Unboxing Malifaux - Marlena Webster

"Teddy, Help!"

The Marlena Webster box contains enough parts for one miniature...namely Marlena Webster. It also contains a stat card for her though there are no upgrade cards.

Marlena Webster

The past year has not been kind to Marlena. As soon as she arrived in Malifaux, she and her parents were attacked by Witchling Stalkers. She fled from the train station with the hunched creatures right behind her, and she would surely have perished were it not for the huge teddy bear that appeared from nowhere to murder the Stalkers.

Her stuffed protector perished in the battle, but with the assistance of a strange benefactor, Marlena was able to sew the unburned pieces of the teddy bear back together, restoring it to life.

Separated from her parents, she was eventually found and taken to Leveticus. He calls it an "adoption". Marlena calls it a "kidnapping".

Now forced to "dress like a lady", Marlena is just biding her time until she can find her parents and escape the hell that her life has become.

Marlena Webster - Sprue

The box has one sprue in it split into two pieces (so it actually fits in the box one presumes) as well as the aforementioned cards. Here's pictures of both sides of them and close-ups of the sub-assemblies.

Marlena Webster - Stat Card

Stat cards in the official format can now be downloaded from Wargame Vault for a nominal fee from HERE.

Should there be any assembly issues with the model then they will be listed in the appropriate section and you can view larger versions of the smaller pictures or instruction pictures by clicking on them.

Marlena Webster - Instructions

Some General Notes on Assembly

Many of these models contain quite small parts so depending on how dexterous you are you might consider getting yourself some tweezers. Dry-fitting is also always a good idea in case a part needs a tiny bit of extra filing or filling as some of the fits are quite tight. Where the parts on the sprue are quite thin (chains, weapon shafts, cables and the like) then it might be better to remove parts with a sharp scalpel rather than cutters.

Additionally...my own assembly notes are written as I go along so I'd suggest reading them all the way through before starting the assembly process.

Marlena Webster - Assembled

The 'Teddy' is fairly simple. Four large parts make up the body to which the legs and arms attach into appropriate recesses. Marlena is a bit trickier...

Marlena consists of a main body with a separate skirt piece to which a lot of twiddly delicate pieces are attached (attached to the body I mean...not the extra skirt piece). These include a number of delicate ribbons and bows, thin legs and the back of her head. All these small parts need delicate handling due to their thickness (or lack thereof) and overall size. The instructions say to fully assemble Marlena before attaching her to the teddy as several parts are impossible to attach if you put her body on the teddy first such as the skirt piece and her arms. Though doing it this way is fine you can in fact add most of the bits with the exception of the aforementioned skirt and arms with her main body attached to teddies back.

The ribbons attach into gaps under the arms created when the folded arms are added to the body but it isn't a particularly large attachment point and they will go in at different angles than those indicated on the picture. This isn't an issue really unless you're a perfectionist or some-one writing an assembly article where people expect you to have put things where they're meant to go. I'd also recommend adding the hair and hair ribbon before adding the side ribbons as they get in the way if added first.

Gnomezilla in the comments section has made some additional points - "You can temporarily set Marlena into place on the teddy and assemble her that way, if you’re worried about her limbs not fitting afterward (as I was). The crossed arms can be manoeuvred under her chin and over tiny teddy’s head, but it is tricky. Then she can be pulled off again and painted separately."

Marlena Webster - Rotational Views

Here's a rotational view...

Thoughts and comments are (as usual) most welcome.

I purchase my miniatures from Leodis Games (Link Below) and can highly recommend them.

Should you ever choose to purchase something based on one of my features or reviews then it would be nice if you could let the company know where the inspiration came from...who knows...they might be grateful to the poor unappreciated blogger who sent you their way...if however I've put you off a product...well...you can keep that info to yourself...