Wee Little Puppet Man

I wouldn't argue against the Scion getting H2W, but I think he is sorely underrated. Sure 8ss might be a tad too expensive, but 7ss could be cheap. There has been no game were I regreted fielding him, mostly because of his (0) to obey a friendly interact up to 10" (with Titania I just can see this being even more useful) and his to everything but damage when he has less than 7 wounds. His triggers are often useful, his discard-to-remove-condition has turned the tides after a paralyze or slow that could have meant the game, he has mobility, some survivability and doesn't lack a punch. And if you his hreplace his hands so that they face slightly to the front, he doesn't look that bad.

I cannot imagine needing more than 3 insidious madnesses. Also, I've played summoning dreamer without stitched and I fared well. I would expect 3 to be more than enough. Of course, if you had more, you could use them. But I don't think it is true that you need more to play summoning dreamer. I guess it depends on every meta, though.

Well, as everybody and their personal puppet will tell you, in Malifaux it all depends on the schemes and faction you're facing. There is many ways in which you could approach Headhunter and Reckoning playing Collodi. There are a bunch of killy models that would be well suited for this task: stitched, illuminated, Lazarus, teddy, coryphee, bunraku, bloodwretches, changellings + trappers; not to mention the puppeteer itself... But, as don't own many of these models, I usually take a less straightforward approach. After some time playing Neverborn, I've realized a couple of things: the game is won by whoever scores more VP, not who reaches 10 or wins the strategy; and Neverborn are all about making the opponent play the way we want, not trying to win them on their game. So, if Reckoning is draw, and I know I will be playing Guild, I will think about Sonnia and the possibility of being blasted to death. Then I'll probably go with hard to kill and armour, probably a fated + healing approach, and try to stay alive while accomplishing the schemes. Now, Headhunter is a different beast, a way better strategy for Collodi. As Malifaux is about concrete scenarios, I'll go with an example: I was facing Guild. Corner deployment. Headhunter, convict labor, hunting party, leave your mark and detonate the charges. I feared Sonnia, and was pondering to go with a defensive build. But, at the last moment, I changed my mind. I realized in headhunter there is no point in killing the enemy from afar, as the head markers are left 3" from the killed model. And there Collodi has several advantages against Guild: number, ap, and mobility. I decided to go with a balanced scheme build: a mannequin to place markers wherever I wanted; a performer to lure out of position and drag the mannequin along; a couple of marionettes for personal puppet, to push Collodi across the board and to place markers and get heads; a weaver so killing my puppets was all to my advantage, to increase mobility even more and to help Collodi obliterate the enemy; lucky, brutal and arcane, because they are a pain to kill and to benefit from their buffs, specially the healing; and, finally, a bloodwretch, because I feared I lacked hitting power (which, in retrospect, was not the case). My original plan was to go with leave your mark and detonate. But, looking at the board, I realized there was an almost closed space around the midline, next to my deployment area. So I chose convict labor and detonate. My opponent revealed his crew and I was happy to see it was McCabe and not Sonnia. BUT there was a Peacekeeper; which not only is scary, but could screw with my scheme game. I started the match as I always do with Collodi: Lucky passing its buff to everyone but the weaver; and, in this case, moving towards the closed space to achieve convict labor. Then I went on activating the less powerful models. The marionettes hit Collodi to position it before it activated last. With the mannequin being dragged along by the performer, I was able to place 3 scheme markers on the midline somewhere out of reach even from the Peacekeeper. I made sure that, if they wanted to disrupt the convict labor, they had to go over my scraps. So, thats 3VP right on the first turn. Now my worry was that they would achieve their own schemes and draw (or even win, if I couldn't detonate the charges). So, by my second turn, I started to bring everyone from their hiding place. I had left the weaver on the rearguard, as she is fragile and my worst fear is her being killed. The good thing is, this allowed me to drop two webs (turn 1 and 2) near McCabe himself, who had crossed to my half of the board, as I was expecting. I started the second turn with the weaver dropping a web, trying to paralyze with terror, and hiding herself. She barely survived the next attack; but now I had the upper hand. I couldn't wait for a perfectly buffed attack, so I activated Brutal, passed the healing buff along and accompliced into Collodi, which had no problems pushing itself into position after taking damage for fast, which amounted to 4 attacks. I slowed the Peacekeeper, made it hit McCabe and saved its remaining ap for myself. With my last attack, I was able to bring McCabe down from his horse. From there, the game was won. They could not interact while engaged and I made sure that the head marker was in range. My puppets took care of it later. On turn 3, weaver managed to create some dolls (just because I like the models and I felt confident, it wasn't a wise move) for then being killed (her, and the dolls). Still, that only gave me more heads and the chance to detonate for 3. At the end I won 8 to 5 or something like that, because I got careless the later turns. But I never lost control of the game. So, as you see, there are many ways to approach a game. At every moment, I had to change plans in order to take advantage of the board and my opponent's decisions. My best call was to take what appeared to be my disadvantage (lack of firing power; cheap, low wounds models) and turn it into an advantage (overactivating; more heads for me; bringing the enemy to play in close range). It was a game I enjoyed very much, and made me confident to chose Collodi as THE master for most headhunter scenarios. A similar thing happened to me with Pandora and reckoning, after games and games being blasted away by Sonnia: I decided to make her come to me, laying an elaborate WP trap and relying in Candy as a field medic. But that's another story... Tl;dr: Take advantage of your weaknesses. Don't try to play your opponents game: make them play yours. Neverborn are about cunning, mobility, and the unexpected. And anyway, Collodi is a beast: 4ap with slow, obey, pseudo paralyze, healing, burning, card drawing and a consistent damage will take you through anything.

