Super Dungeon Explore!

With my new found obsession with Super Dungeon Explore I love to see what people are doing with the miniatures. So when I found the Super Dungeon Explore boards made by Tyson Koch of FigurePainters.com I was just blown away. These boards look fantastic and they really give off the feeling of a great dungeon crawl.

As I usually do when I find something that inspires me, I contacted Tyson for an interview. Read on for the full interview, and don’t forget to check out his site for more pictures of not only the Super Dungeon Explore board but tons of other amazing works as well!

Where are you from?
I am originally from Southern California. For the past seven years I have lived near San Luis Obispo, which is located on California’s Central Coast.

What is your occupation?
Currently it is painting miniatures full time. Before that I did civil engineering, but during the economy down turn I was laid off.

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
I have been playing table top games since about 7th grade. It all started when my science teacher brought Star Fleet Battles into class for us to play at recess/lunch. He also owned a game store. So one weekend I went in and they were playing Warhammer 40k (2nd ed.) and I was totally hooked.

What tabletop games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
Oh boy, this would be quite a list so I will hit the high points.
Warmachine/Hordes: Trollbloods, Cryx, Menoth, Mercenaries
40k: Tyranid, Blood Angels
Warhammer fantasy: Skaven
Malifaux: Neverborn (3 crews)
Super Dungeon Explore (current Friday night favorite besides Warmachine)
Descent

Full Super Dungeon Explore Scene

What drew you to Super Dungeon Explore initially?
I was drawn to the artwork and the retro gaming feel that it had. I am always on the lookout for games that my wife and I can play together and when we have friends over. I cannot talk her into the larger miniatures games, Warmachine/40k, so this seemed like a perfect game that still had miniatures. Did I mention I LOVE miniatures?….

How long did it take you to build the Super Dungeon Explore boards?
I took about a month. I would cast up the parts during the day as I was painting and then assemble what was dry at night while watching TV. They probably could have gone together faster if I worked on them solidly. There were some weeks when I barely touched them.

Painted Paladin and Ranger

What materials did you use to build these boards?
I used Silicon rubber molds and Hydrostone to cast up the individual pieces and then attached them to a piece of 12″x12″x1/4″ piece of particle board. After everything was glued down using thick tacky craft glue, I primed them and used spray paint for the base colors. I used 4 different colors of red, from deep crimson to an almost orange. Large spray paint cans make it pretty easy to quickly paint your base colors while providing a durable finish. After that I clear coated them as they were a little shiny and I was worried that the acrylics that I was going to use to detail it out with would not stick well. After that it was out with the airbrush and craft paints to add all the lighting and detailing. I plan on having a step by step put together so you can just check my site in a week or so and it should be up.

Any plans to build more boards with different layouts/themes?
Why yes I do! I am working on a purple themed board with ornate floor tiles. I am also working on making some custom boards that people would be able to buy for those that don’t have the time to make their own.

How does the 3D aspect of the boards affect the gameplay? How have you handled things such as climbing up and crossing bridges?
Having 3D boards definitely raises the players excitement to play and the immersion of the games. You have to do less imagining when the board is built up around your little heroes and things seem more threatening.
I have been playing that anything with flight can “jump” up the bridge or higher levels just with normal movement. If you don’t happen to have flight you are stuck using the stairs The bridge has the same amount of “squares” as that the occupies the floor underneath it. So I think 2×2. It just takes a little bit of extrapolation. It definitely is not as clean as having all the squares printed on the map like the printed tiles. But after playing on it once or twice it is pretty easy to tell where the squares are though on the 3d board.

Battle Across a Bridge

Do you prefer to play as the Consul or Heroes when playing? Which hero is your favorite?
Pretty much all I play right now is Consul. I am playing with enough new people most of the time that to keep the game going quickly I have to run it. Though hopefully soon I can see what it is like on the other side of the board. So far the top on my “kill on sight” list is the barbarian and the archer. Either one can kill hordes of my little Consul beasties very quickly.

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting (such as listening to specific music)?
Typically I always have a podcast of some type going, or an audio book. I don’t have a lot of time for reading unfortunately, but with audio books I can actually get through my reading and painting at the same time. I have tried watching TV at the same time but find it too distracting looking up and down all the time.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work?
I get a lot of inspiration from other miniature painters on the Web. There’s a lot of great talent out there! I have folders of hundreds of pictures of miniatures that I have saved over the years that I will use for inspiration for new ideas and techniques.

Close Up Barbarian Battle!

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
I think what I am most proud of would be my 40k Tyranid and Hordes Trollblood armies. They are all pretty much painted to an above average quality and, more importantly, are finished! Well, at least until the new stuff comes out. Being a player and collector I end up with one of everything at least, so keeping up with that can be difficult.

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
This would be another long list! But in general most of the people that typically show up in the Top on CMON. They have so many good ideas and techniques that it is hard not to look at your own stuff and think it is not very good. But it gives me something to aspire to. Now if I could just clean my painting backlog and dedicate 60 hours to a mini I’d be set!

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
I think I may be a little atypical. I enjoy all aspects of it because they are all each a little different. Building terrain is fun because I am dealing with larger shapes and structures and can use more “classic” building materials and larger tools. I supply most of the terrain for our groups and have a lot of fun coming up with new stuff for us to play on. Miniatures I enjoy for the aspect of creating finer detail and more delicate objects along with using different materials and techniques than you would generally in terrain.

The Bridge Tile

Are there any painting/modeling techniques that have given you trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
Free hand gives me the most trouble. I just don’t get enough practice on it. It is one of those things that just takes time to get good at unfortunately. Some basic tips would be: Thin down your paint and use multiple layers. If you have access to an airbrush it will make your life so much easier for applying base coats to tanks and troops that are generally all one color. Also, don’t get frustrated when it does not turn out right the first time. You can always strip it and start over. Just like with any art it takes practice. There are tons of places out there on the net that have advice on how to model and paint.

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
Shading and free hand. I get caught up on mass production stuff so I don’t get as much practice on the kind of stuff where you use 10-15 levels of fine glazing/shading on a model. I would like to have more time for that kind of practice and painting.

Another Tile

What projects are you working on currently? Do you have a dream project?
Hmm, currently I have Knight Lords army, two Blood Angel armies, Imperial Guard army, Tyranid army, and a bunch of one-off pieces. For myself I have a few new Trollblood pieces, a bunch of my Menoth army, and a few competition pieces that I hope to complete for Lock and Load later this year.

My current dream project involves a very large dragon (about 18″ if you stretched him out), a knight, and a damsel chained to a block with a waterfall and river, and maybe some snow. Right now most of it is just sitting in a box waiting to be worked on. I think it has been there for like 10 years so far….

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
The biggest ones would be practice, patience, and the internet. Practice will let you improve on whatever you are working on. Patience will give you the time to improve. There are no shortcuts, at least not until they get that whole mind-jack instant-upload thing working. And the internet has a vast resource of knowledge on how to do pretty much everything. This is a good place to start, http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles, though there are lots of places out there with info and advice.

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
Mountain biking, motorcycling, general outdoors kind of stuff, and long walks on the beach… oh, this is not that kind of interview?

Anything else about yourself that you care to share? Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you or seeing more of your work?
My wife and I have gone house rabbits, and we’ll never go back.

For anyone that is interested they can follow me at www.figurepainters.com. I will keep the site updated as I make more SDE boards.

Happy gaming to all!

A Non-SDE Model by Tyson

Related Posts

• Interview: doobrady (Jon Law)
• Interview: DeafNala (Alan Preuss)
• Interview: Admin Tom (Thomas List)
• Interview: madscuzzy (Creator of Orktimus Prime)

I have been intrigued by the idea of using non-conventional means and methods of expanding a wargaming table for a while now. However, until now I’ve never seen it used in this capacity with a full table. I was just blown away by the whole thing. As is usual when I find something so great, I secured an interview with the man behind it so read on to find out more!

Night Time in the City

What is your real name?
Jon Law

Where are you from?
Originally, London. I’m now in the Midlands

What is your occupation?
Computer Games Designer

Foggy Morning Battle

How did you achieve the lighting effects in the Atmospheric Wargaming pictures? What type of lighting did you use?
There are two main setups I’m using at the moment; localized lighting and studio flash. For localized lighting I’m using Heidi Ott lights – designed for use in doll’s houses. They’re small with very fine wires and all run off a 12v power supply. I’m in the process of wiring up all of my buildings at the moment. The images I’ve uploaded to Flickr so far are temporarily lit with white wires draped all over the place! For the studio flash setup I have two Interfit EX150 heads on tripods. One has a softbox to diffuse the light (also fitted with a pale blue gel to cool down the ambient feel) and the other is plain, arranged on the opposite side to give warmer highlights.

When shooting with the doll house lighting I generally use a tripod so I can close the lens down and get a longer depth of field. With flash, they pump out so much light I can hand hold at f18!

What did you use for smoke effects in the Atmospheric Wargaming pictures?
I got a Fogtech VS-400 smoke machine. It was only about £35, though the juice you fill it with isn’t cheap. Thankfully you don’t need much to fill a room my size! It doesn’t leave any noticeable residue, so I don’t have a problem with blasting it all over the table with the miniatures in place. Once your done, just open the window a crack and the smoke darts for freedom. Just don’t let your neighbours call the fire brigade!

A nice nighttime landing pad shot

What made you decide to try and create this atmospheric setting?
We spend all this time building and painting, making everything look great – and then just take photos with on camera flash. It’s such a shame. There are loads of amazing painters and modelers out there, and quite a lot are now photographing their work properly, using light boxes, lighting, backdrops, etc. These are great, and there’s no way I can compete on an individual model basis, but there’s a severe lack of scenes being created.

