-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited May 2017
So after a long Infinity run I got in a game of Malifaux today. Ran Titania against my friends Viktorias, for his... third ever game I think.
I ran
Titania - An Audience with the Queen, Behold my Glory
The Gorar
Barbaros
Aeslin - Taproot
Mysterious Emmisary - Mysterious Conflux
The Thorn
The Claw
My friend took (unsure of upgrades)
Viktoria of Ashes
Viktoria of Blood
Taelor
Johanna
Hans
Ronin
Ronin
Strategy and Schemes
Reckoning
Dig their Graves
Marked for Death
Accusation
Inspection
I took Dig their Graves (Titanias scheme placement makes this really easy) and Mark for Death (since it was going to get bloody). My friend took Marked for Death (same reasoning) and Inspection.
First turn was the usual jockeying for position on both sides. I saw him moving a lot to the center, so my goal was to have Titania and Barbaros cause a trap in the center, with Barbaros using Challenge and Titania using Behold my Glory to hand out She Will End Us All to burn through his hand and stop a lot of actions. Unfortunately I had too much faith in Titanias Impossible to Wound and Hans and Viktoria of Ashes plinked her down below half in the first turn. Next turn I really wanted to stop Johanna flanking me so I activated the Emissary first to drop a Hungry Lands marker (which I could have done at first turn since it was a 0 action) which let Ashes get another turn of plinking at Titania. Second shot on a double negative flip he red jokered, and finished Titania off. Lesson learned - plan your 0 actions. If I put the Hungry Lands marker down turn 1, Titania would have activated first to get some scheme markers down.
I was pretty sad. Her first outing and she went like a chump. But no, this is Malifaux! I gritted my teeth and soldiered on. The Tooth used Challenge of Summer on Ashes, who moved her Cg into The Tooth and got her free swing, doing 2 damage after armour on a double negative damage flip (seriously get used to double negative damage flips against Fae). The Tooth hit Ashes twice, then red jokered the third, taking Ashes down in retaliation. I felt much better! Opponent moved Blood and Taelor up the center, Blood in range of the Student of Conflict who Sisters in Spirited her over the fence. Aeslin hit Blood a couple of times, giving her slow and dropping her to 2 wounds. Johanna braved the Hungry Lands marker and took some damage getting through it.
I got initiative next turn. Aeslin finished off Blood then moved to go after Hans. The Tooth used Challenge of Summer on Taelor to get her close, took the free hit and hit her in return. Barbaros used Marked for Death on Taelor and took her to 1 wound. Emissary finished her off, giving me 2 VP. Johanna moved up and finished off The Tooth, who as also Marked for Death. Second mistake of the game - I used the Gorar to rebirth The Tooth. This gave the opponent a second kill (sacrificed Gorar) for a Reckoning VP. By now we were 3-2 (my opponent got a VP last turn from Inspection). The Claw took out the Student of Conflict with his ranged spear. Turn ended and opponent got a second Inspection VP.
Next turn, Emissary finished off Johanna and Aeslin Marked for Death a Ronin and killed it, giving me 2 more VPs. All my opponent had left was a Ronin (behing cover on the board edge) and Hans. The Claw used Challeng of Winter on Hans to get him close, but failed to kill him. Aeslin moved up to help, but wasn't in range to help finish him before the end of the turn. I needed to flip a 5th turn to kill Hans and the Ronin to draw the game, but it ended. Lost 4-5.
Lessons learned. Don't give up when your master dies like a chump at the start of the game. Also don't give up if you're getting reamed - my friend got crushed on total kills (I only lost Titania and the Gorar) and still won. Also remember good activation order and remember your 0 actions! Titania would have lived longer if I had.
Also, the Autumn Knights are badass. I heard a lot of griping that people would still rather take an Illuminated but these guys are the business. For 7ss they've got some real damage in their attacks, a good opposed Wp lure with good triggers, and for a 7ss minion they're hard as nails with 7 wounds, Armour +1 and Impossible to Wound. Plus their triggers place or work with scheme markers that Titania and Aeslin put down.
-Loki- on
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited May 2017
Wyrd put up a page describing all of the models from wave 1 and 2, with brief descriptions of the tactics around them. At this point, I really wish they'd just release the cards for free. Maybe do a 6 month or 1 year lag to promote sales of the most recent book. Here's the page, click on each faction and scroll past the masters.
However, the art for Nekima is... slightly different to the released mini. Alt Nekima confirmed.
Test print they showed at Adepticon (lots of speculation it was an alt Nekima, now confirmed)
Also the wave 5 open test cards are out. There's some good stuff in there. I'm really exceited for the Neverborn stuff. Hinamatsu is a really awesome thematic beater for Collodi (when he Strums he gets 5 AP! Though 2 are melee only), the Cyclops is like a Teddy-lite for Titania. Bultungin (North African Werehyena myth) is a good glass cannon beater minion. Grootslang looks like a super fun hit and run beater. Adze is a super Will o the Wisp. Serena Bowman, from Divergant Paths, is by far my favorite. Whipping enemies with the black blood from inside other models with the ability. Also she can give 3 Neverborn Minions or Enforcers an upgrade that makes them Nightmares (fun for Dreamer) and gives them From the Shadows. So awesome.
That Nekima model is a huge improvement on the current one.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
I'm a fan of the current plastic Nekima, and this one doesn't really address the key complaint of the current Nekima (the massive decrease in size from 1.5E), but yeah it's a super nice mini.
Like Barbaros I'd be happy to have both in my collection.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited June 2017
Had another game, this time I brought Pandora. A guy in our Infinity group has started Malifaux after over a year of badgering about it, and he picked up Ten Thunders, starting with Misaki. Game was using the book schemes. Turf War, A Line in the Sand, Plant Evidence, Breakthrough, and I forgot the others. I took Breakthrough and one of those that I forgot, he took Plant Evidence and one of those that I forgot.
Misaki (unsure of upgrades, though I know he didn't take either Limited)
Shang
Ototo
Izamu
Katamaka Sniper
Katamaka Sniper
Thunder Brother
Thunder Brother
Game started with the shuffle to the center. He put his snipers on the flanks and did some early damage to Teddy. Pandroa, Widow Weaver, a Sorrow and a Madness took a flank and ganged up on a sniper to kill it. Then they moved to the middle. Insidious Madnesses made a rush for his backline once he had moved up, and spent the game moving about at their stupid fast walk dropping scheme markers. Teddy retreated after being whittled to 3 wounds, then made a rush for the other Sniper to kill it. Izamu and Ototo tried to take the middle but thanks to a few web markers both had abysmal Wp and Pandora killed both over two turns, doing Misery plink damage. Sorrow was focused down by Ototo because my opponent disliked the Misery damage but was still killed by Pandora.
Near the end he had an amazingly good hand and charged Pandora with Misaki. Even when I had a great hand as well - two 13's, a 12 and a Red Joker, I could only draw his onslaught from her at best. He got the Assassination trigger off twice due to having a 13 of Crows and a Red Joker, so I had to throw 4 cards to stop Pandora just being outright killed. By the end, Pandora was on 1W. I set about getting scheme markers down and cleaning up the rest of his crew, putting my hopes on the game ending. It did.
We ended up drawing 9-9, since all 4 turns we both had 2 non-Peons near the middle, and we both got 5 scheme markers down for Breakthrough or Plant Evidence. Overall it was a tough, hard fought game and super fun. This guy was already good at Infinity, and he's showing some real skill with Malifaux after only a few games.
Strange side note. The henchman gave him a game and was teaching him some flat out wrong rules. For example, Companion on Shang. He taught him that chain activating did not take the activation of the model that chain activated. I had to explain to him it did, but the benefit was not giving the opponent an activation between the models and the drawback is potentially giving your opponent an extra uninterrupted activation later. He also taught him that the game ends at turn 3, which I just.... I got nothing. That game he played super aggressive turns 2 and 3 because he thought it ended there. After I showed him it goes to turn 5 with potentially 3 more, he was happy to keep going but annoyed the henchman taught him something else wrong.
