that.

Now I'm sort of cheating because at GenCon, if you spent over $100 on Malifaux stuff you got an exclusive Miss Step, who replaces Howard Langston.  So of course I had to use the crazy female version of a mechanical Drider so in the pictures that is who you will see instead of the one that comes in the box.  Too bad they are Rare 1 or I would glue and paint them both.

So here we have my models glued and primed black.  I assembled 3 of the spiders on a single big base and the other 3 on single bases since throughout the game you will need them both.

Painting and Gaming!

This thursday I'll be actually bringing these guys to the table and testing them out.  

I don't really have a plan as I still need to read how they interact with each other but the Brass Arachnid can cause Miss Step to reactivate giving this monster beast of a model 2 turns in a single turn.  I hope to use that to good effect, combining that with Ramos's send in the spiders and blow them up!  He is by no means a front line fighter but can do some range shooting especially against models his other minions have tied up and then can also push other models into the embrace of loving Miss Step.  Now I just need to remember to use all these cool abilities!  Joss is my beat stick front line troop, in addition anybody he kills drops scrap tokens for Ramos to turn into more spiders.  I think it's a pretty easy combo to keep track of and I think it will do pretty good overall.  But I'll report back and we'll see!

In addition I plan on starting to add some paint to the models.  The lucky thing is since there is a lot of metal and brass, I can use some pretty easy painting techniques with metallic paints to get them done pretty quickly.  The rest of them I will drybrush a grey and then a white and then start painting in their colors.  I admit that I only have a few rudimentary painting techniques but I will try to spend more time on these models.  I get impatient and just want them done and ready to play with, in addition to all the other projects I have going on, but hey it's a good excuse to work on them!

Budget Tracker:

Ok so we went over who I picked and why and even showed off the assembled models that are primed.  How am I doing for budget?

The M&SU Box Set - $50

So yup leaves me $10 carrying over to next month!  

Now what I'm not counting is the following, mainly because you may either already have them or are learning from a friend or just doesn't count in the ToMB budget :)

Mini Rules Manual - $12.99 - The main rule book is amazing, great fluff and stories and also all the cards in there for looking at future purchases.  However it's big and bulky to take when actually gaming so the mini rule book is perfect for taking with you.  (Still get the big rule book too!  $32.99)

Bases - $21 for 2 40mm bases and 6 30mm bases.  Again, these can really make a model stand out.

Fate Deck - $7.25.  You really want to have one of these to play the game and not have to deal with other decks of cards and the suits.

So if you were starting from scratch, you could be ready to go all in for less than $100 which you really can't beat for such a fantastic miniatures game.

Next month I plan on adding more spiders to the crew and maybe looking at some other models to help augment the crew.

So until next time guys when hopefully I have a battle report, some thoughts on how they did, and even some paint on the models!

-Will