As soon as you add the battleground to the shot, there’s a lot more to look at. Now there are a bucket load of battle report shots, but they’re focused on relaying the events, usually from way up high where the picture is clearest. But this is a battle – nothing should be clear! Getting down at ground level lets you see the action as the troops might see it. It’s far more exciting.

In the real world, when we get those mist mornings and a low sun I want to take my camera out and catch sunrays piercing through the mist. Something I’ve always loved. Having the opportunity to have mist any time I want is just a dream! I can set lights up, position obstacles and play to my heart’s content. Hopefully people will be inspired to create their own atmospheric shots – even if it’s just getting down low!

How viable would you say it is for someone to use atmospheric lighting for normal play?
You could pump out some smoke – just don’t go over the top or you won’t be able to see your dice! You can even use the lighting, as long as you have the room lights dimmed to the right level you’ll still have atmosphere, but also enough light to play by. Some people won’t want to play in all that gloom. I have to be honest – I’ve not yet played with all the lights on – so far it’s just for the photos, but there’s no reason why you can’t.

Tyranid Attack in the Fog

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
Forever. When I was a kid I used to line up those little Airfix troops and shoot them down with elastic bands. My mum hated standing on the ones that had pinged so far that I missed them when clearing up!

I then played a bunch of board games like Risk and Escape From Colditz. Then I got hold of Cry Havoc and Siege. I loved those games. Then it was Dungeons and Dragons and Traveler. Those little lead figures were awesome! I used to paint everything with enamel – a habit from my Airfix kits. It took a long time to move over to acrylic! Funny how you can get stuck in your ways.

Backed Into a Corner

Then quite a while later I discovered Necromunda. That was an awesome game. Still is. The idea that you could progress of your gang really grabbed me. It’s a great shame that it isn’t supported still. GW have an absolute gem there.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
40K – Tyranids, Blood Angels, Sisters of Battle, Tau, Eldar
Warmachine – all the factions
Necromunda – all the base gangs
Bloodbowl – Space Marines (as Dwarves (don’t ask!)), Humans, Orcs

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
No, not really.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?

Blood Angels in the Spotlight

There are loads of people on Flickr that have amazing skills – and many of them are into photography as well, so the images are often very good. There’s loads of inspiring pieces there. A few of my friends have gorgeous armies:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60292695@N04/page10/

When you’re fighting against an army so well painted, you try to up your game. I’ll never match his quality, but I can try!

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
I’ve just done a Stormraven, put troops inside and added a LED strip light inside. I still need to weather it properly, but it’s fun to do that little extra. Also I’m working on the Bio Titan. It’s so big! Oh – and the Hierodules are tasty. How can you not love ‘em?

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
Oh – here you go-

Mortarion by Will Palmer

Mortarion, by Will Palmer. I met him at Warhammer World a few weeks back. He’s got a most gorgeous Nurgle army headed by this beautiful scratch built chunk of gorgeousness.

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
Oh I guess it’s the miniatures by a nose, but really it’s a shame to have one without the other. I need to spend more time on scenery – I find I rush it and never really finish it.

The Sun In Your Eyes!

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
Weathering. I’ve been using layered inks. I’ve just got hold of some weathering powders but haven’t used them yet. I got the Advanced Modeling Techniques book from ForgeWorld, and that has some amazing examples in. I have no advice yet, other than try it. Remember – I used enamels once!

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?

Anything and everything. Patience – I tend to rush things – especially with horde armies! For that extra hour with the brush in your hand, you get a better result whenever you take that figure out of the box.

What projects are you working on currently? What would be your dream project?

Building my Nids up to 10,000 points for an almighty Apocalypse clash of 100,000 point total. Also helping Brian with the boards when I can. Here’s some great vids he’s put together showing the creation of the boards…

http://www.youtube.com/user/TemplarsCrusade01

Subscribe – it’s gonna be fun!

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share with us? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
Deluxe Materials do a range of two part clear resin that has <1% shrinkage. You can lay this stuff thick, so all those deep water effects you’ve been looking to achieve are within your reach!

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
Video Gaming, obviously, photography, wildlife – especially squirrels!

Anything else about yourself that you care to share? Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you or seeing more of your work?
My Flickr Account…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jontlaw/

And more specifically for you guys, the Wargaming Collection…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jontlaw/collections/72157625510222120/

Battles in the Night

Well, I hope you were as impressed as I am by this interview. Jon has certainly taken some amazing photographs! The photos I’ve shown here are really only a small sample of all the amazing pictures that he has posted and I highly recommend you go and check out the full gallery.

Related Posts

• Interview: Foot_of_adhesive_tape (Andrew Mosen)
• Interview: Tyson Koch (Super Dungeon Explore Boards)
• Interview: Admin Tom (Thomas List)
• Interview: cianty

Orktimus Prime!

It’s been a while since we’ve done any interviews. However, I happened across an amazing conversion recently and just had to interview it’s creator. Some of you may have already seen the Orktimus Prime, a conversion of the Ork Trukk model into a working Ork Optimus Prime Transformers model. This is the brilliant work of madscuzzy (aka Dom). If you haven’t seen it yet, well, it’s something you just have to see. I can’t really describe how great it is.

This is one of my favorite conversions that I’ve seen. It’s a great idea and madscuzzy did an amazing job with it! It turns out that he’s also done some other very fine work as well! I was very impressed with all of his conversions, and the great trench table that he built. Check out the interview below to learn all about Orktimus Prime and the man behind the machine.

What is your real name?
Dom

Where are you from?
Singapore

What is your occupation?
Lecturer in Game Design in Singapore Polytechnic.

Orktimus Prime

The Orktimus Prime is a pretty amazing mod. How did you get the idea for this or what made you want to do it?
Well… the name kinda sounds right doesn’t it? I’m a big transformers fan… so any truck is a potential Optimus. What sealed the idea was that the kit comes with a trailer joint under the flatbed… which will never see the light of day. It was a sign…

How long did it take to put together the whole thing from start to finish?
The building itself didn’t take very long, probably about a month or 2, in between other works. What took a long time however, was getting the courage to sit down and paint it.

Orktimus Prime Side by Side

What was the hardest part of putting together the Orktimus Prime?
Painting it. I don’t really like painting. And I didn’t want to damage the model with it. But it needed to be completed.

The Orktimus Prime was based on the Ork Trukk, but did you use any additional parts from other models to put this together? If so, what extra pieces did you use?
The only ‘non-GW’ parts are the ball joints, magnets and plastic rod. The joints are from 3rd party Gundam compatible parts (such as Kotobukiya’s M.S.G. Series of parts). The overall conversion scavanged parts from 1.5 ork trukk kits.

Orktimus Prime WIP Side by Side

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
Was introduced to the hobby by a friend from way long, but officially started in ’97.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
Besides 40k, some computer games here and there (love DOW1 and 2 of course). Random stuff. But in terms of tabletop wargaming, only 40k.

madscuzzy's Trench Table

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
Erm… working at night is fun? Music, Discovery Channel/History/Natgeo etc. usually. I like hanging out, doing hobby stuff with friends, so I do a lot of my painting (and some modeling at times) in my LGS (Paradigm Infinitum), but otherwise most of the modeling stuff I do at home.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Obviously Transformers was an influence with Orktimus Prime, but are there any other books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?
I believe anything can be an influence or inspiration. I could list stuff out… but it might take too long to read…

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
To be honest, I have no idea. I do what I like, and what I want, so all of them are my favourite pieces. My current favs besides Prime are my Modern Heresy-style Vanguard, Sternguard, Mk1&2 Landspeeders, my Captain(Now with non-chappie parts) on stolen-and-converted-MotRW-jetbike and my trench table. Oh and the SM painter(s) on BnC (I didn’t do the ork).

Captain on Converted Jetbike

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
Hmmm tough one. I do really like an Ork Dino Deffdread a friend did recently.

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
Modeling. Conversions. I do both, a lot. Different methodologies and approach for both, so they are both interesting to me. Terrain does take up a lot more space though…

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
Hmmm… Any new technique is difficult to learn. Advice? Practice. But practice the right stuff. Experiment, and ask those who have done it before you for advice, so you can skip some steps so you can move along faster. Don’t be stubborn and move with the flow.

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
Painting armies fast I suppose.

What projects are you working on currently? What would be your dream project?
Painting my marines at the moment and orks. Dream project… since the trench is somewhat done, probably a 40k compatible space hulk terrain board?

madscuzzy's Vanguard

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share with us? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
No tricks really… Oh GS doesn’t work with water (don’t listen to anyone saying water is good… it really isn’t). Vaseline is good. Don’t bend plastic card when you can get plastic rod/tube which is already curved. Dremels and electic screwdrivers(great for drilling) are fun, or failing that, Tamiya Hobby drills are great. Sandable putties such as Tamiya Epoxy Putty Quick Type are awesome. Don’t limit yourself.

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
Drawing mainly…

Anything else about yourself that you care to share? Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you or seeing more of your work?
Besides my own long unupdated website www.scuzworks.com, madscuzzy.deviantart.com, The Waaagh!, there is always Bolter and Chainsword…

Landspeeder Squad

Thank you to madscuzzy for the interview! I hope you like the Orktimus Prime as much as I do. Check out the full thread of Orktimus Prime finished pictures or the Orktimus Prime work in progress pictures.

If you are looking for more miniatures pictures check out our member galleries.

Related Posts

• Interview: Foot_of_adhesive_tape (Andrew Mosen)
• Interview: Tyson Koch (Super Dungeon Explore Boards)
• Interview: Nathan Caroland (Wyrd Miniatures/Malifaux Developer)
• Interview: Admin Tom (Thomas List)

Malifaux!