Your Henchman sounds horrible. I suppose I'm lucky to have a really active and competitive meta in my area. The guys who won the ITC Trump Card are predominantly from this area and in my meta.
If anyone ever feels like playing a game on vassal let me know, been playing a friend pretty regularly and feeling comfortable with vassal games now.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
There were two guys from the group in for that game, the new guy I played and one of the older regulars. Apparently there's talk of shifting where our group plays and one of us signing up to be henchman. The problems with that are the only places we really have are one of the groups garages, which Wyrd very likely won't accept as a 'venue' for a henchman, or renting out a community hall every month. We've been looking at the second option, but even then it's hard.
The primary issue is yes, he's a bad henchman. I've commented about it on Wyrds forum before and got a personal message from Aaron asking which henchman it is (I mentioned he doesn't use the official prize packs, and Aaron asked who it was because he was wondering why - prize pack access is one of the two only advantages to being a henchman). I didn't feel like naming names because I was under the impression the rest of the group liked him, but now that the rest of the group seems to be as annoyed with him as I am, I might.
Honestly I'd be fine with a bad henchman if he just used the bloody tournament packs. I've got no issue showing up for his tournaments, since I get some games in. What irks me is he doesn't give out Guilders, and the prize packs all contain 1 guilder for each person as a participation award. If I slowly built up guilders I'd be happy.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Monday preview - Guild Monster Hunter! If you haven't seen the card (it's in the open beta rules currently available) they're Minions with the Family keyowrd, making them Ortegas. They're ranged offensive models (who'da thunk it?) that get bonuses against enemies that cost more points than themselves. They apply a condition called 'Stalked' that lets them and other Monster Hunters get free pushes towards those models, and if they do, they get free attacks, and if they kill Stalked enemies, they heal and get card draws.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Another Book 5 Monday preview - Bultungin. These are based on the East African Werehyena myth. Which is fun because it ties into Abyssinia from The Other side. They're also (as per their most recent update) Fae, tying in with Titania. Gameplay mechanics, they're glass cannons. They're really easy to kill. But they've got an Ml 5 single action melee attack and a Ml 6 double action melee attack. If the single action melee attack damage is reduced to prevented in any way (Incorporeal, Armour, soul stone reduction, etc) they have a mask trigger to immediately take the double action attack. They're basically Armour hunters.
They also have an Ability that lets they discard a card any time they get pushed to take the double action melee attack. And they have an ability where if an enemy scheme marker is dropped in LoS, they get a condition that pushes them at the end of the turn, possibly getting a last ditch attack off before the turns end. Plus a zero tactical ability to discard an enemy scheme marker and put the top card from your discard pile back into your hand.
Definitely a 'burns hot and short' type unit.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited June 2017
Few crickets around here these days...
Continuing with the 'I have a terrible henchman', the new guy in our group had a game with the areas other henchman. This guy is a self proclaimed 'Jack Daw Master' (ironically the same guy who I played in the league who is a 'super competitive Lilith master'). His crew was the full Jack Daw box, 2 Hanged and Hans. He then proceeded to tell the new guy that Hans can ignore LoS while shooting, showed him the card for a few seconds, enough to see it vaguely but not understand it, then took it back.
He proceeded to shoot him off the table with Hans firing through buildings and mopping up with the rest of the crew.
Both of these guys are official Henchmen listed through Wyrds website.
I finally got the Titania box, still need to put it together. Now to resist my daughter's call to paint her in pinks since "she looks so pretty! but don't do the blood!"
Of course the box has the bonus alt McMourning. Since I picked her up at the Easter sale, I need to decide what to do with a second one. Maybe I'll paint one as a Guild version and one as a Rezzer version. I've never played McMourning as Guild, so might be good prompting to do that as well.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited June 2017
Titanias box is great to build. All of the models are really characterful, and they're not complex or difficult as has become the standard for Malifaux stiff. There's some really thin parts, like The Claws spear and The Thorns whips, so be careful clipping them off and cleaning mold lines.
Had a game against a friend. He was playing Asami and I was playing Lilith. He was basically using Asamis box, plus a pair of Jorogumo and a pair of Katanaka snipers. I was using Lilith with a pair of Terror Tots, The Thorn, a Rougarou, the Cherub, a Doppleganger, the Mysterious Emmisary and a Wisp (wisp was just to add an extra activation).
I had the worst game. He was drawing killer hands turn after turn, and I was drawing awful hands and flipping equally awfully. Absolutely nothing I did worked. I got a kill or two, but he fairly easily locked me down because I lost about 3/4 of my flips and had nothing to cheat. By mid turn 3 I called the game, which I'm generally loathe to do with Malifaux, since I couldn't get any schemes or the strategy. I wanted to try the Tooth/Rougarou pounce engine, since it can get 10 attacks in a turn using Tooths pushes and the Rougarous pounces, for a minimum of 21 damage. But no. The cards said otherwise.
We ran a quick henchman hardcore since we had the time. He ran Bettari, a Jorogumo and 2 Yokai. I ran Candy, Baby Kade, Iggy and a Doppleganger. This game went much better. Candy shut down the Jorogumo since it activated first in turn 2, and Iggy burned it to the ground with some help from a Doppleganger copying Baby Kades Carving Knife. Iggy then absorbed a wound for Candy after she ate a charge from Bettari, then Baby Kade hit Betteri twice, red jokering the damage on the second attack killing her. Then it was just mop up of the Yokai.
First Malifaux game for ages on Tuesday. Pretty excited so I've been list building already.
Deployment: Standard Deployment (2)
Strategy: Guard the Stash (Crows)
Schemes:
* Claim Jump (Always)
* Dig Their Graves (Crows)
* Accusation! (Masks)
* Recover Evidence (6)
* Tail 'em (10)
And I know my opponent is trying his new Jakob Lynch crew.
I've gone for:
Lucius - Suprisingly Loyal
Scribe
Witchling Thrall
Lawyer
Austringer
Sanctioned Spellcaster
Terracotta Warrior
Field Reporter
Changeling
Guardian
Schemes to be Tail' em and Accusation!
Plan being to pretty much stubbornly hold on and refuse to die while sitting on the objectives and tagging accusations/spotted all over.
Thrall, Lawyer, Guardian and Terracotta Warrior for stubborn refusal to die.
Austringer for push + interacts for accusing.
Spellcaster to counter lures from Beckoners with his (0) action.
Field Reporter to hoover up any enemy scheme markers if he goes for those schemes.
Changeling to be a cheap extra pair of hands and maybe turn the Illumminated's brilliance back on them by stealing their bonus damage.
Reporter and Changelings also manipulative so stick with the hard to attack theme.
Jam Warrior on
+1
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited July 2017
Let us know how the new Lucius plays.
My brother had a gaming night in his garage. There was 5 of us, so not enough for 3 consecutive games, but I got a game in. I decided to run my Gremlins, since I realised I have 5 masters (I got Zipp on the weekend) and I have played them myself once. My friend played more in demo games with them. So they needed some table time.
Since it was in his garage, and we're coming into mid-winter, it was cold. It was dark. And he has inadequate lighting. We had a citronella candle (because apparently he gets mosquitoes when it's 5 celcius?). Malifaux by candlelight in the cold and dark was somewhat very appropriate.
So'mer took a narrow win over Lady J. My nephew learned that while a Bayou Gremlin hitting on Sh 4 with a super low damage track isn't scary, 5 of them are. Especially when after they've done their shooting and wasted his hand, Burt, Raphael and So'mer start shooting.
Also Headhunter is hilarious with Gremlins because so many die you just pick up your own models heads.
In our relatively amateur meta I was perfectly happy with old Lucius, so new Lucius is amazing. Little things like his push on Issue Command and Governor's Authority now having a decent duration make life a lot nicer.
