Kalkris

Hey all, hope I’m not threadjacking by asking, but would The Piper title be decent as an added secondary Master, and if so, for which primary Master(s)? Alternatively (perhaps because of a lack of stones for totems or ook tax or whatnot), who is a good secondary Master with The Piper?

While I haven’t actually gotten the chance to play TOS yet, I am happy to hold out for the potential of a resurgence. It isn’t something I think I can hold my breath for but I’m still pretty confident that come GenCon 2021 and the eventual starter set (two things which might not coincide - only Wyrd knows!), it’ll happen in due time.

Where can i go to make note of errors or bugs? I tried recruiting a Hodgepodge Emissary in a Jack Daw crew and it cost “10+1”, as if it were a mercenary (in its own faction might i add). This also did affect the crew hiring cache so I’m a bit confused. Thanks! ~Lil Kalki EDIT: thanks Aaron lol

I've never been too thrilled with Hans's sculpt, but I can't think of a way to improve it that hasn't been done for other models (Guild Rifleman springs to mind). I'd maybe like to see 3 new sculpts for Void Wretches, although they're kind of hard to innovate new poses for. New sculpts for The Guilty will always be welcomed, not because they're bad right now, but because they'll be dynamic no matter what torment you think up for them. Best bet would be putting them in an alternate box for Daw. A Montresor with an executioner's hood might be neat. OR MAYBE... you can take a leaf out of my proxied Hodgepodge Emissary's book and make Jack a guillotine executee. <3 If you did that, Nathan, I'd love you forever (even if I already do - think of it as five-ever). ~Lil Kalki

Sweeney Todd-themed Seamus NE Crew. ALWAYS THIS. ~Lil Kalki

What's the rent like in Marietta? I'd happily move if things work out haha ~Lil Kalki

CINNAMON WILL BE DE WINNA, MON! ~Lil Kalki

I see you're in the camp of getting the sell-sword style masters first and that's quite okay. I looks to me that you're worried about the true outcasts among the Outcasts and I can't blame you. I like them more than the sell-swords to be frank with you. I feel like it's a solid investment to get Jack Daw and the Crossroads 7 if nothing additional to the cart beyond what's already there. (Cue "but Kalkris, you ALWAYS say that!" to which I shall say "yes and there's a plethora of REASONS I do that!") Jack is amazing as a control/debuff master. He doesn't do activation control like Hamelin does, nor all that often does crowd control in a death bubble like Leveticus tends to, but he is a swiss army knife, more so than Von Schill could even dream of being. Ignore Tara for now - she's not terribly notable, and Misaki I can't say much on but I know that early on my friend used her a bunch and got that many losses (this was before Jorogumo though so I cannot give an update yet - but it seems that Misaki is better in 10T anyway... Is that REALLY the direction you'd want to go just yet?). Jack is an amazing denial master and his crew choices more than complement this. Furthermore, they can make him killy, or movement-oriented, or even somewhat tanky. The crux in the plans that Jack Daw tends to have often is that he is fairly useless without models in his crew to augment. He augments his crew more than anything else, and without that, he is pretty hard to pilot to get things done. Why choose him then? He doesn't actually NEED a full-thematic Tormented crew to shine (although it certainly does limit him a bit not to use the other Outcasts, delegating his crew to only Tormented models limits him just a bit more). You can make non-Tormented models Tormented, so he can manipulate them properly. One of my go-tos for this is Sue, which you have. I have also heard good about using Taelor to that end (and she comes with the Viktorias so that'd be in your itinerary anyway). In the end though the decision is up to you. Happy shopping! ~Lil Kalki

I'm terrified of how spindly those legs look on the donkey. I'll keep with my proxy, thank you. ~Lil Kalki

Why waste AP using Twist and Turn with Daw when you can effectively Obey a 8 or 10ss enforcer to shoot, using a 5ss minion? I mean, sure, its a bit suit-intensive but I'd suggest it's functionally superior in terms of resource management. What would you prefer to have exactly 1 of: the AP of a key model (especially if it's a Master), or one card of the suit needed for the Return Fire trigger? And could you explain your reasoning, just so I can understand? ~Lil Kalki

To be honest, I am actually glad that there is a drought of fluff regarding Daw. Why, you might ask? Simply put, the less a canon is established regarding a character(s and their interactions), setting, or concept/nuance, the more viable headcanon becomes - until of course the canon is established further. To me, this means Jack Daw can be anything we want him to be, within the confines of the canon that's established, for now. My headcanon of Daw is fairly simple, albiet rather napoleonic in a social sense: Jack Daw, the Condemned Man, forced to be restrained up in the tallest branch of the Hanging Tree, has been set free (through whatever means - be it The Event, or whatever), and is now enacting vengeance indiscriminately upon the tormented and their tormentors alike. The undead in such a position have been following Daw in an entourage of sorts. This is all confirmed, as is the existence of living Tormented, who are inclined to do the same. What is not confirmed is that Jack Daw is the Messiah of Malifaux. Sure, Hamelin has his own religious Tyrant worshippers, as does December (and by extension Rasputina), but Jack Daw likely has the highest count of followers, if you are to count the undead in his ranks (and yes, you should be doing that - it's Malifaux, folks). Oh, and rats don't count as people. XD See, I view Daw's final hanging in life as a crucifixion scene. I think it's dramatic enough to work, and was, as canon dictates, during the first opening of the Breach. That's relevant because Jack never leaves Malifaux (as of current). We see the Breach mysteriously (miraculously?!) open again 100 years after its first closing, and Jack is still there. Jack being unconfined from the Hanging Tree is a pseudo-ascension, as most everything must be twisted in this lore, honestly, and his acts as an unconfined "force of nature" are remarkably Old Testament-godlike in modus operandi. Jack is drawn to injustice, he rights the wrong, and everyone is satisfied enough with his handiwork afterwards that they join him (living or otherwise). There are nursery rhymes about Jack Daw. In those days in our own timeline, such things were generally limited to religious school nursery rhymes and Mother Goose, which was often allegorical. Jack Daw is a true mockery of allegory. His followers are also a mockery of those who follow religion - in Daw's case at least, they're either mindless or insane. In real life, not to trash talk religion but a lot of people see the same in some religious sects. While that sucks and is something I'd rather not go further into, it's what it is. But yeah, tl:dr: Jack Daw is the Messiah. Takest from that what thou wilt. ~Lil Kalki