How long have you been interested in tabletop games and how did you get into them?
The games themselves never interested me other than in a very general way -  it was the miniatures, background, story and general look that caught my attention. I had an interest in miniatures in my teen years but life, hormones, wife, kids and career kept me busy and it wasn’t until my late twenties that my interest reemerged. That was seven or so years back now.

What is your favorite part of the tabletop gaming hobby: playing, painting, making terrain, or maybe some other aspect?

Ogre Butcher, painted by Nathan Caroland

Not that I’ve done it in quite some time due to lack of free time, but painting has always been my favorite outlet when it comes to miniatures. When I’m assembling, painting and basing my piece I generally tend to make up stories for the pieces as I go along and that early on led me to writing character pieces for each miniature. Matter of fact, answering these questions made me take a bit of a break and go look up some of my old stuff on Cool Mini Or Not (CMON) which is a great place for painters. Had a bit of a browse through my pieces there and I’m half tempted to go pick up some paints and make time here soon. I still want to paint Killjoy rather badly!

Despite it not being anything special, I’ll share with you my attempts at painting and writing.

What crews do you play in Malifaux? Which crew is your favorite? Do you have any that you’ve painted yourself that you are willing to show us?
While I like all of them, the Resurrectionists and the Neverborn I’m most attached to. I haven’t had time to play much in the way of games or paint in some time but its still fun to get in on a few now and then, and more to the point I like watching a skirmish unfold with other players. I keep saying ‘soon’. I’m sure some day I’ll actually have the time.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any specific books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on Malifaux or other Wyrd products?
That’s kind of hard to say to be honest. Malifaux is made up of so many genres that I think its hard to nail it down to any one influence. Most folks give you that queer look when Malifaux is explained to them and then when they get into the story and game itself inevitably someone says ‘Strangely, this works’. When Malifaux started to gel with its own world, background and rules, I didn’t want to stick to any one type of genre as I’m a huge fan of so many and quite bluntly, I wanted to do something different and to find our own niche. I think we’ve managed that.

Books, I used to read two to three a week on average for the last twenty years. I’ve run the gambit from fantasy to sci-fi to horror and suspense to westerns and even a few didn’t know at the time smut novels which surprised me. Once I start a book I never put it down and will always finish it through to the end, though more recently I’ve found that requires me to carry it around for a few weeks now instead of a day or two.

Killjoy, of the Malifaux Outcast faction

My favorite genre to read these days is Urban Fantasy – modern day magic and mayhem. Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Simon Green, Karen Chance, Yasmine Galenorn, Kim Harrison, David Gunn, Mark Del Franco, Kelly McCullough, Neil Gaiman, Kat Richardson, Rob Thurman, Gail Carriger, Seanan McGuire, Robert Asprin, David Eddings, Gary Gygax … and I could go ahead and list probably another thirty authors off the top of my noggin’. I love books.

Movies, that’s a bit different. I don’t watch television often, maybe a couple hours a month for the last five or so years. Just doesn’t appeal to me much anymore and I’m generally too busy. I’ve started to take a bit more time recently though as my children like to watch movies with me and beg mercilessly to go to the theater whenever they can.

Despite not watching them often, I’m still a HUGE fan of B movies. The more B the better IMO. My wife tolerates it and knows that when I show interest in a movie its bound to be something she won’t approve of but she puts up with it. The 80′s movies are high on my list of enjoyment as well, love the whole teen scientist/driving gone bad/stuck in school with nothing better to do on the weekend bits. Zombie and horror movies (not gore and torture though .. that never has appealed to me) are big, big, big winners in my house. We love the Resident Evil, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Fido .. zombie flicks. If its dead and walking, odds are we have it on video and have watched it more than once.

I also love everything to do with old Jack the Ripper or Sherlock Holmes movies, cobblestones and gaslight appeal to me and while there aren’t a lot of movies out there that do that these days, I tend to hunt them down when I hear about them. Growing up I’ve watched every Western and War movie you could think of with my Dad who is a real nut for those movies – John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper, Audie Murphy, Lee Marvin, Earnest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas, Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum, Richard Boon, Steve McQueen, etc. That’s rubbed off on me a touch as well.

I’m a fan of a lot of different types and genres so I guess its no surprise that Malifaux is a riot of tastes.

Bete Noir

What hobbies do you have outside of tabletop games?
Reading. Writing. Occasional video game with the kids where they seem to whoop the heck out of dad.  Tinkering on old cars and just driving away for a day or weekend to see something different.

Why did you choose the name Malifaux for the game?
When we started trying to come up with names for the setting we threw a lot aside as they sounded too American or too typical and we wanted something different. The suggestion was made for Malifaux and it just clicked, from the way it was said to the cocked head and obvious question to its meaning when someone heard it. There are folks still debating what it means and we’re happy to let them.

How did the idea of using cards for Malifaux instead of dice come about?
It’s no secret that we scrapped the core rules twice before settling on Malifaux’s current incarnation and early on we were actually using dice. The decision was made to do something different and not follow the easy road, and while it took a good while to develop and balance, I think we’ve pulled it off nicely if the interest in Malifaux is anything to go by.

How long did the process of creating Malifaux take from inception until the rulebook was released? What was the hardest part of creating the game?
Couple of years. Wasn’t easy, wasn’t fast and we were all treading new ground and finding our places within the development. I say ‘we’ in the company sense as in all honesty I’m not the rules/game guy, that mantle falls to Eric Johns and his team of very talented and dedicated game developers. That doesn’t mean I don’t crawl in the sandbox from time to time and build my own sand castles and knock theirs down.

The hardest part was creating the core mechanics and then balancing it. That took ages and more than a few moments of tearing ones hair out.

There are so many different elements that comprise the setting of Malifaux (“Steamvictoriohorrorwestpunk”) yet it somehow all works together really well. How did you manage to fit all these elements together in a way that actually works?
Crowbar and superglue.

A Hoarcat price from Malifaux

Malifaux uses 32mm ‘heroic’ miniatures, but these miniatures don’t appear to be much different in size than the 28mm miniatures elsewhere. Why the different size label?
Funny that isn’t it?

When Wyrd started up, 28mm seemed to be the norm, but when we measured the miniatures, surprise surprise, these certainly aren’t 28mm, unless you are measuring to their chin or the like. Then of course there is the whole argument in the industry of do you measure to the eyes or do you measure to the top of the head? Everyone seemed to do it different. I decided to buck the trend somewhat and state openly that we were measuring to the eyes, and then of course gave it the heroic moniker so that folks understood that some of our miniatures are a bit taller, some shorter – you know, like real folks. Thus 32mm heroic.

That caused no small amount of trouble and confusion I can tell you and for some time there I questioned whether that was the smartest decision we could have made.

People immediately started hollering that we were doing an off scale size, that nothing would look right together with their other miniature collections, why didn’t we go for 28mm, and so forth. We naturally tried to educate folks on the scale of the miniature line as compared to others, took photographs and even encourages folks to pick them up or look at them in the stores where they could find them and dared them to find a huge amount of difference. Slowly people started to recognize that we weren’t ‘out of scale’ and started questioning some of the other manufacturers sizes.

Heck, I’ve started to see some newer companies coming onto the market using the 32mm heroic label now .. so maybe that’ll be the new ‘standard’ in a few years, who knows.

Dwead Piwate Wuppwecht, a non Malifaux Wyrd mini.

What are the plans for the future of Malifaux? I’ve seen mention of expansions or supplements. Can you give us any hints as to what we can expect from those? Will we see official campaign rules?
We’ve got our hands full that’s for sure. Malifaux has been a huge success for us and obviously we’re quite thankful for that. When we published the core rules for Malifaux there was already another books worth of expansion which was removed from the original book due to our concern that it might be too much too quick. This has allowed us to get Malifaux to the market without it being overly complex for a new game and as time goes on continue to add content and characters to the Malifaux world.

We’ve been asked about campaign rules, roleplaying games and other expansions into the Malifaux world and I can say that we’re exploring them diligently, though with everything, time and interest will tell.

Are there any non-Malifaux products in the works that we can look forward to?
Certainly are!

Thanks again to Nathan for taking the time out to answer some questions. If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to also check out our Malifaux Review.

Related Posts

• Interview: madscuzzy (Creator of Orktimus Prime)
• Interview: Sean Patten (Iron Hands/Necromundicon)
• Interview: Da Bank (Andy Tabor)
• Interview: DeafNala (Alan Preuss)

As if all of that is not enough, he’s done hand made costumes and props as well! He is truly a talented individual. I highly recommend that you all check out his site, as the few pieces that I’ve shown here are just a small portion of the amazing work that he has done.

Sean Patten's Mordheim Table

Mordheim city docks

Where are you from?
I grew up in California, but have moved a couple times since then. I’m now in the Seattle area.

What is your occupation?
I design video games, actually. It pays better than tabletop game development.

Plasma Tower

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
For ever? I remember drawing dungeons on graph paper when I was like, I dunno, eight years old? I made a lot of my own little board games in high school too. I first started using models for gaming in college, when I ran a Gundam RPG that used the 1/144 scale model kits for combat. Terrain was kind of a virgin concept though, we played on the living room floor with cardboard trees and Styrofoam buildings back then.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
I primarily play my own version of 40K (more on that later). I like to have a lot of diversity in my campaigns, especially for “villains” in cooperative campaigns, so I have at least a little bit of every 40K army. I even have campaign rules that support lesser known “armies” such as Arbites and Mechanicus. I usually run smaller squads of guys, so I don’t have hundreds of every army, just enough to get their flavor in some cases.

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
I usually attempt to watch shows or movies while I work, though they often end up more of a distraction. Music works well. I’m considering books on tape since I don’t have a lot of reading time these days…

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?
I watch a lot of movies for visual inspiration, so even a bad movie with great visuals can be inspirational. I’m working on a spreadsheet of my favorites that I’ll post to my site some day, but a recent one I enjoyed was the Pang brothers’ horror/fantasy film “Re-Cycle”- check it out if you get a chance.

