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Ishikar

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  • Birthday 10/17/1984

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  1. I'm glad to see Malifaux growing as a game, it's a very neat fantasy skirmish game and with the 2E rules got much tighter on what it can do and game balance. As for the question on one or more "heavy hitters" on the board then it falls to the strats/schemes and your meta. I typically find that one of them is enough and ususally run the Golem for within my meta. Throwing gamin early pushes them out and it makes a solid forward anchor, add in the acolytes for drawing models into range/out of cover (SOOO useful!) and that usually does enough for killy style games. Snowstorm is an interesting case in that I think he suffers a little for his cost and the split nature of his focus. He's got a fairly beefy melee but no real AP tricks to back it up (ala howard, Ice or Rail golems) and his large base and melee reach make his ranged casting easy to block if you opponent has tools to do so (i.e. summoner dreamer with alps). I know that in 1.5E he was a HUGE tool for mobility in the rasputina crew and was perhaps too good but with being as card intensive now to move more than one model at a time (You HAVE to cheat since choosing to fail puts you at :-fate to damage and you need mod/severe to get the blasts to push with) I personally find him to be a rather lackluster additon to the crew. I do want to see the new plastic though because the arwork just looks cool. I would strongly consider the Blessed and Cassandra for Rasuptina as objective runners (really Cassandra is useful for a ANY arcanist crew) since both are very manueverable and have ways of slipping through engagements to complete objectives. Blessed also can be an unexpected mirror if you need it but for the most part is a more conservative runner piece. Cassandra is just an amazing model for pushing past your opponent and every time I have run her I have been amazed at what she adds for sceme/strategy completion. As for proxies I'd be fine with them personally as long as they were appropriate (i.e. sorrows for ice gamin) but not if you were proxying other models in faction (running metal gamin as ice gamin that were summoned by mech rider) just to avoid confusion. I've used proxies from other lines in Warhammer Fantasy because buying certain models in that line are stupid expensive so I lose all rights and priveledge to judge others doing it. I have found that I own a significant portion of the arcanist faction, several beasts from others, and am starting to gather up guild so it makes me a little scared to think of how much I've spent...
  2. I'm a bit of a completionist when it comes to model lines like these (I'm missing maybe 5-6 models from having an entire collection of arcanists) but if I was going to recommend a good batch of things to buy for a "starter" collection for Marcus/Rasputina it'd probably be as follows now that I've had a bit more time to think about it: Crew Boxes Cassandra December Acolyte Silurids Molemen Blessed of December Silent one That gives you a way to cover down on crew slots and gives lists like the following: Rasputina - Shattered Heart - Cold Nights (or child of december) - Arcane Resevoir Ice Golem - Imbued Energies Cassandra 2x Ice Gamin December's Acolyte Silent One Or Rasputina - Shattered Heart - Cold Nights (or child of december) - Arcane Resevoir Ice Golem - Imbued Energies December Acolyte Blessed of December Sabertooth Cerberus Ice Gamin The former is better for things like reconnoiter, turf war and such and the latter is better for Reckoning. Each of the models in the list are pretty much interchangeable between crews (silurids are Marcus only but MAN their leap having the built in is VERY handy for objective running) and give good bang for their buck. I'm actually really happy with what the Acolyte brings to the table with his aura he can turn on to ignore armor/hard to wound which makes killing some things (peacekeeper) or factions (Rezzers) much easier to clear away if you need to.
