Tourney fail = Fun!

So we ended up with just 4 players at the tournament (there was potentially 6-8 players but I guess none of the "maybe's" could make it).  Between a late start and me pimping my new Puppet Wars game we only ended up playing 2 Malifaux rounds.  So it ended up as more of a Wyrd game day than a true Malifaux tournament, but tons of fun was had by all. 

In game 1 I was introduced to the Zoraida/Collodi duo.  Lesson #1, Steal Relic is a poor choice for anyone against Zoraida.  Not really sure what I was thinking there.  I lost this game mostly due to the scheme I chose (and the other I gave up for extra SS), as otherwise my crew performed very well against them.  Zoraida/Collodi successfully accomplished Bodyguard and Breakthrough, and we tied the strategy (witch's cauldron scenario from Halloween 2010).  We each had 2 Stitched and all 4 were eradicated by the end of round 2 (mostly killing each other), which was pretty hilarious to watch. 

In game 2 I faced Colette in the Carver scenario.  This game fell apart for Colette in round 3 as between herself, Cassandra, and the Coryphee they burnt through all their soulstones in one round of defending against Pandora and her crew, and then when the Carver activated at the end of the turn he was able to charge Colette and cut her into many fine pieces.  Turn 4 saw the death of the coryphee and later Cassandra also at the hands of the Carver. 

Amidst all that we got in a handful of games of Puppet Wars and had a blast.  I've just got the main box set right now, but will likely pick up the multiplayer box and boosters sometime in the near future.  As it was mentioned on the Gamers Lounge I decided to go the easy route and prime the puppets white and do an ink wash of each puppet's faction colour and the results are pretty good.  It really helps bring out some of the neat details of the puppets with a minimum of effort. 

Nightmare Teddy

Nightmare Teddy is now done.  I ended up dipping the fat kid as well, and he turned out ok.  But Teddy I think is pretty awesome for the incredibly short amount of time spent on him.  I spent perhaps another half hour touching up highlights and cleaning it up post-dip, so a little over an hour of paint-time start to finish.

As for the Halloween tournament this weekend, I'm bringing Pandora.  Nightmare Teddy needs to get some games in!  For the 50ss pool I'm pretty much just taking a selection of what I have painted (except the two stitched togethers, they'll be ready by Sunday).  The 50ss is:

Teddy

Doppleganger

Candy

Kade

Stitched Together

Stitched Together

Insidious Madness

Sorrow

Primordial Magic

I'll try to get lots of pictures at the tournament and do a little recap sometime next week.

Painting Desk

Going through a bit of gamer (painter?) ADD right now.  Can't decide what to work on.  There's a halloween Malifaux tournament coming up (set master, 50ss pool, 35ss games) and I'm undecided between Nicodem and Pandora.  Nicodem's army is fully painted, but I'd want to get his avatar finished if I were to play him- and that'd be a ton of work I don't think I'll have time for.  Pandora's crew has a lot of finished models, but a few that I'd want to paint up and include in the pool (a few stitched, teddy, etc). 

Looking at my Nightmare Teddy I was trying to decide how to tackle painting him and I decided dipping would work out great with him.  Here he is, from primer I spent perhaps 30 minutes splashing on the various colours (from my experience dipping a Beastmen army, lighter colours work much better as a base) and another couple painting on the Army Painter dip.  Once the dip sets, I'll hit it with some Dullcote and then throw in a few more highlights for good measure.  Still to add is the fat kid, who will be falling off the front edge of the base as he tries to flee the Teddy. xD

You can also see the Avatar of Decay, now primed and ready to paint with a light black wash to pick out the details, and a few terror tots, who I'm using to test out the method I'll use for red-skinned nephilim. 

I may just end up dipping the stitched as well, though I'm not sure the dip would work as well on their smooth surfaces.  They'd definitely require some post-dip highlighting.

Avatar of Decay - WIP

Had some progress on Lilith and crew, but not much to show.  Instead here's my WIP Nicodem Avatar:

Quick update

Another update, long overdue.  Thanks to a bunch of free time I had last weekend while administrating a Flames of War tournament, I got a few good hours of work done on Lilith.  Here she is in progress:

My female Nephilim will all be blue-skinned like this, while the males will be red-skinned (just like Lelu/Lilitu in the book).   Skin, clothing (such as it is), hooves, bone piercings/nails/etc, hair are all done.  The eyes are "good enough", though she has a slight expression of shock.  I've resigned myself to never becoming good at painting eyes. 