Sororita

Aside from movies, I’ve found some great inspiration just doing simple searches on deviantart.com, conceptart.org, and the like. There’s a hell of a lot more talent out there in the world than is being tapped by companies like GW. You can even find high quality 40K fan art out there. Conceptships.org has been a great inspiration for Star Crashers too. A lot of video game developers are making more use of concept artists, so there’s a good source there too- for example, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has some fantastic concept art for terrain, especially their chaos stuff.

As far as artists go, I always liked Jes Goodwin’s art style. There’s something uniquely crisp about everything he draws. Everything reads, there’s no random noise, yet it still has strong personality. I really like his aesthetic, with solid lines, rounded corners, little notches and studs- it all looks so tangible, solid, dependable and familiar. Too bad he doesn’t have time to draw backdrops or scenery…

Imperial War Train

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
I’m really happy with the way the Mage Knight table turned out, since it was a lot of new techniques for me and a genre I don’t normally work in. The water ended up looking surprisingly good, and I really liked all the little paths through the cliff sides. I love exploration, so my favorite terrain tends to be more about that than mass battles on a flat surface.

Filtration Tower

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
This isn’t a proper answer to your question, but I’m really pleased with many of the PRODUCTS that are now available to gamers. Games Workshop (Cities of Death), Tehnolog/Imex/Pegasus ( Platformer and Chemical Plant), and Hirst Arts (cast your own blocks) have made terrain making so much easier and more enjoyable, for both newbies and veterans alike! Their products are of amazing quality and aesthetic design, and have made it possible for me to develop great looking terrain that anyone can emulate. So I really wanted to say a big thanks to the respective companies, for pushing those products through in a market primarily driven by miniatures sales!

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
Terrain of course! This gets back to my love of exploration. As you might imagine, I did a lot of urban exploration as a kid, so being able to create virtual replicas of spaces I’d love to explore is very satisfying. Of course, without some well painted, evocative miniatures to move through the terrain, its not nearly as fun, right?

You’ve worked on a lot of settings from Sci-Fi to Fantasy and everything in between. What is your favorite setting?
The mix of technology and gothic architecture in the 40K setting still amazes me. It’s a hard aesthetic to capture, but very satisfying when you do. It’s also a very diverse universe, so I can get my “fantasy” out by doing Chaos scenery, and my “alien” out by doing Eldar, and of course the ramshackle mess that is Ork terrain is extremely liberating and satisfying too… It’s really not fair saying 40K, since it encompasses so many different styles! If I had to focus in, I’d say “industrial” terrain. You can never have too many rivets or pipes, I say.

Necropolis

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
There are some materials that I still can’t get to take glue or paint to my satisfaction- mainly HDPE plastic, but metal and glass are also a nuisance. My advice: just don’t do it. If you have to use materials like metal, consider using mechanical fasteners like pop rivets or screws instead of glue. And SAND THE HECK out of anything you need to paint if it isn’t nice, hard plastic.

Bone Fortress

I also hate working with Styrofoam. I just don’t do it, really. Its hard to paint and glue, and really fragile. I feel kind of sad whenever I see it used…. For natural terrain, I recommend sound dampening board or acoustic ceiling tile, pine bark, or paper machie. Any product made out of paper can be made extremely hard and sturdy if you just put enough PVA (white) glue on it. And if you want some big boxy shapes to detail out, electrical boxes can be found as cheap as 25 cents apiece…

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
Some of my best work makes use of toys or parts that I just can’t find in quantity, so I’m always looking for ways to make terrain more mass-produce-able. It’s comforting when I can bust out another copy of a piece whenever I want, or I can make a tutorial for it. Plus there’s something really satisfying about discovering a modeling use for things we see every day. Like plastic spoons…

What projects are you working on currently? What would be your dream project?
I’m making little spaceships for my latest game, Star Crashers! It’s fun to work on such a vastly different scale- you look at materials in a whole new way. Did you know you can make an entire spaceship out of parts from the Chemical Plant kit? Well now you do.

As to a dream project… I also like to make props and costumes, so I would say making a suit of Space Marine armor, one of really high quality, would be a great project. I doubt it will happen though, I don’t have vacu-forming tools at my house. Too… Many… Hobbies…

Ork Minelayer

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share with us? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
I try to post all my discoveries on my site, but here’s a few that really shouldn’t be overlooked:

1. Make a rivet embosser out of a 1/16” hole punch by filing off the edges of the punch. Then emboss rivets into playing cards, plastic spoons, plastic soda bottles, etc. Cut out and glue on- instant riveted panel detail!
2. Dust your wet CA glue with Baking Soda to make it set faster.
3. Plastic Clothes pins, VHS tapes, Electrical Boxes, and ribbed tubing are all you really need to make great terrain!
4. Drybrushing is faster. And when painting terrain, speed is everything.
5. Enamel (oil based) paints make the best washes, you just need to use odorless mineral spirits to thin them.

A Jungle Scene

In addition to your amazing terrain work you have put together rules for your own games. Can you explain a little bit about what Rules Crusade is and how it differs from existing games?
Rules Crusade is my attempt at making a fast playing, squad based exploration game out of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Having started with RPGs in High School (AD&D, Gamma World, Traveler, etc), I wanted the tactile and visual satisfaction of a miniatures game but with more cooperation and exploration, and less “me vs. you” competition. I started by modifying the old Rogue Trader rules, but it was still too complex and arbitrary for my liking… And then I discovered Space Crusade, and everything changed.

Space Crusade never released in the US, but I managed to get a copy from the UK for my birthday. Milton Bradley licensed the 40K setting (complete with Space Marines, Chaos Marines, and Orks), so it had that great 40K feel, but with much simpler rules (and less die rolling, thank you!). I fell in love with the game, and played it into the ground. Then I realized, with just a few modifications, the grid-based movement could be converted over to tape measures and terrain, and a whole new game was born! The basic rules for Space Crusade received some more depth with the addition of graze and fail results for weapons, so there would be a tangible difference between a lasgun and a bolter. This change made it possible to have a Rules Crusade version of Necromunda, the first of our campaign systems. And the rest is history…

Aside from the totally different feel of a game played with Rules Crusade, it’s also nice to use a house system because you don’t have to worry about the rules changing- unless you want them to! It does make finding players tricky though. Many 40K players really like the competitive style of that game, or they don’t want to learn a new game system. But I’ve found some great players that don’t mind being a part of the game development process, so hats off to them for keeping the system alive and ensuring we have many visually and experiential rich games to come…

Shipwreck

You have also put together rules for Star Wars based tabletop games. Can you explain a bit about Galactic Heroes and Star Crashers?
Galactic Heroes was created for my kids! We were already collecting the figures, so it seemed silly NOT to have a game for them to play in. I made the game incredibly simple, but it still has a lot of the elements that make Rules Crusade fun to play, such as the blips, and the concept of actions. It’s easy to over-design and make a complicated game, so I’m pleased with how fun and simple it turned out.

Star Crashers ships

Star Crashers was also created for my kids (as a Christmas present, no less). It builds on the mechanics introduced in Galactic Heroes, and adds a bit more depth since the kids are older now (but still not ready for Rules Crusade / 40K). I’m really proud of Star Crashers, particularly the encounter blips, which give you that feeling of exploring unknown space…

Making your own Tabletop games is really fun for me. I enjoy the challenge of coming up with a clever game mechanic that totally changes the feel of the game, via just a few words on paper. Star Crashers has already gone through several revisions just in the first few weeks of play, thanks to the kids’ playtesting and suggestions.

Inside a classic Star Wars scene

I really like the Star Wars terrain you have put together for your games. With the difference in style, how does this compare to making the other terrain? Were there any special considerations or difficulties in adapting to the Star Wars style?
Because I was making terrain for Galactic Heroes, there was less of a burden of making things look EXACTLY accurate or exactly to scale. This made it a lot easier to bust out terrain quickly- as long as it was the right general size, shape and color, it looked right, you know? Because Star Wars is set on different planets with their own unique environments, it was fun to tackle each environment with its own challenges. Star Wars is well documented- it’s easy to find reference and identify the defining aesthetics. I already had a head start in making Star Wars props, so it was fun to apply that knowledge to terrain!

A Mutant Model conversion

Finding Niubniub’s diorama graphics was a huge help for making the Death Star and Rebel Ship terrain. Mos Eiseley was a joy to paint, since you could be messy and it didn’t matter. And Endor was fun to make because I never really did woodland trees for 40K, so I got to innovate some techniques there.

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
I still work on props and costumes occasionally- I try to wear my Sandtrooper at least once a year with the 501st. I also like to get outdoors with the kids, camping and exploring, playing dart guns, and taking photos. And I’m obligated to play video games because of my work, so that also competes for my time!

Anything else about yourself that you care to share?
I’ve been posting project logs to the forums recently. I avoided the forums before since I rarely have time to post, much less read, but I’ve found them to be a good source of inspiration and motivation. A shout out to the boyz at The-Waaagh.com is in order, and I’m trying to get a chaos campaign plog going over at Warseer. In fact, I need to post pictures from our last Chaos Campaign game…

Look to see more space ships for Star Crashers coming soon, and of course, I will eventually get around to making more disturbing chaos terrain pieces for our campaign as long as it keeps rolling forward.

I’d also like to thank the folks who have been purchasing terrain, as it is both a motivator for innovation, and a source of income (gotta pay for those materials and supplies somehow). My next daunting task: figuring out how to make a production version of the Wrecked Ship. I have no idea how I’ll pull it off, since it used parts from two hard to find toys and an insane amount of labor… we’ll see what comes of it!

