Model Review: Karchev & Deathjack Boss Fight Expansion

Today we take a look at Karchev & Deathjack Boss Fight Expansion. They are a Fighter - Specialist dual class hero and also an alternate Riot Quest game mode. In Warmachine they are a Cryx and Khador Warcaster.

The model comes in 14 parts, 6 of which are resin. There is also the rules for the boss fight game mode and the card deck which enables play.

The upper torso is a very large resin piece which has lovely crisp detail.

On the underside of the shoulder armour you can see a circular resin injection area. I cut this away as cleanly as I could, it will be covered by the next part of the shoulder so it's not a big deal if you make a rough job of it. Great placement by the production team!

The back looks amazing! It really gives a sense of flexibility in its "spine" showing it to be a much more menacing mechanical monster than a normal Warjack.

Slight mould line down this side of the body, I scrapped it with the side of a hobby knife and it removed it from the places which would not be covered by other parts.

I was surprised to see the smoke stacks are part of the main body, especially given that they flare out as they rise up. They are nicely cast.

This is the bottom of the hip joint which has a large resin injection point, which needed cleaning up. It's a flat surface that will be on the underside of the model so it's another great placement.
There is also one on either side of the hip area on the lower side of the torso, these were a little trickier to remove but again they are on the underside so not too bad!

The shoulders with the "skulls of hate" on them are identical which is fine and they are well cast.

Resin injection ports are on the side which attaches to the torso which is perfect.

The claw hand is a very nicely detailed part with quite a lot of spikey parts which I imagine makes it hard to cast in resin but they managed it. This is the part with the trickiest to remove resin injection areas but they are still on flattish parts which makes it easy enough.

This round dent is where the hand attaches to the metal upper arm part, which allows for a lot of posing options.

One of the fingers/claws does need attaching though. 

This is the hand and shaft for the axe. I do recommend pinning as many of these parts as possible to ensure the model will stay together long-term during play.

The forearm for the axe-holding arm, again amazing spikes for a resin part.

The legs are both metal which is a fine choice to give stability and lower the model's centre of gravity. I pinned these to the hip area.

Karchev's torso... that poor bastard!

These are the upper arm parts. They allow for a wide choice of posing but don't stay on well enough just glueing them (I tried just to see how stable they would be) pinning them is the best option.

And where would a Warmachine model be without its crotch armour? 

The axe head is my least favourite part of this model, though that doesn't mean it's particularly bad, it's just the rest of the model is much better. Notice the "bridge" between the left and right side at the top? That needs to be removed. The resin injection areas on this are on nice flat surfaces so no complaints there.

And here it is fully assembled

Here is a scale shot with Professor Pendrake

His fellow boss fight model Malvin & Mayhem (who are way too small)

Here with some Cygnar heavy Warjacks

I think that this is a simply fantastic mini and everything Malvin and Mayhem should have been. 

If you like Riot Quest at all you should pick this model up as the boss fight is a great option to have. Having different ways to use your minis and differing game models is a fantastic idea, so this is a top buy for me.

Now for some news regarding my model reviews... this will be the last review I do of a "new" model from Privateer Press. This is partly why this review has taken me so long to finish as I've been struggling with it as a choice and as such - putting this review off for emotional reasons. 

This comes from a combination of factors which are a bit off-topic for this review and I will cover them in more depth in another article (which I'm struggling to write...)

If you want to support my content consider taking a look at my Patreon which you can find here. I don't put any content behind a paywall but I do offer rewards to people who support me in ways like getting to vote on what content I work on in the future or outright just picking the next subject of an article as well as some wip content.

Even if it's just $1 it really helps me out!

See you all next time!

Paint an IKRPG Party & Monster Competition Entry

Here is my entry into the Warmachine and Hordes Painting group on Facebooks, competition.
The goal was to paint a party of 3-6 adventurers and a "monster" for them to fight.
As I have been GMing the IKRPG on twitch for some time now (my channel here) I figured it would be a neat idea to convert the party, The Grey Lanterns and paint them for this competition! 
In the spirit of the Kickstarter which was running at the time I added some "stretch goals" which I would complete if I had time. 

If you want to see how I converted these models you can find the work in progress posts here to get yourself all caught up!

The initial pledge

Sculpting and converting post 1

Sculpting and converting post 2

Sculpting and converting post 3

So here are the party in all their glory!