If you just have his box and the stitched you have a good starting point, but you'll need effigies. My favourites are Lucky and Brutal, as they bring great survivability to your crew. As it will contain a good number of hard to kill minions (effigies, marionettes, stitched...), just healing 1 wound when being attacked can make your puppets... well, hard to kill, indeed. Arcane is also good on paper, but I have not found it as useful as I thought it'd be. The arcanist mannequin is great for markers based schemes. Having a good deals of activations (fast, cheap models), you can really benefit from their ability to allow models to place scheme anywhere in 6". I usually pair them with a Performer, who increases the mannequin mobility and is a useful minion on herself. One thing that people tend to overlook when dealing with Collodi is that he is not just a support master. He is much more than that. If you go the Fated route, which I prefer, you can passively buff your minions, but you still have an amazing Ca7, 10" attack with a + to damage that will get something killed every turn. And that, at least, will slow, if not obey, some models. Collodi doesn't need to use AP to move, as his (0) and his defense trigger allow him to push 3" each time. You can attack yourself with some of your weak models to launch Collodi through the board! Then, you should get Strum the threads so you can give yourself fast every single turn. That's 4 ap that you can use completely to attack, obey things, or to interact. If you are clever about it, you can easily surprise your opponent unexpectedly dropping some markers or interacting with some model that (s)he thought where out of your reach. Just give him a go and you'll see that he performs way better than what one would expect when reading his card.