Ember Shrine

A mine

Whew! That was a lot of pictures to fit in there. As I said above, this is really only a small sample of Sean’s work. For the rest of it, check out his site. There is so much amazing work to see it’s really mind blowing. Fantasy, 40k, Star Wars, Miniatures, Terrain… you name it, he does it! I hope you’ve all enjoyed this interview as much as I have.

Related Posts

• Interview: Nathan Caroland (Wyrd Miniatures/Malifaux Developer)
• Interview: cianty
• Interview: UnderBheit
• Interview: Foot_of_adhesive_tape (Andrew Mosen)

Where are you from?
California

What is your occupation?
Physics Instructor

Golden Tom 2008 Bronze Winner

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
Some friends got me into 40k when I was in high school. I played Dark Angels at the time. Inevitably, my high school friends and hobbies went by the wayside during my college years. My models stayed on the shelf for many years, I even sold my painted army on ebay. A few years ago I was in Oakland having lunch with my wife and her sister and I happened upon an amazing gaming store called Endgame. They had gaming tables above the store in a mezzanine area, and Golden Demon painters on staff. It is an awesome store and I give it sole credit for reigniting my interest in gaming.

Malifaux Gremlin conversion

Shortly after finding this store I decided to play an entire army of Kroot Mercenaries. I started slow but eventually I had painted 150 Kroot Mercenaries in a matter of months. Each model was converted and had multiple layers of paint per color. They were a really fun army to play, but the 5th edition rules made it difficult to play them competitively. At any rate, my interest in 40k waned yet again, but this time there was a timely alternative.

A friend had just started a Mordhiem gaming group and I took to it immediately. Unfortunately that group has disbanded and now we all play Malifaux. I like it too, but I still prefer the mechanics of Mordheim.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
Warhammer 40k – Kroot Mercenaries
Mordheim – Undead, Possessed, Skaven
Malifaux – Gremlins

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
I do my best work in the late hours of the night. I don’t know why and I wish I could change it, but I have my best ideas from 12-4 AM. I suppose there are just less interruptions during those hours.

Necromancer!

As for entertaining media, it really depends on the project. I tend to watch/listen to things that are themed to my project. When I made my Skaven warband I listened to the Decemberists. When I made my undead I listened to “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde“, on CD. For the possessed I listened to NIN, Pink Floyd etc. So it really does depend on the subject matter.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?
I’m always inspired by the ‘Eavy Metal work in White Dwarf, cmon (cool mini or not) and various other forums (Tom’s Boring Mordheim Forum). In general, I get excited when I see impressive work and I play off of that by trying to create something equally impressive.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
The pieces that I’m most proud of are also my favorites, my Dregs. I prefer simplicity and I feel the Dregs capture the desperation of Mordheim in a minimalist way.

First Dreg

Second Dreg

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
It’s hard to pick a favorite. I tend to appreciate work that captures the theme of the subject. There are many great examples of this in the miniatures gallery of Tom’s Forum.

Rusted Sword

Your Magister received the Bronze in the 2008 Golden Tom and you also received several honorable mentions. Did you use any special or interesting techniques that you can share with us?
The Magister was a favor for Matt, a Moderator on Tom’s. I liked it so much that I decided to enter it in the competition. I don’t really have any special techniques, just predictable ones. I use ghoul bits in everything I do, not as a rule, they just work really well for Mordheim evilness. I also use a wet palette to keep my paint, well…wet. People seem to like my rusty swords, so I’ll just tell you how I did that:
1. base coat black
2. dry brush silver
3. wash black
4. dab various browns as rust
5. paint the edge black
6. paint silver chips along the black edge.

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
My favorite part is the modeling. A piece really comes to life for me during the posing and greenstuff stages. As for my preference of subject, I am trying to get into terrain, but prefer the models.

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
When I first started using greenstuff, I didn’t use water. My work had finger prints all over them. I later realized that I had to keep the material wet. However, the best results have come from using petroleum jelly and color shapers. Color shapers are like paint brushes with a shaped rubber tip. In combination with jelly, they really shape the putty smoothly.

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
I’m always trying to improve my painting skills. I have a tough time with non metallic metals NMM.

What projects are you working on currently? What would be your dream project?
I am currently converting a Malifaux Gremlin crew. My dream projects all involve terrain. Those are the things I’d love to do but lack the materials and experience. I always wanted to make a Mordheim bar and pit fighter ring. Now, I want to build a bog terrain piece for Malifaux.

Golden Tom Honorable Mention

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share with us? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
I don’t have any tricks. I just know that patience pays off. Any time I rush a project it gets messed up. I can say that I can’t stand GW paints. I prefer Vallejo or Reaper paints. Their bottles are better for distributing paint and keeping it fresh. I recommend a wet palette for working with the same colors for multiple models. it will keep the color workable for days.

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
I love stream fishing. Trout are delicious!

Malifaux Gremlin conversion

Anything else about yourself that you care to share? Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you or seeing more of your work?
My work is all over the place. I used to Administrate a site called Kompletely Kroot. A lot of my work is still up on that forum. Other than that I post my work on multiple blogs. Here are a couple:
Undead Warband
Kroot Mercenaries

Third Dreg

I want to thank UnderBheit not only for the interview, but also for his great technique for painting rust! I hope you enjoyed this week’s interview as much as I did. I’m looking into Malifaux now myself so you might see a bunch more of it on here in the future.

I do have a couple more interviews lined up currently so keep an eye out for them!

Related Posts

• Interview: Da Bank (Andy Tabor)
• Interview: doobrady (Jon Law)
• Interview: madscuzzy (Creator of Orktimus Prime)
• Interview: Sean Patten (Iron Hands/Necromundicon)

That’s not all though, as Da Bank has been hard at work on his own game… Death Squads. That’s right, along with Mordheimer and some others Da Bank has been hard at working creating a new skirmish game for your gaming pleasure. Read all about it below!

Death Squads in action!

What is your real name?
It is a state secret as being an Answer Mod for Mordheim comes with it’s share of risks. (Man paging over intercom) “Mr. Andy Tabor, Mr. Andy Tabor please pick up the red courtesy phone” Yes, here I am,…oh crap! I just gave away my identity.

Where are you from?
I hail from the Midwest.

What is your occupation?
I am in the transportation/logistic world.

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
I have been interested for years. I used to purchase 1/72 and 1/35 paintable models from companies and play “battles” as at the time I had no clue there were “rules” to play army guys. Then about 11 years ago my wife and I went into a GW store and the rest was history and I lately worked at two GW stores part time. You know to get the discount to buy more stuff.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
I only play Mordheim and Death Squads currently. I have played LOTR, 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Mordheim, Space Hulk, Death Squads and one attempt at Battle Fleet Gothic. I did have Ork and Empire and Khemri Armies. Now I only have enough to play Mordheim as I no longer wish to play “large” battles.

Can you explain what exactly being an Answer Mod for Mordheim entails? How did you end up in that position?
It is a very secretive position. There is the normal clandestine activities that you would see in a 007 movie, you know battling the Shadowlord, rescuing princesses and the such. Just Kidding, honestly….I just watch over the game and jump in when needed. SG’s viewpoint was to let Mordheim run with as little interference as needed. I have tried to do that. I ended up being the Answer MOD back some time ago when the “original” SG forum was up and running. There was a MOD at the time for Mordheim but he disappeared and a few of us (Vcountblood, Tkitch, Kawarda, Gobbo Freak and others) jumped in to moderate the forum and answer the rules questions. Then the site was shut down for another one to appear hosting all SG games, and Andy Hall was looking for MODs . I sent in my ballot and was picked along with Brahm Azoul to be Answer Mods for Mordheim and TKITCH and Kawarda to be MODs. With that Brahm and I would partner with TKITCH and Kawarda on rules queries and they likewise would partner with us on MODing the forum. Now, we have the third forum and I have kept on with the duties of Answer MOD for Mordheim.

Mordheim Action shot!

Can you tell us a little bit about Death Squads? What are some of the main ideas behind it? How many people are working on it?
Death Squads is an awesome game that involves 40K Skirmish (true skirmish). A long, long time ago and in a not so distant time I created rules to a zombie game. Yes, I did, along with 50,000 other people. It was based off of Resident Evil or a concept of elite squads doing battle against Hordes of zombies. Over time and me running into my partner in Crime (Mordheimer) we came up with this game. Long story short, this is about the 40K Universe where Necromunda fell short and GorkaMorka and Space Hulk could not cover. It is similar to Mordheim but different in several ways.

Currently, we have at least 10-15 people working on the project at any given time. There is a core group that has remained solid almost since January. Mordheimer and myself did it all for 5 to 6 months before we let others become involved.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from?
Black Library 40K Novels and Fantasy novels have given me lots of inspiration

Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?
Sci Fi movies, LOTR and Black Library Novels.

Umbrella/Elysian Troopers 40K

What has been the hardest part or what are some of the biggest obstacles you’ve had to overcome while developing your own game?
LOL, oh my! Group cohesiveness. I will say that if anyone was do to something similar have parameters completely lined out. We had our bumps along the way as some of those in the group saw things a different way and wanted to take the game a different way. I am not saying this is bad but at the time we didn’t have anything really hammered out and that was evident for a period of time during our development. We have long made up and got all back on track and we all “gave in” a little to make it all work out. This game design is no different than a marriage…seriously, it is a lot of giving and taking and no intimacy. LOL. Those of you who are married will get the joke. It is more about learning to see things in a different light and I am very happy to say we have done an excellent job at doing that.

How did Death Squads get started?
It started with me asking Mordheimer to play Space Hulk but with no Termies. I hated 40K and Space Marines but I loved the aspect of “Aliens”. You know a few Marines against a horde of killing Xenos.

