Enter the Dragon

So I was able to get my hands on the new Malifaux Ten Thunders Shadow Emissary model. I’m still behind on the updated fluff (and when I was writing it up, Misaki was to be the Dragon, not Shen Long, but that’s a tale for another day), so unsure what the deal with the Emissaries are (other than they came from Zoraida…like the Effigies?), but oh the model!

The Emissaries are huge models compared to most anything that Wyrd has done before. I know I’ll wind up getting a few of the as they’re simply awesome looking models, and if the Shadow Emissary’s any indication a high quality set of models to add to your collection. One thing with the Shadow Emissary is that he’s really tall and really long (as befitting an Asian-themed Dragon). I’d thought about pinning parts together, and eventually settled on magnetizing his tail portion for transport. Here’s the results. I won’t get to painting him for a bit, but was hoping to use him this weekend in a tournament at the Realm in Brea, CA.

The conundrum. Here’s the two main body sections (not even the neck piece or tail piece on this sucker. Note the gaps in the plastic and the slot/tab assembly. The model fit together fine with these, but I figured after some looking and dry fitting this would be a good place for the magnet.

I had 1/2″ diameter magnets to use, left the body parts in halves, and then went to work with a power drill. The drill was too mighty, so I got a very basic start with it and hacked away with a hobby knife when it got to the delicate steps.

After figuring out the positions for the magnets I dropped some Gray Stuff into the halves, seated the magnets and made sure they lined up, reseated in the Gray Stuff, pulled the halves apart to adjust things, reseated, etc. Got it where I liked it in a few passes.

Finally, all was where I was happy with it. Put the thing together and then did a test lift for strength and ‘spin factor’ with the things. Looks great. Love the model!

Here’s a side view of how long it is. You can get a vibe of the scale with Master Yu in the above shot plus this green guy below.

Welp, that’s it until next time. You can see some semi-painted stuff in the background. Took a quick break from the 10AAT Grots to get some Malifaux assembled for the event. Back to it all after Saturday.

Deep-Cut Badlands Mat Review

For the longest time I’ve been looking for something that could be used to cover not only the ocean floor (for Deep Wars), but also the surface of Mars (Gruntz/anything else sci-fi), and even a desert landscape (Malifaux, Fistful of Kung Fu, etc). Part of the requirements was that the mat’s textures and colors complimented the (now out of print) Badlands terrain pieces put out by Battlefront. I don’t know why they take their obviously well-selling products off the market regularly, but that’s another post…anyway, I was having a devil of a time finding something that would cover the bases…then I stumbled across Deep-Cut Studios. They have some of the most gorgeous pre-printed mats I have seen to date. Printed on thin vinyl and matching the colors I was looking for, I caved and ordered a 4′ X 6′ Badlands mat.

I had originally asked the team at Deep-Cut about a custom sized 4′ x 4′ or 3′ x 3′ for the Badlands, but learned that it and a few other designs on their site are licensed designs (I believe Dave Graffam is licensing his great cardstock mats through them for printing on vinyl) and are only available in the sizes listed. So pro: you can get some of their mats custom sized, con: mine wasn’t one of them…oh well, not a deal breaker.

Oh, and by the by, the product ships from Lithuania, so if you’re in the US be patient. It wasn’t a long wait, but when you were antsy to get it in-hand…well…;)

When the mat arrived it was packaged nicely in a solid tube that I’ll use to store it in (note: shipping from Deep-Cut is a flat rate, so if you’re considering ordering multiple mats, do so at once, that’s a nice feature for us across the pond who are interested).

 

The mat was rolled tightly up in the tube, making me a bit worried on how it would roll out and lay on the table:

 

 

 

But it spread out nice and flat. These next couple images show it with a bit flipped over to the back and how thick the mat is (was asked for thickness…it’s pretty thin, but sturdy):

 

A few shots of it on the table. Note that my dining room table isn’t quite 4×6, but the overhang you see didn’t impact it when I did lay it flat or when I went back to roll it up. It has done a great job maintaining its ‘flatness’:

 

Since I wanted to see how it looked with some models and terrain on the table we then set up some of the terrain I’d be using with it most and shot a few pictures. The color balance changes a few times depending on my angle and the glare from the window, so use the darker images as a better color reference (and that on the website) to get you a better impression.

 

These pictures don’t really do it the justice they should. The mat feels durable and is fairly non-skid (have a space mat on different vinyl from a different manufacturer and the Xwings slide around on it…Deep-Cut makes some great looking space mats…hmmm…) and is exactly what I was hoping for when I ordered it. I’m not a big fan of ordering sight-unseen like this, so the material, image quality, and customer service when I asked about a custom size have definitely impressed me. Expect to see the mat featured in future battle reports on the blog. 😀

All in all I’d give it a 4.5/5. Only downside for this mat was the lack of size customizing, and I know that’s being picky, but I’d love to have one at 4×6, 4×4, 3×3, etc to meet different game needs without marking the space. 🙂

They seem to be coming out with quite a few new items, so check them out , you will probably find something to your liking and at a very reasonable price. www.deepcutstudio.com