  3. I've played a lot with Rasputina and I'd have to say as far as "theme" crews go for Arcanists she has the smallest pool (Arcanists themselves are a little odd in how isolated their crews are, this improved from 1.5 to 2E though). I don't have SS values in front of me but there are a few models which really stand out to me for each master: Rasputina: Ice Gamin Ice Golem Mech Rider (summons gamin and Raspy helps her survive early turns until her Df trigger ramps up) December's Acolyte Wendigo (much better totem in 2e than 1.5, also raspy isn't stuck on the Essence like she was before) Silent One (non ranged attack and a heal spell? Statue Trigger to avoid locking out ice mirror when she's attacked? Awesome) Blessed of December (more a scheme/scenario piece but still decent in a fight) Marcus: Waldgeists Silurids Canine Remains Dawn Serpent (iffy on this one, I like the conditions it brings and it's 0 + hard to wound and marcus' Alpha make it hard to kill) Molemen Sabertooth Cerberus I'd also recommend Cassandra since she is AMAZING and can basically escape any enemy model with a built in move after attacking trigger. I personally find that while Snowstorm can really speed up a rasputina crew I really have a hard time seriously considering him for his points cost. The movement is hampered by cover/area terrain and is card intensive because you can't "choose" to fail without a :-fate flip on damage which prevents cheating for the blast to move multiple models otherwise you're better off with Cassandra or a more mobile individual model and his melee is fair but he lacks something in the survivability department for me and doesn't fit into my playstyle well. Thankfully Arcanists aren't as closed off as they were before (barring mei feng/ramos/kaeris there was pretty much no overlap) but you picked a kind of awkward pairing for synergy on masters. I have a pool of models that runs across 3 (soon to be 4) factions where a lot of them are usable only by Marcus (really wish the new gators were beasts too but it saves me money this way) and a fairly core rasputina list which I'll play with from time to time For example I ran a list like the following for a 35 point game recently that worked fairly well: Strategy: Turf War Schemes: Entourage*, Breakthrough*, ALitS, Distract, and one I forget Rasputina 2 Ice Gamin Rail Golem Cassandra Gamin were mirrors and the rail golem isn't as hampered by Raspy's blessing as he was before. Cassandra got me 6 VP on schemes and I scored turf war once, opponent declared oucast and ran vics with Taelor and a oiran, Taelor ensured no minon/enforcer survivors but raspy managed to blase a sizeable chunk of the forces and Vic of Blood (the henchman one, i think that's right) ran out of cover after Cassandra and ate a RJ raspy shot to bite it. Game was a 7-7 draw after I helped the other player by pointing out a way to pull 3 for entourage instead of another 1 for Turf war (it was a beginner tourney, the tie actually bumped him to 3rd over me due to tiebreakers though ><). Basic point there is what's in your toolbox isn't as limited to masters as you'd think, some tools work better with certain masters but they can all fit. I hadn't even considered Cassandra or the Malifaux Child for list building until I watched Mythic's 15-minute Malifaux videos. I had the Collette metals for completion sake but hadn't opened/assembled them until after those videos and now I've got a good scheme piece for any of my crews and a way to make grab and drop or card draw for Kaeris that much less of an activation burden.
  4. I haven't played with the SS miner yet but will wholeheartedly agree to using Cassandra, Metal Gamin, and the Rail Golem for Kaeris. Union miners are fun but they seem pretty squishy overall but if you buy the metal collette box you'll get performers as well which can be useful for interacting while engaged or pulling enemy models out of position into the kill zone.
  5. Don't feel too bad about things like that, I made the mistake my first game with grab and drop of using it to maneuver my own models and free myself from combat. My opponent looked at the card about halfway through the game and pointed out it said "enemy models" and I felt somewhat stupid. New players make mistakes and even experienced players with new crews will do the same thing so don't worry about it. Raspy and Kaeris are just some of those where the learning curve has an odd spike, you can learn the basics really easily but mastering is a real trick. They're not as bad as say Collette (who thank goodness isn't the craziness of 1.5 but still tricky) but still a bit trickier than say Lady Justice. It's never an easy thing to master a crew but the real trick is to play a few games, re-read your cards, and then play a few more. That and talk with others and see what they do. MythicFox turned me on to cassandra and performers as pieces in a Kaeris crew and I'm very interested in following up on that.
  6. I've played both Raspy and Kaeris fairly extensively and when it comes to the setup for that game I probably would have gone a bit differently with playstyle. Grab and Drop gives Wings of Flame which can make Plant Explosives trivially easy and a good choice because you'll want to have your minions tie up raspy's to deny Ice Mirror shots. I've seen a lot of posts about the Malifaux Child as a Totem for Kaeris (especially with grab and drop) for it's versatility in spreading burning easily to your own crew. Flaming Halo with a low tome = 2 burning models to fly and drop scheme markers and he brings his own small heal that uses Rams which are rare in her crew to help with survivability. I haven't done this personally but it does make a good option to proxy my Iggy as now that he's no longer in her crew. Cover wherever you can get it is HUGE for Raspy because it means she's only likely to get 1 straight flip cast and 1 cast on the attack which really helps minimize the damage you take. The december's acolytes can make that a little tougher with their drag trigger (which I really appreciate now) to pull models out of position but if she's deploying them close enough to shoot and mirror through then you should have options to counter them as well. A good