The Soulless Life - Desolation Engine, Hollow Waifs, Finished Crew!

Haven't updated on this in a little bit despite painting a couple of minis. I've finished painting Leveticus' crew now. There will be more to add at a later date but this gives me a good 35SS crew with the Desolation Engine and co. to summon into the game.

The Desolation Engine:

Hollow Waifs (will not photograph well):

A Family Portrait:

Next, work begins on a Warhammer 40k project...

The Soulless Life - Leveticus - Steampunk Necromancer

Many individuals find themselves in Malifaux as convict labor or the unfortunate victims of unforgiving contracts to the Guild. A small few have come to reside in Malifaux with their own purpose, to find in Malifaux their fortune. Leveticus is one such individual.

Malifaux provides many things to a man like Leveticus. Foremost, he has the privacy to pursue interests that would be considered distasteful in a more civilized environment. In the art of combining steel and bone, cog and sinew, Leveticus is a savant. Within his well-equipped offices, his own body has received augmentation, and despite his advanced age, the man is well-suited to the rigors of this frontier city.

He is almost always attended by his apprentice, a young woman named Alyce. She too bears evidence of his craft, her left arm replaced by a mechanical prosthetic. Together, the operate Captivating Salvage and Logistics, which offers a wide variety of services. Many of those services are legitimate, but a pragmatic man like Leveticus can often be found conducting more illicit affairs.

There are many who disapprove of the relationship between the wizened Leveticus and the young Alyce, rumourmongers trading tales of inappropriate conduct between the two. The rumours don't seem to impact the success of their business, however, as they have a reputation for getting things done.

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I finished painting Leveticus, the master of my crew. His is a lovely mini with lots of great little details. It was a real pleasure to paint. I say that about all of Wyrd's miniatures. They really are great to work with even if you have no intention of playing Malifaux I think everyone should try painting a Wyrd Miniature sculpt just to get a feel for something a bit different!

 

The Soulless Life - Bête Noire

None know who or what Bête Noire was in life, but the silent horror she has become in undeath now stalks the City's countless shadowy side alleys in search of victims, usually individuals who have delivered death to another in some fashion. Cloaked in an inky shroud of darkness, she toys with her prey before overtaking them. Despite her murderous intentions, her victims' prayers for a quick death are ignored; instead they are subjected to brutal torture and mutilation before they are allowed the release of death. Guild Guard who have discovered her handiwork generally report feelings of hopelessness and despair being almost tangible in the air, and many are haunted by vivid images and nightmares for the rest of their lives.

I wanted to paint her differently from the Wyrd colour scheme as I'm not a massive fan of it so I went with my wife's suggestion of painting her like the Corpse Bride. However, part way in I realised I really disliked the blue skin tone so went for a colour closer to what I'll be using on Leveticus' Hollow Waifs when I get to them.

Leveticus is next to be painted. Thanks to AndyB of A Fistful of Soulstones fame I now I have an idea for how to paint him. To that end, I've greenstuffed some cuffs onto his jacket.

The Soulless Life - Lots of Pictures

Done some more work on my The Desolate & The Soulless crew for Malifaux. Got a long way to go before I catch up to James and have a fully painted crew (his Pandora led, Legion of Sorrows crew is awesome and to be found here)

Finished the third and fourth Steampunk Abominations

The four Steampunk Abominations together:

and with Rusty Alyce:

Rusty Alyce had some more photos taken which came out slightly better than the ones in the previous post:

Lastly, a sneak peek at what I'm working on next:

Soulless Life - Second Steampunk Abomination

Finished the next Steampunk Abomination. It's not an especially easy one to photograph well with its pose but the pictures give you enough of an idea of what's going on with it. It's another lovely sculpt, the SPAs really are well done. It looks a little shiny at the minute from the glazes but it'll get a coat of varnish later and that'll fix that issue.

 On to number three!

Soulless Life - Steampunk Abomination

The first finished Steampunk Abomination. These are all awesome sculpts and really, really, twisted! This particular fella has no legs and his entrails spilling out into a bag that's been nailed to his hips as he carries himself along on drills that have been grafted on in place of hands. This is Steampunk Horror!
Individually these things aren't too much to worry about but they can be grafted together to form a Desolation Engine (which will be painted too in the not too distant future) and that's definitely something to worry about!

Soulless Life - Rusty Alyce

Made a start painting The Desolate & Soulless crew for Malifaux, led by Leveticus. From the blurb on the crew boxset:

Leveticus is a master of both Construct technology and the vile necromantic arts. His strange experiments embody the abominations possible when man meddles with the natural order. Fighting for Soulstone and increasing influence, the decay and destruction brought by Leveticus and his minions is unmistakable.

Dead bodies are a common sight in Malifaux, but Leveticus leaves behind nothing but dust.

The Desolate & Soulless are a really interesting crew in Malifaux. They have a lot of very different mechanics that really mess with the natural order of the game. Leveticus himself has found a way to cheat death. Tethering his soul to Hollow Waifs, as long as these mindless servants of his are in play then he will come back from the dead.

I've started with his protege, Rusty Alyce. I wanted to paint her in a way that would greatly contrast the rest of the crew so decided to go with the pink outfit.

 Should have a Steampunk Abomination finished for this crew tomorrow all being well!