How did you come up with the idea for it?
It evolved, between Mordheimers OC(Obsessive Compulsive) behaviors and me pushing out ideas we came up with “Project X” as we were trying to keep it a secret and then Mordheimer came up with “Death Squads” and it stuck. Some people don’t like the name but I do.

Death Squads play testing

How long has Death Squads been in development? How long did it take to get to a playable state?
Mordheimer and I started back in the middle of August 2008. Yes, it is very playable right now. We are just fine tuning spots, no different than a Mordheim Rules Review. Back to your second question; it took about 3 months for Mordheimer and myself to get it clicking and I wish I had video tape some of our games (unless I was taped doing something embarrassing) but there were those “light bulb” moments when he and I played the game that we created some awesome rules. Those were some great times.

What is your favorite thing that you’ve done (whether it be miniatures, terrain, or rules) or what are you most proud of?
I am really proud of Mordheim but I take no credit for that as all you wonderful people who play the game make me happy as the game is still flourishing. With that Death Squads is a very important aspect for me. I was happy to have many scenarios published for Mordheim and to be involved in many different Mordheim projects.

What do you like about it?
Death Squads is something so special (to me) I can’t fully explain it. I encourage people to just read the rules and you will see what we did and how different it is compared to what anyone else has done. Most other attempts to create a 40K Skirmish have only copied and pasted 40K to skirmish but it doesn’t work. We have worked hard to get this to a true skirmish level. With Mordheim, I love being involved in the game and I constantly get inspired by everyone’s enthusiasm, contributions and fellowship. It is funny as I have “friends” I have never met from being involved in Mordheim and to me that is very very special.

Private George Michael, by Mordheimer

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done?
Oh yes, DeafNala has done some awesome work and he helped me with my Last Chancers and Mordheimer as he created Lt. Dan and George Michael for me.

Last Chancer's, painted by DeafNala

What do you like about it?
Deafnala and Mordheimer are awesome artists….they are great people and to have something that they gave to me is very neat. I almost forgot about Warboss Kurgan he made me two Pirate Orks for some Space Hulk minis that are near and dear to my heart.

What is your favorite part of the hobby?
The great unknown and realizing your great plan just got crushed by rolling 1′s. LOL.

Are you working on any other projects currently?
We are working on a rules review for Mordheim and that is moving along and hopefully in a few months we will have some knowledge to impart but I am trying to up the SG forum Rules Review questions as we get them and saving the challenging ones till later.

What would be your dream project?
You mean besides rubbing lotion on Shakira. LOL J/K….I would love to be involved in the GW machine. I would love to be an official game tester or something like that.

More Last Chancer's

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
I am heavily involved in youth sports and athletics. I have been blessed with an opportunity to coach and be an athletic director at a local school.

Anything else about yourself that you care to share?
There is not too much to say. I am very straight forward and I like to have fun.

Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you
or seeing more of your work?
Yes, check out http://www.deathsquadsgame.com/forum.htm and register and check out our forum. It is no competition with TBMF and it was created for us developers and play testers to communicate more effectively.

Last Chancer Trooper and Scanner

Thanks to Da Bank for the interview. I hope you enjoyed the more rules oriented interview this time. Don’t forget to check out Death Squads! As always, if you’ve got suggestions for interview questions or people to be interviewed then please contact us.

Related Posts

• Interview: Foot_of_adhesive_tape (Andrew Mosen)
• Interview: madscuzzy (Creator of Orktimus Prime)
• Interview: Admin Tom (Thomas List)
• Interview: Tyson Koch (Super Dungeon Explore Boards)

Moonlight Necromancer, the Golden Tom 2008 winner

What is your real name?
Andrew Mosen

Where are you from?
The land of the long white cloud – New Zealand.

What is your occupation?
I am a qualified Offset Printer.

Close up shot of the head

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?

I have been in the hobby side of things for about 10 or 11 years now i think, sort of had a break for a few years in between at one point, kind of got bored/wasn’t inspired at the time.
My first introduction to the hobby was when i was a kid, my brother brought home a copy of Heroquest and I really liked the miniatures, it was also quite fun to play (and still is!). Then when i was about 11 or 12 a couple of my friends started to make some 40k armies

and i decided to join in too and it kinda grew from there.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
At the moment I’m really into the classics like Heroquest and Warhammer Quest. I am playing as the Evil wizard(DM) in Heroquest and the Witch Hunter in Warhammer quest.

Another great work by Foot

Mordheim would have to be the main game I play. When the first game came out I really enjoyed it and was hooked since then. The main warbands I play are Witch Hunters and Possessed. I also have a few other warbands floating around, Undead, Beastmen, Carnival of Chaos, Marauders and Pirates.
I have a Slaanesh themed Warriors of Chaos army for Fantasy which i never really got finished.
I have been very very slowly working on a traitor Imperial Guard army for 40K.
Got some Imperial Guard for Death Squads.
And lastly I have 3 “armies” for the Skirmish game Infinity.

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
Hmmmm, not really. I do clean my water pot before I start some painting, but I think that’s a normal thing to do ain’t it? I normally have the TV on or some music playing, normally a band that I’m really into at the time (at the moment it’s Them Crooked Vultures).

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?

Soldier

I normally get inspiration from other peoples models I see around the web or hobby magazines. Also i normally bounce ideas off my friends and people I chat to on MSN or over the net.
I did get quite a few ideas for my Blood Pact Traitor Guard 40k army from the Gaunt’s Ghosts books by Dan Abnett. I have also come to own a copy of the book “Blood on the Reik” which has given me a lot of ideas for Mordheim characters.
Normally seeing GW or other miniature company’s artwork gives me some random ideas for my models too.

Your moonlit necromancer won the 2008 Golden Tom. Can you tell us a little about that? How did you come up with the idea? What techniques did you use (especially for that glow effect!)?
Well, I had wanted to make an Undead warband for a while but I wanted to do something different and what you don’t normally see. So after thinking about what to do for a while I stumbled upon this army on ebay and really liked the idea, so I thought I would give it a try. Now mine look a bit bluer than his but I kinda liked how it turned out. And while I was painting them I thought I had to try this lighting effect. So I first tried it on Dreg with a fire torch and quite liked how it turned out, so I just tried the same thing with the Necromancer but changing the colour. I started with the darkest colour covering the areas where I wanted the light to be and started mixing white into the original colour and slowly started getting lighter towards the source of the light.

Skeletons!

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
The models I would be most proud of would have to be my whole Undead warband. This is where I think my painting started to get better and I started experimenting with new techniques. I think that would be why I like them the most. Although the more things I do the more I seem to like them like my current Which Hunter or Possessed warbands I am redoing, though they have been put on hold at the moment.

Possessed, with Foot's sculpting

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
Hmm this is a real hard question, almost as hard as asking me what my favourite song is, because there are a ton of great pieces out there. But there are a couple that pop into mind when I think about it.
First there’s the same as Tom’s fave, Victoria Lambs Which Hunter scene.
Just the whole atmosphere of this piece screams Mordheim and I have always had a thing about Which hunters.
Secondly there is this. I think the sculpting is great, the dirty and gritty look to the painting is how I see the 40k universe and Blood Pact troopers.

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
Although I do enjoy all parts of the hobby, it would have to be coming up with new ideas and converting/making a model. I have a lot of models that need to be painted cause I keep thinking up new ideas for things.

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
I think painting eyes or when I started working with green stuff gave me the most trouble. I got better at the eye painting as I got better at painting, a more steady hand helps with that I found. And with the GS work I just had a look around the net for tutorials and learned to keep my tools wet most the time so it doesn’t stick.

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
Of course, there is always places to improve on. I would like to get a lot better at GS and terrain making.

What projects are you working on currently?
Well I normally have a few projects going at once, which is kinda distracting. But lately I have been remaking all the tiles for Warhammer Quest which you can see here.
Llso one of my friends has commissioned me to make him a Hell Pit Abomination for his Skaven army, so that should be fun to do.

Warhammer Quest Chaos Warrior

What would be your dream project?
I would love to get some time to make terrain and a table for Mordheim.

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share with us? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
I don’t think there’s any special brands that I use. I mainly just use GW or Vallejo paints cause they are easy for me to get.
The only real advice I can really give everyone is to just keep practicing. You know what they say, practice makes perfect (that sounded slightly cheesy didn’t it?).

Crossbow Warrior

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
I do rather enjoy my videogames, music, going to gigs, comics, that sort of stuff.

Anything else about yourself that you care to share? Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you or seeing more of your work?
I normally just post my stuff on TBMF, but my main project log is here and a link to my photobucket.

Some more sculpting

WWII Minis

Thanks to Foot_of_adhesive_tape for the interview this week! I hope you enjoyed this display. As always, if you have any suggestions for questions or people to interview please contact us.

Related Posts

• Interview: Sean Patten (Iron Hands/Necromundicon)
• Interview: DeafNala (Alan Preuss)
• Interview: madscuzzy (Creator of Orktimus Prime)
• Interview: cianty

What is your real name?
My real name is Admin Tom. But some people insist on calling me Thomas List for some reason…

Where are you from?
I was born in Vienna, Austria.

What is your occupation?
I am currently finishing my Master’s degree.

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
I first came into contact with tabletop through Warhammer minis – like most people I think – at a friend’s house when I was around 13-14. Oddly enough, although he did a great paintjob, I thought very little of the whole thing and dismissed it as children’s toys. Only when another friend showed me he had these little fantasy soldiers too, did it really catch my attention. The idea of having my own little customizable army, being able to actually use it with rules and feeling utterly “in command” (from painting to gameplay) felt more and more like every little boy’s dream. So I went out and bought the WHFB 5th edition Wood Elf army book,  a box of 8 plastic archers and a few pots of paint.