example is locomotion, walk, walk (or locomotionx2, walk, attack) with the rail golem which with wings should get you into base with the model. They have their push trigger and aura which can make pinning them tough but overall if they're having to run away they're not effective mirrors or debuffing/pulling your crew. Also remember that Overpowers are at -ca with shattered mirror so she's casting at what I believe is ca 4 on the follow up shots instead of 7 (not 100% on that as I'm away from my cards/books). Another thing to potentially look at is a Colette box. I picked one up in 1.5e for completionist sake but never really did much with it but after watching MythicFox's "15-minute Malifaux" videos (a GOOD source on Kaeris ideas and tactics by the by, find them on his blog or YouTube) Cassandra and a Performer can be VERY potent additions. Not only do they excel at mobility and scheme manipulation but the lure on the performer can pull an ice mirror out of LoS or range for Raspy and close down a flank for her ranged attacks. Gunsmiths are at an odd place for me as well at present. They're potentially very good but also kinda flat if not supported properly. For a 7SS model that's supposed to focus on attack I'd call them mediocre. I still use them because I like the models and they have their place but I'm still iffy on their cost/benefit ratio though tricking them out with fast with their Ram trigger makes them very nice, useful for when you get a good cast flip with a child or if you use Kaeris or the golem to burn your own crew with vent boiler or flare with low rams in hand. There's also a good thread here about Kaeris as well. It was started by MythicFox and was where I found the reference to the videos he posted earlier. Pointed out the handiness of Cassandra and performers to me and how Kaeris is a rider's worst nightmare (i.e. no triggers for damage reduction). Biggest piece of advice though is just keep playing and talking with your opponents and other players. Ask what they saw were your mistakes and what really crimped their plans and you'll learn what does and doesn't work. Also realize that some games you'll just make mistakes and it will go horribly, I had one game with avatar testing where my marcus crew was pinned down with an insidious madness, web tokens from the weaver widow and avatar pandora for 4" terror tests that basically went "Have fun flipping yourself to death" by the end of turn 2. I made mistakes that time (i.e. sending Marcus around for schemes while my core went for strategy) and honestly some crews are just going to hurt no matter what.
  7. I tend to play a little more aggressively which is why I favor Kaeris/Raspy as my main arcanists masters (I started with Marcus and he's fun but sometimes a little vulnerable like when half my crew was stuck at -2 wp TN 12 horror duels to activate vs. avatar pandora on turn 3, yeah that game turned out GREAT ) Typically I'll run with area denial which gives space to protect ALITS and in stake a claim I'll be in that area of the board for claim markers anyways. If I make my opponent fight me or split his crew to go to the far markers it makes my job easier.
  8. Arcanists Crew - 50 - Scrap Kaeris -- 7 Pool +Arcane Reservoir [2] +Born of Fire [2] +Purifying Flame [1] Eternal Flame [2] Gunsmith [7] Mechanical Rider [12] (bodyguard) +Imbued Energies [1] Union Miner [5] Union Miner [5] The Firestarter [7] +Powered by Flame [2] +Warding Runes [1] (ALITS) I really like the heal on Kaeris because it's a solid way to keep a crew up and fighing and plays in with the summons from the rider to keep the minion swarm alive. I'd move the crew up and really focus on the midfield using the Union Miners to place markers and as a pretty hefty deterrent with the multiple M&SU models to give them a on damage flips. False claim is one of my favorite ways to drop scheme markers with the advent of the wave 2 models and improvised weapons means that if he takes misaki he can't just shunt attacks to your own models or if Levi took the horsemen they shine because their damage gets through un-reduced. Kaeris + Firestarter + Totem is a solid way to pass out burning/damage and even 1 burning token makes immolate that much more dangerous for your opponent since it can throw out pretty consistent damage. Twirl the Gas Can makes for a good way to make enfulf that much more useful since you can effectively hit your opponent for a solid 3 damage with every AP ignoring df comparison and hard/impossible to wound. Mech rider is useful for summons, more schemes, card draw, and is a good bodyguard target with ll the healing available while the Gunsmith is just an all around handy model to have his triggers and (0)s make fishing out specific effects or reliable hits pretty simple.
  9. The current Ramos box is himself, Howard Langston, and some spiders I believe. It's a good start in that you will use all the models but you'll need some additional spiders for summons and I like the Electrical construct for easy turn 1 scrap. A good starter list for Ramos would probably be the following around 35 SS. Ramos Howard Langston 2x steam arachnids Joss That comes up to 29 or 30 stones (I'm away from my book/cards at the moment) which gives you some stones for upgrades on Ramos and to maybe boost your cache by a stone or two for adding suits, usually for summoning with Ramos if you get a 11-13 :tomes or you don't have a 8-10 :tomes for the straight cast of his summon. Ramos very quickly escalates with his summons in M2E and being able to effectively get a 9ss model for 1 stone and a high tome in game is powerful (summon 3 spiders and swarm together). Joss is a brilliant help for getting extra scrap in game since every kill he makes produces one in addition to what would normally drop (so constructs drop 2). It's very easy in the first 2 turns to have Joss kill 1 steam arachnid and then Ramos uses the 2 scrap to summon 4 more from it's body (2 each turn) to really ramp up your activation order.
  10. Yes they're the same time as EST is GMT-5:00 and PST is 3 hours behind EST. I'm still checking the site periodically because I want to see Kaeris in her new glory so badly.
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