Tweaking the above list, swapped a Changeling for a Watcher. Hoping to shut down any out of sight hidey holes for shedding the Spotted condition.
It went pretty well! I fairly handily scored max so only needed to deny a couple of points for the win. The Guardian and the Thrall were great at just standing by the stash markers and refusing to die and The Watcher was an excellent choice for swooping in at the last minute if a push or pull had left a stash unguarded.
Turns out Lucius' handing out push and interact is great for removing accusations as well as handing them out. I still love the flexibility he gives, where as long as he hasn't activated almost every single model of yours is still a potential threat.
All this despite managing to have Lucius paralyse himself with horror via a terribly timed black joker, and my opponent's end of turn one hand looking like this:
I have yet to face Lucius so I don't know too much about the new Lucius. He is one of the options in this league I'm currently playing though. It's the "Burst of the wurst" league where you have to choose between two faction boxes that are considered the "wurst" dependent on your faction. For Ten Thunders it's Misaki and Yan Lo, and I've been wanting to try Misaki.
My first game was against Zoraida (Neverborn, the other wurst for Neverborn is Lucius). You have to include the whole box and then fill out the rest of the 50SS how ever you like. Strat was Guard the Stash and we both took set-up/claim jump for schemes. Ended up tying 9-9. I had taken Sensei Yu and he just made set up a breeze. Mighty Gust'd markers near Bad Juju (my set-up target) and scored it without too much trouble.
My impressions from the game: Bad Juju seems mostly terrible. Moves way too slow. Ototo seems pretty good, I think his main problem is that TT has better beater models. I tried to use Torakage as scheme runners and they worked out okay, not great. Shang seems like garbage. I really wish I could have taken the Kamaitachi instead. Misaki was really fun though! She hits so hard. I blew up his Mysterious Emissary turn 1 and then killed Zoraida on turn 4.
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Very excited for this book. I like all but one Neverborn model (though I'm mostly just unsure about the Adze than outright dislike it), and I love most of the new Gremlins.
The Crier is hilarious, when he 'dies' he just says 'fuck it' and gets his rifle out and becomes a Bayou Gremlin. Flying Piglets are an elegant way to add another piglet summon without needing to reissue every card that can summon them.
The Outcasts in my group love the Outcast stuff, but strangely the TT players don't like that stuff aside from the Crime Boss and Lotus Eater.
The new upgrades for masters are just icing on an already delicious cake. The preview confirms Emmisary Confluxes for new masters too so I'm expecting new upgrades for new masters as well.
I get torn. On the one hand in theory I should only know my opponents declared faction when I build. On the other hand unless he's been sneakily buying on the quiet I know, for example, that that guy at the club is taking Ramos if he's being arcanists and I can see Taelor entirely fucking up the spider summon machine. It leaves me feeling like I'm cheating a little if I tech against a known master just because I know that's who my opponent owns.
On the other (third?) hand everyone knows the only Master I own (well, before I got the Viks) is Lucius so I suppose it's a wash. Fourth hand Lucius doesn't have an obvious weakness to tech against I can think of and has a wide array of minions he works well with.
I always feel like I'm cheating when I know which leader my opponent is bringing in advance. I don't like it because I feel like it inevitably affects my crew building decisions in an unfair way, either for the positive or the negative. I often find myself avoiding the obvious counter play in those situations, to my detriment.
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No-QuarterNothing To FearBut Fear ItselfRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I would often help my opponents because I felt bad and despite being a superior player, I lose more than I won
This is an issue in a lot of tabletop I play.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Gencon is approaching, and that means Nightmare and Miss models. Wyrd have previewed them.
Curiosity killed the Cat - Nightmare Hamelin crew who is now a crazy cat lady. Nathan Caroland also confirmed Black Friday will have a 'cat herders' box, which will be an alternate Brotherhood of the Rat box in theme with this.
Ooh, I like the look of the new Guild Investigators. I hope they do something useful.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited July 2017
I had a game against someone using Asami. He also had Yasunori. Holy fucking shit Yasunori can dish out hurt. Basically whatever he charges (which costs 1AP if he's near Asami) will be deleted off the table. I got lucky and my opponent was setting up a charge, and I managed to Tangle Shadows him into combat with Lilith, Nekima and a Rougarou. Even then they left him on 1W. Luckily 2 of them had Black Blood.
Also, continuing tales of my henchman. They had a tournament today where he used an official tournament pack. Yay! Then undid that good by announcing he's considering banning models he thinks are 'too good'. On his chopping block are the Medibots from book 5 (before they're even released...) and Slop Haulers because they make healing too easy.
But then, this is also the guy that told my brother he'd never play against someone using the Rail Golem because it was bullshit. Then my brother saw him giving someone a demo game... using the Rail Golem to pound them into the dirt.
Yasunori is amazing, huge range and hits like a truck. I have been proxying him for a while, just got my model and need to assemble him.
I have played a couple games with Rail Golem and found it is either great or worthless depending... not nearly as reliable as Yasu.
I find it odd how opinions on balance in this game vary so widely. There have been a bunch of threads on the Wyrd Place facebook group which make this obvious. I get that a lot of it is due to isolated metas, but I feel like some of it is just willful ignorance.
I think it is a combination of the game playing differently depending on what kind of terrain is being used and how densely it is being applied, people playing into different factions, and many people equating a negative play experience with a lack of balance.
If people are not randomizing the terrain density from 25% to 50% coverage each game, and changing the actual terrain pieces used to implement that coverage, then yea, two people are going to tend to completely disagree.
Different models are often better playing into different factions. If you don't play into a proper cross section of factions, that can warp perceptions.
Neither of those situations is actually a problem with the game though. In fact, they are to the game's credit. If I buy a model, I'd like to theoretically want to legit play with that model at some point. Knowing that some combination of terrain + faction + pool would make me drop that model with intent validates my purchase and painting effort. I can even ask the other player if we can specifically setup that combination of factors for a game.
Some models tend to be a lot less fun to play into than others. Perdita is often one of the worst. Someone can beat her 50% of the time and feel like it was the worst bullshit experience ever. Honestly, that likely IS a significant problem with the model, but it isn't a fairness problem. Of course the solution is just telling the other player that their model is like a root canal to play against and if they want to play with it to please not play with it EVERY game but use it in moderation. In a tournament, you play a bunch of different people, all of which won't like the same models.
The elephant in the room is also that an appreciable number of nerds don't have especially great natural gifts, combined with a persecution complex that makes them shoot down anything that might alter their poorly preconceived notions, and thus are a perpetual raging tire fire of Dunning-Kruger effect. Plus GW had been an authority figure training people in a culture of witch hunting players and models for decades, and created a culture. So yea, parody of the Imperium of Man levels of willful ignorance too.
+2
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited July 2017
The problem with banning models though is it's often pretty petty and breaks balance. It often comes down to 'I'm banning it because I don't like playing against it'. Slop Haulers are one of the games best healers, but they're in a faction full of low wound models with lots of abilities that hurt themselves for various reasons, like Reckless for more AP or Dumb Luck for damage that isn't terrible. Slop Haulers are necessary for the faction to not just kill themselves by the end of turn 2, but are also easy to kill to balance the power that comes from that self inflicted damage. Banning them outright would cripple a So'mer crew, at least. His Family Tree upgrade would be worthless, and Bayou Gremlins will halve their wounds irreparably with one use of Drunk and Reckless.
But then, what if I personally don't like playing against Nicodem, because he can quite easily swamp the board in low cost Undead? Does the community get a say in this, or does the henchman decide because he likes doing that it is allowed? If I play my now crippled So'mer crew against Nicodem, I'll be out of the game before the halfway point.
Balance should be left to Wyrd. If something is broken, it will get errata'd by them (see the Rat Engine, Leviticus damage output, Lenny handing Rams to Ophelia, Papa Loco hiding in a Pine Box, etc). Wyrd are pretty good about balancing broken stuff, so any 'banning' seems like petty 'I don't like facing that' decisions. Then there's the new players. Someone might really like something, only to be told 'we don't let you use X lynchpin model in this group because it's not fun'. Said player might even decide it's not the game for him and leave, at the very least probably won't return to the store.
