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Lowest and most viable model count?


Obeisance

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I came back to Malifaux after a few years break a couple months ago. Owning zero models. 

First thing I did? Buy Nicodem. Which required a huge investment. I've since purchased pretty much all the new Ressers plastics. Oops. 

I keep feeling the pull of other factions, might buy stuff to dabble and paint. 

So the question I have for you :

Which factions/masters have the lowest point/model/money investment while being both tournament viable and dynamic? 

Big ask, I know. I just don't want to get suckered into another summoning faction. =p

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I would associate lowest model count with elite groups. Probably outcasts or arcanists can build the best elite crews with relatively small model counts. They each have several good high cost models. Colette from arcanists would be a great elite master. Perhaps Von Schill from outcasts. They can both be dynamic and solve a lot of problems while working with small crews. Von Schill could do really well with his core box and the strongarm suit and Hannah or maybe Lazarus. Colette might want a few more pieces, but Howard, acolytes, and silent ones would be nice. Johan would fit well in either. 

Both of those masters could address most strategies and schemes and both would be viable in a tournament i would think. You could go pretty elite in any faction and still stay away from summoning. I really like the Outcast models in the 10 point range, so I would probably go elite that way. 

The alternative is to attack cost first. For example the Misaki box (outcast/10T) seems to be about the lowest priced one out there I've seen (from memory). You could grab something like that and slowly build around it with high cost elite models when they're on sale. She couldn't assist Freikorps the way Von Schill could, but can still work well with those high cost outcasts. Some of the smaller ones like Bishop and Johan are very solid models that don't cost much. 

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Well, good news!  Ressers are the summoning Faction.  So you shouldn't have to worry too much about problems with wanting to buy every kit ever.

On the other hand, perhaps what you would be better off asking is, which crew boxes (If any) provide the most versatile and functional on their own (Or with the least investment)?  Many masters are very functional with simply their crew box, and some ask for help from in faction (Or even mercenary) models to really shine the brightest.  Some (like Kirai) have fairly poor value in Soulstones, meaning you'd need to buy more to really get into them (Luckily Ressers are not on the docket).

I suppose none of the crew boxes are really going to get you to tournament ready (Assuming standard 50ss values), so maybe looking at two boxes that cross-over very well would be the quickest bang for your buck?

I don't know if you own any of the Dual-faction Ressers // X Masters, but that may be a good basis to start branching out.  Something I prefer doing is finding a trio of Masters that can share Faction // Minions to allow me to switch things around the most painlessly.  If you've already invested in Yan Lo or McMourning, for instance, 10T or Guild may be easier to branch into.  Tara and the Outcast might be a bit harder, since many of the Outcast players that are big are typically not going to come in one single set (Hannah, Johan, Librarian), although if you're not worried about buying individual models it might be decent.  Plus they have the most Mercenary models, so it could potentially help build up other Factions // Crews.

 

Then again, I am not a hard core tournament player, so I can't vouch for the usefulness of crews when people are being cut throat, but I personally find Misaki and the Torakage extremely useful.  Although I hear that when building more tournament standard crews, you almost never bring 3 of a given minion (Even decent ones), just due to restrictions on points and needing to invest in other powerful models or more specific goals.  So I dunno, it might come down to how willing you are to take slightly sub-optimal builds?  I know that Lynch and his Illuminated are easily some of the best 7ss models, but even then people seldom take a full 3 of the Illuminated.  Not that they are poor, but that 21ss is a fairly large chunk of your points invested in a single tool for your box.

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Jason I think what you're really looking for are crews who are self-contained; they have a core crew and generally don't use many models outside of that core. Off the top of my head, the Masters I'd recommend are;

 

Perdita: Most Guild want a Witchling Stalker (for Condition Removal) and Austringer (for long-range shooting and push effects), but Perdita's crew already has those bases covered. You can honestly just take her Crew box, add the other family models (Abuela and the Pistoleros) and you're good to go with almost any strategy/scheme. The only other models you might want to consider are the Brutal Effigy (whom Perdita loves) and some Guild Hounds (for mobility). 

 

Neverborn Jakob Lynch: He can play three ways - Brilliance heavy, Discard heavy and a mix of both. Neverborn don't have alot of "discard for X" effects, so Brilliance is definitely the way to go with Neverborn Lynch. For his Core crew all you need is the starter box, some Depleted, maybe some Stitched Together and definitely Terror Tots. The latter turn into Scheme running machines when you get an ace of masks in hand, since you can keep discarding, then drawing back the Ace every time you use Sprint for 20" of Movement each turn!

If you're wondering about 10-T Lynch, don't. He's great, but there's ALOT of 10-T models with "discard for effect" tricks, all of which Jakob Lynch loves to abuse with his Ace in the Hole. So if you don't plan on buying a large chunk of the faction, he's probably not the best to go with! 

 

Dreamer: Okay, he's another summoner, but like many Neverborn Masters his best tricks are all specific to Nightmare models. So once you've bought the starter, Lelu/Lilitu, Stitched, Insidious Madness, 2x Teddies and Mr Tannen, you're set. Okay, that's actually a decent sized list. Still, as far as summoners go he's pretty self contained. :D

 

I'm sure there's a few others, but that's a good start!

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39 minutes ago, bertmac said:

If you went with levi and jack daw you have a fair bit of crossover from ressers for both crews as levi can hire undead and jack can hire tormented models so crooked men, hanged, jaakuna ubume plus a few others i am sure.

^^ This is a fair point. My only warning is that Outcasts, like 10-Thunders, have alot of cross-crew models that work really well with most other Outcast Masters. So for instance Hamelins Vermin make great scheme runners and scheme deniers while Von Schill's Friekorps offer plenty of counters to certain playstyles (eg. immunity to blasts).

Levi gets away from this a little since you can build a very good crew by sticking to his starter box and then hiring Undead (mostly Ressers) or Constructs (mostly Arcanists) into the crew. So if you've got most of the Ressers anyway, you probably won't need more than the Leveticus box.

...And Ashes and Dust. That guy is a duche. ;)

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