thebarbalag

Hey all! We're having another Malifaux throw down at Miniature Market St. Louis! 50ss, current Gaining Grounds (probably GG1), 3-5 rounds, depending on number of attendees. April 11, 10am-10pm (earlier if we only go to 3 rounds). Miniature Market - 13380 Manchester Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131 $10 entry fee - all fees go to prize support - prizes raffled - glory tokens for the winners, best painted, best sport, and spoon. We'll break for lunch after round 1, and for dinner after round 3 (if we're going to have more than 3 rounds). As long as we have at least 8 players (very likely), this will be a US Tour, Central Conference event. We'll have space for 24. Hope to see you there!

Strategies, Schemes and Deployment for December's Gate (Saturday Dec 7 at 10am at Miniature Market)! Round 1: Plant Explosives - Flank Harness the Ley Line Search the Ruins Outflank Power Ritual Breakthrough Round 2 Turf War - Wedge Dig Their Graves Assassinate Deliver a Message Detonate Charges Claim Jump Round 3 Reckoning - Standard Hold Up Their Forces Take Prisoner Vendetta Assassinate Detonate the Charges

Hey All! Miniature Market St. Louis (13389 Manchester Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131) will be hosting an event (in the Central Conference for the US Faux Tour, provided enough people turn up), on December 7th. We will use the Gaining Grounds Season 0 document, for tournament play. There are 20 spots available. Entry $10, all of which will go to prize support as Miniature Market gift certificates. Prizes will be raffled, with Glory Tokens for 1st-3rd, Best Painted, Best Sport, and the Spoon. Where? Miniature Market St. Louis (13389 Manchester Rd., St. Louis, MO 63131) When? December 7th. Sign-up starts 10am, cards flip 10:30am. We should wrap by 6:30-7. What? 3+ round Gaining Grounds Tournament. How much? $10 at sign-up, all of which will turn into prize support. Hope to see you there!

This references a "must" option, however. See also Execute, where a model "...may discard a card or a Soulstone. If it does neither it is killed."

Afraid not, that choice only comes up when there would be a change of game state for the active model. "Do nothing" would mean no game state change, hence, no choice. Just as if the active model where in several overlapping auras generated by enemy models that say, "Friendly models in range that take the Walk action add 2" to their Mv."

Hypothetically, if an ability said, "Once per activation. When an enemy model in this aura that takes the Walk action, this model model may either have it suffer 1 damage, push it 2" in any direction, or do nothing." Can I only "do nothing" once per activation? The active player only gets to choose which of overlapping auras affect them when it would change their game state. If there is no effect, their game state didn't change, no choice. The ability clearly says that the Woe's controller may choose to apply an effect, it's right there in the wording, "...may either push the model 2" or have it suffer 1 damage." (The wording is not "must either" nor does it say, "may push the model 2" or else it suffers 1 damage.") Once per activation clearly refers to the effect because it would be nonsensical to refer to the aura. The affect may be applied once per activation by a given aura. If the model's controller chooses not to apply the effect, then the "once per activation" limit has not been reached.

Yes, the Aura is always on. The once per turn is not the aura itself, which, as you say, will remain "on" whether or not it's doing anything to anybody, whether or not its satisfied its "once per activation." The Aura isn't "once per activation," choosing to apply the effect is. Or (in the case that your language-defying interpretation is correct) literally any time anything gains Stunned or other appropriate Condition within the Aura, in which case, all of the choices of 1 damage or 2" push would have to be made, one for each Aura, and then, the affected player would get to pick which one affects them, and which to ignore.

Once per activation...this model may (apply a push or damage). If the "may not" is opted for, then the Woe player has not applied the push or the damage. You can do nothing any number of times. Say, Pandora uses The Box Opens with only one model in range, and that model fails its duel, and gains Stunned. Pandora may choose to apply her once per activation Misery effect (choosing push or damage), or not. If she chooses not to, and then hits her Delay trigger on Self Loathing, giving the model Slow, she can now choose to apply the effects. If this is not how Pandora is intended to work, so be it, I will accept an FAQ that say so (and quietly, and sadly, put the garbage Woe crew aside until next edition), but the wording doesn't support that the opponent is intended to have total control over the use of Misery. In fact, I submitted numerous battle reports using Pandora in this (and/or very similar) iteration(s), during the beta and never got any push back on using Misery just like this from players or designers when I used it as Ogid and I are describing.

I'm afraid you're simply missing or misinterpreting the meaning of the word "may," which implicitly allows a "may not." If I "may either do something or something else," I implicitly, based on the meaning of the word "may" may do neither. To get your interpretation, you need either wording like, "This model then either pushes the affected model 2" or causes it to suffer 1 damage," or "this model must either push the affected model 2" or cause it to suffer 1 damage." Neither is the current wording.

Except that, "...or this happens," is not the wording of the ability we're discussing. And "may" cannot be used to mean "must" except when discussing states or being that are necessarily binary, alive or dead, on or off, in or out. I'm afraid, 2" push or 1 damage is not one of those necessary binaries. (Heck quantum physics allows for the third possibility even in those ostensible binaries. Thanks Schrodinger.) 2" push/1 damage is more along the lines of cake/pie, and similarly, one may abstain from either, neither being made necessary, the cake or pie by free will, and the push or damage by the absence of wording that makes either necessary, that is, the absence of the word "must." Further, the use of "may" in that sense is colloquial and not at all typical of rules interpretation or writing.

"May either" just means you can't do both. If it has to do one or the other, it should say, "must either." Changing the meaning of a word in a rule, or ignoring that word is a cardinal sin of rules interpretation. One cannot simply cause "may" to mean "must."

If the Woe player must apply either the push or the damage (and if that's the case, I've no idea why the ability says "may" instead of "must," being as those two words are practical opposites), then they must choose for each aura that would trigger when a model gains a condition, and then the affected model's controller would choose which one applies - regardless, all of the auras would have satisfied their "once per activation" clause. I do not, however, believe that it is a valid interpretation to say that the Woe player must either push or damage the target. I believe that interpretation either gives no meaning to the word "may" or changes it to mean "must," either of which is a cardinal sin in rules interpretation.

Exactly right, Ogid. The word "may" allows the Pandora player to determine if one or more of the auras does anything at all. Provided the Pandora player sensibly chooses only one to apply the effects of, the enemy model only has its game state changed by one aura, and so, despite the presence of overlapping auras of the same name, there is no choice to be made.

I know Miniature Market ordered 20+ of all the new releases, including repacks, and got no Brutal Fate.

Given that shipping labels have been printed for last week's orders, but (as far as I can tell), nothing has actually shipped, and the above email suggests that books would be at the warehouse yesterday, is it too much to hope that they'll pack the books before sending those orders out? Otherwise not sure why orders with labels printed early last week still haven't made it to USPS for shipping yet.