Finally, it makes you wary of trying a crew that's not the norm. Perdita might not be fun to fight because she will straight up shoot you in the face, but what about Pandora or Jack Daw? Pandora is often seen as a complete negative play experience. She doesn't let you activate models in the order you want, punishes you for activating them in certain orders (often the way she makes you activate), and forces so many Terrifying tests that you'll lose your hand just cheating them, if not outright failing them and having half a Paralyzed crew. Jack Daw throws around Curses that force you to throw away cards or suffer negative affects, as well as essentially self Paralyze to stop them happening next turn, after which he tears them off and reapplies them. They're both shut down masters in different ways. If I give my henchman a particularly bad run in with one of them, will my crews get banned?
I really hate my henchman.
-Loki- on
+1
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited July 2017
Some friends were at that tournament on the weekend. They had a lot of guys from another store turn up, plus that stores henchman.
The out of area henchman plonked his folder of cards down on top of one of my friends miniatures. Then when he moved the folder, he slid his Emissary off the table, which shattered when it hit the concrete floor. Also a bunch of his Batman miniatures got crushed by the folder. Henchman then said 'I don't know who broke your model' and walked off. Store henchman said nothing, store staff said nothing.
I swear at this point it sounds like I'm just trawling other boards for 'bad opponent stories'.
We're now hunting around for a hall or something we can rent for cheapish to do fortnightly or monthly club days so we can avoid playing at that store.
That store sounds terrible. I am guessing you don't have a lot of options?
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
No. There's a couple of stores around - one is where the other henchman is based, and there's another within driving distance. But that's 'Australian driving distance', which means about an hour each way. Considering we've got members without the ability to drive, that's not an option.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Aside from a bunch of early releases and Curiosity killed the Cat, we also get alternate Nekima dn alternate Hungering Darkness! Wyrd was pretty cryptic but the're not on the newsletter under Special releases but are under pre-releases, so the general assumption is they'e going to be the games first general release alternates.
Also an errata with a few nerfs.
The Mechanical Rider's summon increased its TN by 2 (making it less likely to top deck), and its Arcane Ritual Trigger is significantly changed. It now places a single Scheme Marker within 1" of the target, but can position it further away for each additional Tome. It is no longer limited to once per Turn.
The Mechanical Rider has been a standout model for awhile now. The increase in TN for summoning will make it more likely to require resources without stopping it from this function, and the Trigger change will make it less skilled at Schemes while still being quite good at them. This is a knock, but not one that fundamentally changes how this model plays.
Wind Gamin no longer bury when killed. Now, if they die, they can push a model 5".
Wind Gamin are a powerful 4ss model, and the point of this change was to be sure they died, thereby functioning within the normal confines of the game.
Practiced Production now prevents you from placing Scheme Markers near non-Peon, non-Insignificant friendly models.
This should help with some of the stronger combinations with models like the Malifaux Raptors by requiring models that could score to begin with, thus controlling this powerful Upgrade.
Stuffed Piglets are now 3 Soulstones to hire.
There have been complaints for a long time now about cheap Activations in the form of Stuffed Piglets. By making them cost 3, it limits this ability without impacting their gameplay for those that like them as they are.
-Loki- on
0
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
Had a game over the weekend. This time I managed to get Jack Daw on the table, thanks to finally getting some Dead Outlaws.
I ran
Jack Daw - Twist and Turn, Writhing Torment, 3 Curses
Lady Ligeia
Montressor - Brick by Brick
Jaakuna Ubume
The Drowned
The Guilty
The Hanged
Dead Outlaw
It was kind of a hodgepodge list. I basically wanted to see what each Tormented could do on the table.
My brother ran
Molly (not sure of upgrades)
Madame Sybelle
Archie (some upgrades)
Dead Doxy
Rotten Belle
3 Necropunks
First turn, he got Initiative and proceeded to slingshot Molly into my crew and summoned 2 Punk Zombies in my face*. I moved up and engaged them, The hanged hit her with Whispers from Beyond which she discarded to reduce the damage to 1. Montressor and the Dead Outlaw both hit her with range and brought her to 1 wound. He got Initiative turn 2 as well, and had Sybelle recall Molly way back from my line. I had Jaakuna Ubume move into position, ad dragged Archie over with a Drowned. He took a few damage from Hazardous, and smashed her to 1 wound. Molly popped out from behind a building and put another Punk Zombie in my face, then hid. Jack thre Guillotine Injustice on one, and Drowning Injustice on the Rotten Belle. Montressor moved up into base to base with all 3 Punk Zombies.
This is where it got interesting. My brother tried to save the Punk Zombie from Guillotine Injustice by discarding 2 cards but then suffered 2 damage from Montressors The Choking Death aura, stopping at 1 from Hard to Kill. Then he had no cards left to discard, so he couldn't attack anyway because of Brick by Brick. He was left with using the Punk Zombies Slice and Dice, which while it did 3 damage to Montressor, it also killed one of his own Punk Zombies (summoned on a single wound) and hurt his Rotten Belle. His last Punk Zombie died to The Choking Death. His Rotten Belle charged my Dead Outlaw and did 2 damage. My Dead Outlaw killed his Rotten Belle with a lucky severe on Throw Dirt.
Turn 3 I got Initiative. The Dead Outlaw, thanks to the Push off Writhing Torment, managed to get around the corner and shoot Molly, killing her, then moved up to his Necropunk. His Necropunk dropped a scheme marker, which my Dead Outlaw promptly ate thanks to Too Greedy to Die, then Leapt away. The Guilty ran down another Necropunk. Montressor found the third, roped him into base to base and Paralyzed him. At this point I declared Recover Evidence, as it put 4 Evidence markers right in my face. Then it was just cleanup.
Overall, it's a hugely fun crew to play, though I think it's probably not a whole lot of fun to face. I've got a problem where I really like playing shut down crews. My other favourite is Pandora, and I really want to give The Brewmaster a try. I'm hoping it's not annoying my opponents too much.
* Note, he moved Molly into 3" of Lady Ligeia, not knowing what she did. Both summons failed because of her 3" no cheating aura, and I gave him a mulligan to retake Mollys activation. Otherwise it would have been game over turn 1, and that's not fun.
Anyone got the new book from Gencon? Positively salivating at what I'm reading about the Lucius upgrades on the forum.
Arcane reservoir!
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
edited August 2017
I am absolutely loving what I'm hearing.
I read Titania gets an upgrade that gives her damage reduction that's really effective against minions, which also makes any models hired into her crew Undead Fae (which lets the whole crew push off Taproot). Another upgrade gives her +1 damage against leaders and an offensive attack that the enemy takes damage equal to wounds already suffered. Both of these sound like they're going to be very valuable to Titania.
Pandora gets an upgrade that lets her summon Sorrows and gives her Infiltration Woe, so she can hire Reporters (and any other out of faction Woe they might add eventually). Reporters really synergise with her playstyle too.
Lilith gets an upgrade that drops scheme markers when enemies are killed by Black Blood, and gives her a short ranged heal. The other lets her summon hazardous terrain markers (when she activates and gives her a trigger on her melee attack).
The upgrades I'm most excited about are what I'm hearing about for The Dreamer. An upgrade called Adolescence gives more wounds, a charge value, melee expert and a melee attack. The melee attacks triggers let it swap places with another Nightmare or raise his Waking level. It also gives his Daydreams a melee attack. The other upgrade lets Lord Chompy Bits and the Dreamer chain activate off each other. This is massive, because Lord Chompy Bits doesn't bury when he disappears, he sacrifices. So if Lord Chompy Bits starts the turn on the table, when he (0)'s to bring The Dreamer back, the Dreamer can immediately chain activate. If he manages to raise his Waking back to 4 in one turn (either from Tantrum giving him casting expert, or Adolescence giving him melee expert), Lord Chompy Bits comes out for a second time that turn and if the first Chompy>Dreamer sequence wasn't a chain activation, this can chain activate. And since the first Chompy sacrificed, this is a different Chompy that hasn't activated yet, letting him activate again to some more killing. With good card management and a bit of luck, you should be able to keep Lord Chompy Bits out for the majority of the game, activating twice a turn around a Dreamer activation, and two of those three activations can be chain activations.