I wouldn't say is that complicated. In fact, of the 4 masters I own (Pandora, Zoraida, the Dreamer and him), he is the most straightforward. I love him because he is a powerhouse, but I sometimes get tired of him because of that: when I choose him I feel I'm playing on autopilot. Now, Pandora... that's a master for the thinking (wo)man! The main problem with Collodi is activation order and surviving blasts. The first game with him I was obliterated by Sonnia, and that was no fun. But as soon as you get a good supporting crew (I do great with 3 marionettes, a mannequin, a performer, the brutal, lucky and arcane effigies as the base crew), and learn where to place them and when to activate each, your games will be a breeze. The most tricky part with him is to know when you want to bring your guys to the bubble and when you should split up. Do you want to activate him earlier to pass some buffs (I usually go for a Fated build) and cripple the enemy, or do you prefer to wait a little more to, let's say, kill the master, or place 4 unexpected scheme markers that'll give you 3 VP? The thing is, most people see Collodi as a supporting master. And he is, but mostly in a passive way. He is also a big scary puppet. His damage track (2/3/4) doesn't look that impressive, but when you take in account that it is Ca 7, ranged 10", it has a + to damage, you can (0) to move 3" and give yourself fast.... you realize you are dealing 12 wounds per turn on average, which usually are coupled with burning, drawing, healing, slow and even some obeys. With his defense trigger, he is extremely mobile, as you can hit him with your own marionettes to send him 3" each. I often end the first turn with Collodi through the midline and having done some serious mischief. Also, because of his mobility, and paired (or not) with the mannequin, he can drop markers almost anywhere on the board, which usually comes out as a surprise for your opponent. Then there is his resistance. He looks weak, with a low def and wound count for a master. But he can: kill his Personal Puppet to reduce the damage to 0; use soulstones as any other master; use all the healing from effigies; push and hide behind puppets/out of reach when he is targeted. So, once you get the hang of it, he is extremely durable. You might think that this "getting the hang of it" is the problem, that you have to become an expert to make him work. But that's not so. You have to learn his/your style, and you will probably have a hard time the first few games. But that's the bane of the Neverborn. Ours is a fragile, strategic faction. You go guns-a-blazing and you'll get wrecked. But while Pandora needs to create a favourable environment to work, and can't do much beyond martyr to keep her crew alive; while the dreamer lacks firepower and can get screwed by a bad draw; while Zoraida can be useless if there's nothing good to obey/bewitch around.... Collodi, on himself, can turn the tides of a game in just one activation. You have your 7 and your +, you have plenty of Ap. You can go wherever you want. If he is alive, he is going to do some harm. And when you start your turn with Lucky or Brutal, and you keep a Personal Puppet around, you know he will be alive. So really, don't worry about him being difficult to play, because I'd say that he is one of the most newbie-friendly Neverborn masters. Probably Lilith and Jacob are easier. I've not tried them. But, because Collodi is a very powerful master on his own, you don't have to be an expert to have fun and get good results with him. If you like him, get him. After all, what really matters is that you have fun and you enjoy the models you play with

The concept behind these models is really cool, and the first and third one (specially) work fairly well. But I think the majority here agrees that the second one is a poor implementation. The pose is really weird: static and dynamic at the same time. The legs, face and arms seem to be doing their own thing, making it difficult to know what's going on. I would also prefer more variety (the madnesses spoiled me ), but I can understand the sameness to be intentional. In any case, I really hope that Wyrd will listen to the community once more as they did with the Large Arachnids. The concept is great, but it feels kind of unfinished. OTOH, copy & paste is the changellings theme...

What about a Teddy one with the text "Dream big". Or "Free hugs"

This might very well due to my poor English, but I suddenly find the text of "The fickle winds of fate" a tad confusing: According to Pullmyfinger, this If this was indeed the case, shouldn't it have been worded differently? Shouldn't it say 'place them ... at least 1" away from each other'? As a matter of fact, my brother has even come to understand that the placement would require a further Scheme Marker, placed within 6" (but not within 4", as it would be removed!) of Zoraida, so that you can place the removed schemes "at least 1" away from another Scheme Marker". But that doesn't sound very logical and makes a not often used action even less appealing. A different interpretation would suggest that you may place those pesky markers anywhere within 6" of Zoraida, with the only constraint that you cannot do it anywhere within 1" of any remaining marker. Whichs is a weird and specific requirement, but doesn't force you to position Zoraida leaving at least 1 marker between 4" and 6" of herself. So, what do you think is the intent of the text? I always understood it as described in Pullmyfinger: you have to place the markers anywhere, but leaving 1" inbetween them. But, if this is the case, I don't think the action was clearly worded.