And here with the "monster" they have to fight.

Here are the collected "bad guys" 

Konstantine is the leader of the group. I wanted to paint him to match his players Khador army but with the armour plates repainted to be the "Grey Lanterns" grey to match the rest of the party. In game he is wearing his old Winter Guard armour repainted so this worked out perfectly.

Sculpting the Grey Lanterns logo onto his shoulder armour was quite a challenge for me but I'm glad I tried. I believe you never get better at something unless you try!

Hodgepodge is the parties Warjack, he is older than anyone knows and ferociously protective of the party. Armed with an axe and upgraded with a heavy boiler and cargo netting.

He is Jack Marshalled by Konstantine.

Adding weathering effects to the boiler was a lot of fun, I'm glad I bothered converting his boiler to match his in game upgrades.

Murtagh is a Cutthroat represented by a member of Croes Cutthroats also from the Undercity board game. He was by far the simplest paint job, but being understated and going beneath notice is what Murtagh is all about! 

Adeld is a Thamarite Advocate represented by the "Draegyn" mini from the Undercity board game.

I really debated whether of not to paint his eyes glowing green as I do for other Thamarite magic users. (As he hides that side of himself) but in the end I decided that this represents him going "all out" against the big bad and to hell with the cost!

Joston is a Trencher Express team/scout and is represented by a conversion which I'm really pleased with. Though I was unable to figure out how to make a holstered express gun that looked good I still feel this captures the sprit of Joston nicely.

His Grey Lanterns logo was a bit easier to sculpt, being slightly larger than Konstantines.

Balasar is a Urban Kriel warrior, currently in possession of an Orgoth shield! This conversion is based off a Trollbloods Warder. He was a lot of fun to paint especially adding weathering effects like verdigris to the bronze shield to help show its age. I also added a green glowing effect to the runes to show its power. It still has some power after all the years...

This will be the "monster" they will be fighting. Currently the party just call it "3 head" or "the 3 headed thing" as they don't know its name. What they do know is that it is some sort of Cryxian monstrosity which has the souls of 3 brothers who used to own and lead the mercenary company the party are in....

This first head (above) is the oldest brother Gervin Sheridan, who fell to cryx years ago, when the Grey Lanterns (which used to be a much bigger mercenary company) was hired to aid in Vinters invasion of the Cryx islands. He was missing presumed dead during the invasions... turns out he didn't stay dead... 

Lorgan Sheridan was the middle brother. He led the Grey Lanterns after his older brother went missing for years before falling in battle in an engagement which was later revealed to have been set up by Gervin. His soul collected by Gervins agents and added to his form. Gervin broke his soul and bound him in servitude. 

Finally the youngest brother Ryleigh Sheridan. At the start of the campaign he was the parties employer, being the only surviving member of his household the long standing owners of the Grey Lanterns. Gervin had sown lies and misinformation about his younger brother to make his reputation one of a coward. He died at the hands of the party leader Konstantine in a duel of honour. Gervin's agent collected his soul and the twisted triumvirate was complete.
Ryleigh would not prove so simple to break however and attempts to assert control or hold back his elder brother each time the party encounter the Lich.

His soul strains to break free of the bonds his brother placed on him.

As stretch goal one I painted up a light Warjack for the big bad! He is quite the spell caster so this makes him even more lethal! It actually painted up quite quickly, I copied the colour scheme I used to paint Gurglepox's Jack. (You can see him here)

The big bad often would throw hordes of undead against the party, often using Brute Thralls like this as mini bosses to protect important sites.

It was a lot of fun to paint up some rotting undead for a change, typically I've mainly painted Cygnar all these years.

Among his minions he has a Necro surgeon who keeps him supplied with Thralls, the Stitch Thralls sneak around Five Finger in the black of night collecting alleyway murder victims and other unfortunates...

The Bile Thralls are not often employed openly outside of Gervin's many bases and lairs... they tend to attract too much attention. They are very effective at their job though...

The shock troops of Gervin's force they are sent out to kill or be killed with little thought for their survival...

So what do you think of my entry into the competition? I'm really happy to have them all painted finally, though they were a project I always wanted to do the competition spurred me on to finish them! 

If you want to support my content consider taking a look at my Patreon which you can find here. I don't put any content behind a paywall but I do offer rewards to people who support me in ways like getting to vote on what content I work on in the future or outright just picking the next subject of an article.

See you all next time!