Also, alternate Hungering Darkness is enormous.
-Loki- on
+2
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
There's summaries up for everything on the official forum.
Titanias' Emissary conflux is amazing. When close to its Hungry Lands marker, it can add the suit of its choice to duels. It gains a zero action to target a Fae model (which is every living model in addition to actual Fae in the crew if you take Royal Indignation) and for a rather low flip it will either heal the model for 2, place a scheme marker at their feet, give every model it is engaged with Burning +1 or give it armour +1.
Titania now essentially has 39ss to spend on her crew and upgrades, because the Emissary is going to be an auto include with that conflux, and you're always going to either take Royal Indignation or Pact with the Grave Spirit.
0
-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
I had my best game with Pandora last night that I've ever had, against a friend running Parker Barrows.
Encounter was:
Flank Deployment
Extraction
Claim Jump
Dig their Graves
Setup
Frame for Murder
Last Stand
I took Claim Jump and Frame for Murde. He took Claim Jump and something I never found out.
I ran:
Pandora - The Box Opens, Aether Connection, Fears Given Form
Primordial Magic
Widow Weaver
Mysterious Emmisary - Conflux of Sorrow
Babdy Kade - Depression
Sorrow
Sorrow
Insidious Madness
He ran (not sure about upgrades)
Parker Barrows
Doc Mitchell
Mad Dog Brackett
Bishop
Johan
Hodgepodge Emmisary
Dead Outlaw
Turn 1 started with me dropping a Hungry Lands marker right in his face (we were pretty close thanks to Flank Deployment). He pushed Bishop right up and charged Pandora, who didn't take any hits. A few Wp duels later Bishop was on 2hp (standing in 3 Misery bubbles wasn't smart). I started moving up to take the Extraction marker, he started counter moving. In the end Pandora was right on it and so was Mad Dog Brackett and Parker.
After that, Bishop got Paralyzed by Doldrums, pinged 1 more Misery bubble, then activated engaged with a Sorrow and died from Life Leech. Insidious Madness and Widow Weaver moved up to support Pandora, Widow Weaver dropping Web markers. One Sorrow spend the game slowly pushing up to his Dead Outlaw and Emissary. He called the bluff and thought I was trying to deny his Claim Jump markers, and killed the Sorrow earning me Frame for Murder. I help the Extraction marker every turn from turn 2.
Pandora was a mega pain. With a Changeling summoned by the Emissary, she held off Parker Barrows, Mad Dog Brackett and Johan. She killed Parker, only to be killed in turn by Johan, who in return got smacked by his own hammer by the Changeling.
At this point it was the start of turn 5, and my opponent had to leave, but I was sitting at 8:4 and all he could do was gain 1 more VP from Claim Jump while I'd get another from Extraction, so the game was done.
I'm starting to learn more about playing Pandora properly which is nice. I'm still missing things - I keep forgetting The Box Opens has a Ca action with some nice effects. I totally forgot all game the Conflux of Sorrows abilities. A 16" no LoS Incite would have been mega helpful if I remembered.
Posts
I ran
Titania - An Audience with the Queen, Behold my Glory
The Gorar
Barbaros
Aeslin - Taproot
Mysterious Emmisary - Mysterious Conflux
The Thorn
The Claw
My friend took (unsure of upgrades)
Viktoria of Ashes
Viktoria of Blood
Taelor
Johanna
Hans
Ronin
Ronin
Strategy and Schemes
Reckoning
Dig their Graves
Marked for Death
Accusation
Inspection
I took Dig their Graves (Titanias scheme placement makes this really easy) and Mark for Death (since it was going to get bloody). My friend took Marked for Death (same reasoning) and Inspection.
First turn was the usual jockeying for position on both sides. I saw him moving a lot to the center, so my goal was to have Titania and Barbaros cause a trap in the center, with Barbaros using Challenge and Titania using Behold my Glory to hand out She Will End Us All to burn through his hand and stop a lot of actions. Unfortunately I had too much faith in Titanias Impossible to Wound and Hans and Viktoria of Ashes plinked her down below half in the first turn. Next turn I really wanted to stop Johanna flanking me so I activated the Emissary first to drop a Hungry Lands marker (which I could have done at first turn since it was a 0 action) which let Ashes get another turn of plinking at Titania. Second shot on a double negative flip he red jokered, and finished Titania off. Lesson learned - plan your 0 actions. If I put the Hungry Lands marker down turn 1, Titania would have activated first to get some scheme markers down.
I was pretty sad. Her first outing and she went like a chump. But no, this is Malifaux! I gritted my teeth and soldiered on. The Tooth used Challenge of Summer on Ashes, who moved her Cg into The Tooth and got her free swing, doing 2 damage after armour on a double negative damage flip (seriously get used to double negative damage flips against Fae). The Tooth hit Ashes twice, then red jokered the third, taking Ashes down in retaliation. I felt much better! Opponent moved Blood and Taelor up the center, Blood in range of the Student of Conflict who Sisters in Spirited her over the fence. Aeslin hit Blood a couple of times, giving her slow and dropping her to 2 wounds. Johanna braved the Hungry Lands marker and took some damage getting through it.
I got initiative next turn. Aeslin finished off Blood then moved to go after Hans. The Tooth used Challenge of Summer on Taelor to get her close, took the free hit and hit her in return. Barbaros used Marked for Death on Taelor and took her to 1 wound. Emissary finished her off, giving me 2 VP. Johanna moved up and finished off The Tooth, who as also Marked for Death. Second mistake of the game - I used the Gorar to rebirth The Tooth. This gave the opponent a second kill (sacrificed Gorar) for a Reckoning VP. By now we were 3-2 (my opponent got a VP last turn from Inspection). The Claw took out the Student of Conflict with his ranged spear. Turn ended and opponent got a second Inspection VP.
Next turn, Emissary finished off Johanna and Aeslin Marked for Death a Ronin and killed it, giving me 2 more VPs. All my opponent had left was a Ronin (behing cover on the board edge) and Hans. The Claw used Challeng of Winter on Hans to get him close, but failed to kill him. Aeslin moved up to help, but wasn't in range to help finish him before the end of the turn. I needed to flip a 5th turn to kill Hans and the Ronin to draw the game, but it ended. Lost 4-5.
Lessons learned. Don't give up when your master dies like a chump at the start of the game. Also don't give up if you're getting reamed - my friend got crushed on total kills (I only lost Titania and the Gorar) and still won. Also remember good activation order and remember your 0 actions! Titania would have lived longer if I had.
Also, the Autumn Knights are badass. I heard a lot of griping that people would still rather take an Illuminated but these guys are the business. For 7ss they've got some real damage in their attacks, a good opposed Wp lure with good triggers, and for a 7ss minion they're hard as nails with 7 wounds, Armour +1 and Impossible to Wound. Plus their triggers place or work with scheme markers that Titania and Aeslin put down.
However, the art for Nekima is... slightly different to the released mini. Alt Nekima confirmed.
Test print they showed at Adepticon (lots of speculation it was an alt Nekima, now confirmed)
Also the wave 5 open test cards are out. There's some good stuff in there. I'm really exceited for the Neverborn stuff. Hinamatsu is a really awesome thematic beater for Collodi (when he Strums he gets 5 AP! Though 2 are melee only), the Cyclops is like a Teddy-lite for Titania. Bultungin (North African Werehyena myth) is a good glass cannon beater minion. Grootslang looks like a super fun hit and run beater. Adze is a super Will o the Wisp. Serena Bowman, from Divergant Paths, is by far my favorite. Whipping enemies with the black blood from inside other models with the ability. Also she can give 3 Neverborn Minions or Enforcers an upgrade that makes them Nightmares (fun for Dreamer) and gives them From the Shadows. So awesome.