I am quite pleased with the turnout on the red hair, and though the white highlights on the bikini are a bit glaring in the photo it looks more natural in person and serves to make it look a bright/shiny yellow.   Still to do are the sword (simple basecoat on currently), wing hooks, and base.  I will likely also do a light black wash or two on the wings to smooth out the highlights. 

And a shot of her crew, primed and ready for paint..... one day.......

OFCC Recap & Lilith WIP

OFCC has come and gone, my workload lately has been a bit crazy so I haven't had time to give it a proper recap.  Since I don't play Fantasy pretty much at all anymore, I was definitely hesitant heading down to Vancouver, WA for a Warhammer tournament, but I haven't missed an OFCC yet and I didn't want to miss this one. 

When all was said and done, I must say I had a blast and the tournament was every bit as fun as previous years.  I had 5 games against 5 great opponents, sadly a few of the games saw some unbelievable luck go my way and they ended up being rather one-sided.  Picture a unit of White Lions with a Prince and BSB along with a WL chariot charging my unit of 25 skeletons with my Vampire Lord.  After combat resolution, the skeletons have been wiped out and the Vamp has taken a wound.  In my turn, the Vampire Lord casts summon undead horde to heal himself (and other nearby units), casts with irresistible force, and the miscast result is a 4... the big blast killing the rest of the white lions, Prince, BSB, and wounding the chariot, while my Vampire Lord passes the roll to stay alive. Yeah, that kind of unbelievable luck.

Surprisingly in two games my Vampire Lord died, and died fairly early, but it wasn't the beginning of the end as I recall from editions past.  In both cases having characters in the remaining units helped with leadership so they lost less, the BSB being present also allowed a reroll if necessary.  One of those games I suffered a minor loss against some Daemons of Chaos (who just barely managed to outnumber my grave guard in the 500vp king of the hill scenario), and the other I managed a win against Slaan-led lizardmen.

While I am probably not going out of my way to play Fantasy much in the near future, I just don't have the time to paint big armies or haul them around and play 3 hour games with them these days, I am eagerly looking forward to the next OFCC.  Hopefully I won't be the only Canadian going next time!


Back on the Malifaux front, I've started collecting a Lilith crew (expanding my plethora of Neverborn).  I picked up this Freebooter miniature which I hoped could be my Lilith.  There was some question before purchasing her about whether the scale would work out ok.  I figured if she was just too big for Lilith I'd use her as Nekima or something, she's just so amazing I had to get her. 

In the end she's a solid head taller than the average man-sized model in Malifaux, but since her sister Nekima is on a fricken 50mm base I don't see any reason Lilith couldn't be a little taller than average.

I'm going with a blue skintone on her (and likely will do the same with all my nephilim).  I haven't really done any skin tones other than my usual 'bronzed flesh' recipe and I really liked the look of the Lilitu art in the Rising Powers book, so I decided to try this out.  The base colour is a mix of regal blue and codex gray, then highlighted with multiple layers adding in a bit more white each time.  Finally I added a few light washes of asurman blue and badab black. 

Now to figure out what colours to put on the rest of her....

WFB OFCC 2011

Whew, well real life caught up to me after Walpurgis Night.  I've had a bit of hobby time but not much in the way of painting progress.  I'll likely be diving back into the Neverborn as I have many new minions and two new masters (Dreamer and Lilith) to join forces with my Pandora crew.

This coming weekend I'll be heading down to Vancouver, WA for the 2011 Warhammer Fantasy Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge.  Haven't played much Fantasy in the past year, I could count the number of games of 8th edition on two hands and without using all the fingers, and haven't played at all within the last 6 months.  Still, I've been heading down to OFCC for many many years and I'm still excited to go just for a weekend of gaming with all the great people I've met across the Pacific NW.  Outside the WFB tournament there will be much open gaming to be had, so I'll be looking to get some games of Malifaux in as well as some board game action.  Recap to come hopefully by next week, along with some more frequent updates if Fate serves me well!

Walpurgis Night Tournament

The Walpurgis Night tournament, 'The Strange Case of Phineas Tillinghast', a 2-day Malifaux tournament in Bellingham this past weekend was, in a word, awesome.  

