During 2012 I traveled up to Manhattan NY for one of the Warmonger club's Malifaux tournaments. I have spoken about what a great group of gamers this club is and I always enjoy catching up with the guys in the club. Typically there is a full day of games followed by drinks and food at a local Manhattan Irish bar. On the particular day in question my wife had also joined me and spent the day out at a Broadway play. At the bar after the event I got into a conversation with one of my favorite Warmongers, Brooklyn James (Foe Render on the Wyrd boards). James is one of the couple amazing painters in the Warmongers group and at dinner/drinks he mentioned that he really wanted to paint up a Kirai crew, although he did not want to play one. This really peaked my interest, as I had a complete Kirai crew that needed painting. In addition, James is dedicated Guild player and not a henchman, so he was really interested in how to get his hands on one of the Santana models that was going to release at the end of Summer 2012. Through a series of negotiation we came to an agreement that included one of the multiple Santana's I was receiving and I sent off the models for painting.
James did some amazing work on my Kirai crew. We had agreed that he would assemble and paint up the models, then ship them back to me for basing and sealing. I had an awful lot of spirits to send his way and he was able to deliver an amazing set of painted models back to me. I am really impressed with how they came out overall. My final Kirai crew contains Kirai, her avatar, and her totem along with Ikyrio and Kirai's five Seshin. Dantsu Ba, six Gaki, and two Onroyo join a pair of Shikome who bring some heavy hitting power to the crew. I then added in a Desperate Mercenary, Canine Remains, Jack Daw, two regular Hanged and to Nightmare Hanged which Jame's did not paint to flesh out the overall crew.
One of my favorite models in the range which James painted up is Jakuna Ubume. This model is a fantastic model that comes with its own sculpted base from Wyrd. I love the look of the model and the color's James was able to pull out in the painting. She is a little fiddly to get working well in game and I have not had much luck making her compliment my crew. With that said, I aim to summon her whenever I remember to put the model in my bag. The only downside to the model is she is oddly shaped so does not fit well with my Kirai tray in my bag.
One of the other models that is a challenge to fit into the bag is the Avatar. This is the one model in the crew that I have not gotten on the table yet. The Avatar was a surprise last minute addition to the painting commission and unfortunately the card did not join the models when they were returned to me. This is one of the areas I am a little frustrated with Wyrd on, as the Avatar cards are not available to order via the Wyrd store. This means that in order to get a copy of the stat card I need to purchase a whole new Avatar model. Looking back on the positive side of things, James did an amazing job painting up the Avatar and matching the collapsed Kirai on the base to the standing Kirai he painted up. Knowing how I would be putting together and painting my bases (using Wyrd's graveyard bases), he also did a little converting to add in a similar fence to the Avatar base so it matched. This was a great touch for a great looking model.
I have played around with the crew a number of times last year, getting a handle on it. While I love the look overall I never felt like I was enjoying my games as much as I thought I would. Kirai is a fairly complicated master to play, but with practice she is incredibly versatile and works really well. I'm not sure exactly what it was about her play style that did not fit my taste, everything she does seems like it would work wonders with how I approach Malifaux. Regardless, I enjoyed playing her enough to keep her in my collection and still plan to roll her out from time to time for games.
The Onroyo deserve a special mention when looking at the models in the crew. As you can see from the picture, James did some research and looked up the characters to spell out Gamers Lounge in order to paint them onto the models. This is an incredibly cool touch and while I am unsure if they actually say Gamers Lounge or say something else, it looks cool and I trust James. In addition to that cool touch, the Onroyo actually get the model play of all the models in the crew. Yan Lo has become one of my new favorite Master's to play, and he has the ability to bring Onroyo to the table in his own crew. For this reason and the synergy they bring to his crew I have moved the models over to my Ten Thunders tray.
I am a little disappointed in myself for not getting pictures of the Gaki or Datsu Ba in the picture set I did over the weekend. They are as beautifully painted as the rest of the models and deserve pictures to be posted. They are near the top of my list for the next time I get the light tent set-up and pictures rolled out. At this time, please enjoy looking at the great job on these models!
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