Like Barbaros I'd be happy to have both in my collection.
Pandora, The Box Opens, Aether Connection
Primordial Magic
Widow Weaver
Baby Kade, Depression
Teddy
Sorrow
Insidious Madness
Insidious Madness
Misaki (unsure of upgrades, though I know he didn't take either Limited)
Shang
Ototo
Izamu
Katamaka Sniper
Katamaka Sniper
Thunder Brother
Thunder Brother
Game started with the shuffle to the center. He put his snipers on the flanks and did some early damage to Teddy. Pandroa, Widow Weaver, a Sorrow and a Madness took a flank and ganged up on a sniper to kill it. Then they moved to the middle. Insidious Madnesses made a rush for his backline once he had moved up, and spent the game moving about at their stupid fast walk dropping scheme markers. Teddy retreated after being whittled to 3 wounds, then made a rush for the other Sniper to kill it. Izamu and Ototo tried to take the middle but thanks to a few web markers both had abysmal Wp and Pandora killed both over two turns, doing Misery plink damage. Sorrow was focused down by Ototo because my opponent disliked the Misery damage but was still killed by Pandora.
Near the end he had an amazingly good hand and charged Pandora with Misaki. Even when I had a great hand as well - two 13's, a 12 and a Red Joker, I could only draw his onslaught from her at best. He got the Assassination trigger off twice due to having a 13 of Crows and a Red Joker, so I had to throw 4 cards to stop Pandora just being outright killed. By the end, Pandora was on 1W. I set about getting scheme markers down and cleaning up the rest of his crew, putting my hopes on the game ending. It did.
We ended up drawing 9-9, since all 4 turns we both had 2 non-Peons near the middle, and we both got 5 scheme markers down for Breakthrough or Plant Evidence. Overall it was a tough, hard fought game and super fun. This guy was already good at Infinity, and he's showing some real skill with Malifaux after only a few games.
Strange side note. The henchman gave him a game and was teaching him some flat out wrong rules. For example, Companion on Shang. He taught him that chain activating did not take the activation of the model that chain activated. I had to explain to him it did, but the benefit was not giving the opponent an activation between the models and the drawback is potentially giving your opponent an extra uninterrupted activation later. He also taught him that the game ends at turn 3, which I just.... I got nothing. That game he played super aggressive turns 2 and 3 because he thought it ended there. After I showed him it goes to turn 5 with potentially 3 more, he was happy to keep going but annoyed the henchman taught him something else wrong.
If anyone ever feels like playing a game on vassal let me know, been playing a friend pretty regularly and feeling comfortable with vassal games now.
The primary issue is yes, he's a bad henchman. I've commented about it on Wyrds forum before and got a personal message from Aaron asking which henchman it is (I mentioned he doesn't use the official prize packs, and Aaron asked who it was because he was wondering why - prize pack access is one of the two only advantages to being a henchman). I didn't feel like naming names because I was under the impression the rest of the group liked him, but now that the rest of the group seems to be as annoyed with him as I am, I might.
Honestly I'd be fine with a bad henchman if he just used the bloody tournament packs. I've got no issue showing up for his tournaments, since I get some games in. What irks me is he doesn't give out Guilders, and the prize packs all contain 1 guilder for each person as a participation award. If I slowly built up guilders I'd be happy.
They also have an Ability that lets they discard a card any time they get pushed to take the double action melee attack. And they have an ability where if an enemy scheme marker is dropped in LoS, they get a condition that pushes them at the end of the turn, possibly getting a last ditch attack off before the turns end. Plus a zero tactical ability to discard an enemy scheme marker and put the top card from your discard pile back into your hand.
Definitely a 'burns hot and short' type unit.
Continuing with the 'I have a terrible henchman', the new guy in our group had a game with the areas other henchman. This guy is a self proclaimed 'Jack Daw Master' (ironically the same guy who I played in the league who is a 'super competitive Lilith master'). His crew was the full Jack Daw box, 2 Hanged and Hans. He then proceeded to tell the new guy that Hans can ignore LoS while shooting, showed him the card for a few seconds, enough to see it vaguely but not understand it, then took it back.
He proceeded to shoot him off the table with Hans firing through buildings and mopping up with the rest of the crew.
Both of these guys are official Henchmen listed through Wyrds website.
Of course the box has the bonus alt McMourning. Since I picked her up at the Easter sale, I need to decide what to do with a second one. Maybe I'll paint one as a Guild version and one as a Rezzer version. I've never played McMourning as Guild, so might be good prompting to do that as well.
Had a game against a friend. He was playing Asami and I was playing Lilith. He was basically using Asamis box, plus a pair of Jorogumo and a pair of Katanaka snipers. I was using Lilith with a pair of Terror Tots, The Thorn, a Rougarou, the Cherub, a Doppleganger, the Mysterious Emmisary and a Wisp (wisp was just to add an extra activation).
I had the worst game. He was drawing killer hands turn after turn, and I was drawing awful hands and flipping equally awfully. Absolutely nothing I did worked. I got a kill or two, but he fairly easily locked me down because I lost about 3/4 of my flips and had nothing to cheat. By mid turn 3 I called the game, which I'm generally loathe to do with Malifaux, since I couldn't get any schemes or the strategy. I wanted to try the Tooth/Rougarou pounce engine, since it can get 10 attacks in a turn using Tooths pushes and the Rougarous pounces, for a minimum of 21 damage. But no. The cards said otherwise.
We ran a quick henchman hardcore since we had the time. He ran Bettari, a Jorogumo and 2 Yokai. I ran Candy, Baby Kade, Iggy and a Doppleganger. This game went much better. Candy shut down the Jorogumo since it activated first in turn 2, and Iggy burned it to the ground with some help from a Doppleganger copying Baby Kades Carving Knife. Iggy then absorbed a wound for Candy after she ate a charge from Bettari, then Baby Kade hit Betteri twice, red jokering the damage on the second attack killing her. Then it was just mop up of the Yokai.
Deployment shot of the board we used.
Deployment: Standard Deployment (2)
Strategy: Guard the Stash (Crows)
Schemes:
* Claim Jump (Always)
* Dig Their Graves (Crows)
* Accusation! (Masks)
* Recover Evidence (6)
* Tail 'em (10)
And I know my opponent is trying his new Jakob Lynch crew.
I've gone for:
Lucius - Suprisingly Loyal
Scribe
Witchling Thrall
Lawyer
Austringer
Sanctioned Spellcaster
Terracotta Warrior
Field Reporter
Changeling
Guardian
Schemes to be Tail' em and Accusation!
Plan being to pretty much stubbornly hold on and refuse to die while sitting on the objectives and tagging accusations/spotted all over.
Thrall, Lawyer, Guardian and Terracotta Warrior for stubborn refusal to die.
Austringer for push + interacts for accusing.
Spellcaster to counter lures from Beckoners with his (0) action.
Field Reporter to hoover up any enemy scheme markers if he goes for those schemes.
Changeling to be a cheap extra pair of hands and maybe turn the Illumminated's brilliance back on them by stealing their bonus damage.
Reporter and Changelings also manipulative so stick with the hard to attack theme.
My brother had a gaming night in his garage. There was 5 of us, so not enough for 3 consecutive games, but I got a game in. I decided to run my Gremlins, since I realised I have 5 masters (I got Zipp on the weekend) and I have played them myself once. My friend played more in demo games with them. So they needed some table time.
Since it was in his garage, and we're coming into mid-winter, it was cold. It was dark. And he has inadequate lighting. We had a citronella candle (because apparently he gets mosquitoes when it's 5 celcius?). Malifaux by candlelight in the cold and dark was somewhat very appropriate.
