The Bushwackers Boxed Set
Publisher: Wyrd Games
Cost: $45
Release Date: 11/20/2015
Gte it Here: Wyrd Games
So I’ve done two other Malifaux unboxings recently and I’ve come to one big conclusion – the models for this game look quite nice, but putting them together is annoying, stressful and at times, rage inducing. With Lucky Effigy, it was just the feet. With Explosive Solutions, two of the lightning bugs were merely annoying. With this boxed set however, I can honestly say I nearly swore off anything having to do with Malifaux again, and two of the miniatures are easily the worst I have ever out together out of any figures for any line, from Warhammer to ShadowSea. I told myself that if I ever had even a single figure in either of the two other sets I still have to put together (Crossroads Seven and Smoke and Mirrors) that I was washing my hands of Wyrd and its products. Lucky for them, Collete’s crew has been really easy. I have a feeling Envy and Pride from Crossroads Seven will be it for me though. Here’s hoping it turns out to be otherwise.
Anyway, let’s look at The Bushwackers and show you what fresh hell you are in for with these figures.
The front of the box. Yay for hillbilly gremlins!
The back of the box. Here you can see how all six figures are supposed to look with computer generations. They… don’t turn out this way.
Here are all the sprues, bases and cards. As you can see, some of these guys have more parts than my Stormcast Eternal Knight Azyros… who is three times the size of a gremlin. So this gives you an idea of the complexity and itty bitty parts on these guys.
First up is Little Lass. She’s only four parts but is especially tiny, even for a Gremlin.
Here is all of Little Lass’ parts cut out. Everything about her is creepy.
Here is Little Lass all put together. She’s nicely detailed, although due to her size, painting where she and the teddy bear are one is going to be a bitch of blending. This piece was super easy to put together. No gaps, everything fit as it should and due to the low piece count, this was over in about a minute. A good start to what would eventually be my most hated set of minis ever.
Next up is Trixibelle. She’s the Daisy Duke of the Gremlins, which is creepy to think about. The other Gremlins I’ve seen in the past are funny. These are more like the Steven Spielberg film mixed with Deliverance.
Here is all of Trixibelle’s parts cut out. Again, another four piece figure, which is nice. The bending over angle made putting this together a little odder than usual, but nothing truly bad.
Here you go T&A fans. Trixibelle is complete and she’s all boobs and butt. Yet somehow I don’t imagine any of you are having sexual thoughts towards this young lady. As you can see from the photo, the parts don’t fully line up and there’s a gap between the two parts of the left arm. This is nothing compared to what else awaits this boxed set, and so, while this piece was still mostly easy to put together, this is also the start of the production flaws and bad design inherent in this terrible set.
This is the leader of the box, Mah Tucket. She’s quite big for a gremlin.
Here are all ten parts of Mah Tucket removed for their sprue and ready for glue. Again, not the hardest piece in the world to put together, but definitely not a fun one. Here we really see how Wyrd likes to make things far more difficult for the modeler than other companies. If any other company had made this model, it would be half the parts we have here and things would go together far easier. You want to do the body first, then slide in the legs and then to the hat before finally moving on to the arms. This is one of those pieces where Wyrd probably should have given instructions, because you absolutely have to do the body before the legs or the pieces simply won’t go together.
Here is the finished Mah Tucket. It’s a terrible picture, but the iPhone really hates the grey plastic Wyrd uses. As you can see, the piece looks good when finally put together and the glue is drying, but be sure to hold onto the arms while they dry. There’s no actual secure spot for them, so if you don’t, they can and will slide around as the glue dries. So far the pieces in the set have been decent. Not great, but also not as hard as some other Wyrd models. All that is about to change though, with…
These are the Bayou Bushwackers. Two have them have thirteen pieces. Yes, you read that right. For tiny little Gremlins. Yes, Wyrd is completely insane and seems to hate its customers. I’ve learned that the hard way the past few months after trying to put these guys together. Yes, the figures could have easily been done with half the parts and the same amount of detail. No, I don’t know why Wyrd does this. No one I’ve talked to, even the biggest Malifaux fans I know, understand it or even like it. Yet, they keep doing it. I warn you, two of these are not fun to put together at all and are enough to make me scream to the heavens for anyone reading this to NOT purchase this set when it comes out in a few months. It is that bad.
Here are all three Bushwackers put together. The one on the left was the easiest, although the head did not want to go on at all, but was otherwise stress-free. The other two… holy hell, just look at them. With the middle one you can see a large gap in the head where the two pieces just simply don’t go together. The arms were multiple pieces instead of one piece, which is down right asinine, and nothing lined up at all. The piece on the far right is just one botched piece of plastic. The multi-piece arms (again, something that shouldn’t be unless you are a figure much larger than these), make it so that it can’t even sit up properly due to the pieces not being even or lining up. You can see the one leg just hovering in the air. I eventually would go back and pin it down, but this simply shouldn’t happen. It’s like no one actually checked for quality control or feasibility of this sculpt! The bird had to go on the hat backwards because the slot for it was reversed, the feathers didn’t go where they were supposed to and the arms were too damn long for the actual pose. In this figure, the Gremlin should be looking down the barrel of the rifle aiming. Obviously that isn’t possible. This was just terrible in every way possible, and I was screaming for the blood of the sculptor with this one. These two Bushwackers are easily the worst miniatures I’ve ever had the sorry misfortune of putting together, and Wyrd has earned my enmity for these. They are that bad. If we gave out “Worst XYZ” awards at the end of the year, these two sculpts would take winner and first runner up for sure. For shame Wyrd Miniatures, for shame.
Again, do not buy this set just for these two pieces. They alone ruin the overall quality of the boxed set, which was mediocre to decent before I had to deal with these two. Ugh ugh ugh. Let’s move on.
Here is a close of up the super shitty gremlin I ranted about in the last picture. I had to put the feathers on the outside of the arm rather than the inside because the space for them simply didn’t exist like it was supposed to. You can see how uneven the figure is, how the bird had to go in backwards, how it doesn’t sit up properly and how the arms are too damn long for the pose. Just a terrible piece all around.
Here is the easy one of the three Bushwackers. It’s a good pose, although the head still looks like she has a broken neck to me.
Finally, here’s the other terrible gremlin. The legs went in their slot just fine, but one is longer than the other. You can see the large gap in the head I’ll have to green stuff out. You can see the one arm isn’t long enough to actually be against his head for the proper pose. There is nothing good that I can say about this piece save that thank god I am done with it.
Finally, here are all six Bushwackers together. The two in the middle are, AGAIN, the worst miniatures I’ve ever had to put together. Bad sculpts, parts that don’t line up and just a complete lack of common sense or quality control. Maybe I just got two really bad casts, but they were horrible in a way I can’t explain without copious amounts of profanity and rage. The non-Bayou Bushwackers pieces were pretty decent though, although I’m not sure I’ll ever use any of these guys save for Trixibelle with other Goblins. This is just an easy thumbs down/do not buy warning due to two of the six sculpts and the fact there are better, funnier Gremlin options for you, especially those who would rather paint than play. I’m going to be taking a break from anything Malifaux after this and my Performer/Mannequin sculpts I still have to do from the Collette box set. This was bad. Really, really bad. Thankfully, even though Wyrd miniatures are a pain to put together sometimes, nothing I’ve encountered before or after The Bushwackers was this bad to glue together. Stay away. You’ve been warned.
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