Through the Breach Initial Impressions

My copy of Through the Breach arrived today. Included were two rule books, a deck of cards, two female multi-part models, two male multi-part models, three independent models, a Fatemaster screen, and a big stack of character sheets. They also threw in a Ramos (Claw and Fang) box set for Malifaux due to the wait for the release.

I read the beta pdfs and created characters for gits and shiggles. I have yet to actually play the game however. I can not really comment on the rules beyond initial impressions. I don't consider my initial impressions valuable in any way, shape, or form as they are based on how the rules work in my head with no actual experience. I can however talk about the production values.

The books are rather nice. The two rulebooks I received are soft cover. Each has a retail value of $40 US printed on the back cover. I believe there is a hard cover version as well. The Fated Almanac is 252 pages while the Fatemaster's Almanac clocks in at 224 pages. Both books are full colour and of a similar quality to the Malifaux second edition main book. The index in both books looks useful, but I would need to play some games to see what comes up to see how helpful they really are.

The Fated Almanac is analogous to the traditional Player's Handbook from other games. This will be the main book players are likely to pick up. A group will probably be well served by having two or more copies on hand. I have found that with other games with similar books three or more copies is a safe number as that gives the Fatemaster one book and two or more for the rest of the group to reference. This book contains the rules for character creation, task resolution, magic, and equipment. Pretty much all of the basics of the game. You could probably get away with just this one book in your group if on a budget.

The Fatemaster's Almanac essentially combines a Game Master's Guide with a Monster Manual. It is filled with advice for running a game and has stats for many denizens in the setting. I have not actually read this book yet so can not speak on how useful the Fatemaster information is. Even if the advice is not any good a group will likely want one copy for the denizen stats. This book also has some additional background information, random tables, and some advanced pursuits (sort of like classes).

The card deck is really nice. The cards are flexible and feel like they can hold up to some wear and tear. Only minor quibble is they do not have weak/moderate/severe printed on the cards. Again, minor. The Fatemaster's screen is solid with nice artwork including a map that faces the players. It folds up to the same height and width as the books. The inside information looks good, but as I have yet to play I can not speak to how well it works for quick reference. With the game using a card random number generator in place of a dice mechanic I feel the screen is not needed except possibly as a quick reference resource. The same information is split between the back of the two rulebooks.

The character sheets are printed on nice semi-gloss paper. They are folded in half as a full character sheet is either four pages, or two pages printed on both sides. The paper the stack of character sheets is printed on is thick. My only concern is that they are somewhat slick so I am concerned about how well recoding details on them with pencil will go over time as people try to erase and rewrite on the sheets. The Fated Almanac has a copy of the pages for print and Wyrd has a form fillable pdf available for download on their website.

The miniatures are of great quality plastic. I have not assembled any of the models yet, but they appear to be of the same quality of the newer Malifaux plastic models. The only other company producing fictional models of a similar scale and quality is Games Workshop. Counting parts, I believe it is possible to get ten females and ten males off of their respective sprue where they were advertised more as a single model with a bunch of optional parts. In my copy I got two packs with one female and one male sprue and twelve bases per pack. The three individual models were Hannah, Miss Terious, and Santana Ortega. Santana is actually two models (male and female) with a single base included. She has the exact same rules and Santiago Ortega. I believe I can only run one of either in regular Malifaux 2E, but it does give me some model options over there and they are all still usable at the same time in Through the Breach.

Overall, I am happy with what I have received. The way the company handled the kickstarter since it closed until now would give me serious pause about contributing to another one should they decide to do so. Looking at what I received is a strong case for me to back them again if they set up another however.

Abuela Start

I was going to save this up and release as one post, but it is getting a bit long for a single post.

Abuela has been pushed up my Kanban board as a priority. I entered her in a painting competition hosted by A Wyrd Place. If you are a Malifaux fan, have a Facebook account, and you are looking for a friendly community then I highly recommend taking a gander. They run a clean group that is very friendly.

The rules for the competition are pretty simple. Take a picture of a model with no paint aside from primer with the date somewhere in the picture to prove the model was not painted before January, send a dollar to help with shipping of the month's prize, and get the single model done before the end of the month.

Session One

After priming white I hit the model all over with a barely thinned coat of NGW Nuln Oil focusing on the details. I applied the colour straight from the pot then grabbed some water on my brush and applied the water and spread it about directly over the Nuln Oil on the model. I did this to help me make out the details. I should probably buy some better lights at some point, but this step helps me for now.

Base Colours and Start of Highlighting

MSP HD Entrail Pink

MSP HD Fireball Orange

OGW Boltgun Metal

OGW Golden Yellow

OGW Iyanden Darksun

OGW Midnight Blue

P3 Arcane Blue

P3 Bastion Grey

P3 Coal Black

P3 Gun Corps Brown

P3 Morrow White

MSP HD = Reaper Master Series High Density

OGW = Out of Production Games Workshop

P3 = Privateer Press Paint

I basically blocked in the sections to see if the colours worked. I have gotten into the habit lately of blocking in base colours on the model to see how they work with each other before starting on highlighting and shading. The blue was darker than it should have been, but I was being lazy and it seemed close enough to build up from. The slip was Entrail Pink built up with Morrow White. The yellow blouse was Iyanden Darksun highlighted with Golden Yellow and Morrow White. The blue dress was Midnight Blue highlighted with Arcane Blue and Morrow White. Coal Black was used to base the leather sections.

The flagstone was based with Bastion Grey with shading in Midnight Blue and Coal Black with highlights adding in Iyanden Darksun or Entrail Pink along with Morrow White. I alternated between stones which would get more Iyanden Darksun and which would get more Entrail Pink so there was some variation on each stone with a couple getting more Midnight Blue.

At this point I was not happy with the blue. I attempted to shade it using Coal Black to see it that helped. It did not so I grabbed Fireball Orange and shaded with that. It helped some, but I was not happy with the midtones at all. I think part of the problem might be is that I was originally going to have the dress be purple with the Midnight Blue being used to deepen the purple. After seeing the Midnight Blue on the model I felt blue worked better with the other colours, but I'm not sure I have the right blue.

I plan on highlighting the slip some more and may even shift it closer to white with just a hint of pink. I have done no work on the hat other than basing it in Iyanden Darksun nor the flesh other than to base in Gun Corps Brown. I did not touch the hair, metal, or wood sections yet.

Session: Two Hours