I have always been interested mainly in the “artistic” side of the hobby (being a mediocre tactician) and have enjoyed painting figures ever since. I did briefly put all things tabletop aside for a few years, due to work and have had a reawakening experience through Mordheim, which I rediscovered in 2006 and actively played with friends through 2007. That is when I picked up painting again, and have enjoyed doing just that in my spare time ever since.

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
I currently do no gaming at all to be honest. I did have a rather intense Mordheim phase, but for the last years, none of my figurines has seen any in-game action, due to lack of time.

For WHFB, I own roughly 4000pts of Wood Elves, 2000pts Bretonia, 1500pts of Dark Elves and a silly amount of painted Orcs and Goblins, most of which are resting at the bottom of a big cardboard box, waiting to be rediscovered one day.

For WH40K, I own a more or less 2000pts Space Marines and a small Eldar force.

For Mordheim, I have Reiklander, Undead, Skaven, Orcs&Goblins, Witch Hunters and Chaos Dwarf warbands (the latter is for the unofficial Border Town Burning Supplement, entirely sculpted and cast by Dirk from DO Odd Miniatures).

For the Privateer Press game HORDES, I own a Circle Of Orboros army.

In addition I have a small Red Blok force for the Rackham game AT-43.

When and how did Tom’s Boring Mordheim Blog/Forum come about? What made you pick the name?
Tom’s Boring Mordheim Blog (TBMB) was created in 2006. I started it more or less as a joke, and as a way of sharing my latest painting with my friend who was living abroad at that time. I just liked the idea of documenting my progress, and it was good fun. In addition to that, there was very little to no Mordheim-related activity on the web, with virtually all Mordheim portals/sites being dead. So TBMB was also a way of dusting off this excellent game. At that time, I had a rather decent output rate (new posts once a week or so) and so progressively I started getting more and more comments from people who had stumbled upon TBMB and often the “comments” section under each post would start resembling a tiny exchange platform for ideas, inspiration, criticism, kudos etc…

So I decided to take the next logical step and see what would happen if I gave this vocal group of people (myself included) a proper outlet. And so I created Tom’s Boring Mordheim Forum (TBMF) in August 2007 as an experiment. It turned out that despite the online inactivity, the Mordheim community was far from dead, and talented and dedicated people started signing up from all around the world. We are to my knowledge the biggest (and nicest!) online Mordheim-dedicated community on the web, with roughly 700 members (and counting) and a good proportion of those contributing regularly.

About the name: When I first created TBMB, I felt like Mordheim was such a secluded niche, that no-one would ever be interested in my blog. In an act of self-irony, I decided to put blatantly into the title what I thought most people would think. And it made for a rather original title on top of that.

You have created one of the best forums around for Mordheim. When you started the blog/forums, were you expecting the community to turn out so well?
I did not expect that at all (see above). Quite to the contrary in fact! When I created TBMB, I thought no one would read it, save for a few friends and TBMF was an experiment at best. I was/am very happy to see the community is doing so well.

The Golden Tom competition seems to have been a hit in the past. Any plans for more contests like this?
Absolutely! I have been promising a Golden Tom 2009 for a while now. Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep my promise so far (it does take more work than one would think), but I am confident we will be able to have another competition like this in the future. Definitely something I want to do.

Badass Darksoul

I have seen posts for a couple of small gatherings of forum members. Have you considered trying to have a large scale gathering… maybe a Tom’s Boring Mordheim Convention?
Yes. In fact I have had plans (and still harbor the dream) of having a huge (all right: “big”) event with 4+ gaming tables. The event would require a small (voluntary) entry fee, which would then go to some charity organization. I think tabletop gamers show so much enthusiasm and community spirit, that I believe it should be possible to use all this “kinetic energy” to do something we can all be proud of. Quality gaming for charity if you will. But that is something I cannot mount up alone, and so it will remain a dream… for now.

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
I love to listen to audio books and diverse lectures/talks while I paint (for those interested I can recommend TED). If I cannot get my hands on any of these, I always listen to music. There is nothing worse than painting in silence.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?

My most powerful tool when looking for inspiration is doing a plain and simple Google Image search. Books, movies and diverse artwork are of course vital sources of inspiration. Which ones depends on the type of project, so I cannot really give an exhaustive list.

Some works that have had an impact on the way I try to make my miniatures look were (in no particular order, and omitting many): Braveheart (Movie), Robin Hood King of Thieves (Movie), John Howe – Myth & Magic (Book), Grzegorz Rosinski – Thorgal Series (Book), Jean-Luc Masbou – De Cape et de Crocs Series (Book), Victoria Lamb (Mini Painter)…

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
That is very difficult question since I tend to like my latest piece best. After much internal struggling, I managed to come up with my top 7:

1. This guy is pink (!) and can potentially bludgeon people to death with a giant lolly… what more do you need?

Lollipops?!

2. This sculpt is just incredibly atmospheric and I love the 16th century look.

Amazing Scene by Tom!

3. I converted this assassin for my Dark Elf Army entirely from left over Wood Elf bits. While the paintjob may be underwhelming I am really happy with the pose, and I think the simplistic colour scheme fits the purpose of the silent shadow-hidden killer perfectly. No single photo can capture the actual movement of the miniature, since it looks so different under every angle: that’s what I like about this one.

Dark Elf Assassin

More of the Assassin

4. The Trebuchets are scratch built and roughly accurate size-wise. They cost me virtually nothing (save for many hours of work) and just look great in a fully deployed Bretonnian army.

Couple of Trebuchets

More of the Trebuchets

5. Another scratch built miniature. This is a tree man I made from pieces of wood and plenty of putty. I like the dynamic pose and how the tree man seems to protect the vulnerable little elf with his arms and legs. It symbolizes the magic wood and its inhabitants fighting in perfect symbiosis. Poetic isn’t it?

Tree with Elf

6. I like these two wood elf spell-casters, because I think they are extremely simple yet effective sculpts. When you look at them, you immediately identify them as magical (floating!) and yet they lack all these annoying arcane symbols and skulls. They reflect the coolest form of magic (elemental) at its best. Subtle and devastating.

Wood Elf Spellcasters

7. I am not normally a fan of 40K, but you just got to love your Dreads! This guy is the “old skool” metal Dreadnought model from the 1990s. There is just no comparison to the new plastic stuff. This particular model weighs as much as a hand grenade, and just looks bad-ass. In addition, it was painted and weathered in under 1 hour, making it one of the most effective colour schemes I have tried to date (and he fits the rest of my desert marines army).

Dreadnought!

More of the Dreadnought

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
http://www.victorialamb.com/wugs/Joan%20gallery/pages/rsj.htm by Victoria Lamb. The whole scene is the moodiest I have ever seen and just looks like a Rembrandt painting transposed into Mordheim and come to life.

There are also TONS of fantastic pieces in our Gallery section over at TBMF, and picking one over another would just seem unfair. So head over there and have a look for yourself!

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
My favourite part is painting. I do enjoy making terrain, but it’s rather messy, so out of comfort I choose miniatures.

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
Painting black or white cloth is – in my humble opinion – the most difficult exercise for a beginner. Blacks can be solved by using very dark greys/browns and doing very few highlights, followed by a very sharp lighter grey only on the very highest points. Whites, depending on if you want them rather blue-ish or beige-ish are painted starting with either a grey-blue or a brown basecoat. In any case, I think a good trick is to start light and keep the layering “compact”. Meaning that you should only have very subtle shifts in colour as you progress. Here more than anywhere else, highlighting and shading should be used in an alternating manner. Just to clarify what I mean by that: highlighting is the process of applying successively lighter layers on top of each other, and shading is the opposite, i.e. filling recesses with progressively darker shades.

And thin your paints!  Straight-from-the-pot almost never works.

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
Many. Sculpting, terrain making and above all painting. You never stop learning.

What projects are you working on currently? What would be your dream project?

A Brewery

I am doing a pretty cool commission painting project at the moment. I also have the plan to finish all my currently unfinished miniatures form my own collection. After that, all I have to do is resist the temptation to increase my collection further… easier said than done

I do not really have a dream project, since I love every single one I choose to do That’s why I pick particular minis up in the first place. Each one of them is like a tiny portal that lets me escape into another world for a few hours.

What tips, tricks, or advice can you share with us? Are there any special brands or materials that you use that other people might not know about?
I use mainly Vallejo acrylic paints. They are cheaper, contain 2ml more and come in handy flasks that never dry out.
Some GW paints are still better, like blood red or metallics, but in general, I can strongly recommend buying Vallejo.

If you do large scale drybrushing, add a drop of Vallejo Glaze medium to your paints. It acts as a retardant and allows you to cover more surface with the same mix.

Get a hobby knife, a hand drill and paper clips. Regular cutters just don’t compare when converting, and you can do almost any type of conversion with these 3 basic (cheap) tools.

I prefer to buy Gale Force Nine hobby glue or regular super glue from your supermarket rather than from GW. It is cheaper and has a better dispensing system.

If you have painted a tricky part (e.g. a face) on a miniature that you do not want to spoil with subsequent brushing or other messy techniques, or if you want to create chipping effects on vehicles, get Revell Color Stop for €3.50. It’s great.

GW Devlan Mud (or Vallejo Sepia Wash) is a great universal wash. It makes painting leathers and faces a lot easier. It may not be used for Golden Demon level painting, but let’s be reasonable for a second…

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
I enjoy reading, playing music (I am not very good at it though), tennis and dancing.

Anything else about yourself that you care to share?
I wish I wouldn’t require sleep and the day had 72 hours.

Related Posts

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• Interview: madscuzzy (Creator of Orktimus Prime)
• Interview: Nathan Caroland (Wyrd Miniatures/Malifaux Developer)

Blue Wolf Inn, painted by cianty

What is your real name?
Christian Templin.

