Runeman

This doesn't work. The heal from pay up is not a healing flip, so it isn't doubled.

I can't help it, I have to address some of these examples. Lenny had to be changed. That particular interaction locked Ophelia into a certain playstyle where she never used her gun upgrades, and that does not appear to have been the original intention with Ophelia. That it probably made him fall somewhat behind the curve is unfortunate, but perhaps it can be at least partly fixed by making his Whacked Piglet action into a (0). Most gremlin models from the first two books have three (or more depending on circumstances) actions one way or another, many pigs have the (1) charge as do the Rooster Riders, Moon Shinobi have an at least playable (0) and a lot of other models have Reckless, Nimble or Melee Expert, so not having either is a stumbling block for some models. On the other hand, a few models have both an additional action and a playable (0) or in the case of the Rooster Riders pre errata both an additional action and a (1) charge. This was too good for Rooster Riders, and it is a little less too good for Lightning Bugs, especially considering that they are one of the only models that ignore armor, and they even ignore incorporeal on top of that. Before book 5 came around, we had some discussions on this board regarding Ophelia and what might be done to improve her. I know some of us argued that giving her instinctual or something similar would open her up to be more distinct from Somer, as that would mean that she would be a sort of mobility master. And I can only assume the people at Wyrd listened, as they gave us not only instinctual, but even more mobility for her Kin if we wanted to use her upgrade guns. Malifaux is that kind of game where a lot of people will go "WTF! Can it also do THAT?" when confronted with a new model for the first time, which is good. The errata changes appear to have the explicit purpose of making the (directly and indirectly) affected models situational picks. And most players can probably get behind that philosophy. Sometimes that might mean that a particular faction gets more or less competitive for a while, but for the majority of games it will still be an improvement, and only by accepting and playing with the changes can we get closer to that very important balance goal.

Although it can be nice for people to have some numbers, I really don't think this matters at all. If one faction has more models in need of errata, everybody should be fine with that faction receiving more errata, whether or not they repressent an increase or a decrease in power for the faction or the model in question. By speaking up about how unfair the number of changes or the changes in general are (or appear as is always the case), one might generate attention, but it will not help improve the game. In this case as in many others, the important part is keeping focus. If there is one or two particular models or interactions that one thinks should be looked at, argue about those specific cases. And argue, make comparisons, calculate some statistics, give some anecdotal evidence for their power or lack thereof and if possible present some alternative solutions. If we can do that, then the path to making even better decisions going forward will be easier. If the forums are filled with good well-argued posts without a lot of noisy complaints, it will be easier for the guys at Wyrd to gather and consider the information and act accordingly.

I don't know if it works for you, but I have found that the best way to improve my game in Malifaux or a particular boardgame is to try and focus on one aspect. In particular if you find you don't get enough out of your schemes it might be worth it to try to focus on one of them to see how much effort you need to get it done, so only do things that will contribute to scoring that scheme, unless there is nothing a particular model can do to help it, then you can go for something else. This way you might get a better fealing for some of the schemes. If some of them require too much of your crew in too many turns, those might not be good schemes for you. And while learning, try not to change your crew too much. Is there a strong tendency towards alpha striking in your local Malifaux community? If so, it might be worth it to play some games where your focus is on minimizing the impact of an alpha strike, in that case you could go for schemes that require positioning and spreading out and take reasonably sturdy and/or fast models. And then don't use your hand on doing damage or forcing attacks through, instead use it to defend your models so they can score. Edit: I'm not a good player by any means, so take any advice with a grain of salt.

Given that Guild Guard with one more Wp and Wd and 1 armor are 3 SS, not to mention the ability to get +2 Df, being a significant minion and having some attacks that can actually do something, I disagree with the latter part.

The models that got a price drop in the errata are pretty widely recognized as being at least slightly subpar and underrepresented on the table, that goes for all factions, so if other factions can use models that got a price drop in the errata to pretty got effect, why does the autoreaction here seem to be that our models are still unusable even after having their cost decreased? Funny thing about two of the three masters you mention is that they have a rule that is meant to give them some decent protection, but against Moon Shinobi (you know those underused guys that recently dropped in SS price), those rules end up being a drawback. And actually two of the Neverborn models that did have their cost decreased also have such defensive abilities that are a drawback against Moon Shinobi. My point is that people should try to be a bit more open minded before declaring doom and gloom. Instead focus the criticism on real points like the interactions that force some models to go up in SS cost making them not really viable without that particular interaction. Here I think both McTavish and Francois suffer from that, if Ooo Glowy could only benefit minions (say it could affect 2 minions, but got a small price bump), I don't think they would have felt the need to increase the price of McTavish, likewise if the Skeeter didn't have such exploitable interaction with a few of our hardest hitters, Francois really wouldn't be a problem outside of Ophelia where he kind of should be a challenge for the opponent.