double post - see below ~Lil Kalki

This is definitely an issue... I don't have an Iconic Deck and wasn't planning on getting one (as LOVELY as they look!), but as for those with the Iconic Deck in tow, I could understand this stirring up some concern amongst them. ~Lil Kalki

And this is why Sue is an honorary XR7 member. :3 In all serious honesty, if you want a beater as badly as it seems you might (since you appear to be in a social meta that warrants it I guess), Jack isn't the right Master to field to those ends. You are better off with Leve, the Viks if you want a glass cannon, Misaki if you REALLY want a glass cannon, or maybe Von Schill or Tara (these are dependent on your needs/how versed you are with them), when asking around for beater support (Hamelin is IMHO worse for this than Daw). To me, this is the sort of thing that exemplifies why we select out entire crew after objectives are revealed. HOWEVER: If you want a beater and don't have the option of anyone but Daw (or... HAMELIN - he isn't bad at all, but this isn't his place!), I would look to the Crossroads Seven and pick what you think will be the most helpful member(s) for pulping some face. Wrath in close range comes to mind, while Envy in the mid-distant range also works out for whatever its worth. I generally don't leave a Daw crew without 1-2 XR7 members in the roster if I can help it. ~~~ So, I do have a Tormented story/something of a partial batrep for y'all. I think you'll find it very pleasant to read. It's mainly about the Crossroads Seven (led by Wrath), but being that they are all playable with/under Daw, it's fair to put it here, I believe. I had a 50ss story encounter today where my opponent was fielding The Dreamer. His crew was, roughly: Dreamer w/3 stones -Dreams of Pain -2 other upgrades which I can't recall presently - they were inconsequential for reasons you'll read of soon Teddy Coppelius Lelu Alp x2 Daydream x3 Opponent had 2 Insidious Madnesses and an Alp in the wings along with Chompy, as per quo. He did not have access to a Lilitu so that was a bit of a bummer overall. Meanwhile, I played the full Crossroads Seven crew a la Outcasts (I Pay Better was on Pride and The Creeping Terror was on Envy). Mistake #1: NEVER play Crossroads Seven in a story encounter a la rules manual/book 1. We played with a Blind Deployment (which took about a half hour or so to set up, part of the reason this game ended so quickly in hindsight), and had Supply Wagon as the Strategy. I chose Frame for Murder on Wrath (because squishy squishy and Leader equals good Frame target) and Deliver A Message (I figured I could deploy a model right next to Dreamer if possible based on Blind Deployment positioning). Mistake #2: NEVER EVER EVER try to Deliver A Message to The Dreamer. He's far too mobile. Meanwhile, my opponent takes Bodyguard on Teddy (which was not going to happen as we figured by the end) and... Make Them Suffer. See Mistake #1. I also don't own a Malifaux Child and thus I cannot possibly mitigate that issue at all. Anyway, on to gameplay. With my opponent and I both in the thick of everything, it was soon made clear in Turn 1 that my opponent was going to exhaust his entire Control Hand in the first third of the turn, and when that happened he would begin to have to take a lot of penalties (be it 2dmg aura pings, or Slow, or the results of actions being succeeded on my part, etc). As a result of this and a lack of time overall to play the game out, my opponent and I went into theoryfaux at the end of T1. In Theoryfaux, it was decided that Teddy, at 3 wounds, would die the next turn, denying my opponent any Bodyguard VP at all, possibly even before he activated. The Wagon would end up in my absolute control (me being the Defender), and while I might not have been able to Deliver the Message, I could at least deliver Wrath to some models scarier than Alps and his doom would ensue. All in all it would have depended on the results of the Supply Wagon, which we theorized I'd be good with. So, with our run of the schemes, I made glaring errors both in crew selection (considering the type of game) and in scheme selection (considering my opponent's Master). My opponent could have taken the Neverborn-exclusive scheme Exterminate rather than Bodyguard, and gotten a bunch of VP instead of just handing it all to me upon Wrath's demise. My question is this, though: In the case of the Dreamer, Story Encounters and their implications aside completely, are the Crossroad Seven models (as a full crew) the right counter? Are they even a decent counter at all (because I sort of can see it)? Furthermore, which 2 XR7 models would you omit if playing against The Dreamer with a Crossroads crew led by Daw (assume you are playing the other 5 members)? ~Lil Kalki