As advertised, the tournament was organized in the narrative style; the story begins with word of a man named Tillinghast who has made a name for himself as being able to predict when and where a Lesser Breach to Earth would form and has used this ability to get rich by selling his services to those looking to avoid guild tariffs.  Each scenario was a step along the path to discover where he was.  There was a multi-paragraph story to open the tournament package, and a few more paragraphs to set the stage for each game. I've included a very short summation of the plot with my game overviews below, but the full story was very cool indeed!  I'll try and provide a link to the tournament package later the organizer to posts it.

I have included a few photos with the blog, each taken during the game played or a photo of the opposing crew taken afterward.  I took many more and you can see them at http://photobucket.com/Mach_5.

Round 1 – A Gentle Introduction

Story: You have found a lead on where you might be able to find Tillinghast, though you discover a rival also has this information, you must kill them all before seeking Tillinghast!

25ss vs. Perdita (Chris; BrotherSir)

Strategy: Shared Slaughter

Nicodem: Hold Out, Kill Protégé (Santiago)

Perdita: Kill Protégé (Crooked Man 1), Grudge (Crooked Man 2)

This game was what it said on the box, a slaughter fest!  Perdita shot and cleaved her way through a number of undead minions in this game, not the least of which was a Rogue Necromancy.  Perdita earned 1 strategy VP for killing more than me, but not more than double.  I earned a strategy bonus point for bringing his crew below half its starting SS size.  Both of us accomplished both schemes.

Result:  5-5 tie.

Round 2 – On the Trail of Tillinghast

Story: You have prepared an expedition to head out into the wilds in search of Phineas Tillinghast.  Other rivals have also set out, so you decide to try a little sabotage their expeditions...

30ss vs Sonnia (Evan; stark1261)

Strategy: Shared Supply Wagon

Nicodem: Assassinate, Breakthrough

Sonnia: Steal Relic, Breakthrough

I’m uncertain how we failed to get past I think it was turn 3 in this game; it didn’t seem to either of us that we had played slowly, but it resulted in neither of us achieving much of anything.  Lots of shooting and magic happened back and forth, not much combat (though Nicodem managed to paralyze the executioner and subsequently it was killed by a few mangy dogs, huzzah!).  Both players earned 1 strategy bonus vp for an undamaged wagon at the end of the encounter.  Neither player completed any schemes.

Result: 1-1 tie.

Round 3 – The Remains of the Camp

Story: You arrive at Tillinghast's abandoned camp.  As you look for clues as to what happened, and where Tillinghast went, you discover a rival crew also attempting to discover this information...

45ss vs Rasputina (Matt, goblyn13)

Strategy:  Adapted from a story encounter by Drew Littell

Nicodem: Grudge (Ice Gamin), Stake a Claim

Rasputina: Steal Relic, Frame for Murder (?)

Strategy was basically to (1)Interact with one of the four objectives in the middle of the board each turn and flip to see if you find a ‘clue counter’.  A player with 3+ clue counters at the end of the game scores 3vp, the player with the most scores +1.   Highlight of the game for me was when the Dead Rider used mounted combat to get by Rasputina’s minion bunker, strike her, and then drag her out and away from most of her support.  She died a turn or two later.  Both of us managed to find 2 counters, so neither got any strategy points.  Nicodem managed only to complete the grudge by killing the gamin, and no other schemes were achieves by either player.  I was a little indecisive with the movement of a few models at key moments, which resulted in no minions able to Stake a Claim though it should have been an easy scheme.  

Result: 2-0 Win!

Round 4 – Into the Breach

Story: You have found notes in Tillinghast's camp telling of a device called the Resonator, which allowed him to know when and where a Breach would form.  Along with the notes, you find a map marking a stable lesser breach nearby.

25ss vs Sonnia (Ronald; Requiemofthewolf/Dark Alleycat/?)

Strategy: Modified Shared Claim Jump

Nicodem: Bodyguard, +2ss

Sonnia: Kill Protégé, +2ss

Fate smiled on Nicodem this game.  A handful of high-crows most rounds and seemingly endless flips of 10+ for anything remotely important to me. Strategy was a modified claim jump (players with full strategy VPs last round got their first Interact action as a (1) instead of a (2)).  The game was an absolute bloodbath, though IIRC by the end of turn 4 only Nicodem, a belle, a witchling stalker, and a large mound of corpse counters remained.  Turn 5 saw the belle and 3 new punk zombies standing atop the Lesser Breach. 

Nicodem scored 4 strategy VP (2 for more models in the breach than the opponent, +2 for the opponent having non), and 2VP for Bodyguard.  Sonnia was successful at Kill Protégé.

Result: 6-2 Win!