So'mer took a narrow win over Lady J. My nephew learned that while a Bayou Gremlin hitting on Sh 4 with a super low damage track isn't scary, 5 of them are. Especially when after they've done their shooting and wasted his hand, Burt, Raphael and So'mer start shooting.
Also Headhunter is hilarious with Gremlins because so many die you just pick up your own models heads.
Tweaking the above list, swapped a Changeling for a Watcher. Hoping to shut down any out of sight hidey holes for shedding the Spotted condition.
Turns out Lucius' handing out push and interact is great for removing accusations as well as handing them out. I still love the flexibility he gives, where as long as he hasn't activated almost every single model of yours is still a potential threat.
All this despite managing to have Lucius paralyse himself with horror via a terribly timed black joker, and my opponent's end of turn one hand looking like this:
My first game was against Zoraida (Neverborn, the other wurst for Neverborn is Lucius). You have to include the whole box and then fill out the rest of the 50SS how ever you like. Strat was Guard the Stash and we both took set-up/claim jump for schemes. Ended up tying 9-9. I had taken Sensei Yu and he just made set up a breeze. Mighty Gust'd markers near Bad Juju (my set-up target) and scored it without too much trouble.
My impressions from the game: Bad Juju seems mostly terrible. Moves way too slow. Ototo seems pretty good, I think his main problem is that TT has better beater models. I tried to use Torakage as scheme runners and they worked out okay, not great. Shang seems like garbage. I really wish I could have taken the Kamaitachi instead. Misaki was really fun though! She hits so hard. I blew up his Mysterious Emissary turn 1 and then killed Zoraida on turn 4.
The Crier is hilarious, when he 'dies' he just says 'fuck it' and gets his rifle out and becomes a Bayou Gremlin. Flying Piglets are an elegant way to add another piglet summon without needing to reissue every card that can summon them.
The Outcasts in my group love the Outcast stuff, but strangely the TT players don't like that stuff aside from the Crime Boss and Lotus Eater.
The new upgrades for masters are just icing on an already delicious cake. The preview confirms Emmisary Confluxes for new masters too so I'm expecting new upgrades for new masters as well.
On the other (third?) hand everyone knows the only Master I own (well, before I got the Viks) is Lucius so I suppose it's a wash. Fourth hand Lucius doesn't have an obvious weakness to tech against I can think of and has a wide array of minions he works well with.
Fifth hand, maybe I think about this too much.
This is an issue in a lot of tabletop I play.
Curiosity killed the Cat - Nightmare Hamelin crew who is now a crazy cat lady. Nathan Caroland also confirmed Black Friday will have a 'cat herders' box, which will be an alternate Brotherhood of the Rat box in theme with this.
Miss model is Miss Deed, alternate Taelor.
Plus a store promotion, alternade Mdame Sybelle.
Also, continuing tales of my henchman. They had a tournament today where he used an official tournament pack. Yay! Then undid that good by announcing he's considering banning models he thinks are 'too good'. On his chopping block are the Medibots from book 5 (before they're even released...) and Slop Haulers because they make healing too easy.
But then, this is also the guy that told my brother he'd never play against someone using the Rail Golem because it was bullshit. Then my brother saw him giving someone a demo game... using the Rail Golem to pound them into the dirt.
I have played a couple games with Rail Golem and found it is either great or worthless depending... not nearly as reliable as Yasu.
I find it odd how opinions on balance in this game vary so widely. There have been a bunch of threads on the Wyrd Place facebook group which make this obvious. I get that a lot of it is due to isolated metas, but I feel like some of it is just willful ignorance.
If people are not randomizing the terrain density from 25% to 50% coverage each game, and changing the actual terrain pieces used to implement that coverage, then yea, two people are going to tend to completely disagree.
Different models are often better playing into different factions. If you don't play into a proper cross section of factions, that can warp perceptions.
Neither of those situations is actually a problem with the game though. In fact, they are to the game's credit. If I buy a model, I'd like to theoretically want to legit play with that model at some point. Knowing that some combination of terrain + faction + pool would make me drop that model with intent validates my purchase and painting effort. I can even ask the other player if we can specifically setup that combination of factors for a game.
Some models tend to be a lot less fun to play into than others. Perdita is often one of the worst. Someone can beat her 50% of the time and feel like it was the worst bullshit experience ever. Honestly, that likely IS a significant problem with the model, but it isn't a fairness problem. Of course the solution is just telling the other player that their model is like a root canal to play against and if they want to play with it to please not play with it EVERY game but use it in moderation. In a tournament, you play a bunch of different people, all of which won't like the same models.
The elephant in the room is also that an appreciable number of nerds don't have especially great natural gifts, combined with a persecution complex that makes them shoot down anything that might alter their poorly preconceived notions, and thus are a perpetual raging tire fire of Dunning-Kruger effect. Plus GW had been an authority figure training people in a culture of witch hunting players and models for decades, and created a culture. So yea, parody of the Imperium of Man levels of willful ignorance too.
But then, what if I personally don't like playing against Nicodem, because he can quite easily swamp the board in low cost Undead? Does the community get a say in this, or does the henchman decide because he likes doing that it is allowed? If I play my now crippled So'mer crew against Nicodem, I'll be out of the game before the halfway point.
Balance should be left to Wyrd. If something is broken, it will get errata'd by them (see the Rat Engine, Leviticus damage output, Lenny handing Rams to Ophelia, Papa Loco hiding in a Pine Box, etc). Wyrd are pretty good about balancing broken stuff, so any 'banning' seems like petty 'I don't like facing that' decisions. Then there's the new players. Someone might really like something, only to be told 'we don't let you use X lynchpin model in this group because it's not fun'. Said player might even decide it's not the game for him and leave, at the very least probably won't return to the store.
Finally, it makes you wary of trying a crew that's not the norm. Perdita might not be fun to fight because she will straight up shoot you in the face, but what about Pandora or Jack Daw? Pandora is often seen as a complete negative play experience. She doesn't let you activate models in the order you want, punishes you for activating them in certain orders (often the way she makes you activate), and forces so many Terrifying tests that you'll lose your hand just cheating them, if not outright failing them and having half a Paralyzed crew. Jack Daw throws around Curses that force you to throw away cards or suffer negative affects, as well as essentially self Paralyze to stop them happening next turn, after which he tears them off and reapplies them. They're both shut down masters in different ways. If I give my henchman a particularly bad run in with one of them, will my crews get banned?
I really hate my henchman.
The out of area henchman plonked his folder of cards down on top of one of my friends miniatures. Then when he moved the folder, he slid his Emissary off the table, which shattered when it hit the concrete floor. Also a bunch of his Batman miniatures got crushed by the folder. Henchman then said 'I don't know who broke your model' and walked off. Store henchman said nothing, store staff said nothing.
I swear at this point it sounds like I'm just trawling other boards for 'bad opponent stories'.
We're now hunting around for a hall or something we can rent for cheapish to do fortnightly or monthly club days so we can avoid playing at that store.
Aside from a bunch of early releases and Curiosity killed the Cat, we also get alternate Nekima dn alternate Hungering Darkness! Wyrd was pretty cryptic but the're not on the newsletter under Special releases but are under pre-releases, so the general assumption is they'e going to be the games first general release alternates.
Also an errata with a few nerfs.
The Mechanical Rider has been a standout model for awhile now. The increase in TN for summoning will make it more likely to require resources without stopping it from this function, and the Trigger change will make it less skilled at Schemes while still being quite good at them. This is a knock, but not one that fundamentally changes how this model plays.
Wind Gamin no longer bury when killed. Now, if they die, they can push a model 5".
Wind Gamin are a powerful 4ss model, and the point of this change was to be sure they died, thereby functioning within the normal confines of the game.
Practiced Production now prevents you from placing Scheme Markers near non-Peon, non-Insignificant friendly models.