Where are you from?
I’m from Germany.

What is your occupation?
I’m a computer scientist. Pretty geeky, hu?

How long have you been interested in the tabletop hobby and how did you get into it?
My friends were playing Warhammer 5th edition and one day they brought some issues of White Dwarf to school. These issues featured the newly released Beastmen army and I loved the models in the magazine. Then I bought a Beastmen horde boxed set and since that time I’m a Beastman chieftain at heart.

Pirate Rogues

What games do you play? What armies do you play in those games?
When GW released Mordheim I immediately switched and never looked back at large scale army battles. I guess it’s because of the campaign system that makes it easier for me to get over lost battles. My first Mordheim warband was Marienburgers but I quickly switched to Reiklanders. When Beastmen were released in Town Cryer magazine I played them immediately, of course. I also tried a number of other warbands including Undead and Da Mob, but I didn’t really like the feel of any of those, so I sold the models to friends. Then there’s BTB for which I have pretty much all warbands, except for Maneaters and the Restless Dead. My favourite warbands now are Battle Monks and Marauders. My favourite official warband is Reiklanders. To me Mordheim is about human adventurers with nothing to lose, pursuing fame and fortune, and I think Mercenaries capture the original Mordheim feel the best.
I also like playing Legends of the High Seas from Warhammer Historical, for which I have a pirate crew, beautifully painted by Thomas List, as well as Chinese pirates, mostly painted … erm… black. My backlog is horrible.

Legends of the High Seas Ship with pirates.

Can you explain a bit about what Border Town Burning is and what changes there are from the original Mordheim rules for those who are not familiar with it?
BTB is a supplement to Mordheim, like the Empire in Flames supplement. It introduces a new setting with all the setting-specific rules you need such as themed random happenings, new exploration charts, weather rules, etc. Then there are new warbands and scenarios, of course. The main feature is the new campaign system, though, where each player picks an objective which allows the warbands to actually achieve fame, fortune or world domination or whatever they are after. I always found that Mordheim lacked rules which allowed players to actually feel that they are achieving something during the campaign and not just playing game after game with no clear-cut goal in sight. The objectives provide this feel by rewarding warbands with special rules or unlocking certain special scenarios, which thus become unique events in the campaign. This way you can see a narrative develop with your games, without the need for a game master to statically make it up for you.

How did you come up with the idea for Border Town Burning? What were your inspirations?
It started with the Marauders of Chaos warband I wrote for a friend, who was playing a Chaos Warrior army in Warhammer. He wanted to play a respective Mordheim warband so I wrote the band for him. Somehow we then came up with the idea of doing a Battle Monk warband – a human warband that is actually good in close combat and not the typical bunch of jacks-of-all-trades. Somehow it went from there… we just added things that we would like to see in our own games and, inspired by the existing alternative settings of Lustria and Khemri, it ended up as this monstrous 200-page supplement.

Battle Monks of Cathay, from BTB

How long did it take to get Border Town Burning from concept to playable?
I wrote the marauders list in 2004 I think and the full supplement was released in January this year. It was a continuous process, always adding little bits of rules as we came across them. We never had a certain goal in mind that we wanted to achieve or that we worked towards. In the beginning, we didn’t want to produce a full-fledged supplement. Essentially it’s just a bunch of house rules that grew to what they are now. The concept of alternative settings such as Lustria, Khemri and then Empire in Flames gave us the idea to tie it all together instead of having a loose collection of rules.

What was the hardest part of creating your own custom supplement?
There was no hard part really, as I didn’t try to come up with rules for the sake of rules writing. During gameplay we came up with ideas and concepts, things that we would like to see implemented. Then I simply wrote rules to represent these things. Of course, they didn’t always work out right away. We added the customizations and adjusted them until we found they worked and improved our games in a fair and fun way.

Roadside Shrine

Do you have any suggestions for someone who might want to embark in creating their own game or supplement?
Keep playing your game. Don’t be sitting in your armchair and making up things. You need to play to see if things work out and they rarely do the way you intended them to. Besides, playing and chatting with your mates is the biggest source of creativity and inspiration. Of course you need moments of tranquility to ponder on how to put the rules so that they achieve what you want them to. But you have to play to see if they work and you have to play to find out what you are missing in the first place. If you aren’t really missing anything, you better not meddle with the rules at all.

Do you have any rituals while modeling/painting such as listening to specific music?
I usually do my painting and building while inattentively watching TV in the evening/night. Sculpting I do in front of the laptop as I need to look at photos and sketches while doing it. This allows me to play music. Nothing special though. Just the normal stuff I listen to.

What are some of your influences or where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there any books, movies, art, or other sources that have had an impact on your work? Whose work has had an impact on you and your projects?

Dragon Monk on Temple Dog

This is hard to generalize. For warbands I often go with the standard paint jobs or something similar. If I am playing in a certain universe, then I like to have my minis match the given background. Pretty unimaginative, yeah.
For rules, I think the biggest inspiration is playing. Nothing is as inspiring as playing a game, experiencing cool situations and communicating with your fellow gamers. It’s those situations that breed the best ideas.

What is your favorite piece that you’ve done or what are you most proud of? What do you like about it?
This is probably the Dragon Monk on Temple Dog, which won me 2nd place at the first Golden Tom competition. The incitement of the competition really made me push myself and I feel the mini is a huge step forward in my painting. That’s why I like it personally. However, since then I don’t feel like having made any improvements so I probably need another competition (are you reading this, Tom?).

What is your favorite piece that someone else has done? What do you like about it?
Hmm… This is difficult. I really cherish the Chaos Warrior given to me by Alan and the Liche conversion by Donald Van Ness (“UnderBheit” on TBMF). I also love my Blackguard with a tamed monkey on his back by Tom Goudsblom (“Tagnator” on TBMF). And there are the many beautiful minis painted by Thomas List. I guess my favourite is Captain Tom, painted by Tom. An unbelievably detailed pirate figure sculpted by Tom Meier. Tom did an outstanding paint job on that miniature.

Captain Tom by Thomas List

What is your favorite part of the hobby? Do you prefer working with terrain or miniatures?
I enjoy every part of the hobby really: playing, painting, terrain building, converting and recently sculpting. Terrain is probably what I enjoy the most, though, outdone only by actually playing the games.

What technique has given you the most trouble? Do you have any tips for someone else who might be struggling with it?
The dice rolling technique probably. But I won’t tell you once I solved that, he he.
Concerning painting, well, I’m a lame painter. The only technique I can properly pull off is dry-brushing. I think the most important thing is patience and attention to detail. No matter whether you are painting, converting, sculpting or even writing rules, never rush your work and if you find yourself in a hurry, step back, let it sink. It’s a hobby so it’s about fun and having a good time. The journey really is the reward. It’s kinda like sex, there is no prize for being the fastest
I always try to share my painting experiences on the forum and on my blog. This may be helpful for others, it sure is for myself, when I need to look up how I did something specific a while ago. My memory fails me all too often.

Are there any areas that you’d like to improve on?
Absolutely. Since I am interested in every aspect of the hobby I want to improve on all of them. I recently started sculpting a bit more and I definitely want to improve on that. My other major focus is on terrain building and painting. You can never learn enough.

Head Hunter, sculpted by cianty

I know that in addition to BTB you also worked on the Letters of the Damned. Have you worked on any other supplements or publications in the past? Do you currently have any plans for future supplements or publications?
I only contributed to the Letters of the Damned on a somewhat regular basis. It really was Brahm’s brainchild and pet project. He allowed me to write a little column in his magazine where I talked about Mordheim on a sort of meta-level. And I contributed a little to the Nemesis Crown supplement for Mordheim, not as much as I would have like to, though, as I had very little time back then. I guess my only real noteworthy contribution to that project was the layouting of the PDF files. And maintaining the FAQ. As for currently… well, there will be a follow-up Mordheim supplement to BTB, which I am very excited about. I can’t spill anything on that, though, because Stu (Werekin) would probably kill me.

Mansion painted by cianty

What projects are you working on currently? What would be your dream project?
My major pet project now is a fantasy skirmish game called Gierburg. It will be a campaign-driven skirmish game with even more emphasis on the story and character development than you know from Mordheim. I’m definitely taking my time with this project so it is unlikely to see completion any time soon. It sure is my dream project as I am doing what I want, the way I want it, and I’m working on it with friends. What more could you ask for?

What other hobbies do you have outside of tabletop gaming?
Time permits so little and wargaming does take up most of my free time. Of course I also enjoy going to the cinema, concerts, pubs and stuff like that. I used to play Magic a lot (Legacy and Vintage) as well as computer games (Lucas Arts adventures, Baldur’s Gate, Age of Empires), but no more today. My girl-friend does have the highest priority, going out, traveling.

Do you have a website that people can check out if they are interested in knowing more about you or seeing more of your work?
You can check out my wargames blog at http://cianty-tabletop.blogspot.com. You can also find me posting on Tom’s Boring Mordheim Forum regularly as well as occasionally on the Lead Adventure Forum.

Interior of the Mansion, very detailed!

Anything else about yourself that you care to share?
Enjoy the hobby! It’s all about fun. Always make sure that you are painting, building, writing for yourself. If you and your mates are having a good time, then you are playing it right, no matter the rules.

For those of you interested, here are some links related to this interview:
cianty’s Blog
Border Town Burning
Blue Wolf Inn
The Mansion
Brigantine Ship

There will definitely be more interviews to follow, so keep an eye out! As always, if you have suggestions on questions, people of interest, or just about anything at all then please contact us by email or leave a comment here!

Also, I’ve got yet ANOTHER new feature planned for the site which should be coming soon hopefully. This one is specifically Mordheim related. Don’t forget to stop back!

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