Looking through my photos I see I have failed to get any photos of the game!  It was late, and perhaps I was a tad hungry, and my brain melting, though its a shame, there were certainly some chances for some shots of epic scraps in this game.

It should be noted that due to my rather extreme luck that game, we decided to have a rematch after-hours with the same schemes/setup.  The game culminated with both crews hovering close-by the breach and Sonnia having used her ‘if I die I explode’ ability.  Well, she died, and oh man did she ever explode- IIRC killing all the remaining guild models and all but one of Nicodem`s crew.  Result of the second game was I think a 2-0 win for Nicodem. 

Round 5 – Tillinghast’s Refuge

Story: Coming through the lesser breach, you are disoriented and your soulstones feel muted and distant.  To locate Tillinghast, you must spread out adn search the area...

35ss vs Perdita (Andy, Android)

Strategy: Modified Shared Reconnoiter (SS could not be used except if a model has a spell or talent requiring its use and for re-flipping initiative; no healing/preventing, no boosting duels, etc)

Nicodem: Eye for an Eye, Surrounded by Death

Perdita: Steal Relic, Family Justice

We ended up with 3 disputed table quarters and the third controlled by Perdita (+1VP). Nicodem accomplished his Eye for an Eye scheme (+2VP) while Perdita managed to Steal the Relic from Nicodem- while surrounded by just about his entire crew (+2VP).  Perdita is a scary, normally if I manage to surround a master with Bolstered undead, eventually their hits start to go through and the master goes down before too long.  Instead, after Perdita walked herself into that trap she proceeded to survive there the rest of the game all the while picking off more of my minions each turn.  My critical error I think in this game was using the only 9+ crow I drew all game long to try and hit Perdita with the dead rider (attempting to drag her in amongst my crew to have their way with her).  The attempt failed and the dead rider was shot dead by Francisco (?), Perdita strolled into the trap I had planned anyway, and I never got another card that could have been used to summon anything (Rogue Necromancy would have been easy with so many corpse counters about).

Result: 3-2 Loss!

Round 6 – The Secret of the Resonator

Story: You discover what's left of Tillinghast.  His body intact, but his mind shattered. As you attempt to bring him back through the breach with you, he is torn apart by some invisible beast.  At least the resonator is still intact, if you can bring it back with you...

45ss vs Rasputina (Tony, tpenksa)

Strategy: Modified Shared Treasure Hunt (A large monster guards the Resonator ‘treasure’, can be controlled once per turn per player at the cost of a ss, and otherwise charge toward the resonator (or the one who carries it) and damage all in its path.

Nicodem: Steal Relic, +2ss

Rasputina: Grudge (unannounced), +2ss

I managed to gain control of the resonator early; with a necropunk leaping onto it and spending it’s 2AP to pick it up.  It was killed but used its slow to die action to drag the resonator a short distance toward my deployment zone.  A drawn out fight took place in the center of the board, Nicodem’s Fog barely managing to keep Raspy’s blasts from getting into the bulk of his crew, while raised minions held off the rest of the ice witch’s forces.  As time was called a crooked man held the resonator and was running towards my deployment zone, but failed to arrive ‘completely within’ the deployment zone so I achieved +2 VP for the scenario.  Rasputina achieved her Grudge (against Bete Noir) in the last turn, but only gained 1VP since the scheme was unannounced.

Result: 2-1 Win!

Overall, the tournament was a resounding success in my eyes, and I can't wait until the next one!  The narrative added a lot to the feel of each scenario and the tournament as a whole.  There were a goodly number of jaw-droppingly beautiful crews in attendance.  The players were all awesome, many whom I know from past Warhammer tournaments, but I still managed to meet 5 new players in my 6 games, with great sportsmanship all around.  The swag bags were awesome; laser-etched wooden tokens for corpse/scrap counters and scenario objective markers, a custom-sculpted Tillinghast Beast, 3 sculpted objective markers, and one F-ing sweet custom Malifaux Fate deck.  These things combined should have cost far more than the entry for the tournament, but JMGraham and the Bellingham Warhamsters worked their magic to give it all to each player for free.  On top of this, the prize table was very nice as well; two crew boxes (I believe it was C.Hoffman and Marcus?), a bundle of 4 friekorps clamshells, and a plethora of other clamshells; everyone got something, and I snagged a very nice Miss Pack!  

I'm sure I'm forgetting half the things that made the tournament awesome.  At the end of the day, it was a well run and fun event with lots of great people in attendance. 