There is no doubt that Burt needed the increase in cost. I am a bit more sceptical about McTavish, but he was quite often seen in many crews, so the price hike is probably in order, particularly considering his value as a Glowy target. Also some of the models that he does have some synergy with were reduced, Wild Boars that is, so a crew with him and 2 Wild Boars will actually have saved one SS. I think he is more situational now, which in my mind is not really a bad thing. Francois I think is slightly overcosted now. If one uses a Skeeter to transport and chain activate him, then he is probably dead, and the Skeeter has been put in harms way, the alternative is using him with Ophelia, where he can at least get a lot of the same mobility, but without the cost. Some alternatives have become cheaper, while he has become more expensive, so I think he is quite situational now. On the other hand, Raphael is slightly underpriced, and in an Ophelia crew you'd often bring both, making the crew unchanged. Mancha Roja seems appropriately costed to me, I think he can be a valuable tool in some setups either because one can threaten to paralyze enemy models using other models or because his Challenge Aura on a height 3 or even 4 model can really mess with the opponent. The decrease in cost doesn't make or break him, but it is definitely a boon. Likewise the Whiskey Golem has become more attractive without being an autopick, so I think he is where he should be, though I'd prefer if Angry Drunk had something done to it. Comparing it to Francois, it does get the same number of actions, though the third one is a lot less flexible, but for one SS more, it also gains quite a lot of survivability, while the damage is lower than that of Francois, the difference is not extreme, and the amount of resources going into doing that damage are much more limited. Moon Shinobi have an undeservedly bad reputation. They have a few abilities that can really make them worth their points, but they do need to be played well to really shine. First of all, they are probably one of the models in the game most likely to do severe damage, making them useful for Ply for Information. They can also sometimes push after the last activation of the turn but before scoring, and that can really make them a pain in Ours, as the opponent will have to factor them into his calculations for more than one table quarter. The same ability also increases their chance to get points from Hold Up Their Forces and Public Demonstration and perhaps Take Prisoner, for two of these schemes their 2" engagement range might also be an advantage. Finally, their defensive trigger makes them very interesting with Som'er, as they can sometimes be moved quite a lot before activating by using AP of lesser models using the mask Som'er in many cases would like to make available anyway, in particular those Piglets can really move them far by utilizing their (1) charges and if they hit their own mask trigger. I think their reduced cost makes them quite competitive. All in all I think it is a nice errata. Gremlins didn't get as much out of it as some factions, but several of the changed models are a lot more viable now. Two of our less powerful masters got a big helping hand at least for casual games, where their starter crews were reduced by 3 SS and some models they might want to utilise were also reduced in cost. In a game like this, I think the goal should be that all models be situational but viable, and there is no doubt that we are closer to that goal now than before the errata.

"After resolving against an enemy" on a defensive trigger means that if you are attacked by an enemy (some triggers do not have that last part, so they can use it even against friendly attacks), and if you have the right suit(s) either build in to your stat, directly from the flipped card, from stoning for the suit (before flipping the card(s)) or from some other ability, then you can use that trigger regardless of the outcome of the attack, but it will only happen after step five of the attack sequence, so after receiving damage. Also remember that defensive triggers are resolved before offensive triggers, so if the opponent have a push into base contact trigger, you might end up in engagement if you haven't used the terrain to your advantage. If the trigger had said something like "After succeeding..." then you would only get to use the trigger if you won the duel, likewise "After failing ... " requires you to lose the duel and "After being damaged ..." or something similar requires that you actually take some direct damage from the attack. If you understand how offensive triggers work, this is really analogous to that.

Don't forget that several models in both boxes have had errata, mainly the minions have been reduced in price from 6 to 5 SS and that there are some new upgrades from book 5 available for these masters (and all other masters), and in particular Mah needs one of these to be any good. Edit: I actually think that Mah can use the Moon Shinobi from the Brewmaster box reasonably well as she sometimes boosts their Ml attack, but they can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around, so the Bushwackers are probably easier to start out with.

The seldomly used Moon Shinobi tend to have a field day against riders as they can attack Wp and turn that stubborn into a liability. Also in Gremlins, Som'er has a (0) to turn off all triggers in a 4" aura, this can also be used by his very fast totems. Like blasts, things that just go boom also bypasses all their defenses, the stuffed piglet bacon bomb comes to mind as does Pere and Papa when they explode.

Also it gives no advantage if you're already on negative flip, like cover.

I agree with Solkan up to a certain point: "When a friendly model within 3" (Aura) of one or more models with this Ability" ensures that you do not get to use the ability more than once even if the friendly model is in more than one aura. "discards one or more cards as the result of a friendly Ability or Action" ensures that you do not get to use the ability more than once even if several cards are discarded. But there is nothing that says that only one model with the ability is allowed to use it for any single discard. It might be intended to work that way, but then they probably should have written it explicitly, as usually you are allowed to use an ability on more than one model on the same triggering condition.

If possible, I'd use Ophelia to pull him up closer to the centre of the board, since I really don't want to spend his actions trudging slowly forward. And as Math pointed out, the Young can really benefit from having Lenny nearby both using their own pistols and using My Threatening Gun, and both Raphael and Francois get quite dangerous on shooting if close to Lenny. If he has his upgrade, he can also sometimes either summon a piglet and do a bit of damage or get the opponent to cheat to avoid having a piglet in base contact. Also people often forget that he is a half decent beater himself if he gets the chance to use that treetrunk.

Another game with Ophelia the other day (9-4 against Jacob Lynch). I still think she is one of our best masters. She has so many options and so many small synergies with her crew. She is in my opinion also the best suited to bring Lenny, as he can throw her and Francois into the middle of the board before they've activated turn one and she can still pull him up. Having the ability to place Francois and give him an on activation push and chain activating him while still doing some damage herself is a great deterrent. I don't play her very well, but it seems to me that her versatility and personal damage potential really makes it hard for the opponent.

That would be harsh if he kept his Wp shenanigans and his Drinking Contest. When I think about it, giving him Melee Master and removing Obey would both improve his poison distribution, though only at very short range, and make him somewhat more versatile. If the Moon Shinobi were then given Embalmed or changed to not take damage from poison when using That's the Stuff, he could really use his additional attacks for something interesting, either giving poison to nearby enemies or to nearby Moon Shinobi / Fermented River Monks, with a chance of giving swill to the Moon Shinobi on top. He would probably still need to have something done to Hangovers to avoid it being his goto action. Thematically it might be fine to change Obey to Lure, which would still be a really nice ability for him, though of course not quite as versatile. If you add in some trigger for poison or card discard, it might actually compete with Hangovers in some situations.