Unboxing Malifaux - Hoffman's 'Of Metal and Flesh' Starter Box

The whole is better than the sum of it's parts...especially if some of those parts are magical...

Editors Note - As this is a crew unboxing feature it's VERY picture heavy...you have been warned...

This is the 'Black Friday' version...I'm guessing that the retail one will have the usual model renders on the rear...

...Like this...

The 'Of Metal and Flesh' box contains enough parts for six miniatures...namely C Hoffman, his Mechanical Attendant Totem (2SS), two Hunters (7SS each), A Guardian (8SS) and a Watcher (4SS). It also contains stat cards for each one and nine upgrade cards : four of which are for C Hoffman, one that's for any Consruct and four 'Modification' ones for use with the 'Field Mechanic' Upgrade.

This makes the Soulsstone value of the box...

C Hoffman (0), Mechanical Attendant (2), Watcher (4), Guardian (8) and Hunters (7, 7) Total (28) or (32) with a maximum Soulstone cache and (39) with maximum 'out of the box' upgrades.

The box has two main sprues in it as well as the aforementioned cards...

Note - Though this box contains two 'Hunter' models it only contained one stat card and one base for them. This has been noted already by many people so I would expect Wyrd to have rectified this by the time the full retail version arrives...

Sprues

Stat Cards

Lets have a look at each of these in turn...should there be any assembly issues with any of the models then they will be listed in the appropriate section and you can view larger versions of the smaller pictures by clicking on them.

Here's the 'official' assembly instructions...

C Hoffman

The Sprue

Assembled

The pieces that go over Hoffman's feet are two-part and need to be dry-fitted as they are a tight fit and the two 'pincers' on his back are quite thin and have a relatively small contact area with the model other than that there aren't any significant issues that I found.

Comparison

A Comparison picture between the new plastic and original metal version.

Mechanical Attendant

The Sprue

Assembled

Each of the arm pieces will only really fit in a single location so assembly should be relatively simple even without instructions.

Comparison

Unfortunately the original metal Mechanical Attendant is one of the few Malifaux models that I don't own so here's a comparison picture courtesy of Rb Mans 'Guest' unboxing.  

Guardian

The Sprue

Assembled

Large easy to assemble parts make this one an easy job to put together. The only minor point is that the tubes on the rear align quite precisely with the points on the arms so any attempt to vary the pose will make altering the tubes necessary.

Comparison

A Comparison picture between the new plastic and original metal version.

Hunters

The Sprue

Assembled

Each of the legs will only fit in a particular socket so assembly of the main parts on this one is fairly simple. Points worth noting are the harpoon (on one of the models I managed to snap it but it was easy enough to glue back on) and the two tiny bits of tubing that go between the rear legs. I chose not to attach these myself as they're not particularly visible on the model and I can see them being a pain in the arse when I come to paint the model however at the bottom of this section is a picture courtesy of Rb Man's 'Guest Unboxing' so you can see where he put them.

Hunter 1

Hunter 2

The aforementioned tiny tubes...

Comparison

A Comparison picture between the new plastics and original metal version.

Watcher

The Sprue

Assembled

Be careful when removing the main body from the sprue as those 'arm' pieces are quite thin and there's also a tiny antenna that goes on the back. The body does align with the attachment points on the wings very well so no issues there. There is however another issue (for some people at least) with the model that I'll address after the main pictures...

The model is rather unusually done from a perspective point of view so the one wing seems small in comparison to the other and this has caused some discussion in certain circles as has the over all wingspan of the model when compared to the 30mm base it goes upon. In the comparison picture section I've included a picture of the new plastic version directly in front of the older metal version and as you can see the wingspan is almost identical though it extends to one side rather than evenly. It has been suggested that the issue can be solved by removing a portion of the larger wing but to be honest I don't like the idea of that...

...and another person has come up with this far more elaborate solution (If any-one knows who this was let me know and I'll credit them) but it seems like a lot of unnecessary effort to me, lol.

Comparison

A comparison picture between the new plastic and original metal versions.

Here's a group picture.

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.