2 days to Walpurgis Night

Here's a quick recap of what I'm bringing along with me (looks like I`ll have everything complete before I leave Saturday morning!)
50ss Pool:
Nicodem
Mortimer
Bete Noir
Crooked Men x2
Rotten Belle
Canine Remains x4
Grave Spirit - base needs painting
Necropunk - 95% painted
Dead Rider - 95% painted
//-- 13 models, Exactly 50ss

And summonables:
Rogue Necromancy
Punk Zombies x3
Rotten Belle x2
Crooked Man
Mindless Zombies (9)
Necropunk x2 - 95% painted

It is a 5 game tournament with scenarios ranging from 25ss to 45ss, the core crew I hire pretty much regardless of game size will be something like Nicodem, Grave Spirit, Crooked Man, Rotten Belle, and 2x canine remains (13ss) with the rest filled in based on schemes/strategies.  For objectives requiring speed I will try bringing in the Rider and Necropunk.  Killy-objectives will likely see Bete Noire make an appearance.  I'm also a big fan of massively outnumbering an opponent, so there will be games where Bete and the Rider are both sitting out and watching while I spam low-cost Bolstered minions.  The models I have available to summon should also give me some flexibility to augment my forces as necessary mid-game.  I don't expect to be in the top tier, as I really have not had much time to play lately, but hope to put on a good showing regardless. 

I nearly forgot to make up a card for my Rogue Necromancy, here's the front:  

Wish me luck!  I'll be getting pics from the tournament and a rundown of each game, hopefully will have the writeup posted by the end of next week.

Countdown to Walpurgis Night

With the Walpurgis Night tournament looming just two weeks away, I have 5 models to finish painting.  The Dead Rider (proxy) and three necropunks are already under way.  It's a shame this will likely be the only tournament this Dead Rider attends, what with the new Wyrd miniature coming out soon after. 

I've continued the use of the green and red colours from the belles to tie them a little tighter into the crew (my crooked men are sporting blue miners outfits a la Zoolander).  I'm partway done the flesh tones on all four, and everything else is still at least a few highlights from done.   The final model is the Grave Spirit... if I find the time I'll get him done last, if not I have a suitable proxy.

Contest submission complete!

The deadline for the pre-Walpurgis Night Painting Contest II has now passed and I managed to submit the photos of my completed miniatures.  The rules for the 2nd contest allow for two photos; one group shot and another closeup of your choosing.  You'll be seeing these pop up along with the other contestants on the Ordo Fanaticus and Wyrd forums soon.  Vote for me!

Here you see the Belles and Bete leading a horde of mindless zombies and the dreaded Rogue Necromancy.  Fear the undead horde!

And of course a closeup of the completed Rotten Belles and Bete Noire.

This was my submission for the 1st contest.  Lighting was set up differently so it might be hard to see but I wanted to show that at first I was trying to match the colouring on the old bases, but with a slightly different approach arrived at a much different outcome, one that I like quite a bit more.  So, I've decided I must now go back and repaint the bases on the old models.  *Sigh*.  One more thing to add to the list!

Almost There...

Just have the eyes and bases left, really happy with the turnout overall. 

Being sick is good...

... for production.  Stayed home sick yesterday, and managed to finish off the red dress and the flesh on all three Belles (the green and blue I had finished last week but never got around to posting).  I'm happy with the result of the flesh colour on all three; I used GW Rotting Flesh shaded with GW green + black washes, and then highlighted up to about a 50/50 mix of rotting flesh/white.

I'm really pleased with the blue and green dresses, but the red I was only happy enough to call it done.  Too much more highlighting and it'd be looking more orange and I definitely didn't want that.  Red's a tricky colour to work with I find. 

I like a unifying colour scheme in models but wanted the Belles each to have a distinctly different colour dress, so in this case everything else on the models will be their 'uniform', so hair, boots, gloves, jewelery, etc will all be the same for all three.  Probably will be a lot of black and white in all that, though won't really settle on specifics until I get the brush in hand ready to go.

Bete Noire you can see hiding in the background there.  Her flesh is done, I quite like her pasty white skin tone.  The rest I think I will leave mostly black, with faint highlights in grey (her dress), brown (accessories), and perhaps red accents to give her a very dark, muted look. 

T-minus 15 Days

Well, its been about a month since my last post.  I've had a cold, my wife's had a cold, my daughter's had a cold and I've now got a cold again.  It seems to be a vicious cycle being a parent.  Doesn't help that I work outside most days I suppose. 