This should help with some of the stronger combinations with models like the Malifaux Raptors by requiring models that could score to begin with, thus controlling this powerful Upgrade.
Stuffed Piglets are now 3 Soulstones to hire.
There have been complaints for a long time now about cheap Activations in the form of Stuffed Piglets. By making them cost 3, it limits this ability without impacting their gameplay for those that like them as they are.
I ran
Jack Daw - Twist and Turn, Writhing Torment, 3 Curses
Lady Ligeia
Montressor - Brick by Brick
Jaakuna Ubume
The Drowned
The Guilty
The Hanged
Dead Outlaw
It was kind of a hodgepodge list. I basically wanted to see what each Tormented could do on the table.
My brother ran
Molly (not sure of upgrades)
Madame Sybelle
Archie (some upgrades)
Dead Doxy
Rotten Belle
3 Necropunks
First turn, he got Initiative and proceeded to slingshot Molly into my crew and summoned 2 Punk Zombies in my face*. I moved up and engaged them, The hanged hit her with Whispers from Beyond which she discarded to reduce the damage to 1. Montressor and the Dead Outlaw both hit her with range and brought her to 1 wound. He got Initiative turn 2 as well, and had Sybelle recall Molly way back from my line. I had Jaakuna Ubume move into position, ad dragged Archie over with a Drowned. He took a few damage from Hazardous, and smashed her to 1 wound. Molly popped out from behind a building and put another Punk Zombie in my face, then hid. Jack thre Guillotine Injustice on one, and Drowning Injustice on the Rotten Belle. Montressor moved up into base to base with all 3 Punk Zombies.
This is where it got interesting. My brother tried to save the Punk Zombie from Guillotine Injustice by discarding 2 cards but then suffered 2 damage from Montressors The Choking Death aura, stopping at 1 from Hard to Kill. Then he had no cards left to discard, so he couldn't attack anyway because of Brick by Brick. He was left with using the Punk Zombies Slice and Dice, which while it did 3 damage to Montressor, it also killed one of his own Punk Zombies (summoned on a single wound) and hurt his Rotten Belle. His last Punk Zombie died to The Choking Death. His Rotten Belle charged my Dead Outlaw and did 2 damage. My Dead Outlaw killed his Rotten Belle with a lucky severe on Throw Dirt.
Turn 3 I got Initiative. The Dead Outlaw, thanks to the Push off Writhing Torment, managed to get around the corner and shoot Molly, killing her, then moved up to his Necropunk. His Necropunk dropped a scheme marker, which my Dead Outlaw promptly ate thanks to Too Greedy to Die, then Leapt away. The Guilty ran down another Necropunk. Montressor found the third, roped him into base to base and Paralyzed him. At this point I declared Recover Evidence, as it put 4 Evidence markers right in my face. Then it was just cleanup.
Overall, it's a hugely fun crew to play, though I think it's probably not a whole lot of fun to face. I've got a problem where I really like playing shut down crews. My other favourite is Pandora, and I really want to give The Brewmaster a try. I'm hoping it's not annoying my opponents too much.
* Note, he moved Molly into 3" of Lady Ligeia, not knowing what she did. Both summons failed because of her 3" no cheating aura, and I gave him a mulligan to retake Mollys activation. Otherwise it would have been game over turn 1, and that's not fun.
Arcane reservoir!
I read Titania gets an upgrade that gives her damage reduction that's really effective against minions, which also makes any models hired into her crew Undead Fae (which lets the whole crew push off Taproot). Another upgrade gives her +1 damage against leaders and an offensive attack that the enemy takes damage equal to wounds already suffered. Both of these sound like they're going to be very valuable to Titania.
Pandora gets an upgrade that lets her summon Sorrows and gives her Infiltration Woe, so she can hire Reporters (and any other out of faction Woe they might add eventually). Reporters really synergise with her playstyle too.
Lilith gets an upgrade that drops scheme markers when enemies are killed by Black Blood, and gives her a short ranged heal. The other lets her summon hazardous terrain markers (when she activates and gives her a trigger on her melee attack).
The upgrades I'm most excited about are what I'm hearing about for The Dreamer. An upgrade called Adolescence gives more wounds, a charge value, melee expert and a melee attack. The melee attacks triggers let it swap places with another Nightmare or raise his Waking level. It also gives his Daydreams a melee attack. The other upgrade lets Lord Chompy Bits and the Dreamer chain activate off each other. This is massive, because Lord Chompy Bits doesn't bury when he disappears, he sacrifices. So if Lord Chompy Bits starts the turn on the table, when he (0)'s to bring The Dreamer back, the Dreamer can immediately chain activate. If he manages to raise his Waking back to 4 in one turn (either from Tantrum giving him casting expert, or Adolescence giving him melee expert), Lord Chompy Bits comes out for a second time that turn and if the first Chompy>Dreamer sequence wasn't a chain activation, this can chain activate. And since the first Chompy sacrificed, this is a different Chompy that hasn't activated yet, letting him activate again to some more killing. With good card management and a bit of luck, you should be able to keep Lord Chompy Bits out for the majority of the game, activating twice a turn around a Dreamer activation, and two of those three activations can be chain activations.
Also, alternate Hungering Darkness is enormous.
Titanias' Emissary conflux is amazing. When close to its Hungry Lands marker, it can add the suit of its choice to duels. It gains a zero action to target a Fae model (which is every living model in addition to actual Fae in the crew if you take Royal Indignation) and for a rather low flip it will either heal the model for 2, place a scheme marker at their feet, give every model it is engaged with Burning +1 or give it armour +1.
Titania now essentially has 39ss to spend on her crew and upgrades, because the Emissary is going to be an auto include with that conflux, and you're always going to either take Royal Indignation or Pact with the Grave Spirit.
Flank Deployment
Extraction
Claim Jump
Dig their Graves
Setup
Frame for Murder
Last Stand
I took Claim Jump and Frame for Murde. He took Claim Jump and something I never found out.
I ran:
Pandora - The Box Opens, Aether Connection, Fears Given Form
Primordial Magic
Widow Weaver
Mysterious Emmisary - Conflux of Sorrow
Babdy Kade - Depression
Sorrow
Sorrow
Insidious Madness
He ran (not sure about upgrades)
Parker Barrows
Doc Mitchell
Mad Dog Brackett
Bishop
Johan
Hodgepodge Emmisary
Dead Outlaw
Turn 1 started with me dropping a Hungry Lands marker right in his face (we were pretty close thanks to Flank Deployment). He pushed Bishop right up and charged Pandora, who didn't take any hits. A few Wp duels later Bishop was on 2hp (standing in 3 Misery bubbles wasn't smart). I started moving up to take the Extraction marker, he started counter moving. In the end Pandora was right on it and so was Mad Dog Brackett and Parker.
After that, Bishop got Paralyzed by Doldrums, pinged 1 more Misery bubble, then activated engaged with a Sorrow and died from Life Leech. Insidious Madness and Widow Weaver moved up to support Pandora, Widow Weaver dropping Web markers. One Sorrow spend the game slowly pushing up to his Dead Outlaw and Emissary. He called the bluff and thought I was trying to deny his Claim Jump markers, and killed the Sorrow earning me Frame for Murder. I help the Extraction marker every turn from turn 2.
Pandora was a mega pain. With a Changeling summoned by the Emissary, she held off Parker Barrows, Mad Dog Brackett and Johan. She killed Parker, only to be killed in turn by Johan, who in return got smacked by his own hammer by the Changeling.
At this point it was the start of turn 5, and my opponent had to leave, but I was sitting at 8:4 and all he could do was gain 1 more VP from Claim Jump while I'd get another from Extraction, so the game was done.
I'm starting to learn more about playing Pandora properly which is nice. I'm still missing things - I keep forgetting The Box Opens has a Ca action with some nice effects. I totally forgot all game the Conflux of Sorrows abilities. A 16" no LoS Incite would have been mega helpful if I remembered.