Sold

Indeed, the mold lines are getting a bit excesive. And that criminal way of placing the parasol on the sprue, destroying half the details! But what a fine lady she is, anyway.

Last game I played, I activated the little bugger to double hit Lucius for a total amount of 6 damage. He never felt better in his puppet life. Granted, that only happens in a bazillion years and only if you play Zoraida the Fate Master against "Look mommy, without hands!" Lucius. But boy, dit it feel good... On the trick department, I'm planning on using Vasilisa to sew the doll with her attack, so the hemmed model receives the damage and condition, for then using her (0) to make the doll hem some other poor fella. On his activation, the doll will take (and share!) the damage for removing the condition and can do whatever voodoo dolls do on this day and age. Other funny thing is to benefit from your oponent's auras and traps, like the... trappers traps? You see, if you activate next to them you have to pas a 12 wk duel or receive slow. And this guy doesn't really like walking... Then there is the Weaver's Doll Factory. Each turn you kill your doll for damage, and then turn the scrap counter into a nice wicked doll and future teddy. Profit. One thing I want to try is what I call The Old Ladies Tea Party . I would leave Zoraida, the Weaver and Vasilisa having fun sewing and talking abut their things in the rearguard, while they dispense pain and dolls each turn to deal with the oponent. I'm not sure it will work, but it will be fun. And there will be cookies

I guess it's just wishful thinking, as I would play them way more if they costed 1ss. At the moment, I usually resort to On Wings of Darkness as Animal Shape-little. Granted, teleport 15" is not the same as fly 10"; but It's cheaper, brings some extra card manipulation and I can even pair it with Crystall Ball! Anyway, it's "Wyrd" that they sent me the wrong cards to replace the... wrong cards. I just hope that, once they confirm that the cost is indeed 2ss, they won't mind making a second attempt. Me and neverborn cards, a story of impossible love. I have bad juju Update: Confirmed, the cost is 2ss, there was a little mess when they sent me the replacement. Good news (for me ) is that they're sending it once again, and this time they have even offered to send me the whole set of cards from the Swamp Hag box. Not that I need it, but it is nice from them. So kudos to Wyrd!

I know, right? I've written them to know if I'm just jinxed or the cost is 1ss after all. I didn't expect them to have 1ss versions of the cards still left. I'll let you guys know when they reply.

Are we really sure that the cost of Tarot Reading and Animal Shape is 2ss? I wrote Wyrd asking for replacemen for the supposedly missprinted cards costing 1ss. They were very responsive and nice about it, and proceeded to send me the cards together with my GenCon order. But, to my surprise, the cards they sent are the 1ss ones. So what if the typo is in the M2E book/arsenal deck? Has there been an official communication on the matter?

By the same logic, why to include stat cards at all? After all, we have the rule books, right? We all have pen and paper. As a matter of fact, why don't we forget about the costly plastic models and simply play using tokens? I don't know about you, but I'm paying for a certain product, for its art direction and creativity, and I'm expecting the kind of content that I've been offered before. When this doesn't happen, I think it is fair to voice my discontent; specially since some of the latest releases (Komainu, Gaki) follow this lackluster trend. I mean, let's not fool ourselves, I will buy the models I'm interested in, anyway; but drops on quality like this make no favour to Wyrd's image, and diminish my enthusiasm towards their products. And yep, that's just like my opinion. I think that goes without saying. And I'm voicing it in hope that the company that recently got a big bunch of my moneys listens to it and makes a product more in line with my tastes. Everyone else can do the same. I think that's why this is called a Forum. I'm cool with other people thinking that stat cards are useless, or even preffering a chepaer or rushed product. I just don't agree with that. Anyway, I hope this answer doesn't come accross as antagonistic, as that is not my intend. I have not much time to write and English is (obviously) not my mother tongue. So... think of kittens!