I've managed to get a little more work done on Nicodem's crew.  I finished assembling and primered the bases.  Removed the old and attached the new bases on my warhammer zombies (mindless zombies), varghulf (rogue necromancy), and vampire chick (bete noire... not exactly sure where the model came from, but she fits right in with the belles).  Also got a base coat on the belles dresses.

With just two weeks to go until the second pre-Walpurgis Night tournament painting contest, I hope to finish the three rotten belles and Bete Noire, though in a pinch I'll blast off the bases and submit the zombies and varghulf (a token submission if it comes to that, IMO they are far from my nicest works). 

That gives me until April 30, the Walpurgis Night tournament, to finish the Dead Rider, 3x Necropunks, and Grave Spirit.

Crunch Time...

I was really hoping to get a little more work in on my Neverborn before returning to my Resurrectionists, which will need to be finished for the Walpurgis Night Malifaux Tournament on April 30/May1. 

However, the Bellingham Warhamsters (the excellent hosts of the aforementioned tournament) are also running not one but two painting competitions for those planning to attend the tournament.  Entries must include models that will be used during the tournament (1 master + the 50ss pool + any summoned models).  The first competition entries are due Feb 28th, the second on March 31.  Not 100% set on my 50ss pool, but here's what I'm thinking so far:

50ss Pool:
Nicodem
Mortimer
Crooked Men x2
Canine Remains x4
Grave Spirit - Unpainted
Rotten Belle - Unpainted
Necropunk - Unpainted
Dead Rider - Proxy, Unpainted
Bete Noir - Proxy, Unpainted
//-- 13 models, Exactly 50ss

And summon-ables:
Punk Zombies x3
Crooked Man
Mindless Zombies (Lots) - Need re-basing.
Rogue Necromancy - Proxy, Painted, needs re-basing
Rotten Belle x2 - Unpainted
Necropunk x2 - Unpainted

So I've a long way to go.  There's a good selection already finished which will be my entry into the first painting contest:

This gives me less than 1.5 months to get ready for the 2nd contest. Progress is listed above, I'm hoping to get at least half of the remaining models completed for the 2nd contest.  Here's my work in progress as of today:

Progress!

I've managed to find a very little time to work on Pandora and her crew recently.  Gotta get these done so I can go back and finish up more Resurrectionists for the Walpurgis Night Malifaux GT in Bellingham, WA.  More on that later.

Here of course is Pandora herself.  Still need to paint the belt, add a little more highlight/shade to the box, and dot the eyes.  The light has washed out the whites quite a bit, hopefully one day I'll figure out a better setup for taking photos (yes I know, direct lighting is bad, but its all I got!).

Next up is Kade.  He's almost there, just a little work on the knife and the dots on the eyes.  Ended up adding some purple patches to his teddy and green stitching.  I like how this guy turned out.

And finally Candy.  Scissors, basket, and dot the eyes (man I hope I don't
f-up all these eyes...).

Happy New Year!

No posts in a while, my time has been usurped lately by my new baby boy born Dec 17, 2010.  Ok, I've also been playing a bit of Blood Bowl online and Starcraft II.  Got may projects still on the go, and even more ideas percolating every day.  These aren't new years resolutions, just stuff I'd like to get done sometime in the not-too-distant future:

-Finish the models I've started for Pandora's crew.
-Finish the bases to complete Rasputina's crew (and paint/finish the Silent One miniature I have on order).
-Build some terrain for playing Malifaux at home.

With Pandora and Rasputina and their crews finished, I'll have three sizable crews finished from three different factions (third being Nicodem, already complete).  There are still many models I've picked up to expand on these three forces/additional masters to try out (Seamus & co, Dreamer, Lelu & Lilitu, Molemen, Necropunks, etc...).

As for the table, I'm thinking of a December themed board inspired by this board.  The plan is to have three levels of playable area, perhaps six to seven large ice blocks like those in the link which take up most of the board (level 2).  These would be broken up by narrow crevasses/canyons zig-zaggin' all over (level 1). Capping the level 2 blocks would be modular terrain elements and a few higher level 3 hills.  Of course, there needs to be a bunch of bridges connecting the various level 2 areas.  Levels would be 2 inches tall to provide lots of potential cover.  Ambitious?  Yes.  Hopefully I'll make it happen, it'll be easier to find time for a game now and again when it doesn't always involve leaving my newborn and not-quite-